Payback Ain't Enough

by Clark, Wahida

  Dark was bringing me bags of cash every single day. He tried to bring me dope, but I told him ‘no thanks’. Then that nigga dropped off a license plate and told me to find out who it belonged to. I told him I ain’t no damn Department of Motor Vehicles employee and tossed that shit in the garage somewhere.

  DARK

  As I walked up to the door that I had not visited in over seven years I tried to run through my mind how I was going to deal with the woman that would be on the other side. Each step reminded me of the pain that rested behind these walls. My mom, Sandra, was the type of woman that could push ’em out and then kick ’em out in one breath. I love my mom no doubt, but she ain’t shit. I seen more niggas go in and out of this door than go through a prison reception area, and each one of them either beat on us, tried to fuck one of us or just held her attention and distracted her to the point where she neglected to feed and clothe us. No matter what, all five of us still loved and respected her. Now here I was, getting ready to pay my respects. As I walked up the steps I took a deep breath and prepared my mind and my heart.

  Buzz. Buzz. I rang the bell as I stood there with a knot in my stomach and throat.

  “Who is it?” I heard the familiar scratchy voice yell from the other side.

  “It’s me, Ma,” I answered.

  I heard the door opening and then I saw her standing there with one hand on the doorknob and the other up to her mouth as she pulled hard on a Newport long.

  “You just coming by here to see me?” She blew the cancerous smoke in my face. I put my head down and prepared for the bullshit she was getting ready to take me through.

  “I just got out. I had to get right before I came to see you.”

  “Mmmmmhmmm,” she mumbled as if she didn’t believe me. “Who did you kill right before you came to see me?”

  “Nobody, Ma.”

  “Mmmmhmmm. Didn’t I tell you that temper of yours was gonna land you in somebody’s jail?” She took another drag of her cancer stick. I stared at my moms who looked like she had aged an extra ten years. When I last saw her, she had a few strands of gray hair. Now she had a whole head of gray. “Well, come in, I ain’t trying to cool the whole damn block.”

  I stepped up into the house and she closed the door behind me. She turned and headed for the kitchen. I followed as she went to her favorite spot, the same raggedy, cheap, black kitchen table we had since before I could remember. I sat in the chair across from her.

  “So what’s up? What you got for me?” she sat and continued to smoke her cigarette as she took a mug to her lips that I was sure was filled with vodka and no frills coffee. I reached into the inside pocket of my jacket and pulled the envelope of money out and slid it across the table.

  I watched her take it and look through it with her nose turned up. “This will do for now.”

  I had just given her fifteen stacks and here she was acting like I had handed her a fifty dollar bill.

  “You know I got you, Ma.” I continued to look down.

  “Well I hope so. And I hope that you can stay your ass home this time. I ain’t raise you muthafuckas to be a paycheck for the Department of Corrections. You gotta control that temper, boy. I don’t know how you got your Uncle Norman’s temper, he ain’t yo’ damn daddy. But you sure inherited it. Have you seen your brothers?”

  I sat there feeing like I was nine years old. I fucking hated it but there wasn’t shit I could do about it. “I ain’t seen ’em. No, not yet.”

  “Well, they sorry asses is around here somewhere. When am I going to see you again?”

  “I’m not sure, but if you need anything let me know.”

  “Sheeit. I’m not going to be looking for you. That’s for those bitches you fuck with. You come check on your momma in two weeks. In case you ain’t noticed, I don’t get around the way I used to.”

  “Alright.” I rose to my feet.

  “Don’t walk out my house without kissing me,” she said, looking at me with her eyes wide and lips twisted. I leaned in and could smell the vodka and coffee combination and cigarettes coming from her pores. It made me sick to my stomach. I kissed her on the cheek, then stood and turned to walk away. I needed to get out there as quick as possible.

