“So Rell, this will be the first and only time I ask you. You wanna do business or not?”
“Bitch who is you talking to?” Rell snapped, grabbing his gun from his waist. He didn’t point it at her, but left it down by his side. The two women behind Niya already had their guns drawn and on him and his partner before they had a chance to respond.
Out of nowhere, a red beam shone on Niya’s chest. Niya looked down at the beam. It was coming from Rell’s truck. Rell wasn’t confident that Niya’s crew wouldn’t still pop anything that moved. Niya turned around and nodded to them, and they slowly lowered their guns. Rell lifted his right hand, and the beam disappeared from Niya’s chest.
“That was probably the best move you made since pulling up here. Now you and yo hoes betta get the fuck out of here before somebody get picked up in something flashing.” Rell said as he held the glock.
Niya nodded and slowly backed up to her car. Diamond and Tiffany waited until she was behind them and began backing up to their car with their guns drawn. Niya got in her beamer, looked in her rear view to make sure Diamond and Tiffany were in their vehicle, and sped out of the parking lot. Rell had given her his answer, and now she had to respond. She respected the game, and his stance, but it was time for MHB to let the streets know what those three letters meant
__________
Gwen sat in the car beside Chad. Her stomach was doing flips. She knew something wasn’t right about this meeting. Although she had been around Mayo for a short time after JR’s death, she had gotten to know him and his ways. This was too easy, and he damn sure wasn’t the type to do anything that didn’t have a profitable gain for himself. Not only that, he was a nigga big on retribution, and she knew he was salty at her. She hated she wasn’t there when the call came in. Her instincts were keener than Chad’s. She could have judged what the fuck was really going down with this meeting. Chad was green, and letting his emotions rule his common sense. She sure would have found a better location than this dark ass road. The only light on it was an almost burned out street light that flickered. She felt a chill go up her back as they rode down the quiet black street
“Pull over right here real quick,” Gwen told Chad as soon as they got near the middle of the long road. “Pop the trunk.”
Gwen got out and walked back to the trunk of the Chrysler 300. She moved a few things around, pulled a few latches here and there, then up came a small section of the floor. Inside of the compartment was a vest, a 9mm Taurus and two extended clips. She strapped the vest to her chest, threw her hoody back on top of it and tucked the 9mm in her back waist.
“You good?” Chad asked when she got back into the car. She tapped on the vest, letting him know that she had one on. Gwen’s mouth became dry as they drove further down State Road. There were no streetlights at all, and the silence of the street was heavy. Chad’s phone whistled. He checked the text. “They want me to pull over,” he told Gwen, placing the phone on the dash.
Gwen pointed to a parking lot in front of a pet store. They pulled in. Chad’s phone whistled again. “What it say?” Chad grabbed the bag.
“They want one of us to get out with the money.” Gwen grabbed his arm.
“Fuck, Chad, get your head clear and right. We gotta be smart. Tell them we need to see Zion first.” Chad looked at her for a moment, then grabbed his phone and texted the number back. A few minutes later, a Chevrolet Traverse pulled in the parking lot. Gwen tried to swallow, as the headlights of the Traverse went off.
“Stay right here, let me see what’s going on,” Chad said, opening his door.
Gwen was dizzy with the anticipation of seeing Zion. She couldn’t stay inside the car. She opened her door and got out. She tried to look in the van for a sign of Zion, but the tint was too dark.
Spice got out of the driver’s side and his partner, Made, jumped out of the passenger side. Both of them had guns in their hands and Made was carrying something that looked like an assault rifle.
“Where the fuck is my money?” Spice said, seeing that neither Gwen nor Chad had a bag in their hands.
“Where da fuck is my son?” Chad snapped back, gripping the butt of his gun a little tighter.
“Money first, nigga!” Spice demanded.
“Show me my son, fucker,” Gwen shouted back.
Spice looked over at Made and gave him a nod. Made went to the side door of the minivan and pulled Zion out. Made held him by the back of his collar, with an assault rifle to the child’s head.
