Supreme Clientele

Zya massaged her wrists softly, trying to remove the tiny bruises that the handcuffs had caused. Castello’s lawyers had gotten all the charges against her dropped, but she was still in a bad situation.

I can’t believe this is happening. This shit can’t be happening to me. I helped set up King because Jules needed me to. I’m so fucking stupid. I helped that nigga kill somebody, and now I’m the one who is getting ready to take the fall for it. I risked my life and freedom for him, and he couldn’t even be faithful. My loyalty to him is what got me in this situation in the first place. I have to choose between a murder charge and snitching.

I can’t do no jail time. That shit ain’t for me, I already know I wouldn’t make it one day. But I can’t snitch either. That is the number one rule of the streets, and I would be breaking it if I did what Lonnie Wade asked me to. If I do cooperate and Supreme Clientele finds out ... I’m done.

Zya stared out the window to her apartment and a tear slid down her face. She never expected that she would be in a position like this, and she didn’t know what to do. I can’t go to jail, she thought. I’m not built for this shit, her mind told her as she slid down against the wall and put her head in her hands. She was kicking herself for being so stupid. She had done dirt, and it seemed like karma was coming for her.

She had known what the consequences would be if the shit ever hit the fan, but she honestly hadn’t expected to be caught. She knew the game and knew that when things got hectic you were supposed to take the jail time and keep your mouth shut; charge it to the game and keep it moving. Zya couldn’t do that, though. There was no way she was willing to do prison time for a murder that wasn’t her idea to begin with.

It wasn’t even a part of the plan. It was only supposed to be a robbery, and now I’m sitting here thinking about how to get out of a damn murder charge that I didn’t ask to be a part of in the first place. She couldn’t believe that she had been so stupid. She had seen other girls get played by niggas before. It wasn’t odd for a dude to talk sweet in a girl’s ear just so he could use her. Zya was usually the girl who peeped game, but with Jules, she couldn’t see through the bullshit. She had been blinded by her love for him. She realized now that Jules had used her, but it was too late, the damage was already done. He had taken advantage of her loyalty and gotten her involved in something serious. No matter what she chose to do, her life was getting ready to be changed forever.

Zya didn’t know what to do. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She needed an escape, a way out of the dilemma that she had been forced into. She picked up the phone and called the only person she could trust. She was scared, and her heart was pounding as she waited for him to answer his phone.

“Hello?” Snow answered after the fifth ring.

“I need help,” Zya whispered as she gripped the phone tightly and closed her eyes.

He could hear the shakiness in Zya’s tone and knew that something was wrong. She was so strong and level-headed most of the time, but this time was different. Just the sound of her voice let him know that something serious had gone wrong.

“What’s wrong, Zya?” he asked.

Zya felt the hot tears grace her face. She hated the fact that she had lost control over her own life. Her destiny was in someone else’s hands, and the only thing she could think to do was run. I have to get out of here. I have to get out of New York. I can’t go to jail ... but I’m not a snitch either. I have no choice. I’ve got to run.

“Zya? Zya, what’s wrong?” Snow asked, his deep voice reflecting his concern.

“I have to get out of here. I have to leave New York,” Zya announced in a frightened tone. She got up, ran into her bedroom and frantically pulled her suitcases from underneath her bed.

“Leave New York? Whoa, mama. Slow down and tell me what’s up.”

Zya continued to stuff clothes into the suitcases. She knew that she wasn’t going to be able to take everything, so she tried to get the things that were most important. She ran back and forth from her dressers to her suitcase as she tried to explain herself to Snow.

“Something happened. I killed somebody,” she began.

“You what?” Snow exclaimed in disbelief.

“No! It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t my fault. I got caught up in a murder after I helped Jules set up this nigga named King.”

“Damn, Jules the one who had King hit?” he said.

“Yeah, but we weren’t supposed to kill him. We were only going to rob him. Things got out of hand and Jules shot him.”

“What the fuck that got to do with you?”

