Shooting Blindly in the Dark

by Nicole Jackson

  I was beyond hot. That hoe had come straight for my juggler with that one. And I couldn’t let her slide. So, I jumped off the couch, and stomped to her bedroom. As usual, she was on her knees sucking some random nigga’s dick.

  I didn’t give her a chance to do shit, as I attacked her. “Bitch, you putting videos on Facebook?!” I raged, as I punched her in the face repeatedly. “Huh, you dirty hoe!”

  “Lil mama, chill out!” the dude pulled me off Dookey Baby, and Jazel came out of nowhere, and picked up where I left off. She was going ham, kicking Dookey Baby in the face.

  “Ay, ay, that’s enough!” he barked, as he yanked Jazel off her.

  “Bitch, I’ll kill you!” Jazel bellowed. “You don’t know me! You wanna put people on blast?! You fucking every nigga with a dick between his legs, and you wanna put up videos?! You fucking with the wrong one!”

  Dookey Baby crawled to her feet with a bloody mouth. “Fuck the both of you bitches!” she spewed. “Jazel, yo disloyal ass been all up this bitch’s ass, like fuck me!” she slapped her chest. “And Black Reign, yeah I put yo trifling ass on blast! You aint no fuckin’ friend to me. As long as we hung out, you forgot about all that when you got with Kaydoa. All of a sudden you aint know me. And now you wanna come around, wanting somebody to feel sorry for ya ass because he don’t want you no more. That’s what your fake ass get!”

  I was heated, as I listened to that simple ass bitch. “Bet that, hoe. Yo ass will never get another peaceful sleep again. Because when you least expect it I’ma come and burn this bitch down! With ya worthless ass in it.”

  “And I’ma piss on ya ashes!” Jazel added.

  Dookey Baby’s male friend shook his head. “You hoes is crazy.”

  “Nigga, shut yo broke ass up!” Jazel lashed, taking the words right out of my mouth.

  “Come on, let’s go,” I pulled Jazel into the living room. Quickly, we both gathered the shit we had over there, and then piled it all up in my car.

  “I’ma have to drop my shit off at my mama’s,” Jazel said, as she sat on the passenger’s side of my car.

  I knew that she hated to go to her mama’s, and that’s why she’d been crashing on Dookey Baby’s couch. Jazel was just nineteen, and didn’t have her own spot. She technically lived with her mama, but didn’t like being there. She claimed that her mama was always in her business, and getting her big brothers involved. Supposedly, they treated her like a child, and would run off any nigga she dealt with, therefore she preferred to run the streets, and sleep from pillow to post.

  I really wasn’t buying her story, and thought that maybe she didn’t want to admit that her people were just bad off, and she had nowhere to go. So, she shocked the shit out of me, when we pulled up to her mama’s house in the burbs. I mean, the house was nice as hell, and just slightly smaller than the one Kaydoa claimed he’d gotten for me.

  I sat outside, while she dragged her clothes inside. Then about ten minutes later, she came back outside with a chick walking right behind her. I figured that she was her sister or something, although she’d never mentioned having one.

  “Where are you going, lil’ girl?” the chick questioned, as Jazel hopped back into my car.

  “Mama, I told you that I’d be back,” she frowned.

  I lifted my brows in surprise. Her mama looked rather young…and a little ghetto. “Who you riding with? Yall stole somebody’s car? Do I need to call your brothers?”

  Jazel rolled her eyes. “See, that’s exactly why I’m leaving. Them niggas don’t run me. I’m grown.”

  “Girl, please,” her mama pursed her lips, as she waved her off. “Grown my ass.” She dipped her head low, and peered at me. “What’s your name, baby? Cause this lil’ girl don’t understand the ways of the world these days. Anything could happen to her ass out there in them streets. I need to know who she running with, with ya cute ass. That’s yo real hair?”

  “Mama,” Jazel complained.

  “What? Don’t mama me. I’m just asking,” her mama snaked her neck.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. I didn’t know why Jazel was running from her, because she seemed cool to me. “Yeah, this my hair, and my name is Jasmine, but they call me Black Reign.”

  “Okay, Black Reign. I was just checking shit out. You know how it is,” she explained. “You know, I’m from the projects, so I’m familiar with game. Ya feel me?”

