Prologue

BOOM!

The shots echoed through Vicky’s head, until the ringing in her ears became unbearable. Grabbing for her ears, she opened her eyes and then immediately closed them. The bright florescent lights overhead, accompanied with the ringing in her ears, gave her a splitting headache.

Moaning, she rolled into the fetal position. Where am I?

BOOM!

Vicky grabbed her ears and held on tight. She knew she was on the floor, but didn’t know where or why. She could hear someone screaming somewhere near her.

What the hell’s going on?

BOOM!

Vicky jumped at the sound, squeezing her ears tightly. Scared and sore, she loosened her grip over her ears as she began to remember her mission.

Keep Scheyenne alive and get enough to put Spencer away for good. “Tie up all loose ends, no loopholes,” Barry had explained to her on multiple occasions.

Shi? She hoarsely called out, “Shi!”

Vicky shook her head and grabbed her sore jaw as she pushed herself up. Before she stood up as straight as her aching body would let her, she grabbed the .22 strapped to her ankle. Her head was clearing. Wiping the blood from her eyes, Vicky looked around.

Shi’s back was to her. She was standing over Spencer, whose screams were blood chilling. Vicky stood on weak and wobbly legs as Shi shot Spencer again.

BOOM!

His screams were becoming more intense.

Trying to ignore the stabbing pain in her stomach every time she breathed, Vicky watched as Shi shot him again.

BOOM!

She was supposed to bring him in alive. “That way, the state can kill him,” Barry had told her. However, Vicky didn’t care. Shi could kill him; she deserves to kill him after what he’s done. He deserved it.

The man took everything from her, from them.

He’d not only taken Shi’s family from her, but from them both. Moreover, because of the loss of her family, Shi was forever lost.

Vicky looked at the man who’d taken her best friend, the innocent girl, her family, her sister. Vicky found herself in a situation where she and Shi’s friendship might be lost forever.

How do I begin to explain? Will she believe me? Would she ever trust me again?

Tears stung Vicky’s eyes as the reality of it all sunk in. Vicky began to think of the times she’d let him touch her, the times he defiled her.

She did it all for Shi. She only accepted the offer, because she wanted Shi to have somewhere to come home to. She wanted her to have a place to call home, and she wanted to take care of her best friend.

“…kill me, just do it. I swear if you don’t kill me…” Spencer screamed up at Shi as she slowly raised the gun in her hand and aimed for his head.

The tears burned their way down Vicky’s face as hatred took hold of her. Shi’s finger curled around the trigger, but before she could shoot, Vicky had already pulled hers.

BOOM!

Spencer’s body jerked after the bullet flew into his chest.

Shi was frozen and Vicky knew that if she didn’t move fast, Shi would kill her. Vicky had no idea how many bullets were left in the gun and didn’t want to gamble.

Shi turned around slowly and Vicky quickly lifted her gun back up. She aimed for Shi’s head, knowing she wouldn’t shoot her and hoping Shi didn’t know that.

“Drop it!” Vicky said, never taking her eyes off Shi.

Shi tossed the gun to the side. It bounced off Spencer’s body and then hit the floor with a loud clatter.

Vicky quickly rushed forward and turned Shi around. Every muscle in her body was screaming as she did so. She put her gun to the back of Shi’s head, hoping it would deter her from trying anything. Vicky made fast work of kicking Shi’s legs apart and frisking her.

Sorry girl, I’ll explain later, Vicky thought. Right after I make sure, you’re not armed.

Vicky hoped they’d be able to talk after she called it in. They could talk while they waited for Gwen and the FBI to arrive.

“You don’t know how to use that,” Shi spat out. Vicky stalled. She hoped Shi didn’t believe that, because she didn’t want her to try to do anything. “You won’t shoot me.”

Vicky swallowed hard and then tried to laugh. The nervousness in her laugh was noticeable, if not to a stranger, most definitely to her best friend. Trying to add a bit of confidence to her laughter Vicky said, “Oh yeah—”

BOOM!

Vicky jumped back as she watched Shi’s body fall to the ground. Everything was moving in slow motion. Her breathing was shallow and she could hear her heart beating in her ears. She turned to see Spencer’s head struggling to stay up, and the gun Shi had thrown away gripped in his hand.

Understanding, Vicky lifted her .22 without another thought and emptied it into Spencer.

“Shi! Shi!” Vicky yelled, almost ripping her shirt off. She ripped off a large piece of the front of her shirt as she fell to the ground next to Shi. She pressed the piece of cloth to the bloodied part of Shi’s head.

Panicked and shaking, she checked Shi’s pulse; it was weak.

“Shi, please don’t do this, don’t you dare do this to me. Fight Shi… fight mami. Fight!” Vicky cried as she reached for the little transmitter in her pocket. She pressed the only button it had.

“Fuck!” she screamed, as she jabbed at the button.

The transmitter was only supposed to be activated if she was hurt, or her mission was finished, and she needed to be evacuated.

Five minutes after she pressed the button, she heard sirens and then an explosion as the front door was blown off the hinges.

“In here! I’m in here!” Vicky yelled, hoping they could hear her voice, because she sure couldn’t.

The first face she saw was Gwen’s. She lowered her gun as agents rushed in and fanned the room.

“He… he…” she was going into shock.

Next thing she knew, she was ripped away from Shi’s body as the EMT’s took over.

Part 1: Kill Boo

Chapter 1

I was officially wide open. Josh had me doing the most.

After we left Dr. Richards’, we made it official. We went to Vegas and I was one Kamikaze away from the little white chapel saying, “I do, Mr. Elvis.”

It was crazy and moving so fast. I loved it.

Niema was gone and I was Shi, and only Shi. That’s all I had to be around Josh. Since there was no more Niema, that meant there was no more Serena and no more Dior.

Serena was an internet personality, so it was easy getting rid of her with no loose ends. All I had to do was delete her profile.

Dior?

I mean, it would have been easy if Lance did not have my phone number and knew where I worked. I could have easily avoided my shop, which I managed to do, but I could not do that forever. I mean, I was trying to open a new one. Problem was that if I knew Lance, he would be sitting outside waiting. Therefore, I did the unthinkable.

I texted him.

I know… I know… so fucked up, but I just couldn’t face him. He was just too much, too full of emotion. Too thirsty and it was not a good look on a dude in his thirties.

I texted him, told him I was sorry for playing with his emotions, and that my fiancé, who just came home from Iraq, and I were back together.

Yes, I had a whole story about how the ring was his; he proposed to me and then took off for the war, leaving me behind and all alone. I thought it was a good and understandable way to let him down, without hurting his feelings so much. It was a much better way than telling him that truth.

Just to soften his ego and so I didn’t feel so bad before renaming him “Do not Disturb”, I told him I still cared about him and then gave him the whole, “different time, different place” scenario.

It took six long, multimedia texts, which had a fifty-fifty chance of getting to him with AT&T’s fucked up service.

However, he got it, and I knew he did because my mailbox was full within fifteen minutes. I rolled my eyes, happy his texts were being rerouted.

I felt bad for him, but he was a good catch. He’d find another woman, someone better than me, because I wasn’t gon’ be nothing but a dog to that nigga.

The only other thing I needed to worry about was Ra’Nee. Oh, she was gon’ be pissed, because I didn’t get the loan first.

I didn’t feel like hearing her mouth, so before I told her anything, I went to my credit union and spoke to my personal banker. I filled out an application for a business loan. My personal banker, Kathleen, told me I’d need to find a location and have my business proposal and plan on her desk within the week. She said she’d see what she could do about fast tracking it.

I was just going to have to tell Nee-Nee that was the best I could do for her.

I decided to call her, because I knew a text would just lead to a call anyway. I broke the news to her about the loan I applied for and everything Kathleen said.

“As long as you get my loan,” she said, and that was that.

All loose ends were tied up for Dior, Niema was now gone.

Now I was happy, Shi was happy; we were on cloud nine, walking on the moon.

I was being me and Josh loved it.

I loved it.

However, being Shi has brought me nothing but trouble, and I was sure trouble was coming. Until then, I decided to enjoy the calm.

Chapter 2

Dr. Winters spent most of her time thinking about Ryan Scott. At first, she was able to forget about him. She was able to go home and leave it all behind, as everyone else seemed to do. She was able to move on with her messed up life.

However, not this time.

He’s just a baby, Dr. Winters thought, standing in the elevator. She’d been standing inside with her hand hovering over the button that would take her down into the “Black Hole”.

She was supposed to go home thirty minutes ago. In fact, she’d have been gone, had she not been thinking about Ryan Scott and the vacant plea his green eyes silently screamed.

She had mixed feelings.

“Ebony,” she said, thinking of her sister again. “What should I do?”

What would you do?

Her sister was brave and strong. She never went with the norm and no matter what; she did what was right.

What the fuck am I doing? Dr. Winters wondered, feeling stupid for still idolizing her older sister. The woman wanted nothing to do with her.

Dr. Winters kept the hope that she and her sister would have what they once had again. That’s why she kept telling herself, “Burned bridges can be rebuilt with time”.

Grabbing the long, thick hair, which fell to the middle of her back, Dr. Winters quickly pulled it up in a ponytail.

She just needed something to do with her hands.

“Fuck it,” Dr. Winters finally said after her hair was secured behind her head. She reached out and pressed the button to take her into the “Black Hole”, just as the elevator doors opened.

Dr. Winters looked up like a kid with her hand stuck in the cookie jar. Her heart almost stopped.

Sandra was smiling as she looked down at her phone. She had her purse and her lunch box hanging from either arm.

“Oh,” she said, when she looked up from texting to see Dr. Winters. “I thought you went home already.”

Dr. Winters knew she was caught.

After she apologized to Sandra for their last interaction, she told her she’d leave it alone. She’d told her she would lay low.

Dr. Winters did what she always did in stressful situations; she remained silent to see how it would play out.

“Why are you still he—” Sandra stopped when she looked over at the elevator buttons with her finger extended.

The elevator doors closed. As they began descending, Sandra dropped her hand and silently waited as well. Dr. Winters watched as the lights on the top of the elevator skipped past the first floor, where Sandra should have gotten off.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. Dr. Winters stood there staring straight ahead.

I am a grown woman, Dr. Winters thought as she forced herself to walk past Sandra. Without a word to her, Dr. Winters awkwardly maneuvered her thick frame around Sandra and silently stepped off the elevator.

To her surprise, Sandra did the same, purse, lunchbox and all.

I don’t have time for this, Dr. Winters thought, not wanting the argument that was just about to break.

Knowing she needed to face this head on, Dr. Winters turned around and looked at Sandy. The elevator doors closed and the elevator went back up.

“What are you doing, Sandy?”

Sandra lifted a silent eyebrow as she adjusted her baggage.

“Come on Sandy, you didn’t see him,” Dr. Winters said, trying to make her friend understand.

Sandra began shaking her head.

“Sandy, it’s not like that. I was down here trying to find one of my patients and…” Dr. Winters was rambling, because her friend’s face had not changed. She was looking at her with a blank stare. The stare that said, “Bitch, you already know”.

“Sandy, he’s just a kid,” Dr. Winters said. Sandy squinted, and then shook her head as if shaking off a thought. Her blank stare was back.

They stood in the cold hall staring at one another, until the guilt of what she’d been hiding began eating her up.

“Sandy,” Dr. Winters tried again. She needed her to say something. “Please, say something.”

Sandra’s face did not change as she nodded her head and said, “Lead the way.”

Chapter 3

Fantasy was sure she wasn’t the only one that felt she would always be a Shi Girl. No, they would all always be Shi Girls, Shi said so herself.

Shi had taught them all so much and had come into their lives for the better. Shi was a beautiful person and Fantasy felt she’d given them all so much. Without even knowing it, she’d given Fantasy a family and her first real home.

Though she was only four years younger than Shi, Fantasy saw her as a mother figure. In addition, she was quick to tell anyone she was raised by her Momma Shi and Aunty Diamond. She’d known Diamond since he ran away and started living in the streets of San Francisco. Diamond occasionally let her clean up and sleep in her motel room, and when Fantasy was release from Juvenile Hall on her eighteenth birthday, Diamond brought her to Shi.

Though Fantasy had moved out on her own a few times over the years, the apartment they’d gotten together in East Palo Alto was the place she called home. No, not the place her father exiled her from the moment he found out his little boy wouldn’t grow up to be the man he wanted. No, Francis Campos was not Francis, but Fantasy. That’s whom she felt comfortable as, and that was who she was. Something Shi and Diamond never shamed her for.

Fantasy smiled the way she always did when the elevators let her off on the third floor at Court Yard at Bay Road.

After a long day at Walmart, she was happy to grab the toilet paper and tampons she bought on her break and leave.

Strolling down the hall to the apartment, she shared with Tammy and Faith. Diamond was lucky enough to move in with Shi, while the other girls were out on their own, doing well. All the Shi Girls still stayed in touch.

Opening the door Fantasy announced her presence as she always did when she walked in.

“I’m back!” she called walking into the kitchen on the left. The house was dark so she hit the light and sat the bags on the counter. “I got the TPs.”

Fantasy shrugged off her Walmart vest and kicked off her shoes. Leaving them in the kitchen she called out, “Hello! Anyone home?”

Pulling her long hair out of the ponytail Fantasy scratched her scalp walking down the hall. She was about to open her mouth and call out for Faith when she heard someone scream out in pain.

“Shut up!” she heard a muffled voice say in a French accent.

Curious more than scared Fantasy made her way to the master bedroom, the room that used to belong to Shi. The room had been unoccupied since Diamond moved out. Though the bed was still in there it was used more as an office. Growing closer, the sounds in the room seem to go mute, as she got closer to the glow spilling into the dark hall. Approaching the door Fantasy peeked around the corner, expecting to see Tammy or Faith rustling about inside. When she peeked around the corner that was just what she saw. Just not in the way that she thought.

Fantasy froze at the sight of Tammy lying on the bed face down with her hands cuffed behind her back. She stepped back and pressed her back to the side wall as she saw the figure in the ski mask hunched over Faith.

Heart pounding, Fantasy tried to control her breathing as she inched back down the hall to the lite kitchen. Running her eyes across the dark living room, she hurried too quickly and silently to the oven. Looking around she spotted her phone on the kitchen counter. The thought that the police never did anything to help her stopped her from dialing 911.

She went for her phone when the thought to call Shi popped in her head.

No! she thought, as she looked up to the cabinets over the stove, where they kept the gun Shi had left there. They’d taken it out of the room, so it was not out in the open.

Stuffing her phone into her pocket, Fantasy rose on tiptoes, hoping the stove didn’t make any noise under her weight. The cabinet glided open. She pulled down the Crisco tub and quickly pulled out the .22 tucked inside.

Her muscles relaxed as she felt the power of the pistol in her hand. Holding it up to her chest, she crept to the hall and peeked around. Swallowing she tried to still her nerves.

Pointing the gun out in front of her Fantasy took off silently down the hall in her socked feet. The floor did not announce her as she made her way closer and closer to Shi’s room at the end of the hall. When she made back to her breathing spot, she placed her back up against the wall. Closing her eyes, she tried to stop her hands from shaking.

Steading herself Fantasy took a deep breath and stormed into the room gun pointed straight. The slim figure in the ski mask had its back to her.

“Put your hands up!” Fantasy barked in a deep voice she was sure was how she’d sound as a man. It was so deep and rough. “Turn around?”

Fantasy tried to keep her eyes on the figure as its hands went up.

Faith and Tammy looking roughed up but still alive were each sitting on the floor at the edge of the bed. They looked up at Fantasy with eyes mixed with fear.

“Who are you?” Fantasy asked in the same deep voice when the figure in the sky mask turned around. The voice, which seem to come from the .22, not her.

Fantasy hoped the gun was as easy as it looked.

“Point and shoot,” Shi had instructed her in case something just like this happened. Fantasy knew they were being robbed and the police would take too long to get there.

The hand in the air on the right reached down and pulled the sky mask up. Once the woman’s head was free of the ski mask, she shook her dark hair that framed her dark face.

Fantasy stared at the woman with high cheekbones and tight eyes.

Fantasy would have thought the woman was full black had she not heard the French in her accent.

“Thelma,” she said smiling a pearly white smile.

Fantasy swallowed hard, the woman’s cool and calm demeanor scared her. Fantasy’s arms started shaking.

“What—what do you want?” Fantasy got out of her mouth trying to steady her hand.

“Nous avons juste quelques questions pour vous?” the dark-skinned woman voiced, with a large white smile.

“What? English?” Fantasy barked, gun shaking.

“I said,” Thelma said slowly in English, with a thick French accent, “we ‘ave a few questions for tu?”

“M-me?” Fantasy stuttered. She’d never seen the woman before and had no idea who she was. Then it struck her, maybe the woman was the wife of one of her clients.

“All of you, beautiful,” she said.

“We? Wait, who is we?” Fantasy asked, looking behind her quickly. Seeing nothing, she focused her attention back on Thelma. “Who is we?”

“My sister, Louise,” Thelma said. “She est, like you.”

“Is she here? Where is—” Fantasy froze when she felt the gun push into her back. A soft hand touched the side of her face.

“Shhh, beautiful. I’m right here,” Fantasy heard a deep French accent say from behind her. “Now, who are tu?” Louise asked, pushing Fantasy forward with the gun.

Chapter 4

My loan was still in the pending status, but Kathleen told me that everything was looking good, and I should start looking for a place. I didn't find a problem with that, seeing as it meant I'd be spending a considerable amount of time away from my shop. The shop, I was certain Lance would stake out.

Working from home, I discovered a few places. The first one was in Menlo Park off Willow Road. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for my own space, but they were looking to share space. I liked the old men inside Mark's Style and even though they made me feel as if I was the only girl in the world, this was business. It was not a good look for me to be running my business from inside their business. I needed my own shit.

Letting them know l would be in touch, I decided to make my way to my meeting at the shopping center in East Palo Alto off 101.

I drove back up Willow Road, instead of taking the freeway. I had a little time to kill before I was supposed to meet the real estate people for Ravenswood 101.

I was at the light on Willow and Newbridge, getting ready to make a right turn. I was chilling with the windows down as I let the warm air circulate through my car to the tunes of Chrisette Michele. When I made the right onto Newbridge, I saw it.

FOR RENT.

I quickly put on my blinker and turned into the Kitty's Cleaners parking lot.

There sitting right next door to Kitty's Cleaners, it the same place it had always been.

I knew it was perfect before I even thought it.

Even though Ravenswood 101 would have been the prime location, with Ikea there and all the food places, this place held a world of sentimental value.

As I was sitting in my car, staring up at the place with tears in my eyes, I knew Sister Fritzy's old shop was going to be the home of my new one.

Chapter 5

I was so fucking juiced. I took down the number of the rental company handling the property. Sitting there wondering what ever happened to Sister Fritzy I called Ra’Nee at the shop I called Dr. Richards at work. She usually didn’t answer her cellphone when she’s at work. However, it seems that I was an exception. “I’m at work,” Dr. Richards answered sounding stressed.

“I know,” I said. “Are you busy?”

“I’m in with a patient,” she responded and I could hear her voice lighten a bit.

“Then why’d you answer?” I asked laughing. I could really imagine her ass sitting in her office, with one of the nuts at the hospital, waiting for her to get done with her personal call.

“What kind of question is that?” Dr. Richards asked.

“True,” I laughed, knowing exactly why she answered my call. Shit, knowing me I was calling her after killing someone again. “Wel—” my line beeped and it was Ra’Nee. “Ra’Nee is calling me. Call me when you get a minute. I think I found a place and I wanted to talk to you about it.”

“Oh, okay,” she said. “Well, I’ll call you after—”

“Just call me when you get home,” I said. “Love you.”

“I love you too,” Dr. Richards said and I clicked over.

“Gurl!” I yelled into the phone excitedly. “I think I just found the perfect place.” “What?” Ra’Nee yelled into the phone.

“Simply Shi’s Too!,” I said. “I think I found a location for the shop bitch.”

“Oh, is it outside my house or on the way or something?” Ra’Nee asked sounding confused.

“No?” I laughed at her goofy ass wondering what she was getting at. “It’s in East Palo Alto.”

“Oh,” she said lapsing into silence.

“Yeah,” I laughed. “Why?”

“Well if you ever brought yo’ happy ass to work or answered my texts, you’d remember that we were supposed to be going shopping today,” Ra’Nee snapped.

“Huh?” I said scratching my head and staring out the back window at the traffic moving alone Newbridge.

“Bitch we been sitting her’ lookin’ out the window waiting for yo’ ass and you ain’t even on yo’ way?” Ra’Nee yelled.

It all hit me. We were supposed to go shopping for Halloween costumes for her birthday. She was renting a party bus on Halloween to take us clubbin’ around the city.

“You ain’t shit, bitch,” she said, and I felt bad.

“Nee-Nee—”

Someone blew a horn behind me, scaring the shit out of me. I looked back and saw a little blue car with peeling paint taking off after holding up traffic. Turning back around in my seat, I looked down at the time. It was only eleven thirty.

“I am so sorry, Nee—”

“I know, bitch,” she yelled.

“Well fuck yo’ apology then,” I snapped. “I’ll be there in an hour.”

I hung the fuck up on her ass.

Chapter 6

I went home, took a hoe bath, got dressed in some skinnies, a tee, and I was out.

I made it to Richmond in forty-five minutes. Ra’Nee, Diamond, Bey-Bey and I were at Hilltop Mall, jumping from store to store, five minutes later. I spent half the time strolling behind them texting Josh in my own little world.

Until we got to Basic Plus. There wasn’t nothing in Basic Plus me or Bey-Bey couldn’t fit. However, Bey-Bey was making the most of it by helping Ra’Nee and Diamond-who was only in there because her ass was Basic Plus size.

