Juicy: The Complete Series (11 page)

Tino sat in his living room adorned by his bitches watching his favorite show, Love and Hip Hop. It was a marathon and he had missed a few episodes since his brother’s death weeks ago so he decided to catch up on them. He sat in his boxers itching away at something in his crotch and coughing up blood heavily. He spat it into a nearby Big Gulp cup filled with the same contents and continued to smoke his blunt laced with coke, a wicked stick. The asshole in him didn’t even give two thoughts to Diamond’s whereabouts or health. Bitches didn’t mean shit to him, especially since he was dying. He figured he shouldn’t have to care about anyone who didn’t care about him. All they wanted was money and he lingered them around long enough to let them think they were getting it.

None of Tino
’s friends, however, knew about his condition. He lied to them about it always spinning them off to some other miscellaneous disease like Lupus or Whipple’s disease. The females that sat up under him all the time were bitches that were just like him. They all had full blown AIDS and decided they would all take care of each other and fuck each other since the damage was done already. Tino didn’t give a shit about them either. They were there to be his muses, nothing more.

“Get up and go make me a sandwich.” He demanded pointing to one of the girls who was sitting on the floor shooting up.

She ignored him, waiting for her dope to kick in.

“Ay! Didn
’t I say get up and make me a got damn sandwich?” He barked again.

“I can
’t daddy, I’m busy.” The girl said rocking back and forth.

She couldn
’t have been any older than Diamond was but her body indicated she had already seen far much more. Her hair was done up in micro braids that he had paid for and she wore a ton of makeup because he told her that she needed to look good around him. But her face made her appear sixty years old and was damn near disfigured from all the beatings Tino delivered before she decided to comply with his every beck and call. She was actually fourteen when she first met Tino who stole her virginity throwing money in her face. He took her on various shopping sprees to Coach and Fendi, places she could not otherwise afford. When her mother took her to the doctor and found out she was four months pregnant with AIDS, she kicked her out on the street never to hear from her again. She had the baby on a filthy bathroom floor of a homeless shelter and left it there to go live with Tino.

“Man you ain
’t shit but a damn junkie. You ‘bout to get out too.” Tino said as he snatched his ringing phone from the end table checking the number on the display.

“No daddy. Don
’t put me out. I’ll be good.” She said as calmly and quietly as she could.

“Yeah, who dis?”

“What up, baby! Dis Shug.”

“What
’s da demonstration killa?”

“Man, think I might have the science on your fam
’s murder. Ya’ feel me?”

“What? Spit it out nigga!” Tino rose weak and out of breath.

His disease was kicking him in the ass on this day though most days he was okay. He was about to take his pills but he needed to eat first. He grew hungrier and angrier at the chick sitting on the floor high as a kite but too lazy to go fix him some food. He began coughing and sat back down, pointing to one of his older chicks that never gave him any fever about doing shit. She got up at the snap of his fingers and headed to the kitchen.

“You aight, nigga?” Shug said listening to all the commotion in the background.

“What’s the info you got?” Tino said cleaning his mouth with his sleeve, ignoring his question.

“Heard it was a set up sting by some bitches, some broads from the hood, Joe. Straight up. I think they working for one of them cats on the block, man, but ain
’t nobody saying.” Shug replied.

He glanced over at his naked informant walking his fingers down to the crack of his ass and sticking one inside. A deep moan engulfed the room as the man scooted over in between Shug
’s legs and began going to work on his dick.

"Yeah baby, them sluts were the last ones with him." Shug continued.

“Some bitches huh? Y’all know who?” Tino spat spitting blood in his cup.

“Naw not yet. But I hear there
’s some new shit out here all the cluckers on it. It’s like that Ether out here nigga.” Shug spat.

“Find out fool. Hit me back.” Tino retorted roughly.

“I got you nigga. You know I ain’t gon’ let fam go out like that. That shit was dirty, dog.”

Tino wasn
’t trying to hear all that extra shit Shug spat. He wasn’t feeling well and he was ready to get the fuck off the phone so he could get over the sick spell he was in. Shug went on and on about how he loved them and how they were all family but the truth was half the niggas on the block were pissed off that they didn’t get to Sun first.

