The Grind Don't Stop (3 page)

Oh shit, I got to shake this little bitch first. Because when I catch these little muthafuckas, dey asses have got to go meet their makers. Dey ass got to die, leave this earth. Try to take me out like that. And kill one of my childhood idols. Oh hell yeah, y'all niggas got to die, for sho.

Rainbow was way beyond being a little shaken. He had to get rid of the bitch and her hoodlums, no doubt about it. There was no way he could take the chance of them witnessing him blasting on those fools. He shot down the next intersection and sped up, hoping to lose them.

Regardless of how things had gone so far, Beverly knew she had to get to the bottom of it. And do it without Woo or anyone knowing. Talking about skeletons in her closet, this mess was really getting out of hand. She had to make sure that Woo didn't see her. But how was she going to do that and keep up with Rainbow? She was tailing Woo who was following Rainbow while he was following the niggas who'd thrown down on the drive-by.

Oh shit, has that bitch spotted me?
Beverly thought as she narrowed her eyes when Woo's silhouette angled upward toward the rear-view mirror. Had the little bitch slowed down to get a better look at who was following her?

Beverly knew she could no longer take the chance of being spotted. She made a quick left at the next intersection knowing she was giving Woo the worst possible angle to recognize her. As she was making the turn she saw the car of shooters make a right some three or four blocks ahead. She pulled to the curb, jumped out of the car and sprinted to the corner. She pressed her back to the brick wall of the paint store and did a quick peek and duck back around the edge of the building. She'd seen Rainbow make a right turn a couple of blocks away. She assumed he was either trying to cut them off or had spotted Woo chasing him and was trying to put a move on her. Either way he pressed the pedal to the floor board, speeding down the street way over double the speed limit. She could hear the rubber screaming and see the smoke spiraling in the air from his tires as he jetted away.

It shocked Beverly when Woo didn't follow Rainbow and zoomed down the street the shooters had traveled. Even though she was puzzled why Woo had responded that way, Beverly had seen enough and rushed back to her car.

From the sounds of the radio some of her troops had already arrived at the scene of the shooting.
What should I do now? Go back to the scene?
Follow Rainbow to keep his crazy ass from getting into any more trouble? Follow Woo to find out what the little bitch is really up to? Or put some more troopers on their trails?

While she was contemplating her next move, another familiar vehicle jetted past her and turned left speeding down the street. She shot the car into gear and pulled up to the corner in time to see the car following the path of Woo and the shooters.

She blinked several times at the antennae sticking out of the trunk, knowing it was a cop's car. She zoomed in on the license plate and the silhouette of the driver. It hit her like a ton of bricks.
That bastard.
She grimaced as it dawned on her that it was JR, the deputy chief. “What in the hell is he doing here? What's his connection with all of this?” she mumbled to herself.

The light was red. She'd normally flip on the siren and speed by all traffic signs. But her intuition kept those responses at bay because she couldn't draw any attention to herself.
So what should I do now
? There were definitely too many things happening here to handle all of them at the moment.

She took a deep breath and started across the intersection. For some reason her eyes shot to the rearview mirror. “Now ain't that a bitch,” she cursed at the silhouette of Sparkle in the car trailing hers. Why had the fool jetted away from her in the first place? From what she could tell he hadn't recognized her. So what now? Should she keep going to see what would happen?

She concentrated on his face for several blocks before she decided to circle the entire block to get behind them. Violet and the other girl were both still in the car. For a brief second she considered pulling them just to fuck with them and display her power. To let them bitches know that she wasn't anything to play with. But she had to consider how the girls would react. Would they get loud? That would certainly defeat her purpose of secrecy.
Besides, she didn't really trust how her jealousy would make her act.

For after all she was not only hiding from the authorities but from the street gossip as well. Especially knowing how cops always maintained their own personal crew of snitches. She had an army of them herself.

She followed Sparkle and the girls to the house by Turner Field and settled in the parking lot. She pulled out her mini binoculars to check out the activities of the house.

