Tears of a Hustler 2 (22 page)

As G-money ran around the truck to the driver side, he saw Shorty and his soldiers hop back in the whip they came in, and Eraser Head running full speed in the direction of the Yukon. Once Eraser Head was in the passenger seat, G-money backed out of the driveway. His braids flapped back and fourth as he looked over both shoulders.
Jimmy finally made it inside the bedroom and sawthat it was empty. “Fuck!” he cursed as he tossed his Beretta on the floor and hopped out the window, landing in the sticky bushes. When Jimmy hopped out of the bushes, all he could see was the Yukon flying down the street.
“Who the fuck was that Italian nigga?” Eraser Head asked out loud as he tossed his Mac 11 out the window.
“I don’t know, but you better believe I’m goingto find out,” G-money said, peering at the shrinking form of the gunman in the rearview mirror.
Knowledge exited the bodega with one thing on his mind, and that was Tosha’s fat ass bouncing up and down on his dick. As soon as Knowledge stepped out of the bodega, all he had time to see was a muzzle flash, and a loud roar of a powerful pistol, before he felt a sharp and hot pain rip through his shoulder. The impact of the shot caused Knowledge to stumble back inside the bodega, crashing into the rack of potato chips. Knowledge hit the floor and automatically his hand grabbed onto the .40 cal in his waistband.
When the storeowner heard the loud gunshot bang out, and saw a hooded man come crashing into his store, he immediately reached for his shotgun that rested underneath the counter.
Knowledge had only made it to one knee when he saw the storeowner raise his shotgun from behind the counter. With the reflexes of an alley cat, Knowledge raised his.40cal and before the storeowner knew what was going on, two bullets exploded in his face.
Rell was about to enter the bodega until he heard two thunderous shots ring out. He placed his back against the wall and took a breath. On the count of three, Rell turned and threw his arm inside the store. He swept his arm back and forth as he pulled the trigger, until he ran out of bullets and the chamber on his p89 jumped back. Once Rell was out of bullets, he didn’t even check to see if he had hit his intended target. Instead, he jogged back to his Honda and fled the scene.
About 90 seconds after the shots finished ringing out, Knowledge climbed back to his feet and slowly stepped out of the bodega with caution. Once he saw that the coast was clear, he jogged over to his Expedition. With his good arm, he opened the door and tossed his .40cal on the passenger seat as he climbed up in the driver seat. “Shit!” He cursed as he watched the blood flow out of his now limp arm. Knowledge threw the Expedition in drive and gunned the engine.

Pauleena laid across the bed watching “The Five Heartbeats” in a lime green thong, with the matching bra. She sipped slowly from her glass of champagne as she enjoyed her favorite movie. Just as her favorite part was about to come on, Pauleena heard somebody banging on her room door like the police. She coolly grabbed her .380 that was lying on her bed within arms reach, threw on her robe, and answered the door. “Fuck is you banging on my door like the fucking police?” She growled as she snatched the door open.

“Sorry Pauleena,” Malcolm apologized. “But this fool Knowledge just showed up bleeding all over the place,” he said, trying to read Pauleena’s facial expression. “You want me to get rid of him?” Malcolm asked, cracking his knuckles.

Pauleena looked over at her surveillance monitor and saw four bodyguards standing around Knowledge, who clutched his shoulder. “Nah, take that fool in the kitchen and lay him on the counter,” Pauleena instructed as she headed over towards her night stand, and grabbed the cordless phone off of the charger.
“Here you go brother,” one of the Muslim bodyguards said as he offered the wounded man a cup of water.

“Nigga get that shit out my face!” Knowledge snarled as he slapped the cup out of the Muslim brother’s hand. “I don’t want no motherfucking water! Where’s Pauleena?”

“I’m right here,” she said, seeming to appear out of nowhere. “Fuck you doing showing up at my crib allbloody and shit?”

“I didn’t have nowhere else to go,” Knowledge said as he tried to lean up against the counter, but winced in pain. “I couldn’t go to the hospital because I think the bodega camera might of caught me body something on tape.”