“Yeah…one.” Tino said as he hung up in mid-conversation.

He turned his attention back on the junkie sitting in the middle of his floor. She was worthless in his eyes, a waste of space. All she did was flush her life down the drain and pumped what was left of it straight into her arm. He watched as she rocked and rubbed her arms profusely chanting something no one could understand. Everyone was tired of watching her go through withdrawals and fall in and out of consciousness.

“Who gave her that shit man?” Tino asked irritably.

No one wanted to fess up. When Tino got mad, beatings ensued and they weren’t prepared to deal with that. He looked down at all four of them wondering what was taking them so long to come clean. The cold piece of metal soothing the side of his leg, sitting in between the couch cushions alerted him of its presence, pressing firmly against his leg. He pulled it out pointing it down to them. The older woman came back with a hefty turkey and cheese sandwich with tomatoes that looked like a Panini. It was the only thing that excited him as he took three big chumps of it.

“Delicious. Now that
’s a bottom bitch.” He said bouncing a little from the warm gooey taste in his mouth. “So, who gave her that shit?” He asked again even more pissed off than he was at first and with even less energy.

He pulled his pills out from under the table and popped five of them from different bottles, into his mouth swallowing with no problem. His bottom bitch raised her hand confessing to his question.

“It was me daddy. She kept hounding me for it. So I gave her some of mine.” She said taking a seat on the floor.

“You?” he spat.

She shook her head at him, not worried about the consequence. She figured she had just made him happy with the sandwich so she had bought herself a free ticket. Tino stared at her then back at the sandwich. He was in love with it, it seemed as he bounced up and down like a child. Once he had devoured the whole thing he stared down at the empty plate for a few minutes wondering where it had all went.

“You fixed me one sandwich and now it
’s all gone.” Tino barked, snatching the gun from the couch and blasting the woman right between the eyes.

Her body flew back cracking her dome when she hit the floor. The other girls looked in horror at the scene amazed at how fast it had happened. Tino felt a smidgen of his strength coming back. He looked over at the girl still rocking back and forth, talking to herself and unscathed from what had just went down. She brought her big toe up to her mouth and began sucking on it, loving the salty taste as her wrinkly tits dangled left and right. Without warning and with the quickness, Tino reached up and shot her in the head as well.

“Now pick this shit up and bury it out back. Six feet bitches.” He ordered sitting back on the couch.

He tossed the piece on the glass coffee table in front of him and rolled him up another wicked stick. He wasn
’t concerned with the other girls and their struggle to clean up the brain matter that had splattered around the walls and floors or their unwillingness to move and bury two heavy dead bodies. Tino was only concerned with his own well being because that’s who mattered the most.

****

Keisha was rolling in so much dough she didn
’t know what to do. Pandora or Lexi hadn’t stopped by for the day to make the drops like they usually did and business was getting mad hectic over there at the set. She called and called but the both of their phones just kept ringing and going to voicemail. It was a sweltering 98° degrees in that garage and she was tired of being back there by herself. No one was out there helping her to tame the fiends and to decline the shorts with authority.

“What you need?” She spat.

“Give me one.” The clucker said quietly.

Keisha handed the small baggie to the smelly dirty young girl as she walked off in a hurry. Left and right cluckers came for their packages. She was tired of being there alone and didn
’t want to work the set anymore. She closed the garage door after the last clucker and went in to check on her mother. Ms. Rita was laid back without a care in the world enjoying the frozen air that blew from the old air conditioner posted in her window.

“Ma. Ma, wake up.” Keisha said tapping Ms. Rita
’s toe gently.

“Yeah…what Keish damn!” Ms. Rita snapped waking out of her slumber.

“I closed the set. I’m done.” She retorted.

“Oh okay. Pandora closed it for today?” Ms. Rita asked turning over to reposition her sore leg.

“No, I’m shutting this shit down. I don’t want to be here by myself without them doing this. What if somebody tries to rob me and shit? It’s not safe for us.” Keisha spat angrily.