Gwen’s blood boiled, and without thinking, she began walking towards him. “Hey baby,” Gwen yelled with her arms outstretched.
Spice raised his gun to her. “Money!” he shouted, then looked over at Made. Made threw Zion back into the minivan and shut the door.
“Hold up, hold up,” Chad opened the door before Gwen could stop him.
“Let my son go,” he said, walking over and tossing the bag at Spice’s feet. Gwen looked at Chad. This nigga had really lost it. Giving this fool the money gave them no control of the situation.
Kneeling down, and holding his gun on Gwen, Spice unzipped the bag. He grabbed a few stacks of money, inspected them, then zipped the bag. He tossed the bag in the door.
“Fuck yeah,” he said, while getting in the van. He held his gun on Gwen. “Now we gone put your son out at the fire station. Give us about five minutes, then you can pick him up.”
Gwen pulled her gun. “Nigga, let my son go now, we ain’t doing this shit.” There was no way she was going to let them drive off with her son.
Spice signaled for Made to get in. Made opened the door, and the dome light shone on Zion in the back. Gwen cocked her gun back. She had to think of how to stop them without hurting her baby. Spice knew they couldn’t open fire on them with the boy in the car.
Gwen screamed at Chad, “Do something!”
Chad could see Zion’s position, due to the interior light. He prayed and opened fire on Made as he tried to get in the van. Gwen’s mind raced. She aimed for the tires, trying to take them out, so the van couldn’t move. Spice began firing at Gwen, Made began popping rounds in Chad’s direction.
Rat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Pow! Boom!
Zion heard the bullets and jumped to the third row of the cross over. He got on the floor and covered his head. His chest became tight, and he couldn’t breathe. He tried to claw at the tape over his mouth, but his chest began to burn. The sounds of the bullets flying around him caused his little hands to shake. He finally got the tape half way off, but he couldn’t catch his breath. He felt in his jeans for his inhaler, but it wasn’t there. The sounds of the bullets became softer, as darkness surrounded him.
Made continued forcing Chad back. Chad took cover behind the car. Gwen and Spice were exchanging fire in their own shoot out. Spice got out to get a better shot at her. She was out in the open and he was behind the door of the van. Gwen was shooting at the tires. She didn’t want to shoot in the van, for fear of hitting Zion. She jumped behind the pole of the pet store sign as Spice continued firing at her.
“Just let him go,” Gwen screamed out, sending four quick shots in Spice’s direction.
Made fired until he was out of ammo, then jumped in the van. Spice jumped back in, still firing in the direction of the pole. Gwen cursed as she dropped the empty clip, and loaded a new one. As she came from around the pole, Spice fired again, hitting her in her solar plexus. The force of the shot knocked her to the ground. That was the time Spice needed to throw the car in reverse and tear out of the parking lot.
Chad fired the last two rounds he had left and ran over to Gwen “Come on, babe, you gotta get up,” Chad yelled, running back over to Gwen and helping her up off the ground.
They got in the car, Chad nearly lost control as he drove on the road. They approached the firehouse. The van was sitting in front of it. Gwen jumped out of the car before Chad stopped. She fell to the ground. She jumped up and ran to the van.
She checked the back of it, the front, and under the seats. “Zion, Zion!” Gwen yelled as she looked inside.
She collapsed, realizing that he wasn’t there. She started beating the butt of her gun against the ground. She held her stomach as a wave of nausea hit her, and vomited. Her son and her money were gone! Chad grabbed her by the waist and dragged her to the car. He threw her in the passenger street and took off. He left the lights off. He could hear the police sirens wailing as he drove down the dark road.
__________
Diamond leaned against Niya’s car. Her pulse had finally slowed down from their encounter with Rell. She looked at Niya. “So now what?” Diamond asked.
Tiffany sat on the trunk. “I think we should leave them niggas alone before I end up having to kill one of their asses,” Tiffany suggested while putting on some lip-gloss.
