by Kia
Chapter Forty-Three
Neiman
“You sure this gonna work?” AJ asked me as we counted my money on the motel bed.
“I promise.”
“How are you so sure?” he asked.
“How? ’Cause Divine nor Malina don’t give a fuck about nobody but themselves, so they won’t even see it coming.”
“Damn, you a cold bitch,” he said as he ate a slice of pizza that was left over from last night.
“Not really. Just tired of everyone playing me like I’m some type of dumb ass,” I said. Then I looked over and caught a skeptical look from him. “What?”
“Never mind, mamas,” he said as he continued to eat and watch TV.
“You think I’m dumb?” I asked.
“Why are you helping me? Of all people? We didn’t exactly meet up on good terms,” he said.
“Same reason you saved me from being kidnapped and killed by Percy.”
“That’s the thing though. I don’t know why I did that shit.”
“Really?” I asked.
“The head was fire as fuck, and that pussy supa dupa wet.” I threw a stack at his face to shut him up. “Man, I’m dead ass.”
“This money ain’t gonna last us for long, so we need to put a move on shit.”
“You ain’t never lied. I think that nigga Percy getting suspicious, so we need to hurry up. You sure Divine and Malina won’t notice that we’re using them as bait to set Percy up?”
“Nah. He gonna be out the picture before he can even blink.”
I came up with the plan to get Percy close enough to Divine just to get the money from her then kill him so AJ and I could take it. But what AJ didn’t know was that the minute we killed AJ, I was gonna turn my gun on him and blow his head off. Then all the blame would be on AJ. The plan was perfect, and it was so clutch for the situation. Shit, I would take that money, get my own plug and move to a new city. It wasn’t a reason to stay here anymore or Texas. Nyssa was gone, so what the fuck else did I have to lose? My dad? Fuck him too. Moral of the story is I got tired of being the laughingstock. It was time for some payback.
“You know what, Neiman? You kinda I’ght with me.” He was cheesing hard with grease from the crust all on his lips.
“You better know it.”
“I might have to marry you, girl.”
I laughed. “Be for real. Don’t nobody wanna marry my ass.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Malina
I shouldn’t have been at this motel, but I was. The way I came running when he called really did something to my mental. It made me feel weak like I was Neiman or some shit.
“Here goes nothing,” I said to myself as I stepped out of the car and threw my shades over my face.
The sunlight pierced through my bronze shades so I quickly switched to the black ones and flipped my hair back. My heels clicked loud as I quickly walked to the room number that was given to me. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“What’s up?” Slick asked as he let me in.
I know, I know, I know. I ain’t shit. Divine warned me about the power of this nigga’s dick, and I still didn’t listen. But I sure did find out. Here I was like a fiend ready for a hit.
“You called?” I walked in, sat on the couch and turned my nose up at him like I wasn’t happy as fuck to be here. But fuck him though.
Damn, he was looking sexy as ever. Nigga still had Divine’s name tatted on his neck, and that just bothered the living fuck outta me. Thoughts flashed through my mind of me cutting the shit off. Straight like that.
He smiled, flashing his pearly white teeth. “You a horrible ass actress,” he said as he slowly walked to me.
“How is that?” I asked.
“You not happy to see a nigga?” he asked as he slowly neared my face.
I closed my eyes and poked my lips out so we could kiss. But it didn’t go like that.
“What the fuck, Slick?” I asked when I opened my eyes and saw a gun pointed at me.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“AJ out, and the streets talkin’.”
“The fuck that gotta do with me, though?” I asked with an attitude.
“World around town is you the one picked him up from the airport. You in cahoots with that nigga?” he asked, pressing the gun harder against my face.
I shut my eyes tight and took a deep breath. My mother wasn’t gonna be happy until I killed her ass. “No, Slick. I can’t believe you would ask me that,” I said.
The minute I opened my eyes, he pulled his hand back and slapped the fuck outta me. I grabbed my face and winced. “What’d you do that for?” I asked.
