The Plug's Daughter (22 page)

              “I know right. What nigga? You got a dead body in there or something?” Dame asked in a joking way, but damn he was really acting strange.

              “Nah,” JJ said quickly as we sat down. “It’s just junky as fuck in there and shit. My son was here yesterday and I ain’t cleaned up.”

              “Well damn nigga, since when you give a fuck if this mufucka’s clean?” I had to laugh about that one.

              “I know. Nasty ass nigga,” Dame spat.

              When I finally took a good look at JJ I noticed that he had on a pair of brand new red and black retro 13 Jordan’s. Not only that, but his True Religion outfit looked fresh too. It wasn’t even some shit that he’d borrowed from me. I wondered if he’d been in Dame’s closet, but Dame shut that down.

              “Damn man, you on yo’ hustle ain’t you?” Dame asked. “Nice kicks.”

              “Yeah man. You know. I got bills to pay and my bitch ain’t fuckin’ wit’ no broke nigga.” JJ chuckled and fidgeted in his seat like he was uncomfortable.

              Something was up with that nigga.

              “I hear that,” Dame chuckled right along with him.

              I wasn’t laughing though.

              “I gotta pee,” I said and got up to head to the hallway bathroom.

              The plan was for me to check to see what the hell was in that room. From what I remembered about that nigga’s spot, that was a bedroom.

              “Use the bathroom upstairs man. I’on know what that lil’ nigga put in the toilet, but that shit won’t flush.” The look on JJ’s face told me that he was really trying to hide something

              “It ain’t like I’m ‘bout to take a shit nigga,” I said jokingly.

              “I’m just sayin’ nigga. My girl’s funny. She gon’ flip if it smell like piss in there and shit,” JJ sounded all nervous as he spoke.

              “Whatever nigga.” I walked out of the room and went upstairs like he’d advised me.

              On the way down I tiptoed toward the door that he’d closed. At that moment that nigga JJ walked up the steps that led to the basement.

              “You want a beer man?” He asked, which made me walk away from the door. I was pissed as hell.

              “Yeah, I’ll take a beer,” I obliged before heading back down to the basement.

              “You go in that room?” Dame asked.

              “Nah, that nigga’s actin’ suspicious as fuck. I say we stop playin’ nice and go ahead and get that nigga talkin’.”

              Dame nodded. “I was thinkin’ the same thing. I just needed his guard down so he’d let us in.”

              JJ returned to the basement with three Coronas and a blunt that was already rolled. He lit it up and it smelled just like my shit.

              “Damn man. Yo’ smokin’ ass still got some of that OZ left?” Dame asked with his hand lowering toward his waist.

              JJ was so into his blunt that he didn’t even notice as he placed the beers on the coffee table.

              When he looked up Dame had his gun in his face. “What the fuck’s goin’ on wit’ you nigga? Since when you and Trell been cool?”

              “Nigga, it ain’t even like that. Don’t take that shit personal ya’ll. I need a come up and Trell was willin’ to help me. Unlike ya’ll niggas. Ya’ll s’posed to be my boys, but all ya’ll do is down me and talk shit.”

              I couldn’t help but laugh. “You think that fuck nigga wanted to help you? You one stupid ass nigga.”

              “How ya’ll know anyway? I…know ya’ll don’t fuck wit’ Trell.” Sweat was starting to bead on JJ’s forehead and nose.

              “You scared nigga?” Dame taunted him. “Where’s the video?”

              “What video?” JJ’s voice was trembling.

              “You know exactly what video I’m talkin’ ‘bout. Where the fuck is it?” Dame used the butt of the gun to bust him in the forehead.

              The blow opened his skin and blood started to pour down his face.

              “Go see what was in that room while I find out what this fuck nigga knows.”

              I was thinking the same thing and as soon as he suggested it I was heading back up the steps. Although I wanted to know what JJ was saying, I really wanted to know what the fuck was in that damn room. When I swung the door open my mouth fell open and I made my way back down to the basement with my own gun drawn.

              “Fuck that! I’m ‘bout to kill this fuck nigga!” My gun was at his temple as Dame gave me a questioning look.

              “Man wait. This nigga ‘bout to tell me where the damn video is. Shit, calm the fuck down.”

              I was fuming as I breathed all hard. “Fuck that! I found at least ten bricks of Kush on the bed in that damn room. It’s packaged exactly how I do my shit. That nigga took my shit! How the fuck you know where I keep my stash nigga?”

              Tears were falling down JJ’s cheeks. He was acting like a straight bitch, but having two guns in your face when you got caught up in your shit could do that to a nigga.

              “Dame told me,” he snitched.

              Dame looked at me. “It wasn’t like that man…I forgot that shit even slipped outta my mouth to that nigga.”

              “Was you in on that shit?” I had to know.

              “Hell fuck no nigga. If I was in on it I wouldn’t be here right now!”

              I was ready to blow JJ’s brains out, but we needed that damn video first.

              “How many other mufuckas got that video nigga?” I asked JJ. For some reason I believed Dame.

              “As far as I know I’m the only one. You pissed me off Keys. That’s the only reason I took yo’ shit. You can take it back. I’ll give ya’ll the video. Just don’t kill me or tell Trell…I’ll tell ya’ll everything.”

              I laughed hard as fuck. That nigga must’ve been smoking something other than weed if he thought that shit was going to be that easy.

              “I can take my shit back? Nigga, you funny as hell. Damn right I’m takin’ my shit back. Not only are we takin’ my shit back, but we takin’ the video and we gon’ take yo’ life too!” I wasn’t playing with his ass.

