by Lucinda John
Heading back to my car, I thanked God for saving me from potentially ruining my life. I had a son to live for and drugs was not a way for me to cope with my pain. Making my way to the club, my mind began to wonder if I was making the right decision. I loved Rob to death and I so badly wanted to make things work, but I wasn’t sure I knew who he really was. My mind began to dance with the thoughts of us working it out, until I finally arrived to the club.
Parking on the second floor, I made my way to the elevator. My whole ride down, I admired how beautiful I looked in the full-length mirror that was located in the back of the elevator. Giving myself a final once over, I made my way into the club.
“Cinny, I’m here,” I said into my phone as soon as she answered.
“Let the bouncer know you’re here with me, he’ll bring you up to our table.
“Hey, I’m with Cinnamon,” I said to the bouncer, while still taking to Cinnamon on the phone.
He looked down at the clipboard and located Cinnamon’s name before leading me to the table. When I made it to the table, I hung up the phone and took a seat next to my sister.
“You looking all sexy and shit,” Cinnamon smiled.
“Thanks boo, you don’t look too bad yourself.” I looked Cinnamon up and down; she was dressed to kill as always.
“What’s up sis?” Chad greeted me taking a seat next to me. He handed me a drink and placed the other one in front of Cinnamon. They were still beefing; I could feel the tension all in the air.
“Nothing, just chilling, What’s up with you?” I asked taking a sip of my drink.
“Just vibing,” he replied pulling out a blunt. He took two tokes then passed it to me.
I inhaled the smoke and held on to it as if my lungs depended on it. Blowing the smoke out, I took another pull, and then a few sips of my drink.
“Slow down sis,” Chad said taking the blunt from me and taking a few pulls before passing it to Cinnamon who declined.
We were in the VIP section, vibing and chilling, when a fine ass man walked up to us and gave Chad dap. He looked mad familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d seen him. He had to be mixed with something because his beautiful skin was a caramel complexion like mine. His waves were so on point that I started to get sea sick. He was dressed down in a black, white and red Prada suit, with the matching loafers.
“Stop that before my bestie kills you,” Lisa said, snapping me out of eye fucking this sexy guy that was in front of me. I was so engrossed with this sexy ass nigga that I didn’t notice Lisa take a seat next to me.
“I knew he looked familiar,” I laughed trying to play it off.
Stacks was Lala’s husband. Lisa and Lala came in the shop a few times together to get their hair done.
“Speaking of the devil,” Lisa giggled.
I looked up and Lala and Ralph was walking to the table.
“Where is Rob?” Stacks asked causing my heart to beat fast.
I shot Cinnamon a look, and she just shrugged her shoulders.
“He’s on his way, he just got caught up at the Beans,” Chad spoke up for him.
While everyone waited for Rob to come, Stacks ordered drinks and food for everyone. Stacks stood there and silently observed everyone. He possessed so much power that it was scary. All he had to do was snap his fingers, and his employees were running around filling drinks, or bringing more to our table.
“I didn’t know you was married to a boss?” Lisa said making conversation.
“I didn’t know my husband was dealing with Stacks and Ralph.” I rolled my eyes at how secretive Rob was becoming.
“Yeah girl, that’s why he came down to Colombia to seal the deal,” Lisa replied.
I knew that much. Rob did tell me he was going to Colombia for a better business opportunity. He wanted me to come with him, but I’d just given birth and I wasn’t fucking with him like that.
I was on my third drink, chopping it up with Lisa, Lala, and Cinnamon, when Rob finally decided to show his face.
“Everything good?” Stacks asked him.
“Yeah. Them niggas was a little short. I wasn’t leaving until I got all my money,” Rob replied while looking me over.
“That’s what’s up,” Stacks dapped him up.
Rob took a seat next to me and I became annoyed. I didn’t want to be in the same room as him, let alone have him sitting next to me as if we were a happy couple. Cinnamon gave me a look telling me to chill out. Biting the bullet, I decided to sit through whatever was going on until I could leave.
