CHAPTER NINETEEN
Raven woke up to loud laughter. She got out of bed and walked in the living room and stared at the sight and smiled. Her kids and Benji were playing. She had been seeing a lot of him lately. Her kids liked him, and he liked them as well. She, like her granny, was hoping that this was the real deal. He was everything Raven ever wanted or desired in a man. Benji was everything her three baby daddies were not.
Benji looked up seeing Raven leaning on the wall. He flashed a smile and blew her a kiss.
“Hey, y’all,” she said. Closing her robe good, she leaned over to kiss him.
“Don’t, girl! Your morning breath is enough to kill us all,” he teased as he sent the kids in the basement to help their granny sort clothes.
“Can I talk to you for a minute, baby?”
“Sure, just let me go use the bathroom, then I’ll meet you in the room.”
Benji walked to the bathroom barely able to control his thoughts. He started hardening up just thinking about having sex with Raven. He loved having sex with her. It was like something straight out of a dream. Seconds later, she walked in the room with her top off and her nipples erect.
“Did you lock the door?”
She nodded, then turned on the stereo to drown out her noises. Benji made her scream and climax like no other man ever had. “Damn, daddy, I see you ready to play.” She licked her lips looking at his hard dick.
“I’m always ready for you.”
Raven got in bed and grabbed his manhood. In awe, she gazed at it in her small hands and admired the way it looked. “I love the way you do this pussy. You be beating it up.”
“I gotta beat it up. It’s too good not to.”
As she licked and sucked Benji, he felt like he was about to explode. “Damn, this shit on point! It’s hard not to fall in love with you.”
* * *
“You think we should get married?” Benji brushed the side of her face with his fingertips.
Raven was stunned, shocked—almost speechless. She lifted her head up staring him in the eyes. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I’m dead serious. Why? You don’t want to marry me?”
She didn’t answer right away. It never crossed her mind that he would be ready to get married at his age. “You know marriage is a big step, and I do have three kids.”
“Look, you don’t have to make up all these excuses why you don’t want to marry me. I can take a hint.”
“That’s never going to happen, I can promise you that. Of course, I’ll marry you! And you better not ever think of leaving me!”
“I would never leave you or the kids. I love them like they my own. So you think your homegirls gonna be happy?” Benji had met J-Rite and Leesa briefly and liked them, but he didn’t know if they felt the same.
“They ain’t never said they didn’t like you, and trust me, if they didn’t, they would have said something. We good on my end!”
* * *
“Yeah, what up doe?” Tone asked when his brother picked up the phone.
“Shit, nigga, just chilling. What’s up?”
“Where are you at?”
“Over this broad’s house,” Mario replied, lying back like a boss getting his dick sucked.
“Damn, nigga, well, turn the news on. Somebody done killed an undercover cop in the hood. They left him stanking in an empty building.”
“Yeah, I see it. Dang, that’s fucked up.” Mario had turned on the television while his female friend continued to handle her slurping business. “Whelp, I’m ’bout to come holler at you real quick, bro. See you in a few.”
I wonder what the fuck wrong with this nigga?
Tone thought after he hung up with his little brother. He knew something was wrong—it was like he had a sixth sense. He could tell when something was wrong, when his Mario wasn’t feeling well, or when he was in trouble.
Let me call J-Rite. Something might be about to pop off.
He then called J-Rite and told her he needed her to come over too. Twenty minutes, later they were all sitting together.
“All right, what’s up?” J-Rite was confused as to why she was summoned to rush over, even though she had shit of her own she wanted to kick about.
“Soooo, I killed that cop,” Mario confessed matter-of-factly.
“The one on the news this damn morning?” J-Rite shouted, pressing her hand to her chest.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” he confirmed, dropping his head in shame. “He’s a guy that Meka said was robbing niggas’ spots. But I guess it turns out it wasn’t the right nigga.”
“What!” J-Rite couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“So you killed the wrong fucking nigga?” Tone sat back in the oversized chair rubbing his chin.
“Yo, hold up. This is what happened. One of our custos told us about a nigga that was robbing spots. Me and Raven checked it out, and we seen a nigga posted like he was casing the joint.”
