by Keon Smith
“With that said, I’ve done something terribly wrong. Yesterday, I hired an assassin to take care of the man responsible for killing my boyfriend. I gave the assassin this son-of-a… guy’s address, and he planted a bomb so when he walked in, it would explode. But once again, my plan got botched. See, what happened was the guy was hiding in a house around the corner. I accidentally blew up some nice, old lady’s home. Father, I… I feel so bad.”
Diamond got quiet, waiting for the priest to clear her of her sins, but he was in a state of questioning. He knew that the streets were dangerous because of all the gang-banging and drug dealing on the south side of L.A., but never did he expect to hear such hideous things from a woman.
“Father?” Diamond repeated.
“Oh, yes?” the priest muttered, snapping back out of his thoughts. “Yes, my child. The Father forgives all who are willing to believe,” he said before saying a prayer for her.
Once he finished, Diamond pulled out a fresh stack of hundred-dollar bills and set it beside her. She rose from the wooden bench, adjusted her dress, and headed back up the aisle where her bodyguard stood at the door.
“Let’s go, Bain.”
The bodyguard nodded before turning to open the door.
Standing with two of his own private henchmen, Justin loitered on the sidewalk by the entrance, puffing on a Newport.
“I see you’re still confessing your sins to that crooked-ass priest,” Justin lectured. “I would have thought you’d learn your lesson by now with that white boy you trusted in your circle.”
“I see you’re still minding my damn business. I would have thought a bitch would have finally given you some so you can stay off my ass!” Diamond countered, mocking him as she stopped in front of the men.
Diamond hated Justin’s guts. To her, he was sneaky and conniving. Justin wanted to be a white so badly; he’d do or say anything. He was cocky and disrespectful to those who didn’t cater to him. For those who did, he pushed them around like they were his personal slaves. Obedience was what he demanded from everyone, including women. Diamond, however, was the only one who wouldn’t back down from a verbal war.
Folding her arms over the bust of her chest, she looked up at Justin. “What do you want?”
“I wanna tell you something. You’re in the fuckin’ way with this attitude bullshit. What you need to do is grow up. You’re twenty-fuckin’ years old and still throwing temper tantrums. This is a business. No, let me rephrase that. This is a serious business, not a reality show starring you. It’s bad enough nobody wants your little ass in the circle as it is, including me. But since you made your bones in the street and somewhat in Cuba, we don’t have no choice but to accept it. You can at least have some type of respect for your brother because, truthfully, he’s the only one that’s keeping you alive.”
“Fuck you,” Diamond spat.
“Fuck you too, bitch,” Justin grunted, causing Bain to step forward, alarmed.
Diamond quickly stopped him when she saw the two henchmen approach. Her eyes cut back at Justin sharply.
“You’re not afraid to talk to me like that?” she asked calmly with a smirk.
“Ha! Diamond, you really need to get over yourself. You, of all people, should know you don’t put fear in my heart. You do what every other bitch with nice tits and a fat ass does—make my dick hard. You see, you might have these other bustas fooled by the Black Kiss of Death image you put on, but I watched you grow up. I was the one behind the scenes, and I know you like a book. You better get your act together because, God forbid, if Deshawn finds out that nice little view where you hid his brother, then the ball would finally be in my court. You do remember what happened in your bedroom a while back? Next time, you’re gonna be beggin’ for me to stick my dick in you.”
Diamond lurched forward and spat in his face. Justin’s men reached for their guns again. Out of nowhere, five of Diamond’s armed henchmen appeared with machine guns ready. Three carried HK MP5s, while the other two stood in the back with Ruger SR-556 assault rifles, shit that not even the hood could get their hands on. This time, it was Justin who backed down. He wiped the saliva from his face, put it on his tongue, licked it, and took a step back to laugh. “You even taste sweet.”
