Her Sweetest Revenge (Delphine Publications Presents)

by Author Saundra

  Hood had barely left my side since everything happened. Squeeze had offered to pay for everything, but I refused to let that nigga pay for anything that had to do with my brother. As far as I was concerned, it was his fault for letting Li’l Bo work for him.

  When we made it to the service, there was our mother dressed up, looking the part of a mother mourning her only son. Her face looked terrible; her eyes looked like they were swollen shut from all the crying she had been doing, but I couldn’t make myself go to her. Deep down inside I was angry with her, and to my surprise, Monica didn’t leave my side either. She stayed close to me.

  After the services, we had rented a hall for the people to eat, but Monica and I chose to go home instead. Hood came home with us, and Rochelle and Li’l Lo came over. We hung out and got fucked up.

  ****

  Two weeks had gone by since the funeral. Monica and I tried to get back on schedule, even though we both needed a boost. We were sitting around doing laundry when our mom all of a sudden showed up. Monica let her in.

  “Hey, Mom.” Monica gave her a big hug.

  I didn’t say anything. I just continued to fold clothes.

  “Hey, Mya,” she spoke.

  “Hey,” I said tight-lipped.

  “How are y’all getting along?”

  I didn’t answer so Monica started talking. “We’re doing OK. I went back to school trying to keep busy, and Mya went back to work. So we’re doing all right,” she lied.

  “That’s, that’s good,” Mom replied as she cleared her throat with a gurgling sound. “I been missin’ y’all a lot.”

  None of us said anything for a moment. It was quiet. I tried to remain cool because the pure sight of her made me so damn angry.

  “I’ve been thinkin’ about getting clean.”

  After that I couldn’t take any more of her babble bullshit.

  “You been thinkin’ about getting clean?” I mocked her. “You been thinkin’ about getting clean?” I repeated. “Well, God bless America! Your fifteen-year-old son is dead, lying in his grave, and you thinkin’. . . about gettin’ clean. You are so pathetic.” I got off the couch and lunged at my mother fist first. Monica grabbed me and held me back.

  “All you have done is ruin our lives. Li’l Bo wouldn’t be dead if you had been a real mother to us. That’s right, he’s dead because of you,” I pointed at her with a flood of hot tears pouring down my face.

  “Because you would rather suck on a glass dick then be there for your kids, all because a man got locked up. Please, get over it. Men go away all the time,” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “You know what? I hate you. I hate you. I hate you,” I screamed from my shattered soul. “Now I want you to get out of my house and never come back. Stay away from me and Monica. We no longer have a mother,” I said huffing in short hurried breaths with my fist still balled.

  My mother stood looking defeated, tears progressing down her face. She turned and walked slowly toward the door. “I love you, Mya.” She turned around to face us again with her hand on the doorknob. “No matter how much you hate me, I love you and Monica. I’ma do what’s right because it ain’t too late.” She turned and walked out the door.

  “YEAH, WHATEVER!” I screamed at the closed door.

  Chapter 38

  “Bitch, I told you not to play wit’ me.” Squeeze had his sweaty hands over my mouth while I twisted and turned trying to break free. I needed air. I was suffocating. My hands were tied behind my back, and my feet were strapped to a chair. I was pleading with my eyes for him to let me come up for air, but he just made his grip tighter over my mouth.

  “I’ma kill you, motherfucka, if you don’t let my sister go,” I could hear Li’l Bo yelling, but his face was nowhere in sight. As Squeeze’s grip got tighter my breathing came less, and Li’l Bo’s voice started to fade. I was dying.

  “Li’l Bo!” I screamed and sat straight up in bed.

  “Mya, it’s only a dream.” Hood tried to comfort me.

  I looked around the room and noticed I was at home in bed. Hood was right there with me. I had been dreaming again. I had been having these dreams for about a week, and each time I woke up with a racing heart, drenched in my own sweat.

