“Okay, then it’s a date,” Quick said as he stood to his feet. “I gotta make a few runs, but I’ll definitely be back for our date,” he added, before disappearing inside the bathroom.
Kat pulled up in front of her old projects and let the engine die. She was still pissed about Quick putting his hands on her, but she was even more upset that he wouldn’t take any of her calls. How dare he treat her like this after all the two of them had been through?
She hopped out of her car. “I got something for his ass,” she said to herself as she made her way inside the building. She reached the lobby and repeatedly pressed the call button for the elevator.
Kat stepped off the elevator with a frown on her face. She made her way down the hallway and stopped in front of the door she was looking for. She knocked on the door and patiently waited for an answer.
Seconds later, a tall dark-skin man wearing no shirt answered the door. He was a well-built man, with a head full of waves. On the side of his face was a scar from a cut he’d received while serving time in an upstate correctional facility.
“What the fuck you want?” the man said dryly.
“Oh, so I can’t even come and visit my own cousin now?” Kat said, brushing past the muscular man.
“I’m only your cousin when you need something. So what’s up?” Tommy asked.
In the streets they called him Tommy Gunz. He was feared and respected, because he was known for his gun going off. Tommy Gunz lived for action and was always caught up in some kind of drama.
“I got a little problem,” Kat said as she walked over to the couch and helped herself to a seat. As she sat down, she noticed Tommy had a shotgun as well as three other guns laying on top of his coffee table. “Do you really need all of these guns?”
“They don’t call me Tommy Gunz for nothing.” He smirked as he took a seat on the opposite couch. “Now what’s on your mind?”
“It’s Quick,” Kat started. “This nigga done lost his mind and put his hands on me ’cause I didn’t want to give him no pussy,” she lied.
Tommy Gunz lit up a Newport. “Damn! You still with that cat?”
“No. Fuck him!” Kat was still madly in love with Quick, but she still hated him at the same time.
“Okay, so I’m going to ask you again. What is it that you want me to do?”
“Depends,” Kat said with a wicked smile. “You trying to make some money?”
“I’m listening,” Tommy said, sitting up in his seat.
“Well, I heard that now Quick is working for Turf. So I know he’s got to be holding. I say we just find out where he’s living, find out who he’s sleeping with, and take it from there.”
“So, basically, you want me to rob your ex-boyfriend and hope he’s got a stash?”
“Trust me, I know Quick. And he’s definitely got a stash. The only problem is, we going to have to find it. I know you not scared,” she said, fucking with his ego.
“Scared?” Tommy looked over at Kat like she was crazy. “Tommy Gunz ain’t scared of nobody or nothing, in case you ain’t know so. But you know, if it’s bread involved, then you can count me in.”
“Great,” Kat said as she stood to her feet. “See what you can find out, and I’ll do the same. Then at the end of the week, we’ll see what’s up.”
“Deal,” Tommy Gunz said, and the two shook hands.
Quick entered the trap house and saw Spike sitting on a milk crate, leaning back against the wall. Spike spoke, but Quick just replied with a quick head nod. He wasn’t really in a talking mood. His job was to make sure things ran smoothly, and that the money was always correct.
“How that bread looking?” Quick asked.
“The count is straight,” Spike replied, tossing him a thick stack of money.
Quick caught the stack and quickly thumbed through it. He stuffed the money in a small book bag that he carried. Same time, he heard a loud knock at the door. “Go see who that is,” he said as he heard another hard knock on the door.
When Spike finally reached the back door, he snatched it open with an attitude. “Bitch, why the fuck is you banging on the muthafuckin’ door like you crazy?” he barked. He grabbed the frail woman by her shirt and snatched her inside the trap house.
“Bitch, get your hands off me!” the fiend snapped. “It’s bad enough y’all got me walking all the way around to the back door. The least y’all could do is answer the muthafucka,” she said in a slur.
Quick stepped in. “How can we help you?”
