The Dopeman's Wife: Part I of the Dopeman Trilogy (18 page)

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Authors: JaQuavis Coleman

Tags: #Fiction, #African American, #General, #Urban

BOOK: The Dopeman's Wife: Part I of the Dopeman Trilogy
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SEX, LIES, AND A TAPE
Chapter Twenty-four
Loon took another shot of the Patrón as Millie ran the bills through the money machine. He licked his lips, wondering how she looked with no clothes on. He knew, under that tough exterior, she had a sensual side, and was dying to see it. That’s why he suggested they count the money at his spot rather than the dope spot they usually counted at.
Millie was so busy putting rubber bands on the money as they came out the machine, she didn’t notice Loon staring at her. “Pour me a shot, nigga.”
Millie finally noticed the look in Loon’s eyes. She quickly smacked her lips, dismissing any thought he might’ve had at that moment. She promised that the next man she dealt with would reflect Tical, nothing less. She pulled the small-caliber pistol from her waist and sat it on the table. She took the shot Loon had poured for her.
“Millie, can I ask you a question?” Loon poured both of them another shot.
She nodded.
“Why you so loyal to Tical? I mean, you got the whole east side locked, and if you get your own connect, you could take over. I never met a bitch like you. You got a chance to be head dopeman—dope-woman.” Loon downed his shot.
“What the fuck you mean?” Millie stopped rubber-banding the stack of money. “You got some nerve, nigga. How can you fix yo’ mouth to say some bullshit like that? That’s what wrong with niggas—too many chiefs, not enough Indians.”
Loon regretted exposing his cards to Millie. Tired of being a worker and ready to come up by any means necessary, his goal was to take out Tical after he gained more clout throughout the city. He just wanted to test the waters, to see if Millie would be a part of his takeover. He giggled, trying to play it off. “I’m just bullshitting.”
Nautica was breathing heavily as she lay on the satin sheets, her body glowing with sweat. She was smiling because of the sexual performance Tical had just laid down, and her love button was still sensitive to the touch. She was admiring Tical’s chiseled back and tight buttocks as he walked over to his safe behind the Bob Marley portrait and began to pull out stacks of money and toss them into the bag that sat at his feet.
Nautica, being the natural hustler, had already peeped game. Tical, not wanting to have too much money in one spot at once, would always empty his safe before Millie came and dropped off the week’s profit. Tical never would expect Nautica to be so street savvy. Nautica even knew his combination by heart, because she always paid attention when he opened it.
“Baby, I’m going to the West Coast for a couple of days to do some business. Are you going to be all right here by yourself?”
Nautica’s phone lit up on the nightstand. The volume was turned off, so Tical didn’t realize she was getting a call.
She picked it up.
Fuck!
She quickly sent Loon to voice mail and slipped the phone under her pillow.
“I hate when you leave me. How long are you going to be gone?”
“Just a couple of days. You going to miss me?” He closed the safe and put the portrait back up.
“Of course, I am.”
Tical stared at Nautica’s beautiful temple and knew he could spend the rest of his life with her. She was everything he wanted in a woman. That was the exact reason why he was about to fly to Beverly Hills to pick up a rare diamond that a famous jeweler had made especially for her. He had told a small lie about going to the West Coast for business, just so she wouldn’t get suspicious. He was ready to pop the question and make her his official girl.
Tical glanced at the clock. It was almost five, and it was Friday. That meant he had to go to lunch with Millie.
“Come over here, boy.” Nautica bit her bottom lip and signaled him with her index finger.
Tical walked over and stood in front of her, his manhood eye level with her. She took him into her warm mouth and purposely let her saliva drip while sucking him.
Tical wanted to stop her, but he couldn’t. It felt too good. Every time he opened his mouth to tell Nautica he had to go, she seemed to hit the right spot with her tongue.
