by Deja King
"What? I hope it's not another gift. You've already done too much for me."
"I could never do enough for you. You have such a huge heart, always willing to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. That's why I worry about you so much."
"As long as I have you to protect me, IT be fine."
"For sure, but this is for you." Carmelo picked up an envelope that was on the table and handed it to Nichelle. She opened it and was confused.
"What is this?"
"It's the title to the Benz. It's paid in full, but I took it out of my name and put it in yours."
"Why? I don't need the car in my name. I know you got it for me."
"Because if anything happens to me, I want to make sure that you have it. When I picked out the color, rims, interior, everything about it was beautiful, unique and special, just like you."
"I love you so much, not because of the car or crib or all the things that you buy me, but because I know that you really love me as much as I love you." Nichelle held Carmelo tightly, as if she never wanted to let him go. She felt their bond was unbreakable, and each day it seemed to become stronger.
"Girl, I'm so glad we came. I see mad cute niggas up in here," Tierra said, sizing up every dude in the spot... and the women. She needed to get an idea what her competition was looking like.
"There is a full house. I never knew this spot was so nice. I've already counted over twenty plasma televisions, and every bowling lane got big leather couches for you to sit back and relax on. They even got a children's party room. Simone definitely has to come next time so we can bring lil' Anthony."
"Fuck all that, Nichelle. Let's go upstairs. That's where the sports bar is. You know crazy cute niggas at the bar."
Nichelle followed Tierra to the upstairs bar area. As soon as they stepped on the hardwood floor, some dude grabbed Tierra's arm, spitting game. Tierra gave him all of thirty seconds and moved on after seeing his jewelry and shoe game wasn't to her liking.
The ladies then found two stools at the bar and sat down. They both sat in silence for a few minutes as Tierra examined all her potential prospects. Nichelle knew what she was doing, so she purposely sat in silence not to interrupt her mission.
Right when Tierra felt the upstairs action was a bust, a cutie approached her that had excellent probability written all over him. "What's your name, sexy?" the tall, Chris Brown look-alike asked. Light skinned men weren't really Tierra's taste, but he had a little ruggedness thing going on that she could work with.
"Tierra, and this is my friend Nichelle. What's your name?"
Nichelle simply nodded her head to say what's up. She never got too friendly with Tierra's potential prospects, because there was no telling how long she would keep them around.
"Theron. So, can I get you ladies something to drink?"
"No, we straight."
"Well, how about we go to the VIP lounge and talk? There isn't a place for me to sit at the bar, and I want a chance to talk to you... get to know you a little better."
"That sounds like a plan to me. Come on Nichelle, Theron is going to take us to the VIP lounge."
Nichelle grabbed her purse and followed behind them. When they got there, that's where BET was filming some segment. The mood was much more upbeat and there were a lot of scantily dressed women, even though it was dead in the middle of winter.
"I'm sitting over here." Theron directed them to the rust orange couch against the brick wall. There were a few other guys sitting there and a couple of women. Tierra glanced at the other dudes to see if she found any of them more appealing than Theron, but from first look, it seemed he was the catch of the crop.
Nichelle sat patiently as Tierra and Theron chatted it up. Tierra decided to have a glass of champagne, but Nichelle declined. At this point, she was bored and thought any sort of liquor would put her to sleep. She kept eyeing her watch, hoping that Tierra would be ready to leave soon. A few men would come over to try and kick it with Nichelle, but she would give them all the blank face stare, so they got the hint and kept it moving, except for one.
"Can I speak to you for a minute?" At first Nichelle simply ignored him like she did with the two previous guys, but dude wasn't going for that. "Hello, can I have a word with you?"
This time Nichelle looked up and gave him the blank face stare. That look normally always worked to get rid of a man. But the dude persisted. "What do you want?"
"Aren't you friendly," he countered sarcastically.
"Listen, I have a man, and I'm not interested in talking to you, so can you go bother somebody else."