“Now some detective claims he saw the entire thing. He has pictures of me going into the hotel with King and coming out with Jules. He says that he’s going to charge me with the murder. I know me and you still got business to take care of, but right now I need to get out of town,” Zya said.

Snow had heard about King’s murder, and now that Zya was telling him the details, it all began to make sense. He was surprised that King had been caught slipping. He was notorious in New York, and Snow was convinced that it had been a professional job. Now that Zya admitted she was involved, Snow knew what had gone down.

Jules used Zya to get close to King. After she earned his trust, she set King up to be robbed. Whether it was planned or not, King’s trust for Zya got him killed. I just hope that I’m not getting myself into the same situation.

“I’m on my way over. Don’t do anything until I get there. Just be cool,” he instructed. He wanted to keep Zya as calm as possible. After hearing her story, he realized that he didn’t know exactly what she was capable of doing. He would have never expected murder from the woman he had come to know. Maybe I don’t know her as well as I thought.

Snow jumped into his car and made his way into New York. He knew that Zya was hot—she was under investigation for the murder of King—but he couldn’t stop himself from driving toward her house. She had bricks that he needed to take off her hands, but in the back of his mind, he knew it was more than business. He was drawn to Zya, and knew that he could not turn his back on her. It was something about her that he couldn’t get out of his system. He didn’t know if it was because she had made it clear that he couldn’t have her, or if he really was attracted to her. All he knew was that she was different from any woman he had ever met. On top of her beauty, she was smart and loyal.

Her loyalty to Jules is what got her in this situation in the first place. She was ridin’ for the wrong nigga, Snow thought as he made his way to LaGuardia Airport. Ain’t no way she should have had to hustle for herself. Jules done fucked it up for every nigga now. She don’t trust nobody. I’m gon’ help her get out of town and get right, so that I know she’s straight. The way she helped me get money, I owe her this.

Zya paced the same back and forth pattern in her apartment for three hours, waiting for Snow to arrive. He’s not coming. I got to get out of here. He ain’t gon’ show, she thought as anxiety hit her. She was scared. She had never been so afraid in her life, and she didn’t want to hang around any longer than she had to. Her bags were packed. All she needed to do was count her money and pack it up, then she could get the hell out of dodge.

Zya pulled one of her heavy suitcases from her bedroom to her front door and was about to go get the other one when she heard a loud knock at her door. She jumped at the loud noise then crept to the peephole. Torey Snow stood on the other side of the door, and she sighed deeply, trying to calm her nerves before she opened it. She clicked the locks, opened the door, and stared into the eyes of her partner in crime. Snow could see that she had been crying. Her eyes were red and her hair, which usually flowed neatly down her back, was disheveled. Snow stepped into her home and closed the door behind him.

“How did you get into the building? It’s supposed to be locked,” she said.

“The door was broke. I just walked right up.”

Zya stood toe to toe with him and said, “Thank you for coming. I’m not trying to get you involved in no hot shit. I just didn’t know who else to call.”

Snow stared down at Zya. She looked so fragile and weak. He moved her hair out of her face. He was star struck by her beauty, and at that moment, wanted nothing more than to keep her safe.

“I didn’t think you were coming,” Zya said as she looked down at her feet and wrapped her arms around herself.

Snow lifted her head so that he could look in her eyes. “I don’t know what type of nigga you used to fucking with, but I do what I say I’m gon’ do. My word is bond. You can trust me.”

Zya nodded her head as she walked to her couch. She sat down and said, “I just need to get out of here. I can’t believe I got myself into this shit.”

“How did you get into this?” he asked, wanting to know if he was doing the right thing by helping her.

“I was dumb. I met Jules when I was fifteen, and he basically showed me how to hustle. From the very beginning, he taught me how to cook and cut dope. He schooled me in everything. I loved him so much, I just wanted to be with him all the time. He was always in the streets, though, and the only way that I could go with him was if I was helping. So I did! I became good at hustling. I made runs for him, I cooked dope for him, and I did whatever he asked me to. I never thought about what the consequences would be. I was so dumb I didn’t realize that our relationship was nothing but business, sex, and broken promises. We never did things like normal couples. The only thing that I ever did with Jules was make money and fuck.”