  “I saw yo daddy yesterday. That sorry bastard,” I heard her yell out and laugh as I headed for the door. My temper flared immediately, so I didn’t respond. I refused to give my moms the satisfaction. Here it was, my dad was living with one leg and a shit-bag because he stood in the way of her getting her wig split for stealing from the local dealer. I knew that if I didn’t get out of there quick I was going to do something I would regret.

  SHAN

  Okay. I know everyone is dying to know why Nick showed up in my backyard and why we acted as if we didn’t know each other. Actually he shocked the hell out of me. I didn’t know how or why he showed up. I didn’t know how to react and simply ended up following his lead.

  Nick and my brother Peanut were best friends since junior high. Just like my best friend Brianna had a major crush on my brother, I had a major crush on Nick. I talked him into taking my virginity. Yes, he was my first, second, and third, but because of my brother he wouldn’t continue to fuck with me like that. The most memorable thing about him was something I didn’t learn to appreciate until I got with other niggas. Nick’s dick had a slight curve to it—talkin’ about a good fuck! The curve of his dick would rub up against my walls and hit my spot every time. Just the thought of it still makes my knees buckle. Woohoo! Let me stop that shit right there before I’m all wet up.

  Anyway, Nick ended up fucking with Brianna. He was gone over that ho. I never could figure out what she had in between her legs, but she turned his ass out. But my crush on him was never revealed to Brianna or my brother, and now they both are gone.

  There were still many questions that Nick had not yet answered. The question of why he disappeared when Peanut got locked up? How did he end up in Detroit at Briggen’s of all places? He said they told him I was with Briggen. Who in the hell is they? How did he even know Brig? What was Nick into? What business did he and Briggen have together? I didn’t even know where to start in order to put those pieces together.

  In any event, when I asked Nick to help me move the dope, he seemed hesitant. Hell, I had no one else to ask, and I needed to get rid of the shit, like yesterday, before Briggen came home. I wasn’t thinking about the Feds coming back, I was more scared of what Briggen would do. Other than Briggen, Nick was the only other person I could trust. He told me he would get back to me in a couple of days. The strange thing was, his visit didn’t feel awkward until he was leaving and Briggen called. It was as if Briggen knew that something was up. I was even feeling guilty, as if I was caught cheating or some shit like that. As I spoke to my husband, Nick kissed me on the cheek and quietly left.

  JANAY

  Just that quick, Boomer had me leaving Memphis and on to our new playground, The Motor City. We drove two-and-a-half hours from the Detroit airport to the outskirts of the city to have a meeting at a lodge called Benny Thrillz. We had checked into the Radisson where I only had about two hours to enjoy the plush suite, shower and change clothes. My uncle Boomer got out, adjusted his shoulder holster and came around to the passenger side and opened my door. As I stood up and inhaled, I caught the brisk air and remnants of baked rolls or bread. My stomach growled. We walked up the gravel-filled driveway to the main entrance of the lodge. We walked through the lobby and went straight to the elevators in the back that opened up on the second floor in front of the dining area. I followed Boomer outside onto a deck. It felt good to be wearing stilettos and a pair of Seven body-hugging jeans. I was glad that my hair and nails were done because I noticed that I was the only female present and was now in a room full of men.

  Boomer held out my chair while all of the men at the round table stood up except, of course, the one in the wheelchair. I sat down, surprised that a bunch of street niggas acted as if they had some home training.

 
; Born Mathematics then introduced everybody at the table, starting with myself as Choppa’s replacement. The room was full of Detroit’s most notorious drug dealers. BMF wasn’t the only crime mob family in this city. Every corner of the city was covered. Even the three cities outside of the city were being represented.

  Then he introduced Six-Nine, who ran an international counterfeiting organization duplicating credit cards and cash. He once made a million dollars disappear from a dirty politician’s bank account with no paper trail. The twins from the North End. Tommy from the Number Streets. Rich from the Zone. Silk also known as Zeus was the God of Trap Cars. His company Full City Motor, Inc., specialized in custom-made trap cars. His work was so good that one time it took the DEA three months to figure out how to chop his cars up without destroying the evidence. Tareek from the Southside, and his drug of trade, dope. Then Cisco and his sidekick Dark were in the cut. They had been wreaking havoc all over town and their names had been ringing real heavy. Kay-Gee had every pizza and chicken spot on lock. But looks are deceiving to the average joe. Selling food was just a front. A lot of them chicken boxes held ounces of dope. Word on the street was he even put raw in the food to get the people hooked. Melky was a handicap nigga getting bread, living off of his rep from when he was able to walk.

