Lyfe Changing Read online

  Prologue

  Derrick

  My Rolex kept ticking as I waited outside the apartment buildings of Green point Avenue. I puffed on a black and mild while I laid low in a dark Nissan waiting for my target to arrive. The night was dark and cold leaving the streets abandoned in the late hours; unlike most people I didn’t mind roaming the streets at night. I considered the pitch black darkness to be a friend of mine. Still in wait, I leaned back against the headrest and sighed in frustration. I wish this muthafucka hurry up, I thought. It was a quarter to twelve and I wanted to make it to club Nitro to chill with my boys De and Ray so we could discuss our next business venture, but this fool’s late arrival was causing a delay in my plans.

  I glanced at my rearview and noticed a couple of people struggling to get off of the streets and into their homes quickly, knowing better than to be out at this hour. Good, I thought. The less witnesses I have to deal with the better. The last thing I needed was an extra body to drop while I’m out here taking care of business…and here’s come my target now. Oliver Omaya pulled up in front of his apartment building a little later than usual, hence my frustration, but I knew it was a matter of time before he finally appeared. Oliver was popular drug dealer known as Double O. He was real good at promoting himself throughout the neighborhood but his products were garbage. They were nothing more than party pills and generic weed for college kids to get high off of, not any real heavy weight.

  However, the shit was selling quite nicely among the community. Double O may have been a joke of a drug dealer but he was making a good chunk of change…and I didn’t mind adding his dollars to my bank account. After watching and studying his movements around town for a while it was easy for me to catch him alone.

  On the nights he wasn’t heading out to the docks to meet up with connects for another drug shipment, he was fucking around with some broads in the Bronx trying to get it from any chicken head in need of a few dollars. Good thing he was alone tonight. I was already on the edge and would have hated to have a female caught up in some of this dangerous shit I was about to get into. I watched Double O step out of his red sports car and head to the back of his trunk. That was another thing about this clown I didn’t like, he felt the need to flash his wealth around making it know to the world that he had money…once again this fool was an easy target.

  I slowly exited my Nissan while he unloaded some drug and money bags from his trunk. A wicked grin spread across my face as I came closer to him. Double O was not a real threat body wise; he was tall and real skinny, clearly nothing to be worried about. Yet in still, I knew better then to underestimate my opponent. I snuck up behind him slowly, careful not to tip him off. His dark skin contrasted with the white Armani suit he was wearing. I watched as he nonchalantly ducked down and reached for another black bag out of his trunk. WHACK!

  Double O thudded to the ground as the bud of my gun ran across the back of his head. “What the fuck?” he yelled. He grew silent as his eyes made contact with mine and fear and panic spread across his face. “Who the fuck are you?” He yelled out. Double O tried to scoot back from me as he saw the .22 caliber in my hand but that was pointless. Look at his bitch ass, I thought. Does he really think he can get away from me? “Look bruh, it’s all good…” He began to plead. “I got a few stacks in the trunk, a lot of money baby…just take em.” He tried to bargain as I stood over him with a cold stare, thinking I didn’t notice his little punk ass reaching in the back of his pants for the pistol that I knew he carried from time to time. Before he even touched the damn thing I gripped up on my caliber and repeatedly hammered his head to the ground. Double O howled in pain as the bud of my gun continually came down on his skull. Blood had permanently damaged that white Armani suit of his and he lay against the ground damn near to the grave. As my hand grew tired I leaned back up and witnessed the bloody mess I had caused.

  After a while I finally got my breathing under control giving the adrenaline rush that had surged through me time enough to subside. It was funny how I always caught a rush when planning an attack on one of my many sitting ducks…especially when they the least expected it. Don’t call me a crazy but the feeling I felt when I was raining down blows on somebody was just as satisfying and pleasurable as fucking…well almost. One by one I loaded all of the black bags into my Nissan and I left Double O‘s sorry ass on the pavement as I made off with the loot.

