by Cash
I covered my head with a pillow to block out the raw truth of her words because they made me face the guilt I felt over exposing Big Ma and Laquanda to danger that ultimately cost both of them their lives.
“Ava, baby, will you please allow me some privacy with Lil T? I need to tell his muthafuckin’ ass some things he might not want you to hear,” Inez said.
“Okay, I’m going to run to the store. I’ll be back in thirty minutes. Is that long enough?” replied Ava.
“That’s plenty,” said Inez.
“I’ll be back, Lil T. Can I bring you something?” asked Ava.
“Nawl, I’m good, shawdy,” I mumbled from up under the pillow.
As soon as Ava left, Inez turned straight gangsta on me. She was like I had never seen her before. She snatched the pillow from me and screamed, “Get your ass up and go straighten out your business! While you’re over here wallowing in grief, the nigga that killed Big Ma and Laquanda is out there pounding his muthafuckin’ chest in victory. I know the shit hurts, but you got to make him hurt worse. Your father didn’t crumble when niggas killed his sister to get at him. He was beyond crushed because Toi was his heart. But he still did what he had to do. And he didn’t stop until a lot of families were crying. If you’re not built the same way then take that chain from around your neck and give me my man’s ashes.”
I saw fire in her eyes.
She searched the room until she found two of my bangers. She shoved them towards me and demanded to know, “What the fuck are you going to do? Are you Youngblood’s son or are you your mama’s boy?”
I took the nine and the four-fifth from her and exclaimed, “Like father, like son.”
“Well, prove it! Every time I turn on the news somebody better be getting zipped up in a body bag or you stay the hell out of my face.”
She stormed out without awaiting a reply. I had nothing to say anyway. My bangers were gonna talk for me.
By the time Ava returned, I was in beast mode. Lying out on the bed was the entire cache of weapons that I had accumulated over the past two years. I had two Tec 11’s, two yoppas, a Calico, a street sweeper, an AR-15 with an infrared scope attached, and a dumb assortment of semi automatic hand guns.
Ava looked at the deadly artillery and then looked up at me. I studied the windows to her soul to see if there was fear. What I saw was the soul of a rider. I pulled her into my arms. “Are you my bitch?” I asked her flat out.
“Yes, Trouble, I’m your bitch,” she answered.
“For how long?”
“Infinity.”
“A’ight, from now on don’t let no other nigga or bitch touch what’s mine. You understand me?” I pulled her into my arms and nuzzled my nose in her hair.
“Yes, and I haven’t since we’ve been kicking it like this.”
“That’s what’s up. Now, not only must you keep the pussy on lock, you gotta padlock your mouth. What you see me do must go to the grave with you. If po-po ever snatch you up, don’t say or answer shit. Just ask to call your attorney. And if a nigga ever snatch you up and try to force you to call me, don’t do it because he’s gonna kill you anyway. If that scares you, now is the time to fall back.” I tilted her head up and stared deeply into her eyes.
“I’m not afraid, daddy.”
“A’ight, gimme some tongue then sit over there out of my way. Niggas are about to be shown why they call me Trouble.” I kissed Ava. She sat down in the overstuffed chair adjacent to the bed and watched me check each of my weapons to make sure they were ready for the war I was gonna bring to my enemies.
“I’m going all out, shawdy,” I said as I aimed the AR-15 at the wall and looked through the scope. Everything on it seemed to be in fine order, so I set it down and picked up the four-fifth.
“You’re supposed to go all out because what they did to your grandmother and your little sister was not called for,” replied Ava.
“I begged Big Ma to move. Something kept telling me that somebody would try to get at me through her. But if Shan hadn’t done that foul shit none of this would’ve happened because I never would’ve taken Laquanda over to Big Ma’s house that night.”
Ava just listened. I guess she was uncomfortable speaking against my mother. But the truth is the truth.
