Money & Love Don't Mix (3 page)

Chapter 3

The next morning, Trouble’s mother got him up at the crack of dawn so he’d have enough time to do his normal workout routine, followed by a shower, and then they were on their way. When they arrived at the UPS job fair, Trouble was extremely nervous. Leaving the streets as a teenager and not working a day in his life, filling out job applications and communicating with employers was new to him. His mother helped him complete the application up to where it said ‘Have you ever been convicted of a felony, if so explain’. She didn’t what to lie, put no and then end up doing a background check where it’ll show otherwise.

              “Excuse me, ma’am?” She called out to one of the employers that was near them.

              “May I help you?” The lady asked.

              “Yeah, I wanted to know if y’all hire ex-felons?”

              “Yes ma’am, we certainly do! As long as you indicate what felony you were charged with where it asks, then you shouldn't have a problem.”

              By her explanationof what you should put on the application took a lot of pressure off Trouble while he completed the last section of his application. Once he was finished, he handed it to the same woman.

              “We’ll give you a call in a few days,” the lady said.

              “Okay, thanks, ma’am,” he replied.

              “You’re welcome, good luck!” she replied back as Trouble and his mother headed back to her car.

              “What you think, ma?” Trouble asked as soon as they got in the car.

              “Son, it ain’t what I think, it’s all on you from here. See, you don’t wait for them to call you or you’ll be waiting forever. You gotta show ‘em you  got ambition that you want the job, and you eager to work. Call out there every day and talk to somebody. Get ‘em used to hearing ya’ voice, or we can just come back up here. Stuff like that make people wanna give you a shot, son; do you understand?”

“I overstand, ma.”

“Good, cause my greatest asset is helping others,” they looked at one another and started laughing.

              “How you gone take my words and use ‘em against me?”

              “I’m your mom, I can do that. Now look, let's give them about two or three days and go back up there to see what decision that came up with. We gonna make it work, son. Only good thing ‘bout you doing all that time was the fact that you don’t have any kids or shit could be worse.

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

              Once Maniac saw the same two Hispanics pull up at the residence across from him again, he made it his business to call Smoke and Dre over to let ‘em know what was going on. When they got there he didn't waste a second filling them in on everything he witnessed the past two days.

              “When I left y’all boys yesterday morning, I’m glad I did.”

“Why?” Smoked asked.

              “Cause, look out my window, y’all see that Nissan Altima parked out there?”

              “Yeah,” they both replied.

              “I peeped there two Migos get out wit two nice size duffel bags, dem muthafuckas had to have either a lotta money or a lotta dope. Them muthafuckas just did da same thing right before I called y’all over here. Look, I’m telling ya’, cuz, as bad as we need a quick come up, this is it, I know it is!”

              “How many times you made that same statement, but da shit ended up being some bullshit, homie,” Dre asked.

              “I don’t know, Dre, and we ain’t got time to try and figure it out either. Right now my fingers are itchin’, itchin’ for some paper. I got an adrenaline rush and my heart is beating faster. We need to wait on dey ass to come out, I’m tellin’ y’all dem muthafuckas so comfortable dey won’t even notice us!”

              “Nigga, calm yo’ ass down, dawg. You always quick to do some hot shit,  and that’s how we all got fucked up last time.!” Smoke expressed and before Maniac could reply, the two Hispanics came back outside headed towards the Altima when the excited Maniac shouted.  

              “Look, Look! There they go!” Smoke and Dre paid close attention to them.

              “Oh Shit! Duck don’t let ‘em see us in the window…I know them!” Smoke yelled.

              “Who the fuck they suppose to be, Smoke?” Dre asked.

              “Y’all don’t know? They part of the cartel, they the largest drug dealers in Atlanta. They been gettin’ money round here for years, everybody know that.” Said Smoke.

              “So what, you backin’ out on us, cuzzo?” Maniac asked.

              “Lemme put you on game, dawg. Niggas don’t even think about robbin’ them migos let alone make an attempt to. Da last muthafuckas that tried, they set a example killin’ their family right before ‘em then cut their heads off and left the bodies on the side of the highway,” Said Smoke.

              “Damn dem muthafuckas mean business,” Dre mentioned as the agitated Maniac cut in.

              “Y’all still ain’t answered my question, I said are y’all backin’ out or what?”

              “Fuck you mean is we backin’ out? Nigga, you called us ova here to show us what’s goin' on, you ain’t say shit ‘bout laying em’ down!” Dre stated.

              “And how you even know we with hittin’ them?” Smoke asked.

              “I don’t know, cuzzo, but I do know our whole circle fucked up, we ain’t got no money. Slick in jail and between the four of us, we can’t even afford to get him a lawyer to get him a bond…my bad fo’ callin’ y’all boys ova here tho. I figured y’all mind was on the same page as mine, tired-of-being-broke but I see I thought wrong! Y’all can gone ‘bout y’all business.”

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

              “Welcome to Grady Medical Hospital, how may I assist you?” the woman at the front desk asked.

              “Umm, I’ve been feeling sick, ma’am, my stomach been hurtin’ on and off. I keep getting’ cramps and I thrown up.”

              “Okay, let me get some information from you so I can get you seen by one of our doctors…what’s your first and last name?”

              “Cierra Jones.”

              “Okay here’s your number, take a seat in the waiting area and someone will get you shortly.”

              “Thanks, ma’am.”

              “Oh, you’re welcome, hope you feel better…NEXT!”

              Twenty minutes later a nurse took Cierra to the back to check her blood pressure, take an x-ray, a ultrasound, and told her to wait in the waiting area for the doctor to call for her…she sat and watched an complete episode of 106&Park, and nearly fell asleep afterward before she heard the doctor yell her name. When she got up and went over to the doctor, he help out his hand.

