Girls From Da Hood 5

by Keisha Ervin

  “Bitch niggas need to get fucked up putting their hands on a girl,” Niecy yelled as she got out the car. Tiffani and Toya noticed her big stomach, wondering what she was gonna do.

  “Be careful, girl,” Lowe said.

  “You seven months pregnant girl, better sit yo’ ass back in the car,” Janelle said, “I just bailed your ass out of jail. You need to chill.” She knew Niecy was still ready to go to a nigga’s ass if she had to.

  “Come on, let me drop y’all off. Tomorrow another day and I’ll be out here with y’all tomorrow night, and then we’ll see what type of heart niggas really got,” Janelle said as they climbed in the back next to Lowe.

  Janelle dropped off the girls. “Hit me tomorrow evening. Don’t worry about it, it will come back to me. Believe it,” she added as they stepped out of the burgundy X5. They pulled off and headed up Baker Road, toward Newpointe to Niecy’s house.

  “Now, what the fuck is wrong with your dumb ass, Niecy? That nigga don’t give a fuck about you. He done called you every name in the book when you told him you was pregnant by him four months ago, then he said it wasn’t his and to stay the fuck away from him. You tried to fight him, until he went and put a restraining order out on you. Stay the fuck away from that nigga, Goddamn!” Janelle yelled.

  “I ain’t do nothing, I’m not wrong, Janelle,” Niecy said, beginning to cry. Her hardness was gone.

  “Kill that crying shit. You had no business fuckin’ with that nigga’s wife. She ain’t fuck you.”

  “So, I was—” Niecy began.

  “So what!” Janelle said, slamming on brakes. “Leave that bitch alone and stay the fuck away from her,” she said with mad head movement, trying to get her sister to see the seriousness of the situation.

  Niecy had been going through hell trying to get Jeezy to accept responsibility of his baby that was on the way, but he didn’t want to hear it. He cut Niecy off and changed his number. Niecy found out where his wife got her hair done and went to confront her.

  “Excuse me, Shaquelle, my name . . .”

  “I know who the fuck you are, bitch. And I know you aren’t supposed to be near me or my husband,” Shaquelle said sternly.

  “This is Jeezy’s baby,” Niecy said, rubbing her stomach with a slight smirk, trying to irritate Shaquelle

  “And how do we know this?” Shaquelle asked. “When did you find the time to do all that?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Nights when he closed the club, bitch,” Niecy came back. She felt she owed her that.

  “So you let him come by after he leave the club, fuck you, and leave. What type of bitch does that? There’s a name for that: J-u-m-p off! Don’t tell nobody else that,” Shaquelle said sarcastically as she turned to leave. But when she turned, she was shocked as Niecy grabbed her hair and tried to pull her down. She went with the pull and turned into Niecy, coming with a right across Niecy’s jaw, then a left uppercut. Niecy let go of her hair and tried to gain her composure, but Shaquelle kept the blows coming until she saw the opportunity to get Niecy’s hair. She grabbed it as she threw blows on Niecy, yelling, “Stay the fuck away from me you stanking-ass, no-good bitch. I will beat that baby out yo’ ass!”

  Niecy fell to the ground, and Shaquelle didn’t hesitate to kick her stomach repeatedly, until the girls from the beauty shop ran out and stopped her. Somebody had called the police, and when they arrived they arrested Niecy because she had come within 100 feet of Shaquelle. Niecy rode in the car crying, not because she was going to jail, because she had gotten her ass whipped. She knew Shaquelle couldn’t have fucked with her if she weren’t pregnant, but her stomach had held her back from doing her norm.

  Janelle pulled up in front of her condo. Niecy got out and Janelle started to drive off without waiting for her to get into the house, then she stopped. She was mad as hell at Neicy for approaching Jeezy’s wife while she was pregnant.

  “Hey,” Janelle yelled out the window. “Stay the fuck in the house and don’t go doing no dumb shit. I got you, you hear me?”

  “Yeah!” Niecy said, holding her head down, still embarrassed. She lifted her head and watched Janelle’s truck disappear.

  “Bitches don’t want me to get no drink tonight, they don’t want me to have a good time, but that’s a Goddamn lie,” Janelle said, shaking her head. “I can’t worry about this bullshit with my sister, but you better believe if I see that bitch, she will have to beat my ass. Now picture that.”

  “Girl, calm down. Where we going, anyway?” Lowe asked, ready to go somewhere.

