“Mr. Six-Nine, remember when your whole shipment was stolen? And you traveled all the way to my home pleading for a replacement? I didn’t go to war with you. I worked with you. Mr. Boomer, I’ve done business with you and Mr. Choppa for many, many years. I’m sure if my old friend Choppa was here he would not handle business this way, and I’m surprised that you would go for this. My product has always been of the highest quality. The best. It comes with my personal guarantee as well as with my protection.
“All of a sudden, each and every one of you has stopped patronizing me for some dumb street punk who couldn’t tell pure cocaine from a pail of baking soda. It is total disrespect. I traveled all of this way just to tell you this personally.”
Born spoke for every one there. “Mr. G., with all due respect, The Consortium has not banned against you. It’s just an issue of supply and demand, profit and loss, and of course, staying competitive with the competition. It was never agreed or written in stone that we buy from you forever, regardless of the price or the quality. That was never the original agreement.”
Mr. G then said some words in Italian to his bodyguards. One led the way, Mr. G. followed and the other one took up the rear. And they left.
After he disappeared, Born said, “I think that went well. But we will have to keep our eyes and ears open.”
“No, that didn’t go well. What he said in Italian was, ‘After all of these years, they still don’t know who I am.’ You better believe that we have not heard the last of Mr. G,” Boomer told us.
“I know it’s not. But can we keep this meeting moving?” Briggen asked. Immediately he turned his attention to Cisco. Boomer gave him the floor.
“As far as me robbin’ your shipment, that shit was impossible. Everyone knows that I was in jail. My mule got popped, gave my name up and I couldn’t make bail because of some old shit I had in Miami from back in ’03,” Briggen explained to Cisco.
“Well, the license plate at the scene led to where you lay your head,” Cisco countered.
“That don’t mean shit! You can find a license plate in the street at any time. Like I said, I was locked up. And my wife is pregnant and got a baby on her hip, so if she could jack your boys… then they some pussy muthafuckas and they needed to be got.”
Everyone started laughing which only made Cisco madder. He and his henchman Dark sat there mean muggin’ everybody, neither of them cracking a smile.
“I want my shit, man. I’m showing you respect by bringing it out right here, right now, to the table,” Cisco said as he pounded the table. “No talkin’ shit or making threats behind your back. I’m talkin’ right here, right now.”
“Shit, you ain’t saying nothing. That’s how a real G ’sposed to do it. But like I just explained to you, I don’t have your shit. Now if you had some proof, that would be another story.”
“The proof is the license plate!” Cisco stood up. I could tell that in his little mind he was convinced that Briggen had his package.
“Alright! Alright!” I cut in. “The man said he was in jail. We all know that he was in jail. Without a witness, who is to say who has your package? In this business, you win some and you lose some. So until you get more evidence, I make a motion that there is no issue.”
Born interrupted me, “Is everyone in agreement with that?”
Everybody said yes.
“What’s pressing is Mr. G and all the bodies being dropped around here as if we in Iraq somewhere,” Boomer said. “Cisco, you need to tone it down. Is there a problem we need to know about?”
“Naw, it ain’t no problem. Not anymore. But y’all so busy monitoring what I’m doing, and in the meantime, my packages are being robbed, and this nigga Nick been raping us all. I’m not paying no damn twenty percent extra. That’s some bullshit. How come none of y’all niggas complaining? What’s the purpose of The Consortium?” Cisco snapped. “I’m taking my business elsewhere. Fuck that nigga and his twenty percent. Who else is with me?”
Six-Nine said, “Who you got that’s cheaper?”
“Yeah who? Put me on that nigga,” Born said. “We all know that even upping his shit twenty percent is cheaper than anybody else.”
“If I can get us lower prices are y’all ready to buy from me?” Cisco asked. “This nigga, Nick, we gonna just sit back and let him muscle us?”