  Six-Nine stood up, came over to me and grabbed my hand and lightly kissed my wrist. “Welcome home, sis. I’m going to miss your father. He’s a good man, and he taught me a lot about this game. If you have any problems or need anything, call me.”

  Like he said, my father taught him a lot. I’m glad he said it loud enough for all of those other niggas to hear. I knew Six-Nine better than I knew everyone else. He was from Memphis. I knew Kay-Gee and Tareek vaguely; Silk, I knew of him, but the Cisco and Dark cats I knew nothing about. Born, of course, was family, since my ex was his uncle. The dude in the wheelchair looked familiar, and he was a little stiff. I didn’t get a good vibe from him at all.

  “Excuse me,” I smiled at the dude in the wheelchair. “Did he introduce you as Milky or Melky?” I asked as I kept studying his face. I knew this could not have been who I was thinking it was.

  Born leaned over and said, “I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear enough. Naw, that’s Melky.”

  “You look familiar. What side of town are you from? Do you have any brothers?” I asked him.

  “You may know his brother,” Born interrupted again, not giving Melky a chance to talk. “Skye was his brother. Light skinned, one of them pretty niggas,” Born joked.

  “Born, I can speak to the lady myself,” Melky finally spoke.

  I heard what Melky said, but I was more focused on what Born said. Skye. Skye was Melky’s big brother. That light-skinned pretty nigga. The same nigga that was all up in my house and who tried to kidnap me. That’s the nigga who Crystal bodied.

  DARK

  Shit was going smooth, and I was happy as fuck to be here in the midst of those that held the keys to this grimy-ass city. A couple of these cats were muthafuckin’ legends. And here I was, straight out of the joint and sitting right smack-dab in the midst of it all.

  Before I could fully enjoy the moment, Shorty had grabbed the bottle of Goose and hit the nigga in the wheelchair across the head. It stunned everybody. The shit happened so fast that by the time anybody reacted, she had hit dude in the throat two times with the broken bottle. Just that quick, shit turned from serenity to chaos. At first, I thought that maybe she used to fuck with dude. But then I heard her say, “These niggas tried to kidnap and rob me!” She kept screaming it out and shit.

  Half the table was pulling the girl off of Melky, whose wheelchair had tipped backward. The other half was sitting him upright and trying to stop the blood from gushing out of his neck.

  “Can we get some fuckin’ order out here?” Born had the nerve to yell out after he had just instigated that shit by making sure he made Melky known. He had to keep banging on the table. “I don’t know why y’all niggas acting all startled and shit. Each and every one of y’all muthafuckas seen and did much worse.”

  “You gonna just let him bleed to death?” Tareek snapped.

  “And look at this muthafucka. All of a sudden he got a conscience,” Born said as he glared at Tareek. I was loving every bit of the drama.

  “Hell yeah, let him bleed to death,” Boomer yelled. “You forgot the rules? You against one, you against all.”

  “Boom, with all due respect, that beef is old, man,” Kay-Gee countered. “And plus, we all did some grimy shit on our way up. Hell, some of us still are.”

  I sat back and took note. Big Boomer made a call and sure enough, a few minutes hadn’t passed when two niggas came out on deck and wheeled him outta there. Boom must have had muscle waiting downstairs for him. The chick was covered in blood so she disappeared. The waiters reappeared and reset the table and refilled the drinks, acting as if they were used to niggas acting like this.

  Born lit a blunt and began to pass it around. He then announced, “So, now, we got some new business to handle.”

