The Clique, page 11
“When she heard Spencer’s name, she asked me, was it you who had done this to me. She said she was a counselor for the police department and could help me make you pay without involving Spencer.”
“She played your ass,” Mo told her. “That lady is the D.A.”
“I’ve been making deals with the D.A. The damn police?”
“You’ve made deals with the devil.”
“How did she help you get your baby back?” Emil asked, not wanting to get lost in a conversation about Mo’s worthless, evil mother.
Layla knew she couldn’t tell them everything. She began to slowly move closer to the phone. “My mother paid a lawyer for me.”
Mo knew it was a lie, but short of shooting her, Layla wasn’t going to break. Her text message sounded. She turned to Pepper. “Let’s go. The number is almost up.”
Before Mo went to Layla’s house, she’d set up an alibi by going to the welfare office, grabbing a number, and signing her name. She found a young mother and paid her two hundred dollars to text her when her number got close.
Layla quickly grabbed the phone and dialed 9-1-1.
“Put it down!” Mo demanded.
Layla shook her head no.
Mo lost control and shot the base of the phone, sending pieces flying everywhere.
Emil and Pepper dragged Mo kicking and screaming out the door.
“Let me kill this bitch! She did all this! Ho, you dead! Dead!”
“Drive, Koi.” Pepper shouted. “Pull off!”
“Mo, you better get yo’ crazy ass together,” Emil told her. “What were you thinking, putting that gun to that baby’s head?”
She answered like a small child being reprimanded, “I wasn’t.”
“Well, you better start.”
“I’m sorry that your mother is still doing dirty shit like this to you.” Pepper squeezed Mo’s hand to let her know that she was there for her.
“Yeah, but she done gone too far this time. I know she had to be the one that helped Layla set Spencer up. But I’ll worry about her after we do these hits, get this money and our girls home.”
CHAPTER 35
The correctional officer led Spencer to the visiting room. “Yo, son, this bitch is fine as hell, B. You better hurry up and get outta here if you wanna keep ’er.”
Royal sat at the table with a worried look on her face. Spencer sat down and picked up the phone. He knew this day would come sooner than later. “What’s up, ma?”
“Ma.” She nervously repeated and laughed. “Boy, would that have sounded good nine years ago.”
“I know. I know I fucked up.”
She took the picture from her pocket and put it up to the window. “This is what you fucked up.” The snaggle-toothed, brown-skinned, baseball-suit-wearing little boy smiled at Spencer through the picture.
“Damn! He’s gotten so big.”
“Not big enough that he doesn’t need you. I’m tired of pretending that he didn’t happen. I’m sick of waiting on you to do the right thing by him. He’s asking so many questions.” Royal rubbed the perspiration from her forehead. “If all this stuff hadn’t happened, I was going to release this pressure off my chest and tell Moses everything.”
“She don’t have to know anything. It will kill her.”
“Kill her? What about King? If a woman can’t understand that you had a child before you met her, then you shouldn’t want to be with her. I’m not hiding my child no more. I’m bringing him home here with me, once we finish with these hits.”
“It’s not King that she’ll reject, it’s his mother. And y’all been tight since y’all were little. Why ruin it now?”
“Being a mother is my first priority. Stop thinking with your dick. Think clearly about this. Mo is going to be pissed at both of us.” She hung her head for a moment, thinking about how all this got started. “We were still together while you were seeing her.”
Royal had made up her mind. She was definitely going to tell Mo everything. She deserved to know.
“When y’all get this cheese, and I get out, I’m gon’ be his daddy full-time, I promise. You just don’t know, Royal. I had everything in order. I was going to marry Mo, tell her about King, and live in peace.” He shifted in his seat and turned his head so that no one could hear what he was about to say. “I had all seven of my kids a five hundred fifty thousand dollar trust with a hundred thousand for each of their mothers. Come on, Royal, you know me. Even though I haven’t been there like I should have, King never wanted for nothing.”
