A Trillion to One

by Chenell Parker

  “Yeah, that’s true. I be talking all that shit but I’m never leaving AJ. There’s nothing like a man who truly loves you, flaws and all,” Chanell said.

  “Yes cousin, I know the feeling.” Amore smiled, right as they pulled up to the shop.

  “The fuck is this annoying ass bitch doing here?” Chanell fumed when she saw Cathy’s car parked out front.

  “Oh, my God! How many ways can you break up with a muthafucker before they finally get it. I’m good on this bitch and I wish she just let me be,” Dallas fussed.

  “Let me tell her ass off for you. I’m tired of her bringing all this drama around my place of business,” Chanell said.

  “I don’t give a fuck what you tell her. Just as long as she leaves me the fuck alone,” Dallas replied as they all got out of Chanell’s car.

  Cathy got out of her car too and was walking over to them. Chanell was happy for that because she had a few choice words to tell her. Dallas and Amore stood right there with her, waiting for Cathy to get closer. Chanell was ready to swing but a good verbal beat down would have to do for now. Before she had a chance to say anything, Cathy’s husband came from out of nowhere with a look of pure hatred on his face. Amore pulled her Taser from her purse, just in case she had to use it. Chanell was ready to go off on his ass too, but things went left real quick. They all stood there in shock as Cathy’s husband pulled out a gun and started shooting her.

  “Oh shit!” Chanell yelled as she dived to the ground and tried to pull Dallas and Amore down with her. They heard Cathy screaming in agony as they tried to run back into the shop.

  “Ahh!” Dallas screamed as a bullet pierced her side.

  Chanell and Amore looked up and saw Cathy’s husband with his gun aimed at their loved one. He fired twice more and Dallas cried out in pain. He turned around and fired a few more rounds into his wife and Amore sprang into action. She turned her Taser up to the maximum voltage and tased Cathy’s husband, making him drop to his knees. The gun fell from his hand as his body shook violently. Chanell hurriedly opened the door to her shop and helped her sister inside.

  “Amore!” she yelled, calling her cousin to come inside with them. As soon as Amore ran in, she locked the door behind her. Chanell grabbed some towels and applied them to her sister’s wounds while Amore called the police.

  “Oh fuck! He looks like he’s getting up,” Amore panicked as she talked on the phone with the operator.

  “Tell them to send some fucking help before my sister dies in here! Dallas, stay with me baby. Please don’t do this to me. I’m gonna lose my fucking mind if you die. Please baby, just stay with me,” Chanell cried and begged.

  “That muthafucker is leaving. Shit, he’s gonna get away!” Amore yelled as she looked out of the window. Bystanders had rushed to offer aid to Cathy but it looked like they were too late. She wasn’t moving and Amore doubted if she was still breathing.

  “Amore, help me!” Chanell screamed, pulling her cousin away from the window.

  “Help is on the way cousin. Just talk to me. Talk to me and let me know that you’re okay,” Amore said.

  She held her cousin’s hand as Chanell continued to apply pressure to her wounds. When they heard the sirens outside, Amore jumped up to let them know that they needed help. Dallas was only moaning in pain but she didn’t say anything to them. Amore felt sick to her stomach. She couldn’t lose her cousin. She would lose a part of her heart if she did.

  “Over here! We need help!” Amore yelled to the paramedics. She held the door open for them as they rushed inside with a stretcher for Dallas.

  Chanell was falling apart and Amore tried her best to keep it together for the both of them. She called AJ and told him what happened and he assured her that he was on his way. She also called Trillion but he had to wait for Jackie to come over and watch the girls. Amore was happy to hear Dallas answer a few questions for the paramedics as they were loading her into the ambulance. Chanell rode in the back with her while AJ and Amore followed in their cars.

  “Damn,” Amore said before she pulled off as she watched them put a white sheet over Cathy’s body.

  “That’s fucked up bruh. I’m happy that your people is okay though. Me and my girl saw that shit on the news the other day. Coward ass nigga couldn’t take going to jail. That’s why he went home and killed himself,” Skip said as he talked to Abe on the phone.

  “That bitch should have died.” Viper frowned as he drove towards Skip’s house.

