Welfare Wifeys (16 page)

“Bitch, I ain’t no virgin,” Jay said heatedly.

“Hey, watch your mouth,” Scar told Jay. “And you stop fucking wit my little man and get back to work on my big man,” he told Boots and shoved his cock back inside her mouth.

“Don’t trip, Jay. Even the best of us come up short sometimes.” Lloyd brushed the coke from his fingers. “Let a real nigga show you how to handle a bitch.”

Lloyd was so thirsty and stupid that he didn’t even bother with a condom as he shoved himself roughly inside Boots’s box and tried to pulverize her intestines. Between his pounding her and Scar trying to gag her she was in a world of pain and neither of the men seemed to care. With a grunt Lloyd pulled out and squirted off all over Boots’s ass, thighs, and calves while Scar continued to fuck her throat.

When she heard Scar’s moans become louder she knew what was about to happen and tried to move her face, but he held her firmly in place by her hair. With a grunt Scar’s dick exploded in a stream of cum that soaked Boots’s face and hair.

“You dirty muthafucka,” Boots cursed him as she wiped cum out of her eyes.

Scar chuckled. “My fault, Boots. I couldn’t hold it.” He dug into his pocket and peeled some bills from his bank roll and placed them on the table. “Good looking out. That was some of the meanest head that I ever had. No wonder Bernie ain’t left your trifling ass yet.”

“What the fuck ever, Scar.” Boots picked the bills up and counted them. She looked up at Scar and frowned. “There’s only a hundred dollars here.”

“Yeah, you said you wanted a buck to get down,” Scar replied.

“I meant a buck apiece, Scar!”

An expression of fake confusion crossed Scar’s face. “Oh, I thought you meant a buck for the team. Don’t worry, I got you the next time.” He tossed Boots her jacket.

“I swear I don’t know why I fuck wit y’all.” Boots stormed toward the door.

“Because money talks and bullshit runs a marathon,” Lloyd taunted her on the way out. Boots slammed the door so hard that the peephole cover was still spinning after she’d gone.

Jay laughed. “Shorty was mad as hell.”

“Fuck that alcoholic bitch,” Scar said, checking a text message that had just come through on his cell. “Yo, let’s roll downstairs so I can meet this nigga Prince and give him this money.” He led them into the hallway and locked the apartment behind them.

“So what’re we getting into after we meet Prince?” Jay asked. After getting his first nut off he was ready to run a marathon.

“I’m not sure what I’m getting into, but your little ass is gonna play the building and work off that debt you owe. You ain’t been on the job but a week or so and you’re already fucking up money.” Scar shook his head. “That ain’t good, man.”

“I know you’re mad, Scar, but Shakes ran off with the package. It wasn’t my fault,” Jay tried to explain.

“It is your fault because you should know better than to leave a base head with your drugs unattended,” Scar scolded him.

“Word up, Jay,” Lloyd added.

“And you ain’t no fucking better, because I told your stupid ass to hold him down,” Scar barked on Lloyd. “I swear, y’all two muthafuckas is like the blind leading the blind.”

The elevator finally came and when it opened Shakes was leaning against the wall in a half nod. When he noticed Scar and his crew standing there his eyes got as wide as saucers.

“Shit!” Shakes said, frantically searching for an escape but there was none.

“Shit is right, nigga.” Scar snatched him by the front of his jacket
and yanked him from the elevator. “I’m about to show you what we do to thieving ass crackheads.”

Scar and his crew had slapped Shakes around and forced him to the rooftop of 845 where they stripped him of all his clothes. He stood there as naked as the day he was born, freezing his ass off and trying to think of a fitting excuse to save his life. Normally Shakes was a wizard with words, but the cold stare Scar was giving him had him at a loss for words. He knew it was a bad idea to rob dealers in the hood where he laid his head, but the monkey that had been clawing at his back forced him to act irrationally and now his decision had come back to bite him on the ass. Shakes had fucked up . . . royally.

Scar just stared at him for a long time before finally breaking the silence. “You know you fucked up, right?”

“I know, man, but I’m sure we can work this out,” Shakes said, rubbing his arms more out of nervousness than seeking warmth.

“Ain’t shit to work out, homey. I don’t knock you for taking advantage of this green ass nigga over here”—Scar motioned toward Jay—“because that’s what base heads do, they get over on people. But the fact that you knew it was my work and still had the balls to take it is what doesn’t sit right with me.”