Ms. Rita immediately jumped up gawking at her daughter. She knew her taste everyday would be gone if Keisha didn
’t work the garage and that simply couldn’t happen. Keisha fiddled with her hair and sucked her thumb in an elementary type way. She observed as her mother reached underneath the bed and pulled out an old shoebox, handing it to her.

“Here, you can use this.” Ms. Rita said.

Keisha opened the box revealing a long black Glock. She wondered where the hell her mother had gotten this shit. There was no way she was going to use that on anybody, especially since she had no idea how to even use something like that. She had never seen nor held a gun in her life and in truth was deathly afraid of them.

“Ma, I can
’t take this. I don’t even know how to use this.” She spat pushing the box away.

“Listen Keish, I ain
’t gon’ be here much longer and you need to think about your future. That money is going to help you when I’m gone.” Ms. Rita spat, taking the gun out and showing her how to use it.

“What about your life insurance, ma?”

“That shit ain’t much and then you can sell the house for some change but after burying me you probably only gonna have about $3000 in cash left. That ain’t enough to take care of you.”

“Well, I
’ll get a job or go back to school, ma. But I ain’t gotta do this shit.” Keisha spat getting a feel for the gun in her hand realizing how easy it actually was.

“Girl
, quit being a cry baby now and get your ass out there and make that money. A little extra ain’t never hurt nobody and you gon’ thank me when Pandora makes you rich. Get on.” Ms. Rita spat placing her head back down on the pillow turning away from her daughter’s complaints.

Diamond shuffled through her sheets, gawking at all of the gadgets and wires hooked up to her. She looked around noticing that she wasn
’t in a regular unit of the hospital, and wondered what unit it was. The blood was cleaned from her face but it was still a little swollen and her eye was only slightly shut. She could see the nurse’s station was directly across from her room and the unit seemed to go in a circle as she could see the other rooms down and across the hall. There were screams of torture and cries of pain coming from some of the rooms. It began to creep her out as she punched the call button for the nurse.

“Yes.” A lady said over the intercom in her room.

“Um, can someone come talk to me about how I got here? I don’t know why I’m here.” She said as she scooted up in the bed.

“Just sit tight.” The lady said hanging up.

The room had all kinds of monitors and machines going, tracking everything her body did. It was like being a caged animal that couldn’t break free. Her hair was wild resembling mangy fur. A thin nurse slid her room door open and entered headed straight for the beeping machines.

“What
ya’ need darling?” She asked just as cool as can be.

“How the fuck did I get here?” Diamond spat trying to take the needles out of her arms.

“Whoa! No need for the obscenities.” The nurse said in a stern tone batting her hands from the needles. “I will tell you what you need to know but respect is key. Now when they found you, you was on a bus stop bench laid out there like you were dead. So when the bus came, the driver called it in and here you are. You’re a lucky one.”

“Bus stop?” She asked looking puzzled.

The last thing she remembered was Tino talking shit about putting her out his house and then she woke up in a hospital. The nurse had a concerned look on her face like there was more but she did not want to say. Diamond peeped the look uncertain if she even wanted to know the rest but curiosity killed her.

“What else?” She reluctantly asked.

“Well honey, the doctor will be in shortly to discuss everything with you. Now, I think it’s best you hear everything from him.” She said as she straightened the sheets on the bed.

“Fuck them sheets! Tell me what
’s up!” Diamond snapped.

The nurse frowned up and turned cold. She huffed as she stormed out of the room slamming the sliding door behind her. Diamond knew she fucked up, sitting back in the bed and sighing heavily. She looked out of the huge glass doors at the nurse gawking and talking about her to the other nurses.

Diamond didn’t give a shit about that lady’s feelings, she just needed to know what the fuck was happening to her and when she could leave. Hospitals made her nervous because it seemed as though everyone she loved, checked in alive and checked out dead. She grabbed the nurse’s button and the emergency button pressing all of them simultaneously while kicking and screaming.