“Damn!” Pauleena said, shaking her head. “Who did you hit?”
“A clerk at a bodega.”
“I hope that shit was over some money,” Pauleena said, trying to make sense out of what she just heard.
“It was an accident. I was out looking for the clown who been dropping all of our peoples, and hitting up all of the stash cribs,” Knowledge explained himself.
“Well did you catch him?” Pauleena asked. But the hole in Knowledge’s shoulder and his silence was enough of an answer for her. “What’s this cocksucker’s name?”
“His name is Rell. Now can you please call somebody to come over here and patch me up, before I bleed to death?”
“I got somebody on the way over here to hook youup. Be patient. He should be here in a minute,” Pauleena told him as she helped herself to another glass of champagne.
“So do you have any idea who the Italian guy was?” Eraser Head asked as he, G-money, and about 12 other goons stood in one of the goons’ apartment.
“Hell no!” G-money grumbled as he opened up a bottle of Hennessy. “Whoever he was, he had to be a professional,” he said as he guzzled from the bottle.
“Who the fuck would hire a professional?” Eraser Head said out loud.
“I don’t know, but you better believe I’m goingto get to the bottom of this,” G-money replied as he looked at his vibrating beeper.
“I say we just go to all the rival dealers and just start banging on they corners,” Eraser Head said out loud. All the goons in the room seemed to be behind him one hundred percent.
“I’mma sleep on it before I decide how I’m gonna play this one. But right now, we headed to Pauleena’s crib.”
“Why, what’s up?” Eraser Head asked curiously.
“I don’t know. She just paged me 911,” G-money told him as him and all the goons filed for the exit.
“What the fuck is you doing?” Knowledge yelled as he pushed the doctor away from him.
“Hey man, I’m just doing my job,” the doctor shot back. “You want me to fix you up or not?”
“Let the man fix you up so he can be on his way,” Pauleena said from the sideline.
“Damn, this shit he doing hurt more than actually getting shot,” Knowledge huffed.
Pauleena sat on the sideline with a smirk on herface. “So how did it feel when you got shot?”
“Let me shoot you in your shoulder and you’ll see how it feels,” Knowledge fumed as the doctor continued to stitch him up.
“She’ll never know what it feels like to get shot, because I will take the bullet or bullets for her,” Malcolm spoke up with a sharp edge in his voice.
“Well let me shoot you, then you can tell her how it feels,” Knowledge said, trying to think about anything but the hole in his shoulder.
“I tell you one thing. If I ever do get shot, I won’t be crying like a little bitch,” Malcolm taunted. “I’ll take mines like a man,” he said as he pounded on his chest for extra emphasis.
“I hear you talking,” Knowledge said, waving the big man off with his good arm.
Malcolm was about to reply until he heard a voice on the other end of his walkie-talkie tell him that G-money, and about four of his soldiers just pulled up. Malcolm clicked the button on the side of his walkie-talkie. “Alright send them to the kitchen.”
“Fuck going on up in here,” G-money asked quizzically as he noticed the black doctor stitching up Knowledge’s shoulder.
“That bitch ass nigga Rell been the one hitting up our workers and stash cribs,” Knowledge huffed. “The nigga must of made me when I went to go check up on Trey.”
Pauleena noticed G-money’s whole facial expression change when he heard Rell’s name.
“What happen with Trey?” G-money asked.
“That nigga Rell hit up the crib he was running and bodied the muscle.”
“Then when you went to holla at Trey, the nigga followed you and popped you?” G-money asked.
“Yeah, but that’s not even the worst part,” Knowledge said, happy that the doctor had finally finished. “The worst part is that when this cocksucker shot me, I stumbled back into the bodega. And I guess the storeowner must of thought I was trying to rob him, so he pulled his shotgun.”
“So you shot him?” G-money asked.
“Yeah and I think the store’s camera might of caught all the footage on tape,” Knowledge said with a hurt look on his face.
“Fuck!” G-money cursed. “When I catch this bitch ass nigga, I’mma blow his face off!”
“Don’t forget we have to find out who that white/Italian guy is,” Eraser Head reminded G-money.
“Oh, I didn’t forget about that. I’m gonna get to the bottom of that.”
“Who’s this white guy?” Pauleena asked curiously.
“That’s what we trying to figure out. Motherfucker burned my house down to the ground; a real professional,” Gmoney pointed out.
“I’ll look into that for you,” Pauleena told him.
“Now, back to you,” G-money said, turning to face Knowledge. “It looks like your career is over.”
“I know,” Knowledge replied with a sad look on his face.
“Cheer up. You know ya man gonna send you out on a good note,” G-money patted him on the back.
“I know,” Knowledge said dryly.
“Don’t forget, we gotta leave and go to Miami tomorrow for Roy’s birthday party,” Pauleena reminded G-money.
“Oh shit…I forgot all about that,” G-money said, massaging his temples. “A’ight bet, then I guess I’mma have to throw you a going away party tonight then,” he said, looking at Knowledge.

