Wahida Clark - Thugs And The Women Who Love Them

All praise and thanks is forever due to the Creator, for without Him this would not be possible. I thank Him for placing all of the needed resources in my path.

To my soul mate, thanks for your vision, inspiration, and most important, your patience with me. Much love. To our daughters, Hasana and Muquarrabun, you two are such a blessing. D. Deering, thanks for your free advice on contracts and editing. Treena Wright, my friend thank you for feelin this book as if it was your own.

First, to my typist and most dependable partna, Kisha; even though you whined, cried and complained 90 percent of the time and delivered a baby boy in the middle of this project, I got much love for you. I understand that not everyone is a workaholic like myself. To my other typists, Nobel, Hafida, and Samataha, thank you. Thank God for editors. I love what you did. Thank you.

To the first Atwood crew, those sistahs who were my first readers when it was on yellow notebook paper in my sloppy handwriting: Melissa Long and Lil Memphis. To those sistahs who thought I should be writing instead of eating, sleeping, or breathing: Mecca, LoLo, and Shanna P.

To the rest of you who passed the yellow pages around and was just as excited as myself: Monica C., April C., Twigg, Miranda, Dana, Tammy, Cassie, Maggie, Daniele, Duresha, who also does my hair, Big Meeka, Neicey B., Tanya, K.K. Hatcher, Shawn K., Simone, Pauletta B., and Lucky. Thanks, K.K. Wall for sending a copy to Free of 106 and Park and to the two sistahs who can read an entire novel in a few hours and whose opinion I highly respect; Ms. Belinda Marshal and Teesa Little. When they said this was good, I knew it was on! Thanks, Michelle D., for snapping my picture for this novel.

Thanks to The Doug Banks morning Show and Walt Baby Love for keeping me up in the morning while I was cranking out the pages. Thanks to Lexingtons 107.9 The Beat . Thanks to Maxwell, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Marvin Gaye, Jaheim, Jadakiss, Case, Carl Thomas, and Ginuwine for making the music that helped me keep my flow.

Thanks to the C.O.s who made copies for me when the raggedy-ass inmate copy machine was broken (which was all of the time): Contreras, Martin, Henderson, D. Logan, S. Logan, Grier, Fox, Goins, Buttrey, Byrd, Doyle, Garrett, OBrian, Breathett, and last but not least, K. Donovan.

Thanks to all the Black book clubs. Thanks to all the Black bookstores who put me on their bookshelves. Thanks to everyone I forgot to mention, and special thanks to all the Black authors who blazed the path before me. My biggest ups to Carl Weber, who wasted no timeand jumped immediately on this project. Thanks!

Special thanks to the authors who wrote me back: Teri Woods, Roy Glenn and especially Sonia Caulton, who told me to make sure that I write every day.

Thanks to my mom, dad, my lil bro Mel, Aunt Ginger, Aunt Marva, Ann, and Carla. To my peeps, Shakira, Qurana, and Al-Nisa, who let me blow up their phone bills and never complained (not to me, at least). Preciate the love. Peace and one love to everyone I forgot to mention, and to all who wrote me, sent me money, books, and magazines.

If youd like to holla at your girl, please write me at:

Wahida Clark
c/o Kisha Upshaw
P.O. Box 8520
Newark, NJ 07108

T hank you very much, Ms. Thompson, and please come again. The saleswoman smiled, shaking Angels hand eagerly before she handed her three Wilsons Leather boutique shopping bags and a receipt.

No, thank you , Angel replied. And Ill be sure to tell all my friends about your store.

As she headed to the door, Angel turned to look at the woman, and she had to laugh. The salesgirl had picked up a calculator and was furiously punching in numbers, obviously calculating her commission on the $4,400.00 purchase Angel had just made. Too bad she had no idea that the check Angel had written was from a stolen checkbook, and the account had been closed for months. So Angel walked out of Wilsons with three big shopping bags filled with lots of items she would sell and a few for herself.

This was Angels hustle to keep cash in her pockets. Going to law school was no easy task. It was a full-time job in itself. Trying to work and study just didnt work for her at all. There was no way shed be able to finish school a semester early with a full-time job. She had to do one or the other, so she choose school. Shed already managed to get her Bachelors degree in three years. Now her goal was to graduate the same time as her homegirls: Roz, Kyra, and Jaz.

Angel did some window shopping on the way to her car. Oxford Valley Mall was the perfect place for Angel to run her game. The clerks were cordial and all the stores were very check friendly. She assumed the stores must have had some good insurance because she and every other hustler she knew had been wearing them out. Still, she knew her good luck couldnt last forever in this place. Thats why shed decided that after tonight she wouldnt be back. The last time she was at Oxford Valley she wrote almost $12,000.00 worth of bad checks. She planned on doing about the same tonight, if not more.

The merchandise she got from Wilsons would easily sell for between $1,800.00 and $2,200.00. Her fence, Rashid, usually bought all of the handbags and jewelry she could bring him. Way back, she and Rashid had been a couple, until Angel found out that she wasnt his only woman. Actually, she was one of three women who Rashid had scattered throughout the city. Theyd only been involved for about six months, so it wasnt that tough for Angel to break things off. She still kept their business relationship open, though. After all, he was the best fence around, and she was looking forward to collecting from him after tonight.

Angel spotted a tennis bracelet in the window of Zales that she couldnt resist, but the Wilsons bags were starting to hurt her arms. So she decided to put the bags in her car and then come back for the bracelet. She had just squeezed onto the escalator that led to the first floor level when she noticed a woman staring at her from the up escalator. Angel did a double take as they passed each other. She realized the woman was a clerk who worked at one of the perfume counters at Macys. Apparently, the woman remembered her, too.

A damn perfume clerk! Angel laughed to herself. Why couldnt it at least have been a jewelry store? Somewhere that shed bilked for thousands of dollars instead of a couple of hundred. But when she looked up, Angel wasnt so amused anymore.