Me and My Hittas (13 page)

“Fair enough,” Pavielle retorted. “Now can we put
our clothes back on?”

Black Jesus gave them the go ahead and they put their
clothes back on. He then had Tango kick their guns back
over to them. The weapons went spiraling in circles en route
to their owners.
“Now,” Black Jesus began. “It’s our turn.” He

flashed a smile.

Tango and Bullet stripped naked, while Pavielle and
Gouch held their heats on them. They spun around slowly
to let the brothers see that they were not wearing any wires.
They then got dressed and stripped Black Jesus down to his
nakedness. They took the drug lord under his arms, lifted
him from his wheelchair and spun him around so that the
brothers could see that he wasn’t wearing a wire either.
They then got him dressed and sat him back down in his
wheelchair.

“My apologies,” Black Jesus told the brothers as he
buttoned up his shirt. “But I enjoy my freedom. One man’s
humiliation is a small price to pay for it; no hard feelings,
huh?”

“No hard feelings.” Pavielle agreed. “Like you said,
you have to take precautions.”

 

“And your brother?” Black Jesus asked Pavielle, but
kept his eyes on Gouch.

 

“No hard feelings.” Gouch reluctantly agreed. “Now
can we get down to business?

A sharp whistle from Black Jesus brought forth the
humming of an engine and the crunching of gravel. Next,
came the tail lights of a U-Haul truck backing its way inside
of the warehouse. The large vehicle stopped beside the
connect and his people. Its driver side door opened and a
gent in a Dickie’s uniform and cap jumped down. Black
Jesus motioned the Hood brothers over and they came right
away.

“Your drugs are inside of here, thirty kilos as agreed
upon.” He knocked on the steel shutter.
The driver of the
U-Haul tossed Pavielle the keys and he snatched them out
of the air.

“I’ll take that.” Tango took the duffle bag from him
and slid the strap over his shoulder.

 

“So that’s it?” Pavielle asked.

“This will be the last time you see me and drugs in the
same place together.” Black Jesus told him. “From now on
you will go through Tango.” He placed a hand on his
bodyguard’s shoulder. Playing bodyguard for him was
more so a front for the Dominican man. His main job was
making sure that his boss’s shipment got to and from its
destination. As well as taking in to account that the cliente
got what they asked for once a deal was brokered.

Pavielle was given a burn-out cell phone with one
number in it. He was to use it whenever he was ready to reup and then discard it. He would be given a new cell each
time he was done with the old one. After he was given these
specific instructions, he stashed the burn-out in his pocket.
He and Gouch climbed into the U-Haul and made their
departure.

It was on now.
Chapter Nine

Pavielle had assembled an All-star dream team. The
seven man crew hustled all day every day. Twenty-four
hours a day, seven days a week. From sun up to sun down
the crew was at it, pulling in every dollar that they could.

Pavielle’s crew was bringing in so much paper that he
was running out of safes and stashes to put it in. Business
was good and everybody was happy. The dream team was
hood rich and loving it.

Black Jesus had taken a chance on Pavielle and it had
paid off. The young kingpin was making him a lot of
money. When the damu would come and cop he would
bring bags of money so large that it looked like he was
going to do laundry. As time progressed the Arturos and the
Hoods grew closer. Black Jesus and Pavielle’s relationship
had become like his and Gangsta’s. The two were business
associates as well as good friends. They would hang out
when ever their hectic schedules would allow it.

Pavielle was lying in bed asleep, when he was awoken
by a combination of delicious aromas escaping from the
confines of the kitchen. His nose alerted his empty belly to
the scrumptious morning breakfast awaiting them. His belly
growled at being teased and he licked his chops. Sitting up
in bed, the young kingpin yawned and stretched. He looked
over to Vayda and found her fast asleep. He smiled, kissed
her on the forehead and threw the covers from over his
person. He pulled a red homemade stocking cap down over
his corn rows, slipped on some red basketball shorts, and
slid his feet into some red corduroy house shoes. He then
headed into the bathroom, where he washed his face and
brushed his teeth. After giving himself a once over in the
bathroom mirror, he made a beeline for the bedroom door.

***

G-momma had just pulled a pan of biscuits from the
oven and placed it on top of the stove. She turned the fire
off of a sizzling skillet of bacon and laid all ten strips on a
plate covered by three paper-towels to absorb the grease.
On the kitchen counter was the rest of
the morning
breakfast: scrambled eggs, pancakes, grits, hash browns and
sausages. There were also glass pitchers of milk, orange
juice and apple juice.

