Lusaka Hustle

Anna Marie

Chapter 1

“Cha blacka guys!” Rachel whispered loudly through the half opened window of the grey Pajero parked behind Club Zone night club.

She could hear muffled laughter as her three friends dressed in a variety of tight-fitting mini dresses and stripper heels freshly bought from Mudd Boutique earlier in the afternoon run and stumble towards the car.

Smiling, she pulled herself off the lap of the rapidly snoring guy she had picked up on the dance floor an hour ago and tossed out the condom she had insisted they use.

She crawled to the passenger side of the door and reached behind to open the left back door for her friends Beauty, Mwangala and Shiba to come in.

There was a mixture of dresses rustling, drunken laughter and bodies shifting around so that the girls could make space to slide in comfortably on the cream leather chairs.

“Search his pockets boyi,” Shiba instructed matter-of-factly, poking her head between the two front seats so that she could see Rachel rummage through the sleeping man’s pockets.

Rachel didn’t need telling twice because she knew the drill. Like an experienced pick-pocket right off the streets of Calcutta, she went through each pocket methodically ensuring that she didn’t leave them inside out. The idea was to let the guy think that he had spent the money when he was drunk and not that he had been searched.

“Atta! Chilibe ndalama ichi!” Rachel shouted angrily, poking the guy’s head with her index finger.

“Take it easy,” said Shiba pushing herself forward and reaching for the glove compartment.

Opening it with a snap, she sifted through pieces of papers, some sun glasses which were quickly snatched by Mwangala then pulled out a thick folded khaki envelope.

“Yeeeessss! Lelo ilipo!” Beauty shouted, watching Shiba pull out bundles of fifty and Hundred Kwacha notes.

Screaming with excitement, the four girls slapped hands and jumped out of the car, banging doors as they took off.

Seated in a pirated taxi two cars away from the girls, Diana watched the girls clumsily run away from Peter’s Pajero and chuckled to herself. Taking out a white iphone from her Channel handbag, she dialed a number and waited with an indulgent smile on her face.

“Yes Diana,” a groggy male voice answered.

“It’s done. You can go home now.”

“O.K. That was fun though,” he chuckled back.

There was another call on wait. Diana cut the line and instructed the driver to take her to Pamodzi hotel. The taxi driver reversed out of the dark parking spot and was over-taken by the grey Pajero who waved at Diana.

Brian Chisanga was very pissed off. Nicole, his colored girlfriend was seated on his lap in the upstairs VIP section of club 101 with her two girlfriends sharing a side booth. They were being waited on by two waitresses who were serving them a constant supply of mixed cocktails for the girls and bourbon for him. It was his twenty-sixth birthday and the day had started off great with his girlfriend giving him this surprise party at the club. With a sculpted body chicks couldn’t get enough of and modeling in a whole bunch of commercials for most mobile phone companies, Brian was living a life a lot of people could only wish for. Topping it off was the fact that he had an advertising agency which was the go- to place for most commercial companies in the country including Kenya and Botswana. Not bad for a guy who had never gone passed grade nine at Kabulonga Boys Secondary School. So why was the fact that his top female model, Suzie Ngoma sashaying into the club on the arm of not just any guy but Wezi Zulu bugging him so much?

Wezi Zulu or Wezizu as the post newspaper lovingly referred to him was the future of the Bank of Zambia. From all the media reports, he was being mentored for the role of being the youngest person to become the governor of the Bank of Zambia in all history. He was also the most eligible bachelor in Zambia and was great looking too with his clean cut looks and Oxford-style British accent. Nobody could compete with that.

Balling his left hand into a tight fist, he took a deep swallow of his bourbon, feeling it burn its way past his gullet and into his churning stomach.

As if Suzie had read his mind, her big brown eyes caught his angry stare from across the room making her smile brightly and whisper into Wezi’s ear.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, taking another huge swallow of his drink.

“What’s that babe?” Nicole enquired, her green eyes rummy with too many cocktails, the strap of her red dress hanging off her arm and exposing the top part of her small boob.

“Nothing!” he snapped with irritation, shoving the strap back up her shoulder just as Suzie and Wezi reached their table.

“Hey Brian, Nicole,” Suzie greeted them with kisses to their cheeks.

Nicole looked sober and alert. Her eyes narrowed and her body oozed with jealousy and envy as she looked at Suzie’s companion.

“This is Wezi. Wezi this is my boss Brian Kapesa and his girlfriend Nicole,” she introduced with an evil twinkle in her laughing eyes.

“I’ve heard a lot about you Brian and it’s an absolute pleasure to finally meet you,” said Wezi with a dimpled smile.

“Yeah, you too. Excuse me for a second.” Brian stood up and made a bee-line for the Gents bathroom.

He splashed cold water on his face, letting it cool his head and ease the rapid heartbeat which threatened to turn into a stroke and death. And death was certainly not on his agenda any time soon.

How could Suzie? She of all people should have his back after all they had been through and for her to do this to him was so…so… NOT NICE dammit!

With his right hand balled into a fist, he struck the mirror with all the hurt he felt inside.

“What the hell…?”

Wezi stood staring at him, his mouth open and his eyes darting from the shattered mirror to the bleeding hand dripping blood onto the clear white marble sink.

“Nothing… It’s just… Oh fuck!” Brian looked horrified as tears started streaming down his face and there was nothing he could do but stupidly stare at the handsome guy in front of him.

Hanging his head down with shame, Brian could feel tissue being wrapped around his hand and his face being lifted up.

“Some things aren’t supposed to hurt so bad you know.” Wezi whispered, kissing him on his mouth.

Brian leaned into the kiss, not believing what was going on. He could hear the door swing open somewhere but he didn’t care.

“Finally!”

Breaking away from Wezi, Brian stared open mouthed at Suzie who stood by the doorway with a half-smile.

“But…but I thought…” Brian couldn’t find the words.

“It’s my birthday present to you Brian,” Suzie walked to him holding his uninjured hand in hers.  “The man you have had a crush on for so long is as gay as you secretly are boo.”

The two men stared at Suzie and laughed with relief. It felt great to have a friend who could keep their secret.

“So let’s get out of here before your quasi-girlfriend suspects that something is up,” Suzie took Wezi’s hand and the three walked out of the bathroom laughing amongst themselves.

The bathroom was silent except for a door creaking open cautiously. Wezi’s assistant, Keith Mwenya crept slowly out of the toilet stall and looked at his reflection in the broken mirror. He looked at a pale, shocked face splintered into dozens of images. He also saw a slow smile lift the thin dark face.

Pay back was going to be awesome!

Posted by Admin on July 8, 2013. Filed under Stories/Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry