Payback Is a Mutha (10 page)

“H
ello.”

“Crystal, it’s me. Where’s your sister? What’s up with her and that nigga who drives the Beamer? I go—”

Crystal cut him off. “Hold on Sha, let me go to another phone.”

Shadee heard her door slam and then Crystal fumbling with the phone. “Crystal what the fuck is goin’ on? She leaves this message, crying and shit, talkin’ bout come and get her. But she doesn’t say where the fuck she is!”

“Sha, shit has been crazy!” Crystal blurts out and then starts crying. “Janay said they was gonna kill her. She took over Big Choppa’s business; they’re jealous and she didn’t want nobody to get hurt. But she had to do what she had to do. She scared to leave. She said she didn’t plan on taking over his spot, it just fell into her lap…she…Daddy’s chemo, the doctors, I don’t…”

“Girl slow the fuck down! You ain’t making any sense. Where is she?” Sha screamed into the phone.

“Getwell Gardens.”

“Getwell Gardens? Why the fuck is she down there?”

“That’s her spot. I don’t know what building. I just know the building’s in the back, Big Choppa’s newest spot.”

Shadee hung up on Crystal and dialed Kay-Gee’s celly.

“What’s good Sha?” Kay-Gee’s loud mouth yelled.

“Yo, sumthin’s up. Get your tools and the crew. Meet me at the Getwell Gardens. But don’t do shit, just wait for me.”

Shadee hung up and dialed Born.

“What up Unc?”

“I’m around the corner. I need my tools. Where you at?”

“I’m on the block but sounds like we about to go to war. So that’s what’s up?”

“We’ll see. Meet me at your crib in fifteen.”

Shadee was already sitting in front of Born’s apartment building on Riverside Drive when him and Teraney pulled up. Born jumped out and ran over to Shadee who was on his phone. No one spoke until they got upstairs to his apartment.

Teraney couldn’t contain himself. “What’s happenin’ Sha? Who we got beef wit’?” Teraney was always trigger happy and always ready for drama.

“Everybody man. How come nobody knows about the competition? Like whose servin’ Big Choppa’s peeps? Why we ain’t on it? What! Y’all niggas ain’t hungry no more?” Shadee was yelling as he went to the back to get the guns. “Y’all niggas slippin’!”

“Ain’t nobody slippin’. You always outta town man. I’m on it. Jeff K and Biz took over.”

“That ain’t what I’m hearin’.”

“Those are your girl’s peeps. You said to let ’em ride for now. Am I right?” Born was looking at Shadee hoping that that’s what Shadee had said. Born was not one to hold his tongue.

“Strap up nigga!” Shadee threw two glocks at him.

“What’s happenin’yo?” Teraney was strapping up as well as he joined them in the back.

“We’re gettin’ ready to find out.”

They jumped in Born’s ride and headed for the projects. They circled around first to see what was up. Everything seemed to be ghetto as usual. Kids were still out playing even though it was dark. Niggas was hangin’ on the corner slangin’, hoes were on the stroll, the crack fiends were prowling and the teens were chillin’, smokin’ blunts, pumpin’ the music of Three 6 Mafia. As soon as they parked Kay-Gee pulled up next to them. Shadee rolled down the passenger window.

“Yo! What’s poppin’ Sha?” Kay-Gee wanted to know.

“I really don’t know but we got to go in expectin’ a war. Janay done got herself into something man. Foreal, Foreal; I’m not sure what the fuck is the story. I do know one thing though. Seems like between all of us mutherfuckers, we would know what the fuck is going on in our own backyard. Shit’s gonna have to change. And if this bitch been slingin’ behind my back I’ma put my foot in her ass!”

Kay-Gee nodded yeah, seeing that his man was pissed off. “A’ight man, I heard you. We ready. I’ma leave Jo Jo here with the whips. The rest of us, we ready to roll wit’ you. Let’s do it!” They left all of the vehicles parked in the middle of the street with big ass Jo Jo.

