Trife Life To Lavish (A King Production Presents...) (28 page)

Renny smirked. "I knew from the second I
peeped you, you had primetime potential."

"Seriously?" Nichelle would wrap her lips
around Renny's thick dick and deep throat it, then
gaze up seeking his approval.

"Yes, and when I'm done with you, you gon' be every nigga's dream bitch. But you belong to
me, so it won't even matter."

"Baby, I want you to cum in my mouth. I
want to swallow every drop of you."

And that's what Renny did. He exploded in
her mouth, and then fucked the shit out of her and
exploded inside her pussy. Nichelle couldn't get
enough of him. She wanted Renny's dick to rest
inside of her until she fell asleep in his arms.

Nichelle woke up in the middle of the night, and
like always, the first thing she did was look around
for Renny. But this time, he wasn't there and it sent
her in a panic. She leaned over to the nightstand
and turned on the lamp. She got up to see if he was
in the bathroom, but he wasn't. The clothes he had
on earlier were missing, and Nichelle's brain went
into overdrive. She picked up her cell phone to call
him, but saw that he left his in the room. Where in
the fuck can he be! Nichelle thought to herself as she
threw on some clothes and grabbed her room key,
not knowing where to begin her search. All she
knew was that she wanted Renny back in the bed,
sleeping beside her.

As soon as she opened the door, she could
clearly hear the voices of two people, and she
recognized them as being her best friend and her
man. Tierra's room was on the left-hand side, and
she peeked her head around and saw Renny's hand slightly holding the door ajar as if he was about to
leave. What the fuck is Kenny doing in Tierra's room at this
time of night? She shook her head in uncertainty. They
can't befuckin' on the low! Oh God, they wouldn't do that to me!

Nichelle felt like she was going to have a
heart attack right there in the hallway. Instead of
jumping to conclusions, she calmed down, and
zeroed in on their conversation.

"Tierra, we can finish this when we get back
to Jersey. We've spent enough time on this."

"Renny, don't leave yet. I'm not done talkin'
to you."

Nichelle noticed Renny letting the door go,
and jumped as quiet as she could to catch the door
before it closed. She wanted to scream out in pain
as two of her fingers, somewhat got smashed, trying
to hold it open. She got her bearings together and
took a deep breath. She could hear the TV in the
back, and knew how Tierra's room was set up.
Renny had either gone into the sitting room in front
of the bedroom, or went past the double doors into
the bedroom. Either way, she figured if she was
quiet enough, she could slide her body around the
door without being seen and find out what the
fuck was going on.

Nichelle's heart was racing. The very idea
of Renny and Tierra fucking around was sending
her over the edge. When she got in the room and
slowly closed the door, neither was in her view, but she could hear their voices. They must be in the
sitting area, Nichelle reasoned from the direction the
sound was coming from. She cracked open the
closet door and slid her body inside and tuned in.

"What else do you want from me, Tierra? I
put you up in a fully furnished crib, bought you
a car, and hit you off wit' plenty of dough. I don't
know what else you want from me."

As Nichelle listened, she felt like her entire
world was shattering. Her stomach started bubbling
and she thought she was going to vomit up
everything she had for dinner.

"My concern is that this shit ain't gon' last.
I mean, what's gonna happen when I run out of
money and you don't want to pay my rent anymore,
or my other bills?"

"So what, you want me to maintain your
lifestyle forever? Yo, don't be greedy, Tierra. We have
an understanding, and you need to stick to it."

"Yeah, our understanding was that you was
gon' have Radric and Carmelo set up to be robbed
and I would get a cut, not that they would be killed!
And let's not forget about Simone and Marley. That
was neva part of the understanding. Simone was
one of my closest friends."

"But you ain't got no problem spending all
the money I hit you off with for doing your part."

"I did. I kept Nichelle busy that night so you
could do whatever you was doing."

"Enough of this shit! I don't need for you to give
me a play-by-play of what happened. I orchestrated
the shit. We gon' come up wit' a number, and after
that, I'm done. `Cause you don't want to end up like
your friend, Simone, do you, Tierra?"

"I don't want no problems wit' you, Renny.
All I want is to be properly taken care of for the
role I played in all this. When we come up wit' a
lump sum number, I'ma be good wit' that and not
hit you up for no more money, I promise."

Nichelle stormed out the closet in a rage over
all that had been revealed to her.

"What the fuck was that noise?" Tierra wondered
out loud before catching a glimpse of a distraught
Nichelle. "Nichelle! How did you get in here?"

"What you really want to know is, how much
did I hear, and the answer is everything! How could
you, both of you? Renny, it's one thing for you to
kill Lerrick and her friends' because of what they did
to me, but Carmelo and Simone? You're a monster!"
Renny didn't say a word. Instead, he sat down.

"And you, Tierra! Simone was our friend! You
livin' off blood money! But you don't care how
you get it, as long as it's gotten! What happened
to you? You really believe you've gone from trife
life to lavish? Hell no! You still from the gutter!
Only difference, instead of doin' dirt in the `hood,
you doin' it in a high-rise. Is livin' some fuckin'
lavish life that important to you that you would let innocent people die? I hate you...I hate both of
you!" Nichelle broke down in tears and ran out of
the room, slamming the door.

