Dirty South Divas

by Kia

  I walked out of the jail and to my car. It was hot as hell, so I had to let the air circulate before driving off. Though I was hard headed, I wasn’t dumb. Slick’s place would be my new residence for now. But first, I had to pick up some clothes, so I drove home. The whole way there, all I could think about was my son. He could have been in the car next to me, but I wouldn’t have known.

  “Fuck!” I yelled, slamming my fist on the steering wheel as I stopped at a red light. I turned the radio on and let the music play.

  Finally, I pulled up in my driveway. I saw something or someone out the corner of my eyes, but when I turned my head, I saw no one. In a hurry, I grabbed my keys and ran inside to grab some clothes. Couldn’t stand to be there any longer. All I could do was cry when I stopped at PJ’s room. To know that he was gone killed me inside.

  After I grabbed my things, I walked back to the car and started the ignition. That’s when I remembered that I had left my purse in the house, so I ran inside. The minute I got to my door, I heard a loud boom. My ears started to ring. I turned around saw that my car was up in flames. The neighbors were panicking. I was too shocked to panic. My neighbor ran toward me, trying to grab my hand and pull me away, but it was all happening in slow motion. Really couldn’t move.

  Finally, she managed to pull me to safety inside her house. All I could do was look out the window as she called the police. She kept trying to get me to tell them what happened over the phone, but I didn’t need them anymore. This was personal. Too much shit was happening with my name on it. I walked over to the window and saw a man standing directly across the street looking dead at me as I looked at him through the window. It was the last person I wanted to see. Thought I would never have to see him again a day in my life. But here he was… looking at me.

  “Honey, do you need some water?” my neighbor asked. She was an older black woman.

  “No, thank you,” I said, still looking at him. He had on all black and didn’t even bother to cover his face. He wanted me to know that it was him.

  “Honey…”

  “I’m fine. Can I use your phone?” I asked.

  She passed me her phone and I dialed Slick… still keeping my eyes on him across the street.

  “Nyssa, you good? Heard what just happened. I’m on my way now. Are you safe?” he asked.

  “I’m safe. I’ll be waiting.” I disconnected the call.

  “Are you leaving?” my neighbor asked.

  “Yes.” I turned around and gave her the phone back. When I turned back to the window, he was gone and Slick was pulling up.

  “But the police haven’t made it yet,” she said as she followed me to the door. I didn’t care. I still got in the car with Slick.

  “Did you see anyone out here?” I asked.

  “Yeah. It’s people all around.”

  “Anyone that looked familiar?” I asked.

  “Nah. Why, what’s up?”

  “No reason.”

  “Yeah, you might have to stay with me for a while until all of this is handled. I can’t believe this nigga Bleek tripping like this. He ain’t never acted like this. I’ma kill that nigga when I find him.”

  “Yeah,” is all I said as I sat back in the leather seats. Little did they know, Bleek had nothing to do with this. I knew exactly who it was.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Neiman

  As I lay in my bed, I began to think about the shit that happened the other morning. I had been putting up with Nel’s shit for years, and never got nothing put on my finger. Not even a Ring Pop. And two babies? Wow. This made me rethink everything that we even stood for. I did everything for this nigga. Gave him anything he asked for, and still ended up on a dead end with him.

  The hospital had been calling me all day, and I wasn’t trying to hear it. “Let that nigga die,” is what I told them before hanging up. He wasn’t my issue. Shit, where the fuck was his wife at? How did his broke ass have money to furnish these bitches? And a ring? A mothafucking ring? It was small, but it was ring. I needed to tighten up because he obviously had no respect for me. And when was I going to find out about this? Was he going to tell me? Or just leave me hanging? I felt so stupid because I still loved him. But we could never shake back from this.

  I heard a knock at the door. Reluctantly, I rose from my bed and walked to the front door. It was Malina and Divine.

  “What?” I asked as I opened the door and let them in.

