“Nah, it’s more than that. If it was something small you wouldn’t have bothered telling me.” He handed his food to Lionel. On the walk back, Antwon continued. “Are you going to tell me this small thing that may or may not be bullshit?”
“This guy came up to me asking for product.”
“Okay. What’s so weird about that? I hate to break it you, but you do know that we sell product.?”
“Of course nigga, I’m just saying he gave me the feeling that he was a cop or something.”
“What made you think that?”
“He was moving funny. He was acting funny. It was like he was paranoid about something.”
“Alright, I get what you’re saying. I’ve seen the few people that I’ve thought were some fucking cops. I had to do the same. Is that it?”
“The guy came back though. He came back when I was selling some shit to someone else.”
“I think the cops heard how our business is and they are getting desperate.”
“When I asked if he was a cop, the dude acted as if he was seeing a ghost.”
“So now we got to be extra careful. I was thinking of bringing some people on the team, but with this shit going on right now, I think that it’s best that we do it ourselves. My leg is getting better. I’ll be out with you in about two days. Shit, I won't be surprised if the heat is coming from me.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I had a gunshot wound and I wasn’t really talking to the cops. They might be trying some shit. I don’t know. Maybe I was watching too many episode of Law and Order while I was in the hospital.”
As soon as Antwon healed up, he was back out there with Lionel. They ruled the neighborhood just as they did before, but this time the word was out. They were getting more customers. If it wasn't for all of their trouble, Antwon would have suggested that they take more territory, but with just the two of them, they were limited. The money was still rolling in though. They were making more money than before.
Lionel was sneaking some money into his mother’s bank account. He took her bank account number off of one of her bank statements. His mother never caught on. He would just take the bank statements and because his mother was so busy, she never caught on that they were gone.
“Son…” Antwon smiled as they counted up the money of that night. “If we keep making money like this…” He chuckled. “We might have to invest in something.” Lionel looked at him like he was crazy. Antwon never talked about anything that didn’t involve the streets. This was the first time he heard his friend say this.
“What did you just say?”
“I’m saying, if we keep doing this, you and I can turn this money around. That’s what you wanted right?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t think I forgot that you always wanted to be legit. I say we take this money and do something useful with it. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a smart choice.”
“Alright. You gonna talk this over with the wife?” Antwon smiled even wider. “I know how you married guys are. You can’t make any type of decisions like this alone.”
Chapter 7
Giselle sighed as she stood outside the door of the foster apartment. She had mixed emotions. On one hand, she didn’t want to go because she’d been enjoying her little vacation with Lionel. Every night she was either crashing at his crib or they were in a hotel room. She hadn’t even been back to get her things. Every time she tried to get her things, she chickened out and Lionel just replaced whatever she was looking for.
On the other hand she was curious. She wanted to see what state the home was in. The last time she was there, Laura was now in charge of things. She could only hope that things were still the same. Thinking that Ms. Rita was still in charge, scared her. She knew that after the fight Ms. Rita would be more of a terror. She shuddered at the thought.
“Hey!” Laura greeted her warmly. “What’s up? Long time no see.” She gave her a hug and led her in. “You avoided this place like plague.”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. I don’t blame you.” Laura pulled out a seat by the dining room. “Would you like something to drink?”
“There is something to drink?” She replied in shock. “The last time I was here, there were barely any groceries.”
“Well, a lot of things have changed.”
Giselle took a look around the apartment. Things have really changed. She saw that instead of the dirty, smelly, moldy apartment, that it was the complete opposite. The place was clean, smelled great, and the walls were painted. She noticed that there was new furniture. She got up and peeked around the three bedroom apartment. The kids had bunk beds and everything was neat. There was even a toy bin.
“You did all of this?” Giselle gasped.
“I did. After we put our foot down, I really made sure that I had the money. I made sure she cashed all the checks and gave me the cash.”
“And she did it just like that?”
“I had to fight her at first.” Laura turned to her side and showed an old scar that was on her neck. “Don’t get too worried. She looked worse. The fight was so bad that someone called the police. When the cops got her, I basically said, I’ll tell them everything and we’ll all be gone and you’ll get no money. Then I reminded her that if she played along, I’ll let her get high at some crack house, but she can’t do it here.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.” Laura smiled and then it faded.
“It’s such great news!” Giselle beamed. “Why do you look so worried?”
“I’m going to be turning 18 pretty soon. What’s going to happen to the kids that I have to leave behind?”
