“Hmmm?” Alice smacked her lips together and peered up at me. “Oh, hey, May.” She tried to sit up. “Whatcha doin’ here?”
I frowned. “Are you high?” I glanced over to the coffee table just as Terrell picked up his mother’s glass pipe. “Give me that.” I snatched the pipe from him.
Alice sighed and spoke drowsily. “Why didn’t you call? I would’ve cleaned or…something.” She swiped some clothes off the cushion next to her. “Sit down. Sit down.”
I placed a hand under my nose. My sister smelled like she hadn’t taken a shower in weeks; in fact, the apartment reeked of shitty diapers and spoiling food. “Where’s the baby?”
Alice stretched and scratched at her crotch. “Hmmm?”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up at attention. “Terrell, stay right here.” I took off running toward the baby’s room. It was just as cluttered and foul-smelling at the rest of the house. More importantly, Mason wasn’t in his bed. I turned and raced toward Alice’s bedroom. It was just as messy, and my nephew wasn’t in there either. I searched the bathroom—nothing.
Don’t panic. Don’t panic. I rushed back into the living room where my sister was preparing to light up her pipe again. “Alice, where’s Mason?”
“Oh, um, he’s…he’s back there sleep.” Alice flicked on the lighter.
“No. He’s. Not. Where is he?”
“Shit. I don’t know.” She moved the flame over her precious crack rocks, but before she could pull a good toke, I slammed the whole thing out of her hands. “STOP THAT SHIT AND LISTEN TO ME!”
“HEY!”
I grabbed my sister by the front of her sweatshirt and jerked her up from the sofa. “Mason is not here,” I hissed. “Where the fuck is he?”
Alice tried to pull herself free. “Let…go.”
In response, I smacked the shit out of her. “FOCUS, GODDAMN IT!”
“Oww. Stop,” Alice whined, still trying to pull herself free. “What the fuck do you want?”
Oh. My. God! “Alice, I need for you to think reeeeaaallly hard. When was the last time you saw Mason?”
My sister seemed confused by the question. “Mason?”
I glanced over at my nephew. “Terrell, get me the phone. I’m calling the police.”
Alice’s eyes grew wide. “Whoa. Whoa, why you gonna call the po-po on me?” She finally snatched herself loose and scrambled to gather her crack rocks. “You can’t bring those pigs up in here. Are you crazy?”
I looked at my sister, but I hardly recognized the wild-eyed crazy woman who was shoving drugs into her pocket. “Alice, where did you get the drugs?”
“None of your damn business!” She swiped at her running nose. “You think I’m gonna tell you so your snitching ass can tell the po-po? Get the fuck out of here with that shit.”
“Here you go, Momma Peaches.” Terrell handed me the cordless phone and then stared at his mother, who’d retrieved her glass pipe and lighter from off the floor.
Angry and fighting back tears, I did something that I never thought I would ever do: I called the police. An hour later, still no one could get an answer out of Alice as to what happened to her baby, even though now she was coming down out of her high and panic was starting to settle in.
“He was here—I swear he was here,” Alice repeated, glancing around. “I just…got a little taste, you know. Just to calm my nerves,” she stressed to the officer who was snapping handcuffs around her wrists. “You don’t understand. He wouldn’t stop crying, and I just needed something to make me relax.”
“Who did you buy the drugs from, ma’am?” another cop asked with his notepad out. “Do you remember what he looked like?”
Alice looked at the man like he’d just grown two heads. “Sheeeiit.” She shook her head. She was faced with a hard dilemma: snitching or finding her baby. The choice was clear in my eyes. But Alice wasn’t seeing it the same way.
“Tell them who was here,” I pleaded. “We need to find Mason before…”
Alice licked her lips and scratched at her matted hair. “I…I just…don’t…remember.”
“What the fuck do you mean you don’t remember?” I lost it and charged toward my sister. “YOU STUPID BITCH! HOW COULD YOU?” Four officers jumped into the mix and struggled to pull me away from her. “YOU FUCKIN’ SOLD THAT BABY FOR A MUTHAFUCKIN’ HIT?”
