Level Up

by Nikki Karma

  Hollywood looked at her body through the window again and took in her beauty. “Nah, bring her to me unharmed if you can.” He pointed at him. “But if not, and she puts up a fight, do what you have to, to get her out that house.” He rubbed his hands together. “But close the curtains before doing anything. If we can see what’s going on in her room somebody else will too.”

  “Got it, Hollywood.” Man One replied.

  The van’s doors opened and they quickly moved to Nikki’s house to handle business, while Hollywood remained inside and thought about his wife. After everything was resolved, and she was home, he had no intention of allowing her to live in that house anymore. As a matter of fact he already purchased a beautiful home in the Buckhead area of Atlanta with enough elegance and landscape to make her feel like a queen.

  From their bedroom she would be able to see a luscious green garden with the most beautiful colored flowers the mind could imagine. After this, it was definitely time for his wife to sit back, entertain close friends and family and enjoy the trap queen’s lifestyle.

  After about fifteen minutes of waiting on his men to return, Hollywood noticed the blinds were drawn. But where was the female? And where were his men? “What’s taking them so fucking long?” He asked himself. “I know they can handle that bitch. She can’t be more than a buck twenty if that.”

  “You want me to go check?” Doc asked.

  He shook his head softly and eyed the window again. “No, but you can come with me. I’m tired of waiting around.”

  Before they both exited, Hollywood observed his surroundings before going inside. From what he could see there was no one looking. Feeling confident, both of them slid out of the van and crept toward the back of the house. When the coast was clear, Doc popped the lock. Once inside Hollywood felt confident that they were alone, but where was his men?

  “Something ain’t right, boss,” Doc whispered as they both moved toward the living room. “Why don’t you go wait back in the van and let me handle this.” Doc removed his .9mm that was tucked in the back of his jeans. “I’ll take things over from here. You don’t have to worry.”

  “Nah, fuck that. I’m not goin’ anywhere until I get that bitch,” he replied as they moved further into the house. “They got my wife I want what’s theirs.” He paused. “Plus I need to see for myself what’s going on.”

  As Hollywood walked further down the hallway he observed the pictures on the wall. Nikki was posed in most of them along with an older woman. Hollywood figured she was Nikki’s mother and wondered where she was at the moment. Hopefully for her she wasn’t in the house with her daughter.

  When they finally made it to the only closed door in the hallway, Hollywood released his .45. On his signal Doc looked at him and Hollywood nodded. Doc pushed the door open a little and aimed inside. But when the door wouldn’t open fully, he pushed again. It was then that they saw Cliff’s body on the floor.

  “Fuck is this?” Doc asked bending down. He placed his finger on Cliff’s neck to check for a pulse. But his eyes were wide open so he knew he was gone.

  Besides, now that they had a clearer view they could see bullet holes riddled throughout his torso and blood was everywhere. When they looked across the room they also saw Lewis’s body slumped over the edge of a chair. Bullet wounds covered his neck and chest as well.

  “Boss, I really think you need to leave.” Doc looked at him, his gun now trembling. Could a female actually cause this much harm?

  “Like I said, I’m staying,” Hollywood responded. Despite the grim situation he couldn’t help but smile. Even though he sent two men to take care of her, it appeared as if Nikki was able to switch the tables around. In his mind Nikki proved to be as dangerous as she was beautiful. Still, after the great violation of killing his men, Hollywood needed to get his hands on her immediately. For one he needed her as collateral to get his wife back and for two he needed her for revenge.

  “Come on out, Nikki,” Hollywood said. “You took two of my men but I promise you we won’t be so easy.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been firing a gun since I was twelve,” Doc added, looking under the bed, hoping she could hear him.

  “Needless to say we’re both about this shit.” Hollywood looked into the closet. They went from room to room and nothing. But she wasn’t a ghost so he wondered where she could be.

  After thirty more seconds of searching Doc said, “I don’t think she’s in here.”

  Although Hollywood hated to admit it he said, “Me either. Fuck!” He scratched his head. “The question is where she go? We were outside in the van before we came inside. I know I didn’t see her leave.”

  “Let me check the front of the house,” Doc said.

  They eased through the house some more and arrived at the kitchen. At their feet they observed a trail of blood leading toward the back door. “One of my men must’ve got that bitch,” Hollywood said.

  “Looks like it.” Doc added.

  Guns still aimed, both of them dipped into the backyard, on a quest to find Nikki. In the back of the house was a broken down truck but when they checked the vehicle she wasn’t there either. It was as if she vanished into thin air.