Loon called Nautica from his bedroom, so Millie wouldn’t hear his conversation. He held his cell phone to his ear, only to get sent straight to voice mail. “Bitch!” He redialed the number and still got no response. The Patrón shots had him hard as a missile. He had to get another piece of her. He decided to leave a message:
Listen, bitch, first of all, never send me to voice mail again. Second, I’m trying to see you as soon as possible. You better call me back, or I’ma be upset. No, fuck it, I’m not going to get upset. Maybe I will just send this little tape I got to Tical or maybe even FedEx it to the Flint police department. Ha, ha, ha! Nautica, call me back. He pushed the end button.
He pulled out a gram of coke and made a line on the table.
Millie finished rubber-banding the last stack. Ready to go, she yelled to the back, “What taking you so long back there, nigga?” Her feelings were hurt because Tical had rescheduled lunch. They’d never missed a Friday. “I know it’s that bitch in his ear,” she mumbled.
“What you back there doing? Shitting? Hurry up!”
Millie grabbed the remote and clicked on the TV while waiting for Loon to return, so he could drop her back off to her car on the block. When she clicked on the TV, she accidentally pushed the play button connected to the VCR, and what she saw blew her mind. It was a homemade tape of two women naked on the bed in a sixty-nine position.
She walked over to the television and confirmed the face. “What daf!” She couldn’t believe her eyes. “What the fuck is Loon doing with this?” she whispered. She took the tape out of the VCR. She couldn’t wait to show Tical what his girl had been up to.
HOOD RAT
Chapter Twenty-five
Millie sped to Tical’s house to break the news to him.
I knew that bitch was grimy! I knew it! Can’t wait to tell Tical about his hood rat-ass ho.
She couldn’t understand how Loon got the tape, but she didn’t care. She dialed Tical’s number over and over, getting voice mail every time.
After a couple minutes, she was pulling into his driveway and hopped out with the tape in hand. She used her key to get into the house. “Tical! Tical!”
Nautica heard Millie’s voice as she stepped out the shower.
What the fuck is she doing here?
She grabbed her terry-cloth robe and wrapped herself in it.
Tical must’ve came back
.
“Tical?” Nautica yelled as she made her way down the stairs. That’s when she saw Millie standing with something in one hand, and the other hand on her hip. “Tical’s not here, Millie,” she said with a heavy attitude, knowing Tical had told her about popping in without knocking or ringing the doorbell.
“Bitch, shut the fuck up!” she yelled, trying to see, was he in the house. Tical!”
“Didn’t you hear me the first time, Millie? He . . . is . . . not . . . here,” she said, emphasizing every word.
“You dirty-ass bitch. I knew you wasn’t all what you put on to be.” Millie waved the tape in the air.
Nautica already knew what it was.
“Yeah, bitch, you ain’t talking all that shit anymore, huh? You dirty-ass ho. I watched the rest of it and saw what you and your friend did. Robbing niggas and shit. I can’t wait to show Tical this, so he can kick yo’ ass to the curb. One thing Tical hates is a liar. I saw him kill his own cousin because he lied to him, so think about what he would do to yo’ hood rat ass.”
“Look, Millie, it’s not what you think,” Nautica said in a pleading tone.
“Bitch, you don’t have to explain nothing to me.” Millie picked up her phone to try Tical again.
Nautica lunged at her, wrestling her to the ground, and began to swing on her wildly, totally taking Millie off guard. She grabbed the lamp from the stand and smashed it against Millie’s head, causing her to release the tape.
Nautica grabbed the tape and stood up. As Millie shook her head, trying to shake off the stars she was seeing, she ran to the kitchen for a hammer and smashed the tape into little pieces.
When she turned around, Millie walked in with her gun pointed at her. “You got a good one on me.”
“Look, Millie, I love Tical and I can’t jeopardize what we have,”
“Love and lies can’t co-exist. I just want Tical to be happy. That’s all I ever wanted. But it’s women like you who corrupt good men. Bitches like you make men say a female ain’t nothing but a ho or trick. I knew it was something about you, I just couldn’t put my finger on it.”
