by T. Styles
“You got five seconds to tell me what the fuck is going on.” He whispers harshly.
Jayden ambles toward him and slaps his face. “Where is my money, Clay? We made an arrangement, you fucked my girls, so where is my paper?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He looks around at his employees. Some look disgusted, some are turned on and others are taking pictures. “You’re going to get me fired.”
“Fuck Fired. You’re going to get locked up. The receptionist out front already says she’s calling the police. The clock is now ticking. Now I want my money and I want it now, Clay. If you don’t give me every last dime, I’ll tell the cops all the kinky shit you did to my girls.”
“Like what?”
“Like how you made me suck your dick, while your dog licked your toes.” Passion says.
“Or how you had me stick my finger up your…”
“Stop!” He raises his hand, interrupting Tywanda. He looks at his employees outside and then Jayden again. “Okay, this shit you pulled worked. You got me in a bind. So how ‘bout you give me your address and I’ll bring your money.”
“I’m not leaving without cash in hand, Clay. You fucked us once, I won’t let you do it again.” She looks around. “And you better do it quickly too. The crowd out there is getting larger.”
He shoots her an evil look. “You gonna get what’s coming to you.”
“I know…starting with my money.”
Clay unlocks a box under his desk and hands her the money he owes from the petty cash fund. Paid in full, Jayden takes her bitches and strolls out the door.
HARMONY
NASTY OLIVE
Jayden spent good money on an attorney to get me out of jail and on bond. Although my fate is still up in the air, the attorney feels confident that he can get the charges thrown out of court. The reason was when the videotape was sold to the company, I was in the hospital suffering from stab wounds, so I could not have made the sale. Secondly the owner who purchased the tape from the electrician is afraid of losing his company, so he’s cooperating with authorities. The one stipulation the judge placed on me is that where at first the alcohol meetings were voluntary, now they are mandatory.
When I walk outside the jail, I see Olive is in front of Jayden’s truck and the girl I know as Metha is behind the wheel. “What’s up?” I say walking up to her. “Where’s Jayden?”
She leans up against the truck. “She’s not coming. She sent me instead.”
I look her over. “Why?”
She stands up straight. “Let’s get in the truck.”
“No thank you.” I say turning around to walk back inside. “I’ll find my own way home.”
I’m strutting down the block until I’m yanked by my shirt and thrown into the truck. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I yell at her. “I’m sick of people putting their hands on me.”
“Then do something about it, bitch.” I swallow. “Listen, drunk, your daughter may care about you but I don’t give a fuck if you die today or tomorrow as long as it’s soon.” She pauses. “You are the nastiest mother I’ve ever known in my life. You stole money from her bank account, you probably abused her as a child and you don’t give a fuck that all of your responsibilities are now hers. So let me say this to you as plain as possible, I care about her. As a matter of fact I love her, and I won’t see her hurt. And if she is hurt, you better hope I’m not around because I will kill you.”
I gasp.
I analyze her like a computer program. “My daughter will never love you like you want.” She seems to lose her steam. “If I know nothing else, I know love sick when I see it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Jayden is just a friend.”
“Sure you do.” I laugh poking her buttons. “And like I said, if you are sniffing up her tree, you’re wasting time. She loves dick all the way around the board. Just…like…her…mammy.”
At first she’s angry but then she gets serious. “Maybe you’re right, but even if she does reject me when or if that time comes, it still won’t stop me from killing you.” She taps the back of the driver’s seat. “Metha, can you take us back home, I appreciate it.” She pauses and looks back at me. “Oh before I forget some man named Lonnie J came by the house looking for you. He said you met him in front of a liquor store. I’m not sure, but judging by the look in his eyes he wants to kill you too.”
FOXIE
PUSSY UPRISING
Foxie couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across her face because with Passion’s help, she was able to convince Queen, Na-Na and Catherine to strike with them to force Jayden to do what they wanted. They were asking for more money, two days off during the week instead of one and to be able to have their boyfriends over. The girls were standing in the living room waiting for Jayden when Olive walks down the stairs.
“I told her ya’ll wanted to talk. I don’t know what’s going on with you chicks, but whatever you got planned it’s not going to go down well.” Olive crosses her hands over her breasts. “She seemed real irritated over the phone.”
“Olive, why do you always have something to say about Jayden when she not even here? If it don’t go down as planned, we’ll just leave.” Foxie says in a condescending tone. “But I can tell you one thing, we not taking her shit no more.”
Olive laughs. “Passion, are you actually down with whatever plot they have brewing? Don’t let them rope you into this shit. Turn around while you still can.”
“Olive, just leave me alone.” She says under her breath.
Olive throws her hands up in the air and says, “Okay, it’s your funeral.”
When Jayden finally walks through the door with Sebastian and Luh Rod behind her, she knows immediately something is going on when she looks at all of their faces. She doesn’t have time for this shit. She places her purse on the counter and walks over to them. “I heard ya’ll wanted to meet with me, so where are the rest of Thirteen Flavors?”
