Flippin' the Hustle Read online

  “So! I don’t give a fuck! Them niggas murdered my lil’ nigga and they got to pay!” he vowed. “Anybody that gets at either of them niggas is getting a 100 grand, ASAP!”

  Shaking his head solemnly, Shay said, “RJ, man you don’t understand. Dude and ‘nem get busy too on some real shit. They sling them hammers. I know you fucked up about Lil’ Roy, yo, but for real, I think a war in the streets with these niggas is crazy.”

  “Dude, is you scared of these niggas or something?”

  “Nah. I ain’t scared! I’m just saying that—”

  “Ain’t shit to say!” RJ blurted. “I’ve got 100 stacks on Quis, Biggs, and Hakeem’s head! Simple as that!”

  Shaking his head in defeat, Shay replied, “I’m a put it out there to see who trying to get that money. But . . . um . . . I was wondering when you were going to check on them feedbags? You know how these young boys get when they get hungry,” he said humorously.

  “Get them same lil’ niggas to put that work in, yo, and they won’t be hungry,” RJ retorted, instantly wiping the smirk off Shay’s face.

  * * * * *

  Derrick lay across Naria’s bed with a satin pillow covering his face. He still could not believe that he’d beaten the assistant director of New York’s Drug Enforcement Agency inside of his office. When his mind registered what it was he was actually doing, it was entirely too late. Derrick allowed those restraining him to escort him from the building. One of Derrick’s closest allies in the agency had convinced Director Gold not to press charges and fire Derrick, if he agreed to an early retirement. Once he hopped in his car, he decided that his career in the agency was finished. He would formerly file his retirement within the following days.

  The sound of the bathroom door being opened caused him to push his thoughts into a dark corner in the back of his mind.

  “Trez! Are you still sleep?” Naria asked, crawling onto the bed.

  Derrick sat up and motioned Naria into his arms. Searching for the right words to begin to explain his current plight, Derrick said, “Naria . . .”

  “What, baby? Talk to me.”

  He took a deep breath. “My real name is Derrick. Derrick Richards,” he mumbled, pausing to judge her reaction. “I was hired by some people to hurt your brother.”

  With a look of confusion on her face, she said, “Why are you telling me this, Trez . . . Derrick, or whoever the hell are you!”

  Grabbing Naria by her shoulders, he looked into her eyes and said, “Because I . . . I couldn’t.”

  Squirming out of his grasp, she yelled, “Get your fucking lying hands off me!”

  In an urgent, but calm voice, Derrick stated, “I thought you said that you loved me, Naria?”

  “Nigga, I don’t even know who the fuck you are right now!”

  “Listen, Nar—”

  “Listen?” She began pacing back and forth. “You wanna hurt my brother? And you wanna fuck me at the same time.” Her eyes darted around like she was crazed. She kept pointing her finger at him. “You, you. I can’t believe this shit.” Tears streamed down her eyes. “And I loved your ass.”

  “But I didn’t, because I’m cool with him. And I love you.” He could tell from the way she paused and became silent that the effect of him revealing his love was strong.

  She shook her head. “But you lied and tried to hurt my brother.” She turned and headed for the drawer where Derrick knew she kept her Glock.

  Oh shit, Derrick thought as he jumped to his feet. He charged and tackled her as soon as she got her hands on the handgun.

  “Get the fuck off me, bastard!” she screamed.

  “Calm down!” He wrestled the gun from her and held her in a bear hug as she squirmed to free herself.

  “I said get the fuck off of me!” she blurted as her tears streamed more rapidly.

  “I love you,” Derrick whispered in her ear as she ceased fighting. He turned her around and hugged her. “I’m sorry, baby. But I’m trying to make this right because I love you, and I know you love me.”

  After a moment, Naria confessed, “I do . . . but I don’t . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  Pulling her close, he said, “No Naria, there are no buts.” He stroked her short hair.

  With tears cascading down her beautiful face, she looked deep into Derrick’s eyes, searching for an inkling of deceit. When it was evident that the words he’d spoken were indeed true, she collapsed into his body and hugged him as if she never wanted to let go.

  Cradling her in his strong arms, Derrick rocked her body to the silent tune playing in his head. Lying back onto the satin bed coverings, Derrick noticed Naria’s gown had risen up her thighs, exposing her firm cheeks.

  Instantly, a bulge appeared in his Burberry boxer briefs. The more Naria sobbed, the more her exposed ass jiggled. With his rock hard shaft now poking into her side, she raised her tear-streaked face to him. “We can’t do this.”

  “Huh?” Derrick responded.

  Naria leaned up and stood beside her bed. “This. . . . everything . . . it’s too much for me to wrap my mind around. You have to leave.”

  Derrick’s mouth was wide open as he gazed at her. “You serious?”

  “As serious as you were about hurting my brother.”

  Derrick huffed.

  “You’ve been sleeping in my bed, and I don’t even know who you are.”

  “I’m the man who loves you and who wants to be with you.”

  “You’re the man who was hired to hurt my brother.” She shook her head. “And you still haven’t even explained exactly what that means.”

