Young-Minded Hustler

by Tysha

  Raequan nodded his head and walked around to the passenger side door. He sat with his right leg outside of the car door. Raequan had no intention of talking to Prince for too long. After hearing what Prince had to say, he was going back to the street corner to hustle.

  “I know you might be a little salty about me doing business elsewhere but it was an offer I couldn’t pass up. Feel me?” Prince spoke candidly.

  “Shit, it ain’t no thang, nigga. We all gotta get it the best way we can, I feel you,” Raequan lied. He was annoyed with Prince turning his back on Cherise. Prince knew what it was and he still left his mother for dead. Raequan couldn’t let his betrayal go unpunished.

  “We’ve been friends for life, man. I had to make sure we were straight,” Prince explained, suspicious of Raequan’s reaction.

  “We good,” Raequan lied. “This ride is sweet as hell. How long you been pushin’ this?”

  Raequan reached behind his back and pulled out his gun. He set it down between his legs and continued admiring the interior of the Impala. Prince leaned on his door and gave Raequan a look that said, “don’t play.”

  “What up, Rae, we got problems like that?” Prince stared at the gun.

  “Nigga, chill, it was pushing into my back. I just copped it this morning from some geek. He let it go for a fifty dollar rock.” Raequan laughed at the addict’s bad business deal. The .38 was new, probably stolen, but Raequan didn’t care. He was never one to pass on a good deal. He picked up the gun and showed it to Prince.

  “Check it out; this look fresh, ain’t no bodies on this one,” Raequan bragged.

  Prince saw Raequan position his index finger on the trigger. He saw it happening before he could react.

  Boom!

  Prince couldn’t believe what had just happened. So much so that Prince took pause before he reacted. Raequan had sat in the passenger seat and shot out the car’s engine. That was no accident and Prince knew it. Raequan had gone too far this time and would have to answer for his actions.

  “Man, what da fuck!” Prince was livid.

  “Damn, my bad, nigga. It just went off, my bad.” Raequan smirked. He jumped out of the car.

  “Just went off my ass, nigga. What da fuck? You meant to shoot my shit. How da fuck it just go off with ya finger on the trigger?”

  “You know I wouldn’t do no shit like that to my man. It was an accident.” Raequan walked around the front of the car to face Prince. Treachery was in control and Raequan knew Prince wasn’t going to let it ride.

  Prince popped the hood as smoke seeped into the air and fluids pooled underneath the car. The bullet had gone through the engine and continued its path past the grill. Just that quick, Prince’ pride and joy was disabled. It would cost thousands to get repaired. Prince was infuriated and quickly becoming homicidal. Raequan had shown himself to be a bitch. Despite what everyone else said about him, Prince always had Raequan’s back. It became obvious that the rumors of Raequan setting him up to be jumped and robbed were true. Prince was certain that his arm getting broken was no accident.

  “Man, you’s a simple-ass bitch. You must be out ya monkey-ass mind,” Prince barked before punching Raequan in the jaw. Raequan stumbled and Prince caught him with haymakers before he could get his balance. Prince threw all his strength behind each blow. Raequan eventually grabbed Prince around the waist, attempting to slam him to the ground. Prince was stronger and more skilled than his victim and refused to go down.

  NuNu, Mike Frank, and the other hustlers watched as Raequan got what he had coming. They were all fed up with Raequan’s slimy business practices. He had played them all at one time or another. When it became apparent that Prince was going to kill Raequan, they broke up the fight.

  “Get dat away from me. I’m gon’ kill that bitch,” Prince insisted.

  Raequan was led off leaving a trail of blood behind him. He was embarrassed by taking a loss out on the streets for all to see but that didn’t matter as much as getting his wounds mended. Prince would be dealt with later. All Raequan wanted was his momma.

  Prince calmed down after a few minutes. He called a tow truck to take his car to the dealership for repairs. After his car was secured on the flatbed, Prince called C-Lok to let him know what went down. C-Lok ensured his nephew that he would have Raequan dealt with. He couldn’t let Prince catch a charge behind something so petty. Quincy arrived on the scene fifteen minutes after getting Prince’s call. He and Jayden rushed to Prince. They were relieved to find him in one piece.

