Page 9 of Welcome to the Table

I noticed the two duffel bags on the floor and figured they were filled with money.

The females around him didn’t know they were about to meet their maker, just as this nigga was, but that was a them problem.

Smoke escaped my ears; I hated a thieving ass nigga.

If you knew you had a debt to be paid, why not fucking pay it?

I despised a nigga who thought he could lie his way out of shit.

But little did he know, he was about to die his way out of a lot of shit.

I felt my pocket, and just as I thought, I had my ballistic knife with me.

I slaughtered shit; fuck a gun. I didn’t even know how to shoot guns.

I didn’t like them. I was in love with knives and blades.

My fascination with knives started when I was ten.

Not just any food cutting knives, but the shit that could slice yo’ shit to the bone just by looking at it too hard.

I used to help my mother in the kitchen, prepping the food for her to cook, and she would be surprised by how precise my technique was.

She thought it was cute until I got to high school, and a nigga thought I was scary and called himself bullying me because of how I looked.

I was tall for my age with skin the color of charcoal and sea green eyes.

While most probably thought the shit was cute, this one nigga would talk shit every day.

I let the shit go on for about a week before I told Athena.

She made me promise not to tell my father because he would light the fucking school up and hunt for the nigga’s parents and light their asses up.

She whispered in my ear, “The next time that nigga tell you something, handle yo business,” and she slid me the most beautiful pocketknife I had ever laid eyes on.

It was black with my name engraved in red on it.

I held it in the palm of my hand, and she closed it. I looked at her.

“A mother knows her son. That’s all the weapon you need.

It’ll get the fucking job done if that lil nigga fucks with you again.

” And just like that, she was back to humming her song and cooking the food.

The shit was crazy. She turned and winked at me and continued singing some shit that I couldn’t understand.

The next day at school, that big nigga came fucking with me while I was in the bathroom.

In one swift motion, I slit that nigga from ear to ear and watched him fall his big ass to the ground in slow motion.

I squatted to where he was and watched the nigga bleed out.

I grabbed his shirt to wipe the fucking blood off my knife and walked out of the bathroom to my class.

I walked straight to the teacher’s desk and whispered, “I just killed the bully in the bathroom.” She damn near fell out of the chair trying to get up to get assistance.

Long story short, nothing happened because my father had everybody in his fucking pocket, and I went home with a suspension. ’Til this day, I don’t know what the fuck happened, but it was never talked about again, and they switched my school.

“Nigga, what we doing with the fucking rope? You are blacking out and shit. In and out, remember? The fuck you thinking about?” Hollygrove snapped me out of my mind, and I looked at him holding the rope in his hand.

“We gon’ tie that nigga up and make those money hungry bitches watch. They ain’t gon’ do shit because they gon’ be in shock,” I told him as we got further toward him.

Unlike me, Hollygrove carried a black Glock 19 everywhere he went. That was his second layer of skin, and he never missed.

I walked on the left side, and he went to the right as we circled this nigga until we were in front of him. Just as I thought, the bitches didn’t utter a word. They knew exactly who I was and what I was there for.

“What the fuck do we have here? Nigga, you trying to skip town with my fucking money. Then, you trying to get fancy and use the money counter to make sure you got the right fucking amount to get away, huh?” I walked back and forth in front of him, smiling.

Hollygrove was behind him with his gun pointed at the back of the nigga’s head.

“Nah, Grove, we ain’t shooting today. You could put that away.” I nodded my head toward him, but never took my eyes off the nigga before me.

“Nigga, you trying to talk, but I’m ready to go.” I forgot how his nerves could get. This nigga was liable to let his shit rip if I took too long. I pulled my dreads back and used the thick rubber band that I had around my wrist. My shit was nicely crinkled, and I didn’t want to fuck it up.

“Tie this nigga up,” I told Grove.

I knew he could handle the shit because he was twice my size and had the fucking strength of an ox.

At the gym, this nigga bench pressed at least 350, so this shit was light work.

He grabbed the nigga by the neck, flipped him out of the chair, and slammed him on the ground.

I watched as he tied this nigga’s wrists together, then brought them down to his ankles.

“Nigga, leave enough room for me to do what I gotta do,” I told him, and he nodded.

