R.I.C.O.

by C. J. Hudson

  She’d been setting them up all day. Since eight a.m., Jazmine had pretended to be sick. Her father had just gotten over a cold, so she decided to use that to her advantage and act like he’d transferred it to her. It was an Oscar-worthy performance on her part, but she was careful not to overdo it. When she heard the door open and close, she knew that it was just a matter of time before she got out of the house to party. Hearing her father come up the steps, Jazmine quickly pulled the covers up to her shoulders and pretended to be asleep. She could hardly wait for him to check in on her and then leave. In no more than thirty minutes, she wanted to be in the middle of the floor, shaking her ass. She closed her eyes just as he opened her bedroom door. His footsteps were heavy as he walked over to her bed.

  “Hey, Jazmine, wake up,” he said in his heavy baritone voice.

  “Yes, Dad?” she answered, feigning sleep.

  “Get up and get dressed. Sunny’s downstairs. She’s staying with us for a couple of days.”

  The mere mention of Sunny’s name caused Jazmine’s eyes to pop wide open. The last person on this earth she wanted to be bothered with was Sunny’s spoiled ass.

  “What? Can’t she go somewhere else? I don’t feel like being bothered with her behind.”

  Turiq took a deep breath. He was hoping that his daughter wouldn’t react like this, but he should’ve known better. The two girls had never gotten along. They were first introduced at a barbecue thrown by Turiq when he moved from Baltimore to Cleveland. An unforeseen circumstance had forced him to plant roots in Ohio. He’d heard about the kind of cake that Darnell was getting in Cleveland and wanted a piece of the action. Pointed in the right direction through one of his Columbus connections, Turiq moved swiftly to secure a meeting with the C-Town shot caller. At that meeting, Tariq was given a take-it-or-leave-it-offer of being called Darnell’s second in command. Turiq wasn’t particularly feeling the idea, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew that in this game, your time could be up at any moment. Plus, with the amount of money he stood to make working with Darnell, he could afford to be patient. After agreeing to Darnell’s terms, Turiq decided to throw a barbecue and invite his new boss and his daughter. He hoped that the two young divas hit it off and would become best of friends, but that plan backfired in a hurry. From the second they locked eyes, it was evident that they didn’t care for each other.

  Sunny never wanted to attend the barbecue in the first place. She’d stayed up all night messing around on her computer and talking to her friends, so all she wanted to do was sleep all day. Darnell knew she hadn’t gotten much sleep, so he made her go as a consequence for not going to bed.

  On the other hand, Jazmine wanted to go to the movies and was extremely pissed off when her father told her that she would have to do that shit some other time. As they were being introduced, Sunny and Jazmine sized each other up. The first one to speak was Sunny when she made an unflattering remark about Jazmine’s forehead. The comment earned her a hard stare from Darnell. Jazmine responded by making a similarly mean remark about Sunny’s short haircut. Tensions ran high between the two young ladies for the rest of the evening, neither willing to give the other the satisfaction of conversation. Since it was apparent that no bond was being formed, they were both instructed by their fathers to avoid each other, Jazmine, in particular.

  Aligning himself with Darnell had provided Turiq with a significant influx of cash, and he wasn’t going to let his hardheaded daughter fuck it up. The two young ladies hadn’t been within ten feet of each other since that day, but they were suddenly about to be forced to cohabitate for the next two days. Turiq sat on his daughter’s bed. He had a good thing going with Darnell. Not only had his income tripled since he came aboard, but he’d also convinced Darnell to let him invest in his construction company.

  “Look, Jazmine. I know that you don’t like that girl, but—”

  “I can’t stand her ass, Daddy,” Jazmine said, cutting him off.

  “First of all, little girl, watch your damn mouth. And second, why can’t you stand her? Give me a reason.”

  Jazmine opened her mouth to speak, but she quickly closed it. Truth be told, she didn’t have a legitimate reason for disliking Sunny. Nor did Sunny have a good reason for disliking her. The two girls just rubbed each other the wrong way.

  “Uh-huh. That’s what the fuck I thought. Your bratty ass don’t have one. Now, get up, get dressed, and take your ass downstairs. And if Sunny tells me that you mistreated her while she was here, I’m pulling them damn keys.”

