by Anna J.
I was a little later than I normally was because when I got home, I had to deal with my mom’s shit. I knew she was getting high, but she kept denying it. Her and my dad were going through it right now because she dipped in his stash again, and I heard him asking my grandmom if she could keep some stuff at her house, because he couldn’t trust my mom to leave his stuff here anymore.
It was crazy, because my dad was known for being one of the highest paid hit men in the area. That’s why I couldn’t understand why we were still living around here. At the same time, I didn’t want to leave Journey, so I just dealt with what I had to.
When I got around to Journey’s block, I thought about calling her, until I saw all those buster-ass dudes sitting on the corner. I knew at least two of them had to be stick-up kids from the Ville, and although they all knew my father and Vince’s crazy ass, that didn’t always stop people from testing you.
Walking a straight line, I tried to avoid eye contact, but kept my head up at the same time to let them niggas know I wasn’t scared. These were the same nut-ass dudes that tried to convince me to sell coke so I could get fly shit. The dumbest part about that was my dad made sure he kept me in the hottest, so that aspect confused me. Whatever. I just held my breath and counted to ten like I usually did, because that’s how long it normally took me to get by.
“Look at this li’l nigga,” the one they called Boom said to the crowd as I walked by. “Look like he got them new Jordans on.”
“Yeah, it do, and I think I can fit them joints,” another goon from the crowd said. I kept on walking like that shit ain’t faze me, because neither one of their lame asses could touch me. I had my hand on my cell phone in my pocket, just in case I had to hit my dad up real quick. Truth be told, I knew none of them dudes had no real knuckle game, so this would be an easy win.
When I got up to the door, Journey was coming down the stairs, looking good as shit. My dick got hard instantly, but I promised her we would wait, so I tried to hold it down. For like four seconds, I thought about dipping back to Gina’s to take her up on that offer later on tonight, but that chick was ran through, and I knew Journey was worth the wait.
“Damn, ma. Look at you,” I said to her once she got outside. I held my hand out to help her down the steps, and I twirled her around in a circle to show her off to them mark-ass dudes on the corner before I pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her on her lips. When I pulled back from her, it looked like she had been crying, and my smile turned into a look of concern instantly.
“What’s wrong, baby? Did something happen?” I asked her as I locked eyes with her. I would lay down anybody who even thought about stepping to her. Journey was my world, and I swear I would put the lessons from the shooting range to good use out this bitch if somebody crossed her.
“No, I’m good, Khalid,” she said unconvincingly, and I automatically took my vision to the corner, wondering who in the crowd I would have to take out.
“One of them niggas say something to you?” I asked her, mentally preparing myself for what I would have to do. There was too many of them then, but at three in the morning, it would be a different story.
“Naw, my uncle tripping again. That’s all,” she said while placing a smile on her face, I guess to make me feel better. I would handle her uncle, too, when the time came, but for now, I just wanted to enjoy the night.
“Did he put his hands on you?” I asked her, inspecting her body for any signs of abuse. I hated that she had to be around here by herself, but my mom wouldn’t let me stay the night over here. I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and protect her from the world, but even little girls in the ghetto had to learn how to survive.
“No, baby, I’m good. Let’s go to the movies,” she said with another unconvincing smile. I decided to let it be what it was until she was ready to talk to me.
“Okay, baby, let’s be out. You looking real good in that dress, too,” I said to her as I hugged her from behind and pressed my erection against her butt. I slid my hands down her sides, realizing she had a thong on. She turned around and smiled at me with a devilish look on her face, and on some real shit, I was ready to skip the movie and go on upstairs.
“Come on, let’s go,” she said, taking my hand and pulling me behind her. I was ready to get it in, but I could wait.
