by Sephiri J
The guy turned to me as City stepped to the side and watched him closely.
“My bad, ma. I ain’t mean nothin’ by it. I’m sorry, for real,” he said, looking down at the ground like a lost animal.
“Whatever,” I said and turned away from him.
I was still mad that he had the audacity to put his hands on me, but I was glad that City had stepped in. I felt City’s hands on my waist as we walked away, and I smiled. When we got to the section where he had his bottles, I turned to face him. He was grinning down at me.
“Why you ain’t text me that you was here? I would’ve come down for you,” he said as he hugged me and rubbed on my ass.
“Babe, where is your phone? I texted you when I was pulling up,” I said as I wrapped my hands around his neck and pressed my body into him. He smelled good, and I closed my eyes and let his whole body envelop mine.
“Oh, my bad.” He chuckled then squeezed my ass some more.
I giggled and leaned back to look up at him. His warm, brown eyes stared right back down at me.
“I missed your ass,” he said and licked his lips.
I felt my pussy jump, and I leaned up to kiss him. His lips were like pillows, and I couldn’t help the moan that left my throat as the music blasted around us.
“I missed you too,” I said when I broke away from him.
“What you want to drink?” he asked me.
I looked down at the VIP table filled with bottles of Henny, D’usse and Gray Goose. There were cranberry and orange juice mixers too.
“I’ll make a cranberry vodka,” I said just as I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I turned to see Monica standing behind me. She looked at me then over at City.
“Hey, boo,” I said then stepped back and pulled her up beside me. I turned to look at City who was looking between Monica and me.
“Babe, this is my friend, Monica,” I introduced them.
City raised his eyebrow. “I know Monica,” he said and put his hands in his pockets.
He had a look on his face like he wanted to say something else. I cocked my head to the side because I had no idea the two of them knew each other. I hadn’t told City who I was coming with, but Monica knew that City was going to be here. She never said anything about knowing him this whole time.
“Oh, for real? From where?” I asked, looking back at Monica and then at City.
City looked like he was going to say something then Monica piped up. “Just from around. I met him at the hospital I work at. But nothing too deep,” she said.
“Oh, you never told me you met him before,” I said and turned to her. She gave me a smile, but it seemed forced.
“It must have slipped my mind. What ya’ll drinking?” she asked, changing the subject and looking down at the table beside us. Something about how she said it rubbed me the wrong way, but I wasn’t gonna get caught up in it tonight. I’d let it slide for now.
City had leaned down and was pouring me some vodka cranberry. He handed it to me, and I smiled at him.
“Can I have one too?” Monica asked.
I looked at him, and he looked at the table.
“Go ’head,” he said and sipped on his own drink.
Monica frowned, and it was like she expected him to make hers as well. The way she was flexing right now had me wondering if she knew him better than she said. She was being shady, and I wasn’t feeling it. I wanted to get City by himself, so I could find out the real story.
Just then, I noticed his boy Guwop walking in with the other friend, Marcus, and a few girls.
“What’s good, nigga!” City greeted them as they walked up to us.
Guwop was all smiles, and I couldn’t help but remember what Sade said happened between the two of them. He came over to me after he greeted City and gave me a hug.
“What’s up, Bo?” he asked, grinning at me with his white teeth flashing.
“I’m good. How you been?” I asked. I looked at the girl who was standing about a foot behind him. He turned and looked to where I was looking then back at me.
“This is my friend, Chloe,” he said and nodded at the girl who took a step back and gave me her hand to shake. She was cute, but she didn’t have anything on Sade.
“Hey,” is all I said to her and looked back at Guwop.
“How’s your friend?” he asked me, and I knew he was talking about Sade.
“She’s good, I think. We kinda fell out, but I’m giving her a little space. That’s my girl, though, so I’m always gonna look out for her,” I said and looked back at Chloe.
