Checkmate: The Baddest Chick (25 page)

“Damn, bitch! I like how you living. I see you queen bee down here.”

“I do a’ight.” Nikki smiled. “You thirsty?”

“Yeah.”

Nikki walked into the kitchen and came back out with two cold Corona beers. She passed one to Kola and started downing the other. Kola sat back on the plush furniture and relaxed for a moment.

“So what brings you down here to Miami, little cousin?”

“Business . . . and I had to get away from the bullshit goin’ on in Harlem.”

“I hear you. Where’s your twin?”

“She be around,” Kola replied matter-of-factly.

“Damn, I missed y’all. How’s Aunt Denise?”

“She a’ight.”

“I see you styling now. I heard a little about you gettin’ money in New York. And, looking at you, the truth speaks for itself.”

Kola took a sip from her beer. She didn’t want to speak about her family. She’d come to Miami for a reason. She needed a new connect and hoped her cousin had the influence in Miami.

“When you got a minute, Nikki, I need to talk some business wit’ you.”

“You know a bitch is always about her paper. Shit, you see the way I live. A bitch always gotta keep her ends up.”

Kola nodded.

“I know you smoke,” Nikki said.

“What you blowing?”

Nikki went into her bedroom and came back out with a swelled Ziploc full with weed. She dangled it in front of Kola. “This that straight Miami ‘island lady,’ AKA ‘ganja dwarf.’ Get a bitch twisted in no time.”

“I like that.” Kola smiled. “Start rolling that shit.”

Nikki grabbed two Backwoods from the kitchen countertop and started prepping to smoke, splitting open the two cigars on her costly glass coffee table, and disposing of the guts.

Kola kicked off her shoes and lounged around with her older cousin. Each had her own blunt to smoke. They talked, joked and laughed, and reminisced about growing up in Harlem.

“You gonna love it down here, Kola. I mean, niggas get money down here, and they ain’t cheap wit’ it like niggas in New York. When I take your ass to South Beach, you gonna see that muthafuckin street lined up with nothing but Bentleys, Ferraris, Beamers, Benzes, Porsches, and all types of shit. Shit, a bitch like me comes every time I walk down that bitch.”

Kola laughed. “That’s what I need to hear.”

Nikki took a long pull from the burning weed. She then sat back in her chair and looked at her cousin. “So, you trying to get money down here?”

“Of course.”

“My little cousin came up. So what’s the story? What you working with?”

Kola took a pull from the weed and coughed slightly. It was some potent shit. “I fucked up in New York, Nikki; really fucked up.”

“What you mean?”

“I got caught up wit’ Cross. We started fuckin’ around wit’ each other, but it ended badly. He did me dirty, Nikki.”

“You were fuckin’ wit’ Cross?”

Kola nodded. “Yeah, we linked up. He had my heart. But when I started doing transactions wit’ his connect, Cross started hatin’. Eduardo had a thang for me, and I almost got caught up wit’ him–but I didn’t go there. Business was lovely until Cross did some foul shit and now things for me are teetering between life and death, Nikki. Cross has put my life in danger and never tapped a bitch on the shoulder to warn me.” Kola fought back tears as the gravity of the situation spewed from out of her mouth. “Do you have any idea what will happen to me if Eduardo and his crew gets their hands on me?”

Kola went on to explain everything that had happened to her in the past months. She told Nikki about the war with Chico, flirting with Eduardo, the killings, the sex clubs, Two-Face, Candace, and Nichols’ murder.

The only thing Kola left out was her feud with Apple. She knew Nikki had love for the both of them and would want to add her two cents.

“Damn, bitch! You were banking like that?”

“I was doin’ it big, Nikki, and then fucked it up. I need to re-group and make things right again.”

“Well, you came to the right city. It’s money down here, Kola. It ain’t no nickel-and-dime shit in Miami. You either come down here big with some long paper or an extreme hustle, or you don’t come at all.”

“I got a hundred and fifty thousand dollars and two bricks stashed in my trunk right now.”