  I giggled. “I feel you.”

  “Well, alright. Yall be safe.”

  “Okay. We will,” I agreed, as I backed out of the driveway.

  “Bitch, hurry up,” Jazel glanced back at her mama. “She writing your license plate number down.”

  I continued to snicker.

  She cut her eyes at me. “That shit aint funny.”

  “Whatever,” I playfully rolled my eyes, as my cell began to ring. “Say, look at my phone and tell me whose calling.”

  She nodded, as she glanced at the screen. “Let’s see…Bitch Ass Kaydoa is calling.”

  “Send that shit to voicemail,” I waved my head. He’d been calling for the past few hours, but I didn’t have shit to say to him.

  She nodded, and did just that.

  “I need to get fuckin’ high,” I vented. “But I don’t know where to get something from. I aint going back to the hood again.”

  “I know one spot. It’s in the Dead End. We can shoot over there, while it’s still early.”

  I shrugged. “Fuck it. Let’s go.”

  ******

  “Come on, Thirty-Eight. Give us half a stract,” Jazel playfully shoved some rough looking nigga’s shoulder.

  “Jazel, you know I can’t do that,” the dude waved his head. We were in the middle of the projects, in a small ass apartment, surrounded by a gang of hard heads. She’d been attempting to wheel and deal with this man, for over a hour. Her money was good, but the nigga didn’t want to serve her.

  “Come on, man. I’ll throw in a extra twenty,” she offered.

  He sighed, as he stepped into the kitchen, and we followed closely behind, “Okay, man. Don’t tell nobody I’m giving you this shit,” he warned, as he placed a bottle filled with embalming fluid on the kitchen counter.

  Just as she was about to grab the bottle some cute lil’ nigga steps into the kitchen. “What the fuck you doing, Jazel?” he frowned.

  “Baby, what you doing here,” she snatched her hand back, as she nervously smiled. Was this nigga her boyfriend or something?

  “Nah, the question is what you doing here?” he rebutted. “What was yall doing, Thirty-Eight?”

  Thirty-Eight grinned. “Nothing, Baby. What yo wild ass doing here?”

  “You sure you wasn’t doing nothing? Cause it looked to me like you was about to sell my lil’ cousin that shit,” he growled, as he whipped out a cell phone.

  I stood, checking the nigga out. I recognized the Usher cologne he was wearing, and I remembered Kaydoa used to wear it when we first started fucking around. The dude Baby was dressed rather casual in a white tee, and light blue Robin’s jeans, but I could tell that he was a step above the rest of the hustlers in the apartment. The entire room had gotten quiet when stepped on the scene, which told me he was running shit.

  “Nigga, come to the spot in the Dead End,” he spoke into the phone. “Yeah, I got Jazel’s ass over here.”

  Jazel rolled her eyes. “Really, Baby? You just had to call them didn’t you?”

  Baby shrugged, “Ya brother say that he been trying to catch up with you, anyway.”

  She locked eyes with me, and mouthed, “Let’s go,”

  I nodded, but ole boy caught on. “Nah, you aint going nowhere. Say, yall, lock the door.”

  One boy quickly did as he was instructed, and locked the door on our asses.

  “Wait ‘til ya brother gets here,” Baby asserted, as he slid onto the kitchen’s counter.

  I stood around, feeling awkward as hell. I didn’t know what the hell Jazel had dragged my ass into. I thought she had enough sense no
t to go to her people’s trap to cop. If she was gonna be that damn dumb we could’ve just hit up Kaydoa’s trap house.

  It seemed like we stood around forever, until there was a loud knock at the door. One of the dudes hopped up, checked the peep hole, before opening the door. Then in walks this tall, chocolate, deep wavy hair having, dressed in Louie from head to toe, gorgeous specimen of a man.

  “Oh God,” Jazel huffed, as the dude swaggered over to her.

  “What the fuck you doing over here?” his nostrils flared.

  Jazel rolled her eyes. “I’m just chilling.”

  Baby waved his head. “She a damn lie. She was trying to get that stract from Thirty-Eight.”

  I narrowed my eyes. Baby was cute, and all, but he talked too much.

  “You still be smoking that shit?” ole boy snarled. By this time I was assuming that he was one of Jazel’s brothers she always complained about.

