Good Girls Ain't No Fun Boxed Set (The SIX romance and urban fiction volumes of the LOVE, SEX, LIES series)

by Jessica Watkins

“Victoria Brown?”

  The fact that he already knew my name grew further suspicion.

  “Yes?”

  Before responding, he flashed his badge. “Come with me.”

  Before I knew it, he was opening my car door and slightly gripping my arm.

  “Excuse me?! Come where?!”

  Silently and aggressively, he reached over me and grabbed my purse. Being a very large Louis Vuitton Mahina, I was able to store the ounces that Derrick had just given me inside, so my heart raced to the point that my face felt flushed and hot.

  With the ounces in his hand, he threw my purse in my lap, looked me directly in the eye, and told me, “Come with me.”

  I could have shitted on myself right then and there. I was sick with embarrassment and worry. Since he already knew my name, it was obvious that I had just been caught up in Derrick’s bullshit. It was obvious that the police must have been watching Derrick’s house, knew that he sold drugs, saw me coming and going, and I was now in the middle of an obvious investigation.

  As I got out of my car, secured it, and followed the detective to his car, my legs were shaking so badly that I could barely make it.

  Oddly, he was in the car alone and asked me to sit in the front seat.

  He started the car with no words and drove off. I was too scared to ask any questions. I spent the ride wondering if I was about to be arrested for possession and, if I was, what the hell I was going to do. I thought of Star. I thought of the time she was serving, and the bubbles in my stomach grew worse and turned into pure nausea.

  Once at the station, my curiosity and confusion grew massively. The station was fairly empty, despite, what looked like, a few receptionists and street cops. Then, I wasn’t taken into an interrogation room. The detective walked me into a very large and comfortable office, and even offered me a cup of coffee as he closed the door.

  I told him, “No, thank you,” as I looked around and noticed that this was obviously much more than a detective. There were pictures of him on the wall with many city officials and even the mayor.

  He told me to sit down, and, as I sat, I saw the name Lieutenant Fyte on a name plate. Finally, my curiosity had grown so much that I was ready to ask what the fuck was going on, but he dropped the ounces on the desk and excused himself.

  I sat thinking and staring out of the office window that displayed the area of the precinct.

  As I stared aimlessly, my eyes fell upon yet another name plate. Though it was a few feet away, I could clearly read “Detective Gachett”, but did a double take to make sure that I was seeing things correctly.

  I recognized the last name Gachett. I’d seen it on mail in Derrick’s house that he claimed to be his mother’s, and I often teased him for being lucky that he adopted, what he claimed to be, his father’s last name, Jackson, because Gachett was such an odd last name.

  Nervously, my thoughts ran rapidly, but, since I was unsure whether I was being arrested, questioned, or what, I didn’t know whether to panic or play it cool. Yet, there was one thing that I knew for sure; it was obvious that this wasn’t a regular traffic stop.

  Lieutenant Fyte made me sit in that office for an hour.

  I was all alone with nothing but the quiet to entertain and taunt me.

  I was able to keep Taij at bay by sending him a text message telling him that I needed him to keep DeSire for another day. He obliged with no questions. Yet, I had ignored so many calls from Vince that I was sure it was going to be a fight whenever I saw him again… if I saw him again in an environment that didn’t involve a glass window between us.

  The unknown was driving me crazy.

  I desperately wanted to know what the fuck was going on and what the lieutenant was planning to do with me.

  It was obvious that I had been set up in some sort of way, and I couldn’t believe it. Shame consumed me as it was made plainly obvious that I had been so busy getting high that I didn’t realize who the fuck was keeping me high.

  I had already figured out that Derrick was the police. Why he was the police while selling coke, fucking me, and supplying my high was what confused the hell out of me.

  However, when Lieutenant Fyte finally came back into the office, it was made crystal clear that this didn’t have as much to do with me or Derrick as I thought.

