A Hustler's Son

by T. Styles

  “So let me get this straight, Skully played your punk ass close and told you not to run at The Woods no more and now you want me to risk my neck by going against him?”

  “Naw, you ain’t going against him, you just giving the customers what they want.”

  “Answer this one question. Why should I cross Skully? He ain’t do shit to me.”

  “You keep putting that nigga on a pedestal if you want to.”

  “I hear all that you saying, but Skully don’t want your shit over there no more! And truthfully, I don’t think it got shit to do with what you saying. I think something else went down and now you labeled. He knows you bad business and that’s between ya’ll. I ain’t fucking with him like that. Get somebody else. There’s other corner cats out there. Ask one of them.”

  “I’m asking, no, better yet, I’m telling you!” He commanded as he licked his lips and smoothed his whack ass goatee with his hand. “If you don’t fuck with him, I’m fucking with you.”

  I brushed his ass off with my hand, pulled my cap down and sat back in the seat. That’s when he threw a card in my lap that read:

  Detective Nick Fearson

  Prince George’s Police Department

  Homicide Division

  It was the same card Keisha was given by one of them detectives!

  Shit.

  “You know it’s not cool to blackmail niggas right?” I asked looking over at him. “There’s plenty of niggas swimming with the fishes on account of this shit right here.”

  “What you saying lil nigga?”

  Silence.

  “Now I don’t want to fuck with you, Kelsi but I will if you push me. You will push my product and you will keep your mouth closed, otherwise, we got serious mothafucking problems. Capiche?”

  I nodded my head and agreed, although in the back of my mind, there was only one thing left to do.

  I’d be doing the streets a favor. He was breaking all kinds of codes. Ain’t nothing like a snitch and a blackmailing mothafucka and this pussy was both.

  Once again, mama was right.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  SEPTEMBER 24th

  SATURDAY, 11:30PM

  JANET

  It’s been three days since I quit my job and hadn’t look back since. It felt so good to sleep until I was ready to wake up which usually meant around nine o’clock in the morning. It would have been better if I didn’t have to sleep with the man who wanted to blackmail my son and not be able do shit about it. I was trying to honor Kelsi’s wishes and not say anything about him pulling up at the school but the only thing that helped was knowing that Delonte’s day was coming.

  I stepped out of the shower and looked at my body in the steamy mirror. I rubbed my hands over my short soft hair, my perky breasts and along the sides of my waist. I smiled as I realized I would never have to place my body in that hideous housekeeping uniform ever again. I smiled one more time thinking of how my life would change over the next few months.

  I sat on the edge of the bed to make an important phone call. I immediately reached for the house phone but thought otherwise. I reached down and grabbed my purse and fumbled through it to find my cell. I bought Kelsi one the other day too so we could keep in touch with each other. He laughed when I gave it to him, saying it was exactly what he needed.

  “Hey, it’s me.” I paused. “Yeah things are still going down as planned tomorrow night.” I paused again. “I’ll get at you later.” I ended the call.

  When I turned around I saw Delonte standing behind me. He placed his keys on the dresser, pulled off his shoes and walked into our closet. Inside of the closet he took off one of his shirts. “Who was that and what’s still going on as planned?” He asked as he walked out of the closet and stood in front of me.

  “Nothing baby,” I said as I walked around him and stood in front of the dresser mirror that he recently purchased. “It’s, uh, nothing and it was nobody important.” I grabbed my new Tiffany’s earrings, necklace and bracelet and put them on. “How was your day?”

  I picked up the brush and brushed the back of my short hair, the sides and then the front. I loved wearing short hairstyles because I could wear it spiked, in a wrap or even straight back. No matter how I was wearing it now, Delonte wasn’t paying any attention to it. All I saw was curiosity, followed by rage, in his eyes. He knew something was up with me ever since I left Kelsi’s room. The murder changed everyone’s lives in this apartment. Nobody who lived here would ever be the same. Ever.