  Jazel directed her gaze to the nearest wall. “I aint smoking nothing.”

  I swear before my eyes her whole demeanor had changed. All that sass was gone, and she was a little girl. Now I knew exactly what she meant when she said that her brothers made her feel like a child. Shit, I was beginning to feel the same, just on the strength that I was with her.

  I was getting irritated, and just wanted to go, so I decided to speak up. “Well, she was getting it for me. And if you don’t mind, let me get that, so that we can move the fuck around.”

  Ole boy spun around, and squinted. “And who the fuck are you?”

  I twisted my neck. “That’s irrelevant. We just trying to grab the bottle, and then go on our way.”

  He smirked, as he visually examined me from head to toe. “Jazel, you need to tell ya girl to mind her muthafuckin’ business. Cause she don’t know me like that. Before I tell her lil’ thieving ass a thing or two.”

  I scrounged, “She aint gotta tell me shit. And what the fuck you mean? Thieving? You got me fucked up!”

  “Yeah, thieving. I know damn well that you can’t afford no damn Birkin bag. I already know how my sister get down. That lil’ credit card fraud hustle is played out.”

  “Credit card fraud? Nigga, you don’t know me! Let’s play big bank take lil’ bank. With ya broke ass. You coming in here wearing ya re-up money, talking shit. Nigga, miss me,” I spewed. I could hear the guys in the living room, laughing their asses off.

  He cut his eyes at Jazel. “Who the fuck is she?”

  She smiled. “That’s my friend.”

  “Well, yo friend got a fly ass mouth.”

  “And her friend can talk for her muthafuckin’ self. Who the fuck are you supposed to be, is the real question. You might run yo sister, but, nigga, you don’t know me.”

  He chuckled, “Lil’ mama, you just don’t know.”

  “Nah,” I waved my head. “You just don’t know.” I stomped into the living room to find a nigga posted up on the door. “And let me out this muthafucka!”

  Jazel’s brother stepped into the living room “Let her ass out, before she get to snatching shit out of here. I see her ass eyeing the TV and shit.”

  Everybody cracked up laughing once again.

  “Hell yeah, let me out of here. Cause if I fuck around a take that TV he gonna pawn that lil’ outfit to get another one,” I came right back at him.

  “Man, stop it,” Baby held the side of stomach, as he laughed. “This shit funnier than a muthafucka. Jazel, where you find her big fine rude ass at?”

  The boy opened the door for me, and I stepped outside. Half paying attention, I stomped over to what I believed to be my car. I hit the locks with my electrical key, but the door wouldn’t budge. “What the fuck?” I mumbled to myself.

  “Lil’ mama, you need to stop smoking that shit. You know damn well you aint pull up in this,” Jazel’s brother teased, as he stepped outside, along with his entourage. Using his key, he hit the locks, walked over to the door, and opened it up.

  I twisted off, and eased further down the sidewalk, realizing that my car was in fact a few cars down. “Oh, that’s my bad. I am tripping. My car is obviously newer,” I announced, as I pulled the door open, and flopped down.

  “Damn,” Baby put a fist up to his mouth. “Keyon, you see her car? Lil’ mama riding cleaner than a bitch.”

  Jazel’s brother calmly licked his lips, before he smoothly walked over to me. “I see you shining.”

  “Whatever,” I rolled my eyes.

  “That’s real talk,” he nodded. “What’s a girl like you, driving this kind of car, wearing these type of clothes doing around these parts?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What exactly is a girl like me?”

  For a brief second, he just stared at me, before cracking a smile. “Ion know. But I wanna find out. You and my sister follow me.”

  Chapter 27

  Black Reign

  “Where is this nigga going?” I glanced at Jazel, as I followed closely behind her brother’s Benz.

  She shrugged. “Probably to his club up the street.”

  I nodded, as I focused on the road. “He aint crazy is he?”

  She sniggled. “Girl, hell nah. Honestly, I can’t believe he’s trying to holler. He got so many bitches, and broads usually approach him. He must really like what he see, because he usually swears up and down that I don’t hang with chicks on his level. Shit, Dookey Baby was practically begging to suck his dick, but he was like ‘Hell no.’”

  I rolled my eyes. “That nigga aint all that.”