Ali entered the visiting room with a confused look on his face. The C.O. on his block told him he had a visit. But when Ali reached the visiting room, he didn’t see nobody he knew. Just as he was about to go have a word with the visiting room C.O., he heard a female’s voice call his name.

Ali looked up and saw a woman who he had never seen before, waving her arms and calling his name.
“You know me?” Ali asked curiously as he helpedhimself to the seat across from the woman.
“Nah, you don’t know me. G-money sent me up here to deliver a message,” the woman told him.
“I’m listening,” Ali said nonchalantly.
“Well first off I wanna say it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you. My older brother, Charles, used to work for you.”
“I remember Charles,” Ali replied in an even tone.
“My name is Tonya,” she said, extending her hand.
“It’s nice to meet you Tonya. Now if you don’t mind, can we get down to business?”
“No problem. Well basically, G-money sent me up here to tell you he received your message and to tell you that he’s working on finding a dope connect. And if everything goes according to plan, he should have something for youwithin a week.”
“So I’m assuming you’re the new messenger.”
“Yes I am,” Tonya replied with a warm smile.
“Well, it was nice meeting you and hopefully, I’ll be seeing you again next week,”
“If you want, you can see me every week,” Tonyasaid flirtatiously.
“I don’t think my fiance would like that,” Ali raised an eyebrow.
“What she don’t know won’t hurt her. You know how the game goes,” Tonya said in a seductive tone.
“You got all my info right?”
“Yes Ali, I have all your info.”
“A’ight send me a few kites (letters) and I’ll keep in touch,” Ali said as he got up from the table and headed to the back where a C.O. proceeded to strip search him, looking for any form of contraband. Once Ali made it back to his unit, he headed straight to Skip’s cell.
Skip laid on the floor in his cell doing some sit ups, when he noticed Ali step in his cell.
“What’s good, my boy?” Skip said as he got up off the floor and gave Ali a pound.
“Just came back from the dance floor.”
“Oh word, what’s good with that thing?” Skip asked.
“G-money sent this fine ass messenger up here. She said shit should be coming in next week,” Ali said, helping himself to a seat at the foot of Skip’s bed.
“That’s what I’m talking about, cause this weak ass shit Loco working with is trash,” Skip said as he threw his state green shirt over his wife beater. “Speaking of Loco, have you spoken to him about the new shipment?”
“Nah, I’mma holla at him in a little while, whenwe go to the yard,” Ali said as he stood up. “Any word on who was behind the Lil Bit hit?”
“Nah,” Skip replied, shaking his head. “I know Rose and his peoples had something to do with it, but I haven’t heard anything concrete yet.”
“Okay keep your ears open. I’m about to go to my cell and call Nancy. If you need to use the jack to callApril or anybody, just let me know,” Ali said over his shoulder as he made his exit.
“I’m glad you could came to pick me up,” April said, bobbing her head to a Lil Wayne song that was on the radio.
“Don’t mention it girl. It’s the least I could do. We haven’t chilled in mad long,” Nancy said, keeping her eyes on the road.
“I know right. Sorry, but Little Michael is something else; can’t tell that boy nothing.”
“I know he’s getting around that certain age,” Nancy chuckled.
“How’s Little Ali?”
“He’s good, getting bigger and bigger everyday,” Nancy said as her and April’s head jerked back violently.
The driver of an Escalade had just hit Nancy’s Nissan in the back, smashing up the back of the vehicle pretty bad.
“What the fuck?” Nancy yelled as she hopped out of her car and made her way towards the Escalade.
“Damn shorty, that’s my bad,” the driver said, motioning towards the back of Nancy’s car.
“You damn right that’s your bad. Look what you did to my ride,” Nancy said, waving her hands like she was praising Jesus.
The driver held both palms up. “Calm down ma. Anything I damage I can pay for,” he said in a calm, smooth tone. “My name is Marvin,” he said, extending his hand.
