Tears of a Hustler 2 (4 page)

While the other inmates went to sleep, Ali stayed up for the entire ride. When the bus finally pulled up to the facility, Ali swallowed hard as the barb wired fence opened allowing the bus to enter.

“Here we are boys. Gladiator school,” the red face officer chuckled. All of the inmates remained on the bus until the C.O. directed them to exit the bus. Once inside the facility, the C.O. made all the inmates go inside the intake cell until further notice. After about 30 minutes of listening to the warden of the facility talk about nothing, each inmate had to strip butt naked and be searched before being sent to their cell.

Ali was expecting to have a big, strong, greasy looking cellmate, but instead his cellmate turned out to be a midget. The C.O. forcefully pushed Ali in the cell and slammedit shut.

When the midget saw Ali enter the cell, he immediately hopped off his bunk. “Listen let me let you know how shit works around here. You don’t fuck with me and I won’t fuck with you aight? And I hope you don’t be snoring and farting and shit or we gon have some problems,” the midget said, looking Ali up and down.

“My man, check this out. I aint trying to hear all that bull shit you talking about, smell me? Just stay out myway and don’t fuck with none of my shit and we straight,” Ali said as he tossed his shit up on the top bunk.

“This my house,” the midget said, patting his chest. “You don’t tell me what’s going on, I tell you.”
Without thinking twice, Ali kicked the midget in his face. Once the midget was on his back, Ali forcefully planted his knee in his chest pinning him down. “If I hear another word out of you, Imma break your fucking face,” he threatened.
“Nah you can’t just come up in here regulating shit. I been here for eight years,” the midget huffed.
“Do what ever you want to do. Just don’t bother me,” Ali said as he took his knee off of the midget’s chest.
The midget quickly hopped back on his feet. He thought about trying his luck, but decided against it. “Well we both gotta live here, so I guess we better make the best of it,” the midget said as he hopped back on his bunk.
Ali unpacked a few of his things, then climbed up to his top bunk, and laid flat on his back. “So what’s your name,” he asked, breaking the silence.
“Everybody calls me Lil Bit,” the midget spoke proudly.
“So what’s your story?”
“What you mean?” Lil Bit asked defensively.
“What you in for?” Ali rephrased the question.
“I got caught with three bricks in my trunk.”
As Ali listened to the midget speak, he noticed he had a strong down south accent. “Yo, where you from?”
“Florida,” Lil Bit responded.
“So how you get locked up in New York?”
“I was working for this girl named Pauleena. I’m sure you’ve heard of her,” Lil Bit raised an eyebrow. “She got shit locked down in Florida, but now she’s expanding her operation to New York. She getting money out here from mainly wholesale, but she really looking for a spot so shecan get some of that break down money.”
“Yo, I heard rumors about Pauleena, but I thought that was just street gossip,” Ali said staring blankly at the ceiling.
“Nah she’s real, sexy as fuck too,” Lil Bit added.
“How long you been working for her?”
“Mmmm… about five years before I got locked up. But fuck all that. What’s ya name and what you in for?” Lil Bit reversed the conversation.
“Everybody calls me Ali.”
“I heard of you. You that brother that was giving all the niggaz in the hood jobs and shit. I also heard you killed 15 cops who tried to bust up in your crib.”
“Nah it was only eight cops,” Ali corrected him.
“You know your name was even ringing out in Florida?”
“Word?” Ali asked, shocked.
“Yeah, it was talk about some up north cat getting crazy money and giving back to the community. The word was your crew was kind of like the black mafia,” Lil Bit chuckled.
“The black mafia huh,” Ali echoed. “Is that a compliment?”
“What? Fo-sho!”
“Thanks I guess,” Ali said with a smile.
“Pauleena would always talk about how she wantedto hook up with you and your crew. I think she kind ofadmired you,” Lil Bit said in an even tone.
“Word?”
“Yup, she got the most high quality shit in America,” Lil Bit boasted.
“In America, huh?”
“The shit used to be so pure, we had to stomp on the shit just so the fiends wouldn’t O.D., I swear to God.”
“Well I wish we could of hooked up before I got locked up, plus I been out the game for a while.”
“Out the game?” Lil Bit hopped out of his bed in shock. “You can never get out. You know that!”
“Yeah and I also know you can’t over stay your welcome in the game either,” Ali capped.
“Yeah I hear you,” Lil Bit replied, as he laid back down on his bunk.
“What I was trying to do was build something; you know what I’m saying? Instead of buying jewelry, cars, and spinning rims, I invested my money into the businesses. That way it would bring me more money, and give more black people jobs because I only hired black people, who couldn’t getjobs because they had felonies, or they didn’t graduate from school, smell me?”
“Yeah that’s some deep shit.”
“If more drug dealers and people period, would do shit to help their community, the world be a better place; then maybe it wouldn’t be so many mufuckas sitting in jail.”
“Yeah, you a deep brother. Hopefully everybody will wake up sooner or later,” Lil Bit said, as he opened up his King Magazine.
“Yeah hopefully,” Ali said as he drifted off to sleep.

