The next morning, they woke up and took a shuttle bus to the airport. They didn’t have to dress up in ridiculous clothes, because taking money through the airport wasn’t as hot as moving dope.
The girls sat together and waited for their flight. Honey had one of the suitcases, and Tasha had the other. Their flight didn’t leave until nine o’clock, but they had arrived an hour early. All of them seemed to be more relaxed this time, knowing that it wasn’t such a big risk.
The loud intercom sounded throughout the entire airport. “Excuse me, passengers, the nine o’clock flight to Flint has been delayed. There is approximately a three-hour wait time. If you have any questions, please come to the front desk.”
Amra shouted, “That’s some bullshit! I’m not trying to wait here for three more hours!”
“It looks like we gon’ be here for a while.” Mimi layed down across the seats.
Amra smacked her lips then looked at Tasha. “Is there a different flight we could take?”
Tasha said, “Let’s go check the flight listing.”
Honey shrugged her shoulders and walked with Tasha. Tasha looked up at the flight schedule. “Nope. That was the only flight to Flint. We’re just going to have to wait.”
Honey studied the flight schedule, and a smirk spread across her face. “It’s a flight leaving at nine, but it ain’t headed to Flint.”
Tasha looked back at the schedule to see what Honey was talking about. “The only other flight leaving at nine is for New York.”
Honey said, “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Tasha shook her head. She already knew what Honey was thinking. “I’m just trying to get this money back to Manolo so I can be done with this. I’m not trying to get into no more hot shit.” She walked back and sat down, patiently waiting for their flight.
Three hours later, the girls boarded a plane home.
Tasha looked around at her friends, and instantly felt a knot in her stomach. She knew the stuff that they’d been doing was wrong, and prayed that their actions wouldn’t catch up to them, that karma wouldn’t come back to haunt her. What goes around comes around, she thought to herself.
Chapter Sixteen
“Bitch, you tried to rob me!” Keys screamed as he pinned Tasha up against his bedroom wall.
Tasha wanted to respond, wanted to lie and say she hadn’t done it, but he was holding her neck so tight, she couldn’t speak. She clawed at his hands, trying to get him to release her. She choked and gasped as Keys’ fingers wrapped around her windpipe. “Stop!” she yelled between gasps. Her eyes felt like they were on fire, as if they would pop out of her head.
Keys banged her hard against the wall, and she felt her neck snap repeatedly as he shook her. “Bitch, you tried to rob me?”
Tasha could feel her lungs sizzle as she struggled to breathe in air. Keys was killing her, choking the life out of her, and no matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t stop him.
Her eyes searched the room for something she could defend herself with, but there was nothing. She heard footsteps run into the room, and she watched as someone swung a metal candleholder hard against Keys’ head. Keys let go of Tasha’s neck, and she fell to the floor gasping for air. Then he fell next to her and stared at her as blood drained from his head onto the carpet. Tasha stared in bewilderment as she watched him die.
She sat up to see who had come to her rescue, and she looked into her own eyes and saw herself holding the candleholder, blood all over her hands.
Tasha woke up sweating, screaming, “No, I didn’t do this! I didn’t do this!” She looked at the clock that sat next to her bed. It said 3 a.m. She rubbed her neck, remembering how Keys had choked her in her dream. She breathed in deeply and got up and walked to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and started to cry.
“I’m sorry,” she said to herself as she sat down on the toilet. Something inside of her was making her weak. Ever since they had killed Keys, her conscience had been fucking with her. I just want to go home. I want to be with Joe. She remembered how safe she felt in his arms.
She heard someone knock on the door and quickly wiped her eyes before opening the door.
Mimi looked at Tasha. “Hey. Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
Mimi shook her head and walked past Tasha into the bathroom.
The next morning, Tasha woke up to the ringing of her cell phone. She looked at the caller ID, and cut off Manolo’s call. I’m not fucking with Manolo any more. We gave him his money. He needs to stop calling. Tasha sat up in bed as Amra walked into the room.
