Durty South Grind (18 page)

Percy took over after he left. “Yeah, my nigga, just hang with these fools so you can get a feel for those girls at the hotels, pick up the ends and give them some of this fresh stuff. They already know what the deal is, so all you got to do is get in rhythm with them.”

I wonder why they haven't mentioned to the twins that I've already been to those spots. Mmm, must be another set of honeys they talking about. Yep, probably is
, Sparkle thought. Nodding his head in agreement, he was definitely ready to sprout out further anyway. “Okay, I feel you on that there.”

Before he could continue, JJ burst back through the curtains and slapped a new cell phone in his hands. Sparkle gave him a curious look and flipped it around in his hand before he put it in his pocket. JJ cocked his head to the side with his hand held out. Sparkle looked at the hand and raised his brow before it dawned on him what he wanted. He gave it to him. “Them hoes already know the number, just give them a code that they can use to let you know they need some more stuff. Niggas got to be careful what they say on these things, dog, you feel me?”

They were about to do another hit when they heard Debra hollering at the kids to get their things together and get to school. They knew that she was coming by the tone in her voice. They started stuffing the dope in their pockets as one by one they eased back into the living room before she came out.

Shortly afterward, she pranced into the room, dressed in a skin-tight brown jeans outfit laced with flowers and rhinestones, with a Gucci handbag slung over her shoulder. “Aight, troopers, let's go roll up some of that cheddar that fat boy's trying to hold all for himself.”

Not a moment was wasted joining her as she strolled out of the apartment. JJ and Percy followed her to the parking lot while Sparkle and the twins headed to Percy's ride on the other side of the building.

With Cherry at the wheel, it took them only a minute until they were pulling into the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn. Sherry led the way as they entered the room on the third tier facing the expressway. A different girl answered the door than the times he had come over with Peggy. A bright-eyed Sherry introduced him to a perky petite red-haired honey named Carla, who was still draped in her robe with rollers in her head.

In a small Loretta Devine-type of voice, she stifled a yawn. “Pinky had to make a run last night, I, ah, figured that she'd be back by now.” She spread her arms around the room in a herky-jerky motioned. “Ah, so you must be Sparkle, right, yeah, right. Anyway, she'll probably be here the next time that you ride through. I'll be sure to let her know what the deal is.”

Sparkle's eyes squinted in concentration to keep up with her rapid-fire dialogue. In a way he reminded her a little bit of Left Eye, who used to roll with TLC; she had that kind of spunk about herself.

He sat down and crossed his legs and watched the girls kick the bullshit girl talk for a few minutes. “Yeah, shawtie girl, we'll see what it be like with Pinky when we see her, but right in now, how about you shooting me those ends.”

The suddenness of his intrusion brought a brief frown from her pixieish face, causing her to wrinkle up her pouty lips for a second before she broke out into one of the cutest smiles he had ever seen. She spun daintily and went to the sink and reached up on the clothes rack to get a box. In quick little steps, she walked back over to the bed and plopped beside him, opened the box and handed him eight hundred dollars. While he counted the
money, she sat waggling her legs with her chin anchored on the back of her hand.

Sparkle forced back a smile as he thought,
Damn, this one here sho do be acting a little too girlie for this hardcore dope game.
Those thoughts were erased immediately when he considered that under her extra-feminine exterior, there had to be a cold-hearted bitch—one with her own way of dealing with the scoundrels chasing Scottie on a daily basis or whatever else came her way.

With that in mind he froze her with a serious poker face before he smiled and said in a husky voice, “Hmmm, does this mean that you wanna work with a grand piece?”

She licked her lips and looked across the room at the twins. The girls hunched their shoulders instead of giving her a verbal comment. She turned back to him, batted her long eyelashes a couple of times and said, “Uh-huh, stud, that's exactly what it means.” She stared under eyed while she waited for his response.

There wasn't much to say, so he turned his mouth down, reached into his jacket and took out the bag. He pulled out two of the $500 packages and handed them to her.

