by C. J. Hudson
When they got there, Butter was standing over a sleeping Deuce. The young boy had fallen asleep playing video games. Had it not been for the headphones covering his ears, the noise would have surely awakened him. Butter, much to her dismay, was given the task of staying with the child while the other women handled business with Carol. She wanted to be in the room with the action, but there was no reason for her to be there in Sunny’s and Joy’s eyes. Jazmine was Sunny’s right hand, so she was going to be there. Dani and Kim needed to be tested, so they had to be there. But none of them had any reservations about Butter’s get down. There was just something in her that screamed that she was about that life.
“Everything good out here?” Sunny asked Butter.
“You damn skippy. Just watching this li’l nigga sleep. Sunny, I can’t believe you put my ass on babysitting detail,” Butter said, frowning.
“Get over it. Let’s get ghost,” Sunny said.
“What about this little fucker here?” Dani asked, motioning toward Deuce.
“Oh, that’s easy,” Butter said, as she pointed her gun at the young boy’s face and prepared to fire.
“No!” Dani yelled. A split second before Butter pulled the trigger, Dani pushed the gun away from Deuce’s face. The loud bang jolted the young boy out of his sleep. Unlike the other guns, Butter’s didn’t have a silencer on it. The child sprang up and grabbed his ears. His eyes were open wide, and his breathing was heavy and labored. His head spun quickly as he tried to take in his surroundings. Although he caught glimpses of everyone in the room, one face stood out. It was one that he would never forget.
“Bitch, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Jazmine yelled.
“Ain’t shit wrong with me. This little muthafucka is a witness,” Butter said.
“Bitch, you really are crazy,” Sunny said. On the outside, she was just as shocked as everyone else, but deep inside, she was already thinking about making Butter her assassin.
“Look, your psycho ass ain’t about to shoot this child. I’ll handle this,” Joy said, pulling a burner cell phone from her pocket. After dialing 911 and informing them that she heard a gunshot coming from next door and giving them the address, Joy grabbed the young child by the hand, took him into another room, and told him to stay there.
“Where’s my mommy?” he asked with tears cascading down his face.
“She went to get you some ice cream,” Joy lied. “Just stay in here until she gets back, and you’ll have all the ice cream you can eat.”
“What kind is she getting?” he asked, suddenly smiling.
“What kind do you like?”
“Chocolate is my favorite.”
“That’s what kind she’s getting you.”
“Yayyy!”
“But you have to stay in here until she gets back, okay?”
“Okay. Can I watch television while I wait for her?”
“Sure, you can.”
With a gloved hand, Joy picked up a remote and clicked it on. After leaving the room, she called Sunny into the bedroom, where they had just murdered the child’s parents. As she and Sunny made their way away from the group, she looked over her shoulder and glared at Kim. As soon as they got into the bedroom, she whirled on Sunny.
“You know that bitch can’t be trusted, right?”
“Come on, Joy. Kim ain’t used to this shit. Maybe we should cut her some slack.”
“Cut her some slack? Have you lost your damn mind?” Joy asked, trying to keep her voice down. “That bitch is gonna get you and your whole crew locked the fuck up one day.”
“Joy, I know her better than you do. And like I said, we should cut her some slack.”
“Well, that’s not up to you.”
“Excuse me?”
“I didn’t stutter. I said that’s not up to you.”
Sunny placed her hands on her hips and glared at Joy. She didn’t have anything against her, but she wasn’t about to let his father’s fuck buddy tell her what to do.
“And just what makes you think that it’s up to you?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, her cell phone rang. Joy smiled at Sunny.
“You’re gonna wanna answer that,” Joy said.
“Hello?” Sunny answered, looking at Joy suspiciously. When the caller on the other end relayed instructions to Sunny, her face dropped.
“But—”
“But my ass,” the caller screamed into her ear. “Just do it.”
After hanging up, Sunny stared daggers at Joy. No one was aware of it, but Darnell had been listening to the entire episode. Joy had called him and put her phone on speaker mode just before exiting her car.
