Pandora's Box

I had been wired up all day, trying to figure things out. I couldn't been asleep more than three minutes before my cell phone rang, I know. In one motion, I sat up, reached over and snapped it up.
"Hello?"
"Yeah, what's up Chris? My homeboy tell me he can give you $500 a piece. He checking on the elbows."
"Just let me know how many he gonna do the twenty for?"
See we all have business to do here on earth. Some of us do good things; some of us do bad. I'll give you some examples of how these things work in our society. For instance, God wants to answer a prayer. Some of us think that miracles should happen automatically in a good way or come to us in a form of happiness.
Let's say a mortician wishes that his business could do better. On that particular day a shooter goes on a rampage and kills 20 or 30 people. Now for the victims of that crime that have families in mourning, we automatically get upset as a people. In order for that business to flourish and do better these people had to die. The mortician is happy, money is pouring in, and the business of burying people is at a high. I believe this is an appropriate time where that old saying, "The lord works in mysterious ways" comes into play. Not only did the mortician get a blessing but so did the police, doctors, nurses, barbers, beauticians, flower shops, and so on and so on. I know that facts like these are hard to swallow but some force of nature pushed this particular blessing through. See that's a hard fact of life that each and every person wakes up to on a day to day basis. Every profession that I mentioned had a job or a duty to perform in order to
successfully live in this world. Every human being lives and strives on the next guys blessing.
Angelo's ring tone sounded off again. My eyes checked out the LCD, it read 1:15.
"Chris, are you ready?"
"Yeah, I just have to pick up my partner to get the rest of the money. Where are we going to eat?"
"Let's meet at the job site."
"OK, give me about 30 minutes to get there."
"OK, Chris."
This is where the story gets interesting. See I had to put a plan together to meet Angelo and his partners to get the package. The only problem I had...coming up with 20 Grand. The only way to come up with it, was so clear. I had to play stick-up kid. Remember when I said the lord works in mysterious ways. Well I also found out on this particular day that there are two forces in this world. Some people call it good and bad and some call them angels and devils. Whatever your belief, I want you to know that God exists and the devil dwells right here amongst us everyday. You never know which one you're going to face. But I continue on, unafraid. I'm leaving my fiancée’s house, which is about 20 minutes from where I had to go to find someone to help me with this robbery. I'm riding and thinking, "How the fuck am I gonna pull this off. So I arrive on the other side of town. First, I stopped at the check cashing place and I cashed in two hundred dollar bills for two hundred one dollar bills. I rolled them into three one hundred dollar bills. Next, I stopped at the bus stop on the other side of town, looking for anybody down to score a lick. I must of sat for five minutes, when out of no where this fine, caramel coated young lady started walking towards my truck. She looked bold, hungry and ready for anything. Something in my gut told me to go for it.
"Excuse me Miss Lady, how are you doing?"
Her pretty smile lit the sky, "Fine how are you?"
" I'm okay. I was just admiring you and those jeans you're wearing."
"So you like my jeans?"
"Well, I was just checking you out and I like what I see. So what's your name?"
"Sonya."
"Well Sonya, I was trying to find someone to help me out with a problem. I gotta make a move somewhere and I need help with it."
"So what's the deal?" She was checking out my ride, what was inside, everything."
"I need help sticking up these Mexicans." I watched her face carefully. When her glowing eyes met mine, I knew then. "If you help me out, I'll pay you some good money on the back end of things."
"So what's your name?"
"Chris"
"Well Chris, how much you going to pay me for this?"
" About two grand and some good weed if it works out."
"Alright, I'll do it but let me call my boyfriend and tell him I'll get back with him later."
"OK, sweetheart."
See America, the love of money is the root of all evil. I didn't know this young lady from Adam nor Eve but I already got her getting ready to help me to rob some niggas. It didn't even take me five minutes.
"Alright baby, we got an hour to waste, let's go over the plan and get our shit together. Do you like Chinese food?"
"Yeah."
"As we're riding to the Chinese spot, I couldn't help looking at Sonya, thinking, " This woman is different in so many ways." I mean my fiancée is a nurse and a hell of a woman. However, between Sonya and my baby there was a big difference. At that moment, with adrenaline and excitement running through my veins, I could see things clearly. I couldn't have known Sonya for over a good twenty minutes. Seeing the ambition in her eyes; the thrill of the hunt; made this ultimate adventure more fulfilling than anything I've ever done. The mere fact that she was on my team at that moment, sent chills down my back, not to mention she was hot and I was horny. We reached the Chinese restaurant. The place was empty and Sonya and I took a table at the back.
"Sonya, have you ever done anything like this before?"
"No, but I'm willing to try."
" So check this out right? When we get to the spot the Mexicans will be focused on you. See I'm gonna tell them that you're my girl from out of town and you are trying to get this twenty pounds. See I got this stack of money and when they see your fine ass holding it, all their attention will be focused on you. They won't be thinking that this is a jack move. So what I need you to do is look sexy and talk sexy to these motherfuckers."
"Alright, nigga, I could do that."
"So when we get one of these stupid asses in the truck to count the money, I need you to pull the gun and I'm going to throw my truck into drive and roll out with this crazy looking nigga and everything else. You got it?"
"Yeah baby, I got it."
So that's how we plotted our great heist. At that particular moment, I looked at life in a funny way. I remember thinking about my fiancee and wondering what roads I had took in life that could be steering me in this direction. I knew. My mind wandered back to that time on how I was robbed and conned out of thirty thousand dollars. I put myself in the shoes of the thief that had stole my happiness away. Although I was the victim, it must have been exciting as hell to rob me. All of a sudden rage welled up inside me and I felt a sense of betrayal. At that moment I would have given anything for these Mexicans to be him. If it were him, I know I would put a bullet in his brain and bitch slap his wife.
