Frantic : An Original Novel by Dupacalypse Now!

[Duwop]

Prologue.

20 Years Ago

Sitting in the back seat of the cab Ronnie West took on last look at the picture of his 3 year old son Mikey with his mother Sharon before putting it back in his pocket to get his mind on the task at hand. Ronnie was professional heist man and has been for most of his life. From banks to jewelry store, Semi-Trucks with expensive cargo to foreign cars, there wasn’t much Ronnie felt he couldn’t pull off. He always made friends with the right people, policeman, and even a few local politicians to make sure he could operate without much pressure on his back. And this heist today was possibly one of the biggest ones he’s ever pulled.

To help him he decided to reach out to a few guys in the old neighborhood he felt he could trust. First up was Gus Briggs local tough guy. Gus’s game was mostly intimidation, muscle, a leg-breaker for the bookies. Basically a bully. Ronnie used him as a look out boy when they used to rob stores as kids, and as they got older it was Gus who suggested strong arm and eventually armed robberies. Ronnie always looking for a bigger score while Gus just liked the thrill and the potential for violence.

Up next was Jim Waters. Jimmy wasn’t much other than someone who always tagged along and did whatever Gus said. He was known as a fuck up when it came to his own affairs, and had a reputation as a coward. Jimmy was quick to pull a pistol out in an argument but never shot one person than anyone could remember. Ronnie felt he was more deadly with a pocket knife than Jimmy was with a gun. But that was Gus’ boy, so it didn’t take much convincing to get him to tag along.

With Gus and Jimmy committed, all Ronnie needed was a wheel man. He couldn’t think of anyone better than his good friend Sam Brown. Brown could drive almost anything in any situation. He wasn’t much for the violence but as a getaway driver, he was top notch. Once he was briefed on the Bank Heist and the potential of money they would all get he was down as well.


And the score was a big score. Possibly the biggest score Ronnie ever staged. It came off as your everyday Bank robbery Ronnie had some inside information about a large shipment of cash being sent to the bank that day. Some local yahoo named Marus Franklin hit the megaball lottery for $250 million and wanted it all in cash. After taxes it was well over $100 million in cash. And Ronnie had information on what bank he would be at, on what day and what time he would be getting the money. Now because this yahoo was all over TV with the giant check smiling from ear to ear, everybody in the city knew what he looked like and all the attention in the world was on him. The banks really didn’t want that kind of heat, so the plan was to have the money bagged up and ready for him hours before he even got there. So once he arrived all he had to do was sign a few papers, take a few pictures, load up his bags and be off, all under heavy police escort.

Now that might present a problem if someone was plotting to rob this guy at the bank, especially with the police around him 24/7. But what Ronnie figured out was that with all the attention on this guy, all the cops in the area were worried more about getting him to the bank safely and out of there, than watching the money before he arrived. In fact as it stood this morning, several streets were blocked off, and enough detours were set up that if someone one was bold enough to run in the bank, grab the bags of prepacked money and head in the correct direction, the police wouldn’t be able to follow or get a description of the vehicle they fled in even if they wanted. Ronnie was exactly that bold.

 

[Duwop]

Sam Brown backed up in what appeared to be a plumbers van in the ramp of a parking garage that wasn’t being used. The garage was on the other side of a subway station that stretched for two blocks right across the street from the bank. It was far enough away that no one would see it and think much of it or be caught on any bank cameras. Ronnie and Jimmy got out the cab right in front of the bank careful not to turn their heads towards the door while walking past to make sure there weren’t any surprises. Ronnie counted two cops for sure on the inside. There might be one or two more, but as long as there wasn’t any more they would be able to pull this off for sure.

Not even 30 seconds later a large group of people began to come out of the subway station and some walked into the bank while others walked past. A big guy carrying what looked like a cello case and wearing a book bag was making his way right towards the two as Ronnie and Jimmy put on their masks pulled their guns out and headed in the door.


“EVERYBODY ON THE GROUND NOW THIS IN A ROBBERY!! I DON’T NEED ANY HEROES ANY SCREAMING ANY WORRYING AND THIS WILL ALL BE OVER VERY SHORTLY. ALL I ASK IS FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND I PROMISE WE ALL LEAVE HERE THE EXACT SAME WAY WE CAME IN!” Ronnie shouted as they walked in the door with their guns pointed right at the two police officers. “Come on guys drop them now, you know the routine, let’s make this easy for everybody”

The cops hesitated at first, but began to slowly get on the ground with the rest of the customers. “The guns….lose them” Ronnie commanded as the cops slowly pulled their guns out and pushed them across the floor trying to waste more time for back up to come

“You’re making a big mistake buddy…” the cop tried to say before Ronnie kicked him in the face, and right at that moment a large shot went off.


A third cop was rushing to grab Ronnie from behind when Gus reacted by pulling a large 12-guage shotgun from the cello case and shot the cop almost point blank before he could ever lay a hand on Ronnie

“THE MAN SAID NO HEROES!!!” Gus yelled at that crowd “LET THAT BE A LESSON!!” as he was greeted with screams ad cries from the crowd.

“OK, you see we mean business here, I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to cooperate so that we don’t have any more unnecessary casualties, now where’s that bank manager Mister Strom?” Ronnie said to the crowd.

A small and surprisingly young and in shape Frederick Strom stood up with a look on his face that did not reflect the fear that Ronnie had expected. In fact it was a calm that both worried him and placed a little doubt if this would be as easy as he originally suspected. Ronnie went over to him anyway, placing the gun directly in his back “OK Strom, the lottery money, I have it on good authority that it’s already bagged up for us $167 million dollars in 12 duffle bags right there in the back. Take us to them and this will all be over”

“No Problem” Strom said very calmly and began to lead Ronnie into the back. As Ronnie walked with Strom while Jimmy followed and Gus watched the crowd. Ronnie’s curiosity was getting the better of him. Why is this joker so damn calm? Ronnie asked himself as they got to the money. When they got there the bags were right there waiting for them with several carts in the corner. The guys put 6 bags on each cart and before pushing them out Ronnie asked “I have to know why are you so calm?”

“You’ll never make it out of here alive, the schedule changed at the last minute because someone observing the detail saw all the security holes in the original plan. Not only has the silent alarm been triggered with a response time of 5 mins, right before you walked in I was on the phone with the chief of police who said that two extra units were walking up to the bank as we speak, they probably already have your friend in the lobby in cuffs, if not dead for executing an officer.

Ronnie looked at his stop watch, they had only been in the bank for 3 minutes and 40 seconds, but the guy was probably right. Ronnie made the decision right then to shoot Strom in the knee and start pushing the carts out to the lobby. Sure enough more cops were already in the lobby, but Gus had worked his way to the back where Ronnie and Jimmy were.


“Shit man they got us surrounded, there’s no way we’re going to make it outta here man” Jimmy cried “What the hell we gonna do?”

While planning for this heist Ronnie and Gus decided to bring some incendiaries just in case they got in a sticky situation. Gus then opened his back pack that had 3 gas masks, 2 canisters of tear gas, and 4 military grade grenades. “You ready for this shit man? “ Ronnie asked Gus “I was born for this shit man” Gus smiled back “Man you motherfuckers are crazy as shit” Jimmy complained but there was no other option at this point.

Ronnie threw the first can of gas out into the bank and he and Gus both threw a grenade on either side of the bank….the coughing immediate began with the cops in the lobby shouting muffled instructions through the cries and panic of the crowd when the explosions went off causing a frantic environment of chaos. Bodies went flying and people were running and falling all over each other as the three robbers began pushing their carts straight for the front doors of the bank which had to be opened so that the cops and customers could get out of the gas that was filling the bank. Ronnie threw the second canister towards the front door so that even more smoke would bellow out of the building making it nearly impossible for anyone to immediately identify the robbers from the public, unless they spotted the carts first. So for good measure Ronnie threw another grenade towards what looked to be police lights as soon as they stepped outside. The next explosion caused just enough more panic for the three to get the carts across the street while shooting their guns into the smoky panic causing most people to take cover versus trying to see who was shooting or where they were going. By this time Sam Brown had already been driving across the open part of the subway station positioned take the van right back into traffic as soon as the money was loaded.

One of the carts tipped over and Ronnie shouted to the other two “KEEP MOVING TO THE VAN!!” So Gus and Jimmy did just that. Ronnie picked up two of the fallen duffel bags and was about to turn towards the van when he felt himself being tackled by a police officer. More and more police ran towards Ronnie and began to kick and stomp him. The last thing Ronnie saw before losing consciousness was Sam in the van with Gus, Jimmy, and the money pulling off to safety. He let a small smile creep across his face before a shoe to the back of his head turned everything black.

 

[Duwop]

1.

Present Day

Sitting in his boxer shorts alone in his room…again, Richard “Rich” Wallace ….was in deep thought about what he wanted for breakfast. There were other pending issues going on. He was behind on a few important bills. His job cut back his hours for the third time in as many months. He was positive that his ex-girlfriend Shelly was sleeping with his land lord Mr. Waters, which was surely why the lock on his door was either broken or purposely rigged to just never work. He hadn’t been laid in over six weeks, around the time his door stopped locking. And he as he looked around his room, he really needed to do laundry, desperately. But first things first. Breakfast.

Naturally there wasn’t much in the fridge. Cold pizza from two nights ago. Milk that wasn’t quite milk any more. A bunch of left overs in various plastic tubs, that had been in there far too long to even open and explore. A few beers. And a virtually empty carton of eggs with just one remaining, that would much more than likely hatch a chick instead of providing a nutritious breakfast. With such limited options it seemed that breakfast at McDonald’s was looking like the best option if not only option for any hopes of subsistence.

Getting there was another problem. His car was still in the shop at least until next Wednesday when he got paid from his sometimes job, or whenever he could get the money together by other means. His buddy Timmy normally can come through in the clutch for a few bucks here or there, but as Timmy so eloquently put it “the streets are going through a drought right now bruh”. This always proved for such interesting conversation. Rich was broke. Timmy normally had a few dollars. Yet Timmy made most of his money through illegal channels. Rich was the “square” that woke up every weekday morning to go to work to try to make an honest living.


“Man when you gonna smarten up and start breaking some laws to line them pockets? You know you ain’t never gonna make no money working for someone else your whole life!” Timmy preached a few nights ago

“Yea but at least I ain’t gotta worry about the police fucking with me”

“You think the police ain’t gonna fuck with you just cuz you don’t hustle?..Nigga they don’t give a fuck if you the deacon at a church, you black they gonna treat you like a thug….might as well get paid like one”

“Naw man, plus you got other niggaz out there trying to run up on you all the time, you gotta always watch your back n shit…..I can’t get with that life man, I’m too paranoid”


“Nigga do you even hear yourself!?! You paranoid cuz you smoke more weed than I do, and I’m the drug dealer!!”

“Look man I get into a beef at work, the worst thing that can happen to me is I get fired. You get into a beef at work; you can die or go to jail. I just don’t want them kinda options yo….if that means I gotta work for somebody and take home what enough to survive, then I guess that’s my reality”

Timmy just looked at Rich in a bit of disappointment for a second

“Man sometimes I find it amazing that you and Mikey grew up in the same house, I mean you know I love you like a brother, but you just seem like you got too much in you to be living how you living…If Mikey was half as smart as you, he’d be a millionaire right now. Cuz you know he’d be out there getting it…”


“Yea but look at Mikey now…..in jail….Yea Mikey might be a lot more…..I dunno…ambitious or whatever, but he can’t stay outta jail, and that’s not something I feel I can deal with”


“Man Mikey in jail cuz he was robbing check cashing spots with a banana in his coat pretending it was a gun…That shit was stupid and genius at the same time, stupid cuz he coulda got his ass killed, but genius cuz technically he can’t get any weapon charges…can’t wait till that nigga get home…everybody gonna get put on…if you was half of smart, you’d get on with him too”


Rich thought about that conversation that he had with Timmy the other night as he walked to McDonald’s. Yea it was true he was the brokest of all his friends, and the most honest one as well. But running with Mikey was a constant risk. Mikey was a true menace to society, a constant liability to himself and everybody around him. And the craziest part about it was that it only seemed as if Rich was aware of it. Everyone loves Mikey. It’s just a fact. Everywhere Rich went people acknowledged him as Mikey’s cousin. NO one ever cared that Rich was actually the older Cousin by 2 years. All they cared about was how Mikey was doing? Have you talked to him lately? How’s his mom holding up? You know when he getting out? You got his address? It was crazy living in the shadow of your little cousin but that’s how it was Rich felt. Even down to Rich and Mikey’s aunt Tammy. Aunt Tammy took both boys in when they were in elementary school. Rich’s mom was killed by her drunken boyfriend while Richard was conveniently staying over Aunt Tammy’s, so he just stayed. And Mikey’s dad was Aunt Tammy’s favorite little brother. Of course he was just like Mikey and he was also killed; only he was killed during prison riot. Once Mikey’s dad was gone, his mom eventually stopped getting money from a few of the guys Mikey’s dad was running with and she didn’t want the burden of raising his son no more so she dropped him off with Rich and Aunt Tammy.

Rich was sure that Aunt Tammy loved them the same, but she always seemed to either make excuses or completely pretend nothing was wrong with Mikey’s crazy behavior. Rich felt it was like she truly thought Mikey had no choice in the matter; he just had to do crazy things. While everybody felt Rich “knew better”, they felt Mikey was …just being Mikey. It was insanely frustrating. Rich remembered one time Aunt Tammy flipped out on him for accidentally cracking her car window while playing with a lacrosse ball in the back yard. And a few weeks later Mikey attempted to joy ride in the same car and crashed it into the sandpit at the playground around the corner. No yelling, no anger, she was just happy he was okay. Rich never really held it against either one of them or anyone else for that matter but he always felt it was a bit unfair.


And now Mikey was coming home from jail. Rich new better than to ask Aunt Tammy if she had a few dollars for him to get his car out the shop. She was no doubt financially committed to the welcome home party she was surely throwing for Mikey.


AS Rich was thinking about how long Mikey would be out before eventually and inevitably went back to jail he was stopped short by a vision he just couldn’t comprehend. Now Rich was no stranger to beautiful women, but normally there’s some sort of context to them. He would expect to see a beautiful woman at a night club, or on a college campus. Instagram, Twitter, and even Facebook, the internet clearly shows you that beautiful women love hanging out in bikini’s by beaches, or they’re always somewhere expensive and flashy barely wearing any clothing at all, in hopes to attract any guy with enough money that will no doubt supply their need to go to even more expensive and classy places for them to take even more pictures in less and less clothing. That’s typically where he sees them. Every now n then he’ll get lucky and catch one at the supermarket, or at the mall, which is where he met Shelly his most recent girlfriend and as it stood the most attractive woman he ever had the luck or pleasure of being with. But this was something different; this was a cashier at McDonalds.

