A Thug's Wife (Full Length Novel)

by Shan

  Name another nigga hot, I’m just honest. Gold bottles on bottles, I’m just honest. 100,000 on watches, I’m just honest. Future’s Honest blasted through the speakers as Marco whipped his car into the parking lot of the police station. He pulled into a spot and turned the car off. He sighed and turned the volume down on the stereo and looked over at Devon.

  "How long they say before they released her?" Marco asked as he lit up the blunt.

  "They told Latifah a few hours. So she should be coming out pretty soon," Devon told him.

  "What the fuck was she doing there though?"

  "I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out. You find out how much Ju Ju bail is?"

  "Yea, Rakwon gonna have Ju Ju baby mama post it in the morning. Ten stacks."

  "Damn," Devon shook his head.

  "Yea, can’t wait to talk to him to find out what’s going on. I got a feeling that this shit didn’t happen on a whim. Think them muthafuckas was tipped off."

  Devon shot his head in Marco’s direction, "By who?"

  "I don’t know, but I know it just wasn’t no random shit."

  "I mean that’s why I was saying that they needed to shut all that traffic down before one of the neighbors got pissed off and turned us in."

  "Man them muthafuckin’ people used to that shit over there. It wasn’t no neighbors. I feel like we got a rat on our team," he said and passed the blunt to Devon.

  Devon looked at Marco suspiciously before taking a tug of the weed. He blew the smoke throughout the car and looked around thinking about the call he’d gotten from Yessenia earlier today.

  He had never been as worried in his entire life as he had been when Yessenia told him that she was in trouble. He found out that she was busted in the trap house that they had on Leath Street and was charged with intent to distribute narcotics.

  He knew that the charges were phony, but what the hell was Yessenia doing there? He didn’t even know that she was aware of that spot, and that only led him to wonder what else she’d known about. He knew that his lies would catch up to him sooner rather than later, but he never expected for Yessenia to get into any kind of trouble behind it. It ate him up inside. He could imagine that Yessenia was probably scared and had been crying since this whole ordeal had gone down.

  He wished that he could be there to take her place or at least wipe the tears away and let her know that everything was going to be okay. He wished that he had been upfront with her instead of taking the coward way in handling the situation, but after what they’d been through, he felt that he had no other choice.

  "You can’t ever go back into them streets again, Devon. I put my life on the line and helped you cover up a murder. You gotta promise me that you will stay away from that life." Yessenia said as she looked into Devon’s eyes. "Promise me."

  "A’ight, I promise. I’ll get a job and do this nine-to-five shit you keep talking about. A’ight," Devon promised.

  Devon thought back years ago when he made that promise to Yessenia that he was done. At the time, he’d just killed someone and Yessenia had quickly become an accomplice when she helped him cover it up. That promise was the only thing that kept Yessenia around. He didn’t want to lose her, especially after seeing how true she was. That promise was the only reason he had lied so much to her today.

  "So you think it’s a snake?" Devon asked shifting his thoughts back to what Marco was talking about.

  "Yea, I do believe so. And I’m hardly ever wrong when I get these feelings. It’s not just this little incident that got me wondering. When I approached Hova and his chick at the spot that day, he was getting ready to leave like he’d just been warned. Somebody told him what was about to go down, and it’s only a few of us that knew about it."

  "Hmm," Devon sighed. "Well we definitely need to take care of that shit ASAP. I don’t like that shit."

  "You and I both. When I find out who the fuck it is though, it won’t be questions asked. Believe that. I got a fuckin’ attitude problem right now. Hova still breathing and we got a rat in the closet. I’m not happy."

  Devon handed Marco the blunt and just then spotted Yessenia exiting from the doors of the police station. He hurriedly pushed the door open and maneuvered his huge body out of the car. Quickly, he ran to her and wrapped his hands around her plump body. He squeezed her tightly into his arms and kissed her all over her face.

  "Baby, damn I’m so glad that you’re okay," Devon told her, but Yessenia feelings towards him weren’t reciprocated. She clicked her tongue and refused to hug Devon back. She was thankful for him coming to get her, but it was his fault that she was in that predicament. Nothing would make her forget that.

