Last Bitch Standing (3 page)

"What do we need to talk about?"

"Us."

"Us," he repeated, slightly laughing.

"That sounded funny to you?" I was unable to hide
my annoyance. Supreme looked over at me, and then
turned his head back around, looking straight ahead.

"Is this conversation you're trying to have with me
really necessary?"

"I think so."

"I think not," he replied matter-of-factly.

"So what, you want to be roommates now, Supreme?
Is that it?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"No, the question is where are you going? We go
from leaving Beverly Hills to start fresh in Miami, to now
you treating me like we're strangers."

"It was your idea to move to Miami."

"True, but you weren't exactly fighting me on the
suggestion! As a matter of fact, you said you were ready
to leave the bullshit behind and try and regain your sanity.
You don't remember that?"

"Of course I remember, but shit changed," he
mumbled.

"Shit like what?" I demanded to know, raising my
voice.

"Keep your voice down! Aaliyah is sleep!" he
demanded, in a loud whisper.

I wanted to yell out that I didn't give a flying fuck
whether his golden child was sleep or not, this was about
me, but restrained myself. "Listen, I don't want to argue
with you. I care about you and I love Aaliyah. If you
don't want us to have that type of relationship no more,
then I'm cool with that. I'll stay in one of the guest
bedrooms and help you with Aaliyah until you find a full
time nanny."

"Where will you go?"

"Does it really matter? Isn't the point finally being
able to get rid of me?"

"Maya, you know I care about what happens to
you.

"I understand that, but you clearly have a lot of unresolved issues to work out, and I think the only way
you'll be able to do that is if I give you your space." I
was rambling on, saying some shit I figured would be in
a self-help book, knowing I didn't mean not one fucking
word. There was no way I was exiting that palatial crib
I was luxuriating in, no matter if I felt like a prisoner
or not. This was all game, and at the moment I had no
clue whether it was working in my favor or not. But fuck,
desperate times call for desperate measures. You have to
keep tossing shit out there until something sticks. And
with the curve balls I was throwing, trust me, no matter
how skilled Supreme was, he wouldn't be able to dodge
them all.

During our flight to Philly, I basically slept the entire
time. Getting rest had become an afterthought for me
these last few months, and my body was now using any
opportunity it could get to reenergize. And the sleep did
do me some good, because instead going to the hotel, I
was ready to handle business.

"How much longer until we get to the spot?" I asked
Nico as he drove down what seemed to be back roads.

After our flight landed, he swooped up the rental car
and we were off and running. Actually, we did have one
interruption. Nico stopped and chatted with the chick,
CoCo for a few, promising he would make time to see
her, if only briefly before he left town. I could hear her
swearing it was about business, like she needed to clarify that for my benefit.

"For the first stop, in a few more minutes."

"First stop?" I asked confused, since I only knew
about one."

"Yeah, I gotta go get us some artillery. We can't be
running up in places wit' no sort of backup. Baby girl,
you of all people know how niggas be gettin' down in the
streets. We can't take no chances."

"You know, I feel you on that. It's just that you didn't
mention nothing, so I figured you didn't think we needed
it. Are you skeptical about the dude we're supposed to
meet with? I hope this tip is legitimate."

"Anytime a motherfucker is giving up info, I'm
skeptical, so that's why we need to be prepared for
anything. The shit is supposed to be legit, but it's hard to
call it at this point. Supposedly this cat got information
on Devon's whereabouts. And since he was the nigga
working with Maya, I'm sure he's been in touch with her."

"No doubt, and I can't wait to take Devon's sheisty
ass out. I gotta special bullet for him."

"Hold up! We need Devon to lead us to Maya, then
we can talk about that bullet you got with his name on it."

"No worries, I'ma make sure we got no more use
for him before I lullaby that ass."

"Stay right here, I'll be back in two seconds," Nico
said, pulling up to some store. "I'ma run in real quick and
get our shit. These my people around here, so you'll be
straight. But if anything seems suspicious, blow the horn.
There's always that one knucklehead that might try you,"

Nico grinned.

"I'm good."

As Nico ran up in the small corner store, I began
thinking about the great pleasure I would take in shutting
Devon the fuck down. When I first laid eyes on him, I
knew he wasn't shit, but I slipped up and didn't follow
my initial gut instincts. And what a costly mistake that
was. The whole time he had partnered up with Maya
to take me down. Every time I reflected back on what
went down, I got more pissed with myself for not paying
attention to key signs.

The biggest one was when Devon killed Vernika
during my fight with her. He claimed he was trying to
protect me, but in reality, he was protecting himself. She
could have blown his cover, and he wasn't taking any
chances. I remember how angry I was when she died,
because it literally led to a dead end, but it was also what
made me soften up to Devon because my dumb ass
thought he had my back. Yeah, Devon definitely had to
catch hell for tricking me up.

Just like Nico said, within a few seconds he was
back. "Night, we good now, let's go," he said, closing the
driver's door.

"Damn, they must've had that shit already bagged
up for you."

"Pretty much. I hit `em up at the airport, letting
him know I was on the way. Here, this yours," he said,
handing me my weapon of choice-a nine millimeter
with a silencer already attached.

"Cool! I feel better already."

About ten minutes later, Nico pulled up to a brick
building on an eerily quiet street. "We're here."

"Damn, ain't nobody out today," I commented.

"Mostly elderly people live on this block. They're
probably all inside." I followed Nico as we walked up
the stairs, and he rang the doorbell. After several seconds
passed, he rang the doorbell again and knocked on the
door.

