Hustlin' Divas

by De'nesha Diamond

  “Hey, Peaches,” Rufus calls from the fence. “Sho look good this evening.” His eyes rake me up and down.

  “Nigga, don’t start begging me for no pussy. I ain’t got time for that shit tonight.”

  Rufus just shrugs his shoulders. “One day. Watch and see.”

  Arzell returns to the porch, carrying two beers. “Gotcha something to drink, Momma.” He hands a chilled bottle over to me and then gives my ass a good smack and squeeze in front of the whole neighborhood.

  “Whoooaa!” A few niggas snicker and point at us.

  Arzell gives everyone the middle finger. “Fuck all y’all, muthafuckas!”

  “Don’t worry about them, baby. They ain’t nothing but a bunch of haters ’cause they can’t get at this. Muthafuckas don’t know pussy is like fine wine—it only gets better with time.”

  The brothers howl.

  Arzell smirks and then jogs off the porch to go talk shit.

  “So what’s goin’ on with you, Yo-Yo?” I ask. “What you been up to? I haven’t been able to catch up with you since I’ve been back home.”

  Yolanda shrugs her shoulders. “You know how it is. Doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that so I can stack some paper.”

  “Get your kids back yet?”

  Yo-Yo takes another powerful pull on the rapidly disappearing woolie. “Nah. Not yet.” She shrugs. “But I’m working on it. Got me a job over at the Pink Monkey today.”

  “Humph.” I lean back and check her out. “Well, ain’t nothing wrong with working what the good Lord gave you. You just make sure you stay one step ahead of the game. Don’t let those niggas gas you up on some bullshit or you’ll be poppin’ out more crumb snatchers you can’t afford to take care of.”

  She drops her head.

  Even though I’m pretty fucked up, I realize that I hurt the girl’s feelings, and knowing what the girl has been through, I ease up. “Chile, don’t pay me no mind. You do what you gotta do to get your babies back, girl.” I shake my head as another old memory starts to emerge through my drugged haze. When it’s all said and done, it’s up to the woman to provide for her babies. And sometimes we gotta stack money any way we can….

  April 1985. I had my arms full with trying to take care of Nana Maybelle. She had suffered a stroke a few weeks prior, and she was having trouble regaining the use of her left side. Medical bills ate through Maybelle’s nest egg in just a matter of months. The good times were officially over for the Carver women.

  Alice, six months pregnant, had moved back into the house after much back-and-forth with her latest boyfriend, Jerome. Neither one of them was any use to me. The muthafuckas partied all night and slept all day. For years, Nana and I tiptoed around Alice, mainly because we felt guilty for what Leroy had done to her twelve years ago. Maybelle felt bad because she wasn’t home that night, and I felt bad for obvious reasons.

  Given the rape and her age, the courts ruled Leroy’s murder as a justified homicide. However, Alice was never the same again. She got into trouble, flunked out of school, and just overall didn’t give a fuck about anything. Then there were the men. Where I liked bad boys, Alice loved dangerous boys.

  It was unclear where Jerome came from. His story changed damn near every day. And if you asked him too many questions, he’d become agitated and start cussing muthafuckas out. Around town, he’d been known to jack cars in broad daylight and shoot niggas over dice games. He even shot one nigga because he’d snuck a chicken leg out of Jerome’s Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket. He straight up just didn’t give a fuck.

  I had to check his ass almost on the daily and came close to slicing his throat when I caught his ass stealing money out of my purse. Still, Alice defended him and refused to put him out of the house.

  She also defended him whenever he hauled off and beat her ass for any and everything. I didn’t understand. Alice had blossomed into a beautiful woman. Pretty face, big titties, small waist, and a thick ass. Everywhere she went, niggas damn near got whiplash trying to holler at her. She could’ve had any nigga she wanted, but for some damn reason, she wanted this illiterate, nasty, Jheri curl–wearing, gold-toothed, stank-breath muthafucka who dressed like Tubbs on Miami Vice.

  The few times that I tried to push the issue, Alice had cussed me the fuck out. And the one time I’d jumped in the middle of one of their fights, trying to defend Alice, the bitch turned on me and tried to beat my ass. So I decided to let her do whatever the fuck she wanted to do. A hard head made a soft ass.

