Her Sweetest Revenge (Delphine Publications Presents) (22 page)

“’
Cause I asked you. I don’t want shit Li’l Bo makes from working with Squeeze.” She screwed up her face like she had a bitter taste in her mouth. “Now are you going to give it to me or not? I don’t have anything to eat in that damn apartment, and I need some feminine products.”

“
You would have food if you didn’t sell your food stamps,” I reminded her.

“
Don’t preach to me.” She was getting mad and raised her voice.

“
OK. I’ll give it to you. Sit down and wait here if you want to.” I ran upstairs and grabbed my pink and white coach bag and pulled out five hundred dollars. I hurried back downstairs. “Here, take it. Don’t smoke it,” my eyes pleaded with her but knowing the truth.

“
Thank you, baby,” she said and jumped up and gave me a taut hug, and before I could say anything else, she was out the door, gone back out into the street to cop more dope. I didn’t want to give it to her, but maybe she would buy her some food for real. Who really knew? I just didn’t feel like denying her.

I grabbed some orange juice out of the fridge and headed back to my bed to get my thoughts together. I tried to lie back down and get some more sleep, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw Squeeze or someone from the Boone Squad standing over me and I was looking up at the barrel of their gun.

I sat up in my bed knowing there was no way I would live too much longer with Phil knowing my secret. Even if I paid him he would threaten me all the time to get more money, or he may even try to kill me himself. After all, I wasn’t stupid. Phil couldn’t really tell on me without telling on himself. If Squeeze found out about what Phil had told me, Phil would be just as dead as I would be.

After a little more contemplating I knew I had to talk to Phil to come up with a better understanding. There was no way I would pay him to only be controlled by him with more threats. I had to talk to him face to face, but I had to make our conversation on my terms, and in order to do that, I would have to sneak up on him. I had to get into his apartment without him knowing it, and I had just the idea. I picked up my cell phone.

“
Hi, this is Phil Harris’s sister, Arlene. Phil went out of town over the weekend and left me in charge, but I seemed to have misplaced my key. Can someone come and let me in?”

“
Uh, sure. I’ll send someone right over,” the female voice said.

“
Oh, I’m not there right now. I will be there about 6:30,” I lied, knowing the office closes at 6:00.

“
I’m sorry, we close the office at 6:00, but we can stick an extra key in the mailbox by the door, and you can return the extra key tomorrow.”

“
Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate it,” I said and quickly hung up the phone.

That was easier than I thought. I guess that’s what you get for living in the hood. They don’t question nothing. That dumb chick should be fired on the spot.

Without another thought, I jumped in the shower and threw on one of my short sleeve Baby Phat sweat suits with a pair of icy white Forces. Before heading out the door I stopped and looked at the keys to my Range Rover that were conveniently lying on the bar. It took me only a split second to snatch them off the bar and head out the door.

I made it to the apartments Phil lived in at dark. I knew it would be a while before Phil made it to the crib since he would be out trapping, but I wanted to get that key to his apartment out of the mailbox before he made it home so I could hide inside. Once I got inside his apartment I looked around, and to be honest, Phil’s crib was a real shit hole. This nigga had an old 25-inch regular TV in his living room with some old funky-looking furniture that looked like it had been donated. Squeeze clearly wasn’t paying him shit. His bedroom looked the same. The nigga even had a mattress on the floor. Damn, I felt sorry for this nigga. He was dumb for real.

Suddenly, I heard the front door open. What was he doing home so early? I hadn’t even decided where I wanted to hide. My plan was to sneak up on him in order to get him to listen to me. “Shit,” I said in a muffled voice. I hit my leg on his closet door trying to get inside. I closed the door halfway so I could peek out to make sure he was alone. I could hear him moving around in the kitchen, and it sounded like he was dropping stuff. Then he came in his room and kicked off his shoes, and then pounced down on that old battered mattress on his floor. I was trying to think of what I would say to him, but then I was interrupted by Phil’s loud snoring. I couldn’t believe this nigga went to sleep that fast.

I slowly opened the closet door and crept over to Phil where he’s lying faceup on the mattress snoring. “Wake up, Phil,” I said in a calm voice. Phil opened his eyes slowly like he thought he was dreaming. When he realized who I was, he bolted straight up.

“
Mya? How da fuck you get in here?” He put bass in his voice.

“
I let myself in,” I said calmly, but I was nervous as hell.

“
Bitch, you better have my money.”

“
Look, I came here so we can talk about this,” I calmly said, but I was getting even more nervous by the way Phil was looking at me.

“
Ain’t shit to talk about. You pay me or you dead. Simple as that. And I don’t appreciate you breaking into my crib.” Phil stood up.

I felt beads of sweat popping out on my forehead.

“
Phil, be real. Your life’s in more danger than mine. Squeeze gon’ put a bullet in your head before mine if he finds out you gave up his whole operation.”

“
Nah. Squeeze ain’t gon’ be worried about me, because right now, he worried about yo’ little brother. Little young nigga think he slick just like you. Nigga been greasing his own pockets on the side. Li’l nigga think he slick. Just like you.”

“
What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

“
He be stealing money, and Squeeze all over that, but no need to worry ’cause soon . . .” Phil took two of his fingers and pointed them at my head like a gun and fake pulled the trigger.

I tensed up. “You listen to me, you snitch-ass loser, if anything happens to my brother I will kill Squeeze, you, or whoever is responsible,” I said. My chest was heaving up and down so fast I felt like I was out of breath.

