“Hold up. You made 9 G’s in 2 days off a big 8?”
“Nah niggah! I made $10,500, kept $500 for the pocket and got an apartment with the other G.”
K smiled as he absorbed this new information with his mental calculator counting up the possibilities. Outside of his local weight customers he only had one spot left pumping slabs. It was still flowing decent, but overall his hustle had taken a significant blow. Always the thinker K switched angles.
“So what’s the weather like out that way? Is the po-po hot or did you maneuver around without problems, “ K instinctively asked, recalling his recent troubles.
“I’m sayin-I seen a few riding but it wasn’t nothing that I couldn’t work around. I’m ready to make moves though, that’s why I grabbed the crib.”
Thumper returned with their drinks and K filled Darkside in on everything that had happened since he left town. The situation with Lonnie and Norma.The living conditions with Reebie which was beginning to be a burden. And last but definitely not least, the situation with the crooked cops Rat and Fat.
“You need to get out of town and lay low for a minute. I’m telling you fam,that shit is soooo sweet, “ said Dark.
“I’m with you, I just have to handle a few things. When Yalltryin to bounce back?”
“Shit- yesterday!”
“I can dig it. But look let’s go grab that paper so I can make a move. I’ll grab the work in the morning and we can roll after I handle some overdue business tomorrow night,” said K with determination in his voice. They toasted drinks to mo money and focused on the near future.
CHAPTER 10
Mattie wasn’t cool with K going out of town. She had already begun to feel that dependency feeling again on a man, and that she was very uncomfortable with. He had told her that he would be leaving for no more than four days and there would be plenty money in the safe in case of emergency.
“Well dam, can I go with you?” she asked not wanting to be separated from him again.
“Please don’t make this more difficult than it is. You know I just took some losses and I need some getback. Plus I don’t know a lot about the town. If it’s some gunplay, I don’t want to take you into a situation like that.”
This really wasn’t the truth and Mattie could sense it. The truth was that with all the stress that K had been going through and the added stress of Reebie staying with them at the apartment, he needed some time away. He was also going through a mental battle over the rumors of Mattie’s other extra activities while he was locked up. He had come to find out that she had been on some real loose shit. He was really trying to work past the past.
“So you just going to leave me again? Alright that’s cool, “ said Mattie and stormed off to the bedroom with an attitude.
K just figured he’d deal with that later because he had other more urgent business to tend to. He had called Pook and Blass earlier and told them that he needed to holla at them about handling something. As he headed out of the apartment he considered trying to reason with Mattie, but decided against it. When he got to Pooks crib, they were there waiting. He gave them his plan and they nodded in agreement. There was no argument that it was time to send a message.
“How much did you take from them young chumps?” asked the fat dumpy cop as the two uniformed officers sat parked on the dark street.
“We got $2,200 so far and we still aint hit the north side, “ said the officer who closely resembled a rat in the face.
Rat and Fat had been taking hustler’s money for years. They had also built up a fear factor in the hood because they would sometimes put drugs on dudes who gave them a hard time. They had been beat walkers in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn until an investigation into a mysterious shooting death produced evidence that pointed fingers at the duo. The sergeant that they were under made the evidence strangely disappear and immediately after, they were transferred to Long Island. That was five years ago.
“Did you see them niggahs faces when I pulled that ounce of crack out of my pocket? The skinny kid looked like he was gonna shit himself,” said Ratman laughing hysterically.
“Yeah, we could do this shit forever and never get caught because they are too scared to go to jail,” Fatface continued.
The moon shined brightly overhead and every star was clearly visible. The two officers paid little attention to the car slowly approaching from the rear.
These fuckers are gonna put my kids through college and pay for the down payment on my new house,“ said Ratman.
Just as he was finishing his sentence the driver’s side window exploded into a thousand tiny pieces. The first slug from the AK-47 entered in the left side of Ratman’s head at the temple, and immediately exited taking with it his last thoughts.
As Fatface sat in shock, fear, and horror looking at remains of what was left of his partners head in his lap, the roar of twin desert Eagles ripped through the front windshield. The first two shots from the cannon killed him and were followed by 10 more. They left gaping holes as the bullets tore through flesh like wet tissue and lodged in the backseat. What followed was a barrage of slugs attacking the vehicle from all sides that riddled the cruiser and insured a sudden death for both of the officers. Within twenty seconds it was over.
A half hour later K, Pook and Blass were leaving a close associates body shop where all the guns that were involved had been cut up and turned into scrap metal. With that problem solved; K and the cats in the hood could breathe a little easier. They would celebrate the next day, and the streets would be on fire for a while following the murder of two officers. But the message was sent.
K went and dropped off Pook and Blass and went to go re-up. Once again it was time to make moves.
CHAPTER 11
“What’s up with this nigga Skulls? I aint seen him in a couple of days,” K said to Dark.
“The last time I saw him he was with some cat from Queens that he brought out here.“
“Word? That’s cool, “K said as he placed a rubber band around the 13th and 14th of the thousand dollar $taxxx they were counting.
