The Lipstick Clique (5 page)

Treasure frowned up. “But who are you to them? I still don’t get it…”

Danielle cut her eyes at Snowflake, who had been giving her the evil eye. Then she looked Treasure in the eyes. “They’re my brothers Treasure. They call themselves the Dirt Mob… and trust me… they live by those words.”

__________

Skye sat in her hotel room watching the news, and figured that her best friend Treasure was somewhere doing the same exact thing. It hurt her that she’d had to pick her sister over her best friend, and it was driving her absolutely crazy. She’d known Treasure’s story from day one, and knowing how many times she’d been betrayed, simply made her feel worse. The more she sat there thinking, the more she wanted to go find out how her friend Treasure was doing.

Finally, she set it in her mind that she was going to go force her sister Milan to get with the program whether she liked it or not. She grabbed her pistol and car keys, and walked out of the hotel room. The sky was clear and dark, and the moon held down its area with full authority. The full moon illuminated the parking lot so well, that it seemed as if it was literally just sitting above that exact area.

She walked around the corner to the odd numbers, and knocked on Milan and Lena’s door. She knocked three times, and stood there waiting for them to answer. When several moments went by without them answering, she decided that the two girls must have gone to sleep and didn’t hear her knocking. She briskly walked back to her room and called the girls’ room phone. No one answered.

Getting nervous, she hurriedly jogged to the front office and got a key made for Milan’s room. She’d paid for both rooms using a fake ID, so they handed her a key immediately. She ran back to Milan’s room and opened the door frantically. She was hoping that the two girls were sleep, and praying that the two crazed
loonies
hadn’t taken each other out of this life.

When she opened the door, her heart dropped to the ground. She couldn’t believe it.

__________

“Mommy! Let’s rob that bank over there! Mommy! What about that gas station? What do you wanna rob mommy?”

“Quiet child, let me think!” Milan screamed to Lena while she drove around the quiet city of Columbus, GA on a mission. She had a deeply rooted passion for violence and mayhem, and she just didn’t feel as if there was enough of it going on in her life. She’d convinced Lena that she was her
real
mother, and that God had allowed everything to happen just so that they could be reunited. She’d convinced Lena that robbery was good, and that firing a pistol was even better. The naïve adolescent believed in everything that was told to her.

“Mommy, what about the McDonald’s? What about the Taco Bell over there?”

“Lena! Relax, you’re driving me crazy!” Milan pulled over into the parking lot of a tax office and put the stolen car in park. She placed her hands on the sides of her head and screamed, as loud as possible, from the bottom of her lungs. “
Arrrghhhh
! Shit! You’re fuckin irritating me you fuckin brat!”

Lena’s eyes misted up and started leaking when Milan screamed at her. She was truly hurt that the woman she looked up to thought she was irritating. She didn’t know why, but that hurt her worse than seeing her parents dead on that fateful night. “I’m
sooo
sorry Mommy!!!
Pleaaaassssee
! I don’t want you to think I’m irritating. Please
Mommmy
!”

Milan rolled her eyes. “Relax
damnit
! Just relax. Tell me you love me and I’ll let it slide!”

Lena smiled immediately. It was a smile so bright, that no one could mistake it for anything other than a child’s innocent adoration. She grinned so hard that a bit of saliva leaked out of one of the corners of her mouth. “I love you mommy!” She said, with a smile that rivaled the mascot of Chuck E Cheese.

Immediately, Milan pulled her hands down from the sides of her head and perked up. She mirrored Lena’s smile and nodded her head. “See… that’s the type of stuff I wanna hear from you. And since you’re being so nice, I’m going to let you pull the robbery off by yourself tonight!”

Lena was enthusiastic, but nervous. It was the type of nervousness a person felt when their mother tells them they can drive her car for the first time. She was excited, and wanted to make it happen, but she was scared that she was going to let Milan down. However, before she could have a chance to protest, Milan pulled into the parking lot of a pawn shop.

“O.K. Lena… you remember everything I told you right?” Milan said as she made sure that the child’s 44 Magnum was loaded and ready. Gently, she reached across the seat and handed her the chrome pistol along with an extra clip. “Just go in there and tell them to put the money in a bag. If someone jumps wrong, waste them. I don’t give a fuck who it is. Any problems… waste
em
.”

__________

“Bitch, what I tell you about approaching us in public?” Grimmer said as him and the rest of the Dirt Mob stood up to leave the strip club. “Shit… I hate when you do this shit sis.”

Grimmer was a lanky 6’4 and had long dreadlocks. His skin was midnight black, teeth were white, and he wore a white t-shirt, black pants, and white Air Force 1’s. He even had a zebra patterned diamond bracelet on his wrist where white and black
diamonds
glistening from it. He grabbed his cup off of the table and handed it to his brother,
5
.

5 had stood up as soon as he saw Danielle head over towards their table. She was the youngest of the three siblings, so by him being the next oldest he was more quick to forgive her for forgetting the rules.

“Treasure… these are my two brothers, 5 and Grimmer. And that’s their friend, Meatloaf. Guys, this is my friend Treasure.”