  “Granby Street, Club Dolce, Club Seven, Guadalajara, I don’t care,” Janelle said, hitting the interstate, headed downtown.

  “So, what up, girl? A bitch got to pull you out the house,” Janelle said.

  “Girl, I be chilling wit’ my man. That nigga be putting it down and he ain’t stingy, either, got me and my kids straight,” Lowe said, smiling.

  Yeah, Janelle thought. She knew Dundee would hollah every time he saw her, and he’d been trying to fuck her for a long time, but she would never tell Lowe at this point. She was happy, and she felt nobody could touch Choice. He was nothing but truth, and she couldn’t wait for him to touch ground.

  “I know you all in love and shit, Lowe, but look at me,” Janelle said seriously. She looked briefly in Lowe’s eyes, then back to the road. “Dundee a wild boy. He a lot like Choice, a live wire. So be careful. Don’t get caught,” she added, knowing she should be listening to her own advice. “You met his man yet?”

  “Who? Nitty, Los, or Jah? You know those his peoples, right?” Lowe said. She dreaded having this conversation, since the earlier incident had kicked off with Dundee’s people running Janelle off the block.

  “They work for him, I know. But those just his niggas, he get money with them. I mean his peoples people, Ponic and Rudy.”

  “Yeah, they be at the house playing Playstation and that X-Box shit.”

  “Now, if he call them niggas out, it’s some shit. If them motherfuckers start doing that ‘Lelelelele’ shit.” They both laughed at Janelle, imitating the Lake Edward niggas when they did their hollah. “That shit mean something.”

  “Yeah! They in the building or we got a problem, where y’all at,” Lowe added, and they both laughed.

  “Yo, be careful around them niggas, they some peoples nobody want to fuck with.”

  “I’m good, girl, I ain’t in they business, and nobody involves me in shit. My Dundee got me straight. I know I ain’t followed all the rules that I should have; lot of this shit I put together just to get dough, Janelle. Niggas using me like I’m a mule, for change and dick. This nigga come along and make me feel like I can miss a day of work, like he give a fuck, Janelle,” Lowe said as if she were talking to a therapist, which was a release.

  “Bitch, that nigga got you open off money and dick.”

  “And coke,” Lowe said, hyped.

  “What?” Janelle came to a stop as she reached the light.

  “I like that shit, fam. For real. It make me feel good. Fuck weed, that smell linger on, boom, boom, I’m good,” Lowe said, shaking her head.

  “That’s bullshit, you fuckin’ up. I’ma cut all y’all bitches off. You coke, Niecy heroin and shit.”

  “Janelle, look at me, Niecy fuck with everything. If you didn’t know, now you know, unless you want to play stupid. But we go back too far for dat.”

  “What you mean, Lowe, for real?” Janelle asked, stern and direct. Her attitude turned a little more serious.

  “Please. Niecy been sniffing, smoking, popping ecstasy . . . shit, she been getting high as hell a long time. That’s why I got the nerve to try X and the courage to sniff. Shit, it wasn’t hurting her, but I can’t fuck with no heroin. I seen The Wire and see what that shit do to people. You need to help her if she doing that.”

  “I’m gonna have to do something. I ain’t know all that until Polo was found in her house, overdosed on that shit. I thought if he was doing she must have been, but she keep th
at shit from me. All I know is the smoking weed and drinking. All that other shit new to me. Now I understand those crazy-ass mood swings like she bipolar or some shit, now I see,” Janelle said, more to herself than to Lowe.

  Her mind was going a mile a minute; she couldn’t believe what she’d heard. Shit was going too far, and she had to get her sister under control somehow. Niecy was all she had.

  The following day, Janelle was on her way to Niecy’s when she spotted the big white Expedition at E Outfitters. Niggas probably spending my money buying gear for the club, Janelle thought. Anger rose in her as she thought about the thousand in cash, and the entire package. These niggas owed her two grand and they needed to see her. “I can’t beat these niggas, but if I have to I will bust on these niggas,” she said out loud, trying to convince herself. She checked her purse for the Glock 25 she’d gotten from her brother three years ago, He was a gay prostitute who lived and worked the streets of Ocean View. He had been beaten and raped so many times, he had gotten himself a gun. But when he was forced to use it, it disturbed him even more than he already was, so he passed it on to Janelle. He figured it was a ladies’ gun and she may need it one day. Janelle had taken it and put it away, but then felt a need to carry it once Choice had gotten locked up.

