A Thug's Wife (Full Length Novel)

by Shan

  There was no way he could tell them that everything he had talked to them about was not gonna happen. He found out that Dan-D was on some other shit and that he hadn’t been treating his workers right. Dan-D would pay people when he felt like it, and when he did pay, it was on a level that most felt like they were being taken advantage of.

  From what Quasym heard there was a lot of animosity toward Dan-D, and anybody could be responsible for his death. To know that a lot of people wanted Dan-D dead made Quasym feel better because at least no one would suspect him. Even then, he didn’t care that Dan-D was hated and that most wished death on him. Quasym still didn’t want anyone to know that he got his spot through force.

  As far as he knew, Hova and whoever told him was the only ones that knew his secret, and he wanted to keep it that way. Quasym had to shut Hova up and not only shut him up, he had to make him pay for coming at his wife. That was a must that Hova was bodied as soon as possible. The longer he was breathing the angrier Quasym got.

  "Oh, my God, Sym!" Cherie yelled as she rushed towards him. She placed her hands over her chest in an attempt to catch her breath and then covered her mouth as a flood of tears poured from her eyes. Quasym called her and her mother Tammy only thirty minutes ago to tell them what happened with Zaria. They immediately stopped everything they were doing and came over to Baylor Hospital where she was being taken care of.

  "What’s up, Cherie? I haven’t heard nothing yet. They just keep telling me the doctor will be with me soon," Quasym said with sweat dripping from his forehead. He stood to his feet and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

  "What happened to her? Who did this?"

  "I don’t know. I pulled up and caught some niggas trying to break in the muthafuckin’ house. Looked over, and she was in the driveway bleeding to damn death! Man fuck!" Quasym yelled. He covered his face with his hands and let out a ragged breath. He’d told Zaria not to go home and to chill with Yessenia for a while. Although he had hoped when he told her that that he was being a little overprotective, but he knew that something like this could happen. He was ready to walk out of the hospital and go after Hova right this instant, but Zaria came first. If she made it through, Quasym wanted his face to be the first one that she saw. "I told her to chill at Yessenia’s, man damn!"

  "I’m here. I’m here. Cherie what are they saying?" Tammy said as she came towards them. She stuffed her keys into her purse and stared at Cherie for answers. She didn’t even acknowledge Quasym or even care that he was there. When dealing with him, her sole purpose was to make him feel as if he was nothing, because to her he was just a little peon who would never amount to anything no matter how hard he tried.

  "I don’t know mama, Sym said they haven’t said anything-"

  "Cherie, I told you to come up here and find out what’s going on! Of course, you won’t know shit talking to him! Move!" Tammy yelled as she pushed her way through Quasym and Cherie.

  Quasym bit down on his tongue, doing his best to keep his composure. He had never been one to disrespect his elders and could normally ignore Tammy when she clowned him, but on a day like today, she could get it.

  Today was not the day to be fucking with him. He shook his head and walked away from Cherie, taking his self to the corner of the waiting area. Pulling out his cell, he checked to see if there were any important messages that had come through to him.

  "Aye, aye!" Devon said to Quasym as he strolled through the waiting area. He walked over to Quasym and slapped hands with him before giving him a hug. "What’s the word fam?"

  Quasym shook his head, "Nothing yet."

  "What up boss man? Just tell us what you need us to do and we ready," Marco said as he dabbed it up with Quasym. He and his boy's Rakwon and Ju Ju were part of a squad called the Brick Money Boys out of West Dallas, a crew they formed when they were in their early teens. They didn’t want to get down with the Crips just to fight the Fishtrap Bloods over colors, so they did their own shit and was well respected.

  Back before Dan-D took over the streets they were a force to be reckoned with working under a dude named Tron, who had a tight handle over West Dallas. Tron ended up going upstate on some federal charges leaving the gate open for Dan-D to come and take over.

  Dan-D didn’t trust too many people and put his family on before anybody, and the rest he treated like petty peons that only ate when he said they could eat. The Brick Money Boys weren’t having that shit and decided to lay low.

  They got money however they could to stay afloat, but they refused to fuck with Dan-D. Today Quasym came to them on a respectable boss level talking their favorite color, and they just couldn’t refuse. Besides, Rakwon knew Quasym from around the way and knew that he was an alright dude.

