Finessers 3

by Lucinda John

  I took a seat in the back row and watched as family, friends, coworkers, and fakes piled in the church. The different type of cries humored me. It was funny how people who didn’t know you from a can of paint could attend your funeral and cry as if you really meant something to them.

  Chad’s wife walked in parading around her baby bump as if she was the queen of the world. I had to give her props though she did look good in the Donna Karen black and white high waist pants suit she was rocking. Chad walked in sexy as ever holding their son who was dressed in an all-black Armani suit. If I was into the whole love thing then I would have become Cinnamon’s worse nightmare. I would have came in like a category five hurricane and snatched him away from her.

  Then entered Chasity. She must have thought that I didn’t notice that she lifted my wallet from out of my purse, or that she decided to follow me. I had to give her an A for effort, but I was an original con-woman. Conning motherfuckers was what I had to do my whole life, so I was certified in that subject. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with her, but if she posed a threat to me and what I was trying to do, believe me; I didn’t have a problem with attending her funeral next.

  The pastor began by talking about how good of a person Julie was. Since when is a ruthless queen pin considered a ‘good person’ I wondered to myself. I wanted to get up and laugh in his face for faxing false T in the house of the Lord, but I decided not to. Instead I chewed my gum, while browsing through Facebook.

  When it was time to view the body, I got up and walked to the front. I wanted Chad to see me as part of my plan, but I also wanted to admire my handy work. I bent down, so that I was face to face with the bitch.

  “You look nice dead,” I whispered in her ear. “See you in hell.” I kissed her cheeks then wiped away my fake tears.

  Walking back to my seat I caught Chad attention. I know he was wondering what I was doing at his grandmother’s funeral. The curiosity of him wanting to know would be eating him up all day; driving him crazy to the point that he would finally use the business card I slipped him.

  “I’m sorry,” a lady apologized as she bumped into me.

  Looking in the lady’s eyes gave me goosebumps all over my body. For a minute, I started to panic thinking that Julie rose from the dead. Standing before me was a younger version of Julie who I assumed was Chad’s mother.

  “It’s ok.” I smiled before walking back to my seat.

  I watched as this mysterious woman grieved from a distance. She didn’t get up to view the body or mingle with anyone. She just sat in the far end of the church and cried silent tears. Deciding that I’d had enough of pretending for the day, I left the church. All I had to do now was wait.

  Chapter 18

  Vivian

  I stood in the corner of the gravesite and listened as some Jill Scott lookalike woman sang a song about memories. Memories of my mother was all I had left. I hated the fact that I didn’t get a chance to forgive her. I held on to a grudge for so long that I ended up getting hurt by it.

  The day I found out Chad’s father was dead was very devastating. What hurt the most was finding out that my mother was the one who caused it all. She had the love of my life; the father of my child murdered all because she thought he wasn’t good enough for me.

  When I found out it was her who killed him, I took my son and left. I was going to start life over just Chad and I and things were supposed to get better, but it didn’t. Looking into Chad’s little face every day was a constant reminder of his father. There were days that I wouldn’t respond to his cries because I was afraid of looking into those eyes.

  I reached a point where caring for my son was causing me to sink into depression. Instead of allowing my son to suffer, I temporarily gave him up to my mother. A few months later when I finally had gotten my life together, I came back for him. My mother wasn’t having it though. She told me that I could move back home and be a mother to my son, but there was no way she was letting me take him.

  Living in a house with the woman who robbed me of my happiness was not an option so once again, I left my son. I kept in touch with my mother who sent me large amounts of money just to stay away. She didn’t want me coming back into his life and walking back out so she thought it would be best if I stayed away.

  For years I had to live with the guilt of not having my son. On his birthday, I would go out and buy a little cake and have a mini celebration in honor of him. Every time I would get pictures of him I would beat myself up for walking away.

  Now that my mother was dead it was time. It was time for me to own up to my mistakes as a mother and rekindle a relationship with my son. Deep down inside I knew it was easier said than done, but I had nothing to lose.

  Watching him interact with his son brought tears to my eyes. I missed out on my first grandbaby all because I wanted to be selfish. I should have put my child first, I should have been there for him, but I allowed my love for a man to drive me away.

  It was nearing the end of the funeral and I racked my brain thinking of ways to approach him. Seeing my mother descend into the ground broke my heart. I took off full speed to where her casket was and fell to the ground sobbing.

  Someone came to help me up, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate. Looking up it was my son. My son was holding on to me with tears in his eyes, which caused me to sob more. He wrapped his strong arms around me, cradling me as if I was a newborn baby and allowed me to cry.

  “I’m sorry, Chad,” I sobbed.

  “It’s ok mom, I forgive you.”

  Hearing those words had me feeling like I won the lottery. I lost my mother, but I gained my son. I was no longer alone in this world. I no longer had to sit and wonder what it felt like to be a mother. I had a second chance and this time I vowed to do everything right.

  Chapter 19

  Chad

  It’s been a week since I buried my grandmother, and found my mother. To finally have my mother back in my life filled the void my grandmother left. After the funeral, she promised me that she was never going to leave me again, so I made her leave everything behind and moved her in with me.