  He walked behind me, put his right arm around my waist and I fell into him. “Ummmm,” I moaned. “This feels soooo nice.” I was lying. Lying for me came second nature. Some call it acting, others call it deceit but I call it tools for survival.

  Suddenly he took his left hand and placed it around my throat. My eyes that were closed were now wide open and glued on his reflection in the mirror. He wasn’t buying it. He knew something was up and I wasn’t as good as I thought.

  He looked at me and laughed. I was scared and didn’t know what was happening next.

  “Now I’m gonna ask you again, who in the fuck was you talking to?” His hand tightened around my throat.

  I felt my breaths shortening and decided to use them sparingly. My arms dropped to my sides and something came over me. The look of fear on my face was eaten by anger. Who was he to put his hands on me? He was a sneak and a snake that set out to steal the only family I had. Although Kelsi didn’t give me any details about his blackmailing, saying he didn’t want to upset me more, I already knew it had something to do with drugs. I knew more about Kelsi’s lifestyle than he thought I did.

  Delonte stopped smiling when he noticed the look on my face but instead of letting up, he choked me harder. My breathing was constricted and I began to feel lightheaded. I was determined not to die right now and leave my baby alone. Even still, with his hands around my throat, I knew he wanted to scare me but not kill me. At least I hoped.

  “Girl, you hear me? Who in the fuck was you talking to?”

  “I know you betta get your hands from around my throat.” My words were full of promise as my eyes locked with his.

  His eyes widened but he tried to stand his ground. It didn’t matter because I still knew he was scared of the strength behind my words.

  “And if I don’t?”

  “I’m gonna blow your dick off,” I said as I aimed the barrel of the gun I slid out of the drawer and pointed it at his dick.

  He backed away and I turned around to face him, with the gun pointed in his direction. I walked over to him and pushed him down with one hand on the bed. I knew I wasn’t stronger than him but I carried extra weight on account of the steel I had in my hand.

  He was so scared that his legs were shaking. He didn’t have to be. I mean, I had plans to kill him anyway but not without finding out everything I needed to know. I had a plan and I was going to use my head. I wasn’t going to act on emotions like he just did. I still needed him, in my own little way.

  “Can you please put my gun down?” He asked.

  “I will but don’t ever put your fucking hands on me again,” I said with the gun still pointed at him.

  “I know, baby,” he said as he spoke to the barrel of the gun instead of to me. “You know how I am sometimes.”

  “Whatever the fuck! You was wrong as shit for trying to choke me.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said meeting my eyes briefly before looking at the gun again. “I just wanted to know who was on the phone. I’m not trying to lose my woman.”

  “I can’t tell you who was on the phone because I have a surprise for you tomorrow. And if I tell you who was on the phone, it will ruin the surprise.”

  “I’m sorry, baby. Can you please put the gun down?”

  “I will, Delonte but if we’re going to work you have to ease up. I quit both of my jobs for you. I’m here everyday. I cook, I clean, I fuck you every which way you like to be fucked, what more do I have to do to show you I’m down for you?”


  His face softened and I knew he believed me, so I continued, “You know I love you, Delonte. But please, please, please stop being so mothafucking jealous.”

  I said jealous but I knew he was nervous. He didn’t know if Kelsi told me what he was doing. See when you do so much dirt; you don’t know which hole you done shit in. Trust me, I know.

  “I’m sorry, baby but can you please put the gun down now?”

  “Yes, baby, I can.” I said slowly, as I put it back in the drawer.

  With my back turned toward him, I continued to brush my hair. He stood up, came behind me and pulled off my towel. He pushed me further toward the mirror as his hands explored my body. Looking at me through the mirror, he smiled at me as if he were seeing me for the first time. I wasn’t surprised at feeling how hard his dick was up against my ass. He turned me around and placed his lips over mine. With my breasts pressed against his muscular chest, he was seriously stroking my ass.