  It wasn’t easy staying on the sidelines. Jerome would beat Alice so bad sometimes that I just knew she was going to miscarry one day or even be killed herself. If that day ever came, I didn’t know what I was going to do.

  Money became such an issue at the Carver house that I tried to take over the family business, establish some connections, but Jerome fucked all that shit up, too.

  “He’s gotta go!” I shouted after discovering I was missing a couple of bricks I had kept stashed in a loose board beneath my bed. “I can’t take this shit no more! Niggas die for shit like this.”

  “Calm down,” Alice said, rolling her eyes. “You don’t know whether Jerome took your shit. Maybe you have another nigga roaming around the house while you’re high as fuck and passed out.” She cocked a half smile at me. “It’s happened before.”

  Our gazes clashed.

  “So what? I’m supposed to let this muthafucka run all over me for some mistake twelve years ago? Fuck that. Enough is enough. The past is the past. It’s time to fucking move on from that shit. He’s stealing money out of our pockets, food out of our mouths. We got bills in this bitch. You think the muthafuckin’ lights stay on because people at Memphis Light and Gas just love our black asses? Nah. He’s gotta go.”

  Alice rolled her eyes again and smacked her heavily glossed lips. “The last time I checked, this wasn’t your house. Nana Maybelle said that we could stay here as long as we wanted.”

  “I tell you what. When Nana can wipe her ass again, then she can have a vote. But as long as my ass is hustlin’ in this muthafucka to keep the lights on, then what I fuckin’ say goes.”

  Alice teared up. “So, what, you’re putting me out?”

  “I didn’t say that you had to go anywhere. Jerome needs to take his dusty behind somewhere else—back to Atlanta, Birmingham, or wherever the fuck he says he’s from this week.”

  “If he goes, then I go,” Alice said, playing her best card.

  “Then I’m going to miss you,” I said.

  Alice’s face fell. “You’d do that?”

  “Nobody pimps me out. Not you and certainly not some drip, drip Jheri curl muthafucka who’s ruining all our good sheets.”

  “Fine. Fuck you, bitch. If it wasn’t for me, your ass wouldn’t even be here now.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not going to work this time. I appreciate and am grateful that you saved my life that night, but I can’t keep living like this. I’m sorry for what Leroy did to you—for my part in what happened—but I’ve got to draw a line, Alice. Jerome has to go.”

  “Your part? The whole fuckin’ thing was your fault. You brought that nigga in here…to my bed. Now you wanna stand there and judge me on how me and my man get down? Well, fuck you. You got a lot of fuckin’ nerve.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not changing my mind about this, Alice. I don’t owe—”

  “Bitch, you owe me your life.” Alice winced and clutched at her belly.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “N-nothing.” She doubled over. I rushed to her side, but she stubbornly pulled away. “Get away from me. I don’t need your help.”

  “Don’t be stupid. Do you need to go to the hospital?”

  Alice didn’t answer. She stayed doubled over, drawing in several short breaths until the pain subsided..

  “I’m calling nine-one-one,” I decided.

  “No.” Alice stood, seeming to have recovered. “I’m fine, so stop pretending you give a fuck.”

&nbs
p; “Alice…”

  My sister didn’t stand around to hear whatever I had to say. She simply turned and marched out of the room. An hour later, she had packed her and Jerome’s shit and stormed out. Nana Maybelle was hurt but understood that I had to do what I had to do.

  Alice and Jerome spent the next two weeks sleeping in his black van. For the first week, Jerome sold some of the brick he’d lifted from my stash. They partied hard with the rest. Alice kept telling herself that she wasn’t doing that much coke and that her baby was going to be fine. Then she tried crack for the first time and had long spells when she forgot that she was pregnant altogether.

  Two weeks later, Jerome sold the van out from under them, leaving them to roam from one shitty motel to another. Then he sold his gold teeth. None of the money lasted long. Then Jerome had the bright idea to pimp Alice out, even though she was now seven months pregnant. She refused at first, but after being slapped around for a little bit, she changed her mind. Niggas didn’t give a fuck that her ass was pregnant. She was still pretty with a fat ass.

