^{CHAPTER 9}

 

 

 

^{Everything is All Real}

 

 

 

 

 

^{Cucci’s mind was steady clicking like a calculator the next afternoon as she exited her whip and swayed down the avenue toward the project building where her mother lived.}

^{Clean as a bean in her stylish peach and crème dress, she looked like a million-dollar beach condo as she walked toward the trash-strewn dilapidated high-rise tower where she had grown up.}

^{Today was her mother’s birthday and they were gonna celebrate it with a project barbeque. They were sparking up the grill and her mother’s friends had cooked up all kinds of side dishes, and the entire fam, to include Honore, was gonna be there.}

^{Cucci sucked her teeth. She had some words coming for Honore’s trick ass. After listening to Chimp Charlie spill his guts in the sheets last night, Cucci had tried her best to corner Honore at work and find out what the hell was going on that morning. But every time she rolled up Honore either ducked into the boss’s office or pretended like she was on the phone with a client.}

^{“That’s all right,” Cucci had told herself. “I’ma pounce on that bitch and hem her up after work,” but she was real disappointed at five o’clock when she looked around and realized that Honore had already clocked out for the day.}

^{That’s cool too, Cucci thought as she headed toward the porch where niggas outta the ass stood smoking trees and listening to music. She knew Honore couldn’t avoid her forever. Her sneaky tail was gonna have to face her sooner or later, and if Cucci had her way it would be sooner. Like right damn now.}

^{Her heels clicked on the pavement as she switched her ass seductively up the walkway, catching every male eye within a ten-block radius. Her thigh-high dress was made of a soft, slinky material that accentuated her abundant curves. She had worn a matching scarf tied around her neck at work, but she’d taken it off in the car and now her titties were bouncing up outta the plunge-neck top and trying to jump free.}

^{“Hoochie Cucci!” A skinny dude with long dreads yelled out to her from the porch. “Long time no see! You lookin good as shit, ma!”}

^{Cucci grinned to herself, glowing under the compliment as she kept right on moving. She wasn’t tryna turn nobody on because couldn’t none of these two-bit boogers do nothing for her that her man Ice Pick Goody couldn’t do better. Every last one of these low-level slangas had been tryna get in her panties since she was twelve-years-old, but it wasn’t happening back then when she was broke, and it damn sure wasn’t happening now that she had herself a baller with heavy pockets. These chump-niggas in Queens could kiss her ass. Ice-Pick Goody was her main squeeze and she was rolling Brooklyn-style now!}

^{Because if there was one thing Cucci understood it was the value of her pussy, and every last one of these nasty porch niggas could keep right on dreaming.}

^{The block party was jumping in true Queens fashion when she walked around to the street side of the building. An old head had just broke open the fire hydrant for the little kids and they ran through the cool water without a care in the world. Older children were jumping double Dutch and playing skelly, jacks, and bat n’ ball.}

^{You could smell the odor of sweet kush being blown from Dutch Master blunts and the sounds of Hot 97 rap cuts being bumped at high volumes. The bucket-head broads were looking thirsty for attention as they strutted up and down the block in their favorite rompers and booty shorts.}

^{Cucci walked into the large fenced-off area where multiple card tables and chairs were set out and the barbeque grill was smoking hot. The smell of ribs, franks, and spicy chicken wings was in the air.}

^{Frita and her home-girls were laughing loudly as a bunch of them did a Chicago-style line dance in the grass, while the men were pouring beer and bbq sauce on the meat, drinking Heineken and rum, playing bones, and talking major shit.}

^{Cucci walked through the bald patches of grass and pushed her way into the loud crowd of aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Everybody for miles around knew the smart-mouth, kind-hearted, but quick-to-cut you Frita. She came from a large family and she was loved and respected in the projects. Frita saw her daughter coming and made her way over to a long table to pour herself another deep cup of Bacardi 151 and Coke.}

^{“Happy birthday, Mama.” Cucci dropped her bags then kissed and hugged her mom warmly. Cucci was Frita’s mini-me. She was a younger replica of her mother, and when you looked at Frita you could see exactly where Cucci got her good looks and banging hourglass shape from. “How you feeling today, old lady?”}

