by Chunichi
“All right, folks, the grand total is $6,048.90. Will this be cash or charge?” the salesperson inquired.
“Cash,” I insisted while placing hundreds and fifties in his hand.
We made arrangements to have the furniture delivered then we headed out.
“So what are the plans for tonight?” Tanisha asked as I pulled into her driveway.
“You, me, a bottle of pinot grigio, and a long hot bath,” I suggested.
“Sounds like a plan.” She giggled before kissing me on the lips and heading to her front door. Another thing I loved about Tanisha was that she didn’t ask a lot of questions.
Now that I had spent a little time with Tanisha, the next stop was my grandma’s crib. Although they were right next door when I was living with Trixy, I hadn’t seen them since the day I moved out.
“Hmm, I haven’t seen you in a while,” Ma acknowledged after taking a puff of her cigarette.
“Hello to you too, Ma,” I replied, handing her a box of Newports.
“Grandma, he bought gifts. Damn, I was down to my last pack ’til payday next week. Thank you, baby,” Ma responded while giving me a hug.
“Open the box,” I suggested.
“Oh my Lord,” Ma screamed as she opened the box. “Let me sit down on this couch so I can get myself together.” She rejoiced while counting $1,000 from the box.
“This is for you,” I announced while handing Grandma a box of Whitman’s chocolates. Those were her favorite.
“Thanks, honey,” she responded.
“One more thing, Grandma, here’s two hundred dollars for the building fund at your church. When I was here that’s all I would hear you talking about when you were on the phone with your church buddies.” I handed her the money.
“Boy, I hope for your sake you’re not on those streets again,” Grandma stated concerned.
“Grandma, don’t worry, I’m not on those streets. Being behind bars isn’t a good look for me,” I replied, lying through my teeth. I figured if she didn’t know the truth, then she wouldn’t be up endless nights praying for me.
“Okay,” she responded, not sounding too convinced.
“Let me get going. I have to get to work,” I informed them.
The truth was that I was on my way to see Maria and the kids at Mount Trashmore, but I didn’t dare tell Ma that. That would lead to an hour of her ranting and raving about “that money-hungry, mixed-breed bitch.” And I wasn’t in the mood to hear that shit.
I was dressed in nothing but labels: Louis Vuitton sneakers and belt, True Religion jeans, and a plain white Polo shirt. To top it off, I added a white gold chain with matching bracelet, and Louis Vuitton shades. I knew these types of things would get Maria’s attention. I also made sure I had a little something for her. I was starting to see that the gifts softened her up a bit. I hoped this would get Maria to take her tight leash off the kids. It’s sad, but at times I felt as if she treated them more as property than human beings by dangling them in my face. As always, I made sure I arrived early for my meeting with Maria and the children. It wasn’t long after I’d gotten there that they came running up to me.
“Hey, Daddy,” Kaylyn greeted me from a distance.
“Hey, you,” I replied giving the kids hugs. I bought a bag full of Wii games and DS games. I was learning what they preferred, courtesy of Maria.
“Hi.” Maria smirked. I saw her trying to check me out on the sneak.
“How are things?” I asked while handing her a wad of money. It was $3,000. She didn’t hesitate to count it carefully.
“Thank you.” A huge smile came across her face.
I couldn’t help but notice the scent of Escada Magnetism perfume. She had worn it for years. Maria was wearing a summer dress that almost hung to the ground. I had to admit, she looked sexy as hell.
After placing the money in her oversized Gucci bag Maria continued, “The kids are fine, but I’m not so great.”
“What’s going on?” I asked right away.
“Well, Biggs is a good father to the kids—”
I interjected before Maria could even finish her statement. “I’m the only daddy they got!” I said, irritated by what Maria was saying.
“Breeze, are you finished with your tantrum? I’m really not in the mood,” she explained while shaking her had.
“I’m sorry, go ahead.” I gathered myself a bit.
“As I said, Biggs is a good father to the kids. But it’s different with me. He doesn’t pay attention to me anymore. I’m just there, like the crown molding on the wall: pretty to look at, but has no real use or purpose. Business has been slow for him, and that’s pretty much been his main focus lately,” Maria explained.
“I’m here for you anytime you need to talk,” I assured her. Deep down I was thrilled as hell to know her relationship with the almighty Mr. Biggs was going downhill.
“Thanks, I appreciate that. I just want you to know that I never tried to take the kids away from you. You left us, and you lied about how much time you were really facing. Breeze, you told me you only had three years. I was angry and just wanted to hurt you for going to prison. I wanted you to feel the pain I was feeling.” Maria expressed her feelings for the first time. Now things were finally starting to make sense.
“You have a point. I should have told you the truth,” I agreed.
It felt good for Maria and I to finally air things out and patch things up. We talked a little more and agreed to make things work for the sake of the children. After playing with the kids and stuffing them with chips, candy, and soda from the snack machine, they were on their way.
