Chapter Fourteen
“Don’t use yo’ teeth, ma,” Keys said, frustrated, as Tasha kneeled in front of him. “Just go slow. You act like you never sucked dick before.”
Tasha thought to herself, That’s because I haven’t. She began blowing Keys as he held the back of her head and guided her every movement. She tried to stop herself from gagging, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t want this nigga’s dick in her mouth, and the disgust showed in her performance.
Keys threw his head back and looked down, watching his dick appear and then disappear over and over.
Tasha had never given anyone a blowjob before, and she really wasn’t feeling it either. She thought to herself, I have to get this money, and I will do whatever I got to do to get it. This will be over soon.
Just as Tasha completed her thought, Keys climaxed on her chest, and lay back on the sofa.
Disgusted with herself, Tasha got off her knees and walked into the bathroom. She ran hot water and practically scalded her mouth, trying to get the taste of him out of it. She wiped her face and looked in the mirror, contemplating. She was nervous as hell, and her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Should I do this?I don’t know if I can do this.
She had come too far to turn back now. She reached into her bra and pulled out the two pills Manolo had given her to put in Keys’ drink. She looked at the pills and said in a low voice, “I hope this shit keeps you knocked out long enough.”
“You alright in there!” Keyes yelled loudly.
The sound of his voice startled her, causing her to drop the pills. Oh shit! She watched as one of the pills fell into the sink and went down the drain in slow motion. She reached down to try to grab it, but it was too late. “Fuck!” She tried to stick her finger down the small dark hole. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? I only have one pill left. Tasha placed the remaining pill back in her bra. She hoped it would be enough to get the job done.
Tasha walked out and saw Keys sitting on the sofa, zipping up his jeans. He looked at her. “I knew I felt something between me and you. The first time I saw you I was feeling you, Tasha.”
Tasha smiled and walked into his kitchen. “I hope you ain’t done yet. I want to feel you inside of me.” Tasha needed him to want her. The more distracted he was, the better chance she had of slipping him a mickey.
Keys stood up and walked over to Tasha. He began to kiss her neck.
Tasha leaned back. “Slow down. Let’s have a couple of drinks first. It’ll loosen me up and get me in the mood.”
“Cool. I got some Henny in the cabinet and some champagne in the cellar.”
Tasha placed her finger on his lips and kissed him softly. “Let me take care of that. You just go and get ready,” she whispered seductively.
Keys started to walk backwards out of the kitchen, keeping eye contact with Tasha, and licking his lips. She could see his dick getting hard again as he thought about her, and it almost made her throw up.
As soon as he exited the kitchen, Tasha took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Her stomach was in knots. She knew Keys would kill her if he thought she was trying to do something grimy.
She turned toward the cabinet, pulled out two wine-glasses, and walked toward the refrigerator. She poured two glasses of champagne and dropped the “roofie” into one of the glasses. She stuck her finger in the glass and stirred it up, and the pill quickly dissolved.
Tasha picked up the spiked glass with her right hand, so she wouldn’t mix them up, and walked into Keys’ bedroom, where he was stripped down to his boxers. When she walked in, he motioned for her to come over to the bed. She handed Keys the drink, and he quickly placed it on the nightstand.
“Come on, ma. Come get me right again.”
Tasha smiled and grabbed his drink and handed it to him. “Let’s have a drink first. I need to get more relaxed.”
Keys sighed in frustration and picked up his glass.
Tasha unbuttoned her shirt and raised her wineglass. “To us!” she said. Keys touched glasses with her, and they both began to drink.
Tasha only took a sip of her champagne, wanting to have a clear head for what she was about to do. She eyed Keys as she impatiently waited for the drug to take its affect. He doesn’t even seem affected. It should have knocked his ass out by now.
She put down her drink as Keys finished his, stood up, and started to undress herself, waiting for the drug to take its course. Come on, pass the fuck out! Tasha thought as she danced for him, giving him a striptease.