“Hey, Tasha,” she said, walking over to her dresser.
“Hey, has Manolo been calling you?” Tasha asked.
“Yeah, he been calling, but I haven’t answered the phone. I ain’t fucking with him like that no more. Besides, I can find my own niggas to hustle. I don’t need him pimping me.”
Tasha frowned at the word “pimping”. She’d never thought about it like that, but that was in fact what Manolo had been doing. She felt even more disgusted with herself.
The day went by slowly for Tasha. She and her friends were all chilling together. It had been a long time since they had just hung out and not talked about what group of dudes they were trying to hustle.
“I think I might go back home,” Tasha said. “I don’t know. I just think I need to be there. After that shit with Keys, I’m not really feeling Flint like that.”
Mimi pulled her candy jar from underneath her bed. “Why are you tripping? It’s over with. It’s been almost a month, and ain’t nobody said shit about it since then. The police don’t know who did it. They probably think he was killed over some drug beef or something.”
Honey added, “Yeah, Tasha, you got to calm down. If that’s why you want to go back to the D, then you’re worrying for nothing.”
Tasha watched Mimi roll up a blunt and begin to smoke it. Tasha had her reasons for wanting to go back home. She didn’t feel right about what she’d done to Keys. These bitches acting like that shit is cool, like we in the clear just because they haven’t heard anything about it.
“Let’s go out tonight,” Amra said. “I’m tired of sitting in the house stressing over whether we going to get caught or not.”
Honey jumped up. “I got the bathroom first.” She ran out of the room and into the bathroom before anyone could protest.
Tasha got up and walked into the bedroom. She locked the door behind her so Amra wouldn’t come in and interrupt her. She reached underneath her bed and pulled out a shoebox that she kept her money in. She opened it and pulled out the money she had managed to save since coming to Flint. When she was done counting, she thought, Fifteen grand . . . enough to get me back to New York and have me on my feet for at least a couple months.
Tasha was already making plans to go back home. No matter what her girls said, she knew it was only a matter of time before all the shit they’d been doing came back around to bite them in the ass. She put the money back in the box and put it under her bed, then picked up her cell phone and dialed the number to the hospital where Ms. Pat was being treated.
“Grace Sinai, Cancer Ward,” a friendly voice said. “How can I help you?”
“Hi. Can you connect me to Patricia Rodgers’ room?”
The receptionist connected her, and Ms. Pat answered the phone. “Hello?”
Tasha was bothered at the fact that she sounded so weak. “Hi, Ms. Pat. It’s Tasha. How are you feeling?”
Ms. Pat slowly responded, “I’m fine. The doctors say the surgery went well.”
Tasha could hear the pain in Ms. Pat’s voice. “That’s good. I told you everything would be okay,” she said, trying to sound optimistic. She knew Ms. Pat was in a lot of pain right now, and she was just trying to be supportive. “I just wanted to let you know that I love you.”
Just then, Amra knocked on the bedroom door, and Tasha got up and opened it. “I’m going to let you talk to A
mra now, but after that, I want you to get as much rest as you can.” She handed Amra the phone, and then walked out of the room, to give her some privacy.
Tasha waited for Amra to get off the phone before she went back into the room. Amra was sitting on the bed with a worried look on her face when Tasha re-entered the room.
“Are you okay?” Tasha asked her.
Amra shook her head from left to right. “She doesn’t sound good.”
Tasha quickly replied, “She just had surgery. It’s going to take her some time to regain her strength. That’s it. She’ll be fine.” Tasha didn’t want Amra to worry about her mother.
“Let’s get dressed before Honey and Mimi leave us.”
Tasha put on a silver spaghetti strap Dolce & Gabbana top and black jeans that folded at the bottom, and silver Manolo Blahnik shoes that strapped at the back of her ankles. She looked in the mirror and put on her Tiffany jewelry, and then applied her makeup. By the time she was finished getting dressed, all of her friends were sitting on her bed waiting.
