by Kia
“But I have to. You know? I don’t want to be a leach. I’ll work for it. Glory already said he would give me one of his spots. All I need is one brick to start off with. Lu Lu already agreed to cook it for me, so I know I will profit more than what I owe from being fronted. Please, Divine, I need this.”
“First of all, you’re not going to be sitting in a trap house with men out there trying to kill you. We can think of something else.”
“Don’t sleep on me, Divine. I’m a tough girl. I just look like this,” I assured her.
Chola walked over and sat by Divine.
“You sure?” she asked.
“We all will just have to find out. Front her two bricks and let’s see how she works things,” Chola said.
See… I was starting to like Chola now.
“I promise I won’t disappoint. I’ll have all the money on time, and it will all be there.”
Chola laughed. “I know you will.”
Divine looked at Chola and rolled her eyes. “Well, do you mind if I come by and check on you from time to time? Not to micro manage, but to make sure you’re safe?” Divine asked me.
“Please do. I’m going to need it,” I said.
“When do you want it? I have a few more bricks left,” Divine said.
“I have some too. In my luggage,” Chola said.
“Shit, if I can get it now, that would be great,” I said with excitement. I was raised around this type of shit, so I knew what I was doing.
“Okay, I’ll be back,” Divine said, getting up to go to the back.
“Divine isn’t a killer. I am,” Chola said, crossing her legs.
“I’m sorry. Did I miss something?” I asked. I saw no point in her saying that.
“People like to take Divine’s kindness for a weakness. That’s why I’m here for a while. And first person to get out of line with her is dead.” She looked me up and down.
“Well, I’m a good person, and soon you will see.” I was now uncomfortable and ready to go. This bitch was coo-coo for cocoa puffs.
“Chola, leave her alone,” Divine said as she set a brown paper bag in front of me.
I wanted to check it to make sure it was what I needed, but I opted out. I grabbed the bag, put PJ down, and stood up. Shit, I just wanted to get out of Chola’s presence.
“Thanks, Divine. I won’t let you down,” I said as she walked me to the door.
“It’s fine. And please pay Chola no mind. She’s crazy,” Divine said with a smile.
“Whatever,” Chola said, picking PJ up and walking him to the kitchen with her.
***
“Man, why you didn’t tell me that hoe Chola was crazy?” I asked Glory the minute he opened the door for me.
He laughed. “I tried to tell ya. But she means no harm though. She just overprotective of Divine.” We sat down on the couch.
“But why? Divine can hold her own. She be letting these niggas have it.”
“You’re correct. But it’s not the niggas that Chola is worried about. It be the people closest to Divine playing her. Like Bishop… that was like her brother-in-law.”
“Word?” I asked. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah. She used to be with his brother, AJ.”
“But she gay now?” I asked.
“Man, that’s her business. Let me see the bricks.”
I handed him the bag. “I ain’t even checked it yet. Was just ready to get away from Chola.”
He opened the bag and smiled. “Damn, she gave you three?”
“Huh? Let me see.” I took the bag and saw three pearly white bricks.
“Thought you said you just wanted one?” Glory asked.
“I did, but Chola told her to give me two.”
“Nigga, that’s three,” Glory said while laughing. He was high as hell.
“Let me call her,” I said, pulling out my phone.
“Don’t do that. Trust me, Divine knows she gave you three.” Glory said.
“Then why didn’t she tell me?”
“’Cause Chola’s crazy ass was right there.”
“Am I gonna have to give her the profit for this one too?” I asked.
“What you tell her when you went?” Glory asked.
“Hmmm… oh yeah. I told her that basically I’m about to be broke and I can’t go back to the club so I needed some cash flow asap.”
“That’s why she gave you three.”
“Why?” I asked.
“That’s just how she is. She did that so you could keep the profit off the extra one. She don’t want you out here struggling, and niggas out here trying to kill you.”
“Nigga, how you know?” I asked.
“Call her then.”
I picked up the phone and called. She answered on the first ring. “I know,” she said.
“Huh?” I asked.
“I know why you’re calling, and no it wasn’t a mistake.”
“Told you,” Glory said as he puffed on his blunt.
“So what do I do with the profit from it?”
“Keep it, and never bring this up again, if you don’t mind.”
“Okay. Thanks so much,” I said.
“No problem. Thanks for keeping PJ safe when he was with you a few months ago. Gotta go. Bye.”
Click.
“Wow. That’s literally the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,” I said.
“Well, don’t get used to it. Chola is in town, and I doubt that shit happens again,” Glory assured me as he passed me the blunt.
“Do you have some soldiers I can use for the spot?” I asked Glory as he flipped the TV on.
“Yeah. When Lu Lu cooks the dope up for you, ask him. He got some young brothers that will keep you safe at all times.”
“You sure?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Where Pinky?”
“Gone.”
“Is she really done with stripping?” I asked. I didn’t believe her when she said she would stop.
