Page 21 of The Hellcat Barbies: Aubree

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The more I had to walk around holding onto what I knew about Nice, the angrier I became.

I wasn’t just angry with him; I was angry with life.

To keep my negative attitude away from others, I kept to myself.

I went a few days without visiting or talking to my mother, and I was kind of short with Aubree.

I checked in with her every day, but I didn’t want long drawn out conversation.

It had been three days since I found out Nice killed Ish, and so far, she had been patient and understanding.

When I walked in my mom’s house, she was sitting on the couch eating takeout from her favorite Italian restaurant. “Dang, I came over here for a homecooked meal,” I joked.

“Ummhmm, that’s what you get. That’s what happens when you only use me for food.”

I walked over to her, leaned down, and kissed her cheek.

“Stop it. You know that’s not the only time I come by.

I’ve been busy with work.” I hated lying to my mother, but she couldn’t know that I was spending time selling drugs when I first got out.

She was happy that I had a job, and I never specified the hours to her.

She was just elated for me to have legal income.

“You like working at the gym? You look good that’s for sure. I need to get in the gym.”

“Yeah you should. It’ll keep you active. I’ve had people as old as seventy in my class. It’s dope to see them keeping up with the younger people. You’re only as old as you feel.”

“I don’t feel old until these knees start creaking,” she joked. “You been okay though?”

“Yeah, I’ve been good,” I lied. “What about you?”

Losing my father did something to my mother.

She poured all of her grief into me and my brother, but I could tell she was hurting.

Grief never stopped her being a great mother.

She never checked out on us and left us to fend for ourselves.

I knew losing Ish was ten times worse than her losing my father, and I hated that I wasn’t out to comfort her when he died.

My mother could be wearing the brightest smile but if one paid attention to her eyes, they’d know that she was still suffering.

I hated that for her. She had been through a lot, and I wanted her to find as much peace as she could.

“I’ve been pretty good. I’d be even better if you’d settle down and give me a grandbaby. No pressure though.”

“Woah, where did that come from?” I laughed.

“I’m just saying,” she shrugged casually. “You’re not getting younger, and I’m not either. I don’t want you just getting any old body pregnant. I would actually love for you to get married and then have kids. By the time you do all that, it could be a few years.”

“Aubree and I are back together, but I don’t know about marriage and babies just yet. We spent six years apart. We have to relearn one another.”

My words made my mother beam. “I’m so glad. I always liked her. I do wish she would have reached out to me about the situation before, but that’s water under the bridge. I have faith that you two will get it right this time.”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

“It must be the season of second chances. Jordan is taking me to dinner tomorrow night.”

My brows lifted, but I didn’t say anything. My mom started dating Jordan three years after my father died. They lasted for two years, and she ended things because he had a gambling addiction.

“He hasn’t gambled in over a year. At least that’s what he says. But his house is paid off, and his two cars are paid off. He has his own trucking company along with a fleet of six trucks. If he isn’t being truthful, at least I know he’s not squandering away everything he has in the casino.”

Other than his addiction to the casino, from what I remembered, Jordan was a pretty cool guy. Because of that, I wasn’t opposed to her spinning the block with him. My mother had been through enough. I didn’t want her to be alone forever. I didn’t want a man taking her through the most either.

“I say go with your gut, ma. It’s not like you have to marry him. There’s nothing wrong with dates and hanging out.”

“Exactly. I saw that boy the other day. With the funny name. The one that used to be with Ish. I think they call him Nice,” she stated slowly trying to recall his name.

My teeth gritted at the mention of his name.

“He hugged me and asked me how I was doing. He offered me some money. I’m not sure how much it was, but it was a decent sized knot. I didn’t take it though. I can’t spend that blood money in good conscience.”

Just when I had started to calm down, Nice was back on his BS playing in me and my mother’s face. I didn’t even have the heart to tell her he was the one that killed Ish.