  She pursed her lips. “He something. I see you following his ass.”

  I left that alone, because I can’t front. I was intrigued. Keyon or whatever his name was glistening all over the place. From his jewelry to his whip, I knew that he was far from a bullshit ass nigga. And he was beyond handsome. Not that I was looking for a nigga or anything. But I wouldn’t have minded taking his ass for a test drive.

  Eventually, we pulled up to a neighborhood club that would be considered a hole in the wall. It was just the middle of the afternoon, and the scene was already pretty lively.

  “Is this his club?” I questioned.

  “Yep,” Jazel nodded, as she eased out of my car.

  Slowly, I slid out of the car myself, and Mr. Keyon was already standing in front of me. “I didn’t catch ya name, Ms. Smart Mouth.”

  Rolling my eyes, I said, “Jasmine’s the name.” I gave him my government, because less people knew me by that. Kaydoa’s name rang bells throughout the city, mine was synonymous with his, and I didn’t want him to make the connection.

  “Jasmine, huh?” he lifted a brow. “So, what you doing hanging with my little sister?”

  I shrugged. “We met through a mutual friend turned foe.”

  “Are you talking about Shitty Baby?” he asked, causing me to roar with laughter.

  “Yeah, I’m talking about that dirty hoe,” I giggled.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know why Jazel was running with that hoe. That bitch got some daddy issues. I aint never seen a broad so willing to fuck…everybody.”

  I nodded. “Exactly.”

  “But what about you, Jasmine? What was you doing at the trap?” he probed.

  I hunched my shoulders. “I told you why. I wanted that bottle.”

  He scrounged. “But for what?”

  I slid my tongue across my teeth. Yeah, he was fine as fuck, but I just wasn’t in the mood to tell lie after lie. I really didn’t have room in my world for anybody new, anyway, and I figured me telling the truth would send him running the other way. “To get high,” I admitted.

  He shook his head, before staring into my eyes. “You much too beautiful for that shit.”

  I gazed at the street. “Yeah, that’s what they say.”

  He grabbed my chin, making me look at him. “That’s what you need to know.”

  My heart skipped a beat, remembering that Kaydoa used to look at me the same way. Just like Keyon was at that very moment.

  “I hear you,” I nodded,
before pulling away. “I know you aint used to seeing broads that get down like me.”

  He squinted. “How you figure?”

  “Your sister already told me how you got bitches out the ying yang, and most of ‘em are from the burbs.”

  He chuckled. “My little sister tells bits and pieces. Did she tell you that we used to live in the Dead End, and that our mama was one the craziest crack heads around?”

  I shook my head.

  “My point exactly. I come down so hard on her, because I know all too well what that water does to you. Back in the day when our mama was too busy getting high, I used to do wet. I just didn’t give a fuck. I was robbing, shooting, you name it we’d done it. And I knew that the shit I was doing wasn’t right. So, I’d smoke a sherm to numb my feelings, while I was out in the streets. And I wasn’t the only one smoking it, either. The broad I was fucking with was doing it too.”

  “No shit?” I lifted a brow. “Well, what happened to her?”

  He grimaced. “She got high one night, and fucked around and killed her own sister. They gave her life, and I never fucked with a sherm again.”

  “Damn,” I sighed. Listening to him made me take a look at myself. I wasn’t lame to the effects of smoking wet. I’d seen people lose their minds, but I’d convinced myself that my mind was stronger than the average person’s. I always told myself that I wasn’t like those other people. I could control myself.

  “But peep this, lil mama,” he licked his lips. “I’m not the one to preach to you. It’s still a lot of shit I need to work on myself. So, I can’t pass judgement.”

  I nodded, as I was forced to look deep within myself.

  For hours I kicked it with Keyon. He might’ve been flashy, but he was a real nigga. I could actually see why women were drawn to him. Throughout the day various girls blew his phone up, from baby mamas to lil’ dips. One broad in particular was relentless. She was calling every few minutes, although he hadn’t answered once.

  “Damn, who is that chick?” I asked, as we sat in his car.

  He checked the screen of his phone. “That’s this broad named Randi.”

  Nosily, I glanced at the screen and saw her picture. “She’s cute, with her red hair and everything. So, what’s the problem? You answered everybody else’s calls.”