by Mariah James
“It sure was. My pussy was all wet, waiting for you too.” Ryan ran her hands down her body.
Brian got happy, he was staggering a little bit, making his way back closer to the bed.
“Is it still wet?” Brian licked his lips.
“Uh-uh! You had your chance.” Ryan stood up.
“Bitch, what?” He slurred.
“Nigga, you heard me. You just missed out on a real good fuck, too.” Ryan got off the bed as seductive as she could and headed for the door.
“Fuck you, bitch!”
“No sir, fuck you! I’m out!” Ryan ran with the balls she just grew and was relieved that he didn’t follow her. She didn’t bother to put on her heels, she carried them in her hand as she searched for Erin.
“Ahhhhhh!” Ryan yelled in bliss!
“And another one.” Erin impersonated Biggie.
“I can get used to this shit!” Ryan shuffled through the duffle bag.
“I think we already did.” Erin smiled, turning the music up so they could vibe the rest of the way home.
Erin and Ryan laid in Don’s bed together. When Ryan wasn’t spending the night with Deuce, she was cuddling with her twin.
“Ayo, Ry.”
“Hmm,” Ryan answered, half sleep.
“How much you think strippers get paid?”
“Why you tryna strip?” Ryan joked with her eyes closed.
“Nah, but I peeped something tonight. All the girls did the same thing after they were done dancing.”
“And what was that?”
“They took a sack full of money to the back and came back on the floor with an empty one.”
“And?”
“What you mean and?” Erin turned to face her sister. Ryan could feel her staring, so she opened one eyelid.
“What now, E?”
“We need to find out where that money goes.”
“In their lockers, haven’t you seen The Player’s Club?”
Erin sucked her teeth, “You always making a joke out of everything.”
“We ain’t robbing no damn strippers, E!”
“Why not?”
“Because that’s their hustle. We got ours. Strippers got theirs. Now shut up, I’m mutha fuckin’ tired.” Ryan turned over leaving her back to her sister.
July 2017
Ryan and Erin were busting licks left and right, like professionals. They were efficient, smooth and unstoppable. Their curves were their most deadly weapon. “Your body is your temple. As long as you live, you are the captain.” Another jewel Ma dropped on the girls. They didn’t understand it then, but it came in handy now. A good-looking woman was easily a man’s downfall. He was too busy thinking with his little head, that his big head lacked common sense.
“E! Don is calling!” Ryan called out to Erin, as she answered the phone. Erin came running in. Don made it clear that he didn’t want them to come visit him, but he always called to make sure they were straight. It was eating him alive that Deuce was out taking care of his responsibilities, but he was forever thankful he stepped up. It took an honorable man to do what Deuce was doing, and Don appreciated all his efforts. Don was a stand-up guy himself, but he couldn’t say he’d be able to do the same.
Don met Deuce through a mutual friend, Grandpa Lenny linked him with. Grandpa Lenny had his reservations about new niggas, but Don vouched for Deuce hard. Don watched how his father picked his acquaintances and made sure to use those same senses to select his. Deuce passed the test, and he trusted him with a hundred things.
“…press one to accept.” The automatic service blared through the speaker. Ryan pressed one to connect the call.
“Donnie!” The girls screamed into the phone.
“Wassup E, wassup Ry? What y’all up to today?”
“Nothing much, just cleaning up a little bit,” Erin answered.
“Cool, cool. We ain’t alone, so talk clear.” He said in code, hinting that the Feds were most likely listening.
“Say less.” Ryan let him know they understood.
“Y’all know anything about little birds stealing worms from bigger birds’ nests?” The twins looked at each other.
“Nah, we haven’t been to the pet shop in a long time.” Ryan fibbed.
Don wasn’t buying it, but he couldn’t get into it like he wanted too, “Cool. Deuce treating y’all right?”
“Oh, he’s treating Ryan right,” Erin whispered. Ryan shoved her prompting her to shut up before he heard her.
“Deuce has been a huge help.” Erin retracted her statement.