When we got near the corner, I hugged Journey next to me a little tighter and eyeballed all those niggas, letting them see the dime I had on my arm. The look I gave them let them know they wouldn’t be able to get in sniffing distance of my baby. After getting money from my dad, we hopped on the 36 trolley heading toward Fortieth Street. Everybody was checking my baby out, and I just smiled because I knew every dude that looked at her wished they had her. We were going to be together forever, regardless of any situation.
Bunz B
Now or Never
“Move in silence,” I mouthed to the crew as we approached the store. The women inside were too busy conversing to pay any attention to us, and that’s normally how shit went down.
Gary’s simple ass was staggering a little bit because he was so high, and I knew at that very moment that if shit went down, he would be the fall guy. I was a little disappointed in him, though, because he knew how important this was to the crew, and he was acting as the weakest link as usual. It made me wonder why I ever chose him to be my right hand man in the first place.
As I signaled to Jamel and Kev, they moved as planned and kicked in the door, startling the women on the other side as we rushed in. Gary had one woman at gunpoint. I assumed she was the owner because she was behind the counter. From my viewpoint, I could see that she was standing near some stairs that led down to a basement. The other woman was cowering in the corner under Kev’s watchful eye, and all I had to do was grab the money and make a dash before one of the brothers came back to check on these ladies. I timed it perfectly, and if everything went as planned, we would be long gone before anyone showed up.
Watching everyone in the room, I jumped behind the counter and popped open the cash register, disappointed to see only a couple hundred dollars inside. That wouldn’t put a dent in what I needed, but it was a start. Feeling around for a trap door or something of the sort, I came across a panel in the wall that revealed a safe once it was pulled back.
“Yo, bitch, what’s the combination?” I yelled to the woman that Gary had under his gun, hoping like hell she would cooperate. I would hate to have to spaz out on this bitch, but it would definitely go down if need be. I didn’t need that kind of heat on me right at this moment. I just wanted to get this cash and get ghost.
She looked like she had possibly swallowed her tongue, but I needed answers now. Frustrated, I walked up to her and grabbed her by her throat, lifting her an inch off the floor and pinning her against the wall. She was shook beyond reason, and I just got even more pissed when I looked down and saw that piss had splashed against my shoes from her going on herself. I was ready to gut-punch her ass, because I just got these joints.
“I said, what’s the combination?” I spoke to her with my face mere inches from hers. I placed her back on the floor so that she could breathe. She took a few deep breaths before spitting out the code.
I signaled Gary to hold me down while I went to pop the safe, hoping for her sake that was the right code. The first time, it didn’t work, and I was about to turn around and blast her simple ass, but I tried it again, and this time it popped right open.
“Jackpot!” I said more to myself than anyone else as I unloaded the neatly stacked bundles of money and coke that went deep into the safe. I knew it had to easily have been twenty thousand in cash in this joint, and that was a good start. I had my eye on another store that I was sure had cash flow in there too, and that would be enough for me to get my money up and hide out for a while until shit died down.
Once I had all the money gathered, I stood up, signaling for my crew to kill the witnesses so that we could roll out. We couldn’t just run out of the store, though, beca
use we didn’t know who was outside, and we didn’t want to look suspect when we left.
Kev didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, the silencer making it possible to kill in silence and not alert the neighbors. When I looked over at Gary’s simple ass, he was looking like he didn’t want to do it, and was on some real high shit. I swear I always had to do shit myself.
“Yo, off that bitch,” I said to him in a normal tone, so as not to get loud in this place. This nigga was still hesitating.
Fed up with the situation, I moved to kill the woman myself, but before I could reach them, he knocked her down the steps where she hit a washing machine with a hard thud. I thought about shooting down the steps to make sure she was a goner, but my gun didn’t have a silencer on it, and I liked to kill close up so that I could see the fear in a person’s eyes. She wasn’t moving, though, so I figured she was as good as dead. We only had a few minutes to get in and get out, so going down the stairs would take too much time anyway.
Giving Gary one last disappointed look, I signaled for us to file out, and we did just that, stepping over the bloody mess that was the other woman, being careful not to step in the crimson puddle that had formed around her body that would leave possible footprints.
