Authors: Kiki Swinson
Nikki decided to go in and get two take about orders of oxtails with rice and peas while I stayed and waited in the car. And to my surprise, it didn’t take her long at all to cop us some food because she was in and out of the restaurant in seven minutes flat.
“Damn! That was quick!” I commented as I took the two food-filled containers out of her hand.
“That’s because there wasn’t nobody in there.”
“Well, that’s sure a red flag that their food might be garbage.”
“No it’s not. It’s good.”
“How you know?”
“Because I asked them to give me a sample.”
I giggled and said, “Girl, you are so ghetto.”
“Oh, nah! You ain’t seen ghetto until you see me tear into my food while I’m taking us back down the road.”
“We ain’t got to leave right now. So relax yourself and enjoy that food, ’cause, I sure am.”
“Well, since you insist,” she commented stopping her words in mid-sentence to inhale the aroma of her food. “Goddamn! This shit smells good as hell!” she continued immediately after opening up the lid to the container.
“Oh yeah, this is good,” I said.
“I told you,” she agreed plowing a forkful of meat and rice into her mouth.
And then with the help of her peripheral vision, her attention shifted to the left side of the car. She said, “Look at this fucking Benz. Now I know that joint got to be a ‘06model, ’cause niggas down our way ain’t even pushing one yet.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely a ‘06. And it’s hot, too!” I commented as I watched the driver park the car directly in front of us.
“Check out the thirty-day plates.”
“I see them,” I said taking another bite of my food as we both locked eyes on this 4-door, pearl white E-Class Sedan.
Then only seconds later, a very attractive, light-skinned, nicely shaped woman with long hair hopped out of the driver side like she was mad at the world. Immediately after she slammed her door, the passenger side door opened up and fate reared its ugly face.
“That must be her man,” Nikki commented.
“It wouldn’t surprise me because that’s the no-good muthafucka’ who I was pregnant by!” I replied after adjusting to the knot in my stomach.
“That’s Russ?” Nikki asked me as if it was very hard for her to fathom the idea.
“Yeah. That’s the bastard that ran off with all my fucking money,” I said as I shoved my food near the armrest. And then I abruptly forced open the passenger side door and got out.
“Hey Kira, whatcha getting ready to do?” Nikki began to ask me, stuttering her words as she scrambled to get out of the car behind me.
But answering her question was the least of my concern. My main objective at this point was to confront this nigga once and for all. I want him to see me face to face after all this time. And I want his bitch to see me. I want her to know that for a brief time I was in his life and I was pregnant with his child. Plus, that I’m the reason why she’s pushing that fucking Benz.
“Hey Kira, wait!” I heard Nikki say from behind me.
I ignored her and rushed towards Russ and this chick he was with. They heard Nikki call out my name because they looked directly at me as I proceeded to walk in their direction.
And with only three feet in distance between us, I felt it was time for me to lash out at him with my tongue.
“I guess you thought you’d never see me again, huh?” I retorted with rage and resentment in my voice.
“Who is that?” the chick asked Russ, who tried to escape into the restaurant, but she grabbed a hold of his arm.
And since he didn’t reply, I said, “I’m Kira from VA. Russ and I used to fuck around with each other until one day he decided to rob me for more than $300,000 of my money, which I’m sure he used to cop that Benz you pushing and that muthafucking Bentley Coupe he just got himself.”
“How you know about my Bentley?” he asked.
“I know everything about you. You piece of shit!” I screamed, but this time I was within inches of him.
The young lady with him blurted out, “Wait a minute, y’all were fucking around?”
“Yes, we sho’ was. And I’m pregnant with his baby right now,” I couldn’t help but lie.
“You’re what?” she yelled.
“I’m pregnant with his baby,” I repeated myself, but in a more overbearing way so that it would somehow register in his mind. I wanted some feedback from him.
Russ snatched his arm away from her and said, “Man, fuck this!” and stormed off back into the direction of the car.
“Oh, so you ain’t got nothing to say?” I yelled as I followed behind him.
“Yeah Russell, you don’t have anything to say?” the woman asked as she began to follow him as well.
Yet he refused to respond to either of us. So I sprinted over towards him with my fist balled up in a knot and swung at him as hard as I could. To my surprise, my fist landed on the back of his head and stung him real good.
