Hell's Diva

by Anna J.

  Mecca told Stone about the stick up crew and all he said was “I’ll handle it.” He never did. Word on the street was that Stone got soft and the young cats lost respect for him. Tah and the stick up crew took advantage of the word about Stone going soft and stuck him up at a block party in Brownsville houses.

  “If I gotta go to them projects myself and handle these clowns, I’ll fuck around and kill them niggas, then I’ll kill Stone’s punk ass!” Ruby growled.

  Ruby stayed away from Brownsville as much as possible. The gritty section of Brooklyn was too unpredictable for her. Stick up kids and killers were born and raised on the Brownsville streets every day, and she didn’t want to be some young hot head’s first of many bodies. When she did show up in Brownsville in her ocean green Sterling with BBS rims, it was usually in the early morning hours to see Stone and to remind the residents of Brownsville that she was still around, and she wasn’t hiding in the villa she bought in the Hamptons where she and Monique now stayed.

  Ruby and Monique had become full-fledged lesbian lovers. Monique treated Mecca like a daughter. She loved Mecca as if she were her daughter, and she became concerned with Mecca being on the street. After a lovemaking session with Ruby, Monique expressed her concern as they lay naked on their king-sized, heart shaped waterbed with red satin sheets and pillows.

  “Ruby, them streets are dangerous. You shouldn’t have Mecca out there. She needs to get herself a job or something or finish school. Niggas don’t care if she a girl or not, they’ll treat her just like a nigga when it comes to that money. She still damn near a baby.”

  Ruby folded her arms under her head and sighed. “She’s young, but she got a old soul. Mecca knows how to handle herself.” Ruby looked over at Monique and continued. “Monique, you know that girl ain’t gonna listen. Her and Dawn are hardheaded.”

  “Don’t let them work for you no more. They won’t have a choice but to get a job. Them girls are materialistic like hell. They ain’t trying to be broke,” Monique said with concern filling her voice. She knew firsthand how the streets would eat you alive and spit you out. She barely made it out of the very same streets Mecca and Dawn were now on, and she wanted better for them.

  “All they’ll do is go to work for someone else, and they won’t treat them like I do. Or they’ll become strippers or hookers or something, and I’m not trying to hear that, Mo,” Ruby said in a matter-of-fact tone. Monique knew when to back off. The last thing a person wanted to do was piss Ruby off. She was liable to do anything with no remorse.

  Ruby rented Mecca and Dawn an apartment in Sutter Gardens, an apartment complex in the East New York section of Brooklyn. The neighborhood was just as dangerous as Mecca’s Brownsville environment, but she would have it no other way. Her reason for staying in the slums was simple.

  “If niggas think you hiding, they’ll come looking. If you in their face, they know you ready for whatever.”

  Ruby also bought Mecca and Dawn Volkswagen Jettas. Mecca’s was china blue, Dawns was silver.

  Mecca and Dawn pulled up in their Jettas at a basketball tournament in Miller Park in East New York. Even though there were hustlers out there with Benzes and BMWs, Sterlings, and Alfa Romeo Milanos, the two young chicks made everyone look in their direction.

  They wore black body suits that hugged the curves on their well-developed frames. Mecca wore a pair of red snakeskin boots and Dawn had black lizard-skin boots. They both wore large bracelets that resembled Wonder Woman’s and giant doorknocker earrings. They both kept their hair laced with Anita Baker hairdos.

  As Mecca and Dawn exited their vehicles, two cars pulled up behind them. One of the luxury cars blasted Big Daddy Kane’s “Ain’t No Halfed Steppin’” and the other blasted KRS One’s “My Philosophy.” They were a vintage, candy-apple red 1950 Jaguar XK and a sky blue Porsche.

  The young cats that emerged from the vehicles were all decked out in the latest gear and jewelry. The driver of the Porsche stood out the most with his Gucci short set and sneakers. His diamond-flooded Figueroa chain with Mary holding baby Jesus was the size of Slick Rick’s chain. He had a high rise pinky ring flooded with ice as well. He and Mecca caught each other’s eyes and he smiled at her. Mecca looked away. At sixteen years of age, Mecca was still a virgin, unlike many of her peer group. Mecca was more into making money and fashion than boys. Also Mecca was afraid to fall for a boy after seeing how it had affected her aunt when Wise broke her heart.

