Payback Is a Mutha (11 page)

F
orever smiled as he went to meet Nyla as she rushed through the visiting room doors and jumped into his arms.

“Babee!” she squealed as she kissed him on the lips. “Thank you for the roses!” She gave him another big kiss. “Thank you for the minivan.” She kissed him again. “I love you so much.”
Kiss.
I heard this car horn beeping in the driveway; I was like, who in the world is that! It was almost 11:00. Babee, why didn’t you tell me?”

Nyla was talking a mile a minute she was that excited. Today was her birthday and she took off from work to come visit Forever. She was hoping to get a minivan to accommodate her new floral arrangements/party favorites business. What had started as a hobby had blossomed into a part-time business.

“As long as you’re happy, you know I’m happy. Happy Birthday baby.” It was his turn to take a few
kisses. “Where’s my other baby?” Forever wanted to know.

“In school where she belongs. This is my day.”

“She’s gonna whip your ass if she finds out you came to see her daddy without her.”

“She is, ain’t she? That girl is something else.”

“So are you. She’s just like her momma.”

“You got some picture tickets, right?”

“Of course. It’s my baby’s birthday and look at you.” He spun her around. “Lookin’ all cute, wearing my ‘Forever make me cum’ skirt. You know I like that shit.” He pulled her close.

“You better like it! I know you got my freak letter last night. Didn’t you?” She was grinning.

“Yeah I got it.” He kissed her on the lips.

“And?”

“It was a’ight.”

“A’ight? Nigga please! Don’t make me hurt you.”

Forever laughed. “It was good.”

“Good huh?”

“Mmm-mmm.”

“Well? Tell me what you liked the best. Tell me something!”

“Or what?”

“Stop playing Forever.” She pulled away from him.

“A’ight. A’ight. Come here!” He pulled her back. “Let’s see. Where should I start? With all them different positions? Those were hot! Or you giving me a full body hot oil massage? I liked that. Or us bustin’ nuts at the same time? Hmmm?” He kissed her on the cheek. “Or, should I start with you licking the whip cream off my dick and swallowing my cum? Or how you really got creative and described how you want me to slurp a Twix outta your pussy?” Nyla
couldn’t help but laugh. “So, where do you want me to start?”

“I
was
pretty creative wasn’t I? Just the thought of that Twix makes my pussy hot,” she whispered in his ear as she slid her hand down and squeezed his dick. “Give your wife another kiss.” She ran her hand up and down his dick while he sucked on her tongue.

“Yo! Break that shit up! This ain’t the Radisson!” Zeke yelled.

Nyla ended the kiss and looked back at Zeke. “Why you tryna block?”

“And I love you too, Cousin. Now come here!” She broke away from Forever and met Zeke halfway. Zeke gave her a big bear hug. “Happy Birthday Cousin! How old did you say you were?” he teased.

“I didn’t. Nigga how you gonna send me a birthday card with no money in it?” She punched him in the arm.

“Ow!” he yelled. “Hey, officer!” he joked. “Now you know I got you baby cousin. Your birthday ain’t over yet!”

“You better have me or else your ass is cut off!” she threatened.

“Where’s my other baby cousin?”

“In school where she belongs. Like I told her father, this is my day.” The two females who were watching them caught Nyla’s attention.

“I ain’t mad at you.” Zeke peepin’ out what had her attention said, “Let me introduce you to Crystal and Danisha.”

“Crystal
and
Danisha,” she repeated and he laughed. “Zeke, how many hoes do you have? Let me find out you pimpin’ behind bars!”

“Cousin, I already told you. Hoes is like pants to
me. Depending on my mood that’s what I’ll go and get into.”

“That’s really pimpish of you.” Nyla snapped back. “Especially since you’re in prison. Y’all are only allowed five pairs of pants, right?”

That got a laugh outta Zeke. “Naw, Foreal, Foreal, this is business.”

“Mixed with pleasure, I’m sure. So I guess the other hoe pulled Forever out.” Nyla slid in.

“Yo, Forever! Get your woman dawg.” Zeke gave her another hug then went back and sat between Crystal and Danisha.

When Forever took Nyla by the hand she sarcastically asked, “Where are we gonna sit?”

“I want you to sit over here for two minutes, and I’ll be right with you.”

“What? You gotta tell your hoe good-bye?”

“That hoe is the force behind that brand new minivan parked in your driveway,” Forever snapped and walked away.

He was back in two minutes just as he had said. He sat in front of her and pulled her to the edge of the seat. She had an attitude, refusing to look at him and kept both arms and legs crossed.