“He’s a good dude. I owe him big time.” Don was pleased.
“You just focus on getting out of there,” Ryan changed the subject, “we good out here.”
“I know. Look I gotta go.”
“We love you!”
“I love y’all too. One.” Don hung up the phone. News on the street traveled fast and even faster inside those concrete walls. Niggas were talking about how muthafuckas are like silent ninjas, coming in and taking their stashes. Don knew Deuce was holding it down, but he also knew his sisters. Ryan was such a hot head, and Erin would follow her every move. At the end of the day if they said they weren’t a part of it, then he had no choice but to believe them.
The girls stared at each other both thinking the same thing.
“The streets are talking, E.” Ryan started, her nerves getting the best of her.
Erin’s nerves were already shot, “You think they know it’s us? Like why Don would accuse us?”
“Nah, if they thought it was us, we’d be dead.”
“Oh my God, Ryan. I don’t want to die.”
“We not going to die.”
“What makes you so sure? You think you know everything!” Erin had tears falling from her eyes.
Ryan stayed cool, “I know enough. And you know we at risk each time we do the shit. So, cut with the dramatics.”
“I'm not dramatic!” Erin whined, dramatically.
Ryan laughed and pointed to her, “So, what you call this? We gonna chill out for a minute.”
“Nah, Ryan. I’m done. I’m out. I’m getting my ass a job and sitting back while Deuce pays the bills. If it ever gets to the point where he stops, at least I’ll be straight.”
“Erin.”
“Yo, I mean it. You just make sure you don’t mess this up for us.” Erin stormed out of the living room, leaving Ryan standing there dumbfounded. Erin was always down to ride, but Ryan knew she was fronting. Erin didn’t want to disappoint her twin, so she went along with her antics no matter how uncomfortable she was. She liked nice shit, just as much as Ryan, but she didn’t mind working for it.
Ryan, on the other hand, got off from it. She was a straight kleptomaniac. It wasn’t about the money anymore. She was on a search for a high, and it wasn’t suppressed until she was screeching away from the crime scene. But it always came back.
Ryan knocked on the bathroom door, “E, I’m sorry.” Erin didn’t bother to respond, which was fine. Ryan didn’t expect her too, she just wanted to let her know she was sincerely sorry.
“I see you need some space. I’m going over to Deuce’s, don’t wait up.” Erin was still mute, it wasn’t until she heard the door slam that she unlocked the door and came out of the bathroom.
Ryan sat in Don’s car waiting for Deuce to call her back. She could see that he read her messages but hadn’t responded back. She could really use his company right now, especially since Erin wasn’t talking to her.
She decided to drive over to his house and see what was up. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach once she pulled on to his street. Her intuition was telling her to turn around, but her impulsivity kept driving. Ryan was two houses away from Deuce’s house when she saw him walking out the house with a familiar face. Beads of sweats formed on Ryan’s forehead as she felt her throat closing in. She put the car in reverse and hurried home to inform Erin.
Erin was sitting in the living room eating a bowl of cereal when Ryan barg
ed in causing her to jump.
“What the fuck, Ryan?” Erin was still irritated at their little spat just a while ago. Her face was screwed up, but it softened up once she saw how shaken up Ryan was.
“Yo, you good?” Erin was concerned.
“E, we gotta go. We gotta get our shit and get the fuck outta town. Like yesterday.” Ryan rambled.
“What? Wait, Ryan slow down. What’s up?” Erin placed her bowl down on the coffee table and grabbed Ryan by her arms, stabilizing her movement.
“I can explain it on the road, we gotta go, E.” Ryan struggled out of Erin’s hold, but her grip was too tight.
Erin had concern all over her face. She felt proud and accomplished the way she just stood up to her, but something told her now wasn’t a good time. Erin’s mind wandered to the phone call from, Don. She ran off to the bedroom and started throwing clothes and shoes in a suitcase. Ryan was right on her heels gathering some things.
“We can’t take everything, but enough to keep us afloat for a few days,” Ryan said out of breath.
