Gutter (26 page)

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Authors: K'wan

BOOK: Gutter
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THE HUNTS
Point area of the Bronx was popular for two things: its factories and its sex trade. During the day it was lousy with trucks dropping and picking up deliveries, but when the sun set it got interesting. Whorehouses, strip clubs, and of course your street corner prostitutes, all opened for business when night fell. With all the nightly traffic Hunts Point generated it seemed like a no-brainer what to do with the property they'd purchased up there, they turned it into a strip club. The Blue Light was shaping up to be one of the premier spots in the area and Hollywood wore the fact that he owned a piece of it with more pride than a proud parent.
“Umm-hmm, this is my kind of place!” Dirty Bill exclaimed, eyeballing a chocolate doll strutting past in a black thong and high heels. He had gotten his name because no matter how many baths he took he still looked dirty.
“You know Wood got an eye for these bitches,” Goldie replied. Much like Hollywood he was a young, fly nigga. You could always
find Goldie dipped in jewels while the latest in designer wear draped his lanky frame. He was a handsome cat with smooth chocolate skin and could've easily been a model, but the streets took hold of him early in life.
It had initially been Goldie's idea to open a gentlemen's club, but he didn't have the capital. Hollywood, already being a part of the circuit, saw the potential in the idea and was quick to offer up what he had in the stash. It took some doing, but the two entrepreneurs managed to get the Blue Light off the ground and the buzz was getting crazy.
“Wood, we sho nuff gonna make some cake off this joint.” Goldie rubbed his hands together.
“That's the general idea, cuz. Shit, there was times I had to keep these bitches humping around the clock to get that change up, but I can't even front, this shit was worth it,” Hollywood said, watching the crowd. “I can't wait till High Side's and Bruticus's thirsty asses get here so they can peep this shit!”
“Say, speaking of High Side, y'all heard about that shoot-out on 142nd?” Dirty Bill asked.
“I heard a lil something-something. You know the hood talks.” Goldie shrugged it off.
“Yeah, I heard that nigga, High Side, was out there tearing off slob asses!” Bill said excitedly. “Wood, you know how that nigga be on it, right?”
“Yeah, High Side is a true soldier, but I ain't heard nothing about him shooting nobody,” Hollywood lied. He knew what had happened as soon as it went down because High Side and C-style had come through his brownstone after the shooting, but it wasn't his place to tell Bill that.
“Man, do you ever think about anything other than hood politics?” Goldie asked, clearly getting irritated with Dirty Bill.
“Hell nah.” Bill looked at him as if he was crazy. “G, I eat, sleep, and breathe the hood. You gotta keep your ear to the streets if you plan on winning this game, and I've always been a sore loser.”
“What's good, cat daddy?” a Puerto Rican girl with blond hair approached them. She was wearing a white bikini top and a see-through wrap skirt. Even if the material hadn't been transparent there was no way she could've hidden the horse-sized ass beneath it.
“Lexi, right?” Goldie smiled, exposing two rows of gold teeth.
“Ah, so you remember?” She smiled back.
“But of course. You look way different out of your clothes.” Goldie openly eyed her.
“Everything is different when the clothes come off, poppy.” It was only Lexi's second night at the club so Goldie hadn't really had a chance to pick her brain yet. Normally either he or Hollywood would handpick the girls who worked at the club, but Lexi had interviewed with Joe and only met Goldie in passing. Joe raved about the girl's body and seeing her damn near naked Goldie understood why.
“I might just have to see about that,” he replied.
“Mind if I sit down?” She motioned to the vacant stool between him and Hollywood. Goldie nodded. To his and especially Hollywood's surprise she didn't sit on the stool, but on Hollywood's lap. Hollywood acted as if he didn't even notice her.
“Damn, Wood, you need some help with that?” Dirty Bill rubbed an ashy hand across Lexi's thigh. She smiled before slapping his hand away.