I hated shopping with them, because these bitches budget-shopped and long gone were the days of budget shopping for me. In addition, I never wanted to be “that rich friend”. The friend that made them comfortable with leaving their wallets behind. Naw, I wasn’t that friend though I could have been.

Not like it would have been my money, I was spending.

I was staring at some feathered earrings I knew Diamond would like and I couldn’t help but wonder how much Ra’Nee knew about me. I mean, like really. That was my bish and all but the only thing she really knew about me was that I was married to Spin.

I mean, maybe she’d heard about the whispers and rumors, but we never sat down and talked about it. You know, like girls. I mean, Vicky knew all about the money I started to steal and hide from Spin.

Had the bitch not vanished when Spin went down, she would have known about the Free Spin Legal Fund that helped finance a manhunt for her ass that went into Africa.

I guess it’s because Ra’Nee was my employee and that’s how she started. She came to work for me in my legit hair shop where as Diamond helped me get there.

Wow, I really didn’t know what Ra’Nee thought of me. The bitch done been in my house though I’d just found out where she lived when I got back from Jamaica.

Wow, did that mean I was a bad friend? Was I a friend?

Making a mental note to spend some quality time with Ney-Ney and get to know each other I decided to make the best of shopping with these hoes.

“Bae, where Diamond?” I asked Bey-Bey who had just got back to the table of accessories.

“Trying on a dress,” she said. “You find anything?”

“These for Diamond,” I said holding up the feathered earrings and walking towards the fitting room.

“Okay, okay. I see you Boss Lady, that’s fly,” Bey-Bey said.

“I know, right—” I responded, turning around to look at her and freezing.

Standing right behind this bitch was none other than…

Drum roll please, Lance. Yes, L.A.N.C.E.

I froze and then quickly pivoted to my right and down. I rushed up the lines of clothes to the fitting room where Bey-Bey said Diamond was.

As I maneuvered my way through the racks of oversized clothes until I was at the fitting room on the back wall. I could see Diamonds bear claw ass feet under the stall. Dropping to my hands and knees, I rushed under the door and jumped up in the tight area next to Diamond.

“What the fuck?” Diamond said. Then laughing, “Girl you scared the shit out of me. Wait, did you just slide up under the door?”

“Yeah,” I panted, almost out of breath. I shoved the earrings that I was still clutching in my hand at her and said, “This will go good with your dress.”

“ You crawled under here to tell me that?”

“No bitch,” I said, dusting my knees off and cracking the door open to look out. “Bitch, Lance is out there.”

Spotting him across from Bey-Bey at the accessory table chopping it up I closed the door and pulled out my phone to call Ra’Nee.

I heard her phone ringing close by.

“Bitch I’m next door I heard everything,” Ra’Nee called as her phone rang. “I was just wondering why you didn’t crawl under my door.”

“Then shut the fuck up and help me get outtah here,” I snapped hanging up my phone.

“You might wanna throw a please in there before a bitch leave yo’ ass,” Ra’Nee yelled.

I looked at Diamond who was shrugging. Sighing I rolled my eyes and said, “Please.”

“That’s more like it,” I heard Ra’Nee say and then her door opened and close.

I opened the door a crack and peeked out. Diamond watched out over my back as Ra’Nee made her way to the tables of accessories. She walked passed Bey-Bey towards the end of the table facing the door and I couldn’t help but wonder what she was going to do. Knowing her, she just woulda grab him by his ear and lead him out the store.

However, she stopped at the table and made a very big scene, one that I was sure was attracting the stores attention.

“Lance! Is that you my nigga,” Ra’Nee nearly shouted and Diamond laughed silently.

I shhhed Diamond and the minute Lance turned around I knew what I was going to do.

“Open the door Diamond,” I said not looking at her. “I’m going to duck down so he can’t see me over the rack.”

“Why don’t you just go talk to him?” Diamond asked.

The same reason you ain’t got a sex change yet I thought shaking my head. I didn’t feel like explaining myself even if Diamond might have been right. However, I was so not taking love advice from Diamond. Because this bitch be in worse, way worse situations than me. I’m just happy she didn’t shit where she ate.

Not anymore at least.

I ducked down not feeling the need to say anymore and Diamond opened the door and walked out behind me with her clothes.

I was gone, duck walking and occasionally crawling. There was only like seven people in the place including us and the two workers. Had the workers not been so entertained with Ra’Nee going on and on with her loud ass then they might have spotted me and busted me out. I mean, I was crawling around a store towards the exit, can you say S.U.S.P.E.C.T?

I was tow racks behind him. I couldn’t go any further because he was facing Ra’Nee and would see me. I peeked out from the side of a rack.

I didn’t want to stand up, because I didn’t want the workers to see me just yet.

“What are you doing here?” Ra’Nee asked.

“I didn’t like the way this fit,” I heard Diamond’s harsh ass voice break in.

“Because you Torrid fat bitch,” Ra’Nee said and I almost laughed.

“Don’t come for me,” Diamond said sounded a little upset.

I heard Ra’Nee’s loud ass laughter before she said, “Anyway, what are you doing here?”

“ Oh, just droppin’ off some money to my bae,” he said, smiling.

“Okay, okay,” Ra’Nee said. “That’s what I’m talking about…”

I knew these bitches were not about to sit here and have a full ass conversation with this nigga, while I was crouched down on the floor like a fucking ape. My legs were on fire.

I dropped to my knees and decided just to throw the whole outfit away, when I heard Ra’Nee ask, “Where’s your girl?” Ra’Nee asked. “Y’all meeting in here?”

“She right there,” I heard Lance’s voice, sounding a little confused. “Bey-Bey.”

I heard the fucking mic drop, as I stood up, unable to believe my fucking ears.

Chapter 7

Regardless of how they met and why, it all made me uncomfortable. Lance was a fucking creep and for all I knew he was using Bae to get to me. I mean, would you put it passed his ass?

During the uncomfortable ride home, I had to figure out a way to explain Lance to Bae.

I told her the truth for the most part. I mean, we met on BlackPeopleMeet.com, we went on a few dates, which never led to anything other than a thank you. Shit, the most contact we’ve had was holding hands and the closest to sex was a kiss on the cheek.

“I don’t know, he just gave me the brother vibe,” I told Bae from my spot next to her in the backseat. “He’s not a bad guy. I just couldn’t see myself with him.”

Bae nodded but I could tell she had more questions. Questions I was sure she wasn’t asking because I was her boss rather than anything else. I knew I wasn’t doing a good job in convincing her that Lance was a cool dude, but I didn’t know what else to do. I mean, I was already lying by omitting the fact that the nigga seemed to be a stalker.

“Look, I sent him the text, girl,” I told Bae and Ra’Nee and Diamond laughed.

“Bitch you wrong,” Ra’Nee said. “Now the bitch gone be ducking and dodging him for the rest of her life. Shit, she might stop coming to work again.”

We all laughed including Bae. Moreover, the laugh was just what we needed to clear the uncomfortable air in the car.

“Naw, fahreal Bae,” I said, taking control of the conversation again. “He a good one. I mean, the nigga the branch manager at Wells Fargo in the city and all he do is talk about his kids. Shit, a few times I had to cancel our dates, because his ass was ready to bring his kids with him. So, I think he’s really a good father,” I explained with a smile. However, when I looked up at her, she wasn’t smiling. “What?”

“Shit, if you don’t fuck ‘um I will,” Ra’Nee laughed with Diamond.

I smiled but not Bey-Bey. She looked out the window.

“Bae?”

“He got kids?” Bey-Bey asked.

“Yeah,” I smiled.

“How do you? Have you seen them?”

“Well, he always talks about them,” I said feeling like I had put my foot in my mouth. “Why?”

“It’s just he told me he didn’t have any kids,” Bey-Bey said. I was stuck. I mean, why would he tell me-someone who doesn’t have children-that he had children and tell Bey-Bey-who got two kids-that he don’t? I opened my mouth to say something though I had no idea what I was going to say when Bey-Bey added, “And he works at Chase in Newark.”

That closed my mouth and shut me the fuck up.

What the fuck? I thought wondering who exactly he was lying to. Me or Bae?

“Bitch she don’t want yo’ weak ass nigga,” Ra’Nee yelled over the music at Bey-Bey, and my fucking heart stopped. Leave it to Ra’Nee “Rip the Band-Aid Off” Sutherland not to give a damn about a bitch’s feelings. I wanted to say something, but Ra’Nee was still going. “She had him already and don’t want him. That is her trash and yo’ treasure, so make like the cleanup woman, bitch. And don’t feel bad about shit, because we know the kind of rough unemployed niggas this bitch likes to support. She want the type of nigga that she gottah shot because he popped her ass for fucking up his eggs. Like the nigga I gave her in Jamaica.” The car erupted in laughter and I had to admit, I fucking loved Ra’Nee’s special ass. She always had a way of putting you in yo’ place and making you laugh at the same time. This was the only bitch I knew that could make you laugh at yo’self. “Truth be told, she hiding from his ass because she lied and told him she had a fiancé in Iraq—”

“Ra’Nee!” I yelled, wondering how her nosey ass knew that. I hadn’t told anyone exactly what I said to break it off with him.

“Bitch, if you didn’t want anyone to know then you shoulda deleted the messages out yo’ phone,” Ra’Nee said, causing everyone but me to laugh. I turned to look out the window making a mental note to change my passcode as soon as I was alone in my car. “Now Bae, before this bitch try and use it as an excuse, tell yo’ man he gone have to sit this one out.”

I hated Ra’nee, the bitch knew me all too well.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell him it’s girls’ night,” Bey-Bey said in her small voice. “I wasn’t going to invite his ass anyway. I’m trying to get my freak on.”

“Oooo, gurl!” Diamond said from the driver’s seat.

“Good, you heard that, Shi?” Ra’Nee asked, turning around in her seat. “Now you ain’t got no excuse not to come.”

Chapter 8

Then why was I still nervous as hell?

Though Lance had me freaked the fuck out, I still let Ra’Nee bully me into going out with them on a Party Bus to the City. Yeah sure, the Party Bus we were on was invitation only, but I doubted the clubs in the city were the same. All Lance needed to do was follow Bae to the Party Bus and then the bus to the club.

Lance wasn’t the only reason that had me not wanting to go. No, there was so much more to it. I mean, I hadn’t been on the scene in a long time and I felt some type of way, just popping back up. Sure, I’d been out a few times with the girls after I got back from Jamaica, but that was always on some grown and sexy hype.

We would go to different types of dimly lit lounges, we went wine tasting and shit like that. I’d never really been in the streets like that, even when I was, I wasn’t. When I was a drug dealer, King was the one grindin’ in the streets. When I was a Madame, Diamond and the girls were out there rippin’ and runnin’. I could count the amount of times that I’d actually been out in the streets on one of my hands.

Shit, my name was out there more than me. If it wasn’t from the drugs and women that I sold, then it most definitely was when I got involved with Spin.

Though I was sure I was old news, I still didn’t feel like going.

I spent more time trying to figure out an excuse for why I couldn’t go than on my costume. I was one-step away from faking sick, but Ra’Nee was one-step ahead of me.

This bitch done got ahold of Josh and invited him. And Josh told her he wouldn’t miss it for the world.

So, I was stuck.

I just kept trying to tell myself that it was all in my head. Lance, people out looking for me. I was old news. Besides it’s not like anyone really knew what went on inside of our marriage like that. I mean, I am sure Spin never talked about Wifey. That’s not what men did, they talked about hoes, sluts, THOTS, tramps but not Wifey. No matter what they were doing, they held whoever had that title at a very high standard.

And according to Diamond who I was sure was not just trying to cheer me up, the word on the street was still out on me. No one knew for sure what happened. From what Diamond told me the word on the street was a mixture of what people read in or heard on the news and personal opinion from people who couldn’t have been further from our marriage.

Diamond told me that there were a few discussions held at the shop when it first happened. She said all the stories had a few things in common. They all knew that Spin went to jail, some people said it was because I snitched, some said he was just doing it too big. Regardless, he was put away. They seem to know who his lawyers were and that they’d gotten him out on appeal. After he was release, the word was Spin tracked me down, found me caked up with another man and went crazy. They were right when they said he’d kidnapped me but it wasn’t a hostage negotiation gone bad that resulted in me being shot in the head and Spin’s death.

Though my memory was sketchy when it came to the person who shot me, I knew it wasn’t Spin. No, Vicky had killed him right before she’d pumped a bullet into the back of my head.

No, no one reported that and no one said a word about Vicky. I guess because she was dead after all.

No, no one, not even the media knew what happened that night. No one except for a woman that was supposed to be dead. A woman that had vanished into thin air after that night. Shit, some of the papers reported that I was dead. And after a few months, there were reports that I was a vegetable and that the doctors said I wouldn’t wake up. I’d even got to see an old copy of a tabloid that I had no brain activity at all. It was all crazy the things people assumed and wrote about. Shit, my Facebook page was lit with people requesting to be my friend and making my name trend.

However, the only thing people seem to get right was the fact that Spin and King were dead.

But, that was my past. It was all in my past. My past… that I could not let keep holding me back. I couldn’t use my past as an excuse not to go out. I mean, it wasn’t like I was hiding from anyone; anyone dangerous that is. No, they were all either dead or in prison for a long, long time.

Besides, like I’d said so many times before. I was no longer running from my problems. No, I was going to face them head on.

Unbeknownst to me, I was going to receive my first test in just a few days.

Chapter 9

Boo had gotten the ball rolling.

It wasn’t fair to her. After contacting Spin’s other baby’s mothers, Ta’jay and Carmen’s mother, she found out they were doing just as bad as she was. So, ignoring the laughs of her friends she went down to the courthouse and filed the paperwork for child support.

She knew her case was a little different, but she didn’t see why her child’s father’s wife should be taken care of; but not his child.

It didn’t take long for Boo to be sat in front of a social worker to tell her side. The large black woman named Mrs. Falicia sat silently listening to Boo. There were times when Boo was sure the woman was going to stop, but Boo wouldn’t let her interrupt. Boo started talking faster and faster sometimes tripping over her words as she tried to get the entire story out.

“I’m going to be real with you,” Mrs. Falicia said after Boo finished talking. She was amazed and though she knew it wasn’t right, she didn’t know what she would be able to do. But, she felt for her. “I’m afraid this might be a civil matter, but—” Mrs. Falicia said ‘but’ loudly to stop Boo from interrupting her. It worked. Boo bit her tongue as the woman finished, “I can try and file the paperwork. I agree with you honey, his baby should be taken care of before his wife.”

“Right,” Boo agreed. “It’s just not fair.”

“Well honey, the law ain’t fair honey,” Mrs. Falicia explained. Standing up she looked at Boo as if thinking of something she hadn’t thought of before. “But before you leave, let me run this by my boss. You know, to set the expectations.”

Boo sat out in the lobby for nearly an hour before Mrs. Falicia returned. This time she came back with her boss.

“Roeschelle, I am Patricia,” the white woman said, introducing herself. “Mrs. Falicia just told my about your unique situation. If you would step back to my office with me, I think we might be able to help you.”

Chapter 10

Sitting on the edge of the king size bed Sasha Mills rubbed her belly and smiled. Five years ago, hell two years ago she would have never thought she’d be this happy. She never thought she’d be pregnant and looking forward to the birth of her baby. Though she would have never wanted it, she always thought she’d be a single mother.

Never in a million years did she think she’d meet a man like Corban Mills.

Never did Sasha think she’d get a Fairy Tale ending.

No not her. She wasn’t supposed to find her Prince Charming and be swept off her feet.

And it was all because of Shi. From the moment she met Shi, she knew her life was going to change for the better.

And it had.

It was Shi, who unknowingly put Corban on her client list eight years ago.

And from the moment she met Corban she knew there was something there.

And staring down at her wedding ring she smiled, happy to that yet another one of her feelings was right.

Married for a year she never thought she could be any happier. Until she found out, they were starting a family and not only having one baby, but two.

“Trying to sneak up on me—”

The smile faded from her face and she grabbed tight to the twins in her stomach. Standing thirty feet away in the doorframe was a woman Sasha wasn’t fully sure was a woman. She had a thin frame clad in all black. Her hard face, high cheekbones and tight eyes gave her an exotic look. The short bob she had famed her thin face perfectly.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Sasha stuttered backing further up onto the bed. Her heart was pounding hard against the inside of her chest.

She wasn’t stupid, she knew what was going on. They were being robbed. They just wanted money. She’d been robbed before. It happened more often than not when you were in her line of work.

The woman started to take off her black gloves to reveal lime green fingernails.

Sasha swallowed hard before she said, “Take whatever you want. We have a safe with ten thousand dollars in the closet. The combination is twenty twelve.”

The woman smiled a bright smile as she slowly started to walk towards the bed. Her booted feet made Sasha jump with every step.

“The closet is over there, please don’t hurt me. I’m pregnant and please we have money,” Sasha pleaded as the robber got closer and closer to the bed. The dim glow of the light in the room made the woman’s strong face look demonic. “Please, please, we have money. My husband will be back and minute and—”

“Shhh,” the woman said, slowly easing onto the edge of the bed. “Pas besoin de pleurer maman.”

Though Sasha understood her mother’s language, her tears did not stop. The deep feminine voice was not much comfort.

“Je suis Louise,” Louise said, in a deep, vibrating whisper.

“Qu’est-ce que tu veux?” Sasha asked, hoping her switch to Creole would come in handy.

Smiling, Louise said in a heavily French accent, “Scheyenne.”

“What?” Sasha asked, confused. It took her a second to think. Did she say Scheyenne? Sasha wondered, as Louise fixed her lips to repeat herself.

But before a word came out, the opening and closing of a door echoed through the large apartment.

“Babe!” Corban yelled like he normally did when he walked into the house. “Good news.”

Sasha felt a wave of relief at the sound of his deep baritone.

She and Louise made eye contact. Louise smiled patiently and wickedly at Sasha.

Sasha quickly jumped off the side of the bed and started screaming for her husband.

“We’re being robbed! Help! Corban Help! She’s in here!”

The sound of Corban running through the house came immediately as he called for her. It took him less than ten seconds to burst into the room face red and flush.

“What the hell’s going on?” Corban’s deep voice rumbled as his blue eyes scanned the room. There was a mix or rage and fear in his eyes as he stared at his wife and the stranger in black sitting on his bed, back facing him.

“Get her—” Sasha stopped midsentence and her eyes grew wide.

From what she could see, the blade and the hand came out of the air and slowly made its way across Corban’s throat. She watched on, frozen in fear as blood ran down his white button up and stained the hands trying to hold his neck.

He attempted to speak before. The only thing that came out was a gurgling sound.

As Corban’s gasps for air fell silent, Sasha looked up. She was shaking as she saw the woman standing over Corban’s body. Sasha was shaking so badly that her knees were buckling as she stared between both identical faces.

“Did you ask her, Louise?” Louise’s twin asked in a more feminine French accent.

And for the first time since Corban burst in the room, Louise moved. Turning towards her sister, she said, “Je posais simplement, Thelma.” Sasha’s teeth were chattering, she was that scared. Louise turned her attention back to Sasha and smiled. “Where were we? Scheyenne?”

Sasha filled her lungs and screamed.

Chapter 11

We were getting on a party bus to take us to City Nights in San Francisco for the self-proclaimed biggest Halloween Bash ever. Ra’Nee was juiced because Halloween was on a Thursday, so the City Nights Halloween Bash was being held on her birthday.

So, Ra'Nee, Diamond, and I met around noon, and spent the day getting ready for the night. We did a little bit of last minute shopping for our costumes and Ra’Nee’s presents. It was more than a little hard trying to shop for the hoe while she was there. She was just too nosey and all up in every bag, we got.

I ended up letting her pick out a few pair of shoes; I refused to give them to her until her party. I really didn’t need to buy her ass anything, because I was smart enough to get her real gift beforehand. I just wanted to make her day hella special. I wanted to surprise her and I knew buying her gifts in front of her would make her think that’s what she was getting. She didn’t have to know about the completely new station set. I got that girl new, expensive ass, ceramic platinum-plated flat irons, hot combs, hand-held blow dryer, and the works. Everything had her name engraved in it and I knew she was going to die when she saw it. She’d been complaining about needing new equipment since a week after my first shop opened.

We left the mall around four and decided to stop off at the Safeway in Menlo Park. I don’t know why I didn’t go to the one in Palo Alto but hey, we made it to one. We got out of my BMW, noisy as hell as we walked into Safeway to grab a bottle of Ra’Nee’s favorite—Hennessy.

Josh called me when we were in the alcohol aisle, looking at the alcohol in the case. I ducked away and answered the phone.

“I’m about to leave,” he said when I answered the phone. “I should be there by nine or ten, we not going ‘til eleven right?”

I didn’t answer right away. I didn’t want him coming, but Ra’Nee somehow managed to get ahold of him and invite him. And so he was coming, no matter how much bitching and moaning I did. I wasn’t ready to take Josh out and about around the Bay. Shit, I hadn’t even really been out and about with him in L.A.

“Yeah,” I said, thinking about our relationship and wondering, do I really wanna be wifey to a kingpin? Again?

“A’ight, let me grab my bag and stuff, and I’ll call you when I get in the car.”

“Okay,” I said, hanging up and thinking about all that I had on my plate, and how it was doing nothing but filling up even more.

I was walking down the ice cream aisle on my way back to the girls and the liquor. I knew more than likely, they were still standing there, since they had to wait for someone to come and open the glass case.

I heard someone yelling for someone in the aisle behind me. I ignored it and was ready to round a corner when I saw a box of Choco Tacos and almost melted. I ain’t had a Choco Taco in a minute.

I opened the freezer door and reached in to get a box, when I heard someone a little too close to me say, “…you act like you don’t know no one no mo’, ma. I thought we was better than that.”