Humbled, Nautica looked down the barrel of the gun. “So you’re going to kill me?”
“You’re not even worth the bullet. I’m just going to let Tical know about the
real
you.” Millie lowered her gun and looked at Nautica as if she was the scum of the earth. She walked out, leaving Nautica standing there feeling stupid.
Nautica knew that, with no tape, it was her word against Millie’s, so she had to turn Tical against Millie before Millie got a chance to talk to him. Little did she know, Millie thought one step ahead, just like Tical had taught her to. She’d made a copy of the tape.
TICAL’S PLIGHT
Chapter Twenty-six
How could she talk to me like that?
Tical was standing in his office looking at the construction crew upgrade his already immaculate club. She not only hurt his heart, she hurt his pride by talking to him like he wasn’t boss. His sweet li’l Millie wasn’t so sweet anymore. It seemed like she had a grudge against him.
I’ma have to show her ass some tough love
. His phone began to vibrate. It was Millie.
“Hello.”
“Oh my goodness, Tical! I’m glad you picked up,” Millie said in a rushed breath.
“What do you want, Millian?”
“It’s about that bitch Nautica! I got—”
“Look! You’re going to have to respect my woman. I’m tired of you coming at me all sideways. If it was any other mu’fucka talkin’ to me like that they’d be circled in chalk right now. You act like I’m fucking you or something!”
Millie couldn’t believe Tical’s tone. She hung up on him, leaving him talking to a dial tone. Her hero had just made her feel so small, she was devastated. She buried her head in the wheel and cried her eyes out.
Tical couldn’t believe Millie had hung up in his face. He felt his phone vibrate and thought Millie was calling back, but it was Nautica that time.
Nautica had to think fast. When she’d called Loon and asked him why did he break the agreement, he told her that Millie had stolen the tape.
Nautica suddenly got an idea. She ran upstairs, pulled down the Bob Marley portrait, and began to open Tical’s safe. She had peeped the combination, which Tical thought only he and Millie knew. She grabbed one of his duffle bags and filled it with money.
After minutes of stuffing the bag, she put on some clothes and rushed downstairs. She picked up the phone to call Loon.
REGRETS
Chapter Twenty-seven
Nautica met up with Loon at a park on the outskirts of Baltimore. She walked toward him with a duffle bag full of money as he waited for her on the park bench. She walked over and dropped the bag at his feet.
Loon looked at the bag. “What’s this?”
“That’s just under one hundred thousand.” Nautica, big shades and scarf draped over her head, only exposing her face, looked around to see if anyone was watching.
“For what?” He opened the bag and peeked in.
“I want to end this little thing you got over me, understand? It’s going too far.”
Loon looked at her toned legs, and it only enticed him more. He wasn’t going to give that up for any amount of money. Nautica didn’t understand, it was never about the money or sex. Loon wanted the power, and the baddest chick on his arm, something he dreamed about coming up.
“You uptight because Millie saw the tape, huh?” Loon smiled and touched Nautica’s legs.
Nautica pulled away. “Yeah. How did she get the damn tape anyway?”
“I didn’t give it to her. She just took it when she was over, counting money with me.” Loon kept smiling, as if it was all just a big game to him.
“Look, Loon, are you going to take the money or what?” Nautica asked, tired of beating around the bush. “And there is another part of the deal, too.”
“What’s that?”
“You have to take the money and move out of town. It has to be over, Loon. It has to stop now!” Nautica glanced around again.
“Yeah, I’m going to take the money.” Loon stood up and picked up the bag. “But I ain’t going nowhere! I want to taste you tonight. Meet me at my spot later,” he said, just before he walked off, leaving Nautica standing there dumbfounded.
Although Loon didn’t accept her offer, his taking the money still played an integral part in her plan to turn Tical against Millie.
She picked up her phone and dialed Tical’s number.
“Hello.”
Nautica yelled into the phone, “Baby! Oh my God!,” and put on a crying act.