  “It’s a long complicated story.”

  She sucked her teeth. ”Well, maybe you can explain it some other time.” She began walking out of her home. “The front door is this way.”

  Derrick couldn’t believe the results of his honesty. He was losing the woman he had fallen in love with, and he was likely losing her brother, the person who had become his best friend. All on top of him nearly losing his job earlier because of his fight with Director Gold.

  Naria opened the door as Derrick tossed her Glock on the sofa and got close to her. Her crying had virtually stopped, but now tears cascaded down her cheeks faster with each step Derrick took toward her.

  Derrick had never seen such a look of betrayal and pain on Naria’s face. It hurt to see, and it hurt more knowing that he caused it. He was clear that he had truly made one of the biggest mistakes in his life. A mistake that could cost him his life if Naria told RJ and he reacted the wrong way.

  * * * * *

  Derrick sat inside the Aston Martin RJ had given him, thinking of his next move. He was parked in front of Naria’s home, contemplating a return to her door to plead his case once again. Or perhaps a call to her. He needed some assurance that at best, she would accept him back without mentioning his work to her brother, or at worse, she would cut him off permanently without telling her brother why. Derrick clutched the steering wheel, his head rocking back and forth in deep thought.

  “Fuck it.” He pulled out his cell phone and called Naria. He held the phone close as ring after ring sounded. “Damn,” he blurted when her voicemail came on. Derrick had messed up and he needed to fix it. Fast.

  * * * * *

  Naria was in bed curled in the fetal position. She had never been hurt so deeply as she was when she heard Derrick’s disclosure minutes earlier. The pain came most from the love she had developed for Derrick and how good he seemed to have been to her brother and her. She couldn’t see him hurting RJ or her. He had the chance plenty of times in the United States and even abroad in Jamaica. Also, the fact that he confessed the truth to her was significant in her mind. But it was a harsh truth that she was not ready to fully cope with. The words “hurt your brother” brought back painstaking memories of her older brot
her Dezo being gunned down. Naria needed to know exactly what Derrick meant about being sent to hurt her brother. She needed to know if someone else would be sent since Derrick had not followed through with the job.

  “Here goes.” She picked up her phone to call Derrick. She needed some answers. She clutched it with one hand and attempted to dial with the other. But she couldn’t, so she closed her eyes and sighed. She needed some time for her mind and heart to prepare to learn the answers to the questions she had for Derrick.

  But she decided to call RJ. “Hey, is everything okay?” she asked after he answered.

  “Of course. Why?”

  “Nothing.” She paused briefly and smiled. “Just checking up on my big brother.”

  “Since when you start watching over your big brother? Emphasis on the word big,” he said with a laugh.

  “I don’t know. Just been thinking about you and Trina a lot since our trip to Jamaica.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yup.” The threat on her brother’s life was beginning to make her reevaluate his lifestyle. “I think it’s time for you and her to settle down. Get married, have some little RJs, Trinas and Ravens.”

  “After the hustler mode is done, then I can play hubby and daddy dearest.”

  “Um, it may be that time.”

  “Time for what?” RJ responded.

  “Time that the hustler retires and the husband and father emerges.”

  “What? Oh, I see what this is.”

  “See what?”

  RJ laughed. “Tree must’ve put you up to this.”

  Naria’s heart pounded at the mention of Derrick’s street name, Tree. “Put me up to what?”

  “Since we was on our way to Jamaica, Tree been talking all this retiring from the game stuff. This ‘we need to live regular lives.’”

  Naria smiled for the first time since the drama with Derrick earlier. The fact that he was urging her brother to leave the streets behind was a signal that he was truthful about not wanting to hurt RJ.

  “Is he there with you?”

  “No,” Naria answered. “And he didn’t put me up to this. But just so I’m clear, he told you that you both should leave the streets behind?”

  “Yeah. Gave me the whole song and dance. Talked about me settling down with Trina and him settling down with you.”

  “Oh.” Her smile widened. “Settling down with me. Is that a fact?”

  “Yeah, this dude is in love with you. He never told me, but I know it when I see it.”

  “How long have you known him?”

  “Long enough to trust him with my life and give him a shot at dealing with you.”

  “Okay, but back to you. Just wanted to call and ask you to think about your future. I don’t want you to end up like Dezo.”

  They both paused for a few seconds of silence.

  “Naria.”

  “What?”

  “I’m good. Trust me when I tell you. I can protect myself, and I got Tree holding me down. He’s proven he can do that easily.”

  He’s proven, according to RJ. He must have hurt somebody for my brother or told him the truth he revealed to me, Naria thought.

  “Don’t worry about me,” RJ said.

  “Okay. But you still should worry about your future.”

  “Well, right now you holding up this money. So I’ll catch you later.”

  “Be safe, RJ.”

  “I always do.”

  She held the phone to her chest with a smile after he hung up. She wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but she felt confident that her brother was safe. After all, he had navigated through Brooklyn for years without succumbing to the streets. He had a strong mind, a vicious team, and from what he said, a trusted comrade in Derrick. But she still needed to speak with Derrick. Yet she wasn’t exactly ready just yet.

