Last Bitch Standing (2 page)

"And she will be. .please believe that."

"I ain't got no choice, because if I didn't, I really
wouldn't have a reason to live."

"You don't mean that."

"Yes the fuck I do! That deranged broad has my child. I still love Supreme and I want my husband back,
but hell, he's grown. He can protect himself. But Aaliyah,
she can't, she needs me."

"I understand, and I promise there ain't a mountain
I won't move to make that possible. I just don't want you
to give up."

"Never that!"

As Nico drove to the airport, I looked out the passenger
window, wondering if Maya really was out there
somewhere in the ATL and we just simply missed her. Or
worse, Maya had seen us and was now someplace gloating
that she had once again won the game of hide and seek.
I prayed that wasn't the case. It would be much easier
for me to stomach that we had simply been directed to
the wrong city, than to find out that Maya was still here,
carrying on with a life she'd stolen from me.

"Nico, I can't put my finger on it, but something
keeps tugging at me as if there is some sort of clue or
answer that we are leaving behind."

"You mean here in Atlanta?"

"Yeah, I can't shake it."

"Precious, we've been here for weeks and come up
with nothing."

"I know, but my gut keeps telling me something is
here for us. I don't know what it is, but the feeling is so
strong."

"So, what do you want to do, stay? I mean, supposedly from what another investigator told us, there are some
very good leads in Philadelphia. This tip seems reliable."

"And so did all the other ones, but we ain't got shit!"

"I know you're frustrated. So the fuck am I, but we
can't stop looking!"

"I know that. Shit, I don't want to stop looking! I can
fuckin' taste that bitch's blood like I'm a damn vampire.
We ain't gon' never stop looking, but it's just this feeling I
got. But it could be my agitation fuckin' with me."

"I think that's exactly what it is."

"Yeah," I sighed, falling back in my seat. "Let's take
this flight to Philly. It could turn out to be beneficial... at
least I hope so."

"Me too."

"Delta flight 1018 to Philadelphia will begin boarding in
fifteen minutes," I heard the lady announce as Nico and
I walked up.

The waiting area was jam packed, so clearly the
flight was full. Although I had lived in New York for
the majority of my life, I had never been to Philly even
though it was damn near just down the street. I wouldn't
know how to maneuver my way around even with a
GPS, so luckily I had Nico with me. With hustling drugs
for many years, Philadelphia had become like his own
personal neighborhood playground, which was exactly
what I needed.

"I'ma stop over there and get something to drink before we get on the flight. Do you want anything?" Nico
asked, as I was about to sit down.

"No, I'm straight."

"Cool. I'll be right back."

As Nico was walking towards his destination, I
heard a female voice call out his name. I glanced over to
see who the fuck was screaming for dude all the way in
Atlanta. With Nico's baller status in the drug business,
there was no question that he was nationally known in
the street game. But hearing his name echoing through
the airport threw me off for a second.

I watched intently as an extremely pretty chick
greeted Nico with a too lengthy hug, as if he was her
long lost love. I could damn near count every tooth in
her mouth with how hard she was cheesing. But even
with all that smiling and laughing the woman was doing,
she had mad swagger. She definitely wasn't a sack chaser
bum bitch who had nothing going on upstairs. She was
a bitch that knew how to handle her business. That was
clear from just observing her style game. The perfectly
cropped jet black haircut, to the simple yet sexy sleeveless
blouse, five pocket jeans with stud embroidery on the
pockets, a leather belt with a prism shaped buckle and a
large shoulder bag with what looked like hand braided
chains and interlocking `G' detail, topped off with some
velvet high heel cuffed booties. Her entire outfit was jet
black like her hair. The chick was on point and that was
being peeped from one gangster to another.

As if Nico could feel me sizing their interaction up, he pointed at me, then said something to the chick, and
they started walking towards my direction. I played it
cool as if I wasn't thinking about homegirl, and honestly,
I wouldn't have been if it wasn't for the fact she seemed
a little too comfortable for my taste around Nico. No
doubt he wasn't my man any longer, but he was my first
love, and a part of me would always be ready to snatcha-bitch-up over him. I was territorial that way I suppose.

"Precious, I want to introduce you to a very good
friend of mine," Nico said charmingly, as if giving me my
respect. "This is CoCo Armstrong."

CoCo grinned at me and started to reach out her
hand, but saw that mine were still folded in my lap, and
quickly rescinded her gesture.

"Nice to meet you," I remarked coldly.

"Precious, I used to do a lot of business with CoCo
before we lost touch," Nico said, trying to thaw the ice.

"Yeah, you mean before I had to sit down and
take that vacation for a few months," CoCo countered,
causing them to both chuckle.

I knew "vacation" was a code word for a bid in jail,
which actually made me feel a little less icy towards the
woman. I mean, don't nobody want to see the inside of a
cell, but from one female to another, if you're able to do
it and come out looking as good as she did, then I had to
give her props off of that alone. Clearly she did the time,
and didn't let the time do her.

"CoCo is actually on the same flight as us," Nico
informed me.

"Oh, you from Philly?"

"No, I'm actually from Atlanta, but I live in Philly
now" I nodded my head as I continued to feel the chick
out.

"We have to hang out while you're visiting Philly,"
CoCo suggested, turning her attention back to Nico.

"This trip is more business than pleasure. I doubt
we'll have time to hang out." CoCo stared at Nico
suspiciously, and then tried to eye me on the sly but I
caught that shit. She was trying to figure the situation out
without coming right out and asking.