“Yeah, that’s his name. Nice.” My tone was as even as I could make it. Killing Nice was so heavy on my mind I had even dreamed about it.

I visited with my mother for another hour before leaving. My time with my mother was hers, so I left my phone in the car while I was with her. When I got in the car, I saw that I had a few missed calls. The first phone call I returned was Cook.

“What up?”

“You good man? I haven’t heard from you in a few days.”

“You know how I get,” I mumbled. “This situation with Nice has me in a not so good mood. You know I like to keep to myself when I get like that.”

“I feel you, but I have a way that we can handle his ass without you possibly going to prison for a body. We rob that pussy ass nigga. That way, he takes a major loss. He might not be dead, but for a person like him, falling off is worse than death.”

“How are we supposed to find out where he lives? The day I got the work from him, I think that was Nika’s crib.”

“I already got it fam.” I could hear the smile in Cook’s voice. “And the best part is, the nigga has a keyless door. My little cousin is a computer wiz, and he hacked into that shit faster than I could take a piss. I have the code to get in the house.”

“Damn you been handling business. You know I’m with it. I just left my mom’s house, and she saw him. He hugged her and offered her money. That man is really playing in me and my people’s faces.”

“I’m ready whenever you are. All you gotta do is give me the word.”

“Let’s get that nigga tonight.”

“Say less.”

As Cook punched the code into the keypad, I held my breath.

When the door clicked and opened, I exhaled lowly.

Cook quietly opened the door, and we heard the alarm chirp.

He had less than a minute to put in the code before the alarm sounded.

His cousin was able to hack into that to.

We didn’t even know what we would find in the house, but Cook’s cousin was so cold with it, that Cook gave him $1,000.

He was only sixteen. By the time he was in his twenties, he’d be a beast with hacking.

Another sigh of relief pushed from my throat as the alarm turned off. “Got damn your cousin is the truth,” I murmured.

“For sure.”

We had gloves and masks on. As much as I wanted Nice to know that I knew what he did, letting him see my face and letting him live would be stupid.

I wanted him to look me in the eyes when I asked him if he killed my brother.

But I was trying to avoid catching an unnecessary body.

There were plenty of unsolved murders in Diamond Cove, but I just wasn’t ready to take any chances.

This time was supposed to be different. I made a promise to myself.

Cook and I crept up the stairs. It was four in the morning, and the house was quiet and dark.

Inside the master bedroom, the only light that shone in the room came from the massive television that was mounted on the wall.

The light allowed us to see Nice. He was sprawled out in bed, and he was alone.

There was money on the nightstand and the dresser.

Slowly, I unzipped the bag that I was carrying and placed the money inside.

After I zipped it back up, I walked over to the bed and hit Nice in the head with the butt of my gun.

“What the fuck?” he awakened with wide eyes darting around the room.

I was positive he’d be able to recognize my voice if I said anything, so I remained quiet. Instead, I hit him in the face with the gun and as blood spurted from his nose, Cook approached and tied his hands up with rope.

“What the fuck yo?” Nice was panicking. “I don’t even have anything in here. I don’t keep money in the crib. There’s a few chains and some earrings and shit on the dresser, but that’s it.”

He was lying. Even though his hands were tied, I kept an eye on him while Cook searched the dresser drawers and the closet.

There was a safe in the closet, so Cook grabbed him by the neck and dragged him into the closet.

He wasn’t trying to talk either, so he just kicked the safe. Nice knew what it meant.

“I told you man; I don’t have anything in here. You can have the jewelry.” I walked into the closet and punched him in the back of the head because I was sick of him lying. I wanted to do more than rob him and beat his ass. He was going to make me forget the promise that I made to myself.

Nice fell face first into the safe. Whatever was inside it, he really didn’t want to part with it because he was adamant about not opening it. “Alright!” he cried after I hit him again.

Slowly, he punched the code into the safe.

I was becoming impatient and about to hit him again when the door swung open.

Stacks of money and packages of dope came into view along with bags of pills.