“Get me the fuck outta here!” She yelled as she knocked over machines she was attached too and rocked the bed from side to side.

They knew she was trying to get attention and wasn’t about to feed into her childish antics. The doctor finally politely entered the room with three other patient attendants. They cleaned Diamond’s mess then waited for the doctor’s orders as he looked through Diamond’s paperwork without even batting an eye her way.

“Ms. Burden, I see you
’re eighteen years old and you are with child. Correct?” The bulky male doctor asked her looking down on her from the out the top of his glasses.

“No doc. You got the wrong chart, fam.” Diamond spat, not fazed by his diagnosis.

“Uh, no we’ve ran many tests on you and you are with child. Looks to me, you’re about eight weeks pregnant.” The doctor said referring back to his chart.

Diamond
’s heart dropped in mid-sentence. She didn’t know how the hell she got pregnant when she felt fine and felt nothing. Thinking back, she couldn’t even figure out whose it could be. Her stomach was as flat as a board as she rubbed it confusingly. At this point, it could’ve been anybody’s bastard child. She shrugged her shoulders knowing that was something she could easily take care of. She didn’t like kids nor did she want them so her decision on what to do was already made. The doctor flicked back and forth through papers in his binder. He didn’t make eye contact with her as she sucked her teeth and curled her lip.

“Well there
’s more.” The doctor said taking a deep breath and shaking his head in pure disgust. “You’ve tested positive for the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome disease.”

“A what?
Fuck all the bullshit, doc. Just give it to me raw.”

“Basically you tested positive for AIDS. You should stop all sexual activity now and talk to everyone you
’ve ever had sex with because they need to get tested. The nurse will be in shortly to give you your walking papers and a few prescriptions for AIDS medications. I suggest you see your regular physician soon to start treatment. ” The doctor said emotionless.

“Wait, wait, wait. How could you find out that quickly?” She asked damn near out of breath.

“Excuse me?” The doctor asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I mean…well…I mean a guy I
’ve been sleeping with just told me today that he had AIDS. I’ve only been sleeping with him for a month. In high school they taught us that it could take 6 weeks to a few years to find out, so how do you know?” Diamond protested.

"We have early detection tests that look for any trace of the disease so people can find out sooner and be able to stop the spread of it." The doctor responded sounding very educated.

"Early...detection."

“Let me ask you a question, Ms. Burden. How long have you been sexually active unprotected?”

“I…um…well…”

With that, the doctor stood patting her on the leg and walked out of the room. She couldn
’t breathe. It was like the doctor sucked all of the air out of the room when he left. She couldn’t feel her toes and her hands were going numb as well. There were always people talking about things like that but once it hit home, it became real. Automatically, she blamed that nasty ass Tino. He was the only one she knew that could’ve given it to her. She prayed like hell for her sisters not to find out about the tragedy that had become her. While she was praying in they walked with McDonald’s in their hands.

“There she is! What the hell was you doing out there girl? What happened to your face?” Lex said as she strolled in dumping the bag right in Diamond
’s lap.

“Nothing. So you ain
’t gonna say nothing to me, Pandora?” Diamond snapped folding her arms.

“For what? You made your bed and now you lying in it. Right?” Pandora snapped back sassy-like.

Lexi gawked at her in repulsion and rolled her eyes hard focusing her attention back on her bedridden sister. She rubbed her leg assuring her that everything was okay between the both of them at least. Pandora remained on her high horse refusing to mutter a word as she texted away on her phone.

“Lex, next time you come and visit me remember to do it alone. Don
’t bring the bougie princess over here.” Diamond spat.

“You know I was wondering what that smell was when I walked in the room and now I know. It
’s shit. And not just any old shit, no, pure unadulterated dog shit. I’m out Lex.” Pandora retorted as she sauntered out of the room.

“Man, I swear I don
’t know who that bitch is anymore. Straight up.” Diamond said shaking her head and feeling tears begin to form eyes.

“I know, girl. I know. I
’ve been thinking the same shit lately. All I care about right now is what’s going on with you.” Lexi responded.