  Although I had all intentions of doing what needed to be done tomorrow, I figured there was nothing wrong with enjoying sex with him for one last time. I thought of it as a dead man’s final wish. Delonte wanted me and I felt it. It wasn’t his dick or the sexual connection that let me know how much he wanted me. It was his soul. I was a woman he’d never be able to control. Something in me told me that he was never really mine, but for some reason, I couldn’t put my finger on why. Don’t get me wrong, I know he cheated and cheating could have something to do with it. But I had a feeling, that as he looked at me and as he touched me, that he was touching a woman that didn’t belong to him. Ever. With that being said, I didn’t belong to him emotionally any longer, whether he wanted me or not.

  Having sex when your heart wasn’t in it was something I’d done before. In fact, in New York I slept with a few of Jarvis’ so called business associates when I didn’t want to. Although it was always business related, I came every time. I turned down the ones I was not attracted to though. The whole point was to make them happy, if I couldn’t stand to look at them, how could I make them happy? Jarvis said he understood and would say, “Whatever works, honey.”

  It’s almost like taking a job that you enjoyed doing. I hated being a housekeeper and a waitress and because of it I sucked at it. Beds weren’t made right and people got their food cold or late. But when I did things for Jarvis, I did them right. So anything he asked me to do I loved. My only request was if I entertained some of his business associates, they had to be visually correct. Meaning they were required to take care of their physical appearance, they must be clean, and I had to be attracted to them. If they weren’t I wasn’t doing it, and Jarvis understood that.

  I loved the power I had over them more so than anything. I knew that even though they were using me for my body, they still needed me. So in a way, I still had the power, and power always made me cum.

  Delonte picked me up and I wrapped my legs securely around his body while we were still engulfed in a heated kiss. With his left hand still holding me under my ass, he took his right hand and unzipped his pants. When I felt him enter my wet pussy, I wound my hips like the second hand on a clock, real slow but I grinded hard to hit my spot.

  With both of his hands under my ass, he held me and pumped in and out of me with swift hard strokes. I knew he was taking out his frustrations on me for pulling a gun on him and I also knew my blatant disrespect turned him on. He liked the near death experience just as much as I liked giving it to him. I wondered how much he’d like what I had in store for him tomorrow.

  When I felt his body shake, I knew he was getting ready to explode inside of me. Right before he came, he pulled his dick out with his right hand and reached into the drawer with the left. What was he doing now? I thought. This was different.

  With the gun in his hands, he threw me on the bed, spread my legs open and demanded that I play with my pussy. I could tell he wanted to regain the control I had stolen from him. So as he commanded, I put two fingers inside my pussy and stroked myself. In, out, around and around at a tempo he was studying intensely. I bucked my hips and moaned like I was enjoying it more than he was. Truth was, I was scared. I did what I was told but kept my eyes firmly on the weapon. But my body responded to everything he asked of me.

  When he couldn’t take it anymore, he climbed on top of me, and put the gun to my head. With my legs opened wide, he violently thrust in and out of me. I was scared, but didn’t want him to smell my fear; after all, life as he knew it would be over by tomorrow. This only made me want to do it even more. I just hoped mine wouldn’t be over today.

  I decided to step it up a notch and moved my hips as if I needed him and wanted him inside of me. Suddenly my own moans were starting to arouse me and I grabbed his ass meeting his every thrust with conviction. Around and around, up and down, I moved my hips while the gun was still at my head.

  “You, bitch! You fucking, bitch. I should kill your ass right now but your pussy is so fucking good.” He was pounding into my body over and over again.

  “I know, baby I know this pussy is good and it’s all for you, baby,” I moaned.

  When I felt myself tingling I knew what was getting ready to happen. How could this be happening, I thought to myself. Under this crazy ass circumstance, I was on the verge of cumming. I decided with that gun to my head or not, if I was gonna die, this would be the best way to go.

  “I’m cumming, baby! I’m cumming all over your dick,” I screamed as I had the biggest orgasm of my life.

