Pink Lips (24 page)

Willow, Kail, Choice, and their new member, Elysia, sat for a couple of hours until their plan was foolproof. The men they were going after weren't just any dudes. They were members of the mafia and they were trained to kill. Once they got their weapons and ammo together, they left and drove off into the night.

“You sure you don't want to sit this one out?” Willow asked Choice.

“Her ass wants to get paid, so she better work for this money.” Kail parked a couple of blocks away from the stash house.

“I'm good.” Choice cocked her gun. “Let's make this money.”

“You good?” Willow asked Elysia as she looked back into her eyes. She knew Elysia wasn't made for this life, but she wasn't either. It was something she was going to have to get used to. She was her and Duke's sister, so she promised to watch her back.

“I'm a little nervous, but I'm ready to make some money,” Elysia said, the pink lipstick adding to her beauty.

“Let's go.” Kail opened the door and got out with the others following behind her.

They all walked down the dark street, their faces flashing in and out from the broken street light that was flickering on and off. All of them had their guns ready. They didn't plan to talk; they just wanted to get the job over.

After they arrived, Kail approached the door as she signaled for them to wait. She could hear voices laughing through the door, and the smell of cheap cigars ushered their way out of the cracks, hitting her nose. She gave Willow the okay to kick the door in as she moved out of the way.

Willow got close to the door as she stretched her leg muscles. She aimed her gun at the door as she lunged forward on one leg as her heel connected with the door. The door went off the hinges before they all rushed inside shooting any and everything that moved.

“Check the back,” Willow screamed as she guarded the door, making sure no one would leave.

Kail, Choice and Elysia went in different directions as the sounds of guns blazing filled the house. Willow left her position at the door, barging in the room after them when the bullets stopped flying.

“Where is the fucking money?” Kail asked as she sat on top of one of the Italian men as she hit him in the face with the butt of her gun. “Answer me, motherfucker,” she warned.

He didn't say a word which aggravated Kail. She held the gun directly in the center of his forehead and she asked him one more time. Before he could blink, Kail shot him, and his brains scattered underneath them on the carpet.

“Look for the money.” Willow ran to check on the other girls.

“Get the fuck off of me,” Elysia screamed as she was held from behind as Willow entered the room. “Get him the fuck off of me.”

“Let her go,” Willow yelled as she pointed her gun at the man. She wanted to shoot, but her aim wasn't as good as Kail's. She didn't want to risk shooting Elysia.

“Yous bitches think you can come in here and steal from us?” he spat. “Fuck yous.”

Kail entered the room, pointing the gun and aiming at the man's head. Within seconds, his grip on Elysia was let go as his body became heavy. He fell onto the floor from a hole through his head. She walked over and shot him repeatedly until she was satisfied.

“Don't negotiate with killers.” Kail knocked over packages of exposed cocaine. “I told you to leave her ass at home because I'm not saving her again.”

“Thank you.” Elysia picked up the gun.

“Don't thank me,” Kail said as she left out of the room with Willow and Elysia following behind her. “It won't happen again; trust me.”

They met Choice in the hallway with two silver briefcases in her hand. Kail grabbed them as she fell onto the floor and opened them. Dead presidents filled the briefcases to their capacity. Kail closed them as she stood up with a briefcase in each hand.

“Let's bounce.” Kail headed for the door.

“Wait,” Willow said as she walked to look throughout the house. “We need to check and make sure everyone is dead. You know how we do, Kail. This shit is sloppy.”

“You check. I'll be in the car.” She headed outside.

Willow, Choice, and Elysia all went throughout the stash house to check their work. There was no one breathing so they left and Choice and Elysia got in the car. Willow knocked at the driver
side door before opening it up. She grabbed Kail by the shirt and pulled her out of the car.

“Kail, I'm so fucking tired of your shit,” Willow said, clenching her teeth. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“Willow, let go of me.” Kail pulled away from her. “You got all these other pink lips here; I ain't think you wanted my help.” She got back inside of the car. “Quit recruiting bitches that ain't about that life.” Kail smiled. “This is our life, not theirs,” she said as she pointed to Choice and Elysia.

“Bitch, you been tripping lately and I'm sick of your shit.” Willow walked down the street.

“I'm leaving your ass.” Kail started the car. “If y'all ass want to walk down this dark-ass street, then go ahead,” she warned as they got inside the car. “That's what the fuck I thought,” she said as she burned off.

Willow kept walking into the night after she saw Kail and the other girls drive past her. She was annoyed and the only way she knew she wouldn't slap Kail across her face was to get away from her altogether. She didn't know what was going on with her, but she couldn't deal with her like she used to.

Willow walked down the street as silence was present. The wind gently blew the sickly smell of rotted garbage from the pitch-black alleys that even junkies were afraid to go into. Silence continued as the occasional shadow of a person leaked across the roadway.

There was a faint, tiny sound of a nightclub up at the end of the dimly lit block, under Halloween-orange streetlights, and the hiss of the music faded into a kind of grainy wash that filled the street, seeping into the darkness between the pools of light on the dirty sidewalk.

Willow was glad she heard something because absolute silence
would be too frightening. Metal shutters, caked with graffiti, were strapped like plasters over the reinforced windows, and they softly rattled. There weren't any businesses there anymore, and the doorways were all locked and barred, and the only things that stood sentinel were the poles and posts carrying electricity, like the skeletons of trees.

She saw old bars that still had their neon signs flickering and buzzing; a few letters burnt out for good measure. Some ragged flyers were posted to the peeling paint of sickly yellow walls, but there weren't many attractions on that side of town. It was the perfect place to put a stash house.

The place felt incomplete in its incompleteness; the gap in the row of buildings on one side felt like the hole in gums after a tooth's just come out. It sucked at Willow, the wilderness of an abandoned lot blooming with twisted crabapple, and rotted brush, and the litter of a thousand fast-food restaurants.

