MOTY (The Lady Kingpin Series Book 1)

by J Hoffman

  Rachel rolled her eyes and stared down at Liz, “And… Who are you?”

  She held her hand out proudly, “I’m Liz. Liz Berks. Glad to meet you.”

  Rachel stared at her hand for a moment before reaching out and shaking it gently, “Rachel Trier.”

  “I saw your video!” Liz smiled.

  Rachel stared at her for a moment, and glanced at Natalee before looking back to Liz, “Which one?”

  “Oh,” Liz smiled sweetly. “You know which one.”

  Natalee could see the blood rushing to Rachel’s cheeks, even beneath all the layers of makeup she piled on to attempt to impress the masses. Natalee had to look away before a giggle escaped her.

  Rachel cleared her throat to regain her composure, “Well, I just wanted to come over and let you know that your very inappropriate conversation about drug usage is bothering the other patrons and we would like you to leave.”

  Liz rocked her cup back and forth in her hand, looking from Natalee to her cup and back. Finally, she spoke up, looking Rachel directly in the eyes. “Unfortunately, your entire existence is disturbing. You waltz around like your shit don’t stink and you keep your nose up so high, everyone can see all the drugs you shove up it every day.”

  She watched Natalee for a moment before she continued, “If you were even half as smart as Natalee here, you would’ve stopped coming to this place as soon as Natalee put her foot down about your negativity. Natalee is on the uprise of an amazing opportunity and you can be sure that the only person she’s going to leave all the way at the bottom is you.” Natalee scrunched her brows together in confusion, wondering what Liz was going on about. Rachel couldn’t take her eyes off Liz, which made it easy for Natalee to shoot looks at her.

  Finally, Rachel took a moment to smooth out the front of her dress before she turned back to Natalee, “Well, good luck on your endeavors.” She turned on her heel and headed back to the corner where all the women were huddled around waiting for a play-by-play.

  Once Rachel was far enough out of earshot for Natalee to feel comfortable, she leaned across the table, eyeballing Liz.

  Twenty-Three

  “What the hell were you talking about?” Natalee hushed her confusion.

  “I texted my friend this morning and she wants to try this shit.”

  “Try what shit?” Natalee tried to keep her voice down, but she felt like she was in the middle of a conversation she never started.

  “Your damn branch!”

  Natalee shook her head, “No, I’m not selling it. I just let you try it to be nice. I wasn’t trying to get you hooked.”

  “Well, I am. I feel fuckin’ great, you look fuckin’ great. We need to share this with everyone we can.”

  Natalee shook her head more vigorously, “No! I’m not selling my plant. It was a gift to me, and I want to keep it that way.”

  Liz shrugged and took a long sip of her coffee, without taking her eyes off Natalee’s. “Suit yourself. If it were me, I’d be a millionaire off this.”

  Natalee chewed the inside of her cheek. The conversation with Judah about their vacation was ringing in her ears, like an hourly bell in a small town. She took a slow, deep breath, and stared out the window again.

  “How much did you tell her?”

  “I didn’t, I figured you’d know more about the cost than I would.”

  Natalee shook her head, “No, like I said, it was a gift.”

  Liz thought for a moment, “I know I haven’t been taking it long, but have you found anything wrong with it?”

  Natalee thought for a moment, going back over the last six or seven weeks she had been taking it. “It tastes gross when it turns to mush,” she shrugged.

  “That’s it? No weird thoughts, or nightmares? Nausea or vomiting?”

  Natalee thought for a moment, closing her eyes in desperation for an answer. Finally, she sighed and shook her head, “No. I literally feel great a hundred percent of the time.”

  “Fifty bucks,” Liz blurted.

  Natalee raised an eyebrow, “Fifty bucks? For what?”

  “For a bag with one branch and one leaf.”

  “That’s only a one-day supply.”

  “And?” Liz leaned forward, “You are holding onto an all-natural remedy to literally everything.”