  * * * * *

  About an hour after Derrick pulled off from Naria’s home, he was in his bedroom when he got a call from her brother. “RJ,” he answered his phone, not certain what to think.

  “What up, son?”

  “I’m cool. How ‘bout you?” Derrick answered, trying to feel out RJ.

  “Just got off the phone with my sister.”

  “Oh yeah?” Derrick’s palms grew sweaty.

  “Yeah, she talking this leave the game shit. Remind me of you and shit.”

  “That’s all she said?”

  “Yeah. Why? Was she supposed to have told me something else?”

  “Nah.” Derrick half-grinned. “Just had some other shit on my mind.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Ain’t nothing.”

  “All right. ‘Cause I need to see you.”

  “When?”

  “Like yesterday. It’s important.”

  “Umm . . . ahh . . . Where at?”

  “On Putnam and Nostrand. The building is abandoned. You can’t miss it.”

  Abandoned building, Derrick thought, fearing he was being set up to be murdered. “Since when we start hanging out in abandoned buildings?”

  “Since they turned into potential gold mines. You gotta see this shit.”

  Derrick let out a deep breath. “Okay. I’m on my way.”

  “I’ll catch you there.”

  Catch me. Derrick’s mind wandered. He hung up the phone and began pacing in his bedroom. He put on his bulletproof vest and strapped on a 10-millimeter with two fifteen-shot clips. Part of him felt that Naria hadn’t revealed a word. But another part of him felt that RJ’s invitation had all the makings of a classic street setup for murder.

  * * * * *

  Shay pulled into the space marked for his vehicle in the condominium complex. An exotic female dressed in a pair of shorts that barely covered her ass caught his attention. Eyeing the woman, Shay exited his truck and hit the alarm button. A succession of noises followed. This caused the curvaceous sexy, light-skinned woman to glance in his direction.

  As she turned from Shay and his noisy Viper alarm system, Shay yelled, “Excuse me, shorty!”

  Halting in her tracks, the woman turned with her hands on her hips “Excuse me?” she asked in a voice laced with attitude.

  Shay immediately went into player mode. “Yeah. I said excuse me, because that was the only way for me to stop such a lovely looking woman, but more importantly, it was my only chance to admire your beauty,” he stated smoothly. “Now, if I offended you in any way, I apologize.”

  A smile appeared on the woman’s face. “Nah. You ain’t disrespect me, it was just the tone you used.”

  “Oh my bad. But as I said, I had to stop you.”

  “Well, I was just going to see my cousin in the next building, but I didn’t see her car, so . . .”

  Shay’s instincts were against inviting the woman to his condo, yet his smaller head screamed for a taste of what was between the woman’s creamy thighs. Throwing discretion into oblivion, Shay asked, “So would you like to come to my crib until your cousin gets home or whatever?” Noticing the hesitancy, he added, “You’re more than welcome.”

  Pauleen said, “Yeah. That’s cool.” She followed Shay in the direction of his condo. In her line of work, bait was everything, and Shay had bitten. His life now belonged to her, and for fifty thousand dollars she’d gladly take it.

  * * * * *

  Damien exited the rickety 747 in Oklahoma City, handcuffed and shackled. This was his nineteenth stop in just a month. For the last few weeks this had been his routine. He hadn’t seen a judge or lawyer, only US Marshals flying across the country. His mind was delirious from the constant travel and occasional layovers in the hole of numerous local jails that he was prepared to do whatever he had to for the madness to stop. />
  Pointing toward the wooden platform, the US Marshal said, “Son, step right here.”

  Damien did as instructed, and was immediately grateful to feel the circulation stopping shackles being removed. The handcuffs were taken off.

  “Step over here!” another US Marshal yelled.

  Just as before, Damien did as he was told. This went on for hours and hours, until he was ushered into a psychologist’s office for evaluation.

  Once the friendly Asian doctor noticed the mental strain the young man was under, he immediately began tapping buttons on his phone. “Dis ‘as to stop!” he yelled to no one in particular.

  Although Damien didn’t know it, his torture was coming to an end.

  * * * * *

  Derrick braced himself as he pulled up on the deserted Bed-Stuy block in front of the abandoned building. It was almost midnight, and there was little light on the street. Derrick switched his handgun off safety and checked to make sure a bullet was in the chamber. “This is it?”

  Derrick looked around the block once more. He didn’t see any of RJ’s cars or any other BTB members. This made him question if RJ had sent him there for someone else to kill him.

  Derrick pulled out his cell phone and called RJ.

  “What’s up, Tree?”

  “I’m downstairs. You inside?”

  “Yeah. Just knock on the door,” said RJ.

  “Got you.” Derrick exited his car, looking around the block again. Then he walked up to the dilapidated three-story brownstone and knocked on the steel door.

  The door swung open immediately, startling him.

  “Ha, ha, ha.” The huge monster of a man who opened the door laughed. “It’s only a door. You gotta be Tree.”

  Derrick nodded. “Yeah.”

  “RJ is waiting for you in the basement.”