Candy Shop Read online

  Red quickly snatched away. “Let me go!”

  “Redina Hawkins. I’m not trying to hold you up. I just think I can help you in your state of need. That’s all. If what I say, don’t interest you then you can get on and I’ll never holla at you again. But if you’re interested, I can put you on and you’ll never have to live like this again.” Messiah’s voice was calm like the warm summer night’s wind with his slight Latino accent letting the words roll off his tongue like butter.

  When he spoke he looked off in the distance never giving her eye contact once but she didn’t need it. He was calm yet firm, which was his way of meaning business. He shoved his hands in his pockets turning his attention on Red’s tattered blue jeans and dingy white wife beater tank top wanting to shake his head at the downfall she’s been on. Red was unimpressed with his so-called “savior’s speech” but having no other options she looked into his face trying to feel him out and see if he was real.

  “Look, I’m no hoe. I don’t fuck for money. So if that’s what you got in mind you can beat it.”

  Messiah laughed faintly. “Naw ma, I run this joint out in Burbank and…if you want a spot I’ll give it to you.”

  “Well what would I have to do?” Red said sounding intrigued.

  “Why don’t you just show up tomorrow around noon and we can go from there?” Messiah said evading the question acting nonchalant about the whole thing, like it was nothing to him.

  He shook up with his boys that walked up to him trying to rap a second but he put them on hold waving them away. Red was enthralled by the level of respect these dudes had for him as he slowly reached into his right pocket. He pulled out a wad of folded cash tied down with a rubber band. He unraveled the band letting the money pop up like a jack in the box but secured it tightly. Red was mesmerized by the amount of money in his hand, never having seen that much in one place in her life. She was amazed at the fact that he was comfortable with whipping it out in front of her like that knowing that she had a propensity to snatch things.

  Messiah wasn’t the least bit worried about anybody taking anything from him though. He always kept his best friend right behind him tucked nicely away in the back of his jeans. It was like Allstate, he never left home without it. He counted out $500 and stuffed it down Red’s tank top sliding it between her voluptuous cleavage. She looked down at it not wanting to touch it just in case it was some kind of trick.

  “Take that and get you some clothes and shit, you know. Get you a room and clean yourself up. I can’t have you up there looking like you fresh out the garbage, you feel me.” Messiah said revealing a toothpick from his mouth that he was secretly chewing on. “If you show up tomorrow, you’ll be all good.”

  Red couldn’t stop staring at the money spilling out of her cleavage. She stuffed it down deep into her bra then nodded back at him.

  “What’s the address?” She said walking around to the side of him out of the way of his well-dressed clean cut and mostly attractive friends.

  “Be at the Candy Shop Storage on 70th and Cicero tomorrow, girl. The guy at the desk will take care of you.”

  Messiah walked off with his boys not even turning back to see if she was still standing there. They hopped into his shiny black Beamer sitting on Incubus rims parked over by the gas station payphone. Red’s pussy throbbed harder with each step he took but suddenly grew skeptical about her role in his business. She didn’t want to sell her ass anymore, Lord knows she has been there more times than she would like to imagine. But all of the money he pulled out in front her made her question what she would really do for it. She walked across the street and bought her some fried catfish with lemon pepper from the Sharks on the corner then hopped the Western bus to 95th Street. Then she took that bus to Racine Avenue, arriving at a hole in the wall, piss infested, rundown motel, The Beverly Inn.

  Red wasn’t about to squander away her money just in case the job didn’t work out. She figured at least she’d have some loot in her pocket for a few days if nothing else. She snatched the keys to her room from the oversized cashier who was smoking a cigarette she so desperately wanted to beg for but didn’t. In the shabby room, she immediately threw her things down and stripped to jumped in the shower. Washing her filthy hair and body felt so good as the soap and hot water soothed her body and the steam relaxed her muscles. The cool breeze of the room hit her body quickly, once she stepped out the bathroom. It had actually been months since the last time she was able to wash her ass in peace without someone watching or in filth.

  Red went to put the chain and dead locks on the door then sat at the round corner table opening her fish and scarfing it down as if it were her last meal licking her fingers in enjoyment. It was seasoned perfectly and the guy had even given her extra mild sauce on the side for free, just as she liked it. The room had less than perfect furniture with questionable sheets on the bed and walls that looked like they had seen a great deal in their lifetime but it was warm and not the hard cold concrete she was about to rest on. Her wet hair rested easily on her back as she laid down on the bed still wrapped in the towel ready for a good night’s sleep. She turned the TV on to the news, not paying it’s negativity any mind as her eyes closed like she was high off of the best drug in the world, comfort.

  Deceiving Looks

  The banging on the door rattled her brain as she jumped up startled reaching for an object to use as a weapon. Once she got it together and realized no one was in the room she yelled. “Who is it?”

  “Check out time is 12pm. You ten minutes past that girly.” The janitor yelled as he wheeled his mop bucket to the next room.

