by L. E. Newell
“Whatzup, dog?”
“Who da fuck is this?” he started to say before he was cut off.
“My nigga, it’s me. Whatcha doing?”
Sparkle’s head was still ringing from the speedball rush, so he didn’t recognize the voice immediately.
“It’s Rainbow, fool, yo ass must’ve run into some bomb-ass dope or sumthing, huh?”
He sat up straighter on the bed. “Yeah, dog, I hear ya.”
“Damn, you must’ve really hit a good one there. Ha ha ha, nigga can’t even talk. Betcha mouth all twisted up and shit, huh? Make sure you save me some of that shit there, dog.”
Sparkle wiped his brow with a damp rag and looked down at the rivulets of sweat rolling down his chest, steadily drenching his shirt. “Uh-huh, shit be good, dog, fo sho. So what up?”
“I betcha it is. Anyway, get yourself together. I’ll take my time getting over there.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Uh-huh. Yo, dude, ‘B’ done split with the girls, says that he’ll holla.”
“When this happen?” Sparkle’s voice slurred.
Recognizing that his boy was really fucked up from the hit, Rainbow took a deep breath. “Aw, man, tell you what, partner. I can tell yo ass did some really good shit. Who you score that shit from? Naw, fuck dat, it don’t make a difference. Draw yourself up a good shot of girl by itself. That’ll help knock some of the effect of that boy down a bit.”
Sparkle continued to wipe at the sweat. “Okay, I’ll do that. When you saying you coming? Whatcha got planned anyway?”
“Just got a call from our boy Duke. He’s with Googie and they gonna hit the 617 tonight.”
“Whaddafuck you say, man?” Sparkle grumbled and sat up.
“Said you got to get straight, man, ’cause we gonna hit that bitch tonight, playa.” His voice had gotten really serious, real intense. “Just do like I told. We’ll talk about it when I get over there.”
“When?”
“Aw, man, you really are fucked up. Get it together, dog. I’ll be over there in a half-hour or so.”
“Aight. Aight, I’ll see ya then,” he replied between nods. He hung up and reared back on the bed, realizing that the heroin had definitely overridden the effects of the coke. Only one thing to do, hit some of the girl by itself. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the girls emerging out of the bathroom.
He had to blink several times. He couldn’t believe that those crazy hoes were dabbing themselves with toilet tissue. He shook his head. Maybe he was too high. Naw, it was true. Pieces of tissue were sticking all over their necks, jaws and arms. “Y’all some crazy-ass hoes. Y’all too damn wet, sticky and sweaty to be trying to dry off with some tissue. Come on now, that shit there is straight-up ridiculous.”
Two sets of female darts shot spears at his head before Violet said, “Shit ain’t funny, man, not funny worth a damn.”
“Oh hell yeah it is, too. Y’all some clowns straight up.” He kept laughing.
“Aw, fuck you, man.” Joyce threw her two cents worth in, bumping his hip as she sat down mumbling incoherently before scooting away from the contact.
He faked an elbow at her and drew the coke into the hypo and started flexing his fist to get the vein to pop up. His eyes brightened when he spotted one right away and plunged in. “I told y’all the stuff was...” He couldn’t finish because the rush forced him into silence.
Violet patted herself down before she looked at Joyce. “Honey, where dat cell phone? I know I had it when we was at the gas station. Whew, girl, I gotta stop doing this shit here, for real.”
Joyce wiped her face, pinched her nose and started massaging her bottom lip trying to remember where it could be. Suddenly her eyes lit up. “Aw, damn, I think I left it in the car. Yep, that’s where it’s at.”
Violet frowned and cocked her brow. “Well, go get it, girl. Ain’t no telling who’s been trying to call us.”
When she left Violet turned to him, still picking tissue off of her face and neck. “Who was that on the phone?” When he didn’t respond right away, she grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her. “Damn, man, you deaf or something?”
He grimaced from the sharp pain of her nails digging into his flesh. But the rush from the coke storming through his body held his anger intact. It also gave him time to get himself together before answering her. “Oh, I heard you, girl, that was Rainbow.”
