Philadelphia (9 page)

“What the fuck happened last night?” Stone passed the blunt to Phareed. They were in Phareed's Hummer, driving to the Honey Trap.

“Them niggas Seven-up and Germ started beefing. You know Germ. That nigga start poppin' off instantaneous.”

“Those niggas need to control theyselves.”

“What happened to you?” Phareed asked.

“I got the fuck out. Got swept up in the crowd and surfed that shit right out the door. You know I ain't waitin' around for no cops.”

“Word.” Phareed took a hit off the blunt. “Yo, what happened with ya girl last night?”

“I lost her in the melee.” He took the blunt from Phareed.

Stone's phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and looked at the caller ID. The number came up blocked. He contemplated whether to answer, then decided to hear who it was. “Stone.”

“Hey, baby. What happened to you last night? You okay?” Billie purred into the phone.

He was happy he decided to answer. “Oh, shit. Speak of the devil. I was just talkin' about you with Phareed.”

“Only nice things, I hope,” she flirted.

“Always. What you doin', ma?”

“Waitin' to see you again.”

“I got some business to attend to, but let me holla at you later,” he said.

“I like the sound of that. Text me the address.”

“Bet.” Stone smiled.

“See you tonight, daddy.” Billie hung up.

“Yo, that girl got my dick twitchin',” Stone said to Phareed.

“I hear that. That bitch got a slammin' body.”

Stone didn't like Phareed talking about Billie like that, but he couldn't say anything. He hadn't fucked Billie, so he couldn't lay any claim to that ass just yet.

“Word.” Stone stared out the passenger window, enjoying his high.

Phareed pulled up in front of the Honey Trap. “Make sure your man know he need to take care of the thorn in our side.”

“You not comin' in?” Stone asked.

“Nah. I got to talk to them niggas Seven-up and Germ. Make sure they know if they get pinched, my name never comes out they mouth. They should be plannin' on leavin' this city for a minute. Hear me?”

“I hear that. I'll take care of this thing.”

They gave each other a pound and Stone hopped out of the Hummer. Before he entered the club he texted the address to Billie.

She replied with a winking smiley face.

Stone entered the dark club. It was the usual early evening crowd, a few guys sitting around the stage watching the girls dance. The energy was low in the main room. The guys were tired from working all day, and the girls on the afternoon shift were never too excited to be there.

Stone ordered a beer from the bartender. He leaned against the bar and watched the girls gyrating for cash. One or two girls were lucky enough to convince some of the guys to get a lap dance, which meant more money in their pockets. Stone's high was kicking in lovely at this point. He finished his beer then went into the office to wait for his man to show up.

Stone was sitting at his desk, going through some paperwork, when his man came into the office.

“I've got to make this quick.”

“Then let's get right to it,” Stone said. “Some cop got in Phareed's face. We need it taken care of.”

“Goddamn. I knew it.”

Stone gave him a questioning look.

“That cop is my partner,” D'Angelo responded to his look. He squeezed his face tight. He knew he would regret the day he agreed to do some favors for Stone.

D'Angelo had known Stone since childhood. They weren't the closest friends growing up but they did know each other from around the way. While he was still in the police academy D'Angelo's mother had gotten sick and he needed some cash. Stone was there to help him out but in return he wanted D'Angelo to do him some favors. D'Angelo was hesitant at first but Stone assured him that the favors would be easy. He thought it over but ultimately decided to take the money and pay his mother's hospital bills. Stone didn't ask for the favors right away; he waited until D'Angelo made it on to the police force to cash them in.

Stone didn't lie to D'Angelo, they were simple favors. He mostly had D'Angelo busting rival corner boys and disrupting their business so Phareed and Stone could move in. A few times he had him plant evidence on people or fix some paperwork so one of Phareed's crew could get off.

D'Angelo started getting invited to parties by Stone. He also started accepting extra cash from Stone, which afforded D'Angelo a lifestyle he thought he would never be able to afford. Over time D'Angelo began to enjoy these perks a little too much. He became too comfortable around Phareed's crew and soon Stone saw an opportunity to blackmail D'Angelo and he took it.

One night at a party Stone had one of their hoes get close to D'Angelo and convince him to do some blow with her. What D'Angelo didn't know was that Stone was videotaping the entire thing. By the end of the night Stone had hours of video of D'Angelo and a prostitute blowing lines and fucking each other.

Stone approached him with an offer. He proposed that D'Angelo keep working for them and make extra cash, or say no and take his chances in court when the videotape was leaked to the media. D'Angelo was stuck. He had to keep working for Phareed no matter how much risk he was taking within the force.

“Damn.” Stone shook his head slowly. He knew D'Angelo had a new partner, but he wasn't expecting it to be this pest. “Why the fuck you let him do this?” Stone asked.

“I tried to stop him. He wasn't listening to any of it.” D'Angelo shrugged. He knew this was going to come back on him.

“Well, fuck, you need to make him listen and get the fuck off our ass.”

“I'll see what I can do.” He was annoyed that he didn't try harder to nip it in the bud sooner.

“See what you can do? Nigga, you gon' make sure this shit goes away. That's what you can do,” Stone threatened.

“This isn't going to be easy. He is going full force after Phareed.”

“If you can't talk him down or sabotage his ass, then you know what needs to be done.” Stone went to the safe under the desk. He twirled the dial on the door and unlatched the lock. He reached in and pulled out a stack of bills, then handed it to D'Angelo. “Listen, nigga, just make it go away.”

“Shit.” D'Angelo gritted his teeth and took the money.

There was a knock on the door as D'Angelo stuffed the money into the inside pocket of his coat. He placed his hand on the pistol that was sitting in its holster. Stone and D'Angelo gave each other a look that said, “who the fuck is that?”