Diamond’s face transformed to a disgusted frown as Justin laughed his way back to his 2003 Cadillac Escalade pickup and pulled off. The only people who knew about her past was A-Z, 4-5, Butch, Bain, and the priest. Since 4-5 and A-Z were dead, Butch was serving time in a federal penitentiary, and Bain was a mute, now realizing who was responsible, she shook her head as she approached the white Rolls Royce Phantom that awaited with her new driver standing outside of it.
Before getting in, she turned and whispered something to her bodyguard as Justin and his boys rode away. Bain nodded his head and pulled out the gold-plated mini Kalashnikov AK-47 from inside his lapel. He turned back to go inside the church once more. Diamond sat inside the vehicle and pulled out her small makeup kit to retouch the highlights in her flawless features. Before she closed the small mirror case, Bain came out of the church, carrying the unconscious priest over his shoulder. The driver popped the trunk. Bain tossed the priest inside, causing a thump, closed the trunk, and got in the car.
Once in the passenger seat, he nodded and grunted.
“Where to, my lady?” the driver asked.
“I need to go to the airport, but first, we have to visit the zoo,” Diamond replied with her mind on everything Justin had just said.
“I wasn’t aware that the zoo was open today, madam,” the driver said.
“Probably not for the public, but for me, they’ll always open,” Diamond assured him.
The priest opened his eyes to find one arm secured by a large muscular man in a suit and his other arm in the grasp of another. The two henchmen were holding him up off the ground, walking toward a place he did not know. His back was facing their forward stride. He heard something in a distance, something animalish… something big. It roared as the men approached. It was then the priest remembered what had happened. The large bodyguard hand clobbered him in the head with the butt of his gun.
He began to look around frantically. His brown eyes scanned everything. There were cages, empty vending machines, and signs of animals.
“Where am I?” he asked, but the men didn’t say a word.
Finally, they came to a stop. As soon as the priest’s foot touched the ground, the same seven-foot giant appeared before him and struck him square in the gut. The priest fell to the ground on hands and knees. The roar rumbled again as he clutched his stomach tightly. The priest looked behind him and saw what looked like a pit. It was then he noticed a fine set of legs standing by the edge of the pit. Those legs led up to a cold but attractive woman. She just so happened to be on the phone at the time. She glanced at him but continued her conversation. Slowly, she turned her back to him while toying with the loops in her hair.
The priest looked around for a clear runway to make an escape but noticed five more henchmen standing stiffly in each place he thought of running to. They were holding guns that he’d thought only the government could get their hands on. When the priest finally realized where he was, Diamond hung up the phone and turned to greet him.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting. The pilot says it will take another hour to fuel the jet, so I figured I’d take a little trip to the zoo. Do you like the zoo?” she asked. Before he could answer, she went on to say, “When I was young, all I ever wanted to do was go to the zoo to see the animals. My favorite is the lions, you know.”
The priest began to look back at the pit. His eyes widened, putting a bright, attractive smile on Diamond’s face. “Oh, no, priest. That isn’t what is in there, although I would have loved to feed the big cats tonight. The man who owns this zoo used to let me feed them all the time, but unfortunately, the lions were already fed. However, that doesn’t clear you from the water yet. In fact, pick him up. I want him to see what awaits him,” she said, snapp
ing her finger at her two henchmen.
“Oh Mary, Mother of God!” the priest said as the two men grabbed him by the arms again. “No, please don’t! I don’t want to die! Somebody, help!”
The men took him to the edge and held him upside down by his ankles. The priest’s brown eyes bulged from his head as he looked down into the pit full of Nile Crocodiles and hippopotamuses.
“The lord is my shepherd!” he shouted in fear as a croc jumped up with a snap. “Ah!”
Diamond signaled for the henchmen to bring him back to safety. The priest fell to his knees, wrapping his arms around the leg of one of the muscular men. His brown skin complexion was now sweaty pale. He looked to be no older than her brother, which brought her suspicion to a head.