“Here take this,” Knowledge huffed as he handed the crackhead the amount of crack he paid for and shoved him out the back door. “Damn these mufuckas is filthy,” Knowledge complained. “Shit, I thought the fiends in New York was bad; God damn!”

“Nigga you been complaining since we got here,”Skip huffed, shaking his head.
“I’m just saying yo, I gotta wash my hands every10 minutes,” Knowledge continued to rant.
Skip had set everything up lovely. He turned Ashley’s apartment into a trap house. The fiends came in through the back door, got served, and exited the same way they came in. Two shooters occupied one of the upstairs bedrooms and looked out for any signs of trouble. Skip also had Suge standing in the doorway.
Suge was 6’7 and weighed 360 pounds; his job was to make sure no fiends got out of hand. Everybody called him Suge because he favored Suge Knight.
“I told you this shit was going to be a piece ofcake,” Knowledge said out loud, as he waited for the nextcustomer to show up.
Skip was about to respond, but lost his train of thought when he saw Ashley walk into the kitchen wearing nothing but some boy shorts and a bra. “Yo why don’t you put some fucking clothes on?” Skip said, crumbling up his face.
“This is my motherfucking house. I can wear whatever I want to wear. Plus it’s hot as fuck in here,” she shot back in a sassy tone.
“Why don’t you have some respect for yourself?” Skip sucked his teeth in disgust.
“If you don’t like it, then don’t look,” Ashley said, snaking her neck. “Plus I don’t think G-money would appreciate it if he knew you had your eyes glued to his stuff,” she said as she swayed back towards the steps.
“Fuck that. You can walk around however you want. I don’t mind,” Knowledge said as he hungrily eyed thebeautiful woman who stood before his eyes.
“You shut your pervert ass up. This pussy right here,” she slapped her ass, “belongs to G-money!”
“Bitches is too bold nowadays,” Skip hissed as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed April’s number, only to get sent straight to the voicemail again.
“Yo my dude, I’m about to run to the store downthe block real quick. You want anything?” Knowledge asked, placing his 9mm in the small of his back.
“Nah, I’m good. Good looking though,” Skip replied, his mind stuck on his wife and son.

“Damn, shorty ass is stupid fat,” Knowledge said out loud as he turned around to look at the woman’s ass who was leaving the store as he entered. “I love these country bitches,” he said loudly as he grabbed the items he desired.

All the women in the store gave him salty looks for the last comment he made, but Knowledge paid them no mind.
“Fuck this shit,” Knowledge huffed as he nonchalantly skipped the line and tossed his items on the counter. “Yo fam, let me get some Skittles and some Newports B.”
“Ummmm… there is a line back here,” a dark skin lady said loudly, as she sucked her teeth.
“Oh yeah, and let me get a lighter too,” Knowledge said, ignoring the woman who stood behind him.
“Excuse me sir?”
“Fuck outta here,” Knowledge said, directing his attention to the woman. “Damn, I’m just tryna get some cigarettes.”
“Well you need to wait in line like every body else,” the lady said, raising her voice.
“Listen bitch, I don’t do lines! Now excuse my back,” Knowledge said, turning his back to the lady so he could pay for his shit and go.
“Bitch!?” she echoed. “Who the fuck you calling a bitch? You don’t want me to go get my baby daddy, because if I go get him all hell will break loose up in this store. Youbetter act like you got some sense fuck nigga!”
Knowledge sighed loudly, as he slowly turned around and back slapped the lady. “Now go get ya baby daddy!”
“You done fucked up now,” the lady said as she exited the store still holding the side of her face.

