Games Women Play

by Zaire Crown

  “Now that was me!” he said with a proud smile that infuriated Tuesday. “For three million dollars, I’ll kill in my sleep.” He pressed the gun into Danielle’s side. “And I’ll prove it again if you keep trying to creep up on me. Now where’s the money?”

  Tuesday stopped her approach. “Don’t worry about that ’cause you ain’t gone live to see a penny of it anyway.”

  From behind Tuesday, Jaye called out, “You might as well put the gun down. We got you beat two to one.”

  Tuesday shook her head. “He not gone listen. He wanna do this the hard way, and for what he did to Tushie, that’s exactly how he gone get it.”

  “I wasn’t talking to him!”

  When Jaye came into view, Tuesday realized that she had the Heckler aimed at her and not Slim.

  Jaye smiled when she read the confused look on Tuesday’s face. “You ain’t never met my baby brother Jason. I guess that whole strictly business and keeping your personal life personal was a good rule after all.”

  Jaye went and stood next to her brother. “I ain’t gone lie. I was pissed when he told me he missed you at your apartment. But always having a backup plan is something I learned from you.”

  Tuesday said, “I guess you wasn’t listening all those times I spoke about loyalty to the team, though.”

  Jaye snapped back at her. “Bitch, how you gone talk about loyalty? You said fuck the team soon as you started catching feeling for that nigga. And you only called me when you needed my help getting the money back from Face.”

  Tuesday nodded. “And the reason you didn’t just kill me after we got rid of Face was because you wanted to do it here like this—the big reveal to show me that you was really the mastermind behind it all. Ain’t that why you wanted me to bring the ransom in the first place? Not just to kill me, but so I could see it was you first.”

  Jaye frowned at her and it revealed for the first time the level of animosity she’d secretly been harboring against Tuesday. “They all thought you was so damn smart but from the start I knew I was more advanced than you, TK.

  “It wasn’t shit to turn Brianna and Baby Doll against you. About a year ago I just started planting the seed that you was skimming us on the bread. Since Doll was always broke, it was easy to convince her, but Bree’s stupid ass actually looked up to you before I started fuckin’ with her head.”

  Tuesday said, “And all that you said about her being jealous of me was really you talking about yourself.”

  “Jealous of you?” Jaye laughed. “Bitch, please! What the fuck I got to be jealous of a old has-been hoe who pushing forty and still living hand to mouth? All you got is your looks, TK, and you only had about three more years of being cute before you lost that!”

  Tuesday shook her head. “You been sitting here hating on me all this muthafuckin’ time for what?”

  “Because I knew eventually you was gone lead me to some real bread. As much as I hated it, I stuck in there going on these little dilly missions for twenty and thirty G’s, but I knew sooner or later something big was gone come through. I was just setting up the pieces but the game didn’t start until we got the Caine lick.”

  “Too bad Bree and Doll didn’t realize they were just pawns about to be sacrificed.”

  Jaye laughed again. “You must be getting slow in your old age. All y’all were pawns! I was playing you and everybody else. You so busy putting together your brilliant plans to get these niggas, never knowing the whole time that y’all bitches were the real marks!”

  “Why is you sitting here explaining all this shit to her?” Slim said impatiently. “Let’s just kill this bitch, go get the money, and bounce!”

  “Nigga, shut up!” Jaye flipped on him and the way he folded proved to Tuesday that not only was Jaye the older sibling, but she had the dominant role in their relationship.

  Tuesday explained it to him. “Young dog, what you don’t understand is that she been waiting to rub my face in this for a long time and ain’t ’bout to let you spoil it. This is her moment to shine.”

  “That’s right,” Jaye agreed. “Because you s’posed to be the one with all the game, who can peep all the angles. But I was right up under your nose and you never saw me coming.”

  “Just like your girl Tushie ain’t see him coming!” she teased.

  It was at that moment that Tuesday had an epiphany. “You knew you couldn’t poison Tush against me like you did them other bitches, so you kept her distracted instead. That’s why you put this ole funny-looking-ass nigga on her.”