I stood up with my box.

“Hi, Dior.”

My heart skipped a little and not in a good way.

Chapter 12

This nigga, Lance, was standing right there, just a cheesin’. I slowly started to sidestep in order to let the freezer door close.

He still thought my name was Dior. I hadn’t told Bey-Bey that he thought my name was Dior, and I didn’t know how. Shit… that meant telling her that he might also think I work at my shop, not own it.

Then she’d have to lie, and I really thought they’d make a nice little couple. I mean, Lance was really a cool dude. I just wished he’d give his cool attention to someone else, someone like Bey. Taking a deep breath, I hoped that maybe it wouldn’t get weird. Maybe the nigga was here to tell me about his new relationship.

I mean, I knew we were going to have to talk one day. I just hoped with every inch of me that it wouldn’t get weird, even though I knew him just being there was. Being at the same Safeway over twenty miles from his stomping grounds. What the fuck is he doing here? I thought, as he looked down at my hand. I saw his face twitch a little, and could swear I saw fifteen different emotions cross his face, before he settled back on a smile.

“Hey!” I finally got out into the tense silence.

“So, you’re married now?” he asked, as I attempted to sidestep him and go back to the liquor isle.

I didn’t know what to say to him. I mean, yeah, I had a new addition to my finger.

However, he’s with Bey.

Besides, he shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, the story I told him about a fiancé in Iraq was falling into place.

Yeah, I told him that my fiancé left me for the war and I was mad at him. And when he was gone, Lance and I met. I told him when we met I was confused and angry, I didn’t know what I wanted. I apologized to him because now that my fiancé was home from the war, I told him I owed it to him to work it out. I loved him.

I’d told him all of that in my long multimedia message that from the way he was acting, AT&T failed to send.

Besides, he was supposed to be moving on, with Bey. This was all just reinforcing my feelings that he was using her to get to me. Yup, he probably stalked my shop out when I wasn’t there, and somehow got close to Bey. Shit, she was my nail girl, so knowing him, he pulled her over a man mani.

“Yeah,” I finally managed to say after the new silence got even more awkward.

“So, how have you been?”

“Okay,” I answered, wishing he would finish doing what he was doing. I didn’t want him following me back to the girls. The last thing I needed was for Ra’Nee’s loud ass to forget he wasn’t supposed to be there, and tell him where we were going. Shit, the longer I stood there, the more I was concerned that he was going to follow us.

“I miss you, and—”

My phone rang and I put up my hand to cut him off. I was so fucking happy to hear my phone that I almost dropped my Choco Tacos. He was making it even more awkward.

“Hello,” I said, answering the phone and mouthing I have to go as I put up a finger.

He nodded, but I was gone around the corner.

“Hello,” Josh said, and I laughed loudly as if he’d said the funniest thing.

“I’m getting on the freeway,” he said slowly. “Why are you laughing like that?”

“Oh, nothing,” I said, looking behind me as I ditched my Choco Tacos.

I rushed down a few aisles; trying to make sure, he wasn’t following me and then escaped out to the car.

I circled the car a few times, looking around the parking lot for Lance. I shot Diamond a text, telling her the get down and when I felt I was safe, I got into my car and put my seat all the way back.

“Hello?” I heard Josh’s muffled voice saying.

“Hold on,” I said, texting Ra’Nee to tell her I was in the car. “Okay, hello.”

“Damn, what was all that?” he asked.

Some sheisty shit, I thought, ignoring his question.

Chapter 13

I was going as Foxy Brown with the big hair and all. I had to admit, I was looking pretty damn fly. I thought of doing one of her permed looks, but I wanted to be ‘70s disco. I wanted to do bellbottoms and they went best with the fro. Ra'Nee was going as a dark, Punk Rock ballerina, whatever that was. Diamond was dressed in a French maid's outfit, which she was doing. I was in love with the six-inch black pumps that were propelling her into the sky.

Josh showed up dressed as Shaft and oh my God, he looked sexy with his baldhead dressed in all black.

The bus picked us up from my house around ten and we got to City Nights around eleven. We cut the line and they escorted us to the VIP section, where we were greeted with bottle service.

When we got to our area, Ra'Nee was greeted by a group of people scream singing happy birthday over the loud club music. After a few drinks, the reason I was tripping about coming out got further and further away from me. I mean, it really wasn’t that bad. I was starting to realize how paranoid I was being. A few more drinks had me loosening up and realizing wasn't nobody checking for me.

I went out on the dance floor a few times with and without Josh to cut a rug. I was actually having a good ass time.

Until I saw her.

It was almost one and Josh was on my arm. We were at the bar with Biscuit and Ra'Nee, trying to get another drink, because Ra'Nee's impatient ass didn't want to wait, saying bottle service was too slow.

We were leaning over the bar, looking around and impatiently waiting for the bartender to acknowledge us when I saw her and my heart dropped. Standing across the bar dressed in a sparkling, low-budget looking gown, plastic jewelry and a cheap tiara was, Boo, Spin's daughter and Tiffany's mom.

Yeah, I could pick her cheesy low budget ass out from a mile away. She was standing at the bar with some girl that looked just as dingy as she was, staring a mothafucking hole in my head.

This was the last fucking thing I needed.

Through the dim, multicolored lights at the bar, I could see the stank look on her face, and I knew it was all bad.

Chapter 14

Then the bitch had the nerve to wave at me with her fingers.

I pulled on Josh's arm to distract him from those simple hoes.

“I have to use the bathroom," I lied, when I had Josh's full attention.

"Oh, you want me to come with you?" he asked in my ear. I shook my head; I didn't know what these simple bitches had planned. Whatever it was, I didn’t want Josh involved. "Okay, I'll get your drink and meet you back there," he yelled over the music.

I nodded and ducked away from the bar. I quickly made my way back to the VIP, fighting the urge to look behind me.

I expected her to be right behind me, trying to get in without an armband. However, they weren’t.

There were a few people I didn't know sitting at the booth. They were there for Ra'Nee's party; I remembered them being there singing happy birthday when we arrived.

The promoter hadn't been back to give us new bottles yet, and I regretted leaving the bar before I got my drink.

I looked around the table nervously and spotted two vacant drinks. I know, so not the right thing to do, but these were desperate times. I looked around to make sure no one saw me grab them, and then took them both back quickly like a “G”, not in the least bit concerned about whose they were.

Glasses down, I sat there tapping my foot, waiting for the alcohol to give me a little strength.

Naw, I wasn't scared of the bitch or anything like that at all. It was just that the whole Lance thing was crashing down around me. He was getting too close and it was getting more than a little personal for me. It was getting down right creepy, because it was as if he was forcing his way into my life.

I just didn’t have the time, strength, or energy to deal with Boo and the drama she was more than likely bringing with her. Drama I was more than sure that I wouldn't be able to avoid by the end of the night.

Normally, I would have been more than happy to clown Boo's ass in front of an audience, but I had Josh to think about. Although I came clean to him about my real name, there was still quite a bit I had to tell him. One thing being, I'd been married before, and not just to anyone. I was married to Spin, one of the Bay Area's top drug dealers and deadliest men.

I wasn’t very worried about scaring him away; I just didn’t want Josh to be in the middle of all the bullshit.

That’s when I started to feel some type of way.

I don’t know, but whatever I was feeling as I was sitting there, started to mix with the drinks I’d decided to throw back. It had me feeling more than a little brave. I mean, I was just sitting there thinking about everything that I’d been through. It reminded me of what I was trying to bury and what she was threatening to bring back to the surface.

The longer I sat there, the longer the drinks ran unchecked through my system, the more I came to the same conclusion.

I was not scared of Boo’s ass, hell, any otha bitch for that matter. I was not about to let no bitch rain on my fucking parade and have me hiding out up in no damn VIP.

Naw, my drink and I were tired of running from my problems.

Therefore, my drink and I stood up and decided to face our problems head on. You know, nip the shit in the bud before it went any further. Hit the drama full on?

I needed to put Boo in her place and let her know Spin was the only reason I didn’t break one of my Choo’s off in that ass.

Chapter 15

Feeling a sense of urgency, I grabbed my makeup bag and left the VIP before Josh, Biscuit, and Ra’Nee made it back. I maneuvered through the crowd, being careful to avoid any familiar faces. I didn’t need Diamond or any of the girls running into me. Nor did I need them following me into the bathroom to do what I had to do. Naw, I didn’t need nobody to handle Boo’s ass.

I managed to duck everyone as I made my way to the bathroom, looking out for Boo. I picked Boo’s ratchet-looking ass out from across the room. She was standing off to the side of the dance floor, like the lame she was, with three more chicks. I knew they were all here together, because they all were crowded in the same place, and had the same sour look on their faces. As if they were better than everyone else in the club, and were only there for everybody else’s benefit.

I stopped and stood still for a second, staring at the hoe, knowing she wasn’t going anywhere without her crew. However, the liquor had me not giving a fuck. I just stood there with my makeup bag in one hand and the other on my hip, staring a hole through her. She was staring my way, so I knew there was only a matter of time before she saw me.

I looked around occasionally for anyone from Ra’Nee’s party. I just needed Boo to see me, so I could lure her ass away.

It took a cool minute, but the bitch finally saw me staring at her ass like, “what is it”? Our eyes locked longer than I wanted, until I finally rolled them, turned and made my merry little way to the bathroom.

The bathroom was crowded with drunken girls stumbling around and checking themselves in the mirrors. I hurried to the mirrors and made some room between some Asian girls looking at their makeup. They stared and I smiled. I knew they felt some type of way about me just walking in between them, but I didn’t give a fuck. I was feeling myself.

I started fishing through my makeup bag. I pulled out my eyeliner and started making a show of touching up my wings. The Asian girls decided to leave, while I acted as if I hadn’t just bogarted my way in between them to get to one of the mirrors. It didn’t take long for Boo to come waltzing her happy ass in.

Alone.

Oh, the bitch was bold. Though I was sure that them otha chickens she was with were waiting on the other side of the door, the bitch still put up a good front.

As soon as she opened the door, our eyes locked in the dim glow of the bathroom lights.

I continued to play with my wings as if I hadn’t smelled her cheap ass perfume when she walked in. I kept an eye on her as she walked up and stood right next to me. She looked in the mirror at me, while she pretended to mess with the nasty wig that she had sitting on top of her head.

“Hmmm,” I heard her ass grunt. The bathroom muffled the music, so I was able to hear her ass very clearly.

I ignored her animal grunt and continued acting as if I was putting on my eyeliner up. I looked around until I found my eyebrow pencil, all the while acting as if she was not there. I was trying my hardest not to take my eyebrow pencil and stab the bitch in the eye.

I refrained and played touch up with my eyebrow.

“You’re going to act like you don’t see me?” Boo yelled in her loud, ear-piercing, squeaky voice. “I guess you blind now. You deaf, huh?”

“Excuse me,” I said, looking up at her in the mirror finally acknowledging the bitch. “Were you talking to me?”

“Who else am I talking to?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“Hell if I know, ‘cause you sure ain’t got shit to say to me,” I snapped. Turning to face her, I said, “I don’t know if you heard, but Spin and I wasn’t married when he died.”

I put away my weapon of an eyebrow pencil and pulled out my lip-glass.

I could tell she was caught off guard by my little outburst. Naw, she wasn’t wit’ it; she wasn’t ready. She was confused and I knew she had no idea what to say. I mean, what the fuck could the bitch say? I had her ass stumped.

I touched up my lips and gave them an ignorant lip smack. I put my lipstick and lip-glass right back in my makeup bag, smiled at the ignorant ass look on Boo’s ignorant ass face, and made my way to the door.

“Aye!” I heard her dumbfounded ass call out. “Excuse me! Did you hear me? I think we need to—”

She had her hand on my arm. I stopped and looked down at her hand, which she quickly moved. Then I looked up at her ass.

“I believe we need to talk,” Boo said again, with an attitude.

I was thinking about hitting the bitch in her fucking mouth.

“Your so-called baby’s father done got enough of putting his hands on me,” I said, turning back to the door. She was so lucky my drunk ass wasn’t an aggressive drunk.

“Look, we need to talk and I’m—”

“Check me out,” I said, moving away from the door as someone came in. “The only thing that stopped me from breaking a foot off in that ass was the weird, twisted ass relationship, you and your daughter had with my husband.”

One of the stall doors opened and Diamond walked out, smoothing out her French maid shirt. She walked to the sink and started washing her hands. I was so relieved to see Diamond; with her ass up in there, we would have a smooth exit. I’d grab Diamond’s arm and leave with her when she was walking out.

I looked back up at Boo, who was a few inches taller than I was, and said, “Spin and I are divorced; he is dead and you know what means?” I looked the bitch dead in her crooked eyes as I let the question hang. If she tried to answer, I would probably cut her off. But she didn’t speak, so I went on, “That means if you don’t believe in God, you better start, because it is by God’s grace that I don’t put yo’ ass in the hospital right here, right now.”

I saw a million emotions cross her face, ending with dumbfounded again. The look on her face made me feel so damn good, because I knew the bitch was scared. I really didn’t know or care why she tried to approach me, but shit, she should have brought her friends with her.

I had to get out of there. I looked to the right to see what Diamond was doing. I needed to get out of there, because it was becoming hard to overcome the strong urge to hit the bitch in the face.

She opened her mouth to speak and I told myself if she did, I was gon’ hit her. I mean, the first word out of her mouth; I was gon’ just start taking off on that ass. I just knew what she was going to say next was gonna make me wanna hit her ass.

Nevertheless, I guess she believed in God or the power that was Diamond, because before she could open her mouth, Diamond was upon us. Instead of speaking, she turned her scary ass around to see who was behind her for the first time, and bam, there Diamond’s ass was, standing pretty damn close behind the bitch.

“Shi! Girl, we been looking for you—” I heard Diamond say, before I had the opportunity to hit Boo. Diamond stopped, looked at me and then Boo, assessing the situation. Good old Diamond, assess she did, quickly. “Problem?”

“Yup, big one,” I said, turning on my platforms and walking out of the bathroom, knowing Diamond would follow.

The rest of the night was peace and chill. I continued to party and drink, while the bitch eye stalked me from afar. I could feel her eyes on me everywhere I went, even when I couldn’t see her ass.

Shit, with all the drinks going into my system, I was seeing the people in the club as an audience. Oh, and she so did not want to approach me when I had my ass an audience. She didn’t want to meet Shi the Actress.

And the bitch didn’t. She stayed in her lane, while I enjoyed my night. I knew she knew she could never come for a real one like me.

Chapter 16

I took the next few days off, fully expecting Boo to stop by the shop. I knew it was just a matter of when, rather than if.

Problem was, I wasn’t ready when ‘when’ came.

All I can say is I got comfortable.

Kathleen had called to tell me my loan was in the final stages of approval.

“It’s on my manager’s desk,” she’d said.

I was doing hair again and though I made it my career, it wasn’t really my passion. After all I’d been through, I’d yet to think of what I wanted to do with my life. Thing was, I didn’t need to. Not only did I have enough money to retire, but also with my shop, I had a family. I had friends. I loved the people I worked with and that I was surrounded by. It was because of them that I was happy with what I did.

In addition, I knew the moment I dug my hands into Sista Atkins’ head that I missed it.

Just being in the shop felt right. The conversations, the people. I loved it.

I gave Sista Atkins a rinse and her usual tight curls.

And I had to admit, I still had it.

For my first month back, I was booked every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, up until Thanksgiving.

The day before Thanksgiving, I woke up feeling blah. I hadn’t seen Josh since the first and I wasn’t going to see him. Dr. Richards had let me know that I was going to be there after work on Wednesday, to help her get Thanksgiving dinner ready. I had it set in my mind that Josh was going with me, but my bubble burst when he told me he had to go to Arizona for Thanksgiving.

I was more disappointed because he wouldn’t have been a few hours away in Los Angeles. If he couldn’t make it, I’d planned to drive out to see him after I ate, or when I was able to sneak away. However, that plan went out the window.

Therefore, my day wasn’t as happy as it could have been.

I had a head at ten, and then I was off to Bakersfield to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Richards’.

When I got in, the shop was full. I walked in like the Queen of England, smiling and waving at people on my way to my office. I put my purse inside my desk and made my way back to my station. I sat in my chair and crossed my legs as I texted Josh, halfway listening to the conversation floating around the shop.

My head came in ten minutes late, with a hood on her head. I washed her head since Diamond was no longer just a wash girl. She had her own chair and clients. After she was washed and came out from under the dryer, I began the tedious and laborious process of a full sew-in.

The shop was clearing out as Ra’Nee and the rest of my stylists ran through their heads.

I’d just finished bee hiving my head, and was applying her cap, when someone walked into the shop.

James was sitting around waiting for his client. It was his last haircut of the day, and he swore he was only giving him five minutes before he left, because he said he had shit to do. Since he was idle, he took care of the dark-skinned, thick woman who was looking around.

“Hello, welcome to Simply Shi’s,” James’ fine ass said in his sexy ass voice. I looked up long enough to give her the once over. From what I could see, her braids didn’t need a touch up.

“Thank you…” she said, and I focused my attention back on the cap I was sewing down.

I’d finished sewing the cap down and reached for a bundle, when I heard my name and looked up. James and the woman were looking at me.

“What’s up? Who you looking for?” I asked, looking around and noticing all eyes were on me.

“Oh, I’m looking for Scheyenne Iverson,” she said, loud enough for the entire shop to hear.

“Do you have an appointment?” I asked, not acknowledging who I was.

“No, I—”

“Well, we’re not taking any walk-ins,” I explained, cutting her off as I ran my fingers through the bundle I was holding.

“I’m not here to get my hair done. I have a pressing business matter for the owner, Scheyenne Iverson. She is still the owner, right?”

“Damn, you sound like a bill collector,” Ra’Nee shouted, holding a can of hair spray.

The woman laughed out of embarrassment, as she looked around the shop at the laughing people. “No, I just have something to give her,” she explained to Ra’Nee.

I decided just to let Ra’Nee handle the situation, because I was not trying to be up in there all day working on a sew-in.

“Well, give it here and I’ll put it on her desk.”

“I can only give it to her,” she said. “I need her signature.”

“Oh, then I don’t know what to tell ya,” Ra’Nee said, spraying her head.

James was back at his station packing up, while everyone else watched on in amusement. Biscuit was sitting in his chair, Diamond was finishing her head’s micro minis, and Bey-Bey was doing her own nails.

I loved my shop; even the heads in the shop acted as if I weren’t standing right there.

“Okay. Does she have a number you could g—”

“Do you really think I’m going to give some strange woman my boss’s personal number?” Ra’Nee asked, cutting the woman off.

“Well, uh…um…” she stammered. “It’s really important I speak with her.”

“Says who?” Ra’Nee asked, handing her head a mirror.

“I’ll just leave my card and maybe stop by another time,” the woman said, digging into her messenger bag.

“Leave it up there,” Ra’Nee said, when the woman took a step to try to hand Ra’Nee her card.

Stopping in her tracks, she froze for a few seconds, and then sat the card on the front counter, right next to the phone left.

“That bitch was trying to serve you,” Ra’Nee said, the moment the door closed, and like a live studio audience, the shop laughed on cue.

“How you know?” I asked, knowing Ra’Nee was just talking to be talking.

“Because I been served befo’,” she said, straightening up her station. “I bet if you woulda said you was you, the bitch woulda walked up and been like, ‘you’ve been served’.”

Everyone was laughing as I walked over to grab the business card. The moment I looked at the card, I stopped laughing; positive Ra’Nee had no idea what she was talking about.

The business card was all white, with the unmistakable star of law enforcement in the corner. “Alameda County” was scrawled over the top of the business card.

No, the business card did not belong to a bitch trying to serve me for some lawsuit. I mean, who the fuck would be suing me?

As I stared down at the name on the card, I knew it was more than just a lawsuit. Right above two phone numbers was the name, Investigator Monroe.

It looked legit and I was sure it was. I smiled it off, and with Ra’Nee’s help, I was done with my sew-in in an hour.

Diamond and Biscuit waited behind with Ra’Nee and me, since they claimed they didn’t have anything planned.

I knew she wouldn’t mind them coming, but I called once I was done with my head to give her a heads up. She was excited to have more people over for Thanksgiving and told me she’d get the guest room ready. We’d figure out where everyone was going to sleep when we got there.

It was weird, because though I had tons to be thankful for, I didn’t feel it.

Investigator Monroe was cramping my style and fucking with my comfort.

And it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that was not the last time I was going to see Investigator Monroe.

Chapter 17

And it wasn’t.

The next time Investigator Monroe popped up was the first week of December.

Her card was buried deep in my purse, while I tried to ignore her first visit, and had she not been the police, I would have been able to do just that.

Murder, pimping and pandering, bank robbery, drug dealing and those were just a few of the growing list of felonies that were still in the statutes of limitations. Investigator Monroe could have been there to investigate any number of things.

I’d just got done pressing a head and was getting ready to leave, when Investigator Monroe walked into the shop, just as she’d done the week before.

I’d yet to try to call her, because I was praying it just all went away; that she wouldn’t be back. However, God was not answering my prayers. She walked in and our eyes met, and I knew she knew. I looked away, having a feeling that evading arrest and lying to the police were going to be added to my list of potential felonies.

In addition, I knew by the look on the bitch’s face that she meant business.

No one welcomed her this time. No one acknowledged her.

“Hello,” she said, looking at Ra’Nee and I started to clean my station with a smile.

I didn’t know why people kept fucking with Ra’Nee. Like, people gravitated to her for some reason, even the people on the wrong side of her tongue.

“Do you have an appointment this time?” Ra’Nee asked rudely.

“No, I—”

“Well, we’re not taking any walk-ins right now,” Ra’Nee said rudely, from the comfort of her chair. “We’re booked, real busy.”

