What's Really Hood!: A Collection of Tales From the Streets (4 page)

“Cain’t do it dis round, Nisha. Cain’t take no shorts tonight,” Tink said, squinting from the burning kerosene heater in the
far corner. He knew Trina would be pissed when she smelled kerosene in his gear. Only two grams to sell and he could go the
fuck home.

“Just this last time, Tink. I swear ’fore God I’ma come correct next time.” She had the nerve to drop to her knees with her
hands clasped together.

“Ain’t no next time,” Tink replied. “And get the fuck up.”

“Please,” she pleaded, remaining on her knees.

“No!”

“Please.”

“No!”

“Please.”

“Hell no, Nisha!” Tink said, standing up to peek out
of her front window. “I just gave you some shake a few minutes ago. Whatcha do? Eat tha shit like candy or something?” he
said, about to laugh.

“Ha, ha, very funny!” Tanisha replied, sticking up her slender middle finger behind his back. She came to her feet, mumbling
under her funky breath. Tink turned from the window to see Tanisha flopping down onto her flower-printed sofa. She rolled
her eyes at Tink as he smiled at her.

“What time your friend across the skreet get off?”

Tanisha pursed her lips, shrugging her shoulders.

“You need to stop trippin’,” Tink stated as he pulled out a Snickers candy bar from his huge front right pocket. Catching
the pissed-off Tanisha off guard, he tossed her a nice-sized ten piece of hard. “Think fast!”

He may have thought he had caught her off guard but was proven wrong as she caught the crack in midair. Her face was instantly
changed to “gonna get high soon” as she examined the crack.

“Thanks, Tink!” She rose to her feet. “You want me to suck your dick now or can I hit this first?” The way she asked with
no touch of shame you would have figured it was an everyday thang for her… and sadly… it was.

“Nah, I’m good.” He waved her off. “But don’t ask fo’ shit else!” Again she gave him the finger, then turned to head for her
bedroom. She knew that he didn’t like for her to get high where he could smell it.

“I got dem thangs!” Bizzy boasted as he hit the block. He walked up on the group of hustlers drinking Colt
45s, sitting on the hood of the dark green ’84 Chevy Caprice Classic. Bizzy gave up some dap to everyone as he kept an eye
out for Lil’ Rick. Bizzy sold two grams for a hundred dollars, then asked how the block was tonight. It was colder than a
muhfucker, but the money was coming nonstop. That also meant the jack boys were roaming, so Bizzy made sure to keep his hands
in his pockets. Not only to keep them warm, but to keep that hammer in his grip.

When it neared ten minutes to eight, Bizzy felt the urge to seek some warmth and maybe some head. Tanisha popped into his
mind. For a phat twenty piece he could get some pussy.

“Yo, I’ll holla at y’all niggas later.” And with his exit, he headed down the block in his tan Timbs toward Tanisha’s crib.
Minutes later he was rounding the corner and about to cross the street to Tanisha’s crib when he saw a figure coming down
her steps. Bizzy froze, then backed up. It was Lil’ Rick. Bizzy had mistaken Tink’s blue hoodie for black and since Tink shared
Lil’ Rick’s frame… Bizzy was fooled. Bizzy knew that Lil’ Rick was known to pay Tanisha a creep visit every now and then.
Bizzy reached fast as he pulled out his cell phone to call Mance.

“Yeah?” Mance answered on the third ring.

“I see your man.”

“Who? Lil’ Rick!”

“Yeah. He walkin’ up the street right now.”

“He seen you?”

“Nah.”

“Can you follow him without being seen?”

“Hold up, dawg. That ain’t part of the deal.”

“It is if I add another grand.”

“Bullshit.”

“Ain’t no time for games, Bizzy. Will you do this or not?” Bizzy shifted his stance as he watched an easy two grand walking
in the opposite direction. As the chilly wind bit into his exposed hand he made up his mind and told Mance he would do it.

“Shit!” Mance cursed as he walked up to Lamar aka Kaseem.

Kaseem stood up with his face still filled with anger. Yes, he lived a double life, a life of the street that Desiree didn’t
know about. “What’s up?”

“That was Bizzy; he’s trailing Lil’ Rick over by Shaw.”

“Well what the fuck we still sitting in this office for? I meant what I said so let’s do this.”

“I know, I know,” Mance said. “But… I don’t have my piece. All I got is the pump in my trunk.”

Kaseem shrugged his shoulders. “Get it and let’s go.”

The two had already discussed that Lil’ Rick would be made an example of. Kaseem could take the last of the meth that Datwon
had been jacked for. Mance gave his girl a nervous glance as he popped the trunk to his BMW M5.