  As she pulled up by the truck, she felt in control. Niggas knew Choice, and niggas knew fucking with her was like dealing with Choice, nobody wanted problems with her man. She exited the car, leaving the Glock on the seat. She felt maybe these niggas didn’t know the product was hers and that Toya and Tiffani were her protégés.

  She walked up as they exited the store. “What up, Janelle?” Los said, greeting Janelle with a smile. “You trying to find you something for the club? Because you know I got you.”

  “Naw, I’m okay!” she said, looking at Jah and Nitty.

  “Leave her alone, Los, that’s that nigga Choice girl,” Nitty said, playing like he cared.

  “That nigga been locked up for twenty years, I want to know is you ready to fuck?” Jah said, laughing as he walked to his truck.

  “Naw, I ain’t fucking nobody, but I ain’t let nobody fuck me, either,” Janelle said with mad attitude.

  “Yo, Jah! This girl is really upset. She got a real attitude,” Nitty said. “Why you mad Janelle, what’s up?” Nitty asked seriously.

  “Y’all got my shit. Y’all ran up on my girls, Toya and Tiffani. They roll with me and y’all got my shit the other night. How we gonna handle this? I need mine,” she added, as if she were a gangster.

  “My bad, we didn’t . . .” Nitty started to apologize to Janelle because he had nothing against her. He really didn’t know those were her young’ns working the corner. But Jah cut him off.

  “Hold up, Nitty. Janelle, because you cool and you from out the way, no, because you been living out the way for a minute, I’m gonna put you up on game, since you want to be gangsta and shit. One, if you got a problem with anybody and they got you like I got you,” he said, pointing to himself, “you come up, pull out your burner, look me in my eyes, and tell me, ‘empty your pockets, nigga, I need two grand.’ If I don’t pull out close to it, blow a motherfucker brains out. But don’t step to niggas unless you ready.”

  “Come on, Jah,” Los said, “Leave her alone, she just trying to get money.” Los didn’t hustle with LE niggas, even though he was from there and fucked with them. But he didn’t hustle or fuck with them niggas on getting money. And he thought it was wrong that they stooped that low to rob those young girls.

  “And two, those hoes ain’t supposed to be out there. All the shit being sold out here come from two niggas and I ain’t seen you spend money with neither one. So you carry that shit somewhere else. Go out North Ridge, Plaza, Twin Canal, I don’t give a fuck, but if you or any other bitches walking these streets out here, you better be smoking or selling pussy. Now get the fuck out my face,” he said, standing less than a foot from her so she wouldn’t miss a word.

  “Fuck that, you need to give me my money or your fat ass gonna pay. I mean that shit,” she said, stepping closer to Jah.

  “Don’t get fucked up out here, girl. Now carry yo’ ass,” he said, mushing her on the side of her face, making her stumble.

  “Yo, chill, son, you going too far,” Los said, realizing things were getting out of hand.

  “You don’t put your hands on me, fuck that,” Janelle screamed. He had chastised her like she was his child, like she wasn’t shit to him. They got in the truck and turned up the new Plies about the same time Janelle reached her car. She jumped in with angry tears in her eyes. She looked over at the Glock 25 and jumped back out, as anger and revenge took over her thinking. She pointed and started busting the Expedition as it pulled off. The first two shots shattered the back and side windows. Three more shots whizzed by, one shattering the rearview mirror and exiting the front windshield.

  “That bitch shooting,” Nitty yelled as he pulled out the Desert Eagle .44-caliber.

  “She is busting.” Los laughed at this girl who was not playing.

  “She just shooting. Fuck her, bet I get her ass,” Jah said as he heard the sounds of the .44 set off the parking lot and send Janelle sprinting to her car for dear life.

  “Yo, son, chill,” Jah yelled at Nitty, laughing. “We beat hoes, we don’t shoot them.

  “Shit, if they shooting at me . . .”

  Janelle never made it to Niecy’s house. She went straight home, poured some Hennessy, and rolled a Dutch of cush. She downed the Henney straight and shook it off, poured another shot, and lit her el. As the Henney began to sneak up on her, her body relaxed, her nerves relaxed, and as she exhaled the smoke from the Dutch her body began to slow down. Another pull put her body in slow motion, which she felt as she reached for the ringing phone.

  “Collect call from Virginia Beach Jail.” She heard the recording say “Choice. Please press . . .”

  She knew the routine and quickly pressed the necessary number to receive the call.

