Crackhead (25 page)

While Margaret, Uncle Sonny, and Dink took care of business, Laci went to her room to rest. She curled up in a fetal position, her stomach cramping. Her forehead was clammy and she was sweating. Dink hated to leave her, but he knew that Margaret wouldn't let anything happen to her.

“Hey,” Dink said as he sat down on Laci's bed to tell her good-bye.

“Hey,” Laci said weakly, trying to be strong for Dink. She smiled. He wanted to cry, but he tried to be strong for her as well.

“I'll be back to check on you later on. Okay?” Dink said, kissing Laci on the forehead. His lips were moist with her perspiration, but he didn't care.

“Promise,” Laci asked.

“Now you know you don't even have to ask me that.” Dink kissed her again and started to rise from the bed.

“No,” Laci said grabbing his hand. “Promise me, Dink. Promise me you'll come back.”

Dink swallowed back his tears. He then looked up at the ceiling and squeezed his eyelids shut. He couldn't let Laci see him weak. Then she'd have no reason to be strong.

“Promise,” Dink said. “I promise. But you promise to be strong.”

“I promise,” Laci said, forcing a smile just as she was fighting a severe cramp.

Dink rubbed his hand over Laci's hair. “That's my little Laci.” He kissed her once again on the forehead.

Dink left Laci's room and headed for the living room. Margaret and Uncle Sonny were in the kitchen preparing some soup and tea for Laci.

“I'm leaving now, Mrs. Johnson, but I'll be back later,” Dink said to her. “Nice meeting you, Mr. Johnson.”

Margaret quickly walked over to him with her arms outstretched. “Thank you, Daryl,” she said, embracing him. “Make sure you have an appetite when you come back. I'm going to cook Laci's favorite dinner tonight.”

“Yes ma'am,” Dink said. “I'll let myself out,” he said as he left the house.

WHEN DINK EXITED
Laci's house, he saw Smurf sitting on the hood of his car. “So whose nice-ass crib is this?” Smurf asked, hopping off the car and walking toward Dink to give him some dap.

“It belongs to my future, Smurf,” Dink said, walking past him as he stood at the gate, admiring the outside of Laci's home.

Just as Dink walked past Smurf to head for the car, Laci had managed to get out of bed and go to her window to watch him. When Smurf saw her in the window, a peculiar feeling came over him. He thought he had seen her somewhere before.

“Is that yo' chick?” Smurf asked Dink, pointing up at the window.

Right before Dink got into the car, he looked up and saw Laci standing in the window. She waved at him and smiled. A huge grin covered Dink's face. Laci couldn't believe she could put a smile like that on any man's face with the way she was looking.
She was in the worst state she had ever been in her life. If she was able to put a smile on Dink's face now, she could only imagine how good things were going to be once she got herself together.

Uncle Sonny must have been right,
Laci thought to herself.
A man can't appreciate a woman at her best until he's appreciated her at her worst.
It seemed that her and Dink's relationship could only get better.

Smurf had never seen his man so taken by a female. No chick had ever put a smile on his face like that as far as he could recall.

“Yep, that's my girl,” Dink said, waving back at Laci. “That's my future.”

As Dink got into the car, Smurf suddenly recalled where he had seen Laci before.

“That's the ho on that tape,” Smurf said under his breath. “Oh, hell no.”

Smurf was in shock. No way his boy knew everything there was to know about this chick. Every nigga in almost every borough had hit that. And if they hadn't hit it, they surely had jacked off to it with as many times as Dame's ass had shown that tape around. Smurf couldn't let his boy go out like that. He had to tell him about the tape.

“You coming or what?” Dink said.

“Yeah, man,” Smurf said, getting in the car. “So how long you been kickin' it with the ol' girl?”

“Not long, but long enough,” Dink said, smiling. There was that smile again.

“Word?” Smurf said, nodding his head. “You like her?”

Dink bit down on his bottom lip after contemplating his answer. “Yeah, man. I like her a lot.”

Seeing his partner wrapped up in this chick, with a smile on
his face that could stretch across the tri-states, he did what he knew was right.