Guwop saw where my eyes landed, and he chuckled. “Yeah, I got you, Bo. Your girl bowed out from anything I had to offer, so until she’s ready, I’m chillin’,” he said.
I nodded. I liked Guwop, and even though I didn’t know him that well, I knew he was a hundred times better man than Greg was.
“Let’s do some motherfuckin’ shots,” I heard Marcus say behind us, and he was holding up the bottle of Goose.
He was a character, and I hadn’t decided if I should mention to City that he had tried to get at me hard. But he seemed to have calmed down, so I was just going to watch him and make sure he stayed in his lane. The less drama I had to deal with, the better.
Somebody poured the shots, and we took two to the head back to back. The music was pumping, and the vibe in the club was lit. After a while, I forgot all about Monica’s shady ass as I danced on City.
“Drip too hard, don’t stand to close, you gon’ fuck around and drown off this wave,” I sang out loud to Lil Baby and Gunna’s song as I grinded on City.
The liquor was running through me, and I felt nice. Guwop was dancing on his little friend, and Monica was over on the other side of VIP in some nigga’s face. But every now and then I saw her look over at us. I had to get to the bottom of what the fuck she had going on because it was weird as fuck.
“Ima go take a leak,” City leaned down to my ear and said. I nodded and turned to face him. He leaned down to kiss me.
“When I get back, we stayin’ for like ten then we out. I’m tryna eat your ass tonight,” he said.
I bit my bottom lip and grinned at him. He was so blunt with what he wanted, and it turned me on to no end. He didn’t even know how much.
I watched him walk away then I walked over to the bar to get some water to try to sober up a little. I’d had another two shots plus a second mixed drink. Although I wasn’t driving home tonight, I didn’t want to get to the house and pass out. Nasty sex with City sounded like the perfect end to this night.
“Hey,” I heard someone say behind me, and I turned to see Marcus walk up beside me and sit down.
“What’s up?” I asked and turned back to my water.
“Nothin much. You look nice tonight. Figured I’d come by and say what’s up,” he said. I turned to him, and his eyes were roaming my whole body. I rolled my eyes. I was over him.
“Thanks. Look, you know me and City are together right?” I asked cutting straight to the chase.
“Yeah, what’s up?” he said looking at me with his eyes low.
“You his boy, but the way you be lookin’ at me sometimes, it's weird,” I said raising my eyebrow at him.
“Woah,” he said, holding up his hand. “I’m not tryna to get at you, shorty. I was just telling you that you look good. City is like my brother, so don’t take that shit no other way.”
I knew he was backtracking because I called him out. But I was too tired and didn’t care enough to do any back and forth with him.
“Okay, as long as you understand. We are on a friendship thing, so I want to make sure you understand that,” I said and took another sip of my water.
“I feel you,” he said. “Although to be honest, I didn’t know what your relationship was like since your friend be up in his face hard, so I figured it wasn’t that serious.”
“Huh?” I asked turning to look at him.
“What?” he asked looking at me with a dumb look on his fac
e.
“What you just said, nigga? Which friend?” I asked impatiently.
“Monica, your girl you came in with. She’s been around a couple times before,” he said all nonchalant and sipped on his drink. I felt my heart starting to beat fast because this was news to me and some bullshit.
“Oh really?” is all I managed to say.
“Yeah, not on no serious shit. You know how City is. But they been fuckin’ around for a minute. I thought you knew and was cool with it,” he said.
I turned away and tried to calm down. I was about to lay into both of them when I saw them next. But especially Monica because she knew about him and hid that shit from me.
“They downstairs talkin now so I just figured I’d come over to you and say what’s up,” he added.
I reached for my water and gulped the rest down before I stood up.
“Talk to you later, Marcus,” I said.
He had a smirk on his face, and part of me felt like he said that shit to rile me up, but I didn’t give a fuck now.
