What Da Lick Read? The Triple Cross (18 page)

“Yeah, that’s a real good deal. But how about I give you thirteen for the whole ones and then how much is this one?” Toe –Toe had picked up the smaller one that Poke had started on wondering had he snorted anymore of it since he switched it out the other day.

“Well that’s a half right there. I weighed all of that shit at the house when he bought it to me. I tested it too. That’s some good shit. I wouldn’t lie to you.” He looked at both of the brothers.

“So what, you gonna take the thirteen or what?” Nard barked at Poke causing him to jump. He knew that nigga was slimy and he wanted him to hurry up and leave. He was wondering where he got the dope from.

“Man, y’all got me between a rock and a hard place. But I fucks with y’all so I can run with it.” The nervous stutter that Poke had suddenly developed had Toe-Toe eying him suspiciously.

“Toe-Toe, get out the scale and the tester.” Nard told his older brother.

Toe-Toe did it knowing that once Nard saw that the dope was fake, he was going to go mayhem on Poke for trying him like that. Nard unwrapped all three of the packs and scooped out some of it onto a plate. He got the solution that he uses to test the cocaine and placed a drop onto each pile of cocaine. If it was real it would retain its color, but if it wasn’t it would turn brown. The three of them waited looking at the plate. Poke was smiling ear to ear because he was excited about having a bit of money his pocket. Toe-Toe was smiling because he knew this nigga was about to get his just desserts.

The mound of powder turned brown. Nard turned around, his face was distorted. "Pussy nigga what the fuck are you trying to prove. You thought that we were not going to test this shit. We true to this; not new to this. We
aint
no
ol
' sucker duck ass niggas." He punched Poke in the face. Poke fell to the floor. Nard walked over to where he fell and started to kick him.

Poke scrambled and tried to get up, but every time he did, Nard would kick him again. He was in pain. He knew that dope was real. He had just tested it when he got it. “Wait, Wait!” He screamed through his bloody lips.

Nard eased up and stepped back and looked down at Poke on the floor. His lips had swollen up three times their normal size within seconds. “My nigga, you got a lot of nerve”

“I swear on my only son, I
ain’t
trying to flex y’all. We kicked it real hard the other night, y’all niggas always respect me and shit that is why I came to y’all first. Y’all know that I fuck around, so I know the dope is real.” Poke put his hand up to his lip, his two front teeth had pierced his lip and he was in pain.

“Nigga, you a
muthafucking
lie! This shit right here is fake.” Nard started kicking Poke again.

Toe-Toe knew his brother's temper was one that could not be reckoned with. He watched his brother cuss and kick Poke until he was not moving. He pulled him back. “That’s enough! That’s enough! I think that he learned his lesson.”

Nard spit on him and walked away, leaving him balled up in the corner unconscious. He walked out the door with Toe-Toe and his homeboy bringing up the rear. The guard stayed on the inside to watch Poke as the three of them went back and joined the dice game.

Poke rolled over. He felt the pain shoot through his body. He let out a moan as he struggled to try to get up. He didn’t know what had gone wrong. He knew the dope was real, but he had also seen with his own two eyes when it tested fake.

The guard came over and helped him up. He got out his cell phone and called Nard to let him know that Poke had awakened. Nard told him to give Poke the phone. “Nigga, don’t make me regret letting you live. Get the fuck up and get the fuck out. I better not see or hear of you around any of No Pressure point blank period.”

Poke handed the guard back the phone and headed toward the door. The guard let him out and he walked down the steps very slowly wincing in pain along the way. Once he got to the bottom of the steps, the crowd had thinned out from when he first got there. He didn’t see Nard or Toe-Toe. He got in his car and pulled down the mirror that was over the visor and looked at his face. His right jaw was swollen and so were his lips. His teeth were loose. If in the same situation, he would have reacted in the same manner. He was happy to have escaped with his life. He thinks the only thing that saved him was the fact that they had known him since they were little boys.

His cell phone rang and he reached over and got it out of the console. He didn’t talk he just listened; more instructions. He was tired of this ho’ bossing him around. Poke interrupted her. “I just got my ass beat by them No Pressure niggas because that dope was fake. How you gonna send me on a lick for some
Fugazi
. Wait a minute you want me to do what? I can’t do that! I just can’t, that is his only son. Oh okay I will do it.”

Poke hung up the phone. This bitch was crazy. The shit that she was asking him to do was getting out of hand. How could one person be so vindictive? He wished he hadn’t agreed to help her but he was in too deep. Once this was done he knew that he was gonna have to go into hiding.

Honesty missed Gigi so much but she didn’t want to go around her with so much going on. She hadn’t been responding to her text or her phone calls. But that didn’t stop Gigi from continuing to call and text her. Pop-Pop was happy that she had been staying in the house. But she really wanted to take a trip and get away from it all. Her cell phone had been ringing but she didn’t want to talk to anybody. A lot of her workers had been calling for work and for her to pick up money. She told them she wasn’t feeling well. She knew that she couldn’t leave her money in the street for too long though. The feeling of depression had taken over and it didn’t seem like it was gonna release her anytime soon. Honesty would call Killian and tell him to go and collect for her and to tell all her workers she would have something for them in the next two days. She had to do something to shake that feeling. Maybe a day out would help her feel better. Shopping always cheered her up.

Killian walked into the den and saw his sister sitting on the sofa in complete silence. “Damn girl, turn on the television or something. What you doing, meditating?”

“I guess you can say that, I’m just trying to sort through all this shit going on in my head. But what’s up with you?” She asked her brother as she reached over and rubbed her hands through his curly hair. That was a habit of hers ever since they were little.

“I got something for you that should make you feel better.” He pulled out his cell phone and showed her a picture of the dope that he had got back from Poke.