“Raven too?” J-Rite rolled her eyes to the top of her head.
“Yeah, J, so then we snatched him up and handled our business. We left him at an empty building. Now come to find out, the nigga was an undercover cop. My bad.”
“
My bad!
Y’all know how fucking hot this shit is ’bout to get?” Tone leaped to his feet and paced the living-room floor.
“Yeah, but, bro, we ain’t think it was no cop. He ain’t say shit!”
“Okay, but y’all Bonnie and Clyde asses can’t just go around murdering motherfuckers because some dopefiend said a nigga ain’t right. That shit was dumb as fuck.”
This is why stupid niggas and money don’t mix,
J-Rite thought to herself. She had never been mad at anything her people did before in the name of getting money, but now, she was heated.
“Look, I know you mad, but I was only doing what I thought was best for us.”
“Yeah, they should have played the game a li’l bit better, but all we can do now is fix this shit.” Tone starting thinking about their next move.
“Yeah, Tone, you right. No need to cry over spoiled milk. So, the only one that knows what happened is the dopefiend. Well, y’all know what’s got to be done.”
“I’ll do it, J-Rite, don’t even trip.” Tone stepped up.
“Naw, I fucked up; me and Raven. I’ll take care of it.”
“Naw, y’all, I’ma take care of it. I’ma put in the work.” J-Rite had a lump in her throat no sooner than she made the statement.
The brothers gave her an awkward look.
“You?” Tone kinda laughed.
“Yeah, me. Why? You two don’t think I know how to handle my business if need be?”
“It’s just that we know you a hustler. We never looked at you like a killer.”
“I ain’t a killer; it’s just how you handle thangs. Now, is there anything else all y’all wanna tell me?”
“Yeah, sis, me and Raven got some beef on the floor.”
“I be damned. With who? What the fuck else all y’all busy asses been up to?”
“We don’t know. Some nothing-ass busters we stumped out at the mall.”
“Well, I’ll put the word out and see what’s up. Speaking of Raven, anybody heard from her today?”
They both looked at Mario.
“Why are all y’all looking at me?”
“’Cause y’all seemingly thicker than thieves.” J-Rite joked but was as serious as ten heart attacks.
“Naw, I ain’t heard from her.”
“Well, like I said. I’ll take care of Meka, and you try to lie low. Ain’t no telling who these other people is, but I’m on that too. After I stop by my crib, I’ma go ride and press my ear to the streets.”
“Yeah, I can do that, and again my bad,” Mario repeated as J-Rite left.
* * *
Dino walked in the house. J-Rite was still very much pissed off from the disrespectful comment about her and Tone. As he walked past with tears in his eyes, as much as she wanted, she couldn’t stay mad at him.
“Dino, what’s wrong, baby? What happened?”
“Dre shooting dope getting high!”
“What? Naw!” She covered her mouth as her jaw dropped.
“Yeah, bae, and Rell and Tiffany got into a fight in the mall awhile back with some niggas. She died from head injuries early this morning. Shit’s really fucked up! I’m fucked up!”
“I’m so sorry, baby. Do you know who did it?” she grilled him wiping away his tears. She prayed it wasn’t Raven and Mario, but knew it was.
“Naw, not yet. The mall cameras didn’t catch it, so who knows? But when we find out, they all gonna die!”
J-Rite held him tight in her arms.
What the fuck am I gon’ do now? How can I choose between the man I love and my family?
She felt like the walls were closing in on her. With a pounding headache, she couldn’t think of any way to solve the problem. She knew that eventually she would have to pick a side. “Look, Dino. We gotta make it work between us. I love you. I’ll be right here for you.”
“J, I know you probably have to go out to handle your business or whatever, but can you stay here tonight? A nigga need you!”
How can I tell him no? Dre’s like a brother to him, and he’s on dope. That same shit that hooked his mom got his boy.
“Yeah, baby, I’ll stay with you tonight.” J-Rite didn’t know how Dino would act if he found out that it was her team that ultimately killed his people, but she had a pretty good idea she wouldn’t like it.
“Hold me, baby,” Dino whined until they both fell asleep.
