The Hood Life

by Meesha Mink

  My eyes shift to the right and I feel relief. I actually thought it was Quilla’s voice I heard. But my eyes still get wide to see first one and then the other of the twins walk out of the bedroom in nothing but matching gold thongs with money—probably my money—in their hands.

  I watch as they walk over to Usher and he wraps his beefy arms around their waist and pulls each one close to kiss their glossy lips. His hands drop down possessively to lightly smack his guns against their juicy asses. Somewhere along the line, they added tattoos of their names to their dimpled butts.

  I don’t love these tricks. Hell, they’re not Quilla, but I’m still surprised as hell to see these two dimes lappin’ Usher’s ugly ass like he’s the second coming of Jesus. Still, they was on my list of easy pussy and I really don’t give a fuck if they give the pussy to Usher.

  Right now my best friend is showing me he is my worst enemy. Pussy is the last motherfuckin’ thing on my mind.

  Suga laughs and leans back to jiggle her titties before she throws the money into the air to rain down on them like confetti. “Big Daddy sick of you and your goody-two-shoes bullshit. It’s time for some new blood to run these streets,” she purrs as she cuts her eyes over to look at me.

  Big Daddy? New blood?

  What the fuck ever.

  Spyce gently pushes out of Usher’s embrace and struts over to me where I stand in the dimly lit living room. “You thought we was just like all them hos you done run through, huh?” she spits at me, her eyes filled with anger. She reaches up and slaps me hard.

  I step forward to yoke her ass up.

  “Oh no,” Usher says, stepping forward with one barrel pointed at my head and the other one at my chest.

  I fall back.

  Suga takes one of the guns from Usher’s grasp with a deep kiss to his lips before she steps up next to her twin and laughs. Her hard nipples are pointed at me as she puts her free hand on her hip and taps her Gucci sandal against the black tiled floor. “You shoulda killed his ass the way we planned,” she tells Usher over her shoulder as she curls her glossy lips at me.

  My eyes shift to Usher and he just cocks his head and looks at me like “What?” I nod like it’s all cool but deep down I can’t lie that I’m hurt like a motherfucker. I’m hurt and I’m angry. I’m afraid that tonight is the last night of my life.

  One of the twins steps closer to me and puts her hand on my shoulder. She looks up at me before she presses her lips to mine.

  “Suga!” Usher roars.

  “I’m Spyce,” she purrs, as she cocks her perfectly plucked eyebrow and knees me in the nuts. Pain worse than the gunshots radiates from my groin across my whole body. I bend over and grab my shit as she laughs at me. I feel something with an edge roughly pushed against the back of my knees. She brings her elbow down onto the middle of my back.

  “That’s for not buying my sister them stilettos she wanted, nigga.”

  Spyce pushes me down into the chair behind me and I have to fight the urge not to bum-rush this bitch and beat her ass. But I’m so aware of the guns locked on me. Usher shot me once. Fuck that. I don’t doubt he’ll do it again.

  Right now it has to be about brain over brawn. I don’t have a choice.

  Suga or Spyce raises her leg to kick my side viciously. “That’s for that abortion you made me have, pimpin’.”

  That’s Suga for sure.

  I bite my lip to keep from crying out as she punches my gunshot wound like her ass is going for a knockout.

  “Aaah!” I holler out, unable to stop the show of pain.

  Usher laughs.

  “And this is for thinkin’ that bitch Quilla is better than us.”

  WHAP!

  A slap to my jaw. I taste my own blood fill my mouth.

  They squat down on either side of me and I can smell that familiar sweet scent of their pussy rise up. Humph, right now I’d like to fuck these bitches with a gun and blast off with more than cum.

  One makes two fists and starts delivering blow after blow after blow to my face and head while the other one holds the gun on me. Her curses punctuate every fucking lick.

  “Punk.”

  “Pussy.”

  “Trick.”

  “Bitch.”

  My body is aching from the beating this bitch givin’ me. My gunshot wound is throbbin’ like a bitch. This bitch throws like a fuckin’ dude.

  “Tie that bitch-ass nigga up,” Usher orders them.

  Both women freeze and give each other a long sarcastic look before they do as he told them.

