Stick-Up Girl, page 1
Urban Books, LLC
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Farmingdale, NY 11735
Stick-Up Girl Copyright © 2026 Zari
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
ISBN 13: 978-1-64556-762-2
EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-64556-764-6
First Trade Paperback Printing March 2026
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter One
Deneisha Lewis sat patiently in the lobby of The Riverfront Hyatt Regency in Jacksonville, Florida. She had been invited to a meeting of the top drug dealers in the city. Sean Collins called the sit-down. He controlled a substantial piece of the market in Northeast Florida and South Georgia. As she sat there, wondering what the meeting was about, she took a moment to reflect on how she got there.
It really began the day she was released from the Cobb County Adult Detention Center after serving a year for shoplifting. Deneisha, who everybody called Neisha, was born in New York, where she lived for fourteen years with her mother and two brothers. She was the middle child. Her mother cheated on her husband. The affair didn’t last long, but the result was a baby girl.
Her husband found out about the affair, so when her younger brother was born, he insisted on DNA testing for not only that child but also for Deneisha and her older brother as well. The boys were his children. Deneisha was not. He left her that same day.
Deneisha had always felt like her mother blamed her and not the affair for her husband leaving her. Maybe it was because she looked just like the man she cheated with, a fact that she never let Deneisha forget.
“You look just like your no-good daddy. Smell like him too.”
After her husband left her and desperate to fill the void, she tried to replace the good man she had, but she ended up with one no-good man after another. The last no-good man took an interest in 14-year-old Deneisha, and one day, when her mother wasn’t around, he cornered Deneisha and felt her up.
When her mother got home, Deneisha told her what happened. She immediately called her man into the room and confronted him about it. He didn’t deny what he had done, but he blamed it on Deneisha.
“You see how she walks around here dressed—half-naked.”
“I do not.”
“Yes, you do. Don’t lie. When you ain’t around, that’s what she does. Flirting with me, trying to tempt me.”
“He’s lying, Mommy.”
“No, I’m not. Tell the truth!” he shouted. “She damn near was begging for it.”
“You’re a fuckin’ liar!” Deneisha shouted and took a swing at him. Her mother grabbed her hand before she made contact.
“You need to watch your mouth, little girl, and show some respect for me and my house. If you can’t, maybe your fast ass needs to go and find somewhere where you can act grown since you think you already are.”
Deneisha was hurt that her mother took his side over her own. She called her aunt, who lived in Atlanta. She was actually her mother’s aunt, but she had always been Aunt Carlitha to Deneisha.
“Your mama never did have good sense when it came to men. She messed around and ran off the only good man she ever had. Damn shame. It’s gonna happen again, especially now that he thinks she’s on his side. He can do whatever he wants with you, and if you say anything, he’ll just call you a liar, and she’ll believe him.”
“What should I do?”
“Your mama ain’t gonna like this,” she paused and giggled. “Maybe she will, but I think you should come down here and live with me before that man does something vile to you.”
“You serious?”
“I sure am. I got plenty of room, and this place is better than that dump she got y’all living in.”
“She’s gonna say no.”
“She there right now?”
“She’s in her room.”
“Put her on the phone. I’ll talk to her.”
“Hold on,” Deneisha said excitedly and rushed off to hand her mother the phone.
To her surprise, her mother agreed, and by the end of the school year, she had moved to Atlanta and started school in the fall. There, she met her two best friends, Brianna Commer, who everybody called Breezy, and Court. Her real name was Courtney Fields, and although the three of them were so different, they became the very best of friends.
Courtney was the good girl of the three. Don’t get me wrong. She liked to hang out with her girls and have fun, and she got into her share of trouble, but she knew where her lines were and didn’t cross them. Brianna was the wild child. She was usually the reason they got into trouble. Deneisha was somewhere in the middle. Since none of them came from affluent families, their desire to look fashionable and wear the latest clothes led them to shoplifting. And they were good at it … until the day they weren’t. Brianna got caught, got arrested, and since the items were valued at more than $500, she was charged with a felony and was sentenced to two years in the Fulton County Jail.
That was the day that Courtney quit the shoplifting life. She had seen an old 1959 musical comedy called Never Steal Anything Small with James Cagney. She didn’t watch the whole movie, only the title, “Never Steal Anything Small.” It stuck with her, and she vowed never to steal anything small ever again. The next day, she began looking for a job.