  Besides all that, Mecca had to stay focused. It took a lot for her to prove to Ruby that she could handle the responsibility that was given to her. When it came to business, Ruby didn’t take any shorts, and since she was able to convince Ruby that helping her out was a better choice than going back to school, she had no choice but to stay on top of her game.

  “It’s not good to fall in love with no nigga because all they do is use you for sex. That’s all they want, they care nothing about your feelings. So to avoid being hurt, don’t fall in love. Use them for what you need the same way they do us,” Ruby had always reminded Mecca.

  During the game, the guy in the Gucci short set stared at Mecca. She glanced at him as she walked around the park with Dawn. Other girls in the park glared at her and Dawn with envy. All the boys in the park were either staring at the duo or trying to get with them. Dawn flirted with some, then she stopped and talked to one of the members of the guy who wore the Gucci short set’s crew. She found out that crew was from Brownsville Houses and Dawn thought one of the guys looked familiar, but she couldn’t place his face right away. She figured if they didn’t know Mecca or Mecca didn’t know them, then most likely it was the stick up crew that was sticking up Ruby’s spot in the projects. Her suspicions were confirmed when the guy with the Gucci suit walked up to the guy she spoke to.

  “Son, tell shorty to tell her friend I’m trying to get with her. Shorty look right,” the guy in Gucci said.

  “Yo, Dawn, tell ya girl my man Tah wanna talk to her!”

  Dawn took another good look at him and remembered his face from when they were in junior high. Her mind flashed back to the girl Tamika, who she and Mecca jumped and Mecca cut her face because she thought Mecca was messing with her boyfriend Tah. Tah had dropped out of school, and since Dawn and Mecca never went back to school after that, Mecca never got the chance to see what he looked like. Dawn thought better than to ask him about Tamika or explain why she asked. One of the guys in his crew could be related to Tamika and might want to get some payback for the lifetime scar Tamika wore on her face.

  “Son, they from the ville,” Tah’s friend said to him about Mecca and Dawn.

  “Word?” Tah asked, pointing at Dawn. “I knew you looked familiar. Where you live at in the ville?” he asked. Dawn just flashed him a flirtatious smile and sauntered over to where Mecca was sitting.

  Mecca sat on the bleachers, drinking a wine cooler, watching the two teams, one in white uniforms with Brownsville written in black letters on the jersey and the other in purple uniforms that had East New York in white letters on the jersey, running a full court.

  “Girl, you won’t guess who the nigga in the Gucci short set is!” Dawn said, sitting next to Mecca.

  Mecca swallowed the drink and, still watching the game, responded, “Who is he?”

  “Remember that chick Tamika? We beat her ass in school and you cut her?” Dawn asked as Mecca looked at her attentively. “That’s the boy she thought you were messing with,” Dawn answered.

  Mecca looked over at Tah, and she found him to be attractive. He was a caramel-complexioned, brown-eyed brother who stood about six feet tall. He had a medium build, not too big and not too small. He wore a fade-style haircut. The top of his hair was wavy with the sides faded. Mecca laughed at the thought of Tamika approaching her about a boy Mecca never met.

  “They from Brownsville Houses. You never seen them?” Dawn asked.

  Mecca shook her head, looking at the crew to see if she recognized any of them. Mecca didn’t. “Nah, I don’
t know them.”

  “Well, the boy in the Gucci short set wanna meet you. He said you a cutie,” Dawn said.

  She didn’t want to tell Mecca the guy’s name because she thought maybe it wasn’t the stick up crew. If it was, if Mecca got with him he would stop, and Mecca wouldn’t have to worry about the crew anymore because she would be dating the leader. Plus, she needed to get her cherry popped. Tah came and sat next to Mecca on the bleachers while his friend grabbed Dawn’s hand and led her off the bleachers to talk privately.

  “What’s your name, shorty?” Tah, asked showing his bottom teeth that were covered with gold.

  “Mecca,” she said tersely.

  Tah nodded his head. “That’s a pretty name. It fits.”

  Mecca smiled and thought he can’t come up with something more original? How many times had she heard that? She turned to look at him.

