The Game Don't Change

by Mazaradi Fox

  “Girl, chill, that’s that nigga coming in.” India got off his dick a little mad because she didn’t get her shit off.

  DeMarco walked to the front door. “Yo, C, I thought you went to pick shorty up from work.”

  “Nah, not till 5,” he said. C had two big Reebok bags in his hands. “Check this out. Me and Skip just made a quick move with that kid who said he wanted to buy that joint. Well, they bought five of them things. Them niggas get paper and they wasn’t on no funny shit because he was by himself and all the money wasn’t in hundred-dollar bills. You can tell it was straight block money.”

  “So where Skip at?” DeMarco asked.

  “He took his shorty to the doctor. You know she really pregnant.”

  DeMarco told India to come out of the bedroom. “Baby, I need you to take this money and put it up.”

  They counted all the money, then India left.

  “Yo, C, I want to get this dude Gee his money by Friday, so we can cop some more joints. So after you get shorty from work, go check Skip and Bizzy and see what they workin with.”

  “Cool, I got you, bro,” Killer C said.

  “But don’t let them know about Gee.”

  “Don’t even worry about that, I got you.”

  It was time for DeMarco to do some homework, so he called up Tia. “Yo, where you at?”

  “I’m over here at the She Thing hair salon. I’ll be done in about fifteen minutes.”

  “A’ight, cool, just meet me at the Dash Inn.”

  “Okay.”

  DeMarco had been fucking Tia on the low without Kee-Kee and Michelle. After hanging up the phone, he decided to go pick her up directly from the salon. She jumped in the car as soon as he arrived. He had her take him to every last stash house Black and his crew had. DeMarco wanted to make sure nobody on the street had any product but him and his crew. He had some cousins from the area who were good at running up in houses. Tia would tell him anything and do anything for him. Since she obviously wanted to take Michelle’s spot, DeMarco pulled his Nike sweatpants down and Tia started giving him head. She always acted like she was a porn star.

  DeMarco didn’t even tell her he was about to let go; he just came in her mouth and all over her face and hair.

  “Damn, boy,” she yelled, “you know I just got my hair done!”

  “My bad, I couldn’t help it.” DeMarco passed her his T-shirt, $1,000, and then he dropped her back at the salon.

  “Look, boy, is any of that stuff in my hair?”

  “No, you good, babe. Hit me later.”

  * * *

  DeMarco went straight to his cousins’ house and gave them the rundown. By the end of the night, them niggas had wiped out all of Black’s spots.

  “Here, y’all take this $20,000 and lay low for a week or so, but keep y’all ears to the streets.”

  “No doubt, cuz, you already know I’m on point.”

  DeMarco’s cousins knew that whenever he called them, there was money involved.

  * * *

  Later on, his phone rang, “Yo, wassup, daddy?” Michelle asked.

  “Nothin, just chillin,” DeMarco answered. “What’s good wit you?”

  Michelle explained how the niggas from Miami had robbed all of her punk-ass brother’s spots, taking everything, TVs and all. They even killed his dogs.

  “So what are they gonna do about it?” DeMarco asked.

  “I guess him and my cousin Body riding around lookin for them niggas.”

  Everything was going exactly as planned. Now, all the money would come to him. They thought it was the Miami boys, the Miami boys would think it was them, and now Gee was going to put a price on their heads.

  * * *

  Three days went by, and DeMarco was laying low, putting the rest of his plot together before hitting up Colg and Gee for the bricks.

  “A’ight, DeMarco, I’m gon’ get on that now,” Colg said, then delivered his cousin’s message. Two hours later, Gee was there at Colg’s crib. This time DeMarco was by himself, but he knew Gee wasn’t going to try any bullshit.

  “I can’t lie to you, DeMarco, you my kind of nigga,” Gee said with a big smile on his face.

  DeMarco gave Gee the duffel bag and they counted the money. Every dollar was well on point.

  DeMarco started putting Gee onto the word on the streets. Gee couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He wasn’t a tough guy, but he had plenty of money and would do whatever it took to get even.