She rolled her eyes and reached around him to pick up the hypo and began drawing up water to cleanse the blood residue for the next hit. “What the fuck he want? Didn’t we just leave his ass at the hotel?” she mumbled, then had an afterthought. “Man, I ain’t in the mood to be toting one of his dense-ass bitches around boosting and shit.”
He shot up the coke. “Naw, baby, this ain’t about no boosting. I think we’re about to pull this sting off at the 617. You think that crazy-ass Joyce is up to playing lookout on the strip while we do our creep thing?”
Violet pulled out of her nod and muttered in a slurry voice, “Damn, I was sorta pumped up to hit a few holes to get off some of this stuff we done bagged up, to tell you the truth.”
He frowned. “Star, we’ve been planning this here for a minute. It’s time to pull this thing off, enough said.”
Joyce came back into the room moaning. He could tell she’d overheard at least a piece of their conversation and was probably anticipating rolling out for a good score. After all she’d played a major part in getting the girl to get the combination to the safe.
To appease her eagerness he was about to tell her the plan to hit the club. He was rewarded with her game face. As worrisome as she was, he had to admit that honey was definitely all about getting paid and thrilled about pulling a stunt over on some top players.
It didn’t feel like a half-hour had passed when he heard car doors slamming. It was time to get to stepping.
Rainbow dapped past him decked out in a dark brown suit. His initials were embroidered in shiny gold letters atop the shirt pocket. His brown leather umpire cap, pulled down low over his eyes and shining Stacy Adams gator boots, set the outfit afire.
Sparkle leaned against the wall admiring his boy. “Damn, nigga, I know damn well you ain’t about to go GQ up in that bitch. On the real, playa, why you so fucking fly like we going on a high-fashioned picnic or a players ball or something?”
Rainbow strolled to the middle of the room and spun around in fashion show flair, twirling one of his signature ivory canes with a rams head knob on the top. Stepping behind him just as flashy was Cheryl and Sherry chatting away like a couple of high-class divas.
When Rainbow saw Joyce, his eyes lit up. To Sparkle’s surprise she kicked the refrigerator door closed and walked right up to Rainbow with a cheesy smile and two cans of Miller beer. She handed him one, patted his cheek. “Come on, pretty muthafucka, that fly-ass entrance worked like a charm.” She grabbed his hand and led him toward the bedroom.
Joyce stopped at the door and looked around at Sparkle. “Well, knucklehead, why you standing there looking all stupid and shit for?” she said sassily. “Come on.”
The twins must have thought she was talking to them, too, so they followed. They’d taken only a few steps when Rainbow spun around and pinned them with an icy stare. They turned around and headed back to the living room and sat down on the couch.
“Bitches know better than to follow me out of command,” he mumbled and then gave Joyce a nudge. He followed her into the room.
Sparkle overheard Rainbow saying, “You sure that bitch is totally scooped because we gonna need you to stay tight on her ass for another day or two in case she starts some shit. Might have to take her ass out, if she starts to sway, you feel me?”
Joyce, out of habit whenever she was on the verge of getting excited, started pulling on her ear lobe. “Nigga, please, ain’t no way that bitch would play me like that. That damn pussy voodoo’s on her for sure, man.” She leaned forward, all up in Rainbow’s grill, stabbing him in the chest with he
r sharp manicured fingers and frowned. “Oh, hell yeah, and I’ve been wanting to get back at that big black-ass nigga every since he slapped my sister Nita Bug in front of all those folk at the Decatur Festival. Hey, my pushing this magic pussy in her face must have worked because here’s the combination to the safe right here.” She reached into her bra and waved the folded piece of paper under his nose.
Rainbow gave her his best hundred-watt smile as he reached for the paper, only to have her snatch it out of reach. “Hold on a minute, playa.” She batted her long lashes, face full of suspicion. “How I know your nasty-pimping ass ain’t gonna try to go gorilla on me after y’all pull this here off?”
The words had barely rolled off of her tongue when he snapped his arm out with the speed of a cobra and put a vise grip of steely fingers around her narrow neck. She was in total shock, eyes bucked wide open in horror as he leaned forward and spat venom in her face, “Bitch, this is the only chance you get to question me, period, you got that?” His eyes were blazing to add to the death grip.