  “You nervous or something?” she asked.

  “Me?” Tah asked, pointing to his chest with a confused look on his face. “Hell no, why should I be nervous?” Tah asked, shaking his head.

  “’Cause I know you can come up with something more original instead of my name is pretty, it fits!”

  “You buggin’. I really meant it!” Tah said, sounding sincere. “I don’t need to borrow lines from no one, shorty. I call it like I see it.” Mecca ignored him and continued to watch the game.

  “So what’s your name? What do they call you?” she asked.

  “Tah.”

  “Oh, yeah, Tah. You’re Tamika’s boyfriend!” Mecca said.

  Tah snapped his head back, surprised to hear his ex’s name spoken from a total stranger. He gave her a look like he was trying to remember her from somewhere else or place her face from someone he may have met in the past.

  “That’s old news, shorty. How you know though?”

  Mecca giggled. “I used to go to school with her and she thought I was messing with you, because I guess you looked at me one day when you picked her up from school.”

  “I knew you looked familiar!” Tah said. “Oh shit! You ain’t the one who blast Mika on her face?” Tah asked, making a mock slashing with his hand. He remembered seeing Mecca in passing at school, but never saw her after the fight she had with his then girlfriend.

  “She shouldn’t have come up on me like that,” Mecca replied with candor.

  “Okay, shorty. You a wild one on the hush,” Tah said.

  “I told you my name. Stop calling me shorty!” Mecca barked.

  When she thought of his name again, it hit her. One of Ruby’s workers in Brownsville Houses said a crew led by a nigga named Tah was sticking them up. Mecca didn’t want to bring it up yet. If it was him, she didn’t want to wake him up to who she was. She had to investigate first. If it was him, she would have to formulate a plot on how to stop him. Then, Mecca thought, getting to know him could be part of my investigation of Tah and his crew.

  “I’m sorry, Mecca. Calling you shorty is just a figure of speech. I’m not trying to be disrespectful at all,” Tah replied before asking, “Do you have a man?”

  “No, I don’t,” Mecca replied.

  “I hear you from Langston Hughes. That’s up the block from Brownsville. Maybe I can give you a call or come take you out one night. You know, a movie and a bite to eat,” Tah said.

  The way her attitude was, Tah thought she would deny giving him the number and say she would see him around, letting him down easy. To his surprise, Mecca said she would give him her number for him to call later. Tah smiled, then reached in his back pocket and pulled out a pen. He reached in his front pocket, and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill to write the number on. Mecca thought he was fronting. She grabbed the money and wrote her number on it. She stood up, ready to leave the bleachers to find Dawn, and she gave Tah a seductive look.

  “Hopefully, I’ll hear from you soon.”

  Tah put the money in his pocket. “Oh, you will,” he replied, looking back at her and letting his eyes undress her.

  When Mecca met Dawn, she grabbed Dawn’s hand, pulling her away from Tan’s friend. “Call me!” Dawn yelled to the boy as Mecca pulled.

  “Dawn, I think these are the niggas robbing my aunt’s spot in Brownsville Houses!”

  “Word?” Dawn responded as if she was shocked at the thought that she already had.

  “Yeah, remember I told you the worker said some nigga name Tah and his peoples were robbing them?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m not sure, but I’m almost sure it’s them. I’m going to find out. I’ma hang out with that nigga, Tah,” Mecca said before the girls entered their own cars.

  Dawn shook her head and thought, Mecca is as crazy as her aunt, and if it is Tah and his crew robbing Ruby’s spots, and if Tah doesn’t catch on to what Mecca is up to, he’ll be dead within a few weeks.

  Two days had passed since Mecca had given Tah her phone number. On the third day he called, and he and Mecca spoke for hours. They talked about the people they both knew in Brownsville. Mecca joked about Tah and Tamika’s relationship.

  “What you did to her? She must have been really in love with you.”

  They both laughed when Tah responded. “I don’t know. There’s something about me I can’t figure out. Maybe it’s my chain?”

  Mecca found talking to Tah easy to do. He was smart and funny. He made her laugh the entire conversation. Mecca found herself unintentionally opening up to him. She began telling him things that she planned on not telling him. Mecca told him that she lived in Sutter Gardens on Blake and Hendrix Street, and she told him she was a virgin, which excited Tah and made him want her even more.