  “I couldn’t believe how easy he pulled her. You see, I was able to read her just like Bree and Doll. She was smarter and more loyal than them but being lonely was her weakness.”

  Slim jumped in. “Yeah, and Sis right here told me just how to reel her in. She was used to niggas sweating her for it, so all I had to do was pretend like I wasn’t pressed for the ass! And the more I downplayed it, the more she wanted to give it to me.

  “But on some real shit, I hated having to murk that pretty chocolate thick muthafucka, but Sis said it had to be done.” He laughed. “I’m gone miss riding that big ole ass. Her pussy was so wet and her neck game was the truth.”

  Jaye checked him. “Nigga, quit suckerstrokin’ over that big funny-talking-ass bammer bitch. When we get this money, you gone be able to buy ten hoes just like her.”

  Tuesday had to hide how much it bothered her to hear them mocking her girl like that. She kept her game face on and quietly promised her best friend that they were going to pay for it.

  Jaye continued to break it down for Tuesday. “Tushie’s body was her gift and her curse. I knew that any nigga who came along and treated her with a little bit of respect would have her sprung.

  “Years of playing on niggas had taken its toll. In the end the bitch was so desperate for some genuine companionship that she practically fell in love with my baby brother before knowing him a week.” Jaye shook her head. “Now that’s sad!”

  Tuesday agreed that it was, because she had peeped many of the same things about Tushie. Tuesday remembered one of their final conversations on the phone when Tushie talked about needing something real. The game had taken its toll on them both, which was why she fell for Marcus. Tuesday knew that if her girl had been in a better place emotionally, she would’ve smoked out this young punk-ass nigga before he even got her number.

  “You was able to peep my weakness too,” Tuesday said with a nod. “My OCD. That’s why you had them niggas tear up my condo. How long did you know about my illness?”

  “That was just a guess,” Jaye said with pride. “I knew you was a neat-freak from the way you acted around the club. I thought that would fuck with your head a little more than what it did.”

  “That was your smartest move,” said Tuesday. “That shit almost broke me down for real. Seeing my spot disrespected like that damn near gave me a nervous breakdown.

  “Well, I got to give you props,” Tuesday said, faking a smile. “One gamer to another, Jaye, you laid down a masterpiece. So what do you think is gonna happen now?”

  Jaye brought the Heckler closer to her head and made Tuesday drop the street-sweeper. “Well, now you and this little girl are going to die. The sad part is that if you didn’t catch feelings, you could’ve just took the money and busted up. In the end you brought this shit on yourself by breaking your own Rule One.”

  She cocked the pistol. “I just wanted the last thing to go through your mind—before this bullet—to be the fact that a young bitch like me outsmarted you.

  “You see, with this money now I got a way out. I’m not about to end up some old, sad, dried-up bitch still sucking dicks and doing sticks when I turn thirty-seven. When we talked in your office that day, I told you I was gone be straight by the time I reached your age.”

  Tuesday looked at her calmly with absolutely no fear in her eyes. “Bitch, you ain’t gone live to see my age.”

  “We’ll see.” Jaye put the muzzle of the Heckler to Tuesday’s forehead.r />
  “One gamer to another, you laid down a classic by murking Bree and Doll. I don’t know how you got to ’em but I guess that’s a secret you can take to your grave.”

  Jaye pulled the trigger. Click.

  She tried it again and again but the gun was empty.

  Tuesday took advantage in that moment of confusion. She smacked her hand away, cocked back and blew Jaye shit out. She stumbled back a few steps holding her mouth then looked up at Tuesday, stunned. When Jaye dropped her hand, her lips were bloody.

  Tuesday snatched up the street-sweeper. “You so damned smart, telling me about the rules I broke, but look at you. What’s the first rule when somebody hands you a gun to go on a mission? Stupid bitch, you check to see if it’s loaded!”

  “That don’t change shit!” Slim said, motioning with his Glock. “We still got the girl and we leaving with that money.”

  “Nigga, it change everythang!” Tuesday called out, “Ay yo, bring it out!”

