by Rukyyah
“Ladies, I’m Cassidy, Julisa, I mean, Juicy’s husband. She didn’t come home last night and nobody has heard from her.” He burst into tears. “Have any of you heard from her? Have you seen anything? I just want my wife to come home with me and our daughter.” He cried more.
None of the strippers knew anything, but Alexandria had a lump in her throat as she feared Terrell had everything to do with Juicy going missing. She didn’t speak up because she wasn’t sure. She felt bad for Cassidy and their daughter, but she was too arrogant to see that she had fucked up in a bad way. Alexandria was so scared that she was shaking.
“Lexxxie, I know you and my wife have become real close. Have you talked to her?”
“Not since Saturday,” she lied. “We did a little shopping.”
“Oh God! That means that she could’ve been missing since then. I gotta find my wife,” Cassidy said while storming past everyone to leave out of the club.
Alexandria had a bad feeling in her stomach that he would never find her. She played with the idea of confessing and telling what she knew, but she feared it would make her look like the bad person for lying. She grew close with Juicy and couldn’t believe her taking shit caused her and her family pain.
That night when Alexandria was on the stage, she stripped as usual, but she had so much on her mind that she didn’t hear the music playing or the crowd applauding. She saw them and saw their mouths moving, but she couldn’t hear a thing. Her fear made her deaf as she feared Terrell would come after her next.
Chapter Twenty-One
A few weeks after Juicy turned up missing, Alexandria finally had her girls over to her house to spend time together. She missed them so much and they always promised that when they had free time, they would stop by to see her.
It was hard for Sofia to do so because Kenny’s basketball season was already in session and she traveled on the road with him a lot. Kenny paid for her to take online courses to get a bachelor’s in business since she wanted to start a business. She wasn’t sure of what kind of business, so she focused on her studies in the meantime.
Liz was doing the housewife shit and loved every moment of it. She lived in a big house, wore fancy clothes, expensive jewelry, and drove a nice car. She didn’t have a want in the world, so she felt like she was on top of the world.
“Bitch, I still can’t believe your ass strips. Do you ever feel nasty with all eyes on you?” Liz asked.
“Only when it’s a real old mafucka, but when he throws those dollars at me, I forget all about that shit.” Alexandria and Liz high fived.
“Y’all a mess!” Sofia shook her head. “What’s for dinner?”
“I made homemade chicken enchiladas, refried beans, and yellow rice. I made margaritas too. Y’all ready for a glass or y’all want to wait for dinner? It will be ready in like ten minutes.”
“I’ll take a glass now,” Sofia said.
“I’ll pass,” Liz stated.
“What the fuck? I’ve never known your ass to pass up on a drink. It’s free too. Are you sick?” Alexandria asked.
“Kinda. I ain’t want to tell y’all until after I was three months, but I’m pregnant.”
“Get the fuck outta here!” Alexandria yelled.
“For real.”
Alexandria and Sofia rushed over to the couch where Liz sat and hugged her. Sofia rubbed her small belly and couldn’t feel a thing. “I’m so happy for you. Are you happy?”
“I am. We both are. I’ll be three months in another two weeks.”
“Really, you know that’s my birthday. May seventh, I’ll be twenty,” Alexandria said with a smile. “But, I am so happy for you, bitch!”
“Thank you both, I guess we should do something for your birthday,” Liz replied.
After the ladies ate, emptying the entire pan of enchiladas, and drank two pitchers of margaritas, they went back into the living room to get comfortable.
“Um, I got something to tell y’all,” Alexandria started.
“What?” Liz’s eyes were wide.
“What’s going on?” Sofia asked.
“Well, I fucked up, I think.”
“You fucked up, you think? How the fuck you fuck up and you ain’t sure about it?” Liz grilled her.
“Bitch, I ain’t sure. Well, let me start from the beginning. This girl, Juicy, and I stripped for some hustlers a few weeks back, I stole the nigga shit, and she went missing. Before she went missing, she came at me about giving the money back, but I wasn’t trying to fuck with it.”
Sofia looked like she wanted to cry. “Are you fucking with us? That is a big fuck up. Drug dealers kill people over stealing from them.”
“There are two things you don’t do to a hustler, you don’t snitch on his ass and you don’t fuck with his money. Some niggas will kill you for ten dollars,” Liz informed Alexandria and Sofia.
“How much did you take?” Sofia wondered out loud.
“A little over seven G’s.”
“Oh my God! You better give it back right now. This is too risky, Alexandria!” Sofia warned.
“He don’t know my real name, he don’t know where I live at, or where I work. I ain’t sweating that shit.”
“Bitch, you got that nigga money and that shit ain’t hard to find,” Liz told Alexandria.
“I’m sorry to say, but Alexandria, until you handle this shit, I can’t come back here. I love my life too much to dodge bullets,” Sofia told her.
Alexandria’s finger was pointed at Liz. “You fuck with this one and she’s with a notorious drug dealer. You don’t think mafuckas want to kill him?”
Liz stood to her feet. “Why the fuck would you say something like that? That taking money shit changed you and when you chill out from taking shit that don’t belong to you, maybe I’ll fuck with you.”