^{“Ain’t shit old about me baby,” Frita said taking a sip of her liq. “I’m still a spring chicken and I ain’t too old to kick yo ass.”}

^{“You funny as hell, ma,” Cucci said with a smile. Her mother always had a smart remark no matter what was going on. That shit would never change. “You always tryna turn up on somebody. And that’s why I love you.”}

^{“Thank you, baby girl,” Frita said, plopping down in a plastic chair. “I love you too. Now go get me one of them ribs off the grill. I’m about to tear this food up and play me some pitty pat. I’m gonna get wasted off this rum too because it’s my birthday!”}

^{Cucci was turning around to head to the grill when she bumped dead into her cousin.}

^{“Happy birthday, Auntie,” Honore said as she moved past Cucci and reached down to hug Frita. “Sorry I’m late but I had to stop at the street vendor and get you some of those smell-good oils you love so much.”}

^{Honore greeted the other friends and family members out there with smiles and hugs. She was so busy cheesing she didn’t even peep Cucci standing there giving her the side eye.}

^{Cucci couldn’t believe this bitch. She had been mad as hell when Chimp Charlie confessed that Honore and Sly McFly were going after some Pink Lady diamond on the low. Cucci knew Honore was shiesty but she couldn’t believe her dear cousin and supposed-to-be bestie was fixin to cut her out of the payday of a lifetime.}

^{That type of betrayal had hurt her real deep, and as far as Cucci was concerned it was go-to-war time now. Honore was just as good as dead in the heart of Cucci, and she might as well have been any other bitch on the street.}

^{Anger rushed all up in Cucci’s chest and even though it was her mama’s birthday celebration she just couldn’t hold it back.}

^{“You funny-style as hell, bitch,” Cucci spit nastily to her cousin. “Why don’t you get ya fake ass gone and keep it moving up outta my mama’s party.”}

^{“What the hell is your problem?” Honore said looking confused. “Why you coming at me all crazy like that? Don’t be jealous. I got you some oils too. They’re in my bag.”}

^{“Fuck your oil!” Cucci said gaining more steam. “How about you get me some of that Pink Lady shit you got going on?”}

^{“What the hell are you talking about?” Honore hissed, looking around with the guilty face. “Bitch your lips are looser than ya damn pussy!”}

^{“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Honore! You’s a shady hoe! Always running around preaching this family loyalty shit but your snake-ass is fake as fuck!”}

^{“Girl why you tripping? Ain’t nobody fake but you—”}

^{“Well lemme give it to you real-style, then! I ain’t got no more love for your bum-ass! Best believe I’m done being your invisible sidekick, bitch! We supposed to be hustling together and going hard fifty-fifty on everything we do, but your sneaky ass is all about hiding out and holding out! You don’t mean shit to me no more, Honore! Now raise the fuck up outta this yard before I rock yo ass!”}

^{Honore looked puzzled. “What in the world are you talking about, Cucci? Ain’t nobody been holding out on nothing!”}

^{“You fuckin liar! Sneaking around tryna stack all the chips for yourself! I know all about that lil transaction that went down at the Boatel. And I know about all the other shit you scheming on too! We supposed to be a team, but you keeping secrets and going behind my back and making ya own little side deals without me!”}

^{Knowing she was caught dead out there, Honore went for broke.}

^{“Yeah? Well the reason I gotta keep shit a secret is because you too damn thirsty and your mouth is too fuckin big! A gutter bitch like you can’t hold water and I’m supposed to let you fuck my shit up?”}

^{By now everybody in the entire backyard had stopped and turned their attention to the argument that was going down. Before Frita could intervene Cucci did the worst thing you could do to anybody, let alone to a member of your own family.}

^{She opened her mouth and let a big fat glob of saliva fly right in Honore’s face.}

^{In a blur Honore began digging into her cousin’s ass with a combination of punches that would have impressed Mike Tyson. In mere seconds Honore had Cucci’s big-mouth self down on the ground pounding her into the dirt.}