Rich had nothing against McDonald’s cashiers, He was sure it’s a great job for many people. But this woman here was simply far too gorgeous for a job like this. She could easily be a model somewhere. She could be making thousands a night at a strip club somewhere. Her skin tone, her face, her hair, her shape, just her overall aura was being vastly wasted serving people mcmuffins on a Saturday morning. And then there was the matter of her smile. Rich couldn’t remember seeing a more beautiful smile if he tried his hardest. And even more disarming, this smile was directed at him.

 

[Duwop]

“Excuse me…sir?...can I help you”

Rich had been staring and was instantly embarrassed “oh I’m sorry….I was just……I mean…..I just wasn’t expecting to see you here”

The girl smiled and looked confused “expecting? Do I know you from somewhere?”

“Oh crap…naw…I mean….um……shit….”

The girl started laughing a little…such a cute laugh Rich thought

“Ummm….just two sausage egg mcmuffins, and an orange juice, I’m sorry”

“Its okay, is that all you want for this order?”


For some reason this question just stood out to Rich as an opportunity…..he always felt confident with the ladies, and was normally rather smooth while looking for his opening. It was the one thing he always felt worked out in his favor if everything else failed. And now here he was actually blushing and nervous because this rare beauty caught him off guard, but he quickly regained his composure and tried to redeem himself in the eyes of this attractive vixen that stood before him.


“If it’s not too much, maybe you could chill for a minute and eat with me?”

The girl smiled. A beautiful smile Rich thought again, and she even seemed to blush a little. Which was great for him as he felt the momentum was finally back in his favor.


“If you can give a few minutes, I have a break coming up”

“That’s fine by me, I’ll go sit around the corner, I’m just happy you didn’t chase me off?” Rich said smiling feeling confident again

“I don’t think I could chase a man with eyes that pretty away.” She said while laughing in a very playful and flirtatious way, which was clearly about as seductively as a McDonalds employee could ever pull off

Dammit Rich thought, she took it right back from him. Right then and there Rich picked up a small inclination that there was a lot more to this one than on the surface. Firstly he knew that there had to be some explanation of why she was working here. Secondly guys had to be hitting on her all day long, much more attractive than him; she couldn’t possibly take that many breaks. And most importantly WHAT THE HELL WAS HE EVEN THINKING! He couldn’t even afford to get his car out the shop, fill his fridge with food, or even get his laundry done! How the hell was he going to pull off with a chick this fine having absolutely nothing going on right now. That was the reason he felt Shelly left him. Well more clearly that was one of the many reasons Shelly told him she was leaving him one night after a rather impressively long and passionate love-making session (one of the other things that Rich is good at) in Rich’s two room studio apartment

“What you mean this ain’t working out? It sure seemed like it was working out a few minutes ago when you were screaming out to god and scratching the hell outta my damn back Shelly”

“you good boo, …….but you ain’t got no money”

“oh so it’s all about money to you?”

“Rich, we don’t go anywhere, we don’t do anything, we don’t treat one another to shit, we never hang out or meet each others friends or family, all we do is order pizza, watch Netflix and screw, that’s not a relationship….it’s a glorified fuck buddy partnership…if I need some dick, I’ll holla, but until then…..I’ll just have to see you around”

And see him around she did. Soon after that conversation Rich was going to his Landlord’s apartment to pay his rent, and when she opened the door, he stood there in shock until Mr. Waters walked up.


“Hey Rich” she said without a care in the world….Rich looked at her, looked at his landlord Mr. Waters with a confused look on his face…Jimmy Waters was every bit of 45 years old…easily, and Shelly was turning 23 in only a few weeks. Sure Jimmy Waters was a well known guy around the neighborhood, but Shelly could do so much better. Shelly was a very nice looking young girl, what could an older guy like Jim possibly offer her? Then Rich thought about how nice Jim’s apartment was. The Mercedes Benz he drove. The fairly nice clothes he wore. This was a guy who definitely could, and definitely would throw a nice amount of change at a cute girl like Shelly if that meant he could have his way with her. Shit Rich thought might as well give my rent money to her since he’s obviously what it’s going to. So Rich said just that

“Uh…..should I give this to you or her?”

“Don’t be a smart ass Wallace”

Another weird thing Rich thought, only old people call guys Rich age by their last name.

Shortly after that Rich’s door stopped staying shut. Even when you lock it, it just doesn’t catch and slowly opens back up. He put a boot on the inside so his door doesn’t fly wide open. But if anybody really knew what was going on they could come in at any time. Like for instance, If Rich was lucky enough to get his McDonalds chick back to his crib, all shelly has to do is just push his door open whenever she wanted to and he’d catch Rich and his new gorgeous friend doing what she was no doubt doing with her elderly companion a few doors down. But of course Rich felt he’d be doing it a whole lot better. Which gave him a nice laugh to himself as his breakfast date walked over to his table.


“Chilli”

“hunh?”

“My name…it’s Chilli”

“Oh, that’s nice, my name is Rich, nice of you to……wait..Chilli…like the TLC singer?”

She smiled and laughed again “Yea….they were really big when my mom was pregnant with me and everyone said she looked just like her, so that’s what she named me…..silly I know”

“Naw, it’s mad cool…..but it kinda makes me wanna meet your moms too”

They both shared a laugh, and Rich was starting to think this was going pretty well already.

“So I gotta ask you Chilli, ….what are you doing working in a place like this?, I mean as pretty as you are you really stand out…it almost seems odd”

Rich thought he might’ve dove in a little too fast for a second because Chill’s face frowned up a little for the first time.


“Well I mean, it is a job, a girl has to have a job right?”

“Oh of course, I didn’t mean to offend. I just never really seen any one as attractive as you before, not in a McDonalds at least. I figured there had to be a unique story or something behind it….which is why I asked you to talk”

“So where should someone ‘like me’ be working?”

“I dunno, like a model, a dancer, an actress, in school for fashion or something like that……you just have a very glamourous look to you. You look like somebody I’d expect to see in magazines or on the internet.” Rich blurted out immediately regretted. This is not how you talk to a girl Rich, you know better than this he thought.


Sure enough Rich thought, Chilli’s face hardened again, but this time she actually blushed a little like she was completely unaware of or insecure about how good she looked.

“I don’t really have much going on at all, I just come here, work my shifts and go home to my boring life until the next day” Rich thought that was an obvious lie “How bout you?”

“well if your life is boring, mines has to be extra boring, all I do is drive a fork lift around a factory for what it seems like less and less every week. I should be out looking for another job soon”

“really? A good looking guy like you?” she shook her neck with a mocking sassiness “Working a boring job driving a forklift? You should just get a job here at McDonald’s, and we can be fabulously boring together”

She was smiling again and laughed, which made Rich feel a little more at ease so he shared the laugh with her


“I guess you have a point” Rich added “Well maybe that’s something we could both work on, adding excitement to our lives”

Chilli smiled with almost a mischievously seductive look “I’m down if you are”

“Is that a challenge or an invitation?” Rich asked his new friend

“I guess it’s whatever we make of it, as long as it’s not boring, I think we’re both tired of that”

It was then that Rich realized she had a very good point. He was tired of being boring. And while he didn’t think for half of a second that Chilli was as boring as she was trying to convince him she was he was a little unsure if he wanted the kind of excitement that would most likely come along with a woman this attractive. But since he couldn’t think of anything else better to do at the time

“Sounds good to me, let’s exchange numbers, and you can hit me up whenever you’re down to do anything”

“Anything?” she asked with the same semi mischievous grin on her face

“Anything that’s not completely boring” Rich said back to her with a look of confidence on his face

“Sounds like a plan” Chilli stated, as she pulled out her phone to get Rich’s number, while he did the same.

 

[Duwop]

2.

After exchanging numbers Chilli stood, smiled, and blew a light kiss and said “See ya later Rich” as she walked back to work. As She walked Rich watched her hips very intensely thinking again that no woman should ever look that good in a McDonalds Uniform. He tried to guess her age and settled for around 23. She had to be over 18 or 19, he body was far too well developed. This was a grown woman. Rich himself was 27, but he had been working at factories driving forklifts for almost 10 years. The money was never great, but it was certainly better in the past than it was now. And he was losing even more hours.


He was thinking about how he was going to get together money to show this new girl a nice time, and more importantly money to get his car out the shop to even pick her up in the first place when his phone rang.


Rich looked it was a number he didn’t recognize, but decided to answer anyway

“Hello?”


“Aayyyyyyeeeeee Richy Boy!!! Where the hoes at man!!”

Only one person in the world Calls Rich, Richy Boy, it was his younger cousin Mikey

“Hey Mikey, how you doing man?”

“How I’m doing?? Nigga I just did 27 months!! I’m doing a whole lot better than I was a few days ago!! Where yo punk ass at man?? I’m finna ride on some hoes bruh, and I know you know where they be at these days”

“Naw man, right now not good for me”

“And why the hell not?!? Man it ain’t every day a nigga get outta jail and wanna spend it with his favorite cousin you know!”

“I hear you man, but I ain’t doing so good, I promise to get up with you later”

“You sure man? Everything good?”

“I’ll be okay, man I’m sure”

“Is it money my nigga? You know I can get some of that for you if you need it.”

Taking favors from Mikey was never a good idea in Rich’s book

“Naw man, you worry about spending money on having a good time, I’ll be alright man, I’m still working down at that Factory driving forklifts”

“You mean you still working for Mr. Brown ole fat ass?”

“Yea same ole Sam Brown”

“You tell that punk motherfucker I got some shit to talk to him about and I’ll see his fat ass soon too”

“I’m sure he’ll be looking forward to it, but look man I gotta go”

“Iight cuz I don’t wanna hold you up,…… but remember man I’m home now. It ain’t gonna be like last time, Imma do shit right this time”

“I hear a bruh, give aunt Tammy my love”

“iight Playa. Stay up man”

Rich got off the phone with his cousin and just looked at it for a few seconds. He felt he should have just taken his cousin up on his offer to help him out in his jam. But that the same time he felt he absolutely shouldn’t. Too many times in Rich’s life have things come easy to him because of Mikey. Or even Mikey’s dad for that manner. Rich’s job, his apartment, even down to how many of the People in the neighborhood regarded him all came from either hanging out with Mikey, or the reputation that Mikey’s dad, Ronnie West, Had around the neighborhood.

From what Rich has always been told, Mikey is a lot like his father Ronnie. Ronnie was a very colorful and impulsive, and violent man. He was also extremely loyal to those he considered friends. When Mikey was still a little kid, everybody knew that Ronnie went down robbing a bank with some of his crew. The police responded a lot quicker than they anticipated. Ronnie sacrificed himself to the police for his friends so that they could get away with the money. He vowed to never give up their names as long as his family was taken care of. Things like that make you a legend in the kind of neighborhood Rich and Mikey grew up in.

When Rich was a senior in high school Sam Brown, who was a good friend of Ronnie West, let Rich work at his small warehouse driving forklifts. And Rich had been doing that job for about 10 years. The pay was always fairly decent and he never really felt any pressure to work anywhere else. The job was close to home. He was satisfied with the money, and could always pick up extra shifts if he needed to. Everything was fine up until the past year or so when it seemed that the overtime wasn’t as plentiful as it once had been. And lately normal hours were being cut back as well.

Considering that Rich was in a financial pinch, and it was still early on his day off, he thought that this was as good of a time as any to head over to Brown’s warehouse to see what he could work out.

One of the main reasons Rich loved working at Brown’s warehouse was the books. At Brown’s warehouse they packed books to be shipped out to different stores all across the state. It was a great contract. Tons of books would show up at the factory, and they would have to fill orders for the different stores. Each store knew what books the wanted, so there were several assembly lines that had to fill the orders into boxes. Stack the boxes on pallets, wrap the pallets and load them on the trucks. Rich got a chance to read a endless supply of books whenever he wanted. And he read everything from medical books to novels. Non-fiction to do-it-yourself books. He even read books about dinosaurs and different religions. He had an extensive library of esoteric information swimming in his head. He would probably make a killing on Jeopardy.

Rich being a fork lift driver just moved different pallets of books and boxes back n forth in the warehouse until it was time to go. He would have to get the boxes off of the storage areas, bring them over to the assembly line, put them back when certain numbers of books were taken out. And of course move the finished pallets to load the trucks. He started at 17 making $12 bucks an hour. Now almost 10 years later he was making closer to $20. But outside of a slow raise over the past 10 years, his responsibilities never changed much. He always hinted at the idea of leaving the warehouse for bigger and better things, and was often encouraged to do so, but he just hung around. For him there was a comfort and security in the job. He hated using the word complacent, but Complacent was very close to what he was.


When he got to the warehouse Sam was sitting in his office as usual, watching paternity test talk shows loudly laughing, and being his normal jolly self. He saw Rich walking up just as he got to the door

 

[Duwop]

“Hey Rich, how you doing boy? I didn’t have you on the schedule for today.”

“Hey Mr. Brown, Yea I know, I was hoping we could talk about that”

“Talk about what? “ Brown exhaled and Rich could hear the frustration in his breath “Look you know the schedule is the schedule, I fit you guys in where I can”

“Yea I know man, but I feel like I’ve been getting fit in , ….just less and less each week……last week, I only got like 32 hours, and next week you only got me down for like 28!!...this is crazy man you know I need work”

“You and every other guy I got working in here kid….look man, I do the best by yall I can, but it’s tough these days, …..Everything going all digital. The computer can do this and that, there’s a less and less need for real man power…….”

“I know man, but I mean there’s nothing else around here I can do?/ I can’t live off no 28 hours bruh”

“Look kid, I done told you several times over the years to take more training, take more courses, go to college, you read more of the books in here than anybody I’ve ever seen. Do something more with yourself, I never understood why you stayed here so long…you,… outta all these kids could have done so much more. No criminal record, no kids, no old lady….there’s no reason for a bright kid like you not to be in in a office somewhere instead of in this dump”

“Yea man, but school cost money, and on top of everything else, I can’t afford even school if I’m barely working 30 hours a week,….shit…I can’t even drive to school if I don’t get my car out the shop”


“Your car still in the shop?”

“Yea man….i just walked here from McDonalds, hoping I could get an advance on my pay or something so I can get it out”

“advance??” Brown scuffed “naw man I’m done doing advances”

“So there’s nothing you can do for me?”

Brown thought….stood up…looked out the window into the factory…looked at the schedule


“Look kid, about how much more do you need to get your car out?”