Teraney spotted one of his boys who use to be large on the block, but was now smoked out. “What up Spontaine? Let me holla at you!” Teraney was trying hard to wipe the look of disgust off his face. Spontaine was pitch black and ashy. His hair was matted to his head and he was wearing a dirty cable uniform. His hustle was going around hookin’ up peeps’ cable for a rock.

“Raney, what’s good? You got all the channels man? Pay Per View? The works?” Spontaine wasted no time going into his sales pitch. “If not, you know I’m yo man. I can hook you up today. You still my nigga. I’m just doin’ a little sumthin’ sumthin’ until I get back on my feet.”

“I hear you man.” Teraney pulled out ten dollars. “Which apartment is the whole show runnin’ from?”

Spontaine snatched the ten-dollar bill. “Man, its been dry and quiet for the last coupla days. Nobody ain’t been runnin’ shit! That bitch that’s up there, I don’t know what’s up with her. She rules with an iron fist. Big Choppa be lookin’ out. We just been watching and waitin’; most fiends been coppin’ elsewhere, you know how that go.” He pointed to the buildings in the back. “Foreal, Foreal—I don’t think nobody’s back there. There has been no movement except for a few hoes turning tricks, but nobody’s answerin’ the door. The whole building is theirs. Big Choppa got it on lock.”

Teraney pulled out another ten. “Yeah, well
spread the word that the bitch and everybody relocated. A’ight?”

“I got you man. Can I get a rock instead of the ten?”

“Nigga, you just said you tryna get yourself together.” Teraney put the ten back in his pocket and turned to walk away.

“Yo wait! A’ight, man. Gimme tha ten. You got some work for me? I need to come up.”

“I’ll get back at you.” And he turned to Shadee. “Sha!” He pointed behind him. “That’s the spot. Top floor. They got the whole building. Word is some bitch been runnin’ shit but it’s been quiet for the last two days. Damn man. You really think that’s Janay?” Teraney didn’t know whether to be shocked or impressed. He knew that Big Choppa was her pops. He also heard rumors that he taught both of his daughters every detail of the “Game.” And word on the street was, whenever Big Choppa would get sick, Janay was the one to hold it down for him. She would oversee the smooth running of his entire operation. Now it appeared to be déjà vu. The most impressive rumor was she caught her first body before her eighteenth birthday. To Teraney, that was really gangsta, especially for a female.

“Yeah man. It’s her.” They all marched with Shadee to the spot where she was supposed to be. They definitely looked like they were on a mission.

When the fiends spotted Born they all rushed over to see if he needed something.

“Move the fuck outta my way!” he yelled, pushing the fiend closest to him, causing him to fall on his back right on top of some dog shit.

“Aw, dayuum!” somebody yelled and everybody started laughing.

“Oh shit! I think them niggas run New Chicago.” A young fifteen-year-old soldier said.

“What they doin’ out here?” his partna asked.

“Naw.” CK, a kid whose oldest brother worked for Big Choppa, interrupted. “Those are Big Choppa’s peeps. That bitch in there is getting ready to get her brains blown out.”

“They ain’t Big Choppa’s peeps!” the young soldier challenged. I told ya them niggas run New Chicago. They probably gettin’ ready to take over!” New Chicago was a Memphis hood and huge money-making spot.

Everyone was speculating and curious as to what was happening as Shadee and his crew marched through the crowd looking as if they were about to blow something up. Shadee pushed the hall door open and already had his glock cocked. The building reeked of crack, weed, beer, wine, and urine all mixed together. It was a building that belonged to the fiends. All of the apartments were condemned and were used only to get high and turn tricks.

Shadee banged on the steel door. “Goddamn! What is this, Fort Knox? Janay!”

Plop! Plop!
Everyone turned behind them and was aiming. “Chill out!” Teraney said.

“Chill out? How the fuck we gonna chill and you shootin’!” Shadee looked at Teraney as if he was crazy.

“It was a rat, dawg. You know I hate them sons a bitches.”

All they heard was groans and mumbles as everybody wanted to shoot Teraney personally.

Shadee had his ear to the door. “Damn yo. It sounds like I hear some ticking.”