“I know you ain’t mad at me! You’re living the life I lived when I was with Curtis. It seems to me that you want my life. Are you mad ‘cause you want to be me?”
Liz walked over to Alexandria, smacked her in the face, and her and Sofia left without looking back.
“Stupid, bitch!” Alexandria yelled toward the door at Liz. I should have smacked that bitch back, pregnant or not, Alexandria thought.
She sat on the couch feeling like fuck her friends. She didn’t realize that Liz and Sofia were so mad at her that they meant that they wouldn’t fuck with her. She couldn’t see that her fucking up may have caused her the friendships she had with her friends for more than five years. She brushed the thought off that Juicy could be dead because of her taking shit from the wrong nigga.
$$$$$$
A week later, Alexandria found herself being followed multiple times, but the first time she felt someone following her in the grocery store, she brushed it off. She thought she was paranoid. When she felt she was being followed again, she was more aware of her surroundings.
At the grocery store, Lewis followed Alexandria, but that night that she stripped for them, he was so fucked up and high that he couldn’t remember if it was her or not. He was at the store with his girlfriend and when he spotted Alexandria, he thought it was her, but wasn’t sure. Every time she walked down an aisle, he walked outside of the aisle closer to the cash register.
“What the fuck are you doing? I know you ain’t checking for a bitch while I’m with you!” Tamera, Lewis’ girlfriend, said.
He huffed, “I’m trying to see if that’s the bitch Terrell need me to handle. It’s business, so calm the fuck down!”
“Why you lying? I knew I should have stayed my black ass in New York with my family instead of chasing behind your ass down in this stupid ass place because I hate Maryland!”
“Take your ass back then, ‘cause I ain’t lying. But, if you keep on talking that shit to me, I’ll fuck around and send your ass back to New York in a body bag. Keep playing!”
Tamera looked him up and down with evil eyes. “You talk a lot of shit, you know that!”
“Fuck you.”
“
Yeah, okay.” She smiled at him and then leaned in to give Lewis a kiss.
Their love was strange, but that shit turned them on. Lewis grabbed her ass and pulled her into a kiss. “Love you. You love me?”
“Always have, nigga.” She giggled.
Lewis’ attention went toward Alexandria when she got closer and he kissed Tamera so that she wouldn’t see his face just in case she was the stripper they had been looking for. When she walked past them, Lewis pulled his lips away from Tamera’s.
“Naw, that ain’t that bitch.”
Alexandria didn’t recognize him and she no longer felt anybody following her throughout the store. She wondered if she was tripping.
When Steve saw her leave the barbershop in Annapolis with her son, he thought she was sexy and knew he knew her from somewhere. She looked different because she was casually dressed in an Apple Bottom t-shirt and jeans. She wore Nikes and her hair was back in a bun. What confirmed where he knew her from was the engagement ring that she wore around her neck because he remembered thinking that she had to do a whole lot more than pussy popping to get a diamond like that.
Steve called Terrell, and said, “Son, where the fuck you at?”
“Son, I’m at my mom’s house in New York. What’s going on?”
“Nigga, I found shorty. What you want me to do.”
“Find out where she live and handle her ass. I wish I was in Maryland right now, um,” he said as he shook his head.
“Don’t worry. I got you.”
Steve followed behind Alexandria all the way up 97 as she weaved through traffic. He made sure to be at least three cars behind her and kept up with her whichever lane she drove. By the time they got to exit twelve, Alexandria got off to get gas before heading home. She noticed a car two pumps over and the man looked like he was pretending to pump gas. When she looked in his direction, she knew she recognized the face and realized she saw that same car a lot recently and figured he must have been following her. She was scared, especially because her son was with her. Nobody heard anything from Juicy, so she had a feeling if she didn’t play it smart she would be next to go missing.
Why the fuck did you take that nigga’s money, stupid bitch! Alexandria thought as she took the pump out of the gas tank and jumped back into her car. If this nigga want a chase, I’ll give his ass one.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Alexandria drove to Glen Burnie Mall and parked her Mercedes so that she and her son could get out. She didn’t want to tell him what was going on so that he wouldn’t be alarmed.
Once Alexandria was in the store, Steve parked his car two rows over from hers just in case she recognized it from the gas station or the highway. Alexandria walked into a store that had an outside and mall entrance. She walked straight out of the store with worry in her eyes and didn’t say a word.
“Mommy, what are you doing?”
“Shopping, baby. You want some new shoes?”
“Yes, please, and a new toy.”
“I got you.” She smiled at her son with fear in her heart. When a young couple approached her as they were heading out of the mall, she stopped them. “Excuse me, do you drive?” she asked the girl.
“Yes, but my boyfriend drove us out here.”
“What do you drive?” she asked the boyfriend.
“I got a 2006 Toyota Camry. I love that shit. Why?”
“I got a Mercedes. If you give me the keys to the Camry, I will work it out with you to switch vehicles. I’m sure you’ll love my Mercedes,” Alexandria stated confidently, knowing everybody loved a fancy ride.
“Are you fucking with me?”
“No. I’m so for real. I’m begging.”
