by Kia
“Fuck,” I whispered under my breath as I pulled my dress back down.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Milo
“See, every day I’m starting to feel more and more of what Glory was saying. You can’t let them drive you crazy. Family or not.”
Divine and I were chilling at this roof top restaurant as she told me about everything that was going on. I honestly was getting pissed the fuck off.
“What am I supposed to do? Just leave them out to dry?” she asked.
“No, but you’re bringing your own fucking self down with this. And I hate that you don’t see it.”
“I see it. But that’s family,” she said as she ordered more vodka.
“But family clearly can get you killed. I just think you’d be better off if you treated them how they treated you,” I said as I dipped my shrimp into the melted butter.
“But we came to Miami together. What? Am I supposed to send them back to Texas? Or how am I supposed to do this? I really need to know.”
“I ain’t ever been in that position, but I won’t fuck around with no one that put my mothafuckin’ life in danger like they do you all the time. All the fuckin’ time. It’s sickening.”
“I know, man.”
“So when you gonna put ya foot down? When it’s too late?” I asked as I gave her my full attention and awaited her answer.
“Well, I took the first step and moved. That counts, right?” she asked as she grabbed the drinks from the waiter.
“Hey, beautiful,” Ali said as he walked over to us, leaned down and kissed Divine on the cheek.
“Hey, pa,” she said back with a smile.
“Hey, love,” he said as he looked over to me and sat down.
“What’s up, pa,” I said, mocking Divine. She smiled. Something was definitely in the making here.
“So, what are you two queens doing up here in the sun? Tanning?” he joked.
“Just telling Divine how she needs to change her circle. You know somebody broke in they crib last night and raped Neiman?” I asked him.
He didn’t even look surprised. “I keep telling you the same thing over and over. I bet it only happened to her because you were gone,” Ali said as he looked over at Divine. He was looking mighty handsome today in his all white. Plus, he had a fresh cut to complement them tight eyes.
“But that’s my family, Ali. They’re my blood. It’s just that… I can’t lose anyone else I’m close too.”
“They don’t give a fuck about losing you,” I said as I ate more shrimp.
“Just try not to move backward,” Ali said as he drank some of her drink and ordered more for all of us.
“Well the good news is that I start my new job tomorrow. Yaaaay,” I started clapping and so did Divine.
“I’m so happy for you,” she said, grabbing my hand. I paused and took it all in. I’d never had someone be that happy for my accomplishments and be so sincere about it.
“Thanks so much, Ali,” I said with a cheesy grin on my face.
“No problem. I don’t want you to thank me anymore. It’s my duty to help my sisters out. Feel me?” he asked as he playfully tapped my shoulder.
“Well, we need to go shopping for new clothes, huh?” Divine asked.
I laughed because all I had was hoochie mama shit in my closet. And I couldn’t wear thongs and glitter sets to work.
“Yes, most definitely,” I said.
Ali was cool as hell. All I did was fill out my paperwork and a background check run. He skipped the drug test because he said he knew that I smoked. All he asked was that I slowed down on the smoking. I couldn’t agree more. They also had a program that paid for college tuition if I ever decided to go. This was the beginning of a new start for me, and I wouldn’t take it for granted.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Neiman
I pulled up to the Best Buy that I was told to come to and sat there. I called the number back, but got no answer. The parking lot was dry, and not many people were there. I had to be crazy. Or just fed up with being the doormat that they felt I was.
Finally, my phone rang. It was the unknown person. I was dumb as hell to be there, but I wanted to handle shit on my own for a change. I had one of Glory’s guns under my seat. “Pull to the back,” he said.
“What? No.”
“Or I can just shoot you right now where you are. Pull to the back.”
Click
“Here we go,” I said as I cranked the car and drove around the back of Best Buy where the dumpsters were. But I saw no one.
Just as I was picking up my phone, my passenger door flew open. A masked guy with a gun told me to shut up and drive. “Don’t ask no questions! Just drive!”
“What? And go where?” I asked in disbelief. But not really shocked. I already knew it was Percy, and I came with the mindset to kill his bitch ass.
“Start the mothafucking car back up and drive, bitch!”
“Not with that tone,” I said as I sat back and tried to ease the gun from under my seat.
I looked over and saw him look down. “Oh, you think you slick?” he asked as he hurried and pulled me out the car through the passenger side. I was kicking so hard that my car knocked out of gear and rolled right into the back of the building.
“Get off of me!” I yelled as I kicked and punched. He took the butt of the gun and knocked me to my knees.
“Stay there, bitch!” he yelled as he cocked the gun.
I had fucked up and left my gun in the car. I moved too fast. I couldn’t never do shit right.
“Just do it,” I said as tears began to fall.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
AJ
“What? Just do what?” I asked in total awe. She couldn’t be that ready to die. She had to be pulling my card, calling my bluff or some shit. But it wasn’t about to work. I nervously shifted from side to side as she cried and cried while on her knees.