  “Alright, Victoria, let’s get straight to the point.” He spoke firmly and sternly as he entered the office and slammed the door behind himself.

  I told myself to be cool as he sat at his desk and looked me straight in the eye as he handled the ounces that he’d confiscated from my purse.

  “You want this to go away, or you wanna go to jail?”

  I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what I had to do in order for “this” to go away, so I said nothing. I was in a deserted police station on a Sunday with this man obviously blackmailing me with nothing but bullshit written all over his face.

  I didn’t know what the fuck to say.

  “Do you know how much time you can get for this? You work for the public school system. You will definitely lose your job and never be able to work again, whenever you get out of jail, that is.”

  Tears filled my eyes as he painted the picture of my future for me. When he saw the tears, he knew that he’d talk me into whatever he was about to tell me to do to make this go away. Yet, when the names left his lips, I felt as if he’d shot me with bullets of disloyalty that I didn’t want to entertain, even if it was going to keep me out of jail.

  “What you’re going to do is wear a wire to help me corroborate Latrice Anderson’s involvement in Blood’s organization.”

  I was sick. Literally, I felt the contents of my stomach slowly traveling up my stomach. My limbs began to shake with complete fear.

  I began to cry as I spoke; not knowing whether to spare my friend or myself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He laughed at my lies as if I were a pathetic foolish child that he could see right through.

  “C’mon now, Victoria. Do you think I would be here if Blood wasn’t on the State’s radar? Lucky for him, he’s slipped through the system, but now I have you.” When he smiled wickedly, it made my skin crawl. “You are going to help me nail his coffin shut; whether you like it or want to do time for it. I don’t give a shit what Tricey’s involvement is, but you get her to say what she knows on this gawd damn tape, or go to prison. The choice is yours.”

  TRICEY

  It was eighty-five degrees that Sunday afternoon, so Blood called a few of his friends over, as did I, and we had a little get together at the pool in our condominium complex.

  Despite the argument that Devin and Blood had after Devin got shot, they were back to being bosom buddies and Devin was still Blood’s right hand man. I was so thankful because I wasn’t ready, or willing, to go through the stresses of Blood having to revamp his entire crew because he had this outlandish suspicion about everything and everybody.

  I knew that he felt like that robbery was fishy, but, unfortunately, Devin had done more time with Blood than the new workers, so he decided to let it go, especially since those new workers had since vanished.

  With the grill going a few feet away and laughter in the air, I was happy to finally have a day of peace and calm. Everyone was drinking and swimming merrily. Amiel hadn’t bombarded my text message inbox with threats and, surprisingly, Blood had finally let go of his recent smug and rough exterior and was laughing and playing in the water. Even Derrick had stopped by, and I hadn’t seen him since Blood’s birthday party, though I was fully aware of his fuck-buddy relationship with Vic.

  I called Vic a few times to invite her over, but she wouldn’t answer, and though Derrick said he saw her last night, she wasn’t answering his calls either.

  Devin sat in a lawn chair in a sling. Despite the sling, he looked good; showered with diamonds, freshly styled locs, and chiseled abs. His dark skin had gotten even darker due to the sun’s summer rays. He was sitting next to Lyric trying to
mack her down, which I thought was fishy. Given my relationship with Iyana and obvious ties to Lyric, I wondered who the hell he thought he was. But I figured that Devin assumed that my loyalty to Blood was beyond anybody’s, so, in order to keep Blood from getting mad at me for minding other folks business, I wouldn’t trick to Iyana. Regardless, I figured Iyana would pop up soon enough, and that would stop whatever slick shit Devin thought he was on.

  Suddenly, water rained on me and laughter filled the air. I looked into the direction of the water and saw Blood standing in the pool aiming a water gun at me.

  He went along, firing his gun at others who ran from his liquid bullets. I laughed at how he was so tall that standing in the shallow end left the water at only his waist. Yet, because of that, I was able to admire the water as it dripped off of his athletic build and over his mirage of tattoos of praying hands, dope boy slogans, hood anthems, and other art.