Honey wore an earth green Dior dress, Amra had on pink Roberto Cavalli pants with a white bra top, and Mimi was wearing a brown-and-cream chinchilla jacket and tight Prada jeans.
When the girls arrived at the club, there was a line around the block. They never waited in line though. Tasha walked up to the front of the line. The bouncer was so busy looking at her ass that he didn’t charge her or her girls to get into the club.
Tasha led the way through the crowded club and found a table. Mimi immediately took off the chinchilla jacket and made her way out onto the dance floor. Tasha watched as dudes immediately turned their heads when Mimi walked past them. She started to laugh because she knew Mimi was enjoying every bit of the attention. Amra got up and joined Mimi in the middle of a circle of dudes who were watching them dance. Tasha was chilling, enjoying the hip-hop music that vibrated through the club.
“You want a drink?” Honey asked.
Tasha looked toward the bar and saw that it wasn’t that crowded. She got up and followed Honey to the bar. Men’s heads turned when Honey and Tasha walked past them. They were showstoppers, and the other girls in the club quickly grew jealous.
Tasha sat down at the bar. Before she got a chance to order a drink, a good looking brown-skinned brother sat next to her. “Can I buy you a drink?” She looked at the man with cornrows sitting next to her and smiled. “Sure, an iced tea,” she replied.
The man ordered her a Long Island iced tea.
Honey tapped on Tasha’s shoulder and whispered in her ear, “I’m going to the bathroom.”
Tasha stood up and offered her hand to the man that bought her drink. “Tasha,” she said, introducing herself.
The man looked her in her eyes, intrigued by her beauty. He shook her hand softly. “Troy.”
“Thanks for the drink.” Tasha got up and began to follow Honey to the bathroom. When the girls went into the bathroom, Honey said, “Damn, girl! Who was that? He is fine.”
Tasha laughed and waved her hand in dismissal. “He’s alright.” She wiped the sweat from her neckline and waited for Honey to come out of the stall. Honey touched up her makeup, and they went back to their table.
Tasha saw that the dance floor was packed, so she got up and joined Amra and Mimi on the floor. She danced sexily, shaking her ass to the Southern beats of T-Pain. “Buy U a Drank” was blaring throughout the club. She knew she had an audience, and was fine with that as long as they looked but didn’t touch.
Tasha looked over at Amra and noticed that she was stumbling. Damn! She’s drunk already.
It was hot in the club, and Amra was sweating. A dude picked her up, and she straddled him and started grinding on the dance floor. They were practically fucking on the dance floor. Tasha could tell that Amra wasn’t in her right mind. The dude started feeling on Amra’s body. He untied the bra top she had on and began feeling on her bare breasts.
Tasha marched over to her friend and pulled her away from the guy. “What are you doing? Amra, let’s go.”
The dude grabbed Amra’s arm and pushed Tasha out of his way.
“Don’t fucking touch me!” Tasha yelled as she snatched Amra’s arm away from him. “You better get the fuck back! What you think, I’m about to let you just take advantage of my girl? You need to find another ho, ’cuz it ain’t happening over here.” Tasha got in the guy’s face.
Honey saw the scene and quickly made her way over to Tasha’s side.
The man mumbled, “Bitch!”
Honey stepped up. “Who the fuck do you think you talking to?”
The man waved his hand when he noticed that he was causing a scene, and then walked away.
Amra could barely stand on her own, and Tasha had her arm around her, holding her up.
“What the fuck is wrong with her?” Honey asked.
Tasha looked at Amra. “What did you drink?”
“Nothing. I haven’t had anything to drink.”
Tasha looked at Honey in confusion.
“Come on,” Honey said, leading the way to the bathroom. The air in there was cooler than the musty, humid air on the dance floor.
As Amra went in, she immediately collapsed over the toilet, throwing up.
“Mimi, what did she drink?” Tasha yelled.
Mimi shook her head. “I didn’t see her drink nothing, unless it was from somebody else’s cup. We’ve been dancing since we got here. Shit, I’m not ready to go yet, so I hope she feels better when she’s done hurling.”