Diamond wanted to tell her sister all about the conversation she had with the doctor. She wanted to tell her what happened at Tino
’s house as well but she felt if she had, she would look at her in a whole new light. This was unfortunately a secret she wouldn’t be able to tell anyone and would need to take it to the grave for sure. She looked deeply into her promiscuous sister’s eyes and realized she could be in jeopardy as well.

“Lex, I need for you to promise me something.”

“Anything, Di. What’s up?”

“Promise me you
’ll go to the doctor for a checkup.”

“A what? Bitch is you crazy?” Lexi spat laughing her off.

“No, Lex. Straight up. Please for me.” Diamond spat sincerely.

“Why is this so important to you, Di?” Lexi asked curiously.

“It just is. Can you do that for me, lil sis?”

“No doubt, Diamond. I
’ll do it for you.” Lexi replied with a pleasant smile.

The two hugged as they changed the subject catching up on old times. Diamond wished she hadn
’t have ever created the demon that is now Pandora. She knew that one day her antics would come back to bite her in the ass but she didn’t know it would be at the cost of losing her sister. Pandora allowed that night to consume and change her into a beast and she loved every minute of it with no regrets. Diamond’s eyes bulged into high beams as various thoughts ran through her head about teaching her sister a lesson.

“Alright, hun. Here are your papers and your clothes are in that drawer over there. Now you
’ve got to take these pills as prescribed or else you could have a setback. It’s common for people to live longer with this so you can fight,” the nurse said, looking up.

“Um, yeah
, I got it. Thanks.” Diamond interrupted snatching the papers from her hand.

That was the last straw for that nurse. She had never been disrespected like that in her entire career at that hospital and her blistering, aching feet told it. She was already bitter because she was middle aged with no kids and no man and she wasn
’t about to tolerate some young spoiled heathen with a royal attitude. She wasn’t aware of Diamond’s plan to keep her mouth shut.

“You know what? If I wasn
’t saved, I would’ve been laid your behind out on this floor because you sure do need a whoppin’. Your momma and daddy should’ve done it and then maybe you wouldn’t be in this mess. Learn to keep your legs closed and you wouldn’t have this problem.” The nurse roared.

“Can you please just shut the fuck up and get out my room so I can leave?” Diamond spat irritably.

“Bitch you need to get on with that shit and leave my sister alone before I get wit’ your ass!” Lexi retorted getting in her fighting stance.

“Oh so you okay with your hot to trot sister coming up with that package, huh? You gon
’ end up just like her then. Curse at that!” The nurse said as she strutted out the door.

Lexi slowly turned to Diamond trying to see what her face read. If she was holding a secret, Diamond wouldn
’t be able to keep it, not from her. She avoided eye contact with Lexi obviously. She didn’t want to look into her eyes and tell her a bold face lie but she would if it came down to it. She slipped her clothes on in a millisecond then bagged up the rest of her belongings and signed out of the hospital. Lexi wouldn’t let up on the inquisitive look that she stared her down with. As they crossed the street haling a cab, Lexi couldn’t wait for her to offer up the information any longer.

“What up?” Diamond asked tired of her eyes burning a hole in her face.

“You know.” Lexi replied.

“Ugh, it
’s nothing Lex. Let it go.”

“Is this the same nothing that you want me to go get checked out for?” Lexi asked.

“Maybe.”

“No! Stop and tell me what the fuck is going on! Are you pregnant?” Lexi spat grabbing her sister
’s arm aggressively.

Diamond was surprised that she didn
’t automatically assume something worse. It made her smile a little inside knowing that. She grabbed Lexi by the back of the neck squeezing and shaking her a tad.

“Yes, Lex. I
’m pregnant.” Diamond laughed.

“Really? Oh my God! I
’m gonna be an aunt!” Lexi danced.

“No you
’re not ‘cause I’m getting an abortion.” Diamond spat with the stink face. “Meanwhile, we got bigger fish to fry. We need to hit the bank real quick.”

“The bank, Di? For what?”

“I’ve gotta see a dog about an old bone.”