Hittin' the Bricks: An Urban Erotic Tale Read Online Free Page A

told you he was gonna be rapping at
Shakez
this weekend and gave you those two free VIP laminates. That's what fuckin’ guy!”
    Eva laughed again. Dude did have his mouth open as he checked her out. She had smiled as he took her picture, then laid some smooth words on him real quick, and by the time she strutted away, not only didn't he have her number, but Evahad gotten another free laminate out of him for her girl India too.
    Even after four years of healing and nurturing it was still hard for Eva to believe that she looked as good as a lot of men seemed to think she did. She'd escaped from her nightmares in Brooklyn and found a home in Harlem with people who really loved her, but deep inside she was still that beat- down, bony little girl. The little girl who had been so abused that she stayed high, stayed hungry, and stayed hopeless and helpless. Life was different for Eva now. From the moment she arrived in Harlem she had hoped and dreamed for a better future. But old memories were hard to erase, and like always, she found herself checking out her arms self- consciously. The scabbed- over needle marks and extension- cord bruises had long since healed and were fading away. Whereas she used to walk around looking strung out and starved, Eva now had the kind of body that was a show stopper for real. Gone were the nasty sores and the festering boils from track marks in her groin. And gone was the pain and fear that Rasheena and Jahden had inflicted on her when she was too young and too scared to protect herself.
    “Oh,
that
guy?” Eva asked innocently as she switched her vicious hips past the bouncer and out the door. “Rappers ain't all they got going at
Shakez,
Alex. They have talent shows and dance contests too, remember? But yeah, I might check that guy out if ain't no other fine dudes up in there.”
    “Beeetch!!!” Alex's happy self was all in her ear. “I
know
you, Evita! You wanted that guy. You was all up in his incense! Tryna spin his fuckin’ illegal CDs! Shit, I wanted his ass too. Dude was
hot!”
    “Well cool ya red tail off. We gotta swing by the building and pick up India first, okay? That's if Saint's gonna let her hang out tonight.”
    Alex's wide smile disappeared at the mention of Saint's name. He was a cold- blooded drug dealer who'd been wrecking shit all over Harlem for the past two years. He'd started out as a runner and a look- out, then worked his way up to handling trap as a corner boy. It wasn't long before he was running the local drug game. Alex's younger brother had gotten robbed and killed in a crack spot last summer, and word on the streets was that Saint and his crew had orchestrated that shit.
    “I hate that Saint mothafucka,” Alex said as they jumped into a taxi and gave the driver directions to their crib. “I don't know why India don't just drop his homo thug ass and find a real baller.”
    Eva nodded in agreement, but deep inside she knew exactly why India couldn't leave Saint. Eva had earned herself a street degree, and she knew some shit didn't change whether you rested in Brooklyn or Harlem or even in the Bronx. You didn't just bounce or walk away from a gangster like Saint just like that. You could end up shut the fuck down.
    Their cab pulled up to a traffic light where a big crowd had gathered in an alley outside of an elite club called Bricks. There was a big record shop in front of the club that stayed crowded all the time, but Eva had heard it was really just a front for all kinds of illegal activity. All the real action was going on beyond that, where the hottest artists, ballers, and professional athletes in the nation hung out in a converted loft in the back.
    Eva looked out the window with wide eyes. People were standing out there waiting to get in like it was a free liquor giveaway. It wasn't like Bricks was some chic or ultra modern uptown club or nothing. It was in a grimy area of Harlem where niggahs and bitches was hood as hell, but all kinds of people