“I’m not playin’ wit’ ya money, homie. Shit just slowed up real crazy right now.” the worker responded.
Terrence chuckled and looked over at Randy, who was sitting on the hood of his car smoking a blunt. “Damn, da nigga said shit slowed up around here.” Terrence laughed.
The laughter only lasted for a hot second. Terrence gripped the bat tightly in both of his hands, turned around and swung it. He hit the worker clean across the jaw, breaking it instantly. Teeth, blood, spit and anything else he had in his mouth flew out. The other two workers that were standing nearby turned their heads before Terrence even swung the bat, but when they heard the metal connect to their co-worker’s mug, they turned their faces up like they had just tasted something nasty. Randy even choked on his weed smoke.
Everyone knew that the one thing Terrence didn’t play around with was his money. That was the easiest way to bring out his violent side, a side he really didn’t like to show. Not only did the worker not have Terrence’s money, he was also short on the product, which meant that he was using the dope himself or he was simply fuckin’ up the little money he did make. Either way, he was going to pay for it one way or another. In this instance, he paid for it with his blood.
“Now get dis muthafucka off my corner before I fuck one of y’all up too!” Terrence threatened the other workers, pointing at them with the same bat.
None of them wanted to be next, so they quickly helped the guy up to his feet then walked him down the street.
“Dat shit ain’t funny!” Terrence snapped at Randy who was sitting on the hood of the car cracking up.
Randy was now laughing so hard, he made Terrence start to chuckle at his own foolish antics. Terrence reached over, grabbed the blunt, and took a pull. It was something he rarely did, but he felt like he needed something to calm his anger.
“Oh yeah, did you call home girl?” Terrence asked, passing Randy back the Kush.
“Yeah, we on for tonight. She wanna meet at Reedy Creek Park around 7:30/8:00.” Randy informed.
Terrence nodded. He had been messing with his connect for a few months now, and the prices he was getting made the dope game worth swimming in. Hell, it even had him thinking about expanding deeper into the city where the real money was at, but whether he actually did so remained to be seen. He was well aware of the hardships he faced and the danger that lurked in the city. He was no stranger to danger, but at the same time, he wasn’t stupid. His man, Dink, was a prime example that once you got into uncharted waters, the sharks came out to feast.
Stacey got up from the kitchen table to answer a knock at the front door. She looked out the small window and saw Cornell, Dink’s brother, standing there with about three other men behind him wearing black hoodies. At first, she was a little hesitant to open the door because of the men Cornell had with him. Since she had known him for a while and he had always been real cool with her, she figured he wasn’t a threat. Besides, Stacey was Dink’s daughter’s mother and everybody knew not to mess with her, even Dink’s family. That was one reason why none of the other family members liked Stacey. They felt that Dink let her get away with too much shit.
“Wassup Cornell?’’ Stacey said, opening the door.
“When was the last time you spoke to my brother?” he asked, brushing past her and entering the house.
Stacey copped an immediate attitude, oblivious to what the situation was with her daughter’s father.
“Why, what’s goin’ on?” she asked, slamming the door in the rest of his boys’ faces.
He walked in and looked around the living room. He remained quiet for a minute, grabbing a picture of Dink off the mantel and staring at it. Stacey still didn’t know what was going on, but she wasn’t going to let Cornell keep walking around her house looking around either.
“Cornell, what the fuck is up?” she asked, walking over to him.
“Sit down,” he told her, nodding at the couch.
“No, I’m standing up. Now tell me what’s going on.”
Cornell didn’t even know where to begin, or how to tell her that the father of her baby was dead. Seeing the look he had on his face and the tears that began to fill his eyes, Stacey started to put two and two together.
She looked towards the kitchen where her daughter was and covered her mouth. “Oh my God!” she said, taking a seat on the edge of the couch. “No, no, no, no, nooo!” she cried.
