Chapter Two
Pooch
I was going fucking insane! I hated this damn place. Couldn’t eat in peace and couldn’t shit in peace. Now, I couldn’t even sleep in peace. Who wanted to listen to these damn shit-packing muthafuckas in the cell next door moaning and groaning on each other? It made me sick to my muthafucking stomach! How in the hell did two grown, rusty-ass men find pleasure in fucking and sucking on each other? I was cool with one of them dudes at first. I mean, he was a real thug-lookin’ nigga. Swole like a muthafucka. I’m talkin’ about a real cock diesel nigga. His cellmate was kinda quiet, an average-size nigga who liked to read a lot. You never would’ve thought those two was on some ol’ secret lover bullshit.
And that cock diesel nigga had a damn dime-piece-ass woman! I mean, that chick . . . whoo! That’s a bad bitch! Cock Diesel would be all up on her during visitation like he just loved her so much, slobbing her down as if he loved pussy so much. I bet if she knew those same lips were on some dick right now, she’d leave his ass for a nigga like me. I could skeet off just thinking about his chick bouncing that ass in the air, and he was over there moaning like a female while he got his pipe smoked by another dude. From what ol’ dude across the hall told me, they get it in heavy, too. He said Cock Diesel drilled up in ol’ dude ass so deep, it was like his asshole was a female’s pussy!
Now I couldn’t even look at that nigga the same, and he always wanted me to give him daps and play cards and shit. Shiit. Not me. Cock Diesel’s hands had been all over another nigga’s ass crack, and he wanted me to touch them? Hell to the muthafucking no. He’d better come again with that shit and stick to making love to his cellmate.
“You up?” Wolf, my cellmate, asked, breaking my train of thought.
“Hell yeah, I’m up. How I’ma not be up? I can’t sleep with them bitch-ass niggas next door gettin’ they groove on. Trust me. There is nothing I’d rather be than asleep, so I wouldn’t have to hear that nasty-ass shit!”
Wolf laughed. “Man, I feel you. We might as well just talk until they finish, ’cause I’m fucking tired of listening to that shit myself.”
I laughed. “Man, I hear that.”
“So, you heard anything from your girl? The one who left?”
Now, out of all the shit to talk about, he had to bring up Trinity’s raggedy ass, so not only could I not sleep, now I had to be pissed off too! Shit, I think I’d rather listen to them muthafuckas bump nuts than discuss that bitch.
“Hell naw. That broad ain’t tryna see me. Bitches are scandalous. A nigga catch a case, and she gone before the feds even lock me up.”
“That’s fucked up. I feel you. My ex-old lady had the nerve to come up here and tell me face-to-face that she had to move on with her life. Talkin’ about she was lonely and shit and the kids needed a role model and whatnot. I’m like, you weren’t saying that shit when I was out there hustlin’ to provide and shit. You didn’t have no problems with me risking my life, but now that I caught a case tryna do just that, now you looking for a role model and you lonely.”
“Man, I’m surprised you didn’t catch a murder rap up in here. That bitch was bold!” I fussed, shaking my head.
“Yeah, she was. It’s cool, though, ’cause I got her fucking number. The minute she told me that, I started writing her sister and talkin’ real sweet on her. You know? Tellin’ her about how my old lady hurt me. Her sister had just divorced at the time, so she was tellin’ me her problems, too. We’ve been kickin’ it ever since.” He gave a sinister laugh.
“Oh, so that’s the chick that be coming here?”
“Yep and writing me, too,” he said with a chuckle. “She is straight up and honest, too. Anything I ask she’ll do for me, and she’s already making plans for us when I get out. Now, that’s a down-ass chick. The funny part is that her sister don’t even know about us. I told her to keep it between us until I get out. I just want to see the look on that bitch’s face when she sees me with her sister!”
His revelation made me think, and I got quiet for a minute. If Chocolate Flava didn’t come through and Lisa wouldn’t come through, maybe I could get Wolf’s girl to smuggle some shit on the inside for me. It would mean I’d have to bring Wolf in as a partner because I knew he was gonna want a cut. That might not be a bad idea considering he’d been in this joint for a minute, and because of that, niggas in here trusted him, so he had pull and contacts. But the question was could I trust him? Damn these other lame, fake, shit-packing muthafuckas. Could he be down with me and help me realign the Dope Boy Clique? Hmmm . . . a true hustla’s wheels were always turning.
“You ’sleep?” Wolf asked.
“Oh, naw, man. My bad. I was thinking about some shit for a minute.”
“Thinking maybe you’ll do the same thing to your ol’ lady?” Wolf asked.
I laughed even though I felt a pain in my heart. “Even if I could do that, I doubt it would even matter to her.”
“Damn, bruh. That’s cold,” Wolf said.
“Tell me about it.” I started to fume all over again about the situation. Tomorrow was Thursday. Chocolate had better have found out something, or I was gonna cuss her black ass out. “I’m going to bed. Them bumpin’ buddies done finally nutted.”
* * *
I stood in line, pacing like a muthafucka. This dude in front of me needed to hurry up. He was up there talking sweet nothings in this phone, and I had some shit to do. It was always best to catch Chocolate around six in the evening, right before she went to bed for a couple of hours to get ready for her night shows. It was 6:02 p.m. and counting.