  Neither Jaye nor her brother could believe it when they saw big DelRay jump out from his hiding spot behind the bar. He was carrying a .12-gauge pistol-grip pump. He stood behind his boss and took aim at Slim.

  Jaye then realized why Tuesday waved her back and checked that area herself. When it dawned on her that Tuesday had seen through her so-called masterpiece the entire time, Jaye’s face almost dropped to the floor.

  “How did you know?” Jaye asked, still leaking blood from her mouth.

  “Bitch, I always knew it was you!” Tuesday said with fierce gray eyes. “Remember that same conversation we had in my office when you said Brianna’s not a planner and Doll will follow anybody. I knew they couldn’t pull something like this off without somebody pulling their strings, and I knew that somebody was you.

  “You fucked up when you said that Bree was jealous of my condo downtown because at that time Tush was the only person at the club who knew where I lived. That shit right there let me know that you done had me followed home at least once before.

  “Then you tried to clean it up that day you dropped me off by pretending like you didn’t know where my spot was, but it was too late—I had already peeped that you slipped. When you had them try to get me at my building, that was my first clue.”

  Jaye looked dumbstruck. She replayed the conversation in her mind and realized that she had actually told on herself.

  Tuesday looked at Slim. “Your baby brother never knew that Tushie snapped a picture of him with her phone one day while he was taking a nap. When I found the picture I recognized him from the building; but when I looked closer, I saw the family resemblance. Y’all both got them same big dick-sucking lips!”

  Slim was still holding Danielle against his chest with the gun thrust out in front of him. He couldn’t cover DelRay and Tuesday both so he was swinging the Glock back and forth between them.

  The bouncer had the gauge trained on him but couldn’t pull the trigger while he held the girl. DelRay could easily blow off Slim’s head but the buckshot would take off a piece of Danielle’s face with it.

  Tuesday continued explaining it to Jaye. “Now I didn’t plan on getting stuck by Face but I been had yo ass peeped by then. I knew you would be down for getting that money back and I did need your help.

  “I called DelRay before I called you and put him up on my plan. He already had keys to the club and been here for hours laying low, just waiting for this surprise party.”

  DelRay added, “I was here watching before dog even showed up with the little girl. So the whole time you thought you was setting her up, it was really the other way around.”

  Tuesday nodded. “Sometimes good game can come from an unexpected place. A dirty cop I know once told me that he never walks into a room that he can’t walk out of, and I took that to heart.”

  “Well, me and my brother walking out of this room,” Jaye said, still holding the useless gun in her good hand. “You gone gimme the keys to the Audi and we gone call you and tell you where to pick the girl up.”

  Tuesday shook her head. “Jaye, that ain’t even ’bout to happen. The only way y’all leaving this muthafucka is shot!”

  “Whatever!” Jaye snapped as they slowly backed their way to the door. “She still my ticket up out this, bitch. You talk a good gangsta but as long as I got the girl, yo soft ass ain’t gone do shit. Now gimme the keys!”

  She was right. Tuesday wasn’t willing to risk Danielle’s life, not even for the money. It was the second time today she had to run those keys. She dug them out her pocket and passed them to Jaye.

  Tuesday glared at her steely-eyed. “I promise you ain’t gone get far.”

  Jaye jingled the keys and smiled with a big, busted lip. “Bitch, I’m gone get as far as three million dollars take me.”

  Slim was the first to back his way out of the door. Still holding Danielle with the .40-cal extended over Jaye’s shoulder at Tuesday and DelRay, he took a step back into the awaiting night.

  From Tuesday’s view inside the club she could see nothing of the killer. All she saw was a hand wearing designer leather gloves bring a pistol with a silencer level to Slim’s head.

  There weren’t any muzzle flashes, just two shots as quiet as whispers. Psst. Psst. The blood sprayed all over Danielle and the door to the club.

  Jaye had no idea of what happened. It was only the oh shit! expression on Tuesday’s and DelRay’s faces that made her turn around. She saw her brother, already dead, as his lanky frame started to topple like a falling tree. Jaye screamed like she had been shot too.