Giselle’s smile faded as well. She just turned 18 a few months ago. She should be excited, but not only did it remind her of the anniversary of her parents’ death, it also reminded her that she had to decide where she was going to live and what she was going to do. It was her senior year and she hadn’t really thought about her future. She was too busy impersonating a stripper to really think of what she wanted to do with her life. Before Antwon getting shot, she thought that maybe she could open a business with Lionel, but they hadn’t even talked about it since that night.
“Sucks.” Giselle broke the silence. “I guess they would have to go back into the system.” She suggested. “They can’t stay here.”
“That’s right.” Laura put in her two cents. “I had the craziest idea though.”
“What?”
“What if I took care of them? What if I stayed here and kept this up?”
“What about college?”
“I could still do that.”
“Laura, when I first met you all you talked about was leaving here and starting over at school. You wanted to get away from here.”
“I know but-”
“It’s a fucked up situation but you can’t do it all by yourself.”
“It was just an idea I had. These kids, they deserve better.”
“I know.”
Laura and Giselle went to their bedroom. She began packing some of her things. Laura helped her out. Soon, their conversation turned to boys and sex.
“Are you still a virgin?” Giselle asked her out of nowhere.
“Wow, you don’t think you should ease yourself into that question?” Laura started to laugh. “You didn't even try to say something that was closely related or nothing.”
“I know.” Giselle choked on her laughter. “Forgive me, but I just wanted to know.” She looked her in her eyes. “Now, no more stalling. Are you still a virgin?”
“Yes.” Laura confessed. “I’m so busy here, that I really don’t have time for boys. Besides, men are usually only after one thing.”
“Not all men.” Giselle pointed out.
“Most of them though.”
“Not Lionel.”
Laura sighed. She opened her mouth to say something but she stopped herself. She knew that if she went on that it would proba
bly start a fight. She didn’t want them to get into an argument; especially seeing how this was her first time seeing Giselle in a long time.
“What were you going to say?” Laura shook her head and she didn’t say a word. “No, Laura, it looked like you had something to say. Do you know something about Lionel?”
“I don’t want to get into this.”
“I’m asking you.”
“Lionel has always been a player. He’s always been with multiple women. I’m not saying he’s with anybody else, but the guys that I’m describing, he used to be one of them. Him and his homeboy, Anthony or -”
“You mean Antwon?”
“Yes, both of them. Everyone knows that.”
“Uh huh.” Giselle nodded. “I suspected as much. I mean, I thought he had a girlfriend before me, but seeing how his friend always is with some chick or talking about females like they are pieces of trash…” She drifted off. “You know what they say, birds of a feather.”
“But since you...I’ve seen him with no one else.”
“I know that.” Giselle smiled. “I’m not worried about that. It’s just hard for people to break habits.”
Giselle was back at the strip club. She had to leave her worries behind and just focus on Eva. She managed to tell the owner that she was still feeling out the place. She was about to get fired, when Janine jumped up to defend her. He told her that she had until the end of the week to start dancing or she was fired. He reminded her that she came and sought out the job, and it wasn’t the other way around. Giselle thanked him and then went to thank Janine.
“Thanks for that.” She told Janine. “I really need this job.”
“Then you need to start busting your pussy wide open for some dollars.” Monique interrupted and followed it with a cruel laugh. “I’m sorry, but you are just taking up space.”
“Does it matter? It’s not like you guys welcome the new strippers anyway.” Giselle spat. “So stop pretending as if you’re worried about me.”
“Watch your attitude little girl.” Monique pointed her finger at her
“Get your finger out of my face.” Giselle slapped it away.
Monique advanced but Giselle was not backing down. She promised herself a long time ago that she was going to start fighting and standing up to herself. Monique was about to do something but Janine jumped in between them.
“Ladies!” Janine put her arms out to separate them.
“You need to check your little friend.” Monique warned.
“Or what? You gonna bust your pussy wide open?” Giselle gave her the same wicked laugh Monique always had given her.
“You fucking bitch.” Monique advanced again.
“I’m right here, you fucking slut.” The words came out of Giselle’s mouth and Monique was now out for blood.
“You bitch!” She went for Giselle but she got punched in the face. A fight broke out.
It wasn’t long before Manny, the owner came in. He pulled the girls apart.
“Take it easy!” He screamed. “Eva? You just begged me for this job and this is what you do?”
“That bitch got in my face.” Giselle said with an attitude.
“You’re fired.” He told her. That’s when Giselle’s anger started to come down. She needed this job. She had to find the stripper with the huge natural fro.
“No. No, please.” Giselle started to beg. “I need to be here.”
“You obviously don’t because you are in a fight.” He turned back to Monique. “Are you okay?”
“That bitch punched me in the eye!” Monique fumed.
