by Roy Glenn
Me’shelle reached behind her back, unhooked her bra and slid it off her shoulders. When she was naked, she lay down in bed next to Travis. He ran his hand across her breasts and teased them with his tongue, sliding it slowly around her beautiful, dark circles, but never touching her nipples. When Me’shelle spread her legs, Travis fingered her clit. He felt it getting harder under his touch. Me’shelle moaned her approval.
Travis guided his tongue along her eyebrows then kissed her eyelids. The sensation of hands gave way to the sensation of her lips, soft and wet, against his chest. As he lay on his back, eyes closed, he enjoyed the taste of her tongue darting playfully in and out of his mouth and across his chest.
She began gliding her hands across his skin to his now throbbing hardness. She reached out and slowly began to massage it. Me’shelle kissed him passionately as she continued to stroke his erection. Travis reached out for Me’shelle and gently moved her body so he could taste her. He ran his tongue along her lips and proceeded to lick her clit. She moaned her pleasure while continuing to slide her hand up and down his shaft.
Me’shelle repositioned herself and straddled his torso as Travis looked on with great anticipation. She lowered herself onto him. While she took his erection into the wetness between her thighs, they stared into each other’s eyes. They moved in unison; each movement was agonizingly slow and deliberate to heighten their mutual pleasure.
Me’shelle rolled off of Travis. He watched her crawl around on the bed and enjoyed the perfection that was Me’shelle’s ass. Travis crawled over beside her and ran his hands along her back, around her perfect ass, then squeezed her firm thighs. Me’shelle spread her legs and he fingered her clit and played with her lips.
Travis got up on his knees and entered her from behind. Her pussy was so soft, so wet; he could barely control his passion. He felt her ass buck, pounding against him. He felt the muscles inside her tighten around him.
Me’shelle smiled and touched his face, then she curled up in the fetal position. Travis ran his hand over her shoulder and down her arm. Her skin was soft and smooth. He paused to admire each curve, studying each nuance of her body.
Me’shelle began to move in response. She rolled into his arms and kissed his lips. He tasted her tongue. It glided slowly and smoothly over his. Travis broke their embrace and spread her legs. He kissed her inner thighs and once again tasted the wetness between them. Me’shelle held his head in place as his tongue slithered along her lips, making circles around her clit. Her grip grew tighter, her stomach muscles locked and her head drifted back in quiet ecstasy.
Chapter Twenty
After spending two months in Columbia, South Carolina, Bruce and his family finally returned to New York. The trip was productive, as Bruce had put together all the money he owed Chilly. Naturally, it took longer than it should have, because as soon as they made the money, they would smoke up half of it. When they came through the door, Brandy went straight to her room and closed the door. Bruce and Natalie went to their bedroom.
The first order of business was to call Chilly so Bruce could bring him his money. However, each time he called, Bruce was told that Chilly was unavailable. This made him nervous. He was always able to talk to Chilly whenever he needed to. He even tried to call Chilly at home. He talked to Chilly’s wife, Gee, but she hadn’t seen him since he left the house that morning.
Bruce paced nervously around the bedroom of the house his father left him. “What’s wrong, Bruce?” Natalie asked as she got undressed. She took off her bra and put on her nightshirt.
“This is the fifth time I called Chilly and muthafuckas keep feedin’ me this unavailable shit,” Bruce answered.
“Maybe he don’t care about the money no more.”
“That’s what worries me, Nat. If Chilly don’t want the money no more, then Chilly’s gonna want something else. I told you we were fuckin’ around down there too damn long. We shoulda came back when we had all the money the first time, but your ass had to start smokin’ it up.”
“Me? I seem to remember you were there smokin’ right along with me, so don’t give me this shit about me smokin’ it up.”
“So, it wasn’t you beggin’ me to re-up so we could have a little piece to do? You know, just you and me. That wasn’t you?”
“You coulda said no.”
“And even if I did just say no, how many nights did I come back after being out all night making money and find you down in Grandma’s basement smokin’ up whatever your searchin’ ass could find?”