She immediately ripped them open and removed a handful of the Ziplocs, tossed the twins a good-sized rock apiece and held one out to him, which he politely refused with a smile. He had long ago decided that he wasn't going to let any of the folk working for him know that he got high or dipped into any of his packages. Their relationship had to be strictly business; no more, no less.

She stared at him for a moment, cocked her head to the side and then hunched her shoulders before she got up and joined the twins. After getting their smoke on, all three girls jumped on the bed and started playing dominoes. Shortly, folk started knocking on the door.

Like magic, Carla transformed from the dainty pixie into a hardcore, no-nonsense businesswoman right before his eyes. Like some
Michael Jackson-type shit. He smiled at the instant change in her and the way she handled her biz like a little gangster ho. He would make it his business to get to know shawty a lot better on future visits.

Within a half hour, she was pulling Sparkle into the bathroom and handing him $400 with her left hand and holding out her right one for another package, which he didn't hesitate a second in giving to her.

He reared his head back and started scratching his neck as he looked down at her. “Okay, little mama, I've seen enough. Just holla at a nigga whenever you ready. Any time of the day or night and I'll get here as quickly as I can.” He ended by giving her the cell number and code she needed to use.

Still set in her gangster mode, she said, “Yeah, playa, you do that. I'll be hollering in a few. You handle your end and as you can see, I got this one here.”

He stepped back into the room and jerked his head at the twins. They said brief goodbyes to the people that had gathered in the room and prepared to leave. As they were exiting the room, Carla pulled his sleeve. She had turned back into Miss Sweetie Petite as she smiled up at him. “I'll see ya soon, playa. You kinda cute when you ain't frowning at a bitch, you know that?”

He flicked his thumb across his nose and smiled. “Oh yeah, we'll be seeing a lot of each other, baby girl; that's for sure.” He could tell from the glitter in her eyes that she was ready for whatever with him. He planned on taking advantage of that glitter in the future. But now wasn't the time so he rubbed her gently on the shoulder and left.

Minutes later, speeding down I-20, Sherry leaned across the seat with her chin resting on her hands. “So whatcha think about our little Miss Carla, Mr. Sparkle?”

He noticed in the side-view mirror that she had a mischievous
smile on her face. He took a long drag off of his cigarette before he turned his mouth down. “Shortie's got a lot of spunk and definitely be handling her biz; that's what I think.” He turned in the seat to face her. “We'll see what she be about down the road.”

Cherry, who had been quietly taking in the conversation, checked the traffic in both rearview mirrors before she jerked the car into the exit lane, ignoring the blaring of several cars protesting her bold move. With a sly smile, she looked across the seat at him. “Looks like little mama wanna be jumping your bones if you ask me, playa.”

He pulled on his left earlobe as he eyed one twin and then the other before he burst out laughing. “It's a good thing I didn't ask you then, huh?” He grimaced.

Taken somewhat aback for a moment, she wrinkled her nose as him and snorted, “You ain't got to be so nasty with it, humph,” she snarled as she snapped her head back to the road.

Not fazed whatsoever, he looked at her from head to toe. “Let's put it down to ya'll like this here: I don't be mixing business with pleasure; that is, on a regular basis.” He took the time to cram a rock into his shooter and put it to blaze before he continued, “And even if I did, you probably wouldn't be able to recognize the difference anyway. Of course unless that someone happened to be you.” He smiled to himself as he watched her try to hide the blush that rose to her cheeks behind her hand.
Oh yeah,
he mentally patted himself on the back as he chalked her up as future prey.

Sherry decided to kill the silly noise as she piped in from the backseat, “This next girl”—she took the time to clear her throat—“at the Holiday Inn has got a lot of dude in her.” She squinted her eyes, checking out his reaction.

He took a long toke of the coke and hunched his shoulders as if to say “so.”

Disregarding his so-called tough attitude, she snorted. “Just thought I'd let you know ahead of time; that's all. Anyway, they call her Sissy and believe me when I tell you that she is a handful.” She shivered to emphasis her point.

