Viaduct Hustler: Part III of the Midwest Chronicles

By Alexis Norwood

Alexis Norwood’s fans will not be disappointed with Viaduct Hustler: Part III of the Midwest Chronicles. In this installment, Camden is reflecting on his decision to move to give up hustling on the streets of the south side of Chicago and move to St. Louis to be united with his long lost father. As Camden makes his move, he finds that he can no longer depend on Keshawn to be as sharp minded as he used to be. Therefore, he moves to the Lou and emerges as the leader and begins building a stronger Williams Family Empire. Camden’s past is tattered by death, sex, and a hustler lifestyle that he just can’t seem to shake. As the story unfolds, Camden is forced to deal with a choice to either live a new life as a college student, husband, and legitimate business man or take steps to avenge the death of his mother. Will Camden let go of his vendetta or will he begin down a road that will lead him deeper into the game? What will Camden choose? Read Viaduct Hustler to find out...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sepia Thoughts Publishing
• Release date: Jan 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310619397

Alexis Norwood

Alexis Cherie Norwood hails from Chicago, Illinois. She started her writing career about ten years ago. She is an urban fiction writer and a reading fanatic. She spends the majority of her time writing and promoting her work. You can contact Alexis at [e-mail].

Book preview

This past year I had been through a lot of shit. I was thankful that I had Pepa. She was my salvation. She was pregnant with my seed again. I had to make sure that I kept her safe this time. We have seven months to go until the baby is born, and I have a new part to play in this game. I thought I was done with the game until our ‘father’ (Keshawn Sr.) ran down in that conference room how my mom died. I wasn’t going to accept that bullshit story he spat. As far as I was concerned, I already had a father. I wasn’t accepting that motherfucker as my father until I had a blood test done. My boy Keshawn could always tell when rival dealers were trying to set us up, but he had a soft spot for family. I think it was because he was raised by his mom. That meant I had to make sure that we were straight.

After sitting in that conference room at the hotel listening to Keshawn Sr. tell me how Emil had killed my mother, took me in to raise me, and had me hustling since the sandbox had been fucking with me every day. I had never met my mother, and it was something that I always wondered about. What was she like? What did she smell like? Did she love me? Here I was working for the same bitch that had killed her the entire time, and I didn’t even know it. I was sure there was more to the story than what my dad had told me. I was determined to make sure I got to the bottom of this shit. I had been lied to. Keshawn might have been okay with everything, but I wasn’t. I didn’t trust any of the motherfuckers that were around us, and since I had been watching our backs since the monkey bars I had to use my judgment. Carin our father’s wife was too quiet especially when her husband talked about Emil. I was sure that she was in on that shit with my mother. Our younger brother Dana was suspect than a motherfucker too. That shit he was doing with Cream was going to bring us more drama than we needed. I was sure that he was unstable. It was in his eyes. Keshawn Sr. was treating me and my brothers the same way that he treated our mothers. I was here to do his dirty business, Keshawn was his front man, and Dana was clean and legitimate to wash money. I was going to have to play this situation like a card game.

I was going to use everything I learned on the streets to find out the truth. I didn’t care that I was dealing with a 20 year beef. I was planning to question every old school hustler and hood rat that I could find. I didn’t give a damn if they were retired. When I finished, I would know who was in on my mom’s death. The real deal as to why "our father’ had resurfaced now to pull us back into the game. The one ace that I had in my pocket was that our father Keshawn Sr. didn’t know how I grew up. This meant he didn’t really know what I was capable of doing.

Chapter 2 - Age Four

My earliest memory of growing up was when my dad took me to daycare. I remember sitting in class, and the teacher talking about mother’s day. We had to learn to grow seeds into a flower to give to our mom. I refused to do the assignment. I didn’t see the point since I didn’t have a mom. My dad was called to school to talk to my teacher. He explained that my mom had died giving birth to me, so, he turned to me and said, Camden you should do the project. We will place the flowers on your mom’s grave.

I nodded and finished the project. A few weeks later, me and my dad went by my mom’s grave and put the flowers on her grave site. I stared up at my dad, and he was wiping tears away. He pulled out a picture of my mom and put it on her grave. He turned to walk away. I picked up the picture and put it in my pocket. I kept my mom’s picture under my pillow all that year. I looked at it every night, and told her that I loved her.

Chapter 3 – Age Five

I was tall and active for my age. My dad was tired of screaming at me in the house for being rambunctious. He sent me outside to play in front of our apartment. I met D-Boy and Kevon that year. We hung out in the neighborhood. We weren’t rich, but we had enough money to take care of ourselves. My dad worked, took me to school, and took me on dates with the women he took out. We didn’t have much family. We were really close though. My dad would take me out to eat, to parks, movies, and shopping. To me, my Dad was my world. However, I always felt like something was missing. I always felt left out at school when I would see other kids moms pick them up from school. I put my mom’s picture in a sandwich bag under my pillow. That way she was with me every night that I went to sleep.

Chapter 4 - Age Six

School was pretty easy for me. I didn’t have trouble with reading or math. I met Keshawn this year. We were in first grade together. We started hanging out on the playground, and after that we were peas in a pod. If you saw one, you saw the other. He always had on expensive new clothes, and he kept at least twenty five dollars on him every day. He would buy whatever he wanted from the store when we were together. I decided to ask him one day. How did you get all that money to spend at the store?