  My eyes shut as I wince in pain. I hear their heels hit the tile as they walk away from me. “Usher, this a bunch of bullshit,” I tell him, fighting like hell not to give in and pass out from the pain.

  I’m still trying to wrap my mind around Usher betraying me and plotting with these trick-ass bitches. For what? Money? Power? Respect?

  I open my eyes just as one of the twins walks back over to me with colorful Gucci scarves. She roughly jerks my arms behind my back to tie them. “Now sit your ass here and don’t fucking move, you stupid bitch-ass nigga.”

  Usher is in the background placing every bit of his thick tongue down the other twin’s mouth. “It’s time for the real king to run these fuckin’ streets. Fuck that, we makin’ power moves, baby,” he shouts to the ceiling once the kiss is thankfully broken.

  He grins, looking like a fucking gorilla.

  Dumb shit is they ain’t had to go through all this shit to run the game. My ass was out and all he had to do was step in. Usher dumb as fuck and I know he just followin’ these bitches’ lead.

  “How long y’all had this shit planned?” I ask the one still squatting behind me.

  “Shut the fuck up,” she says all quiet and serious.

  “Let me go and I’ll give you a hundred grand,” I offer them.

  She sucks her teeth and turns her head to watch her twin bend over in front of Usher with the gun still in her hands as she gives him a booty shake. He smacks her jiggling ass with his gun. “It’s time, Suga,” she calls over to her sister.

  Spyce reaches behind her to pull her thong to the side. Usher rubs her pussy with the barrel until it is slick and wet from her juices. “Come on in this bedroom and let me get this pussy,” he tells her.

  “No, fuck me right here, Daddy,” she moans, jiggling her ass again as she reaches down to pick up the bills scattered under their feet. She reaches between her legs to pat her pussy with the fanned-out bills.

  Usher reaches behind him to sit down his gun on the black dining room table. He pulls a vial out his pocket before he drops his pants and boxers. I close my eyes because looking at Usher’s dick ain’t on my fucking to-do list.

  Still I caught a glimpse and what Usher lacks in looks he makes up for in dick. He had a porno-star dick and I have to sit there and watch him pour coke from that vial along the length of that monster before he slides it inch by inch into Spyce.

  Suga stands up and walks over to them to take the gun from Spyce’s hands as she looks me dead in the eye the whole time Usher fucks like he’s punishing her. She didn’t flinch from them deep thrusts once. “His dick is so good,” she moans like a pro while Usher slides his dick out of her pussy and into her asshole just like that. She moans again and licks her fingertips before she teased her own nipples.

  Who the fuck is these motherfuckers I thought were my friends?

  “D-d-d-damn, your p-p-p-pussy good, Suga,” Usher stutters as sweat pops off his head like raindrops on a roof.

  CLICK.

  “I’m Suga, you ugly motherfucker.”

  Usher’s eyes widen as the bullet tears through his forehead and splatters his brains against the wall behind him. Seconds later he convulses like crazy and then falls to the floor.

  Suga blows the end of the gun she is holding as Spyce rises to her full height. “Why you ain’t shoot that nigga sooner?” Spyce asks as she snaps her thong back in place with a long acrylic nail before she bends down to take Usher
’s gun from his hand.

  Suga just shrugs.

  They both turn and look down at me.

  “Everything going just as planned,” Suga says.

  “Almost everything.” Spyce walks over to me and brings the butt of the gun down onto the side of my head.

  The last thing I see is blood pooling around Usher’s head on the floor.

  27

  The Playa

  If looks could kill I would drop Shaterica where she sat. The desire to slap her made my hand itch as I try to sit cool as I can in my chair in the courthouse. I just fold my hands together on top of the wooden defendant’s table.

  During her entire time on the stand her head hung low with her chin damn near sitting on her chest. I know it’s ’cause I was watchin’ her closely. Shee-it, I knew it was too late for her to change everythin’ her snitch ass done told the police but my eyes were darin’ her to do it in my face. “Shaterica, why did you lie to Detectives Lewis and Clayton about shooting and killing Onthario Williams?”

  I lick my lips and shift my hand to wipe my mouth smoothly.

  “Ms. Drayton?”