“Being as though I’ve told you many stories about me, you should know I am not a tolerable person. The only reason you are not at the bottom of that pit of water right now is because somewhere behind that stupid suit and that cross you’re wearing, you are a man of God. But mark my words, if you lie to me, I will order my men to throw you in and risk facing judgement when my time comes. You know me that well to know that my word is diamond. Now, how long have you known my brother?”
“Since… high school… I think.”
“And how long have you been a priest at the catholic church?”
“After I graduated high school,” he said nervously, looking at all the men around him. “The cathedral once belonged to my grandfather then was passed down to me.”
“And your father?”
The young priest put his hand down. “My father was… He disappeared five years ago. He was a… He did bad things.”
Diamond sneered at the man without an ounce of sympathy for him. “Why did you tell Clyde my business? What sort of gain are you looking to reach?”
“Gain? I… I can assure you there is no gain.”
Diamond snapped her fingers again. The men snatched him up once more. “I told you not to lie to me.”
“Wait, please. I’m telling the truth, on the heavenly Father himself, I have no gain.” The men brought him to the edge of the pit once more. “They tortured me. I would have never given in, even in death, but your brother has ways of getting what he wants!” The men went to toss him in, but Diamond stopped them again.
“Wait!” she said, putting up a hand. “What do you mean, my brother has ways of getting what he wants?”
The priest sighed a quick thanks to God and said, “Your brother has ways of making people talk.”
Diamond signaled for the men to bring him back away from the edge. They rested him on his knees in front of her.
“And how did they make you talk?”
The priest didn’t answer; instead, he began unbuttoning his shirt. The men behind him reached for their weapons, but Diamond irritably flagged them off. She watched as the priest removed his shirt to show his bare chest full of scars, fresh cuts, and burns. Judging from the way the henchmen looked at him from behind, she knew they were on his back as well.
“Your brother has claimed his place with in Satan’s shoes. He had those demonic succubi strip me naked and torture me until I did not know whether I had already given you up or I had wished I’d done so.”
“And why does my brother want this information so badly?”
“He didn’t tell me. In fact, he did no talking; his… hornets did the talking for him. You want to know the worst part of it?” he asked, finding the courage to stand. “He disrespected me in such a way I wouldn’t wish on the devil himself.” He unbuckled his pants and pulled them down so that Diamond could see.
Diamond did not show an ounce of surprise, even though, inside, her mind thought, what the fuck! Whoever tortured him had dismembered his penis. Only his sack hung from a severe wound that had been burned back to a close. “He said that it would save a boy’s rectum in the future,” the priest cried. “Who would think of such a thing? Dear God, I have nothing left but my faith.”
Diamond looked away with an impassive look. “Why didn’t you just kill yourself?”
The priest picked up his pants. “That is what the devil wants. Jesus was tested beyond his mortal strength. He did not give in, even while persecuted. I shall not give in either. I may look weak to you, but I have my father’s strength in me. He too was strong, I am told, before Clyde had him killed.”
Diamond tilted her head to the side curiously. “Who was your father?” she asked, watching him buckle up.
“Why, his name was Sam. I was named after him.” The priest shrugged. “Well, minus the 2Guns part that everyone called him.”
For the first time, Diamond couldn’t hold back her surprise. “2Gun Sam was your father?”
The priest slowly nodded as fear returned to his features. Diamond shook her head then snapped her fingers for the men to grab him once more. The priest knew then that she was all out of questions, and he was soon to be out of time.
Secret Meetings
“If he thinks he’s a Phantom, then make him a ghost.”
SHAREEK ‘SHUG’ BURMINGTON
The King of Prussia mall was one of the most popular places to shop in Pennsylvania. It was a large mall filled with the top designer stores, just twenty-five minutes away from Philadelphia. Kia and her best friend, Breezy, searched throughout Nordstrom’s racks of clothing for something to wear for Kev’s party. They had been in the mall for almost two hours, running from store to store. Nordstrom was one of their favorites.
“Ooooh, Kia, now, I like that dress on you. It’s cute,” Breezy said, complementing the little blue Berluti dress Kia took off the rack. It was hand printed with a zig-zag sweater material and was form fitting when a woman put it on.
