In My Hood (19 page)

One by one they began to stand. The Villain, Jo-Jo, and E all walked out wishing him luck as they exited. Hype remained seated along with Watts and the Don. Hype and Watts were two of the youngest tops doggs. Both their fathers were in leadership positions before they were killed, therefore passing the rank down to them. They were wild gun-busting-type niggas. The Don was an OG who hated the police so he would be down for anything.

“Let me ask you something, Ish,” Hype said.

“Kick it.”

“What’s the problem with paying the percentage?”

“The problem is, we taking all the risks and them cracker mafuckas is buying they wives chinchillas and taking them on fucking cruises and shit.”

“Can’t you afford to buy your lady a chinchilla and take her on a cruise?” Hype asked.

“Yeah, so what’s your point?” Ishmael inquired.

“That’s my point. You still getting paper, and you acting greedy. A greedy hand is a dead hand,” Hype schooled.

“Hype, it ain’t about the money. It’s the GP.”

“I hope you’re ready for what you about to start, homey.”

“So are you with me or not?”

“I’m with you, ’cause I like your style. I’ve always admired the way you made Leroy a rich nigger. By the way, where is he?”

Although Ishmael wanted to diss the hell out of Leroy, he didn’t. He lived by the code of the streets, so he lied so as not to dog Leroy’s name. A man’s rep is all he has.

“He had business to take care of.” Ishmael looked away.

Z
ola walked into the house she and Ishmael shared. She had just come from spending the rest of her night with Damon. She hated that she had to keep leaving Nick D and go meet up with Damon for stupid shit that didn’t have anything to do with making Ishmael disappear.

Damon put her down on what was going on with Ishmael. He schooled her on what she needed to do to complete her part in it. Of course he used that excuse to get her to come over to his crib so he could hit it, when he could’ve told her the information over the phone. She was real tired of him and no longer wanted to deal with him, but she needed him.

She walked into the bedroom. She hadn’t been staying at the house much. She’d been hanging tough with Nick. Ishmael was never home anyway. She had to admit to herself that she did miss him a little.

She lay across the bed and kicked off her stilettos. Her cell phone began to ring.

“What’s up?”

“What’s up, Zo?” her friend Nettie asked. “Where you at?”

“I’m at the crib. Why, what’s up?”

“I’m on my way,” Nettie announced.

“What’s up?” Zola repeated.

“I’ll tell when I get there. Oh, where Ish at? He there?”

“No. I don’t know where he is. I’m waiting for him to call me back. I called his cell and left him a message,” she responded.

“A’ight. I’m on my way.” The line went dead.

Zola went downstairs and sat in the living room to wait for Nettie.

“So what’s up? Why the urgency?” Zola asked Nettie as she walked in.

“Your man is snaking.” Nettie pointed at her.

“What?”

“Yeah. I heard he was fucking with some square bitch with long hair and green eyes.”

Zola looked at her girl, confused. Ishmael had always been loyal to her. He had never stepped outside of their relationship. She knew he wasn’t the type to cluck around with the chicken heads who flew around in the coop. Although she wasn’t in love with him, she did care a little for him.

Hearing what Nettie just told her did something to her. Although she cheated on Ishmael on the regular, she felt he had no right to do her dirty. She had accused him of cheating several times before but she really never believed it. She knew she had him in the palm of her hand. The nerve of him to try and play her.

“How you know that?” she asked.

“Mafuckas talk, Zo. Shit, up in the strip joint you hear everything.” She kicked off her shoes and put her feet up onto the sofa. “At first when I heard this chick named Rita say she saw him with the green-eyed bitch, I didn’t think anything of it, but then she kept talking about it, ’cause you know a lot of bitches is on his dick.”

Zola continued to stare at her, not believing her ears.

“I don’t see what y’all bitches see in his ugly ass. Anyway, she kept going on and on about how when she found out y’all broke up that she was tryna push up on him but he wasn’t biting.”

“Broke up? Who said we broke up?” Zola was shocked.

“I don’t know. I guess that’s the word on the street. Let me finish telling you.”

“Go ’head then,” Zola yelled, clearly hurt.

