Raunchy (26 page)
“Not a problem, especially after all you’ve done for me.”
I went through my purse and made sure the money was inside. When his words played in my mind. “What do you mean after all I’ve done for you?”
“Isn’t your name, Harmony?”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Who are you?”
“I’m the man who got your message.” He smirked. “So the least I can do is give you a ride.”
Jace
Birthday Wishes
Kali fucked me up with his bullshit. Even if it were true, why wait to tell me now? We were supposed to be boys. After the shit with the kid he kidnapped and then this shit with Harmony, I was through with him. The nigga was as good as dead to me.
“You want a drink?” Tony Wop asked. He didn’t see the stunt Kali pulled earlier. “You look like you need one.”
The liquor had only been there for five minutes and already it was half gone. Niggas ran to the table like they hadn’t drunken anything in years.
“Naw, I’m good.” I told him with my hand stuffed in my pockets.
“That ain’t what Ericka and Tina told me.” I looked over at them, although they were pretending to not be looking over at me.
“Man, some shit goin’ on with Harmony and Kali.”
“What…They fuckin’?”
“I don’t know, but that’s what he said.”
“Are you cool with that?”
“We weren’t together. But she supposed to be pregnant with my kid. Now this nigga sayin’ it may be his.”
“I wouldn’t give that shit no more attention until the baby gets here. You also need to stay the fuck away from Kali. He too much trouble. I been told you that.”
When Paco and Kreshon came back with the liquor I sent them for earlier, I was happy for the diversion, even though the caterers already brought in liquor. I just wasn’t in the mood to talk about Harmony or Kali anymore to Tony. I was ‘bout done with all this shit and the only thing on my mind was getting money. When they walked in, I could tell they were already drunk.
“I see ya’ll started the party already.” I said to them.
People coughing and complaining about pains interrupted my thought process.
“What the fuck is going on around here?” Kreshon asked me. “You poisonin’ niggas and shit?” He laughed.
“I don’t know what the fuck is goin’ on.” I said looking around some more. My eyes scanned around to everyone else until Tony Wop said his arms were stiffening.
“You aight?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I’m good. I think.” He said gripping his arm. “I’ma ‘bout to go sit down. I think I pulled a muscle or somethin’.”
“Do that,” I said patting him on his back. Directing my attention to Kreshon I said, “What took ya’ll so long?”
“Man, we was stuck in traffic up the street. Somebody in a Cadillac got into a car accident and blocked the whole road.”
“Yeah. And after the nigga in the Caddy slammed into another car, some bitch got out on the passenger side and took off runnin’. The driver rolled out. The fucked up thing was, the only thing fucked up on the Caddy was the bumper.” Kreshon laughed.
“Yeah, the other nigga’s car was fucked up like shit!”
They put their half empty bottles of liquor on the table along with a six-pack of beer. Suddenly I wanted a drink so I grabbed a beer and looked around to see which bitch I would fuck tonight. I needed some pussy to get my mind off of Harmony. I would’ve gotten in contact with Antoinette but she was getting on my nerves, too. But once I put the call into her all would be forgiven.
“Sir, there’s a call for you in the car,” Kevin said walking up to me. I downed the rest of my beer and followed him outside. Once in my car, I picked up the car phone.
“Hello.”
“How are things?” The man said on the phone. I was stuck because the voice on the phone sounded like Massive’s. I recognized his voice from the clinic.
“Who is this? And how did you get my number?”
“You know who I am, son. And I do hope you’re enjoying the food and drinks I supplied for your party. I wanted you to have a memorable birthday. Since it will be your last.”
“Look, either you stop playin’ games and tell me what the fuck is goin’ on, or I’m hangin’ up.”
“You ever heard of Strychnine?” Silence. “Well by now I’m sure you can tell, if you’ve drunken any of the alcohol, that you should be in severe pain.”
“Fuck is you talkin’ about?”
“You’re about to be a part of a major news story, son.” He laughed. “I can’t wait to tell Rick that I finally took from him what he took from me. My only child.”
