Dollar paused before speaking. “They're gonna do what you ultimately set out to do. See me dead. Because if it comes down to it, you'll put a bullet right through my head, won't you?”
Hennessey swallowed hard but didn't speak.
“Say somethin' goddamn it!” Dollar said as he jerked the gun, scaring the security guard and forcing Hennessey to cock her weapon. “Oh, it's like that?” Dollar said to her.
“Please, Dareese,” Hennessey pleaded.
“Stop fucking calling me that. My name is Dollar, Dollar Bill, muthafuckas. Y'all hear that?” Dollar said to the people in the bank as he removed the knit hat from over his face. “Dollar, Dollar Bill, y'all!”
“Okay, Dollar,” Hennessey said in an apologetic tone. “Just think, when you get out, you'll be a rich man. You'll have something to look forward to.”
At this point Hennessey's words created an internal inferno in Dollar's body. His eyes bulged with tears as he gripped the gun tighter. He didn't know how much longer he could go on with this alone. He had never expected to be broken down like this. He needed his backup.
Where the fuck are my boys?
was all Dollar could think. The three of them could have handled this shit. It didn't have to be so fucked up. Dollar gazed over at the door hoping to see Tommy and Ral coming through it.
Catching Dollar off guard, fearing for her life and the life of the security guard, Hennessey used her quick and better judgment and began to fire multiple shots at Dollar.
All of a sudden one of the bank customers jumped up from off of the floor and began to fire a gun. The customer appeared to be a man who was dressed in a tan jogging suit with a matching ball cap. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes. The customer fired a shot to the security guard's leg that hunched him over and away from Dollar. He then fired another fatal gunshot to the security guard's head. Quickly, trained and skilled, the customer put one in Hennessey's chest, which took her down, but not to her grave.
The customer then walked over to Dollar and placed his head on Dollar's bloody chest. Dollar had taken bullets to the chest, stomach, and leg. Dollar's heart was beating fast and hard.
It was as if his heart was going to jump right out of his chest. Dollar was paralyzed. He couldn't move. His bucked eyes stared straight up as his heart beat like African drums.
“It burns,” Dollar said. “Shit, it burns.”
“I'm so sorry I was late,” Tommy said as she removed the dark sunglasses from her face. “Fuckin' around with that Ral. Went to get him this morning. Son of a bitch overdosed. I couldn't save him this time, D. I went to a pay phone and called 911 then tried to get here as fast as I could. I see I wasn't in time to save you either.”
Tommy raised her head and looked at Dollar who couldn't respond. He looked deep into Tommy's eyes, recognizing her, he tried to speak, but no words came out. He wanted to tell her how the bullets felt like heated pokers spearing through his body. He wanted to tell her thank you for showing up and that it was okay that she was late. He wanted to tell her that he loved her too. Right now, with his life flashing before his eyes, he had no pride. Dollar had no ego or persona to hide behind. He loved her. He loved Tommy and he wanted so badly to be able to let her know, but Dollar couldn't speak.
A single tear made its way out of each of Dollar's eyes. Tommy kissed Dollar on his lips that were seeping with blood. It took every ounce of strength in her not to let the tears fall from her eyes. She then grabbed the gym bag full of money that was lying beside Dollar, placed the sunglasses back on her face, and exited the bank.
As Tommy walked to her car she could hear sirens approaching. Police cars whizzed by her as she put the key into the ignition and drove off. Everything had turned out as planned after all. Tommy knew that the anonymous tip she had called in to Hennessey from inside the bank lobby only seconds before Dollar entered would give her plenty of time to work out her plan before the cops arrived. Hennessey was a pig who had been trailing Dollar. Tommy had smelled her from the first time she'd met her. She anticipated Hennessey not being far behind. Tommy had also noticed that look in Hennessey's eyes when it came to Dollar. Ultimately Hennessey would have a hard time choosing between business and Dollar. Tommy'd had that problem as well once upon a time.
Dollar had taught Tommy to let other muthafuckas hustle and then catch them slippin'. He had trained her well. He just never imagined that he would one day be one of those muthafuckas that she would catch slippin'.
Like the song says, love will make you do right. Love will make you do wrong. Tommy's love for Dollar over the years was proof of that cliché. But in the end, she had to make a choice.
As Tommy drove away from the scene of the crime she removed the baseball cap and let her long hair flow in the wind.
Tommy then glanced down at the bag full of money and was sure over $500,000 was stuffed inside of it. That meant that after paying Storm and Thunder for the M&M she had ordered on Ral, she would have plenty left over to pack up her nieces, move to the East Coast, perhaps, and open up her bookstore.
