by Wahida Clark
“Don’t let me sleep long.” She turned over and then cried, “B, they shot him. One of those bullets could have hit me. He fell right on top of me. Was he dead B?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think so. Shan please try to relax and get some sleep. I’ll see if I can find something out.” She ran her hands through Shan’s hair and rocked her to sleep. Then she got up and turned out the light.
Brianna tried calling Woo but kept getting his voice mail. She put down her cell phone to answer the house phone.
“Hello.”
“Hey. What you doing? I need to swing by.” It was Shadee.
“I got company right now. But I’m glad you called.”
“You got a nigga over but you’re glad I called? Girl you full of shit! You know that, right?”
“A nigga? It’s my girl Shan. You can come over. I gotta talk to you about something.”
“Shan, huh? A’ight. I’m on my way.”
As soon as she hung up, the phone rang again. “Collect call from Skye at the Wayne County Jail. Will you accept?” Bri was caught off-guard and her heart was jammed in her throat. Oh, shit! The county jail? She thought to herself.
“Skye?”
“Yes. Will you accept the call, ma’am?”
“Uh, um, yes, yes, I will.”
“Go ahead, sir.”
“Yo Brianna! You got me fucked up!” his voice screamed through.
“Skye? Where are you?”
“In fuckin’ Detroit waitin’ for my boy to post my bail. You better hope my man is here before our prints come back! Your man Peanut that you put me up on? That nigga was hot as fuck! Then on top of that, you didn’t tell us he’s into all that gangbangin’ shit. He been getting his ass beat. I even heard that they busted him a new asshole. He’s fucked being that he’s way down here in enemy territory.”
“How y’all get way in Detroit?”
“Don’t worry about that. You need to worry about what’s gonna happen if I don’t get out before my prints come back. If my boy don’t come through you better find a way to get down here.”
“What about who you had with you when you got locked up? Was it a total loss? What about Peanut? Can’t y’all bail him out too?” Brianna was having trouble breathing. It was taking everything within her to not freak out.
“Bitch, what you been smokin’? How we gonna rob the nigga then get him out of jail? That defeats the purpose! Don’t go catching feelings for him now. You didn’t have no feelins when you put me on him.”
“Skye, I don’t want nothing out the deal, just get him out. That’s my girl’s brother.”
“You wasn’t getting shit no way! The whole deal went bust. But I’ll see what I can do as far as lookin’ out for him. Dude in a fucked up situation.”
“Don’t try. Do something Skye! The whole deal ain’t go bust because your boy is out and he’s gettin’ you out. Nigga, don’t try to play me. A deal’s a deal.”
“Trick, I said I’ll see what I can do.” Click.
Brianna grabbed a pillow off the sofa, put it to her face and went to bawling like the rotten low-down bitch she was. She stayed in that position for the next twenty minutes, all the way until Shadee came knocking on the door.
When he stepped inside he looked at Brianna in tears and immediately regretted that he stopped by. He was not in the mood for any female drama. And he damned sure didn’t want to hear about that Atlanta bullshit. Plus, he had absolutely no more love for her. He went straight to the back to where his safe was and deposited some dope and cash.
“Where’s your girl?”
“She’s asleep in my bed.” She looked up at him. “Sha, I don’t know what I’ma do. I really fucked up this time. Oh, God, I fucked up. Sha, I don’t know what to do.” And she burst out crying once again.
Shadee sat on the sofa across from her, stretched out his long legs and placed his hands behind his head. Yeah, bitch, shed them fucking tears. ’Cause what I got for your bitch ass, you ain’t gonna like. He thought to himself.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She jumped up and ran into the bathroom.
“Looking at you like what?” he hollered after her.
Brianna dried her face, grabbed some tissue and peeked in on Shan, who was still sleeping. She came back into the living room and sat down next to Shadee.
“Sha, I really fucked up this time. My shit has finally caught up with me. I don’t knock tha next man’s hustle. So why do thugs and bitches always gotta knock mines?” She grabbed an ashtray, pulled out a joint, and lit it with trembling hands. “Sha,” B continued, “do you know what my hustle is?” She passed him the joint and watched wide-eyed as he took a long pull.