“You can help me by giving me four of the biggest bags y’all got up in this muthafucka,” the fiend said, talking louder than she needed to. She counted out thirty-eight dollars.
Quick smiled. “What’s your name?” he asked as Spike went to the back to get the product.
“Why? You taking me out on a date?” the fiend said, flashing a rotten-tooth smile. “You are kind of handsome.” She reached for Quick’s face.
Quick quickly caught her hands in midair. “If I met you fifteen, twenty years ago, I might’ve considered it,” he lied, making the filthy-looking woman feel good about herself.
Spike came and handed the woman her product and took her money. “Nah, hold up, bitch!” he barked, stopping the fiend at the door. “You short.”
“She good for it,” Quick said, winking at the fiend.
Spike sucked his teeth, upset that the fiend escaped without an ass-whipping. He couldn’t stand the loud-talking fiend and was looking for any reason to put his hands on the woman.
“Man, listen,” Spike began. “I run a tight ship around here. I can’t be having fiends coming up short, thinking it’s cool.”
Quick ignored Spike’s comment as he began scrolling through his BlackBerry. His mind was on Tiffany and their dinner and movie date. He glanced down at his watch and decided that it was time for him to leave.
“Hold it down, young’un,” he said, and he exited the trap house and headed home.
Major Pain woke up the next day, not knowing where he was. He quickly reached for his waistband to grab his gun but stopped when he realized he was naked.
“Where the fuck am I?” he said to himself as he mustered up enough strength to get out of the bed.
Major Pain walked through the house butt naked hoping to find the owner of the house. As he made his way downstairs, he could hear the sounds of the singer Monica humming softly through the speakers. He walked through the spacious living room, until he reached the kitchen, where he saw Apple Bottom standing over the stove as she sipped from her wineglass.
“Yo,” he said, causing her to jump at the sound of his voice.
“Hey.” Apple Bottom looked down at Major Pain’s package. “You hungry?”
“Where are my clothes?” Major Pain said in an even tone. He looked around the house and saw that Apple Bottom was doing pretty good for herself.
“They had blood on them, so I washed them for you. They’re in the dryer,” Apple Bottom, said leading the way to her laundry room.
Major Pain followed her throughout the house butt naked. Apple Bottom wore a wifebeater and a pair of pink boy shorts. Her hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail, and she walked barefoot on the soft, thick carpet.
Apple Bottom removed Major Pain’s clothes from out the dryer and plugged in the iron. On top of her washing machine was everything that was inside Major Pain’s pockets.
“Your money, car keys, and everything else you had in your pockets is right there on top of the washing machine,” she said, nodding toward his things.
“I got it.” Major Pain put his drawers back on, grabbed the iron, and began to iron his jeans.
“You all right?” Apple Bottom asked.
“I’m good.” Major Pain was embarrassed at the fact that the beautiful woman had seen him get his ass whipped. He’d recognized Lucky, but he didn’t know who the other man was. It didn’t matter though. The mystery man and Lucky were both living on borrowed time.
“I’m going to have a word wi
th Benny later on tonight. What he did to you wasn’t right, and I’ma let him know about himself.” Apple Bottom sipped on her wine.
“Who the fuck is Benny?” Major Pain asked, slipping into his jeans.
“The ugly-ass bouncer that tossed you down the stairs.” Apple Bottom shook her head. “He’s always in a bad mood ’cause none of the girls who work at the club won’t give his ass no play.”
Major Pain smirked. “Don’t worry about that clown.” He slipped on his wifebeater. He had big plans for Mr. Benny. Just thinking about what he was going to do to the big man brought a wicked smile to his face. “Thanks for everything,” Major Pain said as he hugged Apple Bottom.
“I fried all that chicken. You better come and help me eat this shit,” she said, looking at him like he was crazy. She led the way back to the kitchen, where she poured two glasses of wine and sat them at the table. Then she started to make their plates.