This time I answer the cell on the first ring.
"Yo, Chris we're ready."
"Alright man, give me about twenty or thirty minutes and I'll be at the spot."
"OK, man we're ready and all the shit is waiting."
"OK, Angelo, I'll be there."
See, it doesn't take a psychologist to figure people out. They were ready to score a big lick and I was ready to get paid. It all came down to money. This one particular time came down to whether I would succeed or make another bad choice. That's the whole point to life. There are billions of people on this planet. We were designed to use one another. Either we do it in a useful, productive way or we use them to destroy them or put
them to shame. Everything is about competition, we see it everyday at work, at school, and in the streets but sometimes we miss it. As a wiggly little sperm cell we compete with other sperm to wiggle our way to be the first to impregnate the egg. It's not luck, just think, out of a million sperm you were the quickest and the strongest enough to make it here. I snap up my phone in mid-ring. "I'm exiting the ramp right now." I snap the phone shut and finish my turn. Angelo was a former work buddy I used to drive trucks with. Although he was a trainer, he was cool to talk to, especially during the time I was going through my struggles. He was married with two kids. When he spoke English with a fresh, broken accent. When he spoke, I could understand most of it, but I had to fill in the
blanks. When I had told him all bout my losing my money, and how my fiancee was leaving me, he kind of smirked and laughed. As I stood there, he turned and uttered under his breath, "Punk." Since that moment, I didn't mind sticking him and his homeboys up. I felt like I had to show him I was the man of the streets. I know I did not feel like the man at home, but out here you can't offense like that slide. I finally got to the gate at the job. Angelo keyed the code for the gate to open and me and my new acquaintance drove in. We positioned the wad of money into the cup holder within plain sight. I knew Angelo would focus on the money and be reassured everything was all right
with us.
"So how have you been Angelo?"
"Well it's been tough on me. Man, a month ago I got into a car wreck and killed two people.
"Say what!"
"Yeah, you know how it is when people ignore the power of a big truck."
Puzzled I asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well you know how the four wheelers are always trying to go against the big truck? Well about three weeks ago a four wheeler crossed over in my lane and my back tandem wheels. The truck rolled underneath my back tires and crushed the cab of the SUV. A husband and his wife were driving; they didn't make it.
"Man, that must have been some scary shit!"
He reached into his pocket. "Look here's some pictures of the crash. This is how fucked up the truck was. The truck was crushed!
"Yeah, I was drug tested and questioned by the police for two days."
"What did the company say?"
"They did an investigation and suspended me for three weeks."
"So you called me to get some extra cash off of this deal?"
"Well you know, I gotta do what I gotta do?"
Now ain't this some shit! When the chips are down people tend to call you to use your talents to make things happen. Didn't I say we all have to use each other. That's why I'm about to rob his ass. Hey, I'm sorry 'bout what he's going through with the job. I mean killing somebody sucks, and a husband and a wife is a bitch. Those pictures looked like a crushed potato chip bag. There was no way in hell anyone could have survived. Just like him though, I gotta do what I gotta do.



Chapter 2

Ashantay sat there disgusted, thinking, "Talk about the lamest assignment that keeps being handed out and I'll tell you it's 'Write an essay about the person who's influenced you the most. 'No one wants to speak or understand the truth, I guess I'll sell out again and pick Oprah or Maya Angelo or some other socially acceptable, politically correct person. I refuse to pick my mother and victimize myself again. Daddy? Now you know that would be like turning state's evidence, Ashantay. Hell, the truth is I have always identified with Little Red Riding Hood anyway. That's where I learned my most valuable lesson. On any given day somebody is going to fuck with you and all you‘re trying to do is go about your business. It doesn't matter how young or old you are. Sometimes it takes you by surprise, sometimes you know it's coming. People are all about self. Her mind flashed back to day she started putting it all together. It was her seventh birthday, and she was waiting for her cousin to pick her up to the playground to walk her home.

Play time! She had just spent the last hour of the day crouched behind the reading center's bookcase, grimacing from the pain of Fee-Fee's and Jr. Lee's cruel, dirty fingers digging in her kitty-kat as Ms. Kaylor sat down behind her desk waiting for the last bell to ring. Damn, it hurt! Last time she tried to tell, they punched her in the stomach and on the way home they kept hitting her and pulling her hair. Most the time she was always watchful, and knew just where and when to play in the classroom . This time they caught her trying to get to her favorite thing, reading. It had been two days since she had held a book, and she slipped in when the urge to read won and that's how she got caught. They didn't bother her in the neighborhood because everybody knew her grandmother would whip their butts. Plus, they had plenty of other girls to bump and grind when they played 'hide, and go get it', and they knew she always stayed on the safety pole 'til everybody had got some and the game was over. She scanned the playground just when someone walked upon her from the back. She spun around ready to run.
"Hey suggah!"
"Daddy!" She grinned and leaped on him at the same time. .
"Happy Birthday, baby. I got a surprise but let's walk home first."
Her heart jumped in her chest for joy. Wishes do come true! This was going to be just like the book she just read, " Jane Gets a Birthday Surprise."
"Put me on your shoulders like you always do!" She demanded.
He tried for a few minutes as usual but had to put her down. "Shawny, you too heavy, baby. Daddy got to put you down." She wanted to complain but she was too excited. So she skipped happily along the sidewalk holding his hand, smiling all the way. She hadn't seen him for weeks. Last time she and sister went looking for him, his next door neighbor said he had been put in the pen. The older Ashantay reflected, "Damn, is that when I started settling?" She watched them walk all the way to the neighborhood, while little Ashantay sang all her favorite songs for her daddy. With a bounce, and then a pose she stopped at the front door and rang the bell for her mama to come open it. She'll never forget the look on her mother's face when she came to the door.
