Queen of the City 3: The Life of a Female Rapper, page 9
Chapter 13
The ride back to Rockwall was the longest ride of my life. My phone had been ringing off the hook ever since the word about Vinny’s death started circulating, but I kept forwarding the calls. I wasn’t in a mood to talk and right now, all I wanted to do was murder Nas. I wanted him off the earth because he was terrorizing everyone in the city that knew me just so they would tell him where I was at. I knew that was the reason, and I knew they killed him because he wouldn’t tell them my location. That alone drove a knife through my own heart, and it was yet another family member that I would end up blaming myself for their death.
I pulled up to my apartment at around 1 am. The light in the front room was still on, and I knew either Stacey or Serena was still up, waiting for me to return. I took a deep breath and walked in, and Stacey stood to her feet with tears in her eyes, “I’m so sorry, Lyric. I’m so sorry.” She rushed to me and hugged me as I put my arms around her, but at that moment I was numb to everything. I was numb to her tears, my feelings, and everything else that was going on around me.
The next day, I made funeral arrangements for Vinny and asked Shaunie to be the point for me. I paid for everything myself, but I knew that going back to his funeral would be the wrong thing to do. I figured that Nas would expect me to be there and use that like cheese to draw me out, but my whole thing was always about being one step ahead of the enemy at all times. It killed me that I wasn’t able to be there, but I knew it was for the best and I know that Vinny would understand that, too. It was hard for me to accept that two of the closest people to me had died in the past few years, and just when I was beginning to cope with Big Mama’s death, Vinny turns up dead right with her. I called Malley and let her know what happened, and right then she was ready to make a move on Nas. She figured this was the best time to do it, but she knew we had to have a good plan before we charged in; that is what I was best at. We decided to do one more heist to get a little more bread before we took off to do our own thing in Milwaukee.
Later that day, I showed up to Malley’s spot. Deeko and his boys weren’t around when I got out the car, so I figured they weren’t fucking with us anymore because of me, but I couldn’t care less. Upstairs, Quandra and Lucy sat in the living room and a cloud of marijuana smoke swarm over me as soon I stepped inside. I closed the door behind me and waited to see what they would do. After a few tense moments, Quandra finally smiled, “We good, Lyric,” she said. Lucy got up and shook my hand, “We good, fam. Malley cleared all that shit up. Those periods fuck everything up, trust me, I know. I am ready to break a bitch face whenever that shit come.” They all laughed it off, and I walked to the back where Malley was chilling.
“A period? Really?”
She laughed, “If it’s one thing hoes understand, it’s when that period come on us. Mood swings like a muthafucka.”
“Yeah, so whassup? We got some marks?”
“Yeah, we got a couple on standby. You sure you ready for it?”
“Yeah, I’m ready. I got that outburst shit under control now.”
She smiled and leaned in to kiss me on my lips, “Aight, cool. Well, we just gon’ chill for a minute until we get word that everything is straight, then we will head out.”
“Aight.”
We passed the time fucking and smoking until Lucy came back into the room with the news, “Aye, they ready for us. The chick wants us to meet them downtown at the Q.” With that, we got up and got ourselves ready to meet them downtown. The Q was a mid-range hotel in Rockwall that usually teens went to when they wanted to fuck and didn’t have anywhere else to go. The hotel managers pretty much let anything slide as long as you didn’t mind paying them a little extra. We walked outside to the car, and I glanced over at Deeko’s normal spot again.
“The fuck them niggas at? They quit?”
She laughed, “After that shit you pulled with them a little while ago, they vamped. You scared them off and shit.”
“Soft ass niggas.”
“Shit, it’s about time to move around from here anyway. We hit enough licks for now, so we need to go before it starts getting too hot.”
