Lost Boy, page 7
“Sunshine Brown...D...District Attorney!”
That’s what she wanted to hear, that’s all she wanted. That and the ninety god-damned grand and the dope she was supposed to flip. That’s all she wanted as she leaned forward and whispered softly into his ear.
“And you know this...man!” she giggled, then raised up and adjusted her pussy over his face snuggling down on his mouth. “Now...let’s see if you can get this promotion okay.”
The young college law student that interned in her office lapped up her pussy eagerly and hungrily. Now it was his chance to shine for the now moaning and convulsing 9th Circuit District Attorney of Charleston, South Carolina, and part-time hood-rat Sunshine Brown!
****
It had been a couple days and Dondi still hadn’t heard anything from Rip or Jabari. She’d been expecting them at least that next morning after they left. Maybe she thought, and the idea even pissed her off a little, that they might have taken what money they made and went tricking out of town or the country. But now it was just too long, at the rate they got high it woulda only been a couple of days at best before they bought their asses up in here.
The rent was due, the hotel owner had come to see her twice already. She gave him what little she had but it still wasn’t the rent. Her mind wasn’t too bent on tricking, she wanted to stay close just in case they came back with money or even dope. She could use both right about now. She hadn’t got high in a minute and hadn’t been able to hit the streets.
That’s what cost her, she paced the small hotel room mumbling. “Just wait until they get here!”
A couple of her so-called girls came through with the occasional trick-daddy but quickly left after he got a good eyeful of Dondi. Instead of losing them to her and in fear of Dondi getting all the money, they dipped. They probably took them way across town to West of Ashley taking the back way so the trick couldn’t retrace his steps back to Dondi. She had that type of effect on men.
Something had to be done, though. She turned on the television and started flicking through the stations then heard a knock at the door. She ran to it and opened it wide. It was the hotel owner, Pasheeva or something, she could never get his name right for the hell of it. She stood in the doorway in her panties and wifebeater, bowlegged with her arms crossed.
He stood right in front of her with his hand out. “You got money?”
Her mouth dropped a little from the disappointment of seeing him and not Rip and also tired of him asking the same shit. ‘You got money...you got money...you got money?’
“Fuck him!” she mumbled to herself, then sucked her teeth and turned around walking away from him.
She rubbed her arms trying to warm them from the cool draft that rushed inside through the open doorway. Her nipples poked out causing the hotel owner to stare.
He smiled. “Look you got money...or what?”
He followed close behind her after he stepped in and closed the door. She put on a pair of jeans, squeezing into the hip-hugging garment as he continued to ogle at her body.
“No, not yet. I told you by the end of the week...” she jumped slightly as he reached for her hand pulling him close to her rubbing his groin against her ass.
“Maybe we can work something out...” he said.
At first, she pulled away slightly, then said fuck it and started to go with it.
“Hell, fuck it!” she mumbled. “If that’s all he wanted was a shot of ass then that’ll work.”
She figured he’d be easy to pull anyway. All she had to do was fuck his God damn brains out and he’d be bringing her money. She rubbed on his dick, it was getting hard as she pulled him towards her and sat down on the edge of the bed. He backed up and walked over to the window and looked out and around both ways then closed the curtains tight. He walked back over to her pulling his dick out of his pants and started stroking it in front of her face.
She looked up at him and said, “So...will this take care of it or what?”
“Sure...you give me some pussy, too!”
“That’ll work!” she grinned. “But I don’t want no shit or I’ma tell your wife.”
“No...no don’t do that. No need for that!” He grabbed the back of her head. “C’mon, just hurry!”
She started to open her mouth and she caught something that popped up on the TV in front of her. A picture that flashed on the screen caught her eye. Some sort of special report.
“Oh my, God!” she said as she held the hotel owner’s dick in her hand. She dropped it and pushed him aside.
He looked down beside. “What...what is it?” He tried shoving his dick into her mouth, but she just kept pushing it away. “C’mon...before my wife gets back!”