  JANAY

  I can admit it. I fuckin’ lost it. I knew that Skye had a brother in a wheelchair, even though I didn’t learn that until after I got locked up. Skye and Melky were the local jack boys. They also had a cousin on their team from New York that they would send for to help them do their dirt.

  Skye was so slick with his shit that he was setting me and my sister up at the same time. She knew him as Skye, and I knew him as New York. If she wasn’t there at the house and I hadn’t recognized his voice I wouldn’t be alive today. I had hung out with him a couple of times, and he even helped me to get revenge on some punk who had slapped me. He was smart because he was patient enough to build up my trust. And as a result, I got caught slippin’ and allowed the nigga into my home. Before I saw it coming, he had pulled out a rope and some duct tape and then punched me dead in the mouth, knocking me backward. Then he jumped on me and tied me up. Where he fucked up was, he didn’t bother to check to see who else was in the house with me. Crystal had been upstairs asleep. When she heard me scream from being punched, she had eased downstairs, and I can still hear the sound of the .380 going off. Skye was alive until he grabbed Crystal’s leg. She then panicked and shot him two more times by mistake.

  “Nay, you alright?” Boomer was on the other side of the bathroom door. I washed my hands a few more times. “Nay!” he called out to me.

  “I’ll be right out, Boomer.” I looked at myself in the mirror and then tried to wipe most of the blood off my shirt. My jeans were ruined. I looked at myself good. Not my outer self, but I was trying to look into my soul, and I found nothing. I opened the bathroom door.

  “You alright?” he asked as he kept looking me over.

  “I’m fine,” I said and gave him a hug.

  He took my hand. “Let’s finish up the last of this business so that I can get you home.”

  When we made it back onto the deck, I sat down. Boomer remained standing. I looked at each of the men’s faces and saw smirks, smiles and a stone-faced Dark.

  “So, do y’all niggas think my niece can handle this shit? Did she pass the test?”

  I looked at my uncle in disbelief. This shit was planned well beforehand.

  “Before, some of you were saying that a woman does not need to be at the top.” Everyone started talking at the same time. “Hold up now. Let me finish,” his voice boomed. Everyone calmed down, and it got quiet. “She handled her business and she passed the most important test. She knows how to keep her mouth shut.” When no one commented, he said, “My thoughts exactly. Now I make a motion for the dead man’s territory to be turned over to my family. Anybody oppose?”

  Dead man? Shit. They must have killed his ass because he was still breathing when I left.

  There was a new face at the table, his name was Nick. From what I gathered he was there to fill in for Briggen. Boomer sat down, and the men talked as if I wasn’t there for almost another hour. So just like that, I inherited more
territory.

  I was supposed to be in charge, but no one asked me shit. If everything was already decided for me, then what the fuck did they need me for?

  DARK

  Cisco and I drove back to the city in silence. We were both lost in our own thoughts. Cisco ran his mouth all the time. This was his worst flaw. So I knew that when he wasn’t talking, I needed to be quiet. I couldn’t stop thinking about ol’ girl. Sharia had told me that she was gangsta but I didn’t know she was carrying it like that. I wouldn’t mind fucking her.

  Of course, The Consortium wanted me and Cisco to tone our shit down. They said we were making it hot. Cisco didn’t have anything to say, but I knew he was thinking, “Fuck all of them old niggas.” I know that’s what I was thinking. We thought alike. We wanted it all. Life was too short to be eating only a slice of the pie, when you could eat the whole thing.

  No sooner had those thoughts left my mind than Cisco said we needed to have a meeting in the morning. “Get word to everybody to be on standby for the time and place.”

  “Aiight. I gotchu.”

  He dropped me off, and I chilled for the rest of the night.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  JANAY

  Boomer and I met up at the Original House of Pancakes in Southfield. The night before he had put me in a separate car when we left the lodge. I assumed he wanted to oversee the handling of Melky. In any event, I was anxious to hear his thoughts about the night before. I knew that every move I made was critical to the impression I needed to put in the minds of all these powerful muthafuckas that was now watching me.