Partnerz in Crime

by Kareem

“She just stopped writing me, bruh,” I carried on, but not really wanting to talk about it. “I guess she found another cat to treat her right. You know how it is. When the cat’s away, the mice will play.”

  “It is what it is. Life goes on. You were good to Shamika, though. I just knew if no one else would be down with you through thick and thin, she would! Man, you spoiled that girl!”

  “I just charge it to the game, bruh.” I waved off continuing to discuss her. I walked over to my dresser and retrieved what I had brought my daughter. “How you like this, bruh?” I removed the sparkling sky blue tennis bracelet from the box.

  “Yo, my nigga, this is nice!” Hammer said after I handed it to him to check out.

  “I know, right? Keisha helped me pick it out. You know when I see my baby girl, I can’t come empty-handed!”

  “Man, I know that’s right.” Hammer handed it back to me. “How much that joint run you?”

  “Almost eight hun’.”

  “Now how many niggas you know fresh out the joint spending eight of them thangs on their kid, K? That’s why I say we gotta make as much money as we can. There’s no way you can look out for your daughter like I know you want to without them DPs.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  “Aren’t you glad you got a brother in high places?” Hammer placed his arm over my shoulder and said while looking me in the eyes. “Man, we kings. Partnerz in Crime kings. We supposed to have it all!”

  Hammer and I wrapped up our convo and stepped downstairs where Keisha and his wife were in the living room, kicking it.

  “Dayum, it took the two of you long enough,” Keisha said, ready to go. “I’m starving!” She was wearing a green and white Boston Celtics jersey skirt with matching Air Nikes. Hammer’s wife had on a black-and-white Brooklyn Nets jersey skirt with the matching Air Nikes. They both had their hair pulled back in ponytails, looking like don divas. Boss chicks, if you will.

  “Y’all look good!” I told the both of them, looking at Keisha first, then over at Kolanda.

  They both blushed and replied in unison, “Thank you.”

  “Now, where are we going out to eat, Ham, babe?” his wife asked, sliding into a white quarter-length mink. Keisha was putting on a black one. These girls got style for real, I silently acknowledged. I couldn’t believe I was actually fresh out the joint and in such wonderful company. Being with my brother and two hotties was a dream come true!

  “Geneva’s Chicken and Waffles. My nigga love fried chicken. Right, Korey?” Hammer said.

  But Keisha cut in before I could say yes. “Why you always gotta use the N-word so much, Hammer? Dayum! It’s N this, and N that!”

  “’Cause I can do that.” Hammer slightly pushed Keisha in her back as we were going out the door. “Now what?” he playfully provoked her to do something about it.

  “I’m just saying. Stop using that word so much. It’s negative.”

  “‘Stop using that word so much, it’s negative,’” Hammer repeated her, being sarcastic. We all got inside the Range Rover. Hammer’s wife drove while he sat on the passenger side. Keisha and I sat in the back.

  “I swear, you look so beautiful,” I leaned over and whispered in Keisha’s ear.

  “Thank you. You’re looking very handsome yourself, Korey.”

  “’Preciate it. By the way, thank you for being there for me earlier, coming to pick me up and all and taking me shopping. I really thank you for that.”

  “No problem.”

  “And, if you don’t mind, or you’re not too busy tomorrow, I would like for you to take me to see my daughter.”

  “We can do that,” she said with a nod before Hammer drowned out anything else I may have wanted to say to her by turning up the volume on 50 Cent’s “21 Questions.” I rested my head back on the seat’s headrest and silently thanked God that I was finally out of the joint. And, although I learned a helluva lot in that place of solitude about myself and others, it’s a place that dehumanizes you and fucks with your head. If you’re not strong, you’ll come out of that place of torture and horror like an animal! Thank God I kept my sanity.

  Chapter 7

  Crazy

  Keisha

  I had to be a crazy bitch to come out of my comfort zone and “well-behaved girl” demeanor to please my brother-in-law, Hammer. But since it was his boy Korey’s first day home, I did something I knew my father would not have approved of. I compromised my womanhood by fucking exposing my goods to a stranger! My father would have beaten my ass for that. Where was my integrity? Where was my respect for myself and this precious body of mine?

