It's Like Candy (32 page)

As Dynasty talked to Starr, her tone was gloomy, even hurt. For her it was too late, and she felt there was nothing more for her. So she tried to advise and help Starr, make sure she didn't end up making the same mistakes she had when she was young.

“Yo, Dynasty—bitch, come here!” she heard Rome shout.

Dynasty stood up and quickly went to see what her daddy wanted. Starr continued to sit at the edge of the bed, thinking about what Dynasty had told her. Starr didn't want to end up like her.

Starr abruptly heard Rome yelling at Dynasty from the kitchen, and then Dynasty let out a loud shriek. She went over to the door and looked over at Rome choking Dynasty, with her robe on the floor. Dynasty was in tears as she gazed at Rome with fear in her eyes. Starr wondered what was Rome's beef with her now. It seemed as if Dynasty had had to walk on eggshells around Rome the past few weeks.

Rome glared at Starr, and shouted, “Bitch, mind your fuckin' business. Get your ass back in that bedroom before you make me upset, too!”

Starr obeyed his orders and quickly went back into the bedroom and shut the door behind her. She continued to hear Dynasty's terrifying cries as Rome beat her.

Reality walked into the apartment with another man and stumbled on Rome reprimanding one of his bitches. Reality watched Rome assault Dynasty for a few seconds, and then said, “Rome, we need to talk.”

Rome stopped, looked at Reality, and asked, “About what?”

“They found Royal,” he said.

“What?”

“They found her naked and dead in Baisley Park last night,” Reality informed him.

Rome's tight grip around Dynasty loosened, shocked by the sudden news of one of his best girls murdered. He wasn't sad, he was furious. They murdered Royal, who was always coming to him with her money correct. Royal had been with Rome's camp for eighteen months and that was his product that they took away from him.

“Get the fuck out my face, Dynasty!” Rome said loudly, clearly upset.

Dynasty moved from his sight quickly with tears in her eyes. But they weren't tears of pain that Rome inflicted on her earlier, they were about hearing that her friend Royal was murdered.

“Yo, Reality, soldier up. I'm ‘bout to be on some extermination shit wit' this niggah Yung Slim,” Rome barked.

Dynasty ran crying into the bedroom where Starr sat, her bottom lip trickling blood, her right eye slightly bruised, and naked again.

“Dynasty, you okay?” Starr asked.

Dynasty looked at Starr and proclaimed the depressing news that Reality had relayed to Rome. “They found Royal, she's dead,” Dynasty cried out.

Starr cupped her hand over her mouth, shocked by what she just heard. “Royal?”

“Yeah. They found her naked in Baisley Park last night,” she informed Starr.

“Ohmygod,” Starr cried out.

A short while later, Reality walked into the bedroom and instructed the two girls to get dressed. Even though they had suffered a loss in the crew, money still needed to be made. Both girls felt reluctant to turn tricks after hearing about their girl Royal being murdered. But the men didn't care. Now that they were short one girl, that just meant all the other hoes had to step their game up even more to cover Royal's share.

At that moment Starr knew she needed to get out of the game.

Eric quickly pulled up to his uncles's house
and dashed up the steps. He was very upset about Rahmel's death. He knew his cousin had set up the hit. He wanted revenge, but felt conflicted. Rahmel was his boy from way back, though. He banged on the door, and Uncle Pumpkin answered with an irate look on his face.

“Boy, you crazy, knockin' on my door like you the police or something,” his uncle barked.

“Where is she?” Eric asked, hurrying by him and into the house.

“She's upstairs in one of the bedrooms,” his uncle said.

Eric ran upstairs to see River. She was lying in bed, watching TV in some sweats and a T-shirt.

“Baby, pack your shit, I'm gettin' you out of here,” Eric said.

River looked surprised, and asked, “Why?”

“I can't explain to you, but something terrible just went down, and you need to bounce while I handle things.”

“Eric, calm down. I can't leave yet. I still have business here in Queens,” she explained.

“It's too dangerous here for you, for everyone. You still have that three-eighty, right?” he replied.

