Читать книгу The Downfall of a Hustler - G Money - Страница 6
ОглавлениеChapter 2
It was a nice sunny day outside, so Sevyn decided to hit up the car wash and then head to the hair salon. Meanwhile, back at the hair salon, Tracy and Rebecca are preparing for today so they would be ready when their clients came through.
“Hey, Becky, have you seen Sevyn lately?”
“No.”
“Me neither. It’s been about three weeks since I last seen him. Speaking of the devil.”
“You mean God.” She laughed. “Bitch, bye.”
“Girl, I gotta crush on Sevyn’s sexy ass. There goes his ass pulling up in the parking lot.”
Sevyn got out the car and started walking across the parking lot, turning heads. Becky stood up and just watched. Goddamn Sevyn know he was fine as hell. When Sevyn walked into the hair salon, both women spoke at the same time.
“Hey, Sevyn.”
“Wazzup wit it, ladies? How are y’all doing? We doin’ better now that you are here.” Rebecca wanted to say so bad, I’ll be doing a whole lot better if I could get that dick up outcha, but she kept her thoughts to herself.
“Y’all missed a nigga?”
“Boy, please, not at all.”
“Tracy, speak for yourself,” Rebecca said. “Hell yeah, I missed you.”
Sevyn smiled turned around and walked into his office and sat behind his desk. Rebecca had a thing for Sevyn. Rebecca was a stallion with her big ass, big tits, cute face, and slim waist. She turned heads and stopped traffic everywhere she went. Rebecca had a man, but they were separated. When it came to Sevyn, she didn’t give a damn about her man. The reality is, Tracy missed Sevyn and Sevyn knew it.
“Girl, all Sevyn got to do is give me a chance, and I’ll put this pussy on him and have him calling for the lord.”
“Bitch, you is crazy. Rebecca, is you coming to the cookout next week. If so, who are you inviting?” Tracy changed the subject. She got tired of Rebecca talking about Sevyn.
She was jealous because she liked Sevyn, but Sevyn only looked at her as a best friend, nothing more, nothing less.
“I’m inviting my best friend, Tara. She has an 11:00 a.m. appointment. You’ll get a chance to meet her.”
While the ladies were talking, Sevyn shot by. But before he could walk out the door, Tracy asked, “Are you coming back?”
“Yeah, later on,” he replied.
Time had flown by, and before you knew it, it was Saturday and smoke filled the air from the barbecue. Rebecca saw her best friend had pulled up and parked, so she went to meet her. When the two approached each other, they greeted and embraced each other and then headed back over to Tracy.
“Hey, Tracy, this is my best friend Tara and, Tara, this is my friend and coworker Tracy.”
“Nice to meet you, Tracy.”
“Nice to meet you also, Tara,” replied.
Tara talked the entire time Rebecca was doing her hair. Tracy just listened as Tara bragged about the car she drove and how much money she had and how she didn’t take a shit from no nigga. Tracy made a mental note to stay from around this bitch. She just moved back to Savannah and is already getting on my nerves.
Later that evening, the shop was empty. Sevyn walked in and started talking to Tracy. “Yo, Lady T, wazzup?”
“Nothing much, Sevyn. Long time no see.”
“I know, right? I have been so busy. So, Tracy, how’s the new job coming along?”
“It’s goin’ great. Thanks for putting me on.”
Sevyn looked up and said, “Anytime, Lady T. You know I got you.”
“I know. Hey, Sevyn, my family is having a cookout next week. Maybe you can roll with me if you’re not busy.”
Sevyn replied, “Sounds like a plan, best friend.”
One week later
“Yo, Tracy, this cookout is jumping.”
“I know, right?”
Just as Sevyn was about to say something, he spotted the prettiest girl God had ever made. “Aye, Tracy, hold that thought for one second.”
“Here you go again, always chasing a pretty face and fat azz.”
Sevyn turned around with the biggest smile on his face and yelled out, “Hater!”
As Sevyn approached the young lady, first thing he noticed was her hazel eyes and pretty smile. Everything about her said wifey. Sevyn thought to himself, if he played his cards right, this could be his potential wife. Sevyn stood six feet and three inches with the frame of a pro athlete and the swag of a dope boy. As Sevyn was about to open his mouth, a black Lexus LS 430 pulled up.
