Authors: K. Elliott
Alicia opened the door and Tommy stood before her. She gave him a kiss and invited him in.
When he sat down he looked a little troubled. “What’s worng?”
“Well, I haven’t been totally honest with you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have to tell you that I have a woman … and she’s living with me.”
She frowned. “Tommy, what the hell is going on here?”
He avoided her eyes. “I didn’t know what to tell you. All I know is that I want you, and I was willing to do whatever it takes to get you. I’m sorry I lied.”
“So what’s up with this girl? Do you love her?”
“I only care about her. We don’t even have sex.”
“So why do you stay in that situation? Why be with someone that you don’t love?”
“I don’t know. I think we just got comfortable with each other.”
“So what are we going to do now?” She walked to him. “I was starting to like you.”
“I like you, too. I mean, I want to be with you.”
“So go get your stuff and move in with me.”
He laughed but didn’t answer.
She looked serious and said, “Hey … I want you to come live with me.”
“I can’t do that. We barely know each other. How do you know if you can live with me?”
“I don’t, but I do know that I don’t want you living with her.”
Tommy was silent. He knew he had made a mistake telling her about his girlfriend, but he felt better. He was no longer hiding anything.
“Tommy, do you love her?”
“I already told you I’m not in love with her.”
“What’s her name?”
“Nia.”
“Is she pretty?”
“Yeah.”
“Does she look better than me?”
“No.”
“Why are you with her, Tommy? You said y’all don’t have sex.”
Tommy turned and faced Alicia. He remembered the first day they’d met, how she’d played hard to get, her comment about not dating drug dealers, and how she was so confident and secure. How did she go from being so secure to being a very insecure woman? It didn’t make sense, but it had happened before. He had met women who said they didn’t want to be in a relationship and, as time went on, he had gotten to know them and taken them on dates and bought them jewelry. And the next thing he knew they either wanted to get married or didn’t want to let him out of their sight. They would call him every other hour and ask stupid questions: Where you been? Why didn’t you answer your cell phone?, Who is that female in the background?, Why can’t you spend more time with me? All of this because they’d enjoyed his company and money. He doubted very seriously if they wanted him for sex.
“Hey, I’m going to handle the situation.”
“How?”
“I’m going to get my own place.”
Alicia smiled. “That’s what I want to hear.”
Tommy had five hundred thousand dollars. He was halfway there. He agreed that Alicia’s father would fly into town, get the money, and put it in a safe place. He didn’t know why, but he trusted Don with his money. All he kept thinking about was the fact that he would own a high-rise building. He would be an investor in something legal. He could leave the game alone for sure. It was funny how he was thinking about retiring; he was making faster money than ever before with the pills. Everybody wanted X, and he’d become the city’s largest X dealer.
He’d taken the money to Alicia’s house but was back at home by two in the morning.
Nia had been out with her friends. She didn’t arrive until later in the morning.
He heard her tiptoeing into the house. “Where the fuck have you been?” he asked
“I was out with my friend Rasheeda.”
“Til five in the morning?”
“It is not five in the morning.”
Tommy looked at the clock on the dresser. “Okay, it’s 4:30. What the fuck is the difference? The bottom line is that you’re being disrespectful.”
“
I’m
disrespectful, nigga? You’re disrespectful. We get robbed, I get raped for your ass, and all you can think about is the fact that I like to party with my friends?”
“All you think about doing is running the streets.”
“You be at the clubs, too.”
Tommy walked closer, rubbed his chin, and then pointed at her. “The difference between me and you is that I fuckin own this place. You don’t pay shit, so you need to go home.”
“Fuck you! I’ll go home and never come back to this fuckin place.”
“Go home, then.”
“You know what? I know that’s what you want, so I’m going to stay just ‘cause you want me to go.”
Tommy went to the bedroom closet and started pulling out Nia’s clothes and throwing them all over the floor. “You’re going to leave here or I’m going to leave. It’s one or the other.”
Nia ran over to Tommy and punched him in the face.
“You better leave then, muthafucka.”
“I will,” Tommy said.
“The nigga left early this morning,” said Nia.
“Where’d he go?” asked JoJo.
“I don’t know, but I sure as hell hope he stays.”
“What happened, baby?”
“I don’t know. I came in and he just flipped.”
“You think he knew we was together?”
