Coca Kola - The Baddest Chick (27 page)

Kola stared at the address in her hand. It was on the fourth floor, apartment 4B, and the girl’s name was Cynthia. Edge had given her a clear description of Cynthia—five five with caramel skin, soft, chinky eyes, and long, sinuous black hair—telling her, she couldn’t miss her because “shortie is beautiful.”

Kola didn’t like coming out to Brooklyn unless it was for business with her parties. Brooklyn was a savage place in her mind. The bitches were prehistoric, and the men didn’t know how to get money like Harlem niggas. In Kola’s eyes, Harlem was where everything started and ended, and she was offended that Cross would even fuck with a Brooklyn bitch, let alone have a baby by one.

“You ready to do this?” Candace asked.

Kola wasn’t sure if she was ready to see the truth or if she could handle it. She looked at the time. A quarter past seven. She then looked at Candace and said, “Fuck it! Let’s see this bitch!”

Both girls stepped out of the truck and hastily walked toward the building on St. Edwards Street. The area was quiet. They walked into the projects like they owned the place. Candace had her .380 tucked in her jeans like a nigga. She was as hood as they came.

They entered the lobby and proceeded toward the elevators. Both girls were silent. Kola didn’t have a plan; she was going off a whim. She knew Edge had a motive and figured it was probably much more than to just get into her panties. He was still upset that she had grabbed a hold of the connect and had made his feelings known about Kola associating with Eduardo.

As the elevator ascended toward the second floor, Kola’s nerves were shaking. She wanted to talk to the bitch and see the baby for herself. She brought Candace along for backup just in case the situation escalated into something much more serious. But she just truly needed to see for herself.

After the elevator came to a stop on the fourth floor, Kola stepped off first, with Candace right behind her.

“What apartment is this bitch in?” Candace asked.

“4B.”

The girls looked for 4B, which was two doors down from the elevator. When they approached the door, they heard rap music blaring from inside.

Kola glanced at Candace. “I just wanna talk first,” she said.

Candace smirked and nodded.

Kola turned to the door and knocked. The girls were ready for anything. Their hair was styled into long ponytails, and they were dressed in sneakers and jeans, but no jewelry. In a fight, earrings and chains would be the first thing to grab for, easy to snatch off.

Kola knocked harder after no one answered the first time. The rap music lowered, and they heard a woman’s voice shout out, “Who is it?”

“I wanna speak to Cynthia,” Kola shouted in response.

“Who’s asking for her?”

“Just someone that wants to talk to her about something important,” Kola said.

“Like what?”

Candace was getting impatient, but Kola gestured for her to be quiet and chill out.

Kola then said, “It’s about Cross.”

The door suddenly opened up, and a young, beautiful-looking woman emerged, whose looks alone could give Kola a run for her money. Kola was shocked herself. Cross definitely had good taste in picking his women.

The two ladies looked at each other silently. Cynthia stood the same height as Kola and had the same curvy figure. She was wearing a skimpy T-shirt that exposed her cut abs and pierced belly button and a pair of tight-fitting jeans that highlighted her hips and round ass. Her hair flowed down to her back, and her facial features were flawless.

“What about him?” Cynthia asked.

“You know him?”

“How do you know him?” Cynthia countered.

“Bitch, I’m asking you the question,” Kola returned.

“
Bitch
?”

“How you know Cross?” Kola’s eyes looked past Cynthia and gazed into her apartment momentarily. From where she stood, she knew the apartment was well furnished, and the diamond bracelet around the girl’s wrist and the necklace she had on looked expensive.

“Bitch, you fuckin’ her man?” Candace stepped closer to Cynthia, in a threatening way.

“Her man?” Cynthia raised an eyebrow. “Bitch, that’s my nigga. Cross is my son’s father.”

Kola’s heart sank into her stomach, and she wanted to throw up.

Cynthia stood with a posture that let it be known she wasn’t about to be bullied in front of her own home. She was pretty but carried that hood mentality. She was a Brooklyn bitch to the fullest.

