Hustle and heartache, p.1
Hustle & Heartache, page 1
Contents
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Synopsis
Acknowledgments
Prologue
1. Audi
2. Dre
3. Naomi
4. Audi
5. Dre
6. Naomi
7. Audi
8. Dre
9. Naomi
10. Audi
11. Dre
12. Naomi
13. Audi
14. Dre
15. Naomi
16. Audi
17. Dre
18. Naomi
19. Audi
20. Dre
21. Naomi
Sneak Peek
22. Joy
23. Dre
To Be Continued!
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© 2021
Published by Royalty Publishing House
www.royaltypublishinghouse.com
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Any unauthorized reprint or use of the material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage without express permission by the author or publisher. This is an original work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Contains explicit language & adult themes suitable for ages 16+ only.
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Contents
Join Royalty 👑
Check Out the LiT Reading App!
Synopsis
Acknowledgments
Prologue
1. Audi
2. Dre
3. Naomi
4. Audi
5. Dre
6. Naomi
7. Audi
8. Dre
9. Naomi
10. Audi
11. Dre
12. Naomi
13. Audi
14. Dre
15. Naomi
16. Audi
17. Dre
18. Naomi
19. Audi
20. Dre
21. Naomi
Sneak Peek
22. Joy
23. Dre
To Be Continued!
New Release from Porscha Sterling
New Release Available Now
New Release Available 1/26
New Release Available 1/26
Join Our Mailing List!
Synopsis
Audriana Escobar aka Audi is the 18-year-old leader of the Gucci Girlz−a crew made up of her closest friends. Growing up in poverty, their only current goal is to find a way out of the poor town of Aetna and achieve a life of happiness, love, and luxury. When they cross paths with another crew named the Tru Aetna Boyz, all of their wants and desires seem to be coming true.
* * *
DeAndre aka Dre, leads the team that includes his friends Raheem, Devonte and Lyrical and together they make up one of the most dangerous gangs in their hometown. With their intentions set on gaining money, status, women and fame, meeting a group of women with the same goals in mind seems like the best kind of luck. Sparks fly almost immediately and, together, they quickly become a force that totally dominates the street game without competition or resistance… until they catch the eye of police sergeant, Naomi Mills.
* * *
Pursuing money and love always comes with its own set of troubles which the Gucci Girlz and Tru Aetna Boyz eventually realize on their own. As they begin to step into the lives that they always envisioned for themselves, everything is turned upside down when they become the trophy for a sergeant with a chip on her shoulder. Will they be able to step into their dream of luxury and true love?
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my mother Debra, my brothers Jermaine, Joseph, Courtney, Damon, Elijah, and Donte (RIP to you, little bro), my sisters Jackie and Sofia, my father Big Joseph (RIP), my cousin Charles, my nephew Antwoin, my brother-in-law Antwoin (yeah, he still my brother-in-law), and all the people that I didn’t mention. I would also like to thank Audi, Elizabeth, Jessica, Dickie, Hootie, Lil’ C, B Tha Barber, Uncle Jeff, Twin, Quan G, basically all of my family and friends (you know who you are), and anyone else that I forgot to mention.
Most of all I would like to thank my best friend and, hopefully, my wife one day, as she is the only person in this world who truly gets me and is able to look past all my craziness and mental and emotional issues. That house and horse and the life that we talked about and deserve so much after all the pain we’ve been through is within our grasp, babe, I promise. I know I’m back and forth on this subject, but I want you to do what’s best for you right now...so that you can be ready for me to do what’s best for the both of us when the time is right; everything else will fall into place all on it’s on, without me trying to force something that takes time and patience, like you’ve been saying to me this entire time−I was just too hardheaded to listen to reason. (Pineapples)
It goes without question that I give most praise to the creator, who has blessed me with this wonderful skill that I never knew existed, and also to the wonderful editorial team at Royalty Publishing House, especially the CEO Porscha Sterling and her wonderful and understanding Executive Assistant Michelle Davis. I recommend Royalty Publishing House to anyone trying to get their foot in the Urban Literature door; they know their work and they can help you achieve your goal. You just have to put in the work and show that your work is worth your readers’ attention. Bless you all and have a good read.
