by N’Tyse
When Keyz didn’t receive a response, he took a single step forward. Merely inches away.
“Say, podna! You hear me talking to you?” he seethed. Keyz spoke a lot louder this time. He was so infuriated the steam coming out of his nose felt like tear gas. He looked around him. Before he could breathe another word or make a false move, the hooded figure rose up, and in one swift move, pressed the rose-pink nine-millimeter firmly underneath his chin. He flinched the instant that cold piece of metal osculated his Adam’s apple.
Shinette dropped her hoodie, displaying long and bouncy jet-black curls that fell evenly over her shoulders. Her round, charcoal, beady eyes were reduced to slits.
“You say something, motherfucker?”
Keyz slowly raised his hands in defeat. He was certain he’d never seen her before, because that face, he would have definitely remembered. The entire left side of it was covered with a tribal snake tattoo. The king cobra had a 3-D effect and appeared to be coming out of her skin. While going for her throat was his first thought, he trusted his instincts that if she was as crazy as she looked, he’d be rotting by morning. It was a chance he didn’t want to take. Not tonight. Not when he still had five kilos of cocaine in the back of his trunk to unload.
“Look, before this gets outta hand, why don’t you go ahead and put—”
“You fat, black, cockeyed fuck, did we ask you to speak?” Tierra retorted, her .45 leveled at the back of Keyz’s head.
He took slow, deep breaths, clenched his jaws, and bit down hard on his bottom lip. “I can’t believe this shit,” he muttered.
Reality finally settled in and he grasped the fact that he had been set up. The young and sexy amazon he had picked up tonight was incognito. She was only posing as a hooker to throw him off and her strategy had worked. As she lured him into a dark alley, it had never crossed Keyz’s mind that the plan all along was to rob him. For the full fifteen minutes that Tierra had seduced him, she had caused him to lose sight of everything, including the trade he was due to make in a half hour. Now he was in a no-win situation. Two bitches, two guns, but only one Keyz.
“Feeling froggy, motherfucker?” Shinette smiled sinisterly as she stared him dead in the eyes, reading his every thought. She repositioned the gun and aimed right between his sockets.
“Man, just take what the fuck y’all want and be out.”
Shinette’s deceiving smile faded and that menacing glare returned. Like a terrible yeast infection, her trigger finger itched to pull back and let go. She wanted to pop his ass so bad, her pussy started throbbing from the rush. She stroked the belly of the gun, adrenaline coursing through her veins.
“Better yet, how about y’all take the three hundred in my pocket, ride out, and I’ll pretend that none of this shit ever happened,” Keyz lied, hoping to strike a bargain. He knew that if nothing else was certain in this world, payback was. He never would have allowed them to get away with this. Plus, he had a photographic memory so they didn’t stand a chance at making it out of Dallas alive. He was going to make sure they paid with not only their lives, but the lives of their loved ones. He almost felt sorry for them because it was apparent to Keyz that they obviously didn’t know who they had set out to rob. He was convinced they were amateurs who would soon learn the hard way that they weren’t about the life.
Shinette tossed Tierra the duct tape.
“Come on,” Keyz bribed. “It ain’t even gotta go down like this. If it’s money you want, I can help you with that. These guns are unnecessary,” he carried on, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Shinette didn’t budge, only stared at him crazy, telepathically delivering confirmation that he had been their target. This wasn’t a fly-by-night-stickup or an unplanned heist. Not by far. She was way too smart for that. He had failed to realize that one of the most cunning, ruthless, diabolical she-devils from the Greedy Grove had sought him out. Keyz was a transporter. That was why they had been tracking him for months, waiting for the right time to strike. His sweet tooth for trashy pussy turned out to work in their favor. But what really got him marked was that he was too sloppy and arrogant for his own good. Thought he couldn’t be touched. Thought he had the triple D sewed up.
The explosion of fireworks sounded off and could be heard near and far—the perfect diversion for a clean getaway. As time ticked away, what seemed like a lifetime to Keyz had only been three minutes and fifty-one seconds. Tierra quickly unrolled the tape and cautiously reached for Keyz’s left hand. Predicting his fate, Keyz grabbed the gun in front of him. Before Tierra could second-guess herself, she unloaded a single bullet into the back of his cranium.
