Chapter 31

Makeup does motha-fuckin’ wonders.

Okay a bitch barely recognized herself and seeing the looks on Vicky and King’s faces confirmed it.

B.I.T.C.H. did the damn thang.

First, I was taken shopping by Charika and I’esha who introduced me to the world of designer clothes.

Tamekia and Brittany introduced me to hair and the Mac Counter.

Helen even pitched in with skin care and let me tell you I was shocked. I did not know that bitch actually worked to look crazy or that she was a girly-girl on the low. She told me not to say anything or she’d kill me, and I believed the psycho bitch. So to the grave it goes.

After a week’s crash course, I was shown how to apply makeup for several hours until I got it right. I was put in high heels for three hours a day, not including the time it took me to walk half a mile in them. Oh yeah, them hoes were serious. A bitches feet had blisters and somemo’e shit, but I knew how to walk in heels.

B.I.T.C.H. grilled me relentlessly, and I hated Cosmo Girl, Vogue and every other fashion magazine there was, yet I read and would still read them all to see what the latest were.

After I had all the essentials down, we moved to hair. Charika and I’esha permed the front and sides of my hair and braided the back into a beehive and then they sowed twenty inch human hair tracks in. They explained that sew-ins were better than glue because glue pulled yo’ hair out and damaged it. I was taught how to wrap and take care of my hair. I was given a variety of products, sprays, oils sheens, grease, flat irons, rollers, hot comb, the works.

“Be easy with the grease and oil, you don’t want your tracks to be all gummy and sticky and stank looking,” Charika advised me.

I was still learning and knew it would be an ongoing process. At first, I felt uncomfortable especially showing skin, but once I saw myself in the mirror it was a wrap. I mean a bitch was sexy, I was a piece, and I liked it. I felt like a girl again after all them years and working out in the state hospital seem to help. I had a nice body; I was no longer that skinny girl with bushy eyebrows.

I was bad and knew it. I was Shiesty Shi.

King could not keep his eyes off me when I sat down next to Vicky. I could only imagine how they felt and what they were thinking. They had not seen me in months, and when they had I was regular ole bushy eye browed Shi.

King was still fine, and I still had feelings for him. The problem was it was too late for us. "You look nice,” he said.

I smiled at him and replied, “Thank you.”

“Shi, what’s this?” Vicky asked. Her eyes were twinkling.

Vicky always wanted me to be a girl and now there I was.

“One of many changes,” I told her going into my purse and pulling out my Metro. I checked the time and said, “Spencer.”

I looked at King praying that he knew who he was, I knew Vicky didn’t.

“Who’s that?” Vicky asked.

“I was hoping you could tell us,” I said still looking at King as he shrugged and then shook his head.

“Goes by the name Spin.”

I’d found out from Diamond the nigga who’s been running the drug game since T-money died was a nigga named Spin. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Spin and Spencer were one in the same.

“Word is he’s running the Bay now. He and his crew brought down T-money. He claims he is the game now; pretty smart really,” King said putting ketchup on his fries. “When T-money died no one could get anything since T-money ran it all. Because there was no drugs coming in, the price of drugs started going up, dimes became dubs….”

“How’s that smart?” Vicky asked offering me some of her fries. I shook my head not taking my eyes off King.

“As soon as the prices go up all of a sudden Spin’s got it.”

I nodded, “the nigga pulled a fast one…anything else?”

I needed to know everything about the nigga.

“Like what?” King took another bite of his burger.

Seeing his green eyes sent longing through me.

“How’s he running the game?”

“Ruthless, rogue. He got something to prove. He out trying to make a big name for himself, like trying to overshadow T-money’s name, T-money’s big name.”

I nodded. It had been over four years; I figured he should have made a splash already.

“He’s no T-money,” King said, and I thought damn right.

T-money killed my father.

I need to think…

“He got kids? A girl?”

King looked at me as he slowly chewed. He was still sexy as fuck.

“I don’t know, Shi. Why?”

My eyes widened and then I caught myself. Was he jealous?

“You said you knew who killed Ant.”

I nodded wondering just how much of my plan to reveal. I chose the safe side and said, “I’m not one hunit, but I believe Spin might be involved in Free and AJ’s deaths.”

I’d ran the night over and over in my head and picked every little thing I remembered hearing apart. Spin had said he finished what T-money started. He said Free was gone when T-money asked. I was sure if he had not killed them, himself then he knew who did or even where Free was.

Besides that I owed him one for the authorizing my rape.

King looked at me, and I saw his green eyes go dark.

“Look King, I want to find out what happened to Free . And to do that I need to get to Spin…alive.”

I didn’t think King would kill or could kill. My King was not capable of that. But then again he was no longer mine.

“‘ight but once I find out that nigga had anything to do with Ant’s death I’m puttin’ one between his eyes.”

I looked at King thinking not before I do. I nodded, and we sat in silence.

“So what’s the plain?” King asked sometime later.

I took a deep breath, “there’s a lot to it but essentially I need to get in good with him, get close to him so he can…I mean he will tell me what I wanna know.”

“Is that what this is about?” Vicky finally spoke waving her hand over me.

I ignored the question, “I feel bad asking you for your help with something like this because you have a family now-”

“Someone killed my family when they killed Ant. Shi don’t worry about mines, I’m capable of protecting them rogue.”

I looked at him and fought back tears. I remembered when I was his. When he protected me. His girl took my place; I was supposed to have his first child and it hurt. But I’d given it up for Vicky, and I’d do it again.

“What do you need me to do?” King asked sipping his soda.

“Move some weight like we use to and put the name Shiesty Shi out in the streets.” I saw him smile. Shiesty Shi was first uttered by him, and I could tell he remembered. “You still got connections?”

King nodded, “More or less. A few people survived the takeover. I took my money and ran, became a square.”

I smiled he was anything but.

“You know how I do,” I said referring to the weed.

“This is gonna be a repeat of before. I want to be noticed. We gonna buy mo’e weed than they can sell, I wanna buy him out.”

King nodded as he looked up in the air thinking.

“Shi, what do you need me for?” Vicky asked sipping her soda.

“I’m on my way to the top, Vick, and you coming along for the ride. You know I can’t leave you behind.”

We smiled at one another.

“I missed you, Shi,” she said wiping her eyes and hugging me.

“Okay, Shi before we move any further and I really get into this plan I need to know how’s this going to be funded. I mean I got a little stash, but that’s about a pound or two. It’ll take more than that to get his attention and even still that’ll take stupid dummy ass long.”

“Not if we have the money for more. How many pounds do you think will get his attention?”

King shrugged, “I don’t know ten, maybe, fifteen.” I nodded ten pounds of weed was twenty racks if I could get it for two racks a pound like before. “That might get some attention,” King said.

I didn’t need a might.

“What about fifty?”

“Fifty racks? Fifty racks will only get you-” he stopped when he saw me shaking my head.

“Now who’s acting brand new?” I smiled at him. “I’m talking about fifty pounds of Royal Purp.”

I knew Vicky had no idea what was going on, but she even looked at me funny.

“Where? You got that kinda money?” he asked.

I shook my head, “I can get it. Will a hundred open some eyes?”

He was staring at me, and I could tell he was doing the math.

“Yeah, we could work it. But where we gonna get that kind of money, rogue?”

I smiled at his fine ass and said, “I have a plan.”