Durty South Grind (17 page)

She emerged out of the shadows of the hall gritting. “What the fuck ya'll sneaky-ass niggas doing in my house this time of the night; oh shit, morning, I meant.” She stopped to look at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. “Oh hell no, not this shit here again. I done told ya'll.” She grimaced angrily as she stifled the next yawn.

JJ was on his feet immediately and rushed over to her. She wasn't having it and whacked his groping arms away from her.

He put on his best jeffing face. “Come on, baby, you gonna wake the kids.”

She pushed him back and stepped away, growling, “I'm gonna what? Wake the what? Nigga, please, I done told you not to be having that shit up in my house.” Then she whirled on Sparkle, who was acting like he was asleep on the couch. “Nigga, ain't no need for that shit there; that fake-ass sleep ain't gonna work with me. You the first one I saw, fool, and your stupid ass ain't been out a whole week and already knee-deep fucking with this shit. What happened to looking for a job, bro; what's up with that?”

He gave up the act and sat up. “Aw, baby sis.”

“Aw, baby sis, my ass. Whatcha gonna do; kick bricks right back at the penitentiary before you even get your feet wet? That's fucked up, man. You ain't even going to give yourself a chance to do the right legal thang,” she nearly screamed as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Suddenly everybody's heads jerked to the hallway behind her, where Ebony and Mike were stretching and yawning.

Debra gathered herself and placed an arm around each of their shoulders. “Ya'll gon' clean yourselves up and get ready for some breakfast. I'll have something to eat in a minute; gon' now.”

The mumbling pair made their way back down the hallway. Percy's phone started ringing on his side again. He already knew who it was but looked down at it anyway and grimaced.

Debra, who by now was breathing fire, whirled around with her hands on her hips and growled, “Might as well go ahead and answer it and don't be making no deals that I can hear, either.” She huffed and twisted back around and headed for the kitchen to fix the kids something to eat.

Percy spent several moments whispering into the phone and nodding before he clicked it off and went to peek out of the patio curtains. He walked back to the table and grimaced. “Man, do you believe them damn girls are out there in my car, waving and smiling up at me? Damn, I thought I'd locked the damn door. What's it going to take to get rid of them monsters?”

He huffed and turned to take another look out of the curtains. His head jerked back when he looked beyond the twins, who were still waving at him. He turned back to them with an aggravating look on his face.

JJ raised a curious brow at his expression and then frowned at Sparkle, who could only hunch his shoulders in response. JJ threw his hands in the air. “Damn, dog, what's the deal? You act like you done seen a ghost.”

Percy shook his head. “Man, here comes that bitch, Dee, walking across the field like she on a mission.”

JJ jumped up and rushed to the patio to see for himself, before he turned back to Sparkle. “Aw fuck, she sho is. Yo, bro, go handle
things with that ho before she get over here.” He reached under the couch where he'd thrown the coke when the kids had appeared in the hallway, picked out one of the baggies and tossed it to Sparkle.

Sparkle snatched the bag in flight, eased it into his jacket pocket and turned to see if Debra was paying any attention. Luckily, she was reaching into one of the cabinets. He sprinted quietly to the door before she could turn around.

He smiled at the silhouette of a girl sitting in the backseat of Percy's ride. He just as quickly ignored her and put his hand up to halt Dee's progress across the field, motioning for her to turn around as he stepped up his pace toward her. When he stepped off the curb he heard the car door open and turned around to see a girl get out. Damn, honey was fine in some cut-off jeans. He watched her run up the stairs of Debra's apartment.

He blinked once or twice in curiosity and turned back to Dee, who had stopped at the corner of one of the buildings and braced her hands firmly on her hips. When he got close enough to see her face in the shadows, he saw that she was looking beyond him, so he turned his head to follow her gaze.
Whaddafuck
, he thought as he watched the same girl in a pair of white jeans follow the path of the other girl. What really fucked him up was that she was also standing at Debra's door before he blinked and shook his head, and like magic she was gone. He wondered if he was tripping, because there was only one girl again. “Aw man, this stuff done got me tripping for a bitch,” he mumbled to himself.