As Nancy shook the driver’s hand, she noticed he was a cutie. Marvin stood 5’10 and kind of favored the rapper Nas a little bit.
“Well Marvin, is your insurance going to pay for this?” Nancy asked with her hands on her hips.
“Insurance?” Marvin chuckled. “Nah, baby I only do cash,” he boasted. On that note, his man slid out the passenger side of the Escalade.
“Cash huh?” Nancy said, looking Marvin up and down. “Looks like that’s gonna run you about $2,500.”
“That’s it?” Marvin chuckled. “Oh shit how rude of me. This here is my man Smitty,” he introduced his partner.
“What up?” Smitty said in a deep voice.
“Hi you doing?” Nancy said politely as she turned and faced Smitty.
Smitty had shoulder length dreds, with a face full of hair and a tear drop under his eye. Something about this man just screamed trouble, so Nancy placed her focus back on Marvin. “So what’s good? How we gon do this?”
Marvin patted Smitty on the back. “Pay the lady.”
With that being said, Smitty pulled out a huge wad of cash and peeled off 25, hundred dollar bills, and handed them to Nancy.
“We good?” Marvin asked with a warm smile.
“Yeah, we good,” Nancy replied as she double checked, making sure the bread was straight. “Nice doing business with you,” she said with a smirk as she spinned on her heels about to head back to her car, until Marvin grabbed her wrist. “Hold up I didn’t catch your name.”
“Nah, it’s not even that kind of party,” Nancy said, flashing her ring in front of Marvin’s face.
“You flashed that ring like that’s supposed to mean something,” Marvin said, still holding on to Nancy’s wrist.
“That means I’m already taken,” Nancy said as she jerked her arm loose and headed back to her vehicle.
“It’s all good ma. I’mma see you around,” Marvin called out as him and Smitty climbed back into the Escalade.
“What was that all about?” April asked when Nancy slid back in the driver side of the Nissan.
“Nigga tryna spit game. You know how niggaz do,” she replied nonchalantly. “I’ll never cheat on Ali, sothese niggaz should just quit while they ahead.”
“So you not going to have sex ever again?” Aprilasked.
“Yeah, with Ali,” Nancy answered quickly.
“But he got life,” April reminded her.
“And? So what you saying, you cheat on Skip?”
“No, I’m not cheating on Skip,” April answered. “But Skip doesn’t have life. He only have four and a half years left,” she pointed out.
“I was nothing and I had nothing until I met Ali. Look at me now,” Nancy said as she stopped for the red light. “Plus, Ali have this C.O. inside who lets us have sex in those trailers for the married inmates for $500,” she informed her. “You can do whatever you want when you got money!”
“I’m not telling you to cheat on Ali. I was justasking you a question,” April exhaled.
Nancy was about to respond until she heard her cell phone ringing. From the ringtone, she already knew who it was. “Speaking of the devil, this my boo right here…hello?”
“Hey baby, what’s poppin?”
“Nothing, me and April was just sitting here talking about you and Skip; about to go get our hair and nails done,” Nancy told him. “What you up to?”
“Nothing about to go hit up the yard in a minute, but I just wanted to hear your voice before I go.”
“Ahww that’s so sweet,” Nancy sang, blushing like a little schoolgirl. “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”
“I can’t wait either, but yo, let me go cause I see a C.O. walking around, doing his rounds.”
“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”
“I love you too baby, and don’t be staying out too late.”
“Okay daddy I won’t,” Nancy sang happily as she hung up. “I love that man,” she said, looking over at April.
“And he loves you too. When are ya’ll going to get married?” April asked.
“Soon; Ali wrote me a letter the other day asking me would I marry him.”
“What did you say?”
“What you think I said?” Nancy said, looking atApril like she was crazy. “I said hell yeah,” she said as the two busted out laughing.
“Well congrats girl. Can I be the witness?”