She paid him no mind as she focused intently on the television. He turned and caught the headlines that read:
A man identified who was shot dead. His name is Mark Brown! He was found dead in the street at Montague Street and Nesbitt Avenue in the Liberty Hill section of North Charleston a week ago. Apparently, the victim of a robbery. If you have any information on the shooting call Crime Stoppers at...”
He recognized Rip from the shoddy mugshot they showed. He looked at Dondi who was sprawled out on the bed crying. His dick started to go limp, but not without thinking that maybe he should just take the pussy. He knew that now she had no one to look after her. Rip used to be there all the time and would help her out with the rent and even put the tim down on him from time to time buying her a couple of days in back rent. He straightened up his pants and grinned there’d be plenty of time.
He walked over to the door and said, “Uh...look, I come back later on today, okay!”
She didn’t respond, she didn’t have too. It was what it was, he opened the door and left.
Dondi laid crying hysterically on the bed for a long while after, but in between the sniffles, it suddenly dawned on her. If Rip was dead, where the hell was Jabari? She rubbed her eyes wondering did he have something to do with it? He would know what happened to him or was he dead too and just not found yet? She sat up staring into the TV screen at much of nothing.
Her mind filled with so many thoughts. “What should I do? Should I claim the body? I need to find his people.”
She got up and went into the bathroom to straighten her face. She put on her best hooker outfit and ran out of the room. She knew just the place to find Jabari if he was still alive and she hoped he was. Then she’d find out exactly what happened.
On her way out, the hotel owner’s wife beckoned her inside the office. She pointed her finger at her and said, “If you do not have the rest of the money by this evening, pack your stuff. If you are not here, we will.”
Dondi peeped behind her and caught a glimpse of her husband coward behind in the back office. A red mark was visible on the right side of his face.
“He was slapped.” She snickered. “Yeah right, if that happens...we might need to talk first.” She straightened up her tight fitted top revealing her plump, mellon titties then winked at her husband. “I really don’t think you want...uh, what’s his name Pasheeva to get in any trouble. Now, do we?”
It was on, she’d play her completely out of the box. She’d run the bullshit about her husband. Tell her he used to take the pussy and eat her out. Hell, that right there would get her at least a couple of months or so of free rent.
‘Damn!’ she thought. ‘Why didn’t she think of this before?’ She zipped up her leather jacket and turned towards the door going out. “Not unless you want me to call...the cops.”
“No, we don’t want that...just go...just go!” she heard Pasheeva say from out the back room.
His wife’s brown-skinned face turned red and she looked down unhappily at the desk. At first, Dondi felt sorry for her but this was the game and besides, she really would have thrown her shit out in the street.
“Look...I’ll try to have something by the end of the week like I said.” She opened the door and as it closed behind her, she heard shouts from Pasheeva in the background. Good for his stinkin’ ass!
She stepped into the chilly, wind blowing street ass first and immediately a car stopped.
‘My first trick of the day,’ she thought.
Maybe it was some old man with his dick in one hand and money in the other. She looked up River’s Avenue towards Remount Road and figured after she was finished with him, he could take her the back way into Liberty Hill. She grabbed the car handle and bent over to get inside the vehicle.
“Oh my...” She was snatched in and the car sped off. She rubbed her eyes, not believing what she was seeing. When she finally adjusted to the reality of what was going on, she started shouting. “Fuckin’ Jabari! I thought you mighta been dead! What the hell happened to, Rip? Did you kill him...did you kill him!” Dondi started yelling, then grabbed his arm. “Why aren’t you saying anything, Jabari? Talk to me...talk to me goddamnit!” She yanked at the steering wheel and Jabari swerved avoiding a car just to his left.