Walking down to the stairs, I looked around for the two of them. Sure enough, just like the nigga said, they were standing by the wall outside the male bathroom. Monica was saying something and waving her hands around, and City was pinching the bridge of his nose in apparent frustration. Neither of them saw me. Monica reached out and put her hand on his chest, and I saw her lean up like she was trying to kiss him.
“Oh hell naw,” I said to myself as I saw City put his hands up and lean away from her.
“Bitch the fuck you doing?!” I said walking right up to them and smacking her hand off his chest.
She turned to look at me in surprise then stepped back.
“Bo chill,” City said reaching for me, but I smacked his hand away too and stepped in front of him to get in her face.
“You a fucked up type of friend ho. Why you didn’t tell me you and City used to fuck?” I asked, looking her dead in her face.
Her eyes got wide then she crossed her hands in front of her.
“It never came up in conversation,” she said in a smug tone of voice.
“Bitch! How? You knew we were coming so you could meet him. What kind of fucked up friend are you?” I asked angrily.
“Bo get out my face, please. I’m trying to talk to City,” she said and pushed me to the side.
That’s when I snapped and jumped on her. All I remember was hitting her in the face and pushing her. When she fell on the ground, I got right on top of her throwing punches. This was no kind of friend to me. I was beyond pissed because I thought we were cool. But her whole ass attitude to me was snarky. She’d been fucking with City and didn’t have the decency to tell me, all the while pretending like she was happy she would be meeting my boyfriend for the first time. Our friendship was dead.
I felt strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me up off of her, but I was still swinging.
“Monica when you see me again ho, don’t even speak. Cuz I will give you round 2 with no hesitation,” I yelled at her as City pulled me away and out the club.
Once we were outside, he put me down and held on to my shoulders.
“No, I’m not fucking with you right now City,” I said angrily.
I was angry at Monica, but I was also mad at him. I didn’t know if he knew she was my friend, but when I walked in with her tonight he knew, so he should have said something then.
“Bo chill,” he said shaking me and then he grabbed my chin so I could look up at him. I looked up at him and tried to calm down.
“I didn’t know you were bringing her. You see I don’t want that bitch right? She was all up in my face,” he said to me.
I had to admit that from what I saw it didn’t look like he was trying to entertain her. But still.
“How long have you known her?” I asked him and crossed my hands in front of me.
“Not that long. We fucked yeah, but it was on and off. And it was never anything serious. I ain’t been with her since I met you,” he said.
I believed him. But I needed him to understand something about me.
“City, I trust you. But once that trust is broken, it won’t ever get fixed again. You cheat on me, I’m not going to pretend like its okay. Just don’t fuck me over okay?” I said. I had a lot of emotion in my voice, it might have been the drinks. It might have been the fact that I had to beat my friend's ass and I was also missing my best friend. But I also had a lot of feelings invested in City, and I needed him to understand where I was coming from.
He looked me in my face. “We are good Bo.”
I nodded. Okay.
“Let's go. Forget that bitch. It’s you and me,” he said.
We walked to the curb to wait for the Uber, and I leaned into his chest. I hoped to God he wasn’t lying to me. I couldn’t beat every bitch that fucked him even if I wanted to.
14
The next night
Guwop
I was in beast mode right now. Tonight was the night we were going through with this lick, and I needed everything to go smoothly. We’d planned this for weeks, and everything was in place. I had my men who were riding in the back of this truck to help me and City take the cars. I had my warehouse set up and 5 mechanics waiting on me to tear the cars down and move the parts out. And I had Lucas ready with instructions from the connect with the location of the truck transporting the cars.
If everything went smooth, we would have the cars at the warehouse 5 hours from now. I was giving this shit a week tops to get the parts out and the money back. This whole thing was gonna be in and out so I could move on to the next thing.
