Bitch (10 page)

"So you gon' try to see me, or what?'

"I'll definitely try," I said, absorbing all the crazy thoughts that were going through my mind.

"Yo, man, you seen that little bag of weed I had in the car?" Azar's killer asked Ritchie. Hearing his voice brought back my close encounter with death.

"Yeah, I put it in the glove compartment, but Butch, you don't need to be smoking `round here. Them boys in the uniforms is out. Hold up a minute." Butch, that's Azar killer name, I thought to myself.

"Ritchie, I gotta go, I'll call you later. I promise."

"You better," he yelled as Butch drove off.

I couldn't believe Ritchie was hanging with Butch. They had to be doing business together, but I doubted Nico knew anything about it. But whatever it was, it had to be no good. Butch was sheisty. The reason all that shit went down be tween him and Azar was because they fronted on his money and they stole his drugs. I needed to further investigate, and I knew exactly who to see. I went straight to the detailing shop to have a conversation with Boogie. I parked on the side until the last couple of cars were pulling off. When I went inside, as always, Boogie was happy to see me.

"How's my ghetto Queen?" he asked giving me a hug.

"I'm good," I said, not wasting no time. "I need to speak to you about something."

"Should've known. Follow me." Boogie escorted me to the back where his private office was. I didn't want to speak to him in front of the girl working behind the cashier desk. She could be the hood snitch for all I knew. "What you need, Precious?"

"Do you know a dude by the name of Butch?"

"Butch with the scar on his face?"

"Yeah, him."

"Yeah, I know him. I know you ain't fucking with that nigga. I heard you and Nico was engaged to get married."

"We are," I said, flashing my finger with the five-carat rock. "Just tell me what you know about him, Boogie."

"Bad news. He started off as a two-bit stickup kid, then graduated to robbing niggas for large amount of drugs. Somehow, even with his ruthless ways, he stayed in the game without getting killed and managed to come up as a major playa now. But real official hustlers don't fuck with him. He deals with a lot of these young boys that's coming up. Between me and you, some say he's the one that killed Azar."

That last bit of information I knew as a fact, and the rest just confirmed my suspicions. Ritchie was definitely up to something, and I had a feeling it meant bad news for Nico.

For the next couple of days, I tried to eavesdrop on as many of Nico's conversations as possible. Since he rarely discussed business with me, on my own, I had to see if Ritchie had brought Butch into the fold, or if he was still playing it close to the chest. He knew I wouldn't ask Nico about Butch, because then I would have tell Nico I saw Butch with Ritchie, and that would open up a whole other can of worms.

I considered getting the information out of Ritchie, but although he was a snake he wasn't stupid. I ask one too many questions, and the red flags would start going up.

Getting the inside scoop on what he had planned wasn't to protect Nico. It was to make sure it didn't fuck up my own plans. Whatever Ritchie was scheming on definitely meant danger for Nico, because in this business there could only be one king. As I stood by the double doors to the den where Nico conducted the majority of his business calls, the home phone rang. I knew it had to be for me since everybody called Nico on his cell.

"Hello," I said, irritated that my spying was interrupted.

"Precious," I heard what sounded like Inga's voice. She was crying and yelling at the same time. Instantly I thought that Ritchie sold me out and confessed everything to her.

"Inga, are you alright?"

"No, would you please come get me? I finally told Ritchie about the baby and he flipped the fuck out."

"Don't say no more. I'm on my way." I was relieved Ritchie hadn't blown up my spot, but I was also concerned about Inga. I didn't want to disturb Nico, so I wrote him a quick note telling him that I had to step out and would call him.

Inga was hysterical when I picked her up. "Precious, I can't believe Ritchie's foul ass. When I told him I was preg nant he smacked the shit outta me. Do you see this bruise on the side of my face," she said, pointing to a big red mark on her cheek. "He said he ain't gon' be trapped by a baby wit' a bitch he don't even want. Then he told me that if I didn't have an abortion, he would cut the baby out of me himself. Can you believe that monster?"

"Inga, I'm sorry. So what you gon' do?"