Six Months Later
On The Run
Harmony
Angela had taken all of the money I’d stolen from Jace and now I was broke and expecting my baby any day now. The older I got one thing remained true, that all of the women in my life weren’t shit. But the light at the end of the tunnel was that I got news that Shirley was murdered. The bad part about it was, they say it was a bloody death. The first person I thought of was Kali.
When I first got to this bitch's house, she couldn’t wait to drop a bomb on me by saying she wanted to help me, but the place they were staying was too small. And that if I wanted to live with her, we had to get a bigger place. So she needed all of the twenty thousand dollars I’d stashed. Against my better judgment I gave it to her. And where did we move…Out of Fourth Ward and into Fifth Ward, the most notorious area in Houston, Texas, right off of Jensen Drive. I can truly say it was the worst place I ever lived in my life.
I was in the kitchen of the five bedroom run down house when my stomach started growling. Being pregnant, I was hungry all the time. Since her kids weren’t home, I decided to make a pack of Oodles of Noodles I stashed in my room before they came back and started begging. My noodles were almost done until her oldest daughter came home.
"What you cookin’?" Tyisha, asked me walking through the door. She threw her keys down on the table and walked in the kitchen. Tyisha was one year younger than me and pretty but she didn’t take care of her physical appearance. She reminded me of myself because we both liked to fuck all day every day but I still didn’t like her. “I’m hungry.”
“I ain’t makin’ too much of nothing.” I said.
She stood behind me and I tried to block her eyes from seeing the noodles, eggs, onions and soy sauce I had placed in my pot because she wasn’t getting any.
"Well it smells good."
If Angela bought food in the house on days other than the first of the month, I wouldn’t have to hide my shit. "Thank you, girl. You know I gotta feed my BABY."
"Why you always sayin’ somethin’ about feeding your baby?" She frowned.
She knew damn well why I kept referring to my baby. I hoped that they would feel sorry for me and leave me and my food alone! But it never worked.
“Damn, I’m so hungry!!” She said. She was so close behind me that I thought she was gonna put something in my ass.
"Tyisha, do me a favor, go get me one of the bowls out my room."
"You gonna give me some if I do?"
I was trying to get her to get my bowl so I wouldn’t have to leave her alone with my food. I wasn’t allowed to use their dishes but I knew if I left, she’d be all in my shit. When I first got here, Angela made it known that I was not to touch her shit, so I started buying my own stuff. The funny thing is, the rule didn’t apply to her. She felt she could come in here and borrow all kinds of shit, which I never got back. If I wanted to be able to feed myself, I had to get out of here and I had to do it soon.
"It’s not enough for you,” I told her. "I would if it was though."
She frowned and said, "Well, I’m ‘bout to go back outside. You gotta go get it yourself."
The look in her eyes told me that the moment I hit the corner, to get my bowl, I'd be lucky if half of my food was left. So I took the pot into the room with me, poured it in my bowl and brought it back to the kitchen.
"Ugggghh!!! You so fucking petty!" She frowned. "Wasn’t nobody gonna touch your food."
"I didn’t say you were, but since you wouldn’t get the bowl for me I had to do it myself."
"Whatever," she said walking her fishy ass out the door.
When she was gone I sat on the bed in the small ass room and ate my food. Then I looked at the small room I lived in and turned on a black and white TV in the corner. The only things in the room was a dresser where the TV sat, my closet which was jammed with a bunch of boring ass clothes since I couldn’t afford anything nice and my food.
“Harmony, you home?” Angela yelled entering the house. “I have company so come out dressed! Somebody out here I want you to meet.” She continued in her southern accent.
I belched a few times and put on something presentable. The sodium was killing me while I was pregnant but I needed foods I could cook quickly. When I was done I walked into the living room.
My aunt Angela was much shorter than me but still attractive. She didn’t look like she was in her forties and could pass for her early thirties easily. But she wore the same thing over and over again. A pair of blue jeans and a brown button down work shirt from Central Parking Systems where she was a cashier. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail so tight that the edges of her hairline rippled.
The guy who was with her was a known drug dealer in Houston and although he had a cute face, he always looked like he was up to something. He favored rapper Dougie Fresh greatly.