“You ain’t stoppin’ nothin’,” Forever said as he ran his hand over her calf, up the back of her thigh, then under it and then plunging two fingers into her pussy.

“Foreeever,” she moaned.

“What?” He was moving his fingers in and out as he leaned over and kissed her lips. “I know you gonna let a nigga handle his business right?”

“Daddy, that feels good.” She kissed him on the lips.

“Answer me Nyla. You gonna let a nigga handle his business, right?”

“Yes.”

“A’ight then. We gonna start this visit all over again.”

After the visit, Forever ended up in the Education Department mopping the floors when he looked up and saw Shan coming down the hall. Her eyes were puffy; she was causally dressed and didn’t appear to be her normal vibrant self. She went straight into her office without even acknowledging him. After he finished mopping he put away all of the supplies and went to check in. He knocked on the door and then pushed it open.

“Do you need anything before I go back to my unit?”

She looked up at him. “Do you mind washing out that coffeepot and making some more? Please?”

“Not a problem.” Forever grabbed the pot and scrubbing pad. When he came back she was just hanging up the phone and tears were flowing down her cheeks. He grabbed the box of tissues, passed it to her, then went back to making the coffee. He glanced over at her.

“Yo Ma. You wanna talk about it?” She shook her head no. “Why?”

“Thanks for making my coffee. You can go now.” She blew her nose.

“Why don’t you want to talk about it?”

“Why should I? It’s none of your business.”

“I could be of some help. You never know.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Try me. You’ll never know unless you do.”

She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes.

“Try me,” he urged. He kept staring at her until she gave in.

“Okay, Mr. Big Shot around the tier. I need $35,000, like yesterday.” She leaned back into her chair, folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

Why do women always fold their arms across their chest when they’re pissed?
he asked himself.

“What? Cat got your tongue, Mr. Big Shot?” She smirked as she watched him close the door and then pour her a cup of coffee.

“How much sugar you want in this?”

“It doesn’t matter. So? What’s up?”

“You want some cream?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“A’ight. I’ll make it like me, brown and sweet.” He winked at her, then stirred the coffee, handed her the cup and sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

“Thanks. You can go now.”

“I thought you needed some assistance like yesterday?”

“Yeah, I do and nothing has changed in the last two minutes.”

“We can help each other out.”

“Meaning?”

“You need the cash and I need some packages delivered, like yesterday. So like I said, we can help each other out.”

“Forever, don’t play with me. This is no fuckin’ joke.”

“Do I look like I’m playing?” They glared at each other for a few minutes.

She turned on the radio. “You got my attention.”

Forever grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil. “I’ma give you a name and number. Call him and tell him you’re calling for Silk. He’ll arrange to meet you and give you a package. Thursday night you got between 8:30 and 9:15 to drop it in the middle garbage can in the employee parking lot.”

“That’s it? Will that work?” This seemed too easy for Shan.

“Depends on you. Eight-thirty, no later than 9:15. Can you handle that?”

She stared at him. “Are you a cop?”

“No. Are you?” he asked, already knowing the answer. He’d done thorough research on her before contacting his boy Skye.

“No. Can I get the money on Thursday when the package is dropped off?”

“The agreement is
packages
dropped off. Not package.” He was watching her closely. “Are you in, or what?”

“I’m in but I told you I need the money like yesterday.”

“I’ll see what I can do. A’ight?”

“A’ight.”

Forever got up to leave. When he got to the door he said, “And for the record, I’m not the big shot on the tier. I’m the HNIC of the whole prison.” He winked at her, turned and left out. “Damn. Shit played into my hands better than I thought. And I don’t even have to fuck her. I owe my man Skye big time for this one!”

“H
ey, Youngblood,” ole man Smoke said to Peanut.

“What’s up, OG?” Peanut raised up on his elbows. He had been sleeping with one eye open and one eye closed since they took him into custody. Ex-Blood or not, he still was in Crip territory. He was surrounded. Once he gave the Blood handshake to a homie being discharged it spread like wildfire. Not even an hour later he had his first altercation, where only words were exchanged. The following morning three Crips asked him what set he represented. He told them that he didn’t get down like that no more and walked away. At lunchtime as he turned the corner heading for the stairs, he was slashed across his back.