  “Let’s go look for her on the streets,” Hollywood said. “She might be on foot.”

  They dipped into the van and searched the city. But thirty minutes passed and still they couldn’t locate her anywhere. Irritated, and defeated, Hollywood pulled out his phone and called Crystal. “I got your sister’s girlfriend.” He lied. “I think her name is Nikki and I’m coming for Tiffani next.” He paused. “Now if you hurt my wife I will—”

  “You not gonna do shit but what I say to you next,” Crystal paused. “Now I’m gonna give you an address, and I expect to see you at that location. If not I’m gonna be burying your wife alive.”

  “Bitch, you better—”

  “You got one hour!” She ended the call.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  TASHA

  I’m sitting in a stolen Ford outside of my house. Normally I don’t steal cars but tonight I’m making an exception. Besides, I couldn’t trust my ride to get me around while I searched for my mother without someone noticing it. After what Crystal told me, that Hollywood had her, I needed to make sure she was okay. Or at least try to help.

  Part of me wanted to go to the cops to get their assistance but the other part knew I needed to handle this in the streets. Besides, getting them involved would bring into play all of the crimes I committed.

  I was just about to go inside my crib to see who was there when I see a nigga in a black hoodie moving slowly around the back of our house. I grabbed the gun I took from Crystal and snuck behind the person before they made it to my door. My heartbeat rapidly as I rushed toward him and tackled him to the ground. Once down I turned him over to point my gun into his forehead. I’m about to blow his face off when I see it’s my girl instead.

  “What the…” I tucked the gun in the back of my pants. “Nikki…what the…why are you back here? What’s going on?”

  She moaned a little. “I’ve been shot, Tasha.” She removed her bloody hand off the side of her stomach. “And I need help. Because I’m probably gonna die.” She moaned in pain.

  Her eyes closed and my heart dipped. I got off of her, lifted her up and rushed her to the stolen car. I placed her in the backseat so she could be flat. “Whatever you do, please don’t die on me, baby.” When I looked down at her, her eyes were still closed. “Nikki, are you hearing me, don’t die on me! Now wake the fuck up because you can’t be going to sleep.”

  She opened her eyes slowly. “Don’t worry, Tasha. I won’t die.” Her smile was weak and melted my heart. I knew she was trying to be strong but she didn’t have to. All I wanted was her to survive. “Just, please hurry and get me out of here before I…before I won’t have any control.”

  I closed the door, ran to the driver’s side and dipped behind the steering wheel before speeding away from the house. When I remembered tha
t I was also speeding in a stolen car I took it down just a notch. “Talk to me, Nikki.” I looked at her from the rearview mirror. “Nikki, talk to me so I can make sure you don’t fall to sleep.”

  “I’m up.” She moaned. “Just get me to the h…hospital.” She coughed. “Please, baby. I don’t feel too good.”

  “I’m driving as fast as I can,” I paused. “But I need you to tell me something too.” I looked at her through the rearview mirror. “Who, who did this to you?”

  She moaned and didn’t respond.

  “Nikki, who did this to you?” I yelled louder.

  “I don’t know but it was, it was two big men.” She paused. “They came into my house.” Her voice got lower. “They kept telling me to come with them and I didn’t, I didn’t wanna go.” She moaned some more. “I don’t know what they wanted from me because I don’t have any money.”

  My temples throbbed. Was this about Hollywood? It had to be! I mean, what did we think would happen when we took his wife? “And they let you get away alive?”

  She giggled lightly. “Not at all. I put so…so many holes in them with my mamma’s gun, they didn’t know what happened.” She paused. “But one of them got me too.”

  I loved my bitch even more. Hearing how she defended herself was so her. Guns were her life and I’m sure they had no clue who they was fucking with. “But how you get away?”

  “Went to my neighbor’s backyard and hid in their shed. OUCH!” She screamed. “I knew, I knew they wouldn’t think to go next door so I figured I would be safe. Plus my blood trail got lost in the grass.” She paused. “What do you think they wanted, Tasha?”

  I knew it was Hollywood and I felt bad for getting her involved in all of this shit. And to be honest it was making me hate Crystal even more. As if I needed any other reasons. “Don’t worry about all that right now, Nikki. As a matter of fact I don’t want you to talk too much.”

  “You gonna marry me after this shit, Tasha?” She asked. “Because something tells me this was somehow related to you. So the least you could do is be my Hersband.” She paused. “And the baby...I’m worried about the…”

  “The baby will be fine,” I said remembering she was pregnant. “The baby will be just fine.”

  “I…I hope so,” she said softly. “We gonna have more than one baby?” She said in a low voice. “’Cause I always wanted a huge family.”