^{“Bitch you spit on me? I’ma beat the shit outta you out here!” Honore shrieked. She was scratching and mauling Cucci like a wild animal in the woods.}

^{“Let her go, Honore!” Frita and a bunch of her girlfriends jumped in and were trying to pull Honore up off of Cucci but it wasn’t working. “Turn her loose, goddammit!”}

^{The two cousins were scratching and thumping. Cucci was wind-milling her arms from the ground and throwing haymakers. Honore was fist-gripping Cucci’s weave and slanging her head violently from side to side.}

^{“You jealous fuckin hoe!” She pounded Cucci in the face. “You could never fuck with me! You just a can’t-get-right type a’ smut! I bet I’ll be the last bitch you spit on in ya whole miserable fuckin life!}

^{Finally Frita and her girls unbent Honore’s clenching fingers and pried her off of Cucci, but not before Honore landed a solid kick square in Cucci’s mouth. The force busted her lip instantly and blood squirted in the air then dribbled down her chin and splattered her dress.}

^{Cucci shrieked in pain and rage. She tore off after Honore and grabbed her by the hair and started swinging killer blows, popping her hard in the nose. The backyard was in total chaos as the partygoers grabbed Honore and broke shit up again.}

^{“Y’all dirty hoes was holding me back!” Honore accused, glaring around at her cousins and aunts. “Why the fuck was y’all holding me back but y’all let this bitch keep on swinging?”}

^{“Y’all two stop it!” Frita pleaded ready to whip both of their asses. “Cut this shit out! Showing your tails out here in the street like this! Both of y’all was raised better than that! You was raised up together like sisters!”}

^{“She ain’t my fuckin sister!” Cucci screamed.}

^{“You ain’t my damn sister neither!” Honore hollered back, and then she turned her lips down at her aunt and said, “And you wasn’t no kinda sister to my mother neither!”}

^{“Stop it,” Frita panted, pressing her hand to her heart. “Y’all just stop it. We family, y’all. We are family!”}

^{Cucci sucked her teeth. “That shady fuckin hater ain’t shit to me!”}

^{Honore clutched her nose as a stream of blood dripped from her left nostril. “You ain’t shit to me neither, bitch!” she snapped as she bent over and snatched up her bag. She came up staring at her aunt Frita and spit real nasty outta her mouth, “Like I said, don’t neither one of y’all tricks know how to be a sister!”}

^{That was it for Frita.}

^{“Look at you!” the older woman sneered as she glared at her niece with blazing Bacardi eyes. “You just like your ungrateful ass mama! That fuckin dick-rider always did think she was cute! All the time violating some damn body! And you take right after her too!”}

^{“Well she musta been riding it way better than you,” Honore snapped. “’Cause she took your fuckin man, now didn’t she?”}

^{“What?” It was Frita’s turn to break as her elderly homegirls rushed to hold her back. “That hoe ain’t take shit from me!” she screamed, wind-milling her arms as she tried to break free of the hands holding her back.}

^{“You got it backwards, baby!” Frita screamed. “I’m the one who took his ass from her! And now her cute ass is dead and gone, and me and my man are still right here together! That means while she’s riding a tombstone I’m riding that nigga’s dick anytime I want it! I tell you what though, you lil ungrateful bitch! After everything I done for you, you got the nerve to talk that kinda way to me? I ain’t Cucci Momma, baby! I’ll knock you into next week and slap the mothafuckin taste right outta—”}

^{“Happy birthday, Auntie!” Honore barked as she stomped past her aunts and cousins. She turned around and gave Frita the stank face. “You and Cucci might not be two peas in the pod, but y’all are damn sure two crackheads on the corner!”}

^{“Bitch!” Frita and Cucci screamed at the same time.}

^{“Bitch, hell. Fuck all y’all fake-ass family members!” Honore spit bitterly as she sashayed out the gate waving her middle finger high in the air and poking her bouncy ass way out like they could all kiss it. “Don’t try to come for me unless I send for you! I’m gone!”}