  Having my mother around was a breath of fresh air. I knew I would never get to meet my father, but to have at least one parent meant a lot to me. There were nights where we would just sit on the couch and she would grease my scalp while telling me stories of my father. I cherished every memory she gave me of him since I had none of my own.

  Taking over my grandmother’s Empire wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I thought she had it sweet, but in reality, she did more work than the corner boys. The only good thing about being promoted to her position was that I no longer had to deal with drops or running traps. I was now the top man, so I ran shit from my desk.

  I passed down my position to Rob, making Carter his right hand man. Even though Carter and I had been friends for a long time it would have been a bad business move to give him so much power. Plus, lately, he had been on some shady shit making it hard to trust him. Not giving Carter my position put a huge damper on our friendship. Even though he didn’t want to admit it, I knew he was feeling animosity towards me and that was why I had his every move watched.

  I didn’t think that Carter would go against the grain and kill me, but you could never be so sure. Nowadays niggas was killing you over five cent bubble gum. Lacing up my Timbs, I was preparing to attend marriage counseling. Cinnamon put in a request for a speedy divorce, but the judge decided to have us go to counseling before she made that decision.

  I was really hurt that Cinnamon wanted a divorce. It fucked me up that she was ready to throw everything away. That alone had me questioning her loyalty to me. If she was really down for riding with a nigga, she would have stuck this out with me.

  “You hungry, Chad? I made you some breakfast,” my mother said as I came down the stairs.

  “Nah, mama, I’m good, plus I’m running late,” I replied giving her a kiss on the cheeks while grabb
ing a piece of bacon.

  “Ok. When are you going to bring my grandson back over here?”

  “His mom and I still have to figure out a schedule, but I’ll see if I can get him today.”

  “A schedule?” she asked with a raised brow.

  “Yes, ma’am, we’re going through some marital issues at the moment.”

  “Well, what do you want to do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you want to be with her?”

  “Of course, I do, but I don’t know if I can trust her. She’s practically saying fuck me, the man that she married then falling into the arms of the next man while carrying my child.”

  “Did you stop and think that maybe you pushed her into the arms of another man?”

  “Nah.”

  “You are so stubborn just like your father. You’re going to learn the hard way.”

  “I’m out. I’ll check in later,” I replied walking out the door.

  When I made it to the counselor’s office, Cinnamon was outside on the phone blushing. I wanted to snatch the phone from her ear and break that shit, but I decided to keep my anger in check. We were in cracker town, so I didn’t want to risk getting thrown into jail.

  I walked past her and went inside the room our session would be held in. A Morgan Freeman lookalike was sitting behind a huge mahogany desk reading through some files.

  “Hello, I’m Dr. Howard, please have a seat,” he said looking up from the papers he was reading. “Is Mrs. Green on her way?”

  “She’s outside talking to her boyfriend.”

  “Her boyfriend?”

  “Yes the dude that has her so eager to divorce me.”

  “So, you think she’s divorcing you to be with some guy?”

  “That’s what it seems like.”

  “That is not the case doctor,” Cinnamon said walking into the room and taking a seat.

  “Ok now that we have everyone here, we can begin. As I told your husband, I’m Dr. Howard and I’ll be conducting your counseling sessions. At the end of our session, I will be reporting back to the judge who will make the final decision on if a speedy divorce should be issued. Sounds good?”

  “Yes,” Cinnamon replied.

  “Ok back to the discussion, why do you want the divorce, Mrs. Green?”

  “Dr. Howard, please call me Cinnamon,” she replied pissing me off.

  “Ok, Cinnamon, answer the question.”

  “Chad is holding onto something that I did to him in the past, which caused him to abandon me when I needed him the most,” she started off.

  “Elaborate please.”

  “Well see, I got arrested for something I didn’t do, but instead of standing by me like a husband should have done, he became my accuser. He really believed that the allegations made against me were true. He allowed me to go three long months in jail without calling, writing or even sending a friendly hello with one of my family members. Instead, he had divorce papers served to me!” She stopped talking to wipe away a tear.

  “Why did you leave her all alone, Mr. Green?”

  “Chad.”

  “Ok, Chad.”

  “The evidence all pointed to her.”

  “What evidence?”

  “I’m not trying to have this conversation right now,” I said not trying to self-incriminate myself. No matter how much they say these sessions were confidential there was no way in hell I was disclosing any information of me having anything to do with drugs.

  “Dr. Howard, do you have a DVD player?” she asked the doctor with a smirk on her face.

  “Yes. Why?”

  “I want you to play something for me. My soon to be ex-husband wants to throw out this loyalty card, however; in order to get loyalty, you have to give it,” she said handing the shrink the DVD.

  Doctor Howard pulled down his projector then placed the DVD into his computer. My jaw dropped to the ground when I saw Prancer bobbing her head up and down on my dick. I remembered fucking her, but I didn’t remember recording it. How the fuck did she know about Cinnamon to have it sent to her?

  “Turn this shit off!” I snapped.

