by CJ Hudson
“Wait a minute! That shit ain’t right! You expect me to pay for a debt his ass made?”
“Yep,” Bo said as he walked out and slammed the door.
Ivory was tight. She couldn’t believe that Darnell had put her in such a fucked-up position. She ran into her bedroom and opened up the duffle bag that contained the weed he’d left. To her surprise, there was nowhere near the amount of weed that was in there before. Damn, have I been smoking that damn much? She quickly closed the bag back up.
Ivory then grabbed her gun out of the nightstand. She wasn’t going to get caught slipping again. Ivory jetted out the door and down the hallway. Just before she ran out the front of the building, she heard her landlord screaming about the rent. Ivory ignored her and continued on her way, hoping like hell that Darnell had enough money stashed in his house to pay off the debt.
* * *
Ivory repeatedly and angrily banged her fists on the steering wheel. From her vantage point, she could tell that someone had broken into his house. It didn’t take a genius to quickly figure out that whoever broke in had more than likely ransacked the place, too. Ivory slowly got out of her car and walked toward the front door. With her knuckles, she pushed the already-open door and eased in the house. Her temperature rose immediately as her eyes focused on the trashed house.
Ivory quickly ran into the bedroom and went straight to Darnell’s closet. Although she felt bad about him getting killed, she was pissed that he involved her in his bullshit. She opened the closet door and started hyperventilating. Right there on the floor was a safe that looked as if it had been pried open some kind of way. The only thing in it was air.
Ivory stormed back out of the house, mad as fuck. She knew that there was no need to look anywhere else in the house. Whoever had looted Darnell’s house had probably gone through every room in there, and Ivory saw no reason to put herself through the aggravation. During her drive home, Ivory tried to figure out what she was going to do. Not only did she not have a way to pay back the dudes who had come to collect Darnell’s debt, but she also didn’t have any way to pay her rent. In her mind, there was only one thing she could do.
As soon as Ivory got home, she started packing. She needed to leave town, and she needed to leave fast. There was no way she was going to be able to come up with the money. Staying with Tammy was out, not only because her mother didn’t like her, but also because she didn’t want to extend her problems to her friend.
When she was done packing, Ivory walked out the front door and ripped the eviction notice off the door. She crumpled it up, threw it on the ground, and spat on it. Sentimental value didn’t mean anything to her, so she didn’t give a shit about anything that was in the place. She was going to miss Tammy, and as soon as she got to her destination, she was going to call her and explain what went down. With two suitcases, an overnight bag, the duffle bag of what was left of the weed, and $2,000 in her pocket, Ivory headed for Solon, Ohio, to stay with the only other person in the world other than Tammy who she truly believed cared about her.
Chapter 33
Hakim’s introduction into the dope was turning into a tedious chore. He was up all night at Red’s learning how to cook, cut, and bag dope. This was the part of the game he hadn’t thought about. All he envisioned were cars, flashy jewelry, and lots of money in his pocket. Hakim thought about how they had worked him like a plow mule and shrugged his shoulders. If this was what it took for him to become a kingpin, then he would just have to bear it. Besides, it ain’t like I’m flipping burgers or no fucked-up shit like that.
Hakim suddenly had a thought. He had to find somewhere to hide his product while he was living at Nikki’s. He knew damn well that he couldn’t leave it out in the open, especially with Nikki’s dopefiend mother and sister lurking around.
“Damn, nigga, you gon’ get out or stare into fucking space?” James asked him, breaking his train of thought.
“Oh, my bad, dawg,” Hakim said as he thanked James for the ride.
“Yo, hold up a second,” James said just as Hakim was getting out of his car. James reached under his seat and pulled out a .45-caliber handgun and handed it to Hakim. “You gon’ need one of these if you gon’ be in the game.”
Hakim grabbed the cold piece of steel and immediately felt like a big shot. Visions of Steve lying in a pool of his own blood flashed through his mind, but he quickly dismissed them, knowing that his mother would never forgive him if Steve met his demise by his hand. “Thanks, dawg.”