“What the fuck!” he said as he grabbed the back of his head with his palm.
“Bitch, don’t be putting your fucking hands on my man!” The chick yelled in defense of Russ.
“Yeah Kira, don’t put your hands on me no more,” he insisted in a way like he wants me to heed his warning.
“Fuck you, nigga! Whatcha gon’ do?” I replied, getting all cocky, awaiting another opportunity to hit him again.
“Come on Kira, let’s go,” Nikki interjected.
“Wait!” the woman blurted out, “I want to know when was the last time you and him been together?”
“Jessica, give me the keys or unlock this door. ‘Cause I ain’t got time for this shit!” Russ demanded.
“Oh, so you’re Jessica?” I asked after a light went off in my head.
“Yeah, why?” she asked me.
“You just had a baby, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” she replied with uncertainty.
“Well, congrats to you, so now I can tell my baby that he or she’s going to have a playmate.”
“Won’t you stop with the bullshit, Kira! You know that ain’t my baby!”
“Oh, this baby is yours,” I replied, rubbing my stomach in a circular motion. “So get ready, baby daddy.”
“How many months are you?” Jessica asked me.
“I’m three months. And so that you know, the whole time Russ was back in VA, he was sleeping in my bed damn near every night, and lying about not having a woman when he wasn’t licking on my pussy!”
“That’s a lie, baby! Don’t believe that shit!” he snapped.
“Oh, so I’m lying, Russ?” I asked him as I began to get angrier by the minute.
“Yeah, your crazy ass is lying! And I’m wondering what Ricky would do if he heard you running your mouth out here like this?”
“Trust me, he already knows about us. And just last week, I told him about the baby.”
“What Ricky?” Jessica asked Russ.
“My partner Ricky.”
“You’re talking about the one that just got locked up?” her questions continued.
“Yep, that’s my husband,” I blurted out. “And he knows that the day you fucked me at the hotel and tied me up to the bed is the very same day you robbed me for his dough,” I continued.
“So what the fuck does that mean?” Russ snapped once again.
“Oh, you’ll see. So don’t think you’re going to keep riding around in your new whips like you got it going on. ‘Cause one of these days, you’re going to want to go out and take a stroll and your brakes will be stripped. So from this day forward, dress in black!”
“Whatcha just say?” Jessica asked.
“Sorry! But I was talking to my baby daddy,” I commented and then I turned my back to the both of them and started walking in the direction of my car.
“Bitch, you threatening me?” Russ screamed. “Because we can end this shit now!”
I ignored him and continued to make my way back to my car because I felt like I said what I had to say. My point was made.
And besides, I could tell from the tone of his voice that he had his heat nearby. My guess is that he has it under the passenger seat of her car. My best bet is to get the hell out of dodge before he decides that he wants to use me or my car for target practice. But not only that, I’m way up in DC, in his part of town. So, who’s going to come running to my rescue? Nobody! Which is why I demanded Nikki follow my lead.
Almost immediately after we got back into my car, Nikki had the gear in drive and we were on our way.
It only took us about forty seconds to ride by Russ and Jessica. And within that brief moment, I could hear Jessica screaming her head off at Russ, who by this time was sitting back in the passenger seat of the car. So, I rolled down my window and yelled out, “Sleep with one eye open!”
***
Back on the highway, Nikki had a whole lot of questions for me and even though I wasn’t in the mood to comment on any of them, I did it anyway.
“Are you alright?” she asked me.
“No. But I’ll be fine after Papi works his magic,” I assured her.
“You know what? I don’t blame you. Because that nigga was back there acting like he ain’t did shit to you! I mean, he was acting like you was invading in on his space.”
“I know. That’s why I went off like I did.”
“Yeah, I saw that. But, whatcha think Russ is going to do now that he thinks Ricky knows about him robbing you?”
“I don’t know. But I’ll bet my life that that nigga is in deep thought right now. He knows what Ricky is capable of doing and how strong his street soldiers are. So trust me, he doesn’t want to have a war with Ricky.”
“Well, he might go to Papi with it.”
“Nah, he ain’t going to do that. Papi will be the last person he tells about the money he took from us. That’ll put him in major violation and he’ll get dealt with immediately.”