Grimmer stood there staring at Danielle and Treasure as if they were retarded. He didn’t give a fuck about who her friend was, and he just wished like all hell that she would get the hell away from his table. Him and the Dirt Mob sat at that table every other night and did research on
hits
. They weren’t robbers, but if they had to; they would. They were hood hit men. They would point out the victims, then get their sister, Danielle to get them all of the information they needed on them. What he
didn’t need
though, was Danielle over at the table being all friendly and bringing them too much attention. He was just ready to leave.

“Didn’t I just meet you at the gas station earlier?” 5 said to Treasure, who had been paying no attention to the men, but watching her surroundings. She jumped when she recognized him.

“Well
gottamn
! If it isn’t the dude that calls himself a number!”

5 smirked as he drank the last of his
Ciroc
and placed the glass back on the table. “Well if it isn’t the broad that calls herself a letter!” He cracked back as he buttoned his pants back up.

Treasure frowned. “Oh, you’re a pervert. You’re sitting in the damn strip club with your pants unbuttoned! That’s horrible, a real turnoff. Why would you do some nasty shit like that? Go buy a damn porn movie.
Uckk
!”

Treasure was disappointed because she did see some potential in him before she saw him buttoning his pants back.
Why are the best looking men so damn damaged!?
She thought as she admired his tight and masculine body. She had seen him in the store earlier, but she was just trying to get from in front of those cameras and all of that daylight. There was no telling who was police, or who would spot her and call the police. And the next thing she knew, she’d have been in the middle of a standoff.

She shuddered at the thought as she took her time and let her eyes flow from one side of his sharp hairline to the next. She studied the structure of his cheeks and the plumpness of his lips. For the first time in many years, a man had turned her on. She was having feelings that she’d forgotten existed, and seeing the man button his pants back up had only made her feel even more.

Meatloaf and Grimmer laughed at 5 as they walked away from the attention that two women brought them inside of a strip club. 5 stood there staring at Treasure, even after he’d buttoned his pants back up. He inhaled deep, and Treasure couldn’t help but to stare at his chest as it filled up with air and released its hold. Filled with air, it still didn’t lose its muscular form, and even when the air was released, his chest still looked nice and strong. Danielle just stood there; amused at the way her brother and Treasure was acting, but didn’t say a word.

“Pistol.” He said to her, breaking her out of her daydream. 5 could tell that she had her mind somewhere else, so he went ahead and repeated it. “I said… I had to unbutton my pants because this pistol was too tight against my body.”

Pistol?
Treasure thought as she immediately stared at 5 in lustful horror. She had already been turned on by his body and presence, but if he was toting a pistol on him also… well, there was no telling what she would do to a man like that. She blinked and turned her head, trying to suppress her smile.

“Why are you toting a pistol?” She asked shyly. Treasure hadn’t felt that way in so long that she’d forgotten the completion that came along with a man’s energy. She had not trusted another man with her heart for so long, that she’d forgotten that type of energy still existed. She was floored as she watched 5’s lips move in response.

She was in such a daydream that she didn’t even know what he was saying to her, all she could remember to do was smile at him while she stared. To Treasure, he was such an amazing man, and to be fair, she couldn’t tell if it was because she hadn’t had a man in such a long time or if he was really that fine. “Damn.” She tried to catch herself from verbalizing it, but it was too late.

“Damn what?” 5 asked her with a serious look on his face.

Treasure tried to play if off as best as she could. “Huh? Oh nothing… I was thinking about something, it’s nothing major.”

The way 5 looked at Treasure made her feel whole. It was a look that could not be mistaken for anything else but
realness
. And realness was something that she had been missing out on for a very long time. The last man that she could remember who had realness was Malcolm Powers. They weren’t dating, so his wasn’t the exact type of realness that she was looking for.

5’s realness was
beyond
. The power of his presence was that of a trained assassin, one who never flawed when he had to carry out a job. One who would kill a man in front of 10 people and still manage to sleep peacefully when he made it home. He seemed as if he was the type of man who could blow a man’s brains out while eating a sandwich, and not think twice about it.

“I…
uhm
… I –” Treasure started, stuttered, and stopped at the beginning of her statement. She wanted to say something to him, but didn’t quite know where to begin. Suddenly, a slight panic entered her body, and a matching light sweat misted her skin. She was trying to figure out some way to tell 5 that she wanted to see more of him, but she was at a complete loss for words. It had been many years since she’d had to express herself like that, and she felt like a fool for standing there stuttering in front of a grown man.

“5, are you ready? Let’s go man.” Grimmer came back in to get him. Grimmer had a scowl on his face that made him look like he was always mad at everyone breathing. He didn’t look very inviting, and didn’t seem to be a pleasant person at all. His aura was that of a bully; one who wouldn’t just torture the other kids, but would also torture the teachers if he had the opportunity.

5 stared into Treasure’s eyes for a second and took a deep breath. Treasure stared back into his, hoping nothing, but wishing everything. Abruptly, he nodded his head at Treasure and turned to leave. Treasure felt horrible because she thought that 5 would have at least asked more about her.
Obviously he’s just not interested in me
, she thought as she watched him walk away from her and out of the club.
Damn…

“Treasure… you two
like
each other! Wow, that’s so amazing!” Danielle squealed as she stared at the obvious glow on Treasure’s face.

Treasure tried her best to turn her happiness into a scowl, but it was so hard to do. She couldn’t do anything except burst out laughing. “Wow Danielle… yea, I do think your brother is cute, I admit that… but 5 doesn’t like
me
!”