Looking at herself in the rearview mirror, Tommy wondered if she would be able to live with the decision she had made against her comrades. She picked up a stack of the money from the gym bag. She ran it underneath her nose and inhaled deeply. After taking in the scent, that aphrodisiac to muthafuckas from the streets, Tommy exhaled. A smile found its way to her mouth. It was a smile that was a cross between a seductive grin and a mischievous smirk. It was an “I'm that bitch” smile. Yeah, she could live with the decision she had made. She could live with it just fine.
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Inside the bank Dollar lay on the lobby floor barely holding on to his life. It was true what they say about one's life flashing before their eyes. Dollar thought about his brother and all of the times they had shared, the times they hadn't shared, and the times they would now never get to share. “Which of the dead men pictured on currency wasn't a president?” was a question that popped into Dollar's head. It was a question that he could have asked his little brother.
Ironically enough, Dollar even thought about his father. He thought about Romeo's last-ditch effort to make things right by him and his family. He gave his life for Dollar, to give Dollar back to his family, back to the streets. He wanted Dollar to be able to do for them what he hadn't done himself. Dollar had been too bitter and selfish to appreciate the sacrifice. But now, now that it no longer mattered, Dollar understood.
All of the dirt Dollar had done paraded through his mind as he lay near death. Dollar even thought back to his days of being locked up. Jail was hell and life was hell, but now, with all the fucked-up shit Dollar had done, he would truly experience hell. No way would the doors of heaven be open for this gangsta, or would they?
Dollar thought of Crissy's words back when he was in the jail infirmary: “God forgives us all.” As Dollar took his last breath, he hoped that Crissy was right.
About the Author
Joy, a native of Columbus, Ohio, now writes under the name BLESSEDselling Author E. N. Joy. In the year 2000 she formed her own publishing company, END OF THE RAINBOW projects. Her sole purpose with END OF THE RAINBOW was to introduce in all those she encountered the quality of sharing her grandmother had instilled in her. This domino reaction would incite those with a passion in life to envision and manifest it, and for those unaware of their passion, to unearth it. Joy shares what she has learned in the literary industry by instructing writing and publishing workshops.
In 2004 Joy branched off into the business of literary consulting, in which she provides one-on-one consulting and literary services, such as editing, ghost writing, professional read-throughs, write behinds, etc. Her clients consist of
New York Times
bestselling authors, first-time authors, national bestselling authors, and entertainers. The end result of a couple of her clients' projects resulted in Joy being able to present their manuscripts to a publisher and land book deals for them.
Joy has come a long way since the debut of her first title,
Please Tell Me If the Grass Is Greener.
Since then she has published two diaries of poems titled
World On My Shoulders
and
Flower In My Hair,
she has collaborated on the publication of an erotica anthology titled
Twilight Moods
in which her contribution is titled “Daydreaming at Night,” and she was also featured in
The Game: Short Stories about the Life,
in which her contribution is titled “Popped Cherry.” Joy has also written a children's story titled
The Secret Olivia Told Me
that received an American Library Association Coretta Scott King Honor. The book club rights were acquired by Scholastic Books and it has sold almost 100,000 copies.
Joy self-published her first full-length novel titled
The Root of All Evil.
It was eventually picked up by a major publishing house and rereleased. In addition, they signed Joy to two other novels: her
Essence
magazine bestseller,
If I Ruled the World
(the prequel to
Mama I'm In Love with a Gangsta
), and
When Souls Mate
(the sequel to
The Root of All Evil
). They also signed Joy to a novella deal titled
An All
-
Night Man,
in which Joy's contribution is titled “Just Wanna Love Ya.” Joy's triumphant street novel titled
Dollar Bill
is also an
Essence
magazine bestseller. Needless to say, Joy will no longer be penning street lit, erotica, or secular fiction. Joy completed a Christian fiction novel titled
Me, Myself, and Him
(March 2008). In this novel, a woman struggles in her walk with Christ. Of course, this novel pushes the envelope of Christian fiction, but it wouldn't be Joy's true literary style if she didn't. “I have matured both as a writer and spiritually. My walk in life has changed, therefore my writing has changed. I just hope that the dedicated following of readers I've been so blessed to have earned will decide to take this spiritual journey in the written word with me, as I shift to pen what God has called me to do.”
Joy continued by saying, “When God called me, I had to be obedient and say âYes, Lord.' My intent is not to switch up to a different audience. Hopefully I won't lose the readers I already have, but gain the readers I don't have. I know I might have to give up a few, but my soul still says YES!”
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You can visit JOY at:
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