“I wanted everyone here so the wives could meet. Now that we are doing business together, this is now one big family and everyone needs to get to know one another,” Stacks said taking a seat at the head of the table.
Lala was seated across from him at the other head of the table. She complimented him by wearing a black, white, and red Prada dress. It was tight up top, but then flowed at the bottom. Her hair was pinned up neatly into a bun. They looked like the hood version of Barack and Michelle Obama.
“Get to know one another ladies, because these are the wives that are in the same caliber as yourselves. Your husband’s work hard with one and another and it’s only right that you guys get along as well,” he said smiling at his wife.
The love that Lala and Stacks shared was beautiful. You could feel it in the air. He worshipped the ground she walked on, and did everything in his power to make sure she was happy. The love that they shared was the kind of love that I was dying to have. I’m sure Stacks wasn’t the perfect husband, but I was willing to bet my last dollar that he wasn’t as grimy as Rob.
“We have to head back to Colombia. If you need me, there is a private jet available at all times and you’re more than welcome to fly to Colombia to see me. Anything else you may need, Ralph is in charge in my absence; you may consult with him. It was nice meeting you beautiful ladies,” he said, kissing me on the hand and then doing the same to Cinnamon. He then pulled out Lala’s chair, and hand in hand, they left the premises.
“I’m about to leave,” I said to Cinnamon.
“Aww, so soon?” Lisa asked.
“Yes, my mother is calling me. I should get home to the baby,” I half lied.
My phone had been ringing, but it wasn’t my mother calling.
“Ok, I will see you later boo,” Lisa’s drunk ass said, sloppily kissing me on the cheek.
Laughing at her, I gave Cinnamon a hug, gathered my things and left.
“Honey, wait up,” Rob yelled out chasing me to my car.
“What Rob?” I asked with attitude laced in my voice.
“You’re seriously trying to leave me?”
“Yes, I am Rob!”
“Baby, please don’t do this to me, I’m sorry,” he pleaded.
“Were you thinking about me and how I felt, when I cried for days over my sister’s death or when you was watching the next bitch give birth to your daughters?” After I lost our first child, I tried so hard to get pregnant again. I beat myself up because I was feeling like half a woman. He watched me go through all the shit with Vic, and saw that I was so broken, I had to go to a therapist just to put my life back together, and he still managed to hurt me. I was sick and tired of motherfuckers hurting me; I was tired of giving second chances, and I was tired of having to compromise my happiness for someone else’s.
“I’m sorry Rob, just sign the papers and be in court,” I said getting in my car and pulling of.
My notification ringtone went off and there was a text from Cole asking me to meet him at the Waffle House. I sat at the red light and contemplated if I wanted to go meet him or head home. I was so deep in thought that I didn’t notice the light turn green. The car behind me honked and I drove off, turning on my turning signal. I made a right and was in the parking lot of the Waffle House. Parking my car, I wiped the tears from my eyes and text Cole, letting him know I was here.
“Here goes nothing,” I said, getting out my car
and making my way to the entrance.
CHAPTER 6
GINGER
“Why is he still alive?” DC asked as I sat across from him.
“I just got my cast and sling removed,” I said pointing to my injured arm.
“If you and your bitch would have finished him off when he got of jail then she wouldn’t be dead and you wouldn’t have a bullet in your shoulder!” he spat while smoking on a blunt. “You have two weeks to kill him and Stacks, or else you will be burying your whole family before I kill you.”
“Stacks wasn’t a part of the agreement,” I argued.
“He is now. Do as I say!”
“What about your granddaughter? She’s already lost her mother, now you want to take her father away too?”
“Fuck that bastard! I’m sure Terri would have no problem taking care of her. Laurie should of killed the bastard when she found out she was pregnant.”
“That’s not fair.”
“I’m not a fair nigga, now get the fuck out of my face and finish the job!” he roared.
