A Thug's Wife (Full Length Novel) (14 page)

Today was not the day to be fucking with him. He shook his head and walked away from Cherie, taking his self to the corner of the waiting area. Pulling out
his cell, he checked to see if there were any important messages that had come through to him.

             
“Aye, aye!” Devon said to Quasym as he strolled through the waiting area. He walked over to Quasym and slapped hands with him before giving him a hug. “What’s the word fam?”

             
Quasym shook his head, “Nothing yet.”

             
“What up boss man? Just tell us what you need us to do and we ready,” Marco said as he dabbed it up with Quasym. He and his boy's Rakwon and Ju Ju were part of a squad called the Brick Money Boys out of West Dallas, a crew they formed when they were in their early teens. They didn’t want to get down with the Crips just to fight the Fishtrap Bloods over colors, so they did their own shit and was well respected.

Back before Dan-D took over the streets t
hey were a force to be reckoned with working under a dude named Tron, who had a tight handle over West Dallas. Tron ended up going upstate on some federal charges leaving the gate open for Dan-D to come and take over.

Dan-D didn’t trust too many people an
d put his family on before anybody, and the rest he treated like petty peons that only ate when he said they could eat. The Brick Money Boys weren’t having that shit and decided to lay low.

They got money however they could to stay afloat, but they refuse
d to fuck with Dan-D. Today Quasym came to them on a respectable boss level talking their favorite color, and they just couldn’t refuse. Besides, Rakwon knew Quasym from around the way and knew that he was an alright dude.

             
Marco was the youngest of the crew at twenty-two years old and was the only one that didn’t touch the weight. It just wasn’t him, and he preferred to get his hands dirty another way. He was smart as hell but had an itchy trigger finger. Marco was known to knock a nigga head off with no questions asked whenever he felt disrespected. His attitude was intolerant to bullshit, and he was just what Quasym needed. With him on the roster, Quasym didn’t have shit to worry about.

Rakwon was twenty-three and was the greatest cook around Dallas. Fi
ends fucked with his whip game over anybody’s any day of the week and once word got out that Quasym had him in the kitchen; the game wouldn’t be the same anymore.

Ju Ju also twenty-three could move brick a day. The shit was nothing to him. He had been sel
ling dope since he was nine years old, and he would tell anyone that asked that he was born to be a dope boy.

Everyone felt that Ju Ju should have been a boss by now but that just wasn’t for Ju Ju. He preferred to play the back and get money. He didn’t ne
ed to be in the spotlight like most niggas.

             
“Yo’, I really need to figure out where this heat coming from. I got an idea of who it might be, but I need facts. Can’t make no mistakes and fire shots at the wrong niggas, ya’ feel me?” Quasym said to Marco. Although, he knew that Hova was the man responsible, he wanted to be one-hundred percent.

             
“A’ight, we on it. We gonna hit the block and see what’s happenin’. I’m sure somebody knows somethin’. Shit most likely circulating already,” Marco said.

He looked over his shoulder and spotted Cherie coming towards them. He couldn’t help but lick his lips as he watched her hips switch from side to
side in her Pink tights.
Damn!
He thought to himself. She was beautiful to him. He hated to stare so hard especially at a time like this, but he hadn't seen anything that looked as good as she did in a long time.

   "Not tryna be nosey, but I just can't with her right now,"
Cherie said referring to her mama. She walked past the fellas to take a seat in a chair and crossed her arms over her chest. A huge amount of emotions bombarded her, and suddenly she broke down crying.

     Marco walked over to her and knelt down in front
of her. He placed a hand on her knee unsure of what to say, "I know it might not seem like it, but it's gonna be a'ight ma. Shit might hurt, but I'm sure ya' people gonna pull through just fine."

      Cherie pulled her hands away from her face and stared
into Marco's hazel brown eyes. His soft skin reminded her of honey, and his full lips were some of the sexiest she had seen on a man. He had a thick set of brows and his eyes were the shape of almonds. He looked like the ultimate pretty boy, but Cherie could look in his eyes and tell he was far removed from that.

        "That's the only sister I have. We don't always see eye to eye, but I count her to save me from our mama from time to time," Cherie said.

She used the back of her hand to wipe her face and then stared down at the floor. She didn’t know if it were appropriate for her to be feeling this way about this dude in front of her considering the fact her only sister was laying in the hospital fighting for her life.

             
“She gonna be a’ight. She knows she got people pulling for her. Send ya’ prayers up ma’,” Marco told her. He swiped his finger under her chin to wipe away some of the wetness that spilled down her face. He flashed her with a gorgeous smile exposing the gold slugs in his mouth.

       
Damn I usually try to stay away from these street niggas, but shit he look like he on one. With his fine ass.
Cherie thought as she continued to try and examine Marco without his knowledge.

            “Dry those tears beautiful. I’m holla at you later, a
’ight.” Marco said as he stood to his feet. He walked over to Devon and Quasym, “A’ight, we out. ‘Bout to beat these streets. I’ll get at y’all later.”

            “Hold up. I’m a roll with y’all,” Devon said to Marco. “Aye bruh, hit me up when you hear so
mething.”

            “A’
ight, ‘preciate y’all for coming through. Get at me the minute y’all hear something.”

            Devon and The Brick Money Boys walked out of the waiting room and headed out of the hospital. They rushed towards Marco’s candy red old school Camaro and hopped in. Marco cranked up the ride and pulled out of the hospital’s parking lot.

            “Mane, I really ‘preciate y’all niggas for putting us on. Nigga tryna eat out here in this jungle, ya’ feel me?” Marco said to Devon.

             
“For real, for real!” Ju Ju chimed in. “Shit, ain’t easy when you ain’t got the proper connections, and we weren’t tryna fuck with that cat Dan-D.”