“You, physically.” Royal said, pissed at the thought of money taking the place of a father all these years. “You just don’t know how my heart broke when I walked in on you and Mo that night. I got my neck sliced because I was more focused on you than saving my own ass.” She swallowed the large lump forming in her throat. “You had left me in Newbie thinking that you were coming back for us. And then the one friend that I’ve always been down for and been down for me, you were making her another baby mama.”
Royal shook her head and wiped away years of tears. “That hurt. That hurt a lot. You left me and King out in the cold. I had to leave my baby with Mom’s best friend so I could do better for both of us.”
“I apologize. I didn’t mean to fuck up your life.”
“Yeah, well, you live and you learn.”
With all of that off her chest, she wiped away the last tear she would shed for her years of hurt and got down to business. “So give me some real info on this Philly connect.”
Spencer smiled, thinking that he would love to be there when those two got together. “She real anal, got the heart of a nigga, and she loves a good piece of hot pussy.”
“Well, that makes two of us.” She smiled at Spencer, teasing his imagination.
“Just play it cool, get in and get out. Y’all should be all right.”
“I pray to God that all of these hits pan out. Mo is losing it without Kemoni, and I don’t know how much longer she can take it.”
“Just be there for her. She trusts you.”
Royal bit her lip and sighed. “It’s been hard lately. My conscience gets the best of me, and I can’t be all fake up in her face.”
Spencer understood. He wanted to, and would make it right when he was released. “Okay, okay. Just hold tight for me. I’m gon’ take care of all of this when I get out.” He got up to leave. “Hey, watch Pig. Watch her close. She a crackhead. She’ll turn on y’all. Use her street smarts and let her go. And ... umm ... tell ’im I love him.”
Royal nodded, and they parted ways. She walked away with a pep in her step. Her son wouldn’t be a bastard after all.
CHAPTER 36
Two weeks and three days before Christmas Mo was determined to get Kemoni home to open her presents. She’d been at the lowest point of depression because the social workers still denied visitation to all the mothers of Spencer’s children, deeming them threats to the children’s lives.
The lawyer was generous enough to accept the first seven thousand dollars to start the case as a whole because he felt sorry for them all. This was his way of thanking Spencer for paying for a house for him in the Hamptons, a Range Rover, and a nice-size savings. But Mr. Humphries still had to meet with Gabby Cantrell to see why all the girls had court dates except Kemoni and Moses. Their case had been removed from the docket altogether.
As the lawyer did his part, the women prepared to do theirs.
Mo grabbed her duffle bag and looked in Kemoni’s room. “This is all for you, baby girl. Mommy loves you.”
She closed the pink-and-yellow bedroom door, and her soft heart too.
Emil told Mekia that Pepper had hired her and Koi to be her manager and assistant, and they had to accompany her to an audition out of town. She also convinced her mother to come over and take care of Mekia and the kids for a couple of days.
Ascada sat on her five thousand dollar, king-size, one thousand thread count sheet, goose down bed and stared at her worthless expression. She’d pleaded with Hunter to go to counseling, but he refused. He told her that he was preparing to tell his family about Eric and wanted a divorce. She was cut off from everything.
She had no choice but to join The Clique and participate in criminal activity in order to survive.
Pepper was strong, but still miserable without Joc. She didn’t know if it was the privileged lifestyle or the man himself. The mafia made it easy for her not to see him. After the fiasco on Thanksgiving, they quickly moved all her stuff into a storage unit and in with Mo. They froze all Joc’s accounts, seized all his properties, and moved him to Brazil, alienating him from the world and Pepper. He still sent her whatever he could sneak away. But since his wife disappeared, they were tight on his ass. Pepper heard rumors that he’d killed his wife in the penthouse after torturing her for four days.
Royal rubbed King’s back, kissed him on the cheek, and placed his weekly gift on his nightstand. She looked around at his room, at all the sport and art plaques, and paintings he’d done in class that hung on the walls. She’d come in the middle of the night while he slept because, if not, he would give her the third degree of why he couldn’t go with her, or why she couldn’t stay with him. But after her hit, everything would be all right, and he was coming home with her.