"Surprise!" she chirped the same time her daddy said, " Hi Janay."
Instantly Ashantay saw her mom freeze. Her eyes looked just like Bambi's mama did when they were looking at the forest fire jumping out at them.
"You gonna open the door?" She heard her daddy say in a soft, silky voice.
Her momma just stood there not saying a word. Then quick as a snake, she reached here arm through the door and tried to snatch Ashantay in. Ashantay felt and watched her father grab her mother's arm and just as quick, he took his other hand and slammed the door on her mom's arm three hard times. Her mother tried to pivot
and run back up the stairs but she couldn't move the weight of her belly fast enough. She was seven months pregnant. Her daddy stepped in and punched Janay in her stomach. The sounds that were coming from her mother instantly made Ashantay freeze. Stunned, she went into a trance. Next thing she could remember, they were spending the night at her grandmother's while her mom was in the hospital. When her mom was finally released they were moving again, this time to another apartment down the street. She knew she would never take her dad home anymore.
"No wonder I'm fucked up." Ashantay thought as she steered her Land Rover into her drive. "I got to snap out of it if I'm going to take care of this check engine light." She entered her house and immediately went into her office to check her email. Typing in p-a-n-d-o-r-a, she thought about all she was getting into now. "Damn right I'm Pandora, I am always getting myself into something!" She checked her bank account to see if her grant money had been deposited yet. No. She sat down and did a quick assignment. Ashantay also knew what happens when you don't take advantage of the life's little opportunities especially when you had no one to get your back. Little Shawny wasn't ever gonna be helpless again. A sistah gotta do what she gotta do! Yeah, she was always getting
herself into something, but she was always getting herself out too.
When they moved into the new apartment after her dad broke her mother's arm, her mom met a new man. The night he moved in, Ashantay packed her bag, told her mother she was spending the night with her grandmother, walked to her house, knocked on the door and stayed there for the next two years. Those years where the happiest years of her life.
"You got mail!" AOL's greeting snapped Ashantay back to the present. She went through all her mail, deleting entire pages. Instant messages started popping up all over the page. None of them was from Kielbasa. She blocked everybody else with her away flag and finished another quick assignment.
"Hey, Cheetah!" Kielbasa’s IM flashed open.
"Hey You!" She grinned ear to ear.
"Where U Been? Making me jealous?" Kielbasa was so insecure because of the distance between them. Jalen, his real name, could get any woman he wanted and he knew it. That's why his screen name was so blatant, but so true! Still, she would never lie to him but she didn't want to make him think he was exclusive because he stayed away too much. She refused to marry him because he was always away on some tour. This time he was busy starting his second tour in Iraq. Jalen was heartbroken when she told him he was special but he could only be her best friend, but she refused to do the distant love thing. They were very open with each other.
"No, I didn't meet anybody special today"
"Turn on your webcam," he whispered in a husky voice.
"Why? You thinking about sex again today?" she laughed trying to ignore the warm feeling that started in her stomach. "You caught me off guard and that was a fluke. You came back to back with not a scratch on you, so don't even try it again." She closed her eyes and her mind was flooded with the memory of him playing Jaheim's
"Just In Case" to her, begging her to dance with him cause he was going to border patrol that night. She willed her body to not shiver when she thought about what they did on the camera to Next's "Too Close". Old School music always got her in trouble!
"I just wanted you to know how much I love you and how much I enjoyed myself the other night. I had the time of my life. You know my mind better than I do. Just thinking about you and looking at your video on my PC gets me warm and tingly all over every time I look at it."
Ashantay sat up straight, her fingers flew over the keyboard. "Every time you look at it! Don't tell me you recorded that!"
"I won't tell you then," popped up.
"Damn, Jay, you are foul!" She was irritated now.
"Damn, Shay, you are naive!" the reply came back. "I'm over here, don't know if I will come back alive. You wouldn't have me when I was there. Then out of sympathy, loneliness or whatever, you bless me with some visuals and some cyber sex and you think I ain't going to record it. No, I ain't too proud to take welfare, but I don't have to beg no more, cuz, all I have to do is hit automatic replay!"
"Goodbye!" AOL's voice broke the silence as Ashantay shut down her browser on him. She felt like she was two heart beats from blowing a fuse, as she rubbed down the hairs that were standing up on her neck. He could push her buttons like nobody could. She stood up, walked into her closet, and reached up to get her black African lock box. She ran her hands across the smooth grooves carved into custom designed onyx. It felt like a man's skin, smooth and hard at the same time. Adrenalin started pumping through her veins! She had been mesmerized by it when she saw it in this little shop in Little Five Points. She unlocked it with the little gold key on her chain and admired it as it glided open. Inside were her two babies with two fully loaded clips. She purred as she rubbed the glistening black metal and then the shiny chrome. She took the black nine out of the red velvet and pushed a clip into it. Pulling back the hammer and she slid a bullet into the chamber. She had to have her own piece just in case. She heard an IM ring and realized she had left a window open. Looking at her computer, Ashantay read the messages Jalen kept sending to her screen, "Baby, Don't be mad. Please understand...Damn, you look good, wait a minute let me finish this..."
"Hope it lasts forever!" she typed. Speaking out loud to herself, she said, "I ain't mad at you, Jay. You ain't the only one in a war and I'm not the only one who is naive." She grabbed her keys and got ready to go meet her new friend. He seemed like a cool brotha, but she knew what he planned could go wrong any second. She had to remember to respond when he called her Sonya. She hated the little white lie, and couldn't wait until shit like this was all behind her. Then she wouldn't have to see him ever again, she hoped. Walking out of the door, she crossed herself, even though she wasn’t catholic.