“Just do it. Kill me. I’m nothing but dead weight, anyway. Shit, everyone else thinks I’m a fuck up. Kill me,” she cried hysterically. “Do it, Percy! Now!”
“Percy?” I asked.
“Yes! Do it!”
“Ooooh,” I said when it hit me that she thought I was Percy.
“Take me to Divine or her stash. Either or, and I won’t kill you,” I threatened as I put the burner closer to her head. I smiled, knowing I was about to be rich. I didn’t give a fuck about shit.
“No.”
“Huh?” I asked in confusion.
“I’m not doing it,” she said.
I had to make sure I heard her right. “Bitch, I got a gun!” I yelled as I waved it around to show the threat that I posed right in front of her.
“So use it. I’m tired of living. It’s too hard for me,” she wept as she lay on the ground with her hands spread apart. This crazy bitch was really begging me to kill her.
“I’ll do it, Neiman. I swear to God,” I said as I stood over her.
She tilted her head to the side like a possessed person and said, “AJ? Is that you?”
“Nah, this ain’t no fuckin’ AJ!” I lied as I kicked her, but she didn’t flinch. Just lay there and gazed into my eyes.
“You raped me last night? Didn’t you? Not Percy.”
“Shut… the fuck… up… and take me to Divine ’fo I kill you, Neiman!”
“Kill me,” she said as the tears fell, but she was calmer this time around.
“What?” I asked in frustration and confusion as I snatched my mask off and threw it.
It was no use. The bitch was willing to die right now, and everyone knows that you can’t kill anything that’s ready to die.
She didn’t even look surprised to see my face. “Do it again,” she said.
I scratched the tip of my head with the butt of the gun. “Huh?”
She took her pants off. “Do it again.”
“Do what?” I asked.
“Do what you did last night.”
“Neiman, are you seri—�
��
Before I could finish my sentence, she used her feet to clip my legs, causing me to trip and fall right on top of her. My gun slid over by her car. I felt like the dumbest criminal in the world right now.
“Do it.”
“I can’t. It’s not supposed to be this way,” I said, starting to feel sorry for her.
What the hell had she been going through to the point where she was prepared to die and fuck the enemy right on the infested ground?
“I won’t tell,” she said.
“Are you drunk?”
“No. I want whatever I had last night.”
“I can’t do it like I did last night, Neiman.”
While looking into my eyes with her glossy eyes, she used her hands to slide my jogging pants down. Then she slid my already hard dick into her pussy that was literally crying for me. I don’t know, bruh. This shit was weird as fuck and sick. But I didn’t stop.
“Ahhh,” she softly cried out as she gyrated her hips from side to side, allowing me to hit all of her walls. My dumb ass got lost in the moment and started moaning too.
“What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with me?” I asked as I got lost in her tunnel of joy and pain.
“Tell me you love me,” she moaned as she looked directly into my eyes.
“What?”
“Even if you don’t mean it. Say it.”
“I can’t s—”
“Say it or kill me,” she said as she tightened her pussy muscles.
“Ahhh. Neiman, we on a ground right on the side of a dumpster. I can’t.”
“Tell me you love me or kill me.”
“What?”
“Right now!” she cried as she closed her eyes.
My body started working against me. I felt me leaning forward then I felt me stuffing my tongue down her throat. “I love you,” I lied.
I felt like the dumbest nigga in the world right now.
Chapter Thirty
Malina
“Lu Lu, please open the door,” I said as I stood outside of his apartment.
Not the trap. He had workers there today. After I called him Slick’s name, he dropped me back off at my car and drove home. First, I went back home. Then I decided that I needed to make this right. I’d been at his door for damned near an hour.
Finally, the door slowly opened. But I didn’t see him until I walked in and saw him on the couch. He wouldn’t even look at me.
I closed the door and sat next to him. “Lu Lu, I can’t have you mad at me. I don’t have anyone right now,” I admitted.
“So, I’m a last resort?”
“No. Ughh,” I said as I threw my hands over my head in frustration. I know it came out that way, but that’s not how I meant it. Not at all.
“Then what do you mean, Malina?” he asked as he pretended to not be satisfied with what the TV was showing so he flipped through the channels.
“I want you here with me. But—”
“Don’t stop now. But what? But you just wanna use me? You don’t really like me, but I’m just convenient for you? But I’m not your type? What?” he asked. Now he was looking me directly into my eyes. I didn’t back down. I had to fix this. Lu Lu was like the only person in my corner now days, and I just couldn’t fuck it up with him.
“I don’t want to hurt you. That’s not my goal. I just had a quick thoughtof him while—”
“I was fucking you. Right? Because that’s who you really wanted inside of you. Not me.”
“But… I don’t… you just… dammit, Lu Lu!” I yelled in frustration as I stood up and paced the floor.
“Yo, why you here anyway? Huh?”
“I’m here because...” I couldn’t even finish my sentence. Why was I here?
“Get out. We can just continue our business and that’s it. I don’t want you in my home.”
“Lu Lu, just talk to me,” I said as he stood up to open the door.
“About what?” I must have had really hurt his feelings.
