Page 28

Maasai

I felt bad as fuck having to give my baby such bad news, and it didn’t help that she’d been laid up in bed since she beat her sister’s ass.

I’d tried all types of shit to cheer her up, but she wasn’t having it, and I was afraid I’d have to fuck around and make good on my promise to kill Gabby’s ass, whether the baby got hurt or not.

Pushing our bedroom door open, I carried over the tray of fruit salad, eggs, bacon, and toast with orange juice that the chef had cooked and set it on the side table.

“Get up so you can eat, baby,” I said, nuzzling her neck gently. Groaning, Avery tried to turn over, but I wasn’t having that.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Aves, remember what I said about if something happens to my shorty?” I said in a tone that didn’t sound at all like I was threatening to kill her sister.

I smirked as she pulled the covers down from over her head and nodded slowly.

“Good, now if you don’t want that to happen, then you’ll get up and eat this breakfast.”

I leaned away just enough for her to sit up, and once she had her back pressed against the headboard, I placed the tray on her lap.

When she realized I wasn’t going to move until she started eating, she lifted her fork and spiked a piece of pineapple, shoving it in her mouth and chewing violently, looking like a little ass kid.

Letting out a laugh, I pecked her lips and stood up.

“I gotta go handle some shit today, but I’ll try to be back early. Try not to give Marie a hard time, she’s only here to help.” I ignored her rolling her eyes and kissed her again before finally leaving the room.

Since the other families were pressing me about being MIA so soon after faking my death, I was trying to put in as many hours as I could.

I was setting up a few deals that would have us straight for a minute, and none of them could talk shit about it.

They really couldn’t deny the results anyway, but I still wanted to stay on top of my job.

Then there was locating Jamo. He’d been hiding well and even my best hadn’t been able to find him, but just like with Avery’s sister, I knew he’d eventually surface, and I was going to make sure his ass was dead when he did.

I pulled up to the restaurant I was supposed to be meeting a new potential client named Sean at a half hour early.

I didn’t trust new muthafuckas, and just because they were going to be lacing my pockets didn’t mean I was going to let that have me out here moving reckless.

When I gave my name, the hostess led me back to a private dining room, and I was surprised to see that nigga already sitting at the table.

He smiled big when I stepped inside and stood to greet me.

“Maasai, I see great minds think alike.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I shrugged, narrowing my eyes at him as I accepted the hand he held out to me and gave a firm shake.

“I only just got here about five minutes ago, so I haven’t even had a chance to order a drink yet,” he said, returning to his seat and nodding at the hostess.

“Can you send someone in to get our food and drink orders?” I was immediately annoyed with the way he was talking to her, but I sat down anyway as she shuffled out to do what he said.

“So, you said you were referred by the Morales clan?” I quizzed once we were alone, and he nodded, folding his hands on top of the table.

“Yeah, those are my cousins. I just did a little stint in prison, and I heard you were the best, so here I am.” My jaw instantly tightened at the mention of prison. He was already acting funny as hell, and there was just something about him that I didn’t like.

“You on probation?” I frowned, leaning back in my seat, eyeing him to see where his head was at.

“Nope, I served all my time so I wouldn’t have to be put on papers. You’re looking at a free man, and I’m just ready to get back to the money.” He rubbed his hands together with a grin.

“And who you worked with before this?”

The grin instantly fell from his face, and he mugged me hard.

“Yo, is you twelve or somethin’? Fuck you askin’ me all these questions for?

” Instead of answering shit he’d asked, I stood up calmly and dropped a couple of bills on the table before rebuttoning my suit jacket.

“Hey! Where the fuck you think you going!” he shouted, but I continued to ignore his ass.

I was going to curse my tech people the fuck out because they were supposed to have checked him thoroughly.

I could’ve fucked around and been going to prison instead of watching my baby grow, messing around with that nigga.

Scanning the rest of the restaurant, I searched for anybody who was out of place and clocked about two niggas who looked like undercovers.

The whole place had to have been full of them, and that shit had my skin crawling.

I couldn’t even breathe normally until I had made it out to my car, but I surmised I’d have to get rid of that shit too.

I halfway wanted to go back and get my damn tip off the table.

My first stop after leaving the restaurant was to the chop shop so I could dump the car, and I called Cruz to come pick me up. He talked all types of shit about coming, but in the end, his ass pulled up in even less time than I’d been expecting.

“’Bout time you got here, nigga,” I teased, sliding into his passenger seat, and he snatched off before I could put on my seat belt.

“Shit, you lucky I even came. I was bouta go see Keyani when yo’ ass called,” he said smartly, slouching lower in his seat, and I laughed at the look of irritation on his face. His ass was real-life mad over me making it take longer to see her. I couldn’t wait to tell Aw’sum that shit.

“Now who soft? You over there bouta cry ’cause you ain’t gone see Key for another what, thirty minutes?” I checked the time on my watch.

“Aye, fuck you! I gotta see her at her crib since that shit with Raya’s ass.

Crazy bitch murked Raven and sent her fuckin’ head to me,” he spat, and my eyes widened.

I hadn’t heard no shit like that, but it was believable.

Just about every nigga in the game had heard about how Raya got over niggas, especially during her marriage.