    “Definitely. We ‘bout to change the whole game, ‘bout to have the trap thumpin’ something serious. We gotta stupid ass payday coming up if we meet this lil’ quota and I swear I’m up out the hood ASAP,” Devon responded. H
e pulled out a cigarillo and a bag of weed from his pocket.

             
“I feel you on that. I got feeling this shit gonna work out just right,” Ju Ju commented.

             
“Hell yea,” Rakwon added. “I remember that cat Sym from back in the day. He was always on his grind and never fucked with nobody. I done passed a few blunts and chopped it up with him a few times until that nigga just disappeared.”

“Yea, he ended up doing a little time in the pen. Just got out earlier this year,” Devon told him.

            “Yea well, whatever y’all need us to do out here in these streets, we out here. For real, for real. Hope I don’t sound like no groupie,” Marco laughed. “These my brothers and we some loyal niggas, ya’ feel me? That’s one thing y’all ain’t gotta worry about, and they will put in that work. Believe that shit. That cat Dan-D was throwing major shade our way, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before somebody took his ass down. It took everything in me to keep my cool with him and his niggas mane.

I honestly thought I was gonna
be the one to murder that nigga Dan-D, especially after he came out at me a couple of weeks before somebody murked him talm’ ‘bout my brothers had to go to North Dallas or to the Cliff if they wanted to make money. Somebody beat me to that shit though ‘cause I was definitely hot on his ass,” Marco laughed. “Nigga was a phony ass fuck. Fucking his people over. Not paying them on time or either not paying them enough. Just doing some ol’ bitch shit.”

             
“Yea, I heard dude was out here reckless. I ain’t really get a chance to get familiar with him like that. I know he used to date Sym sister back in the day, but he came around when Sym got locked up, and I decided to get off the streets since my ol’ lady was nagging me to death. That’s all I been hearing about though. Cat was out here doing it like that though?” Devon shook his head.

He didn’t know if Quasym were responsible for Dan-D’s death or not like Hova accused, but if so he could tell that a lot of people were happy that Dan-D was no longer around. He fire
d up the weed and sat back in his seat thinking about Zaria hoping that she would be okay.

Devon wanted to stay at the hospital and make sure his boy was good, but he knew he would be more valuable making sure things were going smoothly in the streets. He
needed beat the block and watch over their new team.  Most of the cats they put on were all new to the trap life, and Devon had to make sure they were on point with it. 

Devon was glad that Quasym didn’t treat him like a do-boy and gave him space to do h
im. That gave him all the faith he needed to know that everything was going to work out between them. He knew all too well how a little money and street fame could get to a nigga’s head and friend or not, Quasym could easily that affect him, but he didn’t. Quasym treated Devon as an equal and that made him feel good.

             
“So what’s up with shorty back at the hospital? The lil’ brown skinned chick?” Marco asked inquiring about Cherie.

“Shawty, had a nice lil’ ass on her,” Rakwon commented.

“Hell yea,” Marco nodded as he glanced in his rear view. Cherie had him mesmerized.

             
“Lil’ sis? Oh, she cool. Just young as hell that’s all. She got some growing up to do. I saw you over there checking her out and shit,” Devon laughed.

             
“I ain’t gonna lie. Shorty fine as fuck. I hated to be trying holla at a time like that, but damn she had my mouth watering. How old is she?”

             
“She nineteen or twenty I believe,” Devon told him. He took one last puff of the weed and handed it to Marco.

             
“So, what’s up with your boy Sym? Would he be tripping if I fucked with her?” Marco accepted the weed. He dumped the ashes in the ashtray and took a tug of the blunt.

             
“Nah, Sym ain’t who you need to worry about. It’s that mama of theirs. She like a got damn warden or some shit. Her crazy ass don’t play man.”

             
“I ain't worried about moms. She’ll like me,” Marco chuckled.

             
“Yea okay,” Devon nodded knowing Tammy didn’t like no damn body.

             
Devon pointed for Marco to make a left at the light and then turned the volume up on the stereo. They all bobbed their heads to Yo Gotti’s
Rappin’ Like I’m Trappin’
as they headed toward the west side of Dallas. Life was about to be even greater for them all. Each of them could feel it.

Chapter 15: A Love Connection

The sun had just begun to rise and was peeking through the few clouds that filled the sky. Cherie stood across the street from the hospital puffing on one of her mama’s cigarettes, trying to soothe the ache she felt inside.

She knew the cancer stick wasn’t enough, but it didn’t stop her from filling her lungs with drag after drag. She had so much on her mind from her recent break up with Kareem to her mama constantly on her ass, and now Zaria fighting for her life.

She wanted to be happy for a change, and
she wanted to do so her way, but her love for money and looking fly had an overwhelming effect on her.  She couldn’t help that she was addicted to paper like that. She blamed that on her mama but at the end of the day all she really wanted was a husband or at least a loving relationship.

        Cherie hadn’t realized how much she would miss her relationship with Kareem until it was all over. Inwardly, she had to admit to herself that she really cared about that dude. He had treated her like he was genuinely interested in her and cared abo
ut what she wanted to do in life.

Unfortunately, her mama had gotten so deep into her head that the only thing on her mind was pinning a baller. She didn’t even know how to love a man for anything other than what he had in his pockets. She didn’t care abo
ut personality or looks, and although Kareem was sexy, it didn’t matter. She had been taught to care about the money and only that.

She wished she had listened to all the advice that Zaria had given her, and maybe she could’ve held onto Kareem. She had to
learn how to utilize her heart or otherwise every potentially good man she meets will end the same way it did with Kareem. There had to be a way to have love and have the money at the same time; she just had to learn how to attain them both.