Crossing the threshold
into the kitchen, Pavielle
found Gouch with his face buried into a plate of food.
Pulling his head up from his plate to suck his fingers, Gouch
gave his baby brother a nod of acknowledgement. Pavielle
chuckled and shook his head at the sight of his big brother.
He looked like a baby with all of those grits and eggs around
his mouth.

“What’s cooking, good looking?” Pavielle asked G
-
momma as he wrapped his arms around her and pecked her
on the cheek. She was taking a sip of orange juice when he
had crept behind her.

“It’s all on the counter, Booby,” She smiled, taking
another sip of orange juice.

“Mmmm,” Pavielle said
, looking over the feast his
grandmother had prepared. “Smells good, looks good,” He
told her, popping a strip of crisp bacon into his mouth.
“Momma, I’ll tell ya, if I was just a lil’ younger I’d have to
go ahead and wife it up.”

“Oh, stop it, I bet you tell that to all of the girls,” G-
momma said, acting smitten and batting her eyes.

 

“Only the ones I fall in love with,” Pavielle replied as
he popped the other half of bacon in his mouth.
“You better stop it now, before Vay come out here.”
she laughed.

“Good morning family!” Vayda said, crossing the
threshold into the kitchen. She playfully smacked Gouch
upside his head and he looked up at her like she had lost her
mind. “Good morning, Vay,” G-momma replied, fixing a
plate.

“Good morning, momma,” Vayda pecked her man’s
grandmother on the cheek as she received the plate of food
from her. “Thank you.” She said in a very upbeat voice.

“Oh, so your man don’t get none of them kisses?”
Pavielle asked, pretending to be jealous.

 

“Oh, my man gets all of that and then some,” She told
her boo before they locked lips.

 

“Aye, man, don’t chu bee me and momma eating over
here?” Gouch said, with a mouthful of food.

“Oh, leave them alone,” G
-momma said, looking at
the two lovebirds. “Can’t you see that they’re in love? Me
and your grandfather use to be just like that. We could never
get enough of each other.”

“Yeah, well, it makes me sick.” Gouch replied with a
mouthful. He glanced over to the lovebirds and found
Vayda giving him the finger.

“Gucci, what have I told you about talking with a
mouthful? You know better than that.”

 

“My bad, momma,” Gucci said, washing his food
down withan ice cold glass of milk.”

 

“You should try to find yourself a nice clean girl like
your brother.” G-momma told him.

“I had a clean one last night, momma, but I dirtied her
up.” He retorted, eating scrambled eggs. G-momma
couldn’t help but to laugh and shake her head.

“Gucci, you’re something else.” She told him.

Vayda took a seat at the kitchen table and started in
on her plate. Pavielle approached Gucci eating a biscuit; he
stood over his big brother as he munched. When Gouch
looked up and found his baby brother over him, he already
knew what time it was.

“Move; it’s too early to be playing, man.” He told
him, wiping away his milk mustache.

Pavielle chewed the last of the biscuit up and smacked
the crumbs from his hands. He continued to stand over
Gouch, staring down at the top of his head.

“Booby, sit down,” G
-momma told her youngest
grandson. “It is way too early. Go ahead now. Sit.” She
motioned him to his seat, but he ignored her.

“Nigga, you touch me and I’ma put my foot in yo’
ass.” Gouch told him seriously.

 

“Gucci,” G-momma brows furrowed and she stomped
her foot. “Watch your mouth.”

“Yeah, Gucci, you heard momma, boy,” Pavielle said,
cracking his knuckles. “Watch your mouth!” he smacked
Gouch upside his head so hard that it echoed throughout the
kitchen. Gouch hopped to his feet and they tussled for a
minute. Before long, the big brother had the little brother in
a headlock and was twisting his knuckles into the top of his
head.

“Ah!” Pavielle said in pain, feeling the knuckles
turning the top of his scalp raw.

 

“Gucci, stop now, you’re hurting your brother.” G-
momma told him, rising to her feet.

 

“Don’t worry, momma, I got this fool.” Pavielle said,
trying to lift Gouch up off his feet.

 

“Gucci, y’all heard y’all momma, stop now!” Vayda
finally spoke up.