“You gotta pay to play.” She pushed her breasts together, teasing him.
“If that's the case then you might as well rise the fuck up off me, because I sure as hell ain't no trick,” Hollywood told her in an icy tone.
Lexi slid her ass further into Hollywood's groin. Even though he was wearing his game face she could feel his dick getting hard under her ass. “Baby, just because I'm young doesn't mean I'm stupid. I would never disrespect a true player like that,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him.
“And what makes you think I'm a
true
player?” he asked.
Lexi flicked her tongue out then gave him a sly smile. “Everyone knows
big
Wood from Harlem. My home girl Janice says you're the man to see if a bitch wanna clock some real paper.”
Hollywood quickly flipped through his mental rolodex and placed a face with the name. Janice was a young bitch he had met a while back at a dive called the News Room off Grand Concourse. She was a young mud-kicker dying to live the fast life, but was lazy as hell so she didn't make the grade.
“Well, in case you ain't heard, ya girl fell a lil short.” He chuckled softly.
Lexi turned around and straddled his lap. There was a fierceness in her eyes that stirred something low in Hollywood's groin. “I said that was peoples, not my style.” She took Hollywood's hand and placed it on her ass. “Wit all this junk I can't do nothing but get money.”
Hollywood had to smile at her snappy comeback. “I'll tell you what.” He eased her off his lap and slid off the stool. “Let's go on in the office and rap for a taste. Maybe we can come to some type of understanding.”
“I thought you'd never ask.” She swayed her big ass toward the office. Hollywood admired her ass for a second before following.
 
 
THE MINUTE
their SUV touched the Bronx, Eddie was struck by a sinking feeling. Tito was behind the wheel with a cigarette dangling
from his mouth, silently watching the streets, while Miguel sat next to him, using a handkerchief to load the clips to the various weapons they were carrying. Trailing them in a Camry was a cat named Boo and some wild-ass niggaz from Newark, who claimed Sex, Money, and Murder Bloods. There were six of them in total, making up what Major Blood had referred to as a war party.
Eddie watched Major as he bobbed his head to Mack 10's “Bang or Ball,” mouthing along with the song. His heart seemed to swell with pride as he stacked his set in fluid motions that came from years of throwing it up. From the moment Eddie had laid eyes on the man at the airport he knew that he was going to be trouble, and the trail of bodies he was leaving was proof of that. Gutter's house was slowly slipping into chaos.
“Say, Blood, you hear me talking to you?” Major asked, snapping Eddie out of his daydream.
“Huh?”
“I said be the fuck on point,” Major repeated. “We 'bout to roll into a fucking nest of vipers and I don't want no fuck-shit throwing my plan to the left.”
“Fuck the left, it's right all night, we straight,” Eddie said in a nasally tone. Since his nose had been broken it always felt like it was stopped up, making him sound like he had a cold.
“Fool, stop trying to act you niggaz out here is properly educated. Just be on point, ya raccoon-looking muthafucka,” Major taunted Eddie who was also sporting two black eyes, caused by the broken nose. Eddie knew better than to try and get fly out of his mouth with Major Blood, but Miguel snickering gave him a new target to direct his anger at.
“Fuck you laughing at, Blood?” Eddie glared at Miguel.
“
You,
nigga. I can't front, you do kinda look like a raccoon with them shiners, kid,” Miguel pointed out.
“Fuck you, ho-ass nigga. I'd like to see ya ass try and go toe-to-toe with me!” Eddie snapped.
“Toe-to-toe my ass, Eddie, you know damn well you can't fight!” Miguel shot back. Miguel was an easygoing cat, but next to Tito and Major he was the most thorough cat in the car.
“Man, why don't the both of y'all shut the fuck up.” Tito glanced back at them. “Major is right. We 'bout to go at these niggaz on they own turf and I don't plan on none of my home boys getting left behind. We ride or die together.”