  Turiq’s last statement snapped Jazmine to complete attention. Being able to drive her car meant everything to her. Now, she was definitely going to be on her best behavior.

  “I guess the little tramp is going to be chillin’ with me, huh?”

  “Yep,” Turiq said, smiling.

  Jazmine frowned. That was the last thing she wanted to hear.

  Unlike Sunny, Jazmine wasn’t a virgin. She’d felt a dick sliding in and out of her before. And tomorrow, she’d planned on rendezvousing with a young man she was secretly seeing. Well, to the general public, he was a young man. But the fact that he was 24 years old explained why she was seeing him secretly. Jazmine knew that her father would skin her alive if he ever found out. She didn’t want to even think about what he would do to Rick.

  Like Turiq, Rick was a drug dealer. However, his product of choice to distribute was marijuana. Jazmine loved to smoke weed, making their union a match made in heaven. Neither one of them, however, was under the illusion that they were in a monogamous relationship. As a matter of fact, Jazmine had planned on sampling some new dick that she was expecting to come to her house before she went to the party. But thanks to Sunny’s punk-ass father, her little plan was now shot to hell. After Turiq was gone, Jazmine reluctantly climbed out of bed and threw on a pair of Nike basketball shorts and a T-shirt. She grabbed her cell phone and her laptop and headed downstairs. When she got to the living room, she found Sunny sitting on the couch with her arms crossed. Her father was sitting next to her talking to her.

  Yeah, you’d better talk to the bitch. I’d hate to have to check her ass in here, Jazmine thought. She smirked when she saw Darnell wag his finger at his daughter.

  When Darnell saw Jazmine, he got up off the couch and walked over to her.

  “How are you doing, young lady?”

  “I’m fine, Uncle Darnell.”

  “How have you been?”

  “He ain’t none of your damn uncle,” Sunny mumbled under her breath.

  “Did you say something, young lady?”

  “No, sir,” Sunny answered her father.

  Darnell and Turiq looked at each other and just shook their heads.

  “These two . . .” Darnell said as he and Turiq headed out the door.

  “We’ll be back in a couple of hours. Try not to kill each other,” Turiq said as he followed Darnell outside.

  “This is some bullshit!” Jazmine yelled when she was sure that her father was far enough away that he couldn’t hear her. “I had plans tonight. But now, I gotta stay here and babysit yo’ ass!”

  Sunny stopped scrolling Facebook and looked up. She stared at Jazmine for a few seconds before setting her cell phone down next to her.

  “What the fuck you mean by that?”

  “Just what I fuckin’ said.”

  Sunny smiled. Three seconds later, she stood up, walked over to Jazmine, and got nose to nose with her. “Let me tell you something, bitch. My father is King Shit around here, not yours. So, don’t get it twisted! You ain’t babysitting no-damn-body.”

  “Whatever, bitch,” Jazmine said to the back of Sunny’s head as the young diva turned and walked back to the couch. Without saying a word, Jazmine picked up her laptop and left the room.

  Five minutes later, she returned with not only her laptop but also a glass of vodka mixed with orange juice.

  “Look,” she said after taking a few sips, “I am about to have some company in about ten minutes, so I’m
gonna need you to get ghost.”

  Sunny laughed out loud. “Yeah, right, bitch. Where the fuck am I supposed to go?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t give a fuck. I just need you to be the fuck away from here.”

  Sunny looked up from her phone and smiled. “How much you gon’ pay me?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard what the fuck I said. How much are you gonna pay me to disappear? Since you want to be a smart-mouthed bitch, I’m going to charge your ass.”

  “Uh, excuse me, but yo’ ass is the one in here bragging about how your father is King Shit of Cleveland. You should have some money.”

  Sunny gave Jazmine a condescending smile before reaching into her overnight bag and pulling out a wad of cash. “Bitch, I have plenty of money. But since you’re acting shitty, I want your money.”

  “I ain’t giving you shit.”

  Sunny shrugged and dropped back down on the couch. “Oh, well. I guess three’s fuckin’ company then.”

