Authors: Kipjo Ewers
“And if he decides to go to someone like Pops to check what this thing is made of?”
“He won’t if we spin it right!” She pleaded. “We can do this baby! We can do this! Please! I need my fix! You know what happens when I don’t get my fix! I got to even out! Help me even out!”
“No!” He roared in her face putting his foot down. “I’d rather suffer through a thousand withdrawals then hand this over to that asshole. I’m taking this back, and we’re finding another way. That’s final.”
She furiously released his coat backing away.
“Then I’ll just go turn some tricks,” she scowled.
He hurled daggers at her warning not to test his patience which was over the edge. She deflected them with daggers of her own patience lost.
“No you won’t,” he called her bluff. “You’d never go back to that.”
“What part of I need to even the fuck out do you not get?” She screamed at him. “I’d let a pack of mutts run a train on me with half of Brooklyn watching at this point!”
“You promised me …”
“And you promised to take care of me, which you currently ain’t!” she shot back at him. “So, either by that stick, or on my knees, I’m getting paid and lit tonight. You decide which one is easier for you to live with.”
Evil thoughts and words that he knew would cut her to the core formed in Laurence’s head in retaliation for Rosemary once again backing him into a painful corner.
Whatever semblance of a decent man still left within him kept that evil locked away as he bowed his head and placed his hands in his pockets.
“Fuck you Rosemary,” Laurence scowled. “Fuck you.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
Fifteen minutes later, they stood at the door of Brick Bear’s apartment located in Fort Greene with one of his second in command henchmen named Chucky, a pudgy dark skinned young man with a short braid faded hairstyle and an addiction to Twinkies.
When they first approached the manager of Brick Bear’s narcotics peddlers for an audience with the man himself, Chucky told them to go away in the most vulgar way possible. When Rosemary pressed that they had something he would be interested in, he went into his back pocket to scare them off in the most violent way possible …until Laurence gave him a peek at what they were selling.
Laurence felt evil the second he walked through those doors, a crushing evil that made it difficult for him to breathe. Each step he took felt like he was heading into another level of hell as he walked side by side with Rosemary following Chucky down the thin hallway into the living room. The slightly dimmed lights and cannabis cloud added to the place’s sinister feel, along with the savage beat and lyrics from the gangster rap song bouncing off the walls. Sprinkled here and there were criminals and murderers that had been in and out of the legal system by the time they hit elementary school. To his left he briefly noticed a flock of women sitting on a large sectional couch adorned in gaudy jewelry and tight scantily clad outfits. Their demeanor appeared to be more sinister than the men in the room. No one however topped the man himself tapping away on his Super Nintendo controller against his first in command in a round of NBA Jam.
“Look at you …look at you,” he grinned. “You ain’t shit. This is my house bitch!”
Brick Bear also known by his legal name Patrick Clark was the epitome of the expression that not everyone born came with a soul. Laurence remembered him from high school as the kid to avoid unless you wanted to get robbed or knifed up. He also remembered that he was both arrested and expelled for putting a female teacher in the hospital after she kicked him out of class for acting up. He had attacked her for calling him a loser as he left the room.
Years later, after spending two stints in juvenile detention for robbery and aggravated assault, Mr. Clark found his true passion and calling as a reputed drug dealer with a growing empire and sizable territory in Brooklyn. If it could be injected, popped, snorted or smoked he sold it. He cared not if his fortune was produced off of the misery of others. He employed fear to instill loyalty and respect. He trusted no one, not even his own family. He made sure he only did something if he could get away with it, and made note to have a very expensive lawyer in his back pocket.
“Here it comes! You ready for it? Here it comes!” He taunted. “Booyah bitch!”
On the large forty-six-inch television screen his digital version of Michael Jordan executed one of his trademark slam dunks on his first in command’s digital version of Charles Barkley just before the buzzer went off, ending the digital realm’s game with a 114 – 98 win in Brick Bear’s favor.
“What I say bitch? What I say?” He began to pound his chest like an ape. “This is my house mufucka! My house!”
Satisfied that he had properly schooled his main goon, he nonchalantly tossed down his control onto the wooden coffee table before him and turned his attention to the trio standing in his living room.
“Well … well … sup college boy!”
Laurence also remembered why he hated being in the same vicinity as Brick Bear. He knew who he had been back in the day as well, and took pleasure in taunting him about it.
Brick Bear shot to his feet executing a mock rendition of a wide receiver shuffle and spin, before falling back down into his couch with a sinister grin on his face. His first in command Trevor shot Laurence a dirty murderous look. He did his best to weather through it while keeping a passive stance, making no sudden moves.
“Chucky,” Brick Bear addressed his second in command while keeping eyes locked on Laurence. “Do tell me why the fuck you brought this junkie and crackhead into my nicely furnished crib without my permission when you should be on the block handling the grunts and my shit?”
“Nigga here showed me something hot that I think you might like,” Chucky shrugged.
“There you go thinking again Chucky,” Brick Bear shook his head. “Word is born if you wasn’t my cousin, I’d put a hot one in your ‘Stay Puff Marshmallow’ ass right now.”
“Hey Brick man,” a nervous Chucky gestured.
“Nigga I don’t pay you to think,” he snapped at him. “You barely got enough brain cells to eat, piss, shit, and sleep, which you do very well. I pay you to
follow
orders, which entails managing the niggas on the block selling my shit …not bringing a crack-ho and this busta up into my mufuckin crib! Now, what the fuck could they possibly have that would make your ‘Handi-Man’ ass disobey orders?”
With an impatient death stare, Chucky furiously popped Laurence in the arm. Laurence slowly reached into his coat pulling out the scepter piquing not only Brick Bear’s attention, but that of everyone else within the room.
“Holy shit,” Brick Bear leaning forward in his seat with interest. “Let me see that.”