A huge lump roughed its way down her throat as she watched Sparkle pull up to the curb in front of the house. He leaned forward in the driver's seat to let the other woman out. From where she was sitting it seemed like the girl pushed the seat forward with a little attitude. Violet jumped out of the other side and eased into the front seat with a smirk on her face. One that said,
Aw, little bitch, handle it.

It only meant one thing to Beverly: both of these girls had to be Sparkle's woman. She shivered with jealousy as the car sped down the street. She followed them to a small set of apartments on Memorial Drive. She knew she couldn't park there so she drove across the street and stopped in the supermarket parking lot.

No matter how long it would take, she was going to find out what in the hell he was up to. Her heart pounded with grief and anger as she settled into the seat and pressed the binoculars to her eyes.
It may just be a long night.

Rainbow looked across the table wondering how long it would actually take the trio of young hustlers to master the art of the false shuffle.

Mercedes, the sexy little Vietnamese that had stunned Sparkle with her pole dance at the strip club a while back, was really getting at it. She was definitely concentrating a lot harder than Sparkle's nephew, Stacy, and his number two ho, Princess. He knew that Stacy was getting the big head since he'd been winning with the marked decks they'd schooled him to the last few times he'd played at Al's poker game in Lithonia. In a way he couldn't really blame him after getting skimmed by Al, probably for years. But there was so much more for him to perfect than marked cards. He'd have to bring him down a couple of notches for his own good.

He took a moment to study Princess. Her jet-black, eye-candy physique and intoxicating glare was still sexy enough after all these years to display her like a fine piece of jewelry. He'd yanked her off the ho stroll after only a few months when he decided that she was much more valuable to him than selling head and pussy. She had a sassy, no-nonsense attitude that had proven to be quite an asset when he'd allowed her to run his dope on the hotel route along I-20. She'd made him a mint in addition to keeping his other bitches on track. Her uncanny resemblance to Queen Nefertiti was definitely a plus as well. He picked the deck up and smiled brightly.

“Yo, Stacy, just because you've learned the easiest way to get your cheat on, doesn't mean you can run slack on the other stuff you need to keep racking up the cash, my man. Believe me when I tell you that marked deck thang's gonna run thin a lot sooner than you think.”

He didn't give him a chance to respond before flipping a card upside down on the top of the deck and false shuffled six or seven times. He could tell right off the bat that they weren't able to keep up. It felt good to see that stunned look on Stacy's face. He knew they'd catch on sooner or later, hopefully sooner, so it was
on to the next phase. He placed a mirror in front of him and started shuffling in slow motion. “My nigga and niggettes, I want y'all to get a mirror and practice like this until you can't see the move yourself. It has to look like your natural deal, feel me?” He waited for them to nod their understanding. “Then I'm gonna grind y'all wannabe slick asses at dealing seconds and off the bottom all with the same motion, okay?”

With faces eager to please the teacher they started gathering up the cards. Rainbow leaned back and shouted for Chef-bor-a-Lady, who was doing her usual throwdown in the kitchen. She was actually his very first girlfriend from way back in elementary school. After all these years of pimping, he'd never even considered putting her through the rigors of that kind of life and she'd stood by his side ever since. His forever bottom lady, was the way he saw it. “Yo, lady, how long did my nigga say he was going to be?”

Lady's cheery puppy-dog face leaned around the corner with her hands full of floured chicken and smiled. “He said something about picking up Yolanda and coming right over.” She twisted her wrist around awkwardly to look at her watch. “That was about a half-hour ago, so they should be pulling up anytime now.”

The words were barely out of her mouth when the car pulled into the driveway. Even before the doors slammed, they could hear Yolanda's and Violet's loud voices arguing about where they were going to off some of the stuff they'd stolen. Violet, Sparkle's main girl, was still considered legendary when it came to the boosting game. Short and thick she still reminded folk of a much older version of Toni Braxton. Back in the day she'd trained nearly all of the pimps' hoes, using numerous gadgets to aid in the art of stealing. Rainbow was still amazed at some of stuff she'd come up with. She was one strong-willed babe who didn't take trash from anyone. And Yolanda was like a darker, younger version of
her Aunt Violet. She was actually an original member of the gang from their kindergarten days. She was Beverly's first and best girl buddy as well as being ‘B''s bottom girl forever. There wasn't a nigga alive that could pull something over on her. Rainbow smiled at the sound of her voice as he recalled the many times that Yolanda had kicked ass right along with them for messing with Beverly.