Cornell gritted, trying his best to hold back his tears. Now wasn’t the time for crying. He already had it in his mind that he was going to find and bury anyone who had something to do with his little brother’s death. It didn’t matter who it was or where they were from. Looking over at his brother’s seed only intensified his desire.
“Yo Stace, I need you to call ya brother and find out what’s goin’ on out there in them streets. I know Dink was out there grinding wit’ him…Yo, yo, yo,” he said, snapping his fingers at Stacey who was crying her eyes out. He needed her to focus on his instructions.
Cornell really couldn’t care less about her tears or how she felt. In his eyes, she played a major part in why his little brother decided to go up north and get money. She was the one who introduced him to her brother, Terrence, who was originally from the A, otherwise known as Atlanta, but he had moved up North to dabble in the heroin game.
“Fuck all that. Call ya brotha and tell dat nigga he need to find out what happened to my brother. Tell dat nigga I want answers!” Cornell demanded through Stacey’s cries.
“Mommy! Mommy!” her daughter yelled from the kitchen. “I done my food.” she playfully said.
Stacey got up to go to her, but Cornell grabbed her by the arm before she could walk away.
“Yo, call ya brotha!” he snapped, squeezing her arm.
Stacey was still shell shocked about the whole situation, and was a bit irritated by Cornell’s demands. Her tears dried up quickly. She snatched her arm out of his hand and looked at him like he was crazy. She thought that he had to be the way that he was gripping her.
“I’ll call my brotha later. Right now, I gotta go and attend to my daughter,” she said in a stern voice and with an even more serious look.
She rolled her eyes and walked off towards the kitchen, leaving Cornell in the living room by himself. He eventually got up and walked out of the front door. He was going to extend her some leeway because of the love his brother had for her. Cornell knew he would be back to see to it that his demands were met. The next time, he would do what was necessary, even if it had to be done by force.
“There she go right there.” Randy told Terrence as they walked into the park.
Auntie was on the driving range hitting a couple of golf balls. She had on the full golf getup and looked like she could be a pro until she swung the clubs and her inexperience showed. Standing on the other side of the gate was one of her men armed with a sub machine gun. She also had men in the parking lot and in the bleachers, so she felt totally safe and pretty much untouchable.
“Wassup Auntie?” Terrence greeted, walking up and standing on the outside of the gate.
He took a good look around and noticed a couple of her men watching him closely.
“You know, I never really understood the whole golf thing.” Auntie said, swinging at one of the balls and totally missing. “I’m more of a football girl.” She smiled, tossed the club and walked over to the gate where Terrence was standing.
Randy stood off to the side to give them a little space. He also kept his eyes on the men who kept their eyes on him.
“So, let’s talk business.” Auntie said, as she pulled off her gloves.
“Yeah, well I wanna go up a little bit with my numbers in hopes that you can come down on ya price.” Terrence spoke through the gate.
Terrence’s operation was small, but did good numbers. Every month, he would buy between 10 and 15 kilos of heroin, most of which he would pump out of the trap houses he owned in the upper part of South Carolina.
While the rest of it would be moved in weight through a few people he knew in North Carolina, all but Charlotte. He had been warned and his people had been warned that the queen city was off limits. The little dope houses he had in the outskirts of the city stayed under the radar, and that’s the only reason he was eating anything out of the Charlotte area.
“So, what are you talkin’ about? How much more do you want to buy?” she asked.
“I’m trying to get like 25 kilos at a good price,” he told her.
She almost laughed at him after hearing the number. She thought that he was going to say a much larger number. She was already giving it to him for a cheap price. Him buying 10 more kilos wasn’t going to change her prices that much.
“Listen Terrence, I usually don’t answer my phone for anything less than fifty kilos. I been entertaining ya numbers because I thought that you would step ya game up. Now please, don’t take this the wrong way…” she said, shaking her head.
“Nah, I understand where you’re coming from.” He nodded. “Just let me know what you can do for me.”
