That Damn Piggy.....

Katy answered the door in a red kimono dress. She was wearing matching Chinese Laundry slippers. She was a lot more calmer since the last time I saw her. Her family was away on vacation and had left her here. That's how it was for a hustler. She looked at me. Nodded her head in approval. "Queepin status fits you, Coyle." I introduced Meika B to Katy. I had explained to Meika how eccentric Katy was. Nothing surprised Meika anyway. We went into Katy's living room which was immaculately decorated. On the table was some of her famous coffee crumb cake. "Tameika, I don't know if CC told you but I make a mean cup of coffee. What do you take in yours?" "Caramel and ice, splash of vanilla." Katy looked at me. "CC, I like her." "Katy, make mine the same way." Katy had been my dealer for long as I could remember. If anyone knew how I would move my product she did. I would pay her handsomely. I then remembered I had Yulonda in my trunk. "Katy, we need to use your shed out back. Need to have a convo with someone." Katy looked at me and her green eyes went sininster. "Sure dumpling. You need anything else?" She saw me scratching my veins. I needed to get high right now. Tameika intervened. "Courtney, you're King now babe. You must start acting like it. You gotta kick this shit. No." Katy patted and rubbed my arm. I looked at my friend. "Meika, just this once. I promise I will kick this shit." Katy coaxed, "You've earned it CC. Won't hurt. I have some Marc Jacob foot creme. They're Italian uppers. Strappy sandals. Come on. Enjoy yourself." Tameika stood firm. "Piggy, you're gonna get your ass up from here. Get this girl out of this car and make her talk. FOCUS!" I looked up and Tameika was speaking to me through clenched teeth. I knew she wasn't playing. I pulled my arm from Katy's grasp. "No thank you, Katy. We got business. Bring the coffee out back." Katy looked at Tameika. "She's pure mustang, CC." I smiled. Proud that I knew her. We went out to my car and Yulonda was still out. Me and Meika dragged her out back to the shed. I pulled the light switch. Sat her up in a chair. She was still snoring. Katy rubbed her face. "What you do to this child?" Her and Meika both looked at me. "What was necessary." Katy unwrapped an old leather bag. She pulled out a Betsy Johnson beaded black ballerina flat. She waved the shoe under Yulonda's nose. Immediately after the smelling "shoe" was waved under her nose, she was up. She groggily opened her eyes. "Hey. Hey. Hey." She looked at me. I had bruised her pretty bad. "My head and face hurts." "Katy here is gone examine you. Make sure nothing is broke." Katy placed a hand on Yulonda's face and touched her nose. Yulonda winced. "CC, you broke it pretty good. It's a clean break though." I looked at Katy. "Think she need to go to the hospital?" Katy knew the rules. I'd kill her before I took her to the hospital. If she needed real medical attention, then she would have become a real liability to me. Hell naw. "No, I can definitely fix her up right here." Yulonda's eyes got big as she tried to focus. "Now Yulonda, you got some explaining to do. You hungry? Katy here makes the best crumb cake ever. You don't want that, I can have her fix you something else." She looked at me like I was crazy. I was. "No I'm not hungry. What happened to me?" "Don't worry about that. You got hit by pride. That's all. It happens to all of us sometimes. Pride is a sin, did you know that?" She didn't answer. "Look, you sought me out. I was minding my own business at Chuck E. Cheese's with my baby and you- "Wait a minute, CC. You went to Chuck E. Cheese with out me and my son?" Damn Tameika, we need to focus. I glared at her. "Tell me why are you after me?" Yulonda didn't say anything. I pulled her hair. While doing so I was amazed at how good it felt in my fingers. It even smelled great. "Love, what are you using in your hair. It's so soft." "It's called Mixed Chicks. You can get it at Whole Foods. You should try it." I pulled at one of my blonde locks. I had been wanting to go natural for a while now. I mean my hair was in a bountiful amount of blonde curls. I had already cut the perm and - Wait a gotdamn minute! I'm off task again. I pulled harder on Yulonda's hair. "What do you really want? You seeing me in that establishment was not a coincedence." "OW! Okay, you're right. I had been planning for weeks to get Albro. One night he and I got to arguing. I thought that we were going to be together. Maybe get married but he said he didn't even know if we would last." I looked at her. She was telling the truth. "So he starts telling me I should be more like this chick he had on his team. She was bad. Handled her business and didn't wait on no man. He told me her name. Courtney Coyle. She goes by Piggy. I hated you from then on. I heard the way he said your name. Some kind of way I knew you had grown on him." "Yeah ok. But you need to get on with it." She swallowed and continued. "I asked him if he was sleeping with you and he said no. Said you would probably never have him. I made up my mind though. If he didn't want me, I would have his business. I knew I would have to kill him to do that. I started making plans to do so and I heard that you had sights on him. Dynastie, a friend of mine told me so I knew I would have to move quick. Saw you with his pendant and I knew the deed had been done." Tears streamed her face. She shut down. Meika B and I looked at each other. Katy cut Yulonda a piece of crumb cake. When she tasted it, her eyes rolled back in her head. It was that good. I looked at Yulonda. "When we were at the zoo, you made me an offer. You remember that?" She nodded. "You're in. I'll have Katy fix you up. She can get you back to your car. I'll stay in touch." Yulonda smiled. She seemed grateful. Katy looked at me. "Uh CC, I have things to do. I mean you didn't even bother asking- I looked at Katy long and hard and she bowed her head. She knew not to play with me. Katy kept my secrets because she knew who I was but most importantly she kept my secrets because I kept hers. "Here's something for your troubles, Katherine." I slide a thousand dollars in her hand. Meika and I took our crumb cake and coffees to go. As we passed the front of Katy's house, I got that itch as I craved those shoes Katy had offered. Tameika pulled my arm. "You think we can trust Yulonda, Piggy?" I turned to look at my friend. "I don't know, Meika. I know that if she is not who she say she is, I'll kill her. And I don't want to have to make that phone call to my uncle." Meika stopped dead in her tracks. "Uncle? You mean that's your cousin?" I know what you're thinking. You see Yulonda and I played games with each other. Out in public, we didn't recognize each other. Her and my daddy were both kingpins. We did so to protect our identities. "Meika, you didn't notice the family resemblance?" Meika chuckled and got in the car. When she turned on the radio, MJG's That Girl played. "Come on chick, let's hit my spot. Need to check on it." In the rearview, Meika's eyes were glued. "Piggy somebody tailing us." "You sure?" She nodded. "Okay, let's hit Glen Iris then." I reloaded my .40. Just another day being That Girl