Gouch released Pavielle. The brothers stood facing
each other, panting
out of
breath. Suddenly, Pavielle
smacked Gouch across the face and bolted for the front
door, laughing all of the way. Pissed off, the oldest of the
Hood brothers charged after his baby brother.

Pavielle made it onto the porch and slammed the door
in his brother’s face. Gouch stood behind the black iron
screen-door spewing vulgarities and threats. Pavielle made
his way down the steps chuckling. Reaching the pavement,
he lit up a Newport and took a pull. He fanned out the match
and when he looked up he saw Avenue across the street.
The former singer turned junkie was dancing and singing.
Every so often someone would cross his path and toss coins
into the fedora at his feet. Pavielle watched him for a while
before calling him over.

“Yo, Avenue,” Pavielle called out and waved him
over. Avenue stuffed the coins and the few crumbled dollars
from the fedora into his pocket. He smacked the hat onto
his crown and came running across the street in a hurry. He
was excited. Nine times out of ten when Pavielle called for
him he had a few dollars he could make.

“What’s up, young blood?” Avenue asked, meeting
Pavielle at the black iron-gate.

 

“You tryna make some money?” he asked after giving
him a pound.

“Hell yeah, I’m tryna
make some money! What chu
got for me, black man?” he rubbed his hands together
greedily.

“Nah, I mean some real mone
y, not no five or ten
dollars. I was thinking about putting you down with the
team.”

“For real?” Avenue raised his eyebrows,
not believing
his ears. “Oh, I’m down like four flats.” He gave him a
pound.

“There’s a catch, though,” Pavielle told him.

 

“What’s that?” he asked, wondering what the catch
could possibly be.

“You’ve gotta get cleaned up, pimp. That’s the only
way I’m a put chu down.” He paused and waited for a
disheartenedexpression but he never got one. “You still
fucking with me?”

“Hell yeah, I’m no fool. Let’s get this money.”
Avenue gave him another pound.

 

“Alright then, man, I’ma give you like a week to
smoke ‘til you choke. But after that, it’s rehab, baby.”

 

“I can dig it. And thanks, man. Thanks for blessing
me with the opportunity.”

“Don’t even worry about it O.G. Here,” Pavielle
reached into his sock; from the bulge there you’d think he
was hiding an ankle monitor for house arrest. He withdrew
a bankroll of one hundred dollar bills, peeled off a bill and
handed it to him.

“Damn, all of this is for me?” Avenue asked, holding
the bill up with both hands as he looked it over.

 

“Yeah, man, just do me a favor before you run off and
spend that.”

 

“Anything, my man,” Avenue replied, stuffing the
$100 dollar bill into his pocket.

“Wax my baby for me,” Pavielle pointed over his
shoulder to the black Mercedes Benz 600 parked in the
driveway, sitting on chrome 22 inch rims. “I just got her a
couple of weeks ago and I haven’t had the time to get her
washed up.” “Damn, that’s you?” Avenue whistled at the
sight of the luxury car. “She’s beautiful. I’m a hook you up,
my guy, I’m a detail her and everything.”

“Sho’ ya right,”
he smiled and gave him a pound.
“Everything you need is already in the trunk. You can get
the keys and the vacuum from my girl. Go ahead and knock
on the door.”

“Alright then, let me go and get to work.” Avenue
said, coming through the gate.

Pavielle wasn’t tripping off of giving Avenue a
hundred dollars to wax and detail his whip. It wasn’t just
because a hundred dollars wasn’t shit to him. It was because
the money was going to come right back around into his
pocket anyway. Just as soon as Avenue finished waxing and
detailing his car, he was going to go right over on 27
^th
and
cop his fix from Woo and Big Head. Pavielle was smart like
that; he always thought two steps ahead of the rest.

“What set chu fro
m, Cuz?” A voice boomed from the
right, putting emphasis on the word ‘
Cuz
’. The word sent
chills up Pavielle’s spine. Anytime he heard it he knew it
was time for some drama. Some drama he wasn’t quite
prepared for at the moment, seeing as how he had left his
strap in the house under the mattress. He cursed himself and
was expecting to get gunned down after being caught
slipping. If this was to be his last stand then so be it, but he
wasn’t going out like a coward. He blew the nicotine from
his lungs, flicked the cancer stick and put on his game-face.
Balling his fists, he turned around to where the voice came
and met the smile of an old friend, O.G Bully. Pavielle
smiled back and ran out of the yard like a kid after an ice
cream truck.