Bad Apple - the Baddest Chick(67)

It seemed like she and Kola were going neck and neck in a win-all race for Harlem, both sisters feeling like they needed to be better than the other. Kola already felt she had a big enough head start, but Apple was gaining fast.

Apple walked through her front door early that morning, and her mother was coming home right behind her. Denise got out of a green Durango and staggered up the steps behind her daughter. She was dressed like she had come from the strip club—short mini-skirt, tight crochet halter top, shoes in her hand, and her hair in disarray, like she had just f*cked the nigga in the backseat of the truck.

She looked at Apple and asked, “Who dat in the Beamer?”

“None of your business.”

“Well, damn, Apple!”

“Ma, I’m tired. Not now wit’ your shit.”

“I was just asking.”

Apple shouted. “Ma, just leave it alone! Damn! You don’t know how to f*ckin’ close your mouth sometimes! Stay the f-uck out my business!”

Denise twisted her face at her daughter. “Oh, so you think ’cause we ain’t in the projects anymore that you can disrespect me like that?”

Apple stared at her mother and harshly replied, “Yeah.” She then walked into her bedroom, leaving her mother dumbfounded in the living room. Chico was on her mind that morning, and she didn’t want to think about anything else.

Apple kicked off her shoes, and after checking a few things in the bedroom, she just wanted to lie down for a while, but her cell phone ringing prevented that. She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Guy Tony calling. She sighed, wanting to ignore his call. However, she knew it would only piss him off even more. So, reluctantly, she answered.

“What, Guy?” she spoke halfheartedly.

“You just now getting home?” he asked.

“Why you care?”

“You f*cked him, right?”

“Guy, you need to really chill.”

“Don’t f*ckin’ tell me to chill, Apple!” he screamed. “I did a lot for you, you f*ckin’ hear me?”

Apple became a little worried.

Guy Tony continued, “I’m telling you, Apple, don’t f*ckin’ play me. I did Supreme for you ’cause we supposed to be together.”

“Guy, is you crazy? I’m hanging up now. You wildin’, nigga . . . over the phone. Is you f*ckin’ sick? Good night.” Apple hung up and tossed her phone aside.

It rang again, but she refused to pick it up. She knew it was Guy Tony calling back. She was really growing tired of his antics. She sat at the foot of her bed in her quiet room, deep in thought about the situation with him. He had gotten her this far, but she worried about him. It was getting to the point where she thought, if push came to shove—with his jealously and hallucinations about his guilt and ghosts—she would have to do the inevitable and have him killed also. She had come too far to be pulled back down.





CHAPTER 24




Apple was on cloud nine, with her eighteenth birthday approaching soon, and her newfound relationship with Chico. Word had gotten out quickly about the couple, the new Bonnie and Clyde of the hood, the two of them almost inseparable. Business was good, and her love life was even better. Still, the tension between her and Kola was increasing on the streets. There was conflict wherever she turned, bloodshed right around the corner.

When news of Apple’s relationship with Chico, a well-known rising kingpin, reached Kola and Cross, Cross was furious. Chico was the man responsible for trying to move in on his turf. They were at war for Harlem—with dead bodies on both sides. Cross felt that Apple was disrespecting him by sleeping with the enemy.

Apple’s response back to Kola and her man was, “Fuck you!”

*****

Cross wasn’t the only one unhappy about Apple’s new relationship with Chico. Guy Tony sat in his car with a loaded pistol in the seat next to him. He downed a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 and mumbled to himself. Slumped in his seat, he gazed at the heavy rain cascading off his windshield. He reflected on his past. His life had never been easy. Still, he felt the ultimate betrayal. His mentor was dead, and the burden he carried made him feel like he was sinking into the concrete.

Guy Tony finished the bottle and tossed it to the floor. He picked up his pistol, looked at it like he was examining it for inspection, and cocked it back. “That f*ckin’ bitch!”

The heavy rainfall engulfed his car and fogged up his window. He couldn’t think rationally and felt the walls closing in around him. Placing the gun back on the seat, he took out his cell phone and quickly called Apple, who answered after the second ring.

“What, Guy?”

“You f*ckin’ owe me, Apple.”

“What’s wrong wit’ you? What are you talking about?”

“You is what’s wrong wit’ me. You’re a connivin’ bitch. You think I wouldn’t find out the truth about that nigga?”

Apple sighed heavily. “It is what it is, Guy. There’s nothing else I can tell you.”

“You used me, bitch. You f*ckin’ used me and hurt me. You got what you wanted, huh? That nigga got your back now, so there ain’t no need for me anymore.”

“You sound drunk, Guy. You need to get the f-uck off the phone and get yourself together.”