Page 18

CHAPTER 18

EARTH

“She’s in good hands with your mama,” Pop said, and I nodded.

“I already know,” I replied, running my hand over my face. I needed a shave and haircut. “I need y’all to keep an eye on her while I go do some shit.”

“Take your brother with you.” Pop handed me the gun in his hand, and I nodded. “Don’t do shit that can be linked back to y’all.”

“Never,” I said, shaking my head. I dapped him up, pulled him into a quick hug, and went to find Mama and McCoy.

“Breeze will be here in a little while,” I heard Mama say as I pushed open her bedroom door. McCoy sat on the edge of the bed while Mama paced in front of her. I knew how my mama was. She didn’t give a fuck about pissing anybody off, but she was loyal to a fucking tee. That was why I knew bringing McCoy here was the smartest thing to do.

“Coy?” I called out, and she looked up at me and smiled. “Come here, baby.” She got up from the bed and walked over to me. I pulled her to me and kissed her lips. “I gotta make a run, go pick up Fire, and make some shit happen.”

“Are you going to kill him today?” she asked, getting straight to the point.

“Nah.” I laughed and shook my head. “I want to make that nigga suffer. I’ma take down his whole crew, then come for that nigga.” There was no reason to beat around the bush and play like she didn’t know what the fuck I was going to be on. “After I get back, we are going out to dinner. Dress in something sexy.”

“I—”

“I’ll call Shaka and Mahogany,” Mama interjected before Coy could turn me down. I nodded, then dropped another kiss on McCoy before leaving.

“Fire outside,” Pop said when I returned to the living room. He was sitting on the couch, smoking a blunt and watching SportsCenter. “He got Domo and West with him.”

“Appreciate it, Pop.”

My brother stood, leaning against McCoy’s truck while Domo and West Donovan talked. Domo was a cool nigga, goofy just like the rest of Fire’s crew, but he had a little bit more of a serious side, especially since he’d gotten with Aurora Cooper. West Rollin was just as crazy as Fire. Nigga was trigger-happy and had a mean streak a mile long.

“If we ain’t killin’, I’on need to be here,” West said as I dapped him up. “I ain’t had pussy, and I’m short-tempered.”

“Soren still ignoring your ass?” I asked with a laugh. Soren was his friend who didn’t give that nigga the time of day. She hooped professionally in the WNBA with Krude’s cousin. She was good as hell, too. She was one of those women who played ball with the fellas growing up, so her game was different. I had nothing but respect for her and loved seeing her shine.

“She won’t give a nigga the time of day even after she saw me drop all my hoes a few weeks ago,” West answered, and I laughed. “I swear as soon as her season is over, I’m snatching her ass up, and I don’t give a fuck who got something to say about it.”

“This nigga was kidnapped by his woman, so he can’t say shit.” Fire laughed, and I mushed his head. “Don’t be mad at me ’cause you got snatched.”

“Fuck you, nigga,” I replied, then dapped up Domo, who was laughing. “The principal let you out to play, nigga?”

“Plum put my ass out as soon as she saw this nigga name pop up on my phone.” Domo shrugged. “Said I’m stressing her out or some shit like that.”

“Tell me what’s going on while we ride,” I said, unlocking McCoy’s truck.

We climbed in and drove to the city and into Jamel’s neighborhood. Domo broke down his issues with his woman on the drive over, and I listened. They’d been through some shit, and their relationship was pretty new, so I knew my boy was going through it. But he loved Aurora and wasn’t about to let shit change that.

“What’s the plan?” Fire asked as we sat in front of one of Jamel’s trap houses. I didn’t need his drugs or money, but I was going to take shit on the principle. He couldn’t keep his hands off McCoy, then I was going to give that nigga something to stress over. “We just going in there, snatching and knockin’ them niggas off?”

“Yep,” I answered with a nod. It wasn’t dark, so the block was active. Niggas sat on porches, talking and smoking. Bitches walked up and down, trying to get niggas’ attention, and kids played.

“It’s kids over there,” Fire said, nodding toward a small group of kids three houses down.

“They know how to scatter,” West said as he checked over his gun. “But just in case, I’ll shoot once into the ground to get them moving.”

Nothing else needed to be said as we got out of the car. West let off a round into the ground near us, and just like we expected, everyone scattered. I kicked the front door of the trap house in, and without a care as to who was there, started shooting. I killed the first two niggas I saw sitting on the couch while Fire killed the two standing in the back. We moved through the house. Each room had at least two people in it that we killed, but we all paused at the last room. A baby crib sat in the middle of the room, and a little boy no older than one sat in the middle of the crib. He was filthy and stunk.

“This nigga had a kid in here?” Fire asked, picking the little boy up. He didn’t even cry; he stared at Fire, then smiled, showing a few teeth in his mouth. Fire looked at me and shook his head. “I’m not leaving him, man.”