“If I stick my toe back in the game, it’s gonna be for real money. Not no nickel-and-dime shit,” Courtney told Deneisha that day and announced that she had an interview at the grocery store down the street from their apartment.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the path Deneisha chose. Two days later, she got arrested for shoplifting. When Courtney got home to share her good news about how well the interview went, she found out that Deneisha had been arrested. Since it was her first offense, Deneisha was charged with a misdemeanor. She was sentenced to serve twelve months in jail at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center.
Jail changed Deneisha; it made her tougher to survive inside. She ran with a crowd of rough girls. They laughed at the cutie shoplifter, but Deneisha was cool, and when it came down to it, she fought and beat the shit out of an inmate who was fuckin’ with her. She beat her bloody with a tray in the cafeteria and got two weeks in the hole, but it gave her the cred she needed to be accepted and not fucked with.
“Your ass swings a mean tray,” one woman joked. “You are not to be fucked with.”
On the day she was to be released, Brianna, who was released early because of good behavior, picked her up in the car that she had jacked that morning, and she drove her to the apartment that they shared with Courtney. They parked the car a block away from the apartment and walked the rest of the way.
“Where’s Court?” Deneisha asked.
“At work, as usual. That girl works Monday through Friday from six in the morning until six at night.”
“Damn.”
“She says she’s making good money, so she don’t mind. All she does is slice meat and flirt because you know the girl thinks she’s cute.”
“Who she be flirting with?”
“Customers, the guys that work at the store. They be on her like bees to honey,” Brianna laughed as they got to the apartment and went inside. The place was laid out.
“You want something to drink?”
“What you drinking?” she asked, and then she laughed. “It don’t matter. All I been drinking is that chain-gang liquor.”
“Some of the shit be pretty good.”
“It depends on who made it.”
“True,” Brianna said and handed her a glass of Cognac.
“Thanks,” Deneisha said, watching as Brianna sat down to roll a blunt.
“They have any good weed in there?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes, it be dirt. You know how that goes.”
“Well, Neisha, this here is some fire,” Brianna promised and lit the blunt. She took a couple of hits and then passed the blunt to Deneisha. She hit it and immediately started coughing.
Brianna laughed. “Told your ass it was some fire.”
“You wasn’t lying, Breezy.”
“You know I never lie. You might not like what I got to say, but I promise you it will be the truth.”
“Still keeping it one hundred.”
“Always. You hungry?”
“I could eat.”
“What you got a taste for?”
“I been dreaming about a nice, juicy steak.”
“I know that’s right. I had shrimp and salmon for a week when I got free.”
“Where you wanna get it from?”
Brianna got out her phone and opened the Grubhub app. She typed in steak and scrolled through the list of choices it returned.
“How about Outback Steakhouse?”
“Sounds good. What you getting?”
“I don’t know. Give me a minute.” She continued looking at the menu. “I’m gonna get the slow-roasted prime rib,” Brianna said and handed Deneisha the phone. “Choose what you want, Neisha.”
“I think I’m gonna get the bone-in rib eye.”
“Anything else?”
“I was thinking about the coconut shrimp, but I didn’t wanna get greedy.”
“Bitch, your ass just got out of jail. You can get whatever you want.”
“Then that’s what I want.”
“Them shits are good. I’m gonna order me some too,” she said and placed the order.
When the food came, they ate and drank some more Cognac and smoked another blunt. By that time, Courtney got home from work.
“Neisha!” Courtney shouted when she came through the door.
“What’s up, Court?”
She rushed up and hugged Deneisha. “It is so good to see you not behind that glass.”
“Sure is.”
“What y’all doing?”
“We ate, and now we getting fucked up waiting for you,” Brianna said, holding up the blunt in one hand and the glass in the other.
“Let me get a hit, and then we’re getting out of here. It’s my girl’s first night home. We have got to celebrate.”
“I’m for that,” Deneisha said.
“Cool. Let me jump in the shower first, come out of this uniform, and get sexy.”
“I need something to wear,” Deneisha said.
“All your stuff is in your room, right where you left it,” Brianna said. “Court wanted to throw that shit out, but I stopped her.”
“Why you lie so fuckin’ much is beyond me,” Courtney said on her way to her room.
“What you talkin’ about, Court. I never lie,” Brianna shouted back and laughed.
