by L. E. Newell
Sparkle finally joined in. “But even still, we can’t let the bitch know what we’re doing, player. Man, you talking about her putting her bread and butter on the line; hell, her jam, too.”
Duke shook his head and laughed. “Baby boy, we gonna make it look like a botched burglary.”
“Uh-huh, and you actually think she’s gonna go for that. Come on, playa, you got to come better than that,” Rainbow mumbled.
Duke acted like he hadn’t heard a word. “And give her like twenty-five percent of the money we take out of the safe, that way she can’t say a damn thing or she knows her ass will get snuffed.” He cocked his head to the side and held his hands up for them to chill. “Shit, every bitch wants a nest egg her nigga don’t know about.”
Rainbow said. “Hold up, dog, didn’t I just hear you say it’s gonna look like a botched burglary, so we gonna give her twenty-five percent of what?”
Duke looked at him and rolled his eyes in disgust. “Man, what’s up with you, your ears stuffed with year-old wax or what? I just said we gonna take the money out of the safe. She’s gonna know how much was taken because those niggas are gonna bitch to holy hell about. So we give her twenty-five percent of that. Then again, if we don’t give her that much, it ain’t like you ain’t never lied to a ho before. And it sho ain’t like she gonna tell on herself.”
Rainbow leaned back in the seat and stared down his nose at big boy for a moment and then his face broke out in a bright smile. He started to rub his hands together and nodded his head. “Aw, man, this shit is sounding better and better by the minute. So when you wanna start on this here?”
Duke turned his attention to “B.” “Okay, ‘B,’ since you the one that got that bitch Crystal to start off dancing in the club in the first place, you can get her to pull Mary Anne.” He paused to address Sparkle, too. “Or if it come down to dealing with Joyce, which I don’t think will be that much of a problem, because the bitch loves money and the excitement that goes down with a real lick. Hold up, let me think about this for a second. Okay, I got it, get the bitch pulled to the Heart of Decatur hotel say by Friday and we can pull the lick on Sunday night. That’s the only night when nobody’s there; y’all feel me?”
Everybody nodded at the same time before ‘B’ got up from the table to look for Crystal.
Duke stood up smiling. “Okay, y’all already know what to get from the magic shop downtown, so I’m out of here. We’ll keep each other abreast of how things are going.”
Rainbow and Sparkle smiled at his departing back until he disappeared through the door before Sparkle spoke up. “This is gonna be a lot of fun; you know that, don’tcha?”
Rainbow slapped both hands on the table and stood up. “Yep,” was all he said as he led the way out of the club.
CHAPTER FOUR
Even Good Girls Gotta Have It
Beverly propped against the pillow watching the morning news with Katie Couric, in her apartment in College Park. She’d lain awake most of the night wondering if her three amigos had anything to do with the robberies and shootings on I-20. Even though no one was caught, her grapevine of snitches rarely gave her unreliable information.
As badly as she wanted, she couldn’t gather enough evidence to connect Don to those events. Maybe he was the culprit, maybe not. Either way she had to find out what was going on before her boys got whacked with it.
She sat on the edge of the bed, stretched her tired limbs and went into the bathroom to freshen up. Studying her image in the mirror, she felt like she was caught between a rock and a bigger rock. In order to keep the hit off of them, she knew she had to investigate these events all by herself, without any help from any of her colleagues or underlings. Talking about skeletons in the closet, boy, were hers ever rattling now. To involve anyone else would be taking too big of a chance of having her relationship with her amigos revealed. Her political enemies would have a field day if they had the slightest idea she was involved with them in any way. Consumed with these thoughts, she left the bathroom to go to her closet to pick through her wardrobe for something to wear.
She was admiring herself in bra and panties in the full-length mirror on the door, when her pussy started tingling. She imagined they were Sparkle’s hands rubbing her crotch instead of her own. The more she thought of him, the further her hands slid into her panties. Damn, why that man have to be a damn crook? she thought as her nipples started to harden.