  Amore’s cousin had been shot twice and grazed once, according to the news. The nigga who did it killed his wife and then turned the gun on himself when he got home. The news claimed there was no motive but that’s not what the streets were saying. Everybody was saying that Dallas was messing with the woman and her husband snapped. That was the same nigga who broke the windows out that day when he first saw Amore. Viper didn’t feel bad for her cousin and that was good for her hoe ass.

  “You better chill out bruh. That nigga Abe would have gone off had he heard you say that shit,” Skip said once he got off the phone.

  “Fuck Abe. That nigga don’t scare nobody. Ole girl is a hoe and so is her cousin,” he fumed.

  “Man, let that shit with Amore go. I get it. She was your first love but shit happens. That girl is married with kids now. Count it as a loss and move on,” Skip advised.

  Amore had called him and told him to talk to Viper, but that nigga was hardheaded. He tried to make it seem like he was mad because she tased him but Skip knew that it was more than that. The nigga hated rejection. He was still in love with Amore and it pissed him off that she didn’t love him back. He was so used to controlling her back in the day and it was bothering him that he couldn’t do that anymore. It really bruised his ego to think that he lost Amore to a white boy but he was doing too much.

  “Fuck that bitch. She gon’ see me for that stunt she pulled. It ain’t nothing for me to catch that hoe at her cousin’s shop,” Viper said.

  “Bruh, let that shit go. Abe is my nigga and that’s his people. All these hoes out here and you buggin’ behind the one that you can’t have. We got money to make and I don’t need no distractions. Let me know if that’s gon’ be a problem for you,” Skip replied.

  “Don’t try to play me, fam. I’m always about my money,” Viper assured him as he pulled up to his house.

  “You already let that other hoe distract you and knock you off your square,” Skip said, referring to Ciara.

  Because of her, Viper got locked up and stayed in there for three days. The only reason why his probation officer didn’t violate him was because they couldn’t get in contact with Ciara. By the time Viper got out and tried to find her, Ciara had packed all of her shit and moved. Viper didn’t know any of her people and he never cared enough to ask.

  “It’s all good though. That hoe did right to run. She already knew what it was,” Viper noted.

  “Just chill bruh. Make this money and leave the drama to them hoes,” Skip fussed before he got out of the car and went inside.

  Viper was used to him fussing all the time but it didn’t bother him. No matter what Skip said, he was going to do whatever he wanted to do anyway.

  “Damn man,” Viper fussed when he reached for a cigar and realized he was out. He was on his way to drop some product off to the corner boys before he turned in for the night, so he stopped at the first store that he came to. The crackheads were in full swing but that was nothing new in that area. Gianna and Elise were out there making a fool of themselves as always. When they saw Viper, they ran over to his car and started up with their begging.

  “What’s up son-in-law? What you got for me?” Gianna begged.

  “I ain’t got a muthafucking thing for you. Get your stankin’ ass away from my car,” Viper barked angrily.

  “Aye, you got something on you, Viper?” one of the men asked him.

  “You got money nigga?” Viper inquired. He usually didn’t do hand to hand transactions but he didn’t pass up on money
either.

  “Yeah, I got forty and I’m waiting on my son to bring me twenty more,” the man replied as he held up the crumpled bills.

  Viper reached into the middle console of his car and grabbed what he needed. Gianna’s mouth watered as she watched him hand the other man two small vials of crack. The rocks looked huge and she needed some of her own. It had been hours since she and Elise got high and she was desperate.

  “Come on son-in-law. Look out for me,” Gianna begged.

  “The fuck out of my face. I’m not your son-in-law bitch. And when I see your hoe ass daughter again, it’s on,” Viper warned as he walked away.

  “I know where she lives,” Gianna blurted out, making him stop his stride. She didn’t care that she was doing her daughter dirty once again. She needed to smoke and she knew that Viper could get her right.

  “Where?” Viper asked.

  “Look out for me and I got you,” Gianna said as she shifted from one foot to the other.

  “Fuck you, Gianna,” Viper said as he started walking away again.

  “I swear, I’ll take you there!” Gianna yelled after him.