  “Get me to the crib, bro. I got this nigga’s blood all over me.” Prince chuckled.

  “What happened?” Jayden inquired.

  “Raequan’s a bitch and I beat his ass, that’s what happened. He shot my fuckin’ engine out then gon’ claim it was an accident. That pussy-ass nigga fucked up. Every time I see him, I’m fuckin’ him up on sight!” Prince continued to go off.

  “Yeah, Aunt Shy is going to go off. I’m glad I’ll be there to see it,” Quincy said while shaking his head.

  “Is Mommy home?” Prince asked.

  “Yeah, bro,” replied Jayden.

  “Good, wait ’til I tell her about this shit.”

  Chapter 24

  Girlfriends

  Cherise was exhausted. She’d just returned from another visit with B-Boy. Despite the fact that Cherise held everything down for their family, B-Boy was always very critical of her parenting skills and business sense. B-Boy was never satisfied. She took Raequan to the wrong barbershop, purchased Reeboks instead of Nikes, and dressed him in Southpole not True Religion. Cherise picked up shipments too slow, counted money too fast, and her weight calculations were always off even though she used a scale. Let B-Boy tell it, everything she touched crumbled beneath her feet.

  Thanks to her, B-Boy had so much money on his books, Cherise wouldn’t be surprised if the warden was embezzling from him. If that were the case, Cherise knew B-Boy would find a way to blame her for it. Cherise had taken care of him since the day they met. B-Boy showed his love for her by being mentally and emotionally abusive but still she stayed. It had gone on for so long, Cherise felt worthless.

  She filled her soaking tub with hot water and poured in her favorite lavender-scented bath beads. The warm water slowly melted the tension from her tired muscles. Twenty-five minutes later, Cherise spread out on her bed with only cocoa butter lotion covering her body. The hot bath wasn’t relaxing enough. Cherise needed some type of sexual release to completely erase the negative thoughts from her mind. She put new batteries in her favorite B.O.B. and touched herself. It took five minutes before the vibrating against her clit moistened her love box. Just as she was about to reach her first climax, someone began beating on the front door.

  Cherise cursed under her breath and grabbed her bathrobe. She peeked out of her bedroom window to see who was on her doorstep trying to knock the door of its hinges. It was Shy. Cherise rushed down the stairs thinking there was an emergency. She feared it was about Raequan. He hadn’t checked in with her all day.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?” Cherise asked with a racing heart as she swung open the door.

  Cherise was taken aback when Shy pushed her way into the house. Shy was fuming. She’d tried to lower her blood pressure the entire ride over to confront Cherise but her attempts were futile.

  “Shy, what’s going on?”

  “I am so sick of you and your jealous ass. Now your immature, entitled son is pulling the same bullshit,” Shy said angrily.

  “What are you talking about?” Cherise asked defensively.

  “Oh, Raequan hasn’t come running home yet? He shot a gun off inside of Prince’s car today. What the fuck was he thinking?”

  “First off, you need to calm down. I don’t know what Prince told you but that don’t even sound right. Raequan wouldn’t do anything like that,” Cherise responded. She immediately jumped into protective mode. Raequan was her son, and right or wrong, she would defend him no matter what.

  “
Why wouldn’t he? Because you taught him better?” Shy sarcastically asked with hands on her hips.

  Cherise was beyond insulted. Shy had picked the wrong day to attack her parenting skills. She’d already taken enough disrespect from her baby daddy earlier in the day; she refused to take it from her best friend.

  “What makes you think the twins are any better than Raequan? You ain’t special, Shy. Women are raising boys into men every day,” Cherise snapped.

  “Too bad you ain’t one of ’em. You’ve been so busy holding on to the inside of B-Boy’s ass that you barely raised Raequan. The streets raised that boy. The only message he got from his parents was that money trumps everything. You should be the spokeswoman for all of the weak-ass women of the world.”

  Shy stared in Cherise’s eyes, waiting for her to say one foul word about Melvin. Melvin had been more of a father in death to his children than B-Boy was in life. He was behind bars but in Shy’s opinion, B-Boy could’ve and should’ve made more of a difference in his son’s life.