Cook shoved him out of the way and began filling the bag that he brought into the house.

When he was done, we backed out of the closet.

Nice sat on the floor of the closet leaking blood from a gash on his head looking defeated.

But that wasn’t enough for me. I promised I wouldn’t kill him.

That didn’t mean I couldn’t make him suffer.

Smirking underneath my mask, I raised my arm and fired a shot at his foot. Nice howled in pain as the bullet penetrated his foot. Cook and I ran from the house. If Nice didn’t get to his phone fast enough, he might bleed out, but that wasn’t my problem. In the car, we pulled our masks off.

“That was easy as shit,” Cook declared. “If I wanted a career as a jack boy, I could make my cousin rich as hell. I also need to make sure I don’t have a security system that’s easy to hack into,” he frowned.

“For sure.”

Robbing Nice, beating his ass, and shooting him gave me a little satisfaction, but I still felt some of the heaviness of knowing that he killed my brother for a few ounces or maybe bricks of coke, some money, and some jewelry.

Someone that was supposed to be his friend.

The shit was sick. Maybe he had another safe somewhere or more cash tucked away.

But the safe he opened for us got emptied, and I hoped we’d taken everything that he had.

At Cook’s crib we tallied everything up.

There was $89,023 in cash. Over three hundred ecstasy pills, and ten bricks of coke.

Cook was going to get one of his cousins in Golden Waters to buy the pills.

I didn’t want to go right back to selling coke, and I didn’t want to sit on it either.

I also couldn’t go around making it known that I had bricks for sale right after Nice got robbed.

Cook agreed to keep the coke at his house until we found a way to get off it.

I went home, smoked a blunt, showered, and I still couldn’t sleep.

After throwing on some basketball shorts and a tank top, I grabbed my keys and headed for Aubree’s house.

I hadn’t checked in with her all day, and that was my bad.

Since Nice had been handled, hopefully my mood would improve.

I knew that she was probably asleep, but I needed to see her face.

Even if she cursed me out. I wasn’t shocked when she answered the door with a frown on her face.

“Oh now you remember where I live? You must have done some dirt, so now you can come around.” She folded her arms across her chest and all I could think was that even in an oversized shirt and a bonnet, she was still sexy as hell.

“I don’t want any smoke with you, baby. I swear I don’t. I just want to hold you and sleep.”

“I have company.”

My nostrils flared, and my eyes darted over her shoulder. If Aubree was dumb enough to cheat on me, I was gon’ leave her alone but not until I beat the brakes off the nigga she cheated with.

“You think playing with me is cool? Find something safe to do, Love.”

Aubree rolled her eyes upward. “Negro please. You’ve been MIA for days. Watch how you talk to me. And the company I have is Brianna. My aunt went on a cruise, and I have her until next week. If you returned phone calls, you’d know that.”

My heart jumped into my throat knowing that Brianna was inside the house. “Can I see her?”

“For a second. She’s asleep.”

Aubree turned on her heels, and I followed her into her bedroom.

A smile eased across my face when I saw Brianna sprawled out in the bed sleeping wild as hell.

Her little arms were wrapped around a teddy bear.

I must have stared at her for a full minute before I snapped out of it.

I was the first to walk out of the room and Aubree followed.

“Can I come by tomorrow?” I kept my tone low.

“What did you do?”

“That got something to do with me seeing Brianna?” I asked in confusion.

“Yes. It does.”

I pushed out an exasperated breath. “I robbed the nigga. Hit him in the head with the pistol a few times and shot him in the foot. I wore a mask the entire time and didn’t speak. He better be glad that’s all I did to him,” I grumbled.

The last thing I expected was for her to laugh. But she did. “You shot him in the foot?”

“Hell yeah. I’m sure he’d rather the foot than the head.”

Still smiling, Aubree shook her head. “Come around noon tomorrow and come with lots of monies. Me and Brianna are going to run your pockets.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”