“Y’all bitches need to step away from my fuckin’ door. My son is ’sleep, and I ain’t tryin’ to explain myself to y’all. I’ve been fuckin’ wit’ Cross for two years, so who the fuck is you, bitch, to come up in my crib wit’ that bullshit? Step the fuck off!”

Candace couldn’t tolerate the insult to her friend any longer. She lunged forward, striking the girl upside her head with her closed fist and a hard blow. Cynthia stumbled back into the apartment, throwing her arms up in defense, but Candace was all over her like flies on shit.

They tussled in the short foyer, with some hair-pulling and their clothes getting torn. Candace had the advantage for a moment, but Cynthia was far from being just a pretty face. She pushed Candace off her and let off a right hook that connected with Candace’s jaw. The blow knocked Candace back, and then Cynthia charged forward, hitting her again repeatedly with a series of blows.

Kola jumped into the fight, snatching Cynthia by her long, flowing hair and yanking her back like she was pulling on a rope. Cynthia jerked from the pull and screamed out. Kola tore into Cynthia like a lion. They were in the living room falling over each other and knocking into the furniture, beating on each other like a Vegas fight. Cynthia was holding her ground, but Kola was the more skilled and brutal fighter. She had Cynthia on one knee with the girl’s hair knotted around her fist tightly.

“Get the fuck off my fuckin’ hair!” Cynthia shouted, trying to free her long hair from Kola’s clutch. Cynthia was relentless and refused to be beaten.

Kola tightened her grip.

Candace was furious. She had a bleeding lip and a bruised eye. She pulled the .380 from her waistband and charged at Cynthia with the intent to kill. Before Cynthia could look up and defend herself, Candace gun-butted her savagely, and Cynthia went down.

“Stupid bitch!” Candace screamed. She continued to pistol-whip Cynthia until her hands were covered in blood.

Kola had to pull Candace off Cynthia, who was sprawled out on the floor and not moving, her face caked with blood.

“Fuck that bitch, Kola!” Candace said, breathing hard like a marathon runner.

Kola looked down at Cross’ side bitch, unconscious and lying on her side, blood trickling from the open wound that Candace had caused. At that moment, Kola wasn’t the savvy businesswoman with the intense sex parties that high-profile men attended or the queen bitch that moved drugs in the streets. At that very moment, she was a young girl in love. A teenager with a crushed heart. Her true colors were exposed in Cynthia’s apartment. Her ponytail had been pulled loose from the fighting, and she had scratches on her face.

The sudden sound of a baby crying made Kola spin her head in the direction of one of the bedrooms in the hallway. She slowly proceeded toward the sound.

Candace stared at Kola and asked, “Kola, where you going?”

“I gotta see him,” she answered gruffly, her back turned to Candace.

She continued down the hallway and walked to where the baby was heard crying. She walked into one of the two bedrooms in the apartment. The walls to the room were painted a light blue, and it was decorated with a stylish white crib near the window. Many toys and teddy bears were scattered about, and an old-school wooden rocking chair was near the child’s crib. The room looked like something out of a Macy’s catalog.
It took money to style the baby’s room the way it is
, Kola thought.

Kola walked over to the crib and peered down at the baby crying. He wore blue pajamas ornamented with small teddy bear heads. He had a full head of dark, black hair and was the color of peanut butter. He was a cute baby, and Kola couldn’t help but to notice the resemblance to Cross.

She reached down and carefully picked up the crying infant. It brought back painful memories of the abortion she’d had without telling Cross. Then she lied to him, telling him that she was pregnant with his baby, so he wouldn’t take a plea and end up in prison. Kola assumed that lying about a pregnancy was a sure way of keeping him around. But her heart felt like it was being twisted in a pair of vise-grips as she actually held the child that her man had fathered.

Kola soothed the baby in her arms, trying to calm its piercing screams. She gently rocked the infant in her arms, and it was actually working. The child’s screaming grew fainter, and his eyes began to slowly close again.