  “Oh, word? These fuck boys wanna fuck wit me?”

  “My nigga, I’m gonna show them how we play back home.”

  Gee was hot as fire. “Listen, DeMarco, I got twenty of them things for you in the house, but I have a better idea. Give me the same number on fifteen of the things, and the other five . . . keep those. Just make sure you get somebody to handle them boys.”

  “Don’t worry, Gee, I got this under control. Like I told you before, just chill and put your feet up.”

  DeMarco jumped in Colg’s truck and headed to the woods. DeMarco ran into the trees in a flash to stash the bricks before anybody could see him, then drove back to Colg’s house and called him outside.

  “Yo, Colg, what are you doing with all your money?”

  “Man, I’m just living and shit. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be doing nothin. All the chicks love me.”

  DeMarco was just shooting the shit to see where his cousin’s head was. He wanted to make sure everybody was still on the same page.

  “Yo, cuz, I’m gonna keep it real, my nigga. Gee must like you.”

  “Why you say that?” DeMarco asked.

  “Why I say that? Because he told me if everything go right with this clown Black, he would give you five more. He got a coke factory. He gotta have a connect that get it straight from the Mexican border.”

  “That’s all I needed to hear.” DeMarco’s mind started racing.

  He hung up with Colg, and glanced down at his phone: Damn, who left all these messages? He dialed the number. After the second ring, Skip picked up.

  “Yo, what’s good, Skip?”

  “I know you comin out wit me tonight? You forgot it’s my birthday?” Skip yelled through the phone.

  “Oh shit, with all this runnin around, I almost forgot. Where you want to go?” DeMarco asked.

  “I’m tryna do Planet Rock tonight.”

  “A’ight, bet, we there.”

  * * *

  DeMarco drove two hours away to pick up his cousins Jazz and Rah and they all headed to the mall.

  “What you trying to get, DeMarco?”

  “You know me, I’m a Queens dude. I’m gonna get the all-black Adidas pants with the stripes and some black-shell toes.”

  “I’m with you,” Rah said.

  Jazz was a different type of nigga, so he rocked his own style. That’s just how he was.

  * * *

  Planet Rock’s parking lot was looking like Summer Jam. There were people all over the place, from everywhere. DeMarco skipped the whole line and walked up to his man Big Dimp who was the bouncer and slid him five 100-dollar bills. He took DeMarco and his cousins right in and didn’t even search them.

  Big Dimp pointed to the VIP section and said, “Yo, DeMarco, there go your people right over there.”

  Skip, C, and Bizzy were there with all their niggas and some chicks.

  “Yo, DeMarco, wassup, nigga?”

  “Ain’t shit. Damn, C, I thought you was lost.”

  “Me? Nah, a nigga been out here makin it do what it do.”

  “Wassup wit homegirl?”

  “Oh, she good. She up in here somewhere.”

  “Let’s go see wassup wit the birthday boy.” DeMarco loved his niggas. “Yo, Skip, happy birthday!” He went into his pocket and passed his man an all-gold Rolex with a diamond face.

  “Yo, good fuckin lookin, my nigga. Word.” Skip knew he was certified in DeMarco’s book.

  The more DeMarco looked around, the more bitches he saw there who he had f
ucked. Even Michelle was up in there with her crew. They just acted as if they didn’t know each other in public.

  Everybody started to come up to DeMarco like it was his birthday. Bizzy just laid in the cut in case a nigga tried to front, which was the last thing on DeMarco’s mind because he was strapped up.

  They popped bottles, tossed bottles, smoked blunts, you name it. His team was having fun and the DJ was giving shout-outs to DeMarco and his crew all night. “Big up to DeMarco and the get-money get-bitches crew!”

  At some point DeMarco noticed a bouncer holding somebody back from getting in the VIP area. He asked his man Cash, “Do you know them dudes?”

  “Yeah, that’s Black’s cousin Body.”

  “Oh, word? Tell the bouncer to let them niggas up in here.”

  DeMarco was a getting-money nigga, but he wasn’t afraid of anything. The bouncer moved out of the way and let them in.

