“Dam niggah, I’ve missed you so much, “ stated a quickly fading to sleep Mattie.
“I missed you too baby, “ he said softly kissing her forehead as she fell asleep. “ I missed you too.”
Two weeks passed by quickly. K was beginning to bubble his clientele and workload at a pace that he never would have predicted. He felt that it wasn’t really a good idea to lay up in a spot with Mattie and all his work at Jeff and Marcy’s house. He found a one bedroom in a nice secluded area in Wheatley Heights and moved Mattie in with him. That had been a week earlier. Now as he stood in front of James Barber Shop talking to his boy Darkside, they watched as a white Volvo with Pennsylvania tags pulled into the Jamaican food takeout joint across the street.
“Oh shit, I know that aint that niggah skulls, “Dante said to K.
“Yeah that’s that funny lookin muhfuckah,”K responded.
Dante was a wild young stick- up kid that K watched grow up and terrorize the town with his crew as a juvenile. Darkside had just come home from an up north New York State prison two days earlier.
“What up my niggahs? Like my new whip? “Skulls asked.
K and Dante knew he was fronting his ass off.
“Nah I’m frontin, that a fiend’s car but I’m getting one just like it,” said Skulls when he saw their facial expressions. They knew he was lying.
“When you get home Dante? I thought you was supposed to get out next year, “ said Skulls.
“The Parole board let me out early. I been on some chill shit. I’m trying to get some money, fuck the dumb shit. You see who I’m wit,” said Dante.
“Well you dam sure wit the right niggah. Yo K what up wit Va?” asked Skulls.
“I’m just $tackin right now. It really don’t make no sense to go OT (outta town) unless a niggah got something heavy. Feel me? What up out in Philly?”
“I aint in Philly. I’m in a spot called Allentown. That shit is poppin too. I’m tryna to cop something if you got some work. I had to come out here to see my sister Sha-sha,” said Skulls.
K had known Skulls for a long time. He knew Skulls to be one of the younger go getters to come up in the hood, and if Skulls got his mind right he could probably stack some real paper.
“Yeah I got you fam. I’m next in the chair to get a cut. After that we can go and handle that, “said K.
After K went into the Barbershop, Skulls and Dante started to chop it up.
“Yo Skulls who them chicks over there in the car? “asked Darkside when he peeped Skulls wasn’t alone.
“They just some shorty’s I brought wit me to hold my work on the way back down the highway. You know the game. Some sneakers, some trees, and some dick and some hoes will do anything, “answered Skulls laughing.
“Dam sun the bitches don’t look like no bitches around here. Themmuhfuckas is official,“said Dante.
“Oh niggah don’t get it twisted. It aint nothing but fine ass hoes out there.”
“They just love N.Y. niggahs “said Skulls.
By now the three girls that were riding with Skulls had gotten out of the car and were standing in the parking lot stretching their legs. Darkside was in scheme mode now. K had already told him he would throw him something to get on his feet when he was ready. He thought now; that he just might be ready.
“Yo Skulls, If I went back with you and took something with me, would you show me where I could get it off?” asked Darkside.
“Niggah it’s so much paper out there that I come to N.Y. every other day. It’s only a hour and fifteen minutes from the Holland Tunnel up I-78. If yo crazy ass came back with me, I would even help you get rid of yo shit first.”
The two Puerto Ricans and one slanted eye dark skinned honey made their way across the street. It was only a few cats out on the block grinding, but they were immediately aware of the outta town cutey.
“Cindy fucked up the blunt tryin to be fast yo, “Shira the dark skinned chick said to Skulls.
“That shit was stale as fuck. It wasn’t my fault, my rolling skills is tight, “responded Cindy in her defense.
“Aight aight, here. Go in the store and buy some more, “ said Skulls handing Shira a ten dollar bill of his re-up money.
They quickly went into the store, switching their asses in tight jeans loving all the attention. As soon as K came out of the Barbershop getting his cut, Darkside told him about his idea to go to PA with Skulls. As K pondered the idea two of the most crooked and shiesty uniformed patrol cops cruised by slowly ice grillin him and Dark conversing. RAT MAN and FATFACE had been accurately described by the nicknames given to them by niggahs in the hood. They were some funny looking muthafuckas, but any run-in with these two was anything but comedy. They had been known to take niggahs drugs and money, lock dudes up for drugs that wasn’t theirs, and had even gone as far as to give false testimony in cases when dudes went to trial.
They had a vendetta against K and a crew of money getting niggahs that he use to roll with called The 149 posse. This was the first time K had seen RAT and FAT since he’s been home and it made him a little uncomfortable.
“Yo lets roll out. Tell Skulls to follow us in the rental, I need to talk to you one on one,” K said to Dark.
As K was getting in the rental with Dante he noticed the chicks that were with skulls, coming out of the store headed to the Volvo.
“Damn! Them cuties is wit dat niggah Skulls? “K asked Dark.
“Yeah and he said it’s plenty more where they came from.”
After they were in the rental K thought about the real reason that he had left town going to Virginia the year before. RAT and FAT had pulled him over in his Acura Legend one night and told him that they were gonna make it their business to send him away for a long time. K took that threat seriously because he had seen them do it to a few other hustlers. So K had packed up, shut down everything, snatched up Mattie and bounced. Now when things seemed to be going well, he was faced with what he knew had the potential to be the same situation.
“I don’t know how much dough Skulls is spending, but what do you feel comfortable taking with you?” K asked Dark ready to break new ground in unfamiliar territory.
“Shit K, it don’t matter. I’m really on some money shit. Whatever you send I’m bringing back everything to the pot,” said Dark.
K wasn’t sure what was too much and what was not enough, so he sent Dark to PA with four and a half ounces. After he took care of Skulls and Dante he figured he would lay low. At the very least until RAT and FAT changed shifts. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten about them and now he had to include them in the equation of how he would maneuver.
CHAPTER 8
Mattie was vacuuming the carpet in the new apartment so she didn’t hear the banging on the front door. The fact that she was listening to SNOOP DOGG knocking through the stereo at full blast didn’t help the situation any either. The person at the front door waited until she caught a break between the songs and the vacuum had stopped. Bang bangbangbang!
“Mattie it’s me! Please open the door!” she heard a voice scream on the other side of the door.
Instinctively Mattie went and stuck her hand in the couch where they kept the home security system known as The Ripper! The Ripper was a long barrel chrome.357 magnum. Mattie’s little hands could barely fit around the rubber grip and reach the trigger, but she had been trained to go by past life experiences. She made her way to the front door of the apartment as the banging continued with the heavyweight of the chrome cannon leaning her to one side. She looked through the peephole and saw her sister Reebie standing there with a black eye and busted lip. In shock and disbelief she yanked the apartment door open.
“Who did this to you,” screamed Mattie, broken by the condition of her sister.