Keyz took a couple of drunken steps backward before completely losing his balance and dropping to the pavement.
Tierra recoiled in shock from the sight of all the blood and brain matter that oozed from the back of Keyz’s head. Her face and dress had been splattered as well, causing her to panic. She looked down at her feet and the forming puddle of blood Keyz lay in, trailed in her direction. She moved her feet before the blood could stain her shoes. Her heart pumped loudly through her chest and her stomach tightened in knots. The cold chrome metal seemed to melt in Tierra’s sweaty palm once she realized what she had done. She couldn’t maintain her grip, and before she knew it, the gun slipped out of her hands.
Shinette quickly hopped out of the stolen vehicle, pistol trained on Keyz’s squirming body. She picked up Tierra’s gun and secured it in her own waistband. She looked around to make sure the coast was still clear. Seeing that it was, she stood over Keyz, finding him still breathing and clinging to life. He turned his head sideways and blood frothed from his mouth and ran down the side of his face. Shinette squatted right over him.
“What the hell are you doing?” Tierra was hysterical.
Shinette ignored Tierra and began to insert her gun inside Keyz’s mouth. She drew a deep breath, inhaling the celebration of New Year’s as it filled the polluted night air.
“Oh my God!” Tierra panted. “What the fuck are you doing? Bitch, let’s go!” Tierra’s eyes went from Shinette to Keyz who seemed to be in and out of sleep.
Shinette cocked the gun and proceeded to complete their transaction. “Happy New Year’s, motherfucker,” she said before unleashing the fatal bullet.
Tierra automatically turned her head. She couldn’t stomach anymore and began regurgitating right there in the alleyway.
Shinette stood and rushed over to Keyz’s car. She snatched the key out of the ignition and went straight for the trunk. When she opened the large black duffle bag that was inside, her heart sank to the pit of her churning stomach. “Shit!”
Tierra nervously wiped the vomit residue on the sleeves of her dress. She turned around and was met with the ill look on Shinette’s face. She hurried over to Shinette, her expression changing upon the discovery. She wanted to throw up all over again. The bag full of money they expected to find was not there. Instead, it was full of unmarked dope.
2
“Damn, I wish you would quit with all that leg-shakin’ shit!” Shinette blurted. “You fuckin’ up my concentration.” Shinette was facing the opposite direction, but she could see everything Tierra was doing out of the corner of her eye, and it was pissing her off.
Tierra stopped all at once and crossed one red bottom heel over the other. “Shinette, we just murdered somebody!”
“Your point?” Shinette spat coldly. She continued to fire up the blunt she had just rolled.
“Look, I can’t go down for this shit.” Tierra’s voice cracked with every word. “We said we would only scare him…get the money, and roll out. It wasn’t supposed to go down like that!” Tierra’s heart burned with fear. She was on edge and couldn’t be still. Not even for a minute. She stared into thin air, her head slightly tilted. “Damn…I mean…we killed a man!”
Shinette wrapped her lips around the cigar, inhaled sharply, and held the smoke in her mouth for as long as she could without choking.
Tie
rra began to cry uncontrollably, causing her mascara to trickle down her flawless apple butter skin. Men would often tell her that she was the prettier of the two, which was primarily the reason she always had the leading role in their heists. She was also the weakest, which was why Shinette always ended up doing the dirty work.
Shinette got up from the mahogany, suede, wingback chair and walked over to where Tierra sat. “You know what? You actin’ like a real weak-ass bitch right now! Now it was either that fat dirty motherfucker or us. He would have put a bullet in your head quicker than you can count to one. So why you sitting here grieving over that nigga is beyond me!”
Tierra shook her head solemnly. “I can’t go to jail. I can’t,” she said, thinking about her current situation. Aside from that, jail was not a place she could ever get used to. The six-month stint she had spent in juvenile detention for shoplifting had helped her to realize that she enjoyed her freedom way too much. She clutched her stomach and rocked side to side. More tears poured down her face like a heavy rain.
