Page 28

CHAPTER 28

EARTH

“How many people did you invite?” Citrine asked me as if this shit was legit a big fuckin’ party and nothing else. “I mean, I know you got the permits and shit, right?”

“Permits?” Fire questioned and he nodded. “The fuck kind of permits do you get to kill a nigga?”

“For the block party, dumb ass nigga,” Citrine replied. I watched as people moved around the block, making sure everything was in place. The nosey-ass neighbors didn’t even try to hide the fact they were watching us, but shit, I didn’t blame them. If some nigga I knew didn’t fuck with the nigga who ran this area was sitting in the middle of the road while a party was being set up, I would be watching too. “I’m making sure he got the permits to block off the street and have all this out here.”

“Yeah, I got that handled.” I nodded. “The city is good with the petting zoo, jump houses, food trucks, and the DJ.”

“Baby gonna host this shit?” Citrine asked and I shook my head.

“Nah, Monica still not feeling good, so he said he’s gonna have to sit this one out.”

“She cool?” he asked, concerned. “The baby cool?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “But Baby not takin’ no chances and is putting her ass on bed rest until the baby comes.”

“I already know Monica not feeling that shit.” Citrine laughed.

“Fuck nah,” I said. “She was cussing that nigga out when I talked to him earlier. He didn’t give a fuck, though.” I shrugged. “He said he’d meet us at the warehouse though.”

“Bet,” Citrine said. “Let me go make sure the lady at the food truck is cool though. She was struggling earlier. Something about the ice cream man being in her spot.”

“She must be fine,” Fire said, laughing and Citrine smirked. “I hope she got a nigga.”

“If she does, then that nigga can be handled.” He lifted his shirt to show us his gun, then walked away whistling.

“That nigga ain’t changed in all the years we’ve known him,” I said, laughing. Fire grunted, then went back to eating his food.

“He ain’t gonna change until he finds his better half, like we did,” Fire replied, and I cut my eyes at him. I wasn’t about to play into my brother’s delusional mindset. How or why he thought Lynx would be his woman after he disrespected her was beyond me. “Until then, let him be. He ain’t hurting nobody and them hoes be enjoying his attention.”

I couldn’t even lie, the block party was dope as fuck. It took a few minutes for the neighborhood to start enjoying themselves, but once they did, it was lit. The kids were having the time of their lives with all the shit that was here. The old heads sat around at the tables, eating and playing dominos or card games. The younger crowd sat around their cars, eating, dancing, making TikTok’s, and kicking it. Every so often, I’d seen a nigga who ran with Jamel, but none of them were bold enough to step to me.

“Ay, Earth,” my boy Cash called out from the house we’d kicked in and found the boys in not too long ago. I got up from my seat with Fire behind me with a plate of food in his hand and went to the house. “This the nigga you been looking for?” Cash pushed Leon to his knees. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the top of my leg, and stared at Leon. This was the nigga who made McCoy’s life a living hell when Jamel wasn’t around. There was a piece of me that thought he was in love with her, but I wasn’t sure.

“Yeah, that’s him,” I answered as I leaned against the wall. “Where you find him?”

“The condo,” Cash answered. “He was sitting in the bed, sniffing some panties, when I walked in.”

“Panties?” I questioned and Cash nodded. “Yeah, he said it was his girl’s spot.”

“His girl?” I laughed and shook my head. I walked over to Leon, grabbed him by his throat, and lifted him to his feet. His eyes bulged and he scratched at my hand, but I didn’t give a fuck. “That condo doesn’t belong to your girl, nigga, does it?” I pulled him closer to me. “That muthafucka belongs to McCoy Toliver.”

“She’s my cousin’s bitch.” Leon gasped. “He said he was done with her, and I could have her.”

