Against the Grain (17 page)

“Well, I know you want it done right and I’m trying to open my own nail salon, so I want $2,500.” They smiled.

“Is that all?” Scatter asked.

“Apiece, since it don’t matter,” she said in Mike’s direction.

“Damn, shorty,” Mike said, “that pussy can’t be that good. If it was you’d have ten hair salons.”

“How you know what I got and what I don’t got?” She sucked her teeth and tried to walk out the bathroom. “Well fuck it then.”

“Okay, okay, shorty, you got that,” Kay said. They all counted out $2,500 apiece. When she saw all that money, she wished she had said three grand a piece. The way she counted the money when they handed it to her, Scatter knew she was about business. She was no stranger to money. Mike gave her a key card to an empty room.

“Yo, ‘C’, time to make it official, little nigga,” Mike said.

‘C’ looked in their direction. They all were staring at him. He smiled. Erica went over to him and took the game remote out of his hand and placed it on the floor. “Come with me, cutie,” she said as she grabbed his hand and led him toward the door. Kay stopped them. He handed ‘C’ a bunch of condoms and smiled.

“Handle your biz, nigga.”

“That’s my boy! That’s my boy!” Scatter said as he danced around in circles and jumped from bed to bed.

As Erica and ‘C’ left the room, some of the fellaz were coming in. They looked at the two of them leave. They saw the look on Kay’s, Scatter’s, and Mike’s faces and they knew.

“Oh shit, Lil ‘C’, save me some nigga,” one of the guys yelled to their backs as they disappeared down the hall. When the fellaz came in and seen Scatter’s shorty on the bed in her bra and panties, they started taking off their clothes.

“Shorty, what’s up? I just want some head.”

“Me, too, shorty.”

“I want some of that pussy.” They all came at her hard and she liked that shit. She got naked and niggaz ran a train on her and videotaped everything.

It was 11:15 when Kay looked at his Rolex. Lil ‘C’ still hadn’t returned. “C’mon, Mike, I’m going down there to check on him,” Kay said.

“Man, leave that boy alone, he’s alright,” Scatter told him. Everyone laughed.

“I’ve got to go anyway. Someone is waiting for me at the house.” Kay and Mike got ready to leave.

“Ya’ll niggaz relax and have some fun tonight,” Mike told them. “I’ll see ya’ll in the morning.”

As the two of them left, the phone rang. Then they heard someone yell, “Yo, it’s them bitches we met at the mall in the Lex.” Kay and Mike both knew it wouldn’t be long before they got them on video.

When they got to the house, Dre and Chastity were in the kitchen cooking some kind of vegetarian dish, since Kay didn’t eat meat. Kim was sitting on the living room floor with the remote control, changing channels. The TV was on mute because she also had the Carl Thomas CD playing. She saw Mike and got up to give him a hug and kiss.

“Chill with that. You know I don’t like all that kissing and shit,” Mike said as he playfully smacked her on the ass. She didn’t say anything. She just sat down in the same spot and continued to change channels. Kay walked into his room and shut the door. Alzina was lying across the bed watching
Talking Dirty After Dark
on DVD. She didn’t hear Kay come in so he just stood there and watched her for a moment while she laughed at Martin Lawrence in the movie. She wore an Anne Cole white floral bathing suit with matching white floral pareo. Her hair was styled different. She had it pulled back into a ponytail. He cleared his throat. She turned and looked in his direction and smiled. He walked over to the bed and laid on top of her. They kissed passionately. Kay had to pull himself away from her, so that he could go take a shower. When he came out he wore a pair of black Guess Jeans shorts, yellow and black silk Versace boxers and a brand-new pair of black Reebok Classics, no socks. His body glistened from the baby oil and baby lotion mixture that he had learned to put together in prison. He also put on a few drops of Romance by Ralph Lauren. “Let’s go for a walk on the beach,” Alzina suggested.

“Why?”

“I don’t know, it just seems romantic.” As soon as they stepped out on the back patio, she changed her mind. It had gotten a little chilly. They went back upstairs to the master bedroom. Kay walked over to the closet and took out a big box and handed it to her.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“I told you I had something for you, didn’t I?” She sat on the side of the bed and opened it with excitement. Inside the box was an IBM ThinkPad 570, a Palm IIIc organizer, and an envelope. She opened the envelope and there was a cashier’s check for ten grand with her name on it.

“What’s all this for?” She asked.