“Ms. Jones, here is your car.” She hopped in and pulled off with looking back as if Sevyn was never standing there. Sevyn returned to the tent where he left Tracy standing. He saw she had the biggest smile on her face. The smile on her face was saying, That’s what your ass gets, mister.
“I can get any girl I want.” He laughed. “Tracy, you just mad you couldn’t pull me,” he said as they joked around. “Tracy, wazzup? Do you know shawty that hopped in that Lexus?”
“Yeah, I know her. That’s Tara. Rebecca’s friend from out of town.”
“Oh, okay. Damn, she sexy.”
Tracy sucked her teeth.
“Why you suckin’ your teeth?”
“Nothing, Sevyn! Nothing.”
“Aye, fresh oh lord, what is it now, Tracy?” Sevyn knew a shitload of questions was about to be asked once Tracy called him by his nickname she gave him. And she felt the same way when he called her Lady T. Sevyn is the only person who called her that.
“On a serious note, Sevyn, when is you going to give the game up?”
“Tracy, we have had this same conversation so many times.”
“I know and you keep giving me the same answer.”
“Soon. Tracy, I’m making a change. It’s just taken me sometime. Change don’t happen overnight, baity girl. It takes time.”
“I know but I want you to be safe out here because these streets are dangerous.”
“Well, you want to know what I think?”
“What, Tracy?”
“All right, don’t be such a smartass black ass nigga.”
“I’m not black, I’m brown-skinned.”
“I don’t know who the hell lied to you, but whoever it was must be talkin’ ’bout the palm of your hand.” She laughed.
“Whatever you like it.”
“Sevyn, please. You think you all that.”
“Nope, I know I’m all that.”
Tracy blushed listening to the comment come out of Sevyn’s mouth. But she knew he was telling the truth.
“I think you need to start back writing books. I think you will make a great author one day.”
“Me too. Maybe I’ll give it some thought. Writing books takes times and dedication, something I don’t have right now. When I’m ready, I’ll get back to it.”
“Sevyn, you gatcha pistol with you?” The question caught Sevyn totally off guard.
“Yeah, why?”
“Because ever since you returned to the tent, those three guys leaning on that smoke gray Tahoe have been watching you and pointing over here.”
“Trust me, Tracy, them niggas don’t want these problems because I really hate to fuck up this cookout. Tracy, what are they doing now? They leaning up off the truck one by one.”
Sevyn reached under his shirt, clutching his 45-caliber pistol. They started heading Sevyn’s way. “Tracy, if they come any closer, Imma start squeezing out this bitch.”
As they approached the tent and got within feet of Tracy, Sevyn slid the safety off his pistol and pulled it out slow. The three dudes stopped in midstep and held up their hands. The slim Kat with the Tom Ford frames on spoke with the smoothest tone ever.
“Hold up, playboy. We come in peace. We just have a message for you. A message from my nigga Rich. He want you to holla at him.”
“Who is Rich? And why does he want me to come holla at him?”
“I guess he’ll let you know when y’all meet up. Rich does understand that time is money, and he doesn’t want to waste your time. Here’s $5,000 for your time. Here take this card. The address is on it.”
“Wait, 456 Fellwood Homes? That’s the projects.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“With all due respect, tell yo man Rich I’m not coming over there.”
Why not? It’s just the projects. I mean, you gotta pistol, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Fall through and stop being so scary tough guy.” He laughed. “We out.”
When the three men were out of sight, Sevyn just stood there, ashamed, knowing he just let Tracy see his true colors. Tracy burst out laughing.
“You scary li’l punk. Why you so scared to go to the projects? My fourteen-year-old son goes over to Fellwood Homes by his self all the time.”
Sevyn turned around and said, “Shut the hell up. Have you ever gone to Fellwood Homes project?”
“Yeah, boy, plenty of times. Sevyn, are you goin’ to the projects or what?”
“Yeah, I have no choice. I took the money, right?”
“Okay, good, because I’m ready to go shopping.”
“Excuse me?”
Tracy totally ignored Sevyn and kept talking. “I need new shoes, a bag, and that new iPhone.”
“Oh, really?”
“Hell yeah, really.”
“I like how you make plans with my money.”
“We a team, right?”
“I guess, Tracy.”
“Okay then, put me in the game, Coach,” she said.