“What’s the violation?”
“Niggas from the same squad are forbidden to rob each other, much less fuck their wives. And if Papi gets wind of that, Russ knows that he’ll get wasted.”
“Goddamn! I would sure hate to get on Papi’s bad side.”
“Me too. That’s why I have no regrets for doing what I did back at the store.”
“Well, after seeing Russ in rare form back there, I’m glad you did,” Nikki commented. “And did you see that chick Jessica, like she was going to do something?”
“Yeah. But, you see she didn’t jump my way.”
“Oh, that’s because the hoe wasn’t crazy. All she wanted were some answers.”
“And that’s why I tried to give her every detail.”
“Well, do you think she’s going to leave him?”
“Would you, after he just copped you a brand new Benz?”
“Hell, nah.”
“Well, there’s your answer,” I told her.
We continued on with our conversation about Russ and Jessica for the duration of our ride home, which, of course, gave me a bad taste in my mouth. But it’ll all be over soon enough.
Turning up Da Heat
It’s ten o’clock in the morning and I’ve got some new rookie
C.O. by the name of Pippens, pulling me out of cell block, talking about I gotta go to Central Booking. “Yo man, why I gotta go to Booking?” I asked while he was handcuffing me.
“Because it’s two U.S. Marshals down there waiting for you.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know. But I’m sure they’ll tell you when you see them.”
“Ay, man, well let me ask you this.”
“What is it?”
“Is Bivens supposed to be working tonight?”
“Didn’t you hear?” Pippens asked me.
“Hear what?”
“She doesn’t work here anymore.”
“When did that happen? ’Cause I just seen her about four days ago.”
“Yeah, that was her last day.”
“Word!” I said like I was cool with what he just said. But on a real note, I was mad as a muthafucka’! I mean, how the fuck could she run out on me? I needed her stupid ass! So who am I gon’ get to bring me shit in from off the streets now?
When this rookie-ass nigga finally made it down to Booking, I was handed over to these two militant-looking losers who called themselves U.S. Marshals. Both of them were tall and stocky. They looked like two tobacco-chewing rednecks. But when they opened up their mouths to chat to me, I knew I had to paint another picture of ’em.
“You ready?” one of ’em asked me, looking all goofy and shit after he signed off on this yellow piece of paper.
“Where y’all taking me?” I asked as they started escorting me towards the garage of the jail.
“We’re transferring you to another jail,” the other guy said.
“What?” I said because I don’t think I heard homeboy right.
“I said, we’re transferring you to another jail,” the same guy said.
“But why?” I began to ask because I was becoming really fucking mad at the thought of leaving this jail while I’ve got unfinished business here. I mean, I’ve got dough owed to me from all over the place. So how am I gon’ get it now that I’m breaking camp? Man, I’m fucked!
“Because one of the jail officials notified us that an inmate tipped them off that another inmate was going to try and take you out.”
“Yo man, you’re bugging! ‘Cause ain’t nobody here crazy enough to try that shit! Do you know who I am?”
“Apparently they do. So here we are.”
“But I can handle myself.”
“Ricky, we couldn’t chance it because you’re government property.”
“And what the fuck does that mean?”
“It means that your safety is top priority. So it’s our duty to protect you.”
“But I can protect myself,” I told them. Because I can. I mean, I wished a muthafucka would’ve ran up on me, trying to pop some shit! Yeah, I would’ve lit his ass up! And that ain’t no lie. That’s my word.
“Watch your head,” the other cracker told me as he helped me get in the back of an unmarked car with tinted windows. So I did what he said and then I said, “Who gon’ get my stuff from outta my cell?”
“We’ve got another marshal who will be on his way to pick it up in another hour.”
“Does my lawyer know about y’all moving me?”
“I’m not sure. But the federal agents you’re working with know,” said the driver as he drove out of the underground garage.
“Oh, so y’all already talked to Reynolds and Strassman?”
“Yep. Because when they found out that your life was in danger, they wasted little time in getting the witness protection paperwork over to us.”
“Witness protection!” I yelled out. ’Cause these niggas are crazy. I ain’t trying to be in no fucking witness protection. So I told ’em.