I’m focused on going home,” DeMarco replied as he dropped down to do his set, all the while thinking of a master plan. He wasn’t comfortable enough to tell Nicky what was on his mind, but fucking Mrs. B was definitely part of the plan.
* * *
Five months went by so fast that DeMarco didn’t realize it until his birthday came and went. By then he and Lil’ Nicky had grown pretty tight. He also found himself flirting with Mrs. B more and more, to the point where he would ask her to do her hair in a particular style or to wear certain clothes. She would always do it. Mrs. B saw how all the quiet guys gravitated toward him—even trying to talk and dress like him. The young thug that had all the other boys in check turned her on.
* * *
“Ayo, I don’t give a fuck, Reek. You ain’t gonna keep tryna play me. Just ’cause you from the city, that don’t mean shit to me!” DeMarco heard Lil’ Nicky saying one night as he was walking by the bathroom. Wanting to see if Lil’ Nicky was a soft upstate nigga or if he had bust a hammer before, DeMarco kept it moving to his room. A couple minutes later, Lil’ Nicky came in with his face red as fuck and tight.
“That pussy-ass nigga Reek think I’m soft or somethin ’cause I’m not from the city. I guess I’ma have to show him how we get down upstate,” Lil’ Nicky said out loud to himself, as DeMarco sat on his bed acting like he wasn’t listening. “Wait till Mrs. B come on. I know these niggas gonna try to jump me, but I don’t give a fuck. I’m gonna knock all his teeth out his mouth. Watch!”
DeMarco drifted off to sleep but woke up when he heard Mrs. B at his door.
“Wassup, lil’ DeMarco?”
“Ain’t nothing little about me, Mrs. B,” DeMarco replied with a devilish grin.
She had on a tight pair of white jeans with a fitted shirt. Just seeing her standing in the doorway made his dick hard. He wanted to jump on her right there at that moment, but he held his composure.
“So you say,” Mrs. B said, smiling as she walked away.
DeMarco slipped his feet into his sneakers, grabbed his toothbrush, and headed out of the room. Walking into the bathroom, he saw Lil’ Nicky talking to Mrs. B and thought to himself, I knew that nigga was soft! All he could do was shake his head. He wasn’t mad at Lil’ Nicky, just a little let down. After handling his business, DeMarco returned to his room and found Lil’ Nicky sitting on his bed.
“What’s poppin, Lil’ Nicky?”
“Shit. You? Today I ain’t gonna work out; you feel me?”
“Yeah, I was gonna take today off anyway to rest,” DeMarco said, placing his things in his locker before leaving the room again.
Sitting in the dayroom playing cards with a few dudes who looked up to him, DeMarco heard Reek over in the TV room with his crew. He could tell that none of Reek’s crew was tough unless they were in a group. As he continued playing cards he noticed Lil’ Nicky approach the dayroom doorway and stop, then look around a few times and head toward the TV room. Seeing this, DeMarco put his cards down and got up from the table, moving slowly toward the TV room. Not knowing if Lil’ Nicky was going to do something, DeMarco didn’t want him to feel that he was by himself and Reek had a crew of dudes with him. When he made it to the TV room doorway, DeMarco watched Lil’ Nicky walk slowly to the front of the room where Reek was sitting.
“I’m told you been talkin shit about me, bitch,” DeMarco heard Lil’ Nicky say before he started raining blows on Reek.
Everybody was so shocked that it took his boys a moment to realize what was going on. By this time DeMarco slid closer to Reek’s man who was nearest to Lil’ Nicky. As soon as the guy stood up to move on Lil’ Nicky, DeMarco leveled him, causing all kinds of ruckus as the TV room erupted into an all-out fight. DeMarco, Lil’ Nicky, and the “Quiet Boys”—as they called themselves—were pitted against the city crew. When Mrs. B and the other staff members ran up front, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It reminded Mrs. B of a royal rumble. There were muthafuckers fighting everywhere. As Lil’ Nicky and DeMarco were kicking someone on the ground, Mrs. B waited, and then pulled the pin on her radio.
Three minutes later, everyone was lying on the floor.
“DeMarco, you snake bitch, you supposed to be from the city!” one of the dudes shouted.
“Nigga, I’m my own man!” DeMarco said, laughing. “Plus, I’m from southside Jamaica, Queens. Remember that!”
After what seemed like two hours lying on the floor, Mrs. B came back with five staff members and started pointing at people. DeMarco knew they were in deep shit, but at that moment, he didn’t even care. Lil’ Nicky was his boy and he vowed to have his back.
The staff was yelling for everyone to get up from the floor; there was a lot of commotion. Obscenities were being flung and threats were being made. DeMarco noticed Lil’ Nicky staring at him while the guards were escorting people out of the TV room.
“That was some real shit, DeMarco. I’ll never forget that,” Lil’ Nicky said. From the look on his face, DeMarco could tell that he meant it from the heart.
“Ain’t shit, Nick. I told you before I’d always have your back,” DeMarco replied as he headed out and found Mrs. B sitting at her desk.
“You wanna tell me what the fuck that was all about?” she said, tapping her foot.
“They tried to play my boy, and when he didn’t back down, they tried to jump him,” DeMarco said, looking Mrs. B directly in the eyes. “I wasn’t just gonna stand there and let that happen. Loyalty is one of the most important things to me in life and I’m loyal to those who are loyal to me. Point blank.”
“You and that fuckin Costolow. We’ll see how fuckin loyal y’all are to each other when his ass is on the line. Just go to your room!” Mrs. B snapped. “Send Costolow back here.”
DeMarco was pissed about the way she was talking to him, but instead of making another scene he just went into his room. He lay back on his bed and closed his eyes, thinking about the streets that he missed so much.
CHAPTER TWO
For the next couple days, Mrs. B was running down hard on Lil’ Nicky and DeMarco. Obviously punishment for the melee; they were practically slaves. Every time there was something that needed to be cleaned, she used both of them and DeMarco always got the brunt of the work.
“Ayo, Lil’ Nicky, I’m tellin you, I’m about to ask Mrs. B wassup wit her,” DeMarco said one night as he and Lil’ Nicky chilled in their room. “Yo, she been on us hard these last couple days.”
“Who you tellin? It’s like every time she’s here, she doesn’t know any other name but ours,” Lil’ Nicky replied. “She be on your back the most though. I don’t know what the fuck you said to her, but you definitely pissed her off.”
Just then a guard yelled, “Okay, lights out!”
“Damn, it’s 11 already?” DeMarco said, looking at his watch. “I’m tellin you, if she comes to work tomorrow, I’m gonna tell her about herself.”
DeMarco lay there silent. In his head he was working on his
