IT SEEMED LIKE the moment her head hit the pillow, it was dawn. Hearing her iPhone ring at 8:00 a.m., she knew it was no one other than Smooth. She answered, eager to hear his voice.
“Hello.”
“This is a collect call from the Martin County Jail.”
China pressed 0 to bypass the prompts and accept his call.
“Smooth?”
“What’s good, baby?” Smooth’s voice said sadly.
He knows about Guru, China concluded. “Are you okay, baby?”
“Yeah, I’m cool.”
“So I’m guessing you’ve heard about Guru.”
“Yeah, and I still can’t believe that he’s gone, China,” Smooth said. “Then Landi completely lost it.”
“No one can believe it, baby. But we know what is possible out here in these streets,” China reminded Smooth.
“So, when will I see you?” Smooth asked.
China didn’t want to tell him over the phone that she would be in Martin County on Sunday, plus she had plans to go see Jefe and Jenny.
“I’ma try to slide through Monday sometime, baby,” she said.
“Okay, I’ll be waiting.”
“Smooth, can I ask you a question, and I want an honest answer from you.”
“What is it, baby?” Smooth replied, expecting China to drop another bombshell in his life.
He was HIV positive, and he had just found out on the local news that Meka, the woman who had probably given him the virus, was killed by an unknown assassin.
“Smooth, when you was out in this world and I was incarcerated, you were fucking any bitch that opened her legs.”
There it goes! he thought.
“And I respected the game, right?” China reminded him.
“Yes, you did, China. Where is this going?” Smooth asked.
“So what if I meet someone that I just want to have fun with?” China asked, getting a line of silence in response.
She wants to mingle, Smooth thought.
“China, if you want to have fun, go ahead. I can’t get mad at you. I can only advise you to use protection,” Smooth said, wanting to inform her of his new status.
But he couldn’t bring himself to do it as much as he couldn’t see China with another man. He knew that he would be being selfish if he snapped on her about something he was doing while she was in prison.
“Baby, I love you so much. You’re too real. You’ve just agreed to let me mingle out of respect. Why is it so easy?”
“Because I know no matter who comes into your life, it’s only for the moment. But we’re forever!” Smooth replied, causing China to tear up.
“Baby, you need to come home,” China choked up on the tears she could no longer control. “I miss you so much.”
“I’m coming, baby. Just give the process time to develop, and make sure that you guys handle business,” Smooth said.
“So tell me. Who’s the lucky guy?” Smooth asked.
“There’s no lucky man, Smooth. Just you and me,” China replied, drying her eyes.
“No woman?”
“Not if she’s not Jenny,” China informed Smooth.
Wow! So she’s just testing me to see what a nigga’s answer would be, Smooth considered.
“Baby, we stand together in loyalty, and I never forgot that. Yeah, my dick may have gotten tender, but no woman has had enough pussy power to make me leave my wifey!” Smooth informed China.
“Baby, can I ask you a question?”
“What’s up, China?”
“Did you and Amanda have anything going on other than business?”
Damn! I can’t lie to her. It’d be foolish, especially if she has some kind of proof, Smooth thought.
“Yes, China,” Smooth sighed. “We were friends with—”
“You have sixty seconds left,” the automated voice announced.
“So that night you called me her name. You were thinking of her, huh?” China asked with an attitude.
Smooth did not want the call to end this way.
“Baby, listen. I love you. No woman has ever made me change or hurt.”
“Thank you for using GTL,” the automated voice said.
“I knew you two were fucking around, Smooth! Thank you for being honest,” China said as she then called Sue Rabbit, who picked up on the second ring.
“What’s up, China?” Sue Rabbit answered.
“How much do you need? I’m taking a trip in two days,” China informed Sue Rabbit.
“We need three hundred of them. I want to make this the last trip until Smooth touches down.”
“Okay, that sounds smart,” China agreed. “Hey, let me ask you a question.”
“What’s up, China?”
“Where can I find Amanda?”
“No one knows where’s she’s disappeared to, and I find it fishy, especially when she’s suspect.”
“Why do you say she’s suspect?” China inquired.
“She was with Smooth when he got knocked off. She walks in the store, and bam, feds swarm Smooth,” Sue Rabbit explained, filling China’s ears with new devastating news.
He took that bitch to New York with him! she concluded.
“China, I wouldn’t be surprised if she has a part in setting him up. I’m judging this by her sudden disappearance, feel me?” Sue Rabbit said to her.
“So she’s AWOL?” China asked.
“AWOL. Completely off the map,” Sue Rabbit replied.
“Yeah, that does look fishy. Well, get back with me if you do see her,” China informed Sue.
“I will, sis!”
“Thanks! Where’s Roxy?”
“She went over to GaGa’s to drop her off a plate of breakfast.”
