Page 16 of Mafia Kings & Wedding Rings

Sixtine Trevino

W op!

“Bitch, who the fuck you think you talking to?” Skully growled, looming over me after his fist sent me crumbling to the ground.

“Skully! Ease up on her!” My mama exhaled from the Newport she blew on at the small kitchen table.

I expected nothing less from her. There was no way she was going to jump in the middle of some shit that could possibly get her fucked up.

I grew accustomed to her never having my back and only coming to me when she needed me on some fake shit.

It was because of her that I was under Skully’s thumb to begin with, and she had no qualms about it.

“Fuck that! She had one fucking job! It ain’t the one I chose for you either, so let’s be clear on that.

” He lowered himself to my face, eyes dark and cold as the abyss, with his mouth twisted in disgust. “I was about to put you on the stroll with the rest of these bitches, but ya mama begged me to let you be a runner instead. Now you come in here telling me some bitches jumped you and took the work, and you copping an attitude with me?”

Lying there curled up in a ball, I prayed he didn’t keep pounding on me as I thought of my escape.

I’d already packed up my bag. I knew tonight was going to be that night when those bitches jumped me on the block.

I held my own, but it was four against me, so I took an L and lost his pack.

Skully had that name for a reason. Nigga was like the Grim Reaper. He’d take out anybody if it suited him.

“Get yo’ punk ass up!” he barked at me.

Slowly, I stood, chin up, chest out. I might not come from shit or have shit, but I was done with the constant mistreatment and disregard.

Here I was, twenty-two years old with nothing going for me.

I partially blamed my mama. She had six kids, and I was the youngest. Our relationship was sometimes hard to describe.

Most days I hated her, but there were some where she got the mama shit right.

My other siblings all had this twisted loyalty to her, no matter how bad she fucked up or what they had to go through.

Darlene Trevino just had a way about her.

That much was obvious by the type of men she pulled.

“You got forty-eight hours to get me my shit back or the five racks to pay for it. You hear me?”

When I only glared at him and didn’t answer, it enraged him further.

His fist rammed my face so hard I blacked out.

It was the last thing I remember before stirring on the cold hardwood floor of the bedroom where I slept.

Disoriented, I sat up, and my entire head throbbed like techno music at a fucking rave.

I was only able to see through one eye. The other was swollen shut, and I could feel it pulsing.

Slowly turning toward the window in the corner beside the twin bed I slept in, I saw that it was barely dawn since the sky was dark.

Searching the room, I took in a couple of deep breaths and listened for movement in the apartment.

Silence. So I assumed the coast was clear.

It took me a minute to steady myself on my feet, but the minute I did, I stumbled toward the bed.

I’d stuffed the duffel bag under there days ago.

I pushed it to the very back, behind a bunch of shoe boxes, too, so nobody would see it.

Reaching for the strap, I pulled it toward me, wincing in pain.

I slung it over my shoulder and held my side while quietly tiptoeing to the door.

Instead of opening it all the way, I propped it open and gave another listen.

There was the low hum of the fridge and TV in the distance, but no voices.

When I arrived in the doorway to the living room, I found Darlene sprawled on the couch with old episodes of Love and Hip-Hop bouncing across the TV screen.

She loved her ratchet TV if nothing else.

I swear she thought she was a bitch in her twenties rather than a woman pushing fifty with more kids than she had good sense.

Shaking my head at the empty whiskey bottle tipped over and an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts, I quietly moved toward the front door a couple of feet past her.

“The fuck you think you going?” Skully’s rugged voice sent every hair on my arms and neck up.

He’d emerged from their bedroom, which was just a couple of steps from the front door to the small apartment. Pausing with my hand on the knob, I had to think fast.

“Agh! Fucking bitch!” He lunged at me.

Swiftly reaching into the pocket of my hoodie, I pulled the pocketknife out.

Swiping the blade across his face, I watched blood pour from the asymmetrical cut.

When I went to yank the door open, it smacked him dead in the face.

He stumbled back, blinded by the blood in his eyes, and that was my cue to bolt!