“Well, you shouldn’t have left it there for me to find!”
“Who the fuck you yellin’ at?”
“I’m not yellin’. I’m just sayin’ if it wasn’t there, I couldn’t smoke it. You shoulda took the shit out the house with you.”
“If that ain’t the stupidest shit I ever heard!”
Natalie got quiet when Bruce started yelling.
“What I look like out in the street with all the dope on me? An easy-ass mark, waitin’ to get his ass robbed or killed!”
“Well, maybe you shoulda just left me a little piece to hit on. Then I wouldn’t have to go searchin’.”
“I guess you don’t remember we tried that one night. And what did you do? Huh? What did you do? Your ass went searching though the house, tearin’ shit up until you fuckin’ found it!”
“What you expect me to do? That little shit you left me!” Natalie screamed.
“Fuck this. This shit ain’t gettin’ us nowhere, Nat. I just need to get this nigga his money before he sends somebody after us.”
“Us? What the fuck you mean us?”
“Us means you and me, Nat. Like it or not, we in this together. He come after me, he come after you too.”
“Does that include Brandy?”
Bruce thought about the question. He walked over to the window and looked out. Everything that his aunts and Me’shelle told him about getting Brandy away from the life he was living came rushing home. “I guess it does.” He started down the hall to tell Brandy to pack her shit; she was going to stay with Me’shelle.
“That’s fucked up. How you gonna drag us into your shit? That’s too fucked up, Bruce. I’m gonna need a little hit to take my mind off this shit,” Natalie said.
Bruce looked at Natalie for a second or two. He wanted a hit too. He went to get his stash out of the closet. He took out a box that contained two pipes and his cooking paraphernalia, and went in the bathroom. Natalie got up and followed him.
Bruce opened the box and pulled out a test tube, a single-edge razor blade, and a $25 bag of cocaine.
“Pretty skimpy quarter,” Natalie commented.
“Not much cut on it,” he replied, lifting a box of baking soda and a rolled dollar bill from the box. He laid the bill on the counter and emptied the contents of the bag onto it. “You wanna cook?”
“No.”
Bruce paused and looked in her direction, chopping lightly. “Nothing but a habit, huh?” Bruce laughed. “Maybe Me’shelle’s right. Maybe I do need to snatch the pipe out your mouth and slap you upside your head.”
“Fuck Me’shelle’s wannabe-a-saint ass,” Natalie said as Bruce shook a little baking soda onto the dollar then mixed it in with the razor.
Bruce lit a candle. A teaspoon of water followed the mix into the test tube. Bruce held the tube over fire, watching carefully as it began to sizzle. He moved the tube away from the fire, poured in a little more water and shook the test tube. “Me’shelle said she was datin’ some nigga.”
“Nobody wants Me’shelle’s think-she’s-so-fuckin’-smart ass. Not after they fuck her anyway. She’s so smart until she’s stupid,” Natalie said, taking a pipe from the box and adjusting the screens.
“She’s smart enough to know this shit gonna kill us or get us killed. Maybe we should try to get off this shit.” Bruce poured the water slowly out of the test tube into a strainer. He placed the white rock of cocaine on a small mirror and sat on the edge of the tub. “Came back nic
e for a skimpy quarter.”
Natalie didn’t comment. She picked up the razor blade and cut off a piece of the rock. “Got any torches?”
“No,” he said, breaking the rest of the rock into smaller pieces. Bruce took the other pipe out of the box. “Use a lighter.”
“No. I don’t like the way it tastes.”
Bruce put a piece of the rock in the pipe. He took a quick hit to light it then pushed a lighter in front of her. “Even if we did have torches, we don’t have anything to burn with except rubbing alcohol, and I know you don’t like the taste of that.”
Reluctantly, Natalie picked up the lighter and lit her pipe. She watched the bowl of the pipe fill up with smoke. She paused a moment and thought about Brandy before lighting the pipe again.
Bruce and Natalie stayed in the bathroom smoking for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening. Bruce made several trips back to the closet to raid his stash until it was gone.