“Like another $300 and I can get it out today”


“okay…I’ll do this for you…..right now it’s 1130…some of the Mexicans didn’t show up for the assembly line today, you give me 10 hours assembly line work….. and forklift work, I’ll send Paul home early he’s got a bad back. You do this I’ll give you $250 under the table. This is a one-time thing though Rich”


“10 hours!!... Right now!! ………Man…….”

“Look kid, I’m kinda in a bind, but I can make it through…you need the help, and this is the best I can do for you”

“Shit iight man, whatever, $250 no bullshit?”

“And when you get your check Wednesday you should have no problems getting your car out”


“Iight man, thanks I guess”

Rich went to take his coat off, and go get his gear to start working. Brown met him outside the break room

“I heard that crazy ass cousin of yours Mikey just got home”

“Yea he been out a few days”

“yea let’s hope he stays outta trouble this time”

“I hope so too”

“Crazy motherfucker, he just like his daddy, you know I used to run with his daddy right?”

Brown was smiling as he reminisced about the older days.


“Yea I heard about that”

“I know you need money, but if I were you, I’d stay away from his crazy ass. No amount of money is worth some of the shit we used to get into. I wish I knew that back then.


“yea I know man….”


“Well get to work”

“Hey brown?”

“Mikey said he got something to talk to you about, he was kinda hype about it too, I don’t know what it was though”

Brown’s face dropped “you tell that little motherfucker don’t come around here on no bullshit, I got something up in that office for that ass if he do”

Rich just shook his head “iight I’ll tell him”

“Now get to work, remember this was a favor”

And it was a favor Rich thought as he worked. Brown tended to look out for him a whole lot over the years. Over the years he’s given him a few advances on his check when it was needed. Rich survived several Lay-offs. He always got preference when it came to choosing schedules. Brown even let Rich take a few extended breaks whenever he needed them and his job would always be there waiting for him when he came back.

He knew this was because of Brown’s relationship with Mikey’s dad Ronnie. He was never sure how close they were, but it was close enough to Give Ronnie a job and so much favor working at the Factory. Brown even let Mikey work there from time to time. But Mikey was never much of a fan of working these kinds of jobs. Punching clocks, working set hours, having to take shit from people were all things that were damn near impossible to ask of him. Yet if he ever asked Brown never hesitated to give a him a chance. Even if that Chance only lasted a few weeks at a time...

 

[Duwop]

3.

Shortly after 9pm Rich was just cleaning up on the floor when Sam Brown called him back to his office. Rich placed the push broom he was using in the closet. He then went into the break room and grabbed his coat out of his locker. He also took out his skully out of his back pack. It was probably freezing outside. It was already pretty cold as he walked up, but it was still fairly early. In Baltimore the weather can feel like 3 different seasons all in one day. But it’s almost always freezing at night in March. Even if it was nice earlier that day, as it had been sunny on this one. While Rich walked up the steps he took out his phone which he hadn’t been using while working. He saw that he had a text from the girl Chilli he met at McDonald’s earlier that morning.

He thought to himself, that was quick. Normally guys have to feel through the uncomfortable stage of wondering when is the proper time to initiate conversation with the girl first.

The message simply said ‘Call me when you get a chance’ and it was timed at 634pm which was about an hour or so after Rich took his lunch break, so it wasn’t there when he checked his phone then.

“Rich!!” Sam Brown shouted from the top of the steps while Rich was looking at his phone.

A little startled Rich responded “My bad Mr Brown here I come”

Rich ran up the stairs to the office and sat down in the brown leather couch in Sam Brown’s office. It was old and lightly ripping in certain places. The orange foam under the leather was busting out of the seams. Rich could see where people had been picking at the foam over the years. It was a definitely a worn down couch. Rich was sure it was older than him.


“Man when you gonna get a new couch in here? This one is a real piece of shit” Rich joked

“I don’t sit in, I can care less….here” Sam handed Rich an envelope of money for his work today “You know this is a bit more than your normal pay, and this is not something I can do on a regular basis”

“I know man, I really appreciate it..thanks again”

Sam looked kind of serious and there was an awkward silence for a few minutes

“Look Rich, normally I don’t get in you kids business, but I was serious about earlier. Now that your cousin is home, there’s going to be a lot of trouble to get into, and I really would hate to see you go that way”


“Yea man, you ain’t gotta tell me….I was telling a buddy of mines the other day, I just don’t think I could ever hang in the streets the way some of these guys do”

Sam sighed “I know what you mean kid, …..the streets are really unforgiving…I learned a few lessons myself the hard way” Sam brown stared off as if he were reminiscing


He continued “People you think are friends aren’t always friends. And that’s one of the hardest things to see until sometimes it’s just too late to really do anything about it. I made a lotta mistakes out there man. “

“Mistakes like what?” Rich asked

Sam looked at Rich as he almost forgot he was talking to someone other than himself in the room “ I guess I just wasn’t as strong as I should have been, …I let the guys I was around make a lot of decisions for me…regardless how I felt about it……I guess that’s why I feel so inclined to warn you not to make the same mistakes…..Sometimes when you’re around a really strong personality, it’s just easier to stay in their favor, reap the benefits of their deeds and sacrifices…plus there’s always the recognition that goes along with being a ‘somebody’ who’s part of that crowd…People look at you differently, respect you differently, women are drawn to you……it’s just an easy trap to fall into”


Rich looked at Sam Brown for a long moment. He was pretty sure he could figure out the people Sam Brown was talking about, but no one ever really talked to him about those days. He was always curious, but never really knew the details.


“I mean you made through it all though, nothing really bad ever happened, right?” Rich asked earnestly

Sam Brown for some reason found that funny “Look kid, just take that money…keep your nose clean, get your car out the shop and start considering school or something kid. I don’t think this dump is the place for a bright kid like you. No wife… no kids…I tell you all the time, you have no reason to be at a dead end job like this. You live in a neighborhood where everyone thinks about your uncle and your cousin everytime they see you. Sooner or later man….. you’re going to get sucked right into that life. And before you know it you’ll be my age thinking about all the opportunities you had to get away from all this shit….. and looking dumb as hell cuz you’re still stuck in it now. “

Rich just nodded and stood up “Iight man, thanks again man, I really appreciate the look out”

Sam stood up too “no problem kid…just keep your nose clean like I said…..I’ll see you Monday?”


“Definitely…..You know I’ll be there”

As Rich headed out the door into the cool but not cold evening, he started to think about his plans for the night. It felt a pretty good to have a little more money in his pockets. And even though he knew most it had to go towards getting his car out, he figured he could have a little fun with some of it. It was Saturday night and he refused to be bored if he didn’t have to. Probably get something to smoke from his boy Timmy. He would no doubt be around the old neighborhood Rich grew up in. More than likely they were all on Faber Street as usual. It was only a 10 to 15 minute walk and the weather was far warmer than he expected. He didn’t even need to zip his jacket up. So he lit a cigarette and started walking in that direction.

As Rich walked he started thinking about Chilli. He was again thinking about how good she looked and just couldn’t believe his luck. Rich hated to be shallow about things like appearance, but sometimes it just couldn’t be avoided. Chilli was that kind of female that no doubt has had most things in her life given to her because of her looks. Cars, clothes, money, jewelry, lifestyle, things that Rich could in no way ever afford were probably offered to a girl like Chilli every day. She was likely more trouble than she was worth. But the fact that he had her number and she seemed to want to hang with Rich made that trouble seem like a distant consideration. Rich felt some bridges are best left crossed when they’re gotten to.

However, tonight just wasn’t the night to be crossing any bridges. Rich figured he’d just get himself some bud, a few beers, maybe even some Henny. He should be able to keep that under $50. He would probably just chill around the way all night. Something was always bound to be going down, and he’d give her a holla next time he had some dough. Rich knew that he’d more than likely spend all the money he just made if he called Chilli tonight, and he wanted to save atleast some of that money for his car.

 

[Duwop]

Rich walked the route that would lead him to the liquor store first. He would go get his drinks then head over 2 more blocks to where Timmy and the rest of the guys normally posted up. There was a small line inside. A few guys, and two girls were ahead of him. They seemed to be having a conversation about their evening as well. While they were talking Rich started noticing one of the girls. She wasn’t bad looking at all. Kind of short, maybe 5’3 or 5’4 at the tallest. She had a nice darker complexion, and one of those short haircuts that he heard one of his friends once call scoopballs, it looked good on her though. She had on some really tight jeans, Rich couldn’t help but to focus on her thighs, hips and ass. He was mumbling to himself “That thang sitting right”, when he looked up at her face and realized she was looking right at him with a smile. Startled, but never one to waste an opportunity Rich went ahead and spoke to her saying “hey how you doing?”

The girl continued to smile and gave a playful “Hi” when one of the guys looking kinda irritated and grabbed the her up saying “Kiesha you know this nigga??”

Rich didn’t really take the remark to heart. If that was the guys girlfriend, she definitely was out of line. And Rich knew better to get in other people’s business. He was going to apologize to the guy before things got outta hand when the 2nd guy gpushed his upset friends shoulder and said “Chill Trey, that’s Mikey West little cousin……your name Rich or something like that right homie?”

Rich really didn’t know how else to respond other than to say “Yea”

Keisha and her friend both seemed impressed and looked at eachother sharing a giggle. The second guy went on “yea yo, I was locked up with your cousin last year man…he a wild boy yo……I heard he was out now”

Rich figured he might as well talk to this guy like a friend now, that the tension had subsided “Yea he just got out earlier this week, I’m headed up the way right now to holla at him” It was a cheap lie. He had no intentions of seeing Mikey, but he realized that using his name often got him outta bind. Guys on this side of town were always looking for fights for no reason, but tend to back off if they knew you knew somebody

“Yea man that’s whassup, tell him Keith from down Jessup said Whassup....we were in that prison scholars shit together, he a mad smart dude yo” Keith said to Rich with as much of a friendly expression as he could muster to cover up for his rude friend, who was quietly seething at the whole conversation.

The two guys went ahead and took care of their transaction. The entire time Kiesha was looking over at Rich smiling. He was thinking if he was a grimey dude he could probably pull this girl right in front of her man. But he knew that wasn’t him. As they were walking past Rich extended his hand for a shake.

“IIght man, I’ll let him know you asked about him bruh” Rich said “yall have a good evening fellas…..ladies” rich added

“byyyeeee” Keisha replied, as Rich smiled back at her. Then the group walked out the door. Rich laughed at himself. While Rich didn’t have many things going for him, one thing he felt worked in his favor was women. Rich never had a problem meeting women, it was just that he never had any money to do anything with them. Pretty girls don’t like to sit in the house all day while you play videogames and smoke bud. Well that’s what Shelly told him atleast. So while Rich was picking up his cheap beer and liquor he thought this was a good of time as any to get a scratch off lottery ticket. Maybe he could get lucky and hit for a couple hundred, it’s happened before. Then he would really try his luck by hitting up Chilli.

Rich got 2 $10 scratch offs. He scratched the first one right there. Nothing. Threw it away and put the second in his back pocket. He’d check it out later. Rich started walking up to street he grew up on with Mikey and Aunt Tammy. As he walked up the street he got that old warm familiar feeling he always experienced when around there. The field he used to play football on with his friends had a lot more grass now. Mostly because there wasn’t a bunch of kids running up and down it all day playing throw up tackle. All the houses and porches of different girls and some of his boys they used to hang on. Sometimes all the names escaped him but the memories were there forever. He wondered if their families still lived there. He hadn’t seen Jessica Partlow in like 5 years. He still remembers the summer she got thick as hell out of nowhere. Everybody was on her porch that summer. Rich used to put in overtime.

As he got closer to his block he heard another familiar sound. Laughter. There was a large crowd of guys and the overwhelming smell of some high quality bud coming from the alley behind his Aunts block. He was sure Timmy was in the crowd with no doubt other guys he knew and grew up with but the loud voice in the middle entertaining the small audience was one he’s heard for as long as he could remember.

 

[Duwop]

Mikey was a master story teller. Naturally funny, he could take anything and make it a riot. It added to his likability. Crazy as shit, Rich thought, but he guess that added to his charm. Rich got a little closer so he could hear what was going on. He knew he was about to be entertained.

After he dapped his way through the crowd, Rich realized Mikey was telling a story about a girl he must’ve met since he’s been home


“SO yea my nigga I’m all up in shorty’s face, she had them tig o bittes and I’m like. .

’Yea girl we needa go ahead and get outta here, I gotta room down at the telly it’s whatever’…and this hoe all like ‘What you tryna get into?’ man I wanna say, ‘I’m tryna get in between them tiddies like a seat belt strap if you know what I mean’”

Everybody was laughing, Rich realized how much he missed laughing at his cousin’s stories.

“But you know you can’t say shit like that to these chicks you gotta be all smooth n shit…..so I’m like ‘I’m trying to do what grown-ups do when they get a room you feel me?, you got all them dance moves on the dance floor, I’m tryna see what moves you got when it’s just you and me’

“Yall wouldn’t believe it man, shorty was winding them hips like one of them Jamaican Dance hall queens or something…..she had a little gut on her, but nuffin serious, some wide ass hips, thick ass thighs…and these big ass titties man, I’m talking those shits bigger than Mark’s head” Mikey said as he grabbed one of the guys standing next to him at the top of his head to illustrate his point. “I ain’t tryna let this one go for shit!!” Mark and the rest of the fellas started laughing again.

“And she going for a nigga too, she was like ‘Iight we can chill tonight, but I gotta drive my own car, I can’t get in a car with some nigga I just met’

“So I’m all like that’s whassup I don’t give a fuck about that, less money for a cab bitch”

Everybody laughed again

“SO yea I tells the chick what hotel I’m at, yall know that one down on rt Green meadow BLVD over in the woods?”

“Pete’s?” someone yelled out

“Naw naw the other one..” Mikey replied

“White Elk?” Another guy suggested

“Yea that’s the one….wit them big ass warm ass rooms n shit” Mikey confirmed

“Yea the truckers n shit be up in there” The guy answered back

“Yea, so I have shorty meet me over there….gave her the room number n everything, and I just bounce and go there…light up my blunt, and get some drinks in, make sure I hop in the shower so my balls fresh n everything, and just wait for her…….now I’m sitting here like 20 -30 mins later, and I’m like ‘damn this bitch taking forever’ where she at…….it’s coming up on a hour, and I’m like fuck it, I might as well hit up the strip or something, then I hear shorty knocking at the door,

“SO I grabs the tone, cuz you never know, these bitches be crazy man, set a nigga up for the lick real quick, so I looks out the window, down at the parking lot, look at her, and I crack the door like ‘yea you by yourself?’ she all like ‘yea boy u geeking’ so I let her in look around outside make sure ain’t no niggaz waiting in the cut…..and go head and close the door and hit the chain”

Some of the guys were nodding and verbally agreeing. They all have heard of how guys can get set up and robbed by pretty girls at Motels.