“I'm going out the back,” D'Angelo said quietly.

Stone shook his head in acknowledgment. He rested his hand on the gun in his waistband. Using the door as a shield, he kept it between his body and the person on the other side. He poked his head around the corner. “Oh, shit. What are you doing here?”

“You told me to come,” Billie said.

D'Angelo looked back just before he closed the door, and he saw Billie entering the office. D'Angelo had no idea that he was looking at his partner's girl. Since Walter and D'Angelo had only been working together for a short time they still hadn't gone out together with their girls. D'Angelo just figured that Billie was some girl coming in looking for a job. The sound of the closing door caught Billie's attention.

“I didn't think you were going to be here this soon,” Stone said.

“I couldn't wait to see you. Was someone else in here?” She pointed to the door.

“Business partner. He just left.”

“Oh. So you do your business in a strip club?” She said with a hint of flirtation.

“This is just one of my businesses.”

“Right, you own a bar.” She pressed her body against his.

“That's right.” He palmed her ass.

“What are we doing tonight?” She rubbed her hands down his back and palmed his ass.

“Whatever you want, ma.” He smiled.

“Mmmm. I like that. Let's get out of here.”

They broke their embrace. Stone went to close the safe, but before he did he took out $20,000 in cash and put it in his pocket. He was going to make sure they had fun.

As they walked through the club, Isis was dancing onstage. She was bent over in some guy's face, taking a dollar from him. She saw Stone and Billie leaving together and gave Billie a look that could kill. Billie just gave her a shit-eating grin and kept it moving.

They got in Stone's Escalade and drove off.

“Where we going?” Billie asked.

“You'll see.” Stone pulled onto I-76 headed north.

About twenty-five minutes later, they were pulling into the King of Prussia Mall parking lot.

“You like shopping?” Stone asked.

“Yes,” Billie said hesitantly.

“Get ready, 'cause we gonna blow it out up in here.” Stone pulled into a parking space. They got out and walked across the parking lot arm in arm. Billie would rather be getting closer to Phareed but if Stone wanted to go shopping she had to play along. He was her ticket to Phareed at this point. If he wanted to buy her clothes that was his choice, and Billie definitely wasn't going to stop him from doing that.

“Let the shopping spree begin.” Stone opened the door for Billie.

They spent the next three hours shopping. They went to all the department stores and the most expensive boutiques. At the end of it all, Stone had dropped fifteen grand easy on clothes.

“Let's eat. I'm hungry,” Stone said, his arms full of shopping bags.

“The food court?” she suggested.

“Hell no. We gonna eat right tonight.”

They drove back to Philly and went to Smith & Wollensky's steakhouse. He ordered a prime rib, and she ordered the porterhouse. They dined on appetizers and drank a couple bottles of the best wine they offered. They laughed and flirted throughout the meal. The wine, the food, the atmosphere of the restaurant all had Billie feeling completely at ease with Stone. They had the same tastes in music, movies, and TV. Stone was making her laugh by doing impressions of famous people. He was so good that Billie thought he could be doing it on stage.

After paying the $1,200 bill, Stone helped a tipsy Billie out to the car. As soon as the fresh air hit Billie, she was snapped back to reality. She wasn't on a real date; she was hunting and needed to focus.

“We goin' back to my place?” Stone asked as they got back in the Escalade.

Billie looked at him with a coy smile on her face. “I'm not so sure about that.”

“What you talkin' about? We had fun tonight.”

“Yes, we did.”

“So let's keep it goin'. Let me take you back to my crib and sex you like you deserve.” He put his hand on her thigh.

“Mmmmm. That sounds good, but I like you. I want to take it slow with you.”

“If you like me, that's all the more reason to come back with me.”

“I want to, but I can't. I'm embarrassed to say this, but I'm on my period.” She gave him a disappointed frown.

“That's cool. I don't care about that.”

She could see that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Even though she wasn't exclusively dating Walter, she still felt that sleeping with someone else would be cheating. In her head, she was desperately searching for a way out.

“I care. It's gross,” she said.

“Come on.” He was almost pleading at this point.

Billie weighed her options. She couldn't kill him yet, because people had seen them at dinner. She saw only one way out. She told herself it wasn't cheating.

“How 'bout I suck your dick, daddy?” She leaned over and started undoing his pants.

Stone had a huge smile on his face as he watched her unzip his fly and release his rock-hard nine inches.

She started kissing the tip. “Mmmm, tasty.” She inserted his dick into her mouth.

Stone looked on as she bobbed up and down on his dick. He grabbed the back of her head and started pushing it down.

“Yeah, let me fuck your face,” he said.

His dick was covered in her saliva as she took his entire shaft all the way to the base. Stone could feel his dick hitting the back of her throat. This sensation put him over the edge. He accelerated his thrusts and gripped her hair tighter. She cupped his balls and kept up with his rhythm. With one last thrust, he kept his dick down her throat and released his load. She swallowed it all. She didn't let one drop out of her mouth.

She came up from his lap, wiping her mouth and chin of the excess saliva. “Mmmmm,” she moaned.

“Damn, you got some head game, ma.” He was catching his breath and putting his dick back in his pants.

“When I have such a nice piece of meat to work with, it's easy.” She smiled and sat back in her seat secretly disgusted by what she just had to do.

“Where to?” Stone started his truck.

“Take me to the Westin.”

“We got to find you a crib.” He pulled into the street.

“I'm workin' on it.”

When they got to the hotel, Billie exited the Escalade and started walking toward the entrance to the Westin.

“Sheila!” Stone called from his truck.

She turned. She had forgotten the name she had given to Stone once; she would never forget it again.

“Your clothes.”

“I'll get them from you next time,” she called back and waved.

“A'ight.” He pulled off.