"Aren't you gonna go after her?" Tierra asked
Renny, who was sitting down composed as if
nothing happened, where as Tierra's hands were
shaking. She was devastated that Nichelle now
knew the truth.

"She needs time alone. I'll give her that."

"Excuse me! Time alone? Yo, she found out
that you had four people wiped out, including a
man she was in love wit'!"

"Nichelle is in love wit' me. Carmelo is of no
relevance. She'll be back, she has no choice. I'm all
she knows."

"I warned Nichelle about you. Now she's
seen it for herself... you're heartless."

"You better hope that isn't true, because if
it is, that doesn't leave you in a very promising
position, now does it."

The next morning when Renny woke up,
Nichelle still hadn't returned. He wasn't shocked,
but extremely disappointed. He felt his grip on her
was strong enough that eventually she would come
back to him, but he wasn't a patient man. And the longer Nichelle made him wait, the more severe her
punishment would have to be once she returned.

"So, we just gon' leave Philly without
Nichelle?" Tierra complained as they walked down
to the hotel parking garage.

"There's no need in us staying. Nichelle ain't
coming back here."

"How is she gonna get home? She don't know
nothing about Philly."

"She'll find her way home. If not, she'll call."

"So, you gon' just let her be. You know how
sweet Nichelle is. She ain't gon' be able to make it
out here ...or maybe she will," Tierra said, changing
her tune when she saw the gift Nichelle left for
Renny.

His prized Maserati was destroyed. The tires
were slashed and all the windows and headlights
were busted. She even keyed the entire car, and
just so there wasn't any doubt who was responsible
for the mayhem, she left a note taped to the busted
front winshield, saying, `2 Hate You! Love, Nichelle. "

If you had a chance to right all the wrongs you've
done, would you take it? Would you grab hold
of the opportunity to forsake yourself and save
another? Or would you continue on your dismal
path of self-destruction?

When Nichelle stood up from the makeup
chair and walked out of her dressing room into the
studio, she felt confident. The white, boy shorts
with matching jacket that had fur trim around the
collar and sleeves, fit like it was created to grace
her body. The stiletto heels on the long white boots
that hugged her legs clicked on the hardwood floor
as she prepared for her debut.

"I'm ready," she told the man behind the
camera, knowing that all eyes were on her.

"Bring the panther in," he directed one of his
assistants.

A few minutes later, the trainer came out
with the most beautiful Black Panther-scratch that-animal that Nichelle had ever seen. He had
piercing yellowish-green eyes, which made the
whole room come alive. The trainer positioned the
panther right where the photographer wanted, and
Nichelle stood near the panther as if she had raised
him since he was a newborn.

"Let's do this," Nichelle said, dropping down
right behind the panther, placing one hand across
her thigh and the other playfully cupping her
curvaceous ass. As the lights flashed each time
the photographer took her picture, she gave her
million-dollar pose like her life depended on it.

"I knew she was the one," Akil said, standing
behind the photographer, while relishing in his
triumph of hand picking a girl out of oblivion and
turning her into the spokes model of his women's
clothing line.

While Nichelle maintained perfect
professionalism in front of the camera, her mind
wandered back to what had brought her there ...two
of the most important people in her life deceiving
her. Although it had been weeks since she first
found out about the horrific role each played in
the deaths of four people-two who Nichelle cared
a great deal about-it seemed like yesterday. A
moment never seemed to go by that she wouldn't
find herself replaying some part of the conversation
she heard between Renny and Tierra, and each
time, she would get angrier and angrier.

Wandering the streets of Philly and not
knowing a soul, but determined not to return to
Renny, Nichelle found the business card in her
pocket and decided to call. Originally, it wasn't
even about the modeling gig. She wanted his help
to get back to New York. But soon Akil convinced
her that if she listened to him and followed his
lead, her billboard would be plastered in Times
Square. With nothing to lose and everything to
gain, Nichelle said, fuck it, and now here she was.

But, Nichelle couldn't lie to herself and
pretend that there wasn't a part of her dying inside
from missing Renny. What made it worse, was that
he hadn't reached out to her once.

Tierra had been blowing up her phone and
left a ton of messages, but nothing from Renny.
Even though it had been Renny who did the
unforgivable, he was able to make Nichelle feel
that somehow it was her fault they weren't together.
She hated that he had that sort of hold on her,
mentally. Nichelle was well aware that eventually
she would no longer be able to escape having it
out with Renny. But she prayed the longer it took,
the stronger she would become.

"That's a wrap!" the photographer yelled out,
bringing Nichelle out of the depressing journey she
was taking with Renny on her mind.

"You did phenomenal!" Akil said, giving
Nichelle a hug. "You were better than I imagined. I'm proud of you. You showed up and showed
out. We got a star right here, people!" Akil pointed
his finger at Nichelle, boasting to everybody in the
room.

"Thanks for believing in me, Akil, because if
you hadn't, I wouldn't be standing here right now."

"I know, but you ain't seen nothing yet. This is
only the beginning. We're going places, you'll see."

"Who would'a ever thought that I would be a
star. Wow, Genevieve, look how far you've come."