Honesty jumped up from the sofa like a jack in the box. She was so excited. She couldn’t believe that her brother had gotten the dope back. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, brother. I love you so much. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Lucky for you, you will never have to find out. Now can you get up and take a bath, do your hair and for Pete’s sake change your clothes. You look like you have had that on forever.” He was happy that he could put a smile on his sister’s face. After the shooting and robbery, he knew that she doubted herself.

She didn’t want to know how he did it, she was just happy that she had that taken care of. She had people waiting to get their hands on it. Honesty decided that she would go ahead and get up and put on some clothes and deliver the work herself and then she would stop and see Gigi and take her the money that she owed her. This day was looking up after all. “What are you about to do?”

“I have been so busy, I’m gonna chill with
ol
’ girl. Take her to the mall, buy her something nice and then take her to dinner. She has been holding me down. I know she loves me and I got feelings for her. I just think that I’m too young to be tied down. But she is the only one that I’m kicking it with.” Killian got up from the sofa.

“Have you ever told her how you feel? I mean you can’t assume that she knows that you have feelings for her. How do you know that she knows that she is the only one that you’re with? You are always busy in the streets handling business. Just because you tell her that you are handling business doesn’t mean that she doesn’t second guess what you are saying to her. Yeah take her out, but remember the only way to keep a woman once you get her is to make her feel special in some sort of way each and every day.” Honesty kissed her brother on the cheek and as she thought about what she said to her brother, she decided to do something special for Gigi herself.

“You right sis, I do need to show her more often. She is a good girl and she is a good mother. She breaks her back for her
lil
’ man and she never ask me for anything. I like that because you know these hoes out here be so quick to have their hand out. I know I’m stingy as y’all say but I give
shawty
everything that she could want, or at least I try. I’m thinking about asking her to move in with me. She is there most of the time anyway.”

“Wow, you really do have feelings for her. Is it safe to say that you are in love? How do you feel about her having a son? You have to be a father figure for him too if you are in her life.” Honesty was so surprised at what her brother was saying to her, because she had never met the girl who had won him over. But she understood too, because Killian had always been a private person.

“
Awwww
man, I wouldn’t say it’s safe to say that, but I know that they are a package deal and that I can’t have one without the other. That is one cool ass
lil
’ boy, I have a ball with him. I do not have a problem stepping in and filling in for his father’s absence. He knows I’m not his father because Leigh makes sure that she keeps his dad’s memory alive. He died in Afghanistan.”

“That’s what up bro. If she makes you happy, go for it. Tomorrow isn’t promised.” Honesty walked away and headed up the steps then stopped. “Oh and go ahead and tell her you love her, cause I know that you do.”

Killian walked out the door as he thought about what his sister said. He was glad that his dad wasn’t home because he didn’t want to hear his mouth about everything that was going on. He jumped into his GXP and headed to the city to pick up Leigh. He answered his ringing cell phone. It was Leigh “Hey Bae, I’m just leaving my dad’s house. I’m on the way to pick you up.
Nawl
, leave
lil
’ man at home with your mom. He can stay with us tonight. See you in a minute.” He ended the call and turned up his stereo blasting Future’s
mixtape
True Story.

Just what the doctored ordered, some alone time with her baby. Leigh understood that Killian was busy all the time, she was so happy that she had school, her son and her design work to keep her busy. If not she knew she would be damn near a stalker when it came to him. She had fallen fast and it was so unexpected and at times she questioned whether he felt the same. But when she saw how he was with her son, or how he surprised her with gifts, she knew for sure that he loved her, she just wanted to hear it.

He was outside blowing the horn before she knew it. She ran down the steps and told her mom that she was leaving with Killian and that she would be back to get
Kaydence
so that he could spend the night with her at Killian’s place. Her mom came through the kitchen and walked her to the door. She gave Leigh a kiss on the cheek and she waved at Killian sitting in the car.

As always she looked perfect to him. He thought of what his sister said. He should tell her he loved her, because he did. He loved her and
Kaydence
. He smiled, yup he had been bitten by the love bug. The door opened and she climbed into the car. “Hey Bae.” He leaned over and kissed her.

“Hello to you too sir, I missed you.” Leigh murmured as she snuggled up against him as he pulled out of her complex.

They drove through the streets of Atlanta enjoying each other’s company. The car was silent, that was one of the special things about them, and words did not need to be exchanged.
Killa
drove north, it still early enough to catch a matinee. He headed toward Fork and Spoon so that they could see a chick flick, then head over to the mall so that he could buy her something

Leigh started singing and broke up the silence. She had a nice voice but she always said that she was too shy to sing in front of people. “I don’t care where we go, I don’t care what we do. I don’t care pretty baby, just take me with you.”

He looked over at her and she burst into laughter as he joined in singing the classic Prince song. “I don’t care if we spend the night at your mansion. I don’t care if we spend the night on the town.”

Leigh finished up the verse in perfect harmony. “All I want to do is spend the night together. All I want to do is spend the night in your arms.”

It was the small things like this that let him know without a doubt that he was in love with her. After their outing, he wanted to take her to meet his dad. They parked in the parking deck at Tower Walk and headed into the movie theater. She grabbed his hand in hers and he left it there. There was only one movie that was about to start and they decided to go ahead and see it. The Rise of the Planet of the Apes had gotten good reviews. Killian pulled out a big wad of money and paid for their tickets and then he grabbed her hand and they walked into the theater. It was only four other people in the theater. They sat down at the table; Killian grabbed the remote that summoned the waitress. He had planned on taking her to dinner so he told her to order something light. Leigh ordered a cheese quesadilla and a large peach mango milkshake for them to share.