Snow sat back, listening to Zya’s story. She told the uncut version and left nothing out, admitting everything to him.

“King began to become a problem for Jules. When King came to town, Jules lost money. That’s why he stopped copping from you for a couple months. It was because King was taking his business. One day, we were out and King tried to holla at me. Jules saw it, but he didn’t get mad like he usually did when niggas pushed up on me. He decided that I should get close to King so that I could help set him up. He asked me to get with King so that he could catch him with his guard down, and I did it, no questions asked.

“But the night of the robbery, Jules changed the plan. He shot King because he said that he would eventually come back for us. I didn’t know that it was going to happen like that. I swear to God, Snow, I had no idea.

“After that, Jules got nabbed and I found out I was pregnant. I went to visit him one day and some other girl was sitting up in there, nine months pregnant, talking about she was going in to see Jules. She was well taken care of while I barely had a roof over my head. He was probably cashing her out with all the money I was making for him.

“I got the abortion the same day, and you know the rest. Now I’m here.” Zya leaned against her bar-style counter and felt like a weight had lifted off of her shoulders. She vented to Snow. It hurt to think about everything she had been through, and she couldn’t help but to let it out.

He walked over to her and embraced her tightly. That nigga fucked her over, he thought in disbelief. He would never understand Jules’ logic. He knew about the other chicks that Jules had messed with, and they were all hoodrats that every nigga in the hood had dug out. Jules had played Zya, a girl that every nigga in the hood wished he could have.

“Zya, I know Jules hurt you, but you got to let me in. I’m not him,” Snow said as he held her in his arms. Zya felt good in his arms. It felt like she belonged.

Snow pulled two tickets and two booklets out of his coat pocket. He handed them to Zya. Zya read the tickets. Mexico! She looked at Snow and said, “Are you serious?” He had purchased her a one-way straight flight ticket out of the country, and had somehow gotten her a fake passport.

“You said you wanted to get out of town,” Snow said.

“Are you coming?” Zya asked as she held up the second ticket and raised her neatly arched eyebrows.

Snow looked at her seriously and replied, “Do you want me to?”

Zya did want him to. She had been feeling him for a while, but didn’t know if she could handle another relationship right now.

“I don’t know. I just don’t want to get into the same type of situation I just got out of,” she said in a low voice.

“Zya, I’ve been checking for you since I saw you at your girl’s house with the bricks laid out on your bed. I’m feeling you, and I ain’t about them childish games. If I’m with you, I’m gon’ be with only you. I want you to be my woman. I’m trying to make you my queen. I want to be the nigga that take care of you. No questions asked, I will give you the world. Jules was your boyfriend, Zya. I’m trying to be your man. You were built for me, Zya. Even my sister like you, and she don’t like anybody,” Snow said with a laugh.

Zya had to laugh too. “Okay,” she said as she nodded and smiled.

“Okay what?” Snow asked.

Zya repositioned herself and straddled him. “Okay, I want you to come with me. I have been feeling you too. I was just so afraid that I might get hurt again.”

“Do you trust me?” he asked as he stared at her with his light eyes.

Zya nodded her head and replied, “I trust you.”

“We gon’ get out of town for a while so that things can cool down. I’ma take care of everything. I got you, shorty. I’m not gon’ let nothing happen to you.”

Snow’s words melted Zya, and for some reason, she believed him. I can’t deny my feelings for him. I do want to be with him, and I trust him. He won’t hurt me, she thought as she moved her face closer to his. She slid her tongue into his mouth and kissed him slowly but passionately. His hands automatically moved to her backside, and she rotated her hips against him.

BOOM!

At that exact moment, the wood on her door splintered as three masked men entered her apartment. One carried the sawed-off shotgun that had damaged her door, and the other two carried black guns with long noses. Snow reached for his pistol, but was unable to get to it in time. One of the intruders pulled Zya off of Snow by the hair, and another one pointed a pistol at Snow’s head.

