“Nah, we just cool peoples. I met him a few months ago.” Chaos was deliberately being sparse with the details.
“Um-hmm, right. You got somethin’ goin’ on wit’ him, Chaos, be fo’ real wit’ me. What’s up?”
“He just cool peoples, Sweet. I’m fo’ real.”
“A’ight bitch, you keep your stank business to yourself. But I tell you don’t let Crown find out that y’all got a thing for each other and got somethin’ goin’ on, ’cause you know his temper. And you know he don’t like that nigga, either.”
“Crown ain’t gonna find out shit with me and YB, ’cause there ain’t shit to tell about us,” Chaos stated.
“You my girl, Chaos, so watch your back. You know they are both dangerous men in this city and I don’t wanna hear about you ending up in the morgue because of either one of them niggas,” Sweet said sincerely.
“I know, girl. You know I stay watching my back, but there ain’t shit goin’ on with me and YB,” Chaos lied.
Sweet smiled. She looked Chaos in her eyes and felt so much love for her friend.
They continued their game once again and finally heard Smitty, Midnight’s sexual escapade come to an end. Her trick came out the room, zipping up his jeans and sweating like a slave picking cotton in a sweltering field. He looked over at Chaos and Sweet seated on the bed and smiled.
“You want next wit’ one of us?” Sweet teased.
He smiled back and said, “Nah, I’m good.”
He left, looking exhausted. Midnight walked into the room right afterward, sweating profusely as well. She was butt-naked and wiped her face with a towel, looking like she just came from working out in the gym.
“Damn, you put it on the nigga like that? Gave him his money’s worth, didn’t you, Midnight?” Chaos said.
“It took forever fa’ him to come,” Midnight drawled in her thick, country accent.
The girls laughed.
“Well, the way that nigga looked after he left here, you know he comin’ back for seconds,” Sweet stated.
Midnight smiled and sat next to the girls on the bed. “I didn’t take too long wit’ him, right? I mean, Crown won’t be mad wit’ me, will he? I kept within my time?” she asked.
“I think you had, like, five more minutes left wit’ him,” Sweet mentioned.
“Midnight, you need to chill out. You did good, girl, stop worrying so fuckin’ much,” Chaos told her.
“I know. I try not to worry, but I hate upsetting him. I’m one of the new girl’s in this house and I wanna make right. Ya kno
w?”
“You’ll be a’ight, Midnight. The way you put it on that nigga in there, you gonna have a lot more customers comin’ for you in no time. Your money is definitely gonna be up, and Crown ain’t gonna have a reason to beef wit’ your ass,” Sweet said.
Midnight smiled. “Let me get dressed.”
She got up to return to the next room, but when Crown appeared in the doorway wearing a wife-beater, jeans, and his Timbs, the room got quiet. His muscular physique showed through the wife beater and his attitude didn’t look too agreeable.
“Y’all bitches talk too fuckin’ much,” he complained.
He eyed each one of his hoes, noting the concern on their young faces. “Y’all bitches hurry up and get dressed. I’m takin’ y’all down to the club to get this money.”
He walked away and the ladies didn’t hesitate to get dressed. They scurried around the bedroom for their things, knowing it was not good to keep Crown waiting for long.
6
The two-story brick building on Brown Street in West Philly, also known as “The Bottom,” was hectic with business. Fiends of all shapes and sizes traveled in and out of the dilapidated structure for that dope that had them going senseless and wide-eyed. Devil’s Play, black tar heroin that YB and Rufus pushed, was the shit to get high with. It was raw and had the fiends dropping hard and coming back for more. Devil’s Play came straight from the Mexicans and was nothing to play with. It was making niggas money around the way.
Evening descended on the hardcore streets of Philly. The corners and streets were as busy as Grand Central Station during rush hour. The hustlers, fiends, locals, and pimps were out in full swing, trying to get that paper or get that high.