End of the Line (8 page)

Leesa sat at the table eating her food. Glancing around the restaurant she caught a glimpse of Q. He was standing behind the counter. He looked over in her direction, and their eyes locked.
What the fuck is he doing back there?
He gave her a half smile, and she flashed a forced one back. Oh God!
He might have done something to my fucking food!
She dropped the fork onto her plate, then reached for a napkin.
Now he’s coming over here
.
What the fuck he wants?

“How you doing today?” he stood by the table’s side.

“Fine, and you?” Leesa didn’t want to speak, but felt she had no choice.

“Look, I’m sorry. We got off on the wrong foot. My name’s Quintay.”

“Damn! Where you get that name from?” Leesa couldn’t help but ask as she fought not to laugh in his face.

“I told you it was weird the day I met you. That’s why everybody calls me Q.”

“Well, I kinda like your name, Quintay! It makes me smile when I say it!”

“Oh, okay, I see you got jokes. But since you like my name, do you think it’s all right if I sit down?”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Leesa felt a little silly about the way she acted before at the mall and thinking he may have poisoned her food.

“Are you enjoying your meal?”

“Yeah, I guess. So what were you doing behind the counter?”

“I was making sure that everything was going as it should be.”

“Oh, so you’re the manager?”

“Naw, I’m the owner. You like my li’l place?” he asked, being modest.

Leesa looked around the interior, then looked back at him. “Yeah, I like it. It’s a nice place. I’m impressed. What other secrets you keeping? You have a girl or wife or just your sister from the mall?”

“Nope.” Q busted out laughing, immediately getting her reference.

“Okay, smart guy, any kids?” When she asked that, Q stared off into space and his mood changed.

“Hey, you’re all right? Did I say something out of order?”

“Naw, not at all. It’s just I had a son, but he got hit by a car. He was running after a ball.”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry to hear that! I never had any kids, but I know how it feels to lose someone close to you.” Leesa didn’t know this man from a can of paint, but for some reason, she felt like she could keep it real with him as he’d done with her. “Well, I’m a widow . . . well, kinda. My fiancé was killed some years back. I’m still dealing with it. I guess that’s why sometimes I still say I’m married and keep my engagement ring on my finger.”

“Damn, I’m sorry to hear about your loss as well. You wanna talk about it?”

He wants to talk about my feelings!
“I’ve never met a man that wanted to talk about another man. You must be some kind of special.”

“Well, when I’m interested in a woman, I wanna know all about her. Most guys don’t understand that in a relationship you have to be equal and give it your all.”

Leesa hadn’t met many guys that thought like that. In fact, the only guy that she met that did think like that was Hutch, who was everything she wanted in a man.
Q is a lot different from what I thought he would be; he seems like he’s more grounded.

Before the two became more engulfed in their conversation and confession session, a waiter came over to the table interrupting. “Excuse me, Q, we got a problem.”

He pulled out a business card and handed it to her. “Look, I better go take care of this; meal’s on the house. Call me, ummm . . .” At that moment he realized after all that exposing of deep inner feelings, he still had yet to know her name.

“Leesa,” she blushed, reaching out to take the card before he hurried away to fix whatever was wrong.

* * *

Rell, Dre, and Marlon were standing in front of the building that they had just opened up to hustle out of. They’d grown sick and tired of all the Detroit castaways migrating to their city and raping all the homegrown revenue from the drug trade.

“Yo, Marlon, who that?” Rell said, pointing to the silver Benz truck that was parking in front of the building.

“Fuck if I know. I’m standing here with you.”

Suddenly, Dino jumped out of the car, throwing his hands in the air. “What up, niggas?”

“Damnnnnnn . . . When you get that?” Marlon ran up to the passenger side admiring the molded trim along the bottom.

“My girl copped it for me as a birthday gift. It’s hard as hell, ain’t it?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“So how big is it, bitch?” Dre stared at Dino laughing his ass off.

“How big is what, nigga?”

“That dick J-Rite’s fucking you with, faggot!”

“Fuck you, nigga!” Dino said, walking over to him like he was gonna swing.

“Fuck yourself, the pussy better.”

“Whatever, nigga, but what’s up with this money?” Dino got serious, ready to get down to business.

“Everything looking good. We can re-up in a few days.”

“That’s what’s up. Yo, get yo’ ass behind the wheel. I need to shoot this move real quick,” Dino publicized, tossing him the keys. “Y’all watch the spot and don’t fuck shit up!”