Chapter Twenty-one
“Why don’t you just take a couple of hundred that you got for Chilly and go get some more?” Natalie asked as she walked out of the bathroom and lay down on the bed.
“’Cause I ain’t tryin’ to live like that. Don’t you understand these muthafuckas ain’t no joke?” Bruce asked, slowly following her.
“Why not? I know you got more than you owe Chilly.”
“Did you hear what I been tellin’ you? I ain’t tryin’ to do that.”
Just then, a loud knocking at the front door startled them. “Go see who that is,” Bruce said.
“Yeah, but I still don’t see why you can’t take some of that money and go do what you gotta do,” Natalie whined as she got up to answer the door.
Bruce lay down on the bed, but got up immediately and went back in the bathroom. He checked to see if any pieces of rock had fallen on the floor. Not finding any, he began to think about getting some of that money and going to do what he had to do, as Natalie suggested. Then he heard Natalie scream.
“Stop! You can’t come in here like that!”
Bruce rushed out of the bedroom to find four masked men in the living room. Two of them were holding Natalie while she screamed her ass off and struggled to get free. One man was tearing up the living room. The other just stood there. “Shut her the fuck up,” he said as Bruce came into the room.
“What the fuck is this?” Bruce screamed. “Let her go!”
“Chilly sends his regards,” the man said then punched Bruce in the face. Bruce hit the ground hard, but got right up. The man hit him again, and Bruce went down. This time he stayed there.
One of the men who was holding a still struggling Natalie tore the shirt off her back, leaving Natalie naked except for her panties. He quickly ripped the shirt in half. He spun Natalie around and hit her hard in the face then used the shirt as a gag to keep her quiet. He tied her hands behind her back and started to fondle her breasts.
Brandy heard the commotion in the front room and immediately knew what time it was. She had feared this day would come. She locked her door and went into her closet to hide, quickly pulling clothes off the hangers and pouring all of her dirty clothes on the floor. She lay on the floor and tried to pull as many clothes as she could on top of herself. She lay there, shaking and listening.
“Where the fuck is the money, Bruce?”
“I got the money, man! There ain’t no need for all this!”
The man stepped up and kicked Bruce in the face. “Where is it?” he asked and kicked him again, this time in the gut. The man pulled out a.45 with a silencer and pointed it at Bruce.
Bruce screamed in pain. “It’s in my bedroom. I’ll get it. Just don’t hurt her,” he begged, watching the two men feeling on Natalie. His next thought was for Brandy.
The man with the gun signaled for the one who was searching for the money to go look in the bedrooms. He went down the hall and stopped in front of Brandy’s door. “It’s locked!” he yelled when he turned the knob. He kicked it in, then went inside and began to look around.
There was terror in Bruce’s eyes when he saw the man go in Brandy’s room. “Not that room! The other one!” A feeling of relief came over Bruce as he watched the man come out of Brandy’s room and go into his.
“Where?” the armed man asked.
“In the closet. In a shoebox on the shelf.”
“You hear that?” the armed man yelled.
The searcher went into the closet and found the box. He opened it up and got the money, counting it as quickly as he could. Once he was finished counting, he yelled, “I got it!” and stuffed some of the money in his sock.
“Bring it here,” the armed man commanded.
The searcher came out of the room and brought the money to the armed man. “How much is it?” he asked Bruce.
“There’s five thousand dollars there. The four grand I owe Chilly and another grand for making him wait. But you can keep the other grand. Just leave my wife alone,” Bruce pleaded with the armed man.
He began to slowly count the money. His eyes narrowed and he counted it again. “There’s only forty-five hundred here, nigga.”
“I swear, man, I had five grand in that box,” Bruce said. Both he and the armed man looked at the searcher.
“Where the rest of the money?” He pointed his gun at the searcher.
“That’s all there was, man. He’s lyin’,” the searcher insisted.
“I don’t think so. Why would he lie? You got that money, muthafucka!” He shot the searcher once in the face.