  The summer sun had baked Blood’s light skin as well. The combination of tan skin, dark Latino features, and 6’4” frame made him look like Matt Barnes, Gloria Govan’s hubby from Basketball Wives LA.

  On a quest for more 1800, I stood from the lawn chair that I was lying in, and, in my two piece black bikini, began to walk out the pool area. Luckily, I had yet to eat anything heavy that day, so my stomach was sucked in tight in order for my forty-eight inch hips to look good in the bikini. For umph, I wore black Christian Louboutin’s, which I fought hard not to buss my ass in as I walked on the deck. Too cute to actually get in the water, my hair still fell twenty inches in natural big waves. On my wrists were an accumulation of tennis bracelets, bangles, and a watch full of diamonds; all care of Blood.

  As I walked out, I giggled at the way two or three of Blood’s homeboys fought not to look at my ass.

  I was alone at the cooler, but not for too long. Soon, Devin joined me. He was no longer wearing the flirtatious smile that he was just entertaining Lyric with. He was now concerned and troubled.

  I invited him to sit as I poured another drink.

  “What’s up with your man?”

  I looked at Devin curiously as I asked, “What do you mean?”

  “Blood is actin’ weird.”

  “Weird how?”

  “Well, it’s these lil’ niggas on the block out west serving for this other kat. You know that shit is no good, so I stepped to Blood about how to handle it.”

  “And what did he say?”

  “He doesn’t want to do shit about it. It’s like he don’t even care.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t.”

  “What nigga you know let a bunch of young niggas come serve on his block?”

  “A nigga that just got robbed,” I answered as I motioned towards Devin’s sling.

  He marinated on that for awhile and shrugged, as if maybe I was making sense. “You think he really think I had something to do with that?”

  “I don’t think you would be here if he did.”

  With a chuckle, Devin asked, “Is that a fact?”

  In response, I simply shrugged and chuckled as well.

  “You’re boy’s a killa, huh?”

  I thought that maybe Devin was actually expecting me to respond to that. We locked eyes and there was weird silence in the air.

  I noticed Lyric sashaying towards us. She looked a bit happier. She was actually put together, compared to the disheveled look she’s had the last couple of times that I have seen her since she and James broke up. Her black crochet bikini was giving me so much life. It looked great against her light skin that was already beginning to tan.

  “So you’re cheating on me already, huh?” Lyric teased Devin flirtatiously as she approached us, and he immediately stood to excuse himself.

  With a slight touch on her waist, he told her, “Never that,” and walked away.

  Once he was far enough away not to ear hustle, I put Lyric up on game while she went through the cooler. “You do remember that he has a girl, right?”

  With a smack of her lips and roll of her eyes, she replied, “People care about that now-a-days?”

  She was obviously referring to James and Raven.

  “Have you called James back yet?”

  Again, she rolled her eyes, but this time she coupled it with a heavy sigh as she sat next to me. “No, but I will.”

  “When?”

  “Today or tomorrow.”

  “What are you going to say to him?”

  “I don’t know, but I know that I have to talk to him. I can’t just leave things in the air like this.”

  “Are you going to take him back?”

  “Honestly, Tricey, I don’t know,” she answered with a whine. “I love him. I love him so much, and the house is so empty without him. I can’t even function normally. I don’t know how to live without him.”

  “But?”

  “That nigga hurt me.”

  Her words were so disgusted and final; as if, no matter how in love she was with him, he had defied that love so blatantly that this was a fuck up that she and her heart couldn’t ignore.

  “Anyway,” Lyric said with a fake attempt to perk up. “What’s up with you? You ready to testify?”

  I had to testify for Star’s defense in a few days, and I was nervous as hell. Though I was simply a character witness, I was so anxious. I wanted to say the right thing to sway the jury in my sister’s favor.

  “Hell no, I’m not ready. But I have to do what I have to do.”