  Killer C appeared out of nowhere. “Wassup? May I help you? This is a private party.” DeMarco’s whole crew pulled out pistols.

  “Nah, it’s not like that, yo. I just wanna holla at your man. Ain’t no beef or anything like that.”

  “I know it ain’t,” Killer C said with an ice grill. “You can come up, but your boys gotta stay outside of VIP.”

  “No problem, cuz,” Body said, and walked up to DeMarco. “Wassup, I heard a lot about you.”

  “Ain’t shit. Now get to the point.”

  “DeMarco, I am feeling your style. I heard from a few dudes and chicks that you a good guy and you take care of your crew. See, my grimy-ass cousin came and got me from my Connecticut. He told me a different story about how you and your people ran in his crib, robbed, and shot him and his homeboy Man-Man. Then I came to find out it was the opposite way around and the bitch-ass snitched on you! I don’t fuck wit snitches at all.”

  DeMarco just listened and didn’t say a word.

  “But on some real shit, DeMarco, I’m tryna get money with y’all. My nigga cousin is a cold snake. He brought us all the way down here for bullshit. I had to meet a chick who works in the mall, so me and my dudes would have somewhere to stay. To top it all off, she put me onto some Ohio cat with $300,000 in the crib. I sent Black in there to get it and he only came out with $50,000.”

  DeMarco looked Body in his eye and asked him, “How do you know it was $300,000?”

  “Quiet as kept, shorty was fuckin one of the niggas and she took a picture of it and showed it to me.”

  Body was drunk, but it seemed to DeMarco like he was telling the truth.

  “I’m saying, DeMarco, we all from up north. It’s only right we get this money. I’m on the run from CT, so I don’t got nothin to lose. I gotta get it!”

  Now DeMarco was sure it wasn’t a setup because nobody would tell his business like that.

  “Okay, we gon’ see you around. What’s your number? I’ll have somebody holla at you.”

  Michelle was watching her cousin talk to DeMarco. She just wanted things to work out with her cousin and Black, but she didn’t realize her cousin wasn’t messing with Black and Man-Man anymore.

  DeMarco told Cash to give Body a bottle of Moët and Body walked back into the party.

  Killer C wanted to put his whole clip in Body and his two homeboys. “Yo, DeMarco, what that nigga talkin about?”

  “I’ll tell you later, but one thing is for certain: we got us one,” DeMarco said with a devious grin.

  C knew DeMarco was up to something, he just didn’t know what.

  Michelle walked up to DeMarco. “Is everything good, daddy?”

  “Oh yeah, he’s good money. It’s a small world. He said he was locked up with one of my homeboys before.”

  Michelle believed everything he said. DeMarco told her to take his keys and to call him when she got near his crib.

  “Daddy, please don’t take long.”

  “Gotcha, girl.”

  DeMarco was feeling a little nice himself. He looked to the other side of the VIP section and saw one of his ex-shorties, Tosha. He couldn’t stand her anymore because she had a big mouth. He watched her from the corner of his eye and mumbled to himself, “Slick bitch,” and took two more sips. Then he told Rah and Jazz he was ready to cut out.

  Killer C and Cash were waiting at the front door when Jazz pulled the car up.

  DeMarco came out with his two boys and jumped in the front seat. “Yo, C, make sure y’all get home in one piece.”

  “You know that.”

  “A’ight, I see y’all in the a.m.”

  DeMarco and his two cousins pulled off. Rah was in the backseat knocked out.

  A little while later, Jazz pulled up to DeMarco’s crib and saw DeMarco’s chicks outside waiting for him.

  “I’m saying, cuz, your chicks don’t play.”

  “I mean, what can I say?”

  Jazz took off as Michelle, Tia, and Kee-Kee followed DeMarco inside.

  Michelle walked into DeMarco’s bedroom, but came right back out. “So, whose hair is this? What, you have a white girl in here or something?”

  DeMarco thought to himself how India got that Indian hair and some must have fallen on his bed. “Girl, don’t play with me. You know what to do,” he replied.