  Marco was the youngest of the crew at twenty-two years old and was the only one that didn’t touch the weight. It just wasn’t him, and he preferred to get his hands dirty another way. He was smart as hell but had an itchy trigger finger. Marco was known to knock a nigga head off with no questions asked whenever he felt disrespected. His attitude was intolerant to bullshit, and he was just what Quasym needed. With him on the roster, Quasym didn’t have shit to worry about.

  Rakwon was twenty-three and was the greatest cook around Dallas. Fiends fucked with his whip game over anybody’s any day of the week and once word got out that Quasym had him in the kitchen; the game wouldn’t be the same anymore.

  Ju Ju also twenty-three could move brick a day. The shit was nothing to him. He had been selling dope since he was nine years old, and he would tell anyone that asked that he was born to be a dope boy.

  Everyone felt that Ju Ju should have been a boss by now but that just wasn’t for Ju Ju. He preferred to play the back and get money. He didn’t need to be in the spotlight like most niggas.

  "Yo’, I really need to figure out where this heat coming from. I got an idea of who it might be, but I need facts. Can’t make no mistakes and fire shots at the wrong niggas, ya’ feel me?" Quasym said to Marco. Although, he knew that Hova was the man responsible, he wanted to be one-hundred percent.

  "A’ight, we on it. We gonna hit the block and see what’s happenin’. I’m sure somebody knows somethin’. Shit most likely circulating already," Marco said.

  He looked over his shoulder and spotted Cherie coming towards them. He couldn’t help but lick his lips as he watched her hips switch from side to side in her Pink tights. Damn! He thought to himself. She was beautiful to him. He hated to stare so hard especially at a time like this, but he hadn't seen anything that looked as good as she did in a long time.

  "Not tryna be nosey, but I just can't with her right now," Cherie said referring to her mama. She walked past the fellas to take a seat in a chair and crossed her arms over her chest. A huge amount of emotions bombarded her, and suddenly she broke down crying.

  Marco walked over to her and knelt down in front of her. He placed a hand on her knee unsure of what to say, "I know it might not seem like it, but it's gonna be a'ight ma. Shit might hurt, but I'm sure ya' people gonna pull through just fine."

  Cherie pulled her hands away from her face and stared into Marco's hazel brown eyes. His soft skin reminded her of honey, and his full lips were some of the sexiest she had seen on a man. He had a thick set of brows and his eyes were the shape of almonds. He looked like the ultimate pretty boy, but Cherie could look in his eyes and tell he was far removed from that.

  "That's the only sister I have. We don't always see eye to eye, but I count on her to save me from our mama from time to time," Cherie said.

  She used the back of her hand to wipe her face and then stared down at the floor. She didn’t know if it were appropriate for her to be feeling this way about this dude in front of her considering the fact her only sister was laying in the hospital fighting for her life.

  "She gonna be a’ight. She knows she got people pulling for her. Send ya’ prayers up ma’," Marco told her. He swiped his finger under her chin to wipe away some of the wetness that sp
illed down her face. He flashed her with a gorgeous smile exposing the gold slugs in his mouth.

  Damn I usually try to stay away from these street niggas, but shit he look like he on one. With his fine ass. Cherie thought as she continued to try and examine Marco without his knowledge.

  "Dry those tears beautiful. I’m holla at you later, a’ight." Marco said as he stood to his feet. He walked over to Devon and Quasym, "A’ight, we out. ‘Bout to beat these streets. I’ll get at y’all later."

  "Hold up. I’m a roll with y’all," Devon said to Marco. "Aye bruh, hit me up when you hear something."

  "A’ight, ‘preciate y’all for coming through. Get at me the minute y’all hear something."

  Devon and The Brick Money Boys walked out of the waiting room and headed out of the hospital. They rushed towards Marco’s candy red old school Camaro and hopped in. Marco cranked up the ride and pulled out of the hospital’s parking lot.

  "Mane, I really ‘preciate y’all niggas for putting us on. Nigga tryna eat out here in this jungle, ya’ feel me?" Marco said to Devon.