“Uh-uh,” the masked man said to Snow as he saw him reach for his weapon.

The guy who had Zya pointed the gun directly in her face and said, “Open your mouth!”

“Don’t touch her,” Snow said calmly, keeping his composure. He knew that if he panicked, he would frighten Zya, and he knew that in order to keep her safe, he had to keep her calm.

“Nigga, you shut the fuck up!” the gunmen said.

“Bitch, open your mouth!” Zya’s gunman yelled as he jammed the steel in her mouth, causing her lip to bust. “There you go,” the gunman said. “Just like sucking a dick.” Zya gagged from the long nose of the gun.

The third intruder ran to the back of the house. “Yo, it ain’t no shoeboxes back here. There’s a safe!” he yelled to the front of the apartment.

“What’s the combination?” Zya’s gunman asked her as he removed the gun from her mouth.

Zya remained silent, but Snow began to talk in a calm, low voice. “You idiot mu’fuckas know y’all just signed your death certificates, right? Even if I don’t make it out of here, I got niggas that will hunt you down in my place. Y’all niggas is dead.”

“Didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up?” Snow’s gunman hit him hard across the face with the butt of the gun.

“No! Stop it!” Zya screamed as she tried to free herself to get to Snow.

“Bitch, what’s the fucking combination to the safe?”

Zya still didn’t talk. She just stared at her attackers with cold eyes.

“What’s the combo to the safe?”

There was no way she was giving up her cash. “Fuck you,” she stated loudly in defiance.

Zya’s gunman loosened his grip and skeptically said, “Heavy, man, let’s just get out of here.”

“Heavy!” Zya shouted in disbelief. She knew that he didn’t like her and that he was upset that she hadn’t put him on, but she would have never expected him to rob her.

“Stupid mu’fucka!” Heavy yelled at his partner. “I told you no names!” Heavy walked back and forth, rubbing his head in anger. “Fuck it!” he yelled as he removed his mask.

“You think this is a game?” he asked Zya, staring in her eyes. He rushed over to Snow and hit him repeatedly with his gun. Whack! Whack! Whack!

“Heavy, no!” Zya screamed as she struggled to break free. “Stop!” Whack! Whack! Whack! The sound of the gun slamming against Snow’s head and face made Zya’s knees go weak.

“Bitch, give me the combination!” he yelled as he hit Snow over and over again. Whack! Whack! Whack!

“Okay! Heavy, okay! Stop!” she begged.

Whack! Whack! Whack!

Zya fell to her knees, her heart breaking as she watched Heavy hit Snow repeatedly and forcefully with his gun. She heard the crunch of bone against steel and could almost feel the pain herself. “Stop it!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Stop! I’ll do anything. Just please don’t touch him.”

Heavy stopped the pistol whipping and turned toward Zya. He had Snow’s blood splattered on his shirt. Zya looked back at Snow, who was passed out, his blood leaking onto her white couch, and his face a swollen and unrecognizable pulp.

“What is it?” Heavy asked.

“Thirty-four, twenty-eight, thirty-one.”

Heavy took off for the bedroom and told the other gunman the combination. Zya’s eyes flooded with tears as she watched Snow’s body lose its life.

“If he dies, I swear to God I’m goin’ . . .” she said coldly to the gunman who had his gun pointed at her.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch! Your ass ain’t gon’ do shit,” the gunman interrupted, disregarding her threat.

Heavy and his henchman came running into the room with three duffel bags full of money. He walked up to Zya and whispered in her ear, “You should have just let me fuck.” He ran his hands along her breasts, and she cringed at his touch.

“Come on, man, let’s go!” the other two intruders yelled as they exited the apartment. Heavy smiled devilishly and then ran out behind them.

Zya ran over to Snow. “Snow! Snow! Wake up, please, wake up!” Zya tried to lift him up from the couch, but she couldn’t. She picked up her phone and dialed 911.

“Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?”

“I need an ambulance. Somebody’s hurt. I need help. Please!” she yelled between her delirious sobs.