“Have her?” I slammed him to the ground and kicked him in the face. His head snapped back, and blood poured from his mouth. “How the fuck can he give you something that doesn’t belong to him?” I paced in front of Leon as I tried to get myself together. “Who the fuck do you niggas think y’all are? Do you realize how fuckin’ special McCoy is?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, then spit blood. “I know, which is why I’ma make her my wife. I’m not gonna play around with her like Jamel doing.” He was on all fours with blood falling from his mouth. “I got the ring and everything already.”

“How the fuck you gonna make her your wife when she’s mine?” I kicked him so hard in the stomach, he lifted off the ground for a few seconds before falling onto his face. “She’s my fuckin’ wife!” I stomped into him. “I’m gonna give her my fuckin’ last name! She’s gonna be the mother to my children if she ain’t already pregnant! I’ma protect her from the world! I’ma be her sounding board, her shoulder to cry on. The last person she’ll see before she goes to sleep and the first one she sees when she wakes up.” I continued to kick him even though he wasn’t moving. “She. Belongs. To. Me. Nigga. I. Love. Her!” With each word, I smashed my foot into his face.

“He dead, nigga,” Fire said from beside me. I looked over at my brother, who was still eating his food. “You been stomping him into the ground and declaring your love for McCoy and that nigga dead.”

“He heard me in hell then,” I replied.

“I guess so.” He threw me a roll of paper towels. “Clean yo’ face, you got blood on you.” I ripped some paper towels off the roll and cleaned my face. “You was kickin’ that nigga hard. You got some aggression built up?”

“Shut up, Fire,” I said, shaking my head. I looked down at my clothes to see them splattered with blood. Normally, I wouldn’t walk around with this shit on me, but there was no reason to mess up two outfits since I planned to leave here and go see Jamel. “Call Kino and let him know he has some work.”

“Kino!” Fire leaned back and yelled.

“What’s good?” Kino stepped into the house and looked around.

“Clean up, nigga!”

“Already got a team movin’,” Kino replied with a laugh.

“Bet,” I said. “Have someone head to the warehouse too. I’m goin’ to pay that nigga Jamel a visit next.”

“No problem.” Kino dapped me and Fire up before we left.

I let Fire drive to the warehouse so I could have a minute to get my mind right. The entire drive, he blasted music and let me be. Once we were there, he parked in the back and we went inside.

“How long you been here?” I asked Nine as I dapped him up.

“About ten minutes,” he answered. “I was taking care of that thing you had me looking into.”

“Find out anything?”

“Yeah,” he said. “The file is in your email.” I was hesitant to pull my phone from my pocket to look at it. “It’s good news.”

“I appreciate it,” I said, nodding. “She needs a win.”

“She gonna get one,” he said, then sat down. “Now kill that nigga so I can go home and go to sleep. I gotta be on a flight in the morning.”

“Where you going?”

“To kill some people,” he answered.

“You takin’ Krude with you?”

“Fuck no,” Nine answered. “That nigga isn’t allowed within twenty feet of me.”

“Why?”

“Long fuckin’ story,” he said, shaking his head. “Just know if it weren’t for Mrs. DeCorte, I would’ve killed that nigga.”

“Tell me what happened,” Fire said, sitting next to Nine. “Cuz, he called me going off the other day.”

I walked away laughing because I knew how much Nine and Krude went back and forth with each other. They were good friends, but Nine was a serious kind of nigga and Krude didn’t take shit serious in life. How they worked so well, I didn’t know, but they did, and I wasn’t one to question shit that didn’t have anything to do with me.

Jamel was locked in the last room down a long hallway. I opened the door to find him hanging upside down with cuts on his chest. I shook my head and closed the door. This was Cross’s handiwork; I knew without her telling me she came to visit him. Jamel groaned as he spun in slow circles from the chain.

“Wake up, bitch boy,” I said, smacking him in the face. Jamel opened his eyes and stared at me. “Bet you didn’t expect to see me standing here, did you?”

“Fuck you.” He groaned, and I laughed harder. Even though he knew he was going to die, he was still trying to act tough.