“If the people at the jail say its okay, then sure,” Nancy said as she heard her phone ringing. She looked at the caller I.D. and didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?” sheanswered.
“Hey girl what’s up?”
“Coco?” Nancy asked, trying to make out the voice on the other end of her line.
“Yeah it’s me.”
“Bitch where the fuck you been? I been trying to call you for the past two days.”
“I’m in the hospital with a broken leg,” Coco said, talking way louder than she needed to.
“The hospital? A broken leg?” Nancy echoed. “Fuck happened to you?”
“I was with G-money and some shit popped off. You know how that go. I’ll fill you in on details when I see you.”
“What hospital you at? Me and April gonna swing by there.”
“Nah, you ain’t gotta do all that. I’ll be out this bitch tomorrow. But I can’t talk on this phone for too long, so I’mma hit you up when I get to the crib tomorrow.”
“A’ight girl keep me posted,” Nancy said as sheended the call.
“What’s going on?” April asked as soon as Nancyhung up.
“Coco in the hospital with a broken leg,” Nancy said, keeping her eyes on the road.
“Who the fuck broke her leg?”
“I don’t know. She said was with G-money and some shit jumped off. You know how that go,” Nancy said, shooting April a private look.
“Yeah, you know I know,” April replied, thinkingback on when the racist cops had pulled her, Coco, Skip, and G-money over. Still to this day, she could still feel the officer’s clamy hands running up her thighs.
“Well that’s how it goes some times. We all knew what we was getting into when we started dealing with these men,” Nancy said, breaking April out of her trance.
For the rest of the ride, the two rode in complete silence; both women in deep thought. Nancy stopped at the red light and reached down between the gears looking for a CD, when out of nowhere, a crack head began spraying some kind of liquid on her windshield and tried to wipe it off with a dirty rag.
“Yo, get the fuck outta here with that shit!” Nancy yelled as she beeped the horn.
The dirty crack head ignored the loud horn and continued to clean the windshield.
“Yo, you don’t speaking English or something?” Nancy barked as she hopped out the car and snatched the dirty rag from the crack head. “I said get the fuck out….” Nancy’s words got caught in her throat when she saw that the crack head was Christie.
Christie was getting ready to snatch her rag back, until she realized that the driver of the vehicle was Nancy. Like a sprinter at a track meet, Christie took off running down the block. Immediately, Nancy kicked off her heels and began chasing after her barefoot.
April quickly slid in the driver seat and followed Nancy as she chased the crack head down the block, causing pedestrians to look and see what was going on. After running for a block and a half, Christie began to slow up. That’s when Nancy grabbed the tip of her shirt and some how leaped on Christie’s back, tackling her in the middle of the street.
“You steal from me after what I did for you!” Nancy growled as she turned Christie over on her back and raised her balled up fist.
“Please Nancy, I’m sorry,” Christie sobbed withher eyes closed bracing herself for the blow.
Nancy looked down at Christie and suddenly she unballed her fist. Looking down at Christie brought tears to her eyes. “Get ya ass up,” she said, helping Christie to her feet.
“Nancy I’m so sorry. Please forgive me,” Christie sobbed, burrying her face in Nancy’s chest.
“Don’t worry. I’m going to get you some help,” Nancy whispered as she stroked the back of Christie’s head.
“What the fuck is going on?” April questioned, pulling up to the scene. “What you was going to do; kill that crack head for trying to clean your windshield?” She asked confused.
“No, this is Christie; we have to get her some help.”
“Oh my God,” April said, covering her mouth withboth hands when she got a good look at the strung out woman. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It’s cool. We just gotta get her some help,” Nancy said as the two helped Christie in the back seat.
Nancy hopped back behind the wheel and headed tothe nearest rehab clinic.