Kia held it up to her nice figure. “You think it’ll fit? It looks a little too tight.”
“So what? The tighter, the better. And in that dress, we might be in competition,” Breezy joked while holding up a black Bottega Veneta cocktail dress. It was tight, short, and bore slashes on each side to show off more skin.
Kia smiled then snatched the dress up as Breezy followed her to the register.
“You never told me what you and your brother were talking about last week. You looked like you were upset,” Breezy said.
“And I’m not gonna tell you either. Kenny would kill me if I told any of his business. I’m sorry, Bree, but that’s between me and him,” Kia said.
“Dag, it’s like that?” Breezy replied, shifting her weight to one side. “C’mon, Kia, you tell me everything. It can’t be that bad. All he does is smoke weed and chill on the block all day.”
“Well, this is one thing that I’m not tellin’ nobody.”
“Shit, you tell me about Taliban all the time. Why don’t you ever want to talk about Kenny?” Breezy probed.
“Because this one is nothing like Taliban. All Taliban wants to do is get high on syrup. This one wants a lot more than that—and likes to play with guns,” Kia hinted.
“Oh, well, he better chill out with that shit. It’s bad enough my dad is on my case about all those murders popping up around the hood like I had something to do with it. Plus, Kev just lost one of his young bols and a few homies last week. Their funerals fell on the same day. Shug was there,” Breezy said with a devilish smile, knowing how Shug liked Kia.
“Don’t look now, but you just talked his Rick-Ross-lookin’ ass up,” Kia said, pointed over by the Donna Karan section, where Shug and a group of goons were standing along with his young girl, Tee-Tee. Shug wore dark shades to hide his naturally hooded eyes. His big body looked a bit uncomfortable in the Tom Ford Jean set he wore to go with a pair of white Louie sneakers. He seemed to draw attention wherever he went.
When Breezy saw the girl with him, she rolled her eyes. Neither Kia nor Breezy could stand Tee-Tee. She was conceited, and Kev used to fuck her on the low before she met Shug, who instantly became pussy-whipped and labeled her off-limits.
To the fellas, Tee-Tee had a butter-pecan look about her. Her hair was shiny bl
ack and dyed with blue streaks that fell down her back in loops. Breezy didn’t care how pretty she was or how cute the white halter sundress she wore around her petite figure went with the tan crocodile skin heels on her feet. It was a territorial thing that she’d dare not admit.
“I hate that bitch. She thinks she’s the shit. Shug need to get her a new bag because that Louie is so outdated it’s a shame,” Breezy said, referring to a bag that came out only two months ago.
“We should go over there and mess with him and make her mad,” Kia suggested, knowing Shug had a crush on her.
“No, don’t do that. I’m not trying to hear Kevin’s mouth if we have to stomp that bitch in here. Besides, I don’t want to get into no fight before the party, and I just got my hair done.”
“No, you ain’t tryna get in no fight because you know Kev will kick your ass,” Kia joked.
“Please, Kev too worried about his money to be thinkin’ about me like that right now. I wish he was the type of guy that would make enough money then settle down. It seems like that type doesn’t exist, you know what I mean? It would be nice to see a brother from the hood make it out once in a while.”
Kia looked over at her best friend and saw the emotion that she was holding inside. “You want to marry Kev, don’t you?”
“That would be nice, but he doesn’t seem like the marrying type.” Breezy looked over at Shug, who was now talking on his cell phone.
Standing almost six feet and weighing over three hundred pounds, Shug had a dark-brown complexion with a thick beard and a good grade of hair shaped up and faded out. He wore a different brand of dark shades almost every day and rocked the flyest gear a heavy-set person could wear. As he talked on the phone with his homie, Clyde, Tee-Tee picked out whatever she wanted and gave it to Shug’s two goons, Vito and Chubs, to hold until they got to the register. It was their punishment for letting the block get robbed last week. When Shug’s enforcer, Maniac, approached, Shug ended the call.