“Damn, nigga, I just knew you’d be happy to see me,” I said, walking around him. Cross had done a number on him. Cuts, bruises, and chunks of skin were missing from his body. “Or did you want to see Cross again?”

“Fuck her too.” He grunted, and I smirked.

“You want me to call her and tell her you miss her?” I taunted. I wasn’t stupid. He was hurting and more than likely lightheaded from losing so much blood. But he wasn’t going to die that easily. “Or you want me to call McCoy?”

Jamel’s eyes bucked open at the mention of McCoy’s name, and I laughed. “Where is she?”

“Who, Coy?” I pretended to act clueless. “Shit, I don’t know, probably at the house, waiting for me to come home and eat her pussy.” I shrugged as I continued to walk around the room. Jamel followed me with his eyes as I moved. Every so often, I would stop and look over at him. “You see, Jamel, you are a weak ass nigga who has a problem with his hands, which ultimately landed you here. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you would’ve died no matter what, but now you get a special kind of death.”

“Where’s McCoy?”

“I already told you,” I said, shrugging. “But you worried about my wife and that’s a no-go for me.”

“She won’t ever love you like she loves me, nigga,” he weakly replied. “That bitch belongs to me. I made sure of that.”

“Or so you thought.” I laughed. “From the moment we were in the same room, we been connected. Shit, I've been living with her for almost two months.”

“Nigga, you ain’t stepped foot in the condo. I know that for a fact.”

“And neither has Coy.” I laughed. “She has a house, a nice ass one, too, and she been at mine.” I sat in the chair across from him. “In fact, I been preparing her for us to live together.” I shrugged. “You know ’cause I plan to propose soon.” I pulled the ring I’d been carrying around in my pocket since I picked it up yesterday and showed it to him. “Nothing too crazy, but I mean, it’s nice, right?” I closed the lid. “It looks way better than that shit you put on her finger.”

“Let me down!” Jamel yelled as he jerked his chains. “I’ma kill you, nigga!”

“No, you aren’t,” I said dismissively. “Now back to our conversation. After I propose to Coy, we gonna have a big ass wedding, I’ma get her pregnant and I’ma make sure she grows as a lawyer and as a woman.” I leaned back in my seat. “You know she wanna open up more offices around the country? I have been looking at properties for her and snatching them up too.” I shook my head and smiled. “I can’t wait to see that shit.”

“Fuck you!”

“Aht, aht,” I said. “No reason to be mean, nigga.”

“I swear I’ma kill your bitch ass!”

I pulled my gun from my back and shot him in the right leg. Jamel’s dramatic ass screamed and I shook my head. “Stop all the dramatics and shut the fuck up.” I set the gun in my lap and waited for him to calm down. He didn’t stop, so I picked up my gun and pointed at his other leg. “Keep screamin’ and I’ma shoot you again.”

“I hate you!”

“That’s fine,” I said, shrugging. “As long as you shut the fuck up so I can finish talking.” I waited for a beat and Jamel finally stopped screaming. “As I was saying, McCoy gonna be cool. I got her.”

“My cousin will kill you.” Jamel groaned.

“You talkin’ about Leon?” I asked, then waved him off. “That nigga dead. I killed him before coming here. See.” I pointed to my clothes. “Anyway, let’s discuss something else.” I sat forward. “You killed Prince, didn’t you?”

“Fuck yeah.” He laughed. “I put a bullet into his skull, then pissed on his body before I left him at the warehouse. I should’ve let the pigs eat him, though.”

“You should’ve just left him alone,” I said, shaking my head. “You know he sent McCoy my way?”

“What?”

“Yeah, the day you killed him, he told her to find me.” I stood and looked over at the tools Cross left on the table near Jamel’s body. A hand saw caught my attention, and I picked it up. “My boy was looking out for me, even before he died. He sent me my wife, and for that, I’ll always be grateful to him.” I looked at Jamel. “But you did three things wrong.”

“Just three?” He laughed.