"Actually, I wanted to speak to you about business."
"Business? Dude, I'm in high school. There can be no business you can discuss with me."
"Wow, you're young! Are you at least eighteen?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Nichelle was quickly getting annoyed and wanted the man to go away."
"My name is Akil, and I saw you and your friend when you first walked in."
"Hum hum..." Nichelle was letting it be known he was irritating her, and he needed to hurry up and get to the point.
"I'm working on something in the next few months, and I need a model."
"Again, what does that have to do with me?"
"I think you would be perfect."
"As the model?"
Akil smiled, and Nichelle stared at him and didn't know whether to laugh or tell him he needed to step it up and come with better game when trying to get a girl in bed. Instead, she kept it simple, because she didn't feel like having any drama. "No thanks."
"You must think I'm joking, but I'm serious."
"No thank you, I'm not interested," she said firmly, hoping that this time he would know she meant business.
"What's your name?"
"Nichelle, why?"
"Nichelle, take my business card. If you change your mind, give me a call. I'll definitely remember you."
"I'm sure you will," Nichelle smacked, as he walked away. "Tierra, are you ready to go yet? Because I need to get home."
"Yeah, I was about to tell you let's bounce. Theron, it was good meeting you, but me and my girl about to roll out."
"I'll call you tomorrow. Maybe we can go out to dinner."
"That might work. I'll let you know," Tierra said, not wanting to appear too anxious. Tierra reciprocated Theron's slight hug and headed out. "Girl, he's a cutie, and I think he got some chips. I might have to try him out."
"You do that."
"And I saw you talking to a cutie yourself? Who was he?"
"A nobody trying to sell me some modeling dream, thinking I would give him some ass." Nichelle looked down at the business card he gave her before tossing it in the trashcan.
"I wonder how Simone's date with her boo went tonight," Nichelle thought out loud as she drove over the Queensboro Bridge.
"I know, right? I have an idea."
"What?"
"Let's drive past her crib. She said after dinner they was going back to her place."
"What is driving past her crib gonna do? What, you gon' knock on the front door?"
"No! But, we might recognize the nigga's car parked out front, and we won't need for her to tell us who her so called boo is `cause we'll already know."
"Girl, you might be reaching. Ain't no telling who she fucking wit'."
"Just drive past her crib, it can't hurt. It ain't like we going out our way. We have to go in that direction to get to my place."
"Fine. You so damn nosey."
"Stop acting like you don't want to know too."
"You right, I am curious, especially after that money she gave you. Whoever dude is, he can't be hurting too bad in the money department."
"Exactly. And let's be clear, ain't many niggas hitting bitches off wit' paper right now. The recession done worked its way all the way up to Wall Street and down to `Hood Street."
"Tierra, you ain't got no damn sense!" Both ladies laughed as Nichelle turned onto Simone's
block.
"Slow down," Tierra said. "I need to look at each car carefully to see if I recognize one. Oh, no the fuck!"
"What?" Nichelle put her foot on the brake, nervous by Tierra's outburst.
"Nichelle, go up a little bit more. I think that's that sorry ass Radric's Range Rover up there. I know Simone wouldn't be fuckin' wit' Radric's ass behind my back... and that nigga giving her money! I got something for both of their asses!"
"Tierra, calm the fuck down! You might be jumping to conclusions. We don't even know if that's Radric's car."
"We `bout to find the fuck out!" Tierra jumped out the Benz and ran up to the truck. There was another Range Rover parked right beside it.
The very next second they both heard sirens, and Nichelle looked in her rearview mirror, noticing the police cars were coming in their direction.
"What the hell is going on?" Nichelle rolled down her window and stuck her head out, "Tierra, get back in the car." But Tierra stood there frozen, not making a move.
"Put your hands up!" the police officer yelled, pointing a gun towards Tierra's back.