“Kola, c’mon. What the fuck you doing?” Candace exclaimed, rushing into the bedroom.

Kola turned with the baby in her arms, and Candace was taken aback.

“Yo, what the fuck, Kola!”

“Ssssshhh!” Kola whispered. She put her index finger against her lips.

The baby was soon asleep, and Kola gently put him back into the crib. She stared at the boy for a moment.

Candace rushed over and grabbed Kola by her arm, spinning her around. “C’mon!”

Both girls dashed out the room and ran out the apartment, leaving Cynthia unconscious on the living room floor.

Hearing the commotion, a few neighbors began to step out their apartments, but the girls were already retreating down the concrete stairway and running out the building.

They jumped into the truck, and Candace sped away while Kola was in a daze, slumped in her seat. She stared out the window of the car as it moved hastily on Myrtle Avenue. When Candace came to a stop at a red light, Kola couldn’t hold the hurt in any longer. She burst into tears with the realization that everything Edge had told her was the truth. She was so naïve to think she was the only woman in Cross’ life.

“Yo, don’t even worry about that, Kola, ’cause you still gonna get yours,” Candace said, trying to comfort her friend.

Still, Kola’s tears continued to trickle. She felt exposed. She hadn’t cried like that since her little sister’s murder. It was a feeling she tried to control, but it came out on its own.

Candace steered the Trailblazer across the Brooklyn Bridge as she raced back to Harlem.

Kola felt betrayed. She didn’t know what to do with herself.
Love don’t live here anymore
, she thought.

***

Kola didn’t go home. She got a room at a five-star hotel in the city. Her phone had been ringing nonstop; it was Cross calling. She knew he had gotten the word about the incident, but she didn’t feel like talking. She felt like a fool.

As she spent time alone in the elegant hotel room, a sinful smile crept across her face. She had the upper hand. She had the connect—Eduardo. He was only dealing with her and not her man. She thought about the night she turned down his sexual advances.
Was it a mistake?
she asked herself.

Things were changing in her crew—the loyalty was crumbling. The empire she dreamed about having with her man was becoming a lie for her. Edge was a snake and a hater, and Cross was even worse, she felt. He was a cheater and a backstabber. She gave him her love and trust, while he was wifing the next bitch. Kola now regretted having the abortion and not giving Cross the child he wanted.

Kola’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw a New Jersey number. She had an idea who it was. Eduardo. It was time for her to re-up, but she had missed the day to meet with him. Kola figured Eduardo must be concerned about her.

Kola’s heart was too troubled at the moment for business to be on her mind. She sat on the bed and stared at the number that had called previously. She had choices to make. She could easily fuck Eduardo and solidify her position with him in the drug world. But she didn’t want to become just another one of his mistresses. She wanted to be a queen.

And while she loved Cross with all her heart, he was becoming a different man, almost careless and indecisive about things. He had a snake in his camp that he failed to pick up on his radar, and then with the pending gun charges, she didn’t know if he would see the light of day anytime soon.

She got up and got dressed. She had made her choice.

Chapter 24

A
pple woke up startled and frightened from her uncomfortable sleep in her car. Sweaty, she looked out the window frantically. She couldn’t shake that odd feeling that someone was watching her up close—stalking her—but she didn’t see anyone lurking around. She had been having the same feeling for several days now. She had made plenty of enemies in the past year, so it was a long list to choose from.

One name was constantly popping into her head—Guy Tony. He was still out there and hadn’t been seen or heard from in months. He was still a dangerous man, and he had a crucial grudge against Apple that made her feel the need to look over her shoulder wherever she went.

Apple was parked on a shaded tree-lined block a few miles south from the Tappan Zee Bridge in White Plains, New York. The sun was just rising, and the morning air was fresh, but Apple felt the total opposite. She felt sick. Her stomach was upset and churning. Her eyes were red and sunken in from the lack of sleep that she was getting. Her body felt frail, and she was constantly tired from not eating enough. She could barely move from out the car.