by Mikal Malone
“I’m fine. I want you to know that I’m gonna find out who did this, Thick.” I told him as he released me to look into my eyes. He wiped the tears off my face with his large rough hand.
He looked down on me and said, “Baby, what you talking ‘bout? Me and my niggas got this! We know this ain’t have shit to do with you holding shit down in the EC. I just want you to be aight so you can do what needs to be done tomorrow. Shit is gonna be business as usual in the City, and we still have an operation to run.”
“But this is my fault.”
“Yvette!” he said, grabbing my shoulders. “Don’t worry ‘bout this shit, I got this! Believe that! I need you to keep focused. If them mothafuckas would’ve merked me, I would’ve expected you to be tough and be on post the next day. This is business.”
The thought of ever losing him hurt.
Thick leaned in and kissed me. My body melted into his as I inhaled his scent.
“You coming home tonight, baby? I mean….I know you been busy and all, but I really miss you.”
“I’ll try, baby,” he said softly. “But you know with shit being tight now, me and the niggas gotta handle all of Dex’s business and collect debt from a few folks who owe him. Truthfully, Daddy may not be able to play house for a little while.”
My heart dropped and I tried my best to hide my disappointment. But lately Thick hadn’t been coming home like he used to. I felt bad for reaching for his attention, using the death of my friends as a reason, but I needed him home. I tried everything I could think of to make him come home more often. I fixed his favorite meals, cleaned up the house when I could and even stopped fussing at him ‘bout dumb shit, but nothing seemed to work.
We had been living together in Emerald City for six years, but over the past year he’d stay with me once a week, if that. As far as I knew, he didn’t have another place, so I hated thinking about where he was staying. Whenever I asked him, he’d tell me he was in and out of New York handling business so he’d stay in hotels. I hoped it was true, but I knew in my heart it wasn’t.
I rubbed my hand over the scar left on his face from the car accident a few years back. For some reason it turned me on even more. His chocolate covered skin and 6-foot 4-inch body earned him the name Thick.
“I understand, baby. But don’t forget about me… Please don’t forget about me.”
“How can I forget about you, Yvette? You know that shit ain’t possible, but I need you to be strong.”
“I’m trying to be strong for you, Thick, but I don’t know how much more I can take in EC. I want to be with you. I’m ready.”
“You know now is not a good time, baby.” He sighed and his voice was heavy with irritation.
“I know, Thick, but me and the girls been training niggas on the side, so we can be ready to leave when shit finally takes off for us.”
“Don’t tell me you can’t handle shit!” His voice was deep and his facial expression changed. I could tell he didn’t like the idea of me preparing without him.
“I can handle it, baby, but-.”
“I know you can,” he cut me off. “You wouldn’t be out there if you couldn’t handle shit.”
A few people turned around and looked at us. That’s when I remembered we were at Stacia and Dex’s house having the repast. Just that quickly I had gotten lost in Thick and our conversation. I missed him so much that anytime he gave me attention, I sucked up as much of it as I could. I wanted every part of it, and if that was wrong, right now, I didn’t even care.
“Listen, baby. I’ma get you out of Emerald, but you gotta give me some more time. The only reason shit was easy for Dex, was because he impressed Dreyfus with the gatekeeper plan.
“We still living off his fame right now and unless we come up with something different. All we doing is seeing plenty of money but keeping none of it. Just stay with me, baby. Shit gonna be aight, and then we gonna get that big house we talked about,” he said as he reached in for one last kiss before he walked away, taking my heart with him.
I saw Mercedes and them with their men and I wondered if they were feeding them the same thing Thick fed me, and most of all, if they believed it. The only reason we were strong enough to hold Emerald City down was because of them and if we didn’t have them, we ain’t want no part of it, and that was the truth.
I scanned the room and watched grief dwell among the crowd. Slowly the gathering was turning from a somber event to one where people began to find joy in the memories of Dex and Stacia. Just when I thought that things just might be okay, what I saw next ripped my heart to pieces.
Thick was hugging a girl I had never seen before, at least not around the hood anyway. He was consoling her, right in front of me.
Curiosity was killing me and I wanted to walk across the room and demand that he tell me what the fuck was up, but I couldn’t say anything because if she was a family member of Stacia or Dex, I would feel worse than I already did.
The only thing that kept entering my mind was that we all knew the same people. Our family was large, but our inner circle was tight. If she were somebody worth knowing, I would’ve known her.
I tried to brush it off but the more I did, the angrier I grew inside. Something was up.
Chapter 3
Business as Usual
December, Thursday, 5:45 p.m.
Kenyetta
“You got some more Doritos?” I asked Yvette.
“No, girl. I killed them shits a long time ago!” Yvette said.
“Why you would even ask that girl if she had anymore is what I want to know.” Mercedes laughed.
“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Yvette said as she stood up from one of the four grey metal chairs that we kept outside. “I just finished ‘em.”
“Yeah right!” Carissa stuck her hands in her pockets and tried to stay as warm as the rest of us. “You sucked them down the moment you broke the seal. Everybody know you don’t be sharing no food!” Everyone laughed.