Ra’Nee was a fucking nut. The bitch was just sitting there lounging. We were nowhere near as busy as we normally were.

“I haven’t heard anything from Scheyenne yet,” Investigator Monroe said politely. “I was just stopping by to see if she was in today.”

“Do you have an appointment with her?” Ra’Nee asked.

“Well no, I…” she started looking confused.

I looked up and noticed she was looking around the shop. There was something weird about the hoe. I mean, she was just standing there looking around at the smiles, and she had to know the joke was on her.

“Should I make one?” she finally asked.

There were scattered laughs around the room, which made me smile. Sure, Ra’Nee had no idea who the woman was, though I doubted she’d care if she did. Regardless, I had to give it to Ra’Nee; she was a bad bitch. She had to be to have the police looking stupid and scared.

The bitch had to be a rookie, and that was good for me. I mean, they wouldn’t send a rookie to handle a felon like me.

Would they?

“Well, what do you think?” Ra’Nee asked in a condescending tone. Investigator Monroe didn’t say anything as Ra’Nee grandstanded. “You are coming to a business, wanting to speak with the owner; not a stylist, but the owner. Now, if you need an appointment for a stylist, what do you think you’ll need for the owner?”

“Okay then, can I make an appointment?” Investigator Monroe asked.

Rolling her eyes, Ra’Nee sighed loudly as she got up out of her chair. I was trying my hardest not to laugh, as Ra’Nee grabbed the appointment book. Yawning, she walked back to her chair and took a seat. Sitting the book on her lap, she flipped loudly through the pages. After five minutes of loud flipping, she said, “The earliest appointment she has is March.”

“March?” Investigator Monroe said, as if there was a bad taste in her mouth.

“Oh, my bad, she has a cancellation in February,” Ra’Nee said, with a smile.

“I just need to know the next time she’ll be at work.”

“Oh, okay,” Ra’Nee said, looking down at the appointment book. “February eleventh.”

Investigator Monroe took a deep breath and looked around the shop again. “So, you’re telling me Scheyenne won’t be in until February eleventh?”

“At two thirty,” Ra’Nee responded. “And don’t be late, because she might just leave, and you know how hard it is to get ahold of her.”

The shop laughed and I had a feeling Investigator Monroe knew there was an inside joke. And the bitch was fed up with it, because she grew a pair. Sucking her teeth, Investigator Monroe reached inside her messenger bag. I swallowed, thinking she was going to pull out a badge as she started towards Ra’Nee. Ra’Nee closed the appointment book and all eyes were on them.

Investigator Monroe reached her arm out, handing Ra’Nee a business card. Ra’Nee looked at the card and then up at her, but didn’t take it.

“It is very important that I speak with your boss,” she said, standing in front of Ra’Nee’s chair. After a few tense, silent seconds, Investigator Monroe laughed and mumbled something under her breath. “I don’t care if you take this or not, but I am handing this to you, and I expect you to give it to her. And if I don’t hear back from her within forty-eight hours, I’ll be back with Oakland’s Finest and obstruction of justice charges.”

She dropped the card and it fell into Ra’Nee’s lap on top of the appointment book. Investigator Monroe turned on her heels and left with her head held high. Ra’Nee was looking down at the business card sitting in her lap and after reading it, she looked up slowly.

My heart was barely beating as our eyes locked for a few tense seconds. I was waiting for her to say something about it, but instead she didn’t. Instead, she did something only she would do.

Tearing up the business card, she asked, “So, did she want the appointment or nah?”

Chapter 18

Louise was sitting in a child’s room on a bunk bed humming patiently. He was waiting on his sister to finish up in the next room.

Maneuvering through his Samsung Galaxy Note 5, he logged into the ledger of a numbered account in the Zurich Cantonal Bank. He smiled at the last fifty-thousand dollar deposit into the account, and the fact that in a mere five minutes, they would be another fifty-thousand dollars richer.

The phone began to ring, while Louise stared down at it.

“Coucou Mon Cheri,” Louise said, with a smile.

“Where yo’ sister, bruh,” Rod snapped with an attitude.

“Elle est occupee,” Louise giggled. He had never met the man on the phone and the man rarely spoke to him, but he liked him. He thought he sounded hot and spent the awkward exchanges they’ve had on the phone, fantasizing about how he looked.

“Look dude, I ain’t got time for this shit,” Rod barked. “Now, put yo’ sister on the phone. We got business to talk.”

“No problem, amour,” Louise responded, as he hopped up off the bottom bunk bed.

Smiling at the man he’d never seen before, Louise walked out of the children’s room. The moment he stepped into the hall, he was met by classical music. Holding the phone to his ear, he walked down the hall to the master bedroom. Louise glided across the hardwood floor without a sound, and knocked on the room door.

The music stopped.

“Oui?” a muffled voice called from the other side of the door.

“Telephone,” Louise called back and the door opened immediately.

“He want a’, a’ mutter a’ jour?” Louise called, with her head placed against the door jam.

Thelma opened the door and told her brother the word he was looking for. “Update.”

“Update,” Louise repeated, as Thelma reached a bloody hand for the phone. Handing her the phone, Louise said the full sentence in English, “He wants a’ update.”

“Good,” Thelma smiled at him. Placing the phone to her ear, she answered, “Oui!”

“Oui! Oui! to you, momma,” Rod’s voice said, annoying Thelma instantly.

Rolling her eyes, she said, “I am busy.”

“Okay, okay,” Rod laughed. “You find anything new?”

“No,” Thelma said, leaning against the wall and examining her nails, with her hand out in front of her.

“No?”

“No,” Thelma repeated, thinking she’d vomit if he kept up with the tasteless flirting. Rodney was the perfect example of the reason she did not like American men. They skipped the romance and thought a woman was supposed to fall in love with them, just because they were men. “No one will talk.”

Louise stood across from his sister, looking like her identical twin. They were matching from head to toe, same hair, same clothes, and the same shoes.

“They’re prostitutes,” Rod snapped. Thelma ignored his little outburst as she played with the blood under her nails. After a moments silence, Rod spoke. “Where are you now?”

“Finishing up on number five,” Thelma answered. “We want full payment on time yah?”

“You work fast, momma. And don’t worry about finding Shi. I think I might know exactly where she is,” Rod said.

“Oui?”

“But I can’t make your job easy. You just keep up the good work,” Rod said. “And I promise to have your money, momma.”

“Oui?” Thelma said, rolling her eyes.

“Your accent is so sexy,” he said, making her want to gag.

“I ‘ave to go,” Thelma snapped quickly.

“Alright momma,” he said. “Check your account. I’ll add a little bonus. We should me—”

Thelma silenced him by hanging up the phone. Handing the phone back to Louise, she said in her slow, precise, accented English, “I’ll wrap this up.”

Chapter 19

Boo sat in her living room with Amanda, and La’Keysha, her best friends. They all had a Four Locos in their hand as they passed a blunt around.

Boo was literally scratching her head. She was thinking about Halloween when she’d run into Scheyenne’s bitch ass. She tried to talk to her, to see if she’d be able to reason with her. Boo didn’t really know Scheyenne, and the only reason she didn’t like her, was because she was with her baby’s daddy. For all Boo knew, Scheyenne wasn’t that bad. Boo thought that maybe she’d be reasonable and open to discussion. Boo hoped that she’d be able to speak with Scheyenne and maybe get somewhere. She thought that maybe Scheyenne would understand the position she was in, raising a child on her own, with Spin dead and all.

However, Boo was wrong. Scheyenne was her usual rude and disrespectful self, and it pissed Boo off.

Spin had been dead for four years and times were getting harder and harder. She had long since run out of the extra money she’d gotten from Spin and set aside. It was hard raising a child. Something Scheyenne didn’t have to worry about.

Boo was barely listening to her friends laughing and talking back and forth around the room. She took a sip of her beer, laughed when she heard laughter, and reached for the blunt when it was passed to her.

Boo thought about her car, which was starting to break down more and more. She didn’t have the money to fix it. In addition, had her rent not been only two-hundred dollars, she would have lost the house.

Section 8 was her blessing. Her blessing that she barely kept afloat by working at Church’s Chicken, a job she despised more and more as the days went by.

“…the bitch is rich. She got all them people running her shit,” Amanda said, passing the blunt to Boo and moving a burnt orange bang away from her dark face. “Just like them rich bitches do.”

“But it ain’t her money she flossin’ with,” Boo said, passing the blunt to La’Keysha. “That’s Spin’s money and now that Spin’s gone, it’s my baby’s money.”

“Right,“ La’Keysha said, as she hit the blunt. The room was silent as La’Keysha took her hits off the blunt. Passing it to Amanda, she took a long drink of her Four Locos. Boo did the same.

“This is some shit. She living the high life off him, while his kids struggling?” Amanda voiced, after she got the blunt and took a hit. “You still working with his other baby mommas?”

Boo nodded, “Yeah, and they doing just as bad as me. His youngest, Sunny’s mom, Carmen was killed a few years before Spin.”

“Aww, so he lost both his parents?” La’Keysha asked, grabbing the blunt from Boo.

“Right,” Boo agreed, downing the rest of her Four Locos.

As Boo sat with her friends, drinking and smoking, she hoped and prayed Mrs. Falicia called her with some good news on Monday. Her last update was nothing new. The report from the court’s investigator was the same; they could not contact her.

Long after the girls left, Boo sat in the living room thinking. Mrs. Falicia said there was nothing she could do but wait for Scheyenne to be served with the paperwork. Although Mrs. Falicia told her, she needed to stay as far away from Scheyenne as she could, she also told her that reporting Scheyenne’s whereabouts, was totally legal.

However, no one knew where the bitch was. It was as Amanda said; she had people working for her. There was no need for Scheyenne to go into work. Spin had bought and paid for her a hair shop, a shop she didn’t run.

Boo walked past her daughter’s room; she was growing up so fast. She was turning seventeen years old and she was getting more and more expensive. Boo sighed. Tiffany was her baby; she wanted to give her the world and it killed her that she wasn’t able to. It killed her that she wasn’t able to give her the life she once had; the life where she didn’t have to want for anything, the life her father’s money afforded her.

Boo’s phone began ringing. She looked down at the unknown number on her phone. Closing Tiffany’s door, she stumbled into her room, wondering who was calling. She usually didn’t pick up blocked numbers, but she was feelin’ herself and needed something to do.

Who knows, might be some dick.

“Hello,” Boo answered, closing her room door and walking to her bed.

“Boo?” a deep voice came over the phone.

“Who is this?” Boo asked, sitting on her bed.

“Is this Boo or what?”

“Nigga, who is this?” Boo snapped.

“Rod, cuz. This Boo?”

“I don’t know no Rod,” Boo said with an attitude, fully ready to hang up. She didn’t have time for niggas playin’ on the phone.

“Yeah, but I think we might be able to help each other,” Rod said, and a chill went down Boo’s spine.

Chapter 20

What could I do, turn tail and run?

Naw, I couldn’t, so I walked into work early Monday morning and went straight to my office.

I was relieved that the first face I saw was not Ra’Nee’s, though I knew I’d be seeing her face really soon. Her face, with that judging eye I knew I was not going to be able to avoid.

“You early,” Biscuit said from his chair, where he was eating a Cup-o-Noodles and watching the television closest to him.

“You gotta be if you wanna get that worm,” I said, breezing through the shop to my office.

“I know that’s right, girl,” Biscuit laughed.

I walked into my office with a smile on my face and closed the door. Sitting behind my desk, I put my purse in the bottom drawer and then pulled out my appointment book.

I had two heads a day every day, for the rest of the month, except for the weekends. And I just had to sigh looking down at the names filling my work week.

I started to flip through the pages of my appointment book, and instantly knew what I needed to do.

I needed to do my homework and figure out who Investigator Monroe was. I needed to know why the bitch was asking about me. And I knew the perfect person or people, I knew that’d be able to help me figure that shit out and possibly make it go away.

However, before I could do that, I needed to clear my schedule.

I looked at the time. It was five minutes ‘til nine. I didn’t have a head until eleven. I continued flipping through my appointment book, knowing what I’d have to do.

I walked to the door and called Biscuit, who seemed to be sleeping in the shop.

Yeah, I noticed things.

Things I didn’t ask about.

I acted as if I knew nothing about the fact that Biscuit was always at the shop. The nigga seemed to open and close the shop every day. No matter what, the nigga was here, whether he had a head or not.

My mind couldn’t help but wander to the day before Thanksgiving. The day before Thanksgiving, I only had one head and from what I noticed, so did Biscuit. I only remembered seeing his hands in one head, which he’d finished before I was done bee hiving my client’s head. The rest of the time, he was in his chair shooting the breeze and talking shop talk with us girls. I finished my head and cleaned up, while Ra’Nee helped Diamond finish her micros. After that, he got in the car and rolled out to Bakersfield with me, Diamond and Ra’Nee.

At the time, I didn’t think anything of it; other than him not having anything to do.

In addition, as he jumped at the idea of taking on my clients for the rest of the month, I wondered how long I’d have to camp out at the little farm house in Modesto?

Chapter 21

The thought of seeing B.I.T.C.H. again had my insides tingling. Them bitches go and needless to say, they taught me everything, and I meant, everything I knew.

It only took me thirty minutes to call all of my clients, apologize, and get them rescheduled with Biscuit. Each of them were cool about it, especially when I told them that I was working on a new shop. That right there was the icing on the cake.

Wrapping up my last call with Sista Atkins, who was happy I was opening up another shop, but told me she would respectfully decline Biscuit taking over her head again.

“I know you can squeeze me in somewhere,” Sista Atkins insisted.

After a brief silence, I conceded and told her that her appointment would stay the same and I’d come in, just to take care of her head. Yeah, she said she wasn’t letting me go that easily this time.

“I’ll be willing to travel to your new shop too,” Sista Atkins said, letting me know how serious about me doing her hair. I didn’t know why she wanted me, because I didn’t think I could do anything more than any of my other stylist did.

Regardless, Sista Atkins had me walking out to the front with a smile. I created my young client and joined the regular hustle and bustle of my shop. Bey-Bey, Biscuit, James, and I were the only people in and the conversation was something about Obama not doing anything for black people.

I didn’t agree. Just by him being elected, he did something for black people. I mean, come on. No one ever thought a black man would be president. And here this African white man comes along, showing little black boys that it’s possible. By being elected, Obama set a new bar of achievement for people of color. He showed us all that we could be more. He didn’t become the vice president; he didn’t even shoot for it, the nigga became the president.

Yeah, he did that.

Although I was smiling and interacting, and the thought of B.I.T.C.H. had me giddy as a schoolgirl, there was still the lingering sense of dread at seeing Ra’Nee for the first time, since she broke the law for me. Ra’Nee acted gangsta and would probably knock a bitch out, but I didn’t think she was really wit’ it.

As I looked towards the door every time someone walked by the shop, my mind was doing a number on me with who would walk in. Originally, I felt Ra’Nee was the last person I was looking forward to seeing.

But what if Investigator Monroe came in?

The thought had my heart pounding. Then, just as I was finishing my head, Ra’Nee walks in with someone behind her and I froze.

What if it was Investigator Monroe coming in behind her? What if she was leading Ra’Nee in in cuffs?

A million things ran through my mind, as I focused a little too hard on my last box braid.

“Hey!” Ra’Nee called and I looked up, feeling a sense of relief.

Standing behind Ra’Nee and waving a greeting at everyone was Diamond. I smiled not realizing it wasn’t the person behind Ra’Nee I had to worry about, but the person who walked in right after Diamond.

Chapter 22

Our eyes locked the moment Diamond walked out of the door. My heart was beating slowly as I finished off the end of my last box braids. I didn’t take my eyes off the bitch as I let my head know I was finished.

She gave a big bucktooth smile as she made a beeline towards me.

“Bitch, didn’t I tell yo’ ass not to come back here!” I heard an angel say.

Ra’Nee came out of nowhere and stepped in front of Boo blocking her from my sight.

It warmed my heart a little to see Ra’Nee still jumping to my defense.

“This is a public place. You can’t stop me—”

“Bitch, you sound stupid. This is a private business that has the right to refuse service to anyone, just like I told you before!” Ra’Nee had her hands on her hips.

“I need to talk—”

“You need to take yo’ ass back up out of—”

“Girl please,” Boo yelled. “You ain’t nobody, Ra’Nee. Ain’t nobody scared of yo’ big ass and loud mouth, now—”

“It ain’t my mouth you need to be scared of, bitch. Now, if the police won’t escort you out this time, I sho’ the fuck will,” Ra’Nee yelled, taking her hands off her hips. When I saw her fist ball up, I knew it was about to go to another level. I so did not need the bitch adding assault to the list of possible felonies she’d already committed for me by lying to Investigator Monroe. “…try me, bitch. Try me with yo’ broke, dingy ass—”

“Ra’Nee!” I tried to call over the yelling.

“…sound fucking stupid. Coming up in here for some money like someone gon’ give yo’ thirsty ass some handout…”

Boo and Ra’Nee were going at it. Everyone in the shop had stopped what they were doing to watch, and a few people had their phones out. The last thing a bitch needed was to be on World Star Hip Hop, so I rushed over towards them and put my hand on Ra’Nee’s shoulder.

“Ney-Ney,” I said.

The bitch shrugged me off. “—don’t touch me, don’t touch me!”

“Ra’Nee, ain’t nobody scared of yo big ass, so you can cut all that yellin’ like you crazy and shit…”

“Ra’Nee!” I called, putting my hand on her shoulder, before she could get started again. “Ra’Nee, I got this.”

Ra’Nee glanced at me, turned back to Boo, then looked back at me again and stepped back.

Boo sucked in her cheeks, clicked her tongue, and smiled at Ra’Nee. I wanted to slap her ass because nobody did that annoying pop thing anymore. Shit, the hood even got the message that that went out in the eighties.

“I oughta spit in yo’ stupid ass face, you dumb bitch,” Ra’Nee said

“Ra’Nee,” I said, without much emotion. “That’s not nice.”

I had a big ass smile on my face as I turned to look at Boo, who was now standing right in front of me. She looked agitated as her foot shook.

“Hey Boo, why don’t we go back into my office,” I said, with a pleasant smile that was the complete opposite of her scowl.

“Smart girl,” she said, adjusting her plastic-looking Gucci purse.

I was in my office and behind my desk by the time that she walked in.

“Close the door please,” I said.

I waited for her ass to have a seat with a calm that betrayed my nerves. I realized I didn’t know that much about Boo, so I really didn’t know what to expect. We’d never had an actual conversation; I’ve never got deep with the bitch, or asked how she liked parenting. Shit, the only times I saw her was when I was in the car with Spin, dropping off her little brat ass daughter, or when I was picking her daughter up and dropping her off. In those moments, Boo and I did not have anything good to say to one another.

Spin.

It was all because of Spin. As she sat down, I tried to be mature and go into this being cool and levelheaded. I mean, she might be a cool person, a little dusty, but cool.

“How may I help you?” I asked her after she took a seat.

She didn’t respond right away. She just stared at me, long enough for me get ready to tell her ass I had work to do.

“I think you know why I’m here,” Boo said, sitting back in her seat.

“How much?” I asked, figuring I’d cut to the chase.

Boo lifted her eyebrow and I could tell she was confused at my candor. She probably thought it was going to be nothing but yelling and drama. She probably thought I was going to be the same bitch I was in the club that night. However, just as much as I didn’t know her, the bitch knew nothing about me. Therefore, I decided to be a bitch she ain’t eva met.

“How much?” she asked, with a mug on her face. She crossed her arms.

“Yeah, how much? How much money do you want?” I knew the bitch wasn’t playing stupid. “Look Boo,” I said, feeling it would be a lot easier on both of us if I reasoned with the bitch. “The last time I saw you, I was drunk and I apologize for that interaction. Life has just been real hectic for me and despite what people say; I loved my husband.” I was a good ass actress. “Now, I can only imagine what Tiffany is feeling right now.” She had a blank ass stare on her face. “Spin didn’t have life insurance, and the feds took everything else—”

She snorted out a laugh.

“I’m sorry,” she said, after she noticed my ‘did this bitch just disrespect me when I was trying to be cordial’ face. “They took Spin’s momma’s house.” I blinked.

What the fuck?

“That’s not funny, but what is funny is how everyone else was affected by what happened to Spin, but you.”

My heart slowed.

“Okay,” I said, wondering what to say next. I mean, I wasn’t about to sit here and run down my whole life to this girl. “How much money do you want, Boo?”

Boo laughed again and shook her head. “See, I’m woman enough to admit that at first, it was about money. But, it was for my baby,” Boo said, with a blank stare. “When I tried to talk to you in the club, that’s when it was about money. But you blew me off; you didn’t reach out to me …”

I was trying to be silent and patient. I mean, why the fuck would I hit this hoe up? Why the fuck would, I talk to her about anything at all? Where in the game is it written that because I was married to Spin, we have a child with Boo?

“Let me ask you this, how much money would you put on a life?” she asked, glaring at me and I froze. I had no idea what the fuck was going on. I was having a hard time following this shit and I was sitting in front of the woman. “Everything isn’t about money, Scheyenne.”

“Then what is it about?” I asked, getting a little fed up with her cryptic ass.

“Walter Cruz,” Boo said.

I looked around like, is that name supposed to mean something to me? I was ready to tell her as much, when she decided to throw my world for a loop.

“He was my cousin; I think you might know him as Tiny.”

Chapter 23

I lifted my hand to my chin to stop my jaw from dropping. I pretended I was holding onto my chin as if I was thinking. I refused to believe it, but I had to.

I mean, come on, Tiny and Spin used to run together and Boo was Tiny’s cousin. They were both from Oakland, so it made sense. I knew she was telling the truth; the problem was, what did she know about Tiny and me? Better yet, who told her, because dead men don’t tell tales from the last I heard.