  Speaking of my father, God rest his soul in peace, he wouldn’t dare allow my sister and me to think about dating until we first graduated college and scored good jobs that would allow us to hold our own in the event something happened to him. He wasn’t the average Joe Blow father. He was a gentle soul, but a gangster, who did everything in his power to see to it that my sister and I had everything we could ever want, except boyfriends too early in life. Guys would beg for my name and number on a regular growing up. I would lie and say I was a Catholic who was studying to be a nun! Oh, the lies a good girl will tell to please her loving father. With my dad having eyes all over the little town of Matthews, North Carolina, where my sister and I were raised, there was no way I could get caught slipping, trying to be grown up before my time with guys. My dad would have beat the hell out of me and dared me to call the police! Half of the police force in Matthews was on his payroll! So my sister and I kept our legs shut, tight if I may add.

  I was thirty-eight years old now. I was thirty-four years old when I got my cherry popped. Oh, how I was in love with Joshua Freeman. By the way, Josh was a tax attorney who worked for my father. I thought he was cute for a white guy. He thought I was the sexiest thing walking in Matthews. When he would be at our home discussing business with my dad, and I would be around, I would catch Josh sneaking peeps at my voluptuous ass in one of my short, tight dresses or skirts. But Josh wasn’t stupid. He knew if he showed any sign of liking me around my dad, the chances of him continuing to be my dad’s tax attorney would be terminated. Immediately! So Josh kept his hots for me on the low. And I kept my secret fantasy of him making love to me to myself. But when the Feds indicted my father for being one of the most feared and biggest drug dealers in Matthews and convicted him of the same after a nearly two-month jury trial, that’s when Josh made his move.

  My sister and I couldn’t stomach our father receiving a life sentence! Josh was at the trial to offer his support. He was there to comfort my sister and me, which we needed after seeing our father escorted by marshals to federal prison. I had no idea that him comforting me would lead to us making love that very night. It was the first time I had ever had an orgasm. Josh made me feel good that night. I instantly fell in love. For nearly three years, he and I were in a serious relationship. Then I showed up at his job one day unannounced and caught him in his office, hugging and kissing his secretary!

  That was the day I acted the fool. I took my keys and scratched up his brand spanking new Benz. I busted out all his windows and flattened all of his tires!

  “Keisha, sis, I can’t wait ’til my brother Korey comes home. I’m telling you he will make a good-ass man for you,” my brother-in-law Hammer kept reminding me after seeing me day in and night out, stressed over my failed relationship with Josh.

  Then that phone call came. Korey was out and at the bus station. Hammer asked me to do him a big favor. He wanted me to go scoop Korey up and treat him right. “Treat him right?” I repeated my brother-in-law, looking for clarity on what he meant by that.

  “What I mean is wear a little somethin’ somethin’ that will make him feel good his first day home.”

  “Like what, Ham?”

  “Like put on that leather Chanel trench coat with no bra and panties underneath. I swear my brother will get a kick out of that!”

  “What I look like, Hammer? A fuckin’ tramp? I ain’t doing
that!” I told him, especially since I had just come out of a relationship that had gone sour.

  “Keisha, no one’s saying you’re a tramp. C’mon, you know I know you better than that. I’m just asking you to show my brother a good time. Shit, he’s been in the joint twelve years! It will do him dayum good to touch a titty and play in a good pussy! Do that for me. Besides, you know you need some dick to cheer your ass up from what that punk-ass white boy did to you.”

  I didn’t need Hammer going there, but he was so right. A girl was yearning for some much-needed affection. But I needed my brother-in-law to do something for me if I did what he was asking me to do for Korey.

  “Okay, but I’ma need you to do me a favor as well when you think the time is right.”

  “Anything, you know that.”

  “I want you to catch up with Josh and fuck him up!”

  “Dayum, why we gotta go there, though, Keisha? Let that cat be. He done went on. You gotta do the same, baby girl.”