  "For real, for real!" Ju Ju chimed in. "Shit, ain’t easy when you ain’t got the proper connections, and we weren’t tryna fuck with that cat Dan-D."

  "Definitely. We ‘bout to change the whole game, ‘bout to have the trap thumpin’ something serious. We gotta stupid ass payday coming up if we meet this lil’ quota and I swear I’m up out the hood ASAP," Devon responded. He pulled out a cigarillo and a bag of weed from his pocket.

  "I feel you on that. I got feeling this shit gonna work out just right," Ju Ju commented.

  "Hell yea," Rakwon added. "I remember that cat Sym from back in the day. He was always on his grind and never fucked with nobody. I done passed a few blunts and chopped it up with him a few times until that nigga just disappeared."

  "Yea, he ended up doing a little time in the pen. Just got out earlier this year," Devon told him.

  "Yea well, whatever y’all need us to do out here in these streets, we out here. For real, for real. Hope I don’t sound like no groupie," Marco laughed. "These my brothers and we some loyal niggas, ya’ feel me? That’s one thing y’all ain’t gotta worry about, and they will put in that work. Believe that shit. That cat Dan-D was throwing major shade our way, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before somebody took his ass down. It took everything in me to keep my cool with him and his niggas mane.

  I honestly thought I was gonna be the one to murder that nigga Dan-D, especially after he came out at me a couple of weeks before somebody murked him talm’ ‘bout my brothers had to go to North Dallas or to the Cliff if they wanted to make money. Somebody beat me to that shit though ‘cause I was definitely hot on his ass," Marco laughed. "Nigga was a phony ass fuck. Fucking his people over. Not paying them on time or either not paying them enough. Just doing some ol’ bitch shit."

  "Yea, I heard dude was out here reckless. I ain’t really get a chance to get familiar with him like that. I know he used to date Sym sister back in the day, but he came around when Sym got locked up, and I decided to get off the streets since my ol’ lady was nagging me to death. That’s all I been hearing about though. Cat was out here doing it like that though?" Devon shook his head.

  He didn’t know if Quasym were responsible for Dan-D’s death or not like Hova accused, but if so he could tell that a lot of people were happy that Dan-D was no longer around. He fired up the weed and sat back in his seat thinking about Zaria hoping that she would be okay.

  Devon wanted to stay at the hospital and make sure his boy was good, but he knew he would be more valuable making sure things were going smoothly in the streets. He needed beat the block and watch over their new team. Most of the cats they put on were all new to the trap life, and Devon had to make sure they were on point with it.

  Devon was glad that Quasym didn’t treat him like a do-boy and gave him space to do him. That gave him all the faith he needed to know that everything was going to work out between them. He knew all too well how a little money and street fame could get to a nigga’s head and friend or not, Quasym could easily that affect him, but he didn’t. Quasym treated Devon as an equal and that made him feel good.

  "So what’s up with shorty back at the hospital? The lil’ brown skinned chick?" Marco asked inquiring about Cherie.

  "Shawty, had a nice lil’ ass on her," Rakwon commented.

  "Hell yea," Marco nodded as he glanced in his rear view. Cherie had him mesmerized.

  "Lil’ sis? Oh, she cool. Just young as hell that’s all. She got some growing up to do. I saw you over there checking her out and shit," Devon laughed.

  "I ain’t gonna lie. Shorty fine as fuck. I hated to be trying holla at a time like that, but damn she had my mouth watering. How old is she?"

  "She nineteen or twenty I believe," Devon told him. He took one last puff of the weed and handed it to Marco.

  "So, what’s up with your boy Sym? Would he be tripping if I fucked with her?" Marco accepted the weed. He dumped the ashes in the ashtray and took a tug of the blunt.

  "Nah, Sym ain’t who you need to worry about. It’s that mama of theirs. She like a got damn warden or some shit. Her crazy ass don’t play man."

  "I ain't worried about moms. She’ll like me," Marco chuckled.

  "Yea okay," Devon nodded knowing Tammy didn’t like no damn body.

  Devon pointed for Marco to make a left at the light and then turned the volume up on the stereo. They all bobbed their heads to Yo Gotti’s Rappin’ Like I’m Trappin’ as they headed toward the west side of Dallas. Life was about to be even greater for them all. Each of them could feel it.