I hope to see you all again real soon.
* * *
−D. Gamblez
Prologue
Gary, Indiana
5 Years Ago
“I said get on the fucking ground, you little punk!” Sergeant Hensley barked into the young 16-year-old black kid’s ear, slamming him down hard onto the gravel and knocking the wind out of his lungs. As he forced the young boy’s hands behind his back and proceeded to cuff him, the boy began to cry.
“Please, sir, we just wanna go home,” the boy sobbed.
“Shut your goddamn mouth with that crybaby-ass shit!” the sergeant spat in his ear. “You’re gonna act like you’re man enough to be out this late on my streets, at least be man enough to take what goes with it.”
“We didn’t do nothing wrong, sir. Please, just leave me and my boyfriend alone and let us go home,” the boy’s 14-year-oldgirlfriend pleaded, her arms held uncomfortably but securely in place behind her back by the unusually tight handcuffs linking her wrists together. They cut into her flesh from even the slightest movement. She was bent over the squad car with her head pressed firmly against the hood. “We’re just trying to get back home so our parents won’t worry, that’s all.”
The 6’2”, black, baldheaded sergeant glanced up from where he was searching the young boy and headed towards the squad car where the girl was being held by two of his detectives−one male, one female, both black.
Hensley motioned for the detectives to step aside and then he grabbed ahold of the girl’s wrist and squeezed the handcuffs even tighter, cutting into her flesh. But the girl denied him the pleasure of seeing fear in her and even though it hurt, a lot, she stifled a cry of pain.
But her defiance seemed to only infuriate him more.
Impressed by the girl’s toughness, Hensley smiled inwardly. “Oh, is that right? You’re a tough one, huh?” He again grabbed the girl by her wrists, but this time instead of squeezing the handcuffs, he yanked her arms upwards with such force that he nearly dislocated her shoulder, lifting her off of her feet in the process.
The girl screamed.
“Leave my girl alone, man!” the young boy said with anger, the bloodcurdling screams from his girlfriend tearing at his heart.
“Go teach that little punk-ass wannabe thug a lesson,” he instructed the two detectives. When the female detective hesitated, the sergeant gave her a look that caused a chill to crawl up her spine. “Is there a p
“No, Sergeant Hensley, sir, no problem at all,” she struggled to say. ”I just think that they’ve learned their lesson...sir.”
Hensley wrinkled his brow as if he had just heard some surprising news. “I’m sorry, Detective Mills, but I’m a little confused.”
“W-What’s that, now, sir?” she asked hesitantly as she was not sure what he meant by the statement.
“I had no idea that somebody went behind my back and made you head of the Gang Unit. That is what happened, isn’t it? Cause that’s the only way you’d ever question my authority.”
Detective Mills put her hands up in an attempt to stave off any confusion she might have caused her superior. “I apologize, sir. I didn’t mean any disrespect.”
“You know, there are a lot of badges on the force who I feel deserve this job way more than you do. Good, hardworking men and women who put their lives on the line every day and get no recognition for it. I would’ve considered any one of them as opposed to you, but when your father, the chief of police and one of my closest friends, begged me to let you in my unit, he assured me that I wouldn’t have any problems out of you. But I honestly don’t think you’re cut out for this kind of work.
Now, I know that we sometimes do things a little different in this city than most other cities do, but we do these things because it’s necessary. To protect our city, it’s what’s necessary. Our jobs are to protect these streets from rapists, murderers, drug dealers, gangbangers, and any other type of scum of the world, but the only way for us to do that properly is if we get our hands a little dirty every now and then.”Sergeant Hensley emphasized his point by pointing out the young girl’s attire. “You see the way she’s dressed? Like a fucking prostitute! If any one of these gangbangers who like hanging out at this time of night came across this girl while she was wearing this piece of shit cloth she’s using as a skirt, they’d be raping her until the sun came up. Then we’d be the ones to have to tell her parents that their daughter was gang raped and murdered.”
