Raunchy (9 page)

"Grown folk?" I laughed. "First of all we talking about whoring. And second of all you only 4 years older than me. So how is that grown folks business?"

"I’m still older than you." She told me.

I was about to respond when people started screaming from up the block. It was in the direction Cherry and Rodger went in. I wondered where all the commotion was coming from until I saw a crowd form. All of a sudden Cherry came limping out of the alley holding her hand between her legs. Blood poured from her body and she looked shocked. Then Rodger barreled out of the alley in his car almost hitting two kids riding bikes in the process. We both ran up to Cherry who walked a few feet before falling on the ground.

When Nut reached her, she got on the ground and held her closely. I’d never seen them this upset before and I could tell that these two whores had more love between each other than my own mother had for me.

"I told you not to trust him!" Nut cried out through her tears. "Why you ain’t listen to me?" She lifted Cherry's head and placed it on her lap. "Somebody call the ambulance!" She screamed to no one in particular.

"I already did! They on their way?" An older black man yelled. "Is she okay?"

Nut ignored him and said, "What happened, Sasha? What he do to you, huh? Did that sick bitch shoot you?"

At first I thought she said the wrong name until I saw she was looking dead into her eyes. Go figure, Cherry’s real name was Sasha.

Cherry looked like she was about to pass out as blood exited her body. "I think...I think he cut my pussy with...A blade or somethin’. You think I’m gonna die? I don’t wanna die."

We both looked at each other in horror as the ambulance pulled up. They put Cherry on a gurney and Nut jumped in with without saying goodbye to me. That was a whole lot of action for one day.

I was left walking home by myself with no liquor and a fucked up picture in my mind of Cherry with a lot of blood over her body. My mind was racing in the heat when a new white beamer, with paper tags pulled up on the side of me. The music pumped from the stereo system and the tinted window rolled down.

“Harmony, let me holla at you for a minute?” Asked Jace. He parked on the curb and I tried my best not to jump all over his dick. Shit, he just got a red Audi a few months ago and now he pushin’ a Beamer!

“Why you ain’t been answering my calls, Jace?”

“Get in the car, Mony.”

As the years went by he got cuter and it didn’t hurt that his father Rick who lived in Los Angeles put him on in a major way. He didn’t see his father regularly and his mother died when he was a baby. She was stabbed while breast-feeding him in a public park in L.A. When they found her slumped over, Jace was under her body with her breast in his face. He almost suffocated to death.

Still Jace was the kind of nigga who no matter what, when he came into a room, you had to turn around to look at him. And Shirley gave me one piece of advice that I thought made sense. She said,
'Harmony, never get with a man who looks better than you. Get an ugly man, one who would love you more than he does himself. That way he'll never leave you.'
And although I hated her with a passion, I took that message to heart.

I walked over to his car and said, “You gonna give me a ride home?”

He smiled, leaned over, opened his car door and said, “Stop fuckin’ around and get in."

I ran my fingers through my long black hair, wiped the sweat off of my forehead and onto my ripped acid wash jeans. Then I strutted smoothly toward his car and got inside. I felt nasty after having sex with Paco and Kreshon and needed a shower so I hoped he didn’t want to fuck. Usually we had make-up sex after we broke up but that would have to wait today.

"Why you look like you been up to somethin’?" He asked me.

I wonder if he could see my day’s nastiness and I tried to look innocent.

"I just came from hanging with Nut and Cherry in front of A&B. And one of Cherry’s Johns stabbed her between the legs. It was a mess. "

"Why were you with them anyway? I thought I told you I ain’t want you hangin’ with them no more."

"I don’t hang with them, Jace." I said irritated. Knowing he could care less about them I said, "So what’s up? Why you ain’t been answering my calls? And who is this girl I hear you’re running around with?” The cool air from the air conditioner dried my sweaty face.

“I’m movin’ to Los Angeles for a while. So I’m tryin’ to make shit right with you before I leave. I don’t know how long I’ma be gone for either, I got some shit to take care of. "

I was so scared about losing him to L.A that I hadn’t thought about the most important point. That I wasn’t supposed to know about the kidnapping. My mouth had gotten me into trouble and I couldn’t lie because it was too far-fetched for me to mention a kidnapped girl, and most of all that he was involved. I had to think quickly.

“Uh…Baby, I want to tell you something, but I don’t want you to get mad.”

“Harmony, who told you about a kidnapped girl?”

“Uh…Some police came to my house today. And asked me if I knew anything about a kidnapping. I think they investigating you or something. They wouldn’t tell me more though. What’s going on?”

I tried to look into his eyes but he was wearing a pair of dark Versace shades. "What did you say?”

