What Da Lick Read? The Triple Cross (30 page)

Ponchees turned and faced Khalil. “Is everything alright with Killian?”

“He is resting and Loyalty is in there with him. I am just waiting for the doctors to come back around so they can brief me on the next course of action. He has a long recovery ahead of him. He is going to need physical therapy and mental counseling as well. Don’t you know this is the first girl that he has ever bought home?”

“Well he has a lot of love ones that will help him get through this. One thing I can say for sure is that he is never going to be the same. This right here is either going to make him or break him.”

“The way I’m feeling right now, someone has
gotta
feel the pain that my family is feeling. All of my children are hurting in some shape, form or fashion. I need to pain someone and if that
lil
’ bitch Beautiful is behind all of this I don’t care who the fuck her mother or her grandfather is, she will die a horrible death. I will make her suffer every day for twenty-eight days.” Khalil’s temple jumped as he made his declaration on taking
Beautiful’s
life.

“We do not know for sure. I mean why would she target you? I can understand her doing something to Gorgeous, because of her jealousy. You have never done anything to her have you?”

“Nope, I haven’t seen her since she was a little girl, then I saw her at Solitaire’s funeral.” Khalil scratched at the stubble that was growing on his head as he tried to figure out why Beautiful had it out for him.

Beautiful sat outside of
Jazmeir’s
door parked in her driveway. After dodging her phone calls repeatedly she finally decided to come over. She needed to look around and see if Poke had left anything in the house that pointed to them working together. Beautiful walked up the driveway in her Black shawl, Citizens for Humanity Jeans and her black sequined
Ugg
boots. She had just left the salon from getting her hair dyed. She hadn’t had black hair in over five years, one of the reasons being that she didn’t want to look like her sister. But for what laid ahead, she needed to look as much like her as possible. Beautiful rang the doorbell and looked down at her watch.
Jazmeir
snatched the door open and pulled her inside. She flung herself into
Beautiful’s
arms. She hugged her and petted her back as
Jazmeir
cried loudly.

Jazmeir
had been calling Beautiful all day. She was so distraught after seeing Poke’s badly burned body. Beautiful was her only friend in Atlanta, so she didn’t have any one else to turn to for comfort. Poke had done her wrong and other people too, but he didn’t deserve to be burned alive. The tears couldn’t stop flowing as she sat down on the couch and put her head in hands. She thought about all the good times that they had shared in the beginning. Poke would never be the type of man
Sillk
was, but he tried his hardest. He was there to console her and help her to remain amongst the living, because when
Sillk
died, she wanted to die herself.

“Girl everything is going to be okay. That was just his body. The real Poke died when he stopped getting money and starting shooting dope. Death or in jail was bound to be the next place for him. I just hope you got that insurance policy on his ass like I told you when you put him out.” Beautiful smacked her lips as she sat down on the loveseat facing
Jazmeir
.

“How can you be so nonchalant when it comes to death? I may have not been in love with him, but I did have love for Slow Poke.”

“Bitch, that nigga was a
muthafucking
junkie, he didn’t give a fuck about his damn self, because if he did he wouldn’t have got strung out on the dope and lost his home and the only semblance of a family that he ever had. Fuck that nigga. If I was you I wouldn’t put his ass in a tea cup. Let them burn him and put his ashes in a Ziploc bag and you can throw them in the Chattahoochee with the rest of the trash.” The words laced with hatred oozed from
Beautiful’s
mouth as she thought about how worthless Poke was.

“Wow, keep to yourself how you feel why don’t you?”
Jazmeir
said sarcastically through her tears.

“Girl whatever, when is the last time that nigga been over here anyway? You crying and shit like you just fucked him last night or something.” Beautiful was trying to see if he could have recently been there and left something behind.

“That black hair fits you much better. You now look just as heartless and cold as you act.”

Jazmeir
got up filled with disbelief at the way her only friend was acting and walked toward the kitchen to retrieve a bottle of water. Beautiful got up and walked behind her. The truth was that even if she wasn’t the one that killed Poke; she still wouldn’t know how to be there like
Jazmeir
needed her to. Her heart had stopped feeling pain a very long time ago. She lost her mom and when her first and only love Jamal was killed her heart stopped beating. She honestly didn’t think that it ever was going to beat again.

Beautiful tried to sound as sincere as possible.

“I’m sorry
Jaz
, I’m here for you and the kids any way that you need me. You know that you are all that I have. I have no family and you are my only friend. My life has been so bad that I really do not know how to process stuff like this. So please just bear with me. I’m here, I promise and I’m sorry.” She hugged
Jazmeir
tightly, knowing that everything she had ever told her about her life was a lie, except for her name.

Jazmeir
felt a cold chill come upon her as she was wrapped tightly in
Beautiful’s
arms. Her phone started to ring and she rushed back into the living room to get it off of the table. She looked down at the screen on her Sprint
Evo
and saw that it was Khalil.
Jazmeir
smiled to herself as she answered, she then looked out the corner of her eye and saw Beautiful watching her with the eeriest expression in her eyes.
Jazmeir
shook it off, maybe she just looked like that because she had just dyed her hair jet black. The combination of her new dark hair with the gray eyes and light skin gave off a startling effect. She looked evil.

Beautiful looked around and tried not to be too conspicuous as she thought about where any information could be that led to her. She knew that Poke had something that would point to her, those were some of his last words. She prayed that all the information burned up with his slimy ass in that shack last night. The fact was that sooner or later the pieces of the puzzle were going to come together. But she needed to have all her ducks in a row before it did. Beautiful had a master plan out of this world and her trip to the salon this morning was the first step in it.