“You can stare at me all you want, but we both know that I’m right.”
“This is some bullshit, Joy.”
“No, this is some necessary shit, Sunny. I know you’re pissed at me for bringing this to your father’s attention, but trust me, we know what we’re talking about.”
With that, Joy went back into the other room, rounded up the rest of the girls, and ushered them toward the door. When Kim made her way to fall in step with them, Joy stopped her.
“Not you, Kim. Sunny wants to talk to you.”
With her head down, Kim walked over to her friend. She knew that she had fucked up by not following orders, but Kim just couldn’t bring herself to pull the trigger. She may have been hood, but she wasn’t a murderer.
“Hurry up. We haven’t got much time before the cops get here.” Joy shook her head in disgust as she looked at Kim one last time before walking out the door.
“I’m sorry, Sunny. I know that you’re disappointed in a bitch, but I ain’t no killer. Give me something else to do in the crew. I mean, let me count the money or some shit like that.”
Sunny looked at her longtime friend like she had lost her mind. Count the money? Is this bitch serious?
“Count the money?”
“Yeah, I mean, a bitch can do some shit like that. Or I can do some slick credit card shit.”
The more Kim talked, the more Sunny realized that she indeed wasn’t cut out for the game. No matter how cool she and Kim were, she just wasn’t about that life. Joy’s words echoed in her head.
That bitch is gonna get you and your whole crew locked up one day.
Rubbing her temples, Sunny turned and walked away from Kim. When she turned back around, she had her gun in her hand. Tears were streaming down her face. Her eyes had already begun to turn red. It was only then that Kim realized the severity of the situation she was in.
“Su-Su-Sunny . . . What the hell are you doing?”
“Kim, you’re a liability. I can’t have someone in my organization that I can’t depend on.”
Kim’s eyes got big as Sunny pointed the gun at her and cocked the hammer. Seeing that her friend was deadly serious, Kim fell to her knees and began weeping.
“Oh God, Sunny, please don’t do this. You don’t have to worry about me. Even if you tell me I can’t be a part of the crew, I would never ever snitch on y’all.”
“I know you won’t,” Sunny said, just before pulling the trigger.
Chapter 25
Damon sat at his kitchen table, sipping on a glass of Hennessey and chopping up a clump of weed. He was in deep thought as he tried to put the finishing touches on a plan that would put him on the king’s throne and put his boss, Darnell McCord, in the grave. He was stressed and needed some relief. He checked the time and frowned. He’d texted Dani seven minutes ago and told her in no uncertain terms that he was horny and wanted to fuck. Although he knew that it took her much longer than that to get there, he still expected her to ask how high whenever he said jump. For the most part, she did, and even Damon himself had to laugh at his unrealistic expectations that she get there faster than humanly possible. It would take her at least twenty minutes to get there, and even that was pushing it. Damon could afford to think like he did. Not only had he dick-whipped Dani to the point where she would do damn near anything for him, but he a
lso had so thoroughly mind fucked her that he could convince her that ice cream wouldn’t melt in hell.
“The fuck this bitch at?” he said out loud as he dumped the chopped-up marijuana into cigar paper. After lighting the blunt and taking a puff, Damon closed his eyes and blew the smoke through his nostrils. If Dani’s information was correct, he needed to come up with a plan ASAP. He was the next big thing in the city, and he would be damned if he let some young thot nudge him out of his rightful position. Damon had made Darnell a lot of money during his tenure as a capo. Some of his soldiers wondered why he wasn’t worried about Turiq becoming the next king, but he would never give them an answer when they asked him about it. He would only smile sinisterly. Only he knew that whenever he cashed in Darnell’s ticket, Turiq’s was going to be punched as well. He had it all planned out, but now he discovered that Turiq wasn’t the heir apparent at all, and it galled the fuck out of him to learn that Sunny was going to be the next boss. He was just about to text Dani again when there was a knock at his door.
