Relapse: A Novel (10 page)

Roy was leaning against the breakfast bar in the kitchen of Gia’s condo eating a bagel when Gia’s brother rolled up outside to give her a Gucci bag that he had bought hot off a booster coming straight out of Saks. He walked over to the window and saw them talking. Shortly afterward, Gia brought her new gift inside the house and went back out for work.

A few minutes later, the phone on the wall rang. Roy knew it was going to be his lucky day when he heard it was her brother on the other end. “You busy?” Bro asked when Roy picked up. “I got some’em I want to holla at you about … that is, if you like money.”

“Naw, man, I ain’t never too busy to holla at family,” Roy replied, smiling like a cat in a room full of birds.

“Bet, it’s eleven now. I’ll meet you at Sis’s house about one.”

True to his word, there Bro was.

“So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about, bro?” Roy said, barely able to hide his excitement.

Not wasting any time, Gia’s brother said, “I want to show you this.” He reached in his waistband and began to pull something out.

The nine-inch barrel of the .41 snaked out of his pants like a steel cobra. When the mouth was finally released it reared down in an arcing motion, hitting Roy across the left side of his temple.
Whop
.

Roy grabbed his face with both hands, collapsing to the hardwood floor like the little bitch he was. Instead of being thankful for being smacked and not getting a cap busted in his ass, he attempted to ask, “Why you hit—”

Before he could get the words out he felt size-twelve Timber-land boots do a B&E to his mouth. The impact was so great it knocked out two of his front teeth, sending them flying across the floor like a pair of dice in search of a point. The next time the boot visited his face, it broke his jaw.

“I don’t like men who pick on women! The next time you stupid enough to put yo’ hands on my sister, you won’t be this lucky, ma’fucka! Ya heard me?” Another foot to the stomach came with those words. “I said did you hear me?” Bro asked.

Balled up in a fetal position, with blood and tears pouring from his face and mouth, Roy said “Yes” in between sobs.

“Yeah! What? Motherfucka!”

“Yes,” he sniffled, “Lootchee”—his lips were trembling—“I heard you.”

Lootchee was walking out of the condo, hoping that he didn’t have to kill that fool Roy next time.

His phone rang and he picked it up. “Yeah,” he answered as he got in his car. No sign in his voice that he had just pistol-whipped a man a minute ago.

“Hello, can I speak to Lootchee please?” Beijing said in her sexiest voice.

“This is Beijing. You met me a while back at the fight in Vegas,” she added.

Lootchee was silent for a minute, so Beijing continued. “I’m sorry to call like this and I know you probably met so many girls that weekend.”

“Ahhh, yeah …,” he said hesitantly. He smiled as he thought about all the exotic beauties he’d met that weekend.

“It seems like you’re trying to place me. Give me your email address and I’ll send you a picture to help you out.”

“Is this your number?” he abruptly asked when he saw a police car driving past him going in the direction of Gia’s house.

“All day, every day.”

“Bet. I’ma going to call you right back in a short.”

“Okay. No problem.” The conversation was over as quickly as it began.
Damn, that was fast
, she thought to herself.

After an hour had passed and Lootchee had not called back,
rejection began to set in. Beijing dialed Rayna back and explained what happened.

“Girl, he gonna call you back. Did you tell him that you were the girl he called a knockout?”

“I didn’t get a chance to.”

“Well, you should’ve.”

“Rayna, listen to me. The dude had me off the phone damn near before I could remember what number I dialed.”

“The nigga was probably in the middle of someting like counting money.” Rayna was trying to make light of the situation. “Look, just give him a while. He will call.” Rayna was just as excited as Beijing was, anticipating the phone call. She assured Beijing that Lootchee was a busy man. “He’ll call.”

Beijing’s phone rang about an hour later, just as Rayna had predicted. It was him.

“I apologize for not being able to call back sooner but something came up that needed my immediate attention,” Lootchee said. He wasn’t lying. He had to run out and buy a laptop and have someone create an email account for him. He didn’t want Beijing to know that he not only didn’t use a computer, but he barely knew how. That’s the type of guy Lootchee was, it was just too hard for him to say that he didn’t have email.

“Here’s my email address,” he said before reading it from a piece of paper.

“That’s not a problem,” Beijing said, like she hadn’t been the least bit worried that he wouldn’t call back. “I’m sending the pictures now. My hair was different when I met you, though,” she lied.

“I’m sure you are a looker, no matter how you dip your hair,” he flirted.

She could hear the smile in his voice and reminisced back to the first time they had met in Vegas. She had to admit that the man had game.

“Peace this, ma, I’m still not done with the matter that came
up, but I truly apologize. I’m going to call you back the minute I’m free,” he said before adding, “and can I share a secret with you? I don’t need a picture or video to remember the fight or the knockout,” he said before ending the conversation.

Before she could put her phone back onto the charger, her work cell rang.

“Hello, this is Beijing.”

“Beijing, this is Peter Bitz. A while back, I stayed at the Tabby in Charlotte and you took great care of me.”

“Yes—yes, of course. How are you, Mr. Bitz?” Beijing said through her earpiece as she looked in her Franklin Covey planner to see if he was due to come back to visit.

“You took such great care of my girls and me when I was there and you seem to be a resourceful young lady. I don’t know if you moonlight or not but I could make it worth your while, if you could get the Carowinds Amusement Park to open up for my girls and me. They want to go, and the last day of the season was yesterday.”

Beijing’s mind started racing. “Is there a particular day you have in mind?”

He told her the days that he had his girls, and Beijing jotted them down.

“Okay, I will get to work on this.”

