Pandora's Box

by Coffee

  As painful as it was for her to admit, she just didn’t fit in his life the way it was now.

  “You sure that’s what you want to do?” Kanari asked her to be sure.

  “No, but it has to be done.”

  “Well, whatever you do, do not sleep with him because then you gon’ end up stayin’.”

  Her eyes rolled to the back of her head just thinking about the withdrawals that were sure to come. “We can’t do it once and call it goodbye sex?”

  “Hellll no! Didn’t you say he got the magic stick that took yo ass to a mystic land where you discovered unicorns were real or some shit?”

  Blu laughed through her tears. “Yea, I told you to call me Pegasus that day.”

  “This is what I know. Good dick will have you puttin’ up with shit you shouldn’t, so don’t do it.”

  “Damn! No more seeing purple horseshoes, green clovers and blue diamonds for me.”

  “I’ll buy yo ass a box of Lucky Charms. Just stick to your guns, sis.”

  Blu stopped chuckling and took a more serious tone. “I will. I’ll just tell him that I overestimated my ability to go through this situation and—” Blu removed the phone from her ear when she heard a sound. “That’s him. I’ll call you back.” She hung up the phone and threw all of his mail back into the drawer, meeting him upfront.

  Eli sat down on the sofa, resting his elbow on the arm of the couch and rubbing his thumb over his bottom lip, thinking.

  She recognized his low conscious as she sat next to him. She curiously asked, “What’s the matter and where’s Peaches?”

  “She with her mama?”

  “I figured that much but weren’t you going to get her?”

  Elias sat soundless for a moment but then he spoke. “I’ma say this but I don’t want you asking me nothing about it until I bring it back up to you?”

  She shook her head yes without uttering a word. “Peaches isn’t mine.”

  Blu’s mouth dropped open. She didn’t know what to say but she promised she wouldn’t anyway, so she didn’t try.

  She just consoled him silently, choosing not to bring up Samiyah and the money he shelled out on her. It appeared fate had it that she wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

  ***

  G’Corey sat in front of the TV zombiefied, looking at his wedding DVD. He’d been doing the same thing every day for the last two weeks.

  “Bitch, you is sad.” Skittles shook her head at him, cutting the television off. “You gotta get a grip on yourself because you startin’ to weird me out, for real. You don’t even look the same no more. Have you seen yourself lately?”

  He didn’t answer her because it wasn’t relevant to him. Instead, he flowed his thoughts off the top of his head.

  “Skits, the woman I married would have never played me like she did. She wouldn’t have looked me in my eyes, say she’ll meet me only to set me up.” G’Corey shook his head in disappointment. “Had I been a duck and sat up in that restaurant, Yuriah and them would have took me out. Why the fuck would she do that?”

  Skittles could tell G’Corey was out of touch with reality, so she had to level him a bit.

  “You a real dickhead, bruh. That girl is scared of you. You actually thought you was just gonna pop up one day, say a couple I love yous and shit was gonna automatically go back to normal? Yep, I’m convinced your stupid ass get a check on both the first and the fifteenth. Be honest.”

  G’Corey glared at her. “Do I look like I’m in the fuckin’ mood to play with you?” He cut the DVD back on. “That girl is my fuckin’ world and at one point I was hers. But she got too many muthafuckas crowding her view and she can’t see that now and I’ve played it cool for far too long. I’m not sitting on my hands no more. I’m ‘bout to move shit up out of our way.”

  “And what is that supposed to mean?”

  “Keep watchin’ the news.”

  Chapter 29

  Six weeks later…

  “Can you believe we gon’ be graduating next week?” Ace asked before he turned the grab bag of Cheetos upside down into his mouth.

  “Huh bruh. It’s been a long time coming but we made it.” BG held his middle fingers up. “And fuck everybody who said we couldn’t do it, too.”

  “Yea, ole pussy ass thuggahs can all suck our dicks.” Ace grabbed his crotch.

  BG looked at him sideways. “Nah, I ain’t inviting no man to suck my dick, ya heard me. What type of faggot ass shit you on?”

