Roy Glenn - All About The Money

Somber faces stared back at me. I looked around trying to figure out where Jada was. “Hey, guys, what’s going on?” I asked no one in particular.

Diane buried her face into the palms of her hands and started sobbing.

“What’s wrong?” I looked around at Diane and Simone. They sat there stone-faced, not even acknowledging my presence.

“Where’s Jada?”

That’s when Diane looked up at me. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying. “She went after him.” She cried. “She went after him and I’m afraid of what’s gonna happen when she finds him.”

I stepped closer to Simone. “Who’d she go after? What are you saying?”

Simone sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “She went after Bullet. And I hope she finds his ass. Bella never hurt a soul. That muthafucka deserves exactly what he gets. I should’ve gone with her.”

I immediately started blocking Simone out. “How did she find him?” I asked Diane.

“She, um,” she said. Diane hunched her shoulders. “I don’t know. She just said she was going to the studio.”

“What studio?” I demanded to know.

“Triple Platinum,” Diane mumbled over her tears.

I turned to leave, but Simone grabbed my arm. “Where you goin’?”

“I’m going to find Jada.”

“I’m coming with you,” Simone said.

“No. You stay here and take care of Diane. Maybe Jada will change her mind and come back here. If she does, call me,” I told her and dashed out of there. I couldn’t allow Jada to go out like that.

Jada West

I was crying my eyes out when I got to the studio. I just hoped that he would be there. There were a lot of cars parked outside, so I didn’t want to walk in there waving my gun and yelling “Where’s Bullet!” Even though that’s what I wanted to do.

Then I got lucky. Bullet came out and walked to his car. I started mine and was about to follow him when he shut the door and went back inside. At least I knew he was there. So I turned off my car and waited.

A few minutes later a group of guys, including The One, came out, and within minutes, Bullet’s car was the only one left. I got out of my car and walked toward the door. As I passed his car I looked in the backseat. It was full of suitcases. He wasn’t getting away after what he’d done. I took out my gun and went inside.

It didn’t seem like there was anybody left in the building. Maybe Bullet had left with everybody else and I just missed him. That wasn’t likely; if he had come out, there was no way I’d miss him. And besides, if everyone was gone, why would they leave the door unlocked?

I wandered around the building looking in every room without success. “Where is he?”

As I continued my search, I began to hear the sounds of music playing and followed the sound. The closer I got, the louder the music became, the madder I got. I was so mad I couldn’t think straight. How could Bullet have done that to her? Bella was the sweetest, most kind and considerate, person I knew.

When I reached the door where the music was coming from, I smelled smoke. Not weed; it smelled more like something was on fire. I opened the door slowly and walked in. There he was standing over a metal garbage can with a fire extinguisher in his hand. The muthafucka was probably trying to burn the clothes he had on when he beat Bella to death. “Bastard.”

The music was so loud that he didn’t hear me come in. With his back turned and his attention on the fire I was able to walk up on him.

“Put the fire extinguisher down and move away from the fire,” I said with me gun aimed at his head.

Bullet hit the extinguisher a few times to put the fire out and turned around smiling.

“I said put it down!” I yelled over the music.

Bullet laughed a little and put the extinguisher down. He tipped his head to one side and looked at me. When he started to move toward me, I took a step closer to him and screamed. “Don’t move!”

“Okay, okay,” Bullet said and began looking around the room before turning back to me. “You know the whole night I been tryin’ to remember where I knew those pretty-ass titties from. Now I remember you, Miss Kitty.”

“Shut up!” I yelled and my hands started shaking a little. This may not have been the time to think it, but I had never shot at, much less killed anybody before. But there I was, ready to put a bullet in Bullet’s head for what he had done. Bella was like a sister to me. I couldn’t let him get away with it.

“You might as well put that little ass gun down, Miss Kitty. You know you ain’t gonna shoot.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. You’re gonna die.” I knew that he could see my hands shaking. I was so mad that it felt like my whole body was shaking. I gripped the gun tighter.

“No, I’m not. Look at you, can’t even hold the gun you’re shakin’ so fuckin’ bad.”

“Why’d you kill her?” I yelled.

“I didn’t kill that ho.”

“Yes, you did! She died this morning in the hospital from the beating you give her.”

“She was alive when she left me. I can’t be responsible for what happens to a ho when I’m finished with her. That bitch probably went out and found her another john and he killed her ass.”

“No, it was you. If you didn’t kill her, what are you trying to get rid of? Why is all your stuff in the car?”

“You can’t prove that, dead ho’s tell no tales.”

All of a sudden, Bullet kicked the garbage can in my direction and I jumped back. When I moved, he dove behind a desk. When he came up he had a gun pointed at me.

“Now, I know you ain’t gonna shoot me, but I will kill you just like I killed your ho. Now put the gun down.”

“Fuck you!”

Bullet took another step closer. The door flew open.

“Freeze!”

Both Bullet and I looked toward the door; and to my surprise, it was Chante. What the fuck is she doin’ here? Whatever the reason, I was glad she was here with that big ass gun.

Chante

“Freeze!” I yelled as I came through the door with my gun drawn. Jada and Bullet had their guns pointed at the other.

“Who is this? Another one of your ho’s come to have a little threesome?” he laughed.

“No, she’s here so both of us can kill you,” Jada said.

“I’m not here to help you kill him, Jada. I’m here to stop you,” I said without taking my eyes off him. I knew neither one of them was going to shoot the other or it would be over. They were both looking for a way out. All I had to do is stall.

“Stop me? What are you talkin’ about? He killed Bella.”

“I know that. The police are on their way. Let them handle this.”

“NO!” Jada shouted at me. “He killed Bella and he’s gonna die for it!”

“No, Jada,” I said slowly and quietly. The tears were flowing from her eyes.

“He’s gonna die!” Jada screamed and took a step closer to him. Whether he meant to kill her or not, Bella didn’t deserve the beating she got from him. I had to defuse this situation fast or she just might do it. I couldn’t blame her, ’cause in reality, I wanted him dead too.

“Jada, please put the gun down.”

“NO!”

“He isn’t worth it.”

“I’m gonna kill him,” Jada said almost in a whisper.

“Please, Jada, don’t do this. Don’t throw your life away on this worthless piece of shit. The police will be here any minute. Just put the down, Jada. I got him; he’s not going anywhere.”

Jada slowly began to lower her gun. “Thank you, Jada,” I said and glanced at her. When I did, Bullet fired at me. I felt the shell rip through my left shoulder. The impact knocked me off balance. He tried to run.

I was about to return fire when Jada screamed, “NO!”