Redrum

by Boston George

Genres: African American; African American Urban

Synopsis

Kendu leads the life of an average hustler, with his beautiful wife Diamond at home and a smooth operation that he runs with his best friend Deuce. When Kendu and Deuce cross the wrong person, though, Kendu's life suddenly takes a turn for the worst. Now in debt to his enemy, Kendu must choose his next move wisely or it could cost him everything. Add to the mix a concerned wife; a disloyal partner; and Perry, a successful businessman by day and a coldhearted serial killer by night, and you've got a recipe for pure mayhem. Follow Boston George as he takes you on an unforgettable journey, reminding you that it's not always wise to keep your enemies close.

Release date: April 24, 2012

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 288

Sample

Kendu pulled up at the gas station that him and Deuce always met up at. “What’s good, five?” he said as him and Deuce slapped hands.

“Same shit, different tissue,” Deuce replied, his eyes alert to the passing cars. “What’s the plan for today?” he asked.

“That new trap house we set up been bringing in some all right numbers,” Kendu said. “Let’s slide through there and pick up that re-up money.” He slid in his work vehicle, a ’99 Acura, nothing too flashy. Cops harassing him was the last thing Kendu needed. “Keep up,” he yelled out the window as he pulled off.

Deuce quickly followed Kendu’s lead, pulling off right behind the Acura in his Chevy Malibu.

Kendu pulled up a block away from the trap house and let the engine die. Seconds later he saw Deuce in his rearview mirror pull up behind him.

The two men walked around to the back door. Outside the back door stood a line of about five fiends waiting.

Seconds later a young teenaged kid came out the back door and served each fiend on the line, quickly getting rid of them. The teenager looked up and smiled. “What up, Kendu?” he said with his hand extended.

Kendu looked at the young teenager like he was retarded, walking right past him, and bumping him in the process. He walked in the trap house and stopped as soon as he reached the kitchen. Immediately he saw three empty boxes of baking soda on the counter, and a sink full of dishes with plenty of evidence on them. “Yo’, where the fuck is Spider?”

Deuce smirked as he went upstairs in search of Spider. When he made it upstairs, he noticed that all the room doors were open, except for one. Immediately he walked over to the door and placed his ear to the door. On the other side of the door he heard what sounded like moaning coming from behind the door. Deuce quickly took a step back, came forward, and kicked open the door. Inside Spider sat in a chair with a hood rat-looking chick on her knees in between his legs.

“Yo’, Deuce, what’s good?” Spider asked, giving him the “can’t-you-see-I’m-busy” look.

“Nigga, Kendu downstairs.” Deuce smirked. “He wants to see you.”

“Damn! ’Cause Kendu downstairs, you had to kick the door open?” Spider joked. “Niggas don’t knock no more nowadays.” He quickly pulled up his pants and followed Deuce downstairs.

By the look on Kendu’s face, Spider could tell he was in trouble for something. “What’s good, my G?” Spider said, his hand out for some dap.

“You want to go to jail?” Kendu said, ignoring Spider’s extended hand. “If the cops kick in this door, they ain’t gon’ need to find nothing, ’cause all the evidence is right there in the sink.”

“Nah, I was just about to clean that shit up,” Spider said, putting his hand down. “But—”

“What’s taking so long, Spider?” The hood rat came downstairs popping her gum extra loud for no reason. She looked at him for some answers.

“Yo’, don’t you hear me talking?” Spider said coldly, knowing she just got him in even more trouble than he was already in. “Matter of fact, bitch, get your shit and get the fuck out of here!” he yelled as he forcefully shoved her out the door.

Kendu just shook his head in disgust. “I chose you to run our trap house, and this is what you do with the opportunity?”

“Nah, it’s not even like that,” Spider said. “I mean, at least I got the money straight.”

“You don’t get no points for that,” Deuce cut in. “I told you, you shouldn’t of put this nigga in charge,” he said, looking at Kendu.

“Nah, just give me another chance. You got my word. I won’t let you down.” Spider didn’t want to mess up his only source of income.

Kendu pointed in Spider’s direction. “This is a fuckin’ business, not no fuckin’ whorehouse. Smell me? Keep ya fuckin’ nasty-ass bitches the fuck up out of here.” He shook his head. “Got bitches in here and the kitchen still dirty.”

“My word, something like this will never happen again,” Spider tried to assure him.

“It better not—unless you wanna be a muthafuckin’ lookout.”

Deuce laughed out loud.

“Now where that paper at?”

Kendu and Deuce watched as Spider trooped up the steps.

Minutes later he returned carrying a JanSport book bag. “Here,” he said, handing Kendu the bag. “It’s straight.”

“It better be.” Kendu handed the book bag over to Deuce. He was about to say something else, until he heard some loud banging on the back door. He watched as the young teenager slowly bopped to the door and yelled at the fiend before serving him.

“Yo’, my man.” Kendu waved the teenager over.