  “I’m not saying kill him. But I want you to beat his ass real good for cheating on me.”

  “Look, Keisha, you know I’ll do anything for you. But if I go and bust that cracka’s bubble, it could cause all types of problems. Then guess what? My ass gon’ be right back in prison and your sister will never forgive me for it!”

  “You smart enough to handle business without leaving a trace of evidence. C’mon now. You know how to cover your tracks. My sister ain’t got to know about this. I won’t say shit to her about it, and that’s my word of honor. So there you have it.”

  He looked at me like I was insane. “A’ight. Go handle your business with my brother, Killa Korey, and I’ll let you know what I can do for you on that issue later.”

  “Oh, nooooo,” I said. “Let me know if you gon’ handle that for sure or not. We gotta lock that in right now! Don’t even play me like that.”

  “No one is trying to play you.”

  “A’ight, then. Lock it in. Give a girl your word.”

  “I got’chu. Have I ever told you I would do something and didn’t do it?”

  “Never.”

  “Then don’t trip over that cat who hurt you. But, Keisha, I really want you to think about what you’re asking me to do.”

  “I know what I’m asking you to do, Hammer. Just get it done!”

  Hammer was the brother I never had and the man my sister quickly fell head over heels for, surprisingly with our father’s blessing. My father loved Hammer. He told my sister and me that Hammer was like a son to him and for us to embrace him like family. Kolanda did just that. So did I. But she fell in love and married his ass. I discovered from being around my brother-in-law that he was very loyal, loving, and protective, just like our father. And just like our father, he all about that G life. The way he talked about Killa Korey and how they used to go hard in the streets made me believe that Killa Korey had the same thug edge as my brother-in-law, which secretly I liked. That was one thing my sister and I had in common. We had a lot in common, but we both desired a man like our father. A G, hardworking, loving, rough around the edges, thuggish!

  I made myself look as good as I could. My body was identical to Melyssa Ford’s, curvy in all the right places. But not even a body like mine made Killa Korey rise to the occasion. But after a wonderful time together with him, absent a sexual encounter, he had me wanting to know more about his intriguing, handsome ass.

  Chapter 8

  I Need a Man

  It was a little after 11:00 a.m. when I twisted and stretched my way out of my beauty sleep, thanks to my brother-in-law’s high-amped speakers blasting. The bass from his speakers literally sent vibrations through my bed, interrupting a dream I was having where I was getting my pussy fingered.

  You can find me in the club

  pocket full of bud

  Mommy, I got what’cha need

  Come give me a hug

  That’s all I could hear my brother-in-law shouting. He was pumpin’ and reciting the hell out of 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” like his ass was having an early morning house party! He knew I didn’t like it when he blasted his music like that, but still, he did it every weekend, saying that the reason he did it was to remind himself that he was no longer incarcerated and restricted from listening to his music at a volume he desired. He knew I liked sleeping late on the weekends because I worked like crazy five days a week. I swear, if I didn’t have mad love for him, I would have rushed into his and my sister’s bedroom and slapped his face as hard as I could and hauled ass!

  I slipped into my leopard satin bedroom slippers that matched my leopard satin V-string panties and bra, and I walked over to my dresser where I viewed my reflection in the huge mirror attached to it. My hair was all over the place. I picked through it and fingered cold from my eyes, which had bags underneath them like I hadn’t gotten any sleep. Well, I did, but I didn’t.

  I spent a great deal of time lying in bed thinking about what I wanted out of life. For some reason, hanging out and kicking it with Korey at the mall and at dinner made me focus more on my life. I had money. My dad made sure that my sister and I had enough of that to live on for a long time. My sister and I were civil law attorneys. We had clients up the ass! So money wasn’t one of my issues. Neither was having a nice car. I had a BMW and a Mercedes. I stayed with my sister and her husband in this big house my father left us, but I had a condo uptown near my office on Fifth Street. What I didn’t have was a real man! I didn’t actually know how bad I really needed one until I drifted off to sleep shortly after coming in from dinner with Korey, my sister, and my brother-in-law.