They had both noticed Skulls begin to act shady, but K and Dark didn’t lose sight of the mission. They’d hit Allentown, PA a week earlier and had already made the 90 minute trip back to N.Y. twice. Now as they began to learn the new territory, they continued to meet new people. The streets of Center City were flooded with heroin, weed, coke, and crack. There were literally bars on every other corner throughout the town. The one-way streets and narrow back alleyways were quickly identified as accessible escape routes in emergency situations. K heard a commotion outside the apartment and walked over to peek out of the curtain to the street below.
“I don’t want to deal with nobody but Darkside. Ya’ll don’t hook me up like he do, “ said the Caucasian hooker with the heavy make-up.
“He aint here ma, but I gotchu, “ said the young Puerto Rican worker under Dante’s employ.
“Well when will he be back? I got $700 and I know you aint gonna hook me up like he will, “ she stated looking defeated.
K looked back over his shoulder at Dante AKA Darkside.
“Yo, one of your regulars is out here and she don’twanna deal with nobody else.”
When they first got to town, K shouldn’t have been surprised that Dark had rented an apartment on a block with the heaviest drug traffic in the city. Never send a stick-up kid to do a hustlers job. Fortunately for the duo, one was a thinker. There was an eight unit building on the opposite side of the street. The building had off street parking. It also had a rear entrance and windows that faced the main strip. After scouting the area for two days K approached an elderly couple that lived in the building across the street. He made them an offer to relocate them to wherever they wished, plus $1500 which they happily and immediately accepted. K rationalized that this was a small price to pay for the cause. Now as they stood in the small but nicely furnished two bedroom apartment listening to the conversation outside, K realized it was money we
ll spent.
“Let me go handle this. She always spends heavy. I wanna make sure we don’t lose her,” Darkside said as he quickly headed out of the apartment.
As K heard the door close he took a look around the apartment. He figured if he was going to spend a lot of time here, he might as well make it comfortable. The thick dark green carpeting he’d had professionally installed was offset by the cream colored Italian leather sofa and loveseat combo. Two newly purchased oil paintings of abstract art hung on the walls of the living room. 70 inches of widescreen television, which played every cable channel available occupied the wall opposite the sofa. He dropped onto the couch with the remote and began flipping through channels. He looked at his watch noted that he would need an upgrade soon from his plain faced Rolex.
Where is this goddamn bitch? He thought calling Mattie’s cell phone for the 40th time. He had also made numerous calls to the apartment which went unanswered as well. This sent his imagination on overdrive. Becoming frustrated with the unanswered calls to the apartment as well as the ones to Mattie’s cell phone, K turned off the TV and hit the streets to see what he could find to occupy his attention. He remembered a local spot at a hotel on Hamilton Street that he’d heard Dark say was a hangout for the locals. K was far from being blind to the large number of cuties that were in the town, but he was more focused on taking his hustle game to another level. He exited the apartment and headed down the back stairs that led to the alley where the rental was parked.
As he headed to the rental he noticed the locals, a few elderly couples, sitting on their porches living life and was slightly consumed by quilt. This place was nothing like his hood in NY which he had left. This was a quiet place where people felt comfortable letting children and grandchildren play outside without the threat of violence. But on the front side of the building in an apartment across the street, he and Dark were contributing to the destruction of their community. He pushed the thought out of his mind knowing that if he wanted to get where he was trying to be, he had no room for empathy. He could hear the sounds of salsa music playing a few doors down from where the elderly couple lived as he hit the button on the key ring releasing the automatic locks on the rental.
K slid in the brand new champagne colored Cadillac that he’d rented from Enterprise. He smelled the new car scent mixed with the smell of the tan leather interior. Shit was flowing real decent so he felt entitled to treat himself to this small luxury. His Acura was also sacrificed as one of the losses from his last incarceration. Another casualty which he knew when his pockets got right, he would replace. K pulled up to a club called HARRYS which was attached to a hotel called The Traylor. As he cruised the parking lot looking for a space he noticed various groups of honeys in all flavors making their way to the entrance of the club. He saw a few dudes here and there, but the numbers of cuties were far more than dudes. He smiled to himself considering the possibilities. He pulled into a spot next to a green Navigator. He was familiar with the car and the driver because he was one of the cats Dark had put him onto who had been copping weight. You would have thought by his car game that dude was doing big things, but he turned out to only be an ounce copping niggah. K turned off the caddy and exited the vehicle. As he started towards the entrance of the club, he felt the weight of the snub nose.357 magnum that was tucked in his waist. He had close to 7G’s in his pocket, which when he thought about it, wasn’t a real good idea to be carrying going into a hood spot for the first time. He returned to the passenger side of the caddy and checked the parking lot carefully. Seeing that the coast was clear he peeled $1500 off his bank roll, which was more than enough for Henny and Heinekens.