  She pushed Devon away from her and looked around for the car that he was in. She was ready to get home, wash the funk off of her body, and prepare for her big day in court tomorrow.

  "Look, I wanted to tell you sooner Yessenia," Devon said as he walked towards Marco’s car. "I just didn’t know how."

  "How about just telling me the fucking truth when I asked if you were fucking around on me? You told lie after lie just to cover up an affair that you having with that hood rat ass bitch! Lying about where you work and got that hoe giving you money!" Yessenia fussed. She was so angry.

  She had never been in a police station a day in her life and not only had she spent time in a jail cell, but she was also on the verge of having a record. She thought about her cosmetology license that she just earned, and her job at Ladie Lux Beauty Salon and wondered how that would all go once it got out that she was now a criminal. Her emotions ran thick, and she shot Devon an irate look.

  "What?" Devon asked confusedly. He didn’t know what the hell Yessenia was talking about and couldn’t believe that she was still on this cheating shit after she’d just gotten arrested for drug charges.

  "Don’t what me? I saw you and that bitch Latifah the other night! I know you been fucking this bitch! I know you been lying about all these hours at work when you really spending time with her! I know she’s giving you money! I seen the shit with my own eyes! As a matter of fact, where the fuck is my phone?" Yessenia fished around in her purse and found her cell phone. She pulled it out and powered it on.

  "I can’t believe this shit. I’m not sure who told you what or why the fuck you were even in the hood at the fuckin’ trap house like that. All I know is you need to get your mind right. This shit is crazy. You think I’m fucking Latifah?"

  "You’re gonna continue to lie to me Devon?"

  Devon shook his head and got into the car ignoring everything that came out of Yessenia’s mouth. He was ready to admit to his wrong doings, apologize, and beg for forgiveness if he had to, but not for some shit he hadn’t done. Latifah. She thinks I’m fucking Latifah? Out of all people, Latifah? Devon thought as chills ran through his body. He grabbed the blunt from Marco and quickly hit it. He then grabbed the knob on the stereo and turned the volume all the way to the max. He waited until Yessenia was adjusted in her seat and then nodded for Marco to drive off.

  "Devon! Devon!" Yessenia yelled trying to be heard over the loud music. She tossed her phone into his lap and watched as he grabbed the phone and looked at the picture that she snapped the night she caught him outside of Latifah’s house.

  Devon reached for the stereo and turned the volume down low enough for Yessenia to hear him. He turned enough in his seat to look at her, "So that’s what this is all about. What did you do follow me over there and then come back over there so you could confront Latifah?"

  "You damn right! I saw them text messages that you sent to Quasym talking about how you ain’t been nutting in over a damn year! And then I saw the text she sent talkin’ about she was waiting for you. What the fuck you been saving it and nutting for that hoe?"

  Devon sighed, "Now you going through my phone?"

  "Yes I went through your phone because I’m sick of your dog ass always lying and shit! The truth is right here and you still lying about the shit! Man the fuck up and admit that you’ve
been cheating on me!"

  Devon laughed. He laughed so hard that tears began to run down his face. This had to be some kind of joke. He wouldn’t say that he was the finest nigga in the world, but he liked to think that he looked good. His tall, athletic build always attracted some of the finest women that Dallas had to offer, but Devon was picky.

  He loved women in all shapes and sizes, but her personality had to be a certain way. She had to talk a certain way and walk a certain way, she had to think more of herself and not give a fuck what the next person thought. That was what attracted him to Yessenia. Although she was a big girl, she was for sure about who she was and didn’t need the next person’s approval. He would never go for a bird like Latifah any day of the week. Latifah’s self-esteem was low, and she lacked the character required to even get some dick from Devon.

  "Oh, this is fuckin’ funny? I just spent time behind a fucking jail cell because of your lying, cheating ass and you got the nerve to be out here laughing like it’s a joke. My life is ruined. I gotta go to court in the damn morning, and I’m most likely gonna have to spend time in jail because of this shit and you wanna laugh, nigga!"