“Is that so?” Smurf said, nodding his head.

“Yep, Smurf. That's so.”

Smurf extended his hand to shake Dink's. “Then I'm happy for you, man. Best of luck to y'all.”

Dink looked down at Smurf's hand and shook it. “Thanks, man.”

Smurf cleared his throat. “So what up, boss?” he asked, quickly changing the mood.

“Did that shit get handled?”

“If it didn't, I wouldn't even be here right now, boss,” Smurf said. “I even got a lil' somethin' for you.” Smurf laid his jacket on the floor and unwrapped it from around the tote. He then held up both hands full of money.

“Damn, how much was he holdin' on him?” Dink asked, taking a stack of money from Smurf's hand, sniffing it, then putting it back in the tote.

“Twelve grand,” Smurf said proudly as he began to stuff money into Dink's glove box.

“Take six for you and leave me six,” Dink told him. “You still got the pistol you whacked Marco wit'?”

“Yeah,” Smurf said, pulling out the Glock. “I'ma toss it tonight. Marco was the third body I caught with this hammer. Three strikes and you're out. Time to let it go.”

“Nah, give it to me,” Dink said with a wicked grin.

“Fuck you gonna do wit' this hot-ass gun?” Smurf asked.

“Settle a long-overdue score.”

“Dink,” Smurf began, “I can tell by that look on your face that you're scheming. What the deal, son?”

“Don't even worry about it,” Dink said, placing the gun in a shopping bag that was under his seat. “I got a special plan for you. Over the next few weeks, we're gonna start looking for your replacement.”

“You firing me, son?” Smurf asked, sounding a little hurt.

“Never, yo,” Dink assured him. “You're the only nigga in this game that I can trust. I'm promoting you, dawg. I'm planning an early retirement, and I gotta know that my business is in good hands. I worked hard to get shit to this point, yo. You think you could handle being the boss one day?”

“Muthafuckin' right,” Smurf said, beating his chest. “I'm ready to do whatever is asked of me for the team.”

“That's why I fuck with you, Smurf,” Dink said with a sly smile.

C
RYSTAL?” DINK SAID
into the phone.

“Hey, baby. What you doin'?”

“Ain't nothin',” Dink said nonchalantly. “I'm ready for you to put in some work.”

“That's what I've been waiting to hear.”

“Remember when I told you that I needed you to give my man something?”

“Yeah.”

“It's time.”

“Okay. So how we gon' do this?” Crystal asked anxiously. “You comin' over here to give it to me or what?”

“Nah,” Dink replied. “You come over here to my spot.” Crystal didn't respond. “Somethin' wrong with that?”

“No. Not really. Just that Monique's here, and we were on our way to the movies. The show starts at three o'clock.”

“So, it's only two,” Dink said, his smile getting broader. “It's all right. Bring her along, too—this ain't going to take y'all long.”

Dink hung up the phone and waited patiently. It wouldn't be long now. All the pieces of the plan were beginning to come together. Dame was six feet under, and soon everyone else who had wronged Laci would pay as well.

IT TOOK CRYSTAL
and Monique only about a half-hour to get to Dink's crib. Crystal couldn't wait to put in some work for her boo in order to get back in good with him. Her hold on him was slipping, and she had to get it tight again. She would have been a fool to let Dink slip away. He had money, power, and respect. What more could a girl want?

When Crystal and Monique showed up at his house, Dink got right down to business.

“Look,” he said to Crystal, handing her the bag holding the gun Smurf had given him. “Take this shit to my man, Stoney, up the way. Just hand him the bag and break out. That's all you gotta do. He ain't gon' ask you no questions, so don't ask him none either.”

“I got you, boo,” Crystal said, winking at Monique. “When I get finished with this, maybe we can spend some time together. It's been a while since I've had any,” she added, moving in close to Dink.

“Crystal,” he said, kissing her once on each cheek, “you pull this off and you're gonna get more time than you can handle.”

“That's a bet. Come on, Mo.” Crystal led Monique out Dink's front door. What Dink didn't know was that Crystal had fucked Stoney once or twice. She figured that once she dropped the gun off, she could crack on Stoney for some dick and a little pocket money, then do the same with Dink. Little did she know, the shit was about to hit the fan.