“I’ll go get all our documents from Don’s room,” Erin added.
“Of all the things we should’ve said that we never said/all the things we should’ve done that we never did/all the things that you wanted from me/all the things that you needed from me.” Ryan froze.
“Ry, you gonna get that?” Erin asked she saw the same worried look on her face as when she barged into the house.
“What did Deuce do?”
Ryan didn’t have the stomach to tell Erin what she discovered, but she had to.
“Of all the things we should’ve said that we never said/all the things we should’ve done that we never did/all the things that you wanted from me/all the things that you needed from me.”
Erin picked up Ryan’s phone, “I’ll answer.” Ryan wanted to tell her, no but she couldn’t find the words.
“Hello?” She answered.
“My bad, Erin. I thought I dialed Ryan’s number.”
“No, no. You did. Ryan is taking a, um, nap right now,” Erin stuttered, “I got sick of hearing that damn Maxwell song.” She attempted to regain normalcy.
Deuce let out a laugh, “Well, can you just tell her I’m on my way to the airport. I’ll be out of town for a few days. I should be back Tuesday night.”
“Yeah, I got you.”
“‘ppreciate it, E.” Erin, sighed when the call disconnected.
She looked at Ryan, “What was that about?”
“You gonna want to sit down for this.” Erin did just that.
“After our little argument earlier, Deuce wasn’t answering my calls or text messages and I needed to get away from here. I went over to his crib, and as I’m pulling up, I see…” Ryan paused mid-sentence.
“Him with another bitch? Let’s go get that hoe, Ry?” Erin stood up ready to fuck some shit up.
“Nah, E. It was Stephon.”
“Stephon, who?” Erin was confused.
“Stephon, Stephon.”
“The one you killed?”
“He obviously ain’t dead, I saw him in the flesh.”
Erin began pacing back and forth, “but I checked his pulse. I swear it wasn’t there, Ry. I swear.” She blamed herself.
“Look, we gotta get the fuck outta here, he could be looking for us.”
“I wonder how he knows Deuce?” Erin started to put pieces together.
“I don’t give a fuck how they know each other, but if Stephon catches me with Deuce, it’s over.”
“Ryan, let’s think this through.” Erin needed to clear her head. They both were operating on nerves and wasn’t thinking properly.
“What is there to think through? Stephon is alive, he knows we took his shit, and we need to cover our asses!”
“You’re right, but what’s the plan? Where are we going? Do we even have enough money?”
Ryan walked over to their stash. It was plenty, but it wasn’t enough for a fresh start. She slammed the safe’s door closed in frustration.
“There’s not enough is it?” Erin asked a question she already knew the answer to.
“We gotta get one more. A big bird.” Ryan rubbed her hands together look for Erin’s approval, but was met with a nasty glare.
“Don’t look at me like that, E. We got too.”
Erin felt defeated, she thought it was done and over with, but I guess not. She was glad she ignored Ryan earlier because if she hadn’t, Ryan would’ve never seen Stephon leaving Deuce’s place. She thought it was enough to hang up their sticky fingers, all along Stephon was alive and possibly on a woman hunt.
“Let’s get, Deuce.”
Erin laughed, Ryan had got to be joking, “You out your rabbit ass mind.”
“He paid, E! Where else are we gonna do one sweep and be set?”
Erin thought long and hard, fronting, knowing damn well she didn’t have anybody in mind. They just about got every nigga she thought was worth something.
“Remember my idea about the strippers?”
“I’m not robbing no fucking strippers, Erin. I’m getting Deuce. Either you in or you out.”
Erin knew better, but it was hard for her to do better. Some days she wondered if her mind was possessed with klepto-ism too. Erin talked a good game about how what they were doing was wrong. She feared the unknown each time, but somehow, she always gave in, “Of course I’m in.”
“We gotta stay low for a couple days before we head over there, just to make sure he really going OT. If I know him like I think I do, he’s going out the country, and when he does, he usually turns his phone off.”