“Bitch, don’t lie to me.”
“There he is,” I said as tears began to fall.
“There who is?” he asked.
“The real you. He couldn’t hide for long. This is what Divine warned me about.”
I shook my head, wishing I would’ve listened now. Instead of wanting my mom, I wanted to call for Lu Lu, my protector. But he wouldn’t hear me from where I was. Shit.
“Fuck Divine. She don’t know shit. This ain’t about her. You in with this nigga AJ or not? I need to find him.”
“How?”
“You gonna lead me to him, bitch. That’s how.”
“But I don’t know where he is, Slick!”
Wap!
He slapped me again.
“Lie again and I’ma shoot yo’ bitch ass.” He held the nose of the gun to my temple.
“Okay! Look, only reason I brought him here was to get back at Divine. That’s it, man. I swear, Slick. I don’t know shit ’bout what you saying. If I did, I would tell you, baby.”
He laughed and backed up. “I ain’t come here for that. I need to find this nigga. And what the fuck you tryna get back at Divine for?” he asked.
I stood up and tried to hold him. “She took you away from me, baby. That’s why.”
He pushed my hand away and shook his head. “Another bitch don’t determine what I can and can’t do. If I wanted to fuck with yo’ ass, I would.”
“So, what’s so wrong with me, Slick? What did I ever do to you? Huh?”
He was going through his phone and not paying me no mind. “Where is he? Where is this nigga AJ at? That’s what I wanna talk about.”
“I don’t know. I swear.”
He grabbed my purse and took my phone out. “Unlock this mothafucka and call that nigga. Fuck all that.”
I grabbed my phone and dialed AJ, praying to God that he didn’t answer. To my surprise, not only did he not answer, but his phone was out of service. He didn’t have that number anymore. I knew I could easily call Neiman and get the number, but that was a whole bunch of drama I was trying to avoid.
“See, he don’t even have that number anymore,” I said.
He scratched his head for a minute then it’s like a light bulb flashed. “He came here to get back at Divine, huh?”
“Yeah, but even she dipped out. Nobody even knows where she lives.”
“Y’all hoes done got to Miami and tripped out.” He put the gun down. “But you ain’t off the hook. I ain’t leaving until we find that nigga.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Divine
“I really like… what you’ve… done to me. I can't really explain it. I’m so into you,” I sang along to Fabulous and Tamia’s song “So Into You” as PJ and I cleaned my place.
The sun was shining, the sky had not one cloud in it, and the music was blasting through my speakers. Today was a good day. I had my phone off so no one could call or text me with bullshit. When I was ready, I would eventually hop back on the scene. Glory, Kipp and Lu Lu had drugs to last them until next week, so I was good. Clearing my head was much needed.
“Put that back,” I said to PJ when I glanced over and saw him playing with my candles.
As he put it back, I walked over to the fridge, grabbed some carrots and apple juice. Then I sat him in front of the TV and
he was set. His nanny had the day off.
Knock Knock Knock
“Door!” PJ yelled, clapping his hands. For some reason I felt like every time someone knocked, he thought it was Nyssa, and that broke my heart.
“It smells good up in here,” Ali said.
“Where you coming from?” I asked as he shut the door behind him.
“Handling business. Why?”
“You weren’t at the dealership today.”
“I know. I’m not there every day. I have other stuff going on. How you know I wasn’t there?”
“Me and PJ came to see you, but Milo said you were gone.”
He went over and started to play with PJ. “Yeah, I’m sorry. If you would have called, I would have stayed. Did you need anything?”
“Nah. I don’t.”
“So. I’ve been thinking.”
“About what?” I asked.
“I can’t wait. I need you to be mine. Like right away,” he said as he walked over to me.
I smiled. “We don’t know each other that well.”
“That’s what I want to do. And I just can’t do that knowing that you have another life with this woman. I also feel that it’s unsafe.”