“Say less. I got you.” He gave me a half smile, picked the nigga up, and sat him in the chair.

Something on my right caught my eye. I turned to look and noticed a nice, thick lil redbone with hazel eyes and a button nose.

She had to be his main bitch because she was the only one who didn’t look scared.

Like she knew we were coming, and that shit made my dick hard.

She was dressed in a net all in one, and I knew her entire body was fucking fake.

That’s what the fuck my money was being spent on, her plastic ass body.

That pissed me off, but I had something for her ass.

“You, bring yo’ ass here.” I pointed at her, and her eyes met mine.

She never wavered. She looked at the nigga who was tied up.

“Nah, fuck that nigga. Look at me.” I winked at her, and she smiled like I was about to talk to her sweet. But I was about to humiliate her. I pointed my finger at him.

“Please don’t kill me. I just work for him. I didn’t know about the side shit he had on!” she cried, but it didn’t move me.

“This yo’ nigga? You were about to take my money and run off with this nigga and spend my fucking cash.” My eyes pierced hers, and she began to crumble before me.

“Nah, don’t get scared now. Answer the fucking question. You were a bad bitch when we walked in here, and now you scared? You gotta be shitting me, but I got something for you,” I told her, waving my hand for her to come to me. She took hesitant steps toward me, and I laughed on the inside.

Once she was standing before me, my hand went to the top of her head and pushed until she was on her knees. Her face held shame for what she thought she’d have to do.

“Man, don’t do this shit. I got yo’ money.” The nigga was begging, and I couldn’t have cared less.

“Nigga, you a month or two late. That wasn’t my fucking money. You were about to leave with my shit. And shut the fuck up. You know what the fuck it is. Melph don’t play about his money, and you already in the fucking hole. Fuck you and this bitch,” I told him.

“This must be the one you fucking with because you begging for her life, and yours is about to end. Money is the root of all evil, nigga, and you just stepped in the devil’s pond and made a deal that yo’ ass about to burn in,” I said.

“Nigga, we ain’t got time for no shit. I knew you was about to be on dumb shit. You prolonging it when you know we got somewhere to be,” Grove said, standing behind Taco Meat, who was sitting in the chair.

He knew I was thinking of some shit to pull off because I was quiet. I didn’t believe in disrespecting women unless they needed it or returned the favor. I was a wild man, but I knew how to control myself with a lady. I threw a black bandana at her.

“Cover your eyes with this.”

She looked up at me. “No. Whatever you gon’ do to me, I wanna see. You don’t get to kill me with my eyes covered,” she barked at me.

I nodded my head up and down and walked behind her. I pulled the bandana around her eyes, tying it tight as fuck.

I discreetly grabbed my knife, pretended to bend over, and reached my hand under her neck, slicing quickly. She gargled as her blood sprayed, and I pushed her backward. Grove took that as a sign to shoot every bitch in the room.

Pew pew pew

That took care of the other women in the room. I looked down and watched duck lips take her last breath while holding her neck with blood oozing out of it like a river. I smiled as I watched her die. Shit made my dick harder.

“Noooooooo, why did you do that? I was going to give you the money. That was my wife,” Taco Meat said.

I walked over to him.

“Nigga, blood splatter. Wipe that shit.” Grove nodded his head toward my face. He never loosened his grip on Taco Meat.

“That bitch made my face dirty.” I walked over to where Taco Meat was, grabbed his shirt, and wiped my shit off with it. After I cleaned my face, I looked at him.

“Any final words or thoughts?” I asked as a courtesy.

He remained silent. I whipped my knife out, and Grove moved his arm just in time for me to slice his shit. Grove let that nigga fall to the ground, and I went over to pick up the bags. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and dialed my cleanup crew.

“Cleanup at the Nile,” I said, and disconnected the call.

I threw one of the duffle bags to Grove, and we walked out the same way we walked in.

I nodded at the bartender before we made our exit.

We threw the bags on the back seat and got in the car to take off.

I was ready for some fun, and Melph would get the bags later at the meeting he had planned for us.

“Nigga, you wild. You really had ole girl about to suck yo’ dick. You gotta stop that shit,” Grove said with a laugh.