  “Whew,” I said panting, “I had another dream that I saw Li’l Bo.”

  “It’s all right. That’s normal.” Hood wiped my forehead with his hand.

  “Baby, can you get me some water?” I asked him. “My throat is dry.”

  “Whatever you need.” Hood got out of the bed and headed straight for the kitchen. He came back with Dasani water. I drank long and hard since I was so thirsty. I tried to relax for a while, then lay back down to sleep. No sooner than Hood’s head hit the pillow he was off to sleep again. While my mind felt exhausted, I couldn’t go back to sleep so easily. For some reason, I felt like Li’l Bo was trying to tell me something, and the more I thought about that, I wondered about Squeeze. He had been so willing to help out when Li’l Bo died, but I’d never forgotten what Phil’s snitch ass had said about Squeeze.

  Phil had told me that Squeeze thought Li’l Bo was stealing from him. Li’l Bo had me convinced that everything was legit, and that he was making that money for putting in extra work, so I stopped tripping. Now I keep having all these dreams about Squeeze trying to kill me. What if that nigga had Li’l Bo killed? Or what if he knew what happened to Li’l Bo?

  I needed to find out what his grimy ass was up to.

  ****

  The next day when I finally got rid of Hood, I rolled over to the Brewster to see what was up in the projects. Maybe I could get a peek at Squeeze, you know, see what his ass was getting into. Normally his nasty ass would be hanging out trying to pull with some young tramp, but today, I rolled up on him and he was checking with his young crews making sure they didn’t forget he would pop a cap in their ass.

  I had been watching him for about two hours, and it started getting dark, then he got a call on his cell so he walked off from the crowd. He was all smiles, showing off that nasty-ass gold in his mouth, so I figured he was either on the phone with a bitch or talking about money. Either way, when he jumped in his money-green Bentley, I was right on his trail. I had to see what this nigga was up to. If he had anything to do with my brother getting killed, it was lights out for him. No questions asked.

  I had been following Squeeze for about an hour all the way on the other side of Detroit when finally he pulled into the Marriot Hotel. What was he doing here? This nigga had a mansion out in the hills with the white folks, or so I had heard. Why would he need to meet a bitch at a hotel? Unless he was on some business, but usually coke deals didn’t go down at the Marriot, not with niggas like Squeeze. Either way, I had to know what was up so I was going to hang around.

  Riding around the parking lot, Squeeze finally pulled inside a spot next to a car that looked just like Charlene’s candy-apple red Benz. That was confirmed when I saw the plates, QUEEN B. Oh snap! Why would Squeeze be parking next to Charlene’s car at the Marriot? This had to be a coincidence. Squeeze jumped up out of the Bentley and disappeared into the hotel.

  I know Charlene’s ass couldn’t be sleeping around with Squeeze because if she was, Pig was going to kill that bitch. Then there was going to be a war between crews. But I could just be jumping to conclusions because I haven’t seen them together.

  I didn’t have to wait long for my answer. I saw Squeeze pimping out of the hotel, and he headed straight to Charlene’s Benz. When he reached the Benz, he grabbed Felicia by both her ass cheeks and tongues her down. Felicia popped the alarm on Charlene’s Benz, jumped in, and balled out. Not before I saw Squeeze go into his pocket and hand her a wad of stacks.

  I had to duck down cause Felicia blew right past me. Soon, my heart slowed back to normal. I thought Charlene had fucked up, and Felicia is a ho just like I thought. I know Charlene knows what that bitch is up to, but if Pig finds out Felicia’s using the Benz he bought for Charlene to go meet Squeeze in, he’s going to fuck Ch
arlene’s ass up anyway.

  Squeeze finally jumped back in his Bentley. I thought about following his ass some more, but after that shake-up, I think I’ll take my ass to Hood’s crib ’cause he’s waiting on me.