“Nothing…Because I don’t know nothing.”

“Look, if they visit you again, call me. I’ma be at your house later on to pick you up. I gotta handle some shit right now though.”

"Jace, is it over?" I asked when we got to my house.

We both glanced over to see Kali standing by my door, waiting. It was so normal to see him at my house, that I don’t think Jace thought too much of it. Kali and me were cool before Jace even became my boyfriend. But there was something in Jace’s eyes that told me that today something was different. I figured it involved the kidnapping.

As I was talking to him, he was looking at Kali. Eventually he walked over to the driver’s side window and said, “What up, Jace. Everything cool?”

Both of them looked at me and he said, “We’ll rap about that later. But don’t forget to meet them people I asked you to meet later. Page me when you’re done and I’ll scoop you up.”

“Bet.” Kali said backing away from the car.

"And you betta be ready in a couple of hours." He told me.

I hoped Jace didn’t mention me knowing about the kidnapping to Paco because he would go completely off. How could I be so fucking stupid?

When I walked toward my house, Kali walked with me and we watched Jace pull off, before he gave us one last look. Kali and me had a weird relationship because he was like a bodyguard to me. But his heart and soul belonged to Cherry. Even he got cuter over the years but he was still an average dude. Kali lost most of his baby fat and he had a honey colored complexion with really dark eyes. They resembled black marbles.

Nervous Energy

Jace Sherrod

It had been four days since the kidnapping and between the heat, which was unbearable, and Kali’s recklessness I wanted to blow. I talked to my cousin about the matter and he told me I had to kill them both, the girl and Bam. But before I made a move, I had to be sure there wasn’t another way.

Girls were outside in less than nothing and all Kali talked about was how they were setting themselves up while we drove in my car. All I wanted to talk about was the girl who was still tied up in my basement with her father.

Kali took his hatchet off his back and set it on the floor to get comfortable.

“I’m tellin’ you, nigga, that’s why bitches be gettin’ raped and shit. Look at half of the shit they be wearin’.” He pointed to a shawty with a pair of purple tight ass shorts on.

“Fuck is you talkin’ ‘bout, young?” I frowned.

“You heard me. Bitches be comin’ outside in less than nothin’ and then they wonder why niggas be plottin’ on takin’ that pussy. If you wear shit like that, you deserve everything you got comin’. A stiff dick.” He laughed grabbing his.

“Why you let Herb D talk reckless to me the other day? I heard the shit he said. Now I’da been wrong if I sliced him wouldn’tve I?”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“So you gonna say you didn’t hear him say you should get rid of me?”

“I heard it but I also think you took shit too far by kidnapping that kid. Now Herb talked a little off beat, I’ll give you that, but you had some of that shit comin’.”

“You always takin’ Herb and Sick’s side when we be beefin’. That’s fucked up.”

“Nigga, you fucked up.” I said looking at him seriously. “What are you, my bitch or somethin’?” I said accepting the bob. “I ain’t ‘bout to sooth your feelings and shit.”

He laughed, and said, “So what you gonna do? You want me to handle that situation in your basement? ‘Cause you know I ain’t got no problem with it.”

“I don’t know what I’ma do yet. Tony at my crib, and I’ma rap to him ‘bout it when we get there. But you makin’ a move without thinkin’ put me in a bind.”

He was silent for a moment and said, “Why would I do that? If I say somethin’ I’m the one they gonna come lookin’ for.” He paused. “Naw, I ain’t say shit to nobody.”

Something was off with Kali and people told me he was borderline Bi Polar but I didn’t wanna believe them until now. I also knew telling him about the cops visiting Harmony could put her in danger. So for now, I was gonna keep that information to myself.

When my father called on me to build his operation in D.C., I couldn’t be more ready. Finally I would be making that serious paper. But wherever there was money, there were risks. And one of my risks was having Kali on my team.

But I hated living the way we were before my pops asked me to open up a shop in DC. Don’t get me wrong, my aunt Karen was good to me but before the call we were living regular. The money Rick sent her she used on mortgage and private schools. I could’ve called him and asked him for a little more dough, but I didn’t want her thinking I didn’t appreciate her putting it all on the line for me. But I always had a strong desire to hustle, just like my father. Although, unlike my father, murder was not my thing and I don’t think it would ever be. That’s where niggas like Kali came in but taming him was out of the question.

“I want you to lay low for a while.” I told him. My pager went off and I saw it was Paco. The code was ‘287’ which meant to meet him at his house. I figured he had some info on Star so I wanted to hurry. “Outside of the niggas in the room that day,” I said looking at him again, “don’t talk about the situation to no one. You got me?”