Page 17

CHAPTER 16

Stephon

Meet me at the firm’s garage in 30

P

Yup

Trigger

Word

N ight had fallen, and the streets were quiet as I headed toward downtown. Not many people hung out there on Sundays, opting to prepare for the workweek. It was precisely where I wanted to be. I was pent-up. I don’t know how I found the strength to pull out of Jourdan. The whole thought of not being deep inside her right now was further pissing me off. Since I couldn’t release it how I wanted, I channeled it into anger. That anger would be taken out on Malik, the man locked away in the garage’s basement.

I pulled up and entered the code to open the gate, patiently waiting for it to open. Pulling in, I scanned the lot for Trig and P, who hadn’t arrived yet. I still preferred to be the first one in any place. Besides that, I needed to calm down. I was bound to fly off the handle and kill this man off the strength. P and Trig hyped me up, and I’d usually let them, but I needed information. With Burk’s death, I feared he hadn’t had time to connect with Miller. I knew what Miller wanted; it wasn’t a great mystery that needed to be solved. He wanted the top. What puzzled me was what he wanted from my mother.

Since we left New York, I had never seen my mother with a man. Not that I was privy to all her business, but the way Miller talked to her, and she didn’t seem fazed by it, bothered me to no end. That was now my primary reason for wanting this meeting.

I parked by the door, killed the engine, and opened the rear cab. From there, I changed out of my sneakers and into my all-black Timberlands. Before I could make the switch, something caught my eye. It was a tiny, silver device, approximately two centimeters in diameter.

Did Jourdan put a tracker on me?

I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It was either one of two reasons why she’d placed it there. Either she had the same trust issues I did or was wildly possessive. The fact that she did had me smiling. I left the tracker where she’d put it, then fished for my hoodie. I threw it on along with my ski mask, rolling it up. The last thing I needed was in my lockbox. I entered the code and took out my holster, draping it around my shoulders .

I was pent up and planned on ridding myself of some of this aggression, but I needed the twins to do that. So I took one and removed the clip and the bullet from the chamber. I replaced it with an empty clip and tucked it in the back of my sweats. My other twin went fully locked and loaded into the holster under my left arm. By the time I finished, Trig and P had pulled in, parking beside me. They knew not to be a minute late. Punctuality was a must under my command. They both exited their cars, dressed in all black and wearing ski masks, just like mine.

“What’s good, Rock? You ready to handle that nigga in the basement already?” Trig said as I dapped him up.

“Did you just get some pussy?” Trig asked, leaning his head to the side in question.

“Nah, why?” I asked. Then, I discreetly smelled myself before I smiled again. Jourdan’s scent was all over me, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he was right. Besides, I didn’t want anyone to know what my wife’s pussy smelled like. It was grounds for dismissal. The kind that made your family deem you as missing. I was once again claiming this woman as belonging to me, and I hadn’t even put a damn ring on it. I needed to handle that.

Wife? Yep, that woman owns you!

“You a damn lie. You know I have a sensitive nose, especially for that.”

“Aw shit, here his ass go. This nigga Trig swear he a damn bloodhound for pussy,” P said as he leaned on the door of his car.

“Nah, I don’t run red lights, but I for damn sure can sniff one out,” He yelled out, then started barking like a dog. I dramatically made a show of looking around. I placed my hands over my eyes and squinted to look off in the distance.

“Yo, who in the hell is that? Is that Jade?” I asked. He spun around, looking in the direction I had. In perfect timing, a random car was coming down the block. All the color drained from Trig’s complexion. P immediately started laughing.

“Damn, Jade got your ass on lock. Rock is fucking with you,” P said as he continued to laugh.

“Nah, you weren’t there when she popped up on me at the mayor’s ball last night. She took all the laces out of my shoes. Talking about how I didn’t need them since my ass didn’t want to be tied down. I had to wear my Yeezy slides to the gym this morning. I almost broke my damn ankles on the treadmill,” Trig said, with both P and I laughing loudly.

“Trig, why in the hell would you? Never mind,” I said as I continued to laugh and walked off.

“Bring your goofy ass on.” We all filed into the building, not even bothering to turn on the lights. The building was equipped with off-peak hour lighting. It was enough to see and deter any break-ins. Unlike last night, there was a car in the bay and one on the lift. My mechanics sometimes came in on Sundays to get a jump start on my fleet’s maintenance.

“You were with that fine-ass woman who had on one of our uniforms, weren’t you? I ain’t say shit because you didn’t, and I knew your ass saw her. I figured she was with you. That’s her all over you, right?” Brody asked .

“No, your ass didn’t say shit because you weren’t doing your damn job,” I said because he just wouldn’t let it go.

“Wait, what woman?” P asked, confused by the whole conversation.

“Will both of you niggas get off my dick. Please!” I said over my shoulder as we continued down the hall. Once we arrived at my office door, I entered my code.

“So what’s the plan? He done with tonight?” P asked.

“That depends. If he answers correctly, he’s as good as gone,” I said.

“Oh, but first, did Burks set up that meet-up?” His answer would determine how I approached the man in the basement because I was the only one here who knew Burks was dead.