Once back in the car, we didn’t say a word to each other, making our way back to the hood as quickly as possible without drawing attention to ourselves. I still had that body in the back that we needed to ditch, because I could smell it on the inside of the car now, and it had been in there for three days, so it was time. I almost felt bad when I saw the young boy’s mom on the news, crying because she hadn’t seen her son in a week, but he owed me money, so I had to do what I had to do. He threatened to snitch me out to the feds because they were looking for both of our asses, and I couldn’t have that shit over my head.
Not paying attention, I rolled through a red light, kicking myself for not slowing down in time to stop at the light. I thought I was cool, until I saw the law turn the corner behind me and flash his lights. I knew I couldn’t stop because we had the body and the heat in the car, along with the bag of money we just got from the store. We were ass out anyway, because the car had stolen tags on it, and the license plate didn’t match the vehicle we were in.
Taking a glance around the car, everyone was cool but alert, except for Gary’s simple ass. He was knocked the fuck out in the corner, because he was high off them damn pills. He would be taking the loss for this tonight and we all knew it.
I sped up a little faster, and the cop car did the same, following me through five or six more lights. We had to act fast before he called in back-up and they were able to catch up to us. I wasn’t going to jail tonight, and Jamel and Kev had the same plan I had.
“Yo, I’m going through this next light then I’m coming to a dead stop. That’ll be your opportunity to jet or get caught,” I said as I grabbed the duffle bag and pulled the strap over my head so that it could wrap around my body. I felt bad for Gary for a split second, because he was one of the best I had. He just couldn’t leave that shit alone.
They all got ready, tucking the guns under the seats and wiping fingerprints from the doorknobs and dash. I had on gloves, so I wasn’t worrying about anything but getting away. We all knew what to do and where to meet, so I moved a little faster, causing the cop car to do the same.
Once I crossed the light, I slammed on the brakes, throwing the car in park and popping the door open, hauling ass down the street and cutting through the alley. The cops knew that once we got in the projects it would be a wrap, because once in a building, who’s to say we didn’t just go out the back or dipped off in one of the apartments?
Toya already knew I was coming there after the robbery, so I headed her way. The cop didn’t know whether to run after us or stay at the car, because we all spread out. He couldn’t chase all three of us at the same time, but I left him a little gift in the car, and I would make sure I hit Gary up once he was booked.
I could hear sirens coming from everywhere, so when I got to the projects, I slowed down and walked at a regular pace to blend in with the crowd, so that I wouldn’t look obvious. I spoke to a few people on the walk by as I entered on Fifty-fourth Street, stopping at the deli to get a strawberry White Owl and a double deuce of Heineken, opting to pull money out of my pocket instead of the duffle bag.
As planned, Toya had her door unlocked, so I just walked in and sat down on the couch, chilling out until she was done doing the woman’s hair in the kitchen. I was pissed because I told her to have an empty house when I got there, but bitches never listened, so what was I supposed to do? So that the women in the kitchen wouldn’t recognize me if they flashed my grill on the news, I went into the bedroom and stretched out on the bed until she was done. Toya would be mad because I had dirty clothes on her white comforter, but I had enough to buy her a million comforter sets, and by the time I got finished knocking the bottom out that pussy, she wouldn’t be mad anymore, so I wasn’t too worried about it.
I wanted to turn on the television to see how it all went down with Gary, but I didn’t want to know this soon. His simple ass made me sick. I should have just offed him myself to save time. I didn’t think he would snitch or anything like that, but he was useless unless he got his shit together, and I doubted he ever would.
A half hour later, Toya came in to the room, pissed that I was lying on top of her comforter with my boots still on. I got up and hopped in the shower to shut her ass up, plus I still had the young girl on me from earlier today, so I had to wash her shit off me too. By the time I came out, Toya had the television on with a breaking story from the cops, saying how they were looking for three suspects in a police chase and possible robbery, and that they had caught one guy because he was asleep in the back of the getaway car.
