The Golden Hustla Read online

  “Are you sure you can trust this Akil guy to do the pickup?” Rochelle asked him.

  “Yeah, he straight. I told you already, he got connections to them muthafuckas. Plus, don’t forget, I’ll be with him the whole time.”

  “All right, it’s your call. Keep an eye on my little man and I’ll be right back.”

  “I got him.” He watched her as she disappeared into the house. Looking over at Raymond as he filled up a sand bucket, his thoughts went to his own children. After this, they will not want for nothing. I wish I could see Rinaldo’s face when he realizes that I used his wife to get his money. Just the thought caused him to chuckle aloud.

  “When do I get the privilege of seeing you again?” Rochelle sauntered down the front porch steps and placed a manila envelope in his hands. She wished she could take him in the house at that very moment.

  “Combination, keys and addresses?” Shawn asked as his face was buried inside the envelope. He was more concerned with the matter at hand than her flirting.

  “Everything’s there.”

  He then looked up at her and said, “As soon as me and ole boy get back I’ll call you.” He turned and jumped into his ride and pulled off. Leaving Rochelle hoping that she was doing the right thing.

  Nina turned into the shopping center on Flat Soals when she spotted them. Her brow furrowed. She was confused. In fact she was very confused. She pulled up next to a van and watched Petra the bank manager as Cream opened and held the door for her. They were getting into her silver Jag. Where was Cream’s truck? That bitch! That sneaky-ass bitch! They’re both in on this shit. Stealing her money.

  Nina’s pride was flattened. The only way she was able to hold her head high was to tell herself that at least he wasn’t driving the chick around in the truck that she got for him. She watched as the Jag left the parking lot and then noticed Cream’s truck parked off to the side. It was stashed away, as if he knew he wouldn’t be back anytime soon to get it.

  Muthafucka! “He got me fucked up,” Nina gritted out loud.

  Nina sat there and tried to figure out what was going on and how long was it going on. She and Rick came to the conclusion that Cream was working with somebody but mostly himself. This plot was definitely thickening. Cream and WMM. Cream and her banker. Cream and the record label. Cream landing in Georgia… of all places. Who was he? What was he? She honestly didn’t know. But one thing she did know was she was not going to take this lying down. “Y’all got me fucked up!” Nina spat as she called Tony.

  “Yyello!” Tony answered in his signature greeting.

  “Tony, this is Nina from WMM.”

  “I know who you are. How’s it going? You ready to make a trade already? Or add something new? I swear, I need to be working for Rinaldo.” He started laughing.

  “Neither. I have to downsize. Sales are rough. I will no longer be able to pay for a truck that I’m not even driving.”

  “I see.” Tony knew that she got the truck for her boyfriend. “You want to put him into something less expensive? Something smaller?” Tony was a salesman. He never took no for an answer and especially not the first time around.

  “Hell no! If you want your truck, I suggest you come and get it right now, or you might not never get it. I’m not paying on it anymore.”

  “Say no more. I understand.”

  Nina told him where she was and hung up. She started up her ride and drove over to Cream’s truck and parked. She popped her trunk, got out and went to clean out the truck. She unlocked the truck with her remote and got in on the passenger side, where she opened up the glove compartment and took everything out, including the two blunts. She checked under the seats and found almost ninety dollars, some chick named Donna Halsey’s welfare ID and some coke. She took the ID but left the coke for Tony. She was sure he would enjoy that. The pockets behind the seats had baby toys, flyers of his upcoming show and another blunt. She disconnected the DVD player and took out all four flat screens. They were hers. She took everything she gathered so far and put them into her trunk. She then went to the back of the truck and opened up the rear doors. She unzipped the gray duffel bag. There was a change of clothes, condoms, DVDs, CDs and more condoms. There were two boxes, a briefcase and a small travel bag. Nina opened the two boxes. They were full of CDs and more DVDs. She put them in her trunk.