“so when I turn around yall ain’t going to believe what this chick holding”

“a gun yo?” Someome yelled out


“aww man you got robbed?” Timmy asked

“naw bruh…..no gun……a fucking baby!” Mikey yelled

“A BABY!!?!?!” everyone seemed to respond in unison while all laughing falling over eachother

“A baby my nigga…this chick show up to the telly with a baby… little kid looked like 6-8 months…I mean she was thick so I guess I wouldn’t been able to tell anyway, but here she is holding it talking bout she couldn’t find no sitter.”

All the guys were all laughing before Timmy finally asked “So what you do nigga, you smashed the bitch in front of the kid?”

Mikey smiled “Man my conscious couldn’t allow me to do know foul shit like that, but I was still high from the weed, so you know my brain was thinking of all kinds of shit…..and you know white elk got them deep ass dresser drawers n shit cuz you know them truckers be staying there for a few days atta time n shit I pulled one of them drawers out and made a little crib for the baby, put some pillows in blankets in that bitch, made it real soft n comfortable u know”

“aww man…you crazy” One of the guys proclaimed

“Yea man, she fed the kid, and we put it right in the drawer and he fell right asleep”

“So what yall put the drawer in the bathroom or something?” Timmy asked


“Naw nigga……… we closed that shit right back up in the dresser……that kid slept good as a motherfucker while I wore his mommy out”

Everybody fell out laughing. Rich even had to give into the story and start laughing, while Timmy was laughing, he walked over to Rich to dap him up

“Aww shit what’s good my nigga, I thought you ain’t fuck with us like that” Timmy joked

Rich fired back “I don’t I just don’t trust anybody else for my green”

Mikey jumped in “Naw Richy boy you ain’t getting no green unless you stay right here and chill with us tonight, I already got a whole zone off of Timmy, we all chilling and smoking right here….somebody pass Richy Boy the blunt”

Since Rich didn’t have anywhere else to be, and it was a cheaper option than buying and leaving he figured nothing could be hurt by hanging out for a while with his friends, and his cousin.

 

[Duwop]

4.

Timmy, Mike and Rich eventually found just the three of them in Timmy’s back yard as the rest of the guys hanging with them eventually found something else to get into. Rich was checking his phone to look at the time and to see if he had any new messages.

“Man what you got over there? Something popping tonight?” Mikey asked

Rich responded “Oh naw man, nothing really I was just looking through some shit”

“You still with that fine ass chick ….what was her name Rich?” Timmy asked

“You mean Shelly?....naw we split” Rich responded

“Word? Man you dumb as shit, shorty was thick as hell, pretty as hell too….Mikey you shoulda seen her shorty was nice” Timmy joked

“Man that’s my cousin…he always pulled the baddest chicks, I’m trying to be like him when I grow, up” Mikey joined in

“Yea man, must not be that good, she I think she fucking with old ass Jimmy Waters in my building now, I saw her in there when I was paying my rent” Rich told his friends

“What!?? Yoooooo that’s crazy……What Jimmy old ass gonna do with all that?? Man…that’s crazy” Timmy laughed

“You don’t never learn man, always messing with some gangsters girl…..Timmy I ever tell you bout the time Rich damn near got caught up with Big Ben’s girl over behind the school” Mikey Asked

“Crazy ass Big Ben??” Timmy asked with glee in his voice hoping it was another story was about to be told.

“the exact same one, He was locked up with me down bookings one time, crazy motherfucker broke his hand cuffs and bent the damn bars….I ain’t never seen no shit like that in my life….a real life incredible hulk” Mikey said

All the guys started laughing as Timmy said “bull shit man…..he bent the bars!?!”

“Bent the got damn bars…..I had to tell that crazy motherfucker to sit his big dumb ass down ‘fo he get all of us shot up in this bitch” Mikey said still laughing

“Oh shit?! He get mad?” Timmy seemed genuinely concerned

“Naw he was chill” Mikey said “He know I don’t fuck around…he big as a motherfucker, but he bleed like anybody else on this planet”


“ I hear that shit” Timmy agreed

“Yea but that ain’t nothing compared to what your crazy ass boy Rich did” Mikey added

“Man I don’t think he ever even put that shit together” Rich jumped in as he felt he should have some input on a story that was about as close to a near death experience Rich ever encountered.

“Yea, he eventually put it together, but when I found out, I told him chalk that shit up to the game bruh. You can get mad at a man all day for what your lady do with him, but the second you move on that man you gotta deal with everything that comes with it.” Mike spit on the ground ”and that still don’t make your lady any right… so you basically putting your neck out there for her wrong doings…..and when it’s all said n done…she still wrong….so what you risking your neck for?”

Timmy and Rich let those words sink in. Mikey, as much as he was known as a story teller and mischief maker, he was above all a stone cold killer. Even at 25, Mikey’s name rang out almost over the entire city. Everybody on the Westside knew exactly how he got down. And Those who were in the know over east knew of him too. There was a crew of notorius stick up boys over east that had a lot of guys shook about 5 years ago. No one could confirm it, but it was widely believe Mikey ran that crew. Mikey always stayed busy, and always hand his hands in multiple things at a time. People didn’t truly know the extent of his viciousness as things rarely progressed to actually having to take a life. But whenever things did get that hot, he always acted without hesitation or remorse of any kind. Mikey was most often seen smiling and having a good time but whenever things took a turn for the worse he was the kind of guy who was always standing tall in the end. Even if that meant standing on top of someone’s dead body.

Taking this into consideration Rich chose to ask the question that would very likely take the conversation into a darker mood, but he had to know.

“Did you pull a gun on him Mikey?” Rich asked

“Naw man, ….what kinda question is that? He still breathing ain’t he?” Mikey said

“I know man, but Big Ben is a wild boy I just don’t know how you can calm a guy down like that without doing ….i dunno something” Rich Continued

Timmy watching the two cousins tried to lightened the mood “Man, come on…let’s not get all serious shit, Take this blunt and cool out I thought there was a funny story in all this….yall talking bout guns n shit. Did Rich fuck Big Ben’s girl or not?”

Mikey looked at Timmy and said “Yea you right, that shit was funny” Then he smiled

“So what happened?” Timmy asked

Mike took a deep hit of the blunt and passed it to Timmy, he then took a deep gulp of his beer and exhaled, “Iight….So check this, a few summers ago Richey boy here was making CD’s n shit on the mixtape tip. Remember that?”

“Yea man I remember that shit, I still got some of them shits in my car “Timmy laughed

“So yea, Richey was making a little bit of money with that shit, so one day this chick hits him up on the phone like she heard he the CD man and everything, so they talking, she’s giving him her order, and he’s telling her how much it’s gonna cost, and she gives him the address to bring them over…..so far, so good right Richey?” Mikey asked

“Yea that’s how it went she wanted me to come out to her house over there behind the school back there off of Rokeby Road” Rich added

“Yea where them big ass houses at right?” Timmy asked

“Yea” Mikey added “ Them big ass houses….so yea, Richey go over this girl house, and he said he get there, and when she open the door, this chick was straight outta video….talking bout she was tall lightskin , long ass legs, thick as some biscuits, had the little pants on n shit n everything, looking just like one of them eye candy chicks they put in the magazines.., right Rich?” Mikey looked at his cousin as he passed him the blunt


“Yea, she had those little yoga shorts on or whatever, some pink ones like in them chicks that be jogging at the park, I wasn’t expecting her to look that good at all, shit was crazy” Rich said as he took his hit and let Mikey take back over the story

“Right…..so yea, Rich got the CD’s lookin at this chick it’s just them in the house, but she got this old ass uncle or something sitting in a wheelchair in the living room watching Andy Griffen n shit…all vegetable like, nigga was retarded or sick or something” Mikey continued

“Oh shit” Timmy laughed while coughing

“SO yea, she got the money, Richy Got the CD’s, but shorty a little short on the money……So he all like iight you can get 2 CD’s but you don’t get the 3rd one till I get the rest of the money….Shorty ain’t tryna hear that so she like she want all 3, so how they gonna work it out….and straight grabbing my boys shit right there in front of her old ass uncles face n shit..”

“Awwwwwman stop lying!!” Timmy laughing hard now “Nigga I know you ran them draws homey” Timmy asked

Rich also laughing “Man let Mikey finish the shit”

Mikey continues “So yea man they took the party upstairs and they in the shorty room, Rich said one of the CD’s was a slow jams shit so she just straight put that on and started dancing for the nigga on some players club shit”

Timmy started laughing again, and Rich was laughing pretty hard as well enjoying himself and feeling a little bad for being reluctant to meet up ith his cousin, he really was having a good time.

“So yea man, sho nuff they started getting into it…..My man Rich said he was knocking that shit outta the frame when all of a sudden, they hear a horn outside, and this chicks jumps out the bed and looks out the window like ‘OH Shit it’s Big Ben!’”

“Oohhhhhhh shit,…Big Ben caught you smashing his shorty?!” Timmy asked

“Yea man, that tall ass light skin broad Brittany, she live over in the apartments now with her sister Tonya” Rich added

“Yeeeeeaaaaaaa” Timmy responded “She look just like Lisa Raye…..Damn Rich….My nigga”

And the two friends bumped fists

“But let me tell you though…..so Rich all like ‘ BIG BEN!!’….Down the avenue Big Ben?!’ scared as shit, and shorty like yea come one…..she getting dressed running down stairs, Rich grabbing his clothes and going down stairs too not knowing what the fuck he gonna do….”

 

[Duwop]

“Man these bitches grimey” Timmy chimed in

“Oh it get better” Mikey said “ Rich sitting here trying to get his clothes straight ready to run out the back door, so he go in the kitchen, and she come out with a box like ‘Here take this’ he looking at the box like what the fuck…and this chick go to the front door to let the nigga in”

“The fuck? She gave you a gun nigga??” Timmy asked

“Naw man, you’d never guess” Rich said

“Man this bitch gave this nigga a pair of hair clippers!!” Mikey said and all the guys started laughing together


Timmy finally broke the silence “SO what you was supposed to do? Cut the nigga hair to death?? You even know how to cut hair nigga?”


“Never one day in my life” Rich said through his laughing

“But peep game Timmy, that ain’t stop Richy from grabbing up shorty old ass uncle…..roll his nonmoving ass in the kitchen and just started cutting this nigga hair like he was a sho nuff barber” Mikey said to send all three into hysterics again.


Mikey comes back in “Big Ben walks in that bitch, see’s Richy cutting unc’s hair n shit, and this nigga Rich all like ‘yea whassup homie, I can get you next if you want’”

Timmy fell out his seat and was rolling on the porch laughing “ Naw yo, you bullshitting..tell me you ain’t do that shit Rich”


Rich was laughing hard as well but managed to get out “Man my hands was all sweating n shit I ain’t know what the fuck I was doing…..I was so happy to get outta there you don’t even know…..”

“Yea I bet” Timmy said as he was getting up

“Then like a day or two later the girl Keisha hit me back up like her parents came home saw her uncle hair and was like ‘Who the hell fucked up Earl’s head??’”

All three fell into another fit of hearty laughter as a Timmy’s grandmother shouted out the window “Allright yall! Yall way too loud out there, and I can smell them funny cigarettes all the way up here, you know I got church tomorrow”

“I’m sorry Ms Robinson, that’s my fault” Mikey yelled back

“Mikey baby?! Is that you?” She shouted back

“Yes Mam” Mikey responded

“Oh baby, I’m so happy you back home……now you stay outta trouble this time”

“Yes mam” Mikey said again


As the boys finally settled down from laughing Timmy said “Damn man now I understand why Big Ben might’ve been mad, that shit woulda had me mad too but I never heard about that shit before”

“Yea A lotta people don’t know that shit ever went down, nobody really talked, but Big Ben did eventually find out” Rich said

“Damn and he really never came at you?” Timmy asked

“Naw” Mikey said, “I told you I stepped in and deaded all that”


“And that’s all you said to him? If he take it out on Rich he gotta deal with you?” Timmy asked again

Mikey face dropped again, he paused for a few seconds before responding “Yea I told him that, but I also told him something else….” Mikey cleared his throat “I told him that God uses people, sometimes God needs someone to give a message to someone else, so they use other people, like you think you talking to the person but you really talking to God, you know what I mean?”

Both Rich and Timmy looked at Mikey with blank expressions like they weren’t really getting it. Mikey added

“ I looked Big Ben in his eye and told him that God was speaking to him through me, and God is telling him if he wants to keep his life he needs to let this thing go”

Timmy looked down at the ground as the weight of Mikey’s words processed through his brain, while Rich thought about how he sometimes feels he’s the only one who gets how deeply dangerous his cousin truly is. Many people just assume he’s a typical hot head, or someone who acts on ego alone like most tough guys. But Rich always knew it was something much more with Mikey.

“Shit man, I never knew it got that real” Rich responded after a silence

“Yea man, that’s why I’m surprised you messing with Jimmy’s girl, I would have thought you had enough of gangsters girlfriends” Mikey said

“yea buy Jimmy Waters ain’t no gangster” Rich responded not truly sure of the words as he spoke them.

“You sure of that?” Mikey asked knowingly

“Man I don’t know. Either way I told you she left me I ain’t dealing with her no more” Rich came back

“Yea man good riddens” Timmy added in “I’m sure you bounced back tho”

“Yea man where the hoes at? It’s almost let out time at the clubs we should go check something out” Mikey suggest with a sudden perk in his voice

“Fuck it you know I’m down” Rich responded

All three friends jumped in Mikey’s aunt Tammy’s car and drove downtown while still smoking with the windows up. As they drove through the city Rich looked through his phone and saw he had an alert on his Instagram page. As he looked at it, he had a friend request from Chilli from earlier that day. He accepted her request and looked through her pictures, and was once again taken by how ridiculously gorgeous she was. ON her page she had on a nice assortment of clothes much more flattering than her McDonalds uniform. If Rich thought she looked good before, these pictures here placed her into a whole new category. There weren’t many pictures in total as it looked like the page itself was fairly new. The posts only went back 4 months. Rich wondered if Chilli was even her real name as the name on her page simply said “$$Miss_Chilli$$” but there was no doubt that this was her page.

“Daaaaaamn son who’s that?” Timmy asked as he looked over Rich’s shoulder from the back seat to see who he was looking at on the phone “Is that one of them models from Miami or Cali or something?”


“Naw man, believe it or not I met this shorty today in McDonald’s, she from here I think” Rich responded “shorty nice right?”