“What up?” the teenager said with a smile on his face.

Kendu quickly removed the smile from the kid’s face when he dug down in his pocket and took all the money he had on him. “Now get the fuck outta here!” he barked.

“Bu—but what did I do?” the teenager asked, a confused look on his face.

“Fam, I said get the fuck outta here!” Kendu repeated in a sterner tone.

The teenager asked with a mean look on his face, “Can I at least get my jacket from upstairs?”

“Nigga!” Deuce growled as he stole on the teen, dropping him with a quick right hook. “Talk too fuckin’ much! The man said get the fuck out!”

“Listen. Find me somebody else to serve the fiends. Somebody who wants to work. This ain’t no movie,” Kendu said seriously. “And I want the fiends coming to the front door. Let them in, serve them, then send them on they way out the back door. In and out like a robbery. I don’t want to see no fuckin’ lines and shit outside,” he said, looking to see if Spider was paying attention. “Start treating this shit like a business, and not a hustle.”

“You right,” Spider said, knowing he was wrong.

“And clean this shit up,” Kendu said, looking at the kitchen, him and Deuce getting ready to leave.

“Hold up,” Spider said, stopping them before they left. “Word on the streets is one of Dirty Black’s boys got robbed the other day.”

“Yeah, and?” Kendu shrugged his shoulders.

“And the streets is saying it was you who robbed him,” Spider informed him.

“And what they saying about Dirty Black?” Kendu asked curiously.

“Nothing yet,” Spider answered. “But you know it won’t be long until he finds out.”

“Fuck Dirty Black!” Kendu spat. “I ain’t hard to find,” he said as him and Deuce exited the trap house.

Kendu and Deuce sat in IHOP getting their eat on, waiting on somebody who wanted to buy ten pounds of weed. “I got this plan on how we can up on some real paper.” Deuce cut his pancakes and stuffed a forkful in his mouth.

“How?”

“I say we should open up a whorehouse,” Deuce suggested.

Kendu laughed, almost spilling his orange juice. “A whorehouse?” he repeated.

“I don’t see why not,” Deuce said seriously. “I mean, pussy never stops selling.”

“Nah, I ain’t no pimp,” Kendu said, turning down his idea. “I do what I know. I don’t got no time for some dumb shit to be happening right now. We almost right where we need to be,” he reminded his partner.

“You right,” Deuce agreed, but deep down he liked his idea and really felt that it could work. He hated how Kendu always shot down his ideas without even giving them any thought. “Ain’t that that clown right there?” Deuce motioned his head towards the two men coming their way.

Mousey walked up with his main goon close on his heels, and the two men helped themselves to a seat. “Gentlemen,” Mousey said as he gave Kendu and Deuce a pound.

“Took you long enough to get here,” Kendu huffed, mad that Mousey had him waiting.

“My bad,” Mousey apologized. “Traffic was crazy,” he said, placing the book bag he held in his hands under the table in between Kendu’s legs. In return Deuce handed Mousey the bag with the weed under the table.

“Nice doing business with you.” Kendu head-signaled for Mousey to leave.

“I want to talk a little business with you before I bounce,” Mousey said, a grimy look in his eyes.

“What’s on your mind?” Kendu’s eyes never left his plate as he cut up his pancakes.

“I was thinking that maybe my team and your team should team up and take shit over,” Mousey said. “Us together would be unstoppable.”

“What’s the benefits both ways?” Kendu asked. “’Cause we good over here.”

“I mean,” Mousey began, “you got the connect, and I got the soldiers. We getting money, but we could be getting more money if we had your connect.”

Kendu finally looked up. “And what would I get out of this deal?”

“I’m bringing muscle to the table,” Mousey said with a smirk on his face. “I mean, I heard about the shit with you and Dirty Black, and you know I roll with nothing but gorillas, so you’ll be straight.”

“I’m already straight,” Kendu said, not liking how Mousey’s last statement came out.

“Not like that,” Mousey said, trying to clean up his last statement. “All I’m trying to say is us together would be un-fuckin’-stoppable.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Kendu wiped his mouth with a napkin. “We good how we are right now. And if it ain’t broke, I ain’t going to try to fix it.”

“But think about all the money we could make.”

“Listen, fam,” Kendu said, “I fuck with what I know, and I know I’ve made it in this game a long time sticking to what I know, and that’s how I’ma keep it.”

“A‘ight, cool.” Mousey stood up to leave. “If y’all change y’all’s mind, holla at me,” he said as him and his boy exited the restaurant.

Once the two men left the restaurant, Deuce spoke up. “That sounded like a good deal he proposed to us.”

“Fuck him!” Kendu said coldly. “A nigga like that can’t be trusted. He’s too greedy.”

“But what he was saying was right. If he got all the goons, then we won’t have to worry about Dirty Black’s peoples coming at us from all angles.”

“You sound like you scared.” Kendu chuckled. “Let me find out this nigga Dirty Black got you shook.”

