10 Crack Commandments

by Erica Hilton

  “I already explained that these clubs are no place for a lady, especially my lady.”

  Melissa knew that was bullshit, but she didn’t want to start an argument with her man, not on Christmas Eve.

  “OK, baby. I’m waiting up for you in something red and naughty,” she purred.

  Nut wished the vision could get his dick hard, but it didn’t. “Yeah, you wait up for Daddy, ’cause I’m gonna put you to sleep.”

  He disconnected the line, peered out his window one last time to make sure all eyes were on him, and then proceeded toward the parking garage. Once inside the large club, the trio headed straight to the bar. It was already well after midnight, and the club was jam-packed. No mink coats were checked at the door. Each man and woman lugged their luxury frocks on their forearms or on their backs.

  Nut found a spot at the bar and ordered three large bottles of Moët. The large buckets filled with chilled Moët cost nearly one thousand dollars each. As the men began popping bottles, the vultures—women—and a few bum-ass niggas came out the woodwork. Every couple of yards he spotted a different group of men—Queens, New Rochelle, and uptown. His eyes scanned the room for Shue, but he wasn’t anywhere in sight. He saw Remy and Alonzo, but that was it.

  As the night continued, the party began jumping. Everyone was drunk and singing along to all the songs DJ Kid Capri played. Nut spotted her first—red skin, red hair, fuchsia-colored lips, and a chocolate-covered full length mink coat dragging across the floor. Hovering over her was Shue—pale skin, dark hair, Chinese eyes, and a jet black three-quarter mink coat. The mere sight of him turned Nut’s stomach. Then he remembered how Ria had sucked and rode his dick earlier. The two secret lovers spotted each other from across the room and made eye contact. Ria was slick with hers. She winked at Nut and he nodded and took a sip of his drink. Instinctively he rubbed his dick.

  A litany of women pranced all around Nut, trying to get his attention. He flirted a little, passing out glasses of champagne and talking closely in their ears, mostly because he wanted to get Ria jealous, and partly because he was on the prowl for new pussy, and the ladies were looking scrumptious. Good enough to eat, only Nut didn’t eat pussy.

  Slowly Ria made her way over to where Nut stood, but not without going unnoticed by Remy, who by now was only a few feet away from Nut, Butter, and Peter Piper. They took a few minutes to talk business, but didn’t get into anything heavy.

  Remy knew the game. The first lesson someone should have taught Shue was never to treat a ho like a housewife. When Shue met Ria she wasn’t shit. She grew up in a foster home and was rumored to have fucked her foster dad when she reached the age of twelve. She’d been fucking ever since. Shue took her away from all of that and gave her a plush, opulent lifestyle, and she repaid him by fucking all the major players in the game. Although Remy knew that Shue wasn’t any angel, a man is gonna be a man regardless, and he felt his friend deserved a good girl.

  “I wanna link up tonight. Can you get away?” Ria asked as she pretended to be ordering a bottled water from the bar. Nut was surprised by her question.

  “I can do what the fuck I want. If you can get away, I’m down.”

  “OK, when you leave here, meet me at the Hyatt.”

  Nut couldn’t wait for the party to be over. Instead of going home, he got his usual suite at the Hyatt, and just as she said she would, Ria met him there. She came stumbling in, kicking off her stilettos and slithering out of her mink coat.

  Nut was sitting quietly on the edge of the bed with his hands clasped tightly together. He was in deep thought. He didn’t like sneaking around anymore. He didn’t like how he felt when he saw Ria come in with Shue. And now he didn’t like the realization that she wouldn’t leave Shue until Nut could make more money.

  “Yo, how the fuck you get away from that nigga twice in one day?”

  Giggling, she stumbled toward the bed and dropped down to her knees. Nut could smell the liquor oozing out of her pores, and he wondered if he smelled as badly. Hunched in between his legs, she hiccupped and then held her head to get it to stop spinning.

  “That bastard is so stupid.” Again she hiccupped. “I broke the code to his SkyPager and heard this bitch confirming that he was coming over tonight after the party. When he told me in the club that he had to go take care of important business, and for me to go home, I wanted to spit in his face. Instead I got even.”