“Okay, Sue Rabbit. Stay safe!” China said as she hung up the phone.
This nigga took this bitch to New York with him. That’s why he avoided all my calls that weekend. Why do I even accept this shit, Smooth? China asked herself.
Before the tears could fall, she caught them and wiped them away with her hands.
“I’m done crying, Smooth. Two can play that game,” China said as she walked downstairs where she found Amber
feeding a bottle to Lucky.
“Good morning, China.”
“Good morning to you too, Amber. How is he?” China asked.
“He’s having fun today,” Amber said as she pulled the bottle from Lucky’s mouth and then picked him up to burp him.
“I’ll do it. Let me see him,” China asked.
“Okay,” Amber said as she handed him over to China.
When China put him in her arms and began to burp him, she noticed the increased weight that he had put on.
“He’s definitely put on some pounds,” China said as she burped Lucky while he still badly shook.
“Yeah, he has! He’s growing stronger every day,” Amber informed China.
“Thank you for all your help, Amber. I wouldn’t know what to do without your help,” China admitted.
“I’m glad to be able to help you, China. I want you to take a look at his belly cord. It’s getting infected.”
“Really?” China exclaimed in panic.
She was worried about the way she cut the cord. When she lay the baby down on the sofa and checked his navel, she laughed. Amber became a little perplexed as China continued to laugh.
“Amber, you almost scared me. There’s nothing to worry about. He just has a big-ass belly button,” China said.
“So he’s alright?”
“Yes, Amber. He’s fine,” China reassured her as she handed him back to her.
“I have to run a couple errands, but I’ll be back before ten o’clock tonight.”
“Take your time, China. I’m okay. I love this place,” Amber said.
“Okay, see you later then,” China said as she walked back upstairs.
China took a shower and then put on a pair of skintight H&M jeans. While she was combing her hair, her phone rang. When she checked to see the caller, it was Smooth. Not wanting to hear shit from him, she answered and refused the call so he would get the message.
“I have no time for games and to waste my life missing out!” China said as she resumed combing out her hair.
* * *
“Damn it!” Smooth exclaimed after hearing China refuse his call.
He knew China was upset about Amanda.
So why ask a nigga for the truth if you can’t handle it? he thought as he tried calling her back again but got no answer.
He had no female companion to turn to. Meka was dead, Amanda was AWOL, and now China was upset about him keeping it real with her. He thought about what China asked him about mingling.
She can’t deal with being alone, just as much as I couldn’t when she went to prison. How can I get mad and be selfish? he thought as he walked back to his cell.
Rosco and Baby Dread were already playing chess. To clear his mind, he leaned on the wall and watched the two contenders go at it, move after move, five minutes ahead of each other.
Just like I failed to do. If I was playing five moves ahead of the game, I wouldn’t be HIV positive, Smooth thought regretfully.
He had a hard time trying to figure out if it was Jane or Meka who could have given him the virus. He even thought that Amanda herself could have given it to him and pretended to be infected by him first. He was confused and didn’t know how to tell China. He was afraid of her reaction and afraid that he would lose her. He knew that he couldn’t infect her by being selfish.
She just doesn’t deserve it, he thought.
“Check!” Baby Dread shouted, putting Rosco in check.
Rosco moved his king, and Baby Dread pushed his queen up for another check.
“Check!” Rosco moved his king out of check again, and Smooth immediately saw the checkmate move, but Baby Dread himself didn’t. He moved too fast and moved the wrong piece. His queen allowed Rosco to swindle out.
“Rosco makes all his foes slip,” Rosco said as he showed Baby Dread his mistake.
“Moving this knight for checkmate would have been a game for you,” Rosco said before he made a power move that put him in good position.
Is that what happened to me? I saw the best move but took the wrong one? Smooth asked himself. I gotta keep it real with China. I fucked up. I can’t ruin her life for my mistake.
He loved China too much to ruin her life. She had to know that her childhood sweetheart was now HIV positive.
* * *
When China pulled up to Smooth’s apartment complex, she saw that Sue Rabbit was at the trap apartment.
He’s probably cooking up the last of his product, China thought as she parked next to his Range Rover.
She was coming to collect Jane’s rent money before she drove over to GaGa’s to eat lunch with her. Before she walked over to Jane’s, she decided to stop in and check up on Sue Rabbit. She got out of her Benz and walked up to his door. Before she could knock, the door opened, and she saw that Sue was on the phone. He waved her in and then walked back into the kitchen. The smell of cocaine being cooked lingered strongly in the air.
I can’t stay in this bitch too long, China thought as she closed the front door and locked it.
“Yeah! Ummm, we still gonna do that, bro, like I said? Just give me a couple hours,” Sue Rabbit said to the party on the phone. “Okay, hit me in one hour.”