She was a little surprised when she eased her fingers between her pussy lips and it was gushy with her juices. She closed her eyes and imagined that his face was closing in on her. That his lips parted slightly to touch hers ever so gently. She had inserted two fingers into her pulsating womanhood, moaning and grinding her hips in rhythm with her thrusting fingers when the phone rang.
Its persistent jangling snapped her out of her lust-filled state of mind. She plucked some Kleenex out of the box on the dresser to wipe her fingers off before she picked the phone off of the lamp stand. “Ugh, nasty.” She turned her nose up at the icky feeling.
Before she put the receiver to her ear, she felt a tingling along her spine. Her voice was full of tension when she answered. “Hello, Beverly Johnson speaking.” She was immediately aware that the caller was either on a cell or in a phone booth because of the traffic noise in the background. She was about to repeat her greeting when the voice on the other end caused butterflies to flutter in her stomach. It was Sparkle. She sighed heavily without even realizing it.
“Hey there, girl, how ya doing?” His sexy tenor rang in her ear.
It took a few seconds to gather herself. Dayum, she hated the weak feeling she got in her knees whenever she heard his voice. Why couldn’t he just be a normal guy? Then again, that was the part of him that attracted her so strongly.
“Damn, girl, you gonna answer or what?” he said when she took too long to reply.
She cleared her throat. “Yeah, I’m here, what’s on your mind?”
“Just thought I’d holla atcha. It’s been awhile, know what I’m saying.” He had to shout over the traffic noise.
She smiled, knowing she was stalling, afraid he’d be able to detect the loud thumping of her heart. She held the phone to her breast so he wouldn’t hear her heavy sigh trying to camouflage the intensity of feelings he’d caused. “Okay, now that I’ve finally got you on the phone, what do you know about all those robberies going on I-20?”
He leaned away from the phone, not believing she was coming at him like that. He cocked an eyebrow, took the time to catch his breath. “Whoa, sister girl, why you asking me something like that? I just wanted to holler atcha since I ain’t seen you since I got out.” He waited a full thirty seconds hoping she wasn’t about to go into her super cop mode on him. When she didn’t, he continued, “Okay, well, you know that I can’t be talking about that kind of stuff over the phone anyway. So where do you want to meet then?”
Now it was her time to wait for him to respond. She was a lot less patient than he was and immediately repeated herself. “I said, where do you wanna meet?”
He had to think about that for a moment. In her position, he knew that she had to be very secretive about dealing with him. Finally, he coughed, then cleared his throat. “How about the Decatur MARTA station?”
“Too many people,” she answered quickly.
“Damn, girl, you pick a place then.” He could hear her heavy breathing over the line before she finally answered.
“I tell you what, give me a number where I can reach you and I’ll get a room at the La Quinta in Lithonia and call you. Don’t you dare have me out there waiting on your ass all fucking morning.”
“Whoa, you sure you want to do that?” He didn’t try to hide his surprise.
She paused to contemplate his last remark. Strictly business, strictly business, she kept trying to tell herself. Or was it something else. She looked at the glitter in her eyes in the image in the mirror. Blinking several times, she shook her head as she tried to rid her mind of the
possibilities. She finally mustered up the nerve to say, “Yes, I’m sure, give me the number. I’ll call you within the hour.”
She hung up immediately after he gave her the number, having little doubt he’d be there. If she didn’t know anyone else, she knew him and he’d never lied to her.
She changed her underwear to some lacier, sexier flimsy stuff and dabbed on her best perfume. Not too much, enough to affect his senses up real close. Smiling to herself, she teased her hair and chose a soft pink blouse and dark velvet pants; the kind that clung to her bubbly ass. She called her secretary and let her know that she’d be a couple of hours late. Her smile continued to glow brightly as she got into her car and headed for the La Quinta.
After she hung up so abruptly, Sparkle looked over at Rainbow in the driver’s seat. “Dog, she wants me to meet her at the La Quinta.”
Rainbow rubbed his chin, eyeing him in his peripheral vision for a moment before he smiled. “Shit, looks like you’ve got to knock those boots there, my nigga.”
