The Grind Don't Stop (11 page)

She came up to the counter as Duke was sitting down and placed her multi-bejeweled hand on his shoulder. He looked at her dangling hand and frowned before he forced a weak smile and turned back to his boys. He took a deep breath and somehow lowered his big voice to a mere whisper as he started explaining how he'd gotten fucked around at the 617 Club on Auburn Avenue. His voice was so surprisingly low that all three of his boys were forced to lean so close that their foreheads were mashed against one another.

“Man, I know I had won at least seven or eight grand before this fight broke out between two of them niggas. One of them fools had claimed that he had barred the curve. Man, how in the fuck do you expect a nigga to respect a punk talking about he bar the curve? And then he started talking some dumb shit about he wanted his money back. Can you believe that shit there? Come
on, man, we all know that if you can't keep the cheat off your ass in Georgia Skin, you be just a whipped muthafucka.”

All his boys nodded in agreement. He continued with the boost of confidence. “Well, anyway, these niggas get in a scuffle and when everything settles down, my motherfucking money is gone.”

The trio leaned back ready for whatever was coming next. Cynt stuck her face between them. “And he had a great big knot of money just like he said to y'all.”

Big Duke smiled and patted her arm on his shoulder. “Anyway, to make a long story short.”

“Please do.” Rainbow couldn't hold back from jibbing.

Duke wrinkled his nose. “Fuck you, Bow; anyway me and one of the workers had some hard words. Man, I was ready to pull my shit on his ass and would've too if it wasn't for Cynt grabbing my arm. And that nigga Don sided against me. Even had Red Tony going along with that bullshit. And y'all know that I been looking out for that nigga for years.” He leaned back in the seat and looked at them one by one. “I've got to get those muthafuckas back for that, yo.”

Cynt moved his arm and sat down on his lap. “How you want to handle it, baby?” Everybody at the counter knew she was dead serious, for despite her small stature, she didn't hold back in the least when it came to protecting big dude.

Duke leaned back smiling proudly, feeling good about knowing his little soldierette was down for whatever. “Sweet stuff, I've been working on something all the way over here; trust that there.”

He pinched his nose and looked undereyed at Sparkle. Sparkle knew he'd already come up with some really devious. He cranked his neck from side to side, pinched his own nose and looked undereyed right back at him.

When Duke started scratching his chin with his baby finger
and cocked one brow, they all knew they had to get ready for one helluva time. Some real drastic stuff was about to go down and all of them would have to be involved regardless of how dangerous it may get.

He stared directly at Sparkle. “Baby boy, you remember that time back in the white elephant that we got old man Moore to steal all the cards out of the commissary and Googie's slick ass helped us fix 'em up over the weekend and put them back in the store?”

The words had barely left his lips when Rainbow's face brightened up. “Oh, hell yeah, man, we kept the whole joint broke for the whole fucking summer. Niggas couldn't figure out what the fuck was going on.”

‘B' slammed his thighs so hard that it made everybody jump and he burst out laughing. “Uh-huh, shit, we'd still be living high off the hog off that lick there if we hadn't gotten out.”

Sparkle jumped in, “Come to think of it, nigga, you never did give me the money for those fifty dozen billfolds I sent out in your name from that game we had on the yard for the Fourth of July. Let me see, that's like fifty dozen times fifteen dollars a dozen plus. What's it been now—ten, fifteen years, uh-huh, fifteen years of interest, it would come to.”

He started counting his fingers. They all yelled, including the three girls, in unison, “Nigga, shut the fuck up.”

Big Duke was smiling cheerfully right along with everybody else and then coughed into his fist. “Man, on the serious side, I feel like we can pull some of that same shit off on those niggas at the 617.”

‘B' looked around at all the girls who had gathered around listening to the conversation. That didn't fit well with him at all. He took a long gulp of his drink and cleared his throat. “Y'all hoes need to find something to do.” When they didn't react quick
enough for his satisfaction, he stood up and shouted, “Y'all bitches, all of y'all get the fuck to the muthafucking car right muthafucking now.”