  Red jumped up throwing on her dirty smelly ass clothes and holey shoes then shot out the door. She gritted her teeth on spending money and hailed one of the millions of empty cabs driving past on a Saturday morning. Her first stop was to the Rave clothing store in the mall. Candy Shop Storage was a quick shot for the cab to make it up the street in a breeze since the two places were literally blocks away from each other. She planned her time accordingly even though she didn’t feel like she was going on a real job interview she treated it as such. Red paid the cab driver to wait outside the mall for her while she ran in for a nice all white cotton halter maxi dress and some seashell colored flats. She brought a well-supported black strapless bra to hold her girls up well secured and a super thin thong to match. She topped it off with some silver bangle bracelets and huge silver hoop earrings. She tossed her curly hair in the mirror of the store amazed at how breathtaking she looked all cleaned up.

  Once she was satisfied with her look she paid grabbing some cheap sticky lip-gloss in the process and left the store. On the road, she couldn’t help but think of how nice it would be to finally earn some money and make a living for herself. She had grown weary of being a ward of the streets but getting a job without an address or telephone number was basically impossible. The seats of the cab were surprisingly soft as she scooted down into it closing her eyes to relax. Her relaxation was short lived, however, when the rain and storm started pouring down just minutes away from her drop off point.

  The cab pulled up in the small driveway of the Candy Shop Storage as the driver reached his middle aged hairy arm over the seat to collect the $25.72 for the ride. The price pissed Red off but she paid it nonetheless hoping that this job was a piece of cake and she could earn money fast. The rain poured hard now beating the concrete like hooves in the Kentucky Derby. She stepped out of the cab as quickly as possible attempting to keep from looking like she was just in a wet t-shirt contest, and ran inside of the cramped building office of the company. The thunder rolled heavily as if it were an end of the world natural disaster as she looked around the office and behind the counter wondering where everybody was.

  It was empty but clean inside with moving boxes hung on shelves on the wall and dollies parked in the corner. The small television above the counter displayed nothing but the lot full of huge storage units and paperwork lied all along the table behind the counter. T
he computer underneath the TV on the counter was pitch black as if no one had been on it for a while. Her heart sank to the bottom of her stomach wondering if she had been played yet again. She was certain that this would be her big break and her life would surely change for the better. But it seemed her life was back at square one in a split second aside from the fact that she had a pocket full of cash.

  The sky became almost as dark as night as lightning lit up the sky like a Christmas tree. She looked over at the door in the corner behind the counter, walking over to it slowly putting her ear to the door. There was tussling going on behind the thick door but she really couldn’t hear much. Her nerves kicked in as sweat formed under her armpits and she knocked on the door rather hard making sure whomever was in there could hear her with ease. The door handle jiggled a little and out came a man with his pants hanging half way down his waist. His long braids were thick and hung past his clavicle but that didn’t take away from the angry look on his hairless baby face.

  “Can I help you?” The man tried to seem pleasant as to act professional but he was obviously annoyed at the fact that Red had interrupted his little rendezvous. He straightened his pants behind the counter so she couldn’t peek then typed something on the computer.

  “Yes, um, I’m here for my job interview.” She said trying to remain in character.

  “Well the boss is gone for the day, sweetie. You just missed him. You’ll have to come back another day.” He dismissed her as if she were a piece of trash under his shoe.

  He never even looked up at her continuing to type on the computer on what looked like some weird social networking site from where she was standing. Bentley was an old kat around his late forties or early fifties, no one ever knew because he would never tell his age. You could tell he was old school by the way he spoke and by his swag. He never liked to tell his age because he looked much younger than what he was and that’s how he pulled his dates. He started working for Messiah after his father died. Messiah’s father needed a caregiver for the pancreatic cancer that ate away at him five years ago and Bentley was there for him every step of the way. They became so close that Messiah looked at him as another bother and kept him around as long as he stayed off that narcotic that had grabbed a hold of him. He agreed with Messiah’s help and has been sassy and animated ever since.

  “Um Bently, is that what your name tag says? I don’t mean to be a bitch, but I was told to come here at noon so I need to speak to the manager or something because I’m not leaving here until I get this fucking job. So can you pull your dick out of your ass for one minute so I can get paid? Thanks.” Red snapped placing her hand over the keyboard halting his fingers abruptly.

  “There is no manager just the owner and he only hires through word of mouth and everybody he sends this way I most definitely know about.” Bently rolled his eyes at her in disgust giving her the short look and pushing her hand away from his. “And he sure didn’t tell me nothing about you.”

  He smelled his hand acting funny then turned his attention back on the keyboard. The corner door pushed open and out came another male skimpily dressed in blue booty shorts with a thin pink string thong sticking out around his waist and a red t-shirt tied up tightly to the back revealing a hairy navel.

  “Boo, why you ain’t come back?” The man said lacing up his Chuck Taylors then going behind the counter to rub on his companion.

  “This chick came up looking for a job and I don’t know why she still standing there ‘cause she is too through.” Bently said throwing his hand up dismissing her once again.

