I had received a text from him telling me to book a suite at the Sheraton and text him back with the room number. He requested that I wear this ugly ass lingerie outfit that he bought me while we were in St. Bart’s last summer. He also requested that I leave the door unlocked because he would be arriving really late because he had to put the wife and kids to bed before he snuck out. But fuck it, I didn’t care. I knew no matter what went down with us tonight; we were going down to the BMW dealer first thing in the morning whether he wanted to or not. I could just see my fine ass stuntin’ on everybody with my new truck. I really wanted it bad because nobody in the hood had one yet. Not even the biggest of the ballers. My thoughts were interrupted by my cell phone ringing.
“Wassup girl?” I asked, seeing that it was Monica calling.
“Ain’t shit, what you doin bitch?”
“I’m just chillin’, layin’ back. What’s good?”
“Get dressed, we going out with some of the dudes that play for the Ravens. You know I got most of them on my Facebook page.”
“Damn girl, I can’t make it. I’m already tied up with my new shorty I met at the car wash.” I lied, not wanting to hear her mouth about still seeing Gerard.
“Car wash? Bitch you don’t drive.” She joked.
“Yeah I know. I was walking passed while he was getting his Benz detailed.” I continued, with the lie.
“A’ight trick. Well you learned from the best. Hit me up if you ditch him early. We gonna be at the harbor.”
“Okay. Will do. Talk to you later.”
“Dueces.” She responded, before hanging up.
I really hated lying to my girl, but if I told her that I was waiting to meet Gerard, she would have talked my ear off. Shit. She might have come down here and dragged me out of this damn hotel. Monica was a hustler but she was also the concerned mother hen. She took care of all of us. And that’s why we all gravitated towards her. She held us down by any means necessary. I grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels. I then looked over at the clock and realized it was 1:58am. What was taking this loser so long to get here? Shit, if I laid my game down right, I might be able to sneak away and go hang with Monica and them NFL niggas. A few minutes later I heard someone get off the elevator and I could hear that they were headed towards my suite. I quickly turned off the lights and the television and turned over so that I could pretend to be asleep when he came in. Maybe him getting here so late would work to my advantage. I could and would simply be too tired to perform any sexual favors for him. But as always, he could eat away all night. Besides having A1 credit and a shitload of money that’s all he was good at. I heard him turn the knob and come in. I could hear him tip toeing towards the bed. It made my skin crawl to think that in a few seconds he would be all over me kissing my body and feeling me up. I just wanted it to be over. But he never made it to the bed, and I never heard the gunshot. I just felt my body on fire before I blacked out.
BACK TO REALITY
I woke up to my cell phone ringing off the hook. When I answered it Monica was crying and screaming hysterically. She told me that Terry had been shot and was in serious but stable condition at Baltimore Memorial Hospital. I started crying as well and immediately started packing my things. I had no idea where Travon was. He was gone when I woke up and he had not been answering his cell phone. I’m sure he would be upset about me wanting to cut the trip short, but hopefully we would understand that with one of my best friends clinging to dear life there was no way I could enjoy myself.
I had picked up the phone to call Travon again when I heard the key card being put in the door. As I rushed towards the door, he rushed through it.
“Pack your things baby; we have to head back home.” He said, rushing past me and grabbing his luggage.
“Travon what the hell is going on?” I asked, confused as to why he wanted to leave. I was the one with the friend in the hospital.
“Tiffany, I don’t have time to explain. Now baby please get packed. The plane leaves in thirty minutes.” He said, before noticing my bags were already packed.
“What’s going on?” he asked, now showing concern.
“Like you said baby, no time to explain. Let’s just get to the airport.” I responded.
Once we got on the plane, I explained everything to Travon; however, he had not yet explained anything to me about why he wanted to leave. He just kept saying that something happened with the boys and it required his immediate attention. He promised to make it up to me and I knew he would. When we landed D-boy and L.V. were waiting on the runway in Travon’s Porsche truck. There was also a black stretch Limo waiting. Travon instructed me to take the Limo wherever I needed to go and that he would ride with the boys and meet up with me later. I kissed him good-bye and immediately headed to the hospital.