He locked the rest of the money inside the glove compartment. Next was the issue of the hammer(gun). He wasn’t sure what the security was like or the atmosphere in the club. Just because he didn’t see niggahs, didn’t mean that they weren’t inside and on some bullshit. Still observing his surroundings, he slid the heavy steel from his waistband and slipped it under the wheel well and sat it on top of the back tire. This was an old trick that he’d learned coming up in the hood. If shit popped off it was always easy access to get to his piece.
Just As he was starting towards the club, he heard female voices coming up the parking lot. He turned to to see four cuties headed towards the club and dressed to impress.
“Hi,” one of the honeys said catching K off guard.
Upon further observation he noticed that all four of them were bad as a motherfucker.
“What’s good gorgeous? How you?”
This piece of eye candy was giving K some mean eye contact; leaving no room for dispute that she was interested.
“What’s your name? I’m Trish. I saw you in the diner with Skulls the other night,” she said in a seductive Latino accent.
“This is Jeanette, Julie, and Heather,” she added introducing another Puerto Rican and two white girls.
The statement about Skulls put K on point to what type of chicks he may be dealing with. If they knew him they were probably, hoodrats in Diva disguises. Good enough to freak with, but you probably didn’t want to put too much time in with them. And you definitely didn’t want to wife one. He had seen the type before. The who these new niggahs? Bitches. Most of them had been run through by all the out of town hustlers, and most of the dudes in town.
But K wasn’t looking for a relationship, just something to do to occupy his time and take his mind off Mattie.
“I’m K. What’s up, yall trying to hangout wit a niggah?” he said returning the same eye contact she was giving him. “Drinks on me.”
That pretty much sealed the deal as they made their way to the club. After paying for everybody to get in and passing security, he realized that he had just found him a new hangout spot. Of course the grimey cats he anticipated might be inside were there, but he could deal with them. He had been dealing with them all his life. The part that officially locked him in was the wall to wall to wall honeys that filled the spot.
K headed straight to the bar with his newfound friends close on his heels.
“Get what yall want,” he told them over the loud music.
K noticed a couple of cats who he’d met since he’d been in the town and dealt with on a business level. He also noticed all the chicks that came by the bar trying to see who the new niggah was hanging with Trish and her crew. A few shots of Hennessy later and K felt a tug on his hand. He had been deepin thought after hanging up his cellphone with yet another straight to voicemail call to Mattie. Trish’s smile combined with cognac was all that was needed to stitch up the wound in his heart that was reopening.
“Come dance with me Papi,” she said seductively. Thoughts of Mattie vanished. She swayed her hips like a snake charmer and K followed her lead. Yep, he thought to himself, I think I might like it here.
Mattie and Reebie entered the apartment just after six in the morning. They were both tired from the night of partying at a club in Manhattan that Reebie had talked Mattie into going to.
“Come on Mat. Let’s go hangout in the Village. I’m tired of sitting around in this apartment,” Reebie had said yesterday.
Mattie was also tired of sitting around, and she was still fairly content with a couple of blunts and some loud music. But Reebie had kept pushing the issue.
“We can go shopping and go to Juniors to get cheesecake. Please?” Reebie whined.
Now Mattie thought, this bitch aint playing fair. Cheesecake and shopping.Her two weaknesses. So after a little more persuasion, Mattie had reluctantly given in. She really didn’t want to leave the apartment either. Especially due to the fact that she had misplaced her cellphone, which she kept on vibrate because she always listened to her music at such a high volume. The last time she had spoken to K was yesterday and he said things were going good. He was also coming home in a couple of days and had something important to talk to her about.
Now as she stuck her key in the apartment door, she wished she would have kept her ass at home. They
had almost missed their stop on the train and would have had the conductor not woke them up. Of course they didn’t have to catch the train back out to Wyandanch, which Reebie reminded Mattie all the way through Penn Station. Of the five crews of dudes that tried to get with the undeniably gorgeous sister, three dudes actually offered to bring them back out to the Island… after breakfast.
But of the dudes that had offered, none of them were the ones out of the crew buying drinks. Not to mention one of them looked like he couldn’t even spell car, let alone own one. As soon as Reebie was through the door she kicked off her heels and headed straight to the couch. Look at this crusty bitch, Mattie thought as she smiled to herself. There was no doubt how much she loved her sister. At times she wished that she could put her in her pocket and protect her from the world and all the hurt that she had been through. Mattie dreaded the thought of some manipulating man entering her sister’s life and destroying it.
It wasn’t five minutes before Mattie could hear Reebie snoring. She was dead tired too, but she had to shower before she went to bed. She also wanted to make another attempt to find her phone. She knew that it had to be somewhere in the house. Mattie kicked off her shoes and headed towards the bathroom. She knew the weed that K had left wasthe reason that she kept misplacing shit. She didn’t know where he got that shit from, but it was straight fire.
Mattie was on her way to turn on the shower when she heard it.
What the fuck? aw hell naw! She thought as she looked at the medicine cabinet. She pulled open the mirror and there it sat next to the Advil that she’d taken earlier for a headache. She grabbed her phone which was vibrating out of control. 46 missed calls.
“Shit! I know this niggah is buggin right now,” she said in a worried whisper.
It Was All A Dream et-1 Page 5