“Yeah…I ain’t know she was that far along. She’ll be perfect.” He said before even speaking.
“Perfect for what?” I asked sitting on the couch rubbing my belly. “What ya’ll talking about?”
“Braxton, this is my niece Harmony. And Harmony this is Braxton.”
“I know who he is.” I said. “Everybody in Fifth Ward knows him.” He smiled. “That wasn’t supposed to be a compliment.”
He frowned and said, “I’m glad you know who I am, because we are going to be real close over the next couple of weeks.”
“Why are
we
going to be close?” I asked. The baby felt like it was kicking me everywhere.
“I’ll explain.”
“Look…I’m tired and wanna go back in my room and get some rest. So get to the point.”
“You always restin’.” Angela said. “I need you to start helpin’.”
“Well I am pregnant, Angela. What do you expect?”
She rolled her eyes and sat down on a chair across from me, but next to him.
“Braxton has a way for us to earn a few extra dollars. And since you not bringin’ in no money no more, I need you to do what he needs.”
“Why I gotta help? When my baby comes, I’ma draw welfare.”
“That ain’t enough money, stupid.” She yelled.
“Well it need to be. Anyway, why I gotta help? Why can’t you ask your oldest daughter? We’re about the same age.”
“Cause I’m askin’ you.” She told me. “Plus she ain’t eighteen.”
If I continued to go against her I knew she would put me out. I had to help her and it was as simple as that. “Doing what, Angie?”
“Tell her, Braxton.” She was all excited and I knew it was because she had already counted the money she was going to make in her mind.
Before he even opened his mouth, I got up. “What are you doing?” She asked.
“Getting a beer.” I grabbed one out of the refrigerator and had gulped over half when I caught the strange look Braxton was giving me. “What?”
“Hold up, you pregnant?”
I rolled my eyes, rubbed my stomach and said, “Yeah…So what?”
“Well you shouldn’t be drinking.”
“Nigga, I’ma grown ass woman.” I could feel the baby kick in my stomach like it normally did when I drank liquor. I think it likes it or something.
“You can fuck that baby up with that shit.”
I was feeling myself because I knew he needed me more than I needed him. “Look, me possibly helping you with your scheme and me drinking what I want is two different things. So stay the fuck out of my business.”
I was finishing up my beer when he got up and smacked me so hard in the face, the edge of the beer cut my lip. The can rolled out of my hand and landed against the edge of the wall and beer drenched my shirt. All I could do was cry because I was so fucking angry.
“Like I said, you pregnant, and you ain’t supposed to be drinking.” He said sitting back down. He looked at me with an evil stare and then at Angela. “At least not in front of me anyway.”
“I can’t believe…You just hit me.”
Instead of her asking him why he hit me Angela said, “Harmony, you know I told you before to stop drinkin’. You kinda had it comin’.”
“Fuck you, nigga!” I yelled. “You say beer bad for me yet you’d hit me in the face.” I continued. “So that’s not bad for the baby, too?”
“’Cause you talkin’ reckless. Now let’s move past that shit and get down to business. You not drinkin’ no more so enough said.”
I was enraged.
“Angela I don’t know what the fuck is going on but I don’t want no part of this shit or him. So leave me out of it.”
I moved to go to my bedroom when he said, “Bitch, sit your ass back down.”
“Why so you can hit me again?” I turned around to ask him.
“You think you can talk to niggas any kind of way, huh? That’s your M.O? Talking to niggas recklessly without consequences?” He asked. “Now if I ask you to sit down again, you gonna have a problem with your legs, too.” I sat back down on the couch and he started, “Now…I need you to fly to DC and pick up a package for me. Then I need you to fly back with it the next day.”
“What? You want me to smuggle drugs from DC to Texas?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t do no shit like that.” I said looking between them, my face still burning from his touch.
I hadn’t been to DC since I set Jace up and I wasn’t in any hurry to get back there any time soon. I didn’t have anyone I could trust to find out the status of things so I didn’t know if he knew I was involved. After Massive tried to kidnap me, on the night of Jace’s party for the second time, I punched him in the face so hard he crashed. I was able to get away on foot with my life and I was scared of going back.