  "First of all, nobody told your ass to follow me any damn where! Second ain’t nobody fucking Latifah! Do you really think I would fuck a bitch like her? That’s the neighborhood’s pussy. Ain’t nobody checking for that bird brain bitch! Yea I fuckin’ lied to you about my job and that was it.

  I ain’t cheating on you, and I wish you stop with the accusations and stop acting stupid Yessenia! Come on now, I just handed you twenty stacks to put down on a fuckin’ house. Did you really believe that a UPS supervisor could make that much money in just a few months?

  You knew what the fuck I was doing even if you wanted to act like you didn’t. You know I’m a gutter baby, and you should’ve never made me make that promise and we wouldn’t be here today. I’m in the streets with Sym babe. His right hand man. That’s it. Ain’t no bitches in the mix unless they working."

  Yessenia sat back in her seat without saying another word. She folded her arms and looked out the window knowing that some of what Devon was saying was true. Only some of it though. She still felt that he was cheating because she saw it with her own eyes. The text. The hug. It just had to be. That was one thing that he couldn’t convince her to believe otherwise. He wouldn’t convince otherwise because she had cheated out of revenge.

  Damn I guess I should’ve known he wouldn’t stay out the streets though. She thought to herself. Her mind wouldn’t even allow her to think that it was even possible considering he made a promise to never touch that turf again. Devon’s luck in the streets wasn’t good, and that was why she made him make that promise. Too many people had tried him and forced him to react. This time would be no different; she knew it wouldn’t be long before someone else came along and forced Devon to use a gun, but this time he wouldn’t be so lucky. There would be no probation, and there would be no her. She was not risking her life again to help his hard headed ass.

  "Hello," Devon said into the receiver of his phone.

  "Where you at?" Quasym asked him.

  "Just now picking up Yessenia, bout to have Marco drop me off at my rental and then I’m a head home for the night. What’s up?"

  "Another spot got hit."

  "Fuck!" Devon yelled.

  "This time it wasn’t by the police. Some niggas came up in there with pistols and killed everybody up in there and took all the dope. Latifah’s home girl Mari and her baby was killed."

  "Aww man. Are you serious?"

  "Yep. I need y’all come to see me right quick. We need to talk."

  "For sure. Where you at?"

  "We over here at Rakwon’s spot posted up."

  "A’ight, we’ll be there."

  "Bet."

  Devon hung the phone up and looked over at Marco, "Go to Rakwon’s. Sym said another spot got hit, but this time it wasn’t no police. The chick Mari and her baby was killed."

  "Damn," Marco sighed. He ran his hand over his head and leaned back in his seat. Somebody was fucking with them real tough, and the feeling he had about a rat being within their camp was getting stronger and stronger. Maybe it had been a good thing that he hadn’t successfully killed Hova. He knew that whoever the snake was most likely working with Hova. Either Hova would take him to the snake or the snake would take him to Hova. It didn’t matter to him ‘cause he was ready to put both of them in a grave for fucking with him and his camp. He fucked up once, but it wouldn’t happen again.

  Chapter 26: Time For A Truce

  It was pitch black outside as thunderous clouds roared above in the night sky. Quasym leaned against his car as he waited for Hova to show up at the spot that they agreed to meet at. After talking with his boy Devon and Marco a couple of hours ago, Quasym felt it was best that he paid Hova to go the fuck away. Hova was bad for business and Quasym didn’t want any more bloodshed.

  He’d almost lost his wife; his main trap house had been shut down by the DEA, and innocent lives were lost hours earlier including a child. All this wasn’t worth the hundred thousand dollars that Hova was requesting. Quasym had made that in a week’s time when he first started hustling for Andres and was making way more now. Hova could have that little chump change. Quasym would take being able to get money in peace over all this nonsense any day.

  "This nigga playing fuckin’ games. He was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago!" Quasym yelled getting pissed.