“Baby? Baby? Niggah, I know you didn’t just disrespet me like that, you got me fucked up!, says a still hot, horny and over-stimulated Ronda as she pulls the pillow from under my head and him me with it.
With shock written all over my face, I jump up. “Girl what’s your problem? What in the hell is wrong with you? Damn it, I was listening to you. I heard everything you said!”
“Well, what did I say?,” Ronda asked still holding the pillow in strike mode.
“Hell, I can’t think right now because stars are every got damn where!”
BAM!
“Shit girl!”
“Niggah you was sleeping because I haven’t said shit! Not one word in the last five minutes! I sat there and watched your ass go deeper and deeper to sleep!”
“Now Ronda I’m shocked! That you would sit there and tell that bold faced lie on me like that. I want an apology and I want it right now!” I told Ronda with a straight face.
“Hold up! How in the hell you gone fix your mouth to say some shit like that? If you wasn’t sleep then what do you call it when your eyes are closed and you’re on the verge of a loud snore ?“ she countered.
“Well it’s really simple. For your wrong observation of my eye’s being closed, I was praying and on the verge of speaking in tongues. ‘Yes, Lord. Thank you, Jesus!’ I clapsed my hands behind my head as if I were going to shout.
Laughing so hard between breaths, Ronda could not speak. All she could do was utter, “You better stop playing with God, damn fool!”
“Why are you laughing then?”
“Because you are a clown.”
Courtney loved looking at Ronda. At five foot and six inches, and one hundred thirty five pounds, with coffee colored skin with a dash of cream she was something to look at. Originally a native of New Orleans, she was forced out abruptly and viciously by Hurricane Katrina.
It was easy to see the Frenchman in Ronda’s jet black, curly hair. When it was wet it was breathtaking. I met her about a year ago in the local library where I go to get way from my demons. Yeah, I’m out of place you could say that because I do stick out like a black man at a Klan meeting singing “We Shall Overcome” Although I do stick out, I go because it is nice. If you like class, drop into your local library. Trust me it’s there. I always sit in a position where I can face the door and see the whole parking lot. It could get pretty fucked up if an enemy sneaks up on me. I know one thing, he better pray I can’t get to the rocket I keep on my hip.
Last year on Valentine’s Day, I was sort of sitting up front when the door chims produced a musical tone. I looked up and saw Ronda having a had ass time opening the door wit about four of the biggest books I had ever saw in my life. “Got damn Ma! Give me them big ass books.”
“Here. Thank you!”
“Oh shit, my back can’t take this. Girl, what you learning how to make? A nuclear warhead or something?”
“ She laughed, “No! Won’t you stop it.”
“Hello ma’am, how are you? My name is Courtney”
“Hi, I’m Ronda. What, you work here or something?”
I looked at her like she had shit on her face and said, “Yes!”
Here it is a year later and we are still kicking it. Although it’s been off and on but I love her. Even though we have been shaky, when I need Ronda she’s always there. When I got shot in my back and I was in I.C.U. for three months, she slept in two chairs the whole time. To me loyalty means more than love because a person will say I love yo and fuck you over as soon as they get their back against the wall. But one who’s loyalty is not questioned because it shows. It shows through as bright as the sun. So out of respect for her loyalty, when I get on some bullshit, I don’t even bring it her way. I just take a tie out and she respects that.
She curled up beside me. “You want me to put this pussy on you? She asked, purring like a big cat. Licking her lips, she fondled me through my silk blue boxers wsith one hand and caressed my six pack with the other.
“Damn girl, alright, don’t start nothing that monster can’t handle.” At 5 feet and 10 and a half inches, 195 pounds of all muscle and no fat, I’m cut up like a jujitsu in Japan somewhere. Every since I did that five piece flat in prison for lighting up this nigga’s ass up like the 4th of July, I have kept my workout going. I let my boxers hit the floor. I had to come out of them boys. “It’s getting hot in here! Damn girl, what’s gotten into you, you are so aggressive, like a beast!”
“Shut up nigga, I’m horny.”
“Oh Ronda, don’t be so rough!, I said as she grabbed me. She gripped my staff, not hard or erect yet and she began to stroke me gently, extremely gently, I might add. Watching in awe, I began to grow like Stretch Armstong, longer and harder, right in the palm of her hand. She licked the tip of my caramel colored mushroom head and stroked me three times. She began deep-throating me. It was so good it put an arch in my back.
I didn’t even notice I had moved to the other side of the bed. Ronda was all work and no play. Coming up for breath, she kissed my manhood and sipped her saliva that was mixed with my pre-cum as if it were a strawberry daiquiri. She came up, stroked me, whipped me with her tongue, spit on my shaft and swallowed it deep into her throat. My toes were curled so tight, they hurt like they were going to break. With her free hand, she reached up and wiped my face, then grabbed my dick like it was a mike.
“Testing. Testing. One, two. One, two! What’s wrong Mr. Courtney? Is Ms Ronda making you drool?”
Speechless and in total submission like a child, all I could do was nod my head yes. In control, she just laughed. I wasn’t mad at her. When I did find my tongue, all I could utter was, “Baby girl do your thang, shit!” At that moment my shaft began to pulsate vigorously! I don’t think King Kong’s heart could beat as hard as my dick was throbbing in her mouth. Feeling how close the grand finale explosion of the century was, Ronda jumped up to pull of her blue thong. “Courtney baby, please take me from the back. I need to feel you in my chest. Fuck me Courtney. Fuck the shit out of this pussy. Hurt this pussy, please. I need to be thug-fucked tonight.”