Tasha walked into the stall and rubbed Amra’s back as she threw up into the toilet. “She needs to go home. I’ll go with her. B, you stay here with Mimi.”
Honey agreed, because she really didn’t want to leave anyway. “Call me on my cell when you make it home,” she told Tasha.
Tasha nodded her head and helped Amra up. She wet a paper towel and wiped some of the sweat off Amra’s body. “Come on, sweetie.” Tasha let Amra lean on her.
Tasha walked out of the bathroom with Amra, and guided her through the crowded club. The air outside felt good against her skin. “You feel better?” she asked Amra.
Amra shook her head no, and Tasha sat her down against the building. She went to the curb of the street and hailed a cab. She opened the door and said, “Can you help me put my friend in the cab?”
The driver got out and put Amra into the back seat. Just as Tasha was getting ready to get in, a man got out of a car that was sitting across the street from the club and yelled, “Excuse me!”
Tasha turned and saw that it was the man she had met earlier at the bar.
“Hey!” he called out to her again.
Tasha turned around. “I don’t really have time to talk right now.”
Troy replied, “You better make time, shorty.”
Tasha turned around and smacked her lips. “Excuse me?”
Troy pulled out his police badge and walked close up on her and put his face by her right ear. “I’m a detective for the Flint Police Department. I know about what you did to Keys.”
Tasha’s heart dropped, and her breath became shallow. Lightheaded, she thought she would choke on her words if she said anything. She closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears from coming. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tasha got into the cab, and Troy put his hand on the door to stop her from closing it.
“I think you do. I was there. I saw everything.”
Tasha tapped the driver. “Let’s go.”
The driver waited for Troy to close the back door. Troy touched Tasha’s face and made her look him in the eye. “Meet me here tomorrow at two o’clock. Don’t be late.” He handed her a card with his number on it, and closed the cab door.
When the driver pulled off, Tasha began to cry. She looked over at Amra, who was passed out in the seat. What am I going to do? He knows. He saw us. Tasha knew she was going down for Keys’ murder. “Fuck! Fuck!” she yelled, hitting the seat of the cab. Her heart was pumping and her mind was racing. She was sc
ared, and her head was aching from thinking so hard.
When the cab arrived at Tammy’s house, she woke Amra up and helped her into the house. They walked into their room, and Tasha laid Amra in her bed. Tasha didn’t want to tell Amra about Troy Smith. She’d seen how Amra reacted after she had killed Keys, so she decided to only tell Honey. She tucked Amra into her bed and noticed that she looked pale. Her eyes were dark around the lids. She knew Amra was sick. I’m going to let her sleep it off.
Tasha picked up her cell phone and called Honey. She knew she wouldn’t hear her phone ring because the club played loud music and was very noisy, but she left a message. “Honey, it’s me,” she said, her voice shaking. She couldn’t seem to calm herself down. “You need to come home quick. Somebody knows. Call me as soon as you get this message.” I knew this was coming. I knew something wasn’t right.
Troy looked at the picture of the woman he had confronted that night. “Tasha,” he said to himself. He admired the picture. She was beautiful. He couldn’t believe she had gotten caught up in a murder. He went into the kitchen and pulled out a pint of Rémy and drank it straight from the bottle. He could have easily arrested Tasha on the evidence that he already had, but he was after the big fish. He wanted Jamaica, and he knew that if Tasha had gotten Keys to trust her, then she could do the same with Jamaica. She’s either going to help me get him, or I’m going to get her. Twenty-five years to life . . . she’ll see things my way.
Honey walked into the house alone at three in the morning. Mimi had left the club with some dude. She made her way to her room, where Tasha was pacing back and forth, waiting for her. Honey could tell that she’d been crying. “Tasha, what’s up? What’s wrong?”
Tasha stopped pacing. “He knows, Honey, he knows. He told me.”
Tasha was shaking, and Honey didn’t know what she was talking about. “Who is he? And what does he know?”
A Girl From Flint Page 16