“No need to beg. Nigga, give her the damn keys. I can’t wait to drive it,” his girlfriend said with a smile.
He handed Alexandria the key and they made a switch right there. She gave them her phone number so that they could handle everything later.
“Thank you so much. I will be in contact soon.”
“The pleasure is all mine. I’ll holler at you later. Oh yeah, the Camry is black. It’s parked in the second row out this door.” He pointed.
“You’ll see the Mercedes. It’s out that door too.”
“Thanks, girl,” his girlfriend added.
“Why did you give our car away?” Timmy Jr. asked.
“Because we’ll get a new one.”
His eyes lit up. “I can’t wait, mommy.”
“Me either.”
She almost cried at the thought of giving up her Mercedes, but she knew if Terrell and his niggas knew what she drove, it would only be a matter of time before they found out where she lived and where she worked. She couldn’t chance that.
She thought about how Curtis surprised her with the Mercedes and how she vowed to drive it until the wheels fell off. She would rather have her life over a Mercedes any day, so she parted with it.
Once the young couple walked out of the door, Steve had his gun cocked and aimed. When he saw the young man unlock the door from the key ring, he rushed back into his ride.
“Shit!” he yelled while banging on the steering wheel. “That bitch better step her shit up if she wants to pull a fast one on me! I don’t fuck around.” He was steaming hot.
Alexandria waited inside of the mall for what seemed like hours until she decided to change her and her son’s outfit. She dressed as a man and wore a basketball cap. Her son wore one as well to match his new outfit.
When they walked to the Camry, Steve was still looking at the front door for Alexandria. She drove right past him. Alexandria ran so fast to the apartment with her son that he thought it was fun. She searched all around to be sure it was empty and kept looking out of the window to be sure nobody followed her.
Alexandria thought about what Liz said about snitching on a hustler, but she felt that she had no choice so that her and her son could get their lives back without her hiding and watching her back. She knew that retaliation was possible if they ever got out of jail, but she needed to do what she needed to do.
She walked over to the dining room table and grabbed her cell phone out of her purse. She searched in her wallet for the police officer’s business card that he gave her if she had any info regarding Juicy’s disappearance. She dialed the number and almost hung up. She was nervous, but when she heard him answer the phone, she knew there was no turning back.
“Officer Walter speaking.”
“Hello, Officer Walter. This is Alexandria Payne. I met you at the strip club a couple of weeks ago. You asked me to call you if I thought of anything that could help your case.”
“Yes, Ms. Payne.” He reached over his keyboard at his computer to grab a Post-It and a pen. “How may I help you?”
“I have some information that may be interesting. When will it be possible to talk to you face to face?”
“I can come to your residence if you would like. Just give me your address.”
Alexandria knew she didn’t want people wondering why she had a cop at her apartment. So, she told him, “I’ll come to your office when you are free.”
“I’ll be free in an hour. Are you familiar with the Baltimore County Precinct in Catonsville?”
“No, but I have GPS on my phone. I’m sure I can locate it.”
“Great! I look forward to seeing you.”
Before heading to the precinct, Alexandria dropped her son off at her parents’ house. Once at the precinct, she put the baseball cap over her head and wore it low over her eyes. When she got inside, she took it off. After meeting up with the officer, she had given all of the info she had. She told him about Terrell’s house and Steve’s car, but she didn’t have a tag number or address. It was still enough info to get a case started.
By that evening, Alexandria had met up with the young couple at a parking garage off of Baltimore Street. They both signed over the title to each other’s vehicles, but she so badly wanted to back out of the deal. But, while Terrell and his friends were looking for h
er, she knew better than to back out.
It didn’t take long before the officer found the info on Steve’s car and confiscated it. Once analyzed, they found Juicy’s hair in the trunk that they had compared to the hair samples from her hair brush. Lewis and Steve were taken into custody and wouldn’t get released until they had a trial.
Terrell had a warrant out for his arrest and since he was in New York, he had no idea. He tried to get in touch with Lewis and Steve, but it never happened. A couple of days before Alexandria turned twenty, Terrell was back in Maryland since he left Steve in charge of his daily drug operations until he returned home. He wanted to know how shit was going and he was worried when he didn’t hear back from him.
It took a little longer for the police to find Terrell’s address because he didn’t have a Maryland driver’s license and his house was in his mother’s name. Before he could pull into his driveway, the police rolled up on him and demanded that he step out of his vehicle.
“What the fuck!” was all he said.
When he stepped out of the car, the police officer helped him down to his knees and put handcuffs on him. He was read his rights and was locked up. Since none of the men claimed to know where Juicy was dead or alive, her body wasn’t discovered. After investigating, the police found Terrell’s shoe print in the soil near the rosebushes and his fingerprints inside of Juicy’s home. They weren’t sure which man did what, but the police hoped that keeping them all in jail would make at least one of them snitch.
$$$$$$
It was Alexandria’s birthday and her friends surprised her with a cake and drinks. She was so surprised and glad that her friends had forgiven her.
“Bitch, you knew we wouldn’t forget your birthday. I’m still in my feelings about that shit you said about me and how you took that money, but you’re my bitch and I love you,” Liz said as she handed her a gift bag.