Secrets of a Side Bitch 2 (5 page)

“Wha
d up, Capone?”

I took Capone
’s call in the front yard of Erica’s crib. The living room was thick with conversation about relationships, marriages, and babies. Simone was all too involved with the conversation and was way too eager to involve me, so I was happy to have a reason to get the fuck out of there.

It
’s not like I didn’t want to marry Simone. It’s not like I didn’t want another baby eventually. But Simone had always been very pressed on both issues. She went from finally being my woman to picking out wedding rings in the blink of an eye. I wasn’t ready for either. I was finally getting my life back on track. I was finally able to look at my baby and not burst into tears with thoughts of Aeysha. I was finally able to fuck Simone without feeling guilty.

A baby and marriage was
nowhere in the cards anytime soon.

“Got some bad news for you.”

“Talk to me.”

I braced myself. Capone
’s bad news could only be one of two things, both having to do with work. Anything to do with my drugs and bad news had a lot to do with either the police or a nigga robbing us.

“Ching
’s case got dropped.”

But
I was never expecting that.

“
THE FUCK
?!”

“I know, man.”

“Are you sure?!” Spit was flying from my mouth and my jaws clinched with fury as I spoke through gritted teeth.

“I swear. That nigga is home. Case
was dropped yesterday on a technicality. No body and not enough evidence.”

This couldn
’t be real. As I ended the call, sorrow took over me like the day I saw Aeysha’s heart stop beating. I knew that Ching was in jail for killing Ron, but, because he was in jail, I felt like God was making a way for him to pay for Aeysha’s death too. Those bars rescued him from my wrath. Those bars were his protection. Now on the other side of those bars, it was my duty to kill this nigga. No, I wasn’t a street nigga. Capone had to spend months showing me the ropes on this drug shit. But I didn’t need him to show me how to be a cold-hearted killer. Every time I thought about Ayesha being taken from me by anyone’s hands but God’s, being a killa was an instant persona that consumed the blood that flowed through me.

Two days later, I was in my living room ready to make Ching pay for killing Aeysha.

“You know if we do this, you
’re starting a war, right?”

I looked at Capone peculiarly.
“
We
?”

Sarcastically, Capone laughed while licking the swis
her that he’d just finished rolling full of the best loud we’d put on the streets since we set up camp on the South Side.

After successfully licking the swisher closed airtight, he told me, “Yea,
we
. You think I’m gon’ let you do this shit by yourself?”

I smiled on the inside. No matter how young Capone was, he had
been loyal than a motherfucka since we linked up.

Since copping from Ching
’s connect three months ago, Capone and I had successfully set up a trap house over east on Seventy-Ninth Street. We were flipping about three bricks a week. Mollies sold like crazy. In that three months, I was able to give Simone back the money she loaned me to cop. That was the first thing on my to-do list. Now, I was back to the regularly scheduled program; living, shopping, taking care of my family, and paying off mom’s crib.

Though Capone
certainly put in more work in the streets since he was more knowledgeable, he treated me more like his boss then his partner. I guess because I was older than him and put in more bread than him, he gave me that respect.

“Besides, I think Ching foul as hell. He went too far.”

Capone looked at me cautiously. He knew that the subject of conversation was super sensitive for me. Just referring to Ching killing Aeysha set me off. But this kind of conversation was different. I was rectifying the situation, not mourning it.

“I
’m riding with you all the way, homie. But are you sure?”

It was no question. Ching had fucked up my entire life, and even my daughter
’s. Yes, I was still living, but I was a shell of the man that I once was. I was raising my daughter and living life, but it was all in a daze. All of my unconditional happiness for life was buried with Aeysha. I made good money. I had a beautiful daughter and a loyal woman. But none of that was able to fill a void that I walked around with every day.

If I had to live with this feeling of death every day
, then it was only fair that the motherfuckas responsible for it felt it too.

“It
’s no question.”

Capone sat back and pulled on the blunt. He stared into the air as if he was letting this all sink in. It was definitely something to
meditate on. We were about to go to war with the man we used to work for, with the man that raised both of us.