Detective Mills shook her head to dislodge the horrific image of the girl being gang raped from her mind, but it was forever imprinted on her brain. “Yes, sir, understood, sir,” she said sheepishly.
“Do you understand, Detective?” Hensley snapped. “Because it’s our job to make sure these kids are home safe and sound. And sometimes the only way to teach them that is by showing them some tough love. By showing them what actually could happen if they’re left alone to wonder these streets late at night.”
“Got it, sir,” she assured him.
“Do I need to remind you of whose side you’re on, Detective Mills?”
“No, sir,” she stated firmly.
“Then get your ass over there and have some fun for fucks sake! Trust me, these little punks nowadays deserve a good beating every now and then. Helps to keep ‘em in line. Their parents sure aren’t doing it. Now go ahead before I reconsider my decision for letting you in my unit,” he nodded in the direction of the young boy on the ground, who was now being pummeled by the other detective, Mills’ partner.
After Detective Mills heeded his command, Sergeant Hensley turned his attention back to the young black girl bent over the hood of the squad car. “Do you know who I am?” he whispered in her ear.
“P-Please... Please, just let me and my boyfriend go,” the girl begged, realizing that it was her fault that her and her boyfriend were even in the predicament in the first place.
Since his family and her family all stayed within a few house of each other, their parents had agreed to let them go to a friend’s birthday party with the promise that they would be home before nightfall, but when it came time for them to leave, the girl had begged her boyfriend to stay there with her a little while longer. A little while longer had turned into three hours, two hours past their 8:00 curfew. When the boy had realized what time it was, he had grabbed his girlfriend by the hand and had nearly dragged her out of the house.
As they were bidding their friends goodbye, three unmarked squad cars had rolled up to the house and dispersed everyone who was not living there. When the tall black man, whom they now knew was the guy in charge and who went by the rank and name Sergeant Hensley, had found out that the boy and girl lived a block from where they now were, he had offered them a ride home. Accepting his offer to drive them home had turned out to be a mistake as the sergeant had not taken them home, but to an alley behind a gas station instead.
“Oh, so you wanna go home now, huh? Well, you should’ve thought about that before you decided to peddle dope for E.T.C. Now you’re gonna have to learn firsthand how I respond to drug pushing and gang activity in my city.”
“We don’t know nothing about no drugs, and we’re in no gang. We were just hanging with friends at a birthday party. We don’t even know those guys,” the girl cried as the sounds of her boyfriend’s screams reached her ears as the two detectives continued to wail upon him.
“You don’t know who the Eastside Turf Crew is, huh?” Sergeant Hensley said with mock surprise. “That’s funny. Why would they allow you to hang out with ‘em all at their house if you don’t know who they are? Don’t really matter ‘cause whether or not you do know him, I’m still gonna have to teach you not to be out this late, and after tonight, I don’t wanna see you or your little punk-ass boyfriend around those fucking lowlifes ever again, you hear me? I better not even see you at that house, and if you just so happen to walk past that house, I want you to cross the street just to avoid it. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the girl nodded furiously, praying that that would be the end of it. But her prayers would go unanswered as she felt Sergeant Hensley’s hand slide up underneath her black mini dress.
“Hmm... No underwear, huh? Yeah, I forgot to mention−I don’t like whores either,” he said as he roughly led the terrified girl to the back of his squad car. “We’re gonna go for a little ride, huh? Let’s go see if you’re as tough as you think you are.”
Terrified at the thought of being raped, the girl started to scream, but all the air in her lungs was suddenly forced out of her when the tall man shoved his fist into her side with such force that one of her ribs broke. She felt completely helpless and vulnerable as Hensley opened the door and tossed her onto her stomach in the backseat.
Sergeant Hensley turned his attention to his detectives and instructed them to halt their assault on the teenager.
“That’s enough−he get’s it. Stuff his ass in the back and let’s head out to the Wild Deuces. I’m sure those shitheads are up to no good this time of night,” he calmly instructed his detectives, not even a pang of guilt in his voice for what he was planning to suffer upon the young boy and girl.
