Last Bitch Standing (9 page)

"I know that shit must've been irking the fuck outta
you. Driving all the way from New York to here, not
knowing what the rush was."

"Pretty much. So, what is it?"

"Last night there was a shootout at this restaurant
over there in Center City."

"What!"

"Yeah, that spot at the Rittenhouse Hotel."

"Somebody shot up a restaurant at that joint!
Yo. I know them crackers was going crazy up in that
motherfucker."

"Damn right!"

"Who were they gunning for?"

"This nigga, Arnez Douglass."

"Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"That's the dude I used to do business with in
Atlanta for a while."

"Yeah, that's right! Arnez was a major player."

"Still is, but when shit got hot in ATL, he came to
Philly tryna take over."

"Okay, but why is him getting shot at an emergency
to me? I don't know that nigga like that."

"Here's the thing. The person responsible is
Delondo."

"Delondo! As in the cat Devon works for?"

"That's the one. Devon and one of Delondo's other
workers were the two men that went in the spot busting
bullets like they were out there in the Wild Wild West.
Arnez's bodyguard got killed, and another nigga he was
with and one of Delondo's men got killed. The other one
is at the hospital in critical condition. I don't know which
one is still alive, but if it's Devon, I figured you'd want to
try and speak with him about that girl you're looking for
in case he don't make it."

Upon hearing this information, all I could do was
put my head down. The first time a real lead panned out,
this bullshit had to happen.

"Fuck!" Nico yelled out. "Even if he was the one
alive, I know there has got to be a cop keeping watch at
his door."

"Maybe, but I'm sure that can be handled. I already
put in some calls trying to verify who it is at the hospital
anyway. But since the shit happened last night and didn't
nobody have ID on them, and it ain't like motherfuckers
coming forward claiming folks, it's taking a minute to get
names and shit."

"So, what the fuck is going on between this nigga,
Delondo and Arnez that they bringing gunfire to the
Rittenhouse?"

"That nigga, Arnez is a foul motherfucker, do you
hear me! He's the one responsible for turning my sister
against me. He's also responsible for having Genesis' best
friend killed, and we believe his wife also!"

I can't believe Genesis was married and his wife got killed.
She must be the mother of his son. Won),, that's some sad shit right
there. I am n't feeling that nigga because of that Maya shit, but my
heartgoes out to him for having to experience that kinda loss.

"Besides the beef we have with him, there is a
major turf war going on between Arnez and Delondo,
and of course Arnez is the one who started the shit. After
Arnez had Delondo's original crew wiped out, Delondo
has been determined to finish him off. But Arnez's ass
managed to escape death again. I can't wait for that nigga
to get his!"

"Damn! Shit is serious out in these streets. I've been
on the low for the last couple of months, so I haven't
been dealing with the madness, but it's interesting to see
what is waiting for me."

"Trust me, I can't wait to break free from this shit.
When I got locked up, damn near every dime I had made
after all these years of grinding dried up. And the Feds
practically wiped Genesis out. If it wasn't for Quentin
putting us back on, we would've been fucked up out here.
That's why I'm buggin' over how Arnez is maintaining."

"But I remember dude was making serious paper,
right?"

"Yeah, but then shit dried up in Atlanta because it
got hot there, and then he was doing it big in Philly for a
minute. But when Delondo came down from New York,
he dominated and froze Arnez up. But somehow, Arnez
kept coming up with the cash to stay afloat even in these
hard times. If I didn't know better, I would think that he had some sort of connect funneling him paper, but I
know all the players that got it like that, and don't none
of them fuck wit' Arnez. So, I don't know what the deal
is. Maybe in his heyday he was doing way more saving
than I gave him credit for."

I couldn't believe ho)v small the motherfucken' world was.
First, there was Mike, then Nico, now I had to add CoCo and
Genesis to the ever expanding list of Quentin Jacobs' dick riders.
He had more fans than a pop star. The shit was utterly annoying.
Refusing to think about that motherfucker any longer, I had to get
back to what was important.

"CoCo!" When I said her name her face look
startled, as if she forgot I was in the building or maybe
it was because I was loud with it. Plus I had been on
mute while she was running off at the mouth. "When
can you get that information on Devon? If the nigga is
dead, then it doesn't make sense for us to waste any more
time in Philly," I said, turning towards Nico. "We need to
start coming up with new leads. If he is in the hospital,
we need to get to him and not waste any time."

"Let me call one of my street informants now.
Maybe some new news came in."

While CoCo was making her call, Nico stepped
to me with disillusionment in his eyes. "I can't help but
think that maybe if we would've stayed and not gone to
New York, we could've got to Devon before all this shit
went down."

"I can't front, that very thought went through my
mind, but we don't know if he even came back to the address we had on him. For all we know, he could've
been stashed some place with Delondo and the rest of
his crew, waiting and plotting to take that nigga, Arnez
out. Regardless, we did the right thing going to Ms.
Duncan's funeral. I would've felt some-kind-of-way if I
didn't go and pay my respects. When I was growing up,
there were days I woulda went hungry if it wasn't for her.
My mother was so busy pulling tricks and smoking that
pipe that she didn't give a damn if I was fed or not. You
know I want to find Maya's scandalous ass, but that was
one stop I would've never forgiven myself for if I hadn't
made it."