“Just take the car and go to Kaseem’s crib,” Mance whispered. She kissed him on the lips, then followed his request.

Kaseem pulled off seconds later in his black BMW
760Li, with Mance beside him with a twelve-gauge pump between his legs.

A puzzled look appeared on Desiree’s face as she pulled up to Lamar’s driveway. By now she was accustomed to his greeting
her at either the door or his driveway, but tonight she was met with silence. She pulled up to his closed two-car garage,
then switched her ride off. Figuring that he would come bounding from his crib, she took the spare second to primp in the
vanity mirror. As two minutes went by and there was no sign of Lamar she started smiling. He was up to one of his games, she
thought. Zipping up her leather coat she grabbed her purse and made her exit.

Lamar slowed his BMW 760Li at the red light when his car phone started to chime. With a simple push of a button mounted on
the steering wheel he switched on the hands-free phone.

“Yeah!”

“Um… Lamar.” Desiree’s soft voice filled the BMW. “I know I’m not standing on your front step and you’re not home? Please
explain? It’s eight-oh-five, Lamar.” Lamar slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. With the bullshit now at hand he
had allowed Desiree to slip his mind. Thinking quickly, he told her the truth with a bit of lies. He told her a friend had
been in an accident, car accident to be exact. He promised he would be home by nine. He then gave her the code to enter
his crib. He told her to make herself at home and he promised to make it up to her.

“Damn!” he muttered when she hung up. “Forgot all about that bitch.” When the light turned green he glanced over at Mance,
who was back on the celly with Bizzy.

Desiree felt a bit awkward as she entered Lamar’s crib. It was odd to be in his crib with him not there. She removed her leather
jacket when she entered the den since the fireplace was roaring. She looked around and noticed that his place was cleaner
than hers. Dropping her purse beside the loveseat she flopped down, then wondered if Lamar was up to something kinky. She
loved how he was full of surprises. Tonight she wanted to have “the talk” with him. Heck, she figured he too was ready to
take their relationship to the next level, and in her mind she couldn’t find one reason not to. Relaxing back into the comfort
of the soft leather loveseat she closed her eyes. She started grinning. A kinky thought of waiting for Lamar in the nude crossed
her mind. Keeping it real with herself, she allowed her mind to drift to Tyrone. Him and his silly name, Polo. As quickly
as he popped into her mind, he was pushed out as she replaced him with Lamar. Minutes later she became bored and thirsty.
To take care of the latter she got up and headed into his sunken kitchen. In her search of his refrigerator she found a carton
of pineapple juice. When she was about to refill her glass again
she heard someone coming through the front door. Walking quietly back into the den, she was surprised to find Mance’s girl,
Nikki. Nikki had received a call from Mance just a few minutes ago so she went along with the lie about one of Lamar’s friends
having a car accident. Nikki and Desiree got along fine since the two had been out on double dates a few times with Mance
and Lamar. Nikki at times felt sorry for Desiree about her not knowing about Lamar’s secret life. It just goes to show, don’t
believe everything you see.

“Turn some music on or something on up in here, girl,” Nikki said. “And I know Lamar got something to drink.”

“You handle the entertainment and I’ll get us something to sip on,” Desiree said. She figured she could hook something up
with the Rémy Red Strawberry Kiwi Infusion that she had seen in the refrigerator. When she later took the two mixed drinks
back into the den she found Nikki with the remote in her hand. They both sipped lightly at their drinks as the retractable
motorized screen unrolled. Nikki loved to watch movies and she knew Lamar kept something worth watching in his movie section.
When she pressed the PLAY button the screen filled with a graphic scene of Desiree riding Lamar. Desiree’s mixed drink nearly
came out of her nose as she choked up.

Tink, as usual, was walking with his head down. He was staying to his word and calling it a wrap after selling all his work.
His girl was right, selling dope wasn’t
the positive move. Sure it paid the bills, but the risks weren’t worth it. Yeah, Young Jeezy rapped about selling the snow,
but that’s all he did. Tink would rather say “Welcome to Burger King” than bend over for a jackleg corrections officer to
conduct a body cavity search. Just as he strolled under a busted streetlight he heard a car creeping up behind him. He shot
a quick glance over his shoulder, expecting it to be the D’s. The sight registered quickly. A black car with its lights out
and someone leaning out the window holding a pump. He bolted toward the grassy vacant lot to his right.