Auntie looked at him and smiled. She kind of liked Terrence and wanted to see him win. “Look, I’ma put you on to somebody…”
“Aww, come on, Auntie…” he said in frustration. “Don’t do me like that. I like doin’ business wit’ you.”
“No, no, no. The person I’ma hook you up with will help you get ya weight up fast, and the product is the same as mine. I’ll even put in a good word so the prices could come down for you.”
Terrence scratched his head. He really didn’t want a new connect, but it didn’t seem like he had any other choice. He definitely wasn’t trying to go back to his old supplier. His prices were high and the dope wasn’t as good as Auntie’s dope.
“In good faith, I got 10 kilos on hand right now for you. I’ll give them to you for 65 grand apiece.”
Sixty-five grand was a nice gesture, considering he usually paid seventy-five grand a kilo. He really didn’t want to, but he accepted her offer, hoping that there wouldn’t be any major differences with the new connect. The talk about the prices going down sounded even better. Exactly what Terrence needed to step his game up to another level.
Chapter 4
Gwen and Diamond walked into the Hearst Tower downtown, looking like they owned the place. Gwen had on a belted wrap dress by Roberto Cavalli, her long curly mane draped down to her shoulders and on her feet were a pair of Alejandro Ingelmo lace up pumps. She was stunning.
Diamond looked like a bag of money also. She had on a silver studded Rebecca Taylor sheath dress, a pair of black Giuseppe Zanotti’s and her gold and black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She turned a few heads with her coke bottle shape as she walked over to the elevator.
When they got to the 17th floor to meet with the building manager, the two girls looked around the empty floor in amazement. It was spacious, and although there wasn’t a lick of furniture present, it still looked nice. At least twenty cubicles filled the space, and several small rooms lined the walls.
“Hello! You must be Gwen.” A short, white man greeted them. “I’m Tom.”
Gwen and Diamond returned the greeting and shook his hand before being led into a makeshift conference room. This was probably the only room that had a table in it. The girls could tell by the size, that in the future, this room could be used as a conference room.
“As you can see, we just renovated this floor. It’s fresh, so you can furnish it however you would like,” Tom told them. “Did you bring your proof of business and the completed application?”
“Oh yeah, I’m sorry.” Gwen apologized and opened her Louis Vuitton briefcase.
Gwen had come fully prepared, and wasted no time breaking down the nature of her business to Tom. All of her paperwork was correct, her credit score was over 700, and her bank was backing her 100%. That was key when dealing with white America. It wasn’t like the hood where she could toss money around and get what she wanted. This was a whole other ball game for Gwen, but it helped tremendously to have a MHB member as one of the bank’s loan officers. Not only was she approved for the loan that she needed, but her credit score was hiked up to the max.
It took almost an hour to go over and sign the proper paperwork, but by the end of the meeting, Gwen and MHB had secured a seven-year lease for the 17th floor of the Hearst Tower. This was no doubt a huge step up from the hood. Both ladies looked out the floor to ceiling glass windows and observed the city they had called home all of their lives. Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine one day having an office in one of the downtown buildings. One they only got to see when riding the city bus through uptown on their way to school. They smiled at each other, knowing there was no stopping them now.
Tiffany and Alexus pulled into the Southside Tire Shop off Clanton Rd. in a black on black Chevy Tahoe. April and Portia pulled in behind them in a black on black Cadillac Escalade. Tiffany and Alexus were the only two who got out of the car, both clutching a handgun.
“You girls don’t play no games.” Noemi said, coming from the garage to meet the women.
“You know it ain’t you, Noemi. It’s a lot of nuts out here.” Tiffany said, tucking her gun back into her waist.
Noemi didn’t take the guns being drawn personal at all. She actually respected how MHB girls were moving out, handling the kind of money and drugs they were picking up and dropping off. Noemi didn’t expect anything less than how they came, plus she’d taken a liking to Tiffany over the past few months.