Niya kicked a can that was near her foot. She knew that taking over Charlotte’s drug flow wasn’t going to be easy. There were more Rells in Charlotte than she cared to think about, but like anything, MHB would have to take things one step at a time. Rell’s reaction had numbered his days, no his hours he had left above ground. Dicks think they control the streets, but Niya was going to show them how big real pussy control worked.
“Look, I told you this shit wasn’t gonna be easy, but at the same time, I told ya’ll that we can make it happen. Now, the nigga, Rell, made his choice, so he gotta bear the weight of his actions,” Niya said, looking from Tiffany to Diamond.
Niya knew that MHB had the crew it needed to make MHB the royalty of the Queen City drug game
“We gotta get on some otha shit right now,” Niya said. “We gone have to put some real work in to make these niggas feel our presence. We got to show these motherfuckers we about this life!”
“Shit, we came this far and I ain’t turning back now,” Diamond replied, hugging Niya.
They both looked over at Tiffany who was lighting up a blunt. Tiffany was the wild card of the bunch and they really didn’t have to ask her if she was riding, because they knew she was with whatever.
“What ya’ll looking at me for? I’m MHB to the death of me,” Tiffany said, taking a toke of the sour.
“Yeah, and what’s that supposed to mean?” Niya asked jokingly, only wanting to hear some slick talk from her girl.
Tiffany exhaled the weed smoke, jumped down off the car and faced both of them. “You either go hard or blow ya own fuckin brains out,” Tiffany said, and then walked to her car.
Chapter 6
Shopping is the activity that bonds women. Shoes, purses, dresses, all the things every girl needs to have and must have. Many girls’ night out started with a group of friends shopping, and then deciding to show off their finds on the dance floor. Niya and Diamond entered the food court of North Lake mall. It had been a while since they actually had time to enjoy the money they had been making, and today they would dip into it and make a sizeable dent. Niya and Diamond walked through the food court, laughing and talking. They walked into their favorite store, and were greeted by Misha, one of the sales girls. Misha knew that when she saw these girls, her commission was going to be lovely.
“Ladies! It has been too long.” Misha hugged each of them and air kissed each cheek.
“Hey Misha, how are you?” said Diamond as she walked over to a purple cocktail dress.
“I am great, so are we looking for anything in particular today?” Misha asked.
Diamond held up a pair of Chanel satin Capri pants. “I like these. Do you have them in another color?”
Misha took the pants and walked to the back of the store.
“This will be cute on you, “Diamond said as she held up the purple cocktail dress. Niya felt the material, and then held it in front of Diamond.
“I think it will look better on you. I think I will go with pants or something.”
“Yeah, how many people ya think will show up tomorrow?” Diamond said as she looked at her reflection in the glass.
Niya was silent for a moment. Tomorrow night was the recruiting meeting. She had extended several “Purple Party” invitations to some of Charlotte’s most intelligent, sexy, and street savvy broads. She and Diamond continued talking and grabbing things off shelves that caught their eye.
Diamond laughed, “You made sure this shit was exclusive, and private. I ain’t heard shit on the street about it.”
“The invitation was clear. This event was by invitation only, and was to be kept quiet. I made sure that invitations were hand delivered to broads I been watching for a minute. The kind I know can keep their mouths shut, and the kind that want to be a part of something like MHB.” Diamond walked into the dressing room. Misha returned with a pair of white, purple, pink and lavender capris.
“This is our newest item, we have not had a chance to put all of them out yet. It actually has a matching halter. We also have some wide leg cotton pants that are screaming your name and would be just sizzling with the halter.” Niya took the purple capris from Misha.
“It’s kind of hot to be wearing wide leg pants.”
“No, this is really light and flowing cotton. Let me get them for you and one of the halter tops.” Niya smiled at Misha as she fluttered off.
Diamond opened the curtain and did a run way walk to the mirror.