“Just a little something to help you with school when you go back. I don’t want you to have to drop out again.”

“Wow, all of this? I’ve never gotten anything like this before. Thank you, Arkadian,” she said as she stood up and kissed him. Kay untied the knot in her wrap and dropped it to the floor.

•         •         •

The next day, Fourth of July, the strip was packed. The whole crew, all but Lil ‘C’, who was still in his room with Erica, was out funning. They walked up and down the strip taking more pictures and videotaping more women. They went swimming in the ocean. They rented Jet Skis and went bungee jumping. Everyone was exhausted. Kay finally went to check on Lil ‘C’. Erica let him in. They were both playing PlayStation. Kay noticed that Erica had changed clothes.

“What’s up, yo?” Kay said to his son as he walked over and gave him a pound.

“Nothin’, just chillin’. We just got back from shorty’s house, then we stopped at this Jamaican restaurant to eat.”

Kay’s eyes went to Erica’s for a moment. He couldn’t believe she was still around. He picked up the other control pad for the PlayStation.

“How did ya’ll get to her house?” he asked.

“Pop-Pop gave her his car.” ‘C’ never took his eyes off the TV.

“You call your moms?”

“Yeah, this morning.”

Kay looked at Erica.
Damn, she’s fine,
he thought to himself. She put her hands on her hips and said, “I wasn’t his first.”

Kay looked at ‘C’. ‘C’ cut his eyes at his dad as he smiled.

“What’s up with that?” Kay asked.

“C’mon, Dad, you know I’m the man around my school. You see my pager goes off all day and night.” Kay ran his fingers through Lil ‘C’s hair and laughed. “I think he’s been here before. He knows too much to be as young as he is. Plus he’s working with a little sumthin’, sumthin’. I just had to make him slow downa few times and learn how to control it. When he gets back to Maryland, he’s going to drive them little girls crazy. Shit, I wish he was ten years older, I’d be moving to Maryland with his ass,” Erica said jokingly with a smile. Kay was proud of his little man.

“We’re about to go take pictures at one of them photo places on the strip, where you dress up like gangsters or cowboys and stuff like that,” ‘C’ said to Kay. Kay looked at Erica again. She must have read his mind.

“He’s safe,” she said.

“You got money left?” Kay asked his son.

“Yeah, Uncle Mike and Uncle Dre gave me some earlier.”

“I’m about to go get some rest so I can go out tonight. I heard that there’s supposed to be fireworks in downtown Norfolk tonight, if you want to go.”

“C’mon, Dad, I’m too big for fireworks,” ‘C’ said as he smiled at Erica. She smiled back.

“Aiight then, big man. I’ll see you in the morning,” Kay said as he left.

•         •         •

When he finally woke up it was ten after six. He woke up Dre, Tank, Gee, and Mike. Then Kay called Big Duke at the hotel, so that he could get everyone together. They had to go to Norfolk to get the cars washed for the club that night. Kay and Mike had their cars covered since they arrived at the house but they were still in need of a wash after the long trip down the highway. Traffic on the strip was packed and moving slow. As they moved slowly toward the hotel, they got everyone’s attention. Guys pointed and the women waved. Damn near everybody took pictures or videotaped them.

They saw a 2000 Lamborghini coming toward them. It had New York tags. The driver flashed his headlights at them as he passed. Then Allen Iverson drove up in a light-blue drop-top Bentley. He had two guys with him. Kay rolled down the window and he and “A.I.” spoke for a moment about Kay’s car. He remembered Kay from the grand opening of The Raven. By the time they reached the hotel, the whole crew was standing outside in the parking lot watching the car show. Kay blew his horn and told them to come on. He, Mike, and Gee made a right toward the interstate, went down a block and pulled over to wait for the rest of the crew. Twenty minutes later they pulled into the car wash next to Norfolk State. This was one of the hot spots in Norfolk. All the ballers got their whips washed here. All of Kay’s crew couldn’t fit in the small parking lot at one time, so a few of them parked in the lot behind the car wash to wait. Mookie, the guy that owned the car wash, had gotten bagged by the Feds along with Woo Woo, Blackwell, Lil Bill, Eric B, Lil Chris, Prince, Mack, Donell, Chuck, Lushawn, Love, Money J, Stacy, and Blue. His wife, Madonna, ran it. She remembered Kay from all the previous years. She had her staff give them VIP treatment. Madonna always looked good when they came through. Some of the guys wanted to get at her, but Kay wouldn’t allow it. He respected Mookie. Mookie always showed them love each year that they came through. He even had Madonna send Kay tickets for him and his crew to attend the 2000 Super Bowl since Madonna’s cousin played for the St. Louis Rams.