  But the money wasn’t coming fast enough for Jerome, so he concocted a plan to hit two check-cashing joints off Lamar. “It’s just a smash-and-grab, baby. Ain’t shit going to go wrong,” he said. “We roll up in there, get that money, and we’ll be set for a while—at least until Junior comes,” he said, reaching over and rubbing her big belly.

  “I don’t know.”

  “What the fuck don’t you know?” Jerome yelled. “We need the money, don’t we?”

  Alice sighed. “Yes, baby.” She was getting tired of this same argument from him.

  “Then what’s the problem? It’s tax refund time. You know these muthafuckas have mad loot in there. We hit this one and then the one over off Winchester, and I’m telling you we’ll be set.”

  Alice remained unconvinced.

  “Looky here.” He sniffed and then sat next to her on the rumpled motel bed. “If it makes you feel better, after the job, we can get a couple of rocks and have ourselves a little party.” He leaned over and nibbled on her bottom lip. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  Just the idea of getting high had Alice smacking her lips in anticipation. Fuck. They did need the money, and the little chump change she made with these broke niggas around Memphis was barely enough for a couple of rocks, let alone for some food and shit. In the back of her mind, she knew the shit she was doing was fucked up, but, damn, she couldn’t help herself at this point. Life was too fucking hard to deal with when she wasn’t high. Of course, she could always go home, but that would require her tucking in her tail and kissing her sister’s ass. She couldn’t do that.

  Not yet anyway.

  “Goddamn, Alice. What the fuck is there to think about?” he exploded, jumping to his feet. “If you ain’t going to help me make this paper, then I need to cut your ass loose and find me a bitch who knows how to be down for her man.”

  Alice panicked and pushed herself to her feet. “Baby, baby, calm down.” She tried to pull him into her arms.

  “Nah, nah. Your ass ain’t doing nothing but slowing a nigga down. You know how much pussy I’ve turned down, fuckin’ around with you? And I’m talking about some good pussy, too.”

  She drew in a sharp breath as his words punched her in the gut.

  “Do you appreciate shit? Nah. You just fuckin’ whine and complain.”

  “I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry.” Again, Alice tried to pull him back into her arms. “I’ll do it, baby. I’ll do it. Chill.” She rained kisses across his face, hoping to erase all thoughts of him leaving her.

  Jerome’s lips twitched up. “You mean it? You’ll do it?”

  She smiled and led him back over to the bed. “Of course, baby. You know I’ll do anything for you.” Alice unzipped his jeans and pulled out his fat dick. Jerome may not have been much to look at, but nigga had the best dick she’d ever had. It was long and veiny, with a thick muffin-top head. Jerome’s toes would curl every time she squeezed that shit to the back of her throat and slobbered on it.

  “Oooh. That’s my girl,” he sighed, keeping his callous hands against the back of her head and occasionally forcing her to choke on his shit a little longer than she wanted to. “You love me, baby?” he asked, looking down at her and admiring her work.

  Alice bobbed her head but kept working that dick.

  “And you’d do anything for me?”

  She bobbed again.

  “Good girl.”

  The next day, Alice didn’t ask where Jerome got the guns, but they hopped a bus to the mall and hot-wired a nice green Buick for their getaway car. Alice hadn’t held a gun in years, and when Jerome tried to hand her a .38, she couldn’t get herself to take it.

  Irritated, Jerome thrust the gun toward her. “Will you stop fuckin’ around?” He scratched his dry and lint-filled Jheri curl. “I ain’t got time for your bullshit today.” He licked his lips and glanced around the parking lot. “Now, you’re going to go in first, and I’ll come in behind you and cover the door.” He reached in his jacket and pulled out a Hefty bag. “All you got to do is point the gun and tell them to fill up the bag.”

  “I gotta ask for the money?”

  “Shit. I gotta watch the door, make sure nobody comes in there. You got the easiest part of the job.” He shook his head like he was dealing with a fucking idiot. “Now put this shit on.”

  Alice took the black wool cap that would double as a mask.