Major Pain looked down at the fried chicken, and baked mac and cheese. “Damn! I didn’t know strippers knew how to cook.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Apple Bottom asked as she bit down on her chicken. “Just because I dance for a living means I can’t or don’t know how to cook?”
“I didn’t say that,” Major Pain said, quickly stopping her in her tracks. “It’s just that usually most strippers I meet usually don’t cook. They’re more into the takeout thing.”
“Well, yes, I know how to cook.” Apple Bottom playfully rolled her eyes. “My mother made sure she taught me how to cook.”
“I see,” Major Pain said as he punished the food that sat in front of him. If it was one thing he loved, it was a woman who knew how to cook. “So, Apple Bottom, what’s your real name?”
Apple Bottom smiled. “My name is Nicole, but you can call me Nikki.”
Major Pain smiled as he pushed away from the table. “Thanks for the food, Nikki. It was delicious, but I must be going,” he said, he headed for the door.
“That’s it?” Nikki asked as she followed Major Pain to the door.
Major Pain turned to face her. He noticed that even without her makeup on she was still beautiful. “That’s it what?”
“So what? You just going to leave like that?” she asked with her hands on her hips.
“Oh, my bad.” Major Pain reached down in his pocket and peeled off a few bills and held them out to her.
But Nikki smacked the money out of his hand and watched the bills float to the floor. “I don’t want, nor do I need your money,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “You know what? Just get out.” She held the door open.
Major Pain looked down at the bills then turned and left Nikki standing there. Once he was out the door, she slammed it and stormed to her room, where she laid across the bed feeling stupid. “I should’ve left his ass for dead,” she said to herself as she closed her eyes and relaxed before it was time for her to go to work.
“A Little Unfinished Business”
Quick stepped foot in his apartment and stood in shock as he saw Tiffany dressed up for the first time. She wore a tight red skirt that dropped around the middle of her thighs, and on her feet she wore a pair of knee-high red boots with a three-inch heel.
“You like?” she asked, spinning around in place.
“You look great.”
With what Tiffany was wearing, Quick got a chance to see what she was really working with. To say he was impressed would’ve been an understatement. He disappeared in the back, where he took a quick shower and got dressed.
Thirty minutes later the two headed out the door. Quick opened the passenger door and watched Tiffany melt in the seat. Then he hopped in the driver’s seat and turned the car on. Joe Budden’s mixtape, Mood Muzik 4, flowed through the speakers as he pulled out into the street.
“So what you wanna do first, dinner or go to the movies?”
“Ummm . . . ” Tiffany thought on it. “I guess we can go to the movies first.”
“Let’s do it.” Quick smiled as he hopped on the highway. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Yeah. Wassup?”
“Reach in the back and get those cups and pour me a drink.”
Tiffany leaned back in the back, grabbed the half-empty bottle of Cîroc and the pack of foam cups, and poured Quick a drink.
“Good looking,” he said, accepting the drink. He sipped lightly as he kept his eyes on the road.
As Quick drove he checked Tiffany out on the low. He loved how she always seemed to be in a positive mood no matter what was going on. She was beautiful inside and out.
Tiffany poured herself a cup, and she sat the bottle back on the backseat.
“Damn! This shit is strong,” she said after taking a sip. She was holding her chest because it was burning her so much.
Tiffany bobbed her head to music as she continued to get her sip on. She found herself starting to like Quick. She’d tried to talk herself out of it, but the feelings were too strong. She had been with Blake for so long, she forgot how a real man was supposed to treat a woman. And Quick treated her like a queen, even though she wasn’t his queen, and that’s what she appreciated the most about him.
“Damn! This muthafucka is packed,” Quick said as he cruised through the parking lot searching for a parking spot.
After about ten minutes of searching, he finally found a spot. Tiffany and him finished up their drink then hopped out and headed toward the entrance so they could get their tickets.