When Sha finished coughing he said, “Yeah, I know what’s up.”
“You do?” She looked surprised.
“Brianna that’s your problem. You think everybody is stupid.” He glared at her with contempt. “You ain’t as game tight as you think you are.”
She buried her face in her hands and was silent for a few minutes. “Why do you still fuck with me Sha?”
He smiled. “Like you said, ‘don’t knock tha next man’s hustle.’ Plus, who am I to judge?”
“But Sha, I really, really…my hustle is getting knocked right now. I fucked up big time!”
“If you play B, you gotta be ready to pay. That’s part of the game.”
“I know. But I didn’t mean for my girl’s brother to pay.” She blew her nose. “This nigga Skye I hooked up with, I put him on my girl’s brother. Well, things got botched somehow, at least that’s what he told me and they are locked up in Detroit. But that’s not all. It gets even more fucked up.” She blew her nose again. “Peanut is a gangbanger and Detroit is enemy territory. They’re beating him up and raping him,” she bawled and blew her nose again. “And they’re probably gonna kill him Sha, and it’s all my fault!” She burst out crying again. “Shan is my family Sha. I set her brother up. I did shit to a lot of niggas. But how low did I have to go? My best, shit, my only friend! And on top of that, I fucked one of the only niggas that really got love for me and is not out to use me…You, Sha,” she mumbled.
“Come again,” Sha said, knowing damn well what she was getting at, but couldn’t believe that she was actually going to confess. He pulled out his own blunt.
“I fucked you Sha.” Brianna, for some reason, felt the need to confess. “I set you up before Sha. Hook and Rob was most likely with him. I owed Hook and I knew you was coming to get something small. I know you always put a little something aside for the robbers.” She blew her nose. “So I knew it was no big deal. But then I saw you with them stitches in your head…Sha, I am so sorry. You could have gotten killed. I just thought that you would give them what you had on you. I was scared to tell you Sha. I’m so sorry. If I could take it back, I would.” She was now crying so hard he thought she was gonna throw up.
For the next ten minutes Sha smoked on his blunt as Brianna cried. The only thing he was thinking about was implementing his plan on paying this bitch back.
“Sha.”
He looked at her. “What’s up?” It was taking all of his manpower to not put both hands around her neck and squeeze until her eyeballs popped outta their sockets.
“I’m sorry.”
“I ain’t sweatin’ it. I just have to charge it to the game.”
Brianna looked at him and could feel that that’s what his mouth was saying but she knew that he was disappointed in her.
“Fuck!” she said out loud.
Sha stood up to leave.
“What am I gonna do?” she pleaded with him. “Peanut is stuck in jail. I don’t know if he got somebody to bail him out or not. Shan’s over here. I know he’s been calling her house. We’ve been at the mall all day.” Briggen getting shot was the last thing on her mind. “If I get him out myself, he’s gonna know I set him up. If I don’t get him out, that’s not fair to him or Shan. What do you think I should do?”
“Get who
out? And I know you ain’t sheddin’ them kind of tears for Briggen.” Shan was standing in the living room with Brianna’s robe on. “Hoe, what have you gotten yourself into now?”
14
FOREVER
Forever smiled as he went to meet Nyla as she rushed through the visiting room doors and jumped into his arms.
“Babee!” she squealed as she kissed him on the lips. “Thank you for the roses!” She gave him another big kiss. “Thank you for the minivan.” She kissed him again. “I love you so much.” Kiss. I heard this car horn beeping in the driveway; I was like, who in the world is that! It was almost 11:00. Babee, why didn’t you tell me?”
Nyla was talking a mile a minute she was that excited. Today was her birthday and she took off from work to come visit Forever. She was hoping to get a minivan to accommodate her new floral arrangements/party favorites business. What had started as a hobby had blossomed into a part-time business.
“As long as you’re happy, you know I’m happy. Happy Birthday baby.” It was his turn to take a few kisses. “Where’s my other baby?” Forever wanted to know.