  Chapter 39

  It had been two days since I had followed Squeeze, and to be honest, I couldn’t get that picture with him and Felicia out of my mind. At this point, I didn’t know what to think. I wanted to talk to Rochelle about it, but she had been MIA for a minute. I didn’t want to mention it to Hood because I know he wouldn’t like the idea of me following Squeeze and putting myself in harm’s way. So for now, this information was just stuck in my head. I couldn’t help but think Felicia was a ho just like we thought she was. That bitch would sleep with anybody for some money. Either way, I didn’t see any suspicious acts from Squeeze regarding Li’l Bo, but I would be watching his ass.

  I have to get this situation off my mind. It’s time to get out of this bed and kick today off instead of lying here thinking about this bullshit. I was supposed to have class today, but the shop was closed for some electrical repairs. Rochelle and I decided to grab lunch and do some shopping. We were finally gonna hook up today, but I think I’ll leave the bit about Felicia out of the conversation. I didn’t want to piss her off talking about Felicia. Because right now, she still got heat for her.

  “Baby, you up?” I started rubbing Hood’s back.

  “Yep,” Hood said in a stifled tone.

  “You want some breakfast? I could whip some up real fast.”

  “Nah, I’m cool.” Hood turned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I got to meet with Pig this morning; we got a run to make. I’ma grab something on the way. Matter fact, I need to jump in the shower so I can head out. What you got planned today?” he asked, getting out of the bed, headed for the shower.

  “Just lunch and some sho—” I got cut off by Hood’s phone when it started to vibrate.

  Hood reached down and picked up the phone off the nightstand. “What’s good?” Hood spoke into the phone. “Yo, what’s yo’ point, nigga? A’ight, I’m on my way.” Hood hung up the phone and reached for the clothes he had on yesterday.

  “I thought you were going to get in the shower?”

  “Yeah, I know. Look, baby, I gotta go. I’ma holla at you later.” Hood got dressed so fast my head was spinning.

  “Is everything OK?” I asked a little worried. It wasn’t like Hood to put back on the same clothes he had worn the day before and leave without taking a shower.

  “Oh, hell, yeah,” he smiled. “Just gotta leave now. Got some shit to handle ASAP, but I’ll call you.” He gave me a quick kiss and was gone.

  I wondered for a moment what that was all about, but I chalked it up it to Height Squad business. I grabbed my robe and headed down the hallway to make sure Monica was up for school.

  The closer I got to the bathroom in the hallway I thought I heard gagging.

  “Monica?” I knocked on the door. “You OK?”

  “Yeah,” she hastily replied.

  “OK.” I started to walk away again, and this time I heard it loud and clear. Monica was in the bathroom throwing up. I tried to open the bathroom door, but she had locked it.

  “Monica, unlock this door,” I demanded.

  “A’ight. I’m comin’ out,” Monica said in voice that sounded less then OK. When she opened up the door her face looked terrible. She looked like she had been throwing up all night. Her face was pale, and her eyes were big and bulging. She clearly needed a doctor.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked her. “What did you eat last night?” I continued to inquire. Monica dropped her head like she didn’t want to talk to me. “Monica, what’s going on? Why didn’t you wake me up and tell me you were sick?”

  Still no words from Monica. The more I looked at her, the more she seemed different. Something had changed.

  “Get dressed. You’re going to the doctor,” I said.

  “I don’t need to go to no doctor, Mya. I’m fine,” Monica tried to regain her normal voice, but she was outvoted by her stomach. She turned and made a quick dash for the toilet where she hurled again.

  By the time we made it to the doctor’s office, Monica was exhausted from puking. Once we made it to the examining room, the doctor ran some blood tests on her and within an hour he came back with the results. Monica was pregnant.

  “Pregnant! What does that mean?” I shouted at the doctor.

  “It means that in nine months she is going to have a baby,” he answered in a sarcastic but polite tone.

