Page 21 of All The Smoke

She was still standing in the same place and barely made it out of the way when I burned rubber out of the parking lot. Seeing her ain’t do shit but put me in an even worse mood so if the attorney nigga said anything wrong I might fuck around and end his ass.

When I arrived at Diablo’s, I walked straight past the hostess and made my way to the back where the private rooms were with the host chasing me. I figured with his status and the status of his client they were ducked off and that was cool with me.

The less witnesses, the better.

“Sir, you cannot be back here,” the host said when he finally caught up to me.

“Touch me and lose ya fronts,” I warned when he got ready to grab my arm.

Taking heed of my warning, he lifted his hands and repeated himself but I ignored him and kept my stride to the back of the room where Noah’s attorney was holding his meeting. He was mid-conversation when I grabbed a chair from another table and took a seat at the end of the one he was at.

“M-Mr. Tate,” he stammered, looking back and forth between me and dude across from him.

“Why you playing with me, bruh?” I frowned.

“I-I’m sorry, I-I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t play with me, Henry,” I said, calling him by his first name. “I’m telling you with the mood I’m in, I’d really do something to you.”

“What’s going on here?” Carlos, the guy he was meeting with, asked.

I knew his name because Henry’s assistant told me who he was meeting with here for discretion due to his brother’s high profile case back in Cali. I didn’t ask all that shit but when you offered a mothafucka the right amount of money they’d tell it all.

“What’s going on is this man ain’t gon’ make it to see ya brother through his mothafuckin’ trial if he keep on playing with me.”

“Mr. Tate…”

I cut him off. “Give me an update on my brother.”

“I’m in a meeting?—”

Reaching for the collar of his shirt, I yanked him across the table and growled, “You about to be meeting ya mothafuckin’ maker if you don’t do what the fuck I just asked you to do.”

“Th-there are m-motions, briefs, th-things of that nature that I have to file, M-Mr. Tate,” he stammered. “These things take time.”

“You been working on his shit for fucking forever,” I snapped. “You ain’t had shit but time.”

“It’s not the easiest thing, getting on a judge’s calendar.”

“Nigga, you all over the fuckin’ news doing all kinds of shit for this nigga.” I tossed my head in Carlos’s direction. “And his people just got arrested.”

“But—”

Snatching my gun from my side, I placed the shit under his chin and growled, “I don’t want to hear not one more mothafuckin’ excuse, Henry.”

“Your father,” he blurted. “Y-Your father came to me and asked me to leave the case alone.”

Shocked at the revelation, I loosened my grip on his shirt and allowed him to fall back into his seat as I sat back in my own, trying to make sense of the shit. I knew mothafuckin’ well that shit was a lie. I didn’t want to believe my pops, hell Noah’s pops, would do no shit like that.

Naw, naw. He ain’t that fucking grimy.

“You’re lying,” I said, even though deep down something told me he wasn’t.

“I’m not. He came to me a few months ago and asked me to fall back from the appeal. He’s running for mayor and didn’t want the case to resurface and potentially hurt his race.”

Wow!

I was fuming hearing this shit. I knew he was a piece of shit. Hell, I knew they both were, but I ain’t think they would stoop this fucking low and sabotage their own fucking son. Especially when they weren’t the ones paying for the shit.

Standing from my seat, I tucked my gun in my back, preparing to leave and making mental notes in my head.

I was gon’ hit my baby mama and have her grab Solo from them because if I went I was going to murder Bishop.

I also told myself I couldn’t go see about Kaori.

I was boiling hot and her ass could potentially do or say some shit that was gon’ piss me off even worse than I already was.

So I was gon’ have to put that shit on ice for the moment.

“I want all my money back, my nigga,” I said after putting the chair back where I had gotten it from.

“I can’t…”

“Naw you can and you fuckin’ is, bro, and you gon’ do the shit pronto, or I’m gon’ be at 409 Ash Ave with my twin Deserts ready for some mothafuckin’ action. Feel me?”

His eyes grew to the size of golf balls when he heard me rattle off his home address. I wanted him to know that not only did I also have enough bread to make shit happen, but I wasn’t playing. I would do something to him and everybody in his family about my brother and my bread.

“I-I’ll have m-my assistant h-handle it,” he replied, nodding fast as fuck.

“Thought so,” I spat, then looked at his client. “I’m praying for the best for your brother because I know how it feels to have mine hemmed up, but if you don’t take this bullshit here with this mothafucka as a warning, ya people is a goner.”

With that I left. I didn’t really care if he continued to work with him or not, I just felt inclined to speak up because if he cared about his like I did about mine then he’d take heed.

I just knew he better have every single penny of my bread back soon or he was gon’ have a world of problems he wasn’t ready for.

“I told y’all niggas I didn’t want to be outside, man,” I complained as I climbed out of Bino’s car. “And what kind of feminine shit is coming to a hookah bar?”

“Man the bitches be out here, bro,” Scoot replied. “You trippin’.”

“I ain’t smoking no hookah though and y’all bet not either,” I griped as I followed them inside.

The crowd was nice for it to be a weeknight.

Bino said something about them having some good ass lamb chops and used that as his excuse to come out.

I would definitely side eye him if he grabbed a hookah though.

If that was niggas’ thing that was cool, but they weren’t going to be doing that when we were together and have folks thinking I was into it.

I was a gangsta and we ain’t suck on no mothafuckin’ hookah tips.

When we got inside, we paid to have a section to ourselves because I hated sitting at the bar around everybody and wasn’t really in the mood to be in no hoes’ faces either.

