A Project Chick (2 page)

"No, thank you, I am just going to this house just right up ahead." Tressa said calmly, while grabbing her switchblade.

The third car, a spanking, brand new Range Rover with thirty-day tags on it, drove pass and pulled over up ahead of her. He parked on the side of the road, cut his car off and she saw him step out. He was a sharply dressed brother, if she must say so herself. He was wearing a chocolate brown silk suit with some light brown Ostrich skin shoes, with the belt to match. Without a doubt, he was dressed as clean as the board of health! By no means could his appearance be taken lightly. She looked down at her boys and Hadji had fallen asleep, and just as she gazed at Ali, he asked. "Who dat, mommy?"

"Baby, I don't know, but listen to mommy very carefully, if he tries to touch you, your brother or mommy, you bite him as hard as you can. OK?"

"OK mommy." Lil Ali responded to his mother, in complete obedience.

As the guy approached, he asked. "Ma'am you need some help changing your tire back there." He said in a sincere tone.

"No, I'm fine."

"Listen Ma'am, I am not going to hurt you. Listen, I have a sister, a pregnant girlfriend and a mother who I would want someone, just like myself, to help her if she got a flat." He was just as earnest as he could be.

"I really appreciate the gesture, but we'll be fine." Tressa said, trying to assure the man. As bad as she wanted to take the help, she just couldn't accept a ride from a strange man.

5

Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK

"Look, I understand why you wouldn't want to accept help, but you and your kids shouldn't be out here." As he got closer, she looked like a familiar face. He recognized her.

"Hey, aren't you Taj's little sister, ummm Tressa?" She smiled in relief, but hesitated to speak. If anyone had seen her, they have seen Taj. They were the spitting image of each other.

"I am Peako, me and Taj used to hustle together before he fell and caught his last case." He cheerfully said.

Tressa was glad to hear his name. Her brother always had positive things to say about Peako, so she knew that God had sent her an angel in disguise to rescue her from this dark road.

Peako spoke out. "Now that you know I am practically like family, get in the truck and I will take you back to your car to change the spare." Tressa embarrassingly said. "There is no spare. I only need to make a phone call."

He handed her the cell phone and went to get little Ali, and he bit him as hard as he could. "Ouch!" Peako yelled. Tressa sort of chuckled a bit to herself about how much spunk her not yet 2 year-old son had.

She tried calling Khalil to let him know the situation, but his voice mail came on after the first ring, which let her know his phone was powered off. She tried three more times and left him messages and Peako's phone number.

"Hey Baby, it's me. The kids and me caught a flat tire on Horsepen Road. There was no spare in the trunk.

Luckily one of my brother's friends passed by and is giving us a ride. If you get this message, please call us back at this number." She looked over to Peako to ask him for his number.

Peako called it out. "307-7777."

She brought the message to an end. "Love you, bye."

They hopped in his truck and went back to the station wagon and retrieved the children's car seats. Peako practiced strapping the seats in and boasted on his expecting girlfriend. They laughed and mostly talked about her big brother Taj.

6

Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK

Peako could see the disappointment in her facial expression when he mentioned Taj's name. "I'm going to drop you off at home, and I have a friend who can just come and tow your car for you, so it won't be left out here as an abandoned car."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." She graciously said.

"So, have you heard from your brother?"

"Yeah." Tressa said, distracted as she wondered why Khalil's phone was powered off.

"Yeah, I haven't heard from him since he fell a few years ago, but I always drop him a few dollars, when I can.

Taj was a good nigga, and as long as I got it, he got it. I wrote him a few times, but you know how he is, he don't write back. I don't trip on that tho, cause I know how he looked out for me when he was out here getting money." There was a brief silence between them. Tressa's mind was set on trying to figure out what in the world was so important that he didn't have his phone on.
He tells me
the only reason why he leaves us, is because he has to feed
us. There is money to be made. Now, he works off of his
phone, and if his phone is off, how is he making any money?

To snap out of her negative thoughts, Tressa tried to make small talk with Peako. Shoot, it was the least she could do, he had came to her rescue when Khalil was nowhere to be found.

"So, you mentioned that your girlfriend is expecting a baby?" She asked, while removing her black roller wrapped weave out of her face and placed it behind her ear.

"Yes, in three more months, actually in 87 more days. We are going to the doctor's in the morning to find out if it's a boy or a girl."

"Oooh, that's so sweet! What do you want?" While trying to keep his eyes on the road but glancing at Tressa with a big Joker smile all across his face,

"I don't care, as long as it's healthy. Boy or girl, I am going to love it the same."

Just as they approached the stoplight, Hadji woke up whining. Tressa and Peako both turned around to give their attention to Hadji, when out of nowhere they heard a loud noise. "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!"

7

Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK

Tressa felt this brief warm shower of fluid spread all over her and everything else became a blur. In a split second she took a look to realize that the fluid was really blood; she wasn't sure if it was hers or her children. Then the loud noise again. "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!" All she could see was brains and meat scattered over the windshield. She couldn't even see Peako's head attached to his body anymore. All she saw was his shoulders and she could no longer hear her babies and the car was rolling fast until it hit a pole.

"Oh my fucking God!!! God please no! Lord, please don't let my babies be dead." Still in shock, she had no idea if she was hit or not. She opened up the door and before she could get out of the truck to grab the children, she felt someone jerking her out of the jeep. All she could see was a glimpse of a tattoo with some dice and the name Lucky through a banner.