  “Fuck you, man. You know what the hell I’m talkin’ ‘bout.”

  “Word that shit differently, ya dig.” BG straightened him out.

  “I’m tired of you playin’ with me, bitch. Come get some.” Ace squared up to slap box.

  “These hands ain’t what you want.” BG got up from the stoop and met Ace on the porch.

  The boys exchanged licks and dodged others. Ace was cold with his but BG was colder. After a minute of horse-playing, BG called for a time out.

  “Damn! You seen her before?” BG turned Ace’s head in the direction of the cutie he spotted.

  Before the young girl could walk past Ace’s house, BG caught her attention. “Say, lil’ mama, I can walk wit’chu?”

  “You don’t know where I’m goin’.” She stopped to address him.

  “It don’t matter.”

  She looked around for a second like she had to ponder her reply. “Yea, it’s cool. Come on.”

  BG turned to Ace. “A’ight, bitch, I’ma fuck back wit’cha in a few, you feel me.” BG slapped hands with Ace twice before doing some elaborate handshake that called for forearm touches, special grips and a snap.

  “Ya betta, bitch. Remember, you gotta cut my hair for tomorrow.”

  “A’ight.”

  “Dawg, come the fuck back today,” Ace reiterated.

  “Mannn, quit whining like a lil’ hoe.” BG grinned.

  They pounded each other off again and then BG trotted down the steps of the porch to meet up with her.

  He pulled up his pants to prevent them from sagging further below his behind although they still dropped back to its original spot. “Where we goin’?”

  “Up’ta Keys Corner Store.”

  He boldly threw his arm around her neck and she automatically wrapped her arm around his waist. BG flashed his handsome smile and dimples. “I likes that, ya heard me. Hold on to yo thuggah.”

  She laughed like she found him funny but she liked his confidence. “My thuggah? What if I got an ole man already?”

  “You don’t but if you do, he lame as fuck. ‘Cause if he was handlin’ business, you wouldn’t be cheesin’ as hard as you doing.” He referred to the smile plastered across her face. “So, what’s yo name, bay-bae?”

  “Paulette but everybody call me Pee fa short. What’s yours?”

  “BG.”

  “What dat stand fa? Born Gangsta or something?”

  He chuckled, “Nah, but I can dig dat, doe. He stopped walking, removed his arm from around her and raised the sleeve of his shirt, exposing the tattoo going across his arm.

  “Baby Goon,” she read it aloud.

  “But you can just call me Baby, ya dig.” He placed his arm back around her neck and continued walking.

  “Well, Baby, why dey call you dat? And is you some kinda D-boy or something?” She fingered the rope chain around his neck.

  He frowned before he broke out in a grin. “What type of question dat is? You the Narc or somebody?”

  She giggled, “Yea, I’m dem people and I’m ‘bout to put yo cute self on my house arrest.”

  “Girl, you gon’ make me steal a kiss.” He looked down at her plump lips.

  “You ain’t gon’ have to steal it.” She got fresh back with him. “Let me stop being bad.”

  “I like bad, ya heard me. And to answer your question, I don’t fuck around with no dope. That ain’t my life.”

  “That’s good. Alright, next question. Booker T. Washington or LB Landry?”

  “This my last ye
ar at Booker T.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then I’ma be a rapper.”

  “Oh, you nice wit’ it?”

  “Hell yea! Ya boy got skills.”

  “Oh, yea? Kick something fa me, then.”

  They now stood on the corner of Louisiana and S. Robertson in front of the store when BG agreed.

  “A’ight then. I’ma run dis freestyle real quick, ya heard me.” He started shifting his hands back in forth in the same manner a deejay using a turn table would as he found a beat in his head to flow to.

  If you ain’t a head busta, then you can’t get crap/Should have listened to ya boy when he said carry that strap/Either on ya waistline or the small of ya back/And when swervin’ through the city keep that thang on ya lap/‘Cause these mu’fuckas will test you, they ain’t playin’/Try to knock your brains out like Kurt Cobain.

  “Ah oh! That boy fire like cayenne.” Pee motioned her hands in the air in a triple pat manner and then headed for the door. “You coming in?”