I didn’t bother with the elevator. Instead, I ran right past them to the back staircase.

“When I catch you, I’mma kill you, Six!” I heard him threaten as the heavy metal door slammed behind me, and I continued my trek down the concrete steps, skipping some of them.

Since we were on the fourth floor, I had a few more flights to go, and the pungent urine scent was smothering me.

Months ago, I created my own alternate exit through the boiler room in the basement.

Tossing my bag ahead of me, I slipped between the cracks of the locked door.

I made sure to secure it behind me so it looked undisturbed in case someone had come down here to check for me.

By the time I climbed out of the hole, it was pouring down raining, and I could barely see through it.

Looking up and down the block, I wasn’t sure which direction to go, and shadows of his men scattering around the building left me ducking to avoid being seen.

We were in the heart of the hood, and I didn’t have one true friend.

Everyone I knew was somehow connected to Skully or my mama.

The only thing people were loyal to was money around here, and Skully had plenty of it.

With not one soul to turn to, I considered going back as I climbed from that hole.

With little to my name, I wouldn’t get far.

Would it be easier to go back and deal with Skully’s wrath?

A large part of me feared I wouldn’t make it if I did. At this point, what did I have to lose?

Stumbling into the bus station minutes later, cold and wet from the storm, I shook it off and lowered my hoodie before padding toward one of the clerks behind the desk.

“What’s the cheapest ticket you have, and where does it go?” I asked.

It was late, and although there were a few people scattered on benches with luggage or standing around on their phones, it wasn’t busy.

There were three clerks behind the desk, and two of them were in a corner gossiping and not paying attention to anything else.

The older black woman, whose nametag read Sandy, tapped a few keys and looked at her screen before focusing on me.

“That would be $19.50, and it goes to Oak Bluffs, Kansas.”

“Where the hell is that?” I queried, balling my face up.

“Some small town, barely a blip on the map. You want the ticket?”

I stuck my hand in my back pocket for the little bit of cash I had, which equaled about fifty-seven bucks.

I was moving all that weight for Skully and didn’t have shit to show for it.

He controlled everything that came and went from our place.

If we needed something, he’d buy it or send someone else to do it.

He didn’t like leaving me or my mama with cash because he always said we would just end up leaving him like everyone else.

On top of being an abusive asshole, he was also a complete narcissist.

“Yes, please,” I sighed and handed her a twenty-dollar bill.

“There you go. Bus leaves in about forty-five minutes,” Sandy advised, sliding my ticket across the glossy counter.

“Thanks.” I snatched it up and quickly pivoted so I could find a place to sit and not be seen.

I prayed Skully or none of his boys thought to come here.

Deciding to freshen up and check my appearance, I moved quietly through the bus station until I reached a door for the ladies’ restroom.

Dropping my duffel on the counter, I stepped forward in the harsh lighting to get a closer look at myself.

My eye was already black and blue, and it hurt like hell trying to open it and see through it.

Snatching a paper towel from the holder, I held it under warm water to address the blood dried up on my busted lip.

I was going to look fucked up until that swelling went down, but I didn’t care since I’d finally gotten the fuck out of there.

This was going to be the last beating I took.

Once I finished cleaning myself up, I changed into a different shirt to get rid of the one with the blood stains.

Them bitches that jumped me earlier had ripped my shit all up too.

I slid my hoodie back on over it and let myself out into the hall.

Approaching the board that showed all the buses and different routes, I searched for the number that matched my ticket and saw that I now had about twenty minutes left to wait.

Across the street was a little pharmacy that was still open.

I decided to go grab a few things, like something to drink and a snack, then come back to wait for the bus.

I didn’t know how long the ride was to Oak Bluffs, so I decided to check it on the map app on my TracFone while crossing the street.

I was currently in Omaha, Nebraska. According to the map’s estimate, it was maybe a three-and-a-half to four-hour drive.

I ended up stealing an extra charger for my phone, but I grabbed a big bottle of Smart Water, a bag of white cheddar popcorn, and a couple of packs of beef jerky with jalapeno cheese to hold me over.