Tiffany kind of liked Noemi too. She had never seen a Mexican chick move as hard as Noemi; not to mention the fact that Niya used to tell her stories about Noemi’s murder game back in the day.
“So, it’s gonna take a little while for my guys to load up ya trucks. You girls wanna eat something in the meantime?” Noemi offered, leading them into the garage.
Tiffany declined the offer, only wanting to get straight to the business. Money still needed to be counted. With a wave of her hand, Tiffany had April get out of the second truck with a duffle bag full of money.
Noemi snapped her fingers several times at two of her men. They jumped out of their seats and headed to the back to grab the cocaine. Tiffany took the money from April and gave it to Noemi.
Tiffany couldn’t lie, the food was smelling good. She could almost taste the Spanish chicken and brown rice that simmered in the air. It was irresistible.
“You know what, Noemi? On second thought, I think I can use a bite to eat,” Tiffany said, looking over at Alexus and April to see if they were hungry too.
April followed them to the back, but Alexus stayed out front with Portia and watched as the men stuffed bricks of cocaine inside the specially made stash spots in the trucks.
Gwen and Diamond walked off the elevator on the ground level. They were heading towards the front door when a tall, muscular man bumped Gwen, damn near knocking the wind out of her. It felt like she had walked into a brick wall. When the man noticed what happened, he reached out to catch her before she fell.
“Damn!” Gwen yelled, yanking away from his hands.
She glared up at the man, frowning fiercely up. He was a gentleman, and was very apologetic for bumping her so hard. Gwen couldn’t even stay mad at him. In fact, the longer she stood there looking at him, the more handsome he became. He had to be at least 6’6,” 270lbs. with a muscular build. He looked like a professional football player in a suit, but only cuter.
“My name is Terrence,” he said, extending his hand.
Instead of walking off as she planned, she stood there with her had extended back to him. “Gwen.” she greeted with a smile, then turned around to walk away.
“Wait, wait…” Terrence said, grabbing her arm lightly. “I know me bumping into you probably was enough, but you think I can get like two minutes out of your time?” he asked, looking in Gwen’s eyes. “Just two minutes?” he asked again, holding two fingers up.
Gwen
was interested in hearing what he had to say. She wanted to see if his brains matched how handsome he looked. She looked down at her watch then back up to him.
“You’re on the clock.” Gwen said, listening with all ears.
“I’m not gonna lie to you. I been in this building for a little more than a year, and this is the first time I’ve seen someone as beautiful as you,” he said in a soft tone. “Do you got business here, or will this be the last time I see you?”
Gwen blushed for a second, but got herself together quickly. She could tell that Terrence was a charmer. “You might be seeing more of me around here, and if you’re interested in buying or selling your home, then stop by my office any time after next week and we can discuss it.” Gwen replied, reaching into her bag and pulling out a card.
“Your office?” he asked, looking down at the card.
“Yeah, I’ll be on the 17th floor.”
“MHB Realty Company.” Terrence said, looking down at the card. “You said you’re on the 17th floor?” he asked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a card of his own. “Jackson & Johnson Realty Company.” He passed Gwen his card. “I’m on the 16th floor, right below you.” he said with a grin.
Gwen took his card. She was shocked to see that this handsome man was going to be her competition. Too bad, because she was starting to think he was cute. Gwen went right back into her street mentality, dealing with competition the best way she knew how.
“I’m sorry, but ya two minutes is up.” Gwen said, zipping up her bag. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around.” She nodded at Diamond and turned around to leave.
Terrance let her go this time. He didn’t mind a little friendly competition on the block, especially since he was already established in the game. He just didn’t want to rub Gwen the wrong way and possibly mess up his chances of getting with her later. Right now, he could see that she had a competitor mind frame, and to her, Terrence was just another obstacle in her way. Until she could realize that Terrence meant no harm, he was going to take the back seat and give her some space. Besides, she was new to the building, so Terrence had a little time to spare before he made his next move.
Country Girls 4 (Country Boy) Page 3