They didn’t have a clear picture of us from the dashboard camera of the cop car. All I saw was three men dressed in all black, so we’d be cool for a while. Her eyes got big when they said they found a body in the trunk, as well as guns and drugs in the vehicle, at the time they pulled the car over.
“Who got left in the car?” she asked, a stunned look on her face. I didn’t even bother to answer, because all that shit would be coming out over the next couple of days anyway.
Instead of answering her, I turned the TV off, pulled her ass to the edge of the bed, and tore the pussy up to put her to sleep. I personally couldn’t sleep myself, and I really didn’t want to turn the television on, so I laid there in the dark, staring at the ceiling and contemplating my next move. I would lay low here for a while. As long as I fed Toya’s pockets, she’d be cool, but I knew I would have to move out before they found out who we were and the hood got hot.
I would break the money down tomorrow so that I could give Kev and Jamel their cuts, and I would give Gary’s cut to his people, because they would be needing it for a lawyer. I just hoped he learned his lesson this time and left that shit alone. Things were about to get hectic, though. I just wasn’t sure if I was ready to deal with the bullshit yet.
Shanyce Davidson
Caught Out There
“I’m not fucking with that shit like that, and I don’t know why that much money is missing, Joey,” I said to my son’s father while trying to muster up an innocent look.
I fucked up again, but I swear I was not hooked on that shit. This time I’d used most of the money to buy a pocketbook, and I spent the rest on some Snow White that I copped from Journey on the low. I begged her not to tell Khalid, or anyone for that matter, what was up, but maybe she did. How else would Joey know I was getting high?
“Shanyce, I know how much money I had, and a thousand dollars is missing from the stash. You look fuckin’ high, and I heard you be coppin’ from up West Philly. I ain’t got time for this shit.”
“But Joey—”
“Shut the fuck up, Shanyce. Khalid will be staying at Journey’s house until further notice. Get your shit together or we’ll never be back. I shouldn’t have to hide shit from you
because I can’t trust your simple ass. I ain’t fuckin’ with no fiend.”
What could I say? I knew Joey would get tired of me sooner or later, but to the point where he would take my son from me? I didn’t think it would ever get that serious—and I was not a fiend. A fiend sucks dick for product when they can’t scrape up the change to buy it. I, on the other hand, had the money to buy it, even if it was borrowed from Joey. I say borrowed because I planned to put it back; he just found out before I could.
I was standing in the doorway of my son’s room while Joey went through his things to pack him a bag. You would think that I would have been more concerned, but my mind kept wandering to that small bag of powder I had tucked in the corner of my purse. A part of me wanted Joey to stay so we could work it out, but a small part of me wanted him to leave so I could sit in my room and get my head on right. I could stop whenever I wanted to, though; I wasn’t worried about that. I just didn’t need this nigga riding my head right now.
On the low, I saw Joey tuck a gun inside of the duffle bag he was filling with my boy’s clothes, and it made me wonder what else he was stashing in Khalid’s room. And did Khalid know? Or was that gun even in Khalid’s room to begin with? I would just wait for Joey to leave to do a thorough investigation. Right now I had to make sense of this situation.
Khalid was getting so big now, and I would hate for him to have to worry about me when he should be concentrating on school. Journey was such a nice girl, too, and I was glad to see that they were still close. Journey didn’t look like the type that was fucking yet, so I wasn’t really worried. Besides, if they did decide to take the plunge, I taught him everything he needed to know about protecting himself. I was too damn fine, and too damn young, to be a grandmother.
I didn’t even realize I was drifting in and out until Joey brushed past me to get out of the room and almost knocked me down. I loved Joey so much, and I knew what I had to do to get shit back tight. He had always been a good provider for me and Khalid, and I could always depend on him to hold me down. I would fix things between us. I just needed to get this hit up in me first.