“About damn time you got here,” he yelled. “Bitch, what took you so muthafuckin’ long?” he questioned as he yanked open the door.
“Well, they do give you a lot of time when you do the shit that I did.”
When the door was fully open, Damon was surprised to see who had come to visit him. He was an older cat with a block-shaped head and a strong jawline. His thick frame was stacked with muscles, the kind you have when you don’t have anything else to do except lift weights and read. His salt-and-pepper hair was matted to his head to the point where the spaces in between the braids were barely visible.
“Oh shit, if it ain’t my uncle Eric. What’s good, fam?”
The two men embraced and gave each other a tight man hug. Although Eric’s body odor was a little on the rancid side, Damon wasn’t going to let that stop him from showing his kinfolk some love. The last time Damon saw his uncle, he was being handcuffed on the news. Whether it was bravery or stupidity, and some folks felt that it was both, Eric had come up with the bright idea to single-handily rob a Brinks truck in broad daylight. The plan was flawed from the beginning, and in the end, Eric ended up getting seven years for attempted armed robbery. Although his lawyer had done a hell of a job to get his recommended sentence reduced, Eric was still angry. In his mind, it was society that had put him in the position of committing crimes. Now, seven years later, he walked out of Grafton Correctional Institution, a free man. However, the problem with that was that he didn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. He was flat broke. That revelation was the situation that brought him to Damon’s doorstep.
“All right, Nephew. That’s enough of this damn hugging,” Eric said, pulling away from Damon. “The next thing I wrap my arms around is gonna be soft and tender.”
Eric’s voice was deep and authoritative and made Damon feel like he was a child again.
“I hear that, fam. Bring your ass in here and have a drink.”
“Now that’s what the fuck I’m talking about.” Eric followed Damon into the kitchen. His mouth watered as he watched his nephew pour him a glass of liquor. It had been awhile since the taste of alcohol burned his throat, and he longed for the sensation. He tossed the drink back and frowned.
“Damn, that shit strong. Let me get another one.”
Eric didn’t drink the second one as fast, preferring to sip this time instead of guzzle. Damon picked up the blunt that was still burning in the ashtray and took a pull. He extended it to Eric, but his uncle quickly declined.
“Nah, man. I can’t fuck with that right now, Nephew. At least not until I see my probation officer one or two times. Hmmm,” he said, rubbing his chin, “my probation officer is a bitch. Maybe I can slip her a piece of this dick, and she’ll look the other way about a drug test.”
The hearty laugh from him that followed sounded like a lion’s roar.
“So, what’s good, Nephew? I hear that you’re the man next to the man out here in these streets,” Eric said, getting down to business. He’d shot the shit long enough. Now he wanted to talk about getting his paper.
“Huh? Where the fuck you hear that at, Unc?”
“Nephew, you’d be surprised the shit that comes through the prison pipeline. We probably hear more about what’s going on in the streets than the niggas who are actually in the streets. What I want to know is, is the shit true?”
Damon smiled. He loved the fact that he was being thought of as a big deal by people in prison. “Yeah, I make a few coins, Unc.”
“Good, good. That’s just what the fuck I needed to hear ’cause I need to find a way to make some bread. Got a spot for ya’ ol’ uncle on ya’ team?”
The wheels in Damon’s head immediately started spinning. Along with Moon and his other soldiers, Damon had already quietly begun assembling an array of rebels looking for their moment in the sun. Adding his cash-thirsty uncle to his squad would only enhance its strength.
“You know, Unc, I think I may have a spot for you after all.”
“Good shit, Nephew. Just tell me whose head you want me to crack.” To emphasize the point, Eric slammed his fist into his hand twice. “Make no mistake, Nephew. Ya’ uncle is down to put in that dirty work if you know what I mean.”
Damon knew precisely what his uncle was getting at. His uncle had always been prone to violence.
“I hear you, Unc. As a matter of fact––”
Before Damon could get to the meat and potatoes of the discussion, someone knocked at his door.