River nodded.

“Good, keep that wit' you at all times,” he told her.

“Eric, you're scaring me. What you about to do?” River nervously asked.

Eric stared at River, knowing it wasn't wise to tell her the truth. The sudden death of both his friends, back to back, put him in a zone, and Eric honestly didn't know what he was capable of doing.

“Become more like my father, if I need to, to survive out here,” he finally admitted.

“So you gonna become a murderer like you father?” Pumpkin asked, coming up the stairs.

“Uncle Pumpkin, they just murdered Rahmel and his wife. He's dead!” Eric cried out.

“Damn!” Pumpkin said, his face sad.

“Russell is trippin', he's on some other shit right now, there ain't no talkin' sense to him, Uncle Pumpkin. And he's at war wit' Rome,” Eric said.

“Baby, I'm with you,” River said. “But before I leave, I need to find my baby sister. I know she's still alive and close. I can feel her in my heart.”

Eric sighed.

“You're not built for this game, Eric. You're not like your father, or your cousins. You have a heart. You're smart. You still have a chance to do right with your life. I'm sorry about your friends, but there's nothing you can do for them now. You can't go up against Russell or Rome,” Pumpkin explained.

“I just can't take this shit anymore, Uncle Pumpkin. Ever since Russell got out, it's been hell.”

“That boy will always be the devil,” Pumpkin proclaimed. “But don't go crazy on me, boy. Keep a level head. You gotta start thinkin' straight.”

“I know, Uncle Pumpkin.”

“How much money you got on you right now?”

“About thirty grand. But I can get more by tomorrow night. I got a deal set up,” Eric informed him.

“This is what you continue to do, keep a low profile, act like you don't know about anything. Do not go out and get revenge for both of your friends' murders. You have a beautiful woman by your side, boy. We gotten a chance to talk while you were out running your errands, and y'all do look good together. She's got a good head on her shoulder. She told me everything.”

“Everything?” Eric inquired.

“Everything about how y'all met. She's real, Eric. And there aren't too many women out there that will come clean like she did. It's a bold and risky move, but she's real,” Pumpkin said. “Now you make your deal, and be careful about it. You got so many snakes in the grass that you can't trust anybody. And when you do, you leave town with her, and don't come back. Sooner or later, everything's gonna work itself out, and when it does, you don't need to be around for that, Eric. Take River and run. Start a new life together.”

River stood in the background listening. She liked his uncle, he was so cool, street smart, and down-to-earth.

“I told your father the same thing once, when everything started boiling over. But he wouldn't listen to me. I told him to take you and his wife and leave town, but he was arrogant and wouldn't listen to me. Your father never ran from anything or anyone,” Pumpkin informed him. “That's what got him killed that day.”

Eric stood, listening to his uncle speak about his father. The day he saw his father murdered was still fresh in his mind—the blood and the screams.

Pumpkin continued, “Eric, I don't ever want to see you go out like your father. And you're not a killer. You can start a new and better generation for this family. We have this black cloud over our names about being gangsters and killers. You can change that by taking
your woman and raising a family far from this. Look at your cousin Francine, follow in her footsteps.”

Eric understood where his uncle was coming from. And he wanted a change too. He'd wanted out a long time ago.

“I understand you, Uncle Pumpkin,” Eric replied.

Suddenly his cell phone went off, it was his Brooklyn connection. He talked for a few minutes, hung up, and then said to River and his uncle, “I gotta go handle this deal. I promise you, Uncle Pumpkin, it's my last. I'm out. I'm done wit' the game.”

Pumpkin smiled and gave his nephew a hug. “Thank you for listening. You have a chance.”

River went up to him and embraced him passionately. She gave him a deep kiss, and said, “Remember when I told you I have faith. I know this is meant to be, for us to have a better life. We were both meant to meet, even though it was under such critical circumstances. But I believe God brought us together for a reason. And I know He will not take you away from me so soon.”

“I'm coming back,” Eric promised her.

They hugged and kissed one last time, and River followed him to the door.

“You still strap?” his uncle asked.

Eric nodded.