She bent over and I stroked my stick a couple of times like a pool player for good luck. I kissed her pussy from the back and parted her walls with my tongue like Moses parted the Red Sea. She began to moan and shake uncontrollably, and I got excited.
“Oh shit! I’m cumming Courtney. Oh shit, baby. Make me cum! I love you, Courtney! This is your pussy. I will always be here for you. Courtney, shit! Pleae don’t leave me. Don’t ever leave me, nigga!”
“I’m not going nowhere, baby! I love this.” I hated lying, but the pussy, I loved it! Still eating, my mind wandered, “How is it we can say some dumb ass shit while we are fucking?” At that precise moment, my mind flashed back to this beautiful female I saw yesterday in that land Rover at Tony’s house.
I heard his deep Jamaican accent, “Yo star, listen to what me fa tell ya. Dat gal, good lickle gal. Ah school, she ah go to college. Since me fa live don dis street, me yard go everyday star, and me never see her with ah thug, yo!”
“Pop, what’s her name? Why you knocking me down before I even get at her? Shit, I can win her.”
“Yo. You like me son, so me fa neva knock ya. Me behind you 110%. But wid her, it’s hard but yo fa do it!”
“Pop, what’s her name?”
“Ashantay, my youth. Ashantay.”
“COURTNEY! Fuck me now!” Ronda’s voice snapped me back. Damn! I had zoned out in the middle of sex? Shit. I came up for breath, Ronda turned around and looked down at me with a Grace Jones look on her face. Damn near scared the shit out of me. She reached back and grabbed me, guising me inside her “secret garden’ as Barry White called it. For the pleasure I was having it fucked me up that I had zoned out like that. A wave of pleasure made my knees buckle as I began the pleasure/pain/punishment phase of lovemaking. As my flesh slipped in and out of her flesh, it felt so right even when I switched positions. Instead of pulling out, I pumped her full of hot ooze, pulled out and whipped her ass cheeks with my shaft, then slid back into her limp. On top of her chest, I kissed her forehead and waited for her to start talking so she could lull me to sleep.
“Damn Boo, you felt so good”, I said.
“You did too, Courtney. Courtney, I felt so good. I am so comfortable in your arms.”
“Is that right?” I said with false emotions.
“Yes! Courtney, could you picture us being married with kids?”
Hell Naw’ll! Damn God! Why did you have to make me look so good and sex like a porno star? I wanted to ask out loud, but I didn’t. “Baby only God knows that and I shall not think for him. Hoping that answer would let me sleep but it only added gas to the fire because again I thought of Ashantay. I shook it off and held Ronda tighter. Forcing myself to relax, I began to talk as she normally would. Non stop for ten minutes, she let me vent. “well Ronda what do you think?” Right then she began to snore. “Ain’t this a bitch!” I grabbed a pillow to hit her ass hard with it. As I raised the pillow to whack her, Ronda cracked a big ass smile and opened her eyes.
“That shit don’t feel good, do it nigga? You feel stupider than a bitch huh? Well don’t do me like that!”
“That shit was foul, what you just did. I was pouring my heart out to you. When I do it it is different.”
“Please let me hear this one,” she said. “How is you doing it different?”
‘The difference is, I really be sleep like a motherfucka and I don’t hear you say shit!” My face exploded as Ronda hit me hard as hell with her pillow. Laughing, we started pillow fighting, then round two of the freak show.

Courtney started. He felt Ronda get up and he watched her go into the bathroom buck naked. As he watched her sexy ass sashay, he felt guilty. “Maybe I should give her more of me than I have been…just then his business cell rang.
“Talk to me. What’s crackin, homie?”
“You” Angelo’s voiced came to me. “What’s up, Courtney?’
“Shit you know it’s under control at all times. What’s crackin at your end?” Angelo was my nigga J’s little brother. J and I had been homies since childhood. Growing up in an all black hood, you had to be gangster. J is the only Mexican that can say “nigga” and not get his face stomped. Two years ago when I took a trip to New York on a weed blast, J got hit with ten bricks of “china white”. They gave my nig them alphabets, which was some foul ass shit, because there was a drought on that girl. So with ten bricks of that, he was hit hard. J caught a case and as soon as the judge hit him with life, his baby’s mama switched gears on him and burned him for $80,000. She’s a real dumb bitch, he was worth 1.5 million.
See J’s baby girl is my goddaughter and she is named after me. I make sure she doesn’t want for nothing. If it wasn’t for little Courtney, I would have learned if her mama could swim with those cement shoes on. No matter, about a week ago I paid one of my workers to get her hooked on that girl. About two months from now is when she’ll go hitting the track for a wake up. J’s mother is then going to take her to court for being an unfit mother. If you see the bitch now, she’s almost there on her own.
Angelo was calling to finish telling me what he started last night. While I was listening, Ronda came back to bed and lay her head on my chest. My nostrils flared and my nose filled with waves of honeysuckle drifting from her hair. She did this for me knowing my philosophy that if a female can’t take care of the hair on her head, then I know the hair between her legs s off the chain! I inhaled deeply as Angelo finished detailing his plans to get off 20 blocks of artificial turf. Laughing I asked, “When did truck drivers start playing soccer?”
He breathed deeply and confessed, “Since I got laid off.”
“For what, Angelo? I know you’re not drunk in a big rig?” I asked in a joking manner.
“No big homie. I had a bad wreck and killed two people.”
“Your fault?”