  When she came back she stood staring at the briefcase. She tried to open it but it was locked. She picked it up and shook it. She placed her ear close to it and shook it again. It was light and there was light movement. It felt like money or papers. My fuckin’ money. She snatched up the travel bag and stacks of small cassettes fell out. She picked one up. WMM. The briefcase fell to the ground. She examined another one. WMM. And another one. They all had WMM written across them. Nina’s heart rate sped up. She quickly put all of the cassettes back in the travel case and slammed the doors. She picked up the briefcase and decided that her mission was done here. Everything happens for a reason. It was no coincidence that she made a U-turn and came to the bank. Placing the briefcase and travel case in her trunk, she decided to put the key under the mat. Akil aka Cream and this truck was a closed chapter in her life.

  She was embarrassed to have to call the locksmith… again. His number was saved in her cell phone. But hey, even a fool can eventually come to his or her senses. After she spoke to the locksmith, she sat drumming her fingertips on the steering wheel. She called Rick.

  “Hey, baby. You all right?” Rick answered.

  “I need to see you. I need to talk to you and I need you to check out some things.” She was talking about the tapes.

  “Actually I was just getting ready to call you. You free to hang out tonight?”

  “Hang out where? You mean while you do your police work?” She frowned.

  Rick laughed. And his laugh felt as if a warm blanket was wrapping around her. She liked that feeling and wanted more of it. He was too sexy to be a man of the law.

  “Naw, baby. I gotta run to New York for an engagement.”

  “New York?” She lit up.

  “Yeah, New York. The City. The Big Apple? It’s Friday. You want to talk to me tonight or would you rather wait until I came back? I was hoping that you would hang out with me.”

  Nina began to stammer. “New York… I… when… umm.” She wasn’t ready to go north. At least she didn’t think so.

  He picked up on her hesitation. “All we gonna do is fly over and catch a red-eye back. I got you. Get yourself together. I’ll be over there in a couple of hours.” He hung up, leaving Nina stuck on stupid. But only for a minute. She called the locksmith and told him to hurry up and made sure that he knew to change all of the locks, including the garage door and to put a new lock on the basement window.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  FLAMES

  Rick pulled up exactly two hours later. Nina stood staring at him out of her front door window. His dreads were pulled back in a neat ponytail, he had on baggy jeans, a white tee, a black leather jacket and what looked like some black timbs. He had a huge diamond-encrusted eagle hanging around his neck.

  He came up the front porch and their eyes locked. They stood there for a minute just staring at one another.

  “You coming out or what?” he mouthed through the window separating them.

  Nina opened the door. “Were you just thinking about her? I want to know because you stare at me as if you’ve just seen a ghost. What’s her name?”

  Rick smiled. “What? If I don’t tell you, you’re not coming with me?”

  “I didn’t say that. I just want to know.”

  “Her name was Kyra. I told you y’all don’t look alike, but y’all have the same mannerisms, spirit and build. She was murdered.”

  Nina gasped. “Murdered? Damn! Were you in love with her?”

  “Yeah. I was.”

  Nina locked the door, feeling a little jealous as she followed behind Rick down the stairs.

  By the time they landed at JFK Nina felt as if she
had just been born again. The first thing she did was go into a bathroom and cry. Since the death of Michelle she had no one to talk to. No one to share her thoughts with. No one to give a damn about her. Now here was Rick. She had just unloaded everything off her mind onto him. During the entire two-hour-and-fifteen-minute plane ride, Nina talked. She started with telling Rick her entire history with Cream all the way up until today with him stealing her money out of the bank, to her giving the truck back and the tapes that were labeled WMM. She told him all about her and Supreme’s relationship, the relationship with her mother and oldest brother. She even went as far back as the jacking of the girl named Canada and her mother, which led to her brother getting killed. She told him about Reese and Wicked. She told him about the murder of her client’s nephew. And throwing caution to the wind, she even told Rick about the night she became a murderer. There. It was all off her chest. Whatever was going to happen next, she would leave it up to him. She felt safe with him. She trusted him. Trusted him with her life and knew from her past relationships she was taking a huge chance but she did not care. She was going for broke.

