The Grind Don't Stop (37 page)

Sparkle walked along, removing pieces of briars and twigs out of his hair that had joined him along the way through the woods. He slowed down to check himself out in the reflection of one of the cars parked under a street lamp. Satisfied with his altered appearance and knowing that he was out of the vicinity of the hotel, his stride took on a more calm gait. It wasn't long before he was able to see the winding road that led to his sister Debra's apartment.

As his adrenaline rush from all of the excitement finally started to slow down, he considered dropping by Dee's crib for a half-hour or so for some of her good sex and relaxation. As he got closer to the apartment complex, the more he thought about it and the better he started to feel. Even the hazy night started to look more serene. Hell yeah, that's exactly what he was going to do. He picked up his pace thinking of her nice, warm, freaky body waiting there for his enjoyment.

When Sparkle got to the spot that he had chosen to cut over toward her crib, a DeKalb County police cruiser turned down the drive. His adrenaline shot right back up in a rush of panic that tingled along his body. His first instinct was to make a break for it, but he was too tired and too far away from the apartment.
So he sucked up his last bit of courage and maintained his casual pace.

He was nervous for a bitch with sweat starting to roll down his chest as the bright beam of the cops' spotlight hit him square in the face. He threw up his arm as a shield from the glare and said in a calm voice, “How you doing, officers?”

When no reply came from the car, he knew that their gazes were locked in on him as they waited to see if he would show any signs of panic. When he didn't, he could hear one of them sigh heavily before he said, “You see anybody running through here in the last minute or so?”

From his many past encounters with the blue crew, he knew that it was best to appear a little surprised and dumb. So he put on the proper expression and said straightforward, “No, sir, I didn't see anybody.” He looked back down the street and played the naive citizen. It must have worked because they took the spotlight off of him and proceeded down the street. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief and then caught a glimpse of two figures leaning around the corner of the building next to Debra's apartment.

He slowly turned his head to check on the silhouettes in the cop car. Neither appeared to be facing in his direction, so he headed for her crib. As he stepped onto the walkway, he heard Rainbow's voice squeak out of the shadows. “What them cops say, man?”

Sparkle didn't even pause, as he placed a foot on the steps. “They looking for our asses, but I must've thrown them off pretty damn good because I ain't in the back of that rolling cage.”

‘B' stepped from around the corner and joined him at the steps, mumbling painfully. “Godayum Joker, ain't that a bitch? Who-dafuck woulda thought dat nigga would cross me, hell, us?”

Sparkle tried to blink the weariness out of his eyes and looked over his shoulder at ‘B.' “Evidently youngun got sucked in by Don some kinda way.”
He leaned against the wall as he pressed the doorbell.

Rainbow involuntarily jumped at the sound of the seemingly loud chime. He was still breathing hard from exertion as he said between gasps, “Man, fuck that nigga, Joker. Those fools couldn't have known that Don was dead or they wouldn't have done what they did. But anyway you look at it, we looked out for his little ass long before he even knew about some damn Don. And he ended up choosing that nigga against us, so like I said, fuck Joker. May his tricking ass rest in fucking peace.”

Sparkle was about to respond when the door cracked open enough for Debra to stick her roller-filled head out to blast them. “Whaddafuck y'all niggas want? We all are in the bed around…”

Debra's mouth stuck in a wide “O” when she heard ‘B' mutter, “Sshiiiiit,” as he and Rainbow dove immediately to the pavement as the spotlight of the police cruiser hit the wall. She gasped in astonishment as they tried to press their bodies into the cement.

Debra threw her hands up to block the glare of the bright light out of her eyes. Sparkle gently pushed her back inside and closed the door. He leaned his back against the door and crossed his fingers across his heart like he was warding off a vampire before he mugged up. “Aw, girl, go do something about that crust in ya eyes. Uggggh, and please don't forget that slimy stuff running down to your chin while you at it.”

She backed up a couple of steps, rubbing the back of her wrist along the side of her mouth, cinching the sash of her robe as she gritted hard at her brother. “Nigga, please, ain't nobody ask y'all crooks to ring my doorbell.” She turned away and headed for the bathroom. She had only taken a few steps when she stopped, flexed her shoulders and cocked her head to the side. She looked back as ‘B' and Rainbow came belly-crawling across the door sill.
Her eyebrows seemed to spit fire as she sneered. “Is that sirens? Oh hell yeah, those sirens, whaddafuck? Ooooh my God, y'all stupid fools done got in some shit, and bring y'all dirty asses right to my doorstep, I swear.” She looked them up and down with pure disdain. “Mmm-hmm, briars and shit sticking all over y'all getting into some dumb-ass shit.”