"Is the dude expecting you?"

"So I thought."

"Have you spoken to him?"

"Nope, he ain't got no phone."

"Not even a cell? How old is this dude?"

"I don't know, but he was told we were coming. Oh,
that might be him right there," Nico said, looking over
my shoulder. I turned around and noticed a man getting
out of a dollar cab. He gave the driver some money and
started walking in our direction.

"What up? You must be Nico."

"Yeah, and you must be Curtis."

"Yep. I hope you ain't been waiting long. I got held
up over at my) ob. I'm on parole, and I can't fuck around
and miss work or they'll toss me back in jail. I'm sure you
understand."

"No doubt."

"Cool. Well, let's go inside." The dude nodded his
head at me as he brushed past me to open the door.

When we got inside, he led us down some stairs. He lived in a basement apartment. The building brought
back memories of the projects I grew up in while living
in Brooklyn. No matter how huge the mansions or fly the
whips I pushed and the diamonds I rocked, the Brooklyn
projects ran through my blood.

"So, I understand you got some information about
Devon," I said, as soon as we got inside of dude's
apartment and the door closed behind us. I wanted to
get straight to the point, tired of constantly coming up
empty.

"Yeah... umm... I ain't got nothing but some water
and beer. Would you all like some?"

"No, we good," Nico let it be known, because he saw
me slit my eyes, ready to cut up. "So, you got information
for us?"

"I do," Curtis replied casually while popping open
his beer before sitting down on a dingy vomit-brown
colored sofa.

"Cool, so spill," Nico countered.

"Well, Devon used to do some work for my cousin
who was from New York, before he got a fancy job
working for some big time nigga in Beverly Hills." I knew
dude had to be talking about Supreme.

"Has he still been in contact with him?" Nico further
pried. I could tell that like me, he was ready for the nigga
to get to the point.

"That's the thing. For months he didn't hear a peep
outta dude. He figured shit was going real good for Devon,
and my cousin was happy for him. Not me though. I always thought that nigga was a snake. He seemed real
sneaky. Then, he used to make smart ass comments that
my cousin got all the smarts and I was the dummy of
the family, shit like that. I could tell he thought he was
better than me, so I figured he got around all those fake
ass Hollywood people and forgot where fuck he came
from-you know, his homies back in the `hood."

"Right," Nico nodded as if in agreement.

"But then, one day a few months ago, out of the
blue, here comes Devon, calling my cousin saying he had
got jammed up and needed some financial help. Because,
you know, my cousin be making that major paper out in
the streets. I used to make a little money myself before I
got locked up. I used to be the..."

"Listen, we ain't got time to reminisce with you. Tell
us what the fuck you know so we can bounce!" I spit,
agitated with the nigga already.

"You have to excuse her. We had a long flight and
she's a little restless."

I was vexed that Nico was making excuses for me,
but I also understood why. But I can spot a full of shit
clown, and this nigga sitting on the couch was one, with
his crusty mouth, unkempt clothes and the long overdue
haircut that was crying his name.

"I feel you. So, like I was saying, I used to be the
man. Making money, living good, with countless women
checking for me. You get locked up, come home with no
bread, shit changes real quick."

I didn't know how much longer I could stand to listen to this broke man's sob story.

"But I'm sure your cousin is looking out for you,"
Nico said, playing into this nigga's foolishness.

"Look around this joint. Do it seem like he's looking
out for me? Naw, he say that wit' me just gettin' out the
joint and being on parole, I'm too hot to fuck wit'. He
gives me a few bucks every once in a while, but he one of
those niggas that's funny wit' his money. Always saying
you got to earn your way in life. You know, like they can
actually take it wit' `em once they die."

"I feel you. Then the money I agreed to pay you
should come in handy."

"Most definitely."

"Cool. I'm sure the dude that linked us up already
told you that once you've fully cooperated and I make
sure the information is legit, we good."

"Oh, it's legit. I promise you that."

"So, let's hear it."

"But... umm... the thing is, I think I'ma need a little
bit more money than we originally agreed to."

"Here the fuck we go with this bullshit!" I huffed,
knowing this clown was gon' be a problem.

"How much more money you talking about?" Nico
asked him.

I wanted my hands on Devon more than anything,
but I felt Nico was being way too soft with this clown.
What if he was popping a bunch of lies? Maybe at one
time his cousin knew where Devon was, but maybe he
didn't know shit now, and dude was taking us for a ride.

"You tell me. For you to come all this way, the
information must be pretty important to you."

"How about I double the money?"

"That number is sounding better," Curtis nodded,
but from the expression on his face that still wasn't
enough.

"How `bout I triple it," Nico added.

"Fuck that!" I barked, jumping over the raggedy
table in front of the couch Curtis was sitting on, while
pulling out my heat at the same time. Before he had
time to blink, my nine millimeter was pressed against his
temple.

"Precious, calm the fuck down!" Nico yelled out.

"Nah, this nigga play too much! See, Nico is the
patient one, I'm not. I will take you out this fuckin' world
and not think nothin' of it." I really didn't want to blast
this nigga just in case the information he had was on the
up-and-up, but I couldn't let him know that. He had to
believe that I would not think twice about laying his ass
out unless he got to running his mouth.

"Man, you need to calm your girl down! She trippin!"

"I run this show! And if I say you gotta fuckin' go,
then that's what it is!" I roared. The dude stared over
at Nico with pleading eyes, but Nico just shrugged his
shoulders and followed my program.

"You trippin, ma! I ain't mean no harm. I was gonna
give you the information."