“She say she is, but she told me she wanted to get in on the trap spot with you. She ain’t told you yet?”
“Nah, this my first time hearing that.”
“Yeah? She’ll probably tell you later.”
“Probably so. But give me the keys to the house so I can be on my way. I’ma call Lu Lu to cook it for me there.”
“Bet.” He reached down in his pocket and slid me the key.
I thought this was an easy come up, but boy was I in for a rude awakening. We all were.
Chapter Four
Malina
“Damn, you fine then a bitch,” a young guy said when I entered Lu Lu’s spot.
I rolled my eyes and sat on the couch.
“That’s no way to greet a lady,” Lu Lu said as he came and sat by me. “This for me?” he asked.
“Yep.” I handed him the bag and watched him do his check up.
While he did that, I started to go through my phone to see if Slick had texted me back, but he hadn’t. Since everything went down, I hadn’t heard from him, and this had me worried for many reasons. Didn’t he care to know that I was okay?
“Ay, you got a boyfriend?” a young nigga asked me.
“Get out. Go do something productive,” Lu Lu said to the boy, pointing his finger at the front door.
“Thank you,” I said as I watched the young men exit. “I was starting to feel like a piece of meat in a lion’s den.”
“Those are my little brothers. They mean no harm. Just young and immature.”
“Got that right,” I said.
“Let me pay you. I’ll be back.” He got up to walk to the back.
As soon as he left, one guy mouthed through the window, “When you gone let me fuuuuuck, Ms. Parker.”
I just rolled my eyes and kept my purse close to me.
“Here, it’s already been counted and banded up,” Lu Lu said as he came back and handed me a bag.
I really wasn’t ready to go, so I just sat there. I hated trap hous
es, but I knew Lu Lu would keep me safe. I felt secure with him.
“Can I chill here for a minute?” I asked.
He laughed and sat down. “For sure.”
“I just have a lot on my mind,” I said as I leaned back and took a blunt out of my purse.
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked.
“You wouldn’t understand,” I said.
The past couple of months, Lu Lu and I had built a friendship. After I was rescued, Divine had me delivering to him a lot, so it was inevitable. Usually I liked chilling and talking to him, but he had these new young cats over here and I didn’t like them.
“Try me.”
“Slick still ain’t called me. Like, damn, don’t he care that I’m good? Shit got me feeling like he had something to do with Bishop taking me. After all, how did Bishop know I called an Uber?”
“I already told you to leave that nigga alone. He means you no good.”
“But I just have to know. You know? I’ve been thinking about going to visit so we can talk in person.”
Lu Lu shook his head. “Malina, what’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will never learn. Bishop is dead, but there is someone who was behind it all, and he could still be watching. Why would you go there?” He used his hands to rub through his long and neat locs.
“I just have to know.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
“I’m sure.”
“Don’t do it, Malina.” He looked at me with pleading eyes.
“Lu Lu! Why you ain’t been answering the phone?” Milo said as she walked in with one of Chola’s bags.
“Damn, my bad. It’s on the charger in the room.”
“Since I’m already on this side, can you cook it for me?”
“Yeah, take it to the kitchen,” he said.
Milo was looking nice today with her long curly weave. I envied that she was skinny with a fat ass, and the perfect chocolate color. Her skin complexion was the equivalent of the outside of a Twix candy bar.
“But for real, Malina. I consider you a friend, and I would be devastated if something was to happen to you. I just don’t understand what the problem is. Was his dick poppin’ like that?”
“It’s not that. It’s just that we had a connection. You know? We understood each other,” I said, standing up. Talking about Slick had put a bright idea in my head.
Lu Lu looked at me. “You about to go?”
“Yeah. I’m hungry,” lied.
“Well, shit, call me later. I can take you to go have drinks at your favorite spot.” He opened the door and gave me a hug.
“I will.”
I rushed to my car, trying to avoid the small talk from the young niggas on the porch. Lu Lu thought we were about to have drinks, but I was on my way to Dallas after I dropped Divine her part of the money off.
You damn right I was about to do a pop up on Slick.
Chapter Five
Divine
“I don’t trust her,” Chola said after Neiman came back in the house and went straight to her room.
“Why?” I asked. We were on the couch and she was rubbing my feet.
“I don’t know. It’s just a gut feeling that I get from her.”
“Ahh, Neiman is cool. I trust her. She’s just in desperate need of some type of love from a man,” I confessed.
“And they are the bitches that are not to be trusted. Any man can come along and have her do anything if he pretends to love her long enough.”
“It depends on what it is. But she will never turn her back on family.”
“Be very careful with her, Divine.” Chola gave me a stern look and stopped rubbing my feet for a minute.
“I will.”
“I want to meet the whole crew. Glory, Lu Lu, Kipp and everyone else that’s eating off of you. Call a meeting tomorrow morning.”
I looked at her to see if she was serious. “What? You buggin’, Chola.”
“Buggin’? What does that mean?” she asked, looking concerned.