When they reached the window, Quick dug down in his pocket to pay for the tickets, but Tiffany quickly stopped him.
“Nah, I got this,” she said, removing a twenty and ten-dollar bill from her purse and handing it to the woman that stood behind the glass. The woman gladly took Tiffany’s money and handed her back her change along with two tickets.
Quick and Tiffany stepped inside and made their way straight to the concession stand, where they ordered some chicken fingers, cheese fries, and two slushies.
“This movie better be good too,” Quick said as they entered the theater.
They rounded the corner and saw that the theater was packed. Tiffany sucked her teeth. She hated when the movie theater was packed like this.
After climbing up a few steps, they found three empty seats on the end. They took their seats, leaving one seat next to Quick open.
Quick leaned over and grabbed a piece of chicken. He stood up when the previews came on. “Be right back,” he said. “I gotta pee.”
“A’ight, hurry up.” Tiffany watched Quick bop down the steps and bend the corner. “He better hurry up if he want any of these cheese fries,” she said to herself as she dug into the fries.
After she got finished stuffing her face, she grabbed a napkin and cleaned her hands. When she looked up, she saw a man and a woman stop on her row.
The man asked, “Yo, somebody sitting here?”
Before Tiffany could even answer, the man and his girl sat down in Quick’s seat and the empty seat.
“Excuse!” Tiffany said, looking at the couple like they had lost their minds. “My man was sitting right there.” The word man had slipped from her lips.
“Well, I guess now ya man going to have to find another seat,” the man said. “You move your feet, you lose your seat,” he said, and him and his girlfriend busted out laughing.
Before Tiffany got a chance to reply, she saw Quick making his way back up the steps with a confused look on his face.
“Fuck going on over here?” Quick asked, standing over the couple.
“Go find you a seat and sit down,” the man said.
“You sitting in my seat,” Quick said, looking down at the man.
“Fam, if you don’t mind, me and my lady trying to watch the movie,” the man said, as if Quick was becoming an annoyance.
The man’s girlfriend sucked her teeth. “Damn! Why you standing over me like that?”
With the speed of an alley cat, Quick turned and smacked the shit out of the girl for talking to him sideways,
causing her man to jump up out of his seat. Quick caught the man with a swift two-piece before the man grabbed him, and the two went tumbling down the stairs.
As the other girl looked on in shock as her man and Quick went tumbling down the stairs, Tiffany sucker-punched her from behind. She grabbed a handful of the woman’s weave with one hand, while she went to work on her with her free hand, talking shit the whole time.
After five minutes of brawling, movie theater security finally came and broke the two couples up.
“You all right?” Quick asked, once Tiffany and him stepped outside.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Tiffany replied with a smile.
“Thanks for holding me down back there.” Quick opened up the passenger door so Tiffany could step inside.
“You know I’m going to hold you down.”
Quick smiled as he pulled off. It felt good to have a rider in his corner, someone that would have his back no matter what was going on.
“I didn’t know you could fight like that.” Quick looked over at Tiffany. “I thought you was going to kill that girl for a second,” he joked.
“Nah. I ain’t like how they just tried to come ‘debo’ your seat like that.” She laughed, but the truth was, she had a whole bunch of built-up rage inside of her from when Blake used to beat her ass, so when the couple pulled that stunt, she took out all of her frustration on the woman.
Quick and Tiffany’s laugh was interrupted when Quick heard his cell phone ringing.
“Yo. What up?” he answered.
“Where you at?” Major Pain asked on the other line.
“On the road right now. Why? What’s up?” Quick asked. Just by the sound of Major Pain’s voice, Quick knew something was wrong.
“I need your help. Meet me over at the spot in a hour,” Major Pain said, ending the call.
Quick placed his phone back in his case, and immediately Tiffany could see something was wrong. “Everything all right?” she asked.
“Nah. I’m going to have to cancel dinner tonight. Something came up. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I understand. Business comes first,” Tiffany told him.
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