Sparkle stepped through the door shaking his head and tossed his thumb back toward the yakking duo. “Damn, dog, why didn't you tell me these hoes would be going at it like this here. God-ayum, I've had to put up with this bullshit from the moment they saw each other.”

He paused and broke into a brilliant smile when he saw Mercedes practicing in front of the mirror. Her concentration intensity took him back to the days when he used to do the same thing hour after hour while locked on segregation in the joint.

The glitter in her eyes and high-cheeked smile when she looked up made his heart thump. Shivers tingled along his spine when she purred, “Hi, baby, look at what Rainbow has showed me.” Mercedes did the false shuffle awkwardly but her tiny hands seemed to be made for it.

He bent down and kissed the top of her head. “That's good, sweetie, how about standing up for me for a moment?” She looked puzzled but only briefly before she placed the cards on the table and stood up to greet him with open arms.

He turned to Yolanda and Violet and shouted over their loud chattering. “Hey, can y'all stop bickering long enough to look at her? Geez.” There was an immediate ceasefire to their rapid-fire conversation as they walked over to Mercedes and started circling and spinning her around. Yolanda leaned back bossily and cocked a bejeweled hand on her wide hip before she spoke. “Damn, she
little for a mug, but I think I've already got some stuff in the trunk that'll fit her just right.”

Violet quickly added, “Mmm-hmm and I can easily, well not easily, but I can adjust the straps on the bubble. But can her little ass waddle?” She smiled warmly as she began turning the little honey around thinking of all the ways she was going to train her in the shoplifting trade.

Sparkle smiled and wondered if Mercedes really had what it took for all the illegal stuff he had planned. Then he looked over at Rainbow, who had been ho sitting for him every since he'd made her a part of their little crime family. “Do you think she ready, dog?”

Rainbow rubbed the side of his face and started massaging his chin before he gave a sniffled reply. “My nigga, baby girl here has been picking up on everything like a real pro.” He rolled his eyes to the ceiling and pinched his nose before going on. “Hell yeah, she ready.”

Reassured by the confidence his main man was showing, he smiled down at the little star. “You think you can waddle, baby girl?”

She frowned and shyly whispered, “Waddle?”

Sparkle smiled down at her and then began marveling at the resemblance between the two professional boosters as they studied Mercedes' reaction. Yolanda was a shade darker. They had the same high cheekbones and big almond-shaped eyes. Their hair was cut short with bundles of curls swirling on the top. Violet's hair was dyed blonde while Yo favored a dark mixture of red and brown. Yolanda's breasts were smaller but her hips and ass were much wider. She had one of those high-rise bubble butts. They liked to dress fly all the time; this could only be expected from two of Atlanta's best.

Violet grasped her hips and looked at Sparkle. “Baby, what I'm gonna do is dress her up like a pregnant little doll and just let her shop and observe while me and Yolanda here go to work. Is that cool with you?” She cocked her head to the side and spread her hands far apart waiting for his response.

Before he could reply the telephone drew everyone's attention. Lady picked it up on the third ring. She spoke briefly before poking her head around the corner and held it out to Rainbow. “I think you better hear this here, baby.”

Rainbow snatched the phone out of Lady's outstretched hand and listened intently for nearly a minute.. “How much did they take: They did all that; even after y'all gave up the dope and the loot? Damn, where she at now? Go get her. Is it swollen real bad? You think you need to go to Grady's? He made you do that, too, whew.” He continued to listen intently. “Naw, just stay there. I'll be out there in a little while. Uh-huh, in about an hour… Naw, don't worry about that. We'll make up for it. Don't open the door for nobody til I get there, okay.” He tossed the phone back to Lady, arched his brow in Sparkle's direction and started gnawing on his bottom lip as he headed down the hall. The wall vibrated when he slammed the bedroom door.