“What?”

“New York is too hot for me, so I need to lay low, get my shit right and find me a new connect down here.”

“You have all that money stashed in your car right now?” Nikki asked, looking at her in awe.

“I wasn’t leaving all that in New York. I came down here to grind and network. I know I came to the right bitch to help me get started back on my feet again.”

“Shit, you definitely came to the right bitch. I got peoples in this city, and with what you bringing to the table? Shit, we can definitely make it happen.”

It was what Kola wanted to hear. She took another pull of the “island lady” and felt the euphoric high seeping through her system.

“Fuck that! Tonight, we party, Kola, and I’ll introduce you to some peoples of mines. Shit, you and me, we can run this fuckin’ city. I definitely got your back. You under my wing, and ain’t shit gonna happen to you while you in Miami. We about to fuckin’ make it happen.”

****

It was a quarter to eleven when the cousins strutted out of the house and got into Nikki’s silver convertible M3 BMW. They were dressed strikingly with Nikki still wearing her yellow, ruffled-hem mini dress, and Kola in a black satin dress that hugged her curves.

Nikki started the car, and the engine hummed to life. She smiled at Kola, threw the top back, and said, “In Miami, you always gotta do it with a convertible, so muthafuckas can see you stunt.”

“I’ll have mines soon,” Kola said.

Nikki backed out of the yard and drove toward South Beach for a night of fun and business. She did eighty miles per hour on the Dolphin Expressway. She was a speed demon, racing from lane to lane, flying by cars. She made it into South Beach in no time. She cruised down Ocean Drive, where the girls became the core of attention for a few guys lingering on the drive.

Kola looked around in wonderment at the scene. Ocean Drive was a busy and illuminated street, and the epicenter of cool. It ran right along with the Atlantic Ocean, with sandy beaches on one side of the street and high-end trendy bars, cars, restaurants, and hotels on the other. The people dressed classy and looked posh, with the thugs, greasers, posers, pretty boys, hoochies, and gang-bangers mixing into the scenery. It was an assortment of characters.

Nikki stopped in front of a club called The Twelve Lounge on Ocean, where there was a long line to get inside and a crowd loitered outside. Kola and Nikki stepped out of the convertible, and Nikki passed her keys to a valet. Nikki then sashayed toward the front entrance with no intentions of waiting on the long line, Kola following behind.

She walked toward the two bouncers standing out front, slipped one of the men a C-note, and smiled. He unhooked the velvet rope, and she and Kola passed through and skated into the club.

They moved through the club, pushing their way past the crowded dance floor, and walked up the stairs onto an elevated section overlooking the crowd below. They entered the VIP section, where mostly thugs, ballers, and shot callers were popping bottles, smoking cigars, and flirting with the beautiful women surrounding them. Kola was used to that scene. It was the same look in a different city.

Nikki glanced around and walked toward a man seated in the middle of it all. He was clutching a bottle of Moët, laughing with his peers. The man was colossal, wearing a crisp Calvin Klein white tee and black Prada jeans—six feet of portly tattooed excess. His drooping pecs flexed, and dark shades covered his menacing eyes. He had a diamond grill and a long, diamond chain. His distinctive voice boomed throughout the room.

The alpha male of the mob looked up and noticed Nikki and her cousin. He smiled and shouted, “There go my baby right there,” and motioned for Nikki to come over.

The mob around him parted and made way for Nikki to pass through with Kola. Nikki hugged him tight, indicating respect and love for him. She then introduced Kola to the man.

“Kola, this is OMG, and this is my cousin, Kola.”

OMG stood up, took Kola’s small hand into his massive grip, and gently shook it. He stared at her with a slight grin. “I see beautiful women runs in the family.”

OMG towered over the ladies by half a foot. Kola was impressed by his stature. She gazed at him for a moment and then took a seat next to him, while Nikki took a seat on his other side.

OMG placed his arms around the cousins. “Whatever y’all ladies want, do you. We’re celebrating tonight.”

