Pretty Kings Read online

  I can't tell her that I said the same thing. That she was shaped like a bullet. Instead I say, "Bunny is a greasy bitch who will get what's coming to her sooner than later."

  "I know," Bambi says under her breath. "I know." She looks into my eyes. "Anyway, I'm just glad that I have you all. Without you, I think I'd be a mess right now. You know what I mean? Money and cocaine will come and go, but the real asset in life is loyalty. You can get so much further with it. Our husbands had it, but they gave it up for selfishness." She shrugs. "I guess that's why they are gone and we’re still here."

  "I guess so," I respond.

  "Anyway, Sarge is coming back later on tonight. He wants to make sure that we look the part for tomorrow. So be ready."

  "You told him we meeting with The Russians?"

  "Nope," she shakes her head. "I can’t have anybody knowing about that money but us. He just knows that we all need to be convincingly male by tomorrow. He wants to help because he loves me."

  "Must be nice to be loved by a man even with Kevin gone," I say.

  "It feels good," she sighs. "But, I really wanted to be with Kevin for the rest of my life. Now I see that we were together for the rest of his." She grabs her bag. "Anyway, go get yourself together. Sarge will be here in an hour."

  As she walks away I turn around to look at her as she enters the elevator. Even in her most evil she still looks beautiful. And the only thing I can think is damn, I'm glad I didn't have to kill her.

  BAMBI

  When I see Cloud's car pull up in front of my house for the second time that day I'm annoyed. Because now I know what he's coming to tell me, that his precious aunt Bunny is dead. And, you know what, it’s going too be hard to act like I give a fuck too.

  "Where are the girls?" He asks when he steps into the house. "I got to talk to all of you now, and it's very important."

  "Important like what?" I ask playing dumb. My face is straight but I can feel my left cheek twitch. My jaw trembles and I bite my lip.

  “I really want to tell everyone all together,” he looks into the foyer. “Where are they?”

  I can feel my heart beating hysterically. I know as of now he doesn’t know I killed her, but I’m afraid that my sisters will know I’m guilty when they see my face. They know first hand the beef I had with this bitch. It ran deep. I been wanting her dead for seventeen years.

  Instead of telling him to get the fuck out of my house I yell, “Hey, everybody. Come down now, Cloud wants to tell us something.”

  Everyone but Race comes into the foyer. When everyone is looking at him he says, “I hate to break this to you girls, but somebody murdered Bunny at her house tonight.”

  Surprisingly, no one had any real reaction. In fact it was me who had to say something to fill the awkward silence in the room. “I’m sorry for your loss, Cloud.” It’s all I could muster.

  “You sorry for my loss,” he looks at the girls and then me. “Did you hear what I just said? Somebody murdered Bunny.”

  “We heard you, Cloud,” Denim says running her fingers through her red curly hair. “But if truth be told, nobody fucked with Bunny like that. She was a troublemaker who made it her life’s work to get into everyone else’s business. Maybe somebody got tired of that and put her out of her misery. I’m just saying.”

  “You just saying,” he repeats looking at everyone including me. “Ya’ll act like I just told you the Real Housewives of Atlanta show just got cancelled.” I chuckle, but he doesn’t seem too pleased. “I’m telling you that Bunny was murdered. She was family.”

  Scarlett clears her throat and says, “Not for nothing, but I don’t feel too good, Cloud. Let me go lay down before Sarge get’s here.” She catches the elevator upstairs.

  Something about the way the smile spread across Scarlett’s face tells me she was happy about the news.

  After Scarlett left Denim says, “I’m gonna check on Jasmine, she still isn’t feeling too well. Call me when your friend gets here, Bambi.”

  Suddenly I was alone with Cloud. “What the fuck is going on around here, Bambi?” He looks into my eyes. “Where are my cousins? And why are ya’ll acting like it ain’t a problem that Bunny’s dead?”

  “Kevin is not here yet, Cloud. Now I wish I could tell you something else. Maybe something that you want to hear about Bunny, but I can’t do that. I didn’t like Bunny, she was a no good bitch who stayed in a nigga’s business. The devil came for her and now she’s gone.”

  “When was the last time you seen her?” He says through clenched teeth.