“Okay, miss, we are tracing your call now. An emergency dispatch unit will be at the address you are placing this call from in approximately ten minutes.”

Zya hung up the phone and held Snow in her arms. “God, please let him be okay,” she pleaded as she rocked him back and forth. There was so much blood. It was everywhere, and she hoped that he would be okay. God, please help me. You just brought him to me. Please don’t take him away.

Zya didn’t notice that EMS had arrived until they pulled her off of Snow.

“Are you all right?” they asked her. Besides a cut on her lip from the gun being jammed into her mouth, she was fine.

“Yes, just help him! Please hurry!”

The paramedics loaded his body onto a stretcher and she grabbed her keys and asked, “Where are you taking him?”

“Bellevue,” a paramedic said as they rushed out of the apartment.

Zya was frantic, and her nerves were bad as she sped toward First Avenue. Please let him be okay. She sped into the emergency parking lot and hopped out of her car. She ran into the building and went to the nurse’s station.

“I need to see Torey Snow!” Zya said. The nurses looked at her in bewilderment. She was covered in blood, and her lip was busted and swollen.

“What are you looking at? I need to see Snow! Torey Snow!” Zya yelled. One of the nurses came from around the desk and led her through two double doors and into an examination room.

“Please, I just need to make sure he’s okay,” Zya pleaded. The nurse put on gloves and nodded sympathetically. “Okay, but first we are going to make sure you are okay.”

The nurse removed Zya’s bloodied shirt and saw that she looked worse than she actually was. All of the blood had been Snow’s. The nurse applied three stitches to the corner of her mouth and gave her some ice for the swelling then she helped her clean herself up.

“Here’s a gown. That shirt is too bloody to put back on.”

Zya took the shirt and asked, “Can I see him now?” The nurse nodded and then led the way up the hall to Snow’s room.

Zya put her hand over her mouth when she saw him lying in the hospital bed. His face was swollen badly, and although the doctors had cleaned him up, she knew that he was hurt. She stood next to him and watched over him. His eyes were closed, and Zya felt guilt for what had happened.

If he wouldn’t have been there trying to help me, this would not have happened.

A doctor walked into the room and looked at Zya. “Miss, are you okay?” he asked her.

Damn, I must look pretty bad too. She nodded her head and asked, “How is he?”

“Well, he has a very serious concussion and a broken jaw. We’re trying to make sure that there is no hemorrhaging, so we’re are monitoring him right now. He will be in here for at least two days.”

“Can he wake up?”

“Yes, he will wake up in a couple hours or so. The pain medication that we injected is what is causing him to sleep so heavily. He will be sore, however, but once that jaw heals and the concussion is gone, he will be fine.”

Zya sighed in relief and held Snow’s hand to let him know she was there. She couldn’t believe what had just happened, and in the bottom of her heart, she knew that Vita had helped Heavy set her up. Vita was the only other person who knew that she kept money in shoeboxes at the bottom of her closet.

I trusted that bitch. I’ve known her since seventh grade, and she gon’ pull something like this ... for Heavy’s ass. She was like my sister. When I see her ass, it’s curtains for her.

Zya knew that she wouldn’t be able to bring harm to Vita because she had been close to her for so many years. She didn’t understand how Vita could try to hurt her, especially for a nigga. She thought that their friendship was special, and that they were better than that. I guess I was wrong. She was pissed off by Vita’s betrayal, but more than that, she was hurt.

Zya felt a presence in the room, and she looked up to see Lonnie Wade in the hallway, watching her. Zya’s heart skipped a beat as she got up and walked out of the room.

“Are you following me?” Zya asked him angrily as she followed him up the hall. He stopped at a coffee machine and began to put money inside.

“I just thought you should know that I am on your every move. You can’t run from this, Zya.”

“I wasn’t trying to!” Zya lied. She just wanted Lonnie Wade to disappear from her life.