She hung up the phone, began to search her extensive and intensive Rolodex, and finally found what she was looking for: Cameron. Cameron was the great-grandson of the man who created and owned the amusement park. Cameron tended to frequent various Tabby hotels. No matter who his hotel VIP concierge was, he would always ask Beijing to give the orders to his host. Beijing kept his secrets: He was a mess indeed who loved wild sex and orgies.

Beijing dialed his number. As the phone rang, she reflected on the first time she’d met him.

Cameron had been in his penthouse suite for over a week with several women and a sandwich bag of E pills, celebrating his eighteenth birthday, when he’d called Beijing.

“I need to speak to you in private,” he said.

Only minutes before he rang her, Beijing had just said to one of her co-workers that she had never had a client so low-maintenance and easy to work with.

She quickly went up to his room, and was directed by one of the girls to the bathroom. She entered and he stood there hung like a horse, holding his wrinkled-up penis in his hand and pants down to his ankles. Her first instinct was to flee the room but she remained calm.

Beijing was shocked at two facts: The myth about white boys having little dicks wasn’t true, and he wasn’t shy at all. “My dick feels like it’s spitting hot coals when I piss. I think I contracted a bad case of the clap.”

Never heard of a good case
, she wanted to say, but he continued to speak. “I was told that whatever I needed, you could get it at the drop of a dime. I need this shit fixed by the next time I take a fucking leak.” He looked her in the eyes and swallowed. “Discreetly of course.”

Beijing nodded. “Yes, of course. I understand completely.”

Within the hour, Beijing had not only arranged for a doctor to set up shop in the penthouse to administer penicillin shots to Cameron and all his girls and write a few prescriptions for the antibiotic, but she’d provided condoms to them as well. Since then Beijing had been his favorite host.

“Cameron, I need a favor.” She cut to the chase because she could hear in the background that wherever he was, the party was about to get going. “I need you to get your people to open up the amusement park for three of my guests.”

“Beijing, anything for you. Take this number. I’ll call Chris, the general manager, and tell him to make it happen for you.”

“Thank you so much, Cam. I owe you.”

“You damn right you do, and you can pay up tonight because I am actually at my buddy’s house in Charlotte.”

She was almost afraid to ask, but he told her, “I want you to turn me on to one of those beautiful black women, like in those rap videos. The ones with the big butts.” He made the request like he was ordering up a sandwich from a deli.

Beijing moved the phone away from her ear. She could not believe what she was being asked, but she wasn’t surprised.

Only a person with more money than he could spend could be so insensitive
, Beijing thought, but she said, “Careful not to bite off more than you can chew.”

He laughed. “I got a big appetite.”

“Okay, let me call you back, I have just the girl in mind.”

Beijing searched for Dazzle’s number and gave her a ring. Dazzle answered on the first ring, no hello, just a simple, “Is this my favorite manager with a gig for me?”

Beijing smiled at her salutation. “Indeed it is, and actually I need a favor for a favor.”

“Sure, what type of job?” Dazzle asked.

“Basically, I have this filthy fucking rich white client who wants a shot of black pussy,” she said, holding her breath hoping that Dazzle didn’t mind sexing up a white boy.

“Okay, not a problem at all. Never did a pink dick before but hell, dick is dick. When? Where? And I guess he’ll let me know how much, huh?”

“Right away, and the place is to be determined.”

“Well, get me details.”

“And there’s one small problem.”

“What? Don’t tell me there’s two of them?”

Beijing laughed at how free-spirited Dazzle was, talking about engaging in sex with a complete stranger like she was planning on hanging out with an old friend. “There is no budget … but hold
on, I’m going to pay you out of my own pocket, so we’ll have to meet up afterward.”

“Okay,” Dazzle said with no hesitation. “But Beijing, don’t worry about it. If the dude ain’t paying you, then I don’t want you to have to pay me out of your own pocket. I got you on the strength.”

“Good looking out but I want you to do a good job because he’s one of my clients who is doing me a favor.”

“I got you. I’m going to turn him out so that he understands that once he go black, he ain’t never going back.”

They shared a laugh and a few more minor details.

Beijing hung up the phone with Dazzle and began trying to think of situations where she could help the woman make money and elevate her career. Then she called and got all the particulars from Chris. He confirmed that he would open up the park for her.

Beijing gave Mr. Bitz back the good news. He was pleased once again with her services and reminded her that if there was anything she ever needed, she should call him.

Damn the power of pussy! Every badass bitch need a good ho on her team
. She sat in amazement at what she had pulled off in a matter of minutes.

Before she could pat herself on the back, the phone rang again. This time it was Lootchee.

“Is this my knockout speaking?”

“It is, it is me,” she said in an upbeat and confident cadence.

“So, tell me about Beijing Lee?”

She thought for a few beats before answering. “Well,” she said, “I enjoy traveling. I speak a few different languages, love to read novels and biographies, like walks on the beach, good food, and some people say I am generous to a fault, but I don’t think so.” She paused to catch her breath. “I’m a people person. But enough about me, tell me something about you?”

“What’s there to tell? I would much rather hear about Beijing.”

“Nope. That’s not going to work. Tell me at least three things about you.”

“Okay,” he said reluctantly. “I own a chain of Laundromats. I love sports …”

“That’s two,” she said.

“And I would like to get to know you better.” And that was the truth. If the photos she’d sent were anywhere close to being accurate, the woman was gorgeous and just the way he liked them: dark smooth skin, long hair, and sexy with dreams and aspirations.

“What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you?” she asked. They both shared a funny story, falling into wild laughter.

It didn’t take long for Beijing to bring Lootchee out of his comfort zone and loosen him up.

Lootchee looked at his watch; it was three twenty-five in the morning, and they’d been talking on the phone for hours. “Damn, time flies. This is a record for me.”