My mom gives me money for doing stuff around the house, and delivering things to her friends. He answered.

I nodded. Can I deliver stuff to make some money?

Keshawn shrugged his shoulders. I can ask my mom.

When we got to the house Keshawn asked his mom. Can Cam come with me to make deliveries mom?

She looked at me for a long time, and then she said, Sure. I will pay you $50 per delivery just like Keshawn, but you have to keep it a secret.

That afternoon we made our first delivery together, and just like that I was introduced to the game. Me and Keshawn started buying clothes, and dressing alike like twins. My dad was working all the time, and he was tired when he came home. It took him a while to notice what I had on. When he did all hell broke loose. My dad found my stash of three hundred dollars in my room. He beat my ass, and picked me up by my collar off the ground.

Camden, where did you get all this money and clothes from? He asked.

I stared at him. I didn’t dare answer. I wanted to keep the money, and my best friend. I took the beating that he gave me. I know that the whole block heard me screaming that night. I didn’t care. I had promised that I would keep quiet, and I always kept my promises. My dad stopped the beating when he got tired. I picked myself up off the floor, and I went to bed. I pulled my mom’s picture from under my pillow. I kissed it and let a few tears fall. The next day I couldn’t move. The beating I had was so bad that there were belt marks all over my body. I could see that my dad was nervous. He didn’t want anyone to know. He dialed the school and told them that I had the flu. I stayed in bed for five days. My dad gave me baths, put medicine and ice on my bruises, and fed me. I could tell that he was scared.

Keshawn came over to our apartment after six days to check up on me. My dad answered the door.

Is Cam here? He asked.

Yes, but he can’t come outside today. He is still sick. He answered.

Can I come in to visit with him? He asked.

My dad let Keshawn into our apartment. Then he talked to him and figured out that we were out hustling together. He walked into my bedroom, and had me put on some clothes. We all headed back to Keshawn’s apartment. My dad was especially pissed off, and when we got there Emil opened the door. My dad was about to go off on Emil, but when he saw her he stopped cold.

Are you Keshawn’s mother? He asked.

Yes, I am. Please come inside. She said smiling at my dad.

We walked into the apartment. My dad and Emil went to her bedroom. Me and Keshawn were watching cartoons, and eating some pizza his mom ordered. We heard our parents talking, and then a little while later we heard moaning, and banging. Keshawn turned to me and said, It should be okay now. You can come back to doing deliveries with me.

He was right. We practically started living together as one family. Emil was breaking off my dad, and me and Keshawn were making money. I was only six years old, but I knew one thing for sure. We were paid.

Chapter 5 - Age Seven

It was my idea to start stealing car sound systems. My dad was a mechanic. I knew how to jimmy the locks on cars. I knew that these were worth a lot of money, because my dad kept car magazines all over the house. Me and Keshawn were small and fast. No one could keep up with us. My dad didn’t like what we were doing, but Emil took care of him. We ate dinner every night at Keshawn’s house. No matter how many hustlers Emil broke off during the day, my dad would go to sleep with her every night. I really didn’t know what was happening. I just knew that my dad followed her around like a little puppy, and when the door was closed we could hear moaning.

One day some men broke into Emil’s apartment and robbed us. They shot my dad, and I ran over to him crying and screaming his name. I didn’t know what to do. I just know that the rage I felt made me want to kill all those men without hesitation. This was the point when I started changing for the worse.

Emil didn’t let us call the police or the hospital. We had to take my dad to our apartment, and call the police from there. My dad lost his job while he was in the hospital. Emil took us in and we both started hustling full-time. Emil convinced my dad to start selling weed to college students when he got out of the hospital. The worst part was that she would still service men around the clock. Since my dad wasn’t working, he would see the guys she was sleeping with, and hear Emil moaning. I could tell that this was really fucking with him. I watched Emil prostitute herself out to men every night. I wondered if this was how other women rolled. I vowed that when I got older that I would never let the girl that I was with be with another man besides me once we were together. I would kill her first.

Chapter 6 – Age Eight

My dad gave up selling weed. He just wasn’t any good at hustling. Emil changed him from selling weed to boosting clothes. He would sell clothes to women in salons. He started showing me how to talk to females that he hustled into buying clothes. My dad said, If you want a woman to do anything you want, give her whatever she wants. You make her feel good.

I nodded. I didn’t really know what he meant, but I saw what he was doing. My dad slept with at least 2-3 females each day. They would call him around the clock for booty calls. He would sell them clothes. I went with him most of the time. I think that he didn’t want to leave me in the house with Emil. I would watch the way the women would smile when he gave them compliments. When I wasn’t with my dad, I was out hustling with Keshawn. We probably made a thousand deliveries that year, because Emil was setting up shit all over town.

Me and Keshawn spent a lot of days in the street that year, because Emil was always arguing with my dad. The women he was breaking off were calling around the clock, and Emil didn’t like that shit one bit. Things got quiet once Emil started working, and boosting clothes at her salon. Christmas was nice that year. Me and Keshawn had 100 gifts a piece and we had Chinese Food for dinner. On Christmas day, Emil called my dad her bitch in front of me and Keshawn. I knew one thing from that point on, I never wanted a girl like