"Look what the fuck you made me do? Your stupid ass, wanna be creeping with some player ass nigga with my fucking kids. Are you crazy or what? Now see how I love you." Khalil said calmly in a mellow tone as he pushed her out of the way while grabbing Hadji's whole baby seat.

"Now, grab Ali and put him in my car and you get in my damn car too." Still in shock, she did as she was told without any questions or back talk. She went over to his car that still sat in the turning lane, with the signal light on which had he made the turn, the only place the road lead to is the Wyndham hotel.

He sat Hadji's car seat on the ground with the baby in it and took his white towel from around his neck and started wiping the passenger side of the car down in a brisk manner. He ran over to his car and placed Hadji in the back seat, and as he looked, he saw the girl that was in the car with him fleeing down the street praying for a successful getaway. But Khalil ran up behind her.

"Boom!" First one shot to the right leg causing her to stumble, but she was still trying to get away. There was no way he was going to let her escape.

"Boom, Boom!" The next shots were to the back of her head. He speed-walked back to the car, hopped in and drove off calmly. He never stopped until he reached the 8

Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK

garage of their baby mansion, a $280,000 house on the James River.

The entire ride was silent until he cut on a mixed CD and Tupac's song, a remake of an old song was playing.

Khalil began to sing the words to "What You Won't Do For Love." He played it over and over again until they got home.

He cut the engine off in the car and grabbed her under the chin and twisted so that she would face him.

"Look at me." He said in a relaxed tone.

Tressa could not even stand to look at him in his face, but she knew she had to. She didn't know what he had in store for her and the kids. She looked at him in his eyes.

"Think about it before you decide you wanna creep out on a brother, because every time I catch you, it's gonna cost you. I'm gonna make sho' you watch me kill the nigga, because that's what you made me do. Now, the next time you wanna be entertaining a nigga, think about how much it's gonna cost him. His life and that shit will be all your fault! Believe it, and I mean that from the heart." He raised his voice. "This Shit is Not A Fucking Joke!" Khalil searched Tressa's face, looking for some sort of fear, but there was none that he could see.

"Now go in the house and give my sons a bath, and clean up yo self."

She reached in and grabbed Ali, he picked up Hadji and they took both children in the house. She put Hadji down and lit the fireplace to take the chill off the downstairs part of the house.

"Hurry up and take those clothes off you and the kids and give em' to me." She didn't say a word, just did what she was told. After changing her clothes, she proceeded to put both kids in the bathtub. As she kneeled down to wash sprinkles of blood off of the boys, she could hear Khalil come in the bathroom, but she never acknowledged him.

"Now where is your car?"

"Still on Route 280 with a flat I guess, unless the police towed it."

"With a flat?" He asked baffled.

9

Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK

"Yes, didn't you check your messages?" She asked, still keeping her back turned to him and concentrating on washing the boys' hair.

"Nope, I sure didn't."

"Yeah, well I left you a few messages, telling you that we had a flat. I had no cell phone because you broke it.

Remember? Then, not to mention, you took the spare out of the car, which meant I had no spare either. So, that dude was nice enough to give us a ride home while you out creeping on the late night, on your way to the Wyndham hotel. What you do with your Number One Hooker in the car? You ride up just like The Sho-Gun Bandit and you, once again, go into a jealous rage and take two innocent lives! Why; all because you wanna be a hoe? But, I bet while you were planning your little rendezvous, I was the last person you was anticipating on seeing, huh?

Remember baby, this isn't New York, this is Richmond." He was quiet for a minute as he listened. Then he tried to make a joke. "Oh, well. Shit, another one bites the dust. That nigga should've been kilt. He gonna pay all that damn money for a Range Rover, and too cheap to pay the few extra thousand to get the 4.6. All he got is a 4.0. He ain't no real player anyway." Khalil said, while laughing.

Tressa stared at him for a long minute and just shook her head. When Khalil saw that she wasn't laughing, he took a more serious approach.

"Baby, I am sooo sorry. I apologize, please forgive me. I'll do whatever I need to do to make it right." He stood in the bathroom doorway, begging for her forgiveness.

"Make it right?" She asks as she got the boys out of the tub and dried them off with their towels. She sent them to their room. As she followed them to their room, Khalil grabbed her hand.

"I really am sorry, baby."

Yeah, I know you are sorry, a sorry ass nigga,
she said to herself, but wouldn't dare say it out loud to him.

She was pretty sure she was out of the clear with him because he realized that he was indeed in the wrong, not her. As he watched her tuck the kids into bed, she handed him a book.

10

Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK

"Read them a story while I take a shower, please." He did as he was asked. But as he was close to finishing, both boys were fast asleep.

As she got out of the shower, he stuck his head into the bathroom.

"I've got to go get your car, don't try nothing stupid while I'm gone either." She nodded and he kissed her on the forehead.

After she heard him make a phone call and tell the person he needed him to go with him to change the tire, he exited the house. Usually she'd put up a fuss when he left back out after dark, but not this night. She was glad he was gone. She hurried and put her bathrobe on and stood to the side of the window, so he wouldn't see her shadow.

Once she heard the bottom of his bumper scrape the end of the driveway, she ran to the door to see what car he took so she could find the keys for the other car, only to find he had locked her in the house. The cunning fella had put the top lock on the door and taken the key with him.
Asshole!