  I drifted off into a dream. In it, Korey had entered my bedroom and slid into my bed where I was lying on my side, enjoying the soothing air from my ceiling fan that put my body and mind in an extremely relaxed state.

  The central heat was at that “just right” temperature where it wasn’t too hot. Just nice and cozy enough for me to sleep as I did nightly, in only panties and a bra. Korey slid into bed with me and, without saying a word, began softly kissing the back of my neck. While pecking my neck, he took and lifted my bra, freeing my tits that sprang forth like a jack-in-the-box. He gently caressed them one at a time until the nipples on both of them were hard as stone pebbles. I could feel his bare chest touching the flesh of my back, while his muscular arm that rested on top of my waist permitted him easy access to play with areas of my body that my father taught my sister and me were holy ground.

  He reached for my hand and placed it on his manhood. It was every bit of nine inches, thick, hard, and throbbing. I placed my mouth over it and began sucking him off from the side. While I was bent over sucking Korey’s sweet lollipop from the side, he fingered me with my ass up, doggie style.

  I never had a dick the size of his in my mouth before. I wanted to feel it inside me. “Fuck me. Please, fuck me,” I told him after letting off his strongly erect dick. He told me to turn around because he wanted to put his dick inside me doggie style. I positioned myself in the position he so desired. He eased behind me, about to place his manhood where I so desperately needed it to be.

  That was, until my brother-in-law’s loud music awoke me! “I need a man bad,” was all I could say!

  Now can you see why I wanted to slap the hell out of my brother-in-law? I knew one thing: with me going through with my end of the deal he and I made, he better beat Josh’s ass for me! For now, I couldn’t wait to fulfill Korey’s wish of taking him to see his daughter, Olivia.

  Chapter 9

  The Game Chose Me

  Korey

  That night, after having a very wonderful time out at dinner with my brother, his wife, and Keisha, I came in and crashed. I slept like a baby on that queen-sized soft mattress. It was far from the hard mattress the prison issued you to sleep on. Those mattresses make your whole body hurt.

  Hammer woke me up at about 9:00 a.m. His wife had breakfast made. She fixed turkey sausage, scrambled eggs mixed with cheese, buttered toast with strawberry jam, and
milk. Keisha was still in bed. Hammer rolled a blunt, fired it up after we ate, and asked me if I wanted to hit it.

  “I’m cool,” I told him.

  He passed it to his wife. She hit it, passed it back to him, and left us alone. Hammer told me that he needed me to ride somewhere with him after he took a shower and got dressed.

  I told him, “A’ight,” and headed to the shower.

  I peeped in Keisha’s room before hopping in the shower. She was lying in bed on her stomach with the covers over her head, knocked out. I went and took my shower and threw on black and red Jordan sweats, with the matching Air Jordans.

  By now, Keisha was up and moving about. I told her that Hammer and I were about to go somewhere and that I would call her phone later because I still wanted her to take me to see my daughter. Without saying anything, she placed her thumb up and nodded her head. I got the impression that she was not really a morning person. She was moving around slowly in her house robe and slippers and with her toothbrush in her mouth.

  A little after twelve, Hammer and I stepped outside. We hopped into his milky white Corvette. The windows on it had heavy dark tint, and the rims were shiny chrome. It was the latest on the market. Hammer had it looking like a spaceship! Being that the sun was out and shining bright, the candy paint that reflected the sun’s rays made his car sparkle that much harder.

  “This joint fly, yo. No bullshit!” I highly admired it. Not to mention, Corvettes were my favorite type of car.

  “You like it, K?”

  “Man, Ham, I love this joint.”

  Before we could hop inside to take a seat, Keisha walked past us with tight lips. She rolled her eyes at Hammer. “You need to learn to play your music at a low volume when I’m trying to sleep!” she said, pushing Hammer on his shoulder as she walked past.

  “Shut up before I put my brother on you.”

  “Whateva.” She got into her BMW, shut the door hard, and burned rubber.