  “Ugh!” Red’s disgust with his ass was through the roof now as she stormed out of the office into a real storm ready to head to the bus stop.

  She had only stepped a few feet from the door before Messiah’s Beamer pulled up right along side of her. He was in the car with the same three guys she had seem him with yesterday. It was apparent that he never rode anywhere alone. As he rolled the window down staring at her being drenched in the pouring rain, all she could see was his pearly whites. Red looked down at herself then back up at him shrugging her shoulders then revealed a smile to counterattack his. Messiah shook his head at her intriguingly amused by the view.

  “Where the hell are you going, girl?” He said as casual as could be. With his hand over his mouth shielding his laughter from her soaking wet nature.

  “Your fucking gay ass helper wouldn’t get you so I could interview for the job. He was too busy wrapped up in his ugly ass lover.” Red said angry now that this was twice Messiah had seen her looking tore up.

  Messiah’s smile quickly turned upside down in a millisecond. He put the car in park and pushed the car door open hopping out leaving it running. He walked into the office followed by a soaked Red and stood there looking around at an empty office with a very pissed look on his face. He cut his eyes at Red then headed for the corner door banging on it hard like he was the police. The door flung open wildly revealing an angrily shocked Bently caught with his pants around his ankles this time. He quickly pulled his black slacks up tucking his elongated Johnson down inside.

  “What the fuck is you doin’ man?” Messiah snarled rubbing his finger across the bottom of his nose a few times.

  “Uh, Meechie, I am so sorry. He just popped up over here and…” Bently began stuffing his foot in his mouth as his companion slipped out the door straightening his flimsy gear.

  “Man, what the fuck I tell you about that shit at my establishment? Let it happen again and your ass is out. Trust that. You got that big ass studio apartment upstairs and you wanna fuck in my business.” Messiah scolded him as calm as ever. Red stood there with her arms folded loving the sweet taste of karma noticing Bently never looked up into either of their eyes not once.

  “Big Meech it will never happen again. I am so sorry. Please forgive me, sir.” Bently finally cut his eyes at Red as she and Messiah headed out the door hand in hand.

  She squinted her eyes at him and stuck out her tongue like a six-year-old child taunting him playfully. Bently shook his head in silence turning his lip up to her and sucking his teeth. He rolled his eyes and turned his attention out the window watching Messiah order his guy out of the front seat while Red slipped her wet ass inside. Messiah wasn’t worried about ruining his Italian leather seats because material shit was nothing to him. It was the bread that was his concern. After he entered the car he pulled up to the gate and hit a button on his visor allowing the gate to click and slide open.

  The row of storage units identically aligned all in a row looked worn like they had seen better days. But the huge pad locks attached to them let her know that they were as secure as a death row inmate strapped to the gurney. The lot had to be as big as Midway Airport as they drove all the way to the back finally ending in front of a unit in the second row with no number on it. Red turned her head to the units on each side of the blank unit, 206 then 208 were there. But why hadn’t 207 been placed there to identify the one they were standing in front of? She thought as she exited the car and stood in front of the unidentified unit closely attached to Messiah’s hip. It seemed a little odd that they were there since she was supposed to be learning the ropes about the job. She hoped like hell they weren’t about to gang rape her in a dirty ass storage unit.

  Messiah’s brother, Danger, hit the keypad on his Iphone then all of a sudden the unit’s door clicked and began to rise. The men talked amongst themselves as the door clanged to the ceiling and they walked inside. There was absolutely nothing in the unit. Nothing at all it was even swept clean, but there was a big shiny rectangular object in the Far East corner. It appeared to have sliding doors but Red couldn’t really tell from the darkness. They walked up on the object that was taller than them as Danger hit his keypad once more and the object opened. Red was expecting to see guns or something pop out but there was nothing but a silver empty box. Everyone entered and the doors closed. Red backed up from Messiah a little needing to keep her feet planted firmly on the ground just in case anyt
hing popped off, she was prepared to stand for hers.

  The trip was short and sweet as the doors flung open revealing a long hallway with men posted along the walls. Every man had a Rottweiler by his side to accompany them in their security. All the men respected Messiah, giving him dap as they walked through the hall.

  “Big Meech!” They yelled as he walked through like he was the king of a parade or something. It was something Red had never seen before but she loved the level of respect he was thrown and how the men seemed to bow to his every whim.

  Red noticed that there were eight rooms aside the men with dogs made of huge glass paned floor to ceiling windows. It was very brightly lit in each of the rooms and they contained two or three half naked women each working on something at long black tables. There were no chairs to sit down anywhere and the women only wore white thongs with their tits flinging about freely. They wore pink flip-flop sandals on their feet and white paper masks over their mouths and noses. It was a very weird operation to Red not to mention how a simple ordinary storage unit could be so much more. Its look was more than deceiving but she didn’t ask any questions. She thought it was best to keep quiet until she was spoken to so she could feel Messiah out and get an idea of why he wanted her to work there.