  I was satisfied and done but Delonte’s dick grew harder and he dove into me deeper. I looked up at him as sweat fell from his face onto mine. His eyes rolled up into his head and I felt him getting ready to explode.

  He put the gun down on the bed, placed his hands on the top of my head and pushed me down into every stroke he made. I felt his dick all the way in my stomach and I knew it would be a matter of seconds before he’d be done.

  “Oh shit I’m coming, baby…I’m cumming!” He cried.

  He pulled his dick out and busted all over my stomach. I moaned and rubbed it into my flat stomach as if it were lotion. He smiled at me, wiped the sweat from his head and licked his lips.

  “Damn you got some good ass pussy girl.”

  “I know.” I smiled thinking to myself why couldn’t I be enough.

  He laughed as he realized what I said was true. I was smiling until I noticed the expression on his face had changed after his head turned toward the left. I looked too, and saw Kelsi standing at the doorway.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  SEPTEMBER 25th

  SUNDAY, 10:40PM

  KELSI

  I had on way too much shit to be committing a murder but it was cold outside and I was trying to dress for the occasion although my body pumped heat due to the adrenaline. I was waiting on my moms to come through with Delonte. We’d decided that after the murder, Fort DuPont, in Washington D.C., was the best place to dump his lifeless body. I replayed over and over the last time I had a conversation alone with Delonte. This fool actually tried to play me.

  I was ready, even though she was more than willing to pull the trigger if she had to. But, I wanted to be the one to do it. After all, I already had a body on me and there was no need in us splitting them up between the two of us. As I waited in the park for them to pull up, the sounds of the forest had me more uncomfortable than the deed of murdering Delonte. Fort DuPont was supposed to be a tourist attraction for hopeless out of towners and unsuspecting victims but not at night. At night, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face unless a traffic light was behind you or near you. At night, crickets, grasshoppers and all other kind of shit ruled the park like we ruled our hood.

  I was there for thirty minutes before spotting the headlights. I knew it was Delonte’s truck, because I hated when I was outside at home and I spotted them pulling up at the complex. I was good with spotting headlights because moms reminded me constantly that when I drove, I had to make sure no one was following me. So I’d become a
master at that shit.

  As agreed, I let the truck pass me and I ducked all the way down in the seat of the rental car. We agreed on fifteen minutes before I would approach them. Moms said she wanted him to be calm and that would be enough time for her to do what needed to be done. I didn’t want to even think about what that meant but I had an idea. Although I was eager to get it over with, I needed a few more minutes to amp myself up but them minutes moved like seconds.

  I looked at the car radio and saw that the time was near. I wondered if Delonte told his mother he loved her. He probably did. I hoped so. Why did he have to be a snitch? Why didn’t he mind his fucking business?

  He brought this all on himself.

  We ain’t murderers, we fucking survivors!

  Three minutes left!

  Shit! “I can do this! I can fucking do this!” I repeated to convince myself. I kept replaying things over and over to make shit easier for me.

  See the first murder was easy, it was either him or me but this was planned and plans can fuck up! I think my moms being here also made shit a little more difficult. What if she catches a stray or something? I’d lose it! I wouldn’t be no more fucking good. But taking him out needed to be done and getting myself to do it was even easier. I played scenes over and over in my head to make me hate him, including seeing him on top of my mother, with a gun next to her on the bed.

  Yeah I saw that shit! I saw everything too. I couldn’t walk away. I didn’t know if she was okay or if he was really gonna pull the trigger. She looked like she liked it but I didn’t know if it was an act. I made myself watch just in case he got any ideas. I wanted to be there to handle his ass. I was sick the entire night too!

  We didn’t talk about what I saw but she knew it was on my mind as much as it was on hers. I hated when they messed around and left the door open and after everything that happened recently, I hated it even more. I don’t know if it bothered me more that she had sex with the man who was trying to blackmail me, or if it was the fact that she appeared to be liking it.