“And why is that?”
“I know you want me, Divine. And soon, Chola will know it too. Why not just end it with her while you’re ahead?”
“I already told you why. I’m too deep in this drug game,” I said as I walked over to the kitchen so I could finish washing the dishes.
“Oh, so you want to make me work extra hard for you, huh?” he asked with a smirk.
“Look who’s talkin’? I can’t even get no dick up outta you. What’s poppin’ with that?” I asked as he stood behind me and caressed my breasts. “And now you’re teasing me again. I dead ass feel like we’re trading places.”
“In real life. Ha-ha. You ain’t about to use me for your guilty pleasure and then go back to your woman. What type of man do you think I am?” He joked as he stepped to the side of me and put his hand over his heart like I had really hurt him.
“It ain’t even like that. You know she don’t mean nothing to me, baby,” I said in a man’s voice, mocking how niggas be lying to bitches.
“Whatever, you’re just like all the rest of these women out here. Just want to get in my pants and leave me in the morning,” he said while smiling.
I continued to go along with it. “Man, baby, you trippin’. Know a nigga be leaving in the evening.”
“You play too much, woman,” he said as he walked back over to PJ.
“Wanna fly to Los Angeles with me?” I asked.
“Really, Divine?”
“What? You can stay in a hotel while I’m dealing with Chola, and I’ll come back when I’m done,” I said as I dried the dishes and put them in the cabinet.
“See what I mean?”
“What?”
“Listen to yourself.”
“Oh, my bad,” I laughed as I thought on how much I was acting like a nigga.
“I can’t come, though. Next week is a busy week for me. I have to fly to Ghana.”
“Why?”
“I have family there and business affairs.”
“Oh, okay. I see. Well, I guess we will have to go a whole week without seeing each other,” I said with a frown. I wasn’t really sad though. Just wanted to make him feel bad.
“Don’t look like that. Maybe you and her can get into a huge argument while you’re there and she’ll send you home crying to me. It will be lit like that.”
“Nah, more like send me back in a body bag.”
“See, why would you want to be with someone like that?” he asked.
“It’s not that I want to. Shit, I never even told her that I wanted to. She kinda told me that we were together. I think I told you this before, but shit been crazy though.”
“People die behind this type of stuff. You know?” he asked.
“Man, people die behind everything now days. A mothafucka can mistake you for the plug and take you out just ’cause of the whips you drive.”
“I feel you on that, but hear me out. This is no business for anyone that wants to be happy. And from the look of things, you have a hard time dealing with snakes.”
“What you mean?”
“Malina and Neiman been fucking you over for a while now, and you have yet to deal with them,” he said.
I threw my hands up. “Chola said the same shit. I already whooped Malina’s ass. What y’all want me to do? Kill they asses?”
“I’m just saying, Divine. I have plenty of friends that are in this business. Not just friends here, but all over the world. And I’ve seen some things. I’ve seen a man get his throat slit by his own brother. His brother killed him because he had finally cut him off. Just like you did with Malina and Neiman. He’d finally cut him off and the brother couldn’t handle it. So he waited. Then took him out.”
“Malina wouldn’t do that. Neiman wouldn’t either.”
“That’s the mentality that will forever keep you three steps behind. Anyone can be a killer if they’re pushed.”
“So, what do you suppose that I do?”
“Live and learn. That’s all.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Milo
With my mouth taped up, I was still trying to talk shit to this Debo nigga. Ever since they kidnapped me earlier, he wouldn’t leave me alone.
“Umm umm!” I tried to yell “fuck you” but all it sounded like was umm umm.
He laughed. “You were always a bitch to me,” he said.
“Hmm?” I had never met this nigga. He was tripping for real. On some psycho shit.
“Does this look familiar?” He asked, lifting up his shirt and exposing a tattoo of my face. Beside it was a stab mark. Then I remembered him clear as day. We met four years ago.