“Tiny,” I said, so that the awkward pause wouldn’t get any longer. “Tiny…” I was trying to act as if I had to remember who he was.

“Let me jog your memory,” Boo said. “Tiny… big guy… had a so-called heart attack in your kitchen a few years ago. And it has most recently come to my attention that you were responsible for this so-called heart attack.”

I just stared at her. I was hoping silence and the look on my face, would keep her from trying to point the finger at me. The finger she was correct in pointing.

“Boo, I know you’re hurting but I don’t know—”

“So you don’t know Kidd either?”

I swore my heart was no longer beating.

“Kidd?” I opened my mouth to talk, but she dropped another name that made me almost shit my pants. “Ill Will?”

She was three for three.

“Do you know who Destiny Green is? Or Marcus Peach?” I was starting to think the bitch was shooting in the dark. I had no idea who those two people were and for all she knew, the only connection I had with Tiny, Kidd, and Will, was Spin.

“Now, you asked me how much? How about you tell me how much you are willing to give me to forget about my cousin? How much are you willing to pay for revenge?” she asked, looking smug. A little too smug if you asked me. As if she knew, what she was talking about.

Moreover, it pissed me off, because if the bitch knew what she was talking about, then she knew that the bastards raped me.

“How much to keep me quiet is what you need to be asking yourself, because I think Destiny and Mark would be interested in what happened to their brothers.”

I was trying to make sure my breathing pattern did not change. She had me on hush, because I was trying to stay calm.

I wanted to shout, “Those niggas fucking raped me.” I felt the need to tell her my side, to explain myself. Something inside of me wanted to tell her it wasn’t my fault. Unfortunately, that would be a motive and damn near an admission of guilt. So instead, I sat there, imagining me jumping over this desk and taxing that ass.

“…and before you try and deny any of this, I have a little something for you to look at.”

Boo picked up her plastic-looking purse off the ground. And I smiled; the bitch was always gon’ be broke, because she kept her purse on the ground.

“Boo, I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but—” She slid two folded pieces of paper across my desk, all the while looking into my eyes. “What’s this?” I asked, looking down at the papers with an ominous look.

“Another little something that’s recently come to my attention,” Boo said.

Oh no, this was a new Boo. This woman sitting in front of me was so confident one would mistake it as smart. This bitch was keeping me on my toes

I picked up the pages as she continued, “You can keep that copy.”

I opened the folded pages and looked down at the handwriting I recognized right away.

It was mine.

She was opening Pandora’s Box and didn’t even know it.

Chapter 24

Dear Spencer, I read and then looked up at her smug smile. Heart pounding, I looked back down at the letter. There is no longer any need to pretend…

I slowly read the entire letter. I didn’t have to; I knew what it said. I read the entire thing to buy time. I needed to think and unexpectedly being put on the spot like this, had me flustered. When I got to the end of my letter, I didn’t have anything on my mind but questions. Questions, which would have made me look guilty.

I closed my eyes and sat back in my chair. I didn’t know what else to do.

I tried to steel my mind as I massaged the sides of my temples.

“What do you want, Boo?” I sighed, throwing the pages back across my desk.

Boo snatched them up and put them in her purse.

I thought she said I could keep that.

“Well, since I cannot have anything back you’ve taken from me, I guess money will do,” she said, and I knew that’s what she was after. Then why go through all this? I was willing to give the bitch money when she walked in. Why play all her cards like that?

“Okay. Well then, how much?” I asked, and that was it. That was the reason she played all her cards. I knew it right after I said it. She came in here and went hard on me, because she wanted money—a lot of money. One thing though, I wasn’t going to throw any numbers out there. I didn’t want to tip her off as to how much money I actually had. Then again, I didn’t want the bitch trying it, so I said, “I can get you a million.”

She didn’t flinch. She stared at me and then nodded. “Cut the shit, Shi, a million dollars don’t look like this.” She waved her hand around my shop.

I could practically see the dollar signs in her eyes and it was then I realized why she was coming so hard.

“It’s called work, Boo,” I said, rolling my eyes at the money-grubbing hoe. “My business is doing very well, and if you bring me your resume, I could get—”

“I ain’t working for you, bitch,” Boo yelled, losing her control for the first time.

“I ain’t gon’ be too many of yo’ bitches—”

“Bitch, you gon’ be what I want you to be,” Boo said, sitting straight up in her chair.

“I can give you a million now and then maybe another million if I—”

“Bullshit, how about five million, and I’ll make sure little Miss Perfect Scheyenne stays undisturbed on that high horse.”

“Or?” I asked, finally getting a little too fed up by the bitch.

“Or, if the police don’t get to you first, I am pretty sure Destiny and Mark will,” she stated flatly.

Did this bitch just threaten my life?

I was stuck.

Was this bitch trying blackmailing me?

This bitch was blackmailing me.

“Give me a few days—”

“Naw,” Boo shook her head.

“Boo,” I sighed. “This is not the movies. You can’t just walk up to an ATM machine and withdraw five million dollars, unless you want it wired. Were you trying to get it wired? Because I’d still have to move—”

“Unfortunately, because it took a little while to track you down, I’ve lost my patience,” she explained, getting up from her seat. “You’ve got twenty-four hours.” She was walking to the door, where she stopped before opening it. “And if you go MIA again, when you come back, you might not be able to find that little fuck boy of yours.”

With that, she was gone.

I sat there for a minute, trapped in my thoughts. I mean, how the fuck did she know about those murders? Kidd’s murder was in the papers, but Tiny and William were never found. I don’t know what Spin did with the bodies, but they were never found.

I had only confessed the murders to four people.

Dr. Richards; I would stake my life that she didn’t say anything to anyone, especially Boo.

I’d admitted it to Spin, but he was dead and I highly doubted he told her before his untimely death.

King knew too, but we all know he wasn’t the culprit.

That left one person—Vicky.

Chapter 25

The Bay was under attack, and only a fool would think East Palo Alto would be immune. Tek knew it was only a matter of time before the carnage spreading across the Bay.

That’s what Tek was worried about. That was the reason he’d decided to track down his cousin, Wayne. He and Wayne were not on the best of terms, but Tek knew if they were going to survive the destruction sweeping across the East Bay, then they’d need to put aside their differences and come together.

It took Tek over a month to locate his cousin, who seemed to ignore his calls until his number changed, again.

Tek was on his way home from getting a haircut, when he spotted Wayne standing outside of Big Ant’s food truck, parked in a parking lot on University Avenue.

“There that nigga is, rogue,” Tek said to Tone, who was sitting in the passenger seat rolling a blunt.

“Who?” Tone asked, licking the blunt and looking around.

Tek pulled the Dodge Magnum into the Chevron at the corner of University Avenue and Bell Street. “Wayne,” Tek responded, parking next to the air and water. “Come on.”

“Wait up, rogue,” Tone said, opening his door and rushing out. “You sure ‘bout this?”

Tek was already on the corner, walking down the street to the parking lot across from Bell Street Park. Tone knew Tek was ignoring him. He was a hothead and did what he wanted when he wanted. He walked into dangerous situations all the time and didn’t give a fuck. He’d been doing that since they were children, and just as he was right now, Tone followed behind him, hoping he wasn’t following Tek to their deaths.

“Aye rogue,” Tone called again.

“Stop worrying, rogue,” Tek said, turning into the parking lot where his cousin stood, waiting for food with an entourage.

Five, Tek thought, counting the men surrounding his cousin; he mentally matched them to a bullet in his gun. Though he hoped and knew, it more than likely wouldn’t go that way, but if it did, he liked to be prepared.

“What’s up, rogue?” Tek asked; walking into the group, just as Wayne spotted him.

Wayne stared at Tek with a slight snarl, before he lifted his head in greeting. The group was silent as Tek stood in front of them. He wasn’t too worried about the other niggas; he was only there to talk to his cousin.

“Yo’, ‘sup, cuz?” Tek asked, lifting his head up. “I been looking for you.”

Wayne’s hazel eyes lit up as he sighed, “Well, you found me.”

Tek gazed into his cousin’s eyes, hurting. They used to be best friends; they were as thick as thieves were—the three amigos. It was Wayne, Tek, and Tone for life.

“We need to talk,” Tek said, not wanting to think of the reason he and his cousin fell out.

“Talk then,” Wayne said. “I’m right here.”

Tek shook his head. He couldn’t even get a little bit of his time in private. He needed to talk to him about Taliban business, family business. You didn’t just do that in front of any ole nigga. However, Tek wasn’t going to let Wayne call his bluff. He knew the rules, just as well as he did.

“We might have a problem,” Tek said. Wayne didn’t show any signs that he was listening. He looked away from Tek to the food truck.

“What kind of problem?” Wayne asked, once he realized Tek wasn’t going to continue.

“We might have a problem with some stick-up kids,” Tek said, staring into Wayne’s eyes. “And—”

“Might? So, you a psychic now?”

Tek paused and then finished, “And they already shut down—”

“What does any of this have to do with me, rogue?” Wayne asked, cutting Tek off again.

“They coming for us, rogue,” Tek said. “It’s only a matter of time.”

Wayne looked off to the sides of him at his entourage then back at Tek. “Let me holla at you, rogue.” He separated from his group and walked off.

Tek turned to see Tone standing right behind him. He nodded at him, signaling him to stay while he went off to discuss business with his cousin.

“Did you have to bring your girlfriend?” Wayne asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

“What’s up with you talkin’ to me like a busta, Way?” Tek asked in a low tone. “Our blood run deeper than the Taliban Boys—”

Wayne snorted a laugh.

“Nigga, I ain’t a part of no Taliban Boys,” Wayne spat. “This Taliban on mines. I ain’t part of y’all next generation shit. I ain’t no sellout.”

Tek shook his head growing impatient. “Keep talkin’ to me like we ain’t grow up together. You already know; I’ll shut all this shit down.”

Tek was trying to keep his cool. He knew better than to draw down on family. He felt that was the only reason Wayne hadn’t had him killed.

“Then why the hell you here?” Wayne asked with a smile. His grill caught a glimpse of sunlight. Wayne raised his eyebrow. “Go lay that shit down then, rogue. And think about me when you sprayin’, because that’s the closest yo’ ass gon’ get to pullin’ a gun on me.”

Tek and Wayne were locked in a death stare. Tek knew why Wayne didn’t fuck with him and if there was anything he could do to change it, he would, but he couldn’t.

“We family, rogue,” Tek said. “We gone need all the Taliban for this—”

“Then go get ‘em, go round ‘em up,” Wayne told him. “Oh yeah. You need me.”

“Rogue, the Taliban ain’t supposed to be divided,” Tek said. “The Taliban is here to—”

“Don’t give me no damn history lesson on my father’s legacy,” Wayne said. “The Taliban was divided the minute that Mid-town niggas sided with the enemy. You wanna make a move, go ask yo’ master Bin Laden. That is his name right?”

Tek took a deep breath.

“If the Mid is scared and wants to go to war, because they feel threatened by some stick-up kids across the water, then go,” Wayne said, turning away from Tek when someone from his entourage called him. “But don’t count on Menlo to help,” Wayne said, walking away. “We not interested, rogue.”

“Not even if them stick-up kids is trying to restart Spin City?” Tek asked, predicting his cousin would stop in his steps.

The man hated Spin with a passion. All of East Palo Alto did, but none as much as Wayne. Spin and Wayne had crossed paths several times, and each time shots were fired. The feud didn’t get real though, until Spin killed three people whom Wayne knew personally.

Freemen Iverson, Anthony Johnson and Uncle Tommy Gibbs.

Wayne looked at Tek and Tek knew he was thinking. Wayne then turned around without a word, leaving Tek staring after his back.

Chapter 26

Boo didn’t hear back from Scheyenne for two weeks and it pissed her off. The only saving grace for Boo was the fact that she had the money. There it was—five-million dollars—much more than they thought they’d get.

I can’t believe it was that easy, she thought, knowing it was only easy because she had it. Though the five-mil might hit her pockets, she knew there was more where that came from. It had to be. How else were they paying for them?

Boo looked down at the cell phone she was still clutching. It’d been an hour since she spoke to Scheyenne, and she was still going over the conversation in her head.

“Hey Boo, it’s Shi…” Boo mimicked, shaking her head.

She knew the bitch was foul from the day Spin stopped by to introduce her as his wife, when he was coming to see his daughter.

That shit was so disrespectful, Boo thought. Spin ups and vanishes on her for months. He doesn’t call or text, which was normal. He vanished every once in a while, but he always came back. Though he was missing for a little longer than normal, he proved true to nature and called her, talking about he wanted to see his daughter. That’s how it always started; he called and said he wanted to see Tiffany.

After Tiffany, it was Boo time, but not this time.

This time he showed up at her doorstep with Scheyenne.

Boo shook her head and started scrolling through her call log. Selecting the number that had started calling her a few months ago; Boo put the phone to her ear.

“I think I might know where she is,” Boo said, once the phone stopped ringing.

“Where?”

“No, no, no,” Boo said laughing. “Don’t play me, Rod. Money talks.”

“Alright, I’ll send Sick-Wit-It with yo’ money,” Rod answered.

“Hold up,” Boo said, looking around her living room, so as not to be overheard by her daughter. “After I get my money, I want the bitch dead.”

Chapter 27

I wanted the bitch dead.

I thought about calling B.I.T.C.H., but I didn’t have a number to call. The most I could do was do what I had planned, drive to Modesto and wait.

Naw, I could handle Boo. I decided to think of it as a warmup. They didn’t need to be involved in this fight. This was my battle. I’d fought too hard for my happiness and I wasn’t going to let it go that easy, so I decided I would kill her.

I found Boo’s number on Simply Shi’s caller ID. She clearly had a Metro, because the caller ID just said, “Boo.”

She still tried to act hard and cocky, even when I told her I had the money. I let her believe she won, but the bitch couldn’t leave good enough alone. No, her ass was trying to do the most and talking to me as if I was a bitch. After she was done flappin’ her gums about some bullshit, I wasn’t trying to hear, she told me to hold onto the money and she’d call me with the drop.

I guess since I made her wait, she was playing a little game and trying to make me do the same.

However, I was impatient, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

You know, to be honest, it had more to do with me being upset with Josh, than Boo. Still, Boo was going to be the target of my misguided anger. Who knew, maybe I’d just scare the bitch half to death.

I was at home arguing with Josh. We were not spending Christmas together, just as we didn’t spend Thanksgiving together. It was eight o’clock and Josh was supposed to be at my house hours ago. He promised to spend the new year with me, as if we were splitting holidays.

“Something came up, babe,” he told me, not really elaborating. I didn’t feel like pulling teeth and asking. I mean after all he was a drug dealer. From what I learned being married to Spin, drug dealers never really talked business with their significant others. “I’m still coming. I’m about to leave now.”

He was full of shit.

“It’s okay,” I told him, not in the mood to wait another three hours for him to show up. “I’m not feeling that good.”

“All the more reason for me to come,” he said, insinuating that he was trying to take care of me. As sweet as that sounded, I went ahead and declined.

“No, I’m on my period,” I told him, explaining what not feeling good meant.

“FaceTime?” he asked, when he figured I wasn’t going to move.

“No,” I said laughing, but not trying to lighten my mood.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I ain’t broadcasting my cycle over the internet. Big brother is watching, nigga.”

“You bunk,” he sighed.

“No, what’s bunk is you not wanting me to meet your parents,” I snapped quickly, voicing my feelings.

“What? Aww, Shi…” he sighed. “You don’t really feel that way?”

Though that wasn’t the issue at hand, I did feel that way.

“What am I supposed to feel?” I asked.

“That my parents, specifically my father, is an extra-traditional, proud African man and you just popping up with me on a family holiday, like some girl I met while I was back in school, is not the way I want to introduce you,” Josh said, in one long, calm breath.

“So your parents think you’re a college student?” I asked, curious about what kind of lie his parents were living.

“Focus Shi,” he said firmly, and I rolled my eyes as if he could see it through the phone. “You know how I feel about you.”

“Do I?” I asked dryly, figuring I’d have to get ready with the nigga on the phone.

“Stop being stubborn,” he said.

I walked to the closet and found the shoebox, which housed the unregistered pistol I got from King, when we robbing two banks in Palo Alto.

“You know how I feel about you, and you should know that I want you here with me more than anything in the world, baby,” he explained. “But even more than that, I want my parents to like you. Okay?”

“I guess,” I said, paying more attention to loading the gun than to his sweet-talking.

I guess he could tell I wasn’t paying attention to him, because he threw a Hail Mary. “How about we get together after New Year’s and set something up? Maybe you could bring Dr. Richards and Mark.”

“Maybe,” I said, walking out of the closet with all-black velour sweats.

The line became silent, so I put him on speaker and started moving around the room, getting ready to go commit yet another murder.

When I was dressed, I said, “Hello?”

“Yeah,” Josh responded. It was almost nine.

“Well, I’m gonna go to sleep,” I told him when I was ready to walk out the door. I was sitting on the bed, thinking I’d get some type of argument, but I didn’t.

“Okay,” he sighed. “I guess I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

“Yep,” I said. Hanging up and grabbing my purse, I left Diamond a note. I left the door unlocked, just in case I needed to get in fast.

Chapter 28

I took Diamond’s car, because the bitch knew how my car looked. I sat outside her run-down Section 8 Oakland house, watching. Her little beat-up Nissan was parked on the street, and every light looked like it was on.

I sat across the street from her place, scrolling through my Facebook timeline, bored outside of my mind. I looked up at the place, wondering if her little fast ass daughter was in there.

Long as her little fast ass stay in her lane, because she can get it too.

I didn’t know anything about the bitch’s house, so I had no idea what I was going to do. I didn’t even know what I was going to do when I’d made up my mind that I was going to kill her.

I mean, I couldn’t just run through her house on some gangsta shit, because too much could go wrong. Especially with me not knowing where I was going. That’s if I could get inside without being noticed. I didn’t think the bitch was dumb enough to leave her doors unlocked.

I briefly thought about just knocking on the door and blasting when she opened it. Too many things could go wrong by doing that. The first being, I didn’t have a silencer. The second being, I didn’t know if she would be the one opening the door, nor did I know how many people were inside.

Knowing Boo, she probably had some man up in her bed.

I was plotting my kill when I saw the lights go out. My heart started speeding up. She was going to sleep; it was time. I reached for the car door and opened it slowly. I had the interior lights off, so they wouldn’t alert anyone that someone was in the car.

I opened the door and quickly shut it when I saw her screen door open. I couldn’t slam the door, because I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself. I left it slightly open and dipped the seat back.

I waited until I heard her car start, before I peeked up over the door.

Diamond’s tints kept me hidden, so I didn’t have to worry about that.

“And where are you going?” I asked myself as she drove away.

Wherever she was going, I guessed I was going too.

I followed the bitch to exactly where one would expect to find a ratchet, broke bitch from Oakland, with a kid, on every night of the week.

The club.

She parked in an alley off Webster. I doubled the block quickly and then illegally parked in a handicapped parking space on 15^th. I pretty much knew where she was going from how many times she circled the block. Therefore, I waited, biting my nails, waiting for her to cross the street at the light ahead of me.

I saw her stop at the corner and look around for cars. Not seeing any, she jaywalked and I couldn’t help but think she didn’t look dressed for the club. Then again, it was Boo. She would go to a club wearing black jeans, a hoodie, and some tennis shoes.

They were so not letting her ass in the building like that.

I watched as she jaywalked and waited for her to vanish behind a building. I opened the car door and stepped out into the cool night air. I looked down at my Jordan’s and realized I was dressed just like Boo, and there was no way in hell I was going to a club dressed like that. Hell, if I managed to get in, I knew I would call too much attention to myself. I didn’t really fit in, wearing a black velour sweat suit.

What if she sees me?

I stood there with the car door wide open as I tried to think. I was standing there for a cool minute, before what I should have done from jump popped into my head.

I got back in the car and started back the way I came.

Her house.

Chapter 29

The salon had been closed for hours, but Biscuit was still there. His last head, which was one of Shi’s heads, took him until ten thirty to finish. Then he had to clean up. His clean up only took fifteen minutes, so if he wanted, he could have been home by eleven.

If he wanted, were the key words.

Biscuit didn’t want to. He liked the shop and the peace and quiet it gave him.

Over the last month, he’d purposely overbooked himself and scheduled his heads later in the day. Now that he had Shi’s clients, he didn’t need an excuse to stay late or have to volunteer to close the shop.

Shi didn’t care, because he was taking over her heads once again, and Ra’Nee didn’t care, because that meant she didn’t have to stay late.

They didn’t know the pressure he was under since his grandma got sick. His auntie moved in to help, but was actually causing so much hell that he dreaded going home.

Instead, he didn’t. He worked late, closed up and just chilled by himself, in the dark. Sometimes he watched TV, but mostly, he turned the lights out, lay back on the couch and listened to music until the early morning.

This night was no different from any other. He stretched himself out on the couch and tuned into KMEL’s Lounge. He checked his phone, liked a few posts and posted a few times on his timeline, before drifting off.

When Biscuit slept, he slept hard. He might have slept through the breaking glass had he not needed to pee. Laying there debating going to the bathroom, Biscuit drifted off again until he heard something loud slam.

“Hello!” Biscuit called from the couch as he sat up.

Planting his feet on the ground, Biscuit started rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Stretching, Biscuit yawned and got up, looking around the shop. It was still dark, and the shop looked undisturbed; nothing out of the ordinary.

Biscuit shrugged and walked to the bathroom, singing along with Jodeci’s “Lately”.

“Lately, I’ve had the—” Biscuit tried to sing softly.

The light to the office was on. Biscuit didn’t remember turning it on.