They looked down at themselves and started picking stuff off.

“Ooooooh, and y'all gonna just drop it all over my rug and shit.” She didn't give them a chance to reply as she looked at them undereyed and pointed to the patio.

Again, as a group, they put their hands to their ears and then spread their arms out wide, with their faces balled up. She tilted her head back, rubbed her eyelids as her jaw swelled up like a balloon before she blew out a long stream of frustration and moaned, “Okay, okay, in the bathroom then with y'all no-good asses, shiiiiit.”

As they lowered their heads walking past her, Debra sighed heavily, shook her head and walked to the back room at the end of the hall and mumbled, “And clean up behind yourselves, too.” She slammed her bedroom door with authority.

Trailing his boys, Rainbow looked at Sparkle with a confused look on his face. “How did you... Where you get those clothes from? Ah, fuck it.” He grimaced and pushed ‘B' out of the way. Debra came out of the back moments later and gave them a look that could've frozen hell over. “Now what the fuck is up, man?”

Rainbow stepped out of the bathroom first, wiping his dampened head with a towel. “Aw, come on, Booboo, we done been through enough as it is.”

She whirled on him like a scene from
The Exorcist
, eyes blazing as she harrumphed loudly and gave them a reply of indistinguishable nasty words before she wrapped her arms around herself and stormed back into the bathroom.

“Whew!!” Sparkle said to them before he shouted down the hall, “We need a ride downtown!”

She shouted back through the closed door. “Fuck y'all!”

All he could do was smile at her sassy attitude. But he knew her, and regardless of whatever, his baby sis would be cursing them out while she was putting her clothes on, if for no other reason but to get them out of her hair. And it would last all the way downtown.

While they waited for her to get ready, ‘B' and Sparkle grabbed the miniature backgammon set off of the vanity chest and got involved in a heated match. Rainbow, with his superhyped-up ass, spent the time pacing the floor, looking back and forth between the bedroom and peeking through the patio curtains, checking out for the police car that was still cruising along the main thoroughfare of the complex.

All of a sudden, ‘B' jumped up and walked over to the couch. He stood there for a moment staring at the wall before he punched the top of the couch and snarled, “Damn, I just thought about it. Man, I left two ounces under the fucking seat in my roller.”

Sparkle made a pyramid with his arms and rested his chin on the back of his hands. “Baby boy, I was watching when those two policewomen came running up on the...”

‘B' didn't give him the chance to finish. “Is that supposed to make me feel better, because they were women?” He stopped to take a deep breath. “Shit, a cop is a fucking cop regardless, man.”

Sparkle shifted around in his seat to face him. “Dude, chill ya ass down for a second, will ya? Damn, one of the women was Beverly, fool.”

“Yeah, uh-huh, and I heard ya when I was under the stairs,” he retorted harshly.

Before Sparkle could reply, Debra came storming out of the
bedroom struggling to put her arm in the sleeve of her jacket. Her cheeks were puffed out to the max. Whenever she got like that, Sparkle knew better than to say anything to her. But ‘B' was too caught up in his own thoughts to notice her attitude.

Big mistake, Sparkle smiled as Debra in her still boiling rage, stopped right in front of him, with her hands placed firmly on her hips. When he didn't even look down at her, she really went off on him. Kicking him on his foot, she spat, “Black-ass nigga, you got a nerve to be showing up here waking me up with an attitude. After all, y'all fools done come all up in my crib, this time of night, and with the five-o on y'all tail.”

To her surprise he bowed his head down with the saddest look she had ever seen on him. His expression must've really defused her anger, at least a little bit anyway, as the tension eased out of her face. With her face balled up with concern, she asked. “Damn, man, it be that rough, huh?”

When he didn't respond, she turned her attention to Sparkle. “Whaddafuck done happened, man?”

Sparkle looked away from the seriousness in her eyes and started picking at his nose before he answered that his little cousin Joker had just been killed.

