The Lipstick Clique (9 page)

“A million dollars in one night? Got
damnit
Milan! Bitch you made more in one night than I made in my entire hustling career. Maybe you’re right… I was out committing the dumb and stupid crimes. I wasted my time.” Vicky said sadly as she reached under her pillow and re-read the federal indictment containing the charges that had been listed against her.

Milan felt bad. “Vicky… that’s not how I meant it. Your crime is equally as important as mine were, because all of us had to have an ID in order to make things happen. So in a sense, one community always supports the next one.”

Vicky smiled at Milan. It was an eerie smile with a glimmer so bright, that it reminded her of Lena’s adoring gaze. When Lena crossed her mind, she felt a sharp pain enter her heart. She knew that she had let the young girl down; had inspired her while being influenced by drugs that had greatly hindered all of her logical ideas and thoughts. She hated that she had done that to her, but what was done – was done. The only thing she could do was try to make up for it later if she ever got out of prison.

Milan exhaled and lay back against the hard pillow as softly as possible. Her tone lowered as she thought about the wide array of options and consequences that had been proposed to her by the federal government. So far, the options had been for her to work with them to help prosecute a few of their targets or just accept the 57 year plea deal that she had been offered. If she went to trial, she risked getting the death penalty.

“Vicky… to be perfectly clear, it really doesn’t matter whose crime was more important or which crime was on par with the others, because none of them were worth our time. We are being held captive by the United States government because we violated their rules and regulations. If I had it to do all over again, I would have never done those things. Had I known that I was going to be in a situation where I could potentially never have a family of my own, I would have never traveled this road. I thought I didn’t give a damn about anything, but nowadays it seems that I care about everything.”

Vicky lay back in her bunk and relaxed, with Milan’s words heavy on her heart. She thought about them and somewhat agreed with Milan. She knew she couldn’t fully agree because she wasn’t facing the death penalty. Since she wasn’t facing the same consequences, she couldn’t possibly feel the same remorse. She was only facing 24 months in federal prison, and even that would be cut down to 16 months with good time and the halfway house. She was really just ready to do her time, and then go do something bigger.

The intercom in the room beeped twice, then a stream of static followed. After a few seconds, a loud voice bellowed into the room. “Milan
Drimp
, you have an attorney visit. Milan
Drimp
, attorney visit.”

A deep feeling of dread ran through Milan as she slowly lifted herself up from the rock solid sleeping mat. She just knew that this particular day was going to seal her fate. So far, she hadn’t given her lawyer any indication that she would be signing a plea deal. The only thing that she was adamant about was the fact that she wanted to get the least amount of time possible. And if she had to go all the way to trial to try and get that, then so be it.

She got up off of her bunk and grabbed her indictment papers from under her pillow. She had several things outlined and circled that she felt the lawyer could attempt to fight and address. But every time she met with him, she always forgot to bring any of those issues up. This time though, she knew it was ride or die season. She would have no other option that day.

__________

Milan sat down on the stool in front of her attorney with her wrists and ankles cuffed together. She took a deep breath as she watched the correctional officer remove the cuffs from one wrist so that she could use that hand to write with. She knew, based on that hint alone, that they were about to try to force her to sign something. She stared at the blank space on the floor next to the table while the lawyer drummed his fingers against the desk.

“Milan,” he spoke when the correctional officer walked out of the room, “I have a sweetheart deal for you today! I promise you that it won’t get any better than this!”

Milan’s eyes perked up at hearing the lawyer speak so positively. “Really? You have good news for real?”

The lawyer opened his briefcase and pulled out two sets of identical documents. He slid one set to her and opened the other set so that she could read along while he explained it to her.

“As you can see, on page one, you are guaranteed to not get the death penalty. It also guarantees that you won’t get a life sentence. It stipulates that you get sent to the prison in the state of your choice, and that you get enrolled in drug treatment programs.”

Milan’s attention faded as she scanned the paper, looking for the bottom line. The lawyer was still going on and on about what was guaranteed, but she was only looking for the amount of time she would have to do. She flipped from one page to the next, and kept going until she saw the final page that required her signature.

 
It was an offer for 27 years in prison.

Suddenly, she felt herself about to throw up. She thrust the papers away from her and took deep breaths in an attempt to calm her nerves. She closed her eyes and counted like the instructions in the self-help book that she was reading had taught her. She counted and counted, but eventually, it got to the point that she didn’t even know which number she was on.

“Milan, are you ok?”

“Am I ok?!?! What the fuck do you mean am I fuckin’ ok?! You come to me talking about sign a 27 year deal so that I can go to
prison
and you have the fuckin nerve to ask me am I fuckin
ok
?!? How dare you!” Milan spat nastily while she gave the lawyer the side eye. She took her free fist and flung the papers to the floor. She took the same fist and started banging on the table to get the officer’s attention.

“Milan, I have to advise you to calm down. I have to –”

“You can’t advise me of shit! You’re working for them! I know you are! You’re working for them! You’re just trying to put me away! Fuck you! You
bastard
!”