When I arrived Monica and LaShawn were at Terry’s bedside. She was unconscious and hooked up to all of these machines. Monica and LaShawn looked like pure shit, like they hadn’t slept in days. Their eyes were swollen and their makeup was smeared from all of the constant crying. I tried to gather myself as I approached my girls.
“Hey ya’ll. What’s up?” I asked, sort of chipper. Trying to lighten the mood.
“Yo they fucked her up Tiffany.” LaShawn said, hugging me and crying.
“C’mon girl don’t cry, she’s gonna be just fine.” I said patting her back and trying to sound re-assuring.
“No she ain’t. Doctors say she only got a 20% chance of pulling through.” Monica stated softly, staring straight ahead not really looking at anyone.
“Well Monica 20% is better than nothing. We have got to think positive.” I replied, trying to keep the spirits up in the room.
“Yeah? Well yesterday she had 50% chance. So you tell me. What’s so fuckin’ positive about that? I swear to god, somebody’s going to pay for this. Anybody whoever hated on us or ever looked at her wrong is gonna get it.” Monica said, crying through clenched teeth. Still staring into space.
“C’mon Monica. We don’t even know who did it, and the truth of the matter is everybody hates on us. So are we gonna go crazy on the entire city of Baltimore?” I asked, trying to calm her down and talk some sense into her but she wasn’t buying it.
A Gangster’s Melody 153
“Look Tiffany, I’m gonna tell you again that being one of us just don’t mean getting free drinks, shopping sprees and fucking first class vacations. Now if you ain’t built for the total package, I suggest you fall the fuck back and re-evaluate your affiliation. Cuz shit is about to get really funky.” Monica said, now staring me down with a look that could have sliced me to shreds.
“Monica it ain’t even like that, but I can see you are in no mood to rationalize with me so I’m going to head home.” With that being said, I walked over to Terry, said a short silent prayer and kissed her on the forehead. I then did the same to Monica and LaShawn.
“Ya’ll call me and keep me updated. I’ll be back later” I said, before turning and leaving. As I approached the elevator, I wiped a tear from my eye that had been dying to fall since I got there, and thought to myself…”This shit is about to get crazy.”
WELCOME BACK
“Can somebody explain to me what the fuck just happened out there? How did that shit get so fucked up?” I barked at D-boy and L.V. as we pulled away from the airport headed for one of the apartments that I kept down by the Baltimore Harbor.
“Yo Tray, I had no idea that motherfucker was connected to Horse. I checked, and double checked and nothing like that ever came up.” D-boy responded, adamantly.
“I say we squad up and just go find these niggas and tear them out the frame. I’m sick of all this mystery and espionage shit. Let’s just gorilla these motherfuckers, lay ‘em down and get this money.” L.V. said, cocking back his Glock 40.
“Easy big fella, this ain’t nothing but a chess match. All we gotta do is knock off all of his pawns and shit one by one. And once the king exposes himself, check mate
game over.” I replied, as I contemplated my next move.
When we reached the apartment I was pleased to see that there were already 5 cars full of soldiers parked out in front. Ready to hang on my every word, and put their lives on the line as soon as I raised my hand. The truth of the matter is, the gorilla mentality was not my way of thinking. I was more of a businessman. See even though hustlers ran through my bloodline, I inherited this business. I was away at college getting my degree in law while my dad and three older brothers ruled the streets of New York with an iron fist. Drugs, murder, prostitution, number running, you name the hustle and they had it on smash. That was until they got caught in the biggest sting in NYC history and all sentenced to life with no parole. Up until then I was always shielded from the lifestyle that they lead, and because I had a different mother than the others no one really knew I existed. My pops said it was for my own protection. And while he pushed for me to stay in school because “somebody in the family had to be legit” as he put it, I was still shown the ropes during visits.
