by Brick
Sasha nodded. “Yup. He said hurry up too because he want her to be trained and ready for amateur night too.”
I looked back at Gina, who was looking at Sasha like she stunk.
Gina said, “Don’t be playing. You sure he said it? I’ma call ’im and see myself.”
“Bitch, you call Daddy phone while he doing business and he gon’ bus’ yo’ shit, ho. Keep fuckin’ ’round, acting like you don’t know who the fuck Dame is, callin’ him for stupid shit when I jus’ told yo’ ass what he said.”
Gina jumped up. “You best watch ya fuckin’ mouth, talking to me like you crazy, sour-cunt bitch.”
Sasha dropped her hands and stepped to Gina like she was about to buck. If she had put her hands on Gina, I was gon’ slang her old-looking ass over the balcony on everything I loved.
“You better get this bitch ready to go before Daddy get here, or you gon’ be back in the basement with pipes up yo’ pussy.”
I knew that was a sore spot for Gina. I shoved Sasha so hard, she fell back into the double doors. “Don’t be talking slick outta your mouth, like we won’t get in your ass,” I snapped. I was expecting that bitch to jump up and swing, but she didn’t.
She got up, but all she did was push her fake blond hair out her face and give a smirk. “Daddy ain’t gon’ be in that club, bitch. I’ll catch you slipping. And when I do, it’s your ass.” Then she turned and walked out of the room.
“You gotta watch dis bitch, Diamond. Something up wit’ this ho. Something ain’t right, Ray-Ray.”
I ignored my mama’s voice only because Gina had sat down crying. She kept mumbling over and over that she had to get her baby out of here.
“We will,” I told her as I kneeled down in front of her.
“Shhhh. Don’t talk about it here. We can’t talk here. Cameras, all around fuckin’ cameras,” she quickly said then jumped up.
She took my hand and pulled me into the room. She went into the other walk-in closet and came out with a pair of hip-hugger jeans, a red tank that showed my belly, and some six-inch heels that were boots that came up my thighs.
“Hurry, get dressed,” she said quickly. “If we leave early you can go with me somewhere. Don’t ask where ’til we leave here.”
“You sure about this, Gina? That bitch could be playing us.”
Gina stood like she was really thinking on what I had said. “Even if she is, we still need to go somewhere. I gotta check on something. We can just say that bitch came in here and told us. She on the cameras.”
I nodded and started to get dressed. I had to admit I was kinda excited to be leaving that house again. I started thinking about ways I could escape. But there was something in the pit of my stomach telling me that something was off. I could still hear my mama in my head too.
Even as we got dressed and left the house, she kept telling me that something was going on. I ignored her because I just wanted to get out of the house again. In my mind I kept thinking that me and Trigga could maybe run away with Big Jake and Gina, and that they could have their baby without having that nigga Dame breathing over them. I started to daydream about what it would be like to wake up and have no crazy nigga trying to fuck me in every hole I owned, to just be free. I started to miss my mama and my daddy again.
I was real happy until I saw Pookie waiting at the car that was s’posed to be driving us to the club. He was in baggy black sweats, fresh white Air Force Ones, and a fresh white tee. The nigga’s face reminded me of the bottle my daddy used to drink gin out of. He called it bumpy-face gin. His braids had been freshly done, but it didn’t do nothing for the shit that was his face.
“Hurry that fine ass up,” he said to me, showing all thirty-two of his dingy teeth.
That nigga really thought he was something, since Dame had told him he was getting promoted.
“Don’t say nothing to ’im, Ray-Ray. Just get in the car,” Gina whispered to me. “You got yo’ phone? Gotta have yo’ phone ’cuz if that nigga call it and you don’t answer, I don’t want—”
Pookie barked, “Bitch, stop yapping yo’ fuckin’ gums and git in the car, ho!”
Gina didn’t say nothing. She just got in the car. I knew Gina was normally quiet, but since she’d found out she was pregnant, she had been taking a lot more shit than normal. I guess she really was trying to protect her baby.