“Please,” Deuce said. “I ain’t scared of nobody. I just know what the nigga is capable of.”

“Anybody can pull a trigger,” Kendu said as he got up. He paid the bill then left. He pretended that the Dirty Black situation didn’t bother him, but the truth was, it was at the front of his mind.

After Kendu and Deuce finished splitting up the money, Kendu shot over to Carmen’s house. He did the special knock that he always did, and seconds later Carmen opened the door with a smile on her face.

“What took you so long to get here?”

“My bad. I had to take care of a few things,” Kendu said, stepping inside the crib.

He looked at Carmen and noticed that she wore a red camisole with the matching thong, her hair thrown back in an effortless ponytail. Carmen favored the singer Toni Braxton. She was definitely a lady in the streets, and a super freak behind closed doors.

“You like my outfit?” Carmen asked, flashing a pose so Kendu could get a good look at her ass.

“I love it.” Kendu thought Carmen looked real sexy in her outfit. “Why you got all this sexy shit on? You know I can’t stay long,” he reminded her as he handed her a book bag full of cash.

“I know we pushed for time, but I thought I’d make the best out of the little time we do have.” Carmen seductively applied lip gloss after stacking Kendu’s money in his safe.

“What did you have in mind?” Kendu asked with a smirk on his face.

“Glad you asked.” Carmen pushed Kendu down on the couch as she squatted down in between his legs and removed his pants. “I see somebody missed me,” she said, referring to Kendu’s manhood sitting at attention. She slowly wrapped her soft lips around his pipe as she tickled the head with her tongue. “You like that?” she asked in a seductive voice. She stroked Kendu’s dick while looking in his eyes. “You want some more?”

Kendu didn’t reply. Instead, he just pushed Carmen’s head back down as he watched her make his dick disappear in and out of her mouth at a fast pace. “Damn,” he whispered as he stood up and began fucking Carmen’s mouth like it was a pussy. Carmen took each stroke like a pro as she continued to suck the shit out of Kendu’s dick, until he exploded all in her mouth.

“Damn! That was quick,” Carmen said as she stood up. “Wifey must not be handling her duties at home?”

“Shit been fucked up at home ever since she spoke to you on the phone the other night.”

“Sorry about that, baby. I swear I didn’t tell her nothing.”

“I know you didn’t, baby.” Kendu gave Carmen a hug. “I‘ma call you later, a’ight?”

“Okay, baby.” Carmen watched the man she loved make his exit.

“When you coming home?” Diamond asked.

“I’m on my way right now,” Kendu replied. “I should be there in about twenty minutes.”

“Okay, I’m going to run to the liquor store and grab us some wine real quick,” Diamond said.

“A’ight, and grab me some Grey Goose.”

Diamond quickly threw on some black jeans, a black shirt, and slipped her feet inside her Ugg boots. She threw her hair in a ponytail, put on a thin jacket, and headed out the door. She hopped in her new Infiniti G35 and flew out the driveway like a bat out of hell.

Diamond pulled up in the liquor store parking lot and was pissed when a new Lexus coupe pulled into the last parking spot. “Muthafucka!” she yelled as she beeped her horn at the Lexus.

“Damn,” she mumbled when she saw the tall dark-skinned man step out the Lexus and make his way towards her car. “Damn, he fine,” she said to herself as she saw the man approaching. The Derek Luke look-alike slowly walked up to Diamond’s window and tapped on it.

“Yes,” Diamond said with an attitude as she slightly cracked the window.

“Did you want that spot?” he asked.

“I know you saw me headed for that spot,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Sorry. I thought you was a guy,” he told her. “I didn’t know you was so beautiful. Hi, my name is Perry,” he said, holding out his hand.

Diamond rolled down her window and shook his hand. “I’m Diamond.”

“The name fits you perfectly,” Perry said, openly flirting.

Diamond saw an open spot right next to Perry’s Lexus. “Let me get that spot before somebody takes it,” she said and quickly pulled into the spot.

She stepped out her car and headed inside the liquor store, with Perry close on her heels.

“So,” Perry began, “you live around here?” he asked as he picked up an expensive bottle of champagne.

Diamond turned around to face the handsome man. “Listen, you seem like a real cool person and all, but I’m married. Sorry.”

“Does that mean we can’t be friends?” Perry asked with his million-dollar smile.

“That’s exactly what it means,” Diamond said as she walked over and grabbed her two bottles of wine, and one bottle of Grey Goose. “It was nice meeting you, though.” She placed her bottles up on the counter and paid for them.

“See you around.” Perry watched her walk from the store all the way back to her car.

Diamond watched Perry watch her as she pulled out of the parking spot and headed home.

Diamond pulled up in her driveway and saw Kendu’s car sitting there. About time he brought his black ass home, she thought, as she slid out her whip and headed inside the house.

“Hey, baby. What’s up?” Kendu said, sitting at the kitchen table, counting money. “You got my . . .