Tears of a Hustler PT 1 (29 page)

THE DAY BEFORE

Nancy walked the streets of Harlem pushing little Ali in his stroller, as she did a little last minute shopping before her big trip with Ali. Nancy was so excited because not only was she going to the Bahamas, but she was also getting married to the man she loved.

Nancy strolled down the block minding her business when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. When Nancy turned around, she was shocked to see her mother, Jasmin, headed in her direction with her boyfriend, Rick, on her heels.

“Hey mommy what’s up,” Nancy said very friendly. “Don’t you hey mommy me,” Jasmin snarled looking Nancy and little Ali up and down. “You should be ashamed of yourself.” “A shamed of myself for what,” Nancy asked not knowing what her mother was talking about. “Now you going to sit here and play stupid, like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Jasmin huffed as she swiftly slapped Nancy across her face.

Nancy took a few steps backwards only because the slap caught her off guard. Once she regained her balance, she quickly punched her mother dead in her moth, causing her to drop to one knee. Nancy quickly went to grab the handle on the stroller so that she could leave, but when she looked up she saw Rick approaching with fire dancing in his eyes. As he moved forward, Nancy retreated a step.

“You disrespectful little bitch,” he growled. “How dare you hit your mother,” Rick spat as he threw a vicious right hook that landed right on the side of Nancy’s head. The impact of the punch caused Nancy to hit the ground. Once she was on the ground, Jasmin and Rick started viciously kicking her in the ribs and back area.

“
How dare you have Dave murdered,” Jasmin yelled as she continued to kick her daughter. “Now that poor bastard baby of yours will never have a father because of your stupid ass,” she yelled.

The real reason Jasmin and Rick were angry that Dave had been murdered was because he would give them money every week since he started hustling. Now that Dave was dead, Jasmin and Rick had no extra money to support their nasty drug habit which made the two furious.

“That’s enough,” Jasmin yelled pushing Rick off of her daughter. “Don’t you ever fuck with my money again bitch,” Jasmin said through a pair of clenched teeth as she gave Nancy one last kick.

When Nancy looked up, tears started running freely down her cheeks as she saw little Ali staring at her innocently. “Mommy is sorry baby. Let me get you up out of these streets and back in your crib where you belong,” Nancy whispered as she quickly headed back to her vehicle. She sat little Ali in his car seat, tossed the stroller in the trunk, and hopped into the driver seat heading straight home.

* * * *

“Boss man you going somewhere,” Big Mel asked suspiciously as he noticed Ali packing away a few things. “Yeah, after the fight tomorrow me and Nancy going on a little vacation, you dig.” “That’s cool. Were ya’ll going,” Big Mel asked. “I’m not sure yet,” Ali lied sensing that Big Mel was up to something. “While I’m gone, I’m going to need you to watch over the crib for me,” he said setting Big Mel up for the kill.

“I hope Spanky does well tomorrow,” Big Mel said changing the subject. “I already know Spanky’s going to thrash that clown tomorrow,” Ali said in an even tone.

Ali was about to say something else, but he held onto his words as he noticed Nancy storm into the house with a defeated look on her face. “What’s wrong boo,” Ali asked following Nancy into the master bedroom.

Once inside the room, Nancy removed her shirt so Ali could see the bruises by her ribs and down her back. “What the fuck happened to you,” Ali asked his face turning into a coat of anger. “My mother and her boyfriend attacked me in the middle of the street, in front of the baby,” Nancy sobbed. “Talking about I got Dave murdered.” “Here write down your mother’s address,” Ali said calmly as he handed Nancy a piece of paper and a pen.

Without thinking twice, Nancy quickly scribbled down her mother’s address. Once he had the address Ali quickly picked up his throw away phone and dialed a number.

* * * *

Skip parked a block away from the hideout crib, that only he and April knew about. Skip still couldn’t believe what had happened to G-money. Skip bopped down the street with a lot on his mind; not only did his best friend just get shot, but his marriage was also going down the drain.

Skip quietly stuck his key through the keyhole and entered the two bedroom shack. “Hey baby what’s up,” he asked as he tried to kiss April on the lips. “We need to talk,” April said quickly turning her head so that Skip couldn’t kiss her. “I’m tired of this shit, Skip.” “I know baby, I promise I’m going to fix it and make things right,” Skip pleaded. “How are you going to make things right and you’re on the run,” April asked angrily, placing her hand on her hip waiting for an answer. “Baby, have some faith in your husband please; shit is going to be alright.” “No, shit is not going to be alright. I want you to leave,” April said sternly. “Baby please don’t do this,” Skip begged. “I love you baby and right now I need you more than ever; please don’t do this.” “You did it to yourself Skip,” April said as she opened up the door so that Skip could make his exit. “Damn, it’s like that,” Skip asked innocently. “You’re just going to throw everything out the window just like that,” he asked with a hurt and defeated look on his face. “I don’t want Michael growing up around this shit, when you’re getting yourself together. My door will always be open. I love you baby, but you really need to change your lifestyle…if not for me, then for your son.”

Skip was about to respond, but his ringing cell phone caused a distraction. “You see what I’m talking about? Every five minutes your phone is ringing. Skip get yourself together and when you’re ready to be a family, you know where to find me,” April said as tears ran freely down her cheeks as she closed the door on her husband.