“No! They ran in to the back of my rig and went under. Everyone around told the police it wasn’t my fault, but in this sweet land of liberty and justice for all, anytime a big rig has a wreck with a smaller vehicle, it is the driver’s fault.”
“Man! That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah I know, but on that 20, it’s for my homie I used to work with.”
“How well do you know him, A-man?” A-man is a nickname I gave him when we were kids.
“For a while now, he’s cool, Courtney. Trust me.”
“A-man, you know I trust you! You ain’t got to say that!” I exclaimed, lying like a motherfucker. Hearing from the kitchen, Ronda looked at me and rolled her eyes. I shot her the bird. She shot two back. I grabbed my family jewels. She bent over to show me she had no underwear on. My nature rose instantaneously! So I told Angelo, “Check this out, I got you. Tell this nigga I want $500 for each one so that will be ten grand. But what I’m going to do is sell you each one for $200. So I will make four and you will make six grand because I know you need the money.”
“For real?”
“Have I ever played when it came to money?”
“No. No.”
“Well, call me in the morning, I got you!”
After I hung up, Ronda told me she had a fucked up vibe on this. I didn’t tell her that I did too. So later on I called Tony and told him I would need him on the other side of the truck stop watching with the AK 47 flip clip. I didn’t have to say nothing else. If something foul happened, Tony was gonna dump so hard, they would think a rocket hit their shit. I went to sleep but I didn’t.
“Hello.”
“Yeah. Yeah. I’m here.”
“You were sleep.”
“I never sleep and don’t you forget that.”
“I already know. Well, I’m up here already. You on your way?”
“Yeah, I’m on my way, give me about 20 minutes. I’lll be there alright?”
“Alright, cool.”
I snapped the phone shut and called Tony on my land line.
“Yo star! Wa go on?” From Tony’s answer, I knew he was already in position. “Yo, ya sleep, tell ya early birds get de worm. Nu-ting come to a sleeper, but dreams.” From way he talked, I could tell he violated the doctor’s orders.
“Tony why you been drinking coffee? The doctor told you to stop.”
“Court-ney! The doctor in America don’t know nu-ting!
“Look out Pop, I don’t feel like wrestling with you. What it look like?” I asked knowing he knew everything.
“Dem want to jack!”
“What!”
“Yeah, but Angelo don’t know nu-ting.”
I knew not to question Tony’s judgement because he taught me everything I know.
“Alright!” I hung up the phone and grabbed my cell to call A-man, but the land line rung and I answered that instead.
“Court-ney!” It was Tony as excited as shit!
“Yo, Tony.”
“Court-ney!”
“Yeah?”
“Come! Come! Hurry up!”
“Pop, what the fuck’s going on, you alright?”
“Yo, de bloodclot gal upon me street, she fa rob you!”
“Hell naw’ll! Not Goodie Miss Two Shoes, the college girl!” I said being funny and making mock of him.
“Yo don’t bumboclot mok me, Star! What you take ma fa? A jester Star?” He explored and sucked his teeth. I couldn’t hold it any longer, I burst out laughing.
“Damn Pop! And you say you ain’t drunk no coffee. I think you telling lies!”
“Come, my youth,” he said and slammed the phone down.
I barely registered it. Thinking about having the ups on Ashantay made me hard as a rock! To see the look on her face when she got away and see me show me up at her front door. Priceless! But this nigga, I’m ah make Angelo cut his hands off, then dome call him for playing games with a killa. I shook my head. “Nigga’s getting dumber and dumber. I grab my Desert Eagle, three clips and hit the door.
As I drove up in my blue S-Class 320 benz I smiled because everytime I drive this car, I think back to when I first bought it. My Aunt “Row” told me I looked like a baby with a big toy! Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tony right in position to cut the SUV in half. Angelo’s car was parked side by side with the SUV but with noses facing in different directions so that the drivers’ doors could face each other. Angelo was talking to the nigga as if they had been friends all their lives. He didn’t even see me drive up. So I pulled up to the passenger side to get a good look at Ashantay and so she could get a good look at me. When I knock on her front door, there would be no mistaking this face. She will know it’s me.
Her window came down slowly, revealing inch by inch of her beautiful face. She looked at my window like she could see through my mirror tinted window. Then I snapped! She started touching her hair. Dark as it was, she popped on some shades and smiled at her reflection! WTF! She was checking her hair and make-up through my shit! I opened my door, caught her attention and got out, never taking my eyes off of her. Ha! Nor did she take her eyes off of me now. Damn! She looked more gangsta than the driver. I walked around the front of the SUV and spoke to Angelo. “A-man. What crackin lil homie?” With a smile, Angelo got out of his car and I embraced him like a brother.
“Damn, big brother, long time no see!”
“You know how I get down. No bullshit!” I said, loud enough so that nigga could hear.
However, Ashantay rolled her eyes. She was drowning in all the testosterone. Obviously this was a major player. Being a man did not make you the smartest creature on the earth. Amateur! She was disgusted at Chris. Obviously he thought this kid was alone, but see could scan and detect about five other brothas with him. The Benz looked familiar to her but she couldn’t place it. She had already locked in on a truck about 500 yards away concealed by shadows and bushes. She depended on and loved her special-made night goggles because they looked like fly ass Carreras shades.