“She said she saw him a couple of times with the new chick and that pissed her off. And check this out—” she patted Zola on her knee—“Rita works at the Marriott on day shift in housekeeping—you know, cleaning rooms. So she said she was going into the laundry room with some sheets.”

Zola waved her hand to edge her to hurry up and get to the point.

“A’ight, damn. Just chill out and listen.” Zola rolled her eyes. “So she said she see all kinds of people coming through the lobby checking in and out. Well low and behold coming up off the elevator was Ishmael with that bitch. She said she almost shitted in her pants when she saw him, so she went and checked the register and that dumb ass signed his real name. And yes, Zo, they was there all night.”

“How you know she’s telling the truth?”

Nettie cocked her head sideways. “Now I know you ain’t gonna sit there and act like you sweet on that nigga.”

“Hell no. Don’t get it twisted. I’m saying he tryna play me.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. Now I know you ain’t gonna let that go down,” Nettie instigated. “What you gonna do? Because whatever it is, I want in.”

“I don’t know, Nettie, damn. Do you think Rita can find out where this tramp rest at?”

“I don’t know if she can, but I know who can.”

“Who?”

“The four-one-one of the hood—Bev.”

“Oh, that’s right. If don’t nobody else know, Beverly will definitely know,” Zola agreed.

“Good. That’s what’s up. Now let’s get that mafucka,” Nettie announced.

“Naw, not yet, Nett.”

“What? Let me find out that you sprung.” Nettie looked at her in disbelief.

Zola was vexed. She wanted revenge, and revenge she was going to get, but she didn’t want to mess up what Damon had in store for Ishmael. But she was definitely going to find out if all Nettie had just told her was true.

“So you just gonna let that bum-ass nigga slide, huh?” Nettie waited for a response.

“No, but check it, I got something else planned for his ass.”

She decided to tell Nettie what was about to go down and how Damon was in the mix. Nettie was all for it. She couldn’t stand Ishmael. She didn’t care too much for Damon either, but if it was to get rid of Ishmael, she was with it. Not to mention Zola said she was gonna break her off a little something for being a down bitch and having her back.

B
owen walked into the room where they played cards every weekend. As usual Cohen was flipping off at the mouth.

“Arnie boy, what’s up?” He imitated a homeboy, bopping his head, using hand motions. “What’s going down, my man?”

He looked totally awkward, and Bowen didn’t see the humor, whereas the rest burst into laughter. The men had already started drinking before he got there, and it was obvious they were feeling good.

“Where you been, Arnie? I haven’t seen you in a while,” Littleton inquired.

“I’ve been busy with the mayor’s campaign, getting ready for the election.” Bowen sat down in his usual spot across from Cohen.

“We missed you for the last couple of weeks. You know Cohen blew our asses out of the water. My wife is threatening to kick me out of the house because this cock sucker keeps sending me home broke.” Littleton laughed.

“Yeah, Arnie, I missed taking your money too. Ante up, fellas,” Cohen yelled.

The men drank and played several hands. As usual when Cohen was over his drinking limit, he started in on Bowen.

“Did Tony talk to the old man, Arnie boy?” he slurred.

Bowen cleared his throat. “Our young friend will be a memory soon enough.”

“Memory?” Weston inquired.

“Yeah, memory,” Bowen stated, looking directly into the hand he held.

The men looked at one another with confusion.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Cohen belted out loudly. “Did the son of a bitch die or something?”

“He said he will be a memory
soon
, Cohen,” Weston repeated, “so that means he’s still alive.”

“Is he planning on dying soon or something?” Littleton asked. “Oh, don’t tell me you got some illegal crap going on, Arnie. I don’t want nothing to do with that.”

Bowen looked at him like he was crazy. “All this shit is illegal, Tom. I’m not doing anything illegal.”

“So what the fuck are you talking about?” Cohen yelled.

“Forget it. The kid has agreed to pay,” Bowen lied.

Cohen looked at him with unbelieving eyes. He may have been wasted, but he was smart.

“Hey, fellas, don’t pay him no attention. He’s shit faced.” Cohen laughed, still looking at Bowen. “Right, bro?” He laughed again.

Littleton and Weston joined in on the joke. Bowen was not laughing.

***************

The men staggered to their cars in the underground garage. They were loud and drunk.