Kola poured herself a shot of Patrón and took it to the head.

OMG was impressed. Kola didn’t have a hard time fitting in with the crowd. She was eye-candy for the fellows, but witty and ruthless like a thug. OMG instantly took a liking to her. He started to make conversation with her and admired her New York accent.

But Kola was scarce with information. Though Nikki had vouched for the man, she didn’t know him, and she was hesitant to tell him about her world.

****

OMG was one of Miami’s most notorious in the underworld. He moved drugs, guns, and even women. Miami was his personal playground, and his name was infamous, from the poor, gritty pork ’n’ beans section to the glamorous streets of South Beach. Sometimes, he was all smiles and laughs, but he had a dark side, and many had suffered from his deathly anger.

Nikki used to dance naked at one of his clubs, networking with a string of high- end players and socializing with them. Over the years, she’d befriended OMG, even having a brief sexual affair with him, and then later on she went into business with him.

During her time in Miami, Nikki had gotten to know OMG’s world—it was prosperous and dangerous at the same time. She was one of the few he trusted. She sold drugs for him, handled business dealings, turned tricks, and even killed a man for him. But she wanted to start her own franchise and break free from his organization, and she saw Kola as the perfect opportunity. Her little cousin was a blessing from above.

****

OMG was somewhat smitten by Kola. He would constantly eye her, admiring her plump backside, curvy figure and the way she handled herself among his thugs.

Nikki leaned into OMG’s ear and said, “When you get the chance, baby, I need to talk to you. It’s about some business I want to pull your coat to.”

“Not tonight, Nikki, no business tonight. Tonight, I’m trying to get drunk and fuck my brains out. Besides, you know I don’t fuckin’ discuss business in public.”

“I’m sorry, baby. So when is a good time?”

OMG downed a cup of Hennessy. “Tomorrow, at my place.”

Nikki nodded. “I’ll be there.”

“Bring your cousin too.”

“I plan to.” Nikki smiled at Kola, then winked.

The ladies closed the night out in VIP with OMG and his goons.

****

The next day, Nikki navigated her BMW farther south of Miami, toward Coral Gables, an impressive Miami suburb and gated community with soaring palm trees and posh homes.

She pulled up to a 4,000-square-foot mini mansion that stood on one acre of land, its driveway encircling a white porcelain fountain. The place sat far away from the quiet Mercedes- and Jaguar-lined street, and it was enclosed by sprawling manicured lawns, towering palm trees, shrubberies, and plants. Its rear exterior had a wraparound deck and large glass-enclosed patio. The scenic backyard boasted an in-ground swimming pool, basketball court, three-car garage, and a breathtaking view of the lake from a distance. The homes on either side of OMG’s exclusive residence were spread at a more than respectable distance.

Nikki and Kola stepped out of the car looking nice; both ladies in tight shorts, white Nikes, and casual tops. They walked toward the front entrance with confidence and rang the bell.

One of OMG’s young goons answered the door. He smiled at the ladies and eyed them from head to toe. “Whaddup sexy and sexy!”

“Where’s OMG?” Nikki asked, ignoring his statement.

“He’s in the back, by the pool. But I’m sayin, what’s good with yo’ cousin, Nikki? She single?”

“You’re not her type.”

They moved past the young hoodlum and entered the house. Nikki had been there dozens of times and knew her way toward the pool.

Kola observed the décor inside and admired how OMG was living in Miami—countless skylights, volume ceiling, sunroom, and floor-to-ceiling windows.

The girls stepped into the backyard and saw OMG seated on the patio in the swanky lawn furniture. He was shirtless, exposing the many tattoos that decorated his upper torso. A long canary yellow diamond chain and a colossal diamond crown pendant dangled from his thick neck. OMG puffed on a cigar while seated next to one of his female admirers, who was scantily clad in a bikini.

“Ladies,” he called out. “Y’all are definitely looking fine. Glad you could make it.”

“It’s always a pleasure stopping by, especially when it concerns getting money,” Nikki said.