I took her lead and kept quiet too, but I made sure I had my phone on me like she said. I didn’t know what Pookie had on him and didn’t want to be the reason Gina got blanked out on because of my mouth.
Once we got in, Pookie closed the door and walked around the red Navigator to get in. He drove us for about a good twenty minutes before saying anything to us.
“So, you ’bout to be popping that pussy at The City, huh?” he asked, looking through the rearview mirror at me. Then, just like that, his smile turned into a sneer. “I still owe you for this fuckin’ gash on my face, ho, and watch I get what’s mine. I’ma getcha, ho, when you least expect a nigga to. Keep that shit in da back of ya skull, bitch.”
“You better leave her alone before I tell Trigga about dem lies you helped spread ’bout him killing Big Jake’s grandma,” Gina finally said. “We both know it was you helping to tell them lies, nigga. Trigga gon’ blow the back of your head off, and we gon’ see if you can think wit’ yo’ front.”
“Fuck that pussy-nigga! When I’m at Dame right hand and shit, I’ma off that nigga too, just like I helped with that bitch’s daddy and her ho mama. Ho, bitch-nigga don’t scare me. Retarded muthafucka. Fuckin’ deaf-mute nigga.”
It was then without a doubt I knew that nigga was as stupid as he looked. I wanted to jump from that backseat and punch that nigga in his shit, but Gina grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
“Bet you won’t say that shit to Trigga’s face,” she told him.
“Ey, yo, shut up, bitch, before I smack you in ya shit. Retarded bitch. Ey, you and that nigga Trigga should hook up and make some more retarded babies.” He laughed like a hyena, like he had said the funniest shit ever. “Imagine two retarded muthafuckas fuckin’. One of y’all quiet, and the other one talking to her gotdamn self.”
Gina spat back, “Y’all niggas talk big shit but be scared as fuck of Trigga. Scared that nigga gon’ body you niggas like he do. Mad ’cuz Dame brought him on and he outranked all you niggas off the bat.”
Pookie stopped the truck. Then he turned around and smacked Gina so hard, her head almost broke the window. He growled at her, “Say something else to me, bitch, and I’ma fuck you up!”
I hit him in the back of his head over and over as hard as I could before he elbowed me in my eye. I fell back against the tan leather seat, and he went to work on my face, smacking me over and over, until Gina cried out for him to stop. She threw herself over my body and started kicking him for dear life.
The slaps he delivered against my face stung like hell. My face was burning like it had been set on fire.
“Stupid-ass bitches!” Pookie said after he stopped.
Then he smacked both of us one last time before he moved back to the driver’s seat of the truck and started driving again.
I was wishing like hell I’d had a blade or something. I would have killed that nigga right then. My eyes were watering, and it felt like he had smacked blood from my nose.
Gina cradled my head against her chest and told me everything was going to be okay.
Then just like that she started humming and laughing.
I knew the song she was humming. “Say Hello to the Bad Guy” by Jay Z was my daddy’s favorite shit, so I would know it anywhere.
She started shaking her head and spitting the lyrics out like she was in the studio with that nigga Jigga when he was making it. She kept getting louder and louder.
I had to admit she was scaring me with the way she was acting.
So imagine how scared Pookie was when she jumped up and grabbed his neck, a blade in her hand.
As she sliced down the other side of h
is face, the truck swerved wildly in and out of traffic. Horns blaring hurt my ears. I didn’t have on a seat belt, so the movements threw me all over the back of the truck.
She kept cutting through gritted teeth, and that bitch-nigga was yelping and screaming, just like when I cut his ass.
He finally swerved the truck to a stop.
Gina flew back into the seat because of how hard he hit on the brakes. She quickly pushed the door open to the back of the truck, grabbed my hand, and pulled me out.
We could still hear Pookie yelling bloody fuckin’ murder. But Gina had me by my wrist, and we were running like our lives depended on it, especially when we heard gunshots ring out after us.
Me and Gina didn’t stop running until we got to 17th Street in front of a doctor’s office. There was blood all over the front of her shirt, and people had stopped to look at us strange.