“My dude, you gon’ be long?” I asked him. I was trying to be nice about it.
He frowned at me. “Nigga, I’m on the phone with my lady,” he said rudely and completely turned his back to me.
My temper flared. This nigga didn’t want it with me. For real. I tapped him on the shoulder lightly. “My man. I understand that, but I got some important shit to find out, and I really need to get to that phone,” I said, trying not to show my anger.
He held up two fingers. “Two minutes.”
If I wasn’t working on an appeal, I’d fuck him up while his bitch listened on the other end. I already had double life. Any more time after that didn’t even fucking matter. Three minutes later, that nigga hung up then turned to look at me and laughed.
“You got it, bruh,” he said to me.
It was 6:06 p.m. I got his ass. “A’ight, man.” I grabbed the phone and made my collect call.
“Hello?” Chocolate Flava said sleepily after answering the phone.
“Did I wake you up?” I asked, knowing I did.
“Yes. You know I go to bed around this time,” she responded with an attitude.
“I know, but some dumb nigga was holding up the line.” Why was I explaining shit to her? Fuck that. “Forget all that. Did you find out anything?”
“Well, Attorney Stein is working on a deal—”
I interrupted. “We can talk about that next weekend or tomorrow. I’m talking about Trinity.”
She huffed with irritation. “The only thing I can really say is Terrence is definitely not around, because I found out that he don’t live in the same apartments no more. The landlord told me he put in his notice to leave like two months before you got arrested. I may be wrong, but I don’t think Trinity ran off with him either. My cop friends told me that when they did the raid, the weirdest shit was that your house was left like someone was still staying there. Trinity’s clothes and shoes were there, and the kids’ furniture and clothes were still there. No furniture was moved, and there was still food in the refrigerator. Trinity’s car was there, but it got confiscated with the rest of your cars. I think they gon’ start auctioning all that shit off soon, too.”
That was strange. If Trinity had left, wouldn’t she take something with her? Now, a part of me was worried that someone had done something to her and my baby. If somebody had hurt Trinity, my unborn child, and Princess, I was straight gon’ get another double life sentence because they was gettin’ done the fuck in. Period.
“Wait a minute. So, nothing was gone? Absolutely nothing?”
“That’s what it looks like, and we all know Trinity’s high and mighty ass ain’t going nowhere broke. Not the way you provided for her ass,” Chocolate Flava sneered.
“Chill with that shit. She was my girl. That was my job.”
“Well, I’m your girl now, and all you do is question me about Trinity,” she snapped.
Ignoring her attitude, I said, “But this shit don’t add up. Her mom and her little brother and sister are gone, too.” My mind wandered. “Did you find out anything about them? Have any of her friends said something?”
“Them niggas pulled some Houdini shit. Her mom was just up and gone, and Ms. Tina, her neighbor, said the landlord was pissed about that. Like I said, Terrence’s manager said he put in a notice like eight months ago, and he didn’t know where he was at. I’ve seen Lucinda, and she said she ain’t even talked to Trinity in months. LaMeka ain’t talked to her neither, but them hoes might be lying. Charice is gone to New York with Ryan, so she probably knows less than all of them. I tried to catch up with Terrence’s old friend Skeet, but I ain’t been able to catch that nigga. I don’t know, Pooch. I don’t know what to make of all of it.”
This shit just got stranger by the second. Something was definitely up with this shit. Somebody knew more than they were letting on. I knew Lucinda or LaMeka wouldn’t talk regardless, and I knew those bitches knew something, even if it was nothing else but the reason why Trinity was gone. Shit, but who knows? If a muthafucka got to them, then they may be closed-lipped to protect themselves, too. Muthafuckas do know just how to lean to keep bitches quiet. Trinity’s friends had kids too, so I knew they weren’t risking they kids’ lives to give up no info on Trinity. For now, I’d keep them in my back pocket. Even if that damn LaMeka wouldn’t help, maybe I could lean on Lucinda. She and I went back, and I had leaned on her in the past. But for now, I’d take another route.
I couldn’t help but sigh with frustration. “A’ight. You did all right. But look, catch up to that nigga Skeet. He may be the only hope right now.”
“A’ight. I’m going to bed.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow about that appeal.”
“A’ight, and call before six, or I ain’t answering,” she said and hung up in my face.
I stared at the phone for a second in disbelief. If I didn’t need this bitch, I would cuss her the fuck out.
Now, I was stuck between being worried about Trinity and being pissed at her ass. My chest ached out of love for this bitch. Damn, why couldn’t I just find out what’s up? How the fuck could it be possible to hate and love someone at the same time? Part of me wanted to knock her block off, and the other half just wanted to hold her like I used to. That bitch fucked me all the way up. No surprise, because she’d had me fucked up since the fourth grade.
For now, it was back to my cell after a stop to the laundry room. This cool-ass cat named Pit, who worked in the laundry room with the disrespectful-ass phone dude, had a cousin in my Dope Boy Clique and told me to let him know if I ever needed anything. Now, I did.
“Strangle that bitch,” was all I was gonna say, and by nighttime, phone dude’s bitch was gon’ get another phone call—from the administration for identification purposes only.