Keisha walked down her stairs, finding Hood and Shell in the same spot they’d been in for the past three hours. Sitting at her kitchen table nodding their lives away. Unsurprisingly, she’d reached the point where she hated Hood and everything he stood for. To her, he was a lame, that was only good for one thing. Giving her money so she could keep up her ghetto fabulous lifestyle. But as of late, his packages and his paper, had all but disappeared. His 30 days in jail, weren’t nearly long enough for Keisha. She definitely could have done without his presence for a little longer. All he did now anyway, was sit around sniffing dope, nodding and scratching. She wished she could have Banks for her man, and she envied her friend Monique. Sneaky ass Monique, she thought. In her mind, Monique had stolen Banks from her. All he’d needed was just a little more time to realize they would be good for each other. In the end, Monique was still her girl though, and she knew that Banks loved her. At times though, even if he didn’t say it, Keisha felt he loved her too. Especially when he was balls deep in her soaking wet pussy! Her clit thumped right along with her heartbeat, at the thought of Banks’ massive pipe and superior dick game. Nervously she glanced over at Hood, as if by some miracle, he could read into her freaky thoughts of another man. A knock at the backdoor shattered her lustful daydream. Hood and Shell shot straight up outta their stupor. “Humph?… What’s going on? Who dat?” Hood asked groggily.
“I don’t know nigga!” Keisha spat back with attitude as she stomped over to the door. “Who is it!”
“It’s Luke Keisha. Is Hood here? Keisha opened the door, and in walked Luke. Dirty, dusty, and grimy, just like he always looked these days. The monkey on his back, had transformed into a full-grown silverback gorilla! And just like so many others before him, it had ridden his simple ass straight to the ground. The Polo shirt he wore, looked at least three sizes too big. A shirt that six months ago, had fit him just right. The “P” on the shirt was so faded, it looked like the shirt read “OLO” instead of POLO. He had to hold his dusty jeans up with one hand, while wiping his runny nose with the other. His once all white Air Force Ones, looked like construction boots they were so brown and dingy!
“Wipe yo goddamn feet before you come in here nigga!” Keisha barked on Luke.
“Oh, hey Keisha,” Luke strode by her without a second glance. “What up Shell? You still got some of that same boy from this morning?”
“Yeah what you need?” Shell asked as he stood up and stretched, forgetting the pistol that was in his lap, as it slid heavily to the floor. Quick as a cat, he reached down, snatched up the pistol and tucked it in his waistband. “You got straight paper?”
“I got sixteen bru, I’ll bring you the rest in a few aight? I’m sick homey. I just need to get off empty, then I can function. You know how it is dog?” Luke pleaded as he continuously wiped his runny nose. At this time, bags of “boy” were going for twenty - five dollars.
“Man fuck that shit nigga! This is business! If you sick, then that’s yo problem!” Hood looked up and laughed before his head fell back into a nod. “You better bring me some sales too nigga!” Shell barked as he reached in his underwear and retrieved the bundle of heroin he had stashed there.
“You know I got you bru. This me.” Hood smiled with renewed happiness as he placed the crumbled five and eleven one dollar bills on the table. Keisha walked back up the stairs, pissed at what her life had become. She was a bad bitch and knew it. The perfect arm-piece for a real get money nigga. But after Armand, her Jamaican fiancé; whose father just happened to own half the shit in Miami, including the cocaine; was knocked off in Fort Lauderdale, with one hundred and thirteen kilos of coke, and two point three million dollars in cash, Somehow. Meraculously; she’d gotten hooked up with Hood’s weak ass. Just the thought of her current situation was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She needed to be fucked good. To relieve some stress. If she could just get Banks to meet her in the bathroom of the Arab store on the corner, a good fast pounding could do the trick. She massaged her clit through her shorts as she dialed his number.
“Yo?” He answered on the fifth ring.
“Hey boo. What you doing?”
“Not shit. Just riding and smoking. What’s good? You wanna meet me at the store?” Banks really didn’t give a fuck if Hood knew he was fucking Keisha, but he continued to take extra precaution to keep their secret for two reasons. One, he knew Hood would beat the hell outta Keisha as soon as Banks wasn’t around, and two, it was a much more thrilling nutt when it felt like you were sneaking. Keisha jumped with glee, when Banks spoke as if reading her mind.
“Yes baby! I can be at the store in five minutes! Hood down there with Shell and Luke. I’m just gonna slip out the back and….”
“You said who’s there with you?”
“Hood, Shell, and Luke. Why baby what’s wrong? Hello?… Hello?… Banks…?” The line had gone dead….
Slamming down on my brakes I did a 180 degree turn right in the middle of traffic, punching the accelerator down to the floor as I spun tires off Geer Street turning onto Alston Ave! Weaving in and out of traffic, I prayed to god I didn’t get pulled! Slamming down on the brakes again, I slid around to bank a hard left without breaking stride, pushing my BMW around the winding curves and up through the bottom of the projects! Finally, I brought my car to a screeching halt, right behind Keisha’s building! In one swift motion, I reached over into the passenger seat and snatched up my brand new .50 caliber Desert Eagle, threw open the door and hit the ground running! My pistol led out in front of me as I rounded the corner of the building and my sight registered. “BOOM! BOOM!” I let off two thunderous rounds, while seemingly being blinded by lightening then knocked down by a bull! Instantly I was thirsty! My ears finally stopped ringing, and I could hear Keisha’s voice screaming! I needed some water bad! All I could think about was something to drink! And then suddenly, I knew why. Reaching over; feeling the warm, sticky blood, pumping out of my shoulder, I realized I’d been shot! Struggling I pushed to my feet, stumbling in excruciating pain over to where Shell lay shot and bleeding. Big Joe lay not two feet away from him. A large portion of the right side of his head, was nothing more than shattered bone, brain matter, and blood. The thick dark red blood that continuously flowed, gradually encircled the back of his head as his dead eyes stared out into nothingness. The jolting pain in my shoulder was agonizing, but still I gathered myself and focused long enough to calm Keisha and tell her to call 911. Shell, with the fear of God in his eyes, lay petrified holding his side, as he stared from Big Joe, to me, to the excessive amount of blood, that wouldn’t stop seeping through his fingers. Hood came limping outside, holding a knot on the side of his head the size of a fuckin grapefruit! His right eye was completely swollen shut.
“Oh fuck! He dead! He dead!” Hood yelled hysterically, just like the bitch that he was. Off in the distance I could hear sirens blasting, gradually growing louder as they drew nearer. The loud wailing sounds of the oncoming Calvary, caused me for the first time to realize the rapidly growing amount of people who were standing around, peaking out of project windows, and stopping their cars in the middle of the street; running, yelling, and pointing at the drama unfolding in front of them! A howling ambulance along with two Durham Police cars, came to a screeching halt just twenty - five to thirty feet away from the murder scene! Justine, a long legged medium brown skinned lesbian, with a Caesar haircut and tattoos all over her arms; whom lived just three doors down from Keisha, leaned out her back door and called out to me!
“Banks! Banks! Hurry up, come through here!” She beckoned me into her apartment. There was no time for trying to analyze the what’s and whys of her helping me. So, without a second thought, I dashed into her apartment backdoor, emptying all the money I had in my pockets out onto her living room floor as I ran through, bolted out her front door bleeding like a stuck pig, and with God and luck on my side, jumped back into my BMW and got the fuck up outta up there!