It was 10 pm when we drove into the parking lot of the Q. It was usually pretty packed on a Saturday night, but this time it was oddly much thinner than normal. We all got out the truck Malley had just gotten. She switched the car out after I popped the dude at the last heist just in case there were any cameras around. Alisha waved to us when they saw us from the front door, and we followed her in. “These niggas good?” Malley asked as we walked in. “Yeah, they got bread,” she responded without looking at her. I squinted my eyes at her as she walked a few feet in front of us and opened the door. Inside, a group of niggas stood around waiting for us to come in. On first glance, they were clean cut dudes that seemed out of place, but as they spoke I realized this wasn’t their first time doing something like this.
The girls went through their regular routine, undressing and stripping for the men while they searched them for weapons. Malley and I looked around the room to make sure there was nothing they had hidden anywhere, and once everything was clean, we stood back and let them work. One of the men spoke to me, “What, y’all ain’t coming over here? What’s up with that? Y’all too good for us?” I smiled, and moments later, I felt a pistol to the back of my head.
“Who’s soft now, bitch?”
By the voice, I knew who it was. Deeko stood behind me with a chrome desert eagle pressed to the back of my skull. Another dude grabbed Malley and took the gun off her before they threw her against the wall. Quandra and Lucy stood up, half naked, with their mouths hung open as Alisha smiled and walked to the side next to Deeko. I knew something was up with her as soon as she waved us in. She played us from the start. I shot daggers at her and then glanced at Deeko. “Oh, don’t stop the party now,” he said, “Y’all bitches get back on my niggas and fuck with them. Y’all here so y’all might as well do what the fuck you came for.” They didn’t move, and Deeko raised his voice, “Did y’all hear me? I’m not fucking playin’; y’all hoes get back on my niggas.” Quandra and Lucy straddled the men in front of them as Deeko slid the pistol off my waist, “Now, you won’t be needing this, will you?” he said as he laughed and spun me around.
“So, I’m soft, huh? I’m a bitch ass nigga, right? I mean, that’s what you said, ain’t it? You said, ‘Deeko, you’re a bitch ass nigga.’ Am I wrong?” I remained silent, and he leaned in closer to me,
“Bitch. Am. I. Wrong.”
“Nope, you’re not wrong. You are every bit of a bitch ass nigga.”
He laughed, “Yes! I love it! Even with a gun to her fucking head, she still got the nerve to talk shit. Well, guess what,” he said, rubbing my ass with his hand, “I wanted to fuck you from day one. Remember that? When I tried to holla at you and you dissed me? Well, guess what? Deeko gets what he wants but this time, we got an audience.” Malley yelled out, “Deeko, leave her alone.” He pointed the gun at her, “Did I tell you to talk? Because if I did, I’m telling you right now to shut the fuck up.” He looked at Quandra and Lucy as they watched us, “The fuck y’all looking at? Grind on my niggas! Damn!” They spun around and continued dancing as Malley looked on in complete horror. We had gotten away with this for a while, and there was no telling how long they had been doing this, but I guess all things must come to an end. Deeko turned to look at Malley, “See, I’m not going to touch you, Malley, even though you are fine as a muthafucka. But since you tried to check me in front of this bitch, you’re still getting raped, it’s just that we are getting you in another way. My niggas are cleaning out yo’ apartment right now,” he said laughing, “so um, yeah, all them weapons and shit? All that money? That’ll be coming with us.”
He turned back towards me. “Now you,” he said as he handed his gun to Alisha and pulled his pants down, “turn around.” I smiled and spun around and bent over for him. “Oh,” he said, “you want it too, huh? Aight.” Just then, he stuck his dick deep inside of me, and I smiled, winking at Malley. I didn’t want it, but he didn’t know that with each pump, he was filling himself with the HIV virus. He smacked my ass, and I pushed myself against, even more, making sure he felt every inch of my pussy. A slow death, I said to myself as he fucked me from behind while everybody watched. I looked over at Alisha as she smirked at me, seemingly enjoying every second of what I was going through. None of it bothered me at all though because I knew that the moment he found out, he was going to regret the day he fucked me. And Alisha? I could tell those two were fucking so it was just a matter of time before she got what she deserved, too. He pulled out and came on my back and moments after he was done, they all left the room.
