Stealing Candy (32 page)

“Yeah, that’s the time she said she goes on break.”

Gianna had no idea what they were talking about. She hated being out of the loop, but dared not ask Bullet what he and Bubbles were talking about.

“There she is.” Bullet pointed. “That’s her!” he said excitedly.

Leaning toward Bullet, Bubbles stared out the driver’s side window. “Yup, that’s her.”

Who?
Gianna craned her neck to see who Bullet was referring to. Following their gaze, Gianna spotted a white girl who looked about sixteen. The teen had blonde hair that hung to her shoulders. She was talking with some teenage boys, all wearing Shoprite store uniforms while they smoked cigarettes. From what Gianna could see, they were typical kids…laughing, joking around…having fun.

“Aiight. Make yourself look presentable. Fix your hair and put on some lip gloss.”

Bullet drove in the opposite direction of the Shoprite store. Keeping the Caddy out of sight, he parked in Wal-Mart’s lot, squeezing between a van and a commercial truck that advertised the name of a plumbing company.

“Now this is how it’s gon’ go down,” he said to Bubbles. “Tell ya girl…what’s her name?”

“Amber.”

“Yeah, tell Amber you got a hook-up for her when she gets off
work tonight. Take her to the side. Don’t let them lil’ young crackers she kicking it with hear your conversation. Be discreet.”

“I will.”

“Tell her if she take a ride with you tonight, you can introduce her to your Oxy connect and get her enough pills for her and her friends to get high with for a week. Yo, and tell that ho not to be bullshitting. If she want the connect, she gotta be ready at ten o’clock tonight. Make sure she understands that this is a one-time only deal.”

“Okay, I gotchu.” Bubbles looked at her image in the mirror.

“Put a mint in your mouth,” he barked, suddenly agitated with Bubbles. “I don’t want you scaring her off with your breath smelling like you been sucking on a pair of sweaty balls.”

Bubbles scrounged around inside her small purse and popped a Tic Tac in her mouth and then opened the car door.

“Don’t fuck this up.” He narrowed his eyes in warning.

“I won’t. I’ma catch that bitch for you.” With a fake smile plastered on her face, Bubbles got out. Squinting at the blazing sun, she walked across the lot toward the supermarket.

Bullet looked back, watching Bubbles with silent concentration. When Bubbles approached the group of kids, he turned around and relit the blunt.

“Aw, yeah. I need another piece of candy. And a white girl. Whew! This is a come-up! Fuck Amber. I’ma name that ho Vanilla Flava,” Bullet said, speaking to himself. “She might be white on the outside, but after I school her, that ho gon’ be moving them skinny hips with rhythm and working that pussy like she came out of the womb fucking big, black dick.”

He released a cloud of smoke, smiling as if imagining himself lying on top of the white girl, teaching her the intricacies of fucking black men.

Gianna didn’t know how or when Bubbles had met the blonde named Amber, but based on Bullet’s utterances, it was clear that he was up to his old tricks. He was planning on kidnapping another girl.

One thing was for sure…they didn’t need another bitch in the house. Three girls were more than enough. And judging by the way Bullet was drooling over the blonde, he intended to give all his personal time and attention exclusively to her.

While Bullet and Bubbles were picking up the white girl from her job, Flashy drove Gianna and Skittles to the current auction house. The house was hidden away on a remote block that looked more like an alley of a Third World country than an American city street.

The row of dilapidated houses looked like they should have been condemned. The windows of some were boarded up, while others had stained sheets or tattered blankets serving as window treatments.

Gianna located a faded street sign that read:
Mary Street.

Wearing stilettos, Flashy got out of his car and stepped carefully along the crumbling concrete.

He looked around. “I don’t see any cars, so I guess the bidders are parking a couple blocks over. They’ll probably arrive on foot. Can’t blame them for not wanting their cars to be spotted on Mary Street.”

Silently, Gianna and Skittles walked behind Flashy. Having fun with his role as the wardrobe mistress, Flashy dressed Gianna as a sexy princess with a sheer, flowing cape that covered a lacy bra, panties with side straps, and a frilly garter on her thigh. She also
had a gold scepter and a jeweled crown to wear during the bidding process.

“You look beautiful, Lollipop,” Flashy complimented. He screwed up his lips when his eyes flickered down to her gauze-covered index finger. “I’ll be glad when that finger heals. It’s distracting from the look.”

Skittles was garbed in roaring twenties attire. A red flapper outfit was accessorized with a headband, boa, and a flashy cigarette holder. Poor Skittles was losing so much weight, she looked frail and ridiculous in the oversized costume.

Using a key, Flashy opened the door to one of the houses where ragged blankets were hung at the windows. “The man who rented me this spot refused to clean it, so me and a friend of mine was in here all day, scrubbing and cleaning, trying to make it somewhat presentable.”

Gianna turned up her nose. The strong scent of pine couldn’t disguise the odor that clung to the walls of the decaying house.

“I know one thing, I’m going to run this auction in an organized manner. Nobody gets to go past his fifteen minutes. We’re gonna be outta here in three hours. These tricks got ten minutes to get here. If they don’t show up on time, we’re rolling out. Nobody keeps Miss Flashy waiting,” he said, referring to himself as a Miss and in third person.