“So, we wait to see if he calls you and then hit him up?” Erin wanted to make sure she understood correctly. She didn’t understand the logic behind it, but Ryan was the expert when it came to Deuce, so she kept her thoughts to herself.
“Yeah, I know exactly where he keeps all his cash, and there’s no lock on the door, so it’ll be even easier for us.”
“In and out.”
“Exactly.”
August 2017
48 hours couldn’t come any sooner. Erin and Ryan were on edge trying to get the fuck out of Rochester before Stephon spotted them. The Edwards twins knew they were playing with fire and it was time to extinguish the flame. ‘You can’t run away from your problems because they’ll always follow. You’ll be running all your life until you deal with it.’ Ma’s jewels usually hit the head on the nail, but the girls weren’t tryna hear that. Facing a problem like this would leave them both murdered. Best way to move forward was to run away.
Ryan was starting to think she was in love with Deuce, but at the end of the day, the family came first. Although the connection between Stephon and him was unclear, she knew he was important. Deuce didn’t just invite any person over to his crib, only people he loved and trusted knew where he rested his head. Stephon was a major component in his life, no doubt. So, there was no longer a need to balance love over deceit.
Ryan reached around the window pane to look for the spare key that Deuce always kept there. Now, that made no sense to her. A nigga with his caliber leaving his place wide open like that? When she asked him about it, he just smiled and said, “Aint no nigga stupid enough.” Ryan was the one smiling now, no nigga was stupid enough, but this female was.
Erin was amazed at Deuce’s place. They saw some fancy shit, but his won by a long shot.
“This nigga is laced.” She said sounding like a kid in a candy shop.
“Um-hm.” Ryan agreed. She had seen this place plenty of times and reacted the same way her first time coming in. This wasn’t a walk through the museum though, they were on an assignment.
“Let’s go!” Ryan rushed Erin to his bedroom. The butterflies in her stomach fluttered faster every minute longer they stayed in that house.
Ryan walked over to the door and turned the handle.
“Fuck, it’s locked.”
“Locked? I thought you said he kept it open.”
“He doe
s. He did, the last time I was here, it opened right up.
“Okay, YouTube Diva. Pick the lock.” Erin handed her a bobby pin.
There was just one problem though, there wasn’t a lock on the door.
“Uh oh.”
“Uh, oh. Uh, oh. There’s no time for any uh oh’s.”
“There’s no lock.”
Erin palmed her face, “How the fuck is the door locked without a lock?”
Ryan fingered around the door frame, “There gotta be some kinda button to open this shit.”
“What about this switch?” Erin flipped the switch between the door and the closet, and nothing.
“Fuck!” Ryan kicked herself.
“Relax, there has got to be…” Erin comment was cut short when they heard a noise coming from the other room.
“Quick, in here.” Ryan propelled Erin into the closet. The twins slid down to the floor holding on tight to each other, hoping they were wrong about what they just heard. Unfortunately, they were right. In walked Deuce, with his infamous straight backs.
“Bitch, I thought he was out of town?” Erin whispered.
“Ryan!” Erin whispered harder.
“Would you shut the fuck up before he hears us.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have listened to you.” Erin was now contemplating her decision to roll with her sister, “this last time.” It was stupid of them to try and rob Deuce.
Ryan tried to wrap her head around the fact that Deuce wasn’t OT, “What the fuck?”
“Yeah, man. I got ya shit.” Deuce yelled at whoever was on the other line of his cellphone. Erin’s breathing picked up. Ryan nudged her in efforts to get her to calm down.
“Iight, I’ll be there in a few. Gotta make a call right quick.” The girls were relieved to hear those words. Thankfully, Deuce was on his way out. They could pull off their caper and leave town for good.
Just as the twins released their nervous breaths, Ryan’s cell phone buzzed. She rushed to silence the buzzing as she read, ‘Deuces’ across the screen. Before she could get her phone back into her pocket, light shined into the once darkened closet. The Edwards twins looked up in unison and were face to face with a glistening desert eagle.