“Stupid ass bitch,” Knowledge mumbled as he stepped back in the house.
“What’s wrong,” Skip asked, sensing something was wrong.
“I just had to smack the shit outta some bitch at the store,” Knowledge said with a bit of venom in his voice.
“You stupid,” Skip exhaled. “You just don’t getit,” he lightly scolded him.
“Nah, shorty was up in the store wilding for noreason,” Knowledge said, trying to sound convincing.
“You better hope she don’t come back with nobody,” Ashley said, sitting on the couch cross-legged. “Cause niggaz play with them choppers out here,” she told him.
“Nobody asked you all that,” Knowledge said as he shot her a cold stare.
“Yo, just stay in the fucking house from now on,” Skip huffed.
“Damn, why you acting like a lil bitch?”
Skip was about to respond, but decided he didn’t want to waste his breath.
* * * *
Roy and three other men sat at a round table outside in the middle of the hood playing spades.
“Damn it’s hot as fuck out here,” Roy said, wipingthe sweat from his forehead. The four men sat in the shade, but somehow the sun still took its toll on them.
Roy sat at the table with no shirt on, studyinghis hand. To the average person, Roy looked like a regular person. But everybody who knew him, knew he was one of the biggest drug dealers in Florida and one of, if not the most, vicious and violent men in America. Each man had their pistols on the table within arms reach. Roy wrote down the score on a small piece of paper when he noticed an elderly woman approach the card game.
“Excuse me. I’m looking for someone who goes bythe name Roy,” the old lady said innocently.
“How you doing ma’am? How can I help you?” Roy asked, giving her his undivided attention.
“Umm…you don’t know me, but I was told if I had any problems to come see you,” she said in a frail voice.
“So what’s up?” Roy asked.
“My husband has a bad drug problem. He stole my rent money and now my rent is two months behind. If I don’t pay my rent tomorrow, they going to put me out in the street.”
“How much you need?”
“About $1,800,” the old lady told him.
Roy looked over at his right hand man, Bumpy. “Paythe lady.”
Bumpy quickly pulled out a big wad of cash and peeled off 20, one hundred dollar bills, and handed it to the elderly woman.
“God bless you Roy. Thank you so much,” the old lady said as she kissed Roy on his cheek, as she walked away thanking the Lord.
“Damn that’s the fifth rent you done paid this month,” Bumpy huffed.
“You talking like that money is coming out of your pocket,” Roy exhaled.
“I’m just saying, it seems like people are justtrying to use you,” Bumpy protested.
“Chill out bro,” Roy said as he shuffled the cards.
Roy couldn’t do nothing but chuckle. His right hand man Bumpy was one of the cheapest mufuckas in the world. He got the name Bumpy because his face was covered with nasty looking bumps. He had a face only a mother could love, but Roy and Bumpy been friends ever since the second grade.And when it came to gunplay, Bumpy was one of the best.
“How many books you got?” Bumpy asked as he noticed the familiar Dodge Charger come to a screeching stop.
Evet slid out of the driver seat with a hurt look on her face.
“What’s up baby?” Roy asked focusing on the handhe was dealt.
“Some hoe ass nigga just slapped me while I was at the store,” Evet growled.
“Slapped you,” Roy’s brow furrowed at that last comment.
“Yeah, for no reason too,” she added, still rubbing her face. “And he had a New York accent.”
“A’ight, go in the house. I’mma take care of it,” Roy said with a gesture of dismissal.
Once Evet was in the house, Bumpy spoke. “How you want to handle this?”
“Round up a couple of soldiers and teach them fuck niggaz a lesson,” Roy said in a calm voice. “I’mma go and make sure Evet is a’ight.”
Bumpy quickly rounded up three soldiers, popped the trunk on the old school Cadillac, and removed three A.K.’s.
“Let’s go take care of this business,” Bumpy grumbled as he slid in the passenger seat. Once the car was filled, the Cadillac cruised to its destination.

Skip sat on the couch along with Ashley, watching an episode of Martin. “Yo this nigga funnier than muthafucka,” Skip laughed loudly.

“Damn, it aint that funny,” Ashley sucked her teeth. “Just shut up,” Skip said mockingly.
Ashley sighed. “I need a drink.”
“Get me one too,” Skip chimed.
“Fuck outta here,” Ashley yelled over her shoulder. She returned from the kitchen carrying two glasses in

one hand and a bottle of Remy in the other. Beforeshe could make it back to the couch, bullets came flying through the windows and doors.

Skip quickly tackled Ashley and covered her fromdanger. The gunshots sounded like a marching band drum line stood outside of the apartment.

The two shooters who stood upstairs immediately opened fire on the old school Cadillac. Once the gunshots slowed up, Knowledge quickly shot to his feet, stormed outside, and emptied the clip of his 9mm at the Cadillac’s taillights. “Pussies!!” he yelled as he watched the Cadillac bend the corner.

“Yo get this money and drugs up outta here,” Skip ordered as he held his Desert Eagle down by his side.
Suge quickly headed upstairs to do as he was told.
“Get ya ass up and put on some clothes,” Skip said, helping Ashley up off the floor.
“Two soldiers got hit,” Suge said, with three duffle bags in his hands.
“A’ight listen. When the cops get here, just tell them you live here alone and somebody just did a drive by,” Skip said as he and the rest of the crew slid out the back door and made their get away.