Page 14

The Cold Shoulder

I felt terrible as I left the house with Gavin. In no way did I think Alexis would be okay with me leaving but she took it a lot harder than I anticipated. We had been in each other’s lives for a long time, but she had never seen me dressed like this. This was the part of my life that I never wanted to be involved with while we were together. As Gavin and I headed to meet with the other club members, I tried to get my mind off of Alexis. I promised her I would be back, and I fully intended to keep that promise.

Gavin and I arrived at the club house and the crew was outside waiting for us. We exited the car and walked over to the patio area where they were seated.

“Aye, the gangs all here,” Jaxx said announcing our arrival.

“What’s good, brothers? Are we ready to ride out?” I asked. I looked around but didn’t see Tiny anywhere. Two of our prospects were missing as well. Uncle Will walked over to me.

“Nephew, we sent the prospects to scope the area for us. Tiny is with them so we can distract him,” he explained.

“Cool, cool. So it looks like everything is in place,” I asserted.

“I just want to make sure you’re good before we ride out. You trust that shoulder to move the way you need it to?” he questioned.

“Don’t worry, Unc. I wouldn’t be out here if I didn’t. I’m all good. Let’s get this over with so I can get back to my girl. She wasn’t feeling being left with Gavin’s security,” I explained.

“That’s my girl Lexxy. She ain’t taking no shorts not even from you.” He chuckled.

When my uncle walked over to his bike, the rest of the crew followed suit. Gavin was going to drive me since I couldn’t ride. We trailed behind everyone, allowing the crew to lead the way. Gavin let some music play on the radio, but I tuned it out as I got into my zone. I never preferred to go on another crew’s turf but in this instance it wasn’t avoidable.

The rumor was that the First Street Crew was staying on their side of town until they found Abel. While they were busy looking for Abel, I was on the hunt for the fool that shot me. I didn’t believe they had sent him away. They didn’t have those kinds of resources. They were doing okay in the streets, but they didn’t have any real money.

Thirty minutes later, the crew pulled up on Greenstreet Road where the First Street Crew hung out. Gavin and I exited the car and joined the rest of our guys. We were headed inside of the restaurant of the First Street crew. I noticed our two prospects Jake and Toby along with Tiny heading in our direction. Once everyone was accounted for, we were led by Uncle Will and Tone inside the spot. Gavin, Jaxx, and I entered right behind them. From what I could see there were only five members of their crew out front. There was no way to know how many were in the back, so it was hard to tell if we were outnumbered.

“Hey, homie, tell Oz we’re here to see him,” Uncle Will said to the young dude that was behind the bar.

The dude looked a little unsure of his next move but one of his people gave him a nod. That was his signal to do what was asked of him. We waited and continued to look around for any potential threats while we waited on Oz to show his face. I caught Tiny with a funny expression on his face out the corner of my eye. There were too many people in the room for me to continue to look over at him, but I needed to keep an on him for sure. Tiny being here and looking around… something wasn’t sitting right with me. His behavior made me feel like he set up Abel to get robbed by these dudes. Tiny could have started the shootout, so the First Street Crew didn’t tell Abel about him being a traitor. It could have been a hunch but that’s what I felt in my gut.

Eventually Oz brought his ass out from the back. He brought five guys out with him too. Now there were about ten of them, but we were twenty deep, and I was comfortable with that.

“Y’all should have brought Abel with y’all if you were stepping foot in my establishment,” Oz said with too much bravado in his voice.

“We’re here to help you shift your focus from Abel. Abel let us know he never fired his weapon that day. Is there something you want instead of Abel? Since he is not an option,” Uncle Will explained.

“OG, I have a lot of respect for you, so here is my compromise. I want the guns originally offered to us, and I want the other dude that was with your man Abel that day. If Abel is saying he isn’t the shooter, I’m assuming the other dude is,” Oz countered.

My Uncle snapped his fingers, and the prospects dragged Tiny over to where he stood with Oz. Tiny tried his hardest to fight them off, but it was of no use. Even if he got free from the prospects, the rest of the crew would have handed him over just the same.

“Come on, OG, I didn’t fire my gun either. Abel was the one that got me caught up in all this,” Tiny pleaded.

“You know the rules. When you do business outside the club that affects the club you have to deal with the consequences,” Uncle Will said to him.

“Listen, I can see about the guns but that’s not something my club dabbles in. The guns for sale were from Abel’s private collection. I can see what I can do about getting them to you if you give me a couple of days,” Uncle Will explained to Oz.