“Don’t get it wrong,” I said, “I know that it was my beef that came to Big Ma’s front door, and that’s a burden I’ll carry on my shoulders until they toss dirt on my casket. But I wouldn’t have been slippin’ if Shan wouldna tried to prostitute Laquanda that night. I swear I should go kill that crack head bitch.”
“Baby. I don’t like to hear you talk about your mother like that. Why don’t you try to get her some help?”
My head snapped up from what I was doing and my nostrils flared! “Is you stupid? If that bitch was on fire I wouldn’t piss on her. She’s the reason my pop got executed. She helped those crackers convict him and put him to sleep like they do stray dogs! What did my pop ever do to that bitch but stop fuckin’ with her grimy ass after she fucked his man? And what type of mother would sell her daughter to a muthafucka for some crack? Hell no, that bird ass gutter trash ho ain’t nothin’ to me!”
Ava had no comeback.
My chest heaved rapidly and my blood was boiling. “Where’s my cell phone?”
Ava found it up under the bed.
I unlocked it and checked my text messages. Then I checked my voice mail. You have four new messages. First message: Yo, bruh, I’m just lettin’ you know when it’s time to ride, I got your back. Get at me.
I recognized Criminal’s voice.
Next message: Bae, I’ll always love you. Please don’t forget that. I know you’re hurting right now and so am I. I loved Big Ma and Laquanda, too. If you need me for anything you know where I’m at. And if you still want me to handle that business I started on with Sharena, I’m ready. She’s been calling every—
I clicked to the next message. Fuck that! Kamora had shown a flaw. Her word wasn’t platinum.
The third voicemail was from Swag asking if I would call him. He claimed that it was very important. But I would have to get at him later. Right now I was on that other shit.
Next message: Sometimes the hunter becomes the hunted. I warned your reckless young ass to fall back. Never forget that you got family, too. Now go visit their graves and fall back off me before I send some more pain at your ass.
That voice belonged to Zeke! I tried to climb through the phone to get to his ass. “Bitch ass nigga, quit hiding and come out on the front line! Talkin’ that killa shit when the whole ‘A’ knows that money is your only power. When was the last time your tool went bang? You ain’t no killa; you pay niggas to protect your thong!” I growled into the phone. Spit was flying everywhere.
Of course, Zeke wasn’t on the other end. I would have to hit the streets and find his bitch ass, and it wasn’t going to be easy. But in my rage somebody was dying tonight! I strapped up. “Don’t go to the club tonight. I want you here when I get back,” I said to Ava. As I left out of the door, I already knew whose life I was gonna take.
CHAPTER 22
I sent a powerful kick to the center of the apartment door, and it went flying in and slammed against the wall. I stepped through the door with both of my gloved hands around the four-fifth. Criminal was on my heels with his semi-automatic banger out and ready to cough at the squeeze of the trigger. Outside in the car was one of his GF homies.
The black scarves around Criminal’s and my face told the surprised nigga on the couch what the business was. “I got dope and money. Y’all can have it all, just don’t kill me,” he immediately offered.
“Where’s the shit at?” I barked while keeping a close eye on him. There was always the chance that he had a banger under the pillow on the couch.
“Everything is outside in the trunk of my car.”
Boc! I shot him in the shoulder.
“Don’t play with me! Where’s the shit at? If you lie to me again I’ma spray your thoughts all
over that wall.”
“Okay! The money is in the linen closet in the bathroom, inside of a purple and black pillowcase. Ooh! Aw shit, my shoulder is burning like fuck!”
“Tough luck! Where’s the work?”
“Under the kitchen sink. There are two blocks and a couple four ways. Man, don’t wipe me out, please. I just got out of prison a few months ago and I’m tryna get on my feet.”
“Yo, bruh, who is this nigga talking to?” I asked Criminal.
Criminal hunched his shoulders.
“Go, check it out. Be careful, somebody might be in the back,” I warned my nigga.
Five minutes later he returned with the work and the ducats.
“C’mon y’all, I’m a street nigga, too. Respect the hustle and leave me with something to bounce back with,” cried Trap. His voice was irritating the shit out of me.
