The Plug's Daughter 2: It's Love and War

by Nika Michelle

  He slowly pulled out of me and I quickly pulled my stiff legs out of that split. Damn, my legs felt heavy as hell. That nut was good as fuck though.

  “You know you always put it down Keys.”

  He kissed me deeply and held me close. “You know you just blew my mind right? Damn.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I know.”

  * * *

  Keenyn

  The next morning had come and gone and I still hadn’t heard from Dame yet. By the time two pm rolled around I was done with my drop offs, so I’d just made it back to the crib. I decided to call Arica and ask her if she’d heard anything from him. I was sure he’d heard about Trell and his henchmen getting murdered. Something had to be wrong if he hadn’t checked in.

  “Hello,” she answered sounding like she was crying.

  “Arica? It’s Keys, what’s wrong yo’? I asked with a feeling that something had happened to Dame.

  “Dame…he’s in the hospital…We don’t know what it is…” She sobbed uncontrollably.

  “Huh, what do you mean you don’t know what it is? Is he sick? What hospital is he in?” It made me wonder if that nigga had HIV or some shit. As promiscuous as he was, it wouldn’t be a surprise to me.

  His appearance had deteriorated in such a short period of time.

  “We’d had an argument the day before and I had left him. His mom went to check on him this morning because she hadn’t heard from him and he was passed out in the kitchen. There was vomit everywhere. Now he’s not responding. He keeps having seizures. We have no clue what’s going on. I had to leave the hospital. I can’t take seeing him like that. He’s at Grady.” She sniffed as she filled me in.

  “Oh shit. I didn’t expect that ma. I’m ‘bout to go check my boy out…”

  “He’s in ICU, so you may not be able to see him right now. Uh, call his mom’s cell. It’s a four digit pin that you have to use to get in there.”

  I nodded as if she could see me. “Okay yo’. Thanks ma.”

  “You’re welcome Keys.”

  I hung up and called Dame’s mother Karen. She answered on the first ring.

  “Hey Miss Karen it’s Keys. I just heard about Dame. I wanna come through to see him.”

  “Of course baby. C’mon. He’s not doing too good. We’re just waitin’ for the doctors to tell us something.”

  “Okay, I’m on my way.”

  I went into the bathroom in the bedroom because I heard the shower running. “Babe, I’ll be back. I gotta go check Dame out. He’s in the hospital.”

  She quickly turned the water off. “What happened? Did somebody retaliate because of Trell?”

  “Nah, it ain’t nothing like that. His girl said his mama found him passed out and shit. I’on know what’s goin’ on.”

  Sen opened the shower door and stepped out. I passed her a towel and she wrapped it around herself. “Oh shit. I hope he’s okay. So, that’s why he wasn’t answering his phone last night.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “I’d noticed something wasn’t right about the way he looked yesterday.”

  She wrapped her arms around me. “He’s going to be fine baby.”

  “It’s just too much going on babe. I needed him to hook me up wit’ that nigga Sammy so we can find out who that wallet belongs to.”

  Letting out a sigh, Sen let me go and looked up at me. “I’m going to talk to my father about that today. I figured it’s no point in waiting.”

  “I think that’s a good idea, but I’m going wit’ you. Just stay here until I get back. Okay. I mean it Sen.”

  She nodded. “Okay, I’ll be right here when you get back.”

  I kissed her before heading to the door.

  Chapter 5

  Keenyn

  “Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?” Mendosa asked Sen after she explained the entire situation that led to her murdering Will. “Your mama got you to recruit girls and then tried to get you to fuck some nigga by blackmailing you?”

  She never said what she was being blackmailed for.

  He shook his head. “I’on even know what shocks me more. Your mama doin’ that shit or you goin’ along wit’ it. I’m sorry that I led you to believe that you couldn’t be human Sen. I’m disappointed in you, but I was aware that you may make some mistakes along the way. I never expected for you to be perfect.”

  Sen frowned as she shook her head. “Are you for real right now Mendosa?”

  “So, you callin’ me by my first name now?” He narrowed his eyes at her.