I wanted to so badly pull out my gun and end his life, but knowing DC, he had somebody in the cut ready to pull the trigger on me.
Laurie was a contract killer and I was her assistant. We were hired to kill Ralph, but he ended up going to jail and Laurie ended up pregnant. Laurie and I were full-blown lesbians meaning that none of us had been with a real man until Laurie violated. I wanted so badly to be done with her, but when she called me crying because she was pregnant and didn’t know what to do, I ended up taking her back. When she told me that she wanted Riley to have a relationship with her father, I allowed it because I trusted her. Now that she was gone, I hated DC even more than when he hired us.
The day I came home and found Laurie’s dead body on the floor still replayed in my mind. I thank God I got home in time before DC had Riley killed. I needed to come up with a plan. I had to tell Ralph everything because I did not want anyone else to lose his or her lives behind DC’s foolishness. I also wanted my revenge on that bitch for taking the love of my life away.
CHAPTER 7
DC
The thought of eliminating Stacks and Ralph and having Cole take over, made my dick hard. Yes, Ralph was my son, but I favored my other two sons over his ass. I still had doubts in my mind that Ralph belonged to me, but DNA’s bitch ass said otherwise.
Besides Cole, my other son was Bear. Ralph and Cole had no idea that Bear was my son, because I had him outside of their mother. When Bear started hanging around Ralph, my skin began to crawl. I didn’t want my son to be around that bastard. For some reason, something in me would not allow me to love Ralph. I didn’t know if it was because he was dark or if it was his cocky attitude, but I hated him with a passion.
When I found out who Stacks really was, I planted the idea in Bear’s head for him to take over. Day in and day out, I taught Bear everything he needed to know in order to take Stacks out and take over the game. Unfortunately, Ralph got out of jail and ruined everything. Somehow, they managed to figure out that Bear was behind everything and had him killed. When I had to bury my son, my hate for Ralph and Stacks tripled.
At first, I hired Laurie and Ginger to get rid of Ralph because I couldn’t stand to look at his ass. When he fucked up and got arrested, I felt as if all of my prayers were answered, so I decided to put my hit out on him on the back burner. Now that I needed him gone, Laurie wanted to spit some shit at me about her being pregnant with his child and that she wouldn’t be able to go through with it for the sake of her daughter. I gave her an ultimatum and she decided to play with me, so I had to make an example out of her ass. Ginger better fall through for me or she would be next.
I picked up my phone and called Cole. I was furious when it went to voicemail. I haven’t spoken to him since Ralph came to my house and basically took him from me. Although Cole was a grown man, he was my son and I had to put some sense into him.
I knew turning him against his brother would be a hard task since they were so close. However, money had the ability to turn servant against their master. All I had to do was put together an airtight plan and I’d be making my way down to Miami for my takeover. As soon as Ginger handled her part, Cole would be the new king of Miami and I’d be in the corner rooting him on while harboring the fruits of his labor.
CHAPTER 8
COLE
“You good bro? You’ve been missing in action,” my brother asked as he walked into my house.
“I’m good, just been chilling with this chick. I’m feeling her,” I said as I ran my hair across my fade.
“Get the fuck out of here,” he laughed. “Is this coming from the same nigga that swore he would never settle?”
“I don’t know man… something about this chick got my head gone.”
“It’s the pussy,” my mom interjected causing me to roll my eyes.
I was happy that ma dukes and I worked out our problems, but her mouth was too damn lethal.
“Damn ma, can grown men talk?” I huffed.
“Ralph, baby, she got that sweet pussy Plies be talking about for her to have my baby head gone like that,” she said, causing Ralph to laugh.
“I’m five seconds from taking your ass to the Home Depot to find a filter for your mouth,” I replied.
“Get fucked up if ya want to,” ma dukes replied before heading back to the kitchen to finish dinner.
“Is it the pussy?” Ralph asked as we walked to my game room.
“Nah bruh, I ain’t even hit it yet.”