Lucas was sitting beside me up front, and he’d just gotten the call that the truck with the cars was on I-85 just outside of Charlotte, and the connects driver was in the driver's seat. It worked out perfect for us because the warehouse we rented was outside of Augusta Georgia which was about 2 hours out from the route the truck was taking when we hoped to intercept them. From what the connect said, we were 10 minutes away from the truck. City was driving in the semi behind me, and my adrenaline was pumping fast. This was the biggest job I’d ever done, and I was nervous as fuck. But we’d covered all our bases, so nothing to do but finish the shit now.
“So what’s the plan for after we break this shit down?” Lucas asked me. He looked nervous too, but that was to be expected because we were both on edge.
“I got the buyers lined up. We just gotta move the parts,” I said tapping on the steering wheel. It was midnight, and the roads were empty, which was a plus. We didn’t need any traffic or eyes.
“Aight cool, cool. You got a place to stash the money before you divide it up?” Lucas asked me.
I nodded. That was something I had thought about for a few days. I needed the money to be in a central location so I could divide everyone’s share up when it was said and done. I didn’t want to keep it in my safe at the crib, but I didn’t trust any location owned by anyone else. It was a shit load of money.
“City suggested I stash it in the back room behind my office. You know the one,” I said. City, Lucas and myself were the only ones who had keys to the locks for the back room in my office. That shit was tight like a prison. Once upon a time, I used to stash drugs back there because I didn't want the shit in my crib. So I had a big ass safe inside the room, and there were four locks on the door. Only the 3 of us had access to that room because those two niggas were the only ones I trusted.
“City suggested that?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah,” I said. Lucas got quiet.
“Ya’ll gon squash this beef or nah?” I asked him glancing at him. The shit was dumb to me, and they needed to talk.
“I was thinkin about it the other day, and I think the two of us need to have a conversation,” Lucas said.
I nodded. “It’s way overdue. I don’t even think either of you know why you don’t fuck with each other.”
He shrugged, and I shook my head. Niggas was weird.
“Yeah well. We gon’ see, b
ut right now I’m not worried about that. Let's get at this money. There they are,” he said pointing ahead. I saw the truck lights about thirty feet ahead of us, and my heart started racing. It all came down to this.
I sped up as I pulled my mask down over my face and signaled out the window for City to drive past me. He did, and when I pulled up behind the semi, he pulled up beside it and honked his horn like crazy. I saw that he had pulled his mask on too like we’d discussed. The brake lights for the truck came on, and I saw it pull over onto the shoulder. When we came to a stop, I jumped out of the truck and grabbed the weapons we had packed in before we left. Out the back of my truck, eight of my niggas rushed out, all with their masks down and guns out.
“Get the fuck out!” City yelled as he had his gun in the driver’s face.
That was my nigga; he didn’t play no games. The driver had his hands up, and he looked scared. He was playing the part well because he was the guy Lucas said was in on the whole thing with the connect. There was some other nigga in the passenger seat who looked genuinely scared as fuck. But if he did what he was supposed to and didn’t try to play hero over some cars, he wouldn’t have no problems.
“Aye, ease up,” I said to the passenger side nigga because he was looking all around like he was getting ready to try something. He looked at me, and I saw him swallow nervously, but he sank back down in the seat. I knew I was gon’ have to keep an eye on that one.
“We need all them cars back there. So get the fuck out and release the shit,” City said to the driver.
The driver opened up the door with his hands shaking, and City pressed his gun to the back of his head for show. I had my gun trained on the passenger side nigga just in case, but I watched as City walked to the back with the driver. All my men were waiting anxiously for the driver to release the cars from the back so we could drive them off and into the back of our trucks.
Two minutes later my men were hopping onto the back of the semi and jumping into the cars that were neatly lined up. I was happy to see that the cars I expected were sitting nicely, and all waiting for me. There was a couple million dollars worth of merchandise here, and I knew I was going to come up after I broke them down. I glanced at my watch to check the time. Only 7 minutes had gone by so we were making good time. Out the corner of my eye, I saw the nigga in passenger seat jump up.