I wasn’t trying to say I told you so, but he’d definitely fucked up instead of just fucking with Keyani from the beginning.

“Damn, how the fuck you gone handle that? Ain’t y’all supplying them now?”

“Not anymore. I told her ass to find another supplier, but that was before the whole Raven thing. I still ain’t even told my pops about that shit, so I know he gone be mad as hell.”

“I don’t know. He old school, so he might not wanna fuck with her anyway,” I reasoned, knowing how some of the old heads liked to discriminate against women in our line of work, and Raya was a prime example of why.

She got dick dizzy easy as hell, and the bitch didn’t show no loyalty to anybody, not even her husband.

If she wasn’t careful, she’d fuck around and get killed messing with people’s lives the way she was.

“That’s what I’m banking on, so when I drop that bitch, it won’t be no need for a war,” his crazy ass said, and I chuckled.

“Fuck you needed me to pick you up for anyway?” he finally asked, and I remembered the bullshit back at the restaurant that had gotten me here.

I told him about the nigga Sean and how the whole scene at the restaurant had rubbed me the wrong way, and he instantly agreed.

We both knew it was better to leave the shit alone than take a chance that could land you in jail.

I’d fucked up, so I was going to have to rectify the situation, starting with the car but ending in finding out if that nigga was really the cops.

After Cruz dropped me off at the crib and I got another car, I headed over to the nigga’s crib that was supposed to run the background check on Sean.

I didn’t even waste my time calling his ass to hear any bullshit, I just rolled up and caught him out on the porch.

As soon as he realized it was my car he was seeing, he tried to run back inside, but I caught up to him quickly and gripped him up by his greasy ass ponytail.

“Aaaaagghh!”

“Shut the fuck up!” I barked, pushing him inside and slamming the door behind us.

Shoving him away from me, I frowned down at my hand, grossed out but not enough to wipe that shit on my clothes.

I looked around but didn’t see anything clean that I could wipe it on, and I got even more irritated.

“I was gone shoot you for that bullshit with Sean, but now I’m bouta shoot yo’ ass for that nasty ass hair! ”

“Wait man, please! I-I ran the check on him! He was clean!” He pulled himself up from the floor, swiping sweat and shit off his face with one hand and holding the other up to ward me off.

“I don’t believe that, so try again,” I said, cocking my gun and aiming it at him.

“Okay, okay! I got caught with some meth not too long ago, and the detective that caught me said he’d cut me some slack if I got one of his men in good with you, but I was going to tell you!

I —” I silenced him with a bullet to the middle of his forehead and cursed.

I should’ve asked what detective it was before I killed him, but it wasn’t going to be too hard to find out who was trying to take me down.

The nigga was clearly on a fool’s mission, but I was just the one for him to fuck with.

Cursing again, I sent a text out to the clean-up crew and headed out, pissed off.

I’d fucked up by letting a meth head in my business, and now I had the police on me.

What a fucked up way to start off my position.

“Fuck,” I huffed, realizing I was going to have to use my suit to open his nasty ass door again.

Fuck getting my shit dry cleaned, it was going to have to go in the trash.

Messing around with this nigga and Sean, I had thrown away a good $70,000 in just under two hours.

I sucked my teeth at the thought and shot dude’s ass again before leaving just as the clean-up crew pulled up.

I called a meeting for the next day with every member of my team, from niggas working the warehouse all the way down to the techies I had on deck.

They all filed into the warehouse, looking afraid, and they should have been.

Nice Maasai was gone, reasonable Maasai was dead, all I was worried about was my freedom, and anybody who was willing to risk that shit should’ve been prepared to die.

I looked around the room at them, some of which had been around since I was a little nigga, but I didn’t see shit but liabilities.

I wanted to scrap all of them and just start over, but that would be even more reckless than what I was currently going through.

“Everybody in this fuckin’ room has been eating off me and my family for years and eating damn good.

Recently, a member of the team did some stupid shit, and now we may or may not be on CPD’s radar.

” I went quiet as low rumbles filled the space.

“I’m not necessarily saying that any of you had shit to do with that, but considering it was a somewhat trusted team member, I need to make sure we all understand what we stand to lose if I feel violated. ”

I searched each face, wondering if any of them were weak enough to sell me out.

They all looked equally as upset about the things I’d said though, so I’d let them make it for now.

I’d already put a call in to the officers on my payroll to try and find out who was looking into me, but apparently the nigga was going rogue.

It wasn’t a command from any of his superiors, so he must’ve had his own vendetta, and that left him open and me in the clear if he was to randomly come up missing once I found him.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I needed Aw’sum’s ass to come back to the city, and I knew he wasn’t going to be happy about it.

Shit, I was probably going to need Cruz’s help too, but that nigga already had too much going on.

With Raya’s crazy ass stalking him, I didn’t need her fucking up what I was doing, so I’d only call him in if it got to that point.

Besides, he was already working to get his position back from Julio.

I sent everybody on their way and went ahead to put in the call to my cousin, knowing I was going to have to hear his damn mouth.

I could handle a little bitching though, if it meant we killed the nigga that was fucking with my freedom.

Shaking my head, I sat down on top of one of the tables in the room as the room emptied out.

I couldn’t believe that just a week ago, I’d been on a fucking beach digging in pregnant pussy, and now I was dealing with this.