“Oh, shit!” Bruce said. Natalie’ eyes bucked open and Brandy put her hand over her mouth at the sound of the blast.
The armed man turned to one of the men who was holding Natalie. “Search him. It doesn’t take two of y’all to hold that bitch.”
Before doing as he was told, one of the men stuck his hand in Natalie’s panties. “I’ll be back for you, baby.” Natalie struggled to break free, but it did her no good.
He rolled the searcher over so he wouldn’t have to look at his face. He went though his pockets and found nothing. “He ain’t got it.”
“Check his socks and in his drawers,” he commanded.
Once again, his orders were followed. “You were right. Nigga had it in his sock.”
“Y’all got what you came for, man. Why don’t y’all just go? Tell Chilly I’m sorry. It will never happen again,” Bruce said.
“Search the joint. Make sure there ain’t no more money up in this bitch.”
“There ain’t no more money here, man.”
“No, Bruce, I think there is. You’re in too big a hurry for us to bounce. There’s something else in here.”
The man went off and began his search in Brandy’s room. Bruce closed his eyes and prayed that Brandy had left the house while they were getting high. When he opened his eyes and looked at Natalie, she was completely naked, bent over a chair. Her captor was standing behind her.
“Look what I found!” he said, dragging a kicking and screaming Brandy by the arm. He threw her on the couch. “I found her fine, young ass hiding in the closet.”
“So, that’s what you was hidin’, huh, Bruce?”
“Please don’t hurt my baby, man. Please,” Bruce begged with tears rolling down his cheeks.
“You need a little something to remind you that Chilly ain’t nobody to be fuckin’ around with, Bruce. Fuck them bitches.”
“No!” Bruce yelled. “Don’t do that! I won’t fuck with Chilly’s money no more!”
Bruce watched as the man pulled Brandy’s pants off. She struggled to resist him. He hit Brandy in the head several times, then pulled down his pants and put his hand over her mouth. Bruce jumped up from the floor in an attempt to pull the man off Brandy, but before he could get to him, the armed man beat Bruce back down to the floor.
While the man kicked away, Bruce looked at Natalie. As her assailant forced himself inside her, Bruce saw the pain and anguish in her eyes. He heard her muffled cries. Then he looked at Brandy
.
He tried again to get off the floor, but his attempt was met by the barrel of a gun. “Open your eyes, nigga, and see what happens when you fuck with the wrong nigga.” The man kicked Bruce in the face.
Brandy reached out and grabbed the lamp next to the couch. She hit her attacker in the back of his head with the base of the lamp. It stunned him long enough for Brandy to push him off.
“Run, Brandy!” Bruce yelled.
But Brandy was way ahead of him. She ran out the front door.
“Go after her!” the armed man yelled. Natalie’s attacker went out the door after Brandy. Natalie tried to run out too, but before she made it to the door, the armed man grabbed her and threw her to the floor.
Brandy didn’t look back. She ran into the streets, screaming as loudly as she could. “Help me, please! Somebody help me!”
She heard the sound of footsteps coming up quickly behind her as she rounded the block. One old man came out of his house. “What’s going on out here?”
“Mind your business, old man,” Brandy’s pursuer warned. The man backed into his house. By that time, Brandy was out of sight. He turned around and went back to Bruce’s house.
“Where is she?” the armed man asked as he finished having his way with Natalie.
“I couldn’t catch her,” he answered, fearing the outcome.
“Fuck it. Let’s go.” He looked at Bruce, who was lying on the floor crying but still glad that Brandy had escaped. At the same time, he knew his fate.
The armed man raised his gun and pointed it at Natalie. “Watch your woman die.” He fired twice then turned the gun on Bruce.
Chapter Twenty-two
When Me’shelle arrived at school, there was a message waiting for her to call a number at Jacobi Hospital. When she spoke with the nurse, she was told that the night before, the police brought in a young woman. She was found wandering the streets wearing only a black T-shirt and socks. Cold chills ran through Me’shelle’s body as she asked the young woman’s name. She knew it could only be Brandy.