The drive to Columbus, Georgia was short and sweet, but long enough to give the women a chance to discuss last-minute details. Royal and Brooke were on their way to Philly, and Nevada and Pig were already in Miami.
They pulled up to Hilton Gardens, and Emil, Koi, Mo, Pepper, and Ascada walked into the hotel like they were celebrities. All eyes were on them. They had two suites, one for them to sleep and dress, the other to seduce their victims.
“Ascada, you might wanna slow down on the drinks, chick,” Pepper told her.
“Do yo’ man slow down when he drinks? Ooops.” She covered her mouth like she was surprised. “You ain’t got a man no more.” Ascada laughed aloud.
Mo looked at Pepper with sorrowful eyes. “She’s going through it. You remember, right? She really thinks Hunter is coming back to her.”
“Yeah, whatever. I’m still going through it too. Where’s my sympathy? That bitch better stay out of my way.” Pepper dismissed Ascada because she was miserable right now and wanted everyone around her to feel what she was feeling.
Mo snatched the bottle from Ascada. “No more. No drinking on the job.” She gulped down the last shot of brandy and sat quietly in the oversized hotel chair, mentally preparing herself for what was supposed to happen over the next month.
Spencer had instructed the ladies to spread out and make the hits at the same time, so the connects wouldn’t hear of the others’ misfortune and be on the alert. Once Mo was secure that Pepper and Ascada could handle things and weren’t vulnerable because of personal feeling, she was flying to Denver. The last hit would involve all of them in New York. After that, they would have enough money to get the girls back, get Spencer out of jail, and retire.
CHAPTER 37
T.I.’s “What You Know about That” pumped throughout the club. The DJ was crunk, and the crowd was hype. Koi, Pepper, and Ascada walked through the door with all the right assets. Koi’s bubbly personality, long wavy weave, big ass, and small waist squeezed into a size ten Seven jeans, when she really needed a size fourteen. Pepper’s beautiful smile, full lips, and protruding hips demanded attention. And Ascada’s smooth skin, petite, tight, S-shaped body, with a nonchalant attitude always made men notice her.
Instantly, two young thugs fitting the description of their intended targets’ right-hand men approached them at the bar.
One of the men sported two huge diamonds, his hat to the back, and a drink in his hand. He said to Ascada, “Slim, can a brotha get ta know ya?”
Ascada tossed her hair over her shoulder, making sure he saw her face. “Not a fat chance in hell, slim.” She turned back to face the bar and winked at Pepper.
“I don’t know, A. They look pretty damn cute to me.” Pepper sipped her apple martini.
“That’ll be thirty-nine dollars for all three drinks and the one shot,” the short, round bartender informed them.
“Let me get that for these beautiful ladies. Matter fact, put it on our tab.” The young thug pulled out a fat wad of money.
“Umm, no, I got it.” Pepper pulled out her fat wad.
Ascada laughed at the sight of the fake baller wad. It was two hundred-dollar bills, one twenty, five ones, and a bunch of paper.
Pepper eyed the young thug. “How much is your tab?”
Coby wasn’t going to be outdone by a chick. He and his crew were the high rollers. Besides, he was really attracted to Slim, who went by the name A.
“Sixty-five dollars right now,” the bartender answered.
Pepper slid the two hundred-dollar bills to the bartender, and all three of the ladies walked away.
Coby and his partner stared in amazement at the women. They were beautiful, fine and self-assured. He immediately got on his Nextel and chirped the man in charge—their intended target, to let him know they had found fresh, new grade-A meat.
The outside world labeled Columbus, Georgia a small, slow, country town, but inside the city limits were hot, beautiful women, talented athletes, recording stars, and a very profitable drug game. And at the top of the game was CT.
An hour later, as the ladies danced and entertained the local male patrons of the club, CT walked in with an entourage of twelve men and women.