  After she dried her eyes, she came out of the bathroom. Rick was standing there waiting. He had stopped by Nathan’s and bought them some cheese fries and lemonade. “We gotta roll or we are going to be late.” And he started walking.

  Nina practically had to skip to keep up with him. “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.”

  When they got outside, Rick hailed a taxi and they got in. Nina was back up north. New York, New York. Her heart smiled.

  They turned onto a narrow dark street and pulled up in front of a club on East Third Street called Verses. It was starting to drizzle. Groups of people were scurrying down the block. People were walking their dogs as they pulled up their collars as if it would protect them from the drops. There were several people standing out front smoking cigarettes, dro and talking. They had formed a line to get into the club. Rick and Nina were standing behind this tall light-skinned dude who looked to be about six-foot-five and he was holding a drum.

  “Sooooo… we are here to watch a band?” Nina questioned.

  “No, this is open-mic night.”

  “Open-mic… meaning?”

  “Meaning, poets get on stage and do their thing.”

  “Oh. I see.” Nina frowned. “You came all the way to New York just to watch some poets?”

  “A good friend of mine, Helena, runs the show. And don’t tell me you’ve never experienced an open-mic session?”

  Embarrassed, Nina said, “No.”

  “Well, I’m glad to be your first.” He grabbed her hand and led her inside. The place was small and cozy. Behind the bar an older Latino guy nodded at Rick and Rick gave him twenty dollars for them to come in. To their left was a partition housing a DJ booth. The DJ in the back was mixing some neo-soul sounds.

  Rick led her to the front of the room and pulled her chair out for her. He told her he would be right back and then disappeared. Nina looked around and checked out her surroundings. The place was simple with high ceilings, an upstairs and a stage. People were now rushing through the entrance. She spotted Rick talking to a brown-skinned woman with dreads. He was holding two bottles of Corona. Nina took a minute and closed her eyes. She was so glad she called him. He was her salvation. Her new knight in shining armor.

  “Hey. You all right?” Nina opened her eyes to find Rick and the brown-skinned woman were right up on her. He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek and whispered in her ear, “You all right? You want to leave?”

  “I’m fine. I was just thinking. Thanks for asking.”

  “Just checking. I want you to meet a good friend of mine.” He turned to Helena. “Helena, this is Nina. Nina, this is Helena.”

  “Heyyyyyyy, gurrl!” Helena said in a high-pitched screech and she leaned over and gave Nina a big warm hug, filling her with surprise.

  Nina couldn’t help but smile. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Gurll, you are in good hands tonight! Anything you want, let me know. I am so glad to see Rick. You are in for a treat. Rick, I’ll see you in a few.” And just like that she was gone.

  “She’s a live one, isn’t she?” Rick asked Nina.

  “Yes, she is.”

  “Here. I brought you something to loosen you up.”

  “What, you trying to say I’m stiff?” Nina eyed him, daring him to say yes.

  He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “I just want you to relax and enjoy yourself. Leave the state of Georgia behind. Can you do that for me?”

  Nina thought about it for a few seconds and said, “Yeah, I can do that.”

  “Good.”

  “What about you? Can you do it? Leave Georgia behind?” She returned his question.

  “I’m a pro at it. I do it all of the time.”

  Nina took a sip of her Corona. She wasn’t a beer drinker but hey. She was stepping outside her comfort zone tonight. She looked around and the place was now packed. Packed with people of all ages, colors and genders. Helena was moving swiftly down the aisle and jumped on stage. A bright spotlight went on her and the music was lowered.

  “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Helena Lewis and welcome to Verses.” Everyone clapped and whistled vigorously. “I am your host for tonight and, boy, do I have some treats and surprises for you. To name a few, we got Jamaal St. John in the building!” The crowd went wild. “We got Sean360!” The crowd went wilder. “And ladies and gentlemen, we have… the one… the only, in the building tonight, Fiyah!”

