The Grind Don't Stop (9 page)

The sight of that worrisome bitch Woo getting out of her car cracked his attention. She was steadily becoming a thorn in his side. A roadblock, a worthy adversary, he had to admit. She needed closer scrutiny. He would watch her. He wasn't about to let any of these bitches stand in his way. Steppingstones are what they were. One day he would be the mayor and then the governor and then...

Mona put her small fist to her mouth for the fifth or sixth time stifling yawns in her still sleepy haze as she pushed the shopping cart down the aisles.
The nerve of that bastard to send a bitch to a fucking supermarket this early in the morning,
she thought as she sorted through the different varieties of meat. The gravelly voice
that whispered in her ear brought back memories that she certainly could've done without. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and turned to face RJ.

“Come on, sweetie, surely you haven't forgotten about me that quick. After all you'd probably still be in Fulton County Jail or worst if it wasn't for me, so could I get at least a fake smile or something?” He squeezed her ass and smiled at her flinching shoulders.

She shook off the icky feeling of his presence and mumbled, “No, I haven't forgotten you, RJ. How could I and even if I wanted to you, wouldn't let me, now would you?” She gnashed her teeth in a nasty snarl and rolled her eyes at him.

He pantomimed a shiver at the chill exuding from her eyes and his fake smile quickly flipped into an evil sneer as he spat, “Looka here, girlie, I ain't got time for your games so tell your boy to get that furniture for me like yesterday. Why his ass dragging me on this anyway?”

She couldn't respond immediately. She didn't have a clue what he was talking about, so she decided to play on his male ego. “Hey, man, I'm not even supposed to know about whatever the hell you talking about, all right?”

He leaned away as he considered if she was telling the truth. His eyes lowered to the floor and shifted back and forth trying to digest the probability of Al keeping a bitch that fine out of his biz to that extent.

Mona took his silence to mean that he was stumped. The bastard she'd spread her legs enough for him to let that little favor ride. But he had the nerve to step up to her with this shit anyhow.
Okay, muthafucka, you want to play a bitch out like this here.
She decided to dig into his ribs a little bit for the hell of it. “So, how do your majesty suggest I go about trying to get him to do whatever it is you want me to? Think about it for a second before you
answer now. How do I get that stubborn-ass nigga to do something I don't even suppose to know about?”

She definitely had a point, but the pressure to get that furniture in those condos was causing his patience to run really thin. BJ wasn't about to admit he was as stumped as she was on how to go about it. Still it had to get done.

Hell, running the boo on this bitch is the only option I have left,
he thought and decided to rely on some scare tactics. Make the bitch earn her new lease on the good life she was living. And bust her brain on how to deal with it. He didn't care what she had to do to outwit and avoid the wrath of Al about her getting into his business; that was her problem. All he wanted was the furniture, period.

With the thrill of her confusing dilemma warming his thoughts, he reached over and put a grip on the nerve of her shoulder blade and applied pressure, simply for the hell of it. He waited until she squinted from the pain before he snarled, “Jail bird-ass bitch, I don't give a damn how you get it done, or what your stinking ass has to do to get it done, just get it muthafucking done.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but he applied more pressure. She tried to lean away from him, which only caused him to squeeze even harder and to lean in a little closer. Now she felt the spit flying out of his mouth to sprinkle the side of her face as fear started to compete with the pain.

The combination of vodka, garlic breath and cigarette smoke almost made her gag. She probably would've if the pain he was administering wasn't so unbearable. Her eyes actually started to water from the stench and pain when he growled into her ear, “Now, bitch, you've got two choices and I don't really give a flying fuck which one you choose because I'll end up busting a nut on either one of them.”

Her forehead knitted in a knot with confusion and hatred.

He didn't give a fuck how she felt. He took his time to look around to make sure that no one was paying them attention before he spat, “One, I take your sorry, whoring ass back to jail right now; or two, I somehow slip up and let Al know that you've been spying on him from day one. Or your stanking ass come up with a way to get what I want done. Oh yeah, and don't forget that I still got ways to get with your baby sister if you give me any signs of bucking; you feel me, bitch. It's your choice, sweetie.”