  “Oh, that’s what you call what we doing? Getting even with your man?”

  “Nah, it ain’t even like that. I mean, fuck him. He ain’t shit anyway.”

  “If he ain’t shit, what does that make you for being with him?”

  “Whatchu trying to say?”

  Nut was calm and steady. A lot was going through his mind. “I’m just asking you a few questions. If you know that he’s checking for someone else, then why are you still there?”

  “That bitch ain’t really no threat. He been fucking with her for years now. He even bought her a car, a little raggedy bullshit Honda. Nothing too slick. That bitch been wanting to take my place for years, but I ain’t gonna let that happen.”

  Nut pushed her hands off him. “Whatchu mean you ain’t gonna let that happen?”

  Ria thought about her words and did a remix. “I mean she ain’t gonna take shit from me. I’d walk away first. That’s what I plan on doing, walking away from Shue and directly into your arms, if you’ll have me.”

  Ria reached up and planted a wet, juicy kiss on Nut’s full lips. Nut welcomed her kiss, but he knew that it would be the last. He was a lot of things, but he was nobody’s trick.

  Nut woke up in the morning to Ria’s legs wrapped around his waist. He’d definitely overslept. As the sun streamed through the hotel room and his head was no longer clogged from the alcohol, he realized that he’d made a stupid mistake. He’d let Ria control his actions, therefore dictating his life. If her man wasn’t out fucking some other bitch, then she wouldn’t have wanted to be with Nut, and Melissa wouldn’t have had to spend the night alone worrying about where her man was. Nut knew that she would be worried sick, and also furious at the prospect of him cheating.

  He cut on his beeper and she’d beeped him 911 more than thirty times. It could have been more, but they just didn’t register. Nut pushed Ria’s legs off him and hopped in the shower. As he lathered up he tried to think of a good excuse to tell Melissa once he walked through the door. Whatever it was, he knew she wouldn’t believe him, but he just wanted it to sound plausible.

  He called Butter and Tamia picked up. “Let me speak to Butter,” he said.

  “Well good morning to you too.”

  “Good morning. Now can you put Butter on the phone?” Nut had never liked her. He always thought that she had too much mouth, so he took satisfaction in hating her.

  “Merry Christmas, kid,” Butter said. “Where you at, ’cause I know your ass ain’t been home. Melissa been calling all morning. Shit, since six this morning.”

  “Damn! I was hoping that you could have covered for me and said that I passed out on your couch.”

  “Well I could have if you told me your whereabouts last night. And that reminds me, that’s some dangerous shit just breaking out like that for a broad. That same broad could be setting you up, and no one would be the wiser.”

  “I don’t need a lecture right now. I know Melissa gonna be flipping.”

  “Yeah, she’s gonna be pretty pissed.”

  Nut hung up the phone, got dressed, and miraculously Ria didn’t wake up. He started to tell her goodbye, but then decided against it. He grabbed his keys and his coat, and then bounced.

  All the way home his stomach was uneasy. He knew he did a dummy move. When he got home he expected Melissa to be up in the living room ready to cuss him out. Instead, she was buried in bed.

  “Ma, what’s wrong?” he asked
.

  “I’m not feeling well.”

  “Really? What’s wrong?”

  “I’m just not feeling well.”

  Nut sat on the bed and looked stupid. “Don’t you want to open up your gifts?”

  “No, I don’t. I just said that I’m not feeling well. I just want to be left alone.”

  “Well are you going to go with me to my mom’s?”

  “I don’t feel like it. You go.”

  Nut knew not to push her. He wished that if she was about to start beefing about his whereabouts, she’d just get on with it. He really didn’t feel like carrying this through the whole day.

  “Last night I got so drunk that I fell out at Peter’s,” he said.

  “Umm, humm, that’s nice.”

  “Yo, what’s wrong with you?!” he screamed.

  Calmly, she replied, “I just told you, I’m not feeling well.”