“All right, lame, where we going?”

“I gotta meet J-Rite at a house we thinking about getting. And that means I need more cash on hand, if need be,” He punched the directions into the GPS system and leaned back in the passenger seat. “Dawg, you think we should open some more spots or what?”

“Yeah, my nigga; you know, mo’ chedda, mo’ betta.”

“Yeah, you right. We give Rell crazy ass that building and get Marlon another one. I’m trying to rape these streets like my girl slick ass and the rest of these cats up here.”

“Damn, this crib sweet.” Dre was impressed as they pulled up to the address.

“Yeah, I picked this motherfucker out.” J-Rite was sitting in her car talking on the phone when they walked up on her. “Hey, baby, sorry I took so long. I had to pick up Dre.”

“What’s up, Dre?”

“Shit, ma, I like this crib.”

“I know, right? It’s boss status. Ya’ boy picked it out.” She gave credit to her man.

As they walked in the house, J-Rite felt like she was living in a fairy tale.
I got my castle and my king. I got everything I want.
“Baby, I just wanted to give you your set of keys to the house and the burglar alarm code. That was Leesa on the phone. She needs to talk to me about something real quick, so I gotta bounce. I’ll see you tonight at the club. Happy Birthday again, sweetie.”

“Thanks for everything, bae. You know I love you,” Dino blessed her with a long embrace and a deep kiss.

After J-Rite pulled off, Dino walked back in the house.

“Yeah, man, you got it made. Your girl and you on point. Y’all straight living the white man’s dream!”

“Whatever, fool, let’s go. I gotta shoot this other move real quick. I just had to swing by here first and grab them keys to my new castle.”

This time, Dino drove his new truck, allowing Dre to ride shotgun. Twenty minutes later, they pulled up to a small house and parked.

“Who stay here?” Dre wondered, looking around.

“My li’l friend, that’s all,” Dino bragged, getting out of the truck.

“Your li’l friend? Fuck you talking ’bout?” Dre scratched his head as they stepped onto the porch.

Dino pulled out a key unlocking the door. Like he belonged there. He stepped inside. “Hey, baby?”

“Hey, bae,” the seductively dressed woman got up, kissing Dino on the lips. Then she turned toward Dre and spoke. “Hey, how you doing? I’m Monique, and you must be Dre. It’s so nice to meet you. My honey told me so much about you.”

Well, he ain’t told me shit about you,
Dre thought to himself. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“So you want a beer?” Dino asked his homeboy, walking toward the kitchen.

“Yeah, man, that’s good lookin’. Can I sit down?” Dre turned, asking Monique.

“Yeah, of course. Make yourself at home.”

Dre sat down on the couch. Confused, he attempted to take everything in. He couldn’t understand what was going through Dino’s mind.
J-Rite is bad as hell, and she got money. So why the fuck would he cheat on her with this bird? This nigga done lost his damn mind!
Dre wished he had a girl like J-Rite. He wanted to settle down but couldn’t find the right girl.

Dino returned from the kitchen handing him a beer.

“So what we gonna do tonight, baby?” Monique gleefully chimed in, caressing Dino’s chest while shamelessly licking his earlobe.

“It don’t matter. It’s whatever.” He felt his manhood stiffen.

“Yeah, it do, Dino, considering it’s your birthday.”

“Yo, I ain’t trying to be rude and shit, but remember, Dino, we got that thang to go to tonight.”

“What thang?”

“That thang,
remember?
” Dre insisted, hoping that he would remember J-Rite was giving him a party.

Done playing dumb, Dino snapped back to his senses. “Oh yeah,
that
thang. Sorry, baby.” He slapped Monique across the ass. “But I’ma take a rain check.”

After they finished their beers they left.

“Man, you done lost yo’ mind or what?”

“Come on, man, what the fuck you talking ’bout?” Dino started the engine, then peeled out into traffic.

“Dude, why you cheating on J-Rite good-caking ass?”

“Nigga, you sound like a broad all up in my business.”

“Naw, Dino, I’m just being real. You ain’t got no reason to cheat.”

“Man, I don’t give a fuck what your good-hating ass talking about. Monique’s bad as hell. Don’t act like you ain’t see all that ass she working with! And besides, Monique know ’bout J-Rite.”

“So
that
should tell you she ain’t shit.”