Alice started crying. “I…I don’t…know. I can’t …I wouldn’t.” She looked around for a sympathetic face, but didn’t find one—not even from her son. “Terrell, I didn’t. You gotta believe me. I would never…”
Terrell, holding his baby brother’s stuffed teddy bear in one hand and his pet grass snake in the other, turned his back on his mother.
“Terrell, baby. Please. Listen to your momma.”
“All right. Get her out of here.” The one cop closed his notepad and shook his head.
“No, wait!” Alice screamed. “Terrell, baby!”
I gathered myself and shook the cops off of me. “Terrell, sweetheart. Come here.”
Terrell waltzed over to me with his head down.
“You, bitch,” Alice seethed as the police tried to drag her out of the apartment. “You’re tryna turn my children against me. You got my baby. I know you do!” She glanced at the police tugging her. “She has my baby. Arrest her! I know she has my baby!”
I shook my head while tears streamed down my face. If anything happened to that poor child, I would never forgive my sister.
Never.
Arzell jerks open the bathroom door, and clouds of steam coil out along with him. He might have a body out of this world, with his hard, chiseled abs, slim waist, and muscled arms, but more and more I’m starting to feel our age difference creep in between us. “You feel better?” I ask, stubbing out what was left of my blunt.
He shrugs and removes the thick towel from around his waist so that his ten inches can just swing in the air. “I’m good.”
I watch him wearily as he walks over to my side of the bed and sits next to me.
“You know…I hate it when you just shut me down,” he says with a seriousness he hasn’t shown before. He reaches for my hand. “I’ve been tryna get something off my chest for a minute.”
Oh, Jesus. I struggle not to roll my eyes.
“Just hear me out,” he says as if sensing my frustration. “Now, I…I love you. I know that might…I don’t know, scare you or—”
“Arzell—”
“Let me finish,” he insists. “For me this isn’t just, you know, some sex thing. I wanna marry you, girl.”
I bust out laughing.
Arzell’s face twists as he lowers my hand. “What’s so damn funny?”
I shake my head and wipe away a few tears of amusement. “Honey, I can’t marry you.”
Stunned and hurt, Arzell asks, “What the hell not?”
“Because I’m already married.”
33
LeShelle
I ain’t forgot about that punk-ass shit Baby Thug pulled at FabDivas. Not for a muthafuckin’ minute. Sure, I can’t touch that high-yellow, Ritalin-popping bitch Python got knocked up at the moment. Mainly because word got to Python how I tried to work her over, so he rolled her out of Shotgun Row and stashed her simple ass someplace he thinks I can’t find her. That’s all right. It’s cool. I’m going to let him have that for now, but he can’t hide that bitch forever, so I’m just going to bide my time.
But Baby’s ass is grass, and I’m looking high and low to mow that bitch down. Shit. I can’t have bitches under me looking at me sideways like I’m just going to let that bullshit roll. If I let that shit go, then it’s just a matter of time before the next bitch thinks she can try me.
For weeks I had every Queen G with her eyes and ears wide open. If that I-wish-I-had-a-dick bitch is locking down a street, a corner, or even a curb, I want to know about it. Just so happens I’m dreaming about what I’m going to do to this bitch while Python’s forked tongue is slapping my pussy from behind
like it owed his ass money or some shit when my phone starts buzzing on the nightstand.
I can’t answer because I’m facedown with a leather mask over my face, a red ball shoved down my throat, and my pink sugar melting in my nigga’s mouth, not in his hands. It’s hard to control my breathing, especially with my hands jacked down in between my legs with cuffs and a chain link that Python pulls whenever he gets ready.
The spike in my collar is digging into my neck, and the pain is shooting an unbelievable dose of euphoria that’s only second to the pleasure exploding in my fattening clit.
“Skeet that shit into my mouth, baby.”
Python’s heavy hand smacks hard across my ass. I gasp at the stinging pain while my knees tremble and struggle to support my weight.
“C’mon, baby. Skeet that pussy juice.”
My eyes roll to the back of my head just as the bottom of my pussy drops and wave after wave of my thick honey gushes into his open mouth. Ooh. I love this fucking shit. I’ve been with this freaky muthafucka for so long that he’s turned me into a straight freak, too.