“They’re upstairs, we wanted to talk to you about something in private. The rest of them are not included.” Foxie quarterbacks. “So we asked them to stay in their rooms.”
She nods her head and places her hands on her hips. “Okay, you got the mike, so what’s up?”
Foxie steps up. “Jayden we feel like what you did to Gucci was wrong. That girl’s entire life is ruined and it’s all your fault.”
Jayden raises her eyebrows. “And?” She says real calmly looking at everyone at her side.
“And if you don’t treat us right, we’re not working for you anymore. We deserve respect, Jayden. You weren’t the only one who built this business from the ground up. You made this money off of our backs. And now I feel like you look at us like we’re property.” Foxie continues.
You are. She thinks. “What are you asking for?”
“For starters I think you should pay for Gucci’s plastic surgery.”
“Not happening.” She shakes her head. “Next?”
Foxie clears her throat. “I think you should give us more money, two days off during the week and allow us to have company over.” She pauses briefly to catch her breath. “If you say no, we’ll leave and we’re already packed.”
Jayden looks at the floor and back at them. She walks past all of the girls and stops at Foxie, “I want to be clear, every last one of you feel the same way right?”
Passion can barely answer the question, “Jayden, I do think you are a little too harsh on us. I feel like you’re our pimp and we’re hoes.” You are. Jayden thinks. “If you say we’re partners we need to be partners and it should feel that way. So yes,” she swallows to prevent from passing out, “I’m with them.”
One by one everyone said the same thing, either she changed her ways, or they weren’t working for her anymore. “I need some time to consider your proposal but please know that this is your home. I would never throw you out.” She picks up her purse and goes upstairs without another word and Olive follows.
&
nbsp; They were expecting thunder and rain. Foxie turns to Passion and says, “See, I told you we had that bitch right were we wanted. She may can get rid of Gucci, but she can’t get rid of all of us.” Foxie continues as if her fuck game was top notch. “What do you think she’s going to do, Passion?”
Passion wipes the sweat off of her forehead and looks at all of them. “I think shit is about to hit the fan and if I were you I’d get out while you still can.”
****
When the girls woke up the next morning, Passion was nowhere to be found. But the others thinking Jayden would change her ways decided to stay around. She made everyone a large breakfast and afterwards they watched a new movie in the living room. She laughed with them and even joked around on the funny parts. When it was nighttime, they placed Usher’s C.D. on the stereo, Jayden’s favorite, and danced to his old songs. Things seemed to be going smooth and Foxie was happy she made a decision to stay. Besides, since she moved there she saved up over fifteen thousand dollars although she spent every dime on drinking and drugging. Jayden didn’t say she would submit to their proposal but it was looking good.
At about seven o’clock that night there was a knock at the door. Olive smiled at Foxie and her crew who was sitting on the sofa and answered it. When she opened the door a white boy from an unmarked delivery service was on the other side. He handed Olive a large brown box, which she walked carefully upstairs. An hour later, everybody accept Foxie, Na-Na, Queen and Catherine exited the house.
As they’re sitting on the sofa, Queen leans over to Foxie and says, “You think we should leave too? That’s kind of weird that the rest of Thirteen Flavors rolled out without us.”
Foxie is filing her nails next to her on the sofa. She rolls her eyes and exhales. “Damn, why is you worried about what everybody else doing? Huh?” She pauses. “It ain’t nothing to be worried about, we got that bitch in the pocket. You saw how she was kissing our asses earlier today. Not only that, the bitch is so scared we’re going to leave that she made us a big ass breakfast.”
“Right, if she was going to do something I would’ve thought she’d poison the food.” Catherine says, “but when she ate it too, I knew we were all good.”
“What you think?” Queen asks Na-Na.
“I think we good,” Na-Na replies, “and as long as that bitch pays me, I’m not going nowhere.”
Later on that night Jayden baked an apple pie. They all ate a slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream; but she refrained from eating this time although she faked like she did. Full and tired, they all went to sleep in their rooms. They couldn’t even make it upstairs they were so exhausted. When they closed their eyes, they were in a deep sleep, enhanced by the pills in the dessert. They should’ve left when they had the chance.
While she was comfortable in bed, Catherine rolled over once and felt a prick on her left thigh. She was too tired to get up, so she tried to rub it and go back to sleep.
Foxie felt a sting on her back that caused a pain to rush down her tailbone. Na-Na was pricked on her neck and Queen on her face. The sensation was so great for all of them that after about twenty minutes they woke out of their drug-induced stupor and tried to get out of the room. But when they turned the doorknobs, they wouldn’t open. They were all locked inside. Cries rained in the hallway and for the weak at heart it was the most painful thing to hear.
“Jayden!” Foxie screams banging on the door. “Please let me out. Something bit me and I…I can barely move.”
Jayden walks in the hallway so that from behind the closed doors, they all could hear her emotionless voice. “If I were any of you I’d be laying down and reserving my energy because you were just bitten by a black widow spider, one of the most dangerous in the world. And unfortunately for you, it’s bred in Maryland. In a minute you’ll feel abdominal pain, tremors and before long you won’t be able to breathe. In other words, you’ll die.”