“Dre, pump your brakes. You reading too much into it. It’s just sex. That ho got that porn-star pussy going on!”

“You ain’t fucking her raw, is you?”

Dino didn’t answer.

“Man, you dumb as hell. You better start strapping up because if J-Rite find out, she gonna kill your dumb ass!”

The club was packed. J-Rite was sitting at the bar with Leesa and Raven having drinks.

“So what’s up with Tyrus?”

“I heard nothing from him.” Leesa shrugged her shoulders.

“Tone and Mario said they been trying to find out some more shit on the nigga. He must be hiding out because he knows we own the game,” Raven interjected.

“Where are those niggas at anyway?” Leesa questioned.

“Yeah, I’m trying to break them niggaz!” Raven mocked referring to dice.

“I know, right? Well, they said they were coming,” J-Rite said.

“What’s up, y’all?” Tone said as they walked up to the bar. “Hey, J-Rite, I need to talk to you ASAP.”

“Okay, fam, we can go out to the car so we can have some privacy and hear over all this music.”

When they got out to the car, Tone gave her a large envelope. J-Rite opened it. It was some photos of Tyrus standing on the porch at a house.

“Where’s this at?” she puzzled but still happy to have the information.

“It’s here in the outskirts of Grand Rapids. I found out he got a few spots here and some businesses popping off here. So when you ready to take care of him—It’s on!”

“Look at what they got for us.” J-Rite handed Leesa the photos going back inside their favorite place to hang out at.

“Yeah, this is what we been waiting for.”

“I told him I’ll let him know when we’re ready to handle it.”

“Well, I think we should wait until we have some more problems out of the nigga before we get his ass,” Leesa said.

“Naw, fuck that! We should handle that nigga now,” Tone jumped, in ready for war.

“Yeah, you probably right; fuck letting him get the drop on us,” Leesa changed her mind agreeing. “Now we need to get our game plan airtight. But right now, let’s gets some drinks and get our buzz on.”

* * *

“Damn, who’s on their way over here, baby?” Dino asked as J-Rite was hanging up her phone.

“Mario and Raven. They need to holla at me about something real quick.”

“Good, now you can hook my nigga Dre up with Raven.”

“Naw, that ain’t even ’bout to happen. That’s my girl, and that’s your boy. If it don’t work out, they gonna have bad blood in the air. And ain’t nobody trying to hear that!”

“Damn, that’s fucked up,” Dre laughed, knowing she was probably right.

“Nigga, don’t even worry ’bout it. Just holla at that bitch with all them baby daddies when she get here,” Dino taunted before taking a sip of his drink.

“You better watch your mouth. And when did you start drinking anyway?”

“I have to drink because I smoke. It keeps me on my toes. Plus, why drink and don’t smoke?”

“So you smoke now too?”

“Yeah, a nigga blow Kush. It ain’t like I’m strung out like you, so chill.”

J-Rite hadn’t noticed Dino smoking or drinking before. She’d been too busy trying to keep her money right. She did notice, however, they seemed not as close as they used to be. She knew that in order to keep a happy home she had to make sure Dino was a hundred percent happy. If things between them were going bad, it would affect how she acted in the streets. And now wasn’t the time for her to be off of her square. Truth be told, that was one of, if not the main reason, she and Mike Mike never worked out. J-Rite was brought out of her thoughts by the doorbell ringing. She walked to the door.

“Hey, now,” J-Rite let her friends in.

“What up doe, y’all?” Dino said, trying to sound like he was from Detroit as they walked inside.

“Dre, this Mario and Raven.” J-Rite made the introductions. She could see Dre’s eyes ready to pop out of his head when he saw Raven.

“How you doing, Raven?” Dre was trying to get his mack on.

“So what’s?” J-Rite asked, sitting down next to Dino, tired of keeping him in the dark about her business.

“Is it cool to talk in here?” Mario suspiciously asked, looking over at Dre and Dino.

“Yeah, nigga! What the fuck! I’m her man, so it’s always gonna be whatever,” Dino barked in a hostile tone.

“Slow down, slick, I was talking to her,” Mario said with murder in his eyes.

Nigga, you ain’t no killa. You talk that rah-rah shit!
Dino thought to himself, sensing things were on the verge of getting heated.

Dre sat back and watched to see how things were going to unfold, praying his boy would just fall back. He was hoping that he would be able to get a shot at Raven.

I can’t let this shit go down. They ’bout to kill each other.
“Dino, be quiet, baby.”