“You’re lying? Are you sick or some shit?” Ralph asked checking my forehead to see if I had a fever.
“Nah bruh, I’m good, it’s just something about her that got me wanting to get to know her. I ain’t even tryna fuck; I’m good with us being friends.”
“Friends? So you mean to tell me your head gone over a chick that got you in the friend zone?” Ralph asked popping the top off a Platinum Bud Lite.
“Yeah, shawty going through a divorce so I’m not trying to rush shit between us,” I replied taking a swig of my beer.
“So you are dealing with a chick that already comes with emotional baggage? Something really has to be wrong with you.”
“I don’t know bruh, she worth it all man. She that type of chick that makes you want to retire the black book.”
“Not that black book,” Ralph gasped before falling out laughing.
“Yeah nigga, she got me thinking about burning the black book.”
“What about her husband?” he asked with a raise brow.
“What about him? Her and that nigga about to be done.”
“You sure? Females say and do shit when they’re mad but once they calm down, it’s a whole different story.”
“Nah, it ain’t like that. I know for a fact she done with that nigga.”
“Well then, congrats bruh, when can I meet her?”
Yes Cole, when can we meet the heifer that done stole my baby heart?” my mother walked in rolling a blunt.
“I’m keeping her away, especially from your crazy ass,” I said to my mother grabbing the blunt from her. “Sometimes I hate that your ass is so young.”
“Curse while you talking to me one more time and I’mma smack your ass. Fuck with it,” ma dukes snapped.
We sat in the game room and had us a session. Honey was heavily on my mind. The more I got high the more I thought about her. I used to always clown my brother about being in love, and here I am falling in love with a chick that doesn’t even want to take it there with me. If I had to settle for being Honey’s friend, then so be it. I would do whatever it takes to prove that I was nothing like her bitch ass, soon to be ex-husband.
When we finished smoking up a storm, we sat in the kitchen while ma dukes fixed us our plates. She set a plate of rice and shrimp gumbo with okra, in front of us, and we said grace. Ralph and my mother made small talk while I scarfed down my food. After dinner, I went to my in-home gy
m and worked out, with Honey flooding my mental.
* * *
“You’re leaving already?” Staci asked getting out of bed naked.
Staci was a bartender that worked at Boss Longue. She used to fuck with Stacks when he and LaLa were having problems, but once they worked out their problems, he passed her to me. Staci wasn’t an ugly chick, in fact she was the baddest plus size chick in the game. If it wasn’t for her fucking with Stacks in the past, we could have worked something out.
“I ain’t tryna get caught in here by that butch,” I said, referring to her girlfriend who was married.
I never understood why Staci felt the need to mess with Suge. As she told me, Suge was her first love, but she was also married to another woman.
“Suge ain’t coming home to me tonight, she already texted me and told me the deal,” she shrugged.
“And you’re ok with that?” I asked, watching her braid her hair up and tie it down with a scarf.
“I’m living life,” she shrugged.
Shaking my head, I finished dressing and slipped my feet in my boots.
“Stop judging me,” she said breaking the silence.
“Who am I to judge? Baby, it’s your life,” I replied with my back still turned against her.
“Good, same time next week,” she smiled before disappearing into the bathroom.
Staci operated like a nigga. Ever since Stacks turned her down, she’d become cold hearted. She accepted the fact that Stacks got married and was happy, but instead of finding someone of her own, she decided to be a player. Staci had a black book with more pages than mine; she was into men and woman so she was getting both pussy and dick. Underneath all that tough exterior, was a broken woman in need of love, but you couldn’t tell her that. Grabbing my fitted cap, I looked myself over in the mirror and bounced.
I was on my way to meet up with Rob at one of our traps, when my phone ringed.
“What’s good pops?” I greeted my father.
“Damn nigga, I gotta blow you up to hear from you?” he angrily asked.
“Pops, it ain’t even like that, I’ve been working.”
“Working?” he asked.