  “What up, ma?” he asked. The sound of his voice instantly broke her down.

  “They robbed me and tried to kill me,” she cried. “They were shooting at me,” she yelled, and cried harder.

  His laid back attitude changed. All he could see was his girl handling that street shit and caught up in the bullshit. “Who the fuck tried to kill you?” he yelled so loud that other inmates could hear him over all the noise.

  “Jah, Nitty, and Los. They tried to kill me,” she screamed. Choice knew the names, but it wasn’t adding up. Those niggas didn’t know where they lived, so he knew they didn’t run up in his house. Los he knew from fucking around in Norfolk and around Brambleton. They knew some of the same people in Norfolk and even cats from home. He didn’t seem like that type of nigga to be fuckin’ with the petty shit.

  “Calm down and stop fuckin’ crying. Tell me everything because shit don’t sound right.”

  “What you mean it don’t sound right?” Janelle asked loudly, confused.

  “Yo, ma! Watch your tone. Don’t forget who the fuck you talking to.” Janelle got quiet.

  “Did you hear me?” he asked with force.

  “Yeah, I heard you,” she said softly.

  “Now, first thing, you say Los robbed you and bucked on you?” he asked as if he still couldn’t believe it.

  “Los was wit’ Jah and Nitty.”

  “They all just came up on you and robbed you?” he asked with sarcasm in his voice.

  “No, they . . .”

  “You fucking up, Janelle, don’t make me fuck you up, Janelle.”

  “Stop fussing at me, you confusing me,” she said, whimpering.

  “You get confused in court when you making sure you don’t say the wrong thing to a judge; this is me. Now tell me everything before I make some calls.”

  She knew she had fucked up. She wasn’t supposed to have put her girls out there. She had to choose her words carefully. “These young girls out the way asked me to do something, and they been beggin’
for a while so I did something for them on the front. They went to work back Campus East. Last night, Jah and Nitty caught them and robbed them for one thousand dollars and that.”

  “How much was that?” he asked.

  “Another thousand,” she said. “I go to Subway and who I see coming out of E Outfitters? Jah, Nitty, and Los. I go up to them and ask for my shit.”

  “Now what did Los do?” he asked directly.

  “Told them to leave me alone and kept going to the truck,” she answered.

  “What did Nitty do?”

  “He said I was Choice girl, they better chill.” Choice smiled at the mention of his name. While he was locked up, that showed power and recognition.

  “And what did Jah do?”

  “He fussed me out, cussed me out, then slapped my face and grabbed me by my hair and shoved me. I fell and scraped my hands and leg. I just lost it. I ran to the car and got the thing and let off at his truck, until that boy Nitty leaned out and shot at me with a real loud gun.” She got quiet and silence rested in the line.

  “They had no reason to shoot at you or put they hands on you. For that, I’ll see those niggas. But you, you shouldn’t had nobody, nowhere doing shit. You should have not approached them niggas under no circumstances. And fuck is you out there shooting up shit for, you could have got fucked up, right in here with me, or even shot and killed.” The thought fucked him up, made him choke. “Look, we got plenty dough put up? Right?”

  “Yeah! Your shit, my shit weak,” she said.

  “’Cause you fuck it up. Yo, I need you to chill, lay low. Really lay low. This is too much, while I’m locked. Terminate your shit, my shit, I got thirteen weeks. We’ll get it cracking then. Time up, baby, tomorrow!”

  “Tomorrow call early, Choice. I miss you so much. I love you,” she said.

  “I know, ma, I know. Don’t forget what I said. All right? And don’t tell nobody when I’m coming home, okay?”

  “Yeah. One—” she heard him say, then the phone went dead.

  Choice went back to his bunk. He lay back on the thin mattress and the piece of mush the city called a pillow. Things were rough, but keeping his head on the inside was what made things easy. Now he had this to deal with. It was hard keeping his head, but he tried to relax. He closed his eyes, but all he could picture was Jah touching Janelle and Nitty shooting at her. He came to the conclusion that his being locked up had contributed to their decision, but niggas must have lost their minds thinking he ain’t coming home. He smiled at the thought of killing three more cats. He thought back to the murder he did out Norview when he left the dude in the wet grass. Then there was the cat he shot as he exited his car coming from the club and the shorty who was with him at the wrong place, wrong time. Then the cat he stabbed because he started wylin over his girl. Three murders in Virginia and he’d been living there for two years. Shit was hot for him, but it was getting ready to get a lot hotter.