Dope Boys and the Women that Love 'Em

Dope Boys and the

Women
that Love’ em

Tiece

As always I’d like to thank my Heavenly Father… This is my 5
th
HOT book release which tells me that all things through Christ are indeed possible. I’m truly grateful for my many blessings that he continues to shower me with and those that are yet to come. There is no greater feeling than that.

I’d like to thank my family and friends… Y’all know who you are. I love you all!

I’d like to thank Cole Hart, Torica Tymes, and David Weaver for giving me a GRAND START in being able to reach my readers and for being there if need be. This is a great team to be on and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Thanks to Tina Nance… The hottest Editor around… I certainly appreciate you to the MAX!

Also to Mario Patterson, my graphic designer, I can’t leave him out. He did his thing on this cover. He’s the hot shit and he knows it! I’m sure he’s gonna say, “Damn Right I am,” in his infamous words of choice. LOL

I’d like to also thank my KnT FAM for the laughs and my P.O.P. FAM for keeping me in tune with their emotional reactions to my spoilers and discussions surrounding my books and life in general. The laughs are just too much combined and I love it to the Fullest!

Thanks to My Readers, my Fans, and all the people who have stuck with me and haven’t wavered. It means the world to me. Kisses & Hugs… To everyone else… KICK ROCKS with open toe shoes on…

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Tammy let the driver window down as the cool wind blew across her face and revitalized her a bit. She’d been driving about five hours, and was now was traveling on interstate I-295 North, heading through Jacksonville, Florida. With her nerves still rattled and her mind racing with one crazy thought after another; she couldn’t get across the Georgia line soon enough.

After
realizing that she was over half way home, she started to relax a little. She increased the volume on the satellite radio while singing the chorus lyrics to Wale featuring Tiara Thomas’ “Bad.” She glimpsed in the backseat, grabbing her Prada Authentic blue jean purse then pulled out a pack of Newport longs. She patted the front pockets on her Prada Knit navy blue sweater dress feeling for her lighter then lit the cigarette quickly. Being that she hadn’t smoked a cigarette in almost three years; dragging on the menthol stick was something that she desperately needed at the moment.

T
he late night, early morning breeze blew rapidly through the car. The air was crispy and cold, but she endured the refreshing life saver thinking that without it her white 2011 BMW 750 Li four door sedan would’ve been up a tree or possibly involved in a head on collision.

She thought about it being Tuesday and that she’d been away from her babies
for three nights, although the trip was only supposed to be for one. She missed them dearly and couldn’t wait to be able to put her arms around them again. A smile crept across her face as she quickly approached the
Welcome to Georgia
sign.

She looked over at
her homegirl Diamond who was sleeping peacefully on the passenger side. She gently nudged her on the arm. “Diamond, you can wake up now. We’re crossing the Georgia line.”

Diamond
sat up pulling the small wool throw blanket tightly around her body. “Damn, it’s cold in here Tammy. Let the window up a little or turn on the heat.”

“You better be glad I let the window down
or your ass prolly wouldn’t have ever awakened.” She said gently rolling her eyes.

Diamond
ignored her smart remark and quickly turned to stare out the rear dash window of the car making sure that Russell and Malcolm were still closely following them. The beaming headlights from Malcolm’s 2012 Crew Cab Dodge Ram 1500 made her feel better, but just as quickly as she felt better; she felt bad again.

“Do you
think they’re alright?” Diamond asked turning to face the road again.

“Maybe not right now, but they will be.” Tammy said. “
I mean, think about what happened. It’s no wonder we’re all okay; not to mention the big loss we took.”

Diamond
rubbed her sleepy eyes. “Tell me about it. That’s all I keep thinking about. Hell, I’m glad you woke me up because I was actually dreaming about it.” She seemed to be still nervous as she began digging through her pink Gucci purse in search of her Covergirl Outlast lip gloss. She applied the berry twist gloss to her lips then looked over at Tammy. “How much did y’all really lose?” She asked.

Tammy took in a deep breath,
hating to think about it. “Damn,” she whispered still not wanting to say the actual amount they’d lost. It seemed that if she didn’t discuss it then maybe it didn’t happen, but thinking about them being held at gun point and robbed brought back unsavory memories that it was indeed all true and there was nothing that they could do to change it.

“Well
one good thing is that Russell didn’t bring everything that we’d saved because he knows better than that, but we still lost thirty-six thousand.” Tammy disappointedly confirmed while shaking her head.

“Well
I don’t exactly know how much Malcolm was spending but he did have more than that on him.”

Tammy looked over at Diamond
sadly. “How much was that?”

Diamond
sighed. “Malcolm told me that it was around seventy thousand or so.”

Tammy’s eyes stretched open from disbelief.
“Wow.” She knew that being in the drug game was risky and it came with its fair share of winnings and loses. Russell had taken a few loses over the six year span that he’d been in the game, but nothing like this loss and in such a disturbing manner.

“What am I gonna do?”
Diamond nervously questioned. “Life was very hard for me before I met Malcolm. He saved me. Otherwise, I’d still be shaking my ass at the strip club.”