“Yeah bitch, that is you. You look good, that is a keeper.” Niya said as she walked around Diamond. The dress stopped above her knees and displayed her thick legs; material clung to her hips and her breast. Diamond had a naturally flat stomach that Niya envied, due to the fact that the bitch never did a crunch in her life.
“That dress definitely says come get it.” Niya and Diamond turned around. “Sorry, didn’t mean to barge in on your conversation, but that dress is ridiculous on you. Shame I can’t say the same about this one.” The girl sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror.
Niya scanned her for a moment then looked at Diamond.
“Girl, that dress is fire on you. What are you talking about?” Diamond laughed.
“You think so? Is it hot enough to make a dude wanna use his hose on me?” The girls all laughed. “I just want something that is going to make his Latin blood boil, and his American wallet open.”
“I know that’s right, girl, and I think that dress is going to have him hearing Alicia Keys in his head when you walk up.” Niya said.
The woman had long curly hair that flowed down to the center of her back. The dress wrapped around her small waist and high hips, she was making that dress sing sexy as she walked to the mirror. Niya noticed the Hermes bag on the stool in the dressing room stall. Niya scanned it, and could tell it was not a knock off. This chick was far from low budget, she was carrying a 20k handbag.
She began pulling the dress up and looking in the mirror. “Yeah it will come far enough for him to hold me up against the wall, and make me go up and down his pole.”
Diamond and Niya looked at each other, then the woman. The room was quiet for a second, and then all three erupted in laughter.
“Girl, you are crazy!” Diamond said walking back into the dressing stall.
“Where you from, girl?” Niya said as she sat down.
“I just got here. I am originally from Brazil, but I been in Miami for a little minute. My name is Millie.” She extended her hand.
Niya nodded, and took her hand, “I’m Niya, Millie,” she could tell the girl had class, but there was an edge to her also. “That is my girl, Diamond in there.”
“Well, nice to meet both of you.”
Misha returned with an arm full of clothes for Niya. Niya took the lavender cotton pants, and the dark purple halter and held them up to herself in the mirror.
“Damn, Misha, you know me so well. This is orgasmic.” Niya said. “Girl when I come in here I ain’t even got to worry about looking around cause you already know. I’ma take all that shit.”
“Well, I have some accessories for you to look at too.”
<
br /> “Misha, girl do your thang, I know you got me.” Niya said, smoothing her hair.
“Hey boo, I’m gon take all these.” Millie said as she handed Misha her credit card.
Niya noticed the diamond dolphin pendant that hung from her wrist. This broad had some loot. Niya got a good vibe off her. She was definitely worth inviting to the party.
Diamond walked out of the stall holding the dress and three other outfits. Niya and Diamond walked out of the dressing room. They bought their items and handed Misha an invitation.
“Give it to the lady that was in the dressing room.” Niya said as she grabbed her bags. Misha placed the purple envelope on top of the clothes the girl was buying.
“Next time, don’t stay away so long, ladies.” Misha said as they left the store.
__________
Detective Rose walked out of the store with her bags. She looked around a few times before walking across the parking lot and jumping into the unmarked Crown Victoria.
“So did you see them while you were in there?” Butler said, looking over at Rose going through her bags.
“Yup, I saw them,” she answered, pulling out one of the dresses she purchased.
Butler stood there waiting for Rose to say something. “Well…” he said, tugging playfully at her bags.
“They invited me to a party,” Rose said with a big smile on her face.
She had casually followed Niya and Diamond around the store, listening to as much of their conversation as she could. She seized the opportunity to listen to them when they went into the dressing room. The booth gave her the perfect shield. She got the chance to get a feel of the type of women they were, and how to best interject herself into their world. She knew that Niya had a keen eye for fashion. Renting that Hermes bag and wearing the bracelet her ex-boyfriend had bought her was just the type of thing she knew Niya would notice. It was pure luck that they were having a recruiting party, and luckily, she had played her role so well that they invited her.
Country Girls Trilogy (Parts 1-2-3 Boxed Set): MHB Love Page 20