“Mcdonalds? Hell naw, shorty look gooder than a bitch, she don’t work at no Mcdoalds…shit look at this picture right here, she look like she in Gus strip club….behind the bar” Timmy Added

“Gus?!!” Mikey said with a certain conviction that caught the other two off guard

“Yea man, you know the strip club old head Gus got, ‘Passions’ You tryna go down there, you know he always look out for niggaz from round the way” Timmy suggested


“Naw man, I ain’t fucking with Gus right now….Richy your girl know Gus?” Mikey asked

“I dunno man, I just met shorty today, she work at McDonalds for the most that I know, this the first time I saw her page” Rich said kind of confused

“Well where she at now?” Mikey asked

“How I’m supposed to know?, I never even called her yet, I just got her number this morning” Rich responded

“Look at her pictures, maybe she posted from a club or something tonight….u know chicks always take selfies when they get to the club” Timmy suggested

Rich looked back down at her page, and saw a picture of her with two other girls who were nowhere near on her level, but still very attractive all posed together with a caption “me and the crew at Kamikaze” Which was a night club not too far from where they were driving at the moment.

“Looks like she at Kamikaze with her girls” Rich said

“how her girls look?” Timmy asked

“here take the phone, they iight” Rich said as he handed Timmy the phone


“Yea I can work with this, shit Mikey you know how to get there? Take this left on Calvert Street” Timmy said to Mikey


“No doubt” Mikey responded.

 

[Duwop]

5.

Kamikaze was located under a bridge not too far from the football stadium. Over the years the club had gone through different stages as it’s faithful members grew and matured. As it stood now it was still one of the top places to be seen at in the city. Celebrities, local and nationally, were often spotted either in the VIP sections or even on the dance floor getting it in with the always live party goer crowd Kamikaze attracted. The unofficial dress code was ‘Grown & Sexy’ but if the bouncers there knew you more times than not the dress code wasn’t enforced strictly. Money spoke louder than anything else at night clubs like this one. If you walked in with cash to burn, the treatment from the staff and overall experience was greatly enhanced. After all the bottles of liquor and champagne a typical VIP bill went well over $2000-3,000 by 3am. There were rumors that local football player Montez Morgan spent over $50,000 in alcohol alone one night after a big win that got the team in the playoffs.

To know that Chilli was down Kamikaze with her girls was no surprise. This was one place where someone with her looks would still stand out, but atleast it was in good company. Every woman there wanted to be “that chick” all the guys were checking for. And every guy there was on the prowl for that one chick that no one else could pull.

The parking lot however, was an entire different party all together. Many times when guys didn’t feel like paying the cover charge or putting out the dough for the high priced drinks, yet they still wanted to check out the women,…… they would just pull into the parking lot. No matter how much the club was jumping, the parking lot stay packed with small crowds standing by cars blasting music out of their speakers. In any given group you might find just as many bar selections inside coolers that you would inside the club. Some had coolers in their trunks or back seats, some guys pulled out long coolers and had them packed to the brink just sitting between vehicles. It was definitely a BYOB type of party, and everyone was invited.

Naturally, most of the wild drama that went down at the club tends to pop off in the parking lot. This attracted a lot of police on a normal night, but this evening as the guys were driving down they saw a huge accident like 2 blocks away. The back up caused them to detour, down an alley leading to the back of the club parking lot. Rich tried to get a good look at the accident, it looked like someone crashed their car into the liquor store at the major intersection between the projects and the industrial area surrounding the stadium. The streets were taped off, and there were about 20 or more police cars as well as ambulances and news vans.

As unfortunate as that was for whoever was on the losing side of that accident, it more than likely meant that there were no police in the parking lot of Kamikaze. No police meant the parking lot was sure to be off the hook tonight.

As they pulled up into the parking lot Timmy was bouncing around in the back seat like a little kid arriving to Disney world. His delight at all the ladies walking around soon passed on to the two cousins sitting the front seat who were all pointing out different woman who were catching their eyes. Timmy already had his window down shouting at any chick who would pay attention to him. He was having a blast. The ladies gave him a few smiles back, but mostly eyes were being rolled. The guys didn’t care though. They were having fun. Even the more harsh responses did not discourage him in the least.

“Nigga do you know me?!?!” One girl shouted at Timmy

“Naw but Ill lick yo ass like I love you!” Timmy shouted back

Both the girls and her friend laughed while shouting at the car “EWWWWWW nasty asses!!”

“Is that Troy and Charlie right there?” Rich asked as they were slow cruising through the lot looking for a spot to park.

“Damn sure is” Timmy said “Yo mikey pull up right next to them niggaz” he added on

Mikey pulled his aunt’s car next to the guys Troy and Charlie who already had a few ladies drinking with them. Rich noticed another guy that he didn’t immediately recognize sitting inside the car talking to a girl as marijuana smoke freely hovered in the air.

As soon as Mikey got out of the car the energy he always brought with him was immediately felt. It was like one of those receptions that the star of a sit-com got when they came on stage for the first time in front of a live studio audience.

“Ohhhh shit is that the nigga Mikey?? Ohhh shit whassup son I aint even know you was out” Charlie shouted as he ran over to the car to give Mikey a dap and hug He then turned back to his car and said “Ayooo look who just came home yo!”

The other two guys both looked and each walked over to greet Mikey, and Timmy. The girls exchanged confused looks but assumed that the guy must have been someone important so they spoke and introduced themselves as well.

As everyone was getting acquainted the crowd by the two cars quickly grew from just a couple folk to close 20 in a matter of minutes. Guys and girls Rich never even saw before would stop by to welcome Mikey home like he was some sort of royalty making a rare public appearance. Rich laughed to himself, thinking it wouldn’t be surprising if someone brought him a baby to kiss on the forehead as well. It didn’t take long before the group by their cars was the center of the parking lot party. People who didn’t even know anyone in the group were just standing around holding their own conversations. This was now the place to be seen.

A really nice car-show quality ride pulled up with a very loud sound system that quickly drowned out all the others in the parking lot. They rolled right into the middle of the pack and parked next to Aunt Tammy’s ride. Mikey and some of the other guys walked over to the new car to check it out. As they were all talking and admiring the custom built system everyone in the parking lot all jumped to a loud bang and crash.

Two guys in a car had crashed right into one of the stone pillars holding up the bridge as the driver was overly focused on watching a group of girls walking instead of where he was driving. The accident stole the attention of the people in the parking lot as everyone started laughing and making commotion about the little accident. The guys in the crashed car looked obviously embarrassed, and got out the car as they tried to inspect the damage. The driver was holding his hand over his head as observers were estimating the damage and asking him questions about if he had insurance and if he knew a good body shop. A few guys were offering him cards for body shops they either worked at or knew someone who would take care of it ‘for the low’ if they dropped their name.


Mikey walked over to Rich and asked “Damn how that fool run into that big ass pillar, wasn’t he watching where he was going?”

“Naw I think he was watching shorty in the blue dress right there, gawwwd damn!” Another onlooker from their crowd exclaimed

“Damn Rich ain’t that they the girls from the IG page?” Tiimmy asked while tapping Rich’s arm… “She finer than a motherfucker! Shit”

Rich looked over to the girl in the blue dress his boys had pointed out and there was no doubt as soon as he saw her. If he had suspected there was more to her body from the McDonalds uniform and the few pictures she had on her Instagram page his suspicions were properly rewarded at the vision that stood before him. As she stood there looking at the wreckage in an impossibly tight royal blue dress that showed off her figure in a way that left very little to the imagination at all. Rich was just staring as her dimensions were far more exaggerated than he originally observed. Her Breast to waist to hip ratio was something than just defied Rich’s understanding of human anatomy. A woman just shouldn’t be built this perfectly he thought. He looked up and down her powerful legs and impressive backside and tried hard to get his mind to search for the last time he saw such a breathtaking figure

 

[Duwop]

“Damn Richey shorty built like one of them runners from the Penn Relays, remember when Uncle Bryant took us back when we were in school, all them jungle bootys” Mikey said as if he had been reading Rich’s mind while Mikey gave Timmy a fist bump in admiration of Chilli’s body.

And he was right, that was it, she had the build of a powerful female athlete. Track stars, gymnastics, volleyball players, they were built like this. Serena Williams with not as much muscle tone. Maybe she played something at the community college, or rec league. Whatever it was, Rich knew Chilli was not stranger to the gym, she worked hard for that figure. But it wasn’t just her body Rich thought. Her golden brown complexion, her long natural hair going down her back, she just really looked better than he remembered. He had just seen her earlier that day and even just a hour ago he was in the car looking at her pictures. But this woman Rich was seeing now was perfection he thought. Shelly was one of the cutest girls Rich had ever slept with, and he was fairly proud of that accomplishment regardless of how things ended with her. But Chilli was on a different level. Any trouble that came with this woman, Rich thought, it’s worth it. He didn’t even give a fuck anymore, before he could even stop himself he was walking right over to her.

“Awwwww shit, watch my boy in action y’all” Mikey boasted. But Rich wasn’t even thinking about who might be watching him. He had tunnel vision, Rich only saw one person in that parking lot.

Chilli was standing by the crashed car with her girls. She had her arms crossed talking with them s as Rich began to approach. One of Chilli’s friends turned to see him first and smiled at him, while the other frowned her face. It was then Rich realized he was still wearing the heavy baggy and now dirty clothes from this morning when he just jumped out of bed without getting dressed for anything in particular. And then he went to work in that dirty dusty warehouse for 10 hours. He probably looked an utter mess. He most likely stank to high heaven, and would no doubt blow any chances he developed earlier with her. But Rich didn’t really care, it was as if he knew he couldn’t lose.

But all it took was that first glance from Chilli to completely disarm Rich’s conviction. “Shit” he thought to himself, once again Chilli had him nervous. He felt that small pressure in his chest, and began to wonder if she would laugh at him for coming at her looking this pitiful. Rich thought how she probably had dudes eating out her hand all night long, and here he was looking like he was just rolling in a pile of shit thinking he was gonna have a better chance than them. But he knew this girl was different. Rich could have been playing himself, but he didn’t think those things impressed her. All those guys who tried her tonight while wearing top designer clothes, jewelry, and shoes brought a sudden smile to Rich ‘s face cuz they probably fell flat. Those dudes were relying on things that don’t work on girls like Chilli. Rich could see most guys had no clue how to go at girls like her.


“How you doing out here tonight miss? “

Chilli turned around to see who was talking to her and instantly smiled as soon as she recognized the face she had saw early that morning “Hey big head, what you doing out here?” Chill said with that same smile she spoke to Rich with this morning

“I dunno, here I am just minding my boring old business and all of a sudden I hear cars crashing, people yelling..i look over to see what all the fuss is about and there you are” Rich said back to her

Chilli laughed and pointed at the crashed car “you blaming that on me?” Rich tilted his head as if to say “Well”. Chilli snapped back saying “Un-unh, I ain’t have nothing to do with that, he should have been watching where he was going, I wasn’t doing nothing but walking by”

“Well ……., if comes down to watching the road or watching you walk in that dress I don’t think he had much of a choice” Rich said as he looked her up and down allowing her to see his obvious interest in her appearance

“Is that your way of complimenting me? Because I done had about as much of that as I can take tonight. You’re going to have to do a lot better Mr. Rich” Chill said as she fixed her face with a sassy but still very playful expression

“you know him girl?” One of chilli’s friends asked

“I know he wasn’t in the club dressed like that” the other one said

“Naw I wasn’t in there, I’m too boring for a place like that, I really thought our friend Miss Chilli was too, but I guess I was proved wrong” Rich answered Chilli’s friend

“Well you never responded to my text earlier, I was bored, so I had to find something to do…..you mad?” Chilli asked

Rich stood back and answered “So you saying if I answered your text you woulda came to see me dressed like this?”

“Maybe….would you have been dressed like that?”

“Oh for sure, I got appearances to keep up..I mean if I got your number dressed like this why switch things up now?”

Chilli laughed, and Rich laughed with her before finally asking “So what’s up what yall bout to get into?”

Chilli responded “ It’s late I’m trying to get into bed, …what about you?”

Before Rich could answer with a more suggestive reply, the shorter and thicker of Chilli’s two friends interrupted “I thought you said we can go get something to eat, I’m hungry, plus I had too much to drink to go to sleep without something in my stomach”

“I know a spot, me and my boys can come with y’all” Rich suggested

“Who are your boys?” Chilli’s skinny friend asked

Rich motioned to the crowd behind him which at this point had grown to around 40 people “They over there”

“....all of them?? I thought you said you were boring?” Chilli said to Rich

“That’s mostly my cousin and his friends, it’s only just 3 of us like it is yall” Rich replied “I’ll go see what’s up, you down?”

“ I guess so,” She answered “just text me the address, I need to get to my car so I can charge this phone, the food better be good” Chilli said and started with her girls walking to her car


Rich stood there watching her walk away feeling for the unfortunate soul who had almost destroyed his car to get a better look at the same thing Rich was now seeing.

“I understand” he said to the driver as he walked back to his boys.

“So what’s up big homie?” Timmy said as he ran to Rich while Chilli and her girls walked away

“Yall trying to go to down Santana’s ? they said they’ll meet us there” Rich asked Timmy with a proud expression

Timmy’s grin was ear to ear “I got dibs on the skinny one, Mikey like them thick chicks anyway”


Rich didn’t think much of the crowd would follow them to Sanatana’s but Mikey’s drawing powers hadn’t exactly worn off yet. When they finally all got seated the crowd took up 4 booths and two large tables. Chilli and her friends met Rich in the lobby where he introduced his cousin Mikey and his friend Timmy to Chilli’s friends Tasha and Kim. Kim was the thick one and she instantly took to Mikey so it wasn’t awkward at all when Rich took a 4 person booth with Chilli, Tasha and Timmy. Rich and Chilli continued to build their ongoing chemistry throughout the late night meal. Chilli even took a bite of Rich’s sandwich as he boasted that the diner/deli was the home of the best tasting Turkey Reuben in the entire city.

After about an hour and half of small talk and good food the crowd was thinning out more and more and finally it was time for everyone to go home. Kim said she wanted to leave with Mikey and go back to his room that he had at the motel. Chilli and Tasha were going to originally protest, but Rich assured them that his cousin would take good of her. So Chilli was charged with dropping off Timmy and Rich. They dropped Timmy off first. Timmy was successful getting Tasha’s number, but she was far too drunk and sleepy to go home with him on the first night. Once he got out the car the two girls laughed about Timmy and about how much of a whore their friend Kim was for going with Mikey after just meeting him.

Rich didn’t realize how tired he was himself as he soon nodded off in the back seat of Chilli’s car only to have her open the back door and shake him and say “we’re here babe, wake up” Rich jumped up and looked at his watch, it was 445am and he suddenly realized he never told Chilli where he lived at.

“Hold up where are we at?” He asked Chilli, his head was a little cloudy as he had a lot to drink and smoke and drink that night himself.