“No, but I know he kind of felt that I was with a man.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t get in until five in the morning. The man is not stupid.”
“I know he ain’t stupid; that’s why I don’t like doing this behind his back.”
“I know. We need to come out and let everybody know about our feelings for each other. We can’t go on like this.”
“I can’t right now. We’re making money together and things are going so well.”
“JoJo, I love you, and Tommy just ain’t doing it for me. I want you. I mean, every time I have to lay with him it just totally disgusts me. I don’t even want him to touch me.”
“I promise it won’t be like this forever, baby. I have a plan.”
“We’re going to live together one day?”
“We will. I promise you. If things continue to go good I will be a millionaire in a few more months, and Tommy might be worth at least three.”
“I don’t care about the money. I don’t want to be with him anymore. I want you.”
“Well, why didn’t you leave?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know; I guess I’ve gotten comfortable with the living situation. That and the fact that I don’t want to be alone. I don’t know what you’re going to do. I don’t know if you’re just playing with my feelings or what. Tommy is kind of like a security blanket to me, and he’s not a bad guy… really he’s not. But he’s just not for me.”
The three Porsche Cayenne trucks were parked in front of a Charlotte night club. Women standing in line marveled at the trucks, wondering who the owners might be. Tommy, JoJo, and Twin were in VIP with six bottles of champagne and a herd of women, celebrating the arrival of more ecstasy. The whole town was going wild over the butterflies. Tommy couldn’t supply enough of them.
Alicia came in the club wearing a tight white dress that clung to her every curve. Tommy was aroused immediately. He doubted very seriously that she had on any panties, and this made him even more aroused. Mario, the huge Italian bouncer, allowed her beyond the velvet rope.
She hugged Tommy immediately.
Twin and JoJo stared, their mouths agape.
Tommy introduced Twin and JoJo then said, “These are my best
Alicia smiled, revealing beautiful teeth. She shook their hands, and then she and Tommy headed for a private corner.
“Damn, you are looking delicious tonight.”
“I know … you’re looking at me like I’m a steak or something.” She smiled.
He rubbed her thigh.
She slapped his hand. “Stop it before you get something started that you can’t handle.”
“Oh, I can handle it. I can handle you.”
She toyed with her hair. “Is that so?”
He kissed her neck. His erection occasionally jumped.
She rubbed his chest then hooked a leg behind one of his.
She pulled his penis out and stroked it.
He was enjoying himself until he saw a familiar face in the crowd.
J-Black was looking over the velvet rope with a hard, cold stare.
Tommy pushed Alicia aside, zipped his slacks, then walked over to JoJo and Twin. “That’s the guy that robbed me.”
“Then that must be the muthafucka who broke into my sister’s house and stole my shit,” JoJo said. He walked toward the velvet rope.
J-Black raised his shirt, revealing a chrome handgun.
Tommy’s heart raced and nervousness set in. He rushed back to Alicia and ordered her to leave the club. Neither he nor his crew was armed. He flagged Mario and informed him that J-Black was carrying a gun. He felt kind of like a snitch for saying something, but he wanted to be smart. He knew that the man who had robbed him was serious, and that it was possible, too, that he would let off a couple of rounds in the club. Somebody could be seriously hurt.
Mario came from behind and held J-Black with a half nelson hold, and one of the other bouncers kicked him then took the gun off him.
J-Black screamed, “Somebody is going to get hurt bad in this bitch. I promise you!”
When they got him to the front door, they tossed J-Black out head first.
He slowly picked himself up and went to his car. He retrieved his sawed-off pump shotgun and opened fire in the direction of the club.
The crowd ran for cover.
Tommy, Twin, and JoJo remained in VIP. None of them wanted to go outside. They knew it was J-Black who had done the shooting.
When Tommy and his partners finally stepped outside the club, JBlack was in handcuffs. A police officer was pushing his head down, ordering him to get inside the squad car.
“I’m glad they got that crazy muthafucka,” Tommy said. “I want the nigga dead,” JoJo said.
“The police got his ass. Let’s keep making this money,” Twin said.
Tommy leaned against his own new truck. “I want him dead, too, but I got so much shit on my mind right now…”
JoJo caught Tommy’s eyes and stared. “What’s wrong man?”
Tommy looked away but didn’t say anything.