  Natalee shook her head, “No, I don’t think it’s like that at all.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Liz smirked.

  “No, I’m not kidding you. It’s not that big of a deal.”

  “It really is though. My back hasn’t hurt in two days - that’s a miracle in and of itself. Next to that, I haven’t wanted to rip my hair out. Last night, I went home, and I didn’t want to strangle half my kids. I actually made dinner with a smile on my face.”

  “You were pretty drunk, though.”

  “I was pretty drunk, but I wasn’t drunk. I was just happy. And that doesn’t happen very often at all for me anymore. Between the kids at the age where they’re sassy one hundred percent of the time and my husband being gone like eighty-nine percent of the time. Having to move a family of seven with just one adult present, constantly, every year, every six months sometimes, I’m depressed, man.

  I don’t know if it’s this stupid branch or if it’s the leaf, or if it’s you, and having a friend is changing my chemical imbalances that much, but there’s something here, Nat. And it feels fuckin’ great.”

  Natalee smiled and reached out to grab Liz’s hand, “I needed a friend like you, Liz.”

  Liz pulled her hand away, “I needed a friend like you too, but more importantly, I needed something to pull me out of the dark-ass abyss I’ve been stuck in for a decade.”

  “Well, isn’t Chris supposed to be home soon? That should cheer you up,” she offered.

  Liz scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, he isn’t coming home for another six or seven months.”

  “What?” Natalee gasped. “Why?”

  “They needed him for some ‘special mission’.” She used her fingers to make sarcastic air quotes.

  “I’m so sorry,” Natalee frowned.

  “Don’t be sorry. Say ‘you’re welcome’ because your dumb plant might’ve just saved my life.”

  Natalee felt like she had been hit with a brick wall, but at the same moment it hit her, it dissipated. “Is it weird that I’m glad your son broke my window?”

  Liz snorted through laughter, trying to push back tears she didn’t want to escape in a public place, “Best window he’s ever broken.”

  Natalee hushed her own giggle.

  “I think you can really do something with this,” Liz urged after taking a moment to calm down.

  Natalee took another slow, deep breath. “You might be right. But what about when I run out? That shit is native to Russia. I asked Svetty for another one and she said I was eating too much.”

  Liz shrugged, “Tell her you’re selling it. You’re not lying, and it might just work.”

  “That really might piss her off.”

  “Why though?”

  “It was a gift!” Natalee stated again.

  “And now it’s a gift that keeps on giving.”

  “I don’t know. Who am I even supposed to sell it to? How do I find people?”

  “I can handle that. I told one person, and she tells everyone everything. She’ll handle it,” Liz crossed her arms over her chest proudly.

  “And who is ‘she’?”

  “It’s a woman from base. She refuses to live off base, but she knows literally anyone in like a ninety-mile radius.”

  Natalee rolled her eyes, “Yeah, sounds like just the person I want to get tangled up with.”

  “Hey man, you could seriously build an empire off of this, if it’s really as great as you say it is with no side effects Especially with no side effects!”

  Natalee let out a quick sigh. “I guess you’re right, I just never thought of it that way. And what if there are side effects in the long run? I can’t have a bunch of people being mad at me be
cause I didn’t know that their teeth would fall out six months after starting it.”

  “The funny thing about drugs is people don’t care about the consequences. They just want to know that right now, they are the best they can be.”

  Natalee watched her and contemplated her words for a moment. “This isn’t a drug, though.”

  “Oh, but it is now.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Well, we find out if it’s legal or not. I’m thinking it’s not legal or else we would’ve found it elsewhere without your friend bringing it all the way from Russia. If it is legal, it’s because no one actually knows about it here, so they haven’t had a chance to criminalize it yet. So, if we treat it like it is criminalized, we’ll snag all the people who want to feel like they’re doing something wrong to make themselves feel better.”

  Natalee furrowed her brows in confusion, “I’m not following you.”

  “Okay, let’s talk about alcohol. There was a prohibition, remember?”