  Jazmine walked toward the couch.

  Not wanting to be at a disadvantage in case the situation went to shit, Sunny stood up. Once again, they were face-to-face.

  “I should beat the brakes off your ass,” Jazmine threatened.

  “Bitch, I wish you would try it. I’ll mop this muthafuckin’ floor with your ass.”

  Jazmine weighed her options. She wanted to swing on the little princess in the worst way but concluded that Sunny wasn’t worth her losing her car over. Shaking her head, she backed up.

  “You’re not as dumb as you look, bitch,” Sunny taunted.

  That did it.

  Fuck that car. I’m fucking this bitch up.

  Just before she could take a step forward, the doorbell rang. Sunny smiled. She had Jazmine by the balls, so to speak, and she knew it. Jazmine looked at the door and back at Sunny.

  “How much, bitch?” she asked, finally relenting to Sunny’s demands.

  “Well, it was gonna be fifty. But since I gotta be a bitch, it’s a hundred.”

  “A hundred? A hundred dollars?”

  “Nah, bitch, a hundred pennies. Hell yeah, a hundred dollars.”

  The doorbell rang again.

  “Time’s a-wastin’. That nigga ain’t gonna stand out there forever.”

  “How do you know it’s a nigga?”

  “Oh, my bad, bitch. I didn’t know you swung that way.”

  “Oh, I see you got jokes, bitch. I’ll be there in a second,” she yelled when the doorbell rang again.

  “Come on, now. Beat it, bitch.”

  “Not without my one hundred and fifty dollars. Every time you call me out of my name, the price goes up fifty dollars.”

  Jazmine ran up the stairs with a frown on her face, got the money, and came back down. She violently pushed the cash into Sunny’s hand.

  Sunny smiled as she went into the kitchen. “I’ll be in the kitchen drinking up y’all shit.”

  “The kitchen? You ain’t leaving the house?”

  “Leave the house? You a funny bitch,” Sunny said, as she grabbed her bag and made her way into the kitchen.

  “Fuck,” Jazmine mumbled as she stomped to the door. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. With a sexy smile on her face, she opened the door.

  “Damn, baby, I thought you was gon’ leave a nigga hanging,” her beau said, walking in. He frowned when he saw what she had on. “Hold up. Why you ain’t dressed? You don’t wanna go to the party?”

  “Hell yeah, I wanna go. But I found out earlier that my dad won’t be gone as long as I thought he would. So, if you want this pussy, you better bring yo’ ass on.”

  Jazmine grabbed his hand and led him to a door that led to the basement. Before they hit the bottom step, they were all over each other.

  * * *

  Bobbing her head to Lauryn Hill’s classic CD, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Sunny rummaged through the cabinets until she found what she was looking for. There was barely enough liquor in the bottle for her to fix a decent drink, but it was all she could find. She didn’t like orange juice, so she moved some things around in the refrigerator until she found a bottle of cranberry juice. As she mixed her drink, she snickered to herself as she thought about how she’d extorted cash from Jazmine.

  “That’ll teach that bitch to disrespect me,” she uttered. As she sat there sipping her drink and listening to her music, a wicked thought popped into Sunny’s head. For shits and giggles, she tiptoed into the living room to spy on Jazmine and whoever was desperate enough to give her the time of day. But when she got there, the room was empty. She crept to the stairs and was about to go up when she heard sounds coming from the basement. Sunny pulled out her cell phone and activated the video function. As quietly as she could, she opened the door to the basement and descended the stairs.

  I’ll teach this bitch to talk shit, she thought as she lifted her cell phone and got ready to record. Even though Jazmine had the lights dimmed, Sunny could still take a good video. She looked at the screen and damn near dropped her phone when she saw Jazmine sitting on a couch with her leg draped over Jamaal’s shoulder. Jamaal was eating her out like she was a Thanksgiving Day feast.

  “Jamaal? What the fuck you doing down here?”

  Jamaal jumped and stumbled back. Because he’d never seen the two girls together, he had no idea that they knew each other.

  “What the fuck, Sunny?” Jazmine yelled as she grabbed a couch pillow and tried to cover herself.