  BG had missed a call from Munch while he was rapping that he had to return. “Nah, I’ll wait out here. But get me a Delaware Punch and pay for yours, too.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty.

  “Alright. Thank you,” Paulette walked inside.

  He dialed Munch and when he heard his voice, he responded, “Wuz’am?”

  “Wuz’am is yo big brother got somebody who wanna put chu on.”

  “You being for real? You ain’t fuckin’ around?” BG started walking excitedly in circles, talking with his hands.

  “Come on, man. I wouldn’t pull yo leg.”

  “Awww, man. It’s ‘bout to go down!”

  “Where you at right nah?”

  “Uptown. Where else?” he asked rhetorically. He didn’t roam outside of the third ward too much. “I’m at Keys, though. ‘Bout to head back over by Ace unless you need me to be where you are.”

  “Yea, holla at me. I’m at Raw Musik Studios. I’ma shoot you the address and I need you to get here ASAP ‘cause this man waitin’, ya heard me.”

  “A’ight. I’ma be there in a hot minute.” BG relaxed his hyper for a moment and turned serious. “Dawg, I been waitin’ for dis moment my whole life. Thanks, big brudda. I fucks with... Nah, fuck that. I love you, man.”

  Munch laughed at him. “I know dis ‘cause you show dis. See you in a minute, lil’ brudda. And you know I fucks wit’chu, too.”

  “Heavy.” BG hung up and like the true performer he was, he broke out in dance and started spitting some rehearsed lines he wrote from the other night.

  Paulette came outside to see him in concert mode, commanding the sidewalk like it was his stage. He was amped up. She didn’t know why but she joined in.

  “Heyyyy,” she sang, throwing her hands in the air and snapping her fingers before she placed her hands on her knees, arched her back and lift her rump to pop.

  BG turned to face her and got more excited when he saw her just as crunk as him. “You a cool lil’ mama, yea. I’m feelin’ you already. So let me run down somethings you need to know as my woman…”

  “As your woman? When did that happen?”

  “You not gon’ be my girl?” BG’s smile was impossible to resist.

  “But you don’t know me.”

  “Yet. I don’t know you yet.”

  “But…”

  “But this,” he stepped up to her and kissed her lips and when she didn’t slap the red off of his skin, he kissed her again.

  “Whoa!” She pulled back and smiled at how much she liked his assertiveness.

  “Now like I was saying, as my woman, you can’t be with all that fussin’ because The Kid gonna be spending mad time in the studio. A thuggah brother just called him to let him know we on and poppin’.”

  “Ah ohhh!” Pee went in to dap him up but he slapped her hand away.

  “You ain’t the homie.”

  Pee blushed and then kissed his jaw. “Is that better?”

  “Much.”

  As she was handing him his cold drink and change, his phone rang.

  “Hol’ on.” He answered the call. “Wuz’am?”

  “Man, is you on your way or what?” Ace didn’t want BG fading him at the last minute.

  BG looked at his watch. “Mannnn, I been gone for what, fifteen minutes and you sweatin’ me? Go change your manpon, bitch.” BG laughed at him. “Look here, I’ma have to postpone yo shit ‘til later because I have to get to the studio, ya dig. Munch lined a lil’ something up. You wanna roll with me?”

  “Do you even have to ask? You know I’ma be dipped off in that thang with you…”

  BG made a few grunts as he listened to his homie with his head down, eyeing his fresh white G-Nike.

  Then a strange feeling came over him, telling him to look up. When he did, he saw Pee’s eyes grow the size of saucers as her mouth opened in the form of an O. He didn’t know what called for her petrified reaction but he was ready to face it and then get the fuck from off of the corner.

  Dropping his phone to the earth, he lifted his shirt to pull his banger off of his waist so when he turned around he could blast, if he had to.

  Sure enough when he spun around, he understood Pee’s fearful expression. In a split second, he was faced with an up-close view of the barrel from the assailant’s heat.

  In all but a second, BG bit his bottom lip infuriatedly as he raised his gun to pop off.

  With no words, no hesitation, he pulled the trigger twice.