  “Yes, because you act like you have amnesia. You’ve never led me to believe that it was okay for me to be human. NEVER! I always had to be the perfect little angel. I was daddy’s little girl. If I disappointed you it would change that. In your eyes I wasn’t to be touched because I was so perfect and pristine. Do you really know the woman you left me with? She hates me. You’re all I got and I didn’t want to lose you. You led me to believe that if I ever defied you, you’d turn your back on me. So contrary to what you think, it was never that easy to please you. Should I give examples…?”

  “It’s no need for that! I could fuckin’ kill Missy. Have you talked to her?” His eyes were on fire and it was as if I wasn’t even in the room.

  “No, I’ve been avoidin’ her calls. I told her about the hit man’s attempt on my life and she blamed me for not sleeping with Will. That bitch is evil and I don’t understand why you ever fucked her without two condoms. I never asked to be here because you fell in love with a heartless whore!” Tears fell from Sen’s beautiful eyes and it made my heart ache.

  She’d told me about how her mother and father had met. Melissa was an escort in New Orleans and he’d fallen in love with her at first sight. After spending two days together she came back to Atlanta with him and they were married in less than three months. My guess was he had a thing for prostitutes because of his late mother.

  I instinctively reached out for Sen and Mendosa visibly flinched. With my arm around her waist, I pulled her closer. She immediately seemed to calm down.

  Mendosa cleared his throat. “You seem to have a good effect on her.” His eyes showed his distaste about that.

  “Yeah, unlike you he understands and has patience with me,” she challenged her father.

  “I guess that’s fair, but our issues ain’t the priority now. You have another threat on your life and we gotta make sure we eliminate it. Is there anything else I need to know? With all of this shit going on in your life how can you focus on school?” He lit his Cuban cigar and sat back in his favorite recliner.

  The potent smelling smoke permeated the air and wafted around our heads in a thick cloud.

  “Well,” she cleared her throat. “Since I’m being honest. I lost my scholarship.”

  “Out of everything you’ve confessed that hurts me the most Sen. You’re a smart girl. What…?” He suddenly stopped to get himself together. “You can always go back to school and you will. Once we handle…whoever this threat is…we’ll tackle everything that you revealed today. First I have to talk to your mother.”

  I finally spoke up as I reached in my pocket. “I have the wallet from the man who…tried to kill her.”

  With a thud it landed on the coffee table.

  Mendosa picked it up. “Good.” He made eye contact with me and there was a humble look on his face. “I gotta thank you for your quick thinking and keeping my baby girl alive. No matter how I feel about you two bein’ together I gotta admit you seem to be good for Sen.”

  I couldn’t help but smile a little. “Like I said, I love her.”

  “Hmmm,” he put his hand under her chin in deep thought. “I think I’ll leave your mother alone for now Sen. I’m gonna dig and try to find out who this nigga is.”

  He pulled the license out and studied it. His eyes lit up with recognition, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Do you know him?” Sen asked looking confused.

  “I know a lot of people baby girl, but I don’t know this mufucka. Just talk to
your mama next time she calls and see where her head is at. As soon as I find out who this nigga is and who hired him, I’m gonna pay her a visit before I go kill them.” With that said he got up to pour some Brandy into a glass. “Want some Keys?”

  That time I obliged. “Yeah.” I figured that it was sort of a rite of passage. Maybe he was finally accepting me as his son in law.

  He passed me my glass. “I know you’re serious about keepin’ her safe, but you can’t be wit’ her twenty four seven. I’m gonna hire somebody before I go…out of town tomorrow. I’ll only be gone for a couple days. I have to handle something.”

  “Daddy no…I don’t want anybody following me around and watching my every move,” Sen protested as she crossed her arms across her chest.

  “I don’t care about what you want right now Sen.”

  I glanced over at her. “Listen to yo’ pops yo’. He’s right.”

  She sighed. “Whatever,” she huffed.

  I shook my head. “You did that Mendosa.”

  He chuckled. “But now you gotta deal wit’ it. Good luck wit’ that.” He raised his glass as if we were toasting.