Keys put his hands on her hips as she rolled her body in a teasing way. He attempted to stand up and instantly became woozy. “Damn, ma, I don’t feel too—” He was out before he could finish the sentence.
“It’s about damn time!” she said.
The drug had taken longer to start working than Tasha expected. Her heart felt as if it would beat out of her chest. She quickly put her clothes back on and ran to the front window to signal the girls. She opened and closed the blinds repeatedly to alert them. A couple minutes later, her friends were at the door.
Honey was the last to walk in. “Tasha, is he out?”
Tasha nodded. “We have to hurry up for real! I only gave him one of the pills. I dropped the other one down the sink.”
Honey stayed in the front room, while Amra and Tasha headed toward the safe in the bedroom. Tasha hurried over to the safe, and Amra stood by the door, keeping her eyes on Keys. “Tasha, hurry up!” Amra said.
“I know. I’m trying.” Tasha took the painting off the wall and began to think. Thirty-four, seventeen, twenty . . . I think. She began to try to open the safe.
Keys started to move.
Tasha looked back at him. The pill is wearing off! She began to shake nervously, messing up her concentration. She had to start over and put the combination in again. “Fuck!” Tasha shouted to herself.
“Hurry up, Tasha!” Amra whispered nervously. “He’s waking up!”
Tasha’s hands were sweaty, and she couldn’t get the combination to save her life. “Come on!” she yelled to herself.
At that moment, Keys sat up, trying to focus his blurred vision on Tasha. “What the fuck is going on, bitch?” He yelled out loud. His body felt heavy as he tried to gather himself.
Tasha quickly turned around and was speechless.
“You trying to rob me, bitch!” He tried to stand up, but he could barely keep his eyes open, and his legs were weak. He could not keep himself up. He sloppily reached under his bed and pulled a gun.
Tasha was frozen in fear, and Amra did not move, realizing that Keys didn’t know she was in the doorway.
Keys pointed the gun at Tasha and fired a shot. Tasha screamed in fear as the bullet flew by her shoulder blade. She grabbed her shoulder and realized she wasn’t hit.
Keys, barely able to aim his gun, fired a second shot and missed Tasha by an inch. He aimlessly pointed the gun again, but before he could pull the trigger, Amra grabbed the brass lamp that sat on the dresser and hit him in the head from behind.
He immediately dropped the gun, and grabbed the back of his head and yelled out in pain, “Fuck!”
Amra hit him repeatedly, bringing the lamp up above her head and smashing it down forcefully over Keys’ head. She dropped the lamp when she saw the blood begin to seep from the back of his head. “Hurry up! Hurry!” she said over and over again as Keys started to regain his composure as each second passed by.
Tasha was shaking. The more she tried, the harder it was for her to steady her hand enough for her to open the safe. “I can’t!” Tasha screamed.
Keys got up from the floor. “You dirty-ass bitch!” He turned around and slapped Amra hard across the face, causing her to fall to the floor.
Tasha was frozen in place as Keys put his hands around Amra’s neck. Tasha didn’t know what to do, everything was happening so fast. Her first reaction was to pick up his gun from the floor, but instead, she went for the brass lamp.
“Get the fuck off of her!” Tash
a brought the lamp above her head and brought it crashing down on Keys. She felt the impact of the hit; she heard something crack beneath his skull. She raised the lamp again and hit him a second time to make sure he wouldn’t get up anytime soon. Keys’ body collapsed on top of Amra, and large amounts of blood began to flow onto her.
“Amra, let’s go! We have to get out of here!” Tasha helped her friend up. She looked down at Keys’ body, and the sight of what she had done made her sick to her stomach. I killed him! Her stomach started to feel like jello, and her feet felt like they weighed a ton. She just stood there shaking and terrified, her mouth fixed wide open in a state of shock. So many different things raced through her head, and she didn’t know what to do next. “Is he dead?” She looked at Amra, now still from disbelief.
Amra nodded her head up and down. “I don’t know. I don’t know. It all happened so fast.”