The next day, Sevyn stepped out the house so fresh and so clean. Gucci from head to toe. He approached his S550 Benz. He spotted the young lady from the cookout riding by. He screamed, “Shawtyyy!” at the top of his lungs. She stopped and backed up. As she got near Sevyn, she brought her car to a complete stop, and the window rolled down.
“Is that how you get a woman’s attention?”
“No, not at all, but I had to scream so you wouldn’t get away from me. How are you doing? My name is Sevyn, but my best friend calls me Fresh.”
“Fresh!”
“Yeah, Fresh.”
“Why Fresh?”
“Because whenever she sees me, I’m always dressed in nothing but the best.”
“Your best friend is a female?”
“Yeah, her name is Tracy, but I call her Lady T.”
“Aww, how nice. You sure you’re not fucking your best friend? I know how those best friend situation be.”
“No, trust me, she is just my best friend.”
“Okay, I hear ya, Mr. Fresh.”
“I see somebody got jokes.”
“I do.”
“I like that.”
“Oh, you do?”
“Sure do. I like Sevyn better.”
“That what I’ll call you. My name is Tara.”
“Tara!”
“That’s right, the one and only.”
“That’s such a cute name.”
“Whatever! Don’t try and butter me up.”
“I’m tryna give you a compliment. I like the name Tara.”
“So, Fresh, I mean Sevyn,” she laughed, “is that your Benz?”
“Yes, ma’am. So, Ms. Hazel Eyes, I mean Tara, is that your Lexus?”
“I’m driving it, ain’t I?”
“That don’t mean nothing. People ride around showing off stunnin’ in other people car every day, sweetie.”
“Well, this is my car, and I’m not your sweetie.”
“You will be in due time.”
“Yeah, whatever!”
“Tara, what are you doing later, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Nothing much. I have no plans.”
“Okay. So is it cool if I get your number and hit ya later?”
“That’s cool.”
“Maybe we can go out and get a bite to eat and have a drink or two.”
“Are you asking me out on a date?”
“Yes, I am, Hazel Eyes.”
“Then a date it is.”
“How about 8:00 p.m.?”
“Sounds good to me. Hey, Sevyn, don’t have me waiting on you all night.”
“Trust me, I won’t, Hazel Eyes.”
Tara couldn’t help but start blushing, loving the new nickname Sevyn had given her. “All right, Sevyn, I’ll see you later.” Tara pulled off slow, and Sevyn just stood there smiling, thinking to himself, Damn, I’m the man.
Moments later, Sevyn jumped into his car and sped off, jamming to his favorite song by Master P, “Gangstas Need Love Too.” Sevyn had the prettiest Benz ever—peanut butter inside, twenty-two-inch Asanti rims with a candy wine berry burgundy to top it off. Sevyn had that candy looking good enough to eat. Sevyn started bobbin’ his head to the music. He switched lanes, making a left on to 37th Street to hit the highway. Sevyn was swerving in and out of traffic, feeling the music. When he got on to the highway, he made a quick stop to the store to get gas, play his lottery, cash 4 numbers, and purchase three lottery scratch-off tickets. When he got to the counter, he told the cashier to give him $25 on pump four and told the cashier he wanted to play cash 4.
She said, “Sir, what are the numbers to play?”
“Let me get 1717, 1010, $1 straight and $1 straight box and three jumbo bucks, that’s it.”
“Okay, your total is $34. Here you go, sir. Thank you, come again.”
Sevyn approached the gas pump and began pumping his gas. When he was finished, he jumped back on the highway, thinking to himself, Today is my day. Imma hit the lottery today. When Sevyn made it close to Tracy’s neighborhood, he flipped open his cellphone and dialed Tracy’s number. After the third ring, Tracy answered the phone, singing and reciting the words to Trina’s song, “Da Baddest Bitch.”
Sevyn burst out laughing and said, “You wish.”
“You know what, Sevyn, fuck you.”
“Baby girl, I know you wish you could. But anyway, I’m on the way to pick you up, so we can go check the dude Rich out. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Okay, fo sho. I’m ’bout to get dressed now.”
“Twenty minutes later, Sevyn pulled and hit the horn. Tracy’s front door flew open.
“Sevyn, she coming,” Tracy’s fourteen-year-old son, Ny’quan, shouted. Seconds later, Tracy came out the house, and Sevyn’s mouth dropped. Sevyn thought to himself, Damn, Tracy’s sexy as hell. He never really looked at Tracy like that, but for some reason, her pretty round ass is sitting right in her Christian Dior jeans, and he was noticing it. She jumped in and closed the door.
