Fire & Roses: Harli

1. Harli Jade Thomas

Harli Jade Thomas

Sweat dripped on my lower back as Doughboy pumped in and out of me.

My body shivered once my skin became wet, causing me to roll my eyes as I waited for it to be over with.

I’d just cursed his ass out from A to Z after I answered his phone, and it was some bitch calling.

The last thing I wanted to do was give him some pussy, but there was more at stake than my feelings right now.

As bad as I wanted to leave him right where he had me fucked up, I needed him for the job we had tomorrow.

Once he finished, he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

I got up and made my way towards the bathroom to clean my body.

The shower helped calm me down as I continued to think of the bigger picture.

Despite my concerns about the upcoming hit, I couldn’t cancel it because funds were running low.

With our usual getaway driver slash my best friend, Ryda, being in jail for beating a bitch ass, I had to take on her role, which left Doughboy handling everything on the inside.

I still couldn’t help but think about the fact that Doughboy was talking to other bitches.

Hell, for all I knew, he could be fucking them with his mediocre dick.

We’d been together for the last two years, and I had my suspicion but never any proof.

One of his side pieces must be buying all his bullshit to blow up his phone the way she did.

That’s what caught my attention, and when he didn’t answer, I came up with a quick plan to get his phone in my possession.

By the time he’d realized what had happened, it was too late, and I was cursing him and that bitch out.

“Harli, I’m sorry,” Doughboy apologized as he cuddled me once I got back in bed.

“Dough, I ain’t tryna hear that shit,” I dismissed. “We got a job to do, and that’s the only thing we need to be focused on.”

“Damn, so just fuck us and focus on the money?”

“Yep.”

He smacked his teeth together before releasing me and turning around.

It pissed me off that he had the nerve to be mad when it was his fault that I was being this way.

At that point, I had made up my mind that after the job, I was kicking his ass out of my apartment.

I wasn’t the type to keep a nigga who didn’t want to be kept.

I just wish Ryda was out so I could kick his ass out right now.

The next day, it went from bad to worse because I was so pissed about the side bitch that I forgot to set the alarm for us to wake up early.

I wanted to cancel the job altogether, but Doughboy was against it.

Against my better judgment, I agreed to go through with it.

We moved about my apartment, rushing to grab everything we needed.

Once we had everything, we loaded it into the car that Doughboy had stolen yesterday for the job.

“Wait, I forgot my lucky pendant!” I gasped as we backed out of the parking space. “Pull back up so I can get it.”

“Forget that shit, we’re already late, Harli,” Doughboy protested as he continued toward the store.

My chest became tight as it became hard to breathe.

I always wore my lucky pendant except for when I was in the shower.

With my mind so cloudy last night, I forgot to put it back on before I went to bed.

The whole ride there, I rubbed where my necklace should’ve been as I took deep breaths.

Once he parked behind the convenience store, we got out and went to the trunk.

With no cameras behind the store, we were able to put on our ski masks.

Doughboy grabbed the gun and stuffed it into the pocket of his hood.

I got behind the wheel as he made his way toward the store.

We were still in that window of time when only one employee was working , so we had to hurry up before the manager got there at ten.

As I watched the back for him, I zoned out as I thought of Doughboy’s actions.

When we first got together, he told me constantly that he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize losing his prettiest girlfriend.

With him being on the heavier side, I fucked with him because of his personality.

For the first year, he was a man of his word until bitches tried him only because he was with me.

That was the mentality of most of these bitches in the hood except for me and Ryda.

We weren’t no bird ass bitches trying to come up off a nigga, we were about our money.

We would run nigga’s pockets before we moved up to hitting convenience stores in the surrounding cities.

I brought Doughboy into the fold a few months ago.

Soon as I started putting money in his pockets, rumors were floating around Golden Shores about him and other bitches.

I never caught him, so I didn’t allow the rumors to destroy what we had.

Now I was forced to face the reality that every rumor, every whisper, and every gut feeling was actually true.

I’d never been cheated on, so this was new territory, and this nigga wouldn’t even be on these bitches’ radar if it wasn’t for me.

When I zoned back in, that’s when it went from worse to disastrous.

I watched in disbelief as the manager parked behind the store.

Surveying the area, I didn’t notice any sign of Doughboy anywhere.

My mouth became dry as I tried to figure out what to do next.

Before I got out of the car to prevent the manager from going to the store, I noticed a cop car coming down the road.

I removed my ski mask before slouching down in my seat.

With just my eyes above the dashboard, I watched the manager go into the store just as the cop car rode past. My eyes shifted from the door to the cop car stopped at the stop sign up the road.

The longer the car sat there, the faster my heart pumped.

“Fuck my life,” I cursed as the cop car lights came on along with the reverse lights.

Soon as they pulled into the store, I started the car to get the fuck out of dodge.

This was my biggest fear playing out before my eyes.

As I drove home, all I could think about was what the fuck happened in that store.

Doughboy was to go into the store, show the gun, get all the money out of the register, and get the fuck out of there.

Something delayed all of that from happening, and I couldn’t put my finger on what it could’ve been.

I dumped the car at an abandoned lot before wiping it down.

After I finished removing all traces of me and Doughboy, I changed out of my hit clothes before throwing them in a barrel and setting them on fire.

The walk back to my apartment felt like it took forever to finally make it home.

As soon as I got inside, I locked the door before grabbing my phone off the charger.

I’d always leave my phone home for a fake electronic alibi.

I went to each news channel’s Facebook page to see if anything had been reported about the robbery.

“This is bad, this is really bad,” I stressed as I paced my living room floor.

There was nothing reported about it, and I felt like I was going to throw up because it had been three hours and I still hadn’t heard from Doughboy.

As the hours continued to tick away, the sun set, and I became even more worried.

My worry mixed with sadness as I prepared to go to bed alone.

The thunder roared as it began to rain. It was almost as if the weather had decided to match the way I was feeling.

“Who the hell knockin’ at my door?” I questioned aloud as a constant knocking sound filled my ears. “It could be Doughboy!”

Scurrying to the living room, the excitement raced through my body as I made my way to the door. I snatched the door open and was confused as I came face-to-face with some random female. After I gave her a once-over I couldn’t put a name to the face. I peeped the tear stains that covered her face.

“Um, can I help you?” I finally asked her.

“I, uh, I wanted to know if you had an update on Doughboy?” She countered, gaining my attention when she mentioned my nigga’s name.

I wanted to smack the fuck out of her, but curiosity got the best of me because how she knew some shit was going on with Doughboy.

“I didn’t mean to distract him at the store.

I was just shocked when I recognized his voice behind the ski mask. ”

“Listen, I don’t know what the fuck you or him got goin’, but leave me out of it,” I downplayed while keeping my poker face intact.

“I let that nigga eat my pussy one last time before some random bitch called his phone. He left with her from my understandin’ and clearly that ain’t you. Good luck with find yo’ nigga.”

I slammed the door in her face as I leaned up against it.

The fact that his cheating ass ways got him fucked up during a job was actually comical.

I giggled to myself at the instant karma he was receiving for fucking me over.

The past two years I’ve been loyal to a nigga who, the moment I helped him come up, fucked me over without a second thought.

As bad as I wanted to cry, I held my shit together.

At that moment I cut off all ties with Doughboy, which, unbeknownst to me, would level me up in ways I’d never expected.