They were just approaching Remount Road a busy intersection and Jabari knew five-o always sat on the corner in front of the Quickie Mart. Jabari had to quiet Dondi down quick. He pulled into the parking lot of Piggly Wiggly right next to Highway-26 around back. Dondi was still hollering and acting out and shit, but Jabari understood. Jabari knew he should’ve gotten in touch with her earlier, but he needed to find a place and gather his thoughts and lay low. He managed to catch a ride that night to Dorchester Road over near Pepper Tree Houses.
Melissa took Jabari in without questions, didn’t ask him shit about where he’d been. She just gave him some clean clothes, she’d put up from her old man. He’d just caught a bid for twenty years. She gave Jabari some quilts for a pallet and he fell out. He didn’t remember what time he’d gotten there or even he’d gone. After gathering his thoughts, he knew exactly why he’d gone there. There was no bullshittin’ it, he was in love with Melissa and would probably always be. She was his high school sweetheart. They were each other’s first loves but had gone their separate ways after school.
He got caught up in drugs and she got caught up in dope boys and three kids. Jabari still managed to see her from time-to-time. They caught eyes whenever her old man would swing by the block and drop off some work. Jabari didn’t even know he was up the road. He’d heard some things...but he really needed to talk to someone, and she was that one.
Sometime during the day, she’d woken up and asked him everything was alright. Did he need help or something? He told her that he needed to get his head together and asked if she could give him another day. She agreed, when he woke that following morning, he went to get and told her he needed to go on a run for a minute. She had just watched the news and knew something. Jabari could see it in her face. She cooked breakfast for him and told him to wait in the crib until she dropped the kids off at daycare. When she did, she hugged him tight and told him she loved him.
Then she dropped three stacks on the table and a set of car keys. Jabari felt obligated and started explaining rambling off at the mouth. Melissa shushed him, putting her fingers to his lips then planted a big wet kiss on his lips. She told him she still loved him too. Jabari helped washed the dishes then he got dressed and she walked him out to the parking lot. She pointed to a royal blue, 96 Nissan Maxima and said that all he needed was gas. Jabari smiled, gave her a hug and was waving goodbye as he turned onto Dorchester Road.
It seemed like the news was on everything he turned the radio to. Everywhere he looked, he felt watched. He gassed up the ride and felt the money burning a hole in his pocket. He wanted to get high so fuckin’ bad, but he had one thing left to do before he dipped.
“Calm the fuck down, Dondi!” Jabari yelled.
“Calm down...fuck you! Rip is dead, ‘Bari...the news said he was killed in a robbery. I thought y’all was going to just put the tim down on someone...what happened?” Buckets of tears rolled out of her now puffed up, pretty doe-like eyes and Jabari felt so fuckin’ bad. But he couldn’t tell her anything because he didn’t know nuthin’ his damn self.
“Look, Dondi! We met these dudes and we heard them out. Then, when we got to the spot to do what we had to do it all just went fucked the hell up,” Jabari tried to explain.
“What went fucked the hell up? Who did you meet?” Dondi questioned.
“I can’t tell you all that, at least not yet, trust me on this.” Jabari grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her closer. At first, she resisted then broke down in his arms. “I know it’s crazy! I wanted to come see you earlier, and let you know what it was up, but damn was hard. Rip was my friend, too. Hell, Dondi, I don’t even know where his people at!”
Dondi looked up into Jabari’s eyes. “I know...that’s fucked up! All this time together and we really didn’t even know each other. All we did was get high. Damn...” She rubbed her eyes with the cuff of her sleeve and mascara smeared her face.
Jabari reached into his jacket and pulled out a tissue wiping her eyes. “I need to get outta town for a minute so that I can get shit together. We was fucked over and I’m gonna make sure some sort of way that we get ours.”
“What happened, y’all got robbed? Tell me sumptin’!”
“Naw, we got set up.”
“By who...who did y’all go see?”
Jabari wanted to tell her something, but he knew that the police would be coming to see her. Everyone knew about Rip and her and even Jabari. It would be easier if they had just split up. Jabari couldn’t take her, and he knew she would want to come.