  “Moni . . .” My chest started to rise and fall quickly. I thought I was going to suffocate. I couldn’t breathe. The doctor rushed over to me and grabbed my arm.

  “Just breathe. Take deep, slow breaths. You’re having a panic attack.”

  Finally my breathing returned to normal.

  “Mya, I’m sorry.” Tears were pouring down Monica’s cheeks.

  “How? Who?” I tried to ask but a full question would not come.

  “Look, you two go home and discuss this. Monica, I need to see you at least once a month, but because of your age, I would like to see you more often. Stop at the desk and make your next appointment.”

  On the way home the words still did not come. I was so upset I thought it was best that I didn’t say anything.

  When I pulled up I noticed Hood had already returned. I thought he would be gone most of the day. I immediately wondered if he had finally used his key. Maybe him being there was a good idea to keep me from killing Monica.

  When I opened the door to the apartment I noticed Hood sitting on the couch with his head buried in his hands.

  “Hood,” I said, instantly knowing something was wrong. I walked over closer with Monica on my heels. “Hood, baby,” I said again as I got down on my knees in front of him. “What’s wrong?” I pulled both of his hands from his face. His face was wet from tears. “What happened, baby?”

  “They done shot my nigga.”

  “Who? Pig?” My heart dropped. “Is he all right?” I asked. Hood didn’t say anything. He just gave me a look that told me everything I needed to know. “Why? What happened?”

  “I don’t know. I got a call from one of my trap boys this morning saying Pig didn’t meet him at four this morning and wouldn’t answer his cell. So I went over to Pig’s crib ’cause that nigga always answers his cell. That’s where I found him, still in his car with a bullet to the head, two to the chest.”

  “What?” I said still in shock. “Baby, I am so sorry.” I hugged him tight. “I know Charlene’s fucked up right now. Maybe I should call her.” I stood up.

  “Charlene, man, that bitch was nowhere to be found. I tried to call her and got no answer.”

  “What?” I said again, still shocked. “You think she’s all right?” I began to get worried about her.

  “Yeah, she’s all right, but she gotta answer to me, and if she had anything to do with what happened to Pig, she’s DEAD!” Hood said with certainty.

  “She wouldn’t have anything to do wit’ that,” I tried to defend Charlene. “Hood, I been knowing Charlene since I was in grade school. She may be conceited, but I don’t think—”

  “You don’t think?” Hood gave me a look that was full of anger and hurt. “Look, Mya, somebody gotta answer for this shit. The Brewster is about to be a war zone until somebody tells me what happened to Pig. Whoever I think’s guilty is a dead motherfucker walkin’.” Hood stood up pounding his chest while he was talking, but more tears started pouring down his face.

  Immediately, Hood bounced back down on the couch, and I followed suit in his arms trying to comfort and console my man. Monica just stood there in disbelief.

  “I am sorry about your friend, Hood,” she said before scrolling off to her room. She had her own problems weighing on her shoulders.

  There was just too much going on. Monica and I were still trying to get over the death of our own brother, and now she was pregnant. On top of all that, Pig was ki
lled. Everything was just getting crazy instead of better. With all this heavy stuff on my mind, before I knew it, Hood had fallen asleep and I did too, but when I opened my eyes after a nice long nap, he was gone. I tried calling him but got no answer. The only thing I could do was lie back down on the couch and pray that he came back to me. Alive.

  Chapter 40

  Two days had gone by and I still had not heard shit from Hood. I stopped calling him yesterday. I had come to the conclusion that when he was ready to talk he would call me. I didn’t even bother going to his crib, even though I had two keys and all the codes to his alarm systems. I knew he wasn’t home. I had left him messages letting him know that I loved him.

  I didn’t leave the house for anything. In fact, the only time I had been out of bed was to shower and cook for Monica. Since she was pregnant, I made sure she had breakfast before school, and I cooked dinner for her. I had called Pepper and told her I wouldn’t be coming into work or class this week. I just had too much on my mind.