Python nosily smacks his thick lips. “That’s right. That’s a good pussy. Ahh.” He wipes stray juices off the side of my leg and then makes a hickie on my inner right thigh.
I’m dizzy as fuck by the time he releases me and unzips the back of my mask. I gulp down a healthy dose of oxygen and then smile lazily as my body still vibrates with orgasmic aftershocks.
Python laughs, his warm breath rolling against my thigh. “Fuck, baby. You ain’t come like that in a minute.” Python crawls back up my body.
“I ain’t come in a while, period. You’re too busy giving my dick to those other bitches.” I push him off me after he unlocks the cuffs. Just because he’s given me a good nut ain’t no reason for me to just forget about that other shit.
He props up on his side, laughing.
“I ain’t said shit that’s funny.”
“Nah. You’re just cute when you get jealous.” He reaches over and squeezes one of my titties.
“Yeah. I wonder what your face would look like if you found out I was fucking some other nigga.”
“What?” All humor melts out of his hard face, and the playful energy evaporates like steam.
“Nothing.” I roll over and reach for my phone, which is buzzing again. But Python snatches me back by my shoulder and pins me down to the bed. “You fuckin’ some other nigga, bitch?”
“Get off me!” This nigga is straight tripping. Before I can take another breath, he backhands my ass so hard it feels like my jawbone has been slammed into my eye socket. “Awww. Fuck, nigga!” I start kicking him. “That shit hurts!”
“Answer me!” His face is turning a demonic purple right before my eyes. “Are you giving another nigga my pussy?”
“NO!” It hurts to yell, but I got to stop this nigga before he hits me again and then offers to play doctor and reset my shit. “Now get off me. Damn.” I push at his chest again and unpin my shoulders from the bed. I’m annoyed and pretend that I ain’t scared that he’s about to snatch a knot in my ass at any second.
The tension finally evaporates when he moves off me and climbs out of bed. “Better not,” he says, grabbing my buzzing phone.
“Nigga, give me my shit!” This is a complete violation.
Python easily smacks my hand away. “What the fuck do you want with Baby Thug?”
“Where’s your phone at? Let me start reading your shit.” I twist toward the nightstand on his side of the bed and dive for his iPhone. Just when I’m about to reach his shit, he locks an arm around my waist and easily pulls me back.
“Stop fuckin’ playing and answer the muthafuckin’ question.” He’s back to laughing at my ass and waving my phone in my face. I try to snatch it from him and end up playing a couple of seconds of keep-away before grabbing my shit.
“Well?” he asks, smiling. “You chasing after pussy now? I might find that shit kinda hot.”
“Get on with that retarded shit.” I’m not tryna be charmed by his ugly ass, but a smile finally kicks up at the corners of my lips. “Me and old girl got some shit we gotta settle up.”
“Uh-huh.” His lips keep twitching. “I heard she got the drop on you at that hair salon.” He strolls toward the adjoining bathroom with his fat sausage-size dick swinging low between his legs.
“Yeah? How did you hear about that shit—from that dyke’s girlfriend you been fuckin’ down at the Pink Monkey?” I charge.
Python just laughs and keeps it moving toward the bathroom. “Get on with that bullshit.”
“Don’t play me crazy, Python!”
He stops at the door and glances back at me. “How about you just play your muthafuckin’ position? You think you can just handle that shit? Damn, you’re practically my muthafuckin’ wife.”
“Practically ain’t the same as is, now is it, nigga?”
Python rushes across the room and jacks me up on the wall by my neck. “You got a fuckin’ smart-ass mouth. Now, I done asked your ass nicely to stop sweating me.” His black gaze sears into mine, but I don’t flinch.
“I better not catch that bitch slippin’,” I warn. “That’s all I fuckin’ know.”
We glare at each other for a while, and finally Python starts smiling again and releases me. “Oh, you bad, huh?”
“Nigga, you need to start acting like you know.” I push past him.
“Don’t let me hear you’re giving my shit to no dyke bitch either.” He chuckles and returns to the bathroom.
I roll my eyes and mumble under my breath. “Two-faced muthafucka.”
“I HEARD THAT SHIT!”