Was that supposed to bother me? I think not
, he thought. “Sweetie, I don't give a fuck if she thinks she's Mrs. King Kong, as long as she keeps the ends straight, we gonna be cool.” He looked back and forth between the wannabe divas. “Do ya'll feel me on this? Well, do you?” He put in a little extra growl to let them know that there wasn't nothing soft about him if need be. From the way their eyes started shifting around, he knew they had caught the message loud and clear.

They rode in silence, cruising down the Wesley Chapel exit ramp. It gave him the chance to get mentally ready to deal with the so-called dreaded man-woman Sissy, with whom the twins seemed to be in such awe. But to his surprise, when the light turned green, they streaked straight across the street. He arched his brow across the seat at Cherry. “What's the deal, yo? The Holiday Inn is over that way,” he said, nodding to the other side of the highway.

She purposely ignored him until she had veered around the Stop'n'Go gas station and started down the narrow thoroughfare leading to the Motel 6 before she gave him a sideways glance and smiled. “Figured we'd introduce you to a real sweetie before you tackle the monster lady.”

Sparkle brushed away the smile they shared in the mirror, as he was about to get out of the car. He stepped out to check out the surroundings and heard them whispering.
Damn girls always got some sneaky shit going on,
he thought as he stretched his arms and found himself stifling a yawn.

He'd gotten only a few hours' sleep in the past couple of days. It definitely had to be the cocaine that had kept him going. He'd
run through these two spots and get them to drop him off at Debra's to get some much needed rest. If not, he'd fall out on his feet before long and that wouldn't do at all.

The gleaming twins jumped out of the car and nearly skipped-to-the-loo across the parking lot and practically ran up the stairs. He couldn't help wondering why they'd gotten so hyped up all of a sudden. By the time he made it to the balcony walkway, they were ducking into a room four doors down. Harrumphing, he wiped a hand down his face before he proceeded to the room. He entered and took a step back because the room was full of geekers sitting and standing around with anxious looks on their faces.

Godayum, all these folk this early in the morning,
he thought. Carla, a jet-black sister with almond-shaped eyes, whose skin was so smooth and clear that it appeared to glow, nodded for him to come inside. She batted her long lashes up and down his frame. “Whatcha gonna do, playa; stand there all day? Get your fine ass on in here,” she said in a honey-coated voice.

His cheeks rose in a smile as he looked down at her stunning, barely five-foot frame before he crossed the sill. He immediately felt uncomfortable with all the unfamiliar eyes on him and barely felt the soft hand she pressed into his shoulder. His eyes traveled slowly to her tiny multi-jeweled hand adorned with rings on every finger and bracelets of multiple designs and colors jangling along her narrow wrist. She daintily grasped his elbow and led him through the throng of staring geekers into the bathroom.

She slowly closed the door, dashing the room into total darkness before she flicked the lights. He blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the sudden glare. He flinched slightly when she reached into her flowery silk blouse into a creamy pair of forty-something, deep chocolate whammies and extracted a wad of dollar bills. She batted those long lashes at him again and gave him a
pearly white smile as she handed him the money and purred, “JJ and P hollered at me a little while ago and told me that you'd be on your way over here.”

She caught the trail of his eyes and jerked her head back slightly. With a short snort she looked down at her chest and back up at him before she cocked her head to the side and smiled. “Damn, you gonna take the money or what?” She braced her hands on her hips. When his eyes didn't divert from her breasts, she gave him one of those snake rolls.

He zoomed in on the money and then into her face, doing his best not to look into those hypnotizing jet-black eyes. “Excuse me, shortie, but I really wasn't expecting,” he paused and stuck his head around the corner of the door before going on, “Uh, all those folk I ain't ever seen before sorta makes me feel a little uneasy; know what I'm saying?”

She ran her eyes up and down his body, with her mouth twisted up in a slight smirk. “Hmmm, don't get your drawers all up in a knot there, playa.” She flipped her wrist daintily and added, “It ain't always like this early in the morning. It's just that we got a red dog alert an hour ago, and I called most of my regular folk over so that it won't be all that foot traffic roaming outside.”