              “Hi, I’m Dr. Johnson, sorry it took so long.”

              “It’s okay, Doc, I just wanna know why I haven’t been feeling well for the past few days.”

              “No problem, Ms. Jones, follow me.”

              She followed him over to the examination room where her results were, took a seat, and waited while he looked through her paperwork…Moments later he looked up and looked her in the eyes with excitement.

              “Ms. Jones, I’ve got great news!”

              “What is it?”

              “You’re pregnant!”

              “What am I having?”

              “Well, right now it’s still too early to determine but you’re going to have twins. How does it feel?”

              “Right now I feel…I feel a lot worse than when I came in now that I know I’m ‘bout to have twins by a guy that I had a one night stand with…I wanna have an abortion. I always told myself I wouldn’t have any kids until I get married…but twins are so rare that I gotta keep ‘em.”

              “Well, by me being a doctor for over twenty-five years, plus having a set of twin boys myself, I definitely wouldn’t encourage you to have an abortion. Abortions sound easy…but at the end of the day, that’s something as a female you’re going to have to deal with for the rest of your life.”

              Cierra stood up, gave Dr. Johnson a hug, and thanked him before leaving the examination room…on the way to her car many thought began to cloud her mind.
What if Trouble wants me to get an abortion, should I do it? But if I don’t is this nigga gonna be a deadbeat? Shit, right now I can’t even put ‘em on child support cause he ain’t got shit going fo’ himself, he let me know he just did a bid…damn, how should I play this shit?

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

              Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

              “Yo, officer, stop beatin’ on the door, it’s too early fo’ that shit. Niggas, tryna sleep!”

              “Which one of y’all in the room name is Sean Bradley?”

              “My roommate. Why, what’s up?”

              “Well, wake his ass up and tell him he gotta go to magistrate court this morning!”

              The moment Slick heard the words ‘magistrate court’ he rolled out of his bunk, started brushing his teeth and washing his face.

              “Now, it’s yo’ turn to explain yo’ side of the story to the judge, and hope you get a bond or it gets thrown out,” his roommate stated.

“Hell yeah, I know, playboy, but I’ll be alright if I just get a bond, cause then I can put up some property and get the fuck outta this bitch no matter how high that shit is.”

“I feel you, my nigga, good luck!”

“’Preciate it, playboy, I’ma need it.”

When Slick made it in the courtroom it was quiet while everyone waited for the judge to make his entrance. Slick’s public defender made his way over to him whispering near his ear.

“How’s it going, Mr. Bradley?” I’m your public defender, Mike Birmingham. I’ve been assigned to your case so I’ll be representing you. I see you’ve been charged with sixty-four counts of theft by deception, tax fraud, and financial I.D fraud. Now, by you having so many counts of each charge I doubt it if the judge is gonna rule anything in your favor.”

“Well, I’m not really tryna beat the case today. I just need you to get me a bond so I can get outta jail.”

“You’re not hearing me are you, Mr. Bradley? I told you she’s not going to want to rule anything in your favor. I’m going to see what  I can do, though.”

Before Slick could reply, he heard a voice say,
All rise,
as the judge made her way into the courtroom.

“Thank you, you may be seated,” The judge said, “My name is Judge Henchman and court is now in session. Who do we have first?”

“Good Morning, your Honor, I’m detective Hanesworth from Clayton County Police Department,” The detective on the case said, standing up. “What we have here was an illegal tax office that was being ran by the suspect, Sean Bradley for a little over two years. Also, when we made our arrest we found numerous IDs that he’s been using to transfer funds from one account to another. That is all, your Honor.”

“Okay, Mr. Birmingham, anything you’d like to say on your clients behalf?”

“Uhh—Yes, your Honor. Umm…Umm, well I don’t really see any, uhhh, reason why Mr. Bradley should be in custody. Nothing indicates that he --.” Before Birmingham to could finish, Judge Henchman interrupted as she snapped shouting at the public defender.

“Hold on! Wait, wait, wait! You have some nerve saying that you do not see any reason why your client should be in custody when they found plenty of evidence in this home showing otherwise. Detective Hanesworth, you have anything else you wanna say before I make my decision?”

“Yes ma’am, your Honor; I recommend you set his bond at the highest amount possible.”

“Okay well, at this time, with the substantial amount of evidence that’s been presented I’m going to bound this case over to superior court and set a one hundred thousand cash-only bond. This case is adjourned.” The judge banged her gavel, “Next case, please!”

Slick dropped his head at the sound of Judge Henchman slamming her gavel, thinking to himself on the way out the courtroom.
Where the fuck am I gonna get a hundred thousand cash from to make bail?

The moment he made it back to his cell his roommate asked, “Yo, how that shit go, my nigga, you getting’ out today?”

“Hell naw, I wish.”

“How it went, tho?”

“Shit, I really didn’t have a chance wit the bullshittin’ ass public defender they gave me. He wasn’t really tryna speak for me, he kept stutterin’ and shit like he was nervous. I believe that’s what made the judge give me this high ass bond.”

“So how much ya’ bond?”

“Mannnn, she set my shit at a hundred thousand cash!”

“Damn, my nigga! I’ma be straight up wit you. That ain’t no bond she gave you, that’s a ransom! What judge gave you that shit?”

“Some bitch named Valerie Henchman, she mean as fuck playboy.”

“Ms. Henchman! Yo, my nigga, she one of that meanest judges in Georgia. Only person worse than her is her sister, Linda Henchman, and she’s twice as bad. I believe they’re in competition to see who can give out the most time. Shit, last year Linda Henchman gave her own daughter some time for a DUI charge. That shit was on the news and everything.”