  “Bitch, on life, if you play with me, I’m shooting you and your funky ass sister right in the mouth. Think it’s a game if you want to,” Viper threatened.

  “She’s not playing. We were back there one day and saw Amore carrying shopping bags up the stairs. We spoke to her and she snapped on us. Told us to stay the fuck away from her house and threatened to beat our asses if we didn’t. I was the one who saw where she went,” Elise spoke up. That happened a long time ago but she was sure that Amore still lived in the same spot. At least she hoped that she did.

  “Let’s go and y’all better not be on no dumb shit,” Viper gritted.

  “We’re not. This is legit info,” Gianna assured him as she and Elise hopped into the back seat.

  Viper regretted the decision to put them in his car as soon as they got in. They smelled like mildewed clothes and ass. He was sure that they hadn’t taken a bath in a while and that was evident.

  “Y’all smell bad as fuck!” Viper yelled as he lowered all the windows.

  “We been running the streets since this morning,” Gianna replied like that was the reason why.

  “Yeah, but it smells like y’all asses ain’t been washed in weeks.” Viper frowned, right as he pulled up to the complex.

  He knew the area well and it wasn’t far from the store that he’d just left from. Amore was married with a baby now. He couldn’t see her and her husband living in the hood in the apartments that he’d just pulled up to. Her man had money from what he’d heard and that just didn’t seem right.

  “Come on, let me show you,” Elise said as she quickly jumped out of the car. Gianna stayed put while Viper got out to see what was up. He had his gun on him, so he wasn’t worried about walking through the buildings so late at night.

  “Come on Elise man. The fuck is you going?” Viper snapped as they walked further into the complex.

  “That’s her building right there,” Elise said as she pointed.

  “Which one is her apartment?” Viper asked.

  “I don’t know. We didn’t see her go inside. We saw her walk up the steps to this building though,” Elise’s replied.

  “Man, I know damn well you didn’t make me come over here for this bullshit,” Viper fumed as he walked back over to his car. Gianna was standing outside of the car waiting for them to return.

  “I don’t know the apartment, but I know for sure that’s the building,” Elise swore.

  “Get the fuck on man. I don’t have time to be playing with y’all stupid asses. And y’all can walk back. Got my damn car smelling like sewage,” Viper argued.

  “Come on Viper. Don’t do us like that. Look, you don’t even have to give us our own shit. You can give us something to share,” Elise begged.

  “Don’t worry about it sis. We’ll find a way to make some money,” Gianna said as she grabbed her sister’s arm. Elise was still trying to reason with Viper when he got into his car and pulled off. Since he didn’t get his cigars, he went back to the same store that he’d just left from. The same man who he’d just sold some crack to before rushed up to his car.

  “I got that other twenty Viper. Hook me up,” he said as he waved the money around. Viper opened his middle console and pulled out the small Ziploc bag to get another vial.

  “The fuck!” he bellowed when he saw that the bag was empty. Had he not just served the same man a few moments prior, he wouldn’t have thought nothing of it. Since he had, he knew that he had at least two hundred dollars’ worth of product left. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. That bitch Gianna stayed in the car for a reason. She stole all of Viper’s shit and he was fuming.

  “What’s going on?” the man asked when Viper put the car in drive.

  He was pissed, so he didn’t even bother answering. Viper sped all the way back to the apartments where he’d left Gianna and Elise. There were a few people outside but he didn’t see the two of them anywhere. He remembered the dingy clothes that they had on and he was looking hard. As mad as he was with them, he was madder with himself. He had no business putting two known crackheads in his car and leaving one of them unattended. That was a rookie mistake and he knew better. The dope that Gianna took was nothing but it was the principle of it all. When Viper didn’t see them, he decided to head over to the trap house to handle his business. He had a trunk full of dope and he didn’t need to be caught with that.