Tasha paced the room and yelled, “No, no, no! This shit was not supposed to happen.” She knelt against the wall and put her face into her head.
Honey ran into the room. She wanted to see what was taking so long. “What happened?” She saw the blood oozing from the back of Keys’ head. “Oh God!” she yelled. “Get the money so we can get the fuck out of here!”
Tasha opened the safe, and it was full of cash. Actually, it was more than she thought. He had stashed all hundreds in the safe. She wasn’t sure how much it was, but it had to be at least a hundred thousand dollars. Honey threw her a pillowcase, and she quickly started to fill it up.
Honey took a look at Keys and asked Tasha, “Is he dead?”
“I think so, but I didn’t mean to kill him.”
Amra sat in the corner of the room, her knees tucked to her chest, staring at Keys’ body. She had a blank expression on her face as she rocked back and forth.
Honey told Tasha, “Check to see if he’s breathing.”
“Bitch, you check him.”
“Fuck it! Let’s just go.”
Tasha could feel herself getting ready to panic.
“Okay, okay, um . . . wipe off everything you touched, and let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Tasha got up and reached for the wineglass that she had earlier and quickly began to wipe it clean with one of Keys’ T-shirts. She then hurried over to the safe and wiped the handle and combination knob down. Once she was finished, she helped Amra up off the floor, and they all headed for the door.
Mimi was in the car waiting for them, the car running and the lights shut off. The girls jumped in the car, and Honey yelled, “Go!”
Tasha pulled out her cell phone and tried to call Manolo. Her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn’t even dial the number straight.
Amra screamed from the back seat, “What the fuck just happened? This is not what we planned. That wasn’t supposed to go down like that.” She began to cry.
Honey turned around and looked at her. “Yo, Amra, we’re going to be okay. Just relax. I’m going to call Manolo. He’ll know what to do.”
Tasha reached her hand out and grabbed Amra’s face. “Everything is going to be okay. Just calm down, okay?” She wanted to believe what she had just told Amra, but she knew they had just gotten themselves into some shit.
Amra nodded her head up and down.
When the girls made it back to the house, Tammy was just leaving. “Hey, girls. I might not be home tonight,” she said as she exited the house with a male friend.
Honey and Tasha said, “Okay,” in unison, and they hurried into the house, pulling Amra along. The girls went into the living room and sat down.
“What next?” Amra looked at Tasha.
“We fucked up,” Tasha admitted.
Honey looked at each one of her friends. “If you didn’t kill him, he would have killed Amra. You did what you had to do, plain and simple. Keys had too many enemies for this shit to fall back on us. Nobody saw us go in, and nobody saw us come out. We’re straight.” Honey grabbed the sack of money and dumped the pillowcase out onto the center table. The room was quiet as they all looked at the money on the table.
Honey suddenly yelled, “Wooohooo!” and grabbed a fistful of money and began to count it.
It seemed as if everyone’s mood changed when they saw the money. Mimi stood up, and a huge smile crossed her face. All the girls joined in and grabbed handfuls of money and threw them into the air, making money fall from the ceiling like confetti.
Tasha looked over at Amra, and noticed that she had the same look on her face that she had at Keys’ house. Tasha grabbed some cash and waved it in her face. “Amra, it’s all over now. We paid. We can take care of your mom’s bills.”
Amra looked into Tasha’s eyes, then looked at the money, and slowly cracked a smile as she grabbed some of it and slowly began to swim her fingers through it.
Tasha yelled, “Hold on, everybody. Let’s call Manolo, and then count this shit up.”
Honey was in a zone. It was like she didn’t even hear Tasha. She was too busy counting the money and softly singing a Biggie song. She was already planning what she would do with the cash.
Tasha finally got her attention and said, “Let’s count this shit up and take out the money for Ms. Pat first. Then we will split the rest.”
Honey looked up and replied, “Cool.”
They began to count the money.
Tasha called Manolo, but didn’t tell him about what happened at Key’s house.
“So, y’all got the money?” he asked her.
“Yeah, we got it.”