Once the three had showered, changed clothes, and gotten sexy, they walked to where Brianna had left the car and headed for the clubs. They didn’t stay out late because Courtney had to go to work at the grocery store in the morning. But in the time they were out, they went to three clubs and had a ball at each stop. When they got back to the apartment, their feet were hurting from dancing all night, so Brianna parked the car in a space three buildings away, and they made the short walk back to the apartment.
After not getting nearly enough sleep, Courtney dragged herself out of bed, showered, and got ready for work. It was early, but Deneisha was already up. Mainly because she was used to getting up to be counted every morning for shift change, and she walked Courtney to the door.
“I hate you gotta go to work. I just got out,” she said and hugged her.
“Gotta make this money. We can do something when I get off. I’m off on weekends, so we can party all night.”
“Closing the clubs like we used to do,” she said with her hands in the air.
“I’m out. See you tonight.”
“See you. Don’t work too hard.”
“Bitch, please. I never work hard.”
“Breezy said all you do is slice meat and flirt with the men.”
“Fine-ass men. Don’t get it twisted now. I leave the bums alone, and believe me, there be a bunch of them coming through there, wanting to holla at me. I pay them no mind and keep it moving. See you tonight,” Courtney said and was out the door. Deneisha went back to bed.
It was after ten when she finally woke up. Brianna was in the living room getting high, watching television, when she came out of the room.
“What’s up, Breezy?” she asked, sitting down on the couch next to her.
She passed her the blunt. “Waiting for you to drag your ass out from under them sheets.”
“They were so soft, and the bed …” She shook her head. “I forgot how comfortable that bad boy is.”
“Much better than that rock you’ve been sleeping on for the last year.”
“Seriously.”
“What you wanna do today, Neisha?”
Chapter Two
“I need to make some money.”
“Now you talkin’.” Brianna hit the blunt and stood up. “Get dressed. We’ll get something to eat, and then we’ll see about putting some paper in your purse.”
Once they were dressed and ready, they walked back to the car that Breezy had jacked and went to Denny’s.
“What we come all the way out here for?” Deneisha asked once they were seated.
“The lick is out this way,” Brianna said, looking at the menu. “You know what you want?”
Deneisha picked up the menu. “I’ll probably get a steak.”
“You been fiendin’ for steak, for real.”
“For real.”
“I think I’m gonna get the braised beef skillet.”
Deneisha looked at the item on the menu. “Slow-roasted pot roast and mushrooms.” She nodded. “That does sound good.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
Deneisha put down her menu as the server arrived.
“Morning, ladies.” She held up the coffeepot. “Coffee?”
“Please,” Brianna said.
“I’ll have some too.”
“You ladies know what you want?” she asked as she poured the coffee.
“I’ll have the braised beef skillet,” Brianna said.
“Make it two,” Deneisha spoke up, and once the server promised to get those out as soon as possible, she left the table.
Deneisha picked up the sugar. “So, you wanna go ahead and tell me now?”
“Tell you what?”
“Why you got ghost on me for a while when I was locked up.”
Brianna looked across the table at Deneisha and said nothing.
“I mean, one minute, you and Court were coming out every week to visit me, and all of a sudden, no Breezy.”
Brianna rolled her eyes and looked away.
“I said, ‘Court, what’s up with Breezy?’ She said, ‘Oh, Breezy got something going on.’ That’s it, ‘something going on.’ Court got no answer. So I know something is up.” She sipped her coffee. “I thought you were mad at me about some shit, so I was surprised when you came to pick me up, acting like we ain’t missed a beat.”
“Honestly, Neisha, I was embarrassed, and I made Court promise not to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“While you was locked up …” Brianna paused. “You know I was boosting cars for Scoop, right?” One of her old boyfriends taught her how to break into and hot-wire a car.
“Right.”
“Well, you know I never had no problem with stickin’ a gun in a bitch face and taking his ride, right?”
“Right.”
“So, he got me looking for a Lexus RZ. It’s an all-electric SUV. I spot one.” She leaned forward and spoke softly. “This white woman pulls up to an ATM drivin’ one.”
Deneisha laughed because she knew where the story was going next.
“I wait until she hit the ATM and gets back to the car, and then I step up quick. She gives up the keys, no problem, and I’m off to see Scoop to get paid.” She leaned back and shook her head. “I tell Scoop how I got it, and he says he can’t take it. Said he didn’t need that kind of heat. I’m like, there won’t be no heat; I got away clean. But he still won’t take it.”