              Because of him I was mad as hell at my pops. I was even plotting on that nigga and his girl. It crossed my mind that Kelly really wanted to fuck me and it had nothing to do with my weed getting stolen. Damn, that was fucked up. That hoe was really willing to fuck her own man’s son. Trifling ass thot bitch.

              “Please don’t…please. We been boys since we were kids man.” Dame begged.

              “Let’s just kill this cry bitch ass nigga,” I said. “We’ll ransack this mufucka ‘till we find what we lookin’ for.”

              “No, I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just don’t kill me,” he pleaded, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

              Dame gave me a look that told me to go along with acting like we’d spare his life, so I backed down.

              “A’ight. Where’s the fuckin’ video nigga?” Dame asked as I just looked on with venom in my eyes.

              “It’s in a shoebox in my closet in my bedroom.”

              I left the room and ran up to his bedroom. There were a lot of shoe boxes but only one of them had a DVD in it with no writing on it. There was no way for me to know if it was the right one by looking at it, so I looked around until I spotted a laptop on the bed. There was a password on that shit and that only added to my frustration.

              “Damnit! Shit! Fuck!” I yelled before running back down to the basement.

              When I spotted a desktop computer in the corner I made my way over to it and turned it on. Dame was still holding the gun on JJ who was still begging him not to kill him. I blocked all of that shit out as I waited for the computer to boot up. There was no password. Once it was on the home screen I found the CD Rom and opened it. I placed the DVD inside and pressed play after it closed.

              Sure enough, it was what we were looking for. I removed the DVD and walked over to JJ. I pointed my gun at his head again.

              “Are you the one that Trell got to watch Sen while he’s gone?” I asked.

              “Who is Sen and how ya’ll niggas know so much?” I could tell that he didn’t recognize that name.

              “Jasenia, Mendosa’s daughter.”

              “Oh, nah. He ain’t tell me to watch her.”

              I nodded. “Okay. Did he tell you everything we need to know?” That question was for Dame.

              Dame nodded. “Yeah, we done wit’ him.”

              “Good.” I turned my attention back to JJ. “I would’ve let you live, but you stole my shit nigga.”

              Pow! Pow!

              I let two rounds off and turned to leave the room before his body could even fall. Shit, all I wanted was my ten bricks back. That snake ass nigga got exactly what he deserved. Before we left we packed my shit up in a bag that I’d found in the bedroom’s closet. Then we made it look like a robbery by trashing the place. After that I made sure to put another DVD in the shoebox to throw Trell off just in case he came looking for it. Once he found out that JJ was dead, I was sure that he’d look to see if it was there. That would throw off any suspicion that Sen was in on the murder. I just hoped he didn’t watch it before I killed him.

*  *  *

             
Jasenia

             
“I’m on my way over. I miss you.” I told Keys over the phone.

              It had been at least a week and a half since Trell had left for Savannah. I didn’t know who he had watching me, but I was trying to be careful since we knew that it wasn’t JJ.

              I was aware of the fact that JJ was dead and was just grateful that at least we had one of the videos in our possession. Things had still been kind of different between me and Keys, but I was working on getting us back to where we were.

              It was my idea to go back to my condo. I needed things to seem normal just in case someone was really watching me for Trell. Knowing that Keys was never too far away was comforting. He was scared that somebody would be coming after me although Trell was gone, so he kept a close eye on me too. So far nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The only places I went were to my father’s house and back home. I hadn’t seen Keys since the day I left, although we talked on the phone constantly.             

              “Okay, but be careful,” he simply said before hanging up.

              I grabbed my purse, walked out of the side door and down the street. I’d already accessed my Uber app and gave the address of a nearby Burger King. Anybody that Trell had watching me wouldn’t have ever thought I’d be walking, let alone waiting at a Burger King for Uber.

              In less than an hour I was where I wanted to be. I knocked on the door and waited to see his handsome face. When he opened the door his reaction surprised me.

              “Hey,” he said and stepped aside without hugging me or giving me a kiss.

              After he closed the door I had to ask, “What the hell Keys? You’ve been actin’ funny for a minute. What’s the problem?”

              “I don’t wanna come across as wantin’ too much too soon,” he threw my words back in my face.

              “Oh, so that’s what this is all about? I didn’t mean it the way you took it.”

              I followed him and sat down on the sofa. He didn’t say anything, so I did. “I only meant that you want me to reveal everything about me in such a short amount of time. Just like you said before, we don’t know each other as adults. I love you Keys and I don’t want to push you away by letting you know about every little fucked up fragment of me.”

              “You gave me your heart and your body though Sen.” He shook his head. “See, that’s yo’ problem yo’. Instead of being real and keepin’ shit one hundred yo’ ass is so worried about losin’ somebody. I ain’t gon’ leave you and yo’ pops ain’t either. You gotta stop worryin’ about what we think. When a person loves you none of that bullshit matters. You see how I’m willin’ to murk a nigga for you. C’mon, why the fuck you doubtin’ me? I’m here. I ain’t goin’ nowhere…no matter what. Kill that shit ma.”

              I shivered with desire at how he took control. He wasn’t controlling like Trell though. Instead of being violent and disrespectful with it, Keys was more thoughtful. He was only demanding because he really gave a fuck about me.

              Without saying anything to spoil the moment, I simply undressed and stood in front of him with my heels still on.

              “Didn’t I say I missed you baby?”

              He shook his head and closed the distance between us.

              “See, here you go wit’ that sexy ass shit.”

              I gave him a sly, but lustful look. “Shut up and kiss me.”

              He did, but when he pulled away his facial expression matched mine. My man was turned on.