“What?”

“What?”

“What?” all three of them asked at once. Sparkle looked shocked for a second, then turned back to them. “Whatcha mean, what? I thought one of y'all had shot him in the head. Ah, man, that means that it must've been either Woo or Bevy, damn.”

Things had happened so fast that he wasn't really sure what had happened. That really took the air out of ‘B' and he flopped down onto the couch and lowered his head into his hands. “Damn!!” It was all he could get out.

Debra put her hand on Sparkle's shoulder, trying to console him. “Aw, man, I'm sorry about that, dude.” She turned to Rainbow. “Oooh, Woo and Beverly, y'all playing with some real heavyweights now. Are y'all sure that she didn't see any of y'all, 'cause if she did, I know that she's gonna be paying all of y'all stupid muthafuckas a visit and real soon, too.”

She went into the kitchen and retrieved her pocketbook off the top of the refrigerator. “Hey, y'all, I sorta hate to be putting the rush on y'all and shit. Let me stop lying. I want y'all hot asses out of here like yesterday. So where are y'all going 'cause I ain't got all night to be messing around with y'all asses, for sho. And it better not be too far away. I can't be leaving these kids in the house all by themselves for too long, either.”

She looked back down the hall one last time and then went to the door and opened it. “And y'all can close that damn door, too, Miss Ebony, with your nosey self.” They all heard the door shut followed by a pattering of little feet before they headed out of the door.

On their way to the parking lot, Sparkle said to Debra, “Sis, we got to get to the club, but first we got to go to the La Quinta to get Rainbow's ride.”

She rolled her eyes at him over the hood of the car and snorted. “To the La Quinta then, because I ain't about to go to nobody's club.” About a half-hour later, they were waving at Debra as she shot them a finger on her way out of the hotel's parking lot. They jumped in Rainbow's ride without even going up to the girls' rooms. Soon afterward, as they were passing the Red Roof Inn, they saw several police cars and ambulances flashing lights. They didn't see a coroner's van but they knew that one had to be there.

As they were discussing what to do, ‘B' shouted the loudest. “Man, we need to get back to that car to get that coke, for real yo.”

Rainbow replied in a aggravated tone, “Dude, will you please stop bugging about that stuff in your car? For one, there ain't no way we can afford to go down there, period. Police all over that bitch, nigga. Come on, use your fucking head for once. And secondly, I don't think that Bevy will even let them know that's your ride anyways.”

‘B' huffed but he knew deep down in his heart that Rainbow was probably right. Still he had to have his say. “Man, I see whatcha saying and all, but there ain't no telling what those fools are gonna be crying when those handcuffs get tightened up on their asses.”

R
ainbow forked down his last piece of French toast at the Waffle House before he decided to put an end to the argument. Sparkle and ‘B' had been going at it nonstop for the past half-hour and he was fed up. “Looka here, fellas, I've been listening to y'all for quite a while now and not once have y'all mentioned this nigga Al.” He growled as he sipped his coffee.

Sparkle was quick to reply. “Come to think of it, he might have done that nigga Don. What other reason would he be at the Heart of Decatur, know what I'm saying?”

‘B' threw in his little bit. “I agree with ya, dog, one-hundred percent. I ain't said nothing to y'all before because I didn't want y'all to go tripping on me and shit. But the bitch straight up told me about his dealings with Joker. Hell, I didn't want to accept that shit but it's evident that things were a lot worse than I thought.”

“What, nigga, you telling me that you already knew about this shit? Damn, dog, that's fucked up there. You should've been hipped us to that, playa. But fuck it, I say that we pay that fool a visit while we out this way. Man, he's gotta know something,” Rainbow spat full of anger, then stood up and headed for the door. Before he could place his hand on the knob, his phone started buzzing on his hip. He lifted the tail of his shirt and sighed. “Ah,
shit, fellas, there she blows.” He grimaced as he looked over his shoulder at them before he picked it up. He listened for nearly a minute before he finally answered. “Damn, Bevy, you're really all up in a nigga business, ain'tcha?” There was a long pause. “Yeah, uh-huh, I realize that...” Another long pause. “Naw, they ain't with me. I just told you they ain't with me. Looka here, sweetheart, let me go check on a few thangs and I'll get back atcha.” He clicked off without waiting for a response.