After Tasha hung up the phone, she helped Honey count out the money, while Mimi and Amra just sat and watched.
“Let’s count it again.”
“Tasha, we just counted this shit five times already. It’s only one hundred and sixty grand here.” Honey leaned back in her chair and looked at the twenty different stacks of hundred-dollar bills sitting on the table in front of her.
Tasha said, “Ms. Pat can get her surgery.” She looked over at Amra and Mimi, who had both fallen asleep on the couch. “We did it, Honey. I was worried about how I was gon’ get this money for Ms. Pat, but I got it.”
Honey responded with less enthusiasm. “Yeah, we did it, but was it worth the price? A man is dead because of us.”
Tasha’s enthusiasm went from high to low instantly. It was almost as if she had forgotten what had just taken place a couple of hours earlier. “We need to go see Manolo in the morning. I didn’t tell him about Keys.”
Honey shook her head. “Good. He doesn’t need to know that we fucked up.”
“I’m done with this shit. We just killed a man, Honey. After we talk to Manolo, I’m out. I’m going back home. Besides, Joe is there, and I want to be there with him. We ain’t nothing but gold diggers, and that shit has gotten old real quick. Eventually, all this grimy shit we doing is going to catch up with us.” Tasha paused for a minute, thinking about all the shit she’d done since coming to Flint.
Honey knew exactly how her friend felt, but instead of agreeing she said, “Help me put the money away. I’m tired.” Honey began to put the money in the pillowcase with Tasha’s help.
As Tasha lay in bed, she couldn’t get the image of Keys’ body sprawled on the bed out of her mind. She tossed and turned, trying to focus on something else—anything that would take her mind to a peaceful place. She had never seen a dead body before. I helped kill someone, she thought to herself as tears ran down her cheeks.
Eventually she fell asleep, Keys’ death haunting her conscience.
Chapter Fifteen
Early the next day, the girls grabbed the money they’d stolen from Keys and headed to Manolo’s house. The events of the night before had their minds racing.
I can’t believe that he’s dead. I helped kill Keys. Eventually, somebody is going to find his body. I know I didn’t wipe all my fingerprints from out of his house. I was all over the place. I couldn’t have gotten every one of them. How did I get myself into this? Tasha was overwhelmed with fear, anxiety, a
nd pain.
Amra was shaken. If they got caught, she and Tasha would be the ones to get the worst punishment. I didn’t try to kill him. I have to get out of Flint before they find Keys’ body. I can’t go to jail. They all acting like everything’s normal. Keys was a boss. If the police don’t get us, somebody will.
Mimi looked at Amra and could see she was deep in thought. She knew she couldn’t be tied into what had happened inside Keys’ house, so she wasn’t tripping. Shit, I wasn’t in the house when they killed Keys, so I don’t really give a fuck. My prints ain’t there or nothing, so I’m straight. Fuck what they talking about!
Honey’s mind had been blank ever since they’d left Keys’ house. We messed up. It should never have gotten to that level. Tasha should have given him both pills. We did all this, and we still don’t get to keep no money. Ain’t that a bitch?
When the girls arrived at Manolo’s house, they were all solemn and confused.
Manolo picked up on their vibe as soon as they entered his house. “What’s wrong? Y’all got the money, right?”
Tasha spoke up first. “We cool. The money’s right here.” She placed the duffel bag full of money on the table.
Manolo began to count it. It took him a minute. As soon as he was done, he announced, “One hundred and fifty thousand.”
Tasha frowned her face in confusion and turned to look at Honey. Honey winked her eye, and Tasha knew her girl had pocketed the extra ten gees.
“So, how much does your moms surgery cost?” Manolo asked, looking at Amra.
She doesn’t look too good, Tasha thought to herself, assuming Amra was still sick about the night before.
Amra sat down next to Manolo and said, “Her surgery is a hundred and fifty thousand.”
Manolo shook his head and started putting the money back in the bag. “Here. Take it and take care of her.”
A Girl From Flint Page 14