  It took him about an hour to get the corner boys situated and Viper went and chilled with one of his chicks for a little while. Once he busted a few nuts, he headed home to shower and get some sleep. It was almost two in the morning but the events of the day still weighed heavily on his mind. He wanted to let it go but he just couldn’t. Viper decided to ride around the area that Gianna and Elise frequented and he got lucky as soon as he turned the corner. He spotted Elise and Gianna sitting on the porch of an abandoned house when he rolled up on them. They were high as fuck and that pissed him off even more. There were a few other crackheads sitting there with them who probably were high off his shit too. They never even noticed when Viper jumped out of his car and rushed over to them.

  “Bitch! Your funky ass got a lot of heart to steal from me,” Viper fumed as he hit Gianna with a closed fist.

  “Ahh!” she yelled as she fell over and curled her frail body up into a fetal position.

  “Nasty ass bitch!” Viper snarled as he kicked her in the side. She was so small that he probably cracked her ribs with his boots.

  “Viper no, please. She’s sorry. We’ll pay you, I swear. We can work it off if you want us to,” Elise said as she tried to pull him off her sister.

  “Get the fuck off me, bitch! You’re just as guilty as she is,” Viper snarled as he backhanded her and watched her fall to the ground right next to her sister.

  He kicked them both as they laid there begging for mercy. The other fiends just looked on, refusing to get involved for fear of the same thing happening to them. As good as it felt for them to get high, Gianna regretted stealing from her daughter’s ex. Viper had a horrible temper and she knew better. Having an addiction was no joke and she wasn’t thinking clearly. When Viper and Elise got out of the car, Gianna immediately went to the same spot where she saw Viper get the other man’s drugs from. Her mouth watered when she saw it and she couldn’t sit still. That’s why she was already out of the car and ready to go smoke when Viper and her sister came back. Elise was still begging but Gianna already had all that they needed.

  Viper was still heated when he left to get in his car. He thought that beating their asses would make him feel better but it didn’t help. He drove off but he didn’t go very far. He parked around the corner and smoked a cigarette to calm his nerves since he still didn’t have cigars to roll a blunt. Viper had been on edge more than ever lately since finding out about Logan’s betrayal. He heard in the wind that people were saying
that he killed him, but they had no proof. He and Skip were the only ones there and they didn’t tell a soul. Then, there was the open charge that he had to go to court for because of Ciara. That bitch had dropped off the face of the earth and that was the only reason why she was still alive. His grandmother acted like she didn’t want to see him and Viper felt like he was in the world alone. The one person who he thought would always be there was happily married to someone else.

  “I got you, sister. Just hold on to me,” Viper heard, making him look up in his rearview mirror. He frowned when he saw Elise trying to help her sister. Gianna was holding her side and moving slow. Viper didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy as he slowly drove away. Elise and Gianna took a short cut through a deserted field to get back to the projects and Viper was waiting at the other end. As soon as they got in the middle of the deserted area, he drove towards them full speed and ran them over like it was nothing. Their scrawny bodies flew into the air and landed hard on the concrete. Viper stopped to see if they were going to get up but they never did. They both laid there, unmoving, as blood seeped from various parts of their bodies.

  “Stupid bitch, now you can’t steal from nobody else no more,” Viper smirked as he quickly drove away. He needed to make sure his car didn’t look like a double murder weapon or he would have some problems. As small as the sisters were, he was sure that they didn’t even leave a dent. Gianna and Elise were a waste and he was sure that nobody would even mourn them. In his opinion, he did the world a favor by exterminating those two termites.

  T rillion clenched his abs as his head fell back in ecstasy. He ran his hands through Amore’s hair as her head bobbed up and down in his lap. Amore pulled him deeper down her throat and his grip on her hair got tighter. They were at his warehouse for Amore to sign some books that needed to be shipped out, but she took a little break. He wasn’t complaining, especially since her break benefitted him the most. Since the kids were with Jackie and his father, he decided to do something special for Amore before they got there. He gave Blue’s girlfriend some money and gave her specific instructions on what to do. Amore’s face lit up when they got to the park and she saw the picnic that was set up for the two of them. Trillion had her a few gifts there, as well as some fruit and wine. She deserved that and so much more and he was happy to make her smile. Trillion had been busy over the past few days and he was barely home. Amore didn’t complain once and she handled her business with the girls in between writing. Trillion came home to a hot meal and clean house every day and she still made time to cater to him.