Oh, fuck, this sadistic muthafucka’s really enjoying this shit. She felt the darkness overcoming her. Through the haze of bare consciousness, she heard him growl, “Don’t you ever play games with me ever again, you feel me, slut-ass bitch?” He applied more pressure, yanking her closer to his satanic features.
She couldn’t recall nodding, but she must have because she suddenly felt the pressure easing off. Through the thundering ringing she heard him say, “Good, now get your ass down there to the bottom. You on foot patrol, bitch.” There was a slight pause before she faintly heard, “Stanky-ass ho, stay on point. If you fuck this up, I’m gonna bury your ass, for sho.”
She staggered back and thumped her head against the door. Several minutes later she was still fighting the cobwebs when she felt a pair of hands pulling her along. She noticed the cemetery across from the King Memorial.
“Girl, you aight?” The buzz wasn’t completely gone as the voice continued, “’Cause we ain’t got but a little while to check things out.”
Hell, I figured her ass already knew that nigga was crazy, Sparkle thought. “Hell, I thought she knew better, being a street bitch and all.”
She swiped her hand down her face, jerking it away when she felt something icky on her palm. She took a quick double-take, then ogled at the mixture of blood and snot smeared from the base of her fingers to the hump on her wrist.
“Here, girl, use this tissue,” she heard one of the twins say. The more her head cleared, the more she started to realize how deadly a situation she had gotten herself into.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Get Back Times So Sweet
It was well past midnight when the phone finally rang. Rainbow, Sparkle and Violet all jerked nervously from the couch as the echoing noise dominated the air. They had spent the past few hours alternating blazing heroin, coke, reefer and combinations of all three while they watched television and played video games.
Violet, who had been answering most of the incoming calls and running the drug scoring missions, picked up on the second ring. She listened intently for a moment before handing the phone to Sparkle, who did his share of listening through a series of yeahs and head nods before he handed the phone to Rainbow.
“Bet, we rolling right now, soldier. See ya at the Krispy Kreme in about ten minutes.” Rainbow unzipped his jacket, pulled out two Glocks, checked both of them before he handed one to Sparkle and then headed for the door.
They were lost in their own thoughts as they turned onto Ponce De Leon a couple of blocks from the donut shop. Sparkle started fidgeting, lit up a Kool cigarette and inhaled deeply. “Yo, dog, I know you all pumped up, too.” He pinched his nose and sniffled. “Hey, man, why all the espionage bullshit? First, you don’t let me know how deep Joyce is involved in this here and now you acting all secretive about handling this nigga Don. What’s up, player?”
When they pulled up to the next red light, Rainbow snatched the cigarette out of his mouth, then squared his shoulders. “Son, how long you been knowing me?”
Feeling no need to answer such a dumb question, Sparkle continued looking down the street. Rainbow was about to say something else when they saw Duke’s black sedan parked in the donut shop’s parking lot. Peeking through the misty window, they spotted Duke in the last booth sipping on a cup with Googie, their old gambling mentor from their prison days. Old fly-ass Googie. When they stepped inside, Sparkle’s face broke out into a brilliant smile, one that matched Googie’s. They strode to the back of the shop.
Sparkle spat at Duke out of the side of his mouth, “Aw, nigga, you could’ve told me about this one when you saw me on the track last week.” He elbowed him in the side as he slid out of the booth. He squared his shoulder and started scissoring his arms in the air excited to see his old crew. He was dressed in black fatigues, the same as Duke. They embraced in a circle, pumping and rubbing each other on the back with exuberance. “Damn, y’all, it’s been too long, niggas, too damn long.” He beamed a gold- toothed smile as he held them at arm’s length, showing no shame while admiring his two best students of the game.
Sparkle pinched his nose and bit down on his bottom lip.He stared at him in obvious awe, respect and love. “What can I say? You know what you are to me, playa.”
Duke leaned back waiting for the display of emotions to subside before he teased, “Okay, enough of all that mushy girly stuff. We got to get a move out. We’ll celebrate with a long orgy after we do this here.”
They paused, looked him up and down and said in unison, “Fuck you, fat boy,” followed by high-cheeked smiles as they slid into the booth.