  The adrenaline rush of the crowd coursed through Nina’s veins. She was pumped up and ready for the show to get started. She had never heard of none of these poets. The first poet that went up was a scrawny, white dude. He talked about the year 2012 and how we need to get prepared. The next poet, Saleh, got up and did a piece on gang violence and how the violence killed a mother of two small children. Nina enjoyed that one. A tall poet/model by the name of Sean360 got up and he had introduced his band. They were awesome. Then Helena called up who Helena was overly hyped about… Fiyah. Nina gasped as Rick got up and walked to the stage.

  “Good evening, everybody. This poem, along with feeling that sexy lady right there with the white blouse, has helped me get through a real tough loss and also rejuvenated my spirit,” Rick confessed as he waited for the applause to subside.

  Rick stood back, took a deep breath, and locked his gaze on Nina. At that very moment it was only the two of them in the room.

  Flames

  A married woman should be every man’s taboo but every time I saw her she gave me

  Flames

  Hey, pretty lady, whenever I see you all I can think is how I want to feel you,

  Taking a chance every time I take a glance at you.

  I know you belong to him, but he doesn’t deserve you

  Because, baby, I do

  And, like a moth to a flame, I could not contain my attraction to you.

  I guess it’s something about what you can’t have that makes you need it more, and then I swore to myself that I would just leave her alone.

  But, it was something about her eyes, black like onyx, white like pearl, both, deep and cool at the same time, and when she stared back at me she gave me

  Flames

  The mere sight of her ignited my soul

  Oh baby

  I want to drink from deep down inside of you.

  Watching you walk and that curve of your back

  damn

  I don’t know how to act around you.

  And when you give me that smile with that sexy attitude

  Oh baby, I know what to do with that attitude.

  I am haunted with thoughts of what is she thinking? Does she want me like I want her?

  Damn I want to penetrate your mind, so I can find a way to define this passion I’m feeling for you.

  Then one day I looked up and I was alone with you.

  The heat of her br
eath, intensity of her touch, my heart is beating like an ancient drum, awaiting the moment of deep pleasure of emergence, and then I was inside of you, I have to keep the rhythm slow so I can enjoy you, each stroke was paradise born. Wrapped in her angelic embrace, watching the pleasure on her face, wanting that night to be my forever.

  And, that night, she made me a man.

  Because she fucked me from the tip of my toes to the palm of my hand, and now that hand that used to open full closes empty.

  And I could only envy God, because he felt he needed you more than me.

  And like a dove you floated in my life, and then out, I lost the bout with fate, damn karma is a bitch,

  Because now I don’t see you, and I can’t breathe, I wake up thinking was she a dream? Was she real? Or was she too unreal for reality, or maybe she became my fallacy of guilty pleasure that one day all went up in

  Flames

  But then I looked up one day and saw you, and you remind me of a perfect replica of her, and don’t mistake the gaze, I’m not trying to replace you for her, just trying to find someone who can be adjacent to her.

  And my heart aches and mourns, because I know one day I will feel fire but never again will I feel

  Flames

  Be my air, Nina. Help me breathe.

  “Thank you.”

  The crowd erupted. Nina’s face was flushed. Rick walked off the stage and held out his hand for Nina. They stared in each other’s eyes as Helena took the stage. “Let’s hear it for Fiyah!” The crowd erupted once again.

  Rick blew Helena a kiss. He took Nina by the hand, pulled her up and they left the club.

  Neither of them spoke as they held hands while walking up the narrow block. Rick was trying to hail a taxi. Everyone was trying to go somewhere and in a hurry. It would have been impossible to imagine that Rick was going to pull that off tonight. He was one giant surprise. Finally a cab stopped. Rick took a moment and asked Nina, “So you still think I set you up?”