“You need a ride?” Craig asked as he pulled up beside her.

Willow stopped; her feet became frozen as her body jumped from the voice beside her. But once she realized it was Craig, she kept walking. She was reluctant at first to converse with him. All she could think about was Choice being pregnant as she looked at him. All she could think about were the murders she was just a part of. She wanted to stop, but being around him was a constant reminder to her that she would never have him, and after losing so much, she couldn't handle that.

“No,” Willow said and then continued walking.

“I was just going to pick up something for Rock at one of his spots down the street,” he said, driving along at her speed as her legs never stopped walking. “But, I can take you home first.”

“You not going to let me walk, are you?” she stopped.

“I can't,” he said as he hit the unlock button, “just get in.”

Willow got inside of the car as she put her gun that she held while walking on the dashboard. She didn't say a word; she sat there as the buildings changed in her view. She was feeling a certain way about Craig and he could feel it.

“What did I do?” He turned away from the road for a second to look at her.

“Kail is annoying the fuck out of me,” Willow said.

“That's what little sisters do.” He smiled. “I got one, so I feel you.”

“Choice is pregnant,” she blurted out.

Craig couldn't process what she had said quick enough. His mind didn't understand what she was saying; he never thought he would hear those words together in a sentence. When it finally hit him, out of shock, he swerved to the other side of the street.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Willow grabbed the wheel.

“She's pregnant?” he asked with a serious face as he swerved back into the correct lane.

“Yes, she's pregnant.” She shook her head. “So, whatever we doing, that shit got to stop.”

“Why?”

“It's bad enough I'm fucking you behind my home girl's back, but it's even worse if I fuck you while she's pregnant and carrying a child by you.”

“It's the same.” He pulled up in front of Willow's condo.

“No, it's not; trust me, it's not.” She got out of the car. “I'll talk to you later.”

Craig sat there for a minute as he watched Willow sway inside of her building. He never had a thought in his mind to be a father. He didn't think he could be one with the life that he lived. He shook off those thoughts as he headed to Rock's biggest stash spot
to go pick up the two million dollars like he did every month. Little did he know the money was long gone.

•  •  •

Kail dropped Choice and Elysia off at their homes as the two briefcases full of money sat side by side on the floor of the passenger seat. She promised them she would give them their cut later that night but fot now, she had some unfinished business to handle. In the meantime, she would quickly stash the money at the condo.

She headed to the police station after leaving the condo to drop off the tape recorder that Vinny had given her personally. She was told to take it to the station and make sure someone named Detective Hall received it.

Kail pulled up in front and parked. She got out of the car as she took the tape recorder out of her pocket and walked inside of the public entrance through the double glass doors. To her left she saw the dispatcher room with a large glass sliding window.

She walked to the desk where a cop was sitting as she waited for him to acknowledge her. She stood there for five minutes, her blood boiling at the fact that she was being ignored. Already hating them, Kail slammed her hand down on the desk as he looked up at her from the paper that he was reading.

“May I help you?” he asked with a smirk.

“Of course you can, fat ass,” she said as she folded her arms. “You think I like to just sit here and look at you, Mr. Three Hundred Pounds? Of course, I would be standing here for assistance.”

“You better watch your mouth.” The cop stood up.

“I don't gotta do shit but stay black and die.” She leaned in closer to him. “Now, tell me where the hell Detective Hall is.”

“Wait here.” The cop sat down and got on the phone.

Kail stood there and watched the little hand on the clock pass the big one. It had only been a few minutes, but she was about to leave. Just as she was about to go, the sound of heels clicking behind her made her turn back around. A woman slowly approached her.

The woman had the kind of legs that needed stilettos, although any man worth his salt would have taken a second look. Her legs were long and lean and made a man want to rub his hands along them from bottom to top and back again. The two-inch heels were all she needed.

She was of mixed descent and her hair was in a short pixie cut. Her hair was long at one point and from how her head moved, you could tell she had recently gotten it cut off. Her eyes were the color of the sky at the peak of a Sunday morning.

“You got something for me?” she asked Kail as she stopped in front of her.

“Detective Hall?” Kail looked her up and down.

“Yeah, it's me, toots, Philly's finest. You can take a picture later and I'll even sign your shirt, but the only question I need you to answer is, do you have something for me?” She raised her voice.

“Here.” Kail put the tape recorder in her hand.

“You can leave,” she said as she started to walk off. “Oh, and Kail, the next time you show up at my precinct, you talk to my cops like you got some damn sense.”

Kail walked out of the door of the precinct and got inside of her car. She started the car, pulled off, and rolled a window down to let the breeze cool off her face as she drove with a clear mind. She had no idea, but she had just given the cops something that could destroy not only Rock's life, but Willow's. She had just helped drop a dime on her family, and she didn't even know her involvement in it.

T
alvin sped down the dark Philly Street with malice in his heart. He hadn't slept since he'd seen Willow and Craig kissing. It had been three days and his eyes were the color of blood from the insomnia he was experiencing. The only thing on his mind was vengeance and he was about to serve it to Craig fully.

He fixed the fitted cap on his head as the hemi from his truck roared and vibrated the tar covering the street. He pulled in front of Craig's apartment as he cocked his gun. He hopped out of the car like a madman as he made his way into the building. He was going to end it once and for all. If he couldn't have Willow, no one could.

“May I help you, sir?” the door attendant asked as Talvin ignored him, passing through the tall glass double doors.

Talvin was prepared to die for his love for Willow. He couldn't help but feel disrespected by Craig, and one of them had to die. He pushed the button for the elevator and as the lights above flashed the number one and opened, his whole plan changed in his mind as Choice stood before him.