“See you guys on Monday,” Cohen yelled out. “Hey, Arnie, wait up.” He staggered as he walked.

“You sure you’re alright to drive?” Bowen asked.

“Shit yeah. That car of mine knows its way home without my help.”

He threw his huge arm around Bowen’s narrow shoulder, causing him bend from the weight.

“You sneaky son of a bitch.” Cohen pointed his finger in Bowen’s face. His breath was hot and reeked of bourbon. “I know what you’re up to,” he sang.

“You’re drunk, Bobby. Go home and sleep it off.” Bowen held him up.

“Not as drunk as you think I am. I want in. I know what you’re about to do. Don’t forget I was a part of the last project you did. Remember?” he slurred.

How could Bowen forget? Cohen took more than half the profit. Four years ago they had a small-time dealer who was on the rise. He became cocky and didn’t want to cooperate. The young man was sloppy and careless, but he profited a lot of revenue. He was becoming a serious problem, and the murder rate shot up in the city. The police couldn’t bust him doing anything, and it brought a lot of heat on the mayor. Bowen then took matters into his own hands like he always did to protect the mayor and hired a hit man to do the job, and he figured he would take whatever drug money they found to keep for himself.

But what Bowen didn’t expect was Cohen to show up. Cohen had been tailing the young dealer for a month, and he was casing the man’s residence when Bowen and his hit man showed up.

The hit man was like a snake, quiet and smooth. Cohen had never seen anything like it. He slithered in the bushes until the dealer came home. Once the dealer exited the car, the hit man floated up to him, not making a sound. He slit the young man’s throat so quick and quiet that the man didn’t have time to scream.

He watched Bowen exit the van and help the hit man take the body inside. Cohen got out of his vehicle and walked into the opened door, walking in on Bowen’s adventure.

“Bobby, there is no project. Go home, buddy. Sleep it off, okay?” Bowen smiled at him.

“Yeah, okay, Arnie boy.” He patted Bowen’s face.

Cohen staggered off toward his car. He fell down and rolled onto his back and started laughing. Bowen was going to go over and help him but decided not to.

He hopped into his car and sped away, leaving Cohen lying on the garage floor.

I
shmael was sitting at the stash house, waiting for his security men and the deliveryman to come by. He never touched any of the product. Ishmael only dealt with the money. He’d used the same four men for years. The only time he saw the deliveryman was when it was time to pick up and deliver. He paid him and his security team well, and they respected him to the utmost. They would do anything for Ishmael.

Ishmael had made contact and had a sit-down with the new connect who was bringing the new heroin over from Cuba. The details were discussed, and the deal was sealed. After he and Leroy bumped heads that day in his office, Ishmael no longer wanted to deal with Leroy’s suppliers. He had intentions on putting Leroy down on the new product, but that changed when Leroy kicked his back in.

Nate and Dice was posted up in the corner of the room rolling dice. Derrick was on his cell phone talking to some chick Ishmael hadn’t met. Although he’d never seen her before, he figured she had to be cool if Derrick was dealing with her. Ishmael looked at his watch. It was 12:30 a.m. He pulled his cell phone out and called Desiree at work. They talked for a few minutes until his other line beeped. He told her he’d call her back and clicked over. It was his deliveryman.

Five minutes later, the four men walked into the house. Nate went into the back room and came out with a garbage bag, which contained the buy money. It was then counted again so that everyone knew how much was there. Rubber bands were then wrapped around the money, and it was placed into a duffel bag.

Once the product was picked up, it was then taken to the drop house where his lieutenants met up and began to bag up the product. A portion of the bagged product was then delivered to the other states Ishmael had on lock. Ishmael’s entire operation brought in more than three hundred g’s a week. But with the new product, he was sure to gross over five hundred grand a week.

***************

Everyone went their separate ways. Derrick was parked out front of a strip club called Bodacious. He watched as the girls filed out, all heading home for the night. Nettie walked out of the club and spotted him sitting in his truck across the street. She smiled and pranced over to the truck, walking up to the driver side window.

“What are you doing here?” She smiled, showing her deep dimples.

“I came to see if you wanted to get into something, maybe go get some chow,” Derrick said, staring deep into her eyes.