“Did you leave my bitch anything to bounce back with?” I snarled.
“Who is your bitch, fam’?”
“Figure it out in your next life, nigga,” I spat and then popped three in his head.
I kept the money and gave Criminal and his man the work.
When I got back to Ava’s, she was in bed watching The Housewives of Atlanta. I opened up the pillowcase and poured the stacks out on her legs. “I keep my promises.”
“What’s this for?” she asked, looking puzzled.
“I collected from that nigga who shitted on you about that block. Count the bands and tell me how much it is.”
She unwrapped the rubber band from around a stack and began counting one bill at a time. “Hold up, hold up!” I stopped her. “You ain’t gotta do that. Trust, each one of those stacks is $1,000. Just count the stacks, shawdy. Damn, you’re green as lettuce,” I joked.
“Leave me alone.” She feigned a pout and looked cute as hell doing so.
“You’re a pretty muthafucka.”
“Thank you.”
“Yeah, you’re my bitch,” I said.
“I sure am. I’m nobody’s but yours. And if you can find a better bitch than me, you better marry that ho.”
“Talk that shit, shawdy.” I chuckled.
“I’m just keeping it gangsta.”
“We’ll see,” I said, but at the time I had no idea just how gangsta shawdy would keep it. Ava exclaimed, “You have forty-three stacks or bands. Whatever you want to call them. Forty-three thousand dollars.”
“Yep. Yep,” I remarked, satisfied. “You can have it all.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, shawdy. I don’t want any of it. You got what I want inside those booty shorts. Stand up and take them off. I wanna see my bitch in her birthday suit.”
“Whatever you want, baby,” she purred demurely as she seductively stripped down to nothing but pussy, ass and titties.
That dark, pretty muthafucka had a fine body. Her pussy poked out from between her thighs like a sweet honeydew melon. “Shawdy, you a bad ass bitch.”
Ava blushed.
“You wanna bend me over and fuck me?” she rasped.
“Yeah, shawdy, I wanna put my stamp on that pussy. Turn around and let me show you how boss my dick game is. I ain’t never fucked you like I’ma fuck you tonight.” I used the remote to click on the music. Kem came on, completing the mood. Ava put her elbows on the dresser and tooted her ass up. I squatted down and spreaded her chocolate ass cheeks. Then I slowly ran my tongue from the rooter to the tooter.
I circled the opening to her brown eye with the tip of my tongue. Then I tenderly probed the inside. She began moaning and grinding her ass on my tongue. I was on some real freaky shit tonight. I pushed my tongue as deep as it would go, then I jabbed it in and out.
“Ooh, baby, baby, baby . . . You’re fucking my head up,” she cried.
I ate that ass like a sweet potato pie.
“Put your dick in there,” she cooed.
“A’ight, you know I got a python. I’ma have your ass wearing a pamper like a 22-year-old baby.”
“You’ll have to go slow,” she coached.
I did as she wanted. I was slow and gentle, still she was hollering and screaming like the dick was splitting her in half and I had only gotten the head in so far. When I pushed deeper, Ava screamed and snatched the dick out of her ass. “What’s wrong, shawdy?” I laughed.
“Fuck that! Your dick is too goddamn big. Fuck around and have my ass in the ER.”
“I told you, you couldn’t handle this shit. I’m not one of those lil’ dick niggas who be coming to the club. Lie down and give me some of that fat, wet pussy.”
“Anytime.” She smiled as she swept the money off the bed and onto the floor.
I woke up the next morning with Ava draped all over me. I climbed on top of her and gave her some of that fiyah early morning dick. Then we took a shower together and fucked some more.
“My stuff is sore,” she groaned, while lotioning her body back in the bedroom.
“That’s what happens when you fuck with a G. Next time you better get one orgasm and call it a night. Because if you get greedy I’ma have you walking with a permanent limp around this bitch,” I boasted. Because I knew that I had fucked her well.