“If you get something lower, same quality or better, let us know. We can purchase together as The Consortium, not buy from you. Those days are over,” I said. This was the first time I gave my input at a meeting and I meant it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SHAN
I was appalled at the thought of Briggen wanting me to go see some damn shrink. I mean, get real! He’s the one who needed the damn shrink, not me. I was simply trying to get paid. My old-school show was almost sold out and I was promoting heavy for the Halloween party, and I had stashed all of my cash in my new trapped out truck. I was lovin’ life! And on top of that, Nick paid for five of the keys, and he owed me for three more. I was going to get my hair dyed red for my photo shoot and was now official. I named my company Redbone Entertainment. My new name was now Redbone.
It had been a long day and I couldn’t wait to soak in a tub of hot water. As my tub water was running, I got undressed. It was an indescribable freedom to have the house all to myself, and I was loving every damn second of it.
No sooner than I stepped into my plumeria bubble bath, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Briggen burst into the bathroom. Damn. I should have locked the door.
“Briggen, please. Not tonight. It’s late, and I’m tired. Ain’t no shrinks open this time of night so what the fuck do you want?” I was too exhausted to fight with him.
“I want to put my foot in your ass. That’s what the fuck I want. Get outta the tub, Shan!”
“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Now! Get your lyin’ ass out of the tub, right now!” he yelled.
Oh shit. Looking at his eyebrows furrowed and the scowl on his face, I knew he was pissed off about something. I didn’t know what happened, but Briggen had steam coming out of his ears. I stood up. “Pass me a towel, please.”
He snatched one off the hook and threw it at me. “Get out.”
He left the bathroom. I wrapped the towel around myself and got out. When I walked into our bedroom he was pacing back and forth.
“Sit down, Shan.”
“Can I put—”
“Sit yo’ ass the fuck down! Tell me about you losing the license plate to your car.” My heart rate sped up. Was I busted? “What? I don’t know what you’re ta—”
Before I could finish the sentence he had come over to me and slammed me on the love seat next to the bed. For a moment I couldn’t breathe.
“I’m not playing with you, Shan. Now, let’s start again. How did you lose the license plate to your car?” He went back to pacing back and forth.
“A car rear-ended me, and it fell off.” That’s all of the information I gave him because I didn’t know how much he knew. Even though he had me shook, that was my money and I wasn’t giving it back.
“And what happened after that?” He lowered his voice.
“I guess that’s when it fell off.”
Briggen rushed over to me and wrapped his hand around my throat and lifted me off the sofa. “Bitch, this ain’t no time for spittin’ game. Niggas done put a hit out on you, and my hands are tied.” He let me go and stepped back. He was breathing like a pit bull.
If I wasn’t before, now I was scared shitless. He was looking crazy, and did I hear him say that they put out a hit on me?
“You know what? My son is safe, and you’re here by yourself. You be the damn sittin’ duck. Fuck it! You want to keep lying? Then go right ahead. I’m outta here! They can shoot the place up with you here. Shoot you up into little pieces for all I care.” He turned to leave.
“Briggen, wait!” I begged, but he kept going. I jumped up and grabbed his arm. “No. Please. Oka
y. Okay. I’ll tell you everything.” He snatched away from me and went downstairs. I followed behind him crying and pleading with him to listen. “Briggen, for real. I thought I could get away with it. No one saw me.”
“You’re lying, Shan. Somebody saw you.” He kept moving toward the front door and didn’t look back.
“No, I’m not,” I sniveled.
“Then tell me what happened.” He turned to face me.
Damn. How did he find out? “There was a police chase the day I went to see Mia. I pulled over to let them pass. When I started back driving, they didn’t have the sirens on so I couldn’t tell which way they were coming from. When I pulled out again and turned the corner, they were coming down the street, and that’s when the car hit me.”
“What car? The police car or their car?” he interrupted me.
“Not the police car. One of the vehicles the police were chasing. I think it was two. But right after it hit me, somebody jumped out of the car and started hopping away. And then the car doors flew open and a guy was bleeding. He was lying there. Blood was coming out of his mouth, and he was trying to talk. That’s when I saw the first bag. I grabbed it and saw another one. I didn’t second-guess it. I took both bags and threw them in my ride and drove off. I swear to you, that’s what happened.” I was now doing some serious boo-hooing.