Or maybe I never turned it off, he thought, making his way to the office. Biscuit made his way to the office, but stopped a few feet away.

“…hurry up…”

“Shut up, I’m tryin—”

“Shhhh.”

“Why, ain’t nobody here.”

What the fuck? Biscuit wondered, trying to get closer to the voices, without making a sound. He was trying to see if he was able to recognize the voices, but they stopped. He was standing around the corner from the office. He strained his ears to hear, but all he heard was papers and things moving. When he heard a file cabinet close loudly, he jumped and backpedaled over something. He flew back into one of the workstations, knocking everything over.

“Fuck!” he said, grabbing at his head.

“Fuck is right,” Biscuit heard. “Now, who are you?”

Chapter 30

Josh no longer needed his GPS. He’d made the trip far too many times to need it to get to where he was going.

Sure, Shi told him not to come, but he didn’t care. He was worried about her, about losing her. He knew not spending the holidays together was putting a wedge in their relationship; something that he didn’t want.

Though he knew that he couldn’t give himself to her fully yet, he didn’t want to lose her. He was willing to take the steps he needed to take in order to be with her.

Yes, he thought she was beautiful, from the moment that he spotted her in Jamaica, but so were the majority of the women he saw on the island. Something about her called out to him. She had a hard vulnerability that turned him on. He had to go and speak to her, no matter the danger or the harm. He had to go and be in her presence, and that was a big mistake, because the moment he saw her eyes, he wanted her.

More than wanted, he longed for her. He longed to the point that he thought about her when he slept. That’s why he’d slipped out late with his iPod to explore the hotel, where he found an unlocked ballroom on the fourth floor. Exploring the dark room, he found a grand piano and got excited. Inspecting the piano, he discovered it was in perfect working condition. Smiling, he rushed back to his room and grabbed his iPod speakers.

Returning to the piano in the ballroom, he set up his iPod and iPod speaker on top of the piano. He started to play to the music, song after song, thinking about his life. He was dwelling on the reason he was in Jamaica when Ne-Yo’s, “Stay With The Real Thing” came on. He instantly put it on repeat.

His mind was instantly taken to his situation as he wondered whether he’d find his real thing. The song was ending for the fourth time and the next thing that happened, Josh could only think of as destiny. He started to play along with Ne-Yo again when something, or rather someone, caught his eye. He stopped playing and looked. Walking out of the shadows was the woman that had him losing sleep.

She said her name was Niema.

He saw Niema’s face and thought he was dreaming, but she’d shaken her head when he stopped playing. He hesitated, and then continued to play as she moved closer. She slowly floated over to him and into his heart from that moment.

Every moment he spent with her after that, reinforced that he wanted her, and nothing could change that.

Not even her lies, because, no matter what lie she told, it had nothing to do with who she was. Besides, it wasn’t as if he was very honest with her from the jump. Nevertheless, he was going to fix that and he was going to fix it very soon.

Now, he’d gotten too close to have her push him away. He’d gotten a taste of her and he needed her, he wanted her. He knew she was just upset with him about not spending the holiday season together. Though he wanted to do nothing more than spend the holidays, and every day with her, it just wasn’t the right time.

The problem was that he didn’t want to lose her, waiting for the right time to come.

She said she was on her period, but he knew that was a lie. He knew women did some strange things on their periods and could be borderline, if not, evil. He knew that they didn’t want to be bothered and were easily irritated. He also knew they didn’t have more than one period in a month and if they did; then there was something wrong.

If something was wrong with her; that only enforced his decision to ignore her attitude over not spending the holidays together. Josh got on the road and headed for the Bay.

Chapter 31

The bitch didn’t return home until four a.m. and for some reason, Josh started blowing me up around three. I just let his calls go to voicemail, though I had a feeling that something was wrong. I mean, I’d told the nigga I was sleeping because I was on my period, and there he was, blowing me up.

I ignored his voicemails. It wasn’t the time for that.

To be perfectly honest, I was happy and a little surprised when I realized her daughter wasn’t home alone. I didn’t want to have to kill her little ass too.

I parked the car on the next block and walked around to her house. My heart was speeding faster, the closer I got to her house. I knew I could look suspicious to someone, so, I had to act as if I belonged, in case anyone was watching. The first thing I did was walk to the front door and knock, praying to God that no one was home. I didn’t need any witnesses.

No one answered. Something in my head told me that if anyone was inside, they were asleep, but I pushed on.

After no one answered, I looked around to make sure no one was looking, not that I would have known, to be honest. I knocked again for show, and then walked around the house. Hoping she didn’t have a dog, I hopped the fence to the backyard. I crept around to the back of the house, where I saw a screen door off its hinges. I pulled my hand into my sweater and grabbed the knob. I had to lift the door to open it. I grabbed for the knob to the back door, thinking, it cannot be this easy, but it was. I was in.

I wasn’t interested in looking around. I wasn’t robbing the bitch and if she was trying to blackmail me, then she didn’t have shit I wanted. Still, I had to make sure no one was in the house. I pulled out my gun and slowly made my way through the kitchen, trying not to jump at the sounds the place made. This old, run-down place made plenty noise.

I made my way through the dirty kitchen to the hall by the light of my phone.

The hall was dark and this shit had my ass scared as fuck. What if someone jumped out at me? What if I was being set up?

For what though?

I prayed she didn’t come home before I was set up.

Once I figured I was there by myself, I found my way to the living room, where I found a seat in a dark corner. I sat down and waited patiently, as I checked my phone; I guess Josh gave up and realized I was asleep. With each passing second, I stayed in that hooker’s house, watching YouTube videos to pass time; I was getting pissed off. I was fucking falling asleep, and was about to get up and walk around, when I heard a car door close.

I was instantly up and alert.

I stared at the door, head hurting from the strain I was putting on my eyes. I had to stop myself from tapping my foot. I was nervous and that was not a good thing. Nervousness had me thinking it was okay to let off, just as soon as she opened the door. Nervousness had me not caring if her daughter was with her.

She played the game, I thought, closing my eyes to try to prepare myself. I had to be Sheisty Shi.

I opened my eyes and put my phone in my pants pocket when I heard the keys. It was two minutes to four and had she come home a little later, I would have been gone. I couldn’t kill her ass in broad daylight. Naw, that shit right there just wasn’t going to fly. I wasn’t that stupid.

I sat in the dark patiently with my gun in my hand, resting in my lap.

The door flew open and I could see her shadow coming in. I was going to wait for her ass to close the door and turn the lights on.

However, she wasn’t alone.

Chapter 32

It was then that I started to have second thoughts.

B.I.T.C.H. had taught me well in the short time that we had together, but it was gone. I couldn’t remember a damn thing as I sat there, scared out of my mind.

I tried not to breathe as I clutched my gun, wishing I’d brought a silencer, but I couldn’t turn back now.

I silently lifted my gun as I waited for her to close the door and turn on the lights.

“This way,” she said, and my heart started beating faster, though I was flooded with relief.

The two figures didn’t even look my way. Probably because her dirty ass living room was no place to entertain a random nigga that you just brought home from the club.

Perfect, I thought. Now I’m going to have to kill this nigga too.

The hall light turned on and I caught a glimpse of a large man’s back as he struggled with something in his arms.

I looked at the door, not feeling ready for this. Then again, who was ever ready to commit a double homicide?

I took a deep breath and let it out slow and silently, as I got up off the sofa. I pulled my hood down and made my way to the hall.

“…I know that bitch got more money,” I heard Boo saying as I approached the hall, “we just need to figure out how much.”

“But we were only supposed to ask for three.”

The voice stopped me cold. I knew it, as if I was very familiar with it. I just couldn’t put a face to it. I turned back to look at the door again. I wasn’t going anywhere. I might have just found out who was giving her insider information about me.

I quickly dismissed it as not being Spin. I thought of the only two people in his inner circle that were still alive, and quickly dismissed them. D-loc was in jail, dying a slow death I hoped, and though Rod escaped a bullet from me, he was doing some time too.

I didn’t know who the man was, but if he was working with Boo to blackmail me, then he knew about Tiny, Kidd and Will, and he had to die too.

I held tight to my gun for courage and then continued moving again.

“…and I got five,” Boo responded. “Think about it, how much were we really going to get from this? They playing with us, five hundred thousand to find her. But she worth two million on the list.”

“Hey, you not supposed to know about that—”

“Don’t worry, your secrets safe with me,” Boo snapped.

What the fuck was going on?

My heart was pounding so fast, it felt like my chest was numb. I put my back against the wall as I inched closer and closer to the kitchen on the right. I prayed they stayed where they were.

I could hear papers rustling in the brief silence, before Boo said, “See, I wanna breathe the bitch. And we might be able to squeeze the bitch for more money, if we find anything in here.” I was outside the kitchen. I tried to look inside, but I wasn’t able to see them. “Might as well milk the bitch before they put a bullet in her.”

Kill me? I thought as I stood silently in the hall. What the fuck?

“Word,” the familiar man said.

“We just need to find—”

Boo stopped talking, as I stepped into the kitchen with my gun in my hand.

Chapter 33

“What—”

“Shut up, bitch!” I said in a hoarse whisper.

Boo was sitting at a table off to the corner with an old Public Storage box, full of papers and folders. She had her hands in the box, taking papers out.

“Taxes?” I asked, as I looked at the man. My breath damn near caught as I realized who it was, but once I realized who he was, I smiled and felt a little more at ease.

Oh, these bitches deserved one another and every bit of what was coming their way.

However, I had a question.

This shit was just too surreal. Shit like this just didn’t happen to people. I remembered Dr. Richards asking if I thought I invited this kind of stuff into my world. I felt as if I didn’t, but who was I?

“Long time; no see, Sick-Wit-It,” I said, with a mischievous smile. The man looked as if he was scared shitless, as he should be.

“Now, clearly you don’t know how I get down, Boo, but Sick-Wit-It?”

I took a step further into the kitchen and he quickly threw his hands up. “Shi… Shi… wait. Just let me explain,” Sick-Wit-It managed to get out.

“Sicky Poo, it is five in the morning and I have a million-dollar business to run,” I explained, winking at Boo. “Now, the way I see it, is…” I began, taking a page outta Boo’s book. “You will answer my questions honestly, or I shoot you.” I shrugged. “Thing is, if this gun goes off, you have about five minutes to make me not kill you, before I have to dip.”

I had to give it to Boo. If she was scared, I couldn’t tell. She just looked pissed.

“Now, I bet you already know what I’m going to ask—”

“It was her; I didn’t want to do it, Shi. She set it up, and we just b—”

I put my gun to my lips to silence him. “Shhh, let me ask first, because I’d hate for you to be answering the wrong question, Sick-Wit-It.” I was having fun playing with this nigga. He was scared as hell; his yellow eyes were locked on me. He looked like a scared rabbit.

I noticed him rub the top of his hand and I smiled. The last time I’d seen him, I’d put a bullet in that ass. “What the fuck is going on? Sum it up for me,” I said, taking another step closer.

“We—”

“A shakedown, bitch,” Boo said, cutting Sick-Wit-It off. “You the worse kind of bitch—”

She clearly was underestimating the situation. A gun gives you power and power can be misused, especially when you calling me a bitch.

“I don’t think you understand the situation,” I said, gripping the gun tighter. “I am the only reason you are still breathing, you secondhand-me-down, bitch.”

“You a bad bitch with that gun, though,” Boo said, clearly trying to get me to put my gun down; not a chance.

Shaking my head, I looked down at my gun and that was a mistake. I looked back up at Boo and it happened so fast. I started to say, “Naw, I’m just a bad bit—”

Before I could finish, Boo threw the box off the table. I looked down, temporarily caught off guard when it crashed to the ground, sending papers everywhere. I looked back up; I was ready to shoot the bitch and ask her if she was stupid, when I saw the gun.

I froze; she had me. Then something big smashed into me, sending me flying back into the stove. I was knocked back with so much force, I saw little spots floating around. I could hear tiny popping sounds and glass breaking as she shot at me.

My gun was sitting next to me. I grabbed it and covered my head. I saw Sick-Wit-It next to me, collapsed into the refrigerator. He’d rushed me and must have gotten hit.

My heart was coming out of my chest. I looked up in the process of covering my head and saw Boo standing across the room, looking from Sick-Wit-It to me. When she realized that I hadn’t been hit, she quickly pointed her gun at me. However, I had mine pointed at her and I was pulling the trigger wildly, dumping at that ass.

She was able to fire one last time, before she hit the wall behind her and fell, slumped down in the kitchen chair.

Chapter 34

My heart was pounding and my ears were ringing. I saw movement to my right and quickly pointed my gun, but nobody was there.

Not even Sick-Wit-It.

“Fuck!” I yelled, looking back at Boo’s lifeless body.

I needed to get the hell outta there. I leaned over on my left arm to push myself up, but I fell over. My arm was numb, probably from when Sick-Wit-It knocked me into the stove.

“Oww,” I moaned, thinking, what the fuck? What the fuck did I just walk into, and why?

I pushed myself back up, scared outside my mind. I reached over for my arm and felt a sharp sting as soon as I touched it.

I couldn’t worry about it; I needed to get outta there.

I lifted myself up with my good arm, gun still clutched in my hand. I looked up at Boo as if she was going to get back up. While trying to get up, something caught my eye. I looked back at Boo again, to make sure her ass didn’t pull some Walking Dead shit on me.

I looked at one of the papers that were scattered across the floor. On my knees, I looked down at it, tilted my head, and froze. I climbed to my knees and scrambled over to the mess of papers on the ground. Using the tip of my gun, I started pushing papers around until I saw my handwriting.

“What the fuck?” I said, looking back up at Boo. “What the fuck were you guys up to?”

I crawled to a manila folder, with a title that I’d written.

I turned back to look at Sick-Wit-It, wondering what they were doing with my files from Simply Shi’s.

Well, I guess I knew why since I’d overheard half of their conversation.

However, I was confused on how they got them.

“Fuck!” I yelled again, looking around the pages on the floor. I used the tip of the gun to sift through the papers on the ground. I was going to climb to my feet when something caught my eye.

It was a simple piece of white paper with wrinkle folds all over the page. I slid it closer and my heart started pounding as I read down the list of names and numbers. My heart nearly stopped when I saw my name at the bottom.

Knowing I was there too long already, I snatched up the page with the same hand my gun was in and climbed stiffly to my feet.

I had no idea what to do. I had no idea what this was, but I was way in over my head with this one.

I should have let B.I.T.C.H. handle this, I thought. Only I would stumble into some bullshit like this.

Slowly, I started coming to life and getting ready for action. I thought about packing the box up, but there wasn’t enough time, especially with one arm. Someone could have heard the shots and I was scared the police were on their way. If they weren’t, I was sure Sick-Wit-It and whoever else that might be in on this shit would be.

I had to get outta here and by here, I meant the Bay Area.

Clutching my gun and the piece of paper with my name on it, I hurried to the back door, only slowing when I passed Boo. I opened the door and left the way I came, not bothering to close the screen. I put my gun back in my pocket and this time used the little cord to open the back gate I’d jumped earlier.

Something wasn’t right and the piece of paper in my pocket was the proof. I needed to hurry up and get out the way before someone saw me. I needed to get back to my car.

As if I was a paranoid crack head, I kept looking around until I was safely back in the car.

I sat back in the seat and started the engine. I couldn’t rest there. In addition, I still couldn’t feel my damn arm.

Not hearing any sirens, I turned on the interior lights and pulled the paper out of the little pocket my jumpsuit. I ignored the numbness in my arm and ran my eyes down the page.

Next to my name was two million dollars.

What the fuck? Was that what they were supposed to blackmail me for? I looked at the name right above mine and froze, but before I could think, there was a sharp pain in my arm. I quickly grabbed my arm and helped it tight, trying to stop the pain.

I sat still for a second until the pain subsided. I knew I must have dislocated my arm; after all, it wouldn’t have been the first time.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to go. I reached up to turn out the lights, when I saw the blood on my fingers. At first, I thought it was Boo’s, until I realized I never touched her, and she was too far for her blood to get on me.

I reached up to touch my arm again. I didn’t need to tell myself it wasn’t Sick-Wit-It’s, because I knew that I was shot from the sharp pain stabbing at my arm.

Wow, the bitch had shot me.

Chapter 35

I needed to go after Sick-Wit-It. I needed to find that nigga. He had a few things he needed to help me make sense of and then the nigga needed to die. #NoWitness. But first, I needed medical attention. Thing was, I couldn’t go to the hospital with a gunshot wound. I didn’t know if the bullet was in me or not.

“Fuck!” I yelled, driving to the freeway as I took occasional glances at the list with my name on it, sitting on my passenger seat. The only place I could go was home. I did all I could to make sure that I obeyed all of the traffic laws as I drove home. I was almost at the Dumbarton Bridge, when the feeling returned to my arm. I almost swerved into the side rail. I could only imagine how much blood I was losing, because I was feeling weak and cold.

I turned onto University Avenue and took the back streets home, so I was able to speed. I managed to park sloppily in the driveway without hitting my car.

It was pushing six o’clock and I was feeling as if I was going to pass out. I threw the car in park and turned it off. Every move I made hurt. It felt like my arm was on fire.

This bitch fucking shot me, I thought, trying to reach over and open the door with my right hand. It took me four times to get the door open and damn near ten minutes to get out the car. Standing and walking only made matters worse. I thought I’d pass out before I got to the door.

I was whimpering like a wounded dog by the time I climbed the steps to the porch, and fell into the front door. I grabbed the knob and tried to open it, but it was locked. I didn’t remember locking the door; I’d thought I had left it unlocked.

I managed to open the door in the dark, knowing there was probably a pool of blood in Diamond’s car and then a trail leading into the house. I fell into the house and dragged myself a few steps with my good arm, before kicking the door closed.

The house was dark and silent, save my moans and gasps for air. I thought about calling Diamond, but something was stopping me. I knew I needed help and I knew I needed it fast.

I lay on the ground with my eyes closed, trying to muster strength and courage to pick my ass up and go to my room. I needed to see how bad it was.

I was able to crawl like a three-legged dog to the sofa and then push myself up from that. I used the sofa to get me to the hall and then the wall to slide down to my room. I stopped at Diamond’s room door to rest, knowing I’d more than likely have to call her.

Depending on how bad it was, I thought, knowing I was being stupid. It was bad; it had to be.

I got to my door, opened it with my free hand and went inside, damn near hitting the ground. I kicked the door closed and then let out a loud groan.

I had to get to the bathroom and see how bad it was. I needed to get up, but I wanted to go to sleep. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe, in and out, in and out. I wanted to go to sleep; I was so tired.

I couldn’t go to sleep, because I wasn’t sure if I’d wake up. That bitch was not going to be the end of me. I opened my eyes and noisily got up; feeling my heart beat just as fast as I was breathing. I wanted to reach for the light, but I didn’t have it in me. I didn’t even think I had it in me to get to the bathroom. I tried to take a step, but my feet stopped working. I fell back into the door hard and screamed in pain.

I couldn’t do it. “Help,” I rasped. “Help!” I tried again. Either I wasn’t screaming loud enough, or my hearing was fucked up. “Help!” I tried again, heart pounding as I touched my legs. “D—”

“Shi?”

My heart stopped.

“Shi?”

That wasn’t Diamond, and his voice was coming from inside my room.

A little delayed, I reached in my pocket for my gun, though I knew I probably didn’t have any bullets. I didn’t know who the fuck was in my room, but they were gon’ get it. I guess the adrenaline kicked in, because my arm was going numb again. My heart was kicking back into gear, as I pointed the gun towards my bed where the voice came from.

I was scared outside of my mind. My heart was going to pop out of my chest, until the sidelights on the nightstand and the lights over my bed came on.

I swept my gun to the right, pointing it at Josh.

I guess my poor little body couldn’t take anymore, because once my heart dropped, so did I. My brain was overloaded. The gun felt heavy in my hand and dropped, just as everything went black.

Chapter 36

Sick-Wit-It didn’t think he would be back. His heart was pounding as he stood in the bushes, staring at the silhouette of the mansion behind the bushes, covering the iron gates.

He clutched his side.

The adrenaline had long since worn off, bringing the prickly sting. He was more afraid of bleeding out, rather than the pain. The bullet was the least of his problems. Twice before, crazy bitches had shot him. He was a big man, so the tiny sting making its presence known, wasn’t at the forefront of his mind.

He needed to get off the streets and he knew he couldn’t go home.

He couldn’t call Rod, because he’d failed.

“I’m into some deep shit, bruh,” Rod told him a week after he’d gotten released. They were sitting in a scraper, smoking in front of Rod’s motel. Sick-Wit-It bought the car for Rod, so he’d have something to get around in.

“Naw, really bruh. After sitting down and losing it all, I can’t just start over from the bottom. I’m thirty-three, bruh. I ain’t ‘bout to start flippin’ burgers,” Rod expressed, taking a hit of the blunt.

Sick-Wit-It laughed.

“Naw bruh, fahreal. We got something big planned. Something the Bay ain’t eva seen before. This that two levels above the next level shit, man,” Rod said, passing the blunt. Sick-Wit-It laughed again, this time nervously. “Mob shit, man,” Rod’s voice took a dark tone. “Success or death, bruh. The people I’m fuckin’ with will have yo’ man hit you if you fuck up, and if his ass don’t, then he gon’ get it too.”

Sick-Wit-It coughed in an attempt to laugh. A sense of dread was creeping down his spine and into his bowels.

“Ole weak-lunged ass nigga,” Rod laughed. “Breathe! Breathe!”

Sick-Wit-It alternated between laughing and coughing.

“Yeah, they said run or die, bruh,” Rod laughed, changing the tone and relieving Sick-Wit-It.