  “Look, I haven’t seen that dead bitch since earlier when she came over my house with fake suitcases. I wasn’t at her crib none today.”

  When I finally realize he struck me in the face, I am tasting my own blood and looking at his Christian Louboutin tennis instead of his face. I get up and look directly into his eyes. “I don’t know what day and I can’t tell you what time, but at some point in your life you’re going to pay for putting your hands on me.”

  “I’m gonna be back here tomorrow sometime to talk to my cousin, if he’s not here I’m gonna call the rest of my people to see if we can’t get answers. Be ready for that shit.”

  “Do what you got to do,” I open the front door. “Now get the fuck out of my house. You making it hot in here.”

  When he leaves I swallow a half a bottle of vodka and am feeling better immediately. I am about to get ready for Sarge to come over when Race catches the elevator upstairs from the basement. She has white powder all over her shirt, and face and she looks like she was baking a messy cake…from scratch.

  “Everybody come down here,” she yells into the house carrying a box in her hands.

  “What is this about?” I ask looking her over. She seems overly excited and nervous at the same time.

  I often worry about Race. She hangs downstairs a lot. And, although I know we are her family, I also know she has someone out there that she doesn’t want us to know about. I hope they aren’t taking advantage of her. I know it’s not her mother or father, because she can’t stand being around them. Still, I wonder who is it.

  When all of us are finally standing in front of her she puts the box down on the kitchen counter. Then she pulls out a jiggly, rubber mask and hands it to me. “Put this on, Bambi.”

  The thing freaks me out and I hold it while it dangles in my hand. “You want to tell me what this is first?”

  She walks up to me and puts it on the lower part of my face. It goes around my ears and hangs in place. At first it is cool but soon it warms to my skin. She digs into the box and pulls out some brown makeup the color of my skin, and mask. She smears it on my face and I’m so shocked I don’t move. When she’s done, she digs into the box and pulls out a dusty black hat. She stuffs my hair into it, and pulls it down over my head. When she’s done, she steps back and smiles.

  The first expression I see is Denim’s. She covers her mouth and walks up to me, “Oh my God, Race!” Denim looks my face over, moving my head from left to right. “You are so good. How the…what…the…”

  “What do I look like?” I ask.

  Race grins and hands me a mirror from the box. Immediately I see what all the hoopla is about. I look just like a cute ass boy. She squared out my chin and strengthened my nose. The mask allows me to breathe and it feels so real I can’t believe it.

  “But, how were you able to know my measurements?” I ask looking at the mirror touching the mask. “I didn’t come down to your shop.”

  Race giggles. “I can eyeball measurements,” she responds. “Like the Kings could eyeball purp.”

  I look at the mask again and talk into it. “What’s good, I’m Kevin Kennedy,” I say into it. It’s then that I notice the lips move but not as much as I want them too. The mask allows minimal movement.

  “I don’t know, Bambi,” Scarlett says. “The lips don’t look as real. I mean, if you don’t talk much you good, but if you have to speak to them it could be a problem.”

  “S
he’s right,” Denim says. “Now that you speak more, it looks unofficial.”

  “Damn, this would’ve been cool too,” I say.

  Race looks disappointed. “I’m sorry, guys. I really wanted this to work out,” she says.

  “It will,” I say looking at Race. “Girl you are a beast! I have to take back everything I said. You can transform mothafuckas with these masks.” Her smile is so bright. “Race, did you make one of these for everybody?”

  “Yes, they’re downstairs.” Her eyes enlarge and I can see she really wants to help.

  “Good, because you all can wear them and I’ll wear my hat low and man myself out,” I say. “I’ll be good.”

  Race seems pleased at first. And then she says, “I wanted to tell you guys, I don’t think I can do this.” Not this shit again. I think. “I figured what we can do is tell them that one of the kings is sick, and that he couldn’t be there. Since the cocaine will be there, I don’t see why they won’t bite. They are about the white not nothing else…right?”

  “Race, we went through this already. You have to go to the meeting tomorrow,” I remind her. “They expecting four niggas. Not three bitches and a baby. You can’t back out on us now, we need you.” When there is a knock at the door I answer it. It’s Sarge and a few of his men.