  Shaterica raises her head, wipes away the tears she was hidin’, and looks right at me. “He tricked me into thinking that it was better for us if I turned myself in for the murder. He has a record and he said because I didn’t I would get way less time.”

  “And why did you agree?”

  “Because I love him,” she admits in a whisper just as one tear races down her cheek.

  I shift in my seat and lock my fingers on top of the table again. It’s my turn to look away from her. I refuse like a motherfucker to call what I feel guilt.

  “These are statements from ten Bentley Manor residents but I want you to read the highlighted portion from the statement of Osceola Washington.”

  So them old birds did stick they nose deep in my shit. That’s what all that riddle-ass talk was about that day. Humph. I look over my shoulder and sure ’nough, they sittin’ they ass right there on the back row enjoyin’ every fuckin’ minute of my shit catchin’ up with me. They have the nerve to wave at me and smile like they just won the fuckin’ Georgia state lottery or some shit. I’d give anythin’ to flip them bitches the bird but I know all eyes are on this playa for real.

  I turn forward as Shaterica, still dressed in her prison uniform, accepts the papers handed to her. I want to pop my knuckles but I play it cool.

  Not that it matters. My public defender already hipped me that Shaterica told the police where I hid the gun and my fingerprints are on it. In return for her testimony against me, they are appealing to a judge to have her conviction overturned.

  I cock my head to the side as Shaterica licks her lips and holds the papers. The courtroom is quiet as a motherfucker and my fucking stomach feels like I can shit water.

  “Rhakmon Reynolds was not only dating Shaterica, he was living with her at Bentley Manor, driving her car, and letting that poor girl take care of his no-good loafing and lying behind.” Shaterica stopped. The papers in her hand started to shake and anyone could see she tryin’ like hell to get her shit together.

  “Now please read this highlighted portion from a brief interview of Mr. Reynolds by the detectives when they asked him—as they did other Bentley Manor residents—if he knew you.”

  Shaterica shifts her wide frame in the seat and I know only one third of all that ass is actually on the chair. She takes the new set of papers handed to her and licks her lips some more. “Shaterica? Naw, I don’t know that fat bitch…”

  Her voice is just a fucking whisper and I can’t lie. I hear the pain and shame all up in it.

  “Please continue.”

  Her face is a mask of pain as one and then two tears race down her cheek. I keep my face the same as she continues to read the words I already know I said. “I see her in passing but I don’t know her like that. I don’t know why somebody told you that lie about us fucking around. That big bitch ain’t even on my fucking level—”

  Shaterica drops the papers from her hands. “When the detectives read me his statement I knew he used me up and threw me away. I feel so stupid. I can’t believe I wanted to be loved so bad that I was willing to do ten years so he could be free. All because he lied and said he would marry me in the end. I knew he should do his own time. He played me. He used me. He used me. HE USED ME!”

  She pounds her chest with her finger and the anger is there but suddenly her head drops to her chest as she starts to cry the most pitiful fuckin’ cry ever. Her whole body shakes and she reaches to hug herself as she rocks back and forth and cries like a baby.

  “He used me,” she whispers again and again through the snot and tears.

  Regrets? Do I have any?

  Hmmm. I gots plenty. Sittin’ in this jail for the last month gave me a lot of time to think. Life is what I made it.

  Unfortunately for me…it is what it is.

  I try to get comfortable on the cot readin’ old-ass issues of King, Vibe, XXL, and Source, tryna pretend like my ass ain’t in jail. This is the hell I tried to avoid. Your mind ain’t got shit to do but reminisce. And that’s a lot of shit a nigga like me is tryna forget.

  Hustlin’ women helped get me in this motherfucker. I done hustled ’til I can’t hustle no fuckin’ more. At night I think of all them bitches. All of ’em fuckin’ with me in my dreams. Chasin’ me. Payin’ me back. Alisha. Felisha. Tonya. Evette. Wahida. Monique. Tara. Louisa. Maria. Farrah. Khadijah. Taira. Big Butt Belinda. Deep Throat Delia. Polette. Even that thief Sha-Sha.

  Shaterica.

  One thing about it. I done had enough pussy to last me the years I might have to spend in this sexless motherfucker.

  “Reynolds! Visitor.”