“I’m going in the country,” Jabari informed her.
“Where...can I go?”
“Dondi...hear me out. The cops will be coming to see you sometime today, believe that. I wouldn’t doubt it if they were already at the hotel waitin’. They gonna ask you a lot of questions and that’s exactly why I can’t tell you shit. You understand?”
She nodded her head, she finally started to come around. “The less I know...”
“Yeah, the better.” Jabari reached into his jacket and pulled out six hundred and fifty dollars. “I gotta lil’ bit of money. Take this and give it to the hotel dude so he won’t fuck with you.”
“Don’t worry I got that covered,” Dondi said winking at Jabari. She crossed her legs kind of cocky and he knew then she was already on some dumb shit.
“No, take care of the business. I don’t need his ass snooping around. Just do what you normally would do, but just nothing illegal.”
“I can’t hustle...get high?” Dondi looked at Jabari like he’d lost his mind.
Jabari grabbed his hand, deciding to go another route. He gently stroked it and with the other hand rubbed the side of her face. “Dondi...for this to go right, you got to stay straight because I need someone to watch my back. I thought that it might just be you.”
She cocked her head slightly like a little puppy and shit searching his eyes for any signs of the bullshit she was so used to encountering. “You want me to have your back.” She found none.
“That’s what’s up.”
“Okay, but I ain’t never had no one...” she smiled. “Okay, you got it!”
“Cool, so I’ma drop you off and just chill a’ight. Order Chinese or something, watch movies but know this five-o will be there soon. If they’re not already and they’ll be watching you, so be careful.”
Jabari hoped this shit wasn’t going in one ear and out the other. Jabari needed to use Dondi as his contact, but if she fucked up then he’d know they’d locked her up, trying to get whatever they could outta of her.
“I got you.” Dondi leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Be careful, Jabari.”
“I will, I’ll be in touch soon.”
“Okay.”
Jabari drove back to the hotel and dropped her off. He watched her go into the office and come back out. She was smiling so he knew she’d done the right thing. She waved and he peeled out into traffic. Jabari thought about it for a while, he finally made up his mind though. He would go someplace small where no one would know his face. Somewhere he could blend in, somewhere secluded. Summerville was the next town over, but he needed to go much further than that. Not out of the State though, he had another school mate he knew. Not too many people knew they were friends, but they were. He looked out for him one time before and no he needed to return the favor. He looked at the sign as he slowed down to get onto the highway, heading to Walterboro forty miles away.
“I knew that muthafucka would tell something. Look at his ass...punk muthafucka!” Hulie sat across the street in a cut watching as Jabari dropped Dondi off and pulled off. A grimace came across his face as he watched her go into her room. “Six-o-four yeah bitch! I’ll be seeing you real soon, real fuckin’ soon.”
He slouched down in the seat as he also watched an unmarked police car turn into the hotel parking in front of the office. Hulie picked up his cell phone. Sunshine’s number popped up damn near a hundred times. He knew he needed to call, but he had to make sure his plan was set in motion just right. Now after seeing what he needed to see, he could finally call.
“Wassup...Sunshine?”
Chapter Five
Sunshine started running water for a nice bath when she heard her cell buzzing. She tested the temperature to make sure it was right, then glanced around. She got up and found the phone buzzing underneath the sheets of her bed. She pulled back the covers and with that along with the pack of cigarettes she’d been hunting sat on the side of the bed and checked the screen.
She answered it. “It’s about fuckin’ time, Hulie!”
“Yeah, ...it’s me. Where the hell are you?” Hulie asked. “Look, uh there’s been a little...problem.”
“Problem...are you kiddin’ me, what kinda problem?”
Hulie continued to watch across the street at the hotel as the detectives got out of the car and walked into the office. “You checked out the news lately?”
“No...what the fuck does that have to do with anything?”
“Shit got fucked up...”
She reached for the remote and turned on the TV flippin’ through the channels. “What am I lookin’ for?”