After I left Maria and the kids, I went to see this little homie Borne had put me down with. Since I had stepped my game up, so had Borne. Now instead of him being on the block, he was cooking up and niggas was copping from him, breaking that shit down and hitting the block. Borne had gotten a few trap houses throughout the seven cities. His newest spot was out of Park Place. I knew that was Mannie’s territory, but I ain’t give a fuck. I was all about my dollars.
I pulled up to Borne’s spot on Twenty-sixth Street, hollered at a couple of friends on my way up to the crib, then let myself in.
“Sup,” I acknowledged him after entering his house.
“Man, I’ve been blowing you up all day,” the little homie explained.
“I had to handle some things. You have my attention now, nigga. What’s going on?” I wondered what was so damn urgent.
“Last night, some niggas I don’t know ran up and got me for ten grand.”
“Do you know who could have done it?” I asked, even though I had a pretty good idea who it could have been.
“Nah, I told Borne about it and I got my boys seeing if anybody is willing to talk,” he replied with a hint of fear in his voice.
“All right, but you know, I’m still going to need that back,” I said to the little homie. I couldn’t let a nigga think a loss like that was acceptable.
“Without a doubt. I got you, Breeze.” He nodded before I headed back out the door.
As I was driving, I was thinking at ten miles per minute. At first, I was thinking that Mannie probably sent some niggas to the crib, but this little nigga’s actions was leading me in a different direction. I had to wonder if that nigga was trying to play me. Deep inside, I knew this was the shit I had to look forward to when dealing with new cats. Although it went against everything in me, I knew I had to get Trixy back on the team. Sure I would take a few small losses but never a ten grand loss. I wasted no time heading to her crib. I didn’t even call first.
I knocked on the door knowing Trixy could see me through the peephole. She didn’t answer at first, but I knew she was home because her car was parked outside. I kept knocking, knowing she probably was looking right at me. I knew she was getting pleasure by making me stand outside and wait
“Breeze, what do you want? I ain’t giving out free pussy so go the fuck somewhere else,” Trixy yelled through the door, finally acknowl
edging my presence.
“Trixy, I didn’t come here for that. I came to see my little nigga. Let me in.” I tried using her son as an excuse, although I honestly did miss Junior.
“Breeze, you know Junior is at school,” she spat.
“I know, I know.” I stopped playing games and got serious. “On the real, I got a proposition for you, if you’re willing to listen.” I was sure to keep it strictly business this time.
“I’m listening,” she stated while cracking the door open. “Don’t even think about coming in.”
“The bottom line is I need you back in the game with me,” I confessed.
“How much?” she asked.
“How much what?”
“How much you gone pay me?” she clarified. I guess she was about business too.
I gave my first offer. “One grand a week.”
“Nah, you got to come harder than that. I want two grand a week. Matter of fact, right now, I could use two hundred dollars to pay my light bill,” Trixy spat.
“Okay, so how about fifteen hundred a week, plus I got you on that light bill right now.” I gave my final offer.
“You got a deal,” Trixy agreed as she opened her door all the way
“All right, you start next week,” I agreed while handing her the money for her light bill.
“Cool.”
“One more thing. I got a girl now. You must respect her. No schemes or games, Trixy.” I laid down the law to make sure she understood that it was business only.
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you,” Trixy replied before slamming the door in my face.
Chapter 12
What Goes on in the Dark… Mr. Biggs
I had been in a really bad mood for the past few weeks. Something was up and I couldn’t put my finger on it. I felt like deceit was all around me. My money wasn’t right and my woman was acting suspect. Not only was Maria spending more and more time with Breeze, but the other day she had the nerve to come up in my house with a dozen roses from this cat. I wasn’t a man who was into beating women, but Maria’s ass was coming closer and closer to bringing out the Ike Turner in me.
“Baby, let’s have a candlelit dinner and a bottle of wine.” Maria walked into my home office with nothing but a silk robe on.
“I’m not hungry,” I said, trying to dismiss her. I had more pressing issues, like figuring out where the fuck my money was going, or why I wasn’t making that much of it lately.
“Biggs, you haven’t touched me in almost a week. You act like I’m not even here. What is going on?” she asked.
“It’s more like what’s not going on,” I said, again focusing on my money instead of Maria and her complaints.
“Oh, I know what’s not going on,” Maria said, full of sarcasm.
“Oh, yeah, Maria? And what is that?” I said, interested in hearing what she had to say.
“You not paying me any attention. You not giving me my weekly allowance. That’s a couple of things that’s not going on. How about that? Shall I continue?”
“Do you have any idea why I haven’t been paying you any attention or giving you an allowance, Maria?” I asked calmly.
“No, I don’t, Biggs.”
“Because the money coming in is getting smaller and smaller and I can’t figure out why. That shit has me really stressed out.” I took a sip of my cognac, then continued. “Maybe if you weren’t spending so much time with Breeze you would have realized some of this,” I added to let her know her actions had not gone unnoticed.
“That’s my kids’ father, Biggs. I have to let them see him,” she replied in a low tone.