This was the life for us. We were sitting on the top step watching over Emerald City and the gate. Seven days a week. People made me mad when they said hustlers didn’t earn their money and they were just stealing from a weaker group of people. That’s bullshit. I wonder if those same mothafuckas could stand outside and freeze their asses off for twelve hours a day, and still look as good as we did.
I mean we were charged with everything. With making our men happy, with looking good at all times, which meant keeping our hair appointments and wearing fly shit. And most of all, we were charged with being in charge of over sixty niggas who had a problem with answering to women.
“I miss them, ya’ll. I can’t act like it didn’t happen anymore,” Mercedes said as she looked at us from under the peach hat she wore with her peach Baby Phat ski coat.
Mercedes was beautiful. Her vanilla colored complexion and black hair brought out her big pretty eyes.
“Me too… I don’t understand this shit. Dex was paid and all, but he would’ve put anybody on if they would’ve proven themselves!” Carissa said as she tied her black scarf around her neck and adjusted her black full-length Eddie Bauer coat. It was obvious she wasn’t playing with this cold ass air, while the rest of us were pressed to look colorful and cute.
“Well I’ma see if Dramon and them seen anything. I knew we should’ve stayed out here the moment Mercedes couldn’t get a sitter! That was some type of omen or something. That was the sign we needed to check shit out a little further but we didn’t. We all know that we never miss a ball, so why all of a sudden did Aunt Linda say she couldn’t watch the kids? I’m telling ya’ll it was a sign!”
“No it wasn’t. My freak ass mother just wanted to fuck with Mr. Brown. That’s why we couldn’t go,” Mercedes added.
“That may be true but that wasn’t all,” Yvette continued. “We should’ve looked into shit a little further, I’m telling ya’ll!”
Everybody knew that Yvette had been beating herself up over what happened to the
m. We all knew she was in charge of security, but she wasn’t alone. We all stood right outside that truck and none of us saw the nigga in the back. We knew it wasn’t her fault but being the perfectionist she was, you couldn’t tell her that.
“We could’ve looked into things all day long,” I said. “But we would’ve never seen that shit coming…Never!”
We were silent for the next few minutes, and I took from that that everyone agreed with me. Dex and Stacia being murdered had taken a serious toll on the atmosphere in Emerald City. For a long time, shit would be real fucked up around here. I just knew it.
“We don’t give a fuck! If you coming through here, we wanna know where the fuck you going!” I said to two girls driving in a green Honda Accord, trying to enter the gate.
The guards hit me on my Nextel and said there was a problem the moment they tried to pull through. They weren’t trying to cooperate by giving them the additional information we requested before entering the gates. Technically, all they really had to do was give them the apartment and building number. But the EC squad wanted the name and affiliation but these bitches weren’t trying to give it to them, so as far as we were concerned, they weren’t getting through, especially after what happened to Dex and Stacia. Security was extra tight in the city.
“Bitch, who the fuck you talking to? I’m coming here to see my man, and I ain’t got to tell you his name, or where the fuck he live!” The fat one yelled from the passenger seat.
“Listen, we ain’t trying to give you a hard time, but if you wanna come through Emerald City’s gates, you have to tell us where the fuck you going or else you ain’t getting in! It’s as simple as that,” Carissa said standing on the passenger side of the car.
“Oh I know you. You fuck with Lavelle,” the light-skinned girl said to Carissa, from the driver’s seat.
“And? What the fuck that got to do with why you here?” she shot back.
“Nothing…it ain’t got nothing to do with it for real for real. I just thought you ought to know that I know Lavelle,” she said laughing a little, like the joke was on Carissa.
“Why the fuck I ought to know that? That ain’t got shit to do with you getting in this mothafucka!” Carissa yelled.
That’s my girl! Don’t let them bitches know you’re moved.
“Listen, bitches, either tell us where the fuck you going or turn this raggedy ass car around! Right now the choice is yours, but if you keep running your fucking mouths, I can’t promise you will get to leave this bitch unharmed.”
They looked at each other, realizing we weren’t playing. Just because she tried to disrespect Carissa, I was more than ready to pull her out of the car and pay Shaneta and them across the field $50 to stomp the fuck out of these bitches, until Carissa said stop.
“OK…calm down. We got it,” the driver said sarcastically. “Tell them where we going, girl. After all, we do know Lavelle and he’s cool. He real cool. I don’t want him thinking we tried to play his lil girlfriend,” she continued, looking up at Carissa, grinning.
All I was thinking was that if Yvette had been in charge of the approach instead of security, she would’ve knocked this bitch in her face the moment she said Lavelle’s name out of her mouth. Just on G.P. alone.
“Well…anyway, I’m going to see Derrick in Unit C. He’s expecting me. You can call him right now if you don’t believe me,” the passenger said.
“Naw…it’s cool. But next time just say that shit,” I said, giving the security guards the signal to let them in. I should’ve known these dumb ass bitches were coming to see Derrick’s troublemaking ass. “And stop wasting everybody’s fucking time!”