Ashantay scanned the yard reflected in Chris’s mirror. She checked her face to make sure it remained devoid of any emotions. Although she was feeling slight panic, her face remained empty. Good! She laughed, “Some men be the silliest.” They always thought she was a harmless and vain female checking her make up. Oh well, that too! She positively loved the way her custom made Princess line cosmetics and eyebrow powder made her face glow! And the lotion! Her skin looked positively radiant! Movement in the Benz caught her attention. She saw his every move through his mirror-tinted windows. Ashantay froze, she knew the glass had to be bulletproof. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she automatically started smoothing them down. She watched as he stepped out of the car, she knew then that Chris was a real idiot. Mesmerized, she watched as he walked over towards Chris’s mark. Shivers went down her spine with each step he made. She watched as his muscles oscillated with every stride. His slow and predatory slink looked so seductive. She couldn’t help but to think of a lion and her Chow-Chow, Chevas. They were her favorite animals and Chevas was closest she was ever going to get to owning her own lion. But she knew she was in the hood, and his walk deserved a theme song. So she sang the perfect one for him hearing T.I’s beat:
Doppe Boyz in the trap! The thug nigga! the drug dealer!
Where U at? Where U at?
Damn and he was fine!!! A damn drug dealer, that made him off limits. Men like that were dangerous to her. She knew their mentality and she would never touch one. T.I. and his beat faded and replaced by P$C. She rapped along.
Dem Boyz N Da Hood sell anything for profit
Five in da morning on da corner clocking
Yeah we wrong but we dare a nigga try to stop us

“Apparently today is your day cuz, you didn’t see me coming,” she said out loud, laughing at her own joke. She watched the newcomer embrace the Mexican. Damn! Was she in the movie “The Godfather!” or more like ‘The Don?” She laughed nervously again, she always joked when she was nervous.
“You don’t want them to see you laughing at them!” Chris gruffly whispered with a shushing noise. He had not expected Angelo to be with anyone else, but he felt he was on top.
“What’s the matter you don’t like his theme songs? That is the thuggingness drug dealer I’ve ever seen with his fine ass self. Why they always got to be so fine?” She was disgusted at the fear Chris was showing. Then another thought popped in her head, “Exactly who’s stuff are we taking anyway?” Well, too late to think about it now. He was going to have to charge it to the game. Glad she bought her nine, because she knew immediately Chris had drastically underestimated.
“What, that nigga don’t scare me. I rob Mexicans all the time right in their hood, so ain’t nothing changed. It’s going down. But, ain’t you supposed to be looking at me, not him?”
Beaming him the right wattage, she smiled. “Oh you the main blip on my radar, baby!” Simple Simon! In truth her radar was on the two men walking towards them now.
She switched gears and followed their every gesture and their every word on the amplifier she had on her ear.
“Big brother, this is Chris. Chris, this is my big brother, Courtney.” Chris seemed to come unglued , but he nodded. Fear in his eyes, he didn’t sound too happy; actually he sounded like he was whining.
“Angelo. Man, he ain’t yo brother, he’s black! What’s up man?”
Courtney interrupted, “Damn homie, I got to be Mexican to be his brother or Mexican to make moves? Is it hard to believe a brotha is on top of his game?” As he talked, he reached out to shake Chris’s hand, but Chris wanted to hide the fact that he was shaking. Ashantay covered his distress by introducing herself. She reached over Chris and shook Courtney’s hand instead.
“Hi! I’m Sonya. I am the one who wants the weed. What’s up, are you ready or what?” She watched as he smiled. It was beautiful, but it never reached his eyes. There was a strange glint in them as if he knew something they didn’t or was it amusement. She shrugged her shoulders, it was time to focus.
Irritated that he couldn’t see her eyes, Courtney decided to take over. “I’m Courtney. Pleased to meet you, Sonya but let’s get something clear. This is my show and it moves as fast as I want it to. I don’t know you from Adam and Eve!” He tried to pierce her shades and look directly into her eyes, “You could be trying to take something.” She smiled and stiffened at the same time while listening to Chris choke on his Black and Mild. “Where’s the bread ?” She removed her hand from hers gently from his and he could swear she forced herself not to roll her neck. He loved it!
“Right here.” She said grabbing the money. I watched as Chris tried to stop her, but I had already saw his little secret. I turned my head like I didn’t see it.
“Okay, cool!” he couldn’t resist the urge to push her buttons some more. “So Sonya, is this your boyfriend?” he asked sarcastically. He swore he could see her eyes narrow as she looked at him.
Smiling like a cat, Ashantay reached over gently and started stroking the back of Chris’s neck, and lifting up her glasses while looking him dead in the eyes, she purred, “Kind of.” The smile never reached her eyes either.
“What do you mean kind of? That’s just like saying ya’ll are just fuck partners.”
No the fuck he didn’t! “Well, you could say that,” she smiled again over Chris’s head. It registered to them both that Chris was not saying a damn thing ignoring the electricity between them. This nigga was disrespecting! She narrowed her eyes as Chris passed the money to Courtney, who had never stopped looking at Ashantay. She silently mouthed over Chris’s head hoping Courtney caught every syllable, “Hater!” Courtney smothered a grin and turned away. They got
“Well now, hold up. Let me go get to work. Come on Angelo, help me carry this shit.” When we got to the trunk, I popped it and gave Angelo the duffle bag. I took off my shirt to show my white bulletproof vest and the handle of my desert eagle. When I walked back to SUV, Chris looked like he was about to shit a brick.
“Hey man! Why you got a gun?” This nigga was acting like he was a saint.
“You got one under the money. We real gangstas right?” I grinned.
Chris looked surprised but he didn’t deny it. He shut up in mid protest. Ashantay didn’t look too impressed, and he wanted to do something to change her emotion til he almost broke his focus. “Let’s count the money,” I said out loud.
She jumped. That took her hand off that nigga’s neck. “Hold up!” she said, all of a sudden smiling at me again. “How do we know it is all there?”
‘Well, Sonya, I don’t have a scale, but trust me. All 320 ounces are accounted for.”
She grinned, “We have one in the truck.”
I looked her suspiciously, “Where can you put weed on a scale out here.” I looked around pointedly.