  Bow! Bow!

  The shots rang loudly. The piercing sound was deafening.

  Soundlessly, Pee stood there shaken, in shock, unable to move from her spot.

  Moments later, the death of one man made the streets come alive. People came cautiously walking up from different directions, curiously seeking to see if the victim laid slain on the sidewalk was any friend or kin of theirs.

  ***

  “I know dis ‘cause you show dis. I fucks wit’chu, too, lil’ brudda. See you in a minute.” Munch text him the address to Raw Musik.

  He’s on his way?” Gerran asked the moment he saw Munch slide his phone into his pocket.

  “Yea. He’ll be here, ya heard me.”

  Gerran nodded his head and then smiled as he turned on a track he recently mixed down for BG’s sound. He then stood up from his seat and started rocking to the hard hit of it. “Yea, this that shit right there. I can see youngin’ goin’ hard on this bitch.”

  Munch bobbed his head in agreement. He could picture BG killin’ it, too.

  “Your brother got skills. How old is he again?” Gerran lowered the volume and sat back down, excited to meet the young talent.

  “He seventeen but he be on some next level shit, ya dig,” Munch spoke highly of BG’s creative flow.

  Gerran looked down at his ringing phone. “I’ma take this call. You good?”

  “I’m straight. Handle you.”

  Gerran stepped out and Munch looked around the studio, imagining BG in the booth laying down something nice.

  At that very moment, he couldn’t be any prouder than he was right then. If the numbers on the contract were official, then his brother was on his way to living his dream. And as of next Saturday, Nicholas McMillan was graduating at the top of his class with honors, fulfilling their father’s dream.

  Munch had a silly grin on his face and he wasn’t even trying to wipe it off. He wondered what his Pops would tell him if he was there.

  He tapped his chest twice and then pointed it to the ceiling. With a fatherly type of pride, he boasted. “We did it, Pops!”

  ***

  “BG?” Ace heard what appeared to be his phone dropping. He waited a few moments, surely he’d pick it up. A few uncomfortable seconds passed and right as he was about to call his name again, he vividly heard two gun shots ring out. “Yo, BG, what the fuck? BG?”

  Shit didn’t feel right to Ace. The same clapping sound he heard from outside rang 3D in his ear. So he rushed to the back
room of the house, grabbed his gat, stuffing it in his waistband and flew out of the door.

  Ace ran so hard and so fast it almost looked like his feet barely touched the pavement. He prayed to God that BG’s sudden silence and the double shots he heard had nothing to with his homie getting crossed up. But he didn’t believe in coincidence, so he pushed up the two blocks even faster.

  When he saw a group of people huddled in one section, Ace knew to go there as well. He slowed up to a jog, surveying the scene. The closer he got up on it was the wilder his heart raced. Shit ain’t right, he thought when he saw the girl BG pushed up on traumatized as she looked down at the body he still wasn’t close enough to recognize.

  “Aye, man, don’t go over there lil’ brother.” The OG stretched out his arm to block him, but Ace pushed it out of his way.

  He walked up on the backs of people, blocking his view. He needed to get see what they saw. Ace speared his hands between two bodies. “Move! Move!”

  They parted for the teenager and when they did and he caught his first glimpse. He spun around and lurched forward. Bluh! Bluh!

  Ace heaved up the contents in his stomach when he saw BG’s bloody body sprawled on the ground with half of his face blown off. He threw up so long he was barely able to breath.

  On lookers knew the boys’ relationship all too well. They never saw one without the other. The fellas were thick as thieves and virtually inseparable, so when Ace started bawling, everyone knew why.

  “Aaaahhhhhh!” Ace groaned in agony. Never had he felt pain like this before. Even when his own brother was murdered it didn’t devastate him like this was. Then again, he was fortunate not to see him slumped over the steering wheel of his car when he was shot up, either.

  The crowd grew bigger and circled around BG, looking at him like some spectacle. That angered Ace, so he pulled out his gun and waved it from left to right, right to left.

  “Back the fuck up. Ain’t shit to see here.” Tears still cascaded down his face but he was serious than a muthafucka.