  “Damn boy you put in work.” I said to myself as I looked in the backseat of the car at all the Benjamin’s accompanying me home. I reached back into one of the bags and ran my finger across the green paper bound together by rubber bands and smiled. “Yeah! Just what I like.” I laughed feeling damn good that I had just successfully completed another assignment. After my short celebration, I got unto the main road and switched into the fast lane, speeding ahead past other slow ass cars feeling an all-time high. A successful score like that always put me in a good ass mood. I took off unto an exit and drove off into a nearby field where an abandoned ware house was located. I eased on in the vacant lot and laid eyes on the love of my life…. my beautiful black custom made Lamborghini. “Hey baby.”

  I said making my way out of the Nissan, removing my blood stained gloves, and tossing them in a waste bag. “You must have missed me huh?” I was thankful that nobody ever came to these ware houses anymore since the nearby factory that used to own them shut down, leaving them wide open to be taken advantage of. This place made it perfectly easy to handle my business, stash my equipment, and exchange my cars that I loved so much. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if someone jacked my Lambo that I hid out here…talk about devastated. I unloaded all the bags from the back of the Nissan and into the Lambo and cranked up. “Alright now...Let’s roll out.” I huffed, strapping myself into the driver’s seat.

  The sounds of Tupac filled my ears as I blasted my speakers out of the ware house and back onto the main road. I bobbed my head to “Ambitionz Az a Ridah” while speeding down the highway back to my place. I needed to head home first and get cleaned up before rolling out to Nitro’s nightclub. Although I was going there mainly for business I was not ignorant to the fact that a lot of fine ass women were known to be there and they were not about to catch me looking like some scrub. Shit from the natural high I was on right now, I may have to break em off a little something.

  1

  Taking care of business

  Derrick

  I could hear the music from the club blasting all the way from outside as I entered into the static filled place. After rushing home and getting a much needed shower and shave I headed out to meet the boys. I suited up in a dark burgundy button up shirt and denim jeans looking fresher than a muthafucka. The neon flashing lights were giving the place a nice allure as people sipped on their drinks and grinded on the dance floor. The DJ had the club pumping as everybody crowded around. “Alright sexy ladies and fly fellas, get yo ass some drinks, then get on this floor and bounce something!” I made my way through the crowd of beautiful people and I do mean beautiful.

  I noticed a couple of lovely ladies giving me the eye while the clowns they were with couldn’t stop mean mugging. I didn’t give a damn either way, I had business to take care of…money over bitches, that was always my policy…and I lived by it proudly. I spotted my boys De and Ray at a table in the back. They were in the midst of a conversation with what looked like some of Magic City’s best strippers and didn’t even notice me come up. “Well damn…” I said standing over them as they were at the table. “I could blast y’all asses right now and you wouldn’t have even known.” They all looked up at the intruder who had interrupted them and smiled.

  “Boy I thought yo ass was never gonna get here. What’s good?” Ray jumped up and gave me some love while De and I j
ust dapped each other up. Desmond and Raymond Howard had been friends of mine since high school. They were both tall, stocky, and had a medium brown complexion. De and Ray were two years apart but looked just alike. They head the same small eyes, bridged nose, and full lips…the double mint twins was how I referred to them even though it pissed them off. “Damn Derrick you were supposed to be here an hour ago what happened?” De complained while leaning back in his seat sipping on a grey goose bottle. I took a seat as they made room for me and kicked back while they passed me a blunt.

  “It’s not my fault that muthafucka rolled up so late… He had me sitting out there watching his place like a bill collector.” We all laughed while pouring more drinks and passing them around. We chilled for a moment cracking a couple of jokes and flirting with the ladies until I decided to switch lanes for a minute. I eyed De and Ray letting them know it was time to talk business and we were among mixed company. They caught my drift and nodded taking another puff of the much needed blunt we were passing around. De put his arm around the pretty brown girl with the cream colored dress that looked so damn tight it could have been spray painted on. He leaned to his right and whispered in her ear. “Hey baby girl, why don’t you take your friends and go buy us another bottle.” Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as he handed her a couple of hundreds and moved her on her way.