* * *
J-Rite was walking back and forth across her kitchen floor. She’d called Leesa and got her voice mail.
This shit done got out of hand. What the fuck am I gon’ do now?
Just then, her phone rang. It was Leesa. “What’s up, girl? I called you a li’l while ago.”
“I was asleep.” Leesa glanced over at Q who was just waking up as well.
“Girl, for real, 911. I need you to meet me at Starbucks ASAP!”
“All right, sis, I’m on my way.”
J-Rite hung up, then walked around the house hoping that Dino was down in the basement; he wasn’t. She called his phone and got no answer. Born in the streets, she could only assume he was with Rell looking for the dudes that he had beef with. She jumped in her car and headed to Starbucks. When she stepped inside, she saw her big sis. It put a smile on her face to know that Leesa could still be counted on when she needed her. “Girl, I don’t know what to do! That damn Raven and Mario stumped out Dino’s boy Rell and killed his girl.”
“Naw, girl!”
“Yes, then on top of that, they are the idiots that killed an undercover cop that’s all on the news.” She leaned in to make sure no one else was listening.
“What in the entire hell! Those two are reckless as hell! Does Dino know they fucked his people over?”
“Naw, he don’t know yet, but I’m scared it’s only a matter of time before he finds out.”
“Okay, well, who know that they killed the cop?” Leesa was speaking just as low as J-Rite.
“This dopefiend named Meka from around the way. Her dumb ass sent them on the dummy mission.”
Leesa gave her a hard cold stare. J-Rite already knew what it meant. “She the one that told them a nigga was kicking in doors and robbing custos, so they call they self getting to got him before they got hit.”
“Well, li’l sis, we all in this shit together. Just because they fucked up don’t mean we not family anymore.”
“You think I should let them know who they stumped out?”
“They don’t know yet?”
“Naw, I ain’t told them.”
“Well, you better go tell them. You know how they are.” Leesa was growing weary of all this drug life, falling deeper in love with Q. “They might think it’s all fun and games.”
“All this bullshit madness they done got into together, and they ain’t even fucking!”
“Well, they need to. And seriously, they might all need to bounce back to Detroit and let things die down.”
“You right, Leesa, but what if Raven don’t want to leave?”
“What you talking ’bout?”
“You know her and that dude Benji getting pretty serious. I think her hot-box butt in love.”
“Well, if she don’t wanna go, then she gonna have to figure something out.”
“Yeah, you right. What do we do about the Dino situation?”
“I don’t know. That’s kinda hard. What would you do if it was one of us that got killed?”
“It would be hell to pay. It’d be blood spilled all over the streets of Grand Rapids.”
“All right then, it’s the same way on his end. Let’s just see how shit gonna play out. But I guess ending y’all relationship is out of the question, right?”
“Yeah, girl, I think so. I do love him.”
“So, y’all have been trying to work shit out?” Leesa questioned.
“Yeah, we have. Crazy as it seems, this shit done brought us closer.”
“Well, let’s just see what happens. Even if they go back to Detroit, we still got a problem.”
“Yeah, you right. I’m ’bout to go let them know what’s up. We’ll talk later.”
On her way over to see Mario she couldn’t stop thinking about how she would feel if the shoe was on the other foot.
I hope I’m never in a situation like this again.
J-Rite pulled up to Mario and Tone’s house and saw Raven’s car parked in the front. “What up, y’all?” she spoke as she was walking in the house.
“You want something to drink, baby girl?” Tone asked her, closing the door behind her.
“Yeah, gimme a Hennessey straight; no ice.”
Raven and Mario were preoccupied playing NBA Live.
“I need to holla at y’all,” she said nervously. She was trying to think of the best way to tell them. She wondered if they would even care that it was Dino’s people.
How this gonna affect our relationship? How can I tell a motherfucker who they can’t beef with, like I’m some sort of dictator?
“Spit it out, girl!” Raven said, blowing out weed smoke through her nose having paused the game.
“Y’all know that guy and female y’all got into it with at the mall?”
“Yeah, what about them?” Mario said, cutting her off. “You know where them lames at? What’s the intel?”