Sparkle’s expression turned to serious concern. “Bow, she asked me about the robberies, man.”
“So?”
“So, are you forgetting she’s a cop. The top cop, at that?”
Rainbow shook his head, not wanting to accept that his old buddy was actually leery about Bevy, the girl they’d practically raised from a little girl. He took a deep breath. “Hell naw, I’m not forgetting that she’s a cop, but I’m also remembering the Bevy that I know, the Bevy that you know, the Bevy that could bust any of our asses every day of the week but has always let us know when the bull’s eye is pointing right at us.”
Sparkle cocked his head to the side and sighed. “Okay, okay, I feel ya. Anyway, I’ve got about an hour before she gets the room and calls me back. Whatcha wanna do ’til then?”
“Shit, man, we’re gonna beat her to the hotel, that’s what we are gonna do.” He paused to light another cigarette off of the one shrinking in the corner of his mouth. “Besides, we got to cut this stuff up somewhere. Might as well get it done while you’re digging up in her, man.” He flipped his eyes to the Adidas saddle- bag they had gotten from ‘B’ earlier.
Sparkle flinched at the term he had used, referring his “digging” into Bevy, but hell, that was exactly what he’d be doing. He didn’t really expect anything different from his boy; that’s the way he was used to referring to women, regardless of who they were.
“So, in other words, you want to see her come and go. Get rid of her as soon as possible, huh. I thought you trusted her so much.” Sparkle smiled shyly.
Rainbow laughed. “Yeah, I do and like you said yourself, she the top cop. Hey, what can I say? I’m still a cautious kind of fella.” He stared out of the window. “Man, she’s gonna reveal a lot more to you than she would me. She always has, you know. And that’s because she’s always been in love with your curly-haired ass, man. Tell me this, why you think she’s never gotten married, dog? It surely ain’t because she hasn’t wanted to. She’s been waiting on you, dude.”
Sparkle cocked a brow and leaned against the door trying to come to grips with what his boy had said. He’d felt it for a long time, and he’d always hoped it was that way, but he didn’t want to believe it. So to get his mind off of it he bent down and picked up the saddlebag. He dug inside to get one of the red Ziploc bags. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he took out a straight shooter and dipped it into the cocaine. After getting himself a real Scottie blast, he passed a refilled shooter over to Rainbow.
He leaned against the headrest and exhaled the smoke out slowly into the air. Hmm! That shit felt good. He waited until Rainbow had gotten a good one. “You right, dog, she’s always kept us up on the heat and it surely couldn’t hurt to find out all she knows. Shit, all her info comes from her troops and her snitches.”
Rainbow shook his head because the blast had really rocked him, too. “That’s what I’m saying, dog.”
Sparkle took one more blast, pinched his nose. “Tell you what, soldier, I’m gonna get out and walk the last five or so blocks to clear my head a little bit, aight?”
Fifteen minutes later, Rainbow pulled over to a Sonic convenience store to let Sparkle out and then drove ahead to get a room at the hotel.
Sparkle bought a pack of Kool cigarettes, a Crunch bar and a sixteen-ounce Colt 45 and started walking down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace. When he got to within eyesight of the La Quinta, he saw a car stopped at the red light with the window down. Beverly was staring straight ahead and didn’t notice him. He was tempted to shout out to her but held his tongue.
When she pulled into the parking lot, Sparkle started running. He ducked into a phone booth across the street to watch her. While she was in the office getting a room, he saw Rainbow step out of a room on the second floor and head down the tier. Aw aw, panic attack. What do I do now? he thought. This wasn’t in the game plan at all.
He rushed out of the booth and ran to the opposite side of the registration office, barely avoiding her seeing him as she turned away from the sign-in clerk. He waited for her to leave the office before he stepped into the lobby and grabbed himself a couple of chocolate-covered donuts before he sprinted back out the door and raced to the other end of the building. He turned the corner just in time to catch Rainbow coming down the stairs.