  I continued to steer the car. “You make it out of this and we can have as many kids as you want, Nikki.”

  “You promise?” She moaned louder.

  “I promise. I put that on everything.”

  When my cell phone rung I answered even though the number was blocked. “Who this?” I continued steering with one hand.

  “It’s me, Crystal. Look, Tasha, I know you said you don’t wanna hear from me but I gotta tell you something.”

  I immediately hung up and threw the phone into the passenger seat. When she continued to call I wondered if she had any more info on ma so I answered again. “What the fuck you want, Crystal? Whatever it is, make it quick. I don’t have any time.”

  “I wanted to tell you, that I’m so sorry,” she paused. “I keep thinking about how close we were a week ago and how far apart we are now. And I don’t like this for us. We sisters. And I know you always forgive and I know I always fuck up but I need to know if you can forgive me just one more time. I don’t want anything from you, sis. Just your forgiveness.”

  Just hearing her voice caused my temples to throb, especially with my bitch doing badly in the back seat. So forgiving her was the last thing on my mind. “You got ma or not?”

  “No…I’m trying to—”

  “If you don’t got ma there ain’t no way I could ever forgive you so don’t even ask.”

  I thought about telling her that I have Nikki and that if she died it would also be her fault but I don’t bother. It ain’t worth it for me. Crystal ain’t worth it for me. Instead I end the call, tossed it on the passenger seat and continue down the road.

  When I heard a sound from my girl like she’s taking her last breath I panicked and the car swerved. “Nikki…Nikki! Answer me! Answer me please!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CRYSTAL

  When I pulled Denise’s car up behind the building and saw a black van and some huge man standing outside of it, I thought about turning around and running. Instead I talk myself off the ledge. Crystal, you started this drama and now you have to finish it. If you turn back all he’s gonna do is go after your sister.

  Nah, I couldn’t do that. It was time to push forward. I had tried to reach Tasha to let her know Hollywood was possibly coming to kill her girlfriend but she didn’t want to talk. I understood though. I wouldn’t want to talk to me either.

  I still took care of business. I made sure Tiffani was safe and I confessed to all the robberies with the cop in the event something happened to me tonight. I really wanted my sister to be able to live her dreams and go on with her life. I just hope my plans work.

  After clearing up my loose ends I went to the area but where was Hollywood?

  Tasha’s right about me though. From the beginning I was fucking up and always causing her problems where there shouldn’t have been any. It was time for me to answer to everything. So I pulled up beside the van, parked and hopped out. The moment my car door closed two large men rushed over to me and ran their hands over my body. I guess checking for weapons.

  “What’s going on?” I asked looking around from where I stood. “And where is Hollywood?”

  “Shut the fuck up, bitch,” the large man said. “We asking the questions around here.” When they were done touching my ass and tits, one of them turned around and yelled, “She’s clean.”

  The huge man opened the back door leading to the van and Hollywood eased out as if he had no worries. He cracked his knuckles and approached me slowly. I thought he was about to hit me, or even shoot me but for now he doesn’t.

  I took a deep breath. Instead of being intimidated I said real calmly, “Where’s my mother?”

  He smiled. “Where is your sister?”

  “She ain’t here.”

  He nodded. “Who would have thought, as pretty as you are, that you could be so much trouble?” He stepped closer. “But let’s do one thing at a time.” He looked me over from the top of my head to my feet. ”You know what as much shit as you talk, you probably should’ve been a man. I mean think about it. You fuck bitches and everything.” He paused. “Instead you ain’t nothing but a little bitch who’s way out of her fucking league.”

  I smirked. “Big things come in sexy packages.” I paused. “At least that’s what I always hear.”

  He laughed. “Is that right?”

  I continued to smile until it wiped away from my face slowly. “Where the fuck is my mother, Hollywood?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and sucked his teeth. “I don’t know. Where do you think she is? For all I know she could be looking down on you right now.” He looked up at the sky. “That is, if that’s the kind of thing you believe in. Angels and all.”

  My heart rate increased. I knew immediately what he was about to say before he even said it. Even if Hollywood lied and said she was alive, I could now feel that’s no longer the case. She’s gone off this earth. I thought about that dream I had awhile back. There was a house and when I walked inside of it ma was there with some of my other family members who died. Tasha was there too, but she was on the outside of the house which meant she was still alive.

  “Nah, let me stop playing. Your mother’s okay,” he said. “And once I get my wife I’ll take you to her. Now, where is my wife, Crystal? Time is ticking and my patience is running thin.”