  “You know what? Nigga, you ain’t shit! Just earlier today, you were over my house trying to get in my pants, and now you’re over here eating this slut out?”

  “Hold up. Did you just say this nigga was over your house earlier? And just who the fuck are you calling a slut?”

  “Yes,” Sunny said, folding her arms.” And I’m calling you a slut.”

  Jazmine gave Sunny the finger as she glared at Jamaal. She’d wanted him to come over earlier, but he’d lied to her and told her that he had an “errand” to run. Now, she knew the truth, and it bruised her ego. He didn’t have shit to do. He just wanted to be with Sunny more than he wanted to be with her, and that shit hurt.

  “You lying piece of shit. You told me that you had errands to run, but now I find out that you were over at this ho’s house trying to get some pussy?”

  Jamaal looked from Sunny to Jazmine. He was confused as hell. The way they talked about each other, he would swear that they were mortal enemies, but here Sunny was chilling in Jazmine’s house.

  “Wait, y’all know each other?”

  “Don’t worry about that, muthafucka,” Jazmine screamed as she started pulling her shorts back on.

  “What the fuck you doing?” Jamaal asked.

  “Nigga, what the fuck it look like I’m doing? I’m getting dressed.”

  A scowl popped onto Jamaal’s face. He didn’t know what was up with these two broads, and he really didn’t give a damn. All he knew was that he’d come there to fuck, and there was no way in hell he was leaving without getting some pussy. Because of Sunny’s dad, he’d missed out on the kitty one time today. He wasn’t about to let it happen to him again.

  “Nah, fuck that shit. I ain’t leaving out of here without smashing something.” Jamaal took his sweatpants off. His rock-hard dick was pointing straight at Jazmine.

  “Nigga, you better get the fuck out of here before I—”

  Jazmine never had a chance to complete her sentence as Jamaal pushed her back down on the couch. Without a second thought, he pounced on her. He then placed his left forearm on her throat and pulled down her shorts with his right hand. Using his knees, he forced her legs open. After gripping his dick, he got ready to ram it inside of her. The tip had just begun to enter when Jamaal felt something cold and sharp press against the base of his penis.

  “Sssss, shit,” he grimaced as he started to feel pain.

  “Nigga, if you don’t raise the fuck up off of her, I’ll castrate yo’ bitch ass.”

  Jama
al slowly and carefully pushed himself off Jazmine.

  As soon as her lungs refilled with air, she got up and punched him in the face. She then ran to the other side of the basement, reached behind a picture on the wall, and pulled out a gun. With tears in her eyes, she stormed back across the room and slammed it into the side of Jamaal’s head. He crumbled to one knee. Blood trickled down the side of his face.

  “Bitch-ass nigga, I oughta blow yo’ muthafuckin’ brains out,” she screamed.

  Fearing for his life, Jamaal slid back against the wall. Jazmine approached him with murder in her eyes.

  Sunny didn’t know if she had it in her to pull the trigger, but she’d learned earlier that day the stain taking a life could leave on your soul. She walked over to Jazmine, placed her hand on top of the gun, and pushed it down.

  “Look at me, Jazmine,” Sunny said softly.

  But all Jazmine could see was the piece of shit in front of her. She continued to stare daggers at Jamaal, who looked like he was ready to piss on himself.

  “Jazmine, look at me,” she said louder.

  Jazmine slowly turned her head toward Sunny. She wasn’t a dummy, though. Out of the corner of her eye, she made sure to keep a close watch on Jamaal.

  “Jazmine, you don’t want to do this. Trust me, I know. Give me the gun.”

  Jazmine thought about it for a few ticks. Jamaal had come close to violating her in the worst way, and she wanted him to pay.

  “Nah, his ass gotta pay for this shit,” she said cocking the hammer.

  Jamaal’s dark skin turned purple. He said a silent prayer and begged the Almighty to rescue him from the predicament he now found himself in.

  “Oh God, Jazmine, please don’t shoot my ass! Let a nigga live!”

  “Muthafucka, shut the fuck up,” Sunny yelled. She held out her hand and waited for Jazmine to give her the gun.