“Don’t matter anyway. You were always ugly.” Giselle found herself screaming across the room.
“If you don’t get that fucking bitch out of here.” Monique pointed at her. “I’ll fucking get a gun and shoot this bitch myself.” She half chuckled. “Or, I’ll have some of my boys come and shoot her!”
“If your bad breath didn’t kill me….” Giselle added and the fire in Monique’s eyes almost burned a hole in her head.
“Let’s get you out of here.” Janine grabbed Giselle and her thing and they left.
Janine decided to take Giselle to this West Indian restaurant that was down the block. The minute they were seated, Janine let out a loud laugh.
“Are you a stand up comedian?” She asked Giselle. “Because that shit you were saying was so fucking funny. You kept jabbing at her like crazy. You can call me stupid, but I always thought girls from the South were sweet and nice. But you know what, the south is where all the shade come from.” She laughed. They both ordered their food when the waitress came over. “So, what’s up with you? What’s with the change?”
Giselle contemplated telling her about what Laura said. She didn’t want to, but she really didn’t have that many female friends. She needed someone’s perspective.
“I have a boyfriend and things are going really great.”
“But….”
“It’s just that we never talk about our future really. One thing led to the next and we just stopped talking about our plans. Although if I’m really honest with myself, we never talked about our future really.”
“How did you guys meet?”
“We were neighbors first. After he helped me out with something we became friends. Then somewhere down the line, we just started …”
“It sounds like your relationship with him has been going at top speed.”
“It really has.” Giselle agreed. “I just don’t know where we stand.”
Janine gave her a comforting smile. Giselle knew that it wasn’t coming from a place of love, but rather the smile was coming from a place of pity.
“What is it? What’s with the smile?”
“I’m really the wrong one to ask. My relationship started at Nascar speeds. We weren’t even friends at first. We met and we just started fucking from there. Now, we’re something that we don’t know how to label.”
“Situationship?” Giselle recalled some slang she heard.
“Not even. When I first met Martin, he swept me off of my feet. He took me out to dinners and movies, you know regular shit. Then in a blink he just started to hit me. It’s been two years since the first hit me.”
“You ever thought about leaving him?”
“I love him.” She gave that same fake smile she always gave when she was trying to cover up some pain. “Besides, I’m in too deep.”
The food came over. They both started picking at their food. They ate small bites silently.
“Okay, let’s not do this. I took you out to make you feel better. I didn’t want you feeling awkward. This might be the last time we see each other.”
“Right.” Janine saying that just reminded Giselle of her situation. “I almost forgot that I’m fired.” She shook her head slightly. Then she remembered something. “Do you think that Monique knows dangerous people?”
“What?” Janine wasn’t really listening.
“Monique. Do you think that Monique knows dangerous people? She did threaten me.”
“I would normally say pay people no mind, but you never really know. People are crazy these days. As far as Monique goes, I’ve seen her with some questionable people.”
“Should I watch my back?”
“You should always watch your back, but try not to lose any sleep over Monique. She’ll probably cool down. But enough about that. I think I got some good news for you.”
“What is it?”
Janine smiled and went in her purse. She pulled out her cellphone. She passed her finger over the screen a couple of times. When she stopped, she smiled even wider, slid her phone over the table, and passed it to Giselle.
“I started my own Youtube page. I do makeup tutorials like you said. I just wanted you to know and to say thank you.”
“Wow!” Giselle started to get giddy. “I want to watch some of your videos but it says that there’s nothing there yet.”
“I’m uploading them tonight. Just look up the Beauty by Bianca.�
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“You used your stripper name?” Giselle’s eyebrow arched. “You know what? It really doesn’t matter. It just matters that you are going after your dream in some way.”
“I’m not making money off of it.”
“You can if you put the work behind it. You just concentrate on getting better.”
“I just wanted you to see it.
Just then Janine’s phone vibrated. She quickly grabbed it once she saw Martin’s number.
“Yes Daddy?” She answered. “I’m not in the club right now.” She waited for his answer. “I’m sorry, but I just needed to get something to eat.” She paused again. “No, I don’t have an attitude.” She stopped. Giselle could see the stress take over her face. She was just happy and ecstatic about doing the makeup and now she looked like she’s aged right before her eyes.
“You can come pick me up. I’m walking out right now.” She reached into her purse and slapped a $100 bill on the table. Giselle followed behind her but then stopped in her tracks.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Martin yelled at Janine. She didn’t even get the chance to open her mouth. Martin's hands were already grabbing her arm. “Get your dumb ass in the car.” He opened the door. “You have business to do. You don’t have time to be babysitting again.”
URBAN: What A Thug Wants Page 21