“In school where she belongs. This is my day.”
“She’s gonna whip your ass if she finds out you came to see her daddy without her.”
“She is, ain’t she? That girl is something else.”
“So are you. She’s just like her momma.”
“You got some picture tickets, right?”
“Of course. It’s my baby’s birthday and look at you.” He spun her around. “Lookin’ all cute, wearing my ‘Forever make me cum’ skirt. You know I like that shit.” He pulled her close.
“You better like it! I know you got my freak letter last night. Didn’t you?” She was grinning.
“Yeah I got it.” He kissed her on the lips.
“And?”
“It was a’ight.”
“A’ight? Nigga please! Don’t make me hurt you.”
Forever laughed. “It was good.”
“Good huh?”
“Mmm-mmm.”
“Well? Tell me what you liked the best. Tell me something!”
“Or what?”
“Stop playing Forever.” She pulled away from him.
“A’ight. A’ight. Come here!” He pulled her back. “Let’s see. Where should I start? With all them different positions? Those were hot! Or you giving me a full body hot oil massage? I liked that. Or us bustin’ nuts at the same time? Hmmm?” He kissed her on the cheek. “Or, should I start with you licking the whip cream off my dick and swallowing my cum? Or how you really got creative and described how you want me to slurp a Twix outta your pussy?” Nyla couldn’t help but laugh. “So, where do you want me to start?”
“I was pretty creative wasn’t I? Just the thought of that Twix makes my pussy hot,” she whispered in his ear as she slid her hand down and squeezed his dick. “Give your wife another kiss.” She ran her hand up and down his dick while he sucked on her tongue.
“Yo! Break that shit up! This ain’t the Radisson!” Zeke yelled.
Nyla ended the kiss and looked back at Zeke. “Why you tryna block?”
“And I love you too, Cousin. Now come here!” She broke away from Forever and met Zeke halfway. Zeke gave her a big bear hug. “Happy Birthday Cousin! How old did you say you were?” he teased.
“I didn’t. Nigga how you gonna send me a birthday card with no money in it?” She punched him in the arm.
“Ow!” he yelled. “Hey, officer!” he joked. “Now you know I got you baby cousin. Your birthday ain’t over yet!”
“You better have me or else your ass is cut off!” she threatened.
“Where’s my other baby cousin?”
“In school where she belongs. Like I told her father, this is my day.” The two females who were watching them caught Nyla’s attention.
“I ain’t mad at you.” Zeke peepin’ out what had her attention said, “Let me introduce you to Crystal and Danisha.”
“Crystal and Danisha,” she repeated and he laughed. “Zeke, how many hoes do you have? Let me find out you pimpin’ behind bars!”
“Cousin, I already told you. Hoes is like pants to me. Depending on my mood that’s what I’ll go and get into.”
“That’s really pimpish of you.” Nyla snapped back. “Especially since you’re in prison. Y’all are only allowed five pairs of pants, right?”
That got a laugh outta Zeke. “Naw, Foreal, Foreal, this is business.”
“Mixed with pleasure, I’m sure. So I guess the other hoe pulled Forever out.” Nyla slid in.
“Yo, Forever! Get your woman dawg.” Zeke gave her another hug then went back and sat between Crystal and Danisha.
When Forever took Nyla by the hand she sarcastically asked, “Where are we gonna sit?”
“I want you to sit over here for two minutes, and I’ll be right with you.”
“What? You gotta tell your hoe good-bye?”
“That hoe is the force behind that brand new minivan parked in your driveway,” Forever snapped and walked away.
He was back in two minutes just as he had said. He sat in front of her and pulled her to the edge of the seat. She had an attitude, refusing to look at him and kept both arms and legs crossed.
“You ain’t stoppin’ nothin’,” Forever said as he ran his hand over her calf, up the back of her thigh, then under it and then plunging two fingers into her pussy.
“Foreeever,” she moaned.