  “Don’t trip, we ain’t staying long,” Divine said as she handed me the keys to her truck.

  “What’s this for?”

  “I’m dropping it off to you while I go out of town, so you won’t be bugging Nyssa about a ride.”

  “Wait. Why are you out of town so much, and how are you leaving if you dropping the car off?” I asked.

  “I drove a rental and followed her here, Nosey Rosey,” Malina said.

  They both were looking fly as hell, I couldn’t even stunt.

  “We out,” Divine said as Malina followed her to the door.

  “Be safe,” I said as I let them out and saw them hop in a rented SUV. I shook my head at them too. They were up to no good.

  Just as I got comfortable again, my phone rang. It was Nyssa. “What, bitch?” I asked, remembering how she hung up on me earlier.

  “I was raped.”

  “That’s not funny,” I hissed.

  “I was raped, my car blew up, and I can’t go back home,” she said without laughing. That made me lean up in my bed.

  “What?”

  “Yes, I’m at Slick’s place.”

  “Why didn’t you come here?” I asked with much sympathy. Though we argue, she was my twin and nothing changed that.

  “Because, we fight so much, and…” she burst out crying.

  “I’m on my way,” I said before hanging up. I didn’t know all of the details, but I knew the important shit. My sister needed me.

  It took me ten minutes to get over there, and that’s because I was speeding through traffic. Slick didn’t live far, but he didn’t live close. Him and Tayla stayed in some nice town homes on the north side. I wondered how Tayla was going to feel about my sis being there. Fuck that, she was coming with me. I didn’t want Slick to be mad at me for whooping his bitch.

  When I got to the porch, the door was already open. Nyssa was sitting on the couch smoking a cigarette and she didn’t even smoke.

  “Where Slick and Tayla?” I asked as I shut the door behind me.

  “Slick gone somewhere, and Tayla at school.”

  “You got some clothes?” I asked.

  “No. Slick said he would go to the house and get my clothes later.”

  “Where’s PJ?” I asked. She looked at me, took a puff, and burst into tears. Something had to be wrong because Nyssa never cried this damn much.

  “Somebody took him.”

  “What? Well let’s go get him. Divine let me use her—”

  “He was kidnapped, Neiman. He’s gone!”

  “What…” was all I could say as I sat beside her.

  “After you hung up this morning, some niggas broke in and raped me. And they took PJ. Said Percy owes them a bunch of money. And on top of that, someone put a bomb in my car. It’s all bad.”

  “What? Are you kidding me?”

  “No. It’s real. Percy owes some nigga name Bleek over one hundred G’s.”

  “Damn.” I put my head down. We were poor bitches who didn’t have it like that.

  “What Slick say?”

  “Slick say he gonna kill that nigga when he find him.”

  “I would too. Like… why would he blow your car up?” I asked.

  She had a nervous look on her face. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was bothering her.

  “I’m just so lost.”

  “Well, get up. You not staying here.”

  “But Percy said—”

  “Fuck Percy! Percy the one that got you in this shit. Have you been to a hospital?” I asked.

&
nbsp; “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “They will have to do a rape kit, and then call the cops. My son will die.”

  “Fuck that.”

  “Neiman! You don’t have kids, so I don’t expect you to understand, but I can’t! My son will die. You hear me? He will be dead.”

  “Well, what do you want to do?” I asked.

  “I want to figure out how I’ma get this money.”

  “Nyssa, you know like I know that PJ is dead if you give them that money. They tried to blow your car up. They don’t care.”

  “They’ll take it. I just have to present it to them and we good. We all good.”

  My phone began to ring. It was the hospital again. Finally, I answered. “What?!”

  “Ma’am, it’s Pernel. He woke up.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Malina

  It only took us one full day to get to Miami. That’s because we didn’t stop anywhere, and we took turns driving. I made it my business to get us there early so I could have time to shop and go to the beach. This was business… true. But the fun would come after. Miami was beautiful, and I couldn’t help myself. We made it early the next day when the sun was fresh out. I was driving.