Koi’s gold-diggin’ ass noticed him first. “I think ya man has arrived. And oooh, girl, he is fine and ballin’!”
It was like a scene straight out of the movies. He walked through the door with “We Fly High” by Jim Jones bumping in the background. It seemed like time stood still. Men and women both rushed this fine man standing in all white and diamonds.
Wise walked thru V.I.P. with no hesitation. He dapped his two homeboys who had approached the three women when they first arrived at the club. Bottles of Dom, Grey Goose, and Patrón started filling the tables in V.I.P.
Pepper took in a deep breath and threw a shot of Hennessy down her throat, to swallow the thick lump that was cutting off her air supply. I can’t believe my eyes. This isn’t happening. It’s Wise, aka CT. Oh shit! What am I going to do? I got to get outta here.
“Come on, we gotta go.” Pepper grabbed her purse and prepared to pay for their last round of drinks. She scanned the room, and there was no waitress in sight. So she rushed to the bar to settle their tab.
Ascada watched Pepper run around like a chicken with its head cut off, telling them to leave. But she was full of liquor and ready to play. She wasn’t going to let Pepper stop her fun, so she called Moses to intercept.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Pepper is trippin’,” Ascada called Mo, as she calmly sipped her drink.
Mo sat up in the cab that she and Emil shared on their ride to the hotel. “What do you mean, she trippin’?”
“She act like she seen a ghost.”
CHAPTER 38
Wise spotted Pepper when he first came in. That’s why he paused at the door. His heart weighed his feet down. This was the love of his life. The motivation for his get-money attitude. The force behind the empire he was building. When he saw her jump up and go to the bar with her purse in hand, he knew she was leaving.
Wise instructed his crew, “Aye, hold it down for a few. I got an old debt to settle.”
“You need some back-up?” Coby asked.
“Naw, this is long overdue. And I have to be the one to handle it.”
His smooth swagger parted the floor as he made his way to the bar. He stared at Pepper for a second before alerting her that he was behind her. She was still as beautiful as ever. He smiled at her shape. He told her that her weight would work out with her full height, and she would be bad. And she was.
He casually leaned his elbows on the bar beside her. “Where you rushin’ off to? Your Italian stallion got you on a curfew?”
Pepper wouldn’t give him eye contact. She knew it didn’t take that long for nobody to get change. All their little front money was almost gone. And now she wouldn’t complete her mission because the past had come back to bite her in the ass.
“Come on, Pep, you know I know you. And you damn sho’ know me.”
When the bartender brought back the change, Wise caught him and laid a few hundred-dollar bills in his hand to give back to Pepper. He told him, “Keep her change for your tip and hand her this.”
“Just give me my correct change please,” Pepper said, tears welling up in her eyes.
Wise laid another thousand dollars into the bartender’s hand.
Pepper was drowning with guilt, sorrow, and love. He still held her heart in his hand. Oh Lord, please save me now. Just lift me up out of here. How could I have been so stupid to choose Joc over Wise. He was the one for me.
“Please just give me my correct change,” Pepper begged the bartender, salty tears now running onto her lips.
This time Wise lay three stacks on top of the two already in the bartender’s hand.
“Please stop it,” Pepper pleaded. She wiped the tears away from her eyes and face.
Wise had felt her pain. He’d lived it for almost three years now. He had a hole, an empty space in his heart, missing her and longing to feel those juicy, full lips, her thick thighs hugging around his waist, and her whispering, “I love you,” with that sweet voice. When he was with Pepper, he was legitimate. And now that he was walking a fine line, he definitely needed and wanted her by his side.
Pepper turned to walk away, but he grabbed her hand. “Don’t leave again like this. I’m sorry.”
Pepper finally looked at Wise with her big honey-brown eyes. He almost melted on contact, but had to stay focused because he was in his territory.
Wise laid the five thousand dollars in the bartender’s hand the way Joc had laid it in her mother’s hand three years ago to have Pepper.
“Get the money, Pep,” Wise told her.
“I won’t be bought again.”