"I feel you. No matter which way the shit falls, we
stay on our hunt. Maya can't hide forever. Eventually,
we'll catch her ass."

"Nothing yet. Supposedly the police are keeping
information closely guarded. But of course, the minute I
find out anything, I'll hit you up," CoCo let us know.

"Do that. We're going back to our hotel. But I'll be
waiting to hear from you."

"Cool."

When I woke up, I didn't realize it was the next day
until I looked outside and saw it was daylight. When Nico
and I got back to the hotel it was early evening, and I only
planned on taking a nap, but I guess my body had other ideas. I had to admit, the rest did me some good and I
probably needed a lot more of it, but there simply wasn't
time.

I looked at my cell to see if I had any missed calls
from Nico, but I didn't. I knew that meant he hadn't gotten
any new information regarding Devon. If it wasn't for
the fact that I hoped he could lead us to Maya, I would've
felt justice was served if Devon was deceased, even if it
was not by me, but we were placing a lot of stock in him
getting us off of our dead end trail.

As I was about to call Nico, to see what he felt
should be our next move, my cell started ringing. It was
marked private, which I never liked to answer, but very
few people had my new number so curiosity got the best
of me.

"Hello."

"Good morning, Precious. I hope you slept well."

"Who is this?" The voice had a familiarity to it, but
I couldn't place it.

"This is Genesis."

"How did you get this number?"

"I have my ways."

"What do you want?" I asked, not amused by him,
or his word usage to play games.

"Can you meet me for breakfast in say... an hour?"

"For what? Last time I saw you, you didn't have too
much conversation for me. Has anything changed?"

"I guess there's only one way to find out. Are you
going to meet me or not?"

My head wanted to tell the motherfucker hell no,
but my mouth said, "Name the spot. I'll be there."

I decided not to tell Nico that I was meeting with Genesis.
I hung the Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob and
headed out. I was meeting Genesis at a restaurant that
was only a block from the hotel we were staying in, so
I figured he somehow knew that information too. He
could've easily gotten it from CoCo, as I was sure that
Nico had shared it with her.

When I arrived at the cute but tiny location, Genesis
was already sitting at a table in the back. He glanced up
from what looked to be a newspaper he was reading, and
then right back down, not giving me any sort of facial
expression. I took a seat, and several seconds passed
before he even acknowledged my presence.

Are you hungry? Because I ordered you something
to eat," he said.

"You don't even know what I like."

"I decided to take a chance. Maybe I got it right. But
they have the best pancakes in all of Philly, so you'll enjoy
them."

"If you say so. But honestly, food isn't on my mind. I
want to know why you called me, and what do you want?"

"I wanted to apologize forwhathappened a fewnights
ago. I should've been more considerate of your dilemma."

"You could've told me that bullshit on the phone."

He let out a slight chuckle, and then said, "If you don't mind me asking, how did you meet Supreme, and
then get him to marry you? Because you seem like the
sort of woman that puts a man through a lot of changes."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get your
wife to marry you? I mean, because you seem like the
kind of man that would put your woman through a lot of
deadly changes ... if you know what I mean."

Dude gave me this ice-cold look, like it was taking
all of his strength not to reach over the table and take me
out of this world. But that's what the motherfucker got
for wasting my time and then talking slick to me about
how I got my husband.

"It doesn't feel good, does it? Fuckin' wit' somebody
and then they come back and fuck wit' you harder,
especially when it gets extremely personal. So, my advice
to you is don't play those type of games with me, Genesis.
And the reason why is because I know no boundaries."

"No wonder your husband left you and ran off with
another woman, because you are a straight up bitch. Right
on time! Here's our food. I promise you, you're going to
love the pancakes."

This nigga had fuckin' pissed me off, and it wasn't
even because of the "bitch" comment. Hell, I was a
bitch... the Queen Bitch at that. I wore that title with
pride, because it meant don't fuck with me, and don't
underestimate me, I run this! It was the part about my
husband running off with another woman that had me
ready to stab him with my fork. But I knew the fuckin'
reason he said that shit was to get under my skin, and I refused to give him the pleasure of seeing it on my face.

Yeah, I was human, so he knew in my heart I was
hurt behind his statement. But trust, that wasn't enough
gratification for a confident nigga like him. He wanted
to see me squirm... not! So as my insides burned up in
anger, I spread the butter on my hot pancakes, watching
as it melted in before pouring the warm syrup over them.
Instead of using my fork as a weapon to kill Genesis, I
killed my pancakes, slashing through the stack of three,
consuming every bite until they were all gone. I then
washed it down with a tall glass of orange juice. "You
were right. These were the best pancakes I've ever had."
I smiled, savoring the fact that I had kept my cool even
though inside my rage was boiling over.

"I knew you would enjoy them," Genesis said,
returning the smile. "Yes, she's finished with her food.
Can you clear her area? Thank you," he instructed the
waitress, acting as if he was the consummate gentleman.

"So, now that we've cleared the air and finished eating,
why don't you tell me why you really invited me here?"

"I already did. As I stated, I should've been more
considerate of your dilemma. I won't make that mistake
again. As much as I would love to stay and keep you
company further, I have a lot of business to handle today.
But I'll be in touch."

Then without any further explanation, Genesis made
his exit, and for the first time since I could remember, a
man had actually left me in a state of confusion.