Sparkle stared across the table at Rainbow, his eyes saying, Thanks, you dirty muthafucka.
Rainbow smirked and turned his attention to Duke. “The girls have been in place since early this evening fronting like they selling dope and keeping me up on everything that’s moving and happening. Ain’t nobody moved in or out of the joint for hours, so we set, dog.” His smile brightened as he waved the paper with the combination on it in a big arc before slamming it on the table.
Duke picked up his glass and bumped it against each of their balled fists. “Man, I got to have this nigga. His jive ass sided with all of them snails against me after all those years of playing fair with him and in his joint.” He paused to seriously eye Sparkle and Rainbow. “I know why y’all want this nigga, but Googie, why was you so quick to flow on this shit?”
Googie let him stew for a few before he shifted his lanky frame around in his seat, reached across the table to retrieve his glass of whatever it was he was drinking, took a couple of really loud sips, then took a deep breath. “Game is game, hustler. When you hipped me that my boys here was involved, I was automatically in. Besides, I happen to have a love affair with money like you and every other real nigga around this bitch. Oh yeah, and it’ll be well worth it to see the expressions on these so-called boss niggas when they ass be getting scraped with a hard dick; no grease and they can’t figure out what the hell is going on. That alone is enough to bust nut after nut, you feel me, playa?” He rubbed his bejeweled hands together with a gleam in his eyes. “What the fuck, these two niggas here be my prize protégés. I love all y’all niggas because y’all love living on the edge of this life just like me.”
They all sat momentarily mesmerized with his spiel and nodded. Duke, the most impatient of the crew, spoke up. “’Nough said, old timer, let’s roll.”
They left the shop in Rainbow’s ride, then turned right and stopped between street lights halfway down the block. Rainbow got out first and strolled innocently alone to Auburn Avenue. No one would really be paying him that much attention since he frequented the strip collecting ho trap. He spotted Cheryl immediately across the street leaning against the window of the Chinese place. He continued across Auburn and saw Sherry and Joyce on opposite corners scoring the scene. Good, the girls were on point. He motioned for Cheryl to join him where he pantomimed collecting digits as he lit up a c
herry blend cigar. He puffed three times before putting it out on the bottom of his shoe. It was the signal to the others that it was on. They were set to make their move. Then he took his hat off and fanned it across his face three times. He waited until both girls down the street returned the same gesture before he headed back down the street where his boys had started toward him.
He got to the alley leading to the club and repeated the lighting signal and disappeared into the darkness. The rest of the crew entered the alley moments later, mumbling in whispers until they met him at the bottom of the stairs leading to the back door two stories up.
Googie lead the way up the stairs, stepping gingerly like a panther, followed by Sparkle, Rainbow, Duke and then Violet. Halfway up the first set of stairs they all froze when a loud squeaky noise erupted into the night air causing tingles to shoot up their spines. Sparkle waited until his knees stopped shaking before he turned halfway around and said in a trembling whisper, “Godayum, man, walk yo fat ass to the ends of the boards. You damn near had all of us jumping out of our skins, whaddafuck, nigga.”
Duke pssted him off. “Shh, okay, scary-ass muthafucka, get your skinny ass on up there.” He wheezed under his breath and nudged him up the stairs. They were nearly to the top when Googie shrieked. “Oh shit,” and fell against the railing panting. The rest of them shrieked right along with him as a pair of glowing eyes sprinted by wailing.
Rainbow clutched his heart and cursed. “What the fuck, Googie? A cat, a fucking cat, you scary old bastard.”
Googie swiped the sweat off his brow and sneered. “Nigga, yo ass sucked up like a bitch, too. Hell, all y’all niggas did. How the fuck was I supposed to know what the hell it was? I can barely see my own hand in this pitch dark, muthafucka.”
Violet stepped past the mumbling men. “All y’all need to shut the fuck up. Dat shit shook yo ass like it did all the rest of us. Let’s get this shit over with, y’all.”
Rainbow ran his eyes up and down her body. “Hmmph, dat scary old lady up there jumping like he did is what spooked me and I won’t scared, I was shocked. Girlfriend, I was shocked, big difference, shocked.”