“Shoot ’im! Shoot ’im! Shoot ’im!” Lamar shouted at Mance. Mance licked his dry lips, aimed, then eased back on the trigger.
BOOM! The loud report from the pump rang in Mance’s ear as he watched his target stumble in the knee-high grass about twenty-five
yards away. Mance aimed once more, then fired. BOOM! The target went down.

“GET THE SHELLS! GET THE SHELLS!” Lamar shouted.

“Huh?” Mance said, sliding back into his seat. Lamar shouted again for Mance to get the two shells that he had ejected from
the pump. Luckily, he found them near the right rear tire. The second Mance was back inside, Lamar sped away with the lights
off.

Tanisha just happened to be running up the block to catch Tink because he had left his cell phone by mistake. If it had been
any other hustler she would have
sold it the first chance she had. But Tink was cool. She was about a hundred yards away and seconds from yelling out Tink’s
name just as the black BMW rounded the corner. She saw it. She saw Tink take off running through the field and saw the muzzle
flash twice from the loud pump. She didn’t yell or scream. She just picked up her pace as the BMW sped off. Out of nowhere
someone ran into her, knocking her flat on her ass. She was able to see Bizzy’s face as he hauled ass in the opposite direction.
It was obvious that he had done something wrong. Dismissing Bizzy, Tanisha rose to her feet and prayed that Tink was okay.

Moments later Polo was pulling into Washington Terrace Projects bumping Boyz n da Hood’s “Dem Boyz.” Just as he pulled into
a parking spot Trina came flying from her apartment. She was hysterical when she ran into Polo’s arms.

“MY BABY DEAD! MY BABY DEAD!” she sobbed.

Polo didn’t know what the fuck was up. At first he thought she meant her son.

“Noooooo… Tink!”

Polo calmed her down and tried his best to get some sensible info from her. Once he did, he led her to the passenger seat,
then ran back to the driver’s side, got in and sped off. He couldn’t believe what he had heard. Not Tink, hell fuck no, not
his family.

Nikki knew the shit was about to hit the fan as Lamar pulled into his driveway. Desiree had refused to let her
call Mance. In truth, Nikki wanted to see what Lamar would do. She wasn’t feeling how he had secretly taped the sex act.
But more personally, she knew there was a tape of her also. She had been fucking Lamar on the low for over a year and a half.
She would never forget the night Lamar aka Kaseem had blindfolded her in his bedroom. That shit made her mad but the look
on Desiree’s face was… let’s just say that it wasn’t pretty.

Lamar entered his den with Mance behind him. Lamar glanced at his Rolex as he walked toward Desiree. Eight-fifty-three p.m.
He was about to apologize for the inconvenience and hug her but Desiree snapped and slapped the blackness out of him.

“You grimy son of a bitch!” Desiree vented.

Lamar rubbed his stinging left cheek as he told Mance and Nikki to excuse themselves. If he had looked at Nikki he would have
seen her grinning. Lamar had no idea why Desiree was tripping, but he sure as hell planned to find the fuck out. When he was
alone with her he again stepped toward her but she took a step back.

“Don’t even think about touching me!”

He froze, holding his hands. “Okay, let’s talk, Desiree. Explain to me why I’m getting disrespected in my own house?”

“You got the audacity to even let the word ‘respect’ roll out of your mouth! You fucking bastard.”

“What is this about, Desiree?” he said. “This can’t be because I’m late.”

“Nigga, you taped me having sex with you!” she shouted.

Lamar’s mouth fell open. Damn, he remembered leaving the disc in the projector.

“How many other times have you done this, Lamar?!”

He started to rub his temples again. This wasn’t a good night at all.

“I asked you a damn question, Lamar!”

“Baby, look, I…”

“Don’t call me that! FUCK YOU!” she shouted. She picked up her jacket and purse. When she attempted to walk past him, he reached
for her arm but she jerked away.

“Desiree, let’s talk about this, okay?” he pleaded with her as she stormed toward the front door. “It’s not what you think.
I… I wanted to surprise you.”

She stopped in her tracks and spun around with nothing but pure hate masking her face. “A surprise? Well I got one for you
because I’m pressing charges!”

It was then that he realized that she had the disc. He thought about it. She would look trashy if anyone viewed the disc.
He could say it was her idea but later she caught a scorned heart after she found him with another woman. He could make up
that lie with ease. Hell, if she did press charges, he could even have another woman over when the police came to speak with
him. The more he thought about it the less he cared. With a grin he pointed toward the door. “Leave.” Desiree bit her last
words off as she spun around and left. Everything she felt for Lamar was dead. Her tears didn’t fall until she was backing
out of his driveway.