Page 13

Simone “Bubbles” Stanton

“What girl?” I answered for Taffy. I tried to play annoyed because I was supposed to be spending quality time with Peanut. He’s been on my ass since the stunt I pulled going to the club.

“Bitchhhh, I found us the lick we been needing.” That made me sit up.

“How you do that?”

“I was at the beauty shop getting my hair done, and KeKe from Douglas was in there. Her loud ass had her nigga on speaker trying to stunt for everybody in the shop. She kept saying how her new nigga be spending bread on her, so I guess she wanted us to hear it. She asked him for some money, but he told her she had to come get it because he couldn’t leave.” At this point, I was confused. Was KeKe the lick?

“Ummm, okay.”

“She asked him where he was at, and he said at the trap house on Van Buren and Keeler.” I shook my head at her loose mouth ass even though I still didn’t understand what any of this had to do with the lick.

“She let him say that with him on speaker?”

“Yes, and the whole shop heard it.”

“That’s how niggas be getting caught up. It’s always some bitch running her mouth or doing some stupid shit. Men ain’t gone ever learn.”

“That ain’t it though. So, she started whining how she didn’t want to go get it because she hated driving over there, but you know she just wanted us to see him bring the money. Hoe ain’t slick.” I laughed to myself and just waited for it to unfold. It was taking Taffy nine business days to get to the point. “He told her he can’t come because he’s waiting on mufuckas to drop off payments because he gotta do a drop at eight.” Now, that caught my attention.

“What kind of payments?”

“I don’t know, but when KeKe said it don’t take that long to get one payment, he said he was waiting on all the traps to bring a payment.” I looked at the time, and it was already after six.

“Damn!”

“Bitch, that’s why I called you. It was a lot of ears in that shop. If I heard it, somebody else might have heard it too. We need to get to it first. My hair ain’t even finished because I jumped up and left out of there so fast.”

“How is this a plan? We don’t even know where the house is. Van Buren and Keeler ain’t an address. Plus, we don’t know how many niggas inside. How we just gone run in somebody trap blind?”

“You right. Fuck it! I just heard payments and drops. Let me call this girl and see if she can finish my head.” I thought about it some more.

“It don’t hurt to go look and see. Who knows. We might can swing back for a future endeavor.” Taffy laughed and agreed.

“Aight, I’m on my way.” Hanging up, I looked at Peanut.

“I need you to go get the beater.” We kept it parked a block away in an abandoned lot. There was no way in hell we were going to be doing licks in my real car.

“For what?” He looked at me suspiciously.

“Why else would we be getting the car? Taffy might have a lick, but we just going to check it out. More than likely nothing about to happen today.” That seemed to ease his mind, so he got up and went to get the car. Walking in my room, I grabbed my black get up and Pooh Shiesty. By the time Peanut pulled up, Taffy was downstairs. So, I grabbed his mask and my gun just in case. Can’t go on a stakeout without protection. When I got downstairs, Peanut moved over to the passenger seat, so I got in on the driver’s side. Taffy got in behind me, and we drove toward our blank mission. When we got to Van Buren and Kildare, we eased up slow enough to look for the trap, but fast enough not to look suspicious. Some YN’s were headed into this one house that looked run down, so I knew that had to be the one.

“That’s it right there,” Taffy said noticing the same thing I did. I kept going, but when I got to Pulaski, I turned left and turned down Gladys. When Taffy noticed I was going around the block, she got nervous. “Wait. What are you doing? I thought we was just coming to look.”

“How we gone look if I’m driving? It don’t hurt to sit and watch. How else we gone know if the nigga was lying to KeKe just to avoid bringing her money?” Driving back up the block, I went one house up and parked.

“Bitch, you always gotta see one more thing. You better see a bullet if it comes flying this way.” I laughed as I turned to watch the house. Taffy and Peanut did as well. In the hour we sat there, a few cars pulled up. Some guys went in, one with an envelope, one we couldn’t see what he had, and one with a bag. All of them went in, and a minute later, they came out and left. So, he wasn’t lying. I checked the time and it was a little after seven. It had been about twenty minutes since the last person came and dropped off money, so I was about to pull off when some fat ass nigga stepped on the porch with a bookbag. He was on the phone talking to someone, and now my thoughts were racing.

I don’t know how much was in the bag, but I knew it couldn’t be a little money if he was doing a drop off. That meant someone was getting a payment. Regardless, it would be more than what we got from them dusties. However, this one could come with a bullet attached. This type of lick needed to be thought out, and a real plan in place. I glanced back at him wobbling down the stairs, and my mind immediately told me he wouldn’t be able to catch me. He had to be at least four hundred pounds. I didn’t see a gun, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have one. Big boy started down the stairs, and panic kicked in. That money could be enough to help a hoe out. He was getting closer to his car, so I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer.

Lord, I know we said we was just coming to look, but you see what I see. Please don’t let his ass be faster than he looks. And please God, let the doors be open, bag ready, and come to me bullet free. Amen.

Without saying a word to anybody in the car, I pulled my mask down and jumped out. I could hear Taffy trying to whisper and ask me what I was doing, but I moved toward the sidewalk and ran as fast as I could while crouching down. He was parked about four cars behind me, so I hoped he didn’t pull off before I reached him. When I got to him, I snatched the passenger side door open, grabbed the bag, and took off running. He never saw me coming, but I was sure once the shock wore off, he was going to react. I ran so fast I was sure I left my ankles somewhere behind me on the sidewalk. When I heard the first gunshot, I wasn’t surprised, but I still pissed in my pants a little. The element of surprise worked in my favor because by the time he started firing, I was cutting across the grass and jumping into the car. I glanced back once, and saw he was running along the sidewalk. Pulling off, I ducked as the next shot hit the window.

“Bubbles, what the fuck! We were supposed to watch. Why the fuck would you do that?” Before I could answer Taffy, Peanut began screaming. He was trying to tell me where to turn, she was cursing me out for going against the plan, all while I was praying he didn’t catch up to us in this slow ass car.

“Shut up and let me think!” Of course, they didn’t. Not trying to stop, I shot out on Pulaski without waiting at the stop sign, and ran smack dead into a car.