“What?” He was moving his fingers in and out as he leaned over and kissed her lips. “I know you gonna let a nigga handle his business right?”
“Daddy, that feels good.” She kissed him on the lips.
“Answer me Nyla. You gonna let a nigga handle his business, right?”
“Yes.”
“A’ight then. We gonna start this visit all over again.”
After the visit, Forever ended up in the Education Department mopping the floors when he looked up and saw Shan coming down the hall. Her eyes were puffy; she was causally dressed and didn’t appear to be her normal vibrant self. She went straight into her office without even acknowledging him. After he finished mopping he put away all of the supplies and went to check in. He knocked on the door and then pushed it open.
“Do you need anything before I go back to my unit?”
She looked up at him. “Do you mind washing out that coffeepot and making some more? Please?”
“Not a problem.” Forever grabbed the pot and scrubbing pad. When he came back she was just hanging up the phone and tears were flowing down her cheeks. He grabbed the box of tissues, passed it to her, then went back to making the coffee. He glanced over at her.
“Yo Ma. You wanna talk about it?” She shook her head no. “Why?”
“Thanks for making my coffee. You can go now.” She blew her nose.
“Why don’t you want to talk about it?”
“Why should I? It’s none of your business.”
“I could be of some help. You never know.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Try me. You’ll never know unless you do.”
She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes.
“Try me,” he urged. He kept staring at her until she gave in.
“Okay, Mr. Big Shot around the tier. I need $35,000, like yesterday.” She leaned back into her chair, folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.
Why do women always fold their arms across their chest when they’re pissed? he asked himself.
“What? Cat got your tongue, Mr. Big Shot?” She smirked as she watched him close the door and then pour her a cup of coffee.
“How much sugar you want in this?”
“It doesn’t matter. So? What’s up?”
“You want some cream?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“A’ight. I’ll make it like me, brown and sweet.” He winked at her, then stirred the coffee, handed her the cup and sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk.
“Thanks. You can go now.”
“I thought you needed some assistance like yesterday?”
“Yeah, I do and nothing has changed in the last two minutes.”
“We can help each other out.”
“Meaning?”
“You need the cash and I need some packages delivered, like yesterday. So like I said, we can help each other out.”
“Forever, don’t play with me. This is no fuckin’ joke.”
“Do I look like I’m playing?” They glared at each other for a few minutes.
She turned on the radio. “You got my attention.”
Forever grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil. “I’ma give you a name and number. Call him and tell him you’re calling for Silk. He’ll arrange to meet you and give you a package. Thursday night you got between 8:30 and 9:15 to drop it in the middle garbage can in the employee parking lot.”
“That’s it? Will that work?” This seemed too easy for Shan.
“Depends on you. Eight-thirty, no later than 9:15. Can you handle that?”
She stared at him. “Are you a cop?”
“No. Are you?” he asked, already knowing the answer. He’d done thorough research on her before contacting his boy Skye.
“No. Can I get the money on Thursday when the package is dropped off?”
“The agreement is packages dropped off. Not package.” He was watching her closely. “Are you in, or what?”
“I’m in but I told you I need the money like yesterday.”
“I’ll see what I can do. A’ight?”
“A’ight.”
Forever got up to leave. When he got to the door he said, “And for the record, I’m not the big shot on the tier. I’m the HNIC of the whole prison.” He winked at her, turned and left out. “Damn. Shit played into my hands better than I thought. And I don’t even have to fuck her. I owe my man Skye big time for this one!”
15
PEANUT AND SHAN
“Hey, Youngblood,” ole man Smoke said to Peanut.
“What’s up, OG?” Peanut raised up on his elbows. He had been sleeping with one eye open and one eye closed since they took him into custody. Ex-Blood or not, he still was in Crip territory. He was surrounded. Once he gave the Blood handshake to a homie being discharged it spread like wildfire. Not even an hour later he had his first altercation, where only words were exchanged. The following morning three Crips asked him what set he represented. He told them that he didn’t get down like that no more and walked away. At lunchtime as he turned the corner heading for the stairs, he was slashed across his back.