Raunchy (18 page)

Russ went into another room off of the dining room we were in. Then he wheeled a Spanish lady into the living room in an office chair. Her hair was matted down to the sides of her face and her makeup was smeared all over her eyes.

The men in the room looked at one another and I could tell I made a comment they weren't comfortable with. I guess questioning Rick no matter how unreasonable was out of the question.

Rick walked around the table and up to me. Then he placed his hand firmly on my shoulder. "Jace, I know I haven’t spent much time with you. If I had, you would know better than to question my authority.” I felt the seriousness in his voice. “So I’ll answer you once and from here on out, you are never to question me again. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“Good…The woman before you was a nobody, just some girl who sold her body to me for money. Now after meeting you,” he smiled, “her life will have purpose, and meaning."

"And why’s that?" I asked staring at the woman who was pleading to me with her eyes.

"She'll be the reason I can know that no matter what, you'll be willing to do what’s necessary for our operation. She'll be the reason our bond will be strengthened. And she will be the reason that more than anything
you
will know that you are ready.” He paused. “I heard about the situation in DC, Jace.” He paused. “You know, with Bam and the kid.”

I swallowed hard.

“You know your men will never respect you if you aren’t willing to go the extra mile.”

“I thought bosses didn’t have to get their hands dirty. I thought all I had to do was give the right orders and watch the money roll in.”

“All chiefs have at one time or another, been soldiers. You are no different.” He said seriously. “Jace, your enemy will come to you in all nationalities…Both female and male, some young…Some old. And you have to be ready to make the hard decisions when the right times come. One of those right times is now. "

I looked at my father and then at the men around the room. He was right and I knew it. "Where's the gun?"

He smiled and said, "A gun is so impersonal. Here's a knife." He placed it in my hand. "Now kill her like you mean it."

Local News

Constance

Constance sat glued to the TV watching the local news. The news was airing a story about a brash outbreak of syphilis within the DC area amongst people under the age of 21. In less than two weeks over twenty people in the southeast DC area had gone to a free clinic for testing only to find out they had been infected. Although those were the people who had gone to the clinic, there were many more who didn’t exhibit any signs, and were unaware of how bad things had gotten for them, too. The trouble was, the longer the disease stayed in their blood system without treatment, the worse things became. Before long, it would be untreatable and may even lead to death.

Constance thought about the news she had recently been given from the doctor that she too had contracted syphilis. Despite it all, what hurt worse was that Brittany had told her that her best friend had been sleeping with her boyfriend. She wondered, could it be true and decided to talk to Trip first.

Meanwhile on the other side of DC, at Ebony’s house in Northwest, she was crying after learning that after doing her best to maintain a safe-sex relationship, that she had also contracted syphilis. She didn’t know that had Harmony not sat her diseased ridden ass on the edge of her toilet seat, which was oozing vaginal secretions filled with the virus, and had she not followed behind her and sat on the edge of the seat by mistake too, that she would not have contracted the disease. How could she? Instead she immediately blamed her friend.

But Constance and Ebony were just two cases of those infected by Harmony’s raunchy irresponsible wrath. Many others would be finding out that they were also infected. Although not everyone would ever discover that she was involved many more would find out in the months to come.

Two Weeks Later

Southeast, Washington, DC

Bring The Pain

Harmony Phillips

All day my stomach had been bothering me. I tried everything I could to make it go away, but nothing worked. At first I thought it was the fact that I hadn't spoken to Jace in three weeks. But when the smells of certain foods made my stomach churn, I realized it was much more. I had to be pregnant. If only I could tell Jace, I’m sure he would take me back and we could work things out.