“Yeah, Burks gave me the direct line to his right hand. He called me right before Mike picked him up for the ball. I know how you feel about your Sundays, so I was going to tell you tonight during our check-in,” P said, gauging my reaction because he withheld information. Luckily for him, I wasn’t concerned with his timing because I wouldn’t have wanted anyone interrupting my time with Jourdan, especially not for this unimportant shit. I fanned my hand, indicating for him to continue.

“He said to give him two weeks to set up the location and time. He said that Miller would be out of the country.” I nodded, digesting the information that he’d just given me.

“Let’s go to work then,” I said. I looked at Trigger, who nodded, ready as well. I turned to my bookcase and entered the code to open it. The bookcase slid to the side, and automatic fluorescent lights illuminated the staircase. We went down the landing and directly to the room where he was being held. Before entering, we all dropped our masks, and then I slowly opened the door. The air was stale and thick. Luckily, he’d found the toilet because if I had to smell his foul ass odors also, I may have just gone ahead and shot him.

It had only been twenty-four hours since I’d chained him to the floor in complete darkness. I wasn’t expecting to get much from him. He wasn’t broken enough; fight or flight desperation would make his mouth move. He quickly sat up, covering his eyes to shield them from the bright lights as they adjusted. He immediately looked around the room, taking note of everything in it, which wasn’t much. His eyes finally found the food and water I’d left. He quickly devoured a slice of the bread and chugged the water. I’m unsure how he hadn’t felt it because I placed it by his feet.

“Word on the street is that your boss wanted to see me. Tell me why.”

“Shit, you know why. Everybody wants to wear the crown,” he said.

“Why would some old washed-up motherfucker like Miller be looking to take over now?” I asked.

“He’s been trying for a long time, ever since he moved from LA back in the day,” he said. My mind began to turn, and I felt like I was piecing together pieces of a puzzle that didn’t fit. However, when he spoke of Cali, I decided I didn’t want him to say another word tonight .

“P, go to the kitchen and get his ass another bottle of water. Pour a third of it out.” I didn’t know when I would return, but I didn’t want him to die of thirst and starvation before I did.

“You don’t want to know anything else. I’ll tell you everything you want to know; just let me go,” he pleaded. He was a little too eager for me, and I didn’t like that. You could almost assume that Miller had banked on his man getting caught with how he was trying to feed me information. I took the bottle from P and walked it over to where I’d set the last one. I wanted to test the theory.

“I’ll be back,” I said as I looked into his eyes. The longer I stared, the more it angered him, and that was exactly what I wanted. I took my key and unchained him. If he really thought that I was going to let him out of here alive, then it meant that he was just running his mouth because he was a pussy, and a snitch.

“I’ll tell you what if you can get a lick in. I’ll let you tell me everything you know right now and leave.” He stood in a fighter's stance, and I did the same.

Shit, he’s just a damn snitch.

My former thoughts disappeared after he took my proposition at face value. If it were me, I would have taken my death like a man and never said a fucking word. I studied his stance to see if he would be a worthy opponent. He wasn’t, at least not to me. I dropped my hands from my face, lowering my defense. His first punch came swiftly. I leaned back to dodge his advance. I let him get off a couple more attempts while I danced around him. He charged me again, throwing a combination right hook and jab with his left. This time, I threw my hands up to block .

“Come on, Rock, stop playing with this man,” Trig said. The frustration was showing on my opponent’s face as he continued to swing, using more and more of his energy.

“You’re right!” I exclaimed. I stopped toying with him and took the gun from my back. I flipped it, gripping the barrel, and held it out for him to take. He cautiously took it from my grasp.

“Go ahead,” I taunted. Without a second thought, he lifted the gun and pulled the trigger. Then, he started to squeeze it in rapid succession. After he’d run out of desperation, I took out my gun and shot him in the leg. It was a perfect shot that was meant to cause enough pain to agonize him until I returned. The effect was already present as he leaned over, gripping his thigh.

“Stand the fuck up.” When he did, I got back into my fighter’s stance, egging him on again. His first swing missed its mark, and so did the one after. Figuring I’d finally gotten my fill, I caught him in the gut on one of his wild swings, then uppercut him to the chin, dropping him cold.

“Ooh, shit! Is his ass snoring? Yeah, he ain’t waking up until tomorrow, maybe not even then,” P said. I turned to find him and Trig kneeling over his body, fist to mouth, laughing.

“Somebody needs to teach his ass how to squabble,” Trig followed, filling the room with more laughter.

“Y’all’s ass needs to grow up,” I said, smiling and shaking my head at their antics. I kneeled and chained his wrist back up, then stood to leave with P and Trig, turning off the light and locking up behind me. Once we reached the top of the stairs, Trig started asking questions .

“I know that’s not all you wanted to know, so why did you hold off?”

“I have something else I need to handle before I ask him for the rest. Are you good with that, or are you going to keep questioning me like I don’t run shit around here?” I asked.

“Nah, Rock, we good! Shit, I’m trying to wake up tomorrow I got shit to do. I can’t afford to sleep that long,” Trig returned. I heard P laughing behind us. I needed to dive deeply into Miller’s past; I wanted to know everything I could about him. However, it would have to wait. I needed to rest my body and mind.

“I’m out. Y’all lock up,” I said as I headed out of the building. They nodded and began laughing and talking again about how I had knocked Miller’s man out. I let their voices fade as I continued to my truck so that I could head home.