“This shit could be booby trapped Unc!” Born’s eyes was big as saucers.

“Hell, yeah,” Kay-Gee chimed in.

“Well, we ’bout to find out, niggas.” He banged some more. “Janay! You in there?” he yelled out as he banged harder.

The slot where the drugs were passed through opened and then closed. When the door opened Shadee went in first with his gun cocked. “Shadee, put the guns away. I’m the only one here.” She stood behind the door wearing blue shorts and a white top. Her sneakers were untied, hair up in a ponytail and the tears were falling down her cheeks. She went to close the door but Born and Teraney stepped through.

“Whoa, girl! You gonna kill a nigga with that steel door,” Born said. Behind him was Slim and Kay-Gee.

“Did you have to bring the army with you?” she wanted to know, looking at Shadee.

“I didn’t know what to bring. How the fuck was I supposed to know?”

“Put the guns up y’all,” Janay scolded.

“What the fuck is goin’ on Janay? And what is that smell? I hope it’s not what I think it is,” Shadee said.

“What’s going on? What about, how are you baby? I miss you. I’ve been busy but I’ma make it up to you. Why I gotta go through drama to get your attention? Where have you been Sha? You better believe if I had someone else to call I would not have called you!” She rattled off.

Shadee was standing in the middle of the floor looking around and ignoring her outburst while kinda surprised and shocked at what he saw. There
was a long picnic table against the wall. It was covered with bags of all sizes of crack, powder, and weed. On the kitchen table there were two duffel bags.

“Don’t nobody touch shit!” he yelled. “Janay stop bitchin’ for a minute and bag up all that shit on the table.” He went over to the duffel bags and just as he thought, they were filled with money. He grabbed both of those.

“Yo Unc! Come here!” Born yelled from the back.

“Don’t touch shit!” he yelled again, looking around at the others. He went down the hall to where Born was. Born stepped out of the room with a handkerchief around his nose and mouth. Shadee stepped in the room. “Oh damn!” He yelled and jumped back into the hallway. His eyes began to water. He pulled his jersey up over his nose and mouth and went back inside to look at the three dead bodies lying on the floor.

“Damn Janay,” he mumbled.

“I
s he dead? Is he dead?” Was all Shan could get out. “Brianna, did they kill him?” She was screaming.

“Shan, I was never so fuckin’ scared in all my life. You worrying about him? If that would have been you, I swear I don’t know what I would have done. You are like my shadow.” Brianna’s hands was trembling as she tried to keep them steady on the steering wheel.

“So he is dead? Brianna I should have done something! Is he dead?”

“I don’t know, Shan.”

“Then why are you so scared and shaking?”

“Never saw nobody get shot before. Not up close. And at first I thought you was hit. You’re the only family I got who loves me for me. You don’t judge me. The thought of you not being here for me spooked the shit outta me. I need to get myself to
gether. That was a wake up call. That was too scary for me.”

Shan began to cry harder. “He’s dead. I should have kept him in the truck. Oh, God, Brianna!”

“Shan! Pull yourself together!” She had been trying to block out Shan’s screaming and crying, during the entire ride home. “Let me get you inside,” Brianna said as she pulled up in front of her building. She jumped out, then took Shan inside. She immediately peeled the bloody clothes off of Shan’s trembling body.

“You know I have to get rid of these don’t you?” Shan nodded her head yes. Brianna started the shower and noticed that Shan was in a daze. “Shan! Shan!” She grabbed both shoulders and squeezed them tight. “Get in the shower. You can do that, right?”
Oh, my God!
Brianna said to herself. “C’mon.” She guided Shan into the warm water and closed the curtain. “I’ll be right back.” She gathered up the blood-soaked clothes, put them into a trash bag and put them into the Dumpster. She then ran back inside and straight to the bathroom, only to find Shan in the same spot that she left her. She grabbed her lavender body wash and began lathering up Shan’s body; she felt as if she was bathing a child. After her entire body was lathered up she turned Shan around in circles so that she could rinse her off. She turned the water off, grabbed a towel and dried her off. After giving her some pajamas she got her comfortable and tucked her under the covers. “I’ll be right back.” Brianna ran outside and unloaded all of their shopping bags. When she came back inside and checked on Shan, she was still crying.