  Everybody rolls their eyes but me. I move to give him a big hug but he pushes me back and moves for his weapon instead. At first I’m shocked until I remember why he did it. I’m wearing a face mask and a baseball cap. “It’s me, Sarge.” I remove my cap and my hair falls down.

  “Oh shit,” he looks me over and shakes his head. “Whoever did this did a good damn job. You fooled me for sure!”

  I look at Race. “She’s the best,” I tell him. “Thanks for coming back over, Sarge.” I can tell he is still a little uncomfortable about my boyish look and I love it. If I fooled Sarge it means we can fool The Russians if we play it cool.

  “Anything for you,” he touches my rubber nose with his rough finger. “I told you that.”

  When he looks at my sisters he looks at me, taps his chin and eyebrow twice. It’s a secret message. I giggle. It means the enemies are near. He’s talking about my sisters.

  “I hate when ya’ll do that secret language shit,” Denim says. “Can we just get this over with? I’m tired and am not in the mood to be getting yelled at all day by Sarge.”

  “I’ll try to be as quick as possible,” Sarge responds. “How about all of you get dressed in your gear and meet me in the backyard.”

  “Do I have to?” Denim asks him.

  “Yes, you definitely have to be there,” Sarge yells at her. “Move your asses, now!” He yells like they are in the lineup in the army.

  They amble up the stairs with major attitudes.

  “When are you going to tell me what this is all about, Bambi?” He asks again. “If you have to dress like men, it must be serious. I’m already mad somebody shot you in the hand and, I don’t think I can stand by and let something else happen to you again.”

  “Trust me when I say that this situation will be okay.”

  “And you need to trust me when I say I will take your secrets to my grave,” Sarge responds. “Let me know what’s going on. I can help you, Bambi.”

  “I can trust you, but I also love you,” I tell him. “And I want to keep you as far away from this stuff as possible. I don’t need you worrying. I just want you to help those girls man up. I know it’s not a lot of time, but I don’t have a choice right now.”

  “The others are at least listening, who I’m really worried about is Race,” Sarge tells me. “She’s very resistant, Bambi. She might not do well for whatever you need her for. You may want to leave her behind.”

  “I wish I could, but unfortunately I need her,” I say in a low voice. I take the mask off and wipe my face with the edge of my shirt. “I don’t understand why she can’t just man the fuck up. This meeting is for everybody, not just us.”

  “Some people aren’t built for combat, Bambi,” he reminds me. “Some people are civilians. That’s why soldiers like you and I are important. We protect. We serve. So, don’t be so hard on her.”

  “For some reason I think she has it in her somewhere,” I say.

  “I doubt that,” he responds.

  I sigh. I want to tell him about The Russians so badly that I can hear myself giving him the play-by-play details. “Look now that they’re gone and we aren’t on the phone I want to tell you about that other thing. It didn’t…”

  Knock. Knock. Knock.

  I walk past Sarge and answer the door. It’s Cloud again. “What the fuck do you want?” I ask uninterested in being nice to him anymore. He raises the bandage that was once on my hand. I look at my gunshot wound. Where is my bandage? I shiver. I dropped it at Bunny’s house. Fuck!

  “Sarge, can you go handle business, I have to talk to Cloud alone,” I say.

  He pulls his ear. He’s asking me am I sure. I rub my chin in response. He walks away.

  “What’s that about?” Cloud asks me looking at Sarge’s back. “Is it some freaky sign language?”

  “What do you want?” I’m trying to maintain control because I don’t believe I was so careless that I could’ve left something so serious behind. I murdered Bunny and left DNA. So fucking stupid of me. I’m smarter than that. “As you can see I have company and am busy right now, Cloud.”

  “When I left here, and went back to Bunny’s house, I noticed a forensic investigator was on his hands and knees looking for evidence. When I saw this stuck to the bottom of his boot, I knew whom it belonged to. You see when I was here earlier it was on your hand,” he grabs my wrist and looks at my wound. “Now it isn’t.”

  “How did you get it?”

