Level Up

by Nikki Karma

“Who the fuck was you talking to?” I looked down at her; the blood in my veins pumping so hard my temples throbbed. She doesn’t respond. “I said who the fuck was you talking to just now on the phone, bitch?”

  “You’ll see,” she smiled. “Yep, don’t worry, you’ll see soon enough.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  CRYSTAL

  Since we ditched the stolen car we were in Denise’s car. Now Tasha is driving and I’m in the backseat with the gun pointed to the back of Denise’s head. She may have been sexy but I hate women like her. Think just because her nigga killed a few people she powerful too. I should accidently shoot her ass. Her feet and arms are tied to the seat to prevent her from moving.

  Tasha gave me back my gun because Denise was starting to be a handful. Every so often Denise would stare at the cut on her face in the window that I caused, and back at me before frowning. She could try it if she want to and I’ma open up her forehead instead.

  I gotta admit, when I pictured the plan to rob his house in my mind it didn’t go down like this. I just wanted Tasha to fall back in love with getting money again, the way she used to be. I figured if we took a really big job and made decent on what we stole, she would see there was no need to leave. I guess I was wrong.

  “Who was that, that knocked at the door last night?” Tasha asked as she continued to drive down the street. “You might as well tell us the truth.”

  She shook her head. “Does it matter?” The car remained quiet.

  “Yes.” Tasha said.

  Denise took a deep breath and said, “I ordered Chinese food before you broke into my house.” Her voice was low. “So I guess it was the delivery man.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us that last night?” I asked, looking at the bruises on her face I made from hitting her twice with the butt of the gun. “You could’ve made things easier.”

  “I didn’t feel like answering your questions.” She looked out the window to her right. “Just so you know, my husband knows who you are now.” She laughed. “And when he gets finished with you, you’ll wish you didn’t exist on earth.”

  Tasha looked back at me and then at her. “So that’s who you were talking to when I walked downstairs?” Tasha asked, with wild crazy eyes. “Your fucking husband?”

  “What the fuck do you think,” she laughed harder. “We been together all of our lives an he will find me.” She smiled. “He’s a man and if there is one thing he knows how to do is hunt bitches.” She sighed. “That’s been the problem in our marriage from the gate.” She sighed as if she were tired of him cheating.

  “Your husband ain’t the only person who knows how to bust a gun, bitch,” I told her. I didn’t know how to use them per say but I knew how to pull a trigger and aim. In my book that was good enough. “We got guns too.”

  “Crystal, shut the fuck up with that dumb shit,” Tasha yelled. “Let’s not make the situation worse than it already is.” She paused. “Plus I have to…I have to think. I just need some quiet.”

  “Oh…oh…so I get it,” Denise said, “The butch looking one is the good one and the secret pussy eater is the bad one.” She laughed. “At least you both pretty. Hollywood gonna probably fuck you both before he kills you.” She chuckled. “Trust me you’ll like it.”

  “Stop threatening us,” Tasha yelled. “Now I know it’s fucked up that we broke into your house and if I could let you go without worrying about our lives I would. But every time I consider pulling this car over and letting you free you remind me why I shouldn’t.”

  Denise shook her head. “If you let me go without a plan them brown eyes of yours ain’t the only things that’s stupid.” She laughed as if it were a game again. Suddenly I knew why Hollywood stepped out on her. She was fucking annoying.

  “You know what, call Hollywood,” I said to Denise. “Call him now. I don’t give a fuck no more.” I threw my hand up. “Plus it ain’t like he don’t already know what’s going on to hear you tell it.”

  Denise turned and looked at me. “What you talking about, bitch?” She paused. “I knew you were crazy but this terrible even for you.”

  “Shut the fuck up with that dumb shit, Crystal.” Tasha yelled from the front seat. “Ain’t nobody calling nobody! What we gonna do is focus on what’s happening now and—”

  “Why not call him?” I interrupted her. “She said Hollywood knows who we are. Might as well talk to him and try to work some things out.” I shrugged. “Financially speaking too.”

  “This is a bad idea, Crystal!” Tasha yelled. “Plus we have money already from this heist. Would you for once listen to me?”

  “Well we could get more,” I said. “I don’t know if you figured it out but we already in deep shit. The least we could do is talk to him and find out what’s on his mind. Maybe we can make a little better come up. ”

  “Like I said, I feel like this a bad idea and I’m not changing my position,” Tasha continued shaking her head from left to right. “I’m telling you. This way off. I got the same feeling I had on the day we went to his house. And now look. We kidnaping his wife. I’m going with my intuition this time.”