  Shit, I couldn’t help but laugh too as I raised mine. I had my work cut out for me, but I was ready for it.

  * * *

  Now that Trell was out of the way I felt like I could finally do something with my lady. We still had to worry about another attempt on her life, but something told me that we would be good on that for a while. Killing Trell had been more pressing anyway.

  I held her hand as I drove down the highway. Her hair was whipping in the wind and she had a serene look on her face.

  “I wanna take you out on a real date tomorrow. I’m gonna go check out JJ’s mama tonight though. You know I gotta play it off and shit. If I don’t show up things will seem suspicious, since the funeral was two days ago and I didn’t go.” My mind drifted to Dame. I had to check up on him too.

  “It’s not like dates make a relationship Keys. I’ve been on plenty of dates with niggas who didn’t give a fuck about me. You love me and that’s all I care about, besides, I thought we already went out on a real date in Charleston.”

  “Nah, I mean a date that lasts all day and all night. Like, I’m gonna spend a gwap and spoil you like yo’ daddy type a date.”

  Her smile was all big and bright then.

  “It’s not your money I’m after sexy.” Her eyes were on me as she seductively licked her lips.

  “You’re a nympho,” I teased.

  “You like it though.”

  My hand was on her thigh, creeping up. “Shit, nah ma, I love it.” I kissed at her and then licked my lips. “I can taste that pussy on my tongue right now.”

  “You tryna pull this car over so you can taste it for real ain’t you?” She stared me down with longing.

  Without saying another word I got off on the next exit and then pulled over on the side of the road. The sun was barely gone down, and the sky was decorated with shades of pink and purple.

  “Take those pants off,” I demanded as I turned the car off.

  The radio was still playing and Usher was singing about taking it nice and slow. That was an oldie, but goodie and I was going to take his advice.

  She sucked on her pointer finger teasingly as she stared at me. I was so turned on. It was a good thing my windows had tint, because I was about to treat that pussy right. Yeah, we were having a lot of sex during a messed up ass situation, but the attraction between us was just hella strong. It seemed like making love was a temporary fix, like any drug that people used during hard times. Shit, Sen was definitely my drug and I wanted more and more of her. It didn’t matter what the fuck was going on around me.

  * * *

  One thing about me was, I had a heart. It was fucked up that I had to show my face to let JJ’s mama Miss Queenie think I gave a shit. It was hard to sit there and watch that woman cry knowing that I had killed her son.

  “Then I heard that Trell was murdered too.” She shook her head. “I warned my baby about that muthafucka. He’s always been trouble. He came over here asking for a key to get something out of J’s house. I went on and gave it to him, ‘cause it ain’t no tellin’ what it was. Where’s Dame loud ass? I ain’t seen him.”

  Queenie was a thug all day every day. She smoked weed and drank more than any of us did. Still, she was respected in the hood because of her hustle. I couldn’t say the same about her son. She was what most people called the candy lady. She sold snacks, cigarettes, blunts and shots of liquor. When we were kids their place was the spot.

  “Dame’s in the hospital.” I shook my head.

  “He got shot up too?” She grimaced. “What the fuck is this world comin’ to?”

  “Nah, he ain’t get shot. He’s sick, but it ain’t clear what’s wrong wit’ him yet.”

  “Hmm, he might got that package. That lil’ nigga always been a hoe. He be lettin’ them crack hoes suck him off for a hit and shit.” She frowned up her face and sucked her teeth. “I even heard he’d let a man suck his dick for a rock too.”

  “Damn, that’s fucked up. I hope my nigga don’t do no shit like that.” That shit was just gossip. My boy would never fuck with a man like that. He loved pussy too damn much.

  “You never know what these niggas’ll do for a nut.” She wiped her eyes. “I just thank you for being a good friend to James.”

  Damn, that one hit me in the gut. “I gotta go Miss Queenie. It’s getting late and…”

  “I understand.” She stood up when I did to give me a hug. “Thank you for stoppin’ by. The funeral was the other day. I thought I’d see you there. You know it’s usually jumpin’ over here, but I wasn’t in the mood tonight. I had to clear this bitch out.”