When my phone rang right before I left the house, I knew it was probably Trip, Ebony or Constance. They kept saying the same things over and over and I was tired of hearing it. When I did speak to them, Trip asked me did I tell Ebony she stole from her. And Ebony said Trip said it was me who stole her shit and all she wanted was her stuff back. While Constance called me to tell me that Brittany said that Ebony was fucking her man. I was wondering why Brittany didn’t tell Constance it was me the moment she found out Kreshon was cheating or why she hadn’t told Jace. Now it all made sense, he was fucking Ebony on the side, too and had gotten caught. Was I a little mad that Kreshon was with both of us? Yes. But I still didn’t need any of the drama when all I wanted was Jace back.

I put on my gold hoop earrings, with the word Princess in the middle, courtesy of Ebony and was leaving out of my house on my way to the store when Kali pulled up. I could tell he was coming into a little money but knew he'd never make as much money as Jace. He parked and jumped out of his 300 ZX and a pair of Versace shades covered his eyes. The leather strap holding his hatchet still on his back.

"You aight?" He asked me after parking his car. Sometimes he was real nice and at other times he could be very mean. It seemed like any little thing could set him off. “You don’t look too good.”

"No...I been sick all week, I think I’m coming down with something."

"You want me to grab you somethin’ to eat?"

"Naw. I
was
going to A & B store to get some liquor, but now I’m thinking about going back inside to lie down now. What you doing here?"

“I was tryin’ to see if you wanted go see that Beverly Hills Cop 2, joint.” He tugged at his baseball cap. I don’t know if it was because we had been fucking ever since our first encounter in the shower or what. But for some reason, he looked cuter each time I saw him. It probably was the money.

"I don’t know if I’ma be able to sit in no movie theater feeling like this, Kali. I’m fucked up."

"Well why you drinkin’ then?”

“’Cause I do what the fuck I want to, that’s why.” I frowned.

“Fuck all that…I’m tired of doin’ the same shit with you. I wanna take you out. If you can sit at home and get drunk by yourself, then you can hang out with me."

Although I didn’t feel too well, I knew if I didn’t go, he would get upset.

“You gonna buy me a bottle of vodka?”

“Yeah, but you need to be drinkin’ ginger ale, too.”

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, get me the ginger ale and the vodka and I’ll go with you."

“Bet.”

Before he left, I decided to bring up the kidnapping. The cops hadn’t found the girl and I wanted to see where Kali’s head was at. The only thing was, Kali never talked about the details of the kidnapping to me. At this point I had only heard it first hand from Paco, and secondhand from Jace. Truthfully, I wasn’t supposed to know anything. But I figured if I could get him to tell me something, I would have something over his head, like he held the fact that we were fucking behind Jace’s back over mine.

“Kali, you trust me, right?”

“Yeah…Why?”

“Because if you do, then I wanna know if you had something to do with…That situation.”

Kali looked behind him and back at me. Someone was walking up the street and he let him pass before speaking.

“How could you know?”

“I just do, Kali.”

“That ain’t a good enough reason.”

“Because I know you and I care about you.” I said as believably as possible. “I could tell by the way that you were acting that something was up. Talk to me. You can trust me.”

He looked down at his new sneaks and said, “I don’t wanna talk about Charles…So I’ma leave it at that.”

“Charles?” I said confused. “My uncle?”

“Isn’t that what you were talkin’ about?”

“No…” I paused. “I’m talking about the girl.”

“Oh,” he said walking a few feet away from me. “I…I thought you were askin’ me somethin’ else.”

My heart was pumping wildly in my chest. “But why did you say something about my uncle?”

“No reason,” he smiled. “And as far as the girl, I think you should leave it alone. Too many people know too much already.”

“So I guess you don’t trust me?” I said sitting on my steps. “I thought we were best friends, Kali. And ever since we’ve been making love, I thought we been closer. So if that’s how you feel, that hurts me. A lot.”

“We are close,” he said walking up to me, sitting on the step next to my foot. Looking up at me he said, “I did what I had to do for me and Jace. So let’s just say she won’t be showing up at school no more. Ever.”

I had something over his head now.