  “That nigga Glory fine as hell, huh?” I asked Divine as she chowed down on some food that we had carried with us so we wouldn’t have to stop.

  “How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t like niggas. I mean… he straight. He don’t get my pussy wet.”

  “Well, bitch, who do get your pussy wet?” I asked.

  “Trina. That’s who get my pussy wet.”

  “Have you talked to AJ?” I asked.

  “Nah, but I put a stack on his books. He should be straight for a few months. Really don’t want him calling me.”

  “Why?”

  “Why should he? That nigga locked up for life, and want the world to feel sorry for him. I’m not doing it. He low key would be in my way of this money because he always in my pockets. So to cut down on that, I send him what I want, and don’t answer when he calls. Make his ass be grateful for what he got.”

  “But he loves you.”

  “A lot of people love me. Don’t mean I’ma let them get in my way. He too needy.”

  “Anyway. Call Glory and tell him we here.”

  Divine picked up the track phone to call, and put it on speaker. “Y’all there?” he asked as soon as he answered.

  “Yeah, where we going?” she asked him.

  “I’m about to send you an address to a food place. When you get there, follow the black car with yellow stripes.”

  “Ok, bet.” They disconnected the call.

  “See, why Johan and Chola couldn’t do that? They did the absolute fucking most by drugging us,” I said.

  “Right?”

  “Hell yeah. What do you think about Neiman and her situation?” I asked. Divine never gave her opinion on anything, and I really wanted it.

  “I mean, it’s not my business.”

  “Duh. This is you and me talking though,” I threw back.

  “I feel like Nel need to go to his soon to be wife when he wakes up. If he do. Let that hoe take care of him.”

  “But you know Neiman ain’t gonna do that.”

  “Whatever she does, I’m with her. Just wish she was smarter than that.”

  I pulled over at a gas station so we could pee because we had been holding it. When Divine got out, I pulled out my phone to call Slick. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. He was right, I came crawling back for more.

  “Who this?” he asked.

  “It’s me… Malina. Are you alone?”

  “Yeah, what’s up, shawty?”

  “I can’t stop thinking about you,” I confessed as I looked over my shoulder to see if Divine was coming.

  “Told you.” He laughed. I could hear him smiling and it made me smile.

  “When can I get it again?” I asked, sounding like a fiend.

  “When you learn how to take it. You kept running from a nigga and shit.”

  “I won’t run next time. It just caught me off guard, that’s all.”

  “Yeah? Well slide through tonight. Tayla gone to a tournament for a few days.”

  “Damn. When she coming back?” I asked.

  “In about a week.”

  “Cool. I’ll come in two days.”

  “Nigga, you made it seem like you wanted that shit now.”

  “I do, but I can’t. I’m in Miami with Divine.”

  “That’s why you whispering and shit?” he asked.

  “Very funny. I have nothing to hide.”

  “Have you told her that I fucked you?”

  “No. Why?”

  “Then you got something to hide, my nigga.”

  “No, I don’t… here come Divine. Gotta go.” I hurried to hang up.

  When she got in the car, I hopped out to go pee.

  When I got inside, I was amazed at how clean the restroom was. Not like ours be in the hood.

  When I got back to the car, I saw Divine had moved to the driver side, so I got in on the passenger side.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “Let’s roll.”

  As we got closer to the destination, I got more paranoid.

  “Whats wrong?” Divine asked when she saw the look on my face.

  “Maybe we should count the money just to be sure.”

  “Go ahead. We should have checked it before we left.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” I hopped in the back seat and pulled the bag from behind the seat.

  “We almost there, so hurry up.”

  “Did he tell us how much was supposed to be in here?” I asked.

  “Shit. I didn’t even ask. But he paid us extra, so it must be a lot.”

  “Maybe we should call him and ask,” I said.

  “Okay, hold on.”