“C’mon, lil man, you know how I get sometimes when I’m sick,” he told Jay. “Sometimes these drugs make you do stupid shit, but I ain’t mean no harm. I knew you since you was a shorty.” He tried to gain sympathy from Jay, but the boy turned away.

“Which only makes it worse,” Scar said as he slowly began to circle Shakes’s trembling form. “If you can rob somebody who you watched grow up then you is a piece of shit that needs to be dealt with. The only question is: what would make a fitting punishment for what you’ve done?”

“You know in some countries when you get caught stealing they cut off your hands,” Lloyd said.

Scar smiled. “What you think, Shakes? Should I cut your hands off?”

Tears began to run down Shakes’s ashy cheeks. “Scar, please don’t do me like this. Let me work it off.”

“These niggaz might’ve been stupid enough to put a package in your hands but I ain’t. We’re gonna have to think of something else.” Scar scratched his chin and suddenly had a malicious idea. “I’ve got it, since you flew off with my package let’s see if you can fly for real.”

“Oh, hell nah.” Shakes tried to run, but Lloyd grabbed him in a chokehold and dragged him back.

“Get his legs,” Scar ordered Jay.

“Huh?” Jay asked, shocked.

“Don’t huh me, muthafucka. I said get his legs!” Scar barked.

Jay reluctantly approached the squirming Shakes. Jay was saddened by the pitiful look in Shakes’s eyes, but he was frightened by the look in Scar’s. He and Lloyd carried Shakes to the roof’s edge while Scar looked on like a proud father. Jay silently prayed that Scar would change his mind but the taunting look on his face said that it was already a done deal.

“You got any last words, Shakes?” Scar asked.

“Don’t do this,” Shakes pleaded, crying like a baby. Piss ran down his leg and onto Jay’s hands. It was a disgusting feeling but he was too afraid to let go.

“Toss this muthafucka!” Scar ordered.

Shakes closed his eyes and said a prayer as Lloyd and Jay swayed him back and forth building momentum and let him go. “MAMA!!!!!!” Shakes screamed over and over as he soared. He had screamed his throat raw before he realized that he hadn’t fallen twenty stories to his death, but only a few feet to his embarrassment. Instead of
throwing him off the roof, they threw him on the ground of the rooftop.

“Shakes, do you really think that I would risk a murder charge over a piece of shit like you?” Scar asked.

“Thanks, man. Thank you.” Shakes wiped his eyes. He was cold, scraped, and pissy but at least he was alive. “Scar, I promise I’ll never do nothing that stupid again.”

“I’m sure you won’t.” Scar picked up a large cinder block. “Hold him. Spread-eagle,” he told Jay and Lloyd. This time they moved without hesitation and stretched Shakes’s arms out.

“Hold on, you said you weren’t gonna kill me.” Shakes looked up nervously.

“I’m not, but I am going to teach you a lesson,” Scar told him before he crushed Shake’s right hand with the cinder block.

Malika was dead on her feet by the time she came up out of the train station on 103rd and Broadway. She had been out since that morning pounding the pavement and filling out job applications with anyone who said they were hiring. She’d been at it at least four days a week for the last month or so and still hadn’t landed anything.

Having to take care of herself and Solomon, Malika was feeling the pinch of the dwindling economy and what little she got from Public Assistance wasn’t doing much to ease it. The only reason she still bothered with them is because it kept her rent next to nothing and the food stamps kept her freezer stocked. Thinking of her stamps made her remember that she still hadn’t gotten anything for dinner. As bad as her feet were hurting the supermarket on 104th seemed like it was miles away. She decided that it would be easier just to grab some sandwiches and call it a night so she headed for the corner deli.

As Malika was approaching the deli she spotted a familiar face unloading some crates off a delivery truck. She started to turn around and go the other way, but before she could move he had already spotted her. He was ruggedly handsome with chocolate skin
and wavy black hair that blended nicely into his neat beard. His name was Teddy, and he was one of the guys who made the weekly deliveries to the local bodega and another impulsive decision Malika regretted.

