Durty South Grind by L. E. Newell Page A

myself, dog. How old is honey, anyway?”
    JJ cocked one eyebrow and thought for a few seconds. “Let me see, shit, V’s got to be closing in on fifty but she don’t know it. Know what I’m saying.”
    Sparkle wondered if she was the same legendary Violet hired by pimps on Auburn and MLK back in the day to school their hoes on the boosting game. He hoped so because a nigga could certainly use a fly wardrobe. She was coming on to him, no doubt, and was definitely worth pulling, but it would take patience and some well-hidden anxiety.
    JJ noticed him staring off into space and grabbed him by the elbow. “Yo, man, you still with me here?”
    â€œYeah, yeah, I heard you, dog. Don’t worry, I can handle this here.”
    A red sedan pulled into the parking lot. JJ looked over to Percy, saluted and drove out, followed immediately by the car.
    Sparkle walked back to Dee’s apartment, considering the real reason they were allowing him in their clique so easily—a situation that certainly bared scrutiny.
    Violet walked down the steps with an impatient look on her face, then slowed down when she saw him. When he stepped on the curb, she said, “Honey, do you know where the apartments are?”
    He took the paper out of his pocket, scanned it quickly and nodded. She was standing on the back of her legs with her hands on her hips, breasts jutting out. He couldn’t help getting distracted.
My God, this old lady has got to be working with some 40 triple E’s or something.
    The smile on her face told him that she knew he was hooked on them, too. “Hey, player, my eyes are up here.”
    He rubbed his hand over his mouth and raised his eyes. “Baby boy, I like your style, but please don’t take me for one of those geeked-out bimbos.”
    He began a retort but she
ssshhed
him with a finger to his lips. “We could be good for each other, player. I can see you’re about turning bucks and getting high; the same with me. So play with me straight, dog, okay?”
    â€œOkay, shawtie, I feel ya, we’ll stay on the real.” She nodded. “I’ll call you sometime tomorrow. That’ll be cool?”
    She looked over her shoulder when she heard the door open. Dee strode to the edge of the steps with her hands on her hips, giving them the twice over.
    If Sparkle wasn’t so sure that the bitch was playing hard at her game, he could’ve sworn that he saw some signs of jealousy. It was absolutely ridiculous since he’d just met her only a couple of hours ago.
    Violet read the bitch the same way and rolled her eyes at the corny display. She turned back to him. “Yeah, let’s see what it be.” Without turning fully around, she smiled, this time with a glitter in her eyes. “Yo, Dee, I’ll be getting with you, girl. Tell BaBa and them that we’ll be at the crib if they get here before we get back, will ya?” She started up the stairs but changed her mind and headed for her ride, speaking over her shoulder, “I really don’t feel like going back around those niggas in there. Could you tell my girls to come on?”
    Dee lowered her head and looked under eyed at her departing back before she shouted, “Okay, girl, I’ll let them know.” She wasn’t about to fulfill her wishes right away though and sashayed up to Sparkle beaming. “So, my girl done lost her patience waiting on those folks, huh? Hell, she know how they be doing. It’ll probably be another hour before they get over here but they coming. They always do when they’ve heard about a new bomb in town.”
    â€œYeah, home girl be out,” he said as she got in the driver’s seat of a bright red Thunderbird.
    Dee spun around and headed back up the steps, mumbling over her shoulder. “Well, come on back in. That ho done scraped up some hidden digits from somewhere.”
    â€œWhat she got?” He wondered why she