“Just Ching?”

“Smoke, Black, and Bert too. Ching was in jail when Aeysha got killed, so he had to have one of them niggas do it.”

A noise
could be heard in the hallway before Capone could respond. We quickly quieted our scheming until the coast was clear.

Eventually, the rumbling in the hallway stopped, but Capone still leaned in and spoke in a much lower tone.
“So how we gon’ do this? You just trying to pop these niggas or what? They can’t be hard to find.”

“No. When I say war, I mean war. I
’m going through they spots and taking shit. I’m causing a drought. I’m shooting up blocks…
Then
I’m killing them niggas.”

I was pissed. Both Tre and Omari could kiss my ass with their undying devotion to these hoes.

My fingers pounded on the keyboard like stiletto heels on pavement. I was livid. I typed Tre a lengthy email full of hatred towards his smug ass, his “precious wife
”, and their bound to be funny looking bundle of joy.

Further irritation began to make my blood boil as Chance continuously blew my phone up
, as he had been doing for the past few days. He was getting restless. I figured it was time to do something.

Just as I clicked the send button in the
Gmail window, I heard the ADT system chirp, signaling that the front door was opening. I broke my neck to leave the computer desk in the office and get to the window. Sure enough, Capone was leaving.

I marched out of the office and down the hallway. Rage was
flowing from me so much that my skin felt hot with anger.

This was never going to end. He was always going to love Aeysha. She would always be a
permanent fixture in our relationship.

“So, you
’re willing to go to jail for her?”

My words shocked Omari, who was sitting coolly on the couch clicking through the Comcast channels.

“What are you talking about?”

“Ching!
You’re about to kill him, Omari! Are you serious?!”

Instead of anger, I showed him hurt. I showed him a distraught woman that was tired of playing second to a woman that wasn
’t even there anymore.

With tears in my eyes, I stood in the entryway of the living room portraying a broken heart
rather than a vengeful killer. “You’re willing to kill Ching and end up in jail for the rest of your life?! What about me and Dahlia?! What are we suppose to do? What if his boys try to retaliate and kill you? What if I end up like Aeysha?! Did you think about that?!”

His heart went out to my tears. He stood from the couch and walked towards me as I stood in the entryway wiping away my distressed tears that were cloudy with
Estee Lauder foundation.

When he tried to put his arms around me, I smacked his arms away.

“No! Tell me that you aren’t going to kill him. Promise me!”

He didn
’t promise me. As a matter of fact, he didn’t say anything. He just stood there, slipping his hands into the pockets of his True Religion jeans, and giving me the same disdain look that he gave me back when he told me that he was never leaving Aeysha.

“You
’re so worried about avenging her death, but what about me?! What about me as I raise your daughter and hold you down? WHAT ABOUT ME?!”

Anger sent me flying back down the hallway, stomping like a heavy woman. On the inside, I scolded myself for not being better, for not being good enough to take his mind
off of her. But on the outside I cried sad and sorrowful tears.

Omari
came after me. He entered the office right after me and put his arms around me.

Omari kissed my cheek. When his lips left my face, they were wet with my tears.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he told me as he wiped my face with the palm of his hands. “I was with her seven years though. That’s the mother of my child. I can’t let him get away with it. I can’t look at Dahlia every day knowing that I didn’t do shit about her mother’s murder. I would do the same for you.”

After calling Simone
’s cell with no answer for days, there was finally a knock on my motel room door.

I figured it was
her. She was the only person that knew what room number I was in. I’d given it to her a few days ago when she was suppose to be bringing me some bread.

My cash was dwindling fast.
Soon, I wouldn’t be able to afford to pay for the shitty hotel that I was staying in. I had barely eaten anything that day. I had even resorted to looking for a job because things were getting so tight.

We had to do something. I was in this
predicament strictly because of Simone and she was gone fix this shit.

When I opened the door, this bitch had the nerve to smile at me. I couldn
’t believe the size balls this bitch had. It was crazy how just last year, I was drooling over her, ready to kill and did kill for her, and now, when I laid eyes on her, I questioned her sanity.