“I appreciate you protecting me, and Jace. You are so loyal,” I said gassing him up. He started smiling and I couldn’t believe how emotional he really was. It was evident that just like me, all he wanted was love. But unlike me, he did a bad job of hiding his feelings. “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have you.”

“You don’t have to worry ‘bout that, because as long as you alive, you going to always have me in your life. You’ll see…I got you.”

There he goes again with that,
I got you
, shit. Every time he said it he gave me the creeps. And what did he mean by as long as I’m alive?

"You serious about the movies though?" He asked skipping the subject.

"I said yes, Kali. What time you gonna be back?"

"I’ma scoop you up in a couple of hours. You gonna be home right?" He said standing up and getting back into his car.

"Yeah...But if I’m not, pick me up over Nut and Cherry's house." He looked strange.

“Why you be hanging over there all the time?”

“Kali, don’t nobody be checking for you or talking about you when I’m over there if that’s what you thinkin’.”

“Do she know we fucked?” He asked me.

“I won’t tell her if you won’t.” I smiled. “So what, ya’ll some kinda weird couple or somethin’ now.”

“I’ll be back
here
later,” he said with an attitude. “I’m not scoopin’ you from her crib.”

“Whatever!”

"Aight, I’ma check you later. But I hope you know you gonna have to stop that drinking shit soon."

"Why you say that?"

"Cause you pregnant. And if you really are, it’s a girl. I don’t want my kid lookin’ all deformed and shit."

I was shocked because he said out loud exactly what I had known all along. Had I just fucked Jace and not Kali, Kreshon and Paco, I'd be on cloud nine. Because giving Jace a baby could set me up real good, I mean, what man wouldn’t want a son? I wasn’t even thinking about having a girl because I have too much style with me to raise a bitch. I knew out of this body could only come a boy.

"I don’t know about all that. I’ma have to find out if I’m pregnant first.”

“Well I’ma buy you one of them pregnancy test joints from Peoples Drug store. You need to know if you are ‘cause you ain’t gonna be able to drink no more. I’m serious ‘bout that shit, Harmony.”

I don’t know what he talking about because pregnant or not, I ain’t have no intentions on putting down the bottle. My grandmother told me she drank the entire time she was pregnant with my mother and she was okay.

“Whatever, I’ll take the test tonight but just don’t forget my liquor.”

He smiled and said, "You know you ‘bout to have my seed right?"

"Kali, if I’m pregnant, it could be Jace's. You know that."

To be honest it could have been anybody’s, I couldn’t be sure. What I was sure about was that Jace was my target. And even if Kali’s blood did pump through my son’s veins, Kali wouldn’t know about it.

"I’m not even worried ‘bout that shit. My nut too strong to take second place. If you pregnant, it’s definitely mine. And like I said, it’s a girl."

I felt like punching him in the face. Having a little girl was one of the last things on my mind followed by having his baby.

He was about to pull off when I remembered I wanted to ask him something. I missed Jace and wanted him to know that I was thinking about him while he was in L.A. Even if I had to stop fucking other dudes, I was willing to do that.

"Kali, have you talked to Jace?” I paused. “I mean…Did he even ask about me?”

Kali turned around and looked toward the front of the car. Then he turned back to me and said, "Why?"

"Because I wanted to see if he was okay. And how come every time I mention his name to you it’s a problem?"

"What difference do it make how he is, Harmony? He not tryin’ to see you."

"I don’t believe you."

"He fucked you, had you kidnapped and didn’t call you not one time to make sure you were okay. The dude ain’t tryin’ to be bothered…But I am."

“Have you forgotten that you are with, Cherry? You act like I’m your girl or somethin’.”

“That’s me and her business. And I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout her right now.”

Niggas kill me. Always want the world but jump on you if you want the same.

"You know what, I don’t even care about what you and Cherry do." I said feeling a wave of nausea coming on. "And as far as Jace’s concerned, he probably feels bad that I almost got hurt after that kidnap shit. So stop trying to come in between us. "