Page 21 of Always Been You

Kole

I stepped off the plane full of life. I was hoping for a short trip, but I was willing to go as far as necessary for the cause.

Unbeknownst to many, I had been back and forth up here the last few weeks.

I never got used to being in one place too long.

I grew up that way. One year, I would be in California, and the following year, I could be in Paris.

Wherever I was needed was where I went. Whatever the job called for, I was there to get it done.

I didn’t worry about people’s personal reasons for calling on me to do a job, even if they were close to me. The money and the freedom fueled me.

I was an infiltrator, so to speak. Well, that and an assassin.

My ability to be a chameleon helped me. Whatever it called for, I was able.

Moving around so much gave me inside contacts all over the map, so I had never entered a situation that I knew nothing about.

My training was intense and began early.

Sometimes the jobs were as simple as a kill call.

At other times, like this situation, a little more finesse was required.

I took a deep inhale of the air—nothing like city smog. My lips curled upward. My car was waiting at the end of the ramp. I approached the blacked-out Cadillac and got in with ease. The plush leather feeling was all too familiar since my father always kept an old school Caddy.

“How was your flight?” my father asked, sitting across from me.

He was in his usual attire. He always wore suits and dressed as if he were on his way to a GQ photo shoot.

He would always tell me, ‘Just because we have to get dirty, doesn’t mean we can’t dress clean.

’ That’s one thing I took after him. The drip was always intact.

Of course, my style was younger, but I could dress for any occasion.

I took pride in my appearance, and that was quite noticeable to the females.

Next to work, that was pretty much my only indulgence, and I loved women in all different shapes and sizes. They loved me too. I always stood out for my dark skin. That’s how I got my name, because they would always say I was as dark as coal. Imagine those same bitches falling at my feet.

“It was fine,” I replied, taking the cigar he passed to me. I sniffed it and lit it up, relaxing in the seat.

“I expect you to get started tonight.”

“I started weeks ago,” I said flatly, looking into his rugged face. I already had my itinerary in place. In my mind, I would only be here a month or so before I wrapped shit up and I was on to the next thing. Maybe an Island or somewhere nice.

“It would also be nice to see my grandson while you’re in town.” He added.

“I’m sure I can work something out. She's here, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

We rode for about thirty minutes until I arrived at the fully furnished mansion, where I would be staying. I grinned when I got out of the car and saw my chosen vehicle. I loved Vipers, and I had one in my favorite color, blue.

“I figured you would like that one. Report back to me within a week,” he said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

I examined his face and saw nothing but a resemblance to my own.

We were both deep, dark brown skin and about 6’3.

I was in better shape physically, but Pops was still solid.

If it wasn’t for the deep scar that reached from the top to the bottom of his face, we could almost be mistaken for each other.

My father was the man, the myth, and the legend known as Slash.

From the time I could remember, he had always been a Gangsta.

Not a dope boy or some corner nigga, a real gangsta ass nigga with connections that reached across the globe.

He groomed me from a young boy to be his successor and showed me how to run an empire.

I was left with my grandmother a lot because he travelled often, so I took it seriously whenever he was around to teach me lessons.

That’s when he saw my ability to be aloof, and we used that to take over wherever we would go.

We were on some bully-type shit. When it came to claiming another man’s territory, we did it by muscle.

It was the perfect idea. We went for teams that people had in place that were making serious waves, and we would push them out.

Nobody would expect us because they never knew where we came from.

We were on a roll, and we had our hands on the whole south and west coast. That’s when he got hasty and wanted to take over more than one area at once.

The shit fell through because, first, I couldn’t be here, and secondly, these Midwest niggas were just built different.

They didn’t go away quietly. But it was nothing I couldn’t handle.

I had already gotten close enough to Terror to find his weakness, and he would crumble just like any other person I had laid down in the past. I knew his whole life.

I did my research. He was protected, but he was also nervous about shit catching up to him.

I had an ace in the hole with him that he would never expect.

“I got it. I’ll be seeing him tonight,” I replied coolly.

“Be careful, ever since he killed Brick, he has been flying high. But he is looking over his shoulder every chance he gets, and you know what’s more dangerous than a man with power.”

“A scared man,” I answered, knowing all too well his rhetoric.

***

I walked into the restaurant called Onyx, and it was a nice scene.

It was opening weekend, so it was flooded.

The females were sexy, and it was upscale for this area.

There were usually a lot of hole-in-the-wall places I had been to in the city, like Centerfold and King of Diamonds, but this was different.

I would even consider taking someone home with me tonight.

I dressed in blue with a pair of Chrome Heart jeans and a shirt.

I slipped on my diamond bracelet and diamond one-karat earrings.

I topped my outfit off with a pair of Gucci shoes.

I was flashy when needed, and the goal here was to stand out.

With this type of crowd, the attention that I needed would come to me.

I wasn’t there to talk to Terror. I was there to let him notice that other people were seeing me.

People tend to flock to outsiders, so I was pulling the “I’m not from around here” card.

Niggas don’t like their shine to be stolen, so I know I would have the desired effect.

If he were real, as I thought he was, he would recall our first encounter at the Barbershop.