“No
, don’t say that. I’m sure you would’ve found a way out by now.” Tammy said.

“Girl please, a
fter working there for four years I thought I’d be stuck there forever.” She sighed. “I’d been there since the age of fifteen trying to make sure that I had nice clothes for school and money on deck just in case mama couldn’t pay a bill. Which was quite often,” she added while letting out a deep breath. “Without Malcolm I don’t know what Amber and I would do.” She said thinking about her four year old daughter. “He’s been there since before she turned one; he’s the only daddy that she knows.”

“You’re
talking like he’s about to leave you or something. It’s like you’re already throwing in the towel.”

“I’m not
giving up Tammy, but it’s gonna be hard for us to get that kinda money saved up again.” She shook her head feeling defeated. “I’ve not had to work in three years. Lord what am I gonna do?” She questioned. “Having no money may really put a strain on our relationship.”

“Why are you even beating yourself up over this?
” Tammy asked shaking her head. “Malcolm has been in the game longer than Russell and for good reason. Don’t you think that he’ll bounce back? I’m sure this isn’t the first loss that he’s taken. Plus, you’re forgetting that their Lawn Care Service always kicks into high gear around this time of the season.”

Diamond smiled a little. “
I guess you’re right Tammy. I’m just so fuckin’ frazzled right now until I don’t know what thinking straight is. Trust me, I’ve seen a lot of things working at
Shake-a-Tail Feathers
and I’ve seen my share of guns, but I’ve never had one pressed against my head. I saw my whole life pass before me.” She looked at Tammy, her eyes filled with water. “Things happened so fast,” she said wiping her eyes as the tears began to fall.

“I know how you feel,” Tammy said
as she reflected on what happened to them while in Miami when a tall thin guy shockingly barged inside their hotel room and immediately started demanding all of their money. If it hadn’t been for his two goons rushing in behind him Russell and Malcolm would’ve laid that nigga to rest just as quick as he came busting inside the room. The only thing that put an immediate stop to him meeting his maker was one of the goons grabbing Diamond before she could get away from the door and pressing the gun against her head.

The ladies rode in silence for a moment as the unforgettable
incident consumed their every thought. Tammy watched Diamond out the corner of her eye. She felt sorry for her because since then she’d been a nervous wreck and she couldn’t help but wonder if this would change her any.

She’d known Diamond
for the past three years when out the blue Malcolm had moved her inside his home. From the moment they met they became instant friends. The Laura London look-a-like was very cool and fun to be around. Her bubbly personality and deep dimples got her a lot of attention from men, but she was always true to her man and wouldn’t cheat on him for nothing. Over the past couple of years she had become the little sister that Tammy never had and had also become a dependable shopping buddy since both had such creative styles.

“Are you gonna be okay?” Tammy asked as
Diamond continued to wipe her tears. Watching Diamond cry made her want to cry and that’s why she was happy that she’d fallen asleep earlier, but since she was so adamant about waking up to see that they had crossed the Georgia line; she had no choice but to wake her. Nobody was more ready to see Augusta, GA than she was.

“This scares me,” Diamond admitted
. “After that shit happened in Miami I don’t think that I could ever ride with Malcolm again. I thought I would forever be his ride or die chick, but riding proves to be a hell of lot easier to maintain and stick with than dying. I mean I can’t die right now. I have a daughter who loves me unconditionally and I have to be here to raise her.”

Tammy shook her head in agreement while holding back her tears as she thought about her family. “I know exactly how you feel Diamond. I thought about my babies
too. My God,” she said holding back her tears. “They’re turning eight years old in two weeks and I honestly didn’t think that me or their daddy would live to see it after what happened.”

“Thankfully the Lord was with us,
because we’re only a couple of hours away from home and I can’t wait to get there. I’m gonna hug Amber as tight as I can and probably won’t let her go for days.”

“T
ell me about it.” Tammy responded as she thought about her twin daughters. She looked on the dash board at the time which displayed 5:30a.m. She wished she could surpass Savannah, passing through Statesboro, then Millen and Waynesboro, just too magically appear back in Augusta, but the gas light popping on killed that dream by reminding her that she needed to stop at the next exit and fill up the gas tank.

“We need to gas up,” Tamm
y commented.

“Good because I have to pee.
” Diamond picked up her IPhone. “Le’me call Malcolm and tell them that we’re getting off on the next exit.”

On the first ring, Malcolm answered.
“What’s up boo? You okay?”

“Yes baby, I’m okay,” she responded. “We’re getting off on the next exit. I have to pee and Tammy needs a refill.”

“Okay that’s cool. We’ll be right behind you.” He said as they ended their call. Diamond loved Malcolm with all her heart but it had been eating at her that she’d been put in such a deadly situation just by being with him. Her mama had long ago warned her that Malcolm was no good for her being that she was only nineteen when they hooked up and he was already ten years older than her. But even at the age of twenty-two he continued to treat her like a queen by showering her with gifts and taking her on expensive trips. Hopefully, the awful incident would only make their love stronger for each other as she prayed to be able to forget what had happened and move on.