  On their first date, Tah took Mecca to a Tony Roma’s restaurant in Queens. Riding in Tah’s Porsche made Mecca want one. She reminded herself to save up money to get one. Mecca was surprised at how much of a gentleman he was. He opened doors for her and he picked her up with roses in his hands. Tah took her to Coney Island where they walked on the beach. They took pictures together holding each other. He never let Mecca pay for anything, even when she begged him to let her pay for at least a movie.

  “It would make me feel less than a man if I let a woman pay for anything,” Tah would tell her.

  Mecca realized Tah was a man of pride. Mecca got so caught up with Tah that she forgot why she started seeing him in the first place. Just like Dawn predicted, when Tah and Mecca got together, the workers in Brownsville Houses didn’t have any problems with Tah and his crew. What Mecca and Dawn didn’t know was that Tah was extorting Stone. Stone paid a thousand dollars a week for them not to rob the spot. Stone paid him out of his own pay.

  When Tah wasn’t around, Mecca found herself missing him. All she talked about to Dawn was Tah. Dawn was happy for her. She noticed Mecca’s attitude change since she had started seeing Tah. Her explosive temper simmered down. Mecca usually was not someone who smiled, but she had a smile on her face almost all the time. Ruby noticed the change in her niece and she expressed it to Monique to see if Monique could shed some light on why Mecca’s attitude changed.

  “What’s up with Mecca? She’s been acting different lately,” Ruby said.

  “You acted the same way when you were in love,” Monique replied.

  “Love!” Ruby yelled, not believing the words that came out of Monique’s mouth. “She’s in love with who?” she asked, sounding angered by the news.

  “Some guy in the ville.”

  “Why she ain’t tell me?” Ruby asked, this time sounding hurt. She thought she and Mecca had the kind of relationship where they could talk about these kinds of things.

  “Because she knew you would act the way you acting now. You got to let her be, Ruby. You said it before: she knows how to handle herself.”

  “I just thought she would share something like that with me. At least let me see the cat, you know.” Ruby sighed. When Mecca finally got around to telling Ruby, she didn’t react the way Mecca expected, and it shocked Mecca.

  “Don’t rush to give up th
e pussy, Mecca. Make him wait until he proves he deserves it.”

  Mecca said she would take Ruby’s advice. She told Ruby things that Tah did for her, and she showed her the diamond tennis bracelet he bought for her. It was Monique that Mecca confided in most about her relationship with Tah, and it made Ruby jealous. Monique was happy for Mecca but warned her about how guys could be.

  “It’s risky dealing with niggas who are in the streets. You got to be prepared for him going to jail or getting killed. It’s gonna hurt real bad, Mecca, so be careful with your heart.”

  “I hear you, but I love this nigga, Mo,” Mecca revealed, feeling like she was already in too deep.

  Chapter-Eight

  Y’all some “well wishers,” friendly acting, envy hiding snakes…

  Nas

  “This is crumbs compared to what you could get from her,” Stone complained to Tah while he handed him the $1,000 he gave him a week not to rob Ruby’s houses. Both men stood in the pissy-smelling dark hallway of a building in Brownsville.

  “You talking about that bitch with the green Sterling? You work for a bitch?” Tah asked, grinning and shaking his head. “Damn, Stone, you really fell off. How the fuck you let it get to that point?”

  “It ain’t as sweet as you think it is, Tah. She ain’t your average bitch, kid. That bitch is a stone cold murderer. Remember Darnell from Langston Hughes? It was her that threw that nigga out the window. I don’t think you knew Wise, but she bodied that nigga, too. She’s the real deal, Tah,” Stone warned, holding his head down, ashamed. Tah, with menace and anger in his tone, put his finger in Stone’s face and gave him a warning as well.

  “Nigga, I’m the real deal. Ain’t no bitch or nobody else going to put fear in my heart. You’s a bitch-ass, washed-up nigga. I ain’t like you, mu’fucka. You just get that bitch to bring something heavy to you. Tell her somebody you know want three of them pies, and I’ll take it from there.”