“Bri, get me something for my head. It’s killing me.”

“It should be. You’ve been crying nonstop in a damn zombie trance. Let me see what I’ve got. I should have something.” Brianna went to her bathroom and checked her medicine cabinet.

When she came back she had one pill and a glass of water. “What is this? I just want some Tylenol or something. Not no damn psyche meds!” Shan said, knowing how Brianna was.

“Girl, please. Do you want your headache to stop or what? Plus, this will put you to sleep for an hour or two. It’s not gonna kill you.”

“Yeah. Psyche meds, just as I thought.” Shan said but swallowed the pill anyway.

“Don’t let me sleep long.” She turned over and then cried, “B, they shot him. One of those bullets could have hit me. He fell right on top of me. Was he dead B?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think so. Shan please try to relax and get some sleep. I’ll see if I can find something out.” She ran her hands through Shan’s hair and rocked her to sleep. Then she got up and turned out the light.

Brianna tried calling Woo but kept getting his voice mail. She put down her cell phone to answer the house phone.

“Hello.”

“Hey. What you doing? I need to swing by.” It was Shadee.

“I got company right now. But I’m glad you called.”

“You got a nigga over but you’re glad I called? Girl you full of shit! You know that, right?”

“A nigga? It’s my girl Shan. You can come over. I gotta talk to you about something.”

“Shan, huh? A’ight. I’m on my way.”

As soon as she hung up, the phone rang again. “Collect call from Skye at the Wayne County Jail. Will you accept?” Bri was caught off-guard and her heart was jammed in her throat.
Oh, shit! The county jail?
She thought to herself.

“Skye?”

“Yes. Will you accept the call, ma’am?”

“Uh, um, yes, yes, I will.”

“Go ahead, sir.”

“Yo Brianna! You got me fucked up!” his voice screamed through.

“Skye? Where are you?”

“In fuckin’ Detroit waitin’ for my boy to post my bail. You better hope my man is here before our prints come back! Your man Peanut that you put me up on? That nigga was hot as fuck! Then on top of that, you didn’t tell us he’s into all that gangbangin’ shit. He been getting his ass beat. I even heard that they busted him a new asshole. He’s fucked being that he’s way down here in enemy territory.”

“How y’all get way in Detroit?”

“Don’t worry about that. You need to worry about what’s gonna happen if I don’t get out before my prints come back. If my boy don’t come through you better find a way to get down here.”

“What about who you had with you when you got locked up? Was it a total loss? What about Peanut? Can’t y’all bail him out too?” Brianna was having trouble breathing. It was taking everything within her to not freak out.

“Bitch, what you been smokin’? How we gonna rob the nigga then get him out of jail? That defeats the purpose! Don’t go catching feelings for him
now. You didn’t have no feelins when you put me on him.”

“Skye, I don’t want nothing out the deal, just get him out. That’s my girl’s brother.”

“You wasn’t getting shit no way! The whole deal went bust. But I’ll see what I can do as far as lookin’ out for him. Dude in a fucked up situation.”

“Don’t try. Do something Skye! The whole deal ain’t go bust because your boy is out and he’s gettin’ you out. Nigga, don’t try to play me. A deal’s a deal.”

“Trick, I said I’ll see what I can do.”
Click.

Brianna grabbed a pillow off the sofa, put it to her face and went to bawling like the rotten low-down bitch she was. She stayed in that position for the next twenty minutes, all the way until Shadee came knocking on the door.

When he stepped inside he looked at Brianna in tears and immediately regretted that he stopped by. He was not in the mood for any female drama. And he damned sure didn’t want to hear about that Atlanta bullshit. Plus, he had absolutely no more love for her. He went straight to the back to where his safe was and deposited some dope and cash.

“Where’s your girl?”