Seeing the look in Hakim’s eyes, James figured he’d better say something to the youngster. “Don’t be pulling that muthafucka unless you plan on popping something for real. They play for keeps out here in these streets. You gotta protect yo’self at all times, but don’t be a fool with it.”
Hakim nodded as he got out of the car. Walking up to the front door, he smiled. He saw that the eviction notice had been taken down, so he knew what to expect once he got inside the house. As soon as he walked through the front door, he heard sobs coming from Nikki’s bedroom. He slowly walked down the corridor and pushed the door open. Nikki was sitting on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands. Tears trickled down her arms and fell off the points of her elbows.
“What’s goin’ on?” he asked as if he didn’t know.
“I just found out that my mother hasn’t been paying the fucking rent! And that bitch-ass landlord put a damn eviction notice on our door, talking about if the rent ain’t caught up by Friday, I gotta get out.”
Hakim noticed that Nikki said “I” and not “we.” “Damn, that’s fucked up. What did yo’ moms say about that shit?”
“I don’t even know where the fuck she at! I ain’t seen her or my sister in three damn days! They probably somewhere sucking somebody’s dick for a hit of crack! I ain’t got no money. How the fuck am I gonna pay seven hundred fifty dollars by Friday?”
Nikki then fell back on her bed and covered her face with the pillow. Hakim’s hustle profits were now up to $5,000, so he could afford to pay it, but first, he was going to set some ground rules. He went over to Nikki and sat down beside her.
“I’ll tell you what,” he started. “I can help you out, but if I do that, then I’m gonna have to stay here. I ain’t paying rent in a place where I ain’t laying my head.” Hakim smiled on the inside because he knew that there was no way Nikki was going to be able to turn him down. Plus, he would have in-house pussy whenever he wanted.
“You would do that for me?” she asked as Hakim easily misled her.
“Of course. I’m ready to get up outta my mom’s house anyway. But check it. If I’m gonna pay the rent up in this piece, then I got a few rules that have to be followed. I don’t know how yo’ sis and moms gon’ feel about that, though.”
“Don’t worry about them,” she said as she hugged him. “As long as you paying the bills, my mom’s ain’t gon’ give a fuck what you do.”
“That’s what’s up,” Hakim said as he grabbed her ass. This was going along just as he’d planned. And if he was lucky, he thought, he might just get to fuck Nikki’s mom after all.
* * *
Dryer’s mood had changed dramatically since he’d walked into the restaurant to grab a meal. He smiled sinisterly while he watched Bobby and Tammy walk out the front door of Pancake Heaven. He hadn’t talked to his partner for a couple of days, so he had no idea if Stone was at work, but he was so giddy about his plan to get at Red that he decided to call him and run it past him. The first time he called, it went to voicemail. He called again five minutes later, and Stone picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, what’s up, partner?” Dryer said after Stone answered the phone.
“Not much, just enjoying my day off,” Stone answered.
“Well, let me run this idea by you right fast.”
Stone held the phone, completely disinterested in what Dryer was talking about. He had more important things on his mind at the time. When Dryer was done, he tried to get Stone on board with hi
s plan. Stone accepted for no other reason than to get Dryer off the phone. After hanging up, Stone went back to enjoying the head that Nancy was giving him.
Even though Nancy liked dealing with blacks on the sex tip, Stone was giving her money to support her habit. Knowing his partner’s fiery temper and penchant for violence, he had a choice to make at that point. He could either stop messing around with Nancy, or be more careful. And since Nancy had the ability to make him come twice in less than five minutes, he decided that he would just have to be more careful.
Chapter 34
Six Weeks Later
Tammy sat on the couch and sighed. She had just come from the doctor and was having mixed feelings. Getting pregnant right before she was scheduled to start school was not in the plan. Now she had to decide if she was going to attend classes while pregnant or put her schooling on hold.
The only time they were ever separated was when Bobby was in the street doing his thing. Over the last few weeks, she and Bobby grown closer and closer.