  “And I feel like it’s too late to do anything but try,” I said. “I know you mad but you might as well let me do this.”

  “Now that you two bitches have come to a conclusion somebody give me the phone,” Denise said with a smile on her face. I’m sure she thought this was all a joke and it made me wonder if it were the first time she’d been kidnapped. “Let’s call my man and see what he has to say about this.”

  I dug into my pocket and handed her my cell phone. From the rearview mirror I saw Tasha looking at me. She’s giving me the same look she did when I stole people’s credit cards from the post office when they forgot to take them back after a purchase. She was so mad at me at one point that she ain’t talk to me for a week after I stole the last one. And I’m getting the same feeling now. Like she’s done with me after this.

  “Hey, bae, I got them bitches right here and they want to speak to you,” Denise said on the phone before looking at me. “Here she goes right here.” She handed me the cell.

  I took the phone from her and it shook in my grasp, but slowly I put it to my ear. “Remember me?” I looked at Tasha’s face from the rearview mirror and she looked like she wanted to blow she was so mad. “Still wanna go on a date?”

  “So it’s a game to you?” Hollywood said. “You think I’m gonna let you do this to me and mine?”

  “I don’t know what you think,” I shrugged. “I mean, was it a game when you lied and told me you weren’t married?” I looked at Denise and suddenly she wasn’t laughing anymore. “If you ask me you deserve this shit.”

  “If you let my wife go I swear that’ll be it.” He said to me. It sounded like he was running but I knew he wasn’t. He was probably nervous at what was about to happen. “But you gotta do it now because my offer expires in one minute.”

  “You talk like you the one running shit now.” I said leaning back in the seat. “If you believe that let me correct you. We running this shit and you gonna do what I say.”

  “Okay, I’ll play.” Hollywood took a deep breath. “What I gotta do, right now, to get my wife back?”

  I looked at Tasha but she wasn’t looking at me. I guess she was done with it all.

  “Give me one million dollars.” I smiled. “You a trap nigga so let’s start there.”

  ****

  Hollywood sat in the back of his Mercedes trying to remain calm, even though his nerves were wrecked. His wife always said the females he tried to fuck would do him more harm than good, and she was right. His most loyal soldier was behind the steering wheel; with so many guns in the passenger seat he could kill a hundred people. He preferred it that way for quick access.

  After getting off the phone with Crystal, he caught a flight back and was now back in Atlanta. Hollywood considered his options. “Since she has my wife do you think I could lay hands on someone she loves too?” Hollywood asked. “Of cou
rse I can,” he responded to himself. He looked out the window to his right. “I wonder who she loves the most.”

  “Doc, show me her social page again,” he said to his driver.

  Doc removed his phone from his pocket while driving and handed it to him. When the phone lit up he flipped through the life of Tasha and Crystal Burton’s pictures. Hollywood leaned forward and looked at Tasha’s brown eyes and Crystal’s smiling face. In every photo they were either posing with each other or two females.

  He shook his head and handed the phone back. “What have you two bitches gotten yourself into?” He asked himself. “Life was so simple but you truly fucked with the wrong nigga this time.”

  “I found their address earlier,” Doc said. “What you wanna do?”

  “You know what needs to happen,” he said. “Take me to their house. Since they fucked with my family I’ll fuck with theirs.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  TASHA

  I’m standing outside of the car with Crystal in a wooded area, somewhere still in Georgia, right outside Atlanta. His wife was still inside waiting on us to come back. “Crystal, why would you get on the phone and talk to that nigga ‘bout his wife?”

  I leaned up against the car. “I’m not understanding you right now. ‘Cause the last thing we needed was this dude looking for us.”

  “You heard that bitch,” she said pointing at Denise in the car. “He already knew. So I got news for you it’s too late, Tasha, the least we can do is get some money out of it.”

  “You just destroyed everything I had coming to me and you don’t even care.” I sighed. I could see the future I planned for Nikki and me pass by and it fucked me up.

  “By everything coming to you, you mean your precious bitch and sperm baby? Is that what you telling me? Because if you are, you right, I don’t give a fuck, Tasha.”

  “You so lost right now you can’t even imagine.” I walked a few feet away from her, put my hands on my hips and looked up into the blue sky. “I really can’t believe this is happening. Why did I approve this?”

  “I’m gone,” she pointed to herself. “I’m gone? At least I know who I am and I’m not letting you or some bitch named Nikki take away my identity. What about you though, huh? ”

  “You just put everyone in danger, Crystal. Everyone. Mama, Tiffani, everybody. You bet it all without even thinking of who you might hurt. Before you popped off with the nigga Hollywood, I had a plan to get us out of this.”