  Melissa ignoring Nut and not showing him attention by acting all crazy somehow had him stressed. It was early in the afternoon, and now he didn’t have shit to do. He expected to sit around all day with her, and then in the evening go visit his moms. All his friends were with their girls. His other girl was with her man, and now he didn’t have shit to do. Fuck it, he thought. He went into the living room and began flipping through the channels.

  Meanwhile . . . on the other side of town

  “I’m telling you, you better give us someone and fast, or else we’re pulling you back in,” the federal agent warned.

  “I know. I’m working on it,” Peter Piper replied.

  “Your time has expired. We want Nut and his whole crew. If you don’t set it up so that we bust his black ass with no less than five keys, then you’re going away for life, my amigo. I promise you that.”

  “Come on, man, you gonna threaten me like this on Christmas?”

  “I’m not your man! And you better be glad that you’re out celebrating Christmas, you fucking snitch! Now bring me your fucking cousin. You got five days.”

  Peter Piper hung up the phone and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead away. He didn’t know how he’d gotten into this situation, and he surely didn’t know how to get out. He wasn’t built for such a high level of stress. He was a simple man with simple needs. He didn’t need a mansion on the top of a hill. A starter home would do. He didn’t need to fuck the best looking bitch. An average chick worked just as well for him. He didn’t have to own a fleet of luxury cars. He’d settle for a lease. And in his pursuit of the American Dream, he’d gotten jammed up.

  He wanted to hand them Nut on a silver platter and then leave town and start over. Nut never did shit for him, so he wasn’t losing any sleep over his decision. The only thing that bothered him was what if Nut beat the case and got out? He’d surely be a dead man walking. The mere thought sent chills down his spine.

  ***

  “So you’re really leaving me, huh?” Nut asked Melissa the next day.

  “Yes, I really am,” Melissa responded as she ran around frantically packing her things. Nut watched her as she pulled out suitcase after suitcase, stuffing them with her shoes and clothing. What amused him was that he wasn’t supposed to be home. He’d left home for the day, walked a couple of blocks, and then changed his mind and came right back in the house. He watched as she packed every article she had in the house, including all the jewelry he’d given her throughout the years.

  “Why? I’m saying, why you out? What a nigga do?”

  She stopped packing momentarily. “Nut, you know that it hasn’t been working between us for a long time. I know about your chick Ria from Harlem, Crystal and Lisa in Queens, and Stephanie in the Bronx. I know about all of them because I broke your code on your SkyPager a long time ago. But even as I listened to all the messages your stable of women left you, I never cheated on you. I still loved you through all of that. But now I’m done.”

  Nut wanted to scream at her for breaking his code, and tell her that it was good for her. Whatever she heard was her fault. She shouldn’t have gone looking for shit, because when you looked, you just might find it. But instead he said, “Those bitches don’t mean shit to me.”

  “That’s why you don’t come home at night? That’s why you leave me here crying all the time, because those bitches don’t mean shit to you? Maybe I’m the bitch that doesn’t mean shit to you.”

  “Nah, I love you. You know that.”

  Melissa shook her head to fight back tears. “You don’t even sound convincing.”

  “So you were just going to leave me like that? Without letting a nigga know?”

  “I gotta do what I gotta do.”

  Her response infuriated Nut. He felt as though he was pleading a good case. He’d just told her that he didn’t love any of those other women, and that he loved her, but it seemed as if she was taking him for granted. “Look, I ain’t gonna beg you to stay. If you wanna leave, then get the fuck out. Another bitch will be glad to take your place. But leave all the shit that I bought you at the door. Money, car keys, clothes, everything! Bitch, I ain’t no trick.”

  Melissa’s eyes welled up with tears. She was hoping that she could pawn all of the jewelry he had given her and sell her mink coat so that she could support herself until she finished college and got a good job. Now that she couldn’t take anything with her, she was frightened. She had managed to stash away three thousand dollars, but that wouldn’t carry her far. She’d eat that up in carfare and lunch money in no time. Plus, she had met a nice girl at school who agreed to rent Melissa a room in her apartment. That alone was four hundred dollars a month.