“I’m a reasonable man so a couple days is fine,” Oz said. Then he pulled a gun from behind his back, and I pulled mine from my left holster. Oz shot Tiny right in the forehead and put his gun back in his waistband. We all looked on as Tiny’s body dropped. I never put my gun away, and I kept my eyes focused on Oz.

“Aye, homie, where is the little dude that shot me outside my shop? We gave you Tiny, now I need whoever shot me. Fair is fair,” I declared.

“Not the big bad Wolf speaking on some fair shit. Nah, homie. The same way y’all are protecting Abel is the same way I’m protecting my family. I can’t give you my little cousin, dog,” Oz explained.

“Yeah, alright. You can’t keep him hidden forever. Little homie gotta come out sometime. Just know when he does it’s on sight. I can’t let any man that pulls on me live to talk about it,” I declared.

There was no use in going back and forth with him. I knew how the game went. If it wasn’t a family member he probably would have given him the same treatment we gave Tiny. None of that mattered to me. I meant what I said. I was a man of principle, so I would keep my people on lookout until I found who I was looking for.

With that we all exited the restaurant one by one. I didn’t put my piece away until I was outside. This shit wasn’t over for two reasons. One, I knew Able wasn’t giving up those guns. It wasn’t about the guns; it was the principle. Abel wanted to get rid of the guns, but the First Street Crew fucked that up. He probably had already sold them to another crew by now. And the second was Oz wouldn’t take lightly to me keeping my gun trained on him. He would be looking for some sort of retaliation.

The crew hopped back on their bikes like Gavin, and I got back in his car. We followed the crew back to our clubhouse. Gavin turned the music on, but I turned it back down.

“I need you to get your people to find this little cousin of his,” I commanded.

“You know I got you. We have already been looking for him. I won’t stop until we bring him to you,” Gavin assured me.

“Good looking,” I said. Gavin turned the radio back up and I let the music distract me from what I wasn’t able to accomplish today. I bought Abel some time but how much time I wasn’t certain of. We pulled into the parking lot of the clubhouse and exited the car. The rest of the crew was on the patio already and in the middle of a discussion.

“Wolf, we all know Abel isn’t going to give them shit. We have to go to phase two of this plan,” Uncle Will expressed.

“Today didn’t go as planned. Now that we know for certain these dudes don’t just want the shooter, we have to move on to a new plan. If they only wanted vengeance for their dead leader, killing Tiny would have been sufficient. They still won’t tell me who shot me. Now we have to come up with a plan to exterminate their crew. As long as they’re breathing Abel isn’t safe. Shit none of us are honestly,” I explained.

“You’re right. We can’t put this behind us until they are six feet under. Gavin, we need your team to run surveillance on them. We need to know everything about them. I’m talking where their mommas stay, where they lay their heads, and the bitches they fuck with. We need to be strategic in our planning,” Tone instructed.

“I’m on it. I’ll report back as soon as I have something viable. Wolf, are you going to fill Abel in?” Gavin asked.

“Yeah, I’ll give him a call. Come on, let’s head back to my crib.”

Gavin and I walked back to the car and headed back to my house. It was important for us to be alert as we drove. The chance of someone trying to follow us was very real. I left my sling at home so I didn’t appear weak. My shoulder throbbed something awful, but there was nothing I could do about it now. When I got home, I would have to take a painkiller.

An hour later we pulled into my gate. After such a long day it felt good to be home. It felt even better with Alexis being at my home. I couldn’t wait to see her. Hopefully she wasn’t too upset with me. I exited the car and approached the front door. Dobbs stood guard in front of the house. I nodded in his direction before I entered the house. The first thing I noticed when I entered my home was Alexis peacefully asleep on the couch. I walked over to her then gently nudged her so I could get her to bed.

“Lexxy, come on. Let’s go to bed,” I gently whispered in her ear.

She stirred in her sleep before she opened her eyes and realized I stood in front of her. It took her a moment to get her bearings together.

“You’re finally home and in one piece. Where did you go?” she asked.

“I can’t tell you that, love. Why don’t we focus on getting you to my bed?”

I guess she didn’t like my answer because she sucked her teeth and walked upstairs. Alexis was still upset so I would let her have that. The look of worry she had when I initially left the house earlier was now a look of relief. When I got to my bedroom, I noticed she wasn’t in my bed. If she wanted to sleep alone tonight that was fine with me too. With the constant throbbing of my shoulder, the last thing I wanted to do was argue with her. I decided to take a painkiller and knock out instead.