“What was in the bags, Shan?”
“One had money and the other one had drugs.”
“Ain’t this some shit!” Briggen grabbed his head. Then he followed up with, “What the fuck!” And he punched the wall.
“Fuck!” He paced back and forth. “How much dope?”
“There were ten big bundles.”
“How much money?”
“A lot. Nothing but one hundred dollar bills. I didn’t even count it. I just started spending it. The truck I just bought. I paid for it in cash, and I still got a lot left.”
“Where’s the dope, Shan?”
I swallowed, scared to tell him this part.
“Where’s the fuckin’ dope?” he yelled. “You still don’t understand how serious this is, do you?”
“I gave it to Nick,” I mumbled.
“You what?” He came over to the love seat and stood over me.
“I gave it to Nick!” I said out loud. “That’s why I called him over here.”
“That pussy muthafucka! He never even told me that part.” He spoke under his breath, but I still heard him.
“That’s because I made him promise not to. Don’t get him mixed up in our business.”
“What do you mean you made him promise? What y’all got going on? Why are you protecting this nigga? You don’t even know him like that. How stupid could you be to call a nigga over that you don’t even know and give him ten bricks? Shan, what the fuck have you been smoking?” He was dead-ass serious.
“Leave him out of this, Briggen.”
“Leave him out of this?” He laughed. “Who the fuck is this nigga to you? Why are you being so overprotective with this nigga? What, you fuckin’ him?”
“Of course not.” My tongue was getting thick. I was so nervous I could hardly swallow.
“Then what is it? Go ahead and tell me the truth. You fuckin’ this nigga, right?”
I didn’t know if I should come clean about me and Nick. I mean, for me, that would be like opening up a can of worms.
“The truth, Shan! Or are you just a stupid bitch?”
“Bitch? You calling me bitch now, Briggen? I’m not stupid! I’ve known Nick since I was in high school. He was my brother’s best friend.”
BRIGGEN
No, this bitch didn’t just sit here and tell me she has known my connect for years. I mean, how shiesty could that be? When I first introduced them to each other in the backyard, them muthafuckas acted as if they didn’t know each other. I mean, what the fuck was that all about? How long have they been sneaking around socializing and shit behind my back?
“You know what, Shan? This is a little too much information for me to digest right now.” This bitch had thrown me for a loop. My mind was all over the place. Ain’t nothing worse than a man having to wonder if his woman is getting dick behind his back. And with the connect?
“Briggen, it’s not what you’re thinking.” She had the audacity to say to me with a straight face.
“How the fuck do you know what I’m thinking? You guilty?” I spat.
“I can tell by the look on your face what you are thinking. But no, trust me when I tell you that we are not fucking. He’s like family to me. He’s like a brother,” Shan had the nerve to tell me.
“Yeah, right! You fuckin’ the nigga.”
“No. I’m not.”
“You lyin’ bitch! Yeah, you fuckin’ him.”
“I’m not lyin’. I did but—”
“You did?” I grabbed her by her hair.
“When we were in school, Briggen. A long time ago. He got me pregnant and I got an abortion. I was only sixteen. That was the last time.”
“You bitch! Why the fuckin’ secrets? You could have told me this shit a long time ago.” He shoved my head back.
“Bitch?” she asked with squinted eyes and taking deep breaths. “It’s like that? I don’t deserve being called a bitch.” She looked at me with tear-filled eyes.
“And I don’t deserve the bullshit you’ve taken me through. So now we even.” I started to walk away but quickly turned back around.
“Why didn’t you tell me you knew him? Where is your fuckin’ loyalty, Shan? I can understand and don’t expect any loyalty from him, but you are supposed to be my wife. You know what? I’m out of here. Y’all deserve each other.”
“Briggen, wait!” She tried to grab me.