“She’s asleep in my bed.” She looked up at him. “Sha, I don’t know what I’ma do. I really fucked up this time. Oh, God, I fucked up. Sha, I don’t know what to do.” And she burst out crying once again.

Shadee sat on the sofa across from her, stretched out his long legs and placed his hands behind his head.
Yeah, bitch, shed them fucking tears. ’Cause what I got for your bitch ass, you ain’t gonna like.
He thought to himself.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She jumped up and ran into the bathroom.

“Looking at you like what?” he hollered after her.

Brianna dried her face, grabbed some tissue and peeked in on Shan, who was still sleeping. She came back into the living room and sat down next to Shadee.

“Sha, I really fucked up this time. My shit has finally caught up with me. I don’t knock tha next man’s hustle. So why do thugs and bitches always gotta knock mines?” She grabbed an ashtray, pulled out a joint, and lit it with trembling hands. “Sha,” B continued, “do you know what my hustle is?” She passed him the joint and watched wide-eyed as he took a long pull.

When Sha finished coughing he said, “Yeah, I know what’s up.”

“You do?” She looked surprised.

“Brianna that’s your problem. You think everybody is stupid.” He glared at her with contempt. “You ain’t as game tight as you think you are.”

She buried her face in her hands and was silent for a few minutes. “Why do you still fuck with me Sha?”

He smiled. “Like you said, ‘don’t knock tha next man’s hustle.’ Plus, who am I to judge?”

“But Sha, I really, really…my hustle is getting knocked right now. I fucked up big time!”

“If you play B, you gotta be ready to pay. That’s part of the game.”

“I know. But I didn’t mean for my girl’s brother to pay.” She blew her nose. “This nigga Skye I hooked up with, I put him on my girl’s brother. Well, things got botched somehow, at least that’s what he told me and they are locked up in Detroit. But that’s not all.
It gets even more fucked up.” She blew her nose again. “Peanut is a gangbanger and Detroit is enemy territory. They’re beating him up and raping him,” she bawled and blew her nose again. “And they’re probably gonna kill him Sha, and it’s all my fault!” She burst out crying again. “Shan is my family Sha. I set her brother up. I did shit to a lot of niggas. But how low did I have to go? My best, shit, my only friend! And on top of that, I fucked one of the only niggas that really got love for me and is not out to use me…You, Sha,” she mumbled.

“Come again,” Sha said, knowing damn well what she was getting at, but couldn’t believe that she was actually going to confess. He pulled out his own blunt.

“I fucked you Sha.” Brianna, for some reason, felt the need to confess. “I set you up before Sha. Hook and Rob was most likely with him. I owed Hook and I knew you was coming to get something small. I know you always put a little something aside for the robbers.” She blew her nose. “So I knew it was no big deal. But then I saw you with them stitches in your head…Sha, I am so sorry. You could have gotten killed. I just thought that you would give them what you had on you. I was scared to tell you Sha. I’m so sorry. If I could take it back, I would.” She was now crying so hard he thought she was gonna throw up.

For the next ten minutes Sha smoked on his blunt as Brianna cried. The only thing he was thinking about was implementing his plan on paying this bitch back.

“Sha.”

He looked at her. “What’s up?” It was taking all of his manpower to not put both hands around her
neck and squeeze until her eyeballs popped outta their sockets.

“I’m sorry.”

“I ain’t sweatin’ it. I just have to charge it to the game.”

Brianna looked at him and could feel that that’s what his mouth was saying but she knew that he was disappointed in her.

“Fuck!” she said out loud.

Sha stood up to leave.

“What am I gonna do?” she pleaded with him. “Peanut is stuck in jail. I don’t know if he got somebody to bail him out or not. Shan’s over here. I know he’s been calling her house. We’ve been at the mall all day.” Briggen getting shot was the last thing on her mind. “If I get him out myself, he’s gonna know I set him up. If I don’t get him out, that’s not fair to him or Shan. What do you think I should do?”

“Get who out? And I know you ain’t sheddin’ them kind of tears for Briggen.” Shan was standing in the living room with Brianna’s robe on. “Hoe, what have you gotten yourself into now?”