"I don't know. I really want to have my baby, Precious. Not just because of Ritchie, but I ain't got nothing else going on wit' my life. Having a baby will change all that."

"On the real, Inga. A baby ain't nothing but another mouth to feed. Do you really want that type of responsibility, especially since Ritchie don't want no parts of it?"

"Fuck Ritchie. I don't want nothing but his money to take care of the baby anyway. You were right about him, Precious. He's a snake." From there, Inga had nothing but diarrhea of the mouth. "I don't know if you've noticed, but lately Ritchie and Nico ain't been hanging. Ritchie been kicking it wit' some new kid named Butch." Before Inga had my attention, but after she mentioned Butch's name, she had my undivided attention.

"Who's Butch?" I probed to see if Inga could divulge any new information to me.

"Exactly," Inga said, looking at me to let me know we were on the same page. "I asked Ritchie the same thing, and he told me to mind my business. That made me even more curious. Last night when Ritchie thought I was sleep, I heard a knock at the door. At first I thought it was a bitch because Ritchie don't like nobody to know where he lives. I went to the top of the stairs being nosey, and I caught sight of a nigga with the most horrific scar on the side of his face. When I heard Ritchie call him Butch, I realized that was the nigga he been on the phone wit' all the time. Precious, I swear them niggas was talking about fucking Nico over on some serious paper. I'm talking a million dollars. Ritchie tried to say that was a drop in the bucket for Nico, but it would start an all out war between him and some other niggas, because Nico don't take nobody getting over on him and his money."

It was all making sense now.

"Ritchie was trying to take Nico out without getting any blood on his own hands. Butch was his partner in all this. They probably had big plans to run every block Nico had on lockdown together."

"When was all this supposed to be going down?"

"I'm not sure, and after the fight we got into this morning, I have no way of finding out. But you betta warn Nico that Ritchie's slimy ass is out to get him."

"I will," I said, knowing I had no intentions of alerting Nico to the information. "With the dime you just dropped on me, I need to get home and talk to Nico. Here's some money so you can stay at a hotel for a couple of days and get some other things you might need."

"Thanks, Precious," Inga said as I handed her eight hundred dollars.

"Inga, keep a low profile for the next few days, and if you speak to Ritchie, don't lose your cool and tell him any of the shit you just told me."

"I got you."

Right after I dropped Inga off at the hotel, my cell started ringing and it was Ritchie.

"Hello."

"Baby, what up?"

"You tell me."

"You, me. I want to take you on a vacation this weekend."

"Ritchie, I would love to, but you know Nico ain't having it." Today was Sunday, which meant Ritchie planned on having Nico out the way by the end of the week if he was planning a vacation with me.

"Baby, do you love me?"

"Ritchie, you know I do."

"Then let me handle Nico. Just be ready to leave Friday."

"Well, can I see you tonight? I miss you."

"I'ma be tied up for the next couple of days, but definitely Friday. But I'll call you."

I began wondering exactly when Ritchie started planning the murder of his best friend. Was it before or after he fell in love with the pussy? Right now it didn't matter. I had to come up with something fast. I had been waiting to drop the bomb on Nico when I had a hundred thousand dollars stashed, but now I had an opportunity to walk away with a cool million. With that type of money, I could leave Brooklyn and start my life over.

I was relieved when I saw Nico's car parked outside. I needed to pick his brain to see if he had any idea that Ritchie was plotting to set him up. Nico didn't hear me when I came inside, so I walked quietly where I could hear him clearly on the phone from the den. The door was open, so I stood on the side of the wall.

He was saying something about this new diesel connection Ritchie hooked him up with, and they had the potential to make a shit load of money together. He went on to say that the first go round, he was starting small with just a mil lion worth to see how good their product sells on the streets. Then he told whoever he was talking to that he had a lot of moves to make tonight so could he stop by the warehouse and bring him the million over and he would keep it at his crib since he and Ritchie were hooking up early tomorrow to meet with the new connect and make the exchange.