“Be quiet? What the fuck! I’m a grown-fucking man. I got some shit to handle anyway. I’m out. Let’s roll, nigga.”

“Okay, well, damn, it was nice to meet you, Raven.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, uninterested, waving her hand at him, glad Mario ain’t have to clown on J-Rite’s man.

* * *

“Look, word on the street Tyrus got a few niggaz from outta town, and he plans on taking shit all back over again. He got a nephew up here too. So maybe we should pay him a visit. You know, send his ass a message that we ain’t fucking around with his old ass.”

J-Rite thought about what Mario had just said. She liked everything except involving the nephew. She didn’t want to get innocent people caught up in the mix just because. “I wanna get him. I don’t have beef with the nephew, so leave him out of it.”

“All right, we leave him out of it . . . for now,” Mario conceded.

“Okay, cool. Get at us later, J, we out.” Raven nodded as they left about, to make some more crucial moves.

J-Rite took that opportunity to call Dino and make sure he was good; that they were good. “What’s wrong with you? You know I got business to handle, and that comes first.” She’d finally confessed to Dino that she was indeed in the streets. She felt he was mature enough to handle it, even though he had been acting like a straight pussy lately.

“I’m tired of this shit.”

“And what shit is that?”

“Do you know what it’s like to date a girl who a big hustler? Nobody respect me because they think you take care of me.”

“Okay, so what? Big deal. I do take care of you. Fuck them anyway! They wish they had it that good. Them the same niggaz I feed on these streets. So let them know that.” She was hoping that made Dino feel better.

After she told him that she did take care of him, he stopped listening.
Bitch think she better than me. I don’t need her. Me and my boys about to come all the way up and send all them Detroit niggas packing.
“Look, I’m not jealous. It’s just that I worry about something happening to you.” He decided to just play the game and continuing getting what he could until he was ready to make his power move.

“Ain’t nothing gonna happen, bae. I gotta get this money.”

“But we got enough money.”

“I never got enough money. It ain’t enough money in the world.”

“That’s greed talking—one person can’t never get all the money.”
What she mean she ain’t got enough money? It’s like she ain’t even including me in the shit. I guess she all for self.
Dino’s ego started getting the best of him. In his book, it was now secretly game on: her versus him.

* * *

Leesa had been thinking a lot about Q lately. They had talked on the phone a few times. Every time he called, she got excited. She wanted them to go out but felt she wasn’t ready. Leesa still hadn’t told J-Rite about him to get her opinion, knowing full well what it would be considering the fact she still was loyal to the memory of Hutch just as she was. Every time Q would ask her on a date, Leesa would make an excuse, although she really had growing feelings for him. In her mind, he had the potential makings to be the next guy she was supposed to be with in life. She knew nobody would ever replace Hutch, but he would want her to be happy.

I’m going to open my heart. I just hope that I don’t get hurt.
She picked up the phone and dialed Q. He answered on the third ring. She got nervous and hung up. The phone rang and startled her. She looked at the caller ID. It had Q’s number on it.
How stupid am I?
“Hello.”

“Hey, how you doing?” he asked in that sexy voice she lusted to hear.

“I’m okay, and you?”

“I’m fine, and you a li’l too old to be playing on the phone, ain’t you?”

“Oh yeah, about that . . . I wasn’t playing on the phone. I dialed the wrong number.”

“Yeah, all right, I’ll let you go then,” he said, calling her bluff. He didn’t wait to hear her say “don’t.” He just hung up.

No, the hell he didn’t just hang up on me!
Before Leesa could call him back, her phone rang. “You done lost your damn mind! Who the hell you think you is, hanging up on me like that?” She heard him laughing on the other end. “What the hell so funny?”

“I know you ain’t heated. It’s just that you sound so damn good when you mad. I really like you, but you giving me the runaround, and I don’t deserve it. I know you still hurt about . . .” Q paused before he spoke. He didn’t know if he should say the name.
I don’t want her to bug out, but I gotta get through to her.
“Look, boo, I know you still in love with Hutch, and I can respect that, but you have to understand that I have strong feelings for you as well.”

Leesa was at a loss for words. Of course she knew he liked her, but didn’t know how much until now. “I really like you too, so where do we go from here?”

“Well, how ’bout dinner Saturday night for starters?”

“All right, where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise. You just gon’ have to wait and see. Trust me, I got you.”