“I figured you could come back with me tonight, we never got a chance to really get to know each other, but I can tell I already like you.”

“That’s cool I guess, but I’m kind of tired right now I don’t think I’ll be good to talk much tonight” Rich said as he got out of her car stretching

“Oh, I don’t plan to talk tonight” Chilli smiled “We can talk tomorrow”

 

[Duwop]

6.

Despite the late night Chilli woke up relatively early the next morning. She looked at her alarm clock and it was only 1030am. Considering she didn’t get a chance to go to sleep till close to 6am , 1030 was pretty good. She looked over at the sleeping Rich wondering if she had made a mistake or not. Her plan was to get in and get out of town as soon as possible. But there was something about guys with grey eyes that always got her. And it just wasn’t Rich’s eyes she thought. He was pretty tall and lanky. Chilli herself was a staggering 5’10” and when you’re a girl that tall, sometimes just height on a guy alone can be a turn on. Rich had to be at the very least 6’3” or 6’4”. A nice golden light brown complexion, grey eyes, and what she liked to call ‘skinny-strong’ Sure he looked skinny on the outside, but in her experiences she always noticed that those tall and lanky guys were deceptively strong, and often pretty blessed in other areas.

Rich was definitely no exception. He was all she expected and more. It was a very satisfying night. Easily her most satisfying night since arriving in town the previous fall. She justified her actions and decided right then and there that yes, he was worth the risk. He was obviously attracted to her physically, That was no surprise to Chilli, most men were. But he also had the kind of witty conversation that made her feel she could talk to him hours at a time. They really hadn’t had many opportunities to just talk, but the brief conversations they did have just seemed to flow effortlessly. Chilli really paid attention to things like that. Most men just pretended to be interested in talking to Chilli, she knew where their minds were focused. But Rich was different. He seemed to be enjoying talk to her as much as he did looking at her.

Rich was also very confident and direct. Chilli picked up on that immediately. The second she looked at him, she knew he was gonna try her. If e hadn’t she would have spoke up first, but it made her feel all the more better about her suspicions when he made the first move. She loved a man that could speak his mind even if he wasn’t sure about what he was thinking. This was definitely who she felt Rich was, a direct person. He also had a very honest nature about him. He never came off as a guy that was trying to run game, but as someone who really wanted to get to know her because he found her interesting. Chilli loved that.

Far too often guys played games right from the jump, Chilli thought. Everything about them was a lie, even down to their initial approach. A guy would be talking as if he wanted to show interest in one area, even when it was obvious his mind was truly somewhere else altogether. These guys would be thinking so hard about saying the right thing to get in her pants, when all along she didn’t want a guy thinking about what he was saying. She wanted someone who just spoke from the heart. Spoke how they truly felt. Every impression she got from Rich fit that description in her mind. She knew this was not the time for attachments, but she would try to keep him around as long as possible. If he gets freaked out along the way and didn’t want to go along with her any more, she would understand. But she would still try to convince him.

She got out of the bed and put a robe on. She went to the dryer where Rich’s clothes were, and she took them out and folded him, then placed them back in her room on the side of the bed. When they came in last night the kissing and groping was pretty intense, but she had to get him the shower first. The guy was working all day long and thought he was just going hop in her bed cuz the moment hit. Not in a million years. She threw him a towel and a rag, and took his dirty clothes to her wash machine. She emptied his pockets. Nothing to cause concern. A wallet with about $200 in there, A $20 scratch off lottery ticket, a pocket knife, some gum, cell phone and keys. Not having any condoms was one of those things that made her think Rich wasn’t a guy who slept around a whole lot. She still felt a guy should always keep one just in case. Luckily for her she had some in her room.

Not that Gus liked to use them, but she insisted. Club owner and overall criminal scumbag Gus Briggs was the last man Chilli slept with before Rich. He was also Chilli’s current mark. She did get a little nervous when Rich asked about Gus. But she was finding out more and more out far Gus name was known by people in this city. Most of her pictures online were of her and other girls she met while working at Gus’s club. The Instagram page was probably a stupid idea considering she was supposed to be keeping a low profile. But as her mamma taught her, sometimes the best disguise is one in plain sight.

Chilli couldn’t hide her looks even if she wanted to. She knew she exactly what she was blessed with. She worked out and did lots and lots of cardio and weight training to keep her figure. Growing up she always was active in sport. People often said she took after her father, but she never really got to know him enough to know if that was a compliment or an insult. She just liked to be active. Track and field was her specialty as it never felt like work. She tried to get a few miles of running every day if possible. Every day couldn’t be a gym day, but most started off right if she got a run in right after she woke up each morning. After a quick wash up in the bathroom Chilli put on some jagging pants and a heavy hoody for her run. . She wrote Rich a note on the night stand, told him to help himself to breakfast. She then blew a kiss to Rich as he slept, and made her way out the door to start her morning run.

Running was one of the few things that Chilli loved down to her soul. It helped clear her head, helped put things into perspective. It was her own little private time to herself with just her and her thoughts. She didn’t even need headphones like most people did, she just ran and blocked out the rest of the world, and only thought about what she wanted to think about. And right now she was thinking about Gus Briggs and her plan to take him for as much as she possibly can before disappearing into the wind.

When she left Indiana the previous summer it wasn’t under the best of circumstances. Her mother’s boyfriend was the mark, and his attraction to Chilli was supposed to be used against him. Chilli’s mom Diana ran cons her entire life. She was very, very successful. Throughout the years, she eventually passed on to Chilli everything she knew. They were a pretty formidable team until things unfortunately went awry.

Diana began training Chilli at a very young age how to pick pockets, and to sneak in and out of home without ever being noticed. She stressed the importance of looking for weaknesses and vulnerable spots in building structures. By the time Chilli was 13 she already knew how to disable alarm systems in most homes and business. As a student athlete she almost got state honors in for track and field, but her talents on the track paled in comparison to Chilli’s skill as a locksmith. She could open most doors with her kit quicker than the true owners could with their keys. And by the time she was 18 her knowledge of safe cracking was far past her mothers. In fact some of safes Chilli got credit for cracking had impressed of their criminal associates. Safe cracking was a science all to its own. Chilli was a very valuable locksmith and safe cracker, but it was Diana’s overall experience and viciousness that allowed her to remain the lead in most operations. The two began to clash more and more as Chilli started having more expensive wants and needs of her own, but she rarely crossed her mother when she put her foot down. Crossing Diana was something Chilli never wanted to do even once in her life.

The mark Diana had singled out, was a 50 something millionaire named Lance. Lance ran a trucking company but also dibbled in the organized crime market of northern Indiana. Being so close to South Bend which was of course home to The Fighting Irish, there was an overabundance of vices to control in the college town and surrounding areas. Lance might not have been in charge, but he had his hands in a little of it all. If nothing more than someone to launder money through, and provide financial backing for many of the crews running their own gigs, Lance established himself as one of the heavy players that everyone in town had to pay their respects to.

Lance was a huge risk simply because of how the criminal world was very small., and there was always that possibility that when you robbed a fellow crook, someone would recognize you. However once Diana sets her eyes on a mark, an act of God couldn’t stir her off.

 

[Duwop]

Chilli’s mother met Lance at a fundraiser for a Mayoral candidate Elliot Francis that was being held at the Palais Royal. Palais Royal of the top ballrooms in South Bend Indiana. Both Chilli and her mom worked there as servers. It was an ideal gig for their craft. Very well established clients would rent the luxurious space that would undoubtedly host many well off people for wedding receptions, retirement dinners, birthday parties, and the occasional political fundraiser. The event didn’t matter. What mattered that between Chilli and Diana, one of them was almost surely to be approached by some confident, wealthy, and powerful man who couldn’t resist their looks and would invite the devil right into his living room. And once one of them was in, the real fun began.

Sometimes working a new mark took a few weeks, sometimes a few months. Lance was taking way too long. Chilli was becoming antsy and wanted to hurry up on the score so they could switch towns. Diana however seemed to be in no rush and was taking her sweet time lining Lance up This bothered Chilli and made her question her mother’s dedication to the mission. Career wise the two had accomplished quite a lot, but it was Diana who controlled most of the funds. Chilli drove a nice car, and had a nice little stash of cash to herself, but she knew her mom had millions packed away somewhere. And sometimes she wondered if that affected her mother’s drive. Chilli was 21 now, and her mom would be approaching 50 in a few years. At what point would she start considering that the life was too much and deiced to settle down? Diana liked this city way too much Chilli often thought. She was spending way too much time with Lance and Chilli began to worry that this gangster who was close in age to her mother might be putting just as many moves on Diana as she was putting on Lance.

After about 7 months of supposedly working Lance over, Diana stopped coming home. She started staying the night more and more at Lances mansion. Going on trips with him, and taking ridiculous shopping sprees. It was getting sickening. If Chilli wanted to see her, to talk to her, to touch bases, it was almost like setting an appointment. One night when Chilli went by to see her mom, she was sitting in the den for almost an hour before her mother even came down stairs to greet her.


“What are you doing??” Chilli whispered at her mother as angrily as she knew how “ Did you forget what we came here for?!?!? We’re supposed to be doing a job, not playing house!!” Chilli was already highly infuriated, but what she saw next almost floored her. With tears in her eyes, Diana held up her left hand to show Chilli the ring “Isn’t it beautiful, oh Darling, I know, I know…..but I think it might be time for this old gal to hang it up.” Chilli was speechless, but Diana went on “ I never thought I’d ever meet anyone that would make me consider giving up the life, but I don’t know what else to say” Diana turned from her daughter and went back through the foyer into another area of the marvelous modern castle, while Chilli stood there feeling numb to the world.

Chilli was sick. And what made it even more worse it was like Diana forgot that a large part of this con was to keep Lance distracted by Chilli flirting with him every chance she got. Lances was supposed to be so focused on sneaking off to be with Chilli, Diana would have all the time in the world to find out where he keeps his money, and how they can get it all. That’s was Diana’s justification for spending so much time around the man. But now Chilli was questioning everything. What made matters worse than now that Diana was engaged to Lance she seemed to be jealous about threat Chilli posed when it was Diana who set the whole thing up to begin with. Chilli wanted nothing to do with Lance, she just wanted the score. She didn’t have any feelings for this man, He was a mark, nothing more. It was her Diana that was getting things twisted.

Instead of just running away, Chilli decided to hatch a plan all of her own for the first time. If she just did the score by herself and split, her mom couldn’t blame her. Diana and Lance could still live happily ever after without Chilli. It was clear her presence was no longer needed. But Chilli was hurt, she was also very angry.


Chilli continued to seduce Lance, and like most men, he eventually gave into his desires and made his move on her. Chilli laughed to herself afterwards. The old man was actually better in bed than she expected. It started to make sense why her mother was so caught up, but unlike Diana, Chilli wasn’t going to let some good wood prevent her from a score. After the deed was done Chilli decided to blackmail Lance for $1.5 million or she would tell Diana what happened and strive to end their engagement. If he paid up they would never hear from her again. If he didn’t, he’d have to look for a new fiancé, and just hope she’s half the woman Diana is.

Well like most powerful men, Lance didn’t like being blackmailed at all. He decided paying Chilli was the lesser of two evils as he was 100% taken away with Diana. He didn’t want to lose that woman at all. She had a combination of natural beauty and vicious street smarts that he has never seen in a woman before. He didn’t want to mess things up with her so soon, but he still felt very unsure about paying Chilli.

Lance deiced to pay her any way, but for insurance he had her followed because he was a bit suspicious of the entire ordeal. His suspicions paid off as one of his men overheard the mother and daughter arguing back ant their apartment over the blackmail money. Chilli was really laying into her mother about how she blew the entire con. She pointed out that it was only a matter of time before Lance ran into someone from Diana’s past. Chilli said she didn’t want to be around when that happened because she knew how it would end, regardless if her mother believed it or not. Lance’s guys heard everything from a parked car across the street fitted with very amateur surveillance equipment. Despite the mother and daughter not spending much time in the apartment arguing due to Chilli’s urgency to leave, Lance was still able to make his way there before she could skip town.

Diana tried her best to explain herself, but it just didn’t work. He shot Diana dead right there in front of Chilli before speaking one word. Her heart dropped and she couldn’t feel herself move at all. Chilli just stared at her mother’s limp body as Lances guys grabbed Diana up, and started carrying her out of the apartment. Chilli was being carried out as well, but her mind was failing to digest all that was happening around her. She was thrown in the trunk of her own car with Diana’s still warm dead body. She just placed her arms around her mother’s stiff and unresponsive body, and cried as silently as he could.

The plan was to roll the car into this one section of St Joseph’s river that really had strong currents. Lance’s guys had dumped a few bodies there before, anything that hit this part of the river would be sucked off the face of the earth never to be heard from again. However, completely unexpected to Chilli, her good looks got her outta a jam once again. One of Lance’s guys Raymond, had a huge crush on Chilli. He always watched her from afar, knowing that even though his boss was engaged to the mother, he was proabably fucking the daughter too, so that meant she was off limits. But considering the current stage of events, Ray figured she might be willing to hear him out.

Ray told Chilli if she just spent the night with him, the next morning he’d make sure she could get outta town and Lance would never know. Ray didn’t see why a woman this good looking should have to go to waste. Chilli quickly decided that sex would be a small sacrifice for her life. She had no problems agreeing, she just wanted to make sure he could get her to some money she stashed away before she made her departure. This arrangement worked to perfection. Chilli wasn’t able to get away with all her money, but was able to get away with her life. She gave Raymond $5,000 for helping her, and took the rest that she could get together and headed East.

 

[Duwop]

By the time she found herself in Baltimore, Chilli was down to her last $10,000. She knew some folk there that from past jobs that lived in Delaware that could help her with a whole new identity. She also asked if they knew of any big players that aren’t exactly known for their modesty when it came to spending money. This is what landed her in Baltimore. Throughout her early life, all the way through high school and even in her adult criminal career with her Mother, her name was Sheila Davis. But the day she walked into Gus’s strip club to apply as a bartender her name had simply become… Chilli.


Of course it wasn’t long until Gus himself took a liking to Chilli and promptly ended her work as a bartender and let her work in his personal office. While Gus wasn’t a particularly bad looking man Chilli thought, he wasn’t someone she could ever love. But she did make love to him regularly to maintain her safety. Gus was a powerful and very dangerous man, something she was reminded of way too often. However as long as Gus was willing to claim Chilli as one of his girls, she knew she could experience some kind of safe haven, until she was ready to make another move. Then one day when Chilli was quietly making her way into Gus’s office she saw what she absolutely change everything. A very large, and a very full walk in safe right behind his desk.