  A few seconds later, all of them were naked. Kee-Kee passed DeMarco the blunt. He lit it and took a puff. Michelle sat right on his dick. She was going up and down while Tia was kissing on his neck as Kee-Kee began sucking Tia’s titties.

  DeMarco looked at the girls and decided to do something different. He searched inside the closet and returned with a video camera.

  “What, we makin porn or somethin?” Michelle asked.

  “Yes we are,” he said with a grin.

  He started filming them fucking each other. The tape was just for insurance in case one of them ever got out of line. They were so caught up in the moment they didn’t care why he was doing it.

  * * *

  The next day, the whole town was talking about Skip’s party. DeMarco was up early talking with Skip.

  “So, DeMarco, what do you want us to do with this dude Body? We just saw him in the Pancake House.”

  “See what he’s tryna spend and let him hustle in New River. But keep your eyes on him.”

  “Okay, cool. Say no more.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  After a month or so, DeMarco started thinking Body was a good dude. Body began hanging out with Skip and the crew. His cousin Black was sick when he found out Body was fucking with them.

  One day Black and his crew pulled up to the park where everybody hung out on Sundays. You could tell he’d lost all of his power, because nobody moved. In the past, you would have thought it was Deebo from Friday coming.

  “Yo, Body, what’s witcha?”

  “Wassup with me? What it look like? I’m getting money and shit. I don’t fuck with your ass no more, family or not.”

  Black didn’t realize that Body knew he’d stolen most of that money from those Ohio cats. “Oh, that’s how you feel, cuz?”

  “Listen, man, you and this rat nigga got two minutes to get outta here before I take ya head off ya shoulders.”

  “Yeah, whatever, Body, we supposed to be family. You be back!”

  “Nah, you better hope you make it back. All that money you stole from me!” he yelled.

  Black walked away, knowing he’d fucked up. The only real help he had wasn’t fucking with him anymore.

  * * *

  The whole crew started going out together every week. The more money they made, the more they partied, and now Body would do anything to show DeMarco his loyalty. One night, DeMarco approached Body after the club and told him he’d give him $25,000 to hit up Black and Man-Man.

  “You don’t have to kill him, but I want somebody in a wheelchair.”

  Body couldn’t wait to get the money in his hands before DeMarco even gave the lowdown. “I got this. Give me two days and it’s done.”

  DeMarco told him he had to fly up to New York to give LaLa
some more money for the condo he had just gotten for her. “So by the time I come back, I want to hear about it.”

  “I got you, my nigga. I won’t let you down.”

  From that night on, Body started watching Black’s every move.

  * * *

  On the day of Black’s son’s birthday party, Body and his two homeboys jumped out of the bushes dressed in black, with stocking caps over their faces. They let off about fifty shots, hitting Black and three of his crew. Body and his boys slipped back in the woods like thieves in the night.

  “Well done,” Body said with a devilish smirk.

  * * *

  DeMarco was lying next to his daughter when LaLa handed him his beeper and phone. Both of them were going off at the same time. He looked at his phone and saw it was Michelle, so he switched it off because he didn’t want LaLa to know it was a chick on the phone. When he looked at his beeper and saw 911, he got off the bed quietly and went into the bathroom. After the third ring, Michelle picked up.

  “Daddy, where are you?”

  “Wassup? Talk to me.”

  “Daddy, do you know some niggas from Ohio shot my brother and killed his friends? The doctor said my brother won’t be able to walk again and three of his homeboys are dead.”

  “Damn, ma, that’s crazy.” He sat on the phone listening to Michelle running off at the mouth about everything, but in the back of his mind he knew his mission had been accomplished. “You good?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m good, daddy, just wanna see you.”

  “Okay, listen, I’m up top, but I’ll be back in two days. I’ll call you as soon as I wake up, okay?”

  “Make sure you do.”

  DeMarco moved to the living room and lit up the half-blunt in the ashtray. While he thought about his next move, he said to himself, One down and two to go.

  * * *

  The next morning DeMarco, LaLa, and Nia went to meet the realtor to give him the rest of the money for the condo.