“Come on, go in here with me,” she said as she pulled me inside of the doctor’s office.
My heart was beating, pounding hard against my chest. I’d just been shot at. Part of me was afraid I had a hole in me and just didn’t know it.
People screamed out when we walked in because Gina was covered in blood. There was a black woman in scrubs standing by the big welcome window. When she turned, I saw the immediate resemblance to Gina.
Is that her mother?
Gina didn’t stop until we got up to the woman. “Mama, you gotta help me,” she spat out.
The woman looked like she had just seen a ghost. Her entire face drained of color, and she was as black as me and Gina. “Y-you can’t come in here,” the woman stuttered.
“Mama, you gotta help me, or I’ma tell all these damn people that you put me out on the gotdamn street and now I gotta sell my pussy to survive.”
Gina said that so loud, I wished I could have gone somewhere to hide. The gasps that came through the place were so loud, all her mother could do was snatch her by her arm and pull us down the hall, past all the gawking nurses and onlookers and into a private exam room.
Gina’s mama slammed the door and locked it then turned to get in Gina’s face. “What in hell do you want? Is it money?” She took one look at my face and then shoved tissue in my hand, like just looking at the blood coming from my nose disgusted her.
“Yeah, money. And I need you to check on my baby.”
Her mama’s eyes widened. “What? A baby? I knew it. I knew you were going to get fuckin’ knocked up.”
“Well, whatchu expect when you throw me out, Mama? Huh? I’m selling pussy for a pimp, and I’m knocked up. You gon’ give me some money and check on my baby?”
“Oh my fuckin’ God. How much, Gina? How much to make you fuckin’ go away?” The woman looked at me once again then grimaced like I was a bum or something.
I kept trying to stop the blood with the tissue she gave me.
“Fifty Gs.”
“What the fuck?” the woman aggressively whispered.
“You got it, Dr. Lewis. We both know you do.”
“I don’t have that kind of money just lying around.”
“Write me a check and check on my baby, and I’ll be gone, Mama. You won’t see me no more. No, better yet, transfer me some money to this account.”
Gina handed the woman a piece of paper and she looked like she was about to have a heart attack. She snatched the paper from Gina’s hand and stormed from the exam room and came back a few minutes later with a check.
“I put the fuckin’ money there, and here’s some more in a check form. Don’t ever come back here, Gina.”
Gina took it and shoved it in her bra before taking her pants and underwear off to get on the table.
Sure enough, Gina was pregnant. She squeezed my hand then clapped. We talked about baby names and how she was gon’ tell Big Jake he was going to be a daddy.
All the while my heart was beating a mile a minute because I was still scared shitless after what had happened with Pookie.
For the first time I heard my daddy’s voice. “Shit ’bout to get really real, baby girl. That nigga coming for you. You got Jenkins’ blood. I ain’t here to protect you, but you better not let no nigga take yo’ life without fighting for it.”
I looked around hoping I could see him, but I didn’t. Only heard him as if he was sitting right beside me. I didn’t want to seem crazy, so I didn’t answer him back like I normally did for my mama.
Gina’s mama told her she was about twelve to thirteen weeks along. When Gina heard the baby’s heartbeat she started to cry.
Her mama still looked like she was repulsed. “Do you even know who the fuckin’ daddy is?”
I knew she had just heard us talking about Big Jake so she had to have been skeptical that Gina really knew who her baby daddy was.
“Naw. But I don’t know who my daddy is either. So we both hoes, Mama.”
Her mama didn’t say anything for a long time. She just looked like she wanted Gina to get as far away from her as she could.
I didn’t know what to think. To think her mama was a doctor and would put her own daughter out confused me. I mean, you expected to hear shit like that from chicks who mama was fulla shit or those who were in the street themselves, but not a damn doctor. And she thought she was so much better than me and Gina. I could tell because of the way she kept her nose turned up when she looked at me.
My train of thought was broken when Gina’s phone rang out. I knew it was Dame, the way her eyes widened and the way she hopped on the table.