“Whatever.” I read the text message from Toxic and can’t help but smile. My top girls with the Queen Gs have finally found Baby at Babylon—a well-known strip club on the Crips’s side of town. “I got you, bitch.” I hop up and rush into the bathroom with Python. He doesn’t say much when I join him in the shower and block his ass from getting most of the hot water. Fuck him.
While I slide on a lace thong, I watch him splash on some of that loud-ass Obsession he likes and ask, “Where you going?” Now I know this muthafucka is ’bout to lie, and he doesn’t disappoint.
“I’m just going to roll out with McGriff and handle some business,” he says with a straight face.
Nigga, puh-lease. As he continues to get dressed, I stare and wish I had the balls to get one of Momma Peaches’s hard-ass iron skillets and wear out the back of that fat head of his until he fucking apologizes for insulting my intelligence. I turn toward the closet and grab the shortest black skirt I can find, a white see-through top, and my best black hooker boots. I feel his heavy gaze shift back on me, but I finish getting dressed as if I don’t know that I look like I’m about to go sell some ass. Twenty minutes later, I’m rocking smoky eye makeup and fierce cat eyelashes and my real black and white chinchilla cape. I’m a bad bitch from head to toe and I know it.
Grabbing my gat, I kiss my man and jump behind the wheel of my Crown Victoria. I’ll worry about where Python is heading a little later. Right now my clit is just thumping at the chance to dump a whole clip into Baby’s peanut head. Before I’m off Shotgun Row, I pick up Kookie and Pit Bull, and they’re just as hyphy as I am.
“I know you gonna cap this bitch.” Pit Bull laughs, pulling down the visor on the passenger side and checking to make sure her nappy hair is blending with her silky straight weave. It isn’t.
“Fuck that. I’m gonna Jack Bauer that ass for a hot minute before I fuck her with this damn gat.”
“We got your back, girl,” Pit Bull says, showing off her .38.
“I’ll cosign that,” Kookie chimes in. “Queen Gs for life, baby.”
We all stack our gang signs as I turn on the radio and blast some ill street shit.
“After this shit, we’re heading to the club, right?” Pit Bull asks. “I’m in the mood to shake my ass tonight.”
“I know that’s right.” Kookie laughs. “Who knows when I’m go
nna be able to get out the house, away from them damn kids.”
“You got it.”
“Now who’s this Toxic?” Pit Bull asks. “How come I ain’t heard of this bitch?”
“She just this chick I knew back in the day. We were at group home at the same time. The girl is bad, but she plays on both sides of the fence.”
“Oh. She’s one of those,” Kookie says, rolling her eyes. “I swear to God it seems like these damn dykes are multiplying like a muthafucka. I hope that shit ain’t in the water.”
We all have a good laugh on that shit. “Anyway, apparently a couple of months ago, Baby Thug cracked a bottle over Toxic’s girlfriend’s head at the Pink Monkey, so she’s willing to help me on this shit.”
“Karma is a fuckin’ bitch,” Kookie says.
My phone buzzes and I quickly turn down the radio and answer.
“Damn, girl. Where you at?” Toxic hisses. “I’ve been blowing up your phone for the last forty fuckin’ minutes.”
“We rolling. You still with that bitch?”
There’s a brief pause, and then Toxic’s voice drifts back over the line a little lower. “Yeah. She’s at my place. You better hurry the fuck on before I earth this bitch myself.”
“Slow your roll. That bitch is mine,” I warn. “You just shake your ass, keep that bitch wet, and me and my girls are coming through.”
“How long you gonna be?”
“Bitch, I’ma get there when I get there. Hold your shit down and I’ll handle it. A’ight?”
Pause.
“A’ight?”
“All right. See you in a few.”
Toxic disconnects the call, and I flip my phone back into my purse. “I swear I hate working with bitches.”
Kookie and Pit Bull just laugh while I jam my foot down on the accelerator. Toxic’s crib is inside a gated community, but I just creep behind the car in front of me and hope the iron gate don’t try to close on me.
“How are we going to do this shit?” Kookie asks, reaching for her own .38 between her thighs.
“Just follow my lead,” I say, shutting off the engine and grabbing my burner. “Pit Bull, you stay down here until we verify we got this bitch locked down. If she makes it through us and out this door, you blast that ass. You feel me?”
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