“Ain’t nobody going to jail, T.” Shinette took a seat beside her best friend, her ace, her partner in crime. “Look, we in this shit together, all right. You go down, I go down,” she said bluntly, as if that would relieve Tierra’s worry. “As long as we stick together, we ain’t got nothing to worry about. But you can’t open your mouth to nobody about this. And I mean nobody. Not even yo’ nigga.”
Tierra gauged the serious look in Shinette’s eyes. It was so cold it caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up.
“Now we gon’ get cleaned up, catch some zees, and as soon as day break, we gone unload these keys.” Shinette had already calculated what they could possibly make off the fishscale. As long as Tierra played it cool and didn’t crack, everything was going to be fine. Tierra brought her watery eyes to Shinette. Not a word left her lips. Shinette noted her indecisiveness. To erase any doubt Tierra might have had, she asked, “Have I ever been wrong, T?”
Tierra thought long and hard, then slowly shook her head.
“See. So you can trust me on this. I promise you, when it’s all said and done, it’ll be as good as forgotten.” Shinette took one more pull at the blunt before passing it to Tierra. “Here, this’ll help you get your mind right.” A sinister grin crossed her lips as she grabbed the duffle bag and casually walked off, headed for her bedroom.
Tierra put the cigar out and contemplated on what she should do next.
• • •
Once in her room, Shinette tossed the bag on her bed and placed both of the guns on a nearby dresser. She began shedding her blood-soiled clothes, making a note to bag everything and toss it in the Trinity River at sunrise. Her curvaceous petite frame was her greatest asset, and like Tierra, she was built like a stallion. Her perfectly round and firm breasts jiggled as she walked over to her bed to retrieve the remote to her wall-mounted stereo and sixty-inch flat-screen. She powered on both, lowering the volume to the TV.
Shinette and Tierra may have resided in the hood, but they lived like ghetto queens. They had a huge two-bedroom apartment in Pleasant Grove that was lavishly furnished, their closets had all the latest fashion, and Shinette drove a chromed-out whip. They were at the top of their game and Shinette made sure they stayed flossed like the bosses they were. They were constantly on the grind and sometimes money came easy. Way too easy. Robbing fresh on the line corner boys and setting up tricks was their main hustle. Shinette, however, saw it more as a sport. She loved dominating men and got a thrill out of robbing them and taking their money. The more dangerous the heist, the bigger the payoff and the thirstier she became to do it all over again.
She had stashed enough money to chill out on for a year or two, but she couldn’t snooze on the latest opportunity that had presented itself. Shinette knew going in that robbing Keyz would set her and Tierra up real nice for the new year. She also knew that killing him would start a street war, right in her own backyard.
Shinette walked over to the mirror and began pinning her hair up like she did every night before her shower. Her callous reaction to tonight’s events vindicated that she was in fact built for this. She wasn’t remorseful one bit, and if she had to do it all over again, she would have emptied the clip into Keyz and put red lipstick on his lips. She had long ago crowned herself the Greedy Grove Gutta Queen, and it was about time she came out of hiding.
When Rick Ross’s “Hold Me Back” came on, she began reciting the rap lyrics and bobbing to the beat. She stopped and almost reached for both of the guns in front of her until she realized it was only Tierra opening her door.
Tierra grimaced at Shinette as if she had never seen her naked before when in fact, she had seen it all, and on more than one occasion. They had engaged in threesomes to set up their targets so seeing her without any clothes should have been normal.
“What’s up with it?” Shinette asked, still pinning up her curls and jamming to the music. Not once did she bother asking Tierra why in the hell she was still in those dirty-ass clothes. She figured she was still processing everything.
“I’ma chill at Duke’s tonight. He’s on his way to come get me.” Tierra diverted her eyes.
Shinette broke her gaze from the mirror and eyed Tierra suspiciously. “You didn’t mention the—”
“No!” Tierra exclaimed, bringing her eyes back to Shinette. “I haven’t seen him in a few days and I miss him.”
Shinette rolled her eyes upward. “You sick behind a nigga that gave your ass the Clapster?” she chortled. “I guess some bitches never learn.”
“Damn, Shinette! Why you always gotta go there and be all up in my personal business like that? Do I keep tabs on what’s going on in your panties? No, I don’t. So I would appreciate it if you kept my pussy off your mind!”