Minutes later, there was a series of sharp raps on the door.

Gianna recognized a few of the gleaming-eyed men who poured through the door. Scanning the crowd, she looked for the shiny-haired man who called her his bridal doll… the man who’d promised to rescue her.

With Bullet adding a white girl to the household, Gianna didn’t stand a chance of regaining her status. Bullet treated her with contempt and she’d be much better off if Bullet sold her. She searched the men’s faces, but her rescuer wasn’t among them.

 
 CHAPTER 38

The auction ran efficiently like Flashy had promised. The absence of Bullet’s hostile personality was a plus.

When Flashy pulled up to the house on Second Street, Bullet’s Cadillac was parked in the makeshift driveway in front of the house.

Flashy handed Gianna a wad of rolled-up bills. “Give this to Bullet. Tell him I took my cut off the top.”

“Aren’t you coming in?” Gianna asked, her expression crinkled with worry. She didn’t want to be in the middle of Bullet and Flashy’s business transaction.

“I’m too tired to put up with that crazy bastard’s bullshit. Tell him I’ll holla tomorrow. By then I should be in a better mood to listen to him accuse me of trying to rob him blind.”

“Suppose he gets mad?”

“Let him! I’m not worried about that coked-up fool.” Flashy grimaced. “The only thing I’m concerned with right now, chile, is taking my ass home and soaking my feet.”

Flashy fluttered his lashes to punctuate the statement.

Gianna wasn’t referring to Bullet getting angry with Flashy. The expression, “kill the messenger,” was echoing in her ears.

“Whew, Lawdy,” Flashy added in a lilting voice, having no idea or a bit of concern that Gianna was afraid that Bullet would beat her for having the audacity to handle his money.

“Standing in these high-ass heels for all those hours was pure murder. My poor corns and bunions are screaming bloody murder to get out of these shoes. I gotta go!”

“Okay,” Gianna said dryly, reaching for Skittles’ hand. “Come on, Skittles. We have to go in the house now.” She guided Skittles out of Flashy’s car and steered her toward the front door.

Since the time when Flashy went upside Skittles’ head, the girl was acting like a couple screws had been knocked out of place. Skittles no longer cried for or even mentioned her daughter. She mumbled to herself all the time.

Weirdest of all, she didn’t flinch when Bullet slapped the shit out of her. She didn’t yell or utter a sound whenever he used his thick leather belt on her ass.

It was like Brielle, the girl Gianna had met in Rite Aid, was no longer present. What was left behind was a vacant shell known as Skittles.

Dreading having to hear sounds of passion as Bullet trained the white girl, Gianna hesitantly pecked on the metal security door. It took almost ten minutes before Bullet began unlocking the multiple locks on the inside door.

A pile of coke was centered on the coffee table. His nostrils were outlined with the white powder.

“Where’s Flashy at?” He sniffed in the excess powder that was visible outside his nose.

Gianna gave Bullet the wad of cash.

“Flashy told me to give you this money. He took his cut off the top. He’ll holla at you tomorrow.” Gianna spoke in a casual tone, hoping to keep Bullet at an even keel. A scared-sounding voice was apt to set him off.

He started counted the money. He sniffed the air. “Is that Skittles stinking up the place?”

“Did you mess on yourself, Skittles?” Gianna asked gently.

“Whatchu asking her for? That buggin’ bitch don’t know up from down. Take her in the bathroom so she can wash her stank ass.”

On the way to the bathroom, Gianna stopped in the smelly bedroom she now shared with Skittles.

She clicked on the bedroom light and gasped. “Girl, you scared me,” she said to Bubbles, who was sitting on the side of Gianna’s pee-stained bed, bent over with her face buried in her hands.

Gianna couldn’t resist taking a jab at the dejected-looking girl. “How come you’re back in this room? Did Bullet kick you out of his bed? What happened? Did that white girl take your place?” Gianna snickered.

Bubbles yanked her hands from her face, revealing a black eye. “Do you see a fucking white girl?”

“What did you do to get on Bullet’s bad side?”

“Fuck you, bitch. At least he didn’t cut off my finger.”

Gianna flinched. She didn’t have a comeback. Bubbles had hit a nerve. Fighting back tears, she took off her crown and leaned her scepter against the dresser. Using her now favored left hand, she quietly poked around in Skittles’ drawers, looking for a clean pair of underwear and pajamas.

While Gianna explored the dresser drawer, Skittles moseyed over to her own bed and flopped down.

“Damn, she stinks,” Bubbles complained. “Didn’t I hear Bullet tell you to wash her funky ass?”

Without replying, Gianna held out her good hand, beckoning Skittles to come with her.

After sitting Skittles in a tub filled with warm sudsy water, Gianna gathered up her soiled panties. With her nose turned up, she double-bagged the panties inside a plastic grocery bag.

“These are going in the trash,” she informed Skittles, who muttered in gibberish.

Though Skittles didn’t earn as much as Gianna or Bubbles, she
did okay for a girl who didn’t communicate and only spoke in her own made-up language.

“None of this is your fault. You always mess your pants after those nasty men do it to you in your butt. Bullet messed you up when he opened you up with the handle of his knife,” Gianna whispered, shaking her head at the memory.