She shrugged, “Someone can get in the truck. The windows are tinted.”
I grinned at how hard she was trying to maintain control while Chris just sat there not saying a damn thing. “Well, Angelo can get in your truck and take care of that then. Just give him the money.” She nodded. “Alright then, ya’ll take it easy. If you need something else, Chris knows where to find me. Say Chris, this is a nice truck but I think it would look better with some of Master P’s classic rims!” I said while looking at Sonya. She was trying to keep her face deadpan. I could see she still playing cool but was puzzled as to why I was talking meaningless bullshit just to fuck with her. She didn’t have a clue as to just how she had infiltrated into my life. Interrupting me while I was sexing Ronda! No buttercup was gonna have to pay!
Chris got so excited at my endorsement he almost pissed on himself. “You think so? What’s the name of them? I’ve never heard of them?”
With a devilish grin, I took “Sonya’s” hand as if to say goodbye and answered him, looking her dead I her eyes. “Ashantay!” I crooned. From the way she snatched her hand from me, I knew I struck a nerve. I chuckled all the way to the Benz, got in a fired up a blunt and waited for them to fall into my little trap. Angelo got into the back seat of the truck to close the deal. Two minutes later it happened. The Escalade took off fast and Angelo tumbled out and hit the ground hard, rolling. I laughed as Angelo tried to get up but fell again due to the blow. Talking out loud to myself, “Rookie will never beat a Vet” I smiled.

For a minute Ashantay lost her breath and the ability to form thought. Shit! What the fuck..? Wait a minute… She shook her head, not wanting to believe what she heard. She was stunned as she watched him laugh and grin all the way to his car. She was puzzled. Scrambling to remember if she really had seen his car before, she was lost. Hell! I knew he was trouble the minute she saw him. Flashing back, she recalled how she had quickly whispered “no” in her hidden mouth piece when the little red dot showed up on the back of Courtney’s head when he took off his jacket to display his 50 cal. She was not going out like Scarface, so she quickly diffused the situation.
She had hardly paid attention when Chris made his move on Angelo. You could tell he was used to jacking up poor unsuspecting Mexicans by the way he quickly pistol whipped Angelo and rolled him out. Courtney had thoroughly distracted her and she knew in this game, distraction was the leading cause of death. She pulled herself together as Chris sped to their next meeting spot with his stupid ass. She was amazed that it just did not occur to him to wonder why they weren’t coming after them like gangbusters to get their shit back. He was slamming back and forth as he drove while screaming, pumped with adrenalin. She had did all the work! She stared at him in amazement.
“Gangsta! Gangsta! Im ah muthafuckin Gangsta! Whoa-oohh! Ha ha haa! Can’t nobody do it like me!” Then he remembered she was there, he looked at her and beamed, “Girl you is a rider! God might of knocked this out the park when he sent me you!”
“Amazing!” she said, completely mesmerized by his ignorance and the fact that the drug squad back there was nowhere in sight. She laid back in the seat and closed hr eyes, head starting to pound. She felt him touch her leg.
“Yeah baby girl, go ahead and relax until the buyers get here, then Chris gonna take care of you.” He knew then, he was going to let his fiancé go, because this was his soul mate. He smiled, life couldn’t be much better, he was paid and he found the love of his life. A rider! Fifteen minutes later, Chris rolled up into an alley that had a T spot.
Ashantay was flooded with thoughts. Who the hell was this Courtney? How did he know her name, and what was all that stuff about her and Chris being fuck partners. And why did he just sit there and let them go without a fight. She was confused as hell but one thing for sure, she knew Courtney was not just gonna lay down. Hearing cars pull up, she sat up. She was getting pumped again. Then all hell broke loose. Men in black with nines and AK’s starting jumping out of everywhere all around the car.
“Who the fu…!” Chris shouted but stopped in mid-sentence. And put his hands up. Five, six, seven men dressed in black swat clothes started screaming and shouting. She started panicking…”Okay baby, don’t panic. Please sit still.” Chris tried to calm her and shield her with his body. ‘Something’s gone wrong baby, but listen. Calm down and listen. This is not supposed to be happening. Damn! I am so sorry. They must have snitched baby. Listen to me. Baby, karma is a bitch. Buyou don’t have to pay for this gangsta. Please, when they ask you questions, just keep saying you were only going out to dinner and to my home ok? Ashantay tried to speak but he cut her off. “No, stay quiet and that is all you have to say. Ok! Please! I got your back on this. Damn, I did not get a chance to love you..” He looked like he wanted to cry.
Ashantay held onto his hands, shaking her head trying to take everything he said in. She was scared as hell.
‘PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND STEP OUT OF THE CAR!”
Wait a minute baby. Just get out of the car and don’t say a work ok? Let me do the talking. When you get out act like you are mad at me, and never change your story. They ain’t going to do nothing to you ok? It’s me they want…”
‘PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND STEP OUT OF THE CAR!”
Ashantay nodded to Chris and slowly opened her door. Trembling she put her hands up. Tears were rolling down her face. Two of the swat bum rushed her and drug her to the hood of the car and bent her over it. She could not believe how they were treating her, slamming her on the car. When she tried to buck him off, he hit her in the back of her head. She could hear Chris go ballistic as he witnessed them man-handling her. And did one of them motherfuckers just feel her ass in two big handfuls and moan! She started to really buck then, but he put her between his legs and put her in some kind of a hold. She calmed down when she could no longer move, and then she knew this cop was abusing her for he completely covered her right breast and kneaded it like he was making love. “You motherfucker!’ she grunted. She could have sworn she heard him laugh, while they were both panting like dogs.
“