  I look up at the skinny guard who still wouldn’t be no bigger than a buck-ten soakin’ wet with boots and a ten-pound weight on.

  “Move it!” he hollers, bangin’ his club against the metal door.

  He ain’t fuckin’ with nobody but me since I ain’t had no cellmate. Thank God. County jail is equal to hell.

  I drop the King magazine with Meghan Good’s sexy ass on the cover. That motherfucker still had nut stains from my last cellmate who got released and did me a favor by leavin’ the magazines.

  I roll off the bed but I stand back from the electronic door the way we were trained. As soon as it opens the guard puts his hand on his club and motions with his head for me to stroll. I ain’t excited because this time of the night it ain’t nobody but my bullshit-ass public defender.

  Who else gone come see me?

  My momma been dead.

  My daddy unidentified.

  All I ever had to give my bitches was my dick. Well, ain’t none of them birds checkin’ for a dick on lockdown, so they done move the fuck on. Shee-it, I called Polette collect and that bitch accepted just to tell me to suck a dick and call it Rick ’cause she was more than through with my trickin’ ass.

  I shake off the tears that burn the back of my throat. I don’t give a fuck. I don’t need nobody. Nobody.

  “Whaddup, fish.”

  I ignore the whispers and kissin’ sounds coming from one of the cells we pass. Fuck what you heard, it’s some punks up in this bitch. But I fuck, I don’t get fucked. And I damn sure ain’t gettin’ fucked over. I’ll catch another case before I let a nigga use me for some ass.

  The guard opens the door leadin’ to the visitation room. I’m shocked as hell to see Shaterica and some black lady in a suit sittin’ there.

  Ain’t neither one of them on my visitation list. Hell, nobody on that motherfucker.

  Shaterica looks up at me and I can tell she got a lot of shit she want to say or to ask me. She wants to feel better. She wants me to admit I’m wrong and apologize.

  Obviously someone feels the same way for them to arrange this special visit for her ass. I notice she is in street clothes and not this prison bullshit I’m stuck in. She free.

  I think about all my regrets while I’m standin’ here l
ookin’ at her. I think of what I should have done better.

  Humph.

  I regret like a motherfucker I didn’t pick a better bitch to take that wrap for me. That’s what the fuck I regret.

  I gave her an up-and-down look before I turn back to the door. “No visit.”

  “Rhak,” Shaterica calls out behind me.

  I ignore her ass. Man, fuck her.

  “Rhak, why did you lie, Rhak? I loved you and you used me. You fucking played me.”

  The door opens and the guards let me back into the hall. I’m happy as a motherfucker when the door shuts out her voice. Fuck all that yellin’ bullshit.

  I follow the guard back to my cell and my face is mean. Why the fuck they waste my time with that bullshit? She wanted some big-time final scene like a fuckin’ movie or some shit. Well, I’m sorry, but I ain’t gone be able to do it.

  She free, now get the fuck on.

  I pause when the door to my cell opens and I see a big seven-foot dude with all these fuckin’ muscles arrangin’ his pillow on the bunk above me. I hear the guard behind me snicker.

  What the fuck is this shit all about?

  He looks over his shoulder at me from my head to my feet. I could swear that nigga licked his lips and smiled.

  The door shuts behind me.

  BOOM!

  A door ain’t never sounded so shut.

  “I’m King.” His voice is all deep and shit like he talkin’ through rocks and fuckin’ boulders. “What’s your name…fish?”

  Uh-oh.

  The lights click out and I step back as he steps forward. I open my mouth to holler out but his large salty hands clamps down over my fuckin’ mouth as he picks me up and walks deeper into the cell. Deeper into the fuckin’ darkness.

  My heart beatin’ and I want to fight him but he got one arm around my whole body and I can’t move as he licks my earlobe. “Damn, you fine,” he whispers.

  My damn dick shrivels up like a raisin. I feel nauseous.

  My eyes get big as shit as he presses my back against the wall using just one arm to hold my mouth and to pin me. I holler like a bitch against his hand and tears fill my eyes as he jerks my fuckin’ pants and boxers down to my knees. I try to kick him away but he takes his hands from my mouth just long enough to slap the shit out of me…two times.