  “Oh, so you want to talk about me having a boyfriend, which I don’t, but when it’s time to talk about your wrongs you want to cry like a baby! Chad grow up!”

  “No, you grow up. You over here mad over some stupid shit. Filing for a divorce over shit that could be resolved if you stopped being so damn stubborn!”

  “In case you might have forgotten, you are the one who served me the divorce papers! I’m just speeding up the process.”

  “Man, I don’t have time for this shit.”

  “Yes, Chad, run like you always do. Go run to that bitch!” she yelled out as I walked out of the door.

  When I got to my car, I was fuming. Something was up with this Prancer chick and I was about to find out what it was. Parking my car in my reserved parking lot, I took the private entrance into my club and closed my office door behind me. I fished through my desk until I was able to locate the business card that had Prancer’s number on it.

  “Hello?” someone answered the phone.

  “Hello, can I talk to Prancer?”

  “This is she, may I ask who’s speaking.”

  “Prancer, this is Chad I need you to meet me at my club. I am interested in hearing what you have to say.”

  “Ok. I’ll be there in an hour,” she said before I hung up the phone in her face.

  I was laying on the sofa that was in my office looking at a picture of my grandmother when there was a knock the door.

  “Come in!” I called out.

  The door opened and in walked Prancer. She was looking sexy as hell in a long floral crop top and skirt set. The top showed off her sexy abs followed by a tattoo of butterflies flying up her belly.

  “You wanted to see me?”

  “Yes, I want to know what is so important that you wanted to talk to me about,” I said getting out of my seat and walking towards her. I grabbed her by the hair and shoved the barrel of my gun under her chin.

  “Who are you? What do you want? Who fucking sent you?” I asked shoving the barrel deep into her throat.

  “I was hired by your grandmother to take down Vic. For some reason, Vic was after you, so she hired me to take him out.”

  “You trying to tell me that my grandmother hired a woman to take out Vic. Out of all the trained killers she has on her payroll, and she decided to choose you?”

  “Yes because she wanted me to do to him what he tried to do to you,” she said catching me by surprise.

  “Prove it,” I said.

  She pulled out a burner phone with instructions on how to approach Vic. I knew it was my grandmother by the untraceable phone number she used.

  “Ok, so what does you doing business with my grandmother have to do with me? And how the fuck did my wife get a video of us fucking!”

  “I was trying to warn you that Vic found out about the plan. He was cleverer than I thought. He found out what I was paid to do and he beat me leaving me for dead. Once I fully recovered, I tried to tell you, but you just kept ignoring me. I think it was Vic who killed your grandmother,” she replied gaining my undivided attention.

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Well think about it. If Vic found out that I was working for her, wouldn’t he go after her once he was finished with me?” she said making sense.

  “And the video?”

  “I had no idea we were being recorded that’s something that you’re going to have to figure out on your own.”

  “Do you know where Vic is now?” I asked ready to end that nigga’s life once and for all.

  “No, that is why I need your help.”

  “My help?’

  “Yes if Vic finds out that I’m alive, he is going to kill me.”

  “Ok and what does that have to do with me?”

  “If you help me then you can’t avenge
your grandmother’s death.”

  Placing the gun back on my hip I sat back and thought about what she said. It made a lot of sense; she had some access to Vic. I could use her as bait to get to him.

  “What is the last location you had on Vic?”

  “He’s on 56th Street. I’m not sure if he’s still there, but that’s the last place I met him before he tried to kill me.”

  “Ok. I’m going to have a friend of mine set you up, I’ll have a few of my guys provide you with security protection. You should be safe until I find and take out Vic.”

  “Why do I need security? I’m holding,” she said pulling out her 22.

  “Girl if you don’t put that water gun away,” I laughed.

  “Water gun? Let me pump a few in a chest then you can tell me if this still a water gun.”

  “You think you a thug?’

  “No baby, I know I’m a thugette, my body count is older than you.” She smiled sending chills all over my body. I could still feel her wetness and tightness on my dick. “You see something you want.” She sexily purred when she noticed me checking out her well-sculpted body.

  “I had it already.” I smirked

  “I bet you want it again, don’t be shy. Ask and you shall receive,” she said getting undressed.

  She mounted my desk, laying across it with her legs spread wide. The sweet smell of her pussy invaded the room as she dipped two fingers in it. Her pussy made a gushy sound as she fingered herself never taking her eyes off me.

  My dick grew three times its original sized as I stood there and watched. Unable to take it anymore, I flipped her over and fucked her. I was still married to Cinnamon so there was no way I was making love to a bitch looking all in her eyes and shit. I saved all that lovey dovey mess for my wife. Outside pussy got fucked.

  After busting a few nuts, I left her sprawled out on my desk and went into my office bathroom to take a shower. I was in the process of rinsing my body off when she got in the shower with me. I got out and left her in there to handle her womanly duties.

  I dressed myself in a pair of blue jeans and white V-neck that I had in my armoire. Chasity should have been here; I thought as I looked at the clock. I needed Chasity to set her up in a spot for a few day until I can get everything together. I tried calling her, but I kept getting the voicemail.