“Only use it if you're in a life-or-death situation,” Pumpkin said.

Eric nodded.

He walked outside, but he was unaware of the eyes that were glued to him. Twinkie sat alone parked a few cars down, staking out the house. Meanwhile, Critter was parked across the street in a tinted Honda Accord, trying to observe his friend's movements. He wanted to know what Eric was hiding and he soon found out when he saw River standing in the doorway, giving Eric a hug and kiss good-bye.

“Damn, E . . . bitches always made you weak. And you thought I
was the one that was always trippin' over some pussy,” Critter proclaimed to himself.

Critter had gone over to Eric's apartment a few times, but he was never home. So being Eric's best friend, he knew where Eric would be resting his head, knowing he was safe, and that was at his uncle's place.

Critter and Twinkie both watched Eric get into his Scion and drive off. Twinkie got on his phone and called up Red to inform him what had happened.

Critter got on his phone and called up Yung Slim. He hated to give him the news about his cousin, but he'd made a vow to Yung Slim and the crew never to keep secrets from anyone.

 

Yung slim sat at the edge of the bed
peering at the wall, being deep in his thoughts, with a cigarette in his hand. He had his cousin on his mind. He was naked in room 425 at the Holiday Inn. The pussy was still the same, even better. They spent the night together, rekindling their affair.

Yung Slim turned around and looked down at the naked parole officer Karen as she still slept. They'd been fucking a few weeks after he got out, and Yung Slim loved her because she took it in the ass, swallowed his kids and everything. Too bad she was now his parole officer. If it hadn't been for his wifey, Sherry, Yung Slim would have married Karen.

But Karen/Meeka was already married, and, he found out, to a fellow parole officer. He smirked, knowing her husband put the ring on her finger but her heart and pussy still belonged to him.

As he sat smoking a cigarette and peering at the wall, he heard his cell phone go off on the table. He got up and checked the call. It was Critter.

“What up?”

“Slim, I don't know what to say to you . . . but your cousin is resting his head over at your uncle's crib,” Critter informed him.

“And?”

“And he got that bitch that had him set up stayin' over there, too,” he went on.

“My fuckin' cousin is a joke sometimes,” Slim exclaimed.

“But yo, I think he's being watched,” Critter added.

“Why?”

“I peeped this Maxima parked in front of his crib fo' a minute. I don't know if it's her peoples or five-0.

“Ayyite, I'm ‘bout to come out there. I need to have a one-on-one talk wit' my uncle anyway,” Yung Slim said.

“You want me to stay parked?”

“Yeah.”

Yung Slim hung up and walked back over to the bed. Karen was just beginning to wake. She peered up at Yung Slim and smiled.

“What time is it?” she asked in a drowsy voice.

“Time to get that naked ass up and do a niggah right,” Yung Slim joked.

Karen smiled up at him, reminiscing about last night. He had a big dick and knew how to make her come all over the place.

“You know if the job ever found out I was fuckin' you, it would be over for me,” she said.

“That's ayyite,'cuz you know I would take care of you.”

He rubbed her legs as he stared at her.

“Listen, baby . . . I need a favor from you again,” he said.

“A favor like what?” she asked, rising up.

“Information about a few individuals that need to be taken care of,” he mentioned.

“I'm listening.”

“There's five grand for you, if you can do this for me,” he continued.

Karen looked hesitant at first, but returned Yung Slim's gaze, and said, “Murder?”

“You don't need to know all that. All you need to know is I'm payin' you healthy for the information you attain for me.”

“You got names?”

“Rome and Reality.”

Karen nodded. “I got you.”

“That's my bitch,” Yung Slim said as he climbed on top of her.

Karen positioned herself on her back again, opening her legs, and allowed him to enter as she let out a moan, feeling his hard dick opening her up. She was still in love with him, and even though she worked in law enforcement and was married to another parole officer, that street was still inside of her. She loved the thrill and excitement Yung Slim aroused in her. She'd hidden her feelings for thugs and the streets behind a badge for so long, and it took Yung Slim to bring the hood out of her again.