I was still ill as fuck about the shit with Bishop and Noah’s lawyer.

I just planned to kick it with my niggas for a minute, get cross faded, then take my ass home.

Bishop and my mama had been blowing my phone up since I had Bri grab Solo from them and I had been ignoring the shit.

I had nothing to say and was still trying to figure out how I was gon’ handle the shit.

It was best for all parties that I took a minute to myself to think before being around them to make sure I ain’t kill one or both of their asses.

We got settled in our section then ordered food and bottles.

I loosened up and relaxed a bit when my drinks started to kick in and we got the green light from the owner to fry.

Apparently Scoot knew her little sister and was able to work his magic, but she told us not to think we were going to make it a habit.

That was cool with me because a nigga ain’t plan to make a habit of being at a damn hookah spot.

“Ay, ain’t that ya girl, Bino?” Scoot asked, patting his chest then pointing.

I was seated directly across from them so I had to turn to see who they were talking about and was immediately filled with fury seeing Kaori seated at the table with her best friend and some other girls smoking and shit after she just told me she was pregnant.

I had been hitting her up for two days about the shit and she left me on read, but was sitting in a fucking bar? Naw.

Without saying a word, I got on my feet and stalked toward their section. I wasted no time grabbing her from her seat by her forearm while she was mid-conversation.

“Oh hell no,” her homegirl said as she jumped up and grabbed me. “Get your hands the fuck off of her.”

“Ay, chill,” I warned as Kaori tried to pull away. “Nobody about to do shit to her.”

“No nigga, you chill and get your hands off my fucking friend.,” she snapped.

“Yo, B, get your girl,” I tossed over my shoulder.

“No he don’t have to get shit… Move, Bernard.”

Bino had come over and grabbed her up so I was able to address Kaori.

“Fuck you doing in here while you pregnant with my baby?”

“Your baby?” She smirked. “What baby?”

What?

“What you mean what baby?” I asked, dropping my eyes from her face to her nonexistent belly. “You just fucking told me you were pregnant.”

“That was days ago.” She shrugged.

“Bro.” I chuckled angrily. “I know like fuck you ain’t telling me you aborted my kid.”

I knew the thoughts I had when she told me and what the fuck I had told my brother, but I was just talking shit. I ain’t know much about her ass, but I knew she wasn’t a hoe. B had confirmed that much to me too.

When Bri told me she was pregnant the very first thing I wanted her to do was have an abortion.

I damn near begged her to, but the thought didn’t even cross my mind with KK.

Well it did but that wasn’t what a nigga really wanted.

If anything I was a little happy to have her ass stuck with me.

I didn’t know what it was about her but she had a nigga acting real unusual.

It was that good ass pussy and sliding in it raw!

That was out of the norm for me. A nigga always gloved up. It ain’t matter how fine a bitch was or how lit I was, I strapped up, no questions asked.

Except with her.

She must’ve put voodoo on me.

That’s exactly what it was!

“I thought you’d be happier knowing I put your little forty dollars to good use.”

“Bitch…” Before I knew it, I hemmed her little ass up and all her homegirls were on my ass.

They were jumping the fuck out of a nigga until security came over and broke it up.

They asked us to leave after all that shit went on which was cool with me.

I ain’t want to be in there anyway nor did I want the food I had paid for.

A nigga didn’t even have an appetite anymore.

Once we were all outside, we went our separate ways, them toward their car and me toward Bino’s. I was fuming and Scoot didn’t make it any better asking me a million questions while we waited on B since he walked his girl to her whip.

He appeared a few minutes later with her car slowly trailing behind him.

She stopped when he reached his whip and unlocked the doors.

I should have just left well enough alone and got in the car but I couldn’t resist saying something to Kaori.

Her saying she got rid of the baby was fucking with me so I walked around to the passenger side and knocked on the window.

“Get away, negro!” her homegirl shouted but I ignored her and kept my eyes trained on Kaori.

“Can you let the window down?”

“No nigga, move,” her homegirl continued, but still I paid her no mind. I couldn’t even blame her for carrying on because a nigga had tweaked the fuck out.

“Stop, Mo,” Kaori said, rolling the window down. “What is it, Solomon Sr.?”

“Did you really abort my baby?”

“Why?” She frowned.

Closing my eyes briefly, I had to take a slow, deep breath to maintain my composure. She didn’t know about my temper and a nigga ain’t really want to show her that side of me.

“Kaori…”

“No.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m still pregnant.”

I released a sigh of relief.

“Are you sure it’s mine?” I asked. “I’m just asking, KK.”

I had to hurry and say that last part because I saw her expression turn angry.

“Yes, I’m sure. I don’t sleep around with a lot of niggas,” she responded as she rolled her eyes again.

Nodding, I stuffed my hands in my pockets.

“Aight, my fault for tweaking in there.” I tossed my head toward the building. “A nigga just…” I paused for a second. “Just my bad. Shit wasn’t cool.”

“Apology accepted.”

“Bet, but we need to talk about what’s next.”

Her eyes narrowed into slits. “What’s next is us coparenting this baby. I don’t know what you have going on in your private life and I really don’t care, but you need to make this baby a priority because I don’t want to do this alone.”

“Aight.” I sighed. “I’ll hit you tomorrow or some shit and we can talk.”

“I have work and school tomorrow so you’ll have to text me.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

I stood there staring into her pretty face for a few seconds before she finally mumbled goodnight and rolled the window back up as they pulled away.