The fact that he and Tammy were so close irked the hell out of Red. In his mind, Tammy was costing him money because Bobby had missed a few meetings while kicking it with her.
Although Tammy and Ivory conversed on a regular basis, Tammy hated that her homegirl stayed in a different city. She resisted the urge to say, “I told you so” when Ivory told her about the sheisty way Darnell had put her life in danger. She was just glad that her friend was okay.
Tammy thought back to that night she moved in with Bobby. That had to be the night she got pregnant, because every other time after that, they made sure to use protection. Tammy was very nervous. She had no idea how he would react. She wanted to call her mother and tell her that she was going to be a grandmother, but due to the fact that she’d hardly talked to her since she’d put her and Hakim out, she didn’t know if she should try to call her again. She’d only talked to her a couple of times since then, and even then, Janice would rush her off the phone.
It hurt Tammy to her soul that her mother didn’t want to be bothered with her children anymore. She would have to give some thought to whether she would call her mother.
She still hadn’t worked up the nerve to ask Bobby if her brother could visit them. Bobby was very apprehensive about letting people he didn’t know visit him, and even though Hakim was Tammy’s brother, she wanted to make sure that it was okay with Bobby before she invited him over. To this day, she hadn’t called Hakim by his name in front of Bobby. She always referred to him as “my brother” when she talked to Bobby.
Tammy rubbed her stomach and wondered if she had made the biggest mistake of her life by getting pregnant. To keep her mind off of things, Tammy picked up another one of Bobby’s manuscripts. His writing was really starting to look authentic. She’d been trying to get him to send it off and see if he could get it published, but he didn’t think it was good enough. Tammy shook her head and laughed. It seemed that Bobby was confident in everything except the one thing that he should’ve been confident in.
* * *
Bobby and Red sat on Red’s couch playing Xbox. They’d had a strained relationship ever since Tammy came in the picture. It was funny how Tammy was never mentioned by name. Whenever anyone in the crew said anything about Tammy, they referred to her as “broad” or “chick.” Bobby didn’t like it, but he decided that he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of knowing that it bothered him.
He was on his way out of the game anyway. Bobby had socked away a cool $500,000 and had plans to start his own publishing house. Tammy didn’t know it, but Bobby had been spending a lot of time reading up on the business, and he’d learned a lot in a short period of time.
Red held out a blunt he was smoking so Bobby could take it.
Sensing the tension between the two of them, Dru asked about a meeting that Bobby had missed. “Yo, Bobby, how long you think it took for us to bag that shit up last time?”
Bobby turned his head and glared at him.
“How the fuck he know? He wasn’t here,” Red laughed.
Bobby knew exactly what Dru was doing. Looking like Joe Pesci in the movie Goodfellas, Bobby pulled out his gun and fired a shot in Dru’s direction.
“Shit!” Cedric and Hakim screamed in unison as the two of them ducked for cover. The bullet ripped through Dru’s ear and lodged in the loveseat.
“Nigga, what the fuck wrong with you?” Red yelled as Dru fell on the floor and squirmed around. Dru immediately reached for the .22 that was on his hip.
“Go ahead, so I can put a muthafucking part in ya head.”
Seeing that Bobby had the drop on him, Dru eased his hand off of his weapon. Bobby then backed up until he passed Red.
“Bobby, what the hell is wrong with you?” Red asked.
“Ain’t shit wrong wit’ me! I’m just tired of that punk muthafucka over there trying to talk slick all the damn time!”
“That nigga just playing with you!”
“He plays too muthafucking much! I know exactly what the fuck he’s tryin’ ta do, even if yo’ blind ass don’t! But you know what? Fuck you, that bitch-ass nigga over there, and this punk-ass operation! From now on, I’m through with this shit!”
“What the fuck you talking about? All this muthafucking cheese we making, and you wanna just bounce like that?” The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds. “Oh, I know what it is,” Red said, snapping his fingers. “You catering to that bitch you been fucking around with for the last couple of months.”