“Fuck,” Skip yelled out due to frustration. Nothing in his life seemed to be going right. “Yeah what’s up,” he spoke into the receiver. “I need you to handle something for me,” Ali said in a mellow tone. “Write this address down.” “Hold on gimme a second,” Skip said fishing around in his pocket for a pen. “Aight, go ahead.”

Once Skip had the address written down, he quickly ended the call and hopped back into his ride and headed to the address Ali had just given him.

* * * *

Nancy angrily packed her things; she still couldn’t believe what her mother had done to her.

“Don’t even worry about it; you know your man is going to handle this for you,” Ali spoke softly as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “I know boo, I just can’t wait to go on this vacation. I just want to get away from all this bullshit.”

Before Ali could respond, he heard a light knock at his bedroom door. He opened the door to find Big Mel on the other side dressed in all black. “What’s up?” “I’m about to run and get some KFC, ya’ll want anything while I’m out,” Big Mel asked. “Nah we cool; good looking though,” Ali said as he gave Big Mel a pound.

Once Ali closed the door, Big Mel quickly threw on his black gloves and grabbed the 9mm that Detective Nelson had given him and headed out the door.

* * * *

Skip entered the raggedy apartment building and quickly took the stairs to the apartment he was looking for. Once in front of the door, Skip smoothly slid on his hoody and pulled out his dessert eagle. On the count of three, Skip shot the lock off of the door, then viciously kicked the door in. He ran into the house like a madman only to find Rick and Jasmin having sex on the living room floor.

“What the fuck is going on,” Rick asked throwing his hands up in surrender. “Damn, I know the rent is late, but damn you gotta kick the mutha fucking door in? I told you I was going to pay you mutha fuckas next week,” Rick slurred as a bullet to his head shut him the fuck up once and for all.

Skip quickly stood over Rick’s body and pumped five more bullets into his lifeless body. Jasmin was getting ready to scream, until Skip pointed his cannon directly at her. “Go ahead and scream, I dare you,” Skip challenged. “Close ya fucking eyes and count to a hundred.”

Once Skip saw Jasmin close her eyes and start counting, he quickly made his exit. Skip quickly glanced down the block making sure that the gun shots didn’t draw any attention as he made his exit.

* * * *

Big Mel doubled parked his vehicle and slowly stepped out with the 9mm hanging down by his side. With his free hand, he smoothly slid his ski mask over his face as he entered the small bodega.

Once the clerk saw the masked man enter the store, she quickly reached for the shotgun that rested under the counter, but three shots to her chest removed the thought from her mind. After he shot the clerk, Big Mel quickly hopped over the counter and cleaned out the cash register.

As Big Mel stuffed the bills into his pocket, he noticed a customer enter the store. Without a trace of emotion, Big Mel raised the 9mm and sent three shots into the customer’s upper body. Once his work was done, Big Mel quickly exited the bodega and slid back into his vehicle.

Big Mel knew that he was fucked up, but unfortunately he was in too deep and couldn’t turn back now. He loved Ali like a brother, but if it was his ass or Ali’s it would definitely have to be Ali’s ass. Big Mel quickly picked up his cell phone, and dialed Detective Nelson’s number. “Yeah what’s up,” Detective Nelson growled into the phone. “Wake the fuck up. I need to see you; I got what you been waiting for,” Big Mel huffed. “It’s about time. Meet me at that small coffee shop two blocks away from my house,” Detective Nelson said hanging up in Big Mel’s ear.

Big Mel was furious when Detective Nelson hung up on him. He wanted to snap the Detective’s neck with his bare hands, but he knew he couldn’t because Detective Nelson was down with the NYPD. When Big Mel pulled up, he spotted Detective Nelson’s unmarked car double parked on the corner. He slowly rolled up right beside him and rolled down his window. “I hope you happy now,” Big Mel hissed as he tossed the 9mm on the passenger seat of the Detective’s car. “What’s this,” Detective Nelson asked with a wicked smirk on his face. “Two murdered in a small bodega downtown,” Big Mel replied dryly. “Good work. I’ll call you ten minutes before we raid Ali’s house tomorrow,” Detective Nelson said coldly as he pulled off leaving Big Mel with a lot to think about.

Chapter 51

FIGHT NIGHT

Ali and Nancy packed the remainder of their things, while Mary j. Blige hummed softly through the speakers putting the couple in an even better mood. Things couldn’t have been better for the two. “Did you hear what happened at the hospital,” Nancy asked as she packed away all of her sexy underwear. “Nah, what happen?” “Coco told me she went to go pick G-money up from the hospital, and some model looking chick was there all up in G-money’s face.” “Word, that’s O.D.,” Ali asked with a smile on his face. “That’s not funny. Coco really loves him.” “And he loves her too, but that’s just how he is,” Ali said honestly. “So what else happened?” “Nothing, Coco and the girl got into a little argument but the other girl left before things got out of hand.” “That’s good, Coco don’t need no more drama in her life anyway,” Ali chuckled lightly. “You stupid,” Nancy exhaled.

The conversation was momentarily paused when Ali heard the house phone ringing. “Hello,” he answered. “You already know what time it is,” Spanky yelled excitedly into the phone. Ali laughed before he spoke. “I see you already hyped up for the fight.” “You already know it’s on tonight. Either go hard or go home!” “You got any predictions,” Ali asked. “Yeah, I think I’m going to knock this chump out in the fifth round,” Spanky boasted. “Yo, I gotta go, but make sure I see you in that front row tonight, aight.” “You know I’m going to be there supporting my little brother.” “Aight bet, I’ll see you later; one,” Spanky said ending the call.