He pulled Zya into one of the hospital’s closets and pinned her against a wall. “Sure you were, Zya. I was one of the officers called to the scene that just took place at your house. I saw the suitcases. You are going to help me bring down Anari. If you don’t, your pretty little self will be rotting in a prison cell for the murder of King. Think about it,” Wade said in a threatening way as he pulled out one of his cards and held it close to her lips. “I guess I don’t have to question you about what happened tonight. I’ll just write it up as a robbery. But I better hear from you . . . and soon.” He opened the door and left Zya in the closet alone.

She hated Wade. She hated Vita. She hated Heavy. She hated Jules. Everybody in her life was creating turmoil right now, and all she wanted to do was leave. The one person who she was beginning to trust had gotten hurt because of her, and she was trapped in a city where everyone was out to get her.

Zya walked out of the closet and went back to Snow’s room. He was the only person she cared about at the moment. She sat down in the chair next to his bed and held his hand as he slept. She tried to wait for him to wake up, but hours passed, and she too dozed off.

She felt Snow squeeze her hand in the middle of the night, and she woke up instantly. She turned on the small lamp on the stand next to the bed and looked at him with worry written all over her face.

“I’m here,” she said as she held onto his hand.

Snow’s jaw was broken, and it hurt him to talk. “Did they hurt you?” he asked as he gripped her hand tightly from the pain.

“Shh, don’t talk. I’m fine. I’m just sick from worrying about you.” He sat up in the bed and removed the IV from his arm.

“What are you doing?” Zya asked.

“We’re getting out of here. I’m gon’ get you on the first flight to Mexico, and I’m gon’ go handle Heavy,” he said. He winced from the pain that shot through his face as he talked.

“No, Snow, you need to stay here. The doctor said he needed to make sure you weren’t bleeding internally.”

“Zya, them niggas is dead, yo,” Snow said loudly, rage filling his eyes. He had never been touched before, and now that he had, he knew he would have to make examples out of Heavy and his goons.

“I know, I know, but I need to make sure you’re okay first.”

“What about you?” he asked.

“I don’t have any money to go anywhere now. I’m gon’ have to grind it out until I have enough to skip town,” she said.

“You know I got you,” Snow replied.

“And you know I can’t accept your money. I got to make my own, Snow.”

He didn’t like what Zya was saying, but he respected it. After much convincing, Zya persuaded him to stay the full two days in the hospital. She stayed with him all day and all night, and they grew close in that short time. Snow liked how Zya wanted to take care of him. In fact, he liked everything about her.

“You got to give me some pussy now. A nigga done got pistol whipped for you and shit,” Snow said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

Zya laughed loudly and smiled at him. “The going rate for this is worth more than a pistol whipping,” she said playfully.

Zya was feeling Snow. She was feeling him a lot, actually, but knew that she would have to put him on the back burner after he got out of the hospital. She didn’t want to. If it was up to her, they would be on a beach at that very instant, sipping on daiquiris, but it wasn’t up to her. Her life was in the hands of Lonnie Wade, and she knew that he didn’t have her best interests at heart. Something told her that he had something personal to gain from this investigation, and she knew that it was not going to be easy to get rid of him.

I have to get my paper back up so I can get out of town as soon as possible. She was dead broke and would have to start from scratch. That meant she had to get her work on consignment. All of the money she had was taken in the robbery, so she didn’t have a choice. Even though she was sure that Snow would try to hit her with free bricks to get her back on her feet, she would not accept them. Their feelings for each other didn’t change their business relationship. She was determined to keep business and personal life separate. She didn’t want any favors from anybody, not even Snow. When she made it to the top, she wanted it to be because she hustled and fought her way there, not because her boyfriend placed her there.

She began to come up with a hustle plan in her head. She knew that the two days she was taking off work to be with Snow were days that she could be hustling in the restaurant, but she felt like it was worth it. She felt like his predicament was her fault. He was only trying to help me, she thought. So, she decided to stay by his side until the doctors let him go home.

While Snow was in the hospital recuperating, she called into work, but she knew that she would have to go back to work as soon as he got out. Her life was still at stake, and she knew that she was going to have to answer to Wade, sooner or later.