“Shit! That fuckin’ bitch!” Quandra yelled out, “Wait until I see her ass again! I’m fucking her up!”
I couldn’t help but laugh to myself at the irony of what just happened. A few years ago, Quandra was the one setting me up, and now karma found its way back to her. It was just fucked up that I had to be here when it did. Malley rushed over to me, “You aight?” I smiled, “I’m good, you already know.” She shook her head and seconds later we got dressed and left. That was the last time we were going to pull a heist in Rockwall.
Chapter 14
Her apartment was in shambles. Dressers were turned over; her mattress was ripped down the middle and on the sides. There were holes kicked in the walls inside her closet and everything was scattered all over the floor. “Weak ass niggas,” she murmured as she went to all the spots she kept her money hidden. She pulled back a handful of hundred dollar bills that were rolled up inside of a sock and taped beneath the dresser. “Fuckin idiots didn’t even search the whole spot,” she said, tucking the money into her pocket.
We walked outside in the middle of the day, scanning the area for any sign of Deeko. I knew he wouldn’t be around, though. He talked big shit back at the hotel, but the likelihood of him showing back up over here was highly unlikely. She glared in the direction of his apartment, her red hair fluttering in the wind. I could tell what she was thinking, and she had a right to want to go over there and kill every last one of them. Just then, she headed in that direction, but I pulled her arm, “Malley, nah. We can’t fuck with them right now. They got all yo’ pistols and mine, too. Just chill, we’ll get them later, aight.” It took her a few moments before she took her eyes off of his apartment and eventually I got her to leave.
“I think we need to chill on the heists and shit for a minute, Malley. What you think?”
“My words exactly. Shit is gettin’ a little out of hand right now, so I feel you. That bitch Alisha though? Damn. All these niggas are gettin’ theirs, I swear to God, Lyric. On everything, I’m coming back on their ass, hard.”
“Yo, that’s cool and all, but honestly, I think we need to start focusing on Nas. They will get what’s coming to them, but right now, you know what I’m sayin, since we on a break from that shit, we might as well see what we can do with him.”
She looked at me as we stopped at a red light,
“Aight, yeah, we can do that. He’s in Milwaukee, right?”
“Yeah. I know exactly where he is.”
“Word. Aight then, yeah, let’s move on that nigga.”
We rode back to my apartment, and when I got in, nobody else was home. Serena was usually at work during this time of day and Stacey had taken Prince with her to the store. We sat down on the couch, and she flipped on the television with the remote. “So,” she said, “what you got planned?” I looked to the right, replaying a number of different scenarios in my head involving what we could do. I figured we would need another person to help pull everything off since Nas knew both of us. I thought back to the way he used me to draw Big Tuck in but that alone took months to set up, and we didn’t have that kind of time. Besides, I’m pretty sure he would know something was up if we took the same approach to lure him in.
I reached for my phone and scanned through the list of contacts as Malley patiently flipped through the channels. My eyes glued on his name when I scrolled to it. Loc, I said to myself. That nigga wasn’t dumb, though, but I knew he had a soft spot for me. I had come across him plenty of times, and he could’ve killed me at any moment, but he didn’t. Maybe I can use him and Man-Man? I looked at Malley and said,
“I got an idea.”
“I’m listening.”
“Since I know that Nas wants Prince, I say we use that to our advantage. We use Prince to lure those niggas out, and when they get to us, then that’s that.”
“Hold up,” she said, turning towards me, “use Prince as bait? Are you serious right now? Is the virus fuckin’ with your head again?”
“Nah, I got this. I mean, look, the only thing that will get Nas’s attention is me, Prince, or his money, and honestly, I don’t even know how to get to his bread anymore. He moves his stash houses so much, and if we hit the wrong one, then we’re done.”
“Lyric, I’m sayin’, though, Prince? That’s your son.”
“I know who he is; just trust me on this, aight? Just trust me.”