“Ain't y'all the cutest, kicking that real comrade shit. Look, fellas,” Major addressed everyone in the car, “this murder shit ain't rocket science, but there's an art to it. All we gotta do is go in that bitch and wet everything moving then bounce, simple,” Major said as if it was just another day at the office, which to him it was.
“Shit, I'm down wit that one-eighty-seven all day, but this ain't gonna be easy. All them niggaz gonna be in there strapped and, of course, they gonna have security at the door. How we gonna bust on the bouncers and still be able to creep on them crabs? As soon as they hear the gunshots it's gonna be like the Fourth of fucking July,” Miguel pointed out.
Major turned his attention to Miguel. “Lil brother, would I lead you on a suicide mission? Blood, one thing I've learned in my life is that money truly is the root of all evil. We ain't gonna have to lick one shot until we get right up on them marks.”
Tito chuckled, blowing smoke from the edge of his mouth. “Kick back, Blood. The big homey got it all worked out.” Both Tito and Major Blood had reassuring smirks on their faces, but it did nothing to put Eddie's mind at ease.
About a block from the Blue Light, Tito stopped the car. In the
rearview he could see two shadows slithering out of the Camry and vanishing into an alley next to the gentlemen's club.
“Time to rock and roll, poppy,” Major Blood said over his shoulder, handing Eddie the Mac that had been on his lap. Eddie looked at the gun as if he didn't understand so Major explained. “You're gonna go post up by that store.” Major nodded to a darkened doorway across the street. “Anybody come out but us, hit 'em hard and fast.”
Eddie looked at the gun that was now resting on his lap, and swallowed. He'd hoped that his job would be to watch the car, or possibly subdue security, but Major had other plans. He looked at his elder G, who was watching him intently, and knew that he had to follow the order. Major was testing him and if he didn't answer the call to arms there was no doubt that he would end up going out like B. T. or worse. With a silent nod he stepped out of the car and went to take his post.
Major watched as Eddie crossed the street with his shoulders sagging, before turning back to Tito and Miguel. “You niggaz ready to push a muthafucka?”
In response, Tito laughed and stepped out of the car. Everybody from Harlem to Kansas City knew the reputation of Cisco's executioner, even with the rumors of L.C. going soft no one ever doubted his willingness to kill. Whether Miguel felt the same or not was the question.
“Sup, home boy?” Major asked. Miguel didn't respond, he just got out of the car and followed Tito.
Major and his team strolled to the entrance of the club chatting among themselves. When the bouncer spotted them, he started moving in their direction. Miguel thought he was about to pop off, so he reached for his gun, but Major Blood stayed his hand. To his
surprise the bouncer walked right past them as if they weren't even there. Miguel looked to Major who just winked.
The lights in the club were dim, but it wasn't dark yet. They would go almost completely out later in the night when the crowd picked up and the freaky shit started jumping off. There was a main stage in the back, and several smaller stages positioned around the main floor. Though most the smaller stages were vacant at the moment there were three big booty chicks entertaining the crowd from the main stage. Though the Blue Light was a Crip establishment, the trio of Bloods had to admit that the spot was popping.
Major Blood scanned the club for Hollywood, but he was nowhere to be found.
At least somebody was on their job,
he thought, looking over at Miguel who was trying to grope one of the strippers. If he decided to stick around New York and reap the benefits of his work there would have to be some serious personnel changes. The pretty boy wasn't a killer like Gutter and Pop Top, but he was said to be a major cog in the Crip machine, which is why he had to be taken out. He wanted to strip Gutter of all his friends and family before he killed him. If things worked out as he planned, Hollywood's murder would go as smooth as silk.
Miguel's head whipped back and forth as he watched the parade of flesh at the Blue Light. A dark-skinned girl with an ass that belonged on a horse tried to engage him in conversation, but a subtle elbow from Tito put him back on point. The place was crawling with Crips so they had to take extra caution.

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