They sprinted out like the place was on fire. The last one, Cynt, who was still sitting on Duke's lap eyeing him shyly, started pouting and then left when he nodded for her to follow the rest. ‘B' sat back down. But not before he stared down every patron in the joint until they turned away from his evil eyes.

Rainbow folded his arms across the counter and stared at Duke. “Man, you must really be pissed off about this shit. How in the fuck are we supposed to pull something like that off? We don't even know where them niggas buy their cards from.”

Duke folded his arms across his big stomach. “I ain't said a damn thing about buying no cards.”

Sparkle quickly put his two cents worth in. “Then how in the fuck?”

Duke cut him off, “We get into that damn safe in his office where he keeps them and his dope and his money and all kinds of shit.”

“What?” Rainbow frowned.

“What?” Sparkle growled.

“What?” Johnny mumbled.

“We get into his...” Rainbow started and then bowed his head and ran his hand down the bridge of his nose before he frowned at big boy. “Man, we heard what you said, but how are we supposed to get in that big-ass safe, dude? Shit, as big as that bitch is, we'd need a fucking forklift.”

Duke leaned forward over the counter and shook his head. “There you go again, underestimating the power of the scheming mind. And you call yourself a con man. Boys, Loretta would turn over in her grave if she was hearing this shit I'm hearing from y'all so-called players.”

Rainbow rolled his eyes and picked up his drink and took a long slug.

Duke picked up ‘B''s drink and drained it in one big gulp. Then he hollered for Bertha to give all of them a refill before he got up from the counter and headed for one of the tables in the back of the club. “Come on, y'all half-hustling-ass niggas,” Duke said over his shoulder. He sat down and crossed his legs on the table and nodded for all of them to sit down.

He addressed Rainbow in a no-nonsense tone. “On the real now, Bow, you're the one that turned that bitch Mary Anne out years ago. Nigga, ain't no need for you to be looking all stunned and shit. You know damn well you remember her fine ass. The way you babied that ho, you had to know every time that bitch changed her cum-stained drawers.”

That comment drew a few snickers from the other two as they nodded in agreement. Rainbow lifted his head and started massaging his neck. “Yeah, yeah, I did show that little whore some special favors but that shit was long ago when my ass was green to the game. Then again what does that have to do with this shit you about to get us into?”

Duke waved away his snooty reply to his pimping ability. “And that nigga Don hadn't even dreamed of being in the ATL way back then when you had that ho on the tracks.”

‘B' picked up Duke's drink and returned the favor of draining his. “Hey, dog, I've got to agree with my dog here; what the fuck do that have to do with what you want us to get into here? This a real serious move you talking about making, partner. The repercussions could be really rough; you feel me.”

Duke took his legs off the table, threw up his hands in the air feigning discuss. “Come on, man, use your empty-ass head here for just a moment.” He paused to tap the side of his own head.
“Can you think of any ho Rainbow has had that don't secretly still love his dirty ass?”

‘B' pyramided his hands on the table, closed his eyes and buried his head into them contemplating for a few moments. Then he leaned back in the seat and folded his arms. “Now that you think about it, none; so what.”

He looked at Rainbow, then at Sparkle before he addressed “B.” “So our nigga here can get that ho to get the combination to the safe.”

Rainbow leaned across the table astounded by what he had just heard. “Whoa, pardner, you know damn well that Red Tony ain't gonna go for that ho kicking it with me, especially with the history we got. Come on, dog, get real, will ya? And then for his ass to get ripped off like that; shit, he'd figure that shit out in no time at all.”

Duke shot back immediately, “True that, playa, but he ain't got to know that you been with her.”

Rainbow looked at him like he had lost his fucking mind. “So how we do that there?”

Duke waved for them to come closer and whispered, “That bitch Crystal, hell, maybe even Joyce. Yeah, the bitch a player, for real, yo. Anyway that bitch Crystal be eating that ho on the regular and I hear that Joyce has got the best head in the fucking girl-to-girl business. Hold up for a minute, yo. Hear me out; this some good shit here, dog. On top of that, Red goes for that kinda shit in the worst way. As long as it ain't another nigga, he don't give a flying fuck, know what I'm saying. So you get that bitch Crystal or Joyce, whichever one of them hoes you decide to use, to pull her to you. From there you use that old pimping magic you claim that don't ever get old.” He leaned back in the seat with a shiteater grin plastered on his face and spread his arms triumphantly.