She had to be crazy to think that there was anything to smile
about.

I turned around and left her standing in the doorway.

“Urgh. Well, hello to you too, Chance.”

This was my first time seeing her since the day I left for Minnesota. She
’d changed in ways that money could only help somebody change. Her hair was expensive. Her clothes were luxury. I recognized the Lexus keys and new body.

“Murder looks damn good on you.”
She stood leaning against the desk as I sat on the bed. She had the nerve to give me this flirtatious smile. It was the same smile that I use to fall for.

“You got some money?”

She looked hurt that I got straight to the point.

“Chance.”
She was sweetly singing my name in a flirtatious moan as she switched towards me. Then Simone sat beside me on the bed; immediately laying her soft hands on my exposed leg. She pushed my basketball shorts up until my dick fell out of them.

“Naw.”
I shook my head and immediately pushed her away. That was the bullshit she’d done to sway me in the first place; grabbing  my dick, holding me, and touching me like she was going to eventually give me the pussy. “Don’t try to play me, man!!”

“Chance, calm down.”

Anger consumed me so much that I jumped to my feet. “Naw, fuck that! I’m starving, man. I’m out here in these streets with nothing while you driving clean and rocking fucking Gucci bags!” I smacked her purse so hard that it fell off of the coffee table and onto the floor. “Stop playing with me! I killed that…”

“Shut up!” Suddenly, Simone looked possessed. She jumped to her feet and stood staring me face to face. Her eyes popp
ed out of her head and her jaws clenched. She was no longer the sweet chick willing to fuck me. She was the vicious bitch that planned a murder with me. That’s the bitch I wanted to see  because that’s the bitch that owed me, more than money, but her life, cause I put mine on the line for her.

“Be quiet
before somebody hears you! These damn walls are thin as paper.”

I slowed down. I didn
’t want to piss her off so bad that she went home without giving me some money. I eased up. I played her role. I played it phony. “What am I suppose to do, Simone? I’m broke.”

After picking up her purse from the floor, she reached in it and handed me an envelope.

“How much is this?”

She nonchalantly replied, “A thousand dollars.”

My heart sank. With disgust, I threw the envelope on the bed. “I can’t live off of this.”

“What do you expect me to do? I gave you twenty-five thousand dollars, Chance!”

“Them niggas stole my shit!” I was damn near in tears. I couldn’t do shit with a grand but live for another month.

I was straight.
Before I killed Aeysha, I was good. Though I was broke and unhappy in transitional housing, I had a free roof over my head that I stupidly gave away because this bitch promised me twenty-five grand attached to a future with her.

“I don
’t have anything to do with that. We had a deal and I fulfilled my end of the bargain.”

“Really, you didn
’t,” I told her as I walked towards her. Poking her in her chest as I pointed at her, I added, “You never came to Minnesota.”

“I had to find a job! Apparently that was a must since you couldn
’t flip twenty-five grand!”

“So that
’s it? You just gone leave me out here like this? Where am I suppose to live? I can’t even go back to transitional housing.”

“I don
’t know. I’ll think of something.”

That sounded like a lie.

I looked over her expensive attire and jewelry and knew that she had to be living somewhere comfortably.

“Why can
’t I come stay with you?”

“Chance, I wish you could. I really do. I hate seeing you in this motel,” she said frowning
in disgust as she looked around. “But we cannot be linked together in this city.”

“They aren
’t even investigating her murder.”

“The investigation is still ongoing, Chance. Whether they have any leads is a different
story.”

Simone continued to fill
the stale cigarette poisoned air with lies. As she promised me that she would fix everything, that she would help me find a job and a place to stay, I saw straight through her lies. This bitch had played me. Every second that this realization danced at the forefront of my mind, I felt stupid as hell.

She even hugged me and told me that everything would be okay
, while also saying that she had to leave. She had to leave and go get in her fancy car and go to what was most likely a nice warm crib while I sat in that motel room figuring out how the fuck I was going to eat.