When China looked in the kitchen, she saw an old-school woman at the stove cooking up the cocaine.
Amanda is definitely not cooking. That’s why I came in here, huh? China thought, catching her curiosity.
“What’s up, China?” Sue Rabbit asked, after hanging up the phone with his client.
“Just dropping by to pick up rent money from next door. I didn’t know that you would be over here,” China replied.
“Yeah, trying to make room. Like I said, I want this to be the last run until Smooth comes home. This shit is getting old, and we have money to just fall back on.”
Damn! Why can’t Smooth be here to hear this shit? If yo’ homeboy could back out of the game, then you could too! China deliberated.
“Sue Rabbit, I agree with you. I’ve been telling Smooth that since before he ended up behind bars,” China informed Sue while looking at the lady cooking at the stove. “She looks like she knows what she’s doing.”
“That’s Cookie, but she likes to be called Auntie. She indeed knows what she’s doing.”
“Well, I’m not staying long. I don’t want any secondhand smoke off of crack,” China said as she walked back toward
the front door with Sue Rabbit.
Sue Rabbit badly wanted to share the good news of being a father and husband to her sister, but he decided to let Roxy tell her.
“Well, I’ll see you later,” Sue said to China, walking her out the door.
“Okay, Sue Rabbit. Be careful.”
“Always.”
China left her car parked next to the Range Rover and walked the short distance to Jane’s apartment. When she got to her door, she knocked twice.
“I’m coming,” Jane shouted.
“Girl, hurry up! It’s hot as hell out here!” China shouted back.
When the door came open, China saw that Jane was wrapped in a towel and appeared to be fresh out of the shower.
Damn, this bitch is gorgeous! China thought.
“Bitch, don’t look at me like that. I’m strictly dickly. Ain’t no woman munching on this carpet!” Jane said as she walked inside, allowing China to follow her.
“Make yourself at home while I put on some clothes,” Jane told her.
Once China stepped into the air-conditioned apartment, she walked into the kitchen. She was extremely thirsty and in need of a glass of water. China set down her purse on the table and raided the fridge. She grabbed a jug of punch and found a clean glass. After pouring herself a glass, she returned the jug back into the fridge and sat at the kitchen table. Just as she took a sip, she spit all the juice out of her mouth onto the floor when her eye caught sight of Jane’s stack of mail on her table.
What the fuck! China said to herself as she grabbed the first letter off the stack with trembling hands.
“Donavan Johnson,” China read the name off the envelope.
When she looked at the sender’s address, she had no doubt that she was staring at her man’s letter addressed to Jane. China tore open the envelope and saw by the date that it was an old letter which Jane had not yet opened.
China read, “What’s good, Ms. Pretty Pussy. I know that you know where I am. A nigga be thinking about you every night. I miss how you put that pussy down on a nigga, and how that ass jiggled when I slapped it. How about sending me some pictures in some nice bikini, boo? I need you to keep my dick hard until I get back. Sincerely, Smooth.”
China couldn’t believe what she had just read. The pain had numbed her body so quickly that she didn’t even feel the tears cascading down her face as she stood and dug into her purse for her Glock .40. When she grabbed her Glock, she cocked it back and then walked toward Jane’s bedroom with the letter in her hand. When she entered the bedroom, she caught Jane applying cocoa butter lotion to her legs while sitting on the edge of the bed. Jane looked up and saw a disturbed China with a gun in her hand and a letter in the other. She became frightened.
“What’s wrong, China?”
“I’ma ask you one time, Jane. How can you explain fucking my man behind my back?”
Oh shit! Jane thought, realizing that China had found the letter that Smooth wrote her that she had never opened.
“China, I can explain!”
“I’m waiting, Jane,” China said as she aimed her Glock at her.
Jane laughed and then swiped her curly hair out of her face.
“I’m glad you think it’s funny, bitch!” China said.
“China, your man came on to me. I pushed him away. Yeah, the dick was good, but it wasn’t nothing to keep around,” Jane explained.
“How could you cross me, Jane? I gave you a job and a place to stay. I thought you were my friend!” China cried out to her.
“I’m sorry, China.”
Boom!
China squeezed the trigger and shot Jane between her breasts. Jane’s eyes expanded, and her mouth shot wide open.
“You betrayed me, bitch!” China said.
“Bitch. I been dead!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
China pulled the trigger and emptied the whole clip into Jane.
“I know, bitch! Dead bitch walking, huh? You knew China was going to catch your ass?” China said, not realizing what Jane was actually telling her.
China left the apartment without anyone seeing her or hearing the shots. When she got into her Benz and pulled off, she just knew that she was done with Smooth. He had crossed the line by fucking her friend, and had to pay for it just like she did.
I’ma kill him! China thought as she drove over to GaGa’s house.