  Chapter 15: A Love Connection

  The sun had just begun to rise and was peeking through the few clouds that filled the sky. Cherie stood across the street from the hospital puffing on one of her mama’s cigarettes, trying to soothe the ache she felt inside.

  She knew the cancer stick wasn’t enough, but it didn’t stop her from filling her lungs with drag after drag. She had so much on her mind from her recent break up with Kareem to her mama constantly on her ass, and now Zaria fighting for her life.

  She wanted to be happy for a change, and she wanted to do so her way, but her love for money and looking fly had an overwhelming effect on her. She couldn’t help that she was addicted to paper like that. She blamed that on her mama but at the end of the day all she really wanted was a husband or at least a loving relationship.

  Cherie hadn’t realized how much she would miss her relationship with Kareem until it was all over. Inwardly, she had to admit to herself that she really cared about that dude. He had treated her like he was genuinely interested in her and cared about what she wanted to do in life.

  Unfortunately, her mama had gotten so deep into her head that the only thing on her mind was pinning a baller. She didn’t even know how to love a man for anything other than what he had in his pockets. She didn’t care about personality or looks, and although Kareem was sexy, it didn’t matter. She had been taught to care about the money and only that.

  She wished she had listened to all the advice that Zaria had given her, and maybe she could’ve held onto Kareem. She had to learn how to utilize her heart or otherwise every potentially good man she meets will end the same way it did with Kareem. There had to be a way to have love and have the money at the same time; she just had to learn how to attain them both.

  "It’s too cold out here to be without a coat," Marco said as he walked up on Cherie.

  "Yea, I didn’t expect it to be so cold. I just came out here to smoke this lil’ cigarette my mama gave me. Tryna’ calm my nerves."

  "Is it working? ‘Cause if not, I got somethin’ stronger. Shit’ll have you relaxed and feelin’ right. Ya’ hear me?"

  Cherie laughed, "What’s your name Hazel Eyes? I ain’t never seen you around before. You workin’ with Devon and Sym?"

  "My name is DeMarco, everybody calls me Marco though," Marco flashed his Brick Money Boys tattoo that he had on his right forearm. "Ju Ju an
d Rakwon my brothers and yea we fuckin’ with Sym and that nigga Devon. Jumped on this little money train they got going on. Tryna get my pockets right."

  "So I guess Sym them is really doing something. I’ve been hearing the little rumors."

  "Yea everybody looking at Sym like he the new Frank Lucas out this bitch. He done came through to save the day for these young thoroughs out here. I see he sincere ‘bout his shit, and he was talkin’ my favorite color, so I had to get down."

  "That’s what’s up. Good to see he doing big things. It’s been a long time coming for him. And it’s cool to see he got what seems to be some legit niggas rocking with him. Can’t beat that," Cherie said with her words trembling. Even she hated Quasym, she had to give it up to him.

  ​"For sure," Marco stepped behind Cherie and wrapped his arms around her body. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms in an attempt to warm her up from the cool misty air.

  "So, what’s your name?"

  "Cherie."

  "Cherie, I know this probably the most awkward time, but I’m really digging you. I don't know what it is, but something telling me you need somebody to make you smile."

  "Oh, really? You gonna be that somebody that makes me smile?"

  "If you let me."

  "I don't usually go for your type, but it's something about you that I like."

  "My type? Baby, I'm one of a kind. Trust, ain't no nigga like Marco."

  Cherie laughed, "Yea okay."

  Marco stepped away from Cherie and stood in front of her. He eyeballed her cute little waist and then brought his glare to her face.

  "Tell me where you met another cat like me?"

  "I'm saying dope boys. I normally go for the business type. You know the Ivy League type niggas. Dudes that got a 401-K, on salary, and got a retirement plan all laid out," Cherie placed her hand on hips and did her best not to stare at Marco. She was really feeling him, and it surprised her. Least he not sagging and shit. I can't stand to see a dude showing his ass. Must say he don't look like a dope boy. Cherie thought as she ran her eyes over his red and black Polo shirt and blue jeans. She then looked down at his red and black high top Gucci sneakers and was somewhat impressed.