I could not believe what had just come out of her mouth. I just had to laugh. I found it funny how she went from wanting Breeze to sign over his parental rights to “that’s my kids’ father.” For years I played daddy and took care of her kids like they were my own. For the months leading up to his release, all I heard from her was how she planned on making sure she wasn’t going to let him try to come back into their lives.
I was about to remind her that she was supposed to be working on having him relinquish his parental rights, when my phone rang, saving her butt. I looked down to see Mannie’s name on the screen.
“Biggs,” I answered right away.
“Yo, boss, I just ran into that nigga, Breeze. I know he doing something. I think that nigga got a connect, ’cause he been making a lot of moves lately. I know he bringing in weight from somewhere. I tried to come at that nigga on some cool shit to see if he would let me in on what he been up to, but that nigga came off like we had beef or something. We gotta keep our eye on him, boss.”
“Sure thing,” I said before hanging up.
“Who was that on the phone?” Maria asked, full of attitude with her hands on her hips.
I didn’t even bother to answer her. I knew if Breeze had a connect that could be the end of my business. I’d basically taken over the seven cities since Breeze got locked up. I was the supplier and everything went through me. If Breeze was able to get some coke just as good as mine and sell it cheaper, he could take over the streets just as quickly as he’d lost his empire. There was no way I was about to sit back and let that shit happen.
“Was that some little bitch calling for you to go see her? Huh?” Maria went on with her hands on her hips. “Answer me! Was that some whore offering you some cheap-ass pussy? Is that why you don’t give me any attention anymore, Biggs? Stop ignoring me and my questions! We are not done speaking, Biggs. Our conversation is not over! Do you hear me?” she yelled as she stomped her feet like a spoiled child.
Without hesitation, I jumped out of my chair and pounced on her like a cat. “Now you listen to me, Maria! I will not be spoken to like that by anyone including you. You want an answer to your question? No, that was not some girl on the phone offering me ‘cheap-ass pussy’ as you wanna call it. Why would I pay for cheap pussy on the streets when I have to pay for your expensive ass here at home? Now, you will get the fuck out of my office and leave me the fuck alone. And, just so you know, shit is over when I say it’s over. Do you understand me? Now get the fuck out of my office!”
She looked back at me with a bewildered look on her face, and silently walked out of the room. As far as I was concerned she knew exactly what was going on with my business. As much time as she was spending with Breeze she had to know something. I swallowed the last sip of my cognac as I sat deep in thought, formulating my next move.
Chapter 13
Money Hungry Tanisha
Maria’s evil self was in the bank as usual causing a scene because my new teller, who was helping her at the window, didn’t have enough hundreds. I didn’t feel like dealing with her this day., but I made sure to spend a little time with the kids before they left, and I gave them lollipops and coloring books. It was a busy Friday. The line was outside the door and cars wrapped around the drive-thru. Sara was my newbie. Her face was starting to turn red from how nervous she was, so I had to step in and help her out.
“Good morning, Mrs. Biggs and Mr. Biggs,” I acknowledged them after I grabbed my vault teller to hand me a strap of hundreds. I eased in to count the money Sara was holding, and added more hundreds to make up the sum. She let out a sigh of relief when I told her I would handle the rest of the transaction.
“Always a pleasure, Tanisha,” Mr. Biggs stated. Maria just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
“How’s business?” I asked in an attempt to start a casual conversation.
“Terrible. My better half is upset because she can’t have as much money today. Economy is bad so we have to tighten up,” he stated, rubbing Maria’s shoulder. She looked as if she despised him. I couldn’t help but feel the same way about her.
Even though I would never admit it to Breeze, or anyone else for that matter, I felt jealous toward her sometimes. I knew Maria was prettier than me. Not to mention she had Breeze’s kids, which meant she would always be in the picture.
“Well, Mrs. Biggs, here’re your new, crisp
one hundred-dollar bills. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?”
“No,” Maria replied, snatching the money and putting it into an envelope herself.
At six o’clock sharp, I wrapped up and rushed out of the bank so I could be on my way to Breeze’s house. I had fixed up his “bachelor pad” so it could have a warm and cozy feel to it. The best part about his place was that he had a lot of light coming through. The skylight window was perfect.
“Baby, what’s up!” Breeze announced, picking me up and twirling me in the air.
“Nothing much, just another hard day at work. I’m glad it’s over and the weekend is here,” I said as I planted a kiss on his cheek.
“I’ve been busy too,” he said as he put me back down. I walked toward the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.
“Hey, Tanisha,” Trixy said without looking up. She was standing at the kitchen counter, counting money.
“Hi,” I replied. I could tell she didn’t like me; however, I just played it cool and started a visible count of the stack of money she had in her hand.
“Breeze, both of these stacks are short five hundred dollars. I got four thousand five hundred on the first one and another four thousand five hundred on the second one. Those dudes need to know how to fucking count,” Trixy announced. I coughed as if I had something in my throat so Breeze could catch on. From my count, those stacks weren’t short. They were both five thousand dollars even.