As suddenly as he had appeared, his conniving ass disappeared, strolling down the aisle and out of the door like he owned the motherfucking world. Mona bent over the cart until the tears stopped flowing and the pain subsided enough for her to stop grinding her teeth. Looking through the large plate glass window, she saw him get in his car and pull out of the lot.
Whew
.

To her relief the dirty low-life bastard was gone. In his place stood the butcher, who was eyeing her with a worried look etched on his face. “Are you aight, ma'am?”

She wiped the tears off her cheeks and said in a whiny voice, “Yes, yes, I'm okay, I was just having some cramps.” Forcing a high-cheeked smile, she placed a hand on her stomach and pushed the cart down the aisle. She made sure to go to the farthest counter to get the best view of the entire parking lot, trying to spot him. Like a ghost he was gone. She took a deep breath and bowed her head into her hands and mumbled to herself, “What the hell do I do now?”

Her immediate thoughts were to get the hell out of town, but she didn't have enough money to do that. Plus, she couldn't leave her sister in all this bullshit. Then she thought about stealing Al's drugs and money, which brought a wicked smile to her face. That is until it dawned on her that she didn't know exactly where he kept his stash.

Mona's eyes brightened when she thought of his secret room.
That's probably where he's got a safe and everything.
But that idea quickly dissolved because she didn't know how to get down there. And even if she did, she wouldn't know where to look. Hell, she still didn't know how to get in it.

Even if she was able to accomplish those entirely impossible tasks, she still couldn't leave her sister at the mercy of that crazy-ass RJ or Al and all the different hoodlums he had working for him.

She had to come up with something, but what? Gradually a plan started to formulate in her mind. The more she thought about it, the brighter the smile spread across on her face. She spent the rest of her time browsing around the store half thinking of the groceries she had to buy and half plotting on the scheme running through her brain. One way or the other it was definitely on, for sho.

A
l's car was gone when she returned. Mona wondered how long he'd be away as she placed the groceries in the pantry and ran up the stairs to start her search in the bedroom. After a disappointing half hour, she was about to give up when she thought of the game room. There had to be something there that would give her access to the secret room under the house. The thought of getting her hands on all that money and drugs had her pumped. Rejuvenated, she raced around the room for any clue she could find. Her burst of energy deflated quickly when she realized she didn't have any idea what she was looking for.

She was about to give up when she recalled the time she had accidently run up on the pool table sliding along the floor. Why hadn't she thought of it first? It had to be the pressure for the secret had to be there somewhere. She got on her knees and ran her hands along the bottom and then all along the edges. There had to be a lever, a button, a secret compartment.

Finally, her hand felt something. What could it be? Was it what she was hoping to find? Feeling close to the prize she got a warm feeling all over. Her skin suddenly started to crawl when she heard a car running over the gravel in the driveway. She couldn't get caught searching the room. From the car door slamming and rapidly advancing footsteps, she knew she didn't have enough time to get out.

Oh shit, what the fuck do I do now?
she thought as nervous sweat started rolling down her armpits. Her heart thumped double-time when she heard the key being inserted in the lock. She dove under the table just before the door cracked open. Immediately, she realized she might've made a mistake with the probability that the secret room would be the first place he came.

On the other hand, he'd be showing her how to get there. Her hands started trembling when the mixture of anxiety and fear started overwhelming her. She pressed them between her thighs and prayed he'd check other parts of the house to make sure he was alone first. Not so, because no sooner had the words formulated in her mind, the door swung open and he headed her way.

She balled up in a fetal position, clenching her teeth tight to keep from screaming out. Her eyes bucked wide open with fear as she followed his long strides around the room, praying he'd go into the house. Her spirits were lifted when he started toward the steps that led into the living room. She was prepared to make a sprint for the garage door as soon as he disappeared.