“Come on, Fatboy, you can tell me what’s going on with you.”
“I think Nia is fuckin around on me.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.”
“What about this new chick you been fucking around with?” Tommy turned and faced JoJo, and then smiled. “I like her a lot.” “So you shouldn’t give a fuck about Nia.”
“I know, right? But it’s hard not to feel a certain way about a woman that I live with. I guess the fact that she’s getting over on me and I can’t do nothing about it makes me crazy.”
“Why don’t you just make her leave?”
“She won’t leave.”
JoJo put his hands on Tommy’s shoulders. “You got some serious problems.”
“I got a love-hate relationship with Nia.”
“I know what ya mean.”
“I still love that girl … I mean, we been through a lot, but I still like her in my bed near me. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah… yeah. I know exactly what you mean.”
“I don’t like to be alone. I mean, I’ve always had a woman in my life, and I like Nia living with me. Ever since Mama died, she’s kind of filled a void.”
“I think you should get to know Alicia. Forget about Nia, ‘cause she will drive you to do something you might regret.”
“I know. When she came in late the other night, it was about five in the morning. I know she’d been with somebody else.”
“You think so?”
Tommy’s voice was thick with emotion. “I know it, man. You know how sometimes you just get a gut feeling about something?”
JoJo stared off into the dark sky.
“JoJo, I could’ve killed me a muthafucka that night. I was just that mad.”
“Tommy, it’s going to be alright.”
“I just feel like I’m trapped. I know this girl is no good for me, and I know I like Alicia, but I don’t know what to do. It’s like Nia has a stronghold on me.”
“You can make it, man. Don’t let this get you down. Just think … you’re about to be a millionaire in no time.”
Tommy hugged JoJo. “Thanks for listening to me, man. It meant a lot.”
*****
When Twin arrived at his home it was three in the morning. He went to the kitchen for a glass of orange juice and found a note on the refrigerator.
I have had some great times with you, and memories that I will probably carry with me for the rest of my life, but great times and memories don’t equal love. While I have loved you with my whole heart, I know you couldn’t have possibly loved me. If you did, you wouldn’t continue to put my life in danger; you wouldn’t continue to sell that poison; and you would have spent more time with me and not have taken my love for granted.
In the past year we haven’t done anything together. No amusement park, no trips … except for your business trips. This thing, or relationship, or whatever you call it, had to come to an end, and I have decided it was best that I end it. I’ve packed all of my belongings. I’ve got my own place. I believe, when you really think about it, it will be best if we were apart, because we both are sick people. You’re sick for pushing the poison, and I’m sick because I’m a recreational user. Don’t attempt to call me, because I’ve changed my number.
Twin balled the letter up then slammed his fist against the wall. “I dare that bitch to say I’m pushing poison! I dare that bitch to say I’m sick! I dare the stankin ho to leave! Ain’t nobody leaving nobody! I will hunt her ass down and bring her back home. Ain’t nobody just going to kick me to the curb like that.”
He climbed up in the attic and pulled out a huge green chest. He counted his money and discovered that eighteen thousand dollars was gone. He didn’t know where to begin to look for Jennifer. He thought about calling her parents. He hated them. They were a bunch of rednecks.
He didn’t want to call Barbara, but he had to. His money was gone and so was Jennifer. Twin dialed Barbara’s number.
She answered it on the second ring. “Who the hell is calling me at this time of night?”
Twin figured that old Barb had been hitting the bottle again. “I’m looking for Jennifer.”
“Is this the nigger?”
“Fuck you, Barbara. Where the hell is your daughter?”
“If I knew I wouldn’t tell you, nigger.”
“Have you seen her at all?”
“No, I sure haven’t, nigger.”
“Tell her to call me if you see her.”
“I will not, nigger.”
“Fuck you, you trailer trash.”
“Nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger!”
Twin ended the call. He would have to find Jennifer some other way.
Jennifer’s new apartment was downtown. She’d taken the eighteen thousand dollars, using a portion to furnish her place and pay the rent up for the entire year. She hated stealing Twin’s money, but she needed the money for a new start. Her plan was to become a dental assistant, relying on an eight-week course at Central Piedmont Community College. Then she would enroll to become a hygienist. She would dance only when she needed money badly. She would stay away from X and find herself a man who appreciated her, and they would get married and have a big family.