Rainbow stopped in midstride when he saw the worried expression on his face. Sparkle waved him back up the stairs and ran to the edge of the building. He peeked around the corner and jerked back immediately when he saw Beverly walking toward them. Luckily, she had her head down rummaging inside her purse.
Whew, she hadn’t seen him. He jerked his thumb at Rainbow again before he stepped around the corner munching on one of the donuts.
Beverly looked up to see him approaching. Her face broke into a wide smile when she looked into his eyes. She didn’t say a word as she walked straight up to him and grabbed his hand and led him around to the other side of the building to a room on the corner.
While she was putting the key into the lock, he wiped his brow, relieved because of nearly getting busted right off the bat. Some-thing told him to look up. Sure enough Rainbow was leaning over the balcony with a Cheshire cat smile on his face rubbing his hands together and licking his lips. Sparkle put his hand behind his back, waving Rainbow off and followed Beverly into the room.
She put her purse on the lamp stand between the two beds, then turned to face him with a frown on her face. “Why didn’t you wait for my call?” She didn’t wait for a response as she sat down, crossed her legs and folded her arms defensively across her chest. “Is it because you don’t trust me? Whatcha think, I’m wired or something?” she snarled and opened her blouse to reveal a pink lacy bra and a pair of creamy chocolate 38 DD’s.
Sparkle stood there watching her, wondering why she was being so open, so quick. He ran a hand down his face, sat down on the other bed, twisted his neck from side to side. He was enjoying the tension-releasing sensation before he turned his gaze to her luscious titties and then her dark penetrating eyes. A tingling hmmmph ran down his spine as it always did when she looked at him in that way.
Running his index finger under his nose a couple of times, he pinched it. “Kinda full of yourself, ain’tcha, girlie, like always.”
She shifted her hips around the bed. “Is there a reason that I shouldn’t be?”
He couldn’t take his eyes off of hers as his lips slowly curled into a warm smile. He leaned forward to balance his arms on his knees and studied her intently for a few moments. He licked his lips before pursing and popping them. “If you were any other woman, I’d say, yeah, but you ain’t any other woman so I say, hell yeah.”
Her eyes narrowed without her really realizing that they had. He had certainly gotten her attention, that’s for sure. She blinked her long lashes a few times and arched her brows. She got lost in his stare, as if she was hypnotized. Dayum, she hated the effect his eyes had on her, as a tingling shot all the way to her stomach; the bastard.
He didn’t miss her reaction and spat game further. “Woman, you know that you’ve always been number one in my heart.”
She reared back and gave him a nasty snake roll of her head before she retorted, “Nigga, it’s sho hard to tell.” She took a deep breath. “Baby, baby, baby, why you got to stay in this street-life bullshit? Ain’t you suffered enough already because of it? I know that I have. Shit, I’ve been waiting all my life hoping and praying that you’d get out of it. You ever considered that a girl might want to have a house full of little Larrys for you?”
Ooooh, Rainbow was right; she real deep with this here. He knew he had her because there certainly wasn’t no top cop in her right now.
She took a deep breath and placed a hand on his knee. She didn’t feel close enough. So she reached over with both of her hands, embracing his face as her eyes started to mist up. “Because you’re the only man I have ever loved, the only man that I could ever love, have ever wanted to love. Why can’t I be more important to you than the streets?”
He held her hands and slowly lowered them into her lap. “Why can’t I be more important to you than your badge?”
She slid her hands around his and laid them in his lap. She parted her lips to say something when she felt the heat; the hardness began to throb against hers.
His eyes squinted into slits as he watched her face, her nose flare. He could feel and see a woman in the throes of lust. No, not lust, love. He licked his lips as his eyes invited hers into his and then into his heart. She accepted the invitation more than willingly and brought her face closer to his; her eyes begging him to love her.
She certainly didn’t have to do no begging; she didn’t even have to ask for he was filled up with her as much as she was with him. Her lips parted slightly as her eyes started to close. Even though he wanted it, the touch of her lips caught him by surprise.