  Melissa fought back her tears and remained stoic. He wasn’t worth her tears. She’d cried over him too many nights. Instantly she stopped packing, tossed her car keys on the dresser, and walked off with only the clothes on her back. He could have everything. She didn’t care. One day she’d earn her own money so that she would never have to be disrespected again by a man.

  ***

  “Yo, Nut, I just got those pies from Rem. Where you gonna be, ’cause I’m coming through,” Peter Piper told Nut. It was the day before New Year’s Eve.

  Nut was feeling fucked up. Melissa had left him and he decided to stop fucking with Ria. Word around town was that Ria and Shue got engaged Christmas morning. The trifling chick hadn’t called him since he walked out on her six days ago. While she was having a very merry Christmas, his shit was totally fucked up. He sat on his sofa feeling sorry for himself, wondering who he could call over to help ease his pain. If he called any one of his regular chicks on the side, they’d come with a million questions. He didn’t feel like talking. He wanted someone new. Someone anonymous.

  “What the fuck you calling me for?” Nut asked. “You know I don’t touch them things. Call Butter.”

  “I did. I’ve been paging him for hours, and he hasn’t gotten back to me. I need a place for these to sit while I go and service a few niggas in Queens. You know, I gotta make that money for us, and I can’t keep those niggas waiting on Butter. They’ll go cop from someone else.”

  “Now what you talking ’bout?” Nut was only half listening. Peter had lost him at Queens.

  “I got ten joints on me, and I gotta go to Queens to hit a nigga off with two pies. I’m not cruising the pavement with extra joints. That’s like hustling backward, right?”

  “Again, why the fuck you calling me? Drop those shits at your crib.”

  “Nah, baby bruh. What if I get into it around my hood? How I look bringing eight joints through the projects? I just need a place for these to rest until I come through, and since Melissa ain’t there, these will be safe.”

  “You know I don’t keep pies where I rest at. That goes against one of my rules, yo.”

  “I know, but we’re a team, and I’m pulling my end here. I’m out here grinding and ain’t nobody o
ut here helping—”

  “Man, stop fucking whining like a little girl.”

  “Nut, man, you’re killing me. I’m like two blocks from your crib. I’m driving around in circles and shit.”

  “A’ight, come through,” Nut replied reluctantly.

  Nut got up, let Peter in, and returned back to his position on the sofa. The living room had a carpet picnic laid out that consisted of Chinese takeout, a six pack of Corona, a large bag of popcorn, M&M’s, and two blunts, freshly rolled. Nut was watching an old video of the Mike Tyson versus James Buster Douglas fight, and he was irritated by anyone’s presence. He was truly in a funk.

  “What’s up, man? I see you doing you,” Peter Piper sang.

  “What the fuck you so happy about?”

  “Huh? I’m not happy. I’m working,” Peter replied as he placed the heavy duffel on the couch. “You sure you’re all right?”

  “Nigga, don’t I look all right? Ain’t nobody stressing.”

  “I know you’re not. I was just checking, that’s all,” Peter replied. “OK, I’m out. I’ll be back for that in the morning.”

  “Don’t just leave that shit sitting there,” Nut said as he stuffed a handful of M&M’s into his mouth. “Put it in the closet or some shit.”

  Peter did as he was told. “Yo, so what time you leaving tomorrow?”

  “You know I don’t go out on New Year’s Eve. That shit’s cursed. Too many motherfuckers be getting murked or locked the fuck up. Just swing through early and get that shit out of my crib.”

  “No doubt.”

  “And don’t make me have to call ya ass!”

  Peter was twenty-seven years old, way older than his cousin, and far too old to be spoken to like he was a child. Inwardly he despised Nut, and he was exhilarated at the thought that Nut’s time was coming.

  “You won’t have to call me. Those joints will be out of here before noon. I put that on my life.”

  ***

  The next morning Nut woke up feeling miserable. He was filled with angst and agitated, and he couldn’t explain away his emotions. He couldn’t sit still for shit. He tried to blame it on how he felt about New Year’s Eve. Then he told himself that it was because he was missing Melissa. Finally he decided to call his mother.