I walked to the bar, and just as I thought, all eyes were on me.

It was damn near a fight with two bitches over who would get the seat sitting next to me.

I didn’t pay them any mind. I waved over the bartender, who was sexy as hell.

She was more my speed. She was thick as fuck.

That ass she was carrying should’ve been illegal, but it was the lips that got me. They were full and kissable.

“Hi, what can I get you?” she asked with a wide smile. Perfect teeth.

“Let me get a shot of the patron. What’s your name, beautiful?”

“I’m Shantel, but you can call me Shan,” she blushed. I threw her a wink, and she hurried away, poured my shot, and set it down in front of me. I would handle her later if I got the chance.

Right now, I had to focus. Right as I was about to walk away from the bar and go to the table I had reserved, I heard a loud female voice.

“Where the fuck is Terror? I've been calling him all night. He bet not be back there hugged up with no bitch!” She was screaming, and she had a friend with her, just as ghetto as she was. They were dressed in barely there dresses, showing off every attribute they possessed. I wasn’t hating, but damn, they may as well just have come out naked.

I shook my head at her. She was always with the bullshit.

Still fine as fuck though. I just wondered if she was still putting up an act, or if she was really invested in this.

“Crystal, I will call him for you, but you need to calm down. This is a business.” The other bartender, standing behind the bar, said to her.

She seemed way too familiar with her outbursts, so I decided to hang back a little longer to see how the scene played out.

After another few minutes of her ranting and raving, Terror came from the back.

The way people reacted to his presence was a telltale sign of the power he truly held. The room hushed at his appearance.

They were afraid, and I could tell a part of him thrived on it.

Everyone had a weakness, no matter how shook he had everyone here.

He didn’t scare me. His weakness was at the end of the bar, acting like a damn fool.

I could tell he didn’t want to react to her, but his pulse was visible through his forehead when he looked in that direction.

Anyone who can control your emotions can control you.

That would be my way in. I was somewhat impressed with her.

Right after he came out the back, a female came out with him, and she joined him at his side. I saw Crystal start steaming at the end of the bar. Her friend was gassing her up, and I knew this shit was about to get good.

“Now, who the fuck is that bitch? I call you to tell our son goodnight, and I have to figure out my son ain’t even with you. He with ya bum ass momma!”

“Chill the fuck out and go home, Crystal,” he said, trying to diffuse the situation because people already had their phones out and recording. This shit was about to be all over the internet.

“Marcos, I’m gone let you handle that.” The chick standing next to him said, and he pulled her back to him immediately.

“OH, THIS BITCH CALLING YOU BY YOUR GOVERNMENT NAME NOW?” she yelled, and in two leaps, she jumped up to the stool and over the bar.

She snatched the chick by the hair, and it was about to be a full-blown love and hip-hop scene in this bitch!

The girl wasn’t no hoe though she grabbed Crystal’s hand, turned around, and knocked her ass right in the mouth.

This shit was getting good. It had been a minute since I was this close to some action I wasn’t creating, so I was all the way in. Crystal was getting her ass tagged.

She picked a fight with the chick who had hands.

Before it went too far, Terror and the other bartender pulled them apart, even though Crystal was still swinging.

Terror snatched Crystal’s ass up and left out, but not before looking at his chick for a few minutes too long and telling her to wait for him in his office.

There was so much emotion behind the way he looked at her.

In a split second, this nigga was giving all his shit away.

Something was brewing between them that was serious.

After a few minutes, the crowd settled down, and it was like nothing ever happened.

Drinks were being passed out, and people were eating and conversing.

I waited a few minutes, and I left. If I knew anything about unstable ass females, they always cry in the car after their nigga told their ass he doesn’t want them.

Just as I thought, she was in her car, crying her ass off in her candy apple red BMW, being super dramatic for no reason.

I walked up to her. I didn’t know who was around, so I pulled out an accent to cover us.

“You good shawty?”

She rolled the window down a few inches. Her lips trembled as she spoke. “I’m good.”

“Damn, I ain’t even from around here, but I know a pretty ass female like you shouldn’t be out here crying. That’s how these niggas doing it up here?”

“You can’t be from around here, even thinking about talking to me.

Especially around here when everybody knows I’m Terror’s girl.

” she said, looking around nervously. Her eyes begged for me to leave her alone, but that wasn’t happening.

She knew nothing about me being here. I leaned close to her and dropped the games.

“Crystal, where is my son?”

I saw her eyes get big as saucers. “Why are you doing this? Why are you here?”

“Because you can’t get shit done, but that is beside the point. I want to see my son.” “No, your father couldn’t get things done! I wasn’t supposed to be a part of a damn thing. I gave him everything I had. He couldn’t make Terror do what he wanted. How is it my fault that your weak ass father—"

I stopped her rant when my hand went to her throat and cut off her wind supply. Her face flushed as her eyes bulged.

“Make my son available tomorrow,” I said, kissing her lips and letting her go. I walked away, and I could see the color had returned to her face when I looked back. She had to realize that it was me she was talking to, not that bitch ass nigga she had been fucking with.