It was shortly after the sentences were handed down that my dad requested for me to visit him. It was then that he asked me to take over the family business. He said that even though I was doing my thing in school, I had been groomed over the years for just such an emergency. He reminded me that I had been financially set since birth and that I never needed or wanted for anything. He said he needed me to step up and take over before we lost all of our business to competitors. As much as it pained me to do so, I declined my father’s wishes. I was only one semester away from receiving my Masters degree in law. Even though I declined, my pops said he understood and urged me to continue with my schooling.
A few weeks later my dad and two of my brothers were killed in a prison riot between my dad’s crew and a rival crew that he and my brothers had put out of business. At the funeral my mom’s approached me and whispered into my ear as she hugged me. “It’s your time baby; don’t let your father down.”
Once we got into the apartment I quieted everybody down. They sounded like an angry mob ready to torch the village.
“Okay, everybody quiet down. Let’s bring this meeting to order.” I stated as they immediately came to a dead silence.
“Now trust me, nobody is more heated about this latest situation than I am. And as bad as I want to just mash on these motherfuckers, we gotta do it strategically. Now remember, we are in stealth mode. Nobody really knows who we are. It’s hard to fight an enemy that you can’t see and I want to keep it that way for a minute.” I explained, pacing back and forth to the crowd of 20 men.
A Gangster’s Melody 157
“I’m saying though” Phil blurted out, before being cut off by D-Boy.
“Nigga the floor ain’t recognize you. You know the motherfuckin drill.” D-Boy said, shooting Phil a cold stare.
“Permission to speak?” Phil stated, now raising his hand.
“Go ahead nigga.” D-Boy replied.
“I’m sayin though. How much longer we gotta tap dance around these niggas? I came out here to lay my murder game down for the family and ya’ll got my guns on safety. What’s up with that?” Phil asked, as the rest of the soldiers looked on in amazement. D-Boy looked as if he was about to jump all in Phil’s shit until I beat him to it by slapping him viciously across the face splattering blood from his nose.
“Now because you new to the crew I’m gonna give you a pass just this once and let you live. But as long as you live don’t you ever question my authority or my tactics. Understand motherfucker?” I spoke calmly, yet firmly as Kevin raised his hand.
“The floor recognizes Kevin” D-Boy stated.
“What’s the next move boss? I’ve been down long enough to know that you are a mastermind at this shit.” Kevin said, taking a cheap shot at Phil.
“The plan is simple; as I was explaining to your captains. We play chess with them. Take out Horse’s pawns one at a time and then when the king shows his head, we cut the motherfucker off.” I re-iterated, to those that weren’t in the original conversation with me and my captains.
“But boss, with all due respect, we don’t know what this cat looks like either.” Kevin responded.
“Like I said, don’t worry. Once we interrupt the natural order of things around here, he will slip up and show his face. And when he does, we will be there to shoot it off. Now what I want each of you to do is shake that NY swagger off. I want you to be able to blend in with your environment. So take off the Yankee fitteds, timbs, anything that says you are from up top. I want ya’ll to start dressing, looking and sounding like these corny ass niggas. This is where the game gets interesting. Now ya’ll go on back to ya hotel rooms and wait on further instructions from your captains.”
As my army started to disperse they all came by and gave me dap and re-assured me that they were willing to die for both me and the cause. I instructed DBoy and L.V. to stick around so I could pretty much reiterate the game plan.
“Okay, so ya’ll understand the instructions right?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yeah fam’. No doubt. You know we got this shit covered.” D-Boy responded.
“A’ight then, ya’ll go and make sure everyone fully understands not to make a move unless they get the green light from you, and you won’t move until you get it from me. Hit me later.” I said, dapping them up as I walked them to the door.
“Yo Tray.” D-Boy said, as he stopped suddenly and turned to me.
“What’s good?”
“We gonna win this!”
“Oh nigga, I already know.” I said, hugging him and closing the door. It was time to become the chess master.