“The fuck you gonna do with a kid, Fire?” I rebutted, knowing it didn’t matter. My brother wasn’t letting the little boy go. Fire stared at me with a twisted expression on his face. “You know what, take him. Grab whatever you think you gonna need.”

“I’on want none of this shit,” Fire said, kicking at boxes in the corner of the room. A little boy identical to the baby in his arms crawled out from behind them when they fell. “It's two of y'all?” Fire stuffed his gun in his pants and picked up the other little boy. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”

“You got the money?” I asked Domo, who nodded. He looked over at Fire, then back at me, and I shook my head. “He ain’t gonna leave them here.”

“This nigga pulled two kids out of thin air and Krude walking around, talkin’ about he pregnant by Megan. Plum giving me a baby for sure now,” Domo replied.

We made our way out with the money, drugs, and two babies. I knew no one would say shit to the police if they came, but for good measure, I made sure the block saw my face. This might have been Jamel’s neighborhood, but niggas knew not to fuck with me. Plus, I wanted Jamel to know I’d done this shit and for the streets to see he was a fucking liar. He’d told them he’d killed me; now he was going to have to explain me taking out one of his trap houses.

“Nigga, let’s go. I gotta get these babies in some water! They stink!” Fire yelled from the passenger seat. I nodded, got in, and pulled off, ensuring I took my time leaving.

“He stole a baby, Young!” Mama yelled as she paced in front of Fire and me. The babies were bathed and fed and now sleeping on a pallet on the floor next to the couch. “Oh no. Not just one but two!”

“They were in a trap house, Mama,” Fire said as he patted the boys on their backs so they wouldn’t wake up. “I wasn’t about to leave them.”

“Did you find a birth certificate?” Mama questioned, and we shook our heads. “Did you look for one?”

“Nope,” Fire answered with a smirk. “I can get that shit if I need it.”

“If you need it?” She stared at Fire like he had two heads. “How the hell do you expect to raise two kids without one? Or a social?”

“I’ll get that shit made, too,” Fire replied with a grunt. “It ain’t hard if you know the right people, and I know the right people.”

“Fire!”

“Mama.” He cut her off and shook his head as he stood. “They are my boys now. You’re either going to accept and love them like they came from my nuts, or we’re out. It's simple. You ain't gotta agree with how they got here, but I wouldn’t be the man I am if I left them there.”

Mama and Fire stared at each other for a second before she nodded and pulled Fire into a hug. “Name them, and it better be something good, too.”

“Ocean and Lake,” Fire said, hugging Mama back. “We already got the other elements. We might as well finish it off.”

“Whatever!” she said, pushing away from him. “Get into contact with whoever you need to get in contact with and get the paperwork together. The last thing you need is to get caught up with two kids that aren’t yours.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He laughed. “Now start loving on them babies ’cause I bet they need it.”

“Let them sleep,” Mama said, staring down at them. “I bet this is the first time in their short lives they’ve slept on a full belly and in a clean diaper.”

“No doubt,” Fire agreed, then clapped his hands. “Well, let’s start shopping then ’cause I don’t know what kids need, and they gonna need a lot of shit.”

I left Mama and Fire talking in the living room and searched for McCoy. I told her to be ready to go when I returned, but I hadn’t gotten a chance to do the same. I found her in my room, fast asleep. I took a quick shower, dressed in ball shorts and a wife beater, and climbed in the bed with her.

“You’re back?” she asked without opening her eyes.

“Yeah, Coy,” I answered as I pulled her close.

“You okay?”

“Now I am,” I answered honestly as I buried my face in her neck. “Ay, I gotta ask you something.” She rolled over and stared at me. “Does Jamel have any kids you know of?”

“No, why?”

“There were two babies at the trap house we went to,” I said as McCoy sat up. “We didn’t leave them; they’re downstairs.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding.

“You wanna go see them?” I asked, trying to figure out where her head was. There was a chance her nigga had kids on her. Even though they had a fucked-up relationship, I knew shit had to hurt to some degree.

“No,” she denied, shaking her head. She stretched her arms over her head, making her shirt lift and pushing her titties up. I licked my lips.

“Why not?”

“I always knew Jamel wasn’t shit, I can’t deny that, but they aren’t his kids.” She shook her head.

“How do you know that?” I reared back to get a good look at her face. “Nigga’s nuts didn’t drop something?”

“They did but got pushed back up there when he was ten.”

“What?” I laughed.

“He said he had an accident when he was younger. He was riding his bike and slipped somehow and dropped onto the middle bar instead of the seat and fucked himself up.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. “He can’t have kids, so those babies aren’t his.”

“Man, that’s crazy.” I continued to laugh. “But get up, we ’bout to head home.”