Opening the door, Al called out her name once, twice, three times before he grumbled, “Damn, that bitch must be buying up the whole godayum store.”

She got on her hands and knees, ready to get the hell out of there. Her breath caught in her chest when he turned away from the door and started back across the room. She sighed when he headed toward the jukebox. Her eyes brightened when she thought he was going to start some music. It would be a sure cover-up for any noise she might make to relieve her uncomfortable position. Suddenly, her heart began to thump again when the floor started vibrating under her. That same whirling sound she'd heard earlier, now sounded like a bomb going off in her ear. She covered her mouth with both hands to cover the scream she felt boiling up
from her stomach. A scream that was sure to explode once he discovered her under the table. His knees started bending when his cell phone started ringing. He immediately walked back over to the wall and did something to stop the whirling just when the table had started to move.

She nearly fainted when he answered it. “Yeah, this be me; whatzup, dog? Damn, CeeDee, I was really expecting to have heard from you by now. Uh, so when you gonna be able to handle that thing for me? Shit, dog folk be pushing my buttons so that means that I got to push yours. You need two of those things, man. I sure hope your digits straight because I'm in a little bit of a bind myself. Okay, that's good, it ain't no problem then, no problem at all. Where you at or better still, how soon can you get over here?”

She balled her fist against her mouth.
Damn, I'm really stuck, for sho now.
This was where he conducted most of his dope biz.

“Tell you what, soldier, I need to get out of this house for a minute anyway. Where you say you at? The one near Wesley Chapel? Which room? Okay, I'll see ya in about twenty minutes or so. Hey, hold up a minute. Please tell me you got one of those sluts with some super head with you… Yeah, that's right, I need to release some fucking tension. Yeah, that'll work, in a few then. Bet, holla.”

Whew
. Mona almost pissed herself, when Al clicked off and walked over to the pool table and bent his knees like he was going to look underneath it this time. She couldn't control the tears rolling down her face. She sniffled, took a deep breath, shut her eyes tight and braced for the stomping she knew was sure to come.

She heard a panel being slid back into place and the soft sound of plastic being moved around. She opened her eyes. His legs were so close that she could see a distorted image of herself in the tip of his shoe. She felt that if she had breathed, he would've felt the
air ruffling his pants. All he had to do was look under the table a few inches and he'd spot her.

Mona's eyes began rolling frantically when she heard the panel close. She lowered her head in relief. Then she felt something crawling on her ankle. Panicking, she looked down in time to see a large hairy spider go up her pants leg. Her worst phobia by far.

His feet started away. She buried her head and bit into the shag rug to keep from screaming. Her heart was thumping so hard it seemed like it was bumping into the carpet.

Al finally left the room and she gritted her teeth until she heard the car pull out of the driveway. She scrambled from under the table beating her pants leg like a madwoman, crying and screaming until the spider fell out motionless. She stomped it about ten times until she saw only a few smidgens of it in the rug. Shaken beyond her wildest nightmare, she braced her back against the pool table and rocked back and forth for several moments before she was able to stop trembling.

She took a deep breath, shivered one last time from the thought of that creepy, crawly, icky monster running up her skin and started to refocus on how she was going to get out of her predicament. She remembered him going by the jukebox to cause the pool table to move.

Shaking off the effect of her narrow escape, she stood straight up, ran over to the jukebox and ran her hands along the wall behind it. Her fingers felt a button and she pushed it. Her heart skipped a beat when the whirling sound filled the room. Her head snapped back to the pool table expecting it to be moving. It wasn't.
Damn, what now?
She removed her hand from the button and she felt a crack in the wall.

She tried to push the jukebox away from the wall but it was much too heavy for her to even budge. Still she had to give it
everything she had and after a couple of grunted efforts, she felt it give way enough to reveal a hidden panel.
Jackpot
. She got light-headed with anticipation. Quickly pulling it open, her heart skipped another beat when she saw the wall safe he had left open in his haste to leave.