HOME SWEET HOME
When I got home I noticed that Travon was still out with the guys. I wish I knew what was going on with him and what his reasons were for cutting the trip short. I would definitely find out later. But right now I just wanted to soak in a nice hot bath and gather my thoughts. I took my bag upstairs to my bedroom. I then entered my walk in closet and pulled out my pink and white terry cloth Versace pajama set with matching slippers. After that was laid out on my bed, I walked over to the wet bar that we had in the bedroom and poured myself a glass of wine, then entered the master bathroom and began to run the Jacuzzi. I set the digital control to my desired temperature, slipped off my clothes, wrapped my hair up in a towel and eased down into the steaming hot water.
As I sipped on my glass of wine I tried to make sense out of everything that was going on around me, from meeting Travon and the girls to the sequence of events that lead up to me being sprawled out ass naked in this 15 thousand dollar Italian marble Jacuzzi. I continued to sip my wine and figured I could either look at my situation as being extremely lucky or I was getting in way over my head. I mean I was happy and blessed to be living the lifestyle I was living. The money, clothes, and cars were great, and my salons were doing extremely well. But on the flip side, Travon was always away on business and Monica and the girls were proving to a bit more than I anticipated. I wished that my parents were here to guide me through this. I even wished that Mama Belle and I were able to get along. It was times like this that I really needed family to talk to. And although we had emotionally written each other off, I still sent her a check for $1,000.00 every month, because my father would have wanted it that way. And even though she cashed them faithfully without even saying thank you I still continued to send the money because I know she needed it.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Travon’s Porsche truck pulling up to the electronic gate on the video monitor. I was glad he was home because I wanted to fill him in on Terry’s condition and to find out what was going on with him and the boys. So I quickly got out of the Jacuzzi, dried myself off, put on my outfit and headed downstairs. I got downstairs just in time to see Travon walk through the door. I immediately panicked when I noticed his white Sean John button up splattered with blood.
“Oh my God baby what happened? Are you okay?” I asked, running towards hi
m and thoroughly expecting him for wounds.
“Calm down baby girl, I’m good.” He said, just as smooth and calm as ever, while kissing me on my forehead.
“Then what happened Travon?” I asked still searching his body subconsciously.
“It ain’t nothing baby. I just had a scuffle with this guy who was supposed to press up the mix tapes for us that’s all.” He replied, as if it were no big deal.
“A scuffle? Travon what the hell happened?” I asked, now agitated at the fact that he would involve himself in something so stupid.
“Look Tiffany, I gave these niggas 20 thousand dollars to press up these CD’s and DVD’s. They wanted to play with my money, so I had to fly back early and show them that it wasn’t going down like that.” He said, firmly.
“Travon you are too old and way too successful to be out there fighting like one of these stupid ass gang banging drug dealers.” I snapped, scolding him for behaving in such a ridiculous manner.
“Excuse me? Yo Tiffany, you have no idea what you are talking about. Didn’t you hear me say I gave this motherfucker 20 G’s? I keep telling you that you ain’t in the backwoods of Ohio no more. Shit is real out here and you fucking with a real nigga. So please get used to it. Damn. We been together for how long now? We shouldn’t even be having this talk.” He snapped, back in a tone that I never heard before.
I decided not to be combative. Instead I removed his shirt, threw it in the trash and stormed off into the den to do some reading. I had just bought a copy of Sean Wright’s new book. His shit always relaxed me.
After about an hour or so of reading, I decided to go shopping to take my mind off of all of the bullshit that was going on. I went upstairs and put on my black BCBG sweat suit and my black Gucci sneakers. I put my hair in a ponytail and called it a day. In the midst of getting myself together, I noticed that Travon was gone again. Oh well I had too much on my mind to be stressed out over small things. I grabbed the keys to the Mercedes S-600 off the key ring and headed to the garage. Once I pulled out of the garage I was suddenly overcome with the urge to call Monica to check on her. I hit the button on the steering wheel that allowed me to voice dial any phone number in my address book. “Call Monica’s cell.” I instructed as the state of the art vehicle followed my command.
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