I could tell she was uneasy but what else could she say? He was my son, and she didn’t have the authority to come in and say anything different. I watched her squirm in her seat a little bit as she mindlessly flipped through channels before fessing up, “Girl, I’m just fuckin’ with you. There ain’t no way in the world I was going to take Prince back to Milwaukee.” She laughed,
“I knew you were full of shit. I was just going to chill and wait until you realized what you were sayin’.”
“But the thing about it is we have to make him believe that Prince is there, which means I’ma have to go there and show my face for a minute, so he thinks we are both back.”
“Aight, so what? Am I coming with you?”
“Hell, yeah. We both going back to the city together.”
“Bet. It’s going down.”
She had a wide grin on her face as she scooted closer to me and kissed me on the neck. “Nah, we can’t do that right here. I don’t know when Prince and Stacey will show up.” She sighed, “Aight.” Just then, I grabbed her by the hand and led her into my room. One of the things she took from her apartment was her toy and at that moment, I was happy that she did. It wasn’t real dick, but I had learned to settle for it since it was pretty much the only dick I would be able to have. I didn’t go to any of the sessions, so I wasn’t exactly sure what I could and couldn’t do, sexually. They had called my phone almost every day since I got Prince’s results, but I couldn’t care less about it. If I was going to die, I was going to die, and there was no point in prolonging it at all.
Malley laid in the bed when we were finished, and I walked out into the front room. Stacey and Prince still hadn’t come back from the store yet, so I walked around in my bra and panties. I stood in front of a mirror, admiring my thickness but realizing that it may not always be there, especially if the virus turned into AIDS. I sighed and almost came to tears until I heard Big Mama’s voice, “Girl, go and put some clothes on with yo’ nasty behind!” I laughed when she fussed at me, but I was surprised that was all she said. I waited around to hear more but silence rang throughout the house until keys rattled at the door. Before they could get into the apartment, I walked back to my bedroom and closed the door. “Malley, wake up. They’re back.”
Chapter 15
I let Stacey know that I was going back to Milwaukee for a couple of weeks. She was completely against the idea, but I told her that I needed to go back and take care of some things regarding Vinny’s funeral and Big Mama’s house. Eventually, she understood that it was something I had to do, and she would keep Prince under her watch until I came back. I picked him up in my arms,
“Hey, Mama’s baby. I’m going away for a little while, alright? You be good and don’t give G-Ma a hard time, okay?”
“Girl, please. Between him and you, I’d say that you were the one that gives me the hardest time.”
I laughed and kissed her on the cheek before I left. It wasn’t a response that Big Mama would have given, but it was close enough. The ride back to Milwaukee was peaceful for the most part. Malley asked questions about shit almost the whole way there. For a moment, it seemed like she just wanted to come to the city to party a little bit, but I knew she would get refocused when the time came. Besides, we had a week or two to kill anyway so taking her out may not have been a bad thing at all. Nas would have been sure to know I was back in Milwaukee that way. When we got to Big Mama’s house, I saw that the grass had grown into an unseemly sight. Inside the home, Vinny’s room was still a mess, and the front room was still disorganized from the time the paramedics rushed in. After Vinny had died, I didn’t do much here at all except lock up the house. I couldn’t stand being there for much longer than I had to, knowing that three of the four people who lived in this house had all died within the last two years.
I stood in the living room, reminiscing on all the times I shared with them while we all lived here. The first time I snapped on Uncle Stew when he came home to check on Big Mama. I threatened him, saying if he was still strung out and any of Big Mama’s stuff ended up missing that I was going to beat the shit out of him. He laughed and told me not to worry, and he was right. If it wasn’t for my dumb ass mistake, maybe he would still be here right now. I saw Vinny on the couch playing video games, getting pissed off whenever he lost to the computer, “Man, Lyric, I can’t stand this bullshit! This muthafuckin’ game is cheating like a bitch, on everything! Fuckin’ bullshit!” I laughed at how angry he would get while playing his games. Junie was the same way, though. Maybe it was just a guy thing because he was known to shatter his video game controllers into walls whenever things weren’t going his way. Malley nudged me on my shoulder,