“Whatcha say, nigga?” Dee responded when he turned back to her.

“Nothing, I just thought…aw fuck it, I thought. Never mind. I was tripping off of some real dumb shit; that's all. What's up?”

She stood with her mouth twisting to the side, gnawing at nothing,
the way he had noticed folk doing while they were high on coke. She ran her eyes up and down his body like he was bugging for sure.

Her reaction only riled him up as he leaned away from her and gritted. “Girl, I asked you what was up?”

“I heardcha.”

“Well, what's up then?”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Man, you told me to holla atcha when folk started to show up; well, I'm hollering.”

He spread his arms apart. “Okay, I can see that and…?”

“And whatcha gonna do?”

He grabbed her by the elbow and steered her back toward her apartment. Damn, she smelled good. He felt that familiar stirring in his groins, but he didn't have the time. He noticed her eyes slanted toward his ever-expanding crotch and he didn't want her to get the wrong idea. He stopped on the steps leading to her door and pulled out one of the bags with fifty dimes in it before she could open the door. “This here is five hundred worth of dimes.” He looked in both directions before handing it to her. “Now ten of these joints is yours, aight. Hey, girl, I ain't really got to tell you this, but you got to keep this here straight 'cause we got to make it rain green up in here if these dudes are gonna keep fronting me.”

She massaged the bag for a few before she looked back up at him batting her eyes. “So how I'm supposed to get atcha when this here's gone?”

There was an instant dilemma, but he played it off. “Before the day's out, I'll stop by.” He hesitated for a second, reconsidering his thoughts. “I'll call and leave you another number where you can reach me.”

Her eyes narrowed while she thought of other ways to cement
her game. On the other hand, she wanted him to leave so she could get a good blast with the stuff he'd given her in peace. She decided to save some of her sexy for the next time. “Yeah, baby, I can feel you being busy and shit, so I'll see you later.” She didn't even wait for a reply before she opened her door and disappeared.

All he could do was shake his head. True enough, he felt her conniving mind scheming and didn't expect her to leave that quickly. He rather enjoyed her shooting him all that bullshit; helped to keep him sharp. Oh well, whatever, as long as she kept those digits straight and answered the booty call when he needed it, she could act any way she wanted to. He turned around, braced himself against the early morning chill and headed back to Debra's.

As he crossed the street, he noticed that the girl was back in Percy's car. He figured that it was the coke that had him tripping; she had on different clothes and hairstyle, damn. “Whew.” He shook his head as he stepped inside. “Damn,” he moaned and froze, his eyes bucked wide open. He rubbed them with his palms and then stared at the girl in braids sitting at the table. Blinking a couple of times, he headed back out the door, only to be slowed by the laughter at his back.

“Hey, bro, I know whatcha tripping on; come on back in here,” JJ said.

Sparkle took a deep breath, went into a crouch and squinted at Percy's car. Seeing the girl still sitting there, he sighed heavily, walked back into the apartment and took a seat on the couch. The girl in the braids smiled at him, then got up and went outside of the balcony doors. He turned to Percy and JJ with a confused look on his face and frowned at the sneaky smile on theirs.

His body jumped involuntarily when the sound of a shrill whistle erupted in the air. He looked over to see the silhouette of the girl waving through the curtains. She had a wicked know-it-
all smile on her face when she stepped back in and returned to her seat at the table.

When the same face pushed through the door, it finally cemented what was going on. He gazed back and forth between the identical twins and shook his head at his own stupidity.

Percy got up and put his hand on his shoulder. “Man, forgive me, I should've told you about these two.”

He gritted on both of them. “These are my nagging twin sisters. That one over there looking like she stole something is Cherry; and the one sitting yonder with the braids, trying to look all innocent and shit, is Sherry. Together they are my worst nightmare.”

Sherry, the braided one, smiled devilishly and walked over to Percy. “Aw, big bro. Don't be talking about us spoiled brats like that; you the one that spoiled us.”

Cherry, the one with the curly do, joined her sister and said in an identical voice, “Yeah, we only want to hang out with our hero brother for a while; that's all.”