“Why you so mad?” I asked.
He shut the door and stood in my face. His veins were poking out of his neck. “You know what’s so fucked up about you? You fuck over the people that give a damn about you and cater to the mothafuckas that wouldn’t even spit on you if you were on fire.”
“And who are you referring to? Huh?” I asked. I felt this about to get heated.
“Everyone, Neiman! You may have written a death ticket for your own goddamned cousin, over a man that was playing you all along!”
“He loves me!”
“He loves Divine!” Lu Lu yelled back at me as he punched the wall. I let what he said sink in. “Let that shit live in your fucked up head for a few days so you can understand with your slow ass!”
“And why are we even arguing ’bout that shit! Huh? That’s between me and her! Not you and me.”
“You still don’t get it.” He laughed. Then he frowned again. “You’re so stuck on an illusion that it’s making you crazy. Let me break it down for you. Do you understand that you took a video tape to the DA, got Adrian released, and pointed him right to the person that he hated? And he turned out to be working with Percy, so now Divine’s life is in danger because of your insecurities with her and the power she still holds over Slick. And you still ain’t told her shit!” he yelled.
“How was I supposed to know that he was in cahoots with Percy?” I asked, sitting down and rubbing my face. It was hot.
“It doesn’t matter! That was Bishop’s brother, first of all. Second of all, he despises your cousin. What in the entire fuck did you think would happen if he found her? Huh? You thought he was going to talk to her about shit?” he asked.
“No… well… I don’t know,” I admitted.
I was just mad and needed to do something to express it before it drove me crazy.
“You so stuck on this man, Slick, that you can’t even see real love when it's standing right in front of you.”
I looked up at him. He was standing right in front of me.
Chapter Thirty-One
Divine
“You sure you want to go out? Or you want to hang out here tonight?” I asked Ali as he stood at my door waiting to escort me to the car.
“I thought you’d never ask,” he said as he shut the door and removed his gun from his waist to set it on the table.
“If you’re not into any dirty business, then why you got a gun?” I asked.
He laughed. “Because niggas don’t give a fuck what you do. If you got what they want, then they will take it. Simple as that. And a nigga will take nothing from me, and I do mean nothing,” he said as he pulled me close to him and kissed me on the forehead.
“But what if it’s a girl trying to take something from you,” I said as I allowed him to embrace me.
“And if you’re speaking of Chola, we need to talk about this anyway,” he said as he pulled me over to the couch.
“What’s up?” I asked as I took my heels off and threw them to the other side of the coffee table.
“I want you, and you want me. So what’s about to happen with Chola?” he asked.
We had been spending time, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to be with him. It was still kinda early.
“I mean… it’s not the right timing for a new relationship,” I said.
“That’s not what I asked. I asked what are we going to do about Chola. I’m sure she wouldn’t even want you having a friend. I heard she was crazy like that.”
I laughed. “Yeah, she is crazy, and you’re right. She would be ready to kill me if she knew you were here.”
“So, do you just want to be friends and I just fall back?” he asked. His phone was ringing, but he didn’t answer. I had his undivided attention.
“No, I want you here. I like you,” I said.
“I know you like me. We established that a few days ago. Answer me and stop going around the block with it.”
“Man, I just don’t know. Let’s wait awhile longer.”
�
�What? No. It’s now or never. I’m a different type of man, Divine. I won’t play these type of games with you. So what do you want? This is all up to you. You want me to leave or stay?”
“Stay.”
“Chola has to go.”
“No, not right now. I won’t be able to supply drugs if I let that happen.”
He leaned over and kissed me. Then he said, “If you were mine, you’d never have to touch another drug in your life.”
“But what about Glory?” I asked.
“Introduce Glory to Chola, Divine. These are all easy fixes.”
I loved his patience, and how he didn’t just demand, but he had resolutions to everything and made it seem so easy. But it wasn’t. Chola wouldn’t leave without a fight.
“I just feel so protected with her. She makes me feel untouchable,” I said as I eased into his lap.
“I can protect you, Divine. Just give me a chance to be your one and only.”
I laid my face on his forehead and thought about it. “If you can just give me some time, that would mean the world to me,” I said as I kissed him.
“I’ll wait, but not forever,” he said hesitantly.
“I know. I just need time. I want to be able to be with you and give you my all, and I just can’t do that right now. Man, I ain’t tryna transfer all of this baggage. I got a crazy ass bitch, and a price on my head. Niggas want me dead.”
“And I’m willing to fight for you. I come from Ghana, Divine. You think shit any better in Miami? I’m talking about Boko Haram over in my country. Some punk ass wannabe don’t put fear in my heart. He’s a dead man.”
I smiled and shook my head. He was so perfect, but he just didn’t understand that my problems were way bigger than he could even fathom in his brain. I would never forgive myself if something happened to him.
“I know,” is all I said as I pulled him closer.
He laid his head against my breast. “You know you want me.”
“I do,” I admitted.
“Then why are you making me wait?”
“Because, I care about your life,” I said.
