Read Crooked G's for Free Online Page A

Latrice’s father had broken off their engagement, and as a result of a broken heart, her mother kept the ring. Latrice’s mother was a strong believer that if a man gave a woman something, she should never have to give it back. While on her deathbed, she made Latrice promise to never let a man take anything away from her. As long as it was in her possession, then it was considered hers. Latrice made the vow to one day live by her mother’s words.
    â€œDon’t you have a lot of acts that come here every month?” Latrice asked. “I heard the shows be sold out all the time.”
    â€œThey do, but I still got bills to pay. The lights don’t stay on for free, ya know,” Fantasy said with her hands on her hips, as she looked at Latrice with a duh expression on her face.
    Latrice didn’t know how much Fantasy’s electric bill or anything else she paid was, but she was damn sure smart enough to know that Fantasy was barely breaking even each month. Latrice felt there was something suspect about Fantasy but didn’t know exactly what. She decided to forget about what was really up with Fantasy and changed the subject.
    â€œWhat time does the show start?”
    â€œIt starts at eight, but we start letting people in at seven-thirty.”
    â€œOkay. I just need one ticket, please. How much are they?”
    â€œTwenty before the show and thirty at the door.” Latrice reached in her purse and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill.
    â€œThe tickets are behind the window. Let’s take a walk up front.”
    Latrice followed Fantasy to the front of the club. Fantasy walked inside the window booth and handed Latrice a ticket. “Thank you,” Latrice said as she put the ticket in her purse. “One more thing before I go, Fantasy. Do you think there’s a way you could introduce me to Clarity tonight? I’m starting up a label and I wanted to holler at her about it.”
    â€œI could do that, but you know help ain’t always free these days,” Fantasy said as she raised her left eyebrow. Latrice understood what she was getting at and had no problem paying her for a favor. She had to sign Clarity. She reached in her purse once more and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill.
    â€œWill this do?” Latrice asked as she gave Fantasy the money.
    â€œThis’ll do just fine.” Fantasy smiled as she clutched the money in her hand. “I’ll make sure you get a one-on-one with Clarity after the show.”
    â€œGood looking out. I got to be going now. I’ll see you later.” Latrice waved goodbye to Fantasy and walked out the door. Now she was on to the next order of business.

CHAPTER 5
    S hakita quickly took her eyes off the road to look down at her ringing cell phone and saw that Latrice was calling her. She decided not to answer the phone. She didn’t know how to tell her she’d blown away all of Bay’s money. She felt bad for putting her friend in a bad situation, but she couldn’t do any apologizing yet. She had one more scheme she had to try first before she went to Latrice. If she could get all the money back, then she wouldn’t have to tell Latrice anything. She needed some fast cash and the person she could turn to during extremely rough times was Eric.
    Eric had been so many things to her long before Kam. She used to work for him prior to becoming his lover. She wanted to leave her troubled past behind but couldn’t yet. She needed Eric more than ever and couldn’t afford to be foolish by being stubborn. She made the call to Eric and he picked up on the third ring.
    â€œHello.”
    â€œIs this Eric?” she asked softly.
    â€œWho is this?”
    â€œIt’s Shakita.”
    â€œWhat’s up, Petita Shakita? How are you doing?” he said in a playful tone.
    Shakita hated when he called her Petita Shakita. She knew heonly called her that because it rhymed, but she still thought it was corny