  “Wait for me in the back aight?” He further instructed her. The girl nodded and gathered up the rest of her fine friends and headed to the bar, but not before I got a couple of sneak peeks at what they were working with in the minimal clothing they had on leaving nothing to the imagination. I watched them sashay through the crowd as if they were the baddest bitches in the place and didn’t have a care in the world. “Well got damn… straight out an uncut video huh?” I joked causing us all to laugh. “And you know it.” De spoke up. “I don’t except nothing but the best.” I took a sip of cognac before we got down to business. “Alright boys…”I said putting my game face on. “What you got for me?”

  “I heard through the grapevine there’s this Columbian cat named Julio who runs a well-known drug trade…” Ray said. “I ran into him around the way earlier this month.” I nodded as they went on. I had heard of Julio, he was becoming a big name in the drug world; he had barely been in the states for a couple of years, coming all the way from Venezuela and already racked up a lot of workers and a lot of money. De continued to give me the run down.

  “From what I know he got a big house in the burbs not too far from the shore. There is a safe hidden in the floor under his bed filled with a shit load of money…I’m talking mega Benjamin’s.” He said taking another sip of his drink.

  “Me and Ray have been rolling with him for a minute now and will be heading out with him this weekend for a new shipment at the docks. While we are out doing that we want you to be raiding the muthafucka’s house.”

  De said nodding my way. “How much you think he working with?” I asked feeling the buzz settling in my system from the weed and alcohol, but I still remained focused. “From what I have seen so far probably five million.” I almost spit out my damn yak at the sound of those words…now you know I had to be shocked as hell to be wasting some good yak. “What! five mill!” They both nodded as if they couldn’t believe it either. “Hell I was shocked too…shit.” Ray said puffing on a blunt. I chuckled a little while looking at them both crazy. “Well then what the hell we waiting for then? Let’s get to it!”

  De laughed at my enthusiasm. “Calm down baby boy, we can’t just go busting in on that fool. Julio aint stupid, he got mad protection on him.” I nodded shaking off my eagerness and thinking more logically. I just couldn’t believe having access to all that money...talk about being set for life. “So how am I going to get in the house?” I asked ready to cut through the bullshit and know exactly what I was getting myself into. “Well he put me on security so I got access to the alarms, security codes, and all type of shit like that. I’m gonna give you the codes so you can disarm the house and case the joint.” Ray said patting my shoulder. “Me and De gonna be the only ones with Julio on the shipment, so we will slip whatever we can from him there.” De nodded in agreement but I wasn’t convinced.

  “Come on now… Julio got plenty of heat. Even if we do rob him you know that fool will come after us.”

  “I didn’t say rob…we aint gonna beat the muthafucka down just slip in and slip out without him even realizing, being that we make the drops and all. This shit is too simple baby, what’s the problem?”

  I don’t know why I was suddenly feeling so unsure about the plan; we had done this type of shit a million times even since we were kids. Pretending to be down with these high end drug dealers and then robbing their ass blind. Click. Clack. Boom. I had made a career out of taking riches but this time felt strange, it just wasn’t sitting well with me. De and Ray picked up on my hesitancy and tried to reassure me about the situation. “Listen Derrick all you have to do is get into the house, break into the safe and take the money. I’m going to give you the codes to get inside. You’ll be in and out no worries pimping. Now are we good?” I took a quick breath, nodded my head ultimately agreeing, but I still felt hesitant. “Alright…alright I’m down.” De and Ray smiled wickedly seeing that we all were on the same page. “Good, we will meet a little later through the week to discuss further details. But tonight…” De said looking from me to the curvy fine women waiting for him at the bar. “I got other business to take care of…I suggest you find you some too.” Both of them stood up, gave me daps and headed out to have a good time.