  “Who are you to talk? You’ve been holding on to a ghost for seven years. You’re holding on to Melvin’s memory so tight it’s sad. That nigga still got you stuck on stupid.”

  Smack!

  Cherise never saw it coming. She covered the side of her face and looked at Shy as if she’d grown a second head.

  Smack!

  Shy gave it to Cherise again on the other side of her face before she recovered from the first slap. If Cherise crossed the line again, Shy was prepared to beat the breaks off her ass.

  “Bitch, you just made that shit up. For over thirty years I’ve been a good friend to you. I’ve always been there for you and ain’t ever asked your ass for shit. You’ve gotten my ass in street fights, bar fights, got my car windows busted out all because of a sick obsession with a nigga that ain’t shit!” She was so angry tears fell from her eyes. “You want to talk about Melvin? How many times did he save your ass when B-Boy was beating the shit out of you? Should I add up the money he dealt out to keep a roof over your head? If B-Boy was about his business, you wouldn’t have had to ask my man for help.”

  Cherise was stunned by Shy’s words. The slaps, the insults, the verbal attack, it all came out of nowhere. She was caught completely off guard. Though Shy’s words hurt, Cherise knew that everything being thrown at her was the truth. Shy had always been her rock. Until she gave birth to Raequan, their relationship was the only positive constant in her life. Truth be told, Cherise had betrayed Shy on more than one occasion. If the ultimate disloyalty Cherise committed ever came to light, she was sure Shy would kill her. Shy stood before Cherise with disgust in her eyes.

  “You know I’ve been a friend to you. I’ve always been there for you,” Cherise lied. She had been selfish when it came to her best friend. Their relationship wasn’t based on mutual give and take. It was more like Shy gave and Cherise took, always. “Don’t act like Melvin ain’t never hurt you. You know that nigga cheated on you so don’t act all high and mighty. Your life ain’t perfect.”

  “I’ve heard rumors that you fucked Melvin, more than once, but I never paid them any attention because I trusted you. Melvin wasn’t perfect, he made his mistakes, and I forgave him for that shit with Theresa. If I remember correctly, we broke up behind that bullshit for over a year. During that time you were chilling with that bitch. You remained friends with her knowing she’d stabbed me in the back. I should’ve beat ya ass for that but I just let it ride.” Shy’s heart ached at the memory of that difficult time. Having to deal with the fact that her best friend could remain close to someone who’d hurt her while trying to get over Melvin was overwhelming. “Cherise, you’ve never been a true friend to me, ever. You don’t know how to be and neither does your son. Prince would never do something so foul to him. He thinks of Raequan as a brother, you know that.”

  Shy was angry with herself. She’d allowed Cherise to pull her down to her level. The ghetto girl had awakened in her. Shy hated giving someone the power to dictate her emotions and behavior. This side of her rarely came out but she was as dangerous as a mother bear protecting her cubs. She would rip her prey apart to protect her children.

  “Why we gotta go through all of this just because of an accident? You know Raequan would never hurt Prince on purpose; if anything, you need to be worried about what Roberts gonna do,” Cherise snidely said.

  “What does he have to do with anything?” Shy asked, totally confused. There was no conceivable reason for Roberts to pop back up in her life. Instinct told Shy that something was not right. Shy repeated her question when Cherise was slow to respond. “What does Roberts have to do with my son?”

  “He recruited Raequan to fuck with Prince while they were in juvenile hall. If anybody’s trying to do Prince harm, it’s him. Why don’t you go find his ass and harass him?” Cherise said in a loathing tone.

  Cherise had not meant to blurt out Roberts’s name but it was too late to turn back now. It was out there and Shy would just have to deal. Raequan wasn’t a saint but he also couldn’t always play the role of Satan. Cherise would never be a contender for mother of the year but she was going to protect her son as best she could.

  “I want to know everything about Raequan and Roberts,” fumed Shy. “Now!”

  Shy took slow, calculated steps toward Cherise, who was now cowered in the corner of her foyer. Cherise knew she was no match for Shy in the ring. The last thing Cherise wanted was to be beat on again. B-Boy had done that enough.