“
Who da fuck you tryin’ to threaten? Bitch, get out! Have my money by Friday like I said,” he screamed at me.

I turned around and started walking up the short hallway. All of a sudden Phil grabbed me by the neck and started dragging me back toward his room.

“
Phil,” I tried to scream, but he had his grip so tight around my neck I couldn’t speak.

“
I changed my mind. I want the money
and
some of you,” he said as he continued to drag me until he got to his room, and then he threw me on his mattress.

When he let me go I had to struggle to catch my breath. He immediately started unbuckling the belt to his pants while I was trying to catch my breath. I sat up trying to take in gulps of air.

“
Lie back down, bitch.” He got on top of me and started tugging at my pants. I dug my fingers in his eyes. He tried to punch me in my face, but I moved just in time. He grabbed me by my neck again. I kicked him in his nuts, and he fell backward. I got up, but I was still trying to catch my breath. I ran toward the door to his room, but I tripped on his shoe and fell on my knees. He grabbed me again by the neck and flipped me over.

“
Stop fighting. You think you too good for me?”

“
I am, motherfucker,” I said while reaching down toward my right ankle where I had my Ruger strapped. Phil was trying to rip my shirt off, but before he could I had my Ruger out and I pulled the trigger. Phil fell sideways off of me. I had shot him right between the eyes. Blood was pouring out the back of his head, and his eyes were wide open.

I quickly got up and looked around to make sure I didn’t drop anything. I went back to the closet and wiped the doorknob to make sure I didn’t leave a fingerprint. Then I quickly went to the bathroom to look in the mirror. There was no blood on me because all of it seemed to pour out the back of Phil’s head when he hit the floor.

I wiped the front doorknob off and headed straight out the door to my truck. Once inside my truck I sat still. I didn’t see anyone in sight. I didn’t know what to do next. I hadn’t planned on killing him. I had brought my gun along because it just felt right.

“
Shit. Shit,” I said hitting my steering wheel. Finally, I started the Range Rover up and took off toward the Brewster which was right around the corner. I had to get somewhere with a bathroom quick. My stomach was turning flips. I burst into my mom’s apartment and headed straight to the bathroom where I threw up. Sweat was pouring down my face. My mind was racing, and the only thing I could do was cry.

Murder was on my hands. I had killed him. I had no choice. It was him or me, and I wasn’t an option. After throwing up I ended up on my mom’s living-room couch. I woke up the next morning to my mom calling my name.

“
What you doing here? Why ain’t you at home?” she fired questions at me.

I sat up on the couch. “I, uhh, I came by to see you last night. You wasn’t here, so I sat and waited. I must have dozed off,” I said while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. “Did you get you some food yesterday?” I asked to change the subject.

“
I didn’t have time. I’ll do it today,” she lied.

“
Yeah,” was my only reply. My phone started vibrating. I looked at the caller ID. It was Monica. I decided not to answer. “I got to get outta here. I’ll come by this week and check on you,” I said before heading out the door.

Chapter 35

Everything had been cool since I had killed Phil. The whole thing blew over in the press, and no one in the hood seemed to care that he was dead. Somebody must’ve tried to rob him was the only thing I had heard. School had just started back for Monica and Li’l Bo. Surprisingly, Li’l Bo went back to school without me arguing with him about it.

Things had been good with him, but I had found a hundred thousand dollars in cash in his room in a shoe box which confirmed for me what Phil had said about him stealing from Squeeze. I confronted him in an outrage, and he assured me that he wasn’t stealing from Squeeze. He said that he had been doing extra work on the side to make that money. I believed him, but I still watched him like a hawk to make sure he was safe. I would ride by the spots he trapped at all day to make sure shit was cool. I knew he had been putting in a lot of extra time so I chalked that shit up that Phil had said as hating. After all, he was probably just jealous of Li’l Bo. His ass had worked for Squeeze all that time, and he lived in a rat hole. What a loser.

My classes were going good, and I was getting close to graduating. Things were looking up. Monica had still been hanging out and since school started back she had been coming home later and later, but today, I’m letting her know that it ain’t cool. But first, I needed to call Hood to see if he was still coming by tonight. He had been acting strange around me lately.

Last week he had hinted around about my money. I think he wondered how I could afford this place. I told him before I still had money my dad had left me and he seemed to talk about the Boone Squad a lot and about some of the past shit that went down. It was like he wanted me to say something. I don’t know, maybe I was just being paranoid. I just wanted to speak with him to see what’s up.

“
What’s up, baby?” I said on the phone.

“
Shit,” Hood replied.

“
Are you still coming through later? Or do you want me to come to your crib?”

“
Ah, I’ma come by there. I got some moves to make first. I’ma hit you later when I’m done, but I gotta go.” Hood hung up before I could say anything.

“
Damn,” I said looking at my phone a little surprised. I threw the phone down pissed, and then I heard Monica come through the door. It was like 6:00 p.m. She had been out of school for almost four hours. This shit was getting old.

“
Yo, Monica? What the deal? Why you just gettin’ home?”

“
I went to the mall,” she replied as she headed in the kitchen.

“
Look, I know you got friends and everything, but you need to start coming home after school, all right? You can’t be just gettin’ out of school and coming home when you ready.” I tried to stay calm, even though I was getting pissed.

“
I just went to the mall, Mya.” Monica looked at me like I’m tripping.

“
Aye, I don’t care where you went. You heard me, right?”