years to display her like a fine piece of jewelry. Heâd yanked her off the ho stroll after only a few months when he decided that she was much more valuable to him than selling head and pussy. She had a sassy, no-nonsense attitude that had proven to be quite an asset when heâd allowed her to run his dope on the hotel route along I-20. Sheâd made him a mint in addition to keeping his other bitches on track. Her uncanny resemblance to Queen Nefertiti was definitely a plus as well. He picked the deck up and smiled brightly.
âYo, Stacy, just because youâve learned the easiest way to get your cheat on, doesnât mean you can run slack on the other stuff you need to keep racking up the cash, my man. Believe me when I tell you that marked deck thangâs gonna run thin a lot sooner than you think.â
He didnât give him a chance to respond before flipping a card upside down on the top of the deck and false shuffled six or seven times. He could tell right off the bat that they werenât able to keep up. It felt good to see that stunned look on Stacyâs face. He knew theyâd catch on sooner or later, hopefully sooner, so it wason to the next phase. He placed a mirror in front of him and started shuffling in slow motion. âMy nigga and niggettes, I want yâall to get a mirror and practice like this until you canât see the move yourself. It has to look like your natural deal, feel me?â He waited for them to nod their understanding. âThen Iâm gonna grind yâall wannabe slick asses at dealing seconds and off the bottom all with the same motion, okay?â
With faces eager to please the teacher they started gathering up the cards. Rainbow leaned back and shouted for Chef-bor-a-Lady, who was doing her usual throwdown in the kitchen. She was actually his very first girlfriend from way back in elementary school. After all these years of pimping, heâd never even considered putting her through the rigors of that kind of life and sheâd stood by his side ever since. His forever bottom lady, was the way he saw it. âYo, lady, how long did my nigga say he was going to be?â
Ladyâs cheery puppy-dog face leaned around the corner with her hands full of floured chicken and smiled. âHe said something about picking up Yolanda and coming right over.â She twisted her wrist around awkwardly to look at her watch. âThat was about a half-hour ago, so they should be pulling up anytime now.â
The words were barely out of her mouth when the car pulled into the driveway. Even before the doors slammed, they could hear Yolandaâs and Violetâs loud voices arguing about where they were going to off some of the stuff theyâd stolen. Violet, Sparkleâs main girl, was still considered legendary when it came to the boosting game. Short and thick she still reminded folk of a much older version of Toni Braxton. Back in the day sheâd trained nearly all of the pimpsâ hoes, using numerous gadgets to aid in the art of stealing. Rainbow was still amazed at some of stuff sheâd come up with. She was one strong-willed babe who didnât take trash from anyone. And Yolanda was like a darker, younger version ofher Aunt Violet. She was actually an original member of the gang from their kindergarten days. She was Beverlyâs first and best girl buddy as well as being âBââs bottom girl forever. There wasnât a nigga alive that could pull something over on her. Rainbow smiled at the sound of her voice as he recalled the many times that Yolanda had kicked ass right along with them for messing with Beverly.
Sparkle stepped through the door shaking his head and tossed his thumb back toward the yakking duo. âDamn, dog, why didnât you tell me these hoes would be going at it like this here. God-ayum, Iâve had to put up with this bullshit from the moment they saw each other.â
He paused and