As they pulled off and parked in the lot on the side of Unit C, I wondered what was up with that. What had me messed up the most was the fact they knew Derrick. It seemed to me that he should’ve warned his bitches about Emerald City’s policies but apparently, he didn’t. I knew that Derrick constantly tried Mercedes, and that he had no respect for women with authority. I also knew that eventually we’d have to deal with him before shit hit the fan.
The other thing that was wild was how she kept repping Lavelle’s name like she really knew him or something. I knew that the moment our shift was over, Carissa would be deep in Lavelle’s shit, and I didn’t blame her.
The moment Dyson called me and said he would be over, I finished my shift an hour early and drove to my apartment in Unit B.
But when he walked through the door, he slumped on the couch and didn’t appear to be in the same lovemaking mood I was.
“Listen, Kenyetta, ya’ll gonna have to watch everything around here,” he said. “With Dex gone, a lot of niggas are gonna try us, thinking we ain’t got shit tight no more. We gonna be coming around more to make our presence known, but don’t be caught slipping. Ya’ll have to really watch each other’s backs.”
“And what about the dope testers? We still running them next week?”
“Yeah…But make sure niggas play it smooth. I don’t trust nobody. I can’t believe they took my man! Damn!” he said, as he rubbed the side of his head.
“I know, baby, I miss him and Stacia too.”
“This shit is fucked up! Why they had to fuck with Dex? He wasn’t even that type of dude.” He was trying to hold his tears back by screaming, but it wasn’t working. And I was ready to be there to kiss each one that he let fall.
“Don’t worry, we got our hands in everything. We ain’t letting shit slide by, baby,” I said trying to reassure him.
“I know you do, baby, but I’m serious. Beware of everybody and everything. With us giving them testers out this week, the gates are gonna be flooded with fiends. We need to make sure everybody’s on the up and up.”
Dyson was serious and it scared me a little. Prior to now, he never acted as if he doubted we had things under control. What hurt the most was that although I missed him and needed him to hold me, he was briefing me like I was a soldier and not his lady.
“Okay, baby,” I said as I grabbed his hands. “But tonight I need you. I need to be with you. Can you just make love to me?”
He smiled and pulled me down on the couch with him. I had gotten rid of my grandmother earlier and was happy to be spending some quality time alone with my man. Lately she had been getting too nosey and asking too many questions. She wanted to know who was looking over this unit, and who was looking over that unit, instead of worrying about her high blood pressure and taking care of her health.
He took off his jacket and I knelt down and removed his shoes. When both were off, I slid off his jeans, exposing his crisp white boxers and rising dick. It was just the confirmation I needed to know that he wanted me.
I slowly lifted up his shirt while kissing him softly on his chest. Then I made my way to his lips and gently sucked them.
“What you doing to me, girl?” he moaned.
“I’m making love to my man,” I told him seductively.
Before going any further, I removed his boxers and reminded him of how vicious my head game was. Slowly and softly, I sucked his dick as if my life depended on it. He ran his fingers through my hair while thrusting softly in my mouth. I knew that no matter what, my sex game could always bring him back to me. At least I hoped.
That night I fucked him in every way he wanted. Dyson had told me that it was my sex game that hooked him, but it was my heart that kept him. Although I loved that he appreciated how good I could make him feel, I battled with the idea that another girl could be out there doing the same thing to him, if not better. So I vowed that whenever I made love to Dyson, I would fuck him as if it was the first time, every time. Because in my heart…it was.
Chapter 4
Added Drama
December, Friday, 10:38 p.m.
Carissa
“I can’t believe you ain’t giving Lavelle none of that backdoor action!” Yvette laughed with the rest of our friends. “You better take care of your man, girl, before somebody else does.”
“I do take c
are of him, but ain’t nothing wrong with my pussy either,” I told her.
“I can’t believe you don’t like taking it in the ass, Carissa,” Mercedes laughed as she drank from the Hennessey and Coke mixture in her cup.
“That shit is too uncomfortable for me. I told his ass the last time he asked me not to ask me again.”
“You wild as shit!” Yvette laughed.
“He ain’t complaining though. Trust me.”
“I told you what to do, Carissa. You have to put some bomb ass music on, get the K.Y. Jelly, and tell Lavelle to ease it in slowly. You can’t rush a dick into virgin ass. You have to be easy with it,” Mercedes added.
“Naw. I tried that and it still didn’t work. I ain’t fucking with ya’ll no more. Messing with ya’ll the last time, I got my asshole damn near ripped out.”
“Trust me, you’ll be loving that shit before the night is over,” Mercedes laughed as she gave the others five.
I couldn’t believe my friends were letting their men hit it from the back. They loved ragging on me about how I sexed Lavelle but he complimented me all the time on the way I handled him in the bedroom. As far as I was concerned, if their men had to fuck them in the ass, something was wrong with them, not me.
We all stopped talking when Critter, the most trusted dope head in the hood, came running up the steps. Although we liked him, we never allowed anybody to approach us unless it was a resident going into the building, or one of the lieutenants. We stood up and all put our hands on our guns. We trusted Critter but after what happened to Dex and Stacia, we couldn’t give out benefits of the doubt no more. For all we knew, somebody could’ve given him a bag of dope to smoke us all.