Sparkle finally joined in. “But even still, we can't let the bitch know what we're doing, player. Man, you talking about her putting her bread and butter on the line; hell, her jam, too.”

Duke shook his head and laughed. “Baby boy, we gonna make it look like a botched burglary.”

“Uh-huh, and you actually think she's gonna go for that. Come on, playa, you got to come better than that,” Rainbow mumbled.

Duke acted like he hadn't heard a word. “And give her like twenty-five percent of the money we take out of the safe, that way she can't say a damn thing or she knows her ass will get snuffed.” He cocked his head to the side and held his hands up for them to chill. “Shit, every bitch wants a nest egg her nigga don't know about.”

Rainbow said. “Hold up, dog, didn't I just hear you say it's gonna look like a botched burglary, so we gonna give her twenty-five percent of what?”

Duke looked at him and rolled his eyes in disgust. “Man, what's up with you, your ears stuffed with year-old wax or what? I just said we gonna take the money out of the safe. She's gonna know how much was taken because those niggas are gonna bitch to holy hell about. So we give her twenty-five percent of that. Then again, if we don't give her that much, it ain't like you ain't never lied to a ho before. And it sho ain't like she gonna tell on herself.”

Rainbow leaned back in the seat and stared down his nose at big boy for a moment and then his face broke out in a bright smile. He started to rub his hands together and nodded his head. “Aw, man, this shit is sounding better and better by the minute. So when you wanna start on this here?”

Duke turned his attention to “B.” “Okay, ‘B,' since you the one that got that bitch Crystal to start off dancing in the club in the first place, you can get her to pull Mary Anne.” He paused to
address Sparkle, too. “Or if it come down to dealing with Joyce, which I don't think will be that much of a problem, because the bitch loves money and the excitement that goes down with a real lick. Hold up, let me think about this for a second. Okay, I got it, get the bitch pulled to the Heart of Decatur hotel say by Friday and we can pull the lick on Sunday night. That's the only night when nobody's there; y'all feel me?”

Everybody nodded at the same time before ‘B' got up from the table to look for Crystal.

Duke stood up smiling. “Okay, y'all already know what to get from the magic shop downtown, so I'm out of here. We'll keep each other abreast of how things are going.”

Rainbow and Sparkle smiled at his departing back until he disappeared through the door before Sparkle spoke up. “This is gonna be a lot of fun; you know that, don'tcha?”

Rainbow slapped both hands on the table and stood up. “Yep,” was all he said as he led the way out of the club.

B
everly propped against the pillow watching the morning news with Katie Couric, in her apartment in College Park. She'd lain awake most of the night wondering if her three amigos had anything to do with the robberies and shootings on I-20. Even though no one was caught, her grapevine of snitches rarely gave her unreliable information.

As badly as she wanted, she couldn't gather enough evidence to connect Don to those events. Maybe he was the culprit, maybe not. Either way she had to find out what was going on before her boys got whacked with it.

She sat on the edge of the bed, stretched her tired limbs and went into the bathroom to freshen up. Studying her image in the mirror, she felt like she was caught between a rock and a bigger rock. In order to keep the hit off of them, she knew she had to investigate these events all by herself, without any help from any of her colleagues or underlings. Talking about skeletons in the closet, boy, were hers ever rattling now. To involve anyone else would be taking too big of a chance of having her relationship with her amigos revealed. Her political enemies would have a field day if they had the slightest idea she was involved with them in any way. Consumed with these thoughts, she left the bathroom to go to her closet to pick through her wardrobe for something to wear.

She was admiring herself in bra and panties in the full-length mirror on the door, when her pussy started tingling. She imagined they were Sparkle's hands rubbing her crotch instead of her own. The more she thought of him, the further her hands slid into her panties.
Damn, why that man have to be a damn crook?
she thought as her nipples started to harden.