I had to remember that English wasn’t her first language, and she wasn’t too familiar with my lingo. But she was learning. I laughed as I watched her mouth the word trying to figure it out.
“You’re overreacting,” I corrected myself.
“No I’m not. You need this. See, you like to see the good in everyone, and I see things for exactly what they are. Just trust me, baby. Call the meeting.” She handed me the phone.
“Where?” I asked.
“We can rent out a building or something.”
“Which one?” I asked.
“Rent out that restaurant on the beach that you took me to before we came,” she said.
“Cool. Let me send out a group text.”
I sent out a text to Glory, Kipp, Lu Lu, Milo, Malina and Neiman. I told the men to bring every last person they had in their crew with them to the designated location.
“See, that wasn’t so hard,” Chola said, leaning over to kiss me.
“Let’s hope this goes well,” I said.
“It will. My men will be there.”
On the jet, Chola had a good amount of her soldiers with her and they were all trained. This wasn’t any hood shit. This was some professional shit.
“Cool.”
“How well do you trust the people around you?” Chola asked.
“Nobody around me is questionable. We may have disagreements, but I consider them to be family.”
“Do you trust me?” she asked.
“Of course. I shouldn’t?” I was now confused as to what point she was getting at.
She paused for a minute. “I need you to start paying attention to your surroundings.”
“Why would you say that, Chola?”
“It’s cops all around this building watching your every move.”
I laughed. “Impossible. No one knows where I live now.”
“Put some regular clothes on, and I will too.”
“Okay.” I didn’t know where she was going with this, but I was anxious to find out.
After putting some regular jeans and a shirt on, I grabbed PJ, put him in the room with Neiman, and walked into the hallway with Chola.
“Let me lock the door,” I said.
“Whatever you do, don’t make eye contact with anyone that I bring to your attention. Got it?”
“Huh?”
“Just come on.” She pulled my hand.
We waited for the elevator to come. When we finally got on, she was silent until it finally let us off at the lobby. I’m guessing she didn’t want to talk around the bell hop. Then she pulled me to the side.
“What?” I asked.
She just stared at me. “How long have you been here? In these new condominiums…”
“Ummm, since that shit with Bishop went down. Why?”
“I remember when you first got here, you told me how horrible the service was and the bell hop was never around.”
“Okay.”
“There has been a bell hop on every elevator we’ve been on since we got back today. Even when we left and went to the store.” She pulled my hand and took me behind a wall. “Just look.”
After watching for so long, the bell hop finally exited the elevator. It fucked my head up when I saw him ease over into the lounge and sit by a man who looked like he was about to hit the beach. He had on beach shorts, tank top, and flip flops. They never made eye contact, but I saw their lips moving. The two men were indeed talking.
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
“Over there too,” Chola said, pointing me to the front desk agent that made eye contact with the bell hop while he talked on her radio. Then the bell hop pressed a button that was on the inside of his collar and spoke into it. I watched as others got onto the elevator and the bell hop didn’t move.
“Damn.”
“Let’s go back upstairs. But when we get on this elevator, do not look into his eyes. Act like you did before I told you wh
at he was.”
She grabbed my hand, and we walked back to wait for the elevator. Just like she said, he got right up and pretended to help us.
Finally, we got back into my place and I was in total shock. “How did I miss that?” I asked as I sat down.
“It’s not your fault. They’re good at these things, and you’re learning. But I need you to learn faster, be a little bit smarter, and not so trusting.”
“But how do they know?”
“Where’s Malina?” Chola asked.
“She dropped Lu Lu’s stuff off, brought the money back to me, and went to the beach.”
Chola laughed. “Because that’s what she told you?”
“Yeah. Malina has no reason to lie.”
“She didn’t have a swimsuit with her, or anything that indicated that she was going to a beach. Now I will ask again, where is Malina?”
I thought long and hard, and honestly couldn’t even tell her. “I don’t know.”
“You will never get ahead in life being so green, thinking family can do no wrong.”
“I’m still stuck on the cops watching me. It’s over,” I said as I put my head down.
She gently grabbed my chin and pulled my head up. “It’s not over for you. From here on out, we will just have to make better decisions and be more observant. You’re learning. I can handle the cops for now. They weren’t federal agents, so that’s good.”
“What’s the difference?” I asked, confused.
“If the cops are just watching you for now, that means that they don’t have a case. This is the beginning stages. They have been tipped off by someone and are watching to see what’s going on. They’re only watching you, and you haven’t made any drop offs. So that’s good.”
“How do you know they’re watching me?” I asked.
“My men are also in the lobby pretending to be guests or residents.”
“So what do I do from here?” I asked.
“First, I need you to find out why Malina just boarded a flight to Dallas.”
Chapter Six
Neiman
The next day…
“I keep telling you, leave that nigga alone. It’s like you dumb or some shit,” Kipp said as he lay at the end of my bed texting.
“And who I’ma be with after that?” I asked him.