  Tuesday didn’t know what just happened either, but she sure didn’t hesitate to capitalize. She threw down the street-sweeper again and rushed Jaye before she could react. Tuesday pinned her against the wall and squeezed her injured hand until she dropped the gun and keys. The pain made Jaye howl as she went down to her knees.

  DelRay tossed away the gauge and went for Danielle. She was lying on the walk outside with the tape still muffling her screams. Her face was sprayed with Slim’s blood but she was not hurt. Luckily, when they fell, she landed on top of him.

  DelRay scooped her and peeled off her tape. He turned her away from the dead body and tried to calm her down.

  Then they heard a car door slam and tires peel out. Tuesday and DelRay both tried to get a glimpse of the shooter but they were too late. All they saw was a big sedan smash out the opposite end of the parking lot with the streetlights gleaming off its black paint. It bent a quick right off 7 Mile then disappeared down a side street before they could even recognize the model.

  Tuesday went back inside, grabbed DelRay’s gauge, and snatched Jaye up by a fistful of hair weave. She told her bouncer to take Danielle next door to Bo’s because the girl had already seen too much and didn’t need to witness what was about to happen. They figured she might be hungry too.

  When they were alone, Tuesday led Jaye over to the bar and made her sit. Tuesday grabbed a bottle of Remy Martin XO and two double-shot glasses.

  “What’s this s’posed to be?” Jaye said, frowning at the drink Tuesday offered her.

  She explained. “You usually give a dying man a last meal, but we ain’t got shit in here to eat.”

  Jaye nodded thoughtfully. “I guess this your moment to shine now? The part where you rub it in my face how you outsmarted me. Boss Lady pulls off another brilliant plan.”

  Tuesday downed her shot then poured herself another. “Naw, it ain’t about all that. I just thought I’d put you up on one last piece of game before we parted ways.”

  Tuesday sat the .12-gauge at her side and leaned across the bar, forcing Jaye to meet her eyes.

  “You lost because you think getting older only means getting slower and losing your looks. I used to think the same thing. I’m starting to get those lines in the corner of my eyes and they don’t sparkle like they used to. My titties don’t sit up like yours no more. And I can admit that I don’t turn as many heads as I did at eighteen.

  “I’m cool with all that, because be
ing fine was only part of what made me a bad bitch. I was never a dummy! You see, Jaye, getting older means getting wiser. Being a boss not only means being able to put the people around you in the right positions, it also means knowing what they are thinking and having your next move figured out before your enemies make theirs.”

  Jaye finally swallowed her shot. “TK, you don’t have to do this. I know I fucked up, but you won. You got the girl back, you got the money, and you leaving anyway.” Tears fell from her eyes. “I’m sorry ’bout Tushie but I lost my brother too and that should make us even. You could just gimme a pass.”

  “Give you a pass?” Tuesday downed another shot of Remy then grabbed the pistol-grip pump. She cocked it, then put the barrel right under Jaye’s chin.

  “Girl, you really should’ve been a comedian ’cause that’s the funniest shit I ever heard.”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  After the eventful day Danielle didn’t have an appetite. At Bo’s, DelRay bought her a wing dinner with fries that she hardly touched. He and Mr. Scott tried to get her to eat but she did no more than nibble on a few fries. One of DelRay’s funny faces did get a thin smile out of her but the chicken wings still went wasted. The kindly old man didn’t take that as a knock on his cooking.

  While she wasn’t able to eat, sleep came easy. By the time Tuesday came for her and DelRay, Danielle was already beginning to nod, and by the time they made it around the corner to the Audi, she had already fallen asleep in the big man’s arms. Tuesday had him strap her into the passenger seat because the guns were in the back. After everything that happened today, Tuesday didn’t want the girl to see anything else she could associate with death.

  During the walk DelRay explained that Brianna and Baby Doll were already dead when he got there but Slim didn’t show up with Danielle until later. Because Jaye and her brother genuinely seemed ignorant about who killed them, Tuesday chalked that up to the mystery gunman who popped Slim. DelRay thought that the killer waiting outside was part of Tuesday’s plan and she let him believe that.