“I hope that’s a bitch ’cause I need some pussy badder than a muthafucka,” Eric said seriously.
Damon laughed hard as he went to answer the door. On his way there, his cell phone buzzed in his pocket.
“The fuck this bitch calling for, and she’s at the front door?” he asked himself, thinking that it was Dani.
“Hello?”
“Hey, baby. Look, somebody got me blocked in, and I can’t get there. Can you come and get me?”
When Damon heard this, he stopped in his tracks. He wasn’t expecting anyone else, so when he heard Dani on the other end of the phone, it made him leery as to who was on the other side of the door.
“The fuck you mean you blocked in?” Damon barked. It suddenly dawned on him that she wouldn’t be giving up the pussy tonight unless he went and picked her up.
“Someone has my driveway blocked,” she told him. “There’s nothing I can do. That’s why I asked if you could come and—”
“Bitch, I don’t care if you have to drive across the fucking lawn. Just bring your ass over—”
Damon stopped in midsentence when he looked through the peephole and saw who was standing at the door. He smiled and nodded his head as his dick began to harden.
“You know what? Don’t worry about it, babe. We can hook up tomorrow,” he said.
“Tomorrow? But I thought you wanted some ass tonight. Please, babe, don’t do this to me. I need that dick.”
“It’ll be here tomorrow. Plus, I just remembered that I have some shit to do.”
“But—”
That was as far as she got before the line went dead. Dani smelled a rat. As much as Damon liked to fuck, there was no way he would let anything interfere with him getting some pussy. But more importantly to her, she wanted some dick. She needed some dick. His dick. And being blocked in wasn’t going to stop her from getting it. She had hoped that he would come to pick her up, but now that he’d refused, she had to go to plan B.
Chapter 26
After applying her lip gloss and checking herself in the sun visor mirror, Rita leaned back against the headrest and bopped her head to the music. It had been awhile since she’d gone out with her homegirl Janine, and she couldn’t wait to get to the club and shake her ass. She was also hoping to luck up on a baller.
“Girl, I hope there are some ballers up in here tonight. A bitch sure could use a few dollars,” she said. Rita noticed that Janine had been quiet ever since she’d picked he
r up. She started to ask her about her attitude but didn’t want to be brought down by her friend’s sour mood, so she just kept bouncing to the beat and staring out the window. It took her a few minutes to catch on, but when she did, she noticed that they were headed in a different direction than the club. A few seconds after that, it dawned on her where they were headed.
“Oh, hell no, bitch. I know damn well we ain’t stopping over that dog-ass nigga’s house.”
“Relax, tramp. It’s only gonna take a few seconds. I just need to holla at him about something right quick.”
“Why the fuck you keep chasing this nigga?” Rita asked, although she already knew.
“Girl, you just don’t understand.”
“Oh, I understand. Yo’ ass is sprung,” Rita said, laughing.
“Whatever, bitch. Ain’t nobody sprung. I just like getting fucked now and then.”
“And ain’t nothing wrong with that. But Damon has made it perfectly clear that he’d rather be with that dusty-ass bitch Dani. You need to leave that muthafucka alone.”
Janine was only half-listening to her friend. She’d never admit it to Rita but being dumped by Damon hurt her more than she’d let on. One minute, she was enjoying the benefits of being on the arm of a powerful drug pusher, and the next, she was relegated to the role of side bitch. Janine wanted Damon back so badly that she was willing to do anything to make it happen. She once sucked Damon’s dick in a crowded movie theater with the hope of having him promote her back to main chick status. Another time, Damon had her dance naked on Facebook Live just to prove to one of his boys that he could get her to do it. While Damon hit her off with bread from time to time, her main goal was to wrest his heart away from Dani. She didn’t know what kind of hold Dani had over him, but she was determined to break it.
She pulled up in front of Damon’s residence and cut her eyes toward Rita, who just shook her head. Without saying a word, she got out and headed to the front door. She had no idea if Dani was in there, but she just figured that she’d take her chances.