“Don’t touch me Shan.” I got the hell out of there as fast as I could before I found myself putting a hurting on her. Everything was clear to me now except for the real relationship between her and Nick. That was a calculated move on both of their parts to not tell me that they knew each other. And to not know why had me spooked.
SHAN
I felt relieved for having to tell Briggen about me and Nick. It wasn’t as if we were fucking; like I told him, I was only sixteen. I just needed him to take care of the business for me. On the other hand, it felt good to get the shit out in the open about the abortion. I needed to tell that to somebody.
I had been blowing up Nick’s phone, but he never answered. He probably thought that I was calling to ask about the rest of my money, but I wanted to put him on notice that the gig was up. Briggen knew everything. Plus, I wanted to let him know that the people whose package I ended up with knew that I had it. Strangely enough, I wasn’t worried. Between the two of them niggas, they needed to handle it. They were my protectors. Nick, because he sold the dope off, so the dirt was on his hands. And as far as Briggen goes, I knew regardless of how angry he might be, he would never let anything happen to me.
I got back into the tub and took the hot bath that I needed. I had a long day ahead of me. I had to get my new hairstyle for the photo shoot, and my first show was Friday night. And I couldn’t forget the Halloween party was the following weekend.
The minute my body calmed down and relaxed in the hot, soothing, bubbly water, the doorbell rang. Now I had to jump out of the tub, grab a towel and run downstairs. It probably was Keeta. Briggen must have stopped by and told her all of our business.
When I peeked out of the door, to my surprise, it was Nick. I rushed to open it up.
“What’s up? You’ve been blowing up my phone.” I closed the door, and he gave me a hug. “Are you okay?” he asked with concern in his voice.
We stood there hugging as I spoke into his chest. “Briggen just left. He came over to tell me that I was on my own. They found my tag, they know their stash ended up at this house, and…” I took a deep breath, “I had to tell him about you. He now knows that me and you go way back.”
Nick remained quiet as we stood there rocking each other. It felt good being in his arms, and I
could have been mistaken but it felt like he was getting a hard-on.
He finally spoke, “I’m just glad you are okay. And I knew it was only a matter of time before he would find out. Hell, we were the ones who made him suspicious.”
“Suspicious?” I asked as I leaned back and looked up at his face. And when I leaned back, yes, I felt it. Nick’s dick was hard. And the scary part was, I didn’t care. I remained right there pressed up against it.
“Yeah, suspicious. Brig is sharp, Shan. He didn’t get to where he is by being a slouch.”
“I know that, but we didn’t give him anything to be suspicious about.”
“I came over here twice while he was locked up. That did it. But there ain’t shit we can do about that now. I’m just glad that you are alright.”
His hand slid down to my ass and pulled me closer. I was already pressing up against him. But now I was up on it. He leaned in and kissed my forehead and then my cheek. I could feel a little juice oozing out of my pussy. Rocking up against his dick was feeling nice. His dick was getting harder, and my pussy was getting wetter.
“Give me a kiss, Shan,” he ordered. I froze. He was rubbing and squeezing my ass. “Give me a kiss,” he said again, but this time with a little more force.
I glanced up at him and he kissed me and I kissed him back. I found myself wrapping my arms around his neck. He lifted me up and took me to my new marble dining room table and sat me on top of it. We kept kissing like we were in high school. He unloosened my towel, and it fell off me. He started playing with my nipples. I was on fire. He took my hand and placed it on his hard on. I squeezed and rubbed it. It was on. I thought about how the curve felt when it was up in my pussy and went to unloosening his belt and unzipping his pants. He wouldn’t stop kissing me and teasing my nipples, so I pulled his dick out and started rubbing it up and down my pussy. I hadn’t had any dick in months. I put the head to my opening, and Nick did the rest. He stopped kissing me and grabbed my ass and eased inside of me. We started fucking each other right there on my brand-new dining room table. That little curve in his dick was still there. I spread my legs wider, encouraging him to fuck me deeper and harder.
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