“Come on, Ray-Ray. We gotta go.”
She pulled on her clothes quick, and we hightailed it out of the back of her mama’s office.
“Don’t ever come back here, Gina,” her mama yelled behind us.
“I won’t, bitch,” Gina mumbled under her breath.
The door slammed behind us, and we started speed-walking down a side street until we got back to the main one. It wasn’t that hot out, but my nerves had me sweating.
Gina’s phone kept ringing nonstop. I knew if Dame was calling her, then my phone was next.
I reached in my back pocket, and my heart dropped. “My phone is gone,” I said in a panic.
“What?”
“My phone is gone. It must have fallen out when we ran from Pookie.”
“Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Daddy got trackers on these phones. You know, those GPS shits?” She beat the side of her head as she walked around in a circle. “Come on. We gotta find a way to the safe house.”
“Safe house?”
“Trigga and Big Jake got a place that nobody know about. If we can get to there, we safe, but that nigga got eyes everywhere and—”
Before the words could leave her mouth, a big black Hummer pulled up to the side of the street where we were walking.
The back door opened. I was wishing it was Trigga and Big Jake in there with Dame, but it wasn’t. It was just Dame, Pookie, and another nigga from the house name Blackout. Another nigga I had cut up when I first got there, and the same one that was in the room with Sasha when I first got to the house. They called him Blackout because that nigga was so black he looked like a shadow or oil spot.
Blackout was driving, and Pookie was sitting in the back holding a bloody shirt over his face. Blackout hopped out the truck and threw both me and Gina in the back. She landed on the floor next to Dame’s feet.
Dame kicked her so hard in the face, her scream got stuck in her throat. I didn’t even have to look at Dame’s face to know what was about to happen. I didn’t even get a chance to think about what was going to happen. He punched me straight in my face as soon as my body hit the seat.
Everything went black.
When I woke up, it was to Gina’s screams and pleas for Dame not to hit her no more. I moaned out as I opened my eyes.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to run, I swear,” Gina cried out.
My vision was blurry, but I could still make that we weren’t in any room in the actual house. Every nigga and bitch on Dam
e’s team was surrounding him and Gina who was on her knees in the middle of a cold concrete floor, the same floor I was on.
“Bitch, you must be outta your muthafuckin’ mind to leave this muthafucka without me telling you.”
“I didn’t. I thought you told Sasha—”
“Don’t put my name in it, bitch!” Sasha’s voice rang out. “I ain’t got shit to do with it.”
I wanted to reach out and touch that bitch, but Dame had grabbed a handful of my hair and was dragging me to the middle of the floor where Gina was. I didn’t even have time to realize I was finally in the underworld, the fuckin’ basement.
“So you just gon’ not answer the muthafuckin’ phone I gave you?”
I looked up into the eyes of a fuckin’ madman.
He had his belt wrapped around his fist, his face twisted like he had a deformity. He punched me in my stomach, and blood and bile flew out of my mouth. “You trying to run from me, my diamond? Huh?”
I shook my head, answering as quickly as I could. I knew he was going to hit me again. “No,” I screamed out.
But that didn’t help. He just kicked me this time then snatched me up by my hair and threw me face first into the concrete wall.
I staggered, tried to get on my feet, and the back of his hand caught my face, sending me crashing to the floor again.
“I wasn’t trying to run,” I managed to get out. I didn’t think I could be understood, because pools of blood dropped from my mouth and my lips were heavy like they had cement injected in them.
My jaw, once again, felt like it had come unhinged. Dame was a big swolle nigga. No way he should have been beating my ass, punching me in my face, as big as his hands were.
“Oh, and, Daddy, this bitch down there is pregnant,” Sasha told.
“Pregnant? You pregnant, bitch?” he asked, leaning over Gina. “How the fuck you gon’ make my money with a baby in you? You gon’ get rid of that shit.”
“No,” Gina whined low.
I knew that was a mistake as soon as the words left her mouth.
“What the fuck you say to me?”
“No. I’m not getting rid of my baby.”