Jazmeir
finished up her conversation with Khalil. Even though she was going through this tough time with Poke being killed, he was going through something much worse. He still attempted to put a smile on her face and reassure her that everything was going to be alright. Just the thought of him made something inside of her flutter and she hadn’t felt those feelings in a long time. She just didn’t want to be having them about Poke’s best friend. Khalil informed her that he would be stopping by later on after he left the hospital with his children.
Jazmeir
was excited; she didn’t want Beautiful to be there with her dark mood to spoil anything. She turned around and Beautiful was staring at her.

It appeared that something or someone had lifted
Jazmeir’s
spirits. Her entire life revolved around the children and her interior decorating business; it was probably something to do with one or other. Beautiful grabbed her purse and headed toward the door. She had a lot of things to do and very little time to do it.

“Call me if you need anything, I have some stuff to do before I go to work.” She gave
Jazmeir
one last parting hug and walked to her car that was parked in the driveway.

 
Jazmeir
stood there holding the door as she watched Beautiful get into her
Panamera
. This is not the first time that the eerie feeling came over her when she was in
Beautiful’s
presence. She shook her head as she closed the door. She exhaled a deep breath and said out loud. “Something is not right about that doggone girl right there.”

__________

Gigi and Honesty were finally cleared for discharge from the hospital. Honesty just wanted to go home and lay down; all this stuff was taking a toll on her. But she wanted to see her brother first. She gave Gigi a kiss on the cheek as she headed toward the elevators to go and visit her little brother Killian upstairs.

Gigi didn’t want to leave Concrete’s side. Her entire body was sore and her head hurt like it had been repeatedly banged up against something. She didn’t like the unknown and right now that is what she was up against because the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with Concrete. She was seriously thinking of having him transferred to Emory Crawford Long. That is where he was hospitalized at when he sustained his football injury. If they didn’t give her any info after his CAT scan, she was going to put in for a transfer.

Gigi’s stomach growled loudly reminding her that she hadn’t ate so she decided to go to the Chick Fila restaurant inside of the hospital to get a bite to eat, plus she need to stretch her legs even though it hurt to move. When she walked out into the emergency area waiting room she saw Ponchees was still there, his presence brought her some comfort. She walked over to where he was and noticed the young lady that sat with him. They actually were cuddled up and she appeared to be sleep with her head on his chest. This came as a shock to her because she had never seen Ponchees with a woman before.

Gigi sat on the opposite side of him and exhaled loudly when she sat down so that the girl would know that she was there. This startled Ponchees and he laughed to himself. Gigi never wanted to share him or
Sillk
and that was the number one reason why
Sillk
never told her about
Jazmeir
.

“Hello
Mija
, how is your head feeling? Any word on Concrete yet?”

Ponchees wrapped his other arm around Gigi’s shoulder and pulled her into him in an embrace. He felt every word that Khalil had said earlier. Beautiful had to be stopped. He had heard about twins being able to feel what the other was feeling or thinking. He needed Gigi to use that power if it indeed was one.

Sam stirred in her seat when she felt Ponchees moving under her. She cracked one eye open and she saw that Gigi was sitting on his opposite side with her head bandaged up. She didn’t have on a lick of makeup and she had bags under her eyes but she was still a show stopper. Her mother had picked out the right name for her. Sam sat up and cleared her throat. She rotated her neck and stood up to adjust the pencil skirt that she had on. As she sat back down she felt Gigi’s eyes staring at her.

“Hello Gorgeous, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Sam.” She extended her hand to her in a friendly gesture. She was filled with apprehension because she knew that if Gorgeous didn’t approve of her; Ponchees would look at her differently.

Ponchees could feel the tension in the air. He was bad at introductions and explanations. He knew that he should have introduced the two of them a long time ago. He just didn’t know how Gigi would feel knowing that he had someone watching her every move. He did it partially to protect his investment, but more because of his undying love for her.

“Gigi, this is Sam, she is my partner. Sam this is Gigi, my God daughter.” Ponchees loosened his tie; he could feel Gigi glaring at Sam with her steel gray eyes.

“Partner, huh? So that is what they call them these days” Gigi scoffed and walked away abruptly as the tears fell down her face.

Beautiful had just returned to her condo loft from shopping and getting her nails done at Perimeter Mall. She was ready for her full transformation into Gorgeous Diamond the business owner and queen of the drug game. She must admit her sister was on a whole other level when it came to fashion and how she carried herself. She dressed everyday like she was going to corporate
america
. She had gone into Ann Taylor and Black and White and picked up a total of five outfits that she thought that Gorgeous would wear.
Beautiful’s
bag and shoe game was up to par, she didn’t have to buy any of those. Everything had to be long sleeved to cover up
Beautiful’s
full sleeve of tattoos on her right arm.

Beautiful put the clothes in her closet and went to her mini bar and fixed herself a glass of
Moscato
. She was gonna have to do something with Honesty too, because she knew for a fact that she wasn’t going to be able to fool her. There was no way in hell she planned on licking, kissing and fucking her or whatever the hell her and her sister did when they were intimate. Beautiful was definitely going to have to put Honesty up too. The hard problem shouldn’t be snatching them up, they are inseparable. With Concrete in the hospital, she didn’t have to worry about him hovering over them all the time. They didn’t have a bodyguard so it should be easy as pie. She rubbed her hands together devilishly and said out loud, “
Aint
nothing like a well laid plan coming together.”