The lawyer kept a calm disposition while Milan continued her outrage and accusations. When he finally had an opening, he tried to get another sentence in. “And you can work too –”

“Shut up! Just fuckin’ shut up!! You stupid bitch! I don’t wanna hear shit you have to say to me! I’m disgusted that I am in a situation so terrible, that I had to resort to accepting assistance from the got damn
devil
.
Ughhh
!” She hawked up a load of saliva and was attempting to spit it at her lawyer when she felt the officer’s hands grab her body and remove her from the table.

 
“Get
off
of me! Get
off
of me you fucks! Get off!” The officers ignored her and continued to pull her out of the legal room. Once they got into the hallway out of the lawyer’s presence, they slammed her against the wall like they would do a grown man. The lead officer took his open hand and slammed it against her face with all of his strength.

The force of the impact stunned her, and for a second it felt as though she had done a line of the most potent cocaine. She couldn’t feel her face. The second officer got in her face and nudged her head against the wall with his forearm. “Bitch, you better calm down or we’re going to really give you something to cry about. Who did you think you were fooling, huh? Walking around your prison cell with nothing but your panties and bra on. You sure do think you got all the sense don’t you?”

The officer reached down and wrapped his hand around his crotch. He held it there while he held her against the wall. “You know… I
oughta
take you into the closet and fuck the shit out of you while you got these handcuffs on. There is nothing preventing me from doing that. You’re an inmate, you don’t matter!”

Tears were Milan’s only solace. She hated the treatment that she and the other women prisoners had been forced to endure on a daily and nightly basis. One of the girls in her unit had been a virgin when she came to prison, and was now 18 years old and pregnant by one of the guards. She hated the way the correctional officers used their strength to break the rules and take advantage of the female inmates. She hated it with a passion.

“Teddy. Let’s get her back in her cell, it’s a fight in the 9 unit!” An officer yelled as he ran down the hall. Quickly, he released Milan and whisked her back to her cell. He was thirsty for some action, and breaking up a fight meant that someone had to go to solitary confinement. The ladies in solitary confinement are usually the ones that ended up pregnant, and he was definitely one of the many men contributing to the madness.

“Hurry up!” He hollered at Milan as he fumbled for his key. He wanted her to hurry up and get in her cell so that he could join the action. When she was finally inside, he looked at her and her cell mate and gave them a sinister smile. He briefly imagined a threesome with the two beautiful women, but he would have to think about that later. The officer locked the cell door and took off running.

“What happened Milan!?!” Vicky yelled as she watched the strange body language of the officer and the intense disgust written across Milan’s face.

Milan rarely let her feelings be voiced, but at that moment, she needed someone that would listen to her in her time of distress. She shook her head and sighed. She stared at her cellmate, a woman who was seemingly a naturally naïve individual. She had known from day one that the woman wasn’t a real criminal, and had probably been set up by someone who was obviously craftier. She felt sorry for her situation every day that she woke up and saw her.

Milan knew that
she
was locked up for some very serious reasons, and they were all deserved. With all of the people that she had killed in her lifetime, she was surprised that she hadn’t been charged with any of them. So with that, she felt as if she shouldn’t have to do so much time for those lesser crimes. She took her boots off and got into her bunk. Her cell mate was pacing back and forth in deep thought, waiting on her to respond.

Treasure was in love.

But it wasn’t a love like all others; it was a love written in blood and passion. It was a love that existed on the cusp of danger. It was as if 5 had been patterning his life in this way so that when Treasure came along, she would fit right in. It seemed that Treasure had gone through so much drama in her life, so that when 5 came along, all of her suffering would cease. All of her woes would be gone.

Treasure and 5 had done everything together. Almost…

Whenever he mentioned the types of jobs he had to do, she never flinched, judged him, or even voiced her opinions. This made him love her even more. But at the same time, she knew that she had been holding out on him by not letting him know her areas of expertise. She was as much of a killer as he was, but he knew nothing about it. He only thought that her and her crew of girls were on a one-time setup mission, and that was that.

If he had only known that she had escaped from prison, and was one of the most wanted women in the universe, there was no telling what he would say or do in response. She had intended to tell him in the beginning, but it seemed that with each passing hour, she found herself falling deeper and deeper in love with him. The deeper she fell in love, the more she realized that she didn’t want to risk losing his love.

Three months into their relationship, she figured that she would just tell him about The Lipstick Clique and accept his response, no matter what it was. She felt that they were in a place of growth and that their love was so strong that it should be able to endure any obstacles as long as they were true.

But the moment she planned on bringing it up, he had a surprise of his own to share.

“Treasure baby… let’s move out of Columbus. Me and the Dirt Mob have been living on the road for years now, and Columbus, GA was only a pit stop for us. We can’t afford to stay in one city too long. Our lives depend on it, you know.”

Treasure was speechless. The only reason that she was going to be honest about her situation that day was because she felt that it was time for
her
to leave Columbus, GA. But since he had already put it on the table that he wanted her to leave with him, there was no need for her to say anything. She smiled at 5 and wrapped her arms around his solid body. She inhaled his existence, and it felt so good going into her lungs, that she never wanted to release it.