“Aww, fuck!” he yelled as the burning sensation hit him. He turned around and saw two blue bandannas turn the corner. He ran up the stairs behind them. “Here I go! Take me one on one, pussies!” He
was twirling around in circles, wanting someone to step up. “Come on!” He began walking up and down the tier. He heard a few snickers but other than that everyone was acting as if they didn’t see him. The next thing he knew he was being thrown to the floor, facedown, his wrists being handcuffed behind his back.

“Charade’s over!” the burly Hulk Hogan wannabe in an officer’s uniform said.

“I ain’t do nothing man! I’m the one bleeding! Look at my back!”
Crack.
He was hit over the head.

“Shut the fuck up!” two of the other officers yelled at him.

“This is bullshit,” Peanut mumbled as they picked him up and brisked him away.

That was almost three days ago. Now here he was, listening to this old man tell him some more bullshit.

“Youngblood, you need to watch your back. No pun intended. They’re teasing you right now and at the same time testing your manhood.” He was twirling a toothpick around in his mouth. He had a huge birthmark on the left side of his face that resembled a burn. His head was shaved clean. His droopy eyes and sagging jowls put about fifteen years on his fifty.

“Tell me something I don’t know OG”

“What the hell you think I’m tryna do! If you ain’t gittin’ outta here today you better strike first. ’Cause it’s not gonna be a teaser the next time.” He swaggered over to the bottom bunk and laid down. He was an ex-Blood himself.

Peanut was now sitting all the way up, his feet dangling off the bed.

“Youngblood, take this.” He passed him a bundle of
cloth. Peanut grabbed it and unwrapped it. Running his hand over what used to be the top of a mop handle, it was now a shank, a piece of protection, a piece of mind. Not much, but it was something.

“I ’preciate this OG.” Peanut got down and secured his protection. “OG?”

“What Youngblood? I’m tryna take a nap. You want me to show you how to use it too?” he snapped.

“Naw OG, I can handle it. I need to know where them other two niggas that came in with me are.”

“How in the hell should I know?” He pulled the sheet over his head, then mumbled, “They got discharged.”

Peanut finally decided to tell it all to Shan. She picked up on the first ring. After the operator said “Go ahead, sir,” Peanut caught a lump in his throat.

“Peanut…Peanut…” Shan cried his name. “Please don’t tell me you’re hurt. Are they raping you? What happened? Why are you in jail? Peanut, you know you are all I got; don’t do this to me. It’s been four days since I heard from you, you could have called sooner.” She rattled off.

“Shan! Shan! I’m cool. I’m okay. I just need you to handle some things so I can get the fuck outta here as soon as possible. A’ight?” Instead of answering she just kept on crying. “Shan you gonna help me or not?”

“Of course I’ma help you. What kind of bullshit question is that? Tell me what happened Peanut.”

“Niggas tried to jack me at the wrong place at the wrong time. The po-po was everywhere to make a long story short. Brianna was the only other person who knew what was going down.”

“How do she know your business?”

“That’s a whole ’nother story. Patch me through to Keke. She got that damn block on the phone. She hasn’t called you looking for me?”

“No.”

“That bitch probably in Atlantic City somewhere celebrating the fact that I haven’t been home. And I need you to pull yourself together.”

“All right. All right. Hold on.” She dialed Keke’s number and after the voice mail kicked in Shan left a message saying Peanut was locked up and to call her ASAP. “I’ma go over there,” she assured Peanut.

“Where the fuck is this bitch when I need her?” Peanut hissed. His pride was hurt. “Call Nick too.”

“Just tell me what you need me to do. Fuck her! We all we got Peanut.”

“I need a real lawyer, like yesterday. I declined the fake ass pretender they tried to give me. Tell that bitch to give you that 20Gs she holding for me.”

“Got you.”

Peanut then gave her the rest of the info on his arrest and the numbers to a couple of people that was holding money for him.

His old lawyer that he had on retainer, they fell out and he just fired him. He gave Shan a number to another lawyer.

“You got all that?”

“I got it Peanut. Now can I get a word in?”

“What’s up?”

“Are you okay?”

“I told you I’m straight.”

“You didn’t get into any fights?” She was talking like a concerned parent.

“I told you, I’m fine.”

“That’s not what I asked you!” she snapped.

“No fights. Listen. Stop worrying, a’ight. Just get me a lawyer so I can get the fuck outta here.”

“One more question?” She heard him let out a huge sigh. “Look, boy. You all I got so I know I can be concerned. This will be my last question.” She snapped.

“What is it?”

“Did they rape you?” Someone was trying to get through on her line.

Peanut let out a chuckle, which assured her that he was surviving. “You need to stop watching
Oz
and the rest of that shit. There are plenty of niggas willing to give up the ass. Niggas don’t have to go around raping niggas.”

