Chapter Fifty
Fifty
Kendrick could see that there was someone sitting in the chair. He couldn’t tell if it was a woman or a man, though. His vision was blurry, as it always was after he’d gone too long without a hit of Hades.
Kendrick squinted at the figure in the chair. “Is that Abim—” he started.
“No, it’s not,” Cassius said curtly and grabbed him by the hand, dragging him into the kitchen. She made a point of throwing the possum-playing Chevy a warning look as she went.
“Now, how much today?” Cassius said, once they were in the kitchen and out of Chevy’s eyesight.
“Um, um,” Kendrick muttered as he dug through his pockets, pulling out the fifty and the jewelry he’d stolen from Crystal.
Cassius shook her head. Kendrick was full-blown addicted.
His nose was running and he could barely keep his eyes open.
His beard had grown out full and bushy, he was in desperate need of a haircut, and as far as Cassius could see, Kendrick hadn’t even taken the time to pull a comb through his hair, which was now a matted Afro.
What a shame, Cassius thought to herself. He’d been such a good-looking man. And a good fuck at that.
“I got this,” Kendrick said as he weaved and bobbed in place.
Cassius looked down at his meager offering. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” she said, her voice filled with revulsion.
“Take it and give me a vial,” Kendrick said, sounding offended.
“This wouldn’t even pay for a quarter of a vial,” Cassius spat. “You’re wasting my time.”
Kendrick looked down at the money and jewelry. He tightened his fingers around it and pushed it toward Cassius. “Please, c’mon now—you know we been doing business for a long time. Can’t you just help me out this one time?”
Cassius shook her head pitifully. “No. I’m sorry, Kendrick, I can’t.”
The first rule of the game was never to give in. No one gets a break or a handout, because that is like feeding a stray cat. Everybody knows that once you feed a stray it comes back every day.
“C’mon now, Cassius, c’mon,” Kendrick pleaded, hopping back and forth on his feet like a two-year-old.
Chevy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Kendrick Greene, an addict! Look at that, she thought to herself. Crystal always coming down on her, telling her the right way to live, and here she was, dating a junkie.
Wait until she saw her again. She was going to smear it all across her pretty little face!
“I can’t, Kendrick, really,” Cassius said, shaking her head. “Now you have to go.”
Kendrick just stood there staring at her for a while before calmly placing the money and jewelry back into his pocket. “Okay, okay, then. What do you want me to do for it?”
Cassius gave him a strained look. “Only thing I want you to do is leave.”
“You want to fuck me, don’t you?” Kendrick sneered and pulled his shirt over his head. “Fine. I’ll fuck you for a vial!”
Cassius made a face at him and then stifled a laugh behind her hand. “I don’t want to fuck you. Look at you. You’re disgusting!” she spat.
“Oh, now you wanna act like you don’t want it?” Kendrick said as he unzipped his pants.
“Stop,” Cassius said. Her voice was beginning to shake. Kendrick was frightening her. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
Kendrick dropped his pants and stepped out of them. He had no underwear on, and his dick hung limp between his legs.
“So you want me to eat you out? That’s what you want!” Kendrick took a step toward Cassius.
Cassius tried to remain cool, but she was scared to death. She thought of calling out to Chevy for help, but that would probably be futile. Chevy wouldn’t raise a finger to help her, even if Kendrick tried to rape her or, worse yet, kill her.
“Look, Kendrick, Abimbola will be back any second now, and if he walks in here and finds you naked, he’s going to kill you.”
Kendrick balled his fists and placed them on his hips. He was beaten. He chewed at his bottom lip and bounced his head up and down. “All right, all right,” he sputtered. Turning his back to Cassius, he bent over to retrieve his pants, mooning her.
Cassius turned her head away, embarrassed for him.
Pulling his pants up, he then reached for his shirt and pulled that on too. Turning back to Cassius, he offered her a boyish grin. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Cassius was taken off-guard. “What?”
“I behaved horribly. You’re right. I should be embarrassed, and I am,” he said as he extended his hand to her. “No hard feelings?” he said, smiling sweetly.
Cassius looked down at his hand. She was confused, but mood swings were common in people who used Hades.
“None,” Cassius said and placed her hand in Kendrick’s.
They shook, and then the smile suddenly slipped from Kendrick’s face as he roughly jerked Cassius toward him and promptly butted her in the head.
Cassius’s eyes registered fleeting surprise before they rolled up and into her head and she fell unconscious to the floor.
Kendrick wasted no time. He shot out of the kitchen and nearly fell as he scurried across the hall and into the bedroom, which contained only a bed and a nightstand. He ripped the drawer open. Empty. He tugged it out and looked beneath it. Nothing.
Throwing it to the floor, he turned to the bed. Like a wild man he ripped the linens off the mattress. Then he tore the mattress from the bed. Still nothing.
He went through the closets, tearing the clothes from the hangers and tossing them to the floor. Nothing. He peered into the dark crevices of shoes. Still he came up empty.
Kendrick ran out of the room and back into the kitchen, where he tripped over the still-unconscious Cassius.
His head struck the edge of the counter.
He hardly felt the pain, but he was annoyed by the blood that was trickling into his eyes, and he levied a kick on Cassius because of it.
“Bitch!” he bellowed when the toe of his sneaker made contact with her thigh.
Cassius grunted but her eyes remained closed.
Kendrick opened all of the kitchen cabinets, but all were empty except for a tin of coffee. That he opened, shaking the contents out and into the sink.
“It’s got to be here somewhere!” he screamed and then bent over Cassius. “Where is it, bitch, where!”
Cassius didn’t flinch.
“Think, Ken, think. Now, you’re a smart man—where would you hide your drugs?”
Kendrick pounded his fists into his head.
“Where, where!” he screamed, and his voice bounced off the walls and back at him.
After some time, Kendrick’s head popped up and a broad smile spread across his face. “Ah, you smart bitch,” he said as he knelt down beside Cassius and turned her over and onto her back.
He tore her blouse open, revealing a black lace bra. He studied her 38-Cs for a moment and then gingerly removed her breasts from the bra cups. Nothing.
“Okay, okay,” he said and then pinched his lips together as he tried to slip his hand down inside the waistband of her skirt. He couldn’t get his hand down far enough.
Frustrated, he yanked his hand out and then, as if suddenly slapped with the smart stick, he pushed up the hem of her skirt.
“Voilà!” Kendrick bellowed.
There, beneath her skirt and in a custom-made thigh holster, were forty vials of Hades.
“Eureka!”