“Like that?” Sick-Wit-It asked, feeling he needed to say something in the empty silence. He passed Rod the blunt.

“Yeah, but that’s because this some ‘Machiavelli-Resurrect-Jesus’ type shit,” Rod laughed, promising to put Sick-Wit-It on.

Two months later, he did, with a serious warning about fucking up. Sick-Wit-It knew the present situation counted as a major fuck up.

The problem was; it wasn’t his fuck up. It was Boo’s. Boo, who was more than likely dead, leaving him to explain why she got greedy and why he didn’t stop her. All he was supposed to do was make contact with Boo, and give her the thick envelope full of money, once she proved she knew where Shi was.

All he had to do was keep walking. He shouldn’t have sat there watching her count the money and roll her eyes. He shouldn’t have offered the blunt or accepted the beer she handed him. If he hadn’t they wouldn’t have had to have the opportunity to get comfortable and exchange information. Nor would he have had the opportunity to get interested in her plan, her plan to get more money.

A momentary lapse of judgement was going to cost him his life. Sick-Wit-It didn’t know why he didn’t just walk away, why he didn’t just say no.

Something he really didn’t know himself.

What he did know is that if Boo did survive and had killed Shi, Boo would be joining her soon. Boo knew the consequences, he’d told her. It would be just his luck that he gets added to the pool. For all he knew, his name was already on the list. The list he was sure he left at Boo’s house, and was more than likely in the hands of a homicide detective. No, he couldn’t go back to Rod.

Sick-Wit-It clenched his fist as his heart pounded with fear. He knew going back to No Fury was his only option, besides thuggin’ it out. In addition, Sick-Wit-It knew being grimy with a bullet hole in him would kill him. Just like running back to Rod most definitely would.

He just needed to stay low and No Fury seemed like the best place to do that. It wasn’t as if they had any bad blood, he just simply vanished one day; stopped coming around and stopped calling. He stopped running the streets and showing his face. He went underground.

He didn’t know what to expect, walking back into No Fury. He had a fifty-fifty chance walking back into No Fury.

However, as he stood there in the bushes, he knew just what he needed to say to up his chances.

Sick-Wit-It clung to his side and stepped out of hiding. A cold shiver worked its way through Sick-Wit-It’s body, as he approached the gates and threw himself into it.

“We don’t do Jehovah’s Witnesses ‘round here, bit man,” Sick-Wit-It heard from behind him as a gun jammed into his back.

“Who is that?” Sick-Wit-It asked, attempting to throw his arms up in the air. The pain brought his arms down, just as fast as they went up. “Fuck!” he grumbled. “Kem? That you? It’s me, Sick, mayne. It’s me, Kem.”

“Sick?” the voice called, not moving the gun out of his back. “Sick nigga. Where the fuck you been?”

The gun did not move. Sick-Wit-It tried to swallow the dry lump in his throat. He knew something was wrong, because the gun was still pressed into his back.

Am I on sight? He wondered.

“Get Sin, nigga, I been shot,” Sick-Wit-It bellowed breathlessly. “Tell her I gotta message from the Taliban.”

Part 2: Coming Clean

Chapter 37

Louise smiled as he walked away from the burning house, which was once Santa Clara’s Mission Center for Battered and Abused Women.

Thelma pulled up to the sidewalk in a black Mazda coupe. Louise walked calmly and patiently as a commotion started behind him. He did not look, just kept strutting in his heels straight to the car.

Getting in, Louise smiled and said, “Five down. Twelve to go.”

Thelma smiled and took off before the sound of a siren could be heard.

Chapter 38

How the fuck was I going to explain this?

I thought it was a horrible nightmare; it had to be. I was just on cloud nine. I had it all and it all was going so well. It took one dumb bitch to change that for me. One dumb bitch and a stupid nigga I needed to kill, and I was going to kill him.

I opened my eyes, lying on my back. My room was bright and I was in bed under my covers. It wasn’t until I moved that the pain reminded me what was going on.

I’d hoped it was a fucking nightmare.

However, it wasn’t; my room door opened and Josh walked in, looking concerned. Seeing me awake, he smiled and yelled, “She’s awake,” down the hall. I guess he and Diamond had been waiting on me.

I wasn’t too much worried about Diamond. She really didn’t ask questions and even if she did, she knew how I got down. She also knew how to hold her damn tongue until we were alone.

If Diamond came home to find say, someone tied to a chair in the living room, or me shot, no explanation would be needed. The bitch would probably walk right by as if she didn’t see anything and go to her room.

But Josh?

I might have a little explaining to do.

My heart was barely beating as I sat in bed, wondering what I’d say. I mean, what could I say? I told him I was on my period and I didn’t want to be bothered.

Obviously I lied.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, walking to the bed. I was so happy we were skipping the awkward silence and he was the one doing the talking.

I didn’t want to explain; I didn’t know how to explain.

“My arm hurts,” I said, with a thick tongue. My arm was on fire. I looked down and saw that I was in my bra. My arm was wrapped up.

Had he? This nigga done went and treated my gun wound.

“Don’t worry, we got…”

I stopped listening, because my attention was drawn to the door, when Dr. Richards walked into the room.

Chapter 39

It wasn’t the new bounce in her husband’s steps. Nor was it the goofy smile he seemed accustomed to wearing. The smile, which told her lately, he didn’t have a care in the world. If she thought that it was because they’d just gotten married, then it would have been okay, but it wasn’t. All the spare time he had, he seemed to spend ignoring her and staring at his cell phone screen.

However, that didn’t bother her. Not even the times when they were together and he seemed to stare off into space, lost in thought, bothered her.

No, what bothered her was the smile. The smile she knew all too well. It was the look of a man in love, her man in love.

It wasn’t so long ago that he looked and smiled at her the same way. She used to be the reason for his smile and she slowly watched the reason fade after the miscarriage. He’d been different ever since, despite following through with the wedding.

Nevertheless, the smile was gone. The goofy smile and starry eyes, which once made her feel like the center of his world, existed no more.

She knew she was not responsible for the new walk, the smile, or the look.

That was what hurt the most.

She knew it was love; her man was in love with another woman, and that was something she was not okay with. No, she couldn’t and wouldn’t ignore it.

I will not be ignored, because of another bitch, she thought, as she walked around her house, knowing it was empty. She knew her husband was not home. He probably left right after me, she thought.

If her flight home not been delayed because of the weather, she would have thought her husband was at home. She would have thought he was sitting in the game room, playing his video games. Hell, she would have even been able to convince herself that he was at the strip club with his friends. She might still have been able to convince herself of that, had she not noticed that damn smile. She would have been able to convince herself of it, if she hadn’t noticed the bounce in his step, and the fact that he took his toothbrush with him.

She knew he would have told her, had he been going anywhere, no matter what. If not her, she would have found out from her father, and he hadn’t told her anything. Yes, she knew he was with her.

As she sat on her bed in the empty house, she thought about what she needed to do to get her man. She knew she needed to play her cards right, because she wasn’t ready to let him go.

Therefore, she vowed to keep quiet and wait patiently. She knew she needed to do it just right. She needed to get her man back and keep him.

Looking up, she knew she’d be going on a mission to get back her heart.

Chapter 40

“Tek, rogue, I don’t like this shit,” Tone said, walking up Euclid Avenue towards Bell Street Park. “I saw we wait on it, rogue. Way ain’t gon’ let them step over here.”

Tek and Tone turned into the parking lot and walked towards the park.

“Stop trippin’, rogue,” Tek said, with his hands in his pockets. “We just talkin’ and seein’ if we should really be worried, or if they just weak over there in Oakland.”

Tone rolled his eyes and sighed. The pair walked out of the parking lot and into the grass. Off to the right in the back of the park, was a small group huddled up, laughing. The two headed towards the group.

Tone looked at his watch; it was almost twelve.

“But, what if this shit a set up?” Tone asked, before they reached the group.

“Then I feel bad for them, rogue,” Tek said, as he reached the small group and took a blunt from one of the five men standing in the grass. “They show up yet?”

“Yeah,” the man in the SAVAGE hoodie, who was standing across from Tek said. “They chillin’ in a limo by the Boys and Girls Club.”

Tek smiled, “How long they been here, rogue?”

“Twenty minutes,” the hoodie that passed Tek the blunt answered.

Tek shook his head and took a hit from the blunt.

“Go get ‘em,” Tek said, still laughing.

The five men nodded and did as they were told, walking off towards the front of the Boys and Girls Club.

“I ain’t being scary, rogue, but this shit ain’t smart,” Tone said.

“Well, that’ll make two of us,” Tek said, watching his small crew vanish around the side of a building. Tek turned to Tone and passed him the blunt. “It wouldn’t be smart of them to start a war in the middle of the town, rogue.”

The small group of five turned to seven when they reappeared. Tone followed Tek, by flipping up his hood.

Four members of the group stopped, while the other three rejoined Tek and Tone.

“They checkin’ them,” the man with the SAVAGE hoodie said.

Tek nodded as he waited. He wasn’t worried or scared to die, but that didn’t mean he was stupid. That’s why he agreed to meet at Bell Street Park. It was clear and open; therefore, nearly impossible to plan an ambush.

The small group of four closed the distance between them and Tek, after the two new members were searched.

“They clean,” one man said.

“A’ight, y’all go take a walk, rogue,” Tek said, and the five men walked off in different directions.

“You wanted to talk, talk rogue,” Tek said, after a brief silence.

The two men looked at one another. The man on the right was slightly shorter and thicker than the dark-skinned one on the left.

“This is Trek and I’m Pharell,” the short, caramel one said. “We’re having a bit of a problem on our side of the Bay…” Pharell spoke fast, with a New York accent that Tek didn’t too much like, and Tek started to figure out why, the more he spoke. “…and I was wondering if it’s hit your side of the Bay yet?”

Yet? Tek thought, paying attention to his every word.

“What kind of problem?” Tone asked, staring at Trek, the taller and darker of the two.

Tek was happy Tone was there, because he was just about ready to start shooting.

What the fuck he mean by “yet”? Tek thought, trying not to lose his temper.

Pharell and Trek looked at one another, and Tone was starting to get a bad vibe. He didn’t like that Pharell was moving, nor did he like how Trek was looking at him. He didn’t like how shifty they both seemed.

Tone started to pray they didn’t make any wrong moves. Though they wouldn’t make it off the grass alive, they could still do some damage to them, especially Tek. It was all about protecting Tek; Tek was the Taliban, for all Tone cared. Wayne relinquished any rights to the Taliban when he decided to separate himself from Tek.

Tone crossed his hands in front of him, so that he had easy access to his piece. He knew that they needed to stay one-step ahead. They would need to let off first if anything started going sideways.

“I am sure you know,” Pharell said.

Tek could tell he was gauging to see how much he knew about what was going on in the East Bay. Tek knew when someone was trying to pump him for information, and that’s what this felt like. Tek felt as if he was being interrogated by the way Pharell had said, “I am sure you know”.

It sounded like an accusation.

“Look rogue, we ain’t got time for no games,” Tek snapped impatiently, knowing he was starting to get pissed off.

“Then maybe you should stop playing, Guess Who with me and let me speak to whoever’s in charge here,” Pharell snapped back at Tek, with just as much impatience in his voice as Tek had.

Tek silently glared at him from under his hood. He wanted to shoot him, but he needed to know what he had to say.

This nigga don’t know, Tek thought, making himself smile at the thought of Pharell getting fresh with him. That was the only thing he could do. All he had to do was turn away, give a signal, and they’d have a dozen holes in them. The power nearly made Tek smile, knowing they had no idea who they were fucking with.

“A’ight Aretha,” Tek finally said, after Pharell’s dramatic outburst. Tek watched them flinch at his comment and he knew they were all show. They were in over their heads. Some straight bustas, rogue, he thought.

“I’m Teknique and this my man, Tone,” Tek said slowly, taking off his hood and staring into Pharell’s eyes in the dimly lit park. “Now what can the Taliban do for you?”

Chapter 41

Tek and Pharell stepped to the side, leaving Trek and Tone staring at one another.

From the moment, Pharell began explaining what was going on in the East Bay; Tek knew no more than he had when he and Tone got there. He had mixed feelings about Pharell.

He could respect how blunt and to the point Pharell was, but Tek could tell Pharell knew more than he was letting on.

When Pharell was finished explaining, Tek had more questions than answers, and that made Tek’s feelings of mistrust heighten.

“And what is it that the Taliban can do for you, rogue?” Tek asked.

“It’s not so much what you can do for me, B, it’s more of what I can do for you,” Pharell said, with a smile that Tek didn’t share.

“I’m listening…”

“You’re a smart man, Tek. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be in the position that you’re in,” Pharell said, and Tek knew he was trying to kiss his ass. It wasn’t working; Tek hated ass kissing. Either you pulled your weight with him or you didn’t, but he had no problem listening to it. “No matter where you go over here, no matter what crew or d-boy you mess with, B, you know they Taliban. You can tell by the way y’all carry y’all selves.” Pharell paused and began speaking slower. He looked like he was trying to think of what he wanted to say next. “But, I am sure you can’t believe you are immune. It’s only a matter of time before these suckas step on your side of the water.”

“And lose a foot,” Tek said, not sure if he should take what Pharell said as a threat or not. “I guarantee you, if a foot or better yet a toe, do anything out the ordinary, I’ll have it hanging from my rear view.”

“No disrespect, man, I just thought maybe we could pull our resources, B,” Pharell said, speaking fast as usual. “You have this on lock and all I have to do is close my hand, and the other side of the waters is mine. Have you ever thought of expanding?”

Tek began laughing as if he was crazy. The Taliban was the Taliban. The Taliban didn’t team up.

“I’m serious, B. I know you want more than this,” Pharell said, over Tek’s laughter. “It’s a war coming, Tek.”

Tek stopped laughing.

“And I know a war sounds good in the street, but,” Pharell shrugged, “we both know war has casualties on both sides. Winners and losers. Now if we—”

“For a man that isn’t packing and surrounded by heat, you’re throwing out a lot of threatening statements,” Tek said, dropping the Ebonics for a second. “Now, either you stupid or you brave. Either way, I don’t too much care. Just remember you a long way from home, rogue.”

Pharell’s eyes were shifting around the dark park. Tek was sure he understood what he meant and he was sure he would double, even triple-think what he was going to say, and how he was going to say it from that point on.

“Naw, B, no threats at all. These just facts. Just like the fact that I ain’t here to argue, I’m here to make you a proposition,” Pharell said quickly.

“Propose on, rogue,” Tek responded, feeling the tension growing thicker with each word.

“You keep what ya got. We split the East Bay,” Pharell started talking even faster. “You make your money; we make ours, no turf wars.”

Though Tek really didn’t have the power to make that decision, he knew he wouldn’t if he could. “That sounds good,” Tek said, nodding his head. “For you. Why take half when the Taliban can have it all?”

“You can’t,” Pharell responded slowly.

Tek could tell he was getting annoyed and Tek liked it. He liked that he was getting under his skin.

“How about you close your hand and deal with your little issue over there. Then we talk, rogue,” Tek said with a smile. He knew Pharell was bluffing. There was no way he was that big in the East Bay. But if he was, Tek wondered, that would explain why he was there. He was there because he was hurting, and joining up with the Taliban would have been his last shot at any type of money down there. East Palo Alto was just the start, it was on lock and nobody was taking it from the Taliban. So, why not start spreading like a virus into the East Bay, Tek thought before he said, “Just know, you climb in bed with the Taliban, you assume our name.”

Tek watched Pharell as he looked around again before responding. He was acting so nervous; Tek thought he was catching it.

“No problem, long as the money still green,” Pharell said, easing the tension and making Tek smile.

“I like that, rogue,” Tek smiled.

“Yeah, but we need to put a stop to this bullshit, it’s bad for business,” Pharell said.

Though he saw Pharell as a weasel, Tek could tell he was a smart weasel. Tek knew he was trying to recruit the Taliban to help stomp out the competition in the East Bay. He was asking Tek to get the Taliban involved, and Tek knew if they stepped into another nigga’s beef, there could be more consequences and repercussions.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Tek said. There was nothing left to say.

“Well then, I’ll be in touch,” Pharell said, getting the hint faster than Tek thought he would.

Pharell gave a head nod and called for Trek before turning to leave.

“So?” Tone asked, coming from behind Tek to watch Pharell and Trek walk away.

“I don’t know,” Tek said, still trying to decipher his feelings about Pharell. “But, we might need to call Bin Laden.”

Chapter 42

“What happened?” I asked, knowing damn well, what happened. My heart started to speed up a little. I couldn’t help but wonder how much trouble I was actually in.

“You got shot, ma,” Josh said, looking concerned.

“What?” I asked, looking down at my bandaged arm as if I’d just noticed it.

Josh looked at Dr. Richards, who looked at him. I knew what that look meant. It meant something happened that they either were not telling me about, or didn’t know how to tell me.

I looked between the two of them as well, trying to be more aware. My heart was scarcely beating as Dr. Richards walked across the room and sat on the edge of my bed.

I could tell by the look on her face, she was going to tell me something heavy. Something like the police were out in my living room, waiting for me to wake up so they could arrest me.

Regardless, they were going to have a hard time with my ass. I knew how to play my role.

Though I wasn’t digging another trip to the state hospital, it was going to be a helluva lot better than life under the jail.

Can you say, “Death Penalty?”

I started to realize how fucking sloppy that shit was. I would be surprised if the police were not out there waiting for me.

I looked at Dr. Richards, took a deep breath, and prepared myself from what I was going to hear.

Dr. Richards reached out and touched my leg.

Yup, I’m going to jail, I thought.

“Shi, I’m sorry baby,” she said, and though she wasn’t physically crying, I could feel her soul crying.

As I looked at her, I couldn’t help but wonder how long I’d been asleep, because she looked drained. She was looking old and it looked like her eye sockets were hallowed. Her face was thinner than I remembered. It was the way she looked that gave me the chills, more than her words.

I understood though. How else would one look when they had to tell their daughter she was going to be arrested for murder? I just wished she had said it and not dragged it out like that.

I took a shaky, deep breath and kept my strong face on. I didn’t want Josh to be there. This was a little more vulnerable than I wanted to be, with the man that couldn’t even introduce me to his parents.

However, I trusted Dr. Richards. If she hadn’t asked for the room, then he was cool. Maybe, she had a plan for me to escape and we needed his help.

I mean, regardless, I wasn’t trippin’. It wasn’t as if it was going to be my first time going to jail.

I stared into Dr. Richards’ eyes with unwavering courage. I was ready for what was to come. I had to be. I mean, the bitch had come for me. She went for my happiness and so I defended it. I looked at Dr. Richards, thinking about shooting my way up out that bitch, when she said, “Biscuit might not make it.”

What the fuck!

Chapter 43

I laughed.

Biscuit?

I mean, it was hella random, but I felt this was not the time to crack jokes. As Dr. Richards spoke, I realized that the police were not there for me. At first, I thought they were trying to mess with me, you know; joke around as Josh and I always did. However, this time, no one was laughing.

“He has a collapsed lung,” Dr. Richards continued, not too concerned with my reaction. “They were able to drain some of the blood to relieve the pressure off his brain, but…”

While she spoke, my mouth went dry. I could feel the pain in my arm all of a sudden. It wasn’t as bad as it was when it happened, but it was still sore—super sore.

It felt as if my chest emptied out, leaving my heart unsupported by any muscles. Every time it beat, it hit against my skin stealing pieces of my breath. I started to realize she was talking about Biscuit.

I didn’t understand. I most definitely had to be missing something. I’d just seen the nigga, why the fuck was he in the hospital?

That was so not, what I was preparing myself to hear. I so didn’t expect that shit and I, I couldn’t believe it. I literally just saw the nigga.

“How?” I breathed, staring at Dr. Richards.

Dr. Richards and Josh did that thing where they looked at one another again. However, this time, I saw confusion before the focus of attention was brought back to me.

“You don’t remember?” Dr. Richards asked.

“Remember what?” This time it was my turn to be confused.

“What happened at the shop,” Josh said. “You were there when it happened?”

“What? When what happened? And what shop?” I knew they couldn’t be talking about my shop. They had me spooked. I had no idea what they were talking about.

“Your shop was broken into and robbed. They found Biscuit in the bathroom, barely breathing. They trashed your office and we thought you were there, when…” Dr. Richards’ voice was trailing off.

They thought and I had no idea how, but they thought that I was there with Biscuit when my shop got broken into. When Josh called me and I didn’t answer, he thought I was at the shop. Though I told him I was on my period and didn’t want to see him, he believed that I’d been caught up in a robbery at my shop.

I let them, because it was much easier than explaining the truth. I didn’t how they came up with that story, but something told me one of them made it up, and told the other. Maybe they both did. However, I was betting my money on Dr. Richards. I mean, who else would blame my actions after being shot on shock? Only Dr. Richards would find a logical way to explain me driving forty-five minutes home after being robbed and shot, instead of going to the police.

Chapter 44

Omitting information was just as bad as lying. And this particular lie was eating me up inside, mainly because I was feeling guilty about Biscuit. There he was, laid up in some hospital bed half-dead and it was entirely my fault.

I remembered all the paperwork they had from Simply Shi’s, and I realized how they got it. I mean, man, if only I had kept following that bitch that night; I could have stopped this. As I broke into her house, she was probably breaking into my shop.

I’d already pieced it all together.

When I followed Boo to the club, it’s my guess she was going there to meet up with Sick-Wit-It. From there, they went to my shop, robbed it, and almost killed Biscuit.

That’s why the bitch had a gun! I thought.

Poor little Biscuit was working late, because he’d taken over my heads. He was an innocent bystander and just got caught up.

No matter which way I looked at it, I felt it was my fault. He wouldn’t have been there, had my ass not been playing these little kid games and hiding away from work.