  “All I know is that he’s the supervisor of the night shift at juvie hall. He was careful not to let Prince see him.”

  “Keep going,” ordered Shy.

  “He recruited Raequan to fuck with Prince and make his time miserable. He has nothing but hate for everything McGee,” Cherise explained.

  “Did Raequan take the bait?”

  “Yes, Roberts paid him with privileges.”

  “What did Raequan have to do with my son’s stuff getting stolen and those boys jumping him?”

  “He set it up,” admitted Cherise.

  “And his broke arm?”

  “It wasn’t an accident,” Cherise cried, fearful of Shy’s response to the news. “I told Raequan to get out of the deal with Roberts but he wouldn’t listen. He did what he had to do to make his time easy.”

  “Do not try to justify that bitch-ass move with me. What is wrong with you? It’s all right to stand by your child but admit when he fucks up. Raequan is turning out to be just like his daddy and you condoning that shit ain’t right,” Shy uttered in disbelief.

  “How long have you known about Raequan dealing with Roberts?” Shy asked suspiciously.

  Cherise refused to answer that question. She knew that telling Shy a lie would be as bad as the truth. The hurt in Shy’s heart was evident in her eyes. Cherise was well aware there was no coming back from what transpired. The line between love and hate was miniscule and Cherise had leapt to the other side. She’d lost a lifelong friend. Cherise prayed that Shy would forgive her one day.

  “I’m sorry, Shy. I never wanted this to happen. Raequan is all I have and I’m all he has, you know that. I couldn’t stop it. Roberts lured him in before I knew anything about him even working there.”

  “If that were true, Cherise, you would’ve told me. That man killed my husband and you didn’t think enough of me or my kids to tell me his killer was overseeing my son’s wellbeing. Prince took a charge for Raequan. He refused to give the prosecutor any names or details about Raequan. Prince sacrificed his freedom and all along Raequan had plans to leave him for dead?”

  Shy was outdone. How could someone who claimed to love her commit such treachery? What had Prince ever done to deserve Raequan’s disloyalty? The answer was simple: there was no love in the game. Melvin had drilled the number one rule in her head but it never occurred to Shy that the rule applied to her friend of over thirty years. Shy had to get out of that house before she caught a murder case. Cherise underestimated Shy. That was a huge mis
take.

  “You know you fucked up, right?”

  “I’m sorry,” Cherise said sincerely.

  “Not as sorry as you’re going to be,” warned Shy as she walked out the front door of her best friend’s house for the last time.

  Chapter 25

  One Plus One Equals Two

  In spite of the three boys being together, the McGee household was quiet. As expected, Shy was livid after hearing what had gone down between Prince and Raequan. Prince had barely finished telling her the story when she stormed out of the house. There was no question where Shy was headed. Over two hours had passed and Shy still wasn’t home. Prince, Jayden, and Quincy knew without a doubt she could take care of herself but they were still worried.

  “Bro, you don’t think she got arrested do you?” Quincy hesitantly asked.

  “No, you think so?” Jayden replied after a brief pause.

  “She would’ve called us by now. Maybe they were able to talk without Mommy havin’ to give it to her ass,” Prince speculated.

  The boys burst into laughter at the thought of Shy being rational. She was defending her kids; logic and anger are like water and oil. They just don’t mix.

  Silence filled the room once again. The boys sat staring at each other as if the others had the answers they searched for. There was a knock at the door.

  Jayden went to open the door. He found an average-built, light-complexioned man with long, neat dreads standing on the porch.

  “Hi, may I help you?” Jayden asked the stranger cautiously.

  “Hey, man, how’ve you been?” The stranger extended his hand for a proper greeting.

  “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

  The man looked confused and a little offended.

  “Hey, Prince, it’s me, Mr. Karl. Remember, your teacher from juvie?”

  “Oh, I’m not Prince, sir. Hold on a minute,” Jayden instructed.

  Jayden disappeared behind the door. Mr. Karl stood on the porch wondering why Prince wouldn’t remember him. Prince hadn’t been too interested in his education but Mr. Karl thought they had mutual respect for each other. He’d been thinking about Prince and wanted to check on him. Karl hoped Prince would be receptive to his friendship. It seemed he was wrong.