  “I had to fake accidently trip over this nigga’s shoe while he was on his hands and knees and snatch it off. I almost got arrested because I wasn’t supposed to be near the crime scene. So my only question to you is, why was this there?”

  “I don’t know,” I shrug.

  “So you telling me this is not your blood on this band aid?”

  “No, it’s not mine.”

  “So I guess you won’t have any problem with me giving it to the police,” he threatens.

  He turns to walk away, and I grab him. Knowing words don’t matter anymore, it’s time to put in work. I kiss him sloppily in the mouth. When I see he responds I slide the band aid out of his hand, and lead him into my bedroom. I stuff it in my pocket. When the door is closed I push him up against the wall and drop to my knees. I remove his shoes and socks one by one. Then I unlatch his belt buckle and push down his pants. He’s breathing so hard on my face my cheeks moisten.

  “I love you, Bambi,” he tells me in my ear. “I can’t see life without you.”

  “I know, daddy,” I say removing my shirt so that my breasts are bare. The only thing I’m wearing now is my fatigue pants and I soon take them off so that I’m standing naked. I hardly ever wear panties so he’s in for a treat today.

  He walks toward me and I say, “On your knees, nigga.”

  He drops to his knees so hard, I hear them thump. I walk backwards to the edge of my bed and spread my legs. Then I grab the top of my pussy, and pull up, so that my clit pokes out. “Lick me there, softly.”

  Before I know it his entire mouth is on my pussy. I haven’t bathed today, which is unlike me, and I’m glad I didn’t. I want him to have a dirty pussy since he wants it so badly. I need to see how far he’ll go to be with me…to have me. It’s obvious there are no limits because although he licks my button repeatedly, he can’t stop sticking his tongue into my pussy and butt holes. I fart in his face and still he doesn’t move.

  When he isn’t following instructions, I slap him in the face…hard. “I said lick my button, nigga. Make it wet too extra spit, I wanna feel how much you want this.”

  “I’m sorry,” he says. The sensation is so good now I piss in his face and mouth. He allows me to wet him up, and when I’m d
one he says, “I see you a squirter.”

  What an ignorant ass nigga. That’s not cum, that’s piss. I don’t say anything. I just let this nigga clean my pussy with his tongue. And, when I finally cum, I turn around on all fours and say, “Come get it while it’s hot, baby.”

  When he rises I see that he is already rock hard. He pushes into my pussy and he’s as stiff as a bat. I don’t feel anything emotional with him. In fact I hate him, but I must do this to get him to keep our secret, at least until tomorrow. I don’t want anything stopping me from going to that meeting, and getting that money. With twenty five million dollars after I split it with my sisters, I can get lost and no one will find me…ever. Just one more day is worth giving up the juicy to a man I can’t stand.

  “Damn, baby,” Cloud moans. “Oh, my God, oh my God…why is this pussy so tight? I never been in a pussy this tight before.”

  I want to tell him that it’s because soldiers ripped my vagina out, and I had it reconstructed to be tighter. Instead I flex, back and wind my pussy onto his dick. When I glance at the clock it says 7:17pm. I want this over and done with. But when I look at the clock again, it’s 7:57. Why is he taking so long?

  I’m just about to push this dude off of me until he says, “I’m almost there, Bambi. I can’t hold it anymore,” he grabs my waist and pushes into me harder. “I was trying to wait for you to get yours but it’s too good.”

  I knew he was holding back. “Don’t worry about me, daddy. Just get this pussy.”

  When I feel him gush inside of me, I hop up, grab the band-aid in my pocket that I took from him, flush it down the toilet, and stand in front of him at the head of the bed. “Consider yourself paid in full. Now get the fuck out of my house, and I don’t want to ever see you again, Cloud.”

  He laughs. “You are so smart aren’t you? You think you can just flush something down the toilet and that be it? What makes you think that I gave you the right one, Bambi? How do you know it’s not a replica? You moved too quickly and over-bet your hand, beautiful.”

  My heart is beating fast. He scoots off of the bed and gets dressed. He walks up to my naked body and says, “If Kevin doesn’t come back you belong to me,” he lifts my chin and kisses me sloppily in the mouth. I taste my own piss on his lips. “And, I need you to always remember that I have the ability to ruin your life.”