  I laid back at the table and jammed to the music putting my mind at ease, so much was happening so soon and it was starting to worry me, but shit this was a whole lot of money we were talking about...not some chump change around the way. I took another sip of my yak and leaned back thinking about my pending plans. Everything was pretty much agreed on, I guess I didn’t have a choice but to buckle up and get ready for the ride. I closed my eyes and continued to let my mind wonder as the club continued to jam. “Tired are we?” I heard a familiar voice drift into my thoughts. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know who it was.

  “Not too tired for you.” I responded. Trina made her way over to my table real slow and sexy as she sat right beside me making sure she had my full attention. “I was hoping to see you tonight… you’re a hard man to get a hold off.” The expression on her face was somewhat sad, almost pouty as if she were some damn spoiled teenager, which made me laugh. Trina was a known plaything of mine. She was slightly badge, with long black hair and pretty pink full lips. Oh yeah she was fine, but she like most women came with a price tag right in her panties. The type of chick looking for a sponsor and too bad for her I had enough financial obligations. Unlike most bruthas I could talk the panties off any broad without having to spend a dime…call it easy maneuvering. I gazed at her curvy figure which she was showing off well in that tight low cut crimson red dress. “Well I’m here now so what’s up?”

  I asked curving her chin with my finger. She continued to pout at me a little as she spoke. “I miss you.” Trina and I were hooking up for a minute and everything was good until I had to cut her ass off. Shit, she started to get a little confused, thinking I was her man or something and I didn’t have time for that. One thing when you fucking with me, you better know your role. I always knew once she got her act together she would come back and thank God tonight she didn’t disappoint. My buzz had most definitely kicked in and I was ready to get into some things that involved some handcuffs and possibly a video camera. I licked my lips while leaning over to whisper in her ear. “Well why don’t you let me take you home and then you can show me how much you missed me.” Trina looked away for a moment then back again weighing out her options.

  “Derrick I’m serious, I…” I silenced her by placing my lips on hers letting her feel the warm of my mouth and the urgency I had to get her back to place. I pulled back from her giving her time to recuperate and decide if she was
down. Trina touched her lips as if she could still feel heat that was once there.

  “Now what were you saying?” I asked her as she regained her composure. Trina eased back and bit her lip looking horny as hell. “Um…let me tell my girls I’m leaving.” She barely got out. “Good…” I nodded. “You do that.” As a victory grin spread across my face I laid back against my seat in bliss…I still got it baby. Trina got up from beside me and walked back into the crowd. I watched her ass as she left and chuckled at all the things I planned on doing to her tonight. I finished my cup and looked out into the dancefloor; everyone seemed to be bouncing to the beat of some throwback jams just having a good ass time. My eyes glanced over everyone and landed on a beautiful girl smack dab in the center of the crowd. I leaned up to get a better look at her. She was about 5’9, smooth chocolate skin and water fall curly hair.

  She moved around like a private dancer to a slow wind beat giving me a perfect view of her well-built body. I liked the way her body curved in that tight white dress she was wearing…looking a sexy little angel. I couldn’t help but watch her as if she was giving a special dance only for me. “Derrick…Derrick.” I heard my name being said real nice and slow. Was she calling for me? “Derrick…Derrick!” I snapped out of it and looked up. “Trina.” She looked at me with her face twisted like I had lost my mind. “Yeah…are you ready to go?” “Yeah.” I said putting down my cup and making my way over to her. “Yeah I’m ready…here take my keys.” She eyed me suspiciously not understanding.

  “What? You too drunk to drive?”

  “No… just thought you might like the feel of driving a half million dollar car tonight.”

  I tossed the keys into her hand and I put my arm around her as we made our exit out of the crowded place. I took one more look back on the dance floor to spot the beautiful lady in white but she was gone. Damn did I imagine her? I thought…oh well. Time to get the real party started.