  “How do you think the trial is going?”

  “Honestly, I can’t tell, and I don’t want to get my hopes up, ya know?”

  No matter how much I tried not to expect anything and not to get my hopes up, speaking of Star’s trial gave me goose bumps full of worry and anxiety.

  I desperately wanted my sister to come home and was willing to do or say anything to make that happen.

  Eleven

  Monday, June 20, 2011

  VICTORIA

  It was two in the morning before Fyte let me out of there.

  For hours he convinced me of how easy this would be. He ensured me over and over again that neither Tricey nor Blood would know anything about my involvement.

  After much convincing, I was getting out of the unmarked car and climbing into my own that still sat parked on the side of the street where he pulled me over. My head hurt. My heart was heavy. My purse was also heavier than before. Still carrying the ounces that Fyte gave back to me as a “gift”, it was now weighed down with the wire. Though light as a feather, it felt heavy as a ton with burden.

  I took the wire and agreed to cooperate with Fyte. Yet, I still didn’t know what I was going to do. I considered leaving town for a little while. I even considered telling Blood and Tricey, but that meant incarceration for me.

  The only plausible thing I could do to save myself was to set up my friend, and the reality of that made me sick to my stomach.

  I didn’t know what to do, and the anxiety was about to give me a heart attack.

  The son of a bitch had the nerve to wink at me as he drove by. I wanted to spit on his car, but I dared not dig my grave any deeper.

  I heard my cell phone vibrating as I sat and stared into space. I knew that it was Vince, so I ignored it until I could wrap my head around what was happening.

  Then the phone rang again, and again, and again, until I finally snatched it out of my purse.

  You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw that it was Derrick calling.

  “Hello?!”

  I couldn’t believe the motherfucker had the audacity to call me. I guess he wanted to rub it in my face that he’d set me up.

  “Come see me, baby.” His lust and soft words threw me off. Since I had spent so much social time with him, I knew when he had been drinking and assumed as much, especially since Tricey’s text messages from earlier told me that he had been at the pool gathering with them.

  “What you doin’?”

  I was still confused. He acted like he didn’t know a damn thi
ng about what was going on, so I did as well.

  “Nothing. On my way home.”

  “Come see me.”

  I told him sure, and as I hung up, it was obvious that it was a couple of lose strings in Fyte’s investigation.

  Obviously, Derrick was the police and he had been leaking information to Fyte about me, Blood, and Tricey. Yet, I didn’t know what the fuck was going on beyond that; whether he was still playing this roll or knew that I had been picked up by Fyte.

  My mind was racing. I couldn’t think straight. I just wanted out of this shit. Stupid me even did a few lines in the car before I got out at Derrick’s place. I needed to calm down and think rationally.

  I took deep breaths as I got out of the car and approached his home, but that fake therapeutic shit wasn’t working. Thoughts consumed my mind of the way I first deceived Tricey; falling in love with Taij and hiding him from her. God had blessed me with her forgiveness, and, beyond being a loyal friend despite all of that, I couldn’t imagine being so disloyal to her again.

  Fyte had put me in such a fucked up position. I could either make Tricey switch places with me, or chose to do time.

  As soon as Derrick opened the door, he slid his hands around my waist and buried his mouth into my neck.

  When I didn’t return the embrace, he looked at me with concern as he let me in.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I got stopped by the police today. They went straight for the ounces.”

  I looked him dead in his face and figured that if he knew what was going on, if he knew about the wire, he would say one thing and, if he didn’t, he would say another.

  “What?” His face went blank. He was flushed, and I just knew that he would fess up.

  But he didn’t. “What the fuck?”

  “My sentiments exactly. You got cops sitting on you?”

  “I guess so,” was his simple reply. But since this motherfucker obviously was the cops, he shrugged it off and came closer to me as I leaned against the wall in his hallway.

  “I wouldn’t let shit happen to you.”

  I looked at him with that cute side smirk that women give when dick is approaching.