Nichelle saw a couple of people looking out of their windows, and a few came and stood on top of their front stairs. She was waiting for Simone to come out and clown them for lurking on her block. She waited for a few minutes to see what the police officers were going to say to Tierra, but when she saw them putting her in handcuffs, Nichelle knew she had to see what was going on.
"Excuse me officer, but why are you putting handcuffs on my friend?"
"This woman is with you?"
"Yes, we just got here. We came to see a friend of ours who lives right there," Nichelle explained, pointing to the building Simone lived in.
"We haven't been able to get two words out of her. Maybe she's in shock."
"Shock over what?"
"This is a crime scene. I'm going to need for you to move back," the officer ordered Nichelle.
She walked over to Tierra, who was sitting in the backseat of the police car with the door open.
"Is she under arrest?" Nichelle asked the other officer, totally puzzled by what was going on.
"Not yet," he answered coldly.
"Then can you take these handcuffs off of her?"
Without warning, Tierra bent over and vomited on the ground, getting some on Nichelle's boots. "Tierra, are you alright? Would you please help my friend!" Nichelle screamed out.
By this time, more police officers were on the scene, and the ambulance had showed up.
While one of the officers tended to Tierra, and with all the chaos going on, Nichelle used the opportunity to see what had her best friend so shaken. She quickly ran up to the two Range Rovers that were parked side by side, and when she got a clear view of the crime scene, everything became a blur, then she fainted, knocking herself unconscious as her head hit the concrete.
elc~me ~=
C~j
eartGreCl~,
Do you really believe it's better to have found love and lost it, than to never have found love at all? I suppose that's a question that only each individual knows the answer to. But street love is some of the strongest around. It's the kind that never dies.
"No, no, this isn't happening! Somebody help me, pleeeeease!" Nichelle screamed out, fighting her way through a nightmare.
"It's okay, baby, I'm right here," Nichelle's mother whispered, holding her daughter as she awoke from her sleep.
Nichelle was breathing hard and drenched in sweat. "Where am I?" she asked, opening her eyes. When she tried to sit up, she let out a sigh. "My head is killing me," she said, feeling the knot on the back of her head. She turned and saw Tierra standing behind her mother, who was still holding her.
"You're in the hospital. Tierra, can you go let the doctor know that Nichelle woke up?"
"Sure, Ms. Martin, I'll be right back."
"Ma, what's going on? Why am I in the hospital?"
"You don't remember what happened last night?"
Nichelle closed her eyes, and images of what she saw started flashing in her head. She tried shaking them out of her mind, because she didn't want to believe they were real.
"No...no...no! Ma, this can't be real! Simone can't be dead!" she cried with tears flooding down her face. "And Carmelo. . .Oh God, Carmelo is dead too!" she covered her face with her hands and just wept uncontrollably.
When Tierra came back in with the doctor and saw Nichelle crying, she ran over and hugged her. "I'm so sorry, Nichelle. I can't believe Carmelo, Radric and Simone are all dead."
"Oh my goodness, Tierra, Radric was in the truck! He was in the truck with Carmelo!" It was all beginning to come back to Nichelle. "Simone was in the other Range Rover, but who was she with?'
"That dude, Marley."
The name sounded familiar to Nichelle, but she couldn't remember where she heard it from.
Tierra could tell Nichelle was having a hard time, so she tried to jog her memory. "Remember the dude's birthday party we went to awhile back?"
"That's right, he was Carmelo's people. I remember him saying they did business together."
"Ladies, I know you're going through a hard time and I don't want to interrupt, but Nichelle, I need to examine you quickly and make sure you're okay," the doctor said.
"Sure," Nichelle said, in a daze. While the doctor examined Nichelle, Tierra sat down in the chair next to Ms. Martin.
"That could've been you and Nichelle in one of those cars shot dead," Ms. Martin said, solemnly. "I don't know when you girls gon' learn that these streets don't love nobody. If these tragic and senseless murders don't make you girls stay away from street thugs, I don't know what will.