I threw on my $800 True Religion jacket over the T-shirt I wore with my pop’s picture sewn across it. I was also rocking True Religion jeans and a new pair of Adidas. The four-fifth was on my waist and a nine was in the small of my back. It was time to hit the streets. I picked up my cell phone and saw ten missed calls from Swag. Damn, what’s so urgent? I wondered as I hit him up. He answered right away.
“Damn, lil nigga, what took you so long to hit me back? I’ve been tryna reach you all week,” he complained.
“I been going through some things since the funerals, but I’m good now. What’s the business?”
“I hate talking over the phone, but I’m way out in LA, and this shit is too important to wait. Can you fly out here?”
“Nawl, unc, I got too many things poppin’ off here in the ‘A’ to come out there now. Maybe I’ll be able to get away in a couple weeks.”
“No, that won’t work. You could be dead by then.”
“Anybody can get it any day, but what you saying?”
“A nigga named Zeke got a hundred bands out on your head. There’s a DT named Smooth who is supposed to have the contract now. One of my security dudes used to work for APD and he heard that from a very credible source. The department is already investigating Smooth for armed robbery, taking bribes, planting drugs and guns on niggas. Everything you can name. They say the nigga is real slimy, so you better lay low.”
“I’ma lay low, a’ight,” I replied sarcastically.
Smooth is out to bury me, huh? That’s why that nigga tried to get me to meet him on MLK that night. He was gonna slump my ass.
“Lil T, you still on the line?” asked Swag.
“Yeah, I’m still here. I was just thinking. I’ma pull up on you later. Let me strategize.
When I hung up from Swag I knew what I had to do. And I knew that it could not wait.
CHAPTER 23
“Fuck it, bruh. You gotta get that nigga before he gets you. Just because he wears a badge it don’t make him immune to being murdered. He’s crooked as hell anyway. Last year he planted a gun and a half block on my dude Black Rain. Got him fifteen years for nothing. I’m with you. We’ll just have to do it real smart, because you know how hot shit gets when a po-po gets killed,” said Criminal.
We were on I-20 East in the new Chrysler 300 he had just copped.
“Bruh, I’m not asking you to help me murk homeboy. That would be asking way too much of you. I know you got love for a nigga, but you don’t owe me that type of loyalty. You and your mans are doing y’all thing, building up your numbers and making noise in these streets. Just like you said it would happen. I’m not gonna ask you to risk all of that for me. All I need is for you to have your people keep their eyes and ears open and help me catch Smooth somewhere with his pants down. I’ma handle it from t
here.”
“I got you, bruh.”
Days later, I told Swag the same thing. For the time being, I gave Smooth my full concentration because he was the biggest threat of all. Weeks passed by without any news from anyone. I was getting restless sitting in the apartment all day. I used Ava’s laptop to go online to the Georgia Department of Corrections and pull up Lonnie’s picture and info.
I stared at the screen with hate so intense my vision blurred. Lonnie had the untrustworthy face of a snitch. He was now in his early forties and was serving life without parole. I saw that he was at Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe, Georgia.
“Who is that, baby?” asked Ava, standing over my shoulder.
“The bitch nigga that snitched on my pop.”
She read Lonnie’s jacket and then she concluded, “He’s not ever getting out of prison. I don’t see what he told for.”
“He told because he had bitch in him.”
“Hmmph! Well, I bet his ass is suffering, knowing he won’t ever get out.”
But he’s still breathing and that’s way more than he deserves, I thought.
I clicked off the screen. I could not take looking at that bitch nigga’s face another second.
That same night I dreamed that I had got locked up and sent to Macon State Prison where Lonnie was. I stepped off in that coward’s cell with a shank in both hands. He didn’t even recognize me. That infuriated me more. “Nigga, you sent my pop to death row.” I jogged his memory as I began stabbing him over and over again.
“Ahhh! Trouble, what are you doing?” Ava screamed as she lay in bed beside me.