He extended his hand beckoning for Laurence to hand it over. Laurence did so without hesitation knowing that their life depended on it as he died inside. Brick Bear snatched it out of his hand giving it a look over.
“Shit got some weight to it, where yawl get this?”
“We lifted it from these rich folks on the East side of Manhattan,” Rosemary began spinning her lie. “It’s worth a fortune.”
“A has-been junkie and a crackhead bitch knocked off some rich folks on the East Side?” He snorted shaking his head. “I find that shit hard to believe, what you two doing up there in the first place?”
“Skeeter needed a girl for a john who had an elementary school girl fetish,” she shrugged continuing her fabled story. “Laurence came to watch my back. As we were leaving this couple was getting out of a limo with several suitcases. I snatched one off a bag trolley and this was inside.”
“Some rich dude stuck his dick up in your nasty snatch,” he pointed. “This tale is getting harder and harder to believe.”
“We had to make rent this week, and all of Skeeter’s other girls were out doing other jobs. You can call and ask him to verify,” she innocently shrugged.
“I ain’t wasting a dime much less a squirt on that bitch nigga. I should pistol whip the remaining teeth out your mouth for mentioning his name, might even help your head game.” He glared at her. “So how come you’re bringing this alleged hot item to me instead of selling it and giving me the cash like regular thieving crackheads and junkies do?”
“Because it’s that hot!” She emphasized. “Nobody wants to touch it. It’s like some museum artifact or something. Clearly it’s out of our league like you said, so we came to you thinking you knew people who could offload it for a profit.”
“Because I a drug dealer who also deals in museum artifacts,” he scowled. “You trying to insult my fucking intelligence bitch?”
“Naw Brick!” She coiled back. “We’re just really hard up, and ain’t got the faculties to deal with this you know. We’re just here to score and go about our business, know what I’m saying?”
“What you got to add to this college boy?” Brick Bear turned to Laurence.
He side-eyed a jittery Rosemary before locking eyes with Brick Bear.
“I didn’t see when she lifted the case, but I remember the couple,” he huffed. “Old British couple and I think this thing dates back to Ancient Egypt.”
“You think?” Brick Bear cackled. “You trying to school me college boy?”
“Naw,” Laurence earnestly shook his head. “It’s just look like something from that time from all the movies and shows I’ve seen.”
“If this shit is so hot,” his first in command Trevor jumped into the conversation with a growl to his voice. “How come we ain’t seen this shit on the news or something?”
“Son, that’s a very good question,” Brick Bear nodded in agreement.
He leaned back into his seat with his arms folded still holding the scepter waiting for an explanation.
“Could be because it’s a black market item,” Laurence quickly answered.
He was fighting to make his brain work as his own withdrawal was making him sweat underneath his clothes, while his knee felt as if it was about to explode from standing in one place for too long. He slightly shifted his weight to get some relief and pulled it together for their sake.
“If it is an item from that period,” he went on. “It’s illegal to be in possession of, transport, or sell it, especially in the United States. We all know rich folks fear jail more than they fear losing money.”
Brick Bear leaned forward in his brown leather loveseat narrowing his eyes at both of them.
“So what do you want?”
“Equal exchange,” Rosemary took back over the conversation. “Couple hundred vials of rock, five pounds of China white, and five thousand.”
Brick Bear’s henchmen chuckled at her request. It also brought a smirk to his face.
“Ten vials of rock, a quarter pound of China white, and a hundred bucks.” He returned. “That’s my one and final offer.”
“What?” She screeched. “This thing is worth more …”
“Bitch, I know you’re not raising your fucking voice up in my crib!” He shot to his feet startling her. He glanced at Laurence who did not move an inch.
“Now this is the value that I see,” he continued his negotiation. “I could off you both right here and now, dump your bodies in the East River and just take this shit if I wanted, and aside from this chump’s old man, nobody would miss either of you! But seeing as the both of you are loyal customers which are very hard to find, I am offering to allow you two to walk out of here with your necks intact, six vials of rock, an ounce of white and fifty bucks!”
“Six …?” She stammered.
“Did I say six?” Brick Bear looked around at his men to get sardonic confirmation. “I meant to say …”
“No! No! We’ll take the offer! Please! We’ll take the offer!” She squealed throwing up her hands begging him.
“I thought so.”
Brick Bear snapped his fingers at one of the girls sitting on the other side of the room. A dark-skinned woman with short blonde hair wearing a pink tank top and shorts set that appeared to be painted onto her body rolled her eyes as she sprung to her feet and sashayed over to the kitchen where she counted the product on a counter. She returned cutting Rosemary a dirty look as she placed it on the wooden coffee table in front of them, and returned back to her flock watching from the other side of the room. Rosemary quickly scooped up the narcotics placing them in her coat as Laurence turned his gaze to the floor.
She went to reach for the fifty dollar that Brick Bear pulled from a large wad in his pocket, but the gangster drug dealer snatched it away.
“Hold up, the rocks and white I just gave you was for the bitch stick.”
He made sure to say it while glancing Laurence’s way.
“This fifty is for a spit shine polish.”
“Come on Brick …” She attempted to smile with a trembling bottom lip. “That was a onetime thing to make rent. I don’t do that no more.”
“Bitch, you a hoe for life!” He glared at her. “Whether you’re sucking on a glass dick or mine that is all you will ever be. What, my dick ain’t better than some rich mufucka from Manhattan? Should I rescind my offer?”
“No …no …I’ll do it.”
Her tears streamed as she walked up to him preparing to head into the back room, but he held up a hand stopping her.
“Where the fuck you think you’re going? You think I’d let a crackhead up in my bedroom? Right here is as good as any place, besides, your man here watches over you right? So let him watch what dick he’ll be kissing tonight.”