Gus’s safe was one of those old time safes you usually see in the bank heist movies. There was a panel on the wall behind his desk that revealed a large lock that opened into several shelves all stacked with countless valuables. Chilli eyes couldn’t be more obvious, she knew she hit the jackpot. She had noticed that the way his office, and the building was built, there should be an extra room that she wasn’t finding. This spacious safe was the confirmation that she needed. The way Gus had it packed, Chilli estimated that he has a few million in there easily. It wasn’t long that she became obsessed with seeing in the safe. Every time he opened it, she would become uncharacteristically affectionate just to try to get a glimpse inside. Most times her advances were thwarted simply because he didn’t like anyone touching him when he was dealing with money. However one miraculous day she got the opportunity she was waiting for. Chilli snuck into Gus’s office unannounced only to find the panel exposed and the safe door wide open. She saw no reason not to walk in, so preceded with caution.

“This guy is just begging to get hit” Chilli thought. There were rows and shelves stacked with money in bands and some in small bags. There were clean bills that looked fresh from the bank. And dirty bills that looked like they came right out the mud. There was also jewelry in there too. Gus had diamonds, guns, drugs, anything of value he had stuffed away in this one safe behind his office chair. She held up one of the diamonds to the light and was thinking to herself there was easily 50 million or better in this safe. She couldn’t believe her luck. It was then she heard the same unmistakable sound of a 357 hammer cocking back that killed her mother only a few months ago.

She turned around to see Gus and his sidekick Ace stand behind her with very grim looks on their faces. Ace was pointing his gun right at Chilli’s head. “The fuck you doing back here Chilli? You plan on robbing me blind?” Chilli was frozen stiff, it was South bend all over again “Boss I knew this bitch was trouble from the start, let me go head and take care of her” Ace suggested.

“Gus I promise you, I was not trying to steal from you, I was just looking,” the tears began to flow almost immediately “ my curiosity got the best of me I guess, I’m sorry, What girl doesn’t like money and diamonds? I promise you…I wasn’t trying to steal from you, I just wanted to look! I love you Gus!” real tears were flowing down Chilli’s eyes even if everything she said was fake. Chilli knew she didn’t want to die, but she was sure Gus wouldn’t let her go. He would be stupid if he did. There was no way for him to know what she was capable of. But she knew if he did let her go, she absolutely would be back in that safe, as soon as she figured out how.

She was completely at his mercy, praying the tears worked. Gus looked at Chilli intensely. He couldn’t help but to give into his nature. This girl was too beautiful to let go that easily. Gus kicked his right hand man Ace out of the office and fucked Chilli right there over his desk. No one could tell Gus he wasn’t the man at that moment.

The moment however was shorty lived. Chilli stopped showing up to the Strip club. Gus would call her day and night. No answer. When he popped up at her apartment, she claimed she was scared of him, and she’s never had a gun pulled on her before. Gus felt terrible. How could he upset such beautiful flower? She cried how she knew Ace wanted to kill her. He assured her no one would act without his word, but she played the role well, and he agreed to give her time, but but he wanted her back.

Chilli used that time wisely. She researched the safe she saw in Gus’s office and looked it up online. She matched the model number to find all the same safes in the area that weren’t in the lion’s den of one of Baltimore’s most vicious criminals.

There were two in private residencies, one at a bank, one in Gus’s office, and there was a 5th inexplicably at a McDonald’s over on the west side of town.

Chilli walked in the McDonalds later than day and by the look on the manager’s face she knew, that for him it was love at first sight. He couldn’t give her a job fast enough. Never mind she looked nothing like someone who would work at a Mcdonalds normally, it was just his hopes that she was down on her luck enough that she would need the job and hopefully be thankful that he gave it to her.

Chilli never slept with the Mcdonalds manager. There was no play to it. She could manipulate guys like that with a smile and a hug in the morning. No need to open her legs.

In less than a week she was able to disable the cameras and security system to sneak in the McDonalds at night and work on the safe. It only took her a few days to completely master cracking the safe. There was never more than $20,000 in the safe at Mcdonalds which made it hardly a worthy target.

But she figured if for any reason the job at Gus’s safe doesn’t go well at least she had a backup if she had to get outta town fast.

She had the heist all planned in her head and was ready to go through with it that Sunday afternoon. The whole reason she went to the club the previous night was to say good bye to her two friends she made while working with Gus. They couldn’t believe she was leaving town so soon, but she made up some lie about gus’s guys watching her day and night. She figured it was more of a half lie, because after today, they certainly would be looing for her.

Everything was a go but something just recently got in the way. And that something was staring at her in her room when she got back from her run. It was Rich. He was still laying in her bed sleep, and she had to laugh because she could see that he had morning wood, and it looked like someone was pitching a tent under her sheets. She went to her shower and rinsed off and when she came out, he was awake but the wood was still there, he moved to try to hide it and she stopped him

“Stay right there sweetie, I think I got something that can help you take care of that”

 

[Duwop]

7.

For most of Rich’s life he was a heavy ball player. He would run games on the neighborhood court sometimes from sun up to sun down. He also played at school from middle school all the way up to community college. However once he got to the community college level, he realized that his game wasn’t really suited for any competitive level beyond rec league. He mostly depended on his length and height on the court. He played a big man’s game. At the lower levels, his height and strength served him well as he normally played the 4 or even the 5. However he soon found out at the college level, size wise, he was out of his league, literally.

6’2 and ½ may be big when playing street ball, but once you get to the college level, that’s the height of your average point guard. Rich was no point guard. He was severely outsized and constantly outmuscled in the post. He tried to run guard, but didn’t have the handles to be effective. He was a very hard runner, and most coaches kept him around because of his energy and stamina. Rich seemed to never get tired, but more times than not he was just a body on the court. So to save the embarrassment of riding the bench he quit playing ball at the community college his second year. After he stopped playing ball, he didn’t see a reason to go to class at all after a while. He figured he’d rather pick up a shift at the warehouse, and play on the court around his way.

Rich was a very recognizable street ball player for those in the know. From rec leagues, to 3 on 3 tournaments, Rich was always one of the MVP’s. He wasn’t much for lifting weights, or jogging like Chilli did, B-ball was the best way for Rich to stay in shape. One year when both Mikey and Rich were at the warehouse they convinced Sam Brown’s employees to put together a rec league team. The trophy and team picture were still in Sam’s office.

Mikey ran point as his handles were much better than Rich’s, but he got in too much trouble off the court to maintain a real basketball career.

But right now Rich’s stamina wasn’t being tested on the court, it was being tested with Chilli. He was right in his assumption that she was a runner. She had several pairs of running shoes in her room, and had just came in from a morning run when she hopped back in the bed with him. Sex with Chilli was as amazing as his imagination told him it would be. He loved exploring her body. Every curve held up even without her clothes. She knew all the right angles, and seemed to be able handle everything Rich dished out at her while throwing him for a few surprises in return. She was flexible, energetic, enthusiastic and completely uninhibited. They had gone at it off and on for several hours the night before barely getting any sleep. And since she hopped on him almost as soon as he woke up, they were at it again throughout the morning. Rich had to stop her after a while, as much as his body craved Chilli from the second he met her, it craved food more than anything else at this point. He felt like he was literally choosing between pleasure and death. If he didn’t eat something soon, he would die.

“Chilli” Rich said, as they both lay next to eachother in the bed breathing deeply, still catching their breath.” My body needs things” Chilli smiled and started rubbing his leg looking for another arousal, “No” Rich said “ I need things like food, water, things that will keep me alive, you know?” Chilli sat up in the bed, and as she did the blanket fell to her waist exposing her perfectly perky breast. Rich couldn’t help but to stare, and he couldn’t help his body’s natural reaction to what was irresistible turn on. Chilli look down at Rich’s lower half and responded “ I don’t know I almost thought you were some kind of machine the way you been going”

“I could say the same of you” Rich laughed as he pulled the sheets down and got another look of her entirely bare body. His eyes went from her breasts to her flat stomach, the curve of her hips, and the extremely well groomed & closely shaved private areas. She truly was a master piece. “You sure you hungry for food? It looks like you still hungry for something else” Chilli smiled as she moved her hand down to grab his manhood and began playing with it again. Rich, figured if he was going to die from lack of food, at least he was doing something he loved. He had no choice and fell right back into Chilli’s trap much to her gleeful delight.

After they finished this time, Rich finally got up and took another shower in her bathroom. Rich always kept deodorant in his book bag just in case he didn’t make it home on any given night. And he saw that his clothes were already cleaned and folded thanks to Chilli. She was really something else Rich thought to himself with a smile. She smiled back as she got up and went back into the bathroom to shower herself. As she walked to the bathroom nude, Rich felt his erection coming back, but was thankful he was now atleast half dressed. He didn’t think he could handle another round with this woman. She was definitely a nymphomaniac Rich thought, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as Rich normally has most stamina than most of the women he dealt with, but he really did need a break, he was starving.

After he got dressed, he was thinking that his luck was really looking good for the first time in a long while. It was like He couldn’t lose. It was then that he noticed the scratch off lying on the dresser with the rest of his stuff from the night before. “Let’s see how lucky I really am” Rich thought to himself. He picked up the scratch off and studied it for a second. The top prize was $500,000 and he was thinking about all the things he could do with half a million dollars. Forget the car in the shop, he could buy a whole new one. He wouldn’t have to worry about Mikey’s crazy ass trying to get him in trouble any more, he would go travel somewhere like Atlanta or LA and maybe just stay there. Find a new town and pick up life somewhere else. Rich even got ahead of himself and was thinking if he would take Chilli along. Sure he just met her, but has he ever been this high on a woman before? He knew it was early, but maybe she would come with him.

He snapped himself outta that. It was crazy to think like that. Stupid to think like that. Dangerous to think like that. He just met the girl yesterday. Maybe he should spend some time with her and get to know her better before planning happily ever after Rich laughed at himself for being so stupid. That’s when he completely froze.

No one ever really expects to win the jackpot on scratch offs. It’s just something to kill time and let your imagination run wild. And Rich’s was running all over the place. However it was time for that running to come to a screeching halt. Rich was staring hard at the ticket. He kept looking at the numbers to make sure his eyes wasn’t playing tricks on him. Under YOUR NUMBERS: it was clear as day. Rich had 03 14 22 36 48 and under WINNING NUMBERS There was 02 08 12 14 25 33 39 44 46 52. And under the number 14, there was no mistaken. The revealed prize for the number 14 was $500,000.


That quick Rich’s entire life changed. In a little over 24 hours he found himself a real life dream girl and now he just hit the lottery. They say good things come in 3’s, but he felt he might as well cash out now and let the third thing come when it comes.


Rich wanted to yell, but he managed to keep his cool, but his brain was going a million miles a minute.

He picked up his phone which Chilli placed on a charger for him, and started googling how to redeem his money when he saw that he had to go to lottery headquarters with his social security card and driver’s license, and fill out some paper work. “Okay where the fuck is my fucking social security card?” Rich thought to himself. More than likely it was at his aunt Tammy’s. Which wasn’t a problem, he hadn’t seen her in a while, and she was sure to be in a good mood now that Mikey was home. He’d even give her a few dollars before leaving town. She would no doubt need it for bail money as soon as Mikey fucked up again. It was the least he could do for the dear aunt that took him in.

 

[Duwop]

He was thinking of his recent good fortune when he heard Chilli drying her hair in her bathroom. He peeked over and she was just standing in the mirror, completely naked without a care in the world it appeared. For some reason that struck Rich as odd. He wanted to know why she didn’t have a robe on or something to cover herself up. Most girls Rich messed around with were very modest about their bodies. Rich could never get Shelly to walk around naked, and she had a great body too. Nothing like Chilli’s but still pretty nice. Chilli however, came out the bathroom and walked right past Rich like she was fully clothed? Shelly would never do that. Chilli had absolutely no shame whatsoever.

And why should she be worried about showing him anything? She already done showed him and let him touch every inch of her body over the past few hours, and he was tempted to go at it again. But everything was entirely different now. Rich wasn’t daydreaming and fantasizing anymore. He was dealing with reality and the best way to handle his new found wealth. Rich wanted to know how much can he really trust this girl he just met yesterday now that he’s half a millionaire? Should he even trust her? He had the money to change this young woman’s life literally in the palm of his hand.

Rich always got joked about being super-sav-a-hoe but this was actually a lifesaving decision he presented himself with. Could he trust Chilli?I mean sure she trusted him she let him in her apartment, in her life, and she’s standing right over there with no clothes on. Is that trust on her behalf? But what does that really mean? He really doesn’t know much about her other than she’s not from this town. He did ask her about Gus, and she said she used to bartend at his bar, but she felt it was a dangerous job.

Sure it was dangerous, Gus was a dangerous dude. Everybody knew that. He was another one of the guys that used to run with Mikey’s dad Uncle Ronnie back when they were younger. Rich never liked Gus much, and Mikey liked Gus even less. Gus always was nice to them, and always seemed to look out for them, but there was always something about that guy that rubbed Rich the wrong way. Mikey always said he heard that His father’s friends stopped giving his mom money from that bank robbery that made the two hood legends. But did that mean that Gus cut Mikey’s mom off? Is that what made Mikey’s mother abandon him with Rich and Aunt Tammy? Rich guessed that would be enough for Mikey to not really like Gus, but there has got to be more to that story.

Rich determined that was none of his business. However Chilli’s relationship with him was closer to his concerns. He didn’t just want to flat out ask her, that would be rude. But he wanted to know before he told this new person that he just met yesterday that he’s about to come into a whole lotta money. And Rich was also starving hungry. He figured they could talk over a nice meal.

Even though they just woke up, it was way too late for breakfast. However that first meal the night after sex always told Rich if a girl was a one night stand or someone worth talking to again. Before Rich found out he was…rich, he was pretty sure he was going to continue to talk to Chilli regardless. But now that things would be much different with him having money, it wouldn’t take Rich long at all to find another Chilli. But this version of Chilli slept with him when he was broke. The next one would know she was hoping in the bed with a guy who had money.

Rich decided anyway to put his ‘one night stand test’ to Chilli to see where her head was at. Will she eat with him, or will she blow him off? IF she chose to eat with him, he’d find out more about her and Gus. He’d also get a better feel for if she was the type who wouldn’t mind relocating with him. He was sure she wouldn’t mind leaving behind this small apartment and a cashier job at McDonalds. But if she blew him off, and said she has something else to do, he’d just get his money, and maybe holla at her before leaving for Vegas or something.

Aunt Tammy always told Rich and Mikey if a girl wants to eat with you the next morning it means something good. That was the best way to tell a female’s worth. “IF they’ll have breakfast with you the next morning, not only do they really enjoy your company, but also they have some sense of family. They were loved once.” Aunt Tammy made Rich and Mikey sit down for breakfast every morning and dinner every night. She would be heartbroken if one of them couldn’t make it, so while they lived there they always tried their best no matter what was going on. Rich always kept those meals close to his heart. And any female he was ever serious with, would have to be one who understood the importance of sitting down and having that time together.