  "That nigga around. He somewhere around here checking out the scene before he shows his face. I can feel his ass," Marco told him as he looked around. "You sure you wanna do this? I promise you, I won’t fuck it up this time. We can walk away right now and I’ll hunt his ass down and kill him. Promise you that."

  "Nah, let’s just do it this way. All this back and forth shit-he come after me; I go after him, is bad for business. Sometimes we just gotta swallow our pride and say fuck it. I don’t want nobody else getting hurt. Mari and her baby boy didn’t deserve that shit. As much as I wanna make Hova pay for that shit, I know that it’s just much easier to give this nigga his cake and let him make it."

  "I guess it’s true then huh?" Marco asked as he fired up a cigarette.

  "What’s true?"

  "You killed Dan-D?"

  Quasym looked Marco up and down, but didn’t answer him. That was the only thing he didn’t like about being around Marco, his ability to read a muthafucka. It was like Marco knew what a person was thinking, and that bothered Quasym. He didn’t need anyone trying to read him and figure out his thoughts. He shifted his stance and turned away from Marco.

  "Yea, I already knew that shit," Marco chuckled. "No judgment from me. That nigga deserved every bit of that. I’m telling you he was on my list to take out. Even then, I don’t give a fuck if you killed Dan-D or not, you don’t owe Hova shit. This move here gonna have muthafuckas looking down on you and thinking they can do the same damn thing. You need to just let me handle this."

  "Let’s just see how this goes. I got a feeling that it’s gonna work out for the best. We don’t need any more causalities. The plug just put fifty keys in my hand the other day and gave me two weeks to move them. He wants me to move up to one-fifty a month, and I can’t do that if I’m at war with a nigga. That’s some major paper we talking about. Can’t have this shit here fucking it up," Quasym told him. He looked up when he spotted a set of bright lights whip into the lot they were posted up in. He nodded his head and walked over to the car to grab the duffle bag out.

  Marco pulled his pistol out, cocked it, and held it down by his side. He took a tug off the cigarette and blew the smoke in the air as he waited for Hova to come near them. He didn’t give a fuck what Quasym was talking about. If Hova stepped out of line he would put him down, no questions asked. His ego was already hurting by the fact that he messed up on the hit anyway, and he wanted nothing more than to make it right.

  Hova pulled his car up next to theirs and slowly got out of the car. He walke
d around to meet up with Marco and Quasym and only stared at them. He leaned against his car and tucked his arms over his chest. He had his reservations about meeting with Quasym after all that had happened, but after Samantha’s rant this morning, he felt that maybe it was best that he laid it all down.

  He wasn’t getting any younger, and he’d been shot so many times that he felt if he took one more bullet there wouldn’t be any more chances for him. He had kids that he had to think about. His money stacked up nicely over the years, and it was better that he got out the game while he still had his life and his good name.

  "It was you that got my traps shut down right?" Quasym asked already knowing that Hova was responsible.

  Hova shrugged, "I wanted yuh tuh feel me when I touched yuh pockets. It’s no secret; yuh know it was me."

  "Yea I know. You had my people killed over there off Singleton too huh?"

  "Yuh had ya mans here try tuh kill me and my ol’ lady in a crowded restaurant. Need we go tit for tat or we just try to squash dis like yuh told my people over deh phone."

  "I got your money plus a little extra. You stay the fuck away from my wife, my money, and I’ll do the same," Quasym tossed the duffle bag at Hova’s feet and eyed him. He felt his blood boiling all of a sudden as he stared at the man that had almost taken something that was so precious to him. He started to think about what Marco was just saying moments earlier and wondered if letting Hova just walk away was a good idea. What if Hova took his money and continued to come at him?

  "That’s all I wanted in deh first place," Hova kept his eyes on Marco and Quasym as he knelt down and picked the duffle bag up from the ground. "Just my money."

  "Aye, who working with you? We know you got somebody over on our side working with you. Who is it?" Marco questioned with the grip around the handle of his pistol getting tighter and tighter.

  Hova chuckled, "Yuh still haven’t figured dat out yet. I thought dat would have been deh first thing yuh figured out when I took deh first spot down."