“Calm down, Nautica. What’s wrong?”
“Millie! She just ran in the house and hit me over the head with the gun. Baby, she was about to kill me!” Nautica sobbed loudly.
“What?!”
“Millie! She ran in the house and stole all of your money out of the safe. She told me that you were going to die and she was the one that got Church to try to kill you.” Nautica was making up the story as she went on. “She was jealous of us being together. I never saw her like that, Tical. She was acting crazy as hell!”
“What?” Tical whispered.
“It was her all along. I’m worried, Tical. She might come back here.”
Tical hung up the phone and dropped to his knees in the middle of his office. He’d just lost his other half in Millie. “Why, Millie, why?” he whispered, and buried his face in his hands.
Tical sat in his den with Gunplay and Nautica, and Gunplay was questioning her about Millie’s actions.
“So you’re saying she just came in and hit you with the gun?”
Nautica, in fake tears, nodded her head.
“And she said she sent Church to kill Tical?”
“I told you a million times. Yes!” Nautica broke down and began to cry hysterically.
Gunplay had his phone out, trying to dial Millie, but she kept sending him to voice mail. He just couldn’t believe Millie would rob Tical.
“That’s enough.” Tical got up and walked over to Nautica. He ran his fingers through her hair “Go on upstairs, baby.”
Nautica pecked Tical on the lips and headed upstairs.
“She has been acting different lately.” Tical paced the room.
Gunplay looked up at Tical. “Yeah, I have been noticing it too. But I didn’t think it was like this. I been blowing her up phone, and she won’t even pick up.”
“She won’t for me either. She let jealousy come before family. Family comes first!” Tical yelled.
“You think she went back to the drugs?” Gunplay asked, not seeing any other explanation
“Seems like it.”
Tical had always told himself and Millie that he would kill her before he let her kill herself slowly with heroin. He stopped pacing, knowing that what he was about to say would hurt, but it had to be done. He’d always taught Millie to aim for the number one spot. He believed that his own teachings came back to bite him.
But he also taught her to have no mercy when someone crosses the family. “Make it quick and painless,” he said as he walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink.
“What?” Gunplay stood up.
“You heard me!” He yelled. “Don’t make this anymore hurtful than it already is.” He slammed the glass on the bar.
“Okay, Tical, okay.” Gunplay held down his head and walked out the den.
Tical dropped a tear, his bottom lip quivering, and his hand bleeding from the broken glass.
Millie cried as she packed up her belongings in her apartment and prepared to leave the city. She didn’t know where she was going, but she had to get away from Baltimore. She grabbed the picture of her and Tical and traced the outline of his face with her index finger. “I love you,” she said. She put it in her suitcase.
She walked over to her table and picked up the letter she’d just written to him. She put everything that she wanted to say to him in there. She kissed it and sat it on top of a cigar box she wanted him to have.
Millie picked up the suitcase and headed for the door. She was going to leave B-more and let Tical enjoy his happiness. As she walked toward the door, she saw that someone was turning her knob and coming in.
“What the—”She grabbed her gun from her ankle holster and watched as the man exposed himself. “Oh, Gunplay! You scared me.” She tossed her gun on the couch.
Gunplay remained silent as he walked in, never taking his eye off her.
She saw Gunplay’s watery eyes. “Nigga, what’s wrong with you?” And the next thing she saw after that was the barrel of his gun.
Gunplay walked out of Millie’s apartment with a smoking gun and tears in his eyes. He punched his fist through the wall in the hallway. He couldn’t believe what he’d just done. He called Tical and waited for him to pick up. “I did it. She’s gone, Tical. She’s gone,” he murmured.
“Okay, Gunplay. Call the cleaners.” Tical hung up.
Both men had a part of their heart gone with the loss of Millie, but it was all in the game. Millie broke the rules, so she had to deal with the consequences. Tical knew that if Millie tried to have him killed once, she would eventually do it again.

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