Rich was fully dressed, and had all his belongings together. Chilli was dressed as well and before he could say anything to her she asked “You wanna go get breakfast or something before we split up?” Rich just smiled and said “Sure”


He checked his wallet still had $200 on him, but that didn’t even matter anymore, he would soon have a whole lot more.

“Where do you wanna go?” Chilli asked

“I was thinking we can go somewhere fairly quiet so we can…..talk you know?” Rich said to her

“Yea talk, that thing we never got around to doing last night.” Chilli said as she was standing in the mirror trying to fit her custom baseball cap around her hair

“Or this morning” Rich added, and they both laughed.

“Sure” she said as she finished, “After that we can make a few stops I wanted to pick up a few things. Then it’s whatever. You have any other plans today?”

“Naw nothing in the world to do but chill with you to be perfectly honest” Rich said, and they were off.

As they walked to Chilli’s car Rich took a deep breath, stretched his arms out and truly appreciated how wonderful of a day it was. He was feeling great like nothing in the world could go wrong. There were a few guys outside of her apartment building. Of course Rich thought, they felt the need to speak to her when they noticed Rich walking with her. But he could have cared less about it. Rich knew there was a certain level of attention you get when walking around with a girl like this. He was prepared to deal with those types of things. With a pocket practically full of money he deserved to have a bad model type chick on his arm. He was thinking he was going to enjoy this new lifestyle very much.

Once in the car Chilli asked Rich if he drove at all, and he explained to her his car situation. He also mentioned that he wasn’t sure if he was going to get the car out the shop or just go get a new one altogether.

“A new one? You balling like that playboy?” Chilli asked mockingly.

Rich immediately realizing his error tried to cover it up with a compliment “My bad, I guess after last night I feel like a million bucks and got ahead of myself”

“And this morning” Chilli reminded him

“And this morning” Rich agreed, he placed his hand on Chilli’s thigh as she drove…..

Chilli looked at him, and bit her lip. She wasn’t sure if this was a good time to break to him her real intentions or not. She had planned to make her way into Gus’s club today and break into his safe. She knew he would not be there because he had season box seats to the basketball team in Washington DC. Which mean even though the club would be open, but Gus would be nowhere to be found. Gus never went anywhere without Ace, so Ace was more than likely with Gus as well. This was the perfect opportunity. A Sunday afternoon when the crowd was light and the only people working there were her friends. She could be in and out with the old “I just gotta get a few of my things I left in the office excuse” It would be child’s play. But with Rich now in the picture, things were now complicated she thought.

Chilli planned to fill up two bags worth of stuff from Gus’s safe that she had in her trunk. She could pack them pretty heavy and throw them in the alley then pul her car around back to load them in the trunk. The whole thing would take less than 10 minutes easily. She’d be out of town within the hour. Gus probably wouldn’t be back to 6 or 7 that evening. By that time Chilli would be in a hotel room free and clear in another state dancing on a bed of money and jewels. But would she be alone? Would Rich come with her? She thought it was kind of quick to try to throw him into all this. But going on an adventure to a new place would definitely be better if she had someone to with her to keep her company. At the moment she couldn’t think of anyone that would be better company than Rich.

But this was crazy Chilli thought; she just met Rich 1 day ago. This was exactly how her mother got caught up, catching feelings for a man in the middle of a heist. But her situation was different. Chilli fell for a man that had nothing to do with her heist. If anything he could possibly run interference for her. She convinced herself more and more this might be a good idea as the two pulled up to a restaurant that Rich recommended in one of the districts that Chilli thought was only for college kids.

The food was surprisingly good as was the conversation. Rich really just showed no flaws in his character as Chilli got to know him better. She was trying to find a reason to abandon him at the restaurant as she ‘went to the bathroom’, but he gave her none. The organic chemistry they shared was overwhelming. She opened up and told him more about herself, and where she came from. She told him about her track and field aspirations. She talked about her mother some as well. She told Rich how she was sometimes forced by her mother to do some crazy things, and after a while she just left to get away from that life. Rich felt there was more to that story, but he didn’t want to force her to talk about something she was guarding. Chilli was on her third bloody Mary when she decided to test the waters.

 

[Duwop]

“So Rich, I have a question” Chilli asked while beginning to bite her lip again. A potentially nasty habit Rich thought for a second, but her lips looked good,. Maybe she moisturized them or something he guessed. They’re not cracked at all, plus it looked so sexy. He’d allow it.

“What’s up?” He asked Chilli

“What if….. I had a whole lot of money stashed away somewhere, like a whole lot....and was planning on leaving town with it…...today…..….would you come with me?” Chilli asked as she looked Rich dead in his eyes looking for any sign that she might have made a mistake in judgement by asking the question

Rich did not answer immediately; he just looked her in her eyes as well. He knew there was no possibility that she also had a winning scratch off for 500k in her back pocket, so the question had to be hypothetical. But it was a very surreal question, because he was thinking the exact same thing. In fact he had been thinking it all day. He was intensely interrogating Chilli with pleasant conversation, and trying to learn as much about her as he could. Rich didn’t exactly believe in love at first sight. But if it was a thing, he and Chilli were definitely finding themselves on the short list of true beleiveers.

“It’s funny you ask that Chilli” Rich said

“Why’s that?” CHilli asked in return

“I’ve been trying so hard to get to know you since I’ve met you, and I was thinking about asking you the same type of question. I really don’t know. I mean so far you’re probably the coolest female I’ve ever met in my life. But I’ve only known you a day. I’m painfully aware of how attractive you are, and I know how fast a guy can fall for a pretty face….amongst other things.” They both shared a laugh.

“But I really don’t know, that’s a weird question. I mean where would we go? Why would we be leaving? What would we do once we left?” Rich asked

“I like to travel” Chilli responded “I want to see the world, take pictures, make memories for myself, go any and everywhere, experience things you only see on tv. Go snorkeling, hiking in mountains, ride in safari’s in Africa I dunno just really do it all.” She stopped for a second to look at Rich to see if he was interested or just watching her talk. She felt he was really paying attention to what she was saying, and it gave her a very warm encouraging feeing to continue “I admit it sounds like the dreams of someone with their heads in the clouds. But up until today, that was always my dream for myself.” She reached out for Rich’s hand, he took it “That’s how l’ve always lead my life. That’s always been my goal to just drop everything and go when the urge hit me. I’m very spontaneous Rich. I would dead ass drop everything and leave everyone behind right now if you said so”

“What do you mean up until today? That’s an awesome dream, why would you not want that for yourself?” Rich asked

Chilli took a deep breath. “It’s not that I don’t want to do that, but like I told you, I’m a dreamer, it’s always been my dream, and it always will be, but it wasn’t until this morning that I thought about sharing that dream with someone.” She squeezed Rich’s hand “I was just wondering how that dream would go if I had someone else with me, like would I enjoy myself as much if I had someone with me”

“Well do you?” Rich was still locking eyes with Chilli

“If it’s you I think I would” She said

Rich sat back in his chair and thought about what she said. Of course he thought it was all hypothetical, but he had the reality to make it all happen right in his back pocket. And then he thought about it all.

He thought about the conversation he had with Sam Brown, about how he said that Rich should get outta this town. Stay out of trouble. He had no kids, he had no wife, no girl, nothing holding to this town. His job was a dead end job. He didn’t like his land lord at all as he pretty much all but stole his ex girlfriend. He was only 27 and he thought that even if this didn’t work out, who would hold it against him for wanting to see the world with a beauty like Chilli. He could go dead broke inside of a year, and it would still be one of the most memorable experiences of anyone’s life. Rich was never a dreamer, but this girl definitely was.

What would it be like to live a dream, even if it was only for a little while?

He knew there was more to her when he first met her the previous morning. But as he kept saying to himself. Whatever came along with getting with a girl like Chilli, it would be worth it.

“Yea Chilli, Yea I think I would”

The smile that grew on her face was bright enough to blind him

“Are you serious??” she asked still grinning from ear to ear

“Yea sure, I mean, who wouldn’t want to live a dream if they had a chance to?” Rich said

“Great just ride with me to my old job to get a few things and we can leave tonight!” Chilli said as she stood up and put a $100 bill on the table

“Wait ………what??” Was all rich could get out as Chilli grabbed his arm and pulled him out the restaurant.

 

[Duwop]

8.

Earlier that same morning Mikey was sitting on the balcony of his hotel room with a blunt and a glass of Hennessey. Mikey always started early. He was taking time to himself to determine how he would continue to move and if he should start to put together a real plan . Meeting Chilli’s girlfriend Kim last night wasn’t part of any plan Kiey thought, but it definitely was a plus. While Mikey never met Richy’s girl Chilli before, he had absolutely seen her friends Kim and Tasha dancing the day shift at Gus’s club Passions. Upon his release Mikey had made a daily visits to Passions. He never stayed there for a significant amount of time. Just long enough to have one drink and leave. H knew that was enough to be seen. And being seen would eventually lead to someone approaching him. Mikey was waiting for the day one of Gus’s guys approached him. Mikey knew he had a reputation, but as it stood it was nowhere on par with Gus’s. This was going to change. The knowledge Mikey had about his father and his business dealings with Gus ate at Mikey’s soul. There was no way he could move on in life until certain things with Gus were settled. Permanently

While in prison during the past 18 months, Mikey crossed paths with a lifer by the name of Otis Watson. Mikey didn’t know Otis before being sent over to his tier, but it wasn’t long before Otis approached the young lion and set his destiny into place. 20 years prior it was Otis that killed Mikey’s father Ronnie during the prison riot that Mikey was told of as a kid. It wasn’t through anyone else that Mikey found this information. It was from the mouth of Otis himself.

Otis was a man who never backed down from anyone living or dead. He weathered every storm that came in his direction, no matter how strong. However it was this new storm “prostate cancer” that was the one that Otis would not make it through. While on the streets he killed 6 people at a bar over a card game. He also killed the first two police officers to arrive to the scene. He was only subdued because one of the cops managed to get a shot off hitting an artery in his thigh. Recognizing that he might bleed out soon, he took his pants off and tightened his belt high on his leg over the bullet wound creating a functional tourniquet. He also performed surgery on himself removing the bullet, and placed enough pressure on the area to still be conscious when the paramedics arrived.

However this cancer was much more aggressive than any police bullet. He already felt his strength fading and knew that his days were numbered. It was only a matter of time before someone sensed his weakness and tried to take him out so that they could get the glory of slaying a living God. The props from taking a guy like Otis Watson out would be legendary behind those walls. But Otis was a man of principals. If someone had to take him out, he felt he should have some say so on who would receive the honor. Otis had no current beefs at the time he realized that the cancer might claim him soon, but it was then that he started hearing the buzzing about a young kid over on another tier named Mikey West who was really making a name for himself amongst the inmates. The kid didn’t have a whole lot of time, but he was making the most of it by getting in the good graces all the right people, and moving with a very deliberate and cruel nature against their enemies.

It didn’t take much question asking to find out that Mikey West was the son of Ronnie West. Ronnie was one of those guys that everyone liked on the inside as well. He was funny as hell, but could get serious as a heart attack if the situation called for it. His son was almost exactly the same. It was rumored that Mikey willingly spent 120 days in isolation just to expose a CO that was extorting inmates with some of the narcotic shipments coming in and out. Not only did Mikey expose the dirty CO, but he found a female CO to take his place that was much more trustworthy, and willingly took lower prices. Mikey didn’t do this for a financial profit, even though he got a healthy cut. He did it to make friends in the even he needed them. And in prison, you always need friends.

He went through his entire bid like that. Befriending powerful inmates, helping just the right person at the right time. He was quickly becoming one of everybody’s favorite people to talk about on the inside. Otis paid close attention to Mikey’s moves. He couldn’t figure out for the life of him if it was all planned out, or if he was just winging it. Either way it was impressive. This kid had a talent. Even if that talent was sharpened in the world of criminals.

Every beef Mikey had on the inside was with someone who was likely on their way out regardless. No person of power in a prison can have too many people afraid or hating them. It would be only a matter of time before someone took them out. Mikey volunteered himself to be that guy on quite a few occasions, and it was always met with universal appreciation. The kid was a celebrity in those walls. And no matter how much he was involved in, no one ever could ever find enough evidence to add on to his sentence. This was entirely remarkable,

Knocking off a notorious lifer like Otis would probably solidify Mikey’s rep. But at his pace, it would just be another notch in his belt. However what Otis had in mind for Mikey was more important to Otis than just jail rep. This was about revenge. Revenge for Mikey, and revenge for Otis. Otis knew that Mikey was the only person in the world who would carry out this revenge for Otis and really mean it. Without ever meeting the kid, he was absolutely positive he could trust Mikey to carry out his dying wish, even if it was Mikey that put the shank in Otis’s chest.

While it was true that Otis that killed Mikey’s father Ronnie, he was ordered to do so by none other than Gus Briggs. Gus was Ronnie’s partner in one of the biggest bank robberies in the state. And while everyone knew Ronnie would never snitch on his partners, Gus had Ronnie killed anyway just to hold on to his part of the score. It was a disloyal and greedy move, but Otis didn’t have any feelings towards either of the men and just saw it as an opportunity to make a few dollars for his family. Sure Ronnie was a good guy, but Ronnie couldn’t send money to Otis’s family on the outside. Gus could. So he took the hit.

After Gus didn’t pay a dime of the promised money to Otis’s family, it put Otis in a bad spot. If word got out that Gus stiffed Otis, he would look incredibly soft. There was no way something like that could be on his rep. The only way anyone would find out what Gus did was if Otis had the means to have Gus killed in retaliation for it. And for the past 20 years, Otis had not come across one person he thought was crazy or motivated enough to take on a guy like Gus. That was until he met Mikey.

Otis told Mikey the entire story, face to face, of how and why he killed his father Ronnie. Mikey listened to the large older and powerful man without flinching. He never asked a question. He never gave Otis any sign as to what he was thinking. When Otis finished telling Mikey the story, he handed Mikey a shiv to see what he would do. Mikey looked Otis in his eyes, and just when Otis thought he might have made a mistake he felt the shiv go into his abdomen. He felt it pulled out then go right back in. This happened several times. Otis felt the strength draining from his body and was dropping his head as he felt it being caught and held up. He thought Mikey would say some last thing to Otis before he slipped in the enternal slumber, but all he felt was the blade going across his neck and as he began to choke on his own blood. Otis last thoughts to himself were happy ones as he knew this kid would carry out his revenge for him.