  As she called him on speaker I opened the bag and almost fainted. I screamed so loud. “What the fuck?”

  “What?” Divine asked, turning around to see what I was yelling at. She almost swerved off the road when she saw it.

  “They waiting on y’all,” Glory said as he picked up the phone.

  “Glory, what the fuck…” is all Divine could get out.

  He laughed. “You just now opening that bag?”

  “That’s not funny! You could have warned us!” I yelled from the back seat.

  “It’s business. Never personal. My plug had a problem, and that problem had to be dealt with.”

  “Where’s the rest of the body?” I asked from the back seat.

  “Don’t worry about it. Just close the bag and deliver it like normal. He knows what’s in it.”

  “We deliver money, nigga. Not bodies,” Divine said.

  “It’s a first time for everything, love,” he responded.

  “You owe us dinner or something,” I said, taking the phone from Divine. I didn’t really want dinner. Just wanted to spark a conversation.

  “Ha-ha. You got it. It’s all about you, Malina.”

  “How’d you know it wasn’t Divine on the phone, still?” I asked.

  “Divine gotta squeaky voice.”

  “I do too.”

  “Yaa, but y’all sound different. Damn, you gotta plex with a nigga or something?” he asked.

  Guess I was too uptight, when really I was just flirting.

  “Nah, we good. I’ma be waiting on that dinner though. And I don’t want no cheap shit.”

  “I got you, love. What you want?”

  “I want some Red Lobster,” I responded with pride. He started to laugh his ass off like I was Kevin Hart or some shit, telling him a joke. “What’s funny?”

  “Red Lobster?” he repeated, like he had to be sure that’s what I said.

  “Yeah, nigga. What the fuck?”

  “You must ain’t never been around niggas with money, love. We don’t fuck around with Red Lobster. I’ma take you to a Hibachi Grill or some shit. Or the Reunion Tower in down
town.”

  “You talking about that big ball that light up at night? That’s a restaurant?” I asked in amusement.

  “See… look at ya. Didn’t even know. Ya, that’s a restaurant.”

  Damn, I had been in Dallas all my life and didn’t even know people ate there. Thought it was just for decoration; a big ball that lights the city up at night.

  “Hell yeah I wanna go there,” I said in excitement.

  Divine was looking at me through rearview mirror smiling like she was happy for me.

  “I’ght, bet. Hit me when y’all make it back. I got you.”

  “Bet,” I said before we disconnected the line.

  After hanging up, I looked back down at the chopped off head that was on the side of me and came back to reality.

  I zipped the bag back up and hopped in the front seat, still amazed. This nigga had us delivering a fucking head. A head. And that’s it. No other parts.

  A head.

  “So I guess y’all got a date?” Divine asked.

  “You can come too. This is just to make up for him and that shit that’s in the bag.”

  “Bitch, I don’t wanna go nowhere with that nigga,” she said as we stopped at a red light.

  “Why not?”

  “Girl, that nigga a killer.”

  “Slick is too. And AJ. So what?” I asked, putting my seat belt back on.

  “Exactly. And I don’t fuck with neither one of them niggas no more.”

  “Anybody a killer if you push them to their limits.”

  “True. But did you notice how calm this nigga is? He was calm when he paid us to deliver the shit. Acting like it wasn’t a head in the bag.”

  “Okay, it’s not like he lied.”

  “So what did he do?”

  “He paid us to deliver a bag. We never asked what was in it.”

  “I guess you’re right. But I still don’t wanna go nowhere with that nigga. He laughed when I called myself checking him about the head. Shit, he acting like it’s a piece of plastic. That nigga a killer for real. I woulda never known. A silent killer”

  I blushed. “My type of guy.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Nyssa

  Now that the smoke was clearing, I wish I would had stayed with Slick instead of overreacting and going with Neiman to the hospital yesterday. Ever since they told her that this nigga woke up, she hadn’t left his side. And I was stuck here looking at his big ugly ass because she was my only ride.