Percy tooted his nose up and looked away from them. “Uh-huh, I'm sure you do, don'tcha?”

“Yep,” they said in unison as they crossed the room in sassy struts and planted sloppy kisses on each of his cheeks.

Percy ducked and pushed both of their faces away from him. “Yeah right.”

Debra stuck her head around the corner and brushed her shoulder-length hair. She held her palms up at the guys and spoke to the girls. “Hey, Sherry, Cherry, how you doing? I'm glad to see ya. Tell your mama that I got her set for eleven o'clock tomorrow at the shop.”

Cherry pushed Percy upside the head as she answered, “Yes, ma'am, I'll tell her.”

Debra stopped combing her hair and under eyed her. “Girl, you
ain't gotta be calling me no ma'am; makes me feel like an old lady.”

“Yes, ma—” She stopped in midsentence when Debra put her hands on her hips, bucking her eyes. “Uh, yes, Miss Debra,” she corrected herself with the quickness.

“Okay, that's better; uh, a little better anyway.” Debra smiled, giving the dudes a nasty snake roll of her head as she whirled around and headed back into the bedroom.

JJ looked at Percy and spread his arms apart. Percy stretched his neck and started rubbing his chin and looked back and forth between the twins and Sparkle. “Yo, check this out, ya'll two demons; why don't ya'll do your big brother a favor and roll with my boy, Sparkle, here to check out those hotels for me.”

They looked at each other and hunched their shoulders before Sherry said, “Yeah, we can do that, but how are we supposed to get there; catch a cab?”

“Naw smartass, ya'll can use my car. I'll ride with JJ and Debra. But don't be driving all crazy and shit. Yeah, Miss Cherry, I'm talking to you, Miss Hotrod, and when ya'll finish, come straight over to Al's.”

Cherry, the obvious boss between the two, sassied up to him and bumped his hip. She flopped her arm around his neck and began toying with his heavy gold Mercedes-Benz chain. “Now, big bro, you know that we're going to handle this for you.” She nodded and winked at her sister and JJ. “But ain't you gonna break a little sumthin'-sumthin' off for me and sis?” She ended with a pout.

Percy leaned away, faking a frown he knew she wasn't buying. “Why I got to give ya'll something every time I ask ya'll to do a little task for me?” He tried to maintain a serious look but that didn't last but a hot second before she mugged him in the face.

“I see you getting the royal treatment, nigga.” Debra laughed sarcastically as she came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands with a towel and hollered down the hall. “Ya'll kids need to get ready to eat and get outta here.” She grimaced at their muffled replies and went about fixing their plates.

JJ walked up to Debra, only to meet a frown and stiff palm to his chin; a move that didn't faze him in the least. He knew his woman, so he forced an innocent smile. “Baby, if you want to get in contact, we'll be back at Al's trying to get some of our money back that fat nigga wiggled out of us the other day.”

Debra looked at him like he must have lost his mind. She put a hand on her hip and then put a manicured finger up to his face, freezing whatever he had to say as she spat, “Nigga, please, you actually believe I'm gonna hang around here like some kind of housewife. Well, you can think again; I need to get some of that ching-ching back, too.” She held a finger up and waved it around the room. “Ain't nary one of ya'll niggas going anywhere until I get ready to ride with ya, what?”

Each one of them, including the twins, threw their hands in the air and leaned away from her. She mugged the whole crew and twisted her narrow behind down the hall.

The twins smiled at each other and then at Percy, knowing they had only a little time to get a hit off of him while Debra got dressed. Percy squeezed his eyes together and shook his head; he knew what they were thinking. He motioned for all of them to join him on the balcony so they could get a blast out of sight of the kids, who had gone into the kitchen to eat.

Afterward, JJ said to the girls, “Looka here, ya'll, we want ya'll to let the girls ya'll deal with at the Red Roof, Holiday Inn and Motel 6 know that he's the one who's going to be dealing with them for awhile. All of them chickenheads should be ready for a
fresh package by now.” He held his head up, listening for something in the wind for a second, and then leaned against the patio door. “Wait a minute.” He sighed and pushed through the curtains.