"I understand, but if shit changes, you have my
numbers now. Give me a call. If we can't kick it on some
fun shit while you're in Philly, definitely hit me up about
business. I got a new partner now, and we making major
moves."

"Cool... that's what's up. I'll be in touch for sure."

CoCo gave Nico a goodbye hug and then said, "It
was nice meeting you, Precious," before walking off. But
I couldn't help but feel this wouldn't be the last time my
path crossed with CoCo Armstrong.

I stared out at the open water of the bay, with the
unobstructed view to the dockage, as Supreme lounged
on the yacht with Aaliyah. The calmness of the ocean
had almost tricked my mind into believing there wasn't
a storm brewing, that with each day, I was constantly
fighting to divert.

The Georgian-style mansion that I had been living
in with Supreme was nothing more than a high-priced,
exquisite prison. From the flowing hardwood espresso
floors, indoor waterfall, magnificent glass double
staircases and soaring ceilings with arches and pillars, it
was the sort of layout that MTV's Cribs was built on back
in their heyday. But for me, it represented fear-fear that
it would all be taken away from me if even one of my
skeletons stepped out of the closet.

Not only was Devon out there lurking in the shadows
waiting to seek revenge, but there was also Precious, my
one-time mentor that I had meticulously plotted on to
steal her life. My plan had seemed to come together so
beautifully... until my brother replaced his brain with his
dick. Then, Devon's nasty ass got greedy. And finally
thinking I left Precious for dead, I now know she is very
much alive.

I remember like it was yesterday, when Supreme got
the phone call about the estate in Beverly Hills. Kitty,
the airhead realtor I convinced Supreme to hire, had
called his attorney in an uproar because she told him that
some woman showed up claiming to be Supreme's wife
and threw her out the house. I could see the glimmer
in Supreme's eyes when he thought Precious had finally
come back to him. But that glimmer instantly turned to
hatred and rage when his attorney added that Kitty also
said Precious showed up with some man, and from the
description given, it sounded exactly like Nico. When his
attorney asked him what he wanted to do, I'll never forget
what Supreme said:

"Let her have the house, but do not tell her my
whereabouts. As far as you know, I've vanished and don't
want to be found." He calmly hung up the phone, but less
than two seconds later, he trashed the place. If I hadn't
seen it with my own eyes, I would've sworn up and down
that a tornado had hit.

Hours later when Supreme had finally half-way
calmed down, he admitted to me that he believed Precious had shown up to tell him it was over, that she was leaving
him for Nico, and not only did she want a divorce, but
she also wanted their daughter. I could see that Supreme
was letting his paranoia get the best of him. "I won't let
that happen," he stated firmly. "I can't make Precious
leave Nico, but I will fuckin' make sure she never takes
Aaliyah away from me."

With that idea cemented in Supreme's head, it actually
helped my need to stay in hiding, because in a way, he was
hiding too, but for totally different reasons. He felt he
was protecting Aaliyah, but I was trying to protect my
secrets. I knew all it took was one conversation between
him and Precious and my cover would be completely
blown. All my lies would explode in my face, and Supreme
wouldn't want anything to do with me. And the one plan
I was trying to orchestrate to salvage our relationship, if
and when he found out, wasn't coming together. Why?
Because I needed Supreme to be a willing participant,
which I couldn't make happen.

Even with all the anger he had against Precious after
that phone call from his attorney, Supreme refused to
even touch me. It was as if believing Precious had truly
moved on and chose Nico had castrated him. His sexual
desires were zilch. The shit had me straight tripping, and
also making it impossible for me to get pregnant. I figured
if shit did hit the fan, Supreme would never hurt me or
abandon me if I was carrying his child, but if I couldn't
get no dick, then we couldn't make no baby.

So, here I was, in a sexless relationship with a man who devoted all his time to his daughter as he secretly
yearned for his wife. But some of that shit needed
to change rather quickly-mainly the sexless partbecause the clock was ticking. No matter how low-key
we remained, knowing how relentless Precious was, she
would eventually find us. The more I thought about it,
the more I realized how limited my options were. It was
either wait to be gotten, or go do the getting. Whichever
way I chose to move, there were great risks, but I needed
to make a decision soon, because time wasn't on my side.

"I'ma take Aaliyah for a ride. We'll be back," Supreme
said on his way out the front door. I was so preoccupied
in my scheming that I hadn't even noticed or heard them
come inside.

"Wait a minute, I'll come with you."

"That's okay. I want to spend some alone time with
Aaliyah."

"What do you mean? You were just alone with her
for over an hour sitting on the yacht. I'm sure Aaliyah
won't mind sharing you with me for a car ride."

"Fine... come on," he responded with no enthusiasm.
But I didn't fuckin' care. I had to try and break down the
walls that Supreme had built up, and I had a much better
chance of doing it by spending some time with him than
none at all. With each passing day, that shade was getting
thicker and thicker with him. If I didn't make some
serious progress soon, we would go from sharing the
same bed with no sex, to sleeping in separate bedrooms
altogether. If that happened, it would be a done deal and my time would officially be up.

As Supreme drove down the coastline seeming to be
in deep thought, I stared back at Aaliyah, who was
falling asleep. There was no denying that with each day,
she resembled her mother more and more. There was
also no disputing that as she was getting older and her
personality was making more of a breakthrough, she had
also inherited Precious' fire. Armed with her mother's
looks and personality, and her father's money, I knew for
a fact that once Aaliyah reached a certain age, she would
be a force to be reckoned with. I wasn't sure I wanted
to be around to witness that, unless of course I could
deliver her that little brother.

"Supreme, we need to talk," I said, more determined
than ever to bring my thoughts to fruition.