  “I feel you, but I’on do funerals. Me and JJ were close and I’d rather remember my boy alive,” I said solemnly. A nigga was feeling guilty as hell, but JJ had to be dealt with.

  “Oh, hold up. I got a picture of you and him together. I figured you would want it. Ya’ll kids take pictures on your phones now, but this was back in the day.” She hit her cigarette, walked over to a book shelf and pulled out a photo album.

  I stood there and looked over her shoulder as she flipped through to find the picture. Queenie was a tall, big boned woman who always wore lace front wigs. Her complexion was the color of warm, brown sugar and she looked young for her age. It was fucked up that I had to kill her boy. One thing about her was she would send somebody to gun me down if she knew it.

  “Here is it.” She took it out of the plastic and passed it to me. “I was tellin’ J’s girlfriend about how close ya’ll were. I’m surprised she ain’t been over here.”

  “Felicia ain’t been over here?” That was a shocker. JJ had been dealing with her off and on for years. They had a son together.

  “Nah, you know he and Fe broke up a while back. I just met this chick a month or two ago. J was your boy. You should know her. Her name is uhh…Kelsey…or something like that.” Hold up. She picked up her cell phone from the coffee table. “I took a picture of them.”

  I was ready to get the fuck out of there, but I waited for her to find what she was looking for. When she showed me the picture I didn’t know what to think. I did know the chick in the picture, but I damn sure didn’t know that she was supposed to be JJ’s girl.

  “Oh okay,” I said with a fake smile. “Maybe she don’t know he’s dead.”

  That bitch knew and I knew that for a fact. She just knew not to show her face there anymore. All I could do was shake my head. The plot was just getting thicker and thicker. I held on to the picture of me and JJ.

  “Queenie, can you send that pic to my phone. I’d like to have a memory of my boy when he was lookin’ happy and shit.”

  She passed me the phone.

  “I ain’t up on all that high tech shit. Send it to yourself.”

  I laughed and shook my head. “C’mon now Queenie. You ain’t even forty yet. How do you not know how to send a picture mess
age? What if your man wanted a naked pic?”

  She doubled over with laughter despite her grief. Despite my guilt it was good to see her laugh.

  “If he wants to see this ass he know where it’s at.”

  After the picture was sent I was ready to make my exit.

  “I know that’s right. Well, I’m out Miss Q. I’ll holla at you.” She pulled me in for another hug and kissed my cheek.

  “Be careful out there in them streets Keys. They don’t love nobody.”

  I left with those words on my mind and heart. She ain’t never lied. My thoughts drifted to that picture in my phone. What the hell was going to come out next?

  * * *

  “Oh my fuckin’ God,” Sen gasped as she looked down at the picture. “Shit can’t get any crazier.”

  “Tell me about it.” I passed her the blunt and watched as she took a long pull.

  She blew the smoke out of her nose and closed her eyes like she was enjoying the essence of her high.

  “So, now it all makes sense.” Her voice was a whisper. “That bitch helped that nigga steal your shit and then she tried to seduce you. Ohhhh, now I wish I’d really fucked that grimy hoe up.”

  She puffed on the blunt again. Her eyes were open now and they were on my face. After she hit the blunt another time, she passed it back. We were both silent as I thought about what I knew. Kelly had been fucking JJ. It was clearly her in that picture. That was how he got access to my bricks. Wasn’t that about a bitch?

  Why wasn’t I surprised though? The hoe would fuck anybody if she’d tried to fuck me. It was fucked up because she’d met JJ through me. My pops had a cook out a few months ago and I took that nigga with me. I knew that Kelly was being a little too damn friendly. What she wouldn’t do for some dick.

  “I wouldn’t have ever thought that shit.” I shook my head as she kissed my neck lovingly.

  “I’m just glad JJ’s mama wasn’t suspicious about you just poppin’ up and shit.”

  “I told her that I was busy with school and had found out all late. She bought it.”

  “Good.” She kissed me. “So, what are we doing tomorrow?”