Foxie cries against the door. “Jayden, please don’t do this. I’m so sorry. I don’t want to die. I’ll do whatever you ask me too. This was Gucci’s fault. She put me up to it!”
“Foxie, maybe you don’t understand how serious I am about my money. I will never let you or anybody else get in the way of that. You jumped out of the window when you called this fake ass strike and because of it, you have to suffer. Your cohorts too.”
****
The next morning Jayden arranged to have their bodies taken out of the house and Harmony was there when it happened. The white boy who dropped the spiders off collected them safely. When the last body was removed, she turns to face her daughter. “Jayden, what’s going on with you? What happened to those girls?” When she looks into her daughter’s eyes, she seems zoned out. “I don’t recognize you anymore. Is it because of what Madjesty did to you? I just found out about it when I was locked up.”
A tear rolls down her face. “Harmony, get the fuck out of my face, the Jayden you knew died a long time ago. It’s sad that you’re just noticing now.”
MADJESTY
WET BRIDGE
We’re sitting under a bridge in Washington D.C. and I’m trying to figure out what just happened. Rain is pouring down around us and all I can think about is how a few days ago, I had the blood of a white girl on my body. “I keep telling ya’ll I don’t know what happened to her.” I say mainly to Daze and Wicked who won’t let it go. “If I wanted to fuck with the bitch, on my eyes you wouldn’t have been with her.” I look at Wicked. “She was looking at me the whole time so it wouldn’t have been a problem.”
“What you trying to say to me, nigga?” Wicked asks stepping to me.
We’re arguing back and forth and I’m considering taking out the knife I have to jab him when Gage says, “We all know what happened in that building and who killed her.” She steps between us. “And the fact that we’re trying to put it on Mad, is not fair.”
I frown. They no more than me. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t open your mouth, Gage!” Wicked demands pointing his index finger at her. “If you do I’ll never fuck with you again.”
She rolls her eyes. “You know what, you use to be everything to me but after you brought that girl into our fold, I don’t give a fuck anymore. I’m tired of being your number two, Wicked. I’m done!” Everyone looks shocked. “Now Mad has been nothing but real with us since she got here and she deserves more from us.”
“She.” He points at me. “This nigga is a bitch?”
I don’t have time for this, so I drop my pants where I am. Through the peephole in my boxers I show them the strap-on that never leaves my body. If they gonna accept me then they gonna accept me. I’m tired of hiding who I am. Overall I’m a good person and its time that the people around me recognize that shit. “Yes, I’m a female physically but not mentally. So you see, your theory of me raping her is flawed. I couldn’t have.” I pull my jeans up.
“You could have, she just might not have enjoyed it.” He laughs and I think about Jayden. He’s right.
I hate this feeling. I hate this person. And I hate being ridiculed for who I am. So I run over to him and knock him off the top of the hill under the bridge, where he rolls down below. He almost rotates into the street but jumps up just in time. He’s not able to stay up long because I hit him again. The moment he tries to move for me, this time I sock him in his left eye. Either he’s weak, or not as strong as I thought he would be because I’m getting the best of him. I don’t stop beating this dude until I have blood on my hands. For the second time this week.
Spirit and Gage finally break up the fight. I push them both away. “You know what, shit has been real but I’ma go at this shit on my own.” I grab my backpack and look at Spirit and Gage. “I’ma get up with ya’ll when I can.”
“Don’t go, Mad.” Gage pleads. “You belong here with us. I can feel it.”
“I ain’t no gay,” Spirit adds, which causes Fierce to shuffle a little, “but I’m with her. I don’t think you should leave right now either, es
pecially with this shit over our heads. You need us as much as we need you.”
“So you choosing this bitch over me?” Wicked asks.
Silence.
He steps closer to them. “We have been through everything together. When we didn’t have food, I was the one who went out to get it. I’m your brother.” He looks at Spirit. “And I’m your lover.” He touches Gage on the cheek. “So I need to know right now who’s family you all belong to. Mine? Or the outsider?”
Daze steps to Wicked’s side, along with his girlfriend Killer. Fierce goes with them to, although he doesn’t look like he wants too. I’m thinking he has his answer when Spirit and Gage stand with me along with WB.
“Wow, White Boy,” Wicked shakes his head, “you chose that easily, huh? Damn, you sure you didn’t suck that plastic thing between her legs the night Rose was killed.”
“Remember what you just said, because that’s one of the reasons I’m choosing them. The fact of the matter is you’re too reckless, Wicked. You’ve gotten us in trouble many times before. We all we got and it’s important that we stay smart. Yet you don’t get it anymore. You bring the wrong people into our circle and one of the times you did that, Gage got raped. As far as Mad is concerned, she brought to the group, not took from it.”
Wicked looks like he wants to kill him. “I didn’t know that dude was a convicted rapist when I took him to the Catacombs.”
“Because you didn’t care.” Gage whispers. “He had liquor and drugs and that’s all you saw.” Wicked is breathing so hard he looks like he’s going to fall down again.