  “We go in. You point the gun, demand the money. Two minutes later, we ride out. Got it?”

  Alice nodded but then felt a sharp pain in her stomach. “Oooh.”

  “What the fuck is wrong with you now?” Jerome snapped.

  “N-nothing. I’m fine,” she lied, and then reached for the door handle.

  “All right. Let’s do this shit!” Jerome jumped out of the car and did a sort of half walk, half run across the parking lot.

  Alice struggled to keep up. Each step she took caused another spasm of pain to shoot up her body.

  “C’mon, c’mon,” Jerome demanded, rolling his arm as if that was going to light a fire under her ass or something.

  But as Alice stepped up on the sidewalk of the L-shaped strip mall, she suddenly felt a rush down between her legs. She looked down and saw that she had wet herself. “J-Jerome. I …I think—”

  “What the fuck are you pissing on yourself for?” His face twisted in disgust. “Goddamn it. I knew that you were going to fuck this shit up.” He started pacing and looking around. “I need to get this fuckin’ money.”

  “It’s all right, baby,” she said, trying to smile again. “I’m all right now. I’m cool.”

  He eyed her warily. “You sure?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. We’re just going to be in and out, right?” More pain shot through her; this time it seemed as if it was coming from everywhere. She struggled not to double over and wail like a muthafuckin’ banshee, but there was nothing she could do about the sweat pouring like a waterfall from her hairline.

  “All right, all right. Cool,” Jerome said, his eyes shining.

  Alice knew that look. His ass was fiening bad. She rushed to the glass door of E-Z Check Cashing, but she wobbled more than she walked.

  “Your mask,” he hissed.

  She nodded and pulled the wool cap down over her eyes and then ran into the building, pointing her .38 at the woman behind the counter. “This is a stickup, bitch! Give me all your money.”

  An older woman wearing a crooked black wig threw her hands up in the air. “Don’t shoot me!”

  “I—Ow!” Alice clutched her side. “I ain’t going to shoot you as long as you do what—Ow!” She tried to squat.

  The older woman eyeballed her for a few minutes. “Are you okay?”

  “I-I’m fine!” Alice tried to steady her weapon. “Just put the money in the bag.” She thrust out the Hefty bag, but then once again couldn’t stop herself from trying to squat in the middle of the room. “Oh, fuck!”

  “Ma�
��am, are you about to have a baby?”

  She ground her teeth together as a way to bite down on the pain, but it wasn’t working. “I just …I just need to sit down for a minute.” Alice glanced over her shoulder to see where the hell Jerome was. He hadn’t come inside with her as planned. He was pacing back and forth outside, waiting for her to come back out. “Shit.”

  “Do you need for me to call the doctor or something?” the woman asked, making her move to push a button behind the counter.

  “N-no,” she panted. “Just fill the bag…argh!” She squatted all the way down to the floor. There was no doubt about it—the baby was coming. NOW.

  The woman rushed around the counter to help, but the minute Jerome spotted her doing that shit, he came charging into the building, blasting. She screamed as six bullets slammed into her chest and propelled her backward.

  Alice screamed, too, but more because it felt like she was being torn in half.

  “What the hell are you doin’ on the floor?!” Jerome yelled, looking around. “Where the fuck is the money?”

  “B-baby!”

  “What?”

  “The baby is coming!”

  Jerome blinked. “What? Right now? You can’t have that shit right now.”

  Alice tried to breathe in short puffs but then ended up growling when her body forced her to push. The sharp pain she was experiencing earlier had now become all consuming.

  “Fuck this shit!” Jerome snatched up the bag, raced around the corner, and quickly started pouring open drawers into the bag, but it wasn’t much. “What the fuck is this?” He clutched just a handful of twenty-dollar bills. “This can’t be all of it!”

  “J-Jerome.” Alice gulped and tugged at her pants. She needed to get them off. “Hel-help!”

  He ignored her. He was too busy sweeping shit off the counter and turning over filing cabinets until he finally stumbled across a bank safe.

  The bell jingled over the door, and a guy wearing a mechanic’s jumpsuit walked in. “What in the hell?”