Once Crystal had the tainted burner in hand and was on
her way to meet who she thought was going to be Stoney, Dink wasted no time calling the authorities. He made himself sound as dramatic as possible when he told the police that there was a crazy girl in a red tank top, green Damage jeans, and red Reebok Classics shooting a gun outside. He gave them the address to where she was going and hung up.

Just as Dink was hoping, a police unit was dispatched. A description of the supposed shooter was put out with the added label of “armed and dangerous.” Everything had been timed to perfection. By Crystal bringing Monique along, the plan would work out even better than Dink had expected. He couldn't help but laugh when he thought about how he would kill two birds with one Stoney.

As soon as Crystal and Monique reached the Jackson Projects, the police were rolling up. Spotting Crystal's red and green outfit and the bag she held, they knew they had their suspect.

“Police! Hold it right there!” the officer in the passenger's seat yelled.

The two girls didn't think the police were talking to them, so they kept walking.

“I said freeze, goddammit!” the officer repeated. “You, in the red, drop the bag, put your hands up, and back away from it!”

Neither Crystal nor Monique knew what to do. The two were frozen in place.

Monique panicked. “Oh, shit, Crystal! They're fuckin' talking to us. What the fuck we gon' do?”

All they could see was the squad cars' spinning red lights, which mixed with the blaring summer sun made it hard for them to see. All they could hear were the shouts from the police and their own pounding heartbeats. Crystal was petrified. She knew that if the police checked the bag, she was going to jail.

Monique didn't have a record, so she was good. Crystal, on the other hand, had an open case for possessing stolen property. Monique had boosted a leather coat with fox fur trim, but when it didn't fit her, she gave it to Crystal. Crystal's greedy ass tried to take it back to get the money for it and the son of a bitch still had the security sensor buried in the inside seam. The store had received only five pieces of that particular designer style. They could account for the sales of all but one—the one Crystal just happened to have been returning. Crystal caved in and began insisting that she wasn't the one who stole it, but when she wouldn't give the name of the person who gave it to her, they charged her. Dink told Crystal that she would be straight, that they were just fuckin' with her because she wouldn't give up any names. He knew the case would be thrown out, but for added security, he gave Crystal two grand to retain an attorney. Instead of using the money for what she was supposed to, she went shopping and drinking with the girls. Needless to say, the court date had come and gone without Crystal making an appearance.

“Crystal, they gon' shoot us.” Monique was starting to hyperventilate.

“Get on the fucking ground,” said the cop with his gun drawn. Two other police units had arrived on the scene, all jumping out of their squad cars and drawing their guns.

Monique hit the ground with her arms outstretched, but Crystal's legs wouldn't budge. Crystal was sweating so heavily that the paper bag she carried under her arm had become soaked. It looked as though she was carrying a bag of fried chicken straight from the grease.

“Drop the fucking gun, goddammit!” a cop yelled.

“Wait!” Crystal screamed. “I'll give it to you!”

“Crystal,” Monique cried, “just drop the bag. Stop talkin' to them and just drop the bag!”

Crystal had never been so scared in her life. All she wanted to do was give them the gun, go home, and pretend that none of this had ever happened. Fuck Dink. Fuck pleasing him. But then the unthinkable occurred.

The weight of the gun was too much for the bag to hold, sending it crashing to the concrete. The impact made the gun go off, hitting Monique in the leg. Hearing the shot, the police opened fire on Crystal. Her chest and legs exploded with the bullets that struck her body. With each blow, Crystal's life flashed before her eyes. After the first bullet she was in shock. Her thoughts were on Laci; she wondered if the pain she'd caused her hurt this bad.

“Nooo!” Monique screeched. She completely lost it at the sight of her friend lying on the pavement next to her. She jumped up from the ground and looked around, wild-eyed. No one was certain whether it was out of fear or stupidity, but something made Monique take off running. She took three steps before the pain from her wound made her collapse. Sure that she was unarmed, the police tackled and arrested her.