“Well, three that involved me,” I answered with a shrug. “First was killing my boy. Our street beef didn’t need to involve death, but you are one of those stupid niggas that think they can have it all. The money, women, and street cred, not realizing you have to elevate after a while. The DBB elevated. While you sat around, wanting to just run the streets, we wanted the world. We aren’t the same.”

“DBB ain’t shit.”

“Yeah, we are, which is why you so mad,” I said. “Anyway, the second thing you did wrong was touching McCoy. She was out of your league more than likely from jump and you hated that shit, so you did what every fuck nigga does. You beat her down, mentally, physically and emotionally because you were weak. But don’t worry, I've been taking care of that shit.”

“McCoy wasn’t shit when I met her and she won’t be shit when I’m done with her,” he laughed.

“You a fuckin’ lie and we both know it,” I grunted. “Coy is top tier, it ain’t another woman on this earth that can hold a candle to her and that’s why you latched on to her the way you did.” I shook my head because this nigga was delusional if he thought otherwise.

“McCoy was a piece to the puzzle that I needed. Any good businessman knows he needs an lawyer on his payroll. I wasn’t for dishing out unnecessary money so instead of putting her on the payroll I fucked her. The bitch was lonely; had two friends and no other connections. A nigga like me giving her attention for a little while was all I needed to do. She fell in love with me, and I used her.”

“And that’s where you fucked up,” I replied. “You thought she wasn’t shit and would always be down for your weak ass until a nigga like me came along.” I shrugged. “She ain’t wanted for shit since the moment I claimed her. I dick her down on a regular, pay her bills, protect her, and honor her. It ain’t a nigga in this world that could step to her and make me sweat because I know what the fuck I did for her and who the fuck I am to her.”

“You want a cookie for making her your top bitch or something? I already told you that bitch doesn’t mean shit to me. I can have ten of her in a blink of an eye,” Jamel sneered. He could front all he wanted but I could tell that my words were fucking with him. He might not have loved McCoy, but he knew what she brought to the table and how valuable she was.

“Yeah, okay little nigga keep goin’ with that lie,” I said. “You just talkin’ yourself into an early grave.”

“When I get out of here I’m do you like I did your boy,” Jamel said.

“You’re not getting out of here.” I laughed. “Anyway, you know what I found out that had me confused? You strung McCoy on for years, even though you had a wife.” Jamel clenched his jaw and mugged me hard. “It took me a day or two to find Sienna.” I tapped on the door and Fire dragged in Sienna. She was a beautiful woman. Short, curvy, dark brown skin and an innocent face. She looked at Jamel hanging in the middle of the room, then at me and Fire. “Have a seat.”

“Whatever he did, I didn’t have anything to do with it,” she said, sitting down in the empty chair. She looked scared as hell. From the information Nine got, Sienna was a victim just like McCoy.

“Damn, she don’t like you either?” I asked Jamel.

“Bitch!” he yelled at Sienna. She jumped from the chair and hid behind Fire.

“Ay, he can’t hurt you,” Fire said, shaking his head. “He just wanted you to know you’re free. This nigga never gonna be able to hurt you again. You can start your life over, go to college; shit, move to a different state. It doesn’t matter.”

“Fire, take her out of here,” I said, nodding at Sienna. “Have Nine give her the paperwork he has.”

“Cool,” Fire replied. He opened the door. “Let’s go.”

After they left, I turned back to Jamel and shook my head. “Anyway, the third thing you did wrong was letting me live. If you wanted to run the streets like you said you did, you should’ve killed me too. Leaving me alive was your biggest fuckin’ mistake.”

I turned on the saw and cut into Jamel’s chest. He screamed until he passed out, which only took a few seconds. I set the saw on the table, grabbed the rib spreader, and cracked his chest. His heart barely pumped as he died. I didn’t give a fuck about a slow, painful death. This nigga never cared when he was hurting McCoy. I reached into his chest, grabbed his heart, and pulled it out.

Fuck him.