Shinette pursed her lips. “Tsk. I’m just saying.” Her left eyebrow arched. “Your priorities have been a little fucked up lately! I’m only being a friend and making sure you don’t fall off the damn wagon.”
“Well, I don’t need you to do shit for me, okay? You’ve done more than enough. As a matter of fact, after what happened tonight, I’m done with this shit!” Tierra didn’t have to give it any more thought. She knew before killing that man tonight that she was getting out of the game, but that was the reason she gave Shinette. This wasn’t the kind of life she wanted to continue living. She deserved and wanted more for her and the baby she carried in her stomach.
“Humph. So I guess it’s like that?”
“It’s getting old, Shinette.” Tierra exhaled. “We said we would stop when the shit got outta control.” She laid her sympathetic eyes back on her friend’s. “It’s outta control.” Her heart was heavy and she couldn’t take it. “We now have a man’s blood on our hands.”
“All the paper we’ve made together and you telling me you’re ready to bail out because of one little hiccup?” Shinette totally dismissed Tierra’s remorseful outcry.
“You call killing a man a fucking hiccup?”
Shinette didn’t offer a response, only finished her hair.
“I’m not a fucking murderer! I don’t kill people for money!” Tierra kept her eyes on Shinette’s. “I’m not trying to die for this shit! I’m better than this.”
Shinette calmly walked over to where Tierra stood. “So you think you better than me now?” They were inches apart and Shinette could sense her friend’s paranoia. She could hear Tierra’s heart racing through her chest and she could smell the fear of an amateur killer. It was almost familiar. When Tierra didn’t respond, Shinette simply nodded. “Humph. I see. So that’s how it’s gon’ be from now on? I got it. Well, then roll out. Ain’t no-motherfucking-body stopping you!” she spat icily.
Tierra snatched off the blonde wig that she had worn to disguise herself and slung it to the floor. The stocking cap had caused her short, natural wavy hair to frizz up and lose its body.
“I’ve always had your back,” Tierra snapped back, matching Shinette’s tone. “But who the fu
ck gon’ have mine if I go down for this?” She didn’t wait for Shinette to answer her. Instead, she walked off to go get cleaned up, leaving no room whatsoever for negotiation. That was the end of their discussion.
“I thought you were a chaser, T!” Shinette taunted. “That nigga don’t give a fuck about you! Never did. Never will. You wanna bounce? Bounce then! Just remember, I taught you the game! I laced you up! Before I came along you was just another broke-ass welfare candidate looking for a government handout. I’m your motherfucking come-up!”
With tears streaming down her face, she took a quick shower, then slipped into a pair of jeggings and a T-shirt. She pulled out one of her small Gucci travel cases and began packing an overnight bag. Shinette’s venom-laced words had slaughtered Tierra. Her heart was crushed, and even though she tried to block out everything her friend was saying, it was impossible since it was all true. It was a truth that she couldn’t hide from no matter how hard she tried. Shinette had indeed been her Savior. She had given Tierra the game and taught her everything she knew. That was why part of her always felt like she owed Shinette.
At that moment, she began to question if she was doing the right thing by leaving. But as Duke entered her mind, she thought about her future. Their future. She opened her drawer and took out a white envelope. As she pulled out the contents, she managed a smile. Her right thumb brushed over the black-and-white sonogram image she had gotten two weeks ago at her doctor’s appointment. It confirmed she was twelve weeks’ pregnant. Tierra had a million reasons for walking out on Shinette, but her unborn baby took precedence over them all. She placed the picture back into the envelope and packed it with the rest of her things. Her heart was heavy, but she had to do what was best for her for a change. She no longer needed Shinette and it was about time she proved it.
• • •
It wasn’t until she was in the confines of Duke’s two-story house that Tierra truly felt safe. He lived more than an hour away from the city in a nice secluded suburb. Whenever Tierra went over, it felt like home. It was where she wanted to be. Where she needed to be. And to think she had almost allowed Shinette to convince her into breaking it off with him. Tierra was starting to believe that Shinette had been jealous of her and Duke’s relationship all along. Duke took care of her to the highest degree. She didn’t have to hustle. He bought her any and everything she wanted and took her wherever she wanted to go. It was the first time ever in her life that a man treated her like a queen and with respect.