The police had no leads, but I did, and the moment I built up enough courage to the hospital to see him, I knew I had to do something.

And that’s when I remembered the list of names and numbers. The list I left in Diamond’s car. I prayed with all my might Diamond didn’t throw it away.

I needed to ask her but there was no way I’d be able to with Josh hovering around me and Dr. Richards shoving food down my mouth. Between the two, I was never alone. So, I had to wait, wait and pray.

I was a little happy when Josh went back home; he said he needed to take care of some business. He said he called Dr. Richards because he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to be there with me. The two days I spent sleeping he stayed by my side by himself. Dr. Richards was called on the third day.

And on the fourth day, he left. When he left, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to see the nigga again until New Year’s.

He needed to go back to L.A. leaving me left with Dr. Richards. Though I needed to get rid of her I felt I needed to go see Biscuit while she was there with me.

I was scared. But still, I went.

So, Dr. Richards packed me up and we took a trip to Highland Hospital in Oakland. When I got to his room, I wasn’t even completely inside, before I broke down crying. I was stuck at the door; I couldn’t go in any further. His tiny, little, yellow body was in the hospital bed, covered in bandages.

I didn’t need to see anymore. I couldn’t. I’d seen enough hospitals and seen enough of my friends and family confined to a hospital bed too many times.

The thought of Biscuit’s tiny little face fueled my rage. That little peek in on Biscuit had Sick-Wit-It’s days numbered.

I owed Biscuit that much.

Chapter 45

I just had to find the nigga.

First, I convinced Dr. Richards to go back home after a week.

After the insurance claim for my shop was filed, and Dr. Richards was sure I hadn’t got off track mentally, she reluctantly went home.

I was happy, more for her than for me. I mean, she needed to take her ass home. She had little kids and didn’t need to be babysitting my grown ass.

She wanted me to come back to Bakersfield with her until after the new year. I almost had no choice but to go, had I not thought fast. Since Christmas was coming up, I told her we would celebrate at her place and I’d be there a week before to help out.

I didn’t need to say too much to Josh. He didn’t have any intentions on coming back, and I knew we hadn’t spoken because he didn’t want to argue with me in person about Christmas. Especially not after I’d been shot, because you know a bitch was going to use that to her advantage. He did called though, to tell me something else came up after he took care of the business he left to take care of.

I let it slide, because I didn’t want the nigga calling me every day until the new year with that “something came up” bullshit. I mean, the nigga hasn’t worked this much on his drug empire since we met.

However, what did I know? Maybe it was the end-of-year sale for drugs.

I wasn’t too worried about it, because I had my hands full—very, very full.

Sick-Wit-It had to go.

But first, I needed to find that piece of paper so I could get my questions answered.

I stood in my driveway waving at Dr. Richards until she disappeared around a corner. Looking back towards my house, I rushed to Diamond’s car. Using my key to unlock her car I ripped he passenger door open looking around to find nothing.

I sniffed and the smell of new car told me the bitch had just gotten a car wash. Rolling my eyes I stood up knowing it was just my luck the bitch would go to the car wash. I was going to close the door when something told me to look in the glove compartment. Barely breathing I reached for the glove box and almost pulled the handle off when I snatched at it.

I reached my hand in and pulled out the junk Diamond had inside her glove compartment and there it was. Folded up and intertwined with her registration. I grabbed the paper and dropped everything else on Diamond’s seat. I quickly unfolded the paper silently thanking Diamond and praying it wasn’t too good to be true.

And it wasn’t. I quickly looked down the list from the first name on the paper; Faith down the mine as if I were making sure no one took a name off. I swallowed hard knowing the only way I would get close to understanding the list of names was by talking to Sick-Wit-It.

Shoving Diamond’s papers back into her glove compartment, I closed the door and rushed into the house. I rushed past Diamond’s room, stopped and then turned back around and knocked.

“Come in,” I heard Diamond yell and I walked in and made myself comfortable on the bed with her.

She was sitting up watching a rerun of Love & Hip Hop Atlanta.

“What’s up?” she asked looking away from the television on a commercial break.

“Sick-Wit-It,” I said clutching the folded note in my hand.

Diamond stared into my eyes. I knew I didn’t have to say anymore. She knew what was up and I knew I didn’t have to answer any questions with Diamond “Okay, I’ll ask around,” was all Diamond said about the matter.

I thanked her, smiled, got up and walked to my room heart pounding.

I didn’t need to tell her to keep it on the hush.

Chapter 46

I sat there racking my brain as I looked at the list.

Faith…$25000

Tammy…$25000

Fantasy…$25000

Sasha…$50000

Vahlery…$50000

Serenity…$50000

Hope…$50000

D.D…$50000

Dime…$75000

Diamond…$100000

G. Richards…$250000

S. Richards…$250000

M. Richards…$250000

M. Richards…$250000

E. Richards…$500000

Victoria Lopez…$1000000

Scheyenne Iverson…$2000000

I didn’t know what the fuck I was looking at. But, from listening to Boo, it had to have something to do with money. I mean, was I looking at the amount of money they were going to black mail from the people on the list? I just didn’t know.

Why was Vicky’s name on here?

I spent the better half of three days staring at the list and trying to figure out what it meant. I couldn’t wait for Diamond to find Sick-Wit-It because I needed answers as soon as possible. So, I started by asking Diamond random questions and snooping around her room through her mail. I was trying to see what type of financial situation she was in. But I gave up once I saw her savings account. She only had five hundred dollars in the account and a thousand in her checking.

I was just confused as to what the bitch was doing with her money. I mean, come one now the bitch was staying with me rent-free and I bought her car for her as a Christmas gift a few years back. I just didn’t get it.

I needed help. And I knew the only way I would get it was by going to Modesto and waiting for B.I.T.C.H.

I decided to wait. There was no use stressing myself out of the box during the holiday season. So, I told myself that I would take a break for Christmas. However, as soon as Christmas ended I was going to drive to the farmhouse in Modesto, take the list out of my purse and sit there until I figured it out or B.I.T.C.H. popped up. I was really hoping the latter because something inside of me told me I was in over my head.

Chapter 47

And I did just that. I put aside my fuel with Josh over spending the holidays together and tried my best to enjoy my holiday. And I did.

Christmas at the Richards was warm and inviting. It was a real relief and change in pace for me. I mean, after all I did just murder and bitch.

So, the day after Christmas I rode back to the house and started packing. I hadn’t been to work in over a week and I wasn’t missing it. For one, I was getting hell from Ra’Nee about Biscuit’s clients, which were some of mine as well. Since the shop’s door was fixed and all, the only excuse left was the fact that Biscuit was in the hospital and I was shot. Problem was, Ra’Nee’s lazy ass didn’t want to call all the clients to cancel and try to reschedule.

Well, I wasn’t doing the shit either. She was going to have to figure the shit out because I needed to start emptying my plate.

So I packed. I left the Richards with Diamond back to the house. I already knew she hadn’t heard anything new about Sick-Wit-It but she told me that she’d talk to Double D.

I looked at her sideways but didn’t say anything. Sick-Wit-It’s first encounter with me was because he’d given one of my girls a black eye. He claimed he didn’t know Double D was a transsexual.

I didn’t say nothing about the fact that they were still talking though it surprised the hell out of me.

Packed and ready to leave, I started my journey to the farmhouse in Modesto. I’d lied to Josh and told him that I’d be busy with my shop. I mean, I was waiting for my loan to be approved so it wasn’t a total lie.

I synced my phone, started playing my iTunes and I was on my way. I’d just crossed the Dumbarton Bridge when my phone started ringing interrupting my music I was on my way and ready to go until my phone started ringing.

I looked down at screen in my car to see who was calling. I recognized the number that was calling, from the amount of times I called and received calls from it over the past few months. Hell, I was one-step away from adding it as a contact. My body tensed as I stared at the number.

For some reason, I always felt that way when it called. I always felt like when I answered, I was going to get some type of bad news. I had an ongoing fear that somehow Spin would come back to screw me. I thought that the bank would find something fishy with my original paperwork, or they would start asking questions about how my first loan was funded. I just felt like, what if me telling them that my husband gave me the down payment, and now he’s dead, wasn’t enough?

All this and more popped into my head again, in the seconds I looked down at the number on the screen. I reached out and pressed the answer button on my phone.

“What went wrong?” I asked, just as I did each time I got a call from the bank.

“Nothing,” Kathleen said, laughing. “Everything actually went right. Are you available to come down to the bank?”

“Huh? Why? You need me to bring some more stuff in?” I asked, hoping the recent break-in at my shop didn’t fuck with my chances of getting a loan.

“No,” she said. “It’s over. We got it. Congratulations!”

I was stuck, like straight frozen.

“What?” I shuddered in disbelief. I wasn’t sure if I was hearing her right. “I got approved.”

“You got approved,” Kathleen repeated, and I wanted to scream. “See, I told you; you didn’t have anything to worry about.”

I took a deep breath and held it together. I could always scream when she got off the phone. I was definitely going to scream when I got off the phone.

I was just so overwhelmed with emotions. This was something that I was doing. This was something that I done right.

Spin got me my first shop and sure, I made it what it was. Sure, I had some real talent in there that kept my shit running, and Spin still had his hand in it. Not this one, not my new shop; I’d done that all by myself and I’d done it the right way.

This one was mine.

I was so overwhelmed that I dropped to my knees and silently thanked God, while Kathleen chirped away in my ear.

“Shi?”

“Huh?” I asked, with tears coming to my eyes.

“I was wondering; when can you come in so we can get the paperwork finalized?”

My heart was beating fast and for the first time, I knew I was going to be okay. I was going to be able to get past all the shit that happened in my past. My past wasn’t going to determine who I was. I never thought I would have been where I was a year ago, hell, five months ago. I would have never pictured this.

Picking myself up off the floor, I took a deep breath and let out an excited giggle.

“I’ll be there in an hour.”

Chapter 48

I did an about face and rushed my happy ass right back home. When I got home, I decided to take my time and decided to waltz my ass into the bank at 4:45 p.m., feelin’ like a millin’.

I had on my snow-white Gucci purse, pants suit, and sandal heels. My little blazer blended nicely with my silk Giorgio Armani fitted button up. So that my button up didn’t feel alone, I had white Giorgio Armani sunglasses with a frosted tint.

My hair was pulled back into a bun. My French tips blended with the rest of my ‘fit and my make-up made my face pop. With no hair in my face, I used dark earth tones, and my eyes were smoky as hell.

I strutted to the information desk as if I didn’t have a care in the world. As if, I hadn’t just been shot or killed a bitch a few weeks ago.

“Hello, how may I help you?” Jennifer, the plump, Mexican receptionist asked.

“I’m here to see Kathleen,” I said, purse in the crook of my arm as the white girls do.

“Okay, may I have your member number so I can check you in?”

I smiled and took my glasses off with dramatic flair. “I’m just here to sign some papers. She’s expecting me.”

“Scheyenne?” she asked, with a big smile. “Oh, my gosh. You look so pretty. Oh my gosh, I didn’t even…” she trailed off, with her hands covering her mouth. Had she not stopped herself, I would have felt some type of way. She was making it seem as if I came into the bank, looking a mess or something.

“How are you, Jenny?”

“I’m good, come on,” she said, getting up and leaving a small line behind us as she personally walked me in to see Kathleen.

For the record, yes, I did skip in front of the people waiting on the couches to talk to a personal banker.

Chapter 49

I left the bank feeling as if the world had been taken off my shoulders. I walked to my car, contemplating letting the law handle Sick-Wit-It. I mean, I took Boo out and as far as I knew, no one even knew she was dead yet. So, that was some form of revenge for him, right?

Wrong, there was still the little piece of paper I had tucked away in my purse that I needed to ask him about.

So, see, I couldn’t just let the police handle this one.

I climbed into my car with copies of all the paperwork I signed, in a neat little folder in my hand. I wanted to faint. However, I couldn’t, there was so much more work to do if I wanted to pull this shit off. The money was just the start. I now had to find a contractor and get permits and zoning, whatever that was.

Nevertheless, I’d figure it out later. Now was the time to celebrate.

As I got in my car, my phone started ringing. I hooked it up to the speaker and started the car.

Speak of the devil, I thought and smiled, looking at Josh’s picture.

He hadn’t called or texted, since our redundant argument on Christmas Day. He was trying to make up the fact that we weren’t spending Christmas together by setting up some type of dinner date. You know, with his mom and dad and me and the Richards. I thought it was all a bunch of sweet nothings to pacify me. So, I’d hung up on his ass and ain’t answered his calls or texts since.

Calls and texts, which I hadn’t received all day. But, I didn’t think he was mad, on the contrary; he was just giving me space. He was doing the thing that I didn’t like, being non-confrontational and giving me space.

I looked at the phone wanting to answer and tell him the good news, but I was still feeling some type of way.

I let the phone go to voicemail and then turned on some music before driving away.

Josh called me again when I was on 101. I didn’t even know where I was going or what I was going to do with myself. At first, I was taking my ass to Modesto to wait for B.I.T.C.H. But, my fucking loan just got approved.

I mean, I already had money, but I just came in to more money. Legit money and that was a helluva lot different from drug money. I thought about my dad and the lessons he tried to teach me when he was T-money.

Josh called me again, pulling me out of my past thoughts. I knew, because it was his ringtone. The music in the car stopped playing as the phone rang. Sighing, I picked it up.

“Hello,” I said, getting into the fast lane.

“What you doin’?” he asked, as if we weren’t beefin’. I knew what he was trying to do and had I not been so desperate to share my good news with him, I wouldn’t have played along.

“Nothing, just thinking about calling you,” I said, smiling as I drove out of Redwood City.

“Yeah right,” he finally said, after a brief silence.

“Shut up, I was,” I said cutely, as if I wasn’t ignoring all his calls in the first place. “Anyways, what you doing this weekend?”

“Shit, I was gon’ work—”

I burst out laughing as I drove past Atherton on 101.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” I said, still laughing.

“Naw, what? I wanna laugh too,” he said.

“It’s nothing. That just sounded funny,” I said, still laughing. “I can just really like imagine you keeping nine to five hours, and taking working lunches and stuff.”

He thought it was funny too and I hated the way he made me feel. He made me feel so free. I wasn’t even trippin’ or really thinking about our morning argument. I was just that damn happy and excited.

“Well, when you in my position you gotta work every day, yaddida?”

I nodded as if I had no idea what he was talking about. I was subconsciously slowing down for him. He still had no idea how much I actually knew about the game. He had no idea that I probably knew much more than him.

“Well, since you not gon’ spend Christmas with me, do you think you can take a little time out for me?” I asked, trying to guilt trip him. “I miss you,” I added, in a baby voice.

“Aww babe,” he said and I smiled. He acted like we wasn’t beefin’ either, and I guess that was another something that I liked about him.

Josh politely ignored my statement about not spending Christmas together and said, “I’m s’pose to be going outta town in the morning.”

I sighed dramatically, guessing our honeymoon phase was over. Is he getting tired of me?

“What’d you have planned?” he asked nonchalantly, and I was flooded with relief. He was gonna cave and I was gonna get my way. I knew he was going to cancel whatever he was supposed to be doing and probably miss out on a lot of money.

“I just got some really good news and I… well… I kinda wanted to celebrate with…” I mumbled in an exasperated tone.

“Oh no,” he sighed, throwing me off my game a little.

“What?” I asked, hoping he was not about to tell me no.

He couldn’t.

He wouldn’t.

“My other girlfriend just told me the same thing and she turned up pregnant—”

“Shut up asshole!”

“Why do y’all think that’s good news?” he laughed.

“That ain’t funny,” I laughed telling myself I hated him for the way he made me feel. I was finding it hard to stay mad at him. “I ain’t pregnant foo’.”

I took the University Avenue exit.

“Anyways, I just wanted us to do something simple. You know, spend a little time together at the crib, I mean, since you leaving me alone for Christmas that is.”

The line went silent and I knew my little reminder of our first Christmas was weighing heavily on him. For a second, I was worried that he was going to tell me that he really couldn’t do it. I was preparing myself for my temper tantrum, when he said, “Let me call you back, baby.”

“Okay,” I said, pulling into the Ikea parking lot. I figured I’d do a little shopping in honor of my loan approval. I wanted some of those thingies they had at the bars to hold wine glasses and I wanted some candleholders.

Chapter 50

I grabbed my purse and set off for the wonderful world of Ikea. I plugged my earphones in and began listening to my iPhone on shuffle as I walked to the elevators. I was bobbing my head to Beyoncé’s “If You Let Him Take Me From You”, or whatever it was called.

I walked into the elevator and waited as the doors closed.

The doors were almost touching when a hand reached in, stopping it. I didn’t really care about who was coming into the elevator, so I turned to my side and leaned against a wall. I was stuck in my mind thinking about Josh and the reason he wouldn’t want me to meet his parents. I mean, what was it?

Am I taking our relationship too seriously?

I just didn’t understand.

Did he think I was going to embarrass him? I wondered, as I saw someone get onto the elevator out the corner of my eye. Do I embarrass him?

Subconsciously, I turned around to look behind me and my heart stopped. I was locked in a steel box with Lance.

Yes, Lance.

I just didn’t need this.

This nigga was much too close to home this time; I lived like, literally around the corner.

This cannot be happening, I thought, as he looked at me with a smile a mile long.

I knew the nigga saw my face drop, but he kept that big ass smile on his face. I had no idea what he said, but I saw his lips flappin’.

I snatched my earbuds out.

“Hey beautiful, you look real nice.”

“Thanks,” I said, with a cheesy, fake smile.

“Imagine seeing you here.”

“Imagine,” I mumbled sarcastically.

“So, what’s—”

“What are you doing here, Lance?” I asked, frustrated.

“Bae wants some new—”

“Don’t play dumb,” I snapped. “Why are you at the Ikea in East Palo Alto as opposed to the one in Emeryville?”

This same shit happened at Safeway in Menlo Park, the night of Ra’Nee’s party. This nigga just kept popping up. Bey-Bey lived all the way in Richmond so it wasn’t like he was at an Ikea near where she lived. No, he was at the one closest to me and on the complete opposite side of the Bay.

Lance kept smiling like an idiot. I didn’t even wait for his lame ass response. I just walked my ass out the elevator. I was so over this weird ass stalker shit.

He didn’t know; I wasn’t the one to stalk. Naw, you don’t stalk a crazy bitch.

“I just wanted to see you, is that so bad?” he confessed, sending chills down my spine.

This nigga was following me. And now he was involved with Bey-Bey.

“Yes,” I said, getting annoyed and going back onto the elevators.

“Dior,” he called.

“Leave me alone, Lance,” I said turning around. “I can’t do this.”

Thank God, he listened.

He stood there silently as I waited for the elevator. I could feel his creepy ass staring at me and I was starting to feel gross.

What if this nigga was really stalking me? Do I tell Bey-Bey? Can I tell Bey-Bey?

I had no idea how to even begin explaining this weird shit to Bey-Bey.

I got on the elevator and didn’t turn around until I was sure the doors were closed. I turned around slowly, fully expecting to see his stalker ass standing behind me, talking about he was trying to get to his car.

Thank goodness, he wasn’t.

I rushed to my car and peeled out of the Ikea parking lot. I was circling around East Palo Alto for the third time when Josh called me.

“Hello,” I said, and my line beeped. I quickly looked at the screen and saw it was Ra’Nee. I’d call her back.

“It cost me three hundred thousand and possibly a major connect, but I cancelled my trip for my baby,” he said, and my muscles began to relax. I felt a little warm as I thought about what he said he sacrificed, just for me.

“That’s great,” I said, looking around as I rode down my street and passed my house again.

“You still mad at me?” he asked.

I ignored his ignorant ass question as I pulled into my driveway. My line started beeping and I looked at my phone again. It was Ra’Nee, again.

“Okay, I’m going to go and pack and I’ll hit you when I’m on my way,” I said, looking around to see if I saw Lance watching me.

“You coming down here?” he asked, with what I could tell was surprise.

That should have been the first sign that something was wrong, not counting our little issue with the holidays. First, consider the fact that I was trying to get him to come over for Thanksgiving, but he had all the excuses in the world on why he couldn’t make it. Then when I told him I wanted to have a personal little Thanksgiving to ourselves, all of a sudden, he was having Thanksgiving with his parents. That’s all he had to tell me in the first place.

The second sign should have been Christmas.

However, I didn’t count them. Hell, I didn’t count them as signs, because I didn’t see it. Everything that was going on was keeping me blinded from the strange shit that happened.

My line beeped again; this time it was the shop.

What the hell? I thought.

“I thought you meant your crib,” he said, before I could answer.

There was something funny in his voice that I couldn’t place, and that was another sign I let go right over my head.

I slowly opened the door, hurriedly got out the car and rushed to my door, looking around as if I’d just robbed a bank. My line started beeping again. It was the shop calling.

I put the phone back to my ear while I quickly opened the door.

“Well, let me tell you what we gon’ do…”

Josh was talking, but I wasn’t paying him any mind. I got inside and locked every lock on the door.

“Hello, hello. Shi?”

“Yeah,” I said, finally able to breathe a little.

“Did you hear me?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, I was trying to get in the house,” I told him. “What were you saying?”

“I didn’t know you were coming down here—” the line beeped again.

“I’m sorry Josh, let me get this, the shop keeps blowing me up,” I told him as a sense of fear started to grip me.

Why the fuck is going on? I thought, walking to my room and clicking over.

“Shi,” Ra’Nee said, before I could say anything. “What the fuck, bitch, why the fuck wasn’t you answerin’ the phone?”

“I’m on the phone, what’s up?” I was trying not to sound annoyed by her ass.

“This stupid bitch Monroe is back and she outside the shop asking questions about Spin, and that bitch, Boo.”

>END OF SAMPLE<