The Score by Kiki Swinson

don’t sit in one place too long,” I joked.
    â€œThink you can get me a couple of five-hundred-dollar American Express gift cards? I got this nigga looking for some and he said he’s got the money now. So, I’m trying to catch me a lick. I got bills piling up my ass and I need to put some money on my baby daddy’s commissary account. Ugh, I just need a break.”
    She seemed very flustered, but I wasn’t feeding into her shit. I’ve given her plenty of opportunities to get her own cash, but she fucked every last one of them up. Instead of selling the gift cards I had given her, she kept them for herself and lied about them being stolen. Then she almost got caught cashing one of the phony checks at a check-cashing spot. The lady gave Daysha a hard time about the check telling her that she needed another form of ID so instead of Daysha saying that she didn’t have it and that she would take her business elsewhere, she starts cursing the lady out and makes a scene. In the end, the lady kept the check and the fake ID and called the cops. Luckily Daysha got out of there before the cops got there, because if she hadn’t her silly ass would’ve gone to jail. And who knows, she probably would’ve blown my whole operation. From that day, I put her on ice. I never got her to do anything else, even though I knew she needed the money. She was a liability. So, from time to time I’d throw her a few bucks just so she could have a few dollars in her pocket.
    â€œNah, Daysha, you know I don’t do those gift cards anymore. They started becoming a hassle so I just did away with them,” I lied. I wasn’t dealing with her on that level anymore.
    â€œWell, can you send me on one of those check-cashing jobs? ’Cause I need some money bad.”
    â€œCome on, Daysha, why you making me go there with you? You know what happened the last time I sent you on one of those jobs.”
    â€œYeah, but that’s been over six months now,” she whined.
    â€œIt doesn’t matter, Daysha. You almost put my business in jeopardy. So I can’t trust you handling a job like that anymore.”
    â€œOh so it’s like that?!” Daysha said, clearly irritated.
    â€œYeah, it is. But if you need a few dollars I can come ’round there and give you a couple hundred bucks,” I offered. I figured it was better than having nothing.
    â€œWhat the fuck is two hundred dollars going to do for me? I can’t do shit with that, Lauren. I can’t even pay my fucking water bill with that.”
    â€œIt’s more than what your baby daddy ever gave you,” I hissed. This chick was really starting to get on my nerves. How dare she call me like I fucking owe her something? I didn’t tell her to get with that bum she had a baby by. That’s her fault she doesn’t know how to manage her money. Not mine.
    â€œYo, Lauren, that was real foul shit to say to your homegirl. You definitely showed me how you truly feel about me.”
    â€œLook, Daysha, do you want the money or not?” I asked her. I wasn’t about to join her pity party. I had shit to do. I had a phone call to make that was going to bring me a three-million-dollar payout. So, this chump change that Daysha and I were talking about was taking up my time.
    â€œNah, keep it and give it to somebody else,” she said, and then she disconnected our call.
    Normally I would call her back when we had our little spats. But this time, I let her go because I had a big fish to catch. And my white boy in Maryland named Ryan was the man to help me do it.

MATT
    L auren had once again worked her magic with her hacker connection. She had somehow managed to get her connect Ryan up in B’more to change all of the account information into the names of Mr. and Mrs. Belton, who would be played by us when we went into the bank. For real, when she first proposed the idea to me, I was looking at her like