Most of the fellaz walked across the street to the 7-Eleven and Kappatal Kuts to hang out while the cars got washed. This was another hot spot in Norfolk. Every baller in town came through there at least once a day. All the girls at Norfolk State were constantly walking back and forth to the 7-Eleven all day. And you know that anywhere there’s a bunch of women, the fellaz will be. There was always a bunch of fellaz in the barbershop, so that made the women come out even more. There was a liquor store next to 7-Eleven and you could always find somebody out there selling weed, bootleg videotapes, and clothes. A nigga named Cliff had the mix tapes and CDs on lock. Find Cliff for the official shit. Kay and Mike drove their cars over to the barbershop parking lot once they were done. And of course they caused another big scene. Niggaz was coming out the barbershop, 7-Eleven, the liquor store, and everywhere to get a good look at the cars. Even the barbers came out. Scatter drove his convertible BMW over. Gee drove his NSX-T over. Then Big Duke came over with the black-on-black Excursion, sitting on twenty-four-inch Oasis rims. He was bumpin’ Black Rob’s “Whoa” remix. His shit was so loud and so clear that he stole the spotlight from Mike and Kay for a moment. Especially when he opened the doors and the spectators could see all the footage that he had recorded from the past few days on the strip and the freakfest in the rooms. He downloaded it from his digital video recorder to his built-in Pentium computer with Internet. It was on all five TVs. The crowd went nuts. By the time all the cars were done, Kay walked back over to the car wash to pay Madonna for everyone. He gave all the workers twenty-dollar tips. He gave her a grand to send Mookie even though he knew he didn’t need it. He invited her to the party at the house. She said she would come, so they hugged and Kay went back across the street where everyone else was. He loved all the attention they got every year.

They always represented Baltimore to the fullest. No matter where they went, Soul Train Music Awards, Greekfest, NBA All-Star Weekend, Source Awards, Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York, Cancun, Super Bowls, Vegas, Daytona Beach—it didn’t matter. They always had a good time with no drama—never! People always wanted to be around them because they were the life of the party and everything was free when you fucked with them. Before they left Norfolk, they gave out a few flyers for the beach party that they were giving. They went back to the beach to change clothes for the club. They were all dressed casually, rockin’ jeans and Tims. Club Shadows was bangin’ by the time they got there. Some cat named Jehmal Kornegay was celebrating his birthday that night. He must have been doing big things out there, the way the women were on him. They stopped the music to sing “Happy Birthday” to this nigga and to give a shout-out to two niggaz that were in the feds. Lil Dee had been gone for a minute, but his man Russ from Portsmouth had just got picked up. Kay liked the way they showed love to the fallen soldiers, the same way his own crew did. DJ Craig “G” from New York held it down for the rest of the night. Kay pulled his manager Big June to the side and spoke to him about doing the party for them at the beach house. Big June agreed and they talked out the minor details. After the club closed, it seemed as if everyone in the club went to eat at the IHOP on Military Highway. So Kay and the crew followed them. After breakfast, most of them had women follow them back down to the beach.

•         •         •

By 5:00 p.m. that afternoon the party was crowded. Everybody was on the beach behind the house. The house was off-limits unless you were using the bathroom or changing into your bathing suit. Craig “G” was set up on the top patio. People were playing football, volleyball, horseshoes, and dodgeball. Some were playing in the water, some were dancing, and others were just standing around looking cute. Kay hired cooks to grill all the food. Steaks, burgers, chicken, lobster, jumbo shrimp, fish, steamed oysters, and crabs. They had all kinds of beer and alcohol. Extra security was hired, to make sure no one got drunk or out of hand or in the house. Almost everybody they had come in contact with since they had been there came through to show love.

This other money-getting cat named May-May came through with his crew. They were all wearing T-shirts that said R.I.P Shampoo on the front. Alzina played hostess to everyone. And of course everything was videotaped and pictures were taken for all their niggaz on lock. At least five hundred pictures were taken that weekend. Everyone partied as hard as they could for as long as they could. The Virginia Beach Police came by around mid-night and shut shit down. The party was over. Everyone slowly left and thanked Kay and Mike. The fellaz all headed back to their hotel for more freak shit. Even Lil ‘C’ bounced with Erica.