  Natalee shook her head, “No, I’m not that old.”

  Liz rolled her eyes, “You know what I mean. We learned about it in school. When the prohibition started, people went out of their ways to get it. Like, horribly so. People died. Like, a lot of people. And the more people who didn’t die went blind. All for a swig of some damn hooch. And money.

  “That’s all drugs are today. A big, across the board, prohibition. People are going through some hoops to get their drugs. And people are dying to get better drugs. Then, people are making money, like, hella money, to get these better drugs to give to more people who end up getting killed over it.”

  “I’m not trying to kill anyone, Liz,” she declared.

  Liz groaned, “I went the wrong direction with that. But do you see what I mean?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Let me think this out,” Liz silenced herself.

  After a solid minute of quiet, Natalee raised an eyebrow, “Okay?”

  “Okay,” Liz took a slow, deep breath and took a sip of her coffee. “Well, there are people who’re going out of their way to take a drug they know everyone wants and make the most money off the smallest amount. Drugs are a business. And there are people at the top of those businesses who are making all the money, selling all of the drugs.”

  “I’m on your page now,” she nodded along.

  “I think,” she overenunciated her words. “You could be at the top of a business because you have something new. Something no one knows they need or want yet.”

  “Still here,” Natalee acknowledged.

  “Have you ever heard the phrase ‘kingpin’?”

  “Yeah, a person with the most control.”

  “And what about the word ‘monopoly’?”

  Natalee nodded, “Yeah, like a corporation taking control of all sales of one type of product.”

  “I think you can monopolize your bush and become a kingpin,” Liz stated boldly. She leaned back in her chair and watched Natalee’s reaction.

  Natalee took a deep breath, thinking through all of Liz’s ramblings. “So, you think if I start selling this, it’s going to turn into something more than just me giving it to a friend of a friend?”

  “Eventually, sure.” Liz nodded with a shrug. “But the best way to start a business is to start with those closest to you.”

  “You’re my only friend.”

  “Yes, but I have friends from everywhere,” she drew out her words slowly.

  Natalee eyed her for a moment, “Are you a cop?”

  Liz threw her head back and laughed, “No, but that was a good one.”

  Natalee took a deep breath, “I will think about it, but until then, don’t bring it up to anyone else. Svetlana told me something about it and I’m kind of curious to see if it happens with you.”

  Liz glared at her, “What did she say about it?”

  “She told me that when you eat the leaves you feel great for two days and the third day, you’re more miserable than you’d ever been.”

  “What the fuck, Natalee? Why wouldn’t you tell me that?”

  “Because it didn’t happen to me, so I didn’t believe her.”

  “If it happens to me, you’re taking care of the kids all weekend.”

  Natalee smirked, “Deal, but I don’t know if it will or not so call me first thing in the morning.”

  “I was going to anyway,” Liz shrugged.

  “God, don’t act so desperate,” Natalee crowed.

  They both chuckled and agreed their time at the coffee shop had been well spent, so they headed back to their neighborhood.

  Twenty-Four

  Natalee walked through her front door and headed straight for the fridge. After sitting around those pastries for an hour, she was hungry. She opted for a slice of cheese and a couple of crackers. Glancing at the nutritional facts on the side of the cracker box, she noticed she had grabbed the exact recommended amount.

  She shrugged and wrote it up as a coincidence and put it back in the cupboard, lining it up to the exact angle as the one next to it, in her perfectly organized cupboard.

  That night, Natalee laid in bed and texted Judah.

  Natalee: I miss you.

  She stared at her phone until he responded.

  Judah: I miss you more, beautiful.

  Natalee smiled.

  Natalee: You are my everything.

  Judah: And you are my forever.

  Natalee smiled again. She told him she loved him, and he told her the same. They talked back and forth about his flight and when he’d get home until she fell asleep.

  The next morning, she woke up a few minutes early because her phone kept vibrating against her face. She unlocked the screen and opened her messages with Liz.