I knew exactly where Nico kept his money stashed. He usually had no more than fifty thousand dollars in the house, but I guess he figured that the million would only be here overnight so it didn't matter. This was working out better than I'd hoped. As Nico finished up his call, I tiptoed upstairs so he wouldn't think I heard anything.

When Nico finally came upstairs, I was just getting out the shower and he was obviously surprised to see me.

"Baby, I didn't even know you were home," he said as I saw his dick rise up from looking at my naked wet body.

"Oh. When I got home I didn't see you so I just came up here to take a shower and go to bed. I'm a little tired."

"I hope not too tired to let me get inside of you." Nico picked me up and led me to the bed. I decided to put it on him extra good since it would be the last time he'd ever feel the inside of my pussy. After we finished, I had to admit that nobody could fuck me like Nico, but oh well, sex isn't everything.

Right when I stood up to go to the bathroom, I heard the door bell ring. "Baby, you want me to get the door."

"Nah, that's just Tommy dropping off some paperwork. I'll be back."

Yea, some paperwork in the form of a million dollars, I thought to myself. It didn't take long for Nico to come back upstairs. "That was fast."

"I told you Tommy just had to drop off some paperwork."

"Oh. You wanna go to the movies tonight?" I asked, knowing he already had plans but wanting to see what they were.

"Baby, I can't tonight but maybe tomorrow."

"Oh, you hanging out wit' Ritchie?"

"Nah, I have some business to handle."

"How are things between ya anyway, is there still tension?"

"Everything is cool. We worked it out. Ritchie snapped out of whatever funk he was in. You know we brothers; it's 'til death do us part."

When Nico finally headed out, I immediately started getting my shit together because I was working on borrowed time. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to come back for the rest of my belongings so I gathered up as much of my stuff as I could in order of importance, starting with all my jewelry (including Nico's), furs, designer bags, shoes and then clothes. Once I got all that in the car, I went in the basement where Nico kept his money. He had no idea I knew where he stashed it since I never came down here. I actually found it by accident when Nico was out of town and there was a power outage. At that time, when I went in the basement with the flashlight, I tripped and found the box switch, and the money and a gun. There wasn't much paper so I left it there. Plus, I didn't want Nico to know I knew just in case I had to take it for whatever reason in the future.

Well, that reason had presented itself. The money was wrapped in bundles stashed inside a duffel bag. I grabbed it and the gun just in case I needed protection. After doing one more house search to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything, I headed out.

When I got in the car, I called Inga to see if she heard from Ritchie and she told me no, so then I called him. When he answered he sounded like he was in the middle of something. "Ritchie, I need to see you."

"Precious, I'm busy right now. You gonna have to wait."

"I can't. It's important. It's about Nico."

"Oh shit. Did you tell him about us?"

"Listen, I need to see you," I said, not giving anymore information so he would bring his ass on.

"Alright, meet me at my crib in a half."

I knew he was shittin' bricks, hoping I didn't blow his spot to Nico and mess up the bloodshed he was plotting to start on his own. Luckily, it was dark outside so I parked my car across the street waiting for Ritchie to come home. When he pulled up I immediately called Nico.

"What's up, Baby?" Nico said, when he answered the phone.

"I was calling to tell you bye."

"What you mean, `bye'? Where you going?"

"I can't do this no more, Nico."

"Do What? Stop talking in riddles, Precious."

"After we got back from Antigua I tried to put the whole Porscha situation behind me, but I couldn't. The only person that was able to console me was Ritchie."

"What the fuck did you say?"

"Nico, I've been seeing Ritchie for a few months now, and we're in love. I'm pregnant and the baby is his," I said with a slight sniffle in my voice as if holding back tears.

"Precious, don't fucking play with me. This shit ain't funny."

"It's not meant to be. I've packed my stuff. I'm leaving you."

"Where the fuck are you right now?"

"On my way to Ritchie's."

"I'm going to give you one more chance to take all this bullshit back before I lose it."

"I can't take it back, Nico, `cause it's the truth. Why do you think Ritchie was showing you so much shade? He couldn't stand the fact that I refused to leave you. But once I found out I was pregnant, I decided it was time to let you go."

"That might be my seed. How you know I'm not the father?"