She and Teddy had flirted heavily for about a month or so before they started officially seeing each other. Teddy was slightly older and therefore a bit more seasoned and had Malika open with things like Broadway plays and nice dinners. Being as inexperienced with life and men as she was, she found herself falling for Teddy and giving her body to him. When they had sex Teddy took her body to heights that Suede had never even come close to, and she lavished as much of her young pussy on him as he could stand. After a while Malika began noticing subtle hints that something was wrong, when it became harder to get him on the phone and his visits became less and less frequent. When she’d started hearing the rumors of him having another chick on the side she tried not to feed into them, but she couldn’t deny the writing on the wall. Malika wasn’t foolish enough to wait around until the other shoe dropped so she cut Teddy loose and changed her number. She still bumped into him from time to time when he was making deliveries but she always kept the conversations short and sweet.

“What’s good, stranger?” he greeted her with a warm smile. Teddy had to have paid a grip for his teeth because they were perfect and white.

Malika shrugged shyly. “Same old, same old. I can’t really complain,” she said and reached for the door, but he stopped her by placing his hand against it.

“Damn, it’s like that?”

“It ain’t like nothing, Teddy. What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about how you just left a nigga hanging with no real explanation. I thought we had something?”

“We did have something, but you didn’t want it unless it was on your terms, remember?” she reminded him.

“It wasn’t like that and you know it.”

She folded her arms. “So, what was it like, Teddy? Come on, I’m a big girl so you ain’t gotta lie to me. You wanted to do your thing so I gave you enough space to do it.”

Teddy sighed. “Malika, I ain’t gonna front like I wasn’t doing my thing, but you know you were always special to me.” He pulled her in for a hug.

Malika tried to push him away, but he held fast. “Don’t start this shit, Teddy.” She breathed deeply of his scent. His was a little musty from working all day, but she could smell the sweetness of baby powder lingering beneath.

“I ain’t trying to start nothing. I’m trying to finish it. Why don’t we go to dinner tonight and talk?”

For an instant Malika considered it, but quickly pushed the thought from her mind. “Nah, that ain’t gonna work.” She broke the embrace and walked into the store.

Malika greeted the old man sitting on a crate by the front door and shouted her order to the dude behind the counter. Teddy was in the back having the owner sign for the deliveries so she wanted to get her stuff and get out as quickly as possible. She could feel Teddy’s eyes on her as she tried to decide between onion and garlic chips or barbecue, but she wouldn’t give him or her loins the satisfaction of looking up at him. She didn’t trust herself, especially her eyes. The eyes would always be the giveaway. Pushing the silliness out of her head she grabbed her snacks and headed to the counter where the young man was just finishing up her sandwiches. Living in the hood may have had its disadvantages, but there was nothing like a heated roast beef and cheddar from the corner store.

“Twenty-two seventy-five all together, Miss,” he told her.

Malika peeked over her shoulder to make sure Teddy wasn’t watching, before pulling her Quest card out of her purse and sliding it through the machine and punching in her pin. The young man
at the counter looked down at the machine and after a few seconds frowned.

“It didn’t go through. Maybe you try it again?” he suggested. Malika swiped her card again but it still didn’t work. “I don’t know,” he said with a shrug.

“That’s impossible, let me try it again,” she said in a soft voice.

“You already tried it twice and it didn’t work. You gotta either pay cash or I can’t help you.”

Malika fished around in her purse and only came up with six dollars. Even if she put all the snacks back she still wouldn’t have enough to cover the sandwiches. She felt like melting into a puddle of shit because she had no idea what they were going to eat until she had a chance to find out what was going on with her card the next morning. She felt someone hovering over her and turned to see Teddy. The incident had gone from bad to worse.

“Here you go, ock.” Teddy handed him a fifty. “Just give my change to the lady.” He strode for the door.

Malika looked from the total to Teddy’s parting back. Reluctantly she snatched the fifty-dollar bill and caught him at the door. “Nah, I’m good.” She tried to hand Teddy the money back, but he refused.

“It’s all good, Malika. Just get ya stuff,” he told her.

“I ain’t no charity case!” she blurted out and immediately regretted it when she saw the pity in his eyes. “What I mean is I don’t like owing nobody nothing.”

“And I don’t like to be owed, which is why it was a gift,” he replied and continued walking out of the store toward his truck.

Malika wanted to let it go, but her pride told her that there was more to say so she followed. “It’s never nothing for something. Even doctors get paid to save lives. I really appreciate what you’re doing, Teddy, but if you don’t let me pay you back then it’s gonna bother me.”