  Liz: Dude I feel awesome again. Didn’t you say day three?

  Liz: It’s day three.

  Liz: I’m coming over.

  Natalee pulled her robe over her pajamas and headed downstairs to meet Liz at the front door. Natalee pulled the door open and she entered without a word, heading straight for the kitchen. She stood by the window sill over the sink and watched as Natalee crossed the house to meet her.

  “Well, good morning.”

  “Hey, bitch. How’d you sleep?”

  Natalee shrugged, “Just fine.”

  “Me too, it’s a fuckin’ miracle.”

  She smirked, “I’m glad you’re not sick.”

  “Oh, me too.”

  “That makes me wonder though, what Svetlana meant. Maybe we’re doing it wrong. Or maybe they’re doing it wrong.” Natalee collected two branches and two leaves while Liz picked up two bottles of water. They each took their own doses and knocked bottles with a ‘Cheers’ before taking their first leaf-infused sip.

  “So,” Liz let out a breath of air after finishing her first long gulp. “Fifty bucks?”

  Natalee shrugged, “I don’t think people will pay fifty dollars a day for this.”

  “What if they did, though?”

  She shrugged again, “They’re dumb.”

  “Are they? Or are they trying to feel great.”

  Natalee leaned against the sink, crossing her arms. “I just don’t want to get arrested for selling some branches.”

  “You can’t if it’s not illegal, right?” Liz pointed at her from behind her bottle as she tipped it up for another sip.

  “Yeah, and how do we know it’s not?”

  Liz pulled a set of papers from her purse and slammed them on the counter. “I printed out everything I could find on the internet about this bush.”

  Natalee picked up the papers and thumbed through them, “There’s only like three articles here and two of them are from a site where anyone can log in and change it.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So, what does that mean?”

  “It means, no one knows about it. We can go to the college library and talk to some kids there and see if they can find anything out about it. They’re way better at the i
nternet than we are. They can check different countries news articles,” Liz yammered on excitedly.

  “Okay, but that still doesn’t help with the legalities of it.”

  “If there’s no information on it, how can it be illegal?”

  Natalee sighed heavily, “I guess you’re right.”

  “No news is good news.”

  “You’re full of ridiculous cliché’s, aren’t you?”

  Liz shrugged, “I work best with well-known words.”

  “Were you a drug dealer in a past life?” Natalee narrowed her eyes accusingly.

  “No, my brother was.”

  “Was?”

  “Yeah, he got shot over some dope,” Liz deadpanned.

  “Oh! I’m so sorry!” Natalee’s hand shot up to her mouth in shock.

  “Why? He’s not dead. He just got shot and stopped selling,” Liz shrugged it off like it wasn’t a big deal and Natalee didn’t want to dwell on it if she wouldn’t.

  “So, have you talked to him about this?”

  “Why, so he can butt in and try to take a percentage of the cut?”

  “Of the cut? How far do you think this will go?”

  “Kingpin, Natalee. Monopoly,” she raised her arms in the air and spun around in a circle.

  “You were serious about that?”

  “Fuck yeah I was serious!”

  “This is scary.” Natalee clutched her stomach, “This is really scary.”

  “Come on, man. What’s the worst that can happen?”

  “I have no idea and that’s what’s so scary!”

  Liz sat down on the stool across from Natalee. “I’m not telling you that you have to do this. I’m telling you that if you do, it’s going to be incredible.”

  Natalee crossed and uncrossed her arms uncomfortably, “Fine, we start with your one friend and see where it goes. We do not personally contact anyone else.”

  Liz held her hand out, “Deal.”

  Natalee shook her hand, “Deal.”

  “So, what’s my cut? Fifty, fifty?”

  Natalee smirked, “Eighty, twenty?”

  “Seventy, thirty,” Liz bargained.

  “Seventy-five, twenty-five.”

  “I’ll take it. Seventy, thirty,” she declared.