Shan breathed a sigh of relief. “When are you gonna call me back?”

“Later. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Shan hung up and checked her voice mail.

Nyla was sitting on the porch when her cell phone rang. When the operator said, “Collect call from Peanut, Wayne County Jail,” her eyes got so big her sister Lisha thought they were gonna pop out of their sockets.

“Who is that?”

Nyla waved her off and she got up and began walking. She didn’t want her sister to be privy to the fact that she was talking to another man. “Yes. I’ll accept. Peanut, what’s going on with you?”

“I got caught up in some shit. I should be out in a couple of days. You a’ight? You need anything?”

Nyla laughed. “I should be asking you those questions. Let me send you some money.”

“Nah. I’m straight. Like I said, I’ll be out in a few.” He was relishing the sound of her voice and was imagining running his fingers through her locks.

“I want to. That way I won’t keep feeling guilty for accepting money from you. If my husband ever found out…well, I can’t even
fathom
the outcome.” She let out a nervous laugh.

“The only way he’ll find out is if you tell. Plus, I already told you to look at it as a gift.”

“Yeah, right. A gift of money from the next nigga! If your wifey did that, how would you respond?” Peanut laughed. “That’s what I thought. Plus I’m already being accused of wanting to move on to the next nigga.”

“So ya’ll two doing a’ight, or what?”

“Considering the circumstances, we’re maintaining.”

“Aww, dayumn. That wasn’t the answer I was looking for.” Nyla blushed. “Look, can I see you next weekend?”

“Peanut you know that wouldn’t be a good idea. I got a husband, you got a wife. I enjoyed our conversations but you know the sayings: all good things must eventually come to an end and don’t play with fire and expect not to get burnt.”

“So you’re going to end our friendship?”

“Umm-hmm. I know you can respect that.”

Peanut allowed a few seconds of silence to elapse before saying, “A’ight. I’ma give you that.”

“Thank you. Take care of yourself Peanut.” Nyla remained standing in place in deep thought with her back to Lisha.

“Who is Peanut?” Lisha was standing behind her with her hands on her hips.

Shan checked her voice mail and was surprised to hear Briggen’s voice. She immediately called him back.

“Hey.” Her voice trembled.

“Hey to you too!”

“Glad to hear that you are alive. You scared me and I don’t appreciate that.”

Briggen chuckled then coughed. “Damn.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Naw. It’s not you. It hurts when I cough, when I laugh, hell, even hurts to breathe. But shit, at least I’m living, and you’re living, am I right?”

“Yeah, you’re right. How many bullets did you take?”

“Three.”

“Three?” Shan gasped.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds. One went through me and you are lucky it didn’t hit you. I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself.”

“Oh my God!” Shan cried out. “Calvin, I—”

“Hey. It’s over. It’s all good.” He cut her off. “No need to worry about it. Now when are you gonna come and check on a sick man?”

“Nigga don’t even try it! All of them—”

“Look at you. A second ago you were in tears apologizing. In a matter of seconds you switched to bitch mode.”

Shan smiled. “Like I said; don’t even try it. You probably got two bitches there right now. What? They went to get you something to eat so that’s how you were able to sneak a call in to me? I can’t fuck with you Briggen.”

“I don’t have to sneak and do nothing. I’ma
grown-ass man. Just say the word and I’ll make sure ain’t nobody here but me and you. You need to come and check on a sick man. It’s almost time for my sponge bath.”

That image alone caused Shan’s pussy to wake up. But she immediately shook it off. “I told you. I can’t fuck with you like that.”

“Come on now. Make a sick man happy. I saved your life remember? That deserves me getting a visit from you; in a candy striper’s outfit, no panties, and a sponge bath. That’s a fair exchange.”

That got a laugh outta Shan. “Nigga you don’t give up do you?”

“Not when it’s something I’m after.”

“Let me think about it okay?”

“What’s there to think about?”

“I told you. I got a big problem with all of them hoes you got.”

“Girl I told you they run my businesses.”

“Plus, I’m talking to somebody. Hold on. I’m expecting another call.”

“From him?”

“No, from my brother’s girl.” She clicked over and it was Keke. “Girl, you saved me. Where have you been? Don’t go nowhere; let me get rid of this nigga.” She clicked back over. “Briggen that’s her. I’m glad that you’re okay, for real. I gotta run.”

She hung up not allowing him to respond. Then she filled Keke in on what was going on with her brother.