“So wazzup, Fresh? How you feeling?”
“I’m feeling like I look. Good girl, what you expect?” he laughed.
“I guess. Hey, Sevyn, let’s go get something to eat. Where you want to go?”
“Red Lobster.”
“You got Red Lobster money?”
“Nope, but you do.”
Fifteen minutes later, the two pulled up to Red Lobster and went inside. The waiter asked how many seats, and Tracy said two. The waiter said, “Okay, right this way.” When they were seated, the waiter said, “Someone will be with you shortly to take your order.” While they waited on the waiter to come take their order, Sevyn began to ask Tracy about the shawty from the cookout.
“Aye, Tracy.”
“Wazzup, Sevyn?”
“You remember the shawty from the cookout with the hazel eyes?”
“Yeah, the one who left you standing on the curb.”
“You know what, Tracy, go to hell.”
“Whatever! But anyway, what about her?”
“I caught her riding up my street and hollered at her.”
“Yeah, right.”
“For real, we going on a date tonight at 8:00 p.m.”
“Be careful. It’s something about that girl that just don’t sit right with me.”
“What makes you feel that way? You don’t even know her.”
“You right, I don’t know her, but I’ve been in her presence a few times and I get fucked-up vibes when I’m around her. Even filing about her says gold digger money-hungry bitch.”
Sevyn thought, Maybe Tracy is jealous. And just before Sevyn opened his mouth, Tracy spoke. “And I’m not jealous,” as if she was reading Sevyn’s mind. “Sevyn, have I ever told you anything wrong?”
“No!”
“Okay! You then. You can just thank me later.”
After talking for some time over a nice meal, they wrapped things up at Red Lobster and headed out. They made an exit out of Red Lobster’s park, heading up White Bluff Road. They noticed an accident ahead and had to make a detour. As they approached exit 5, they made a sharp right onto Bay Street, the main street that leads to the projects. Sevyn’s eyes got big. They saw drug dealers and crackheads everywhere.
“Tracy, do you see apartment 456?”
“Hold up, slow down, 452, 454, 456—there it is to the right.”
They parked and jumped out, and Sevyn and Tracy saw li’l kids playing in dirt with no shoes on. One kid even ran up to Sevyn and asked for a dollar.
“Here you go, li’l man.”
“Thank you.”
Sevyn knocked on the door four times and then took a step back. A voice from behind the door said, “Who is it?”
“It’s me Sevyn. Rich is expecting me. Is he here?”
“Hold up.” After two minutes of waiting, the door finally opened. “Come in,” the short stocky man said. “Have a seat. He’ll b-b-b-b-be right with you shortly.” The man stuttered so bad Sevyn and Tracy wanted to burst out laughing, but they heard someone come in through the back door. When they turned around, they saw a tall, slim-built black kat, about six feet and four inches, walk in Tom Ford from head to toe with waves in his head that will make a bitch seasick. He had a mouth full of gold teeth, a Rolex watch, and a gold chain. Everything about him said drug dealer.
“Yo, wazzup, Sevyn? I see you brought a guest with you.”
“Yeah, this is my best friend Tracy.”
“Fo sho. Wazzup, Tracy? I’m Rich, nice to meet you both. I see y’all met my cousin Stutter Box. Wazzup, Stutter Box?”
“Wazzup, R-R-R-R-Rich. What’s g-g-g-good?”
“Man, you gon’ have to learn sign language with all that stuttering.”
“F-F-F-F-Fuck you, Rich.”
“Say, Sevyn, I sent my li’l homies to come holla at ya because I have a job for you.”
“What kind of job? And how much does it pay?”
“The job pays $25,000. But being that I paid you $5,000 up front, I only owe you $20,000.”
“So what’s the job?”
“I heard you are pretty good at writing books and telling stories.”
“Fo sho. I’m one of the best to ever do it.”
“So I need you to tell my story, that’s it.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, that’s it. I’m starting a publishing company and I really want you to be a part of it. I’m publishing books for the up and coming authors. I think this would be a good opportunity for you and me. So what do you say?”
“I’m all in, let’s do it.”
“I just came home from doing a federal prison bid, and I’m trying to get my life back on the right track. So I’ll take you back to the beginning where it all started at. I remember it like it was yesterday.”