  “And what exactly was your plan, Tasha?”

  “I was goin’ to talk to Denise and try to get her to understand that we didn’t mean to hurt her. And that—”

  Crystal laughed and balled over, holding her stomach as if I just said the funniest thing in the world.

  “Fuck is so funny?” I asked.

  “I finally am able to do something for myself and you can’t stand it.” She paused. “But don’t even mind me though. You just keep running your mouth.”

  “You don’t know what you talking about.”

  “But I do,” she nodded leaning on the driver’s side door. Denise is still inside her car giving us dirty looks. “When this shit works out it’s gonna be me who’s the reason we’ll never have to work again. All I wanted was a piece of the pie.”

  “The only thing we going to get after this is side by side caskets, Crystal.” I paused. “That’s it. This is the worst case scenario.”

  She frowned. “So what you gonna do now, Tasha?” She paused and folded her arms over her chest. “Huh? Because everything you saying ain’t gonna get us out of this situation right now. Is it?”

  I cleared my throat.

  “Now you gonna have to have my back or walk away, grab your girl, leave town and let me do this on my own. Or help.” She paused. “Because either way it’s going down tonight.”

  I sighed and wipe my hands down my face. “Fuck!”

  “I know it’s wrong, but at the end of the day we in this until its over.” She shrugged. “There ain’t no other plan that will allow all of us to be safe without money. We either divide up now and you let me go at it alone or we stay together and you help.” She moved closer. “And I really, really, need your help, Tasha. Don’t you see? What you want me to do? Beg?”

  I looked down at her. My heart is all fucked up because if something were to happen there would be no way I could live with myself. I knew it and so did she which is why she did wild stuff like this. “You been doing a lot of crazy shit on your own so let me ask this, is there anything else you gotta tell me?”

  “What you talking ‘bout,” she said trying to laugh it off. “You know everything already.”

  “I’m serious, Crystal.” I paused. “Are you being real about everything? Are there any other surprises?”

  “Real huh?”

  “Bitch, ain’t nobody playing with you!” I yelled. “Answer the fucking question.”

  “Okay, okay, I’m being real as you so eloquently put it.” Crystal laughed. “But, there is one thing.” She pulled her pants down.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I looked around to be sure nobody could see us.

  Before I know it she had moved closer. “You see that shit on my pussy?” She pointed at it. “I think I got burned by one of my hoes. And I fucked Tiffani and Mercy the other night and I probably gave it to them too.”

  “Crystal, pull your fucking pants back up before I go off out here.” I was so embarrassed. Not just for myself but her too. “You playing yourself real bad.”

  “Look at it right quick,” she said. “I just need to know that whatever this shit is won’t kill me.”

  I knew what she was trying to do. Whenever she wanted to skip the subject she would do something crazy so I would get thrown off. On the other hand when I looked from where I was I did see small bumps. “I think that’s just a rash. You’ll be aight.” I sighed although I wasn’t sure. “Now pull your fucking jeans up. You embarrassing me out here.”

  She does. “I guess I’ll cancel my doctor’s appointment. Not like I’m gonna be able to go now anyway.”

  “Now, is there anything else besides that disgusting shit that you have to say to me?” I paused. “I’m talking about lies or dishonesty?”

  “The only thing I held back on was this weed I got in my pocket.” She pulled it out and wiggled it. “I was gonna save it for an emergency, but I figure we got a life or death situation goin’ on right now so we might as well...”

  “You know what, light that shit up,” I told her.

  For fifteen minutes we smoked the bar and passed it back and forth. For that moment while we waited on word from Hollywood nothing else was goin’ on in the world and Denise wasn’t in the car even though she was. We talked about everything from the day we had to tell ma we were both gay to the two sisters we met in high school who we convinced to lick each other by lying about how we did the same thing.

  When I was as high as I wanted, and a little more relaxed, I looked over at her. “Let’s get back in the car. It’s time to see where he is. I’m sure he’s back in town now and everything.”

  Crystal opened the door and fell in the back seat. I reached under the seat to adjust it and Denise yelled, “I hope you two bitches got a good high because you sure are wasting enough of my time. Now either kill me or let me go because I don’t give a fuck anymore.”

  I’m so high, I feel like I’m floating and for the moment nothing she said bothered me. “Denise, ain’t nobody gonna hurt you.” I smiled. “You good. Plus your husband gonna come through. I just know it.”

  “Yeah, just relax,” Crystal said slapping her on the shoulder. Her eyes were glassy and red and I wondered what mine looked like. “You keep being cool and I have a feeling we gonna let you go.”