“Bitch, I’m twenty dollars short, and everybody say you were the only bitch in here lurking around,” I hissed at Molly, a white trash ass stripper who did heroin and stole everyone’s shit.
Every two weeks, she was getting her ass beat like clockwork. I was starting to think the hoe liked it.
“It’s only twenty dollars,” she said as she stumbled over to the sink.
“But it’s mine!” I yelled as I swung her around.
“Yo, chill,” Pinky said as she grabbed me, but I pushed her off of me.
“You black bitches always trippin’ off small shit. Here, bitch, take this measly ass twenty dollars,” she released it from her dirty white bra and chunked it at me.
“Bitch!” I yelled before I hauled off and proceeded to whoop her ass. I had never had a problem with Molly until today. As a matter of fact, I tried to be nice to her because no one liked her ass.
“Get off me!” she yelled as I landed lick after lick, adding new bruises to her red and purple face.
“Chill!” Pinky yelled, trying her hardest to get me off of her.
“Oooh, they fighting!” I heard someone yell.
Then a crowd of stank bitches circled around us. I couldn’t stand when that happened. It wasn’t a big deal until they came in with that bullshit.
“Y’all hoes stop!” My ugly ass boss yelled.
When he saw that I wasn’t giving a fuck, he yelled for the bodyguards. They both ran in and peeled me off of Molly.
“I’ll spit on you, bitch!” Molly yelled as she was being thrown against the wall.
“Ewww, fuck around and catch the AIDS,” I heard someone say.
“Try it! Try it, low down ass bitch!” I yelled as I tried to get at her again, but the bodyguard held me back.
“Pack up and go home. Come back tomorrow when you’re calm. Just come tomorrow,” the bodyguard said.
“Fine, let’s go Pinky,” I said as I went to grab my bag.
“I’m not done,” she said, putting her head down.
“What?”
“I still gotta hit my goal tonight so I can pay my half of the rent,” she said as she clicked her pink heel
s and power walked out of there.
Then the crowd died down because everyone thought I was about to ask for a ride, and strippers rarely helped another one. It was all about stomping other bitches down so you could stay up.
“Come on, I’ll take you,” Debo said.
Debo was a new bodyguard that had just been hired a few hours prior.
“I guess I don’t really have a choice,” I said as I threw my sweat suit over my thong and top. Then I took my heels off and slid my slippers on. “I’m ready,” I said, grabbing my bag.
“I’m sorry. See you later. Love you,” Pinky said kissing me as I walked past her giving a lap dance to some trap niggas.
“It’s okay. Get that money,” I said, following close behind Debo.
“Over here,” he said and lead me to an old busted down Cadillac.
When he opened the door to let me in, the smell of sweat and ass hit me strong in the face. I tried to fix my face so it wouldn’t be so obvious, but I couldn’t help it.
“Thanks,” I said, sliding in.
“Man, y’all hoes be getting down.” He hopped in and started his rusty engine. For a minute, I thought it wasn’t about to start, but it did.
“Molly always stealing some shit,” I said as I put my bag on the floor. I almost cut myself on a knife that was down there. After I got over the shock of almost cutting my finger off, I had to get over the fact that he was riding around with a carving knife. This nigga was hella weird. Debo was ugly as hell, but he had a sexy ass body. He had on all black with some Timberlands.
“Man, Milo, you’re so beautiful to me,” he said as we turned onto the main street.
“Thank you.”
“Nah, for real. I’ve never seen anyone like you.”
“Cool.”
“Like, I even got this job just to see you in person,” he said.
Then he bit his knuckles like he didn’t mean to say that.
“Ummkaay,” I said, tryna end the talking between us.
What he said didn’t alarm me at all. Being a stripper I learned to deal with men like him a while back. I was happy as hell to see that we were close to my apartment. The only thing that I didn’t like was that I never gave him directions to my place. I didn’t say anything about it, I just held my bag tight and slipped his knife in the palm of my hand.