Without even thinking about it, Bobby punched Red in the mouth. Blood and spit flew on the floor.
“Muthafucka, is you crazy?”
“I told you to stop disrespecting my lady,” Bobby said as he stared Red down. Then he stormed toward the door and slammed it on the way out.
Red stood there, stunned that his blood cousin would trip like that over a woman. Although Dru’s ear was killing him, he was as happy as a mouse in a cheese factory. The fact that Bobby was now out of the picture brought him one step closer to being the new king.
“See, that’s what happens when you go crazy over a bitch,” Red spat as he plopped back down on the couch and lit a blunt. “Tammy got that nigga’s head all fucked up.”
Hakim’s eyes got wide. That was the first time he’d heard Red refer to Bobby’s girl by name. He immediately became concerned.
* * *
Tammy looked up at the clock and saw that she’d been reading Bobby’s manuscript for almost an hour and a half. She’d meant to suggest to Bobby that he get a computer to type his work on. Her train of thought was broken by her ringing cell phone. She looked at the number and, after seeing that it was her mother’s house, quickly answered it. A funny feeling came over her when she said hello and no one spoke.
“Mama?”
Still, no one answered. The line went dead, and Tammy’s stomach started to turn. She didn’t know what was going on, but she aimed to find out. She dialed her mother’s number, and when someone picked up, she started to say hello only to have someone hang up in her face. She tried to call again, and it went straight to voicemail.
Tammy jumped up from her seat on the couch, grabbed the keys to Bobby’s car, and headed out the door. To keep from driving her around every day, Bobby simply gave her the keys to his Maxima. She peeled rubber down the street, trying to get to her mother’s house. Thinking that something sinister may be going on, Tammy flipped open her phone and called Hakim. After getting a busy signal, she hung up and pressed the gas.
* * *
Detective Dryer woke up just in time to see Tammy pull off down the street. “Shit,” he said as he tried to hurry up and start the ignition. He pulled off in a hurry only to have to slam on the brakes when two cars backed out of back-to-back driveways and blocked him. “Fuck,” he screamed. Dryer had been following Tammy for several weeks now. He was just about ready to spring his trap to bring Red and Bobby to their knees.
* * *
Hakim tried hard to convinc
e himself that his sister wasn’t the same Tammy who Bobby was talking about. Tammy didn’t even like him selling drugs, so he couldn’t fathom that she would be dating someone who was selling them. Hakim didn’t know a lot about Bobby. He didn’t know where he stayed, what kind of car he drove, or even his last name. All he knew was that he was Red’s cousin. Hakim had noticed that Bobby wasn’t coming around as much as did when he first got in the game. It really didn’t matter to him, because he was making paper, and in his mind, the more people involved, the more money came out of his pocket.
Hakim had even saved enough to but himself a car. It was a doo-doo brown Chevy Caprice Classic. Hakim didn’t even have his license yet, but once he showed the salesman at the used car lot the dead presidents, it was a wrap. He pulled up in front of his and Nikki’s house and called his sister. He got frustrated when her line was busy. He changed his mind about going in the house. He wanted and needed to know if Red’s cousin Bobby was the same one his sister was sweet on. His thoughts were interrupted by his vibrating cell phone. Hakim sped off down the road.
* * *
Tammy ran up on the porch with her keys in her hand. As fast as she could, she inserted them into the front door and let herself in.
“Ma! Ma,” she yelled as she walked into the house. The house was eerily quiet. Tammy walked up the steps and toward her mother’s room. She could have sworn that she heard someone inside the room. “Ma, you in there?” When no one answered, Tammy opened the door and started to walk in. She stopped suddenly, and her eyes bucked at the sight before her. Steve’s friend Camp was sitting on the edge of the bed, sniffing cocaine off of a small mirror.
“Who the hell are you?” Tammy spat.
“Who the fuck are you?” Camp shot back.
Tammy ignored him and stepped inside the room. “Ma, you in here?” she asked again.
“Ma? Oh, you must be that Tammy bitch Steve’s been telling me about.”