Tierra understood that Ms. Martin meant well, but she wasn't trying to hear it. Her daddy was a hustler of the streets, every man she ever dealt with was a hustler on the streets, and she too hustled the streets. To dismiss all of that would be like dismissing herself and the people she loved and respected. Risking your life was one of the downsides of being in the game, but the upsides were so much more-fast money, designer clothes, bad ass cribs and cars. You could never get that breaking your back everyday working a nine to five.
Tierra was devastated by the deaths of Radric, Simone, and even Carmelo, but when you play the game, you know that you can also die from the game.
The next day, Nichelle left the hospital and went to stay at her mother's place. She wasn't ready to go back to the home she shared with Carmelo. Part of her still hadn't accepted that he was dead. She kept replaying the last kiss they shared, the last words he spoke, and how it felt the last time he wrapped his arms around her.
"Nichelle, are you sure you don't want me to spend the night with you? Your mother's at work, and I hate for you to be alone."
"I appreciate the offer, Tierra, but I'll be fine. I'm not gonna be doing nothing but staying in bed and cry all night anyway."
"That's okay, I can stay and cry with you."
"I guess God knew what he was doing by keeping you around, because I don't know what I would do if he took you away from me too." Nichelle's eyes filled with tears as the loneliness of losing the love of her life engulfed her.
"You don't have to worry, God don't want no part of me. I'm much too scandalous for what He got going on up there," Tierra said, pointing her finger up. "He gon' keep me right here on Earth so I can continue to create havoc for the rest of the crazy people like me. Plus, He knows I have to protect you. You're one of the good ones."
"I always thought Carmelo would be here to protect me. It's like I can't breathe." Nichelle held her pillow tightly to her chest and soaked it with tears.
Tierra wanted to console her friend, but there wasn't anything she could do. She knew Nichelle would have to deal with the pain of losing Carmelo in her own way, and in her own time. All she could do was be there for her through the process. "Would you like for me to get you anything before I leave, Nichelle?"
"No," she said, choking back her tears. "Have you had a chance to talk to Simone
's mother?"
"Yeah. Of course she's taking it hard. Then poor lil' Anthony, he's only a baby, but he can tell something ain't right. When I was there, he was looking around as if he was waiting for his mother to walk through the door. That shit tore me up."
"I know. My heart breaks for that little boy, having to grow up without his mother."
"And then that piece of shit daddy he got. Do you know that nigga was talking shit about Simone in front of lil' Anthony and her mother?"
"Saying what?"
"That if Simone hadn't been fucking wit' a known drug dealer like Marley, she wouldn't of been shot dead."
"That nigga got some nerve!"
"Yeah, especially since he do the same dirt. He a jealous nigga, because Marley was a major player in the game, and he was and will always be a low level pusher. That shit ate him up that Simone had upgraded to a real boss."
"I guess we finally found out who her mystery boo was. Too bad it had to be under these circumstances," Nichelle said, tossing her pillow on the floor. "The cops still don't have any idea who's responsible?"
"No, and with all the unsolved murders in New York, I doubt they ever will or care to."
"How did the cops even know to come there?"
"From what I was told, somebody that lived on Simone's block heard gunshots and called the police. But of course, nobody saw nothing or actually witnessed the murders."
"Do you think it was a robbery? And why was Carmelo in the car with Radric?" Nichelle wondered.
"Maybe they were doing business together. I don't know."
"I have so many questions and not enough answers. Four people shot dead, and don't nobody know shit. Welcome to Queens!"
The day of Carmelo's funeral finally arrived, and Nichelle dreaded going. She still hadn't gone back to their condo, but felt it was time to do so. But first, she needed to go and watch Carmelo be put to rest. That was going to take all her strength, and she was relieved that Tierra was going with her. She wanted her mother to escort her too, but like always, she had to work.
"Tierra, I know Carmelo wasn't a friend of yours, in fact you didn't even like him, so thank you so much for going with me. I could never handle this by myself."