by Ghost
“Oh, so you did hear about it then?” Smoke asked placing his North Face jacket on the back of his chair. Why he had a jacket on when it was hot as hell outside was beyond me. Though it did look as if it was going to rain within the next hour or so.
“Yeah, I heard that rumor, but that shit ain’t true. Now shut the fuck up and grab a blade. I want all dimes. Make likes of twenty-eight hunnit like bruh doing. Phoenix let me holler at you over here for a minute Mane.”
I as on my eleventh zip, bagging away. I hated to stop but I had to see what the homie wanted. He looked a lil thrown off, like something was wrong. So, we met up in the back room.
“Bruh, I forgot to tell you about that shit. You know they say that Toya went to Eighteen Forty Tavern around the corner and got to blabbing her mouth on some drunk shit saying that you bodied dude ass?”
I shook my head. “Hell nall. When was this?”
“Last night. Say she was crying and everything. Talking about first you killed her nigga, and then you kicked her out into the cold. Bruh we gotta put a cork in her bottle before you wind up in a sticky position. We also gotta holler at dude's baby mother in Jackson. If they the only two that can put that shit on you, we need to do something about it. I’m serious. I ain’t trying to lose you bruh. You my nigga. What you wanna do?”
Man, I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe that Toya would pop off like that in front of strangers. Family was one thing, but strangers was another. She was putting me out there bad. I was so confused that I didn’t know what to do. I knew I was finna hit the Jackson bitch though. Pregnant or not. Fuck that. “Man Mikey, what do you think I should do?” I was lost.
He placed his hand on my shoulder. “To be honest wit you.” He took a deep breath and sighed. “Man, you might have to be a single parent. She playin wit yo life, bruh. You already know they don’t play no games in Tennessee when it comes to what she trying to get pinned on you. Its either you make her put a pin in this bull shit she’s spreading, or you gon have to send her to the same place that fool Bryon is. Its that simple. Right now, she acting real crazy. Talking about how much she hate your daughter and shit. Bruh, it’s real bad. You ain’t got no other choice other than to handle that situation, it’s getting out of hand.”
Damn. I felt like I had the stomach flu. I couldn’t believe it had come down to something like this. I didn’t know why Toya was acting so fucking stupid. Why she was saying the things that she was but clearly, she was trying to either start an uprising, or get me popped. The way she was talking about Shantê I wondered what her game plan was with my baby? If she got me popped, or smoked, what would she do with our baby? That question spooked me more then anything else.
Mikey stood in silence watching me. “Mane I don’t know what’s going through yo brain right now, but whatever it is I’m riding wit you to the fullest. I’d hate to send Toya on her way, so you’d have to do all of that, but you already know I won’t have no problem sending her ass into the oven. I fucks wit you the long way bruh, and I love Shantê like that my lil shawty fa real. Her mama off her rocker right now. You gotta crush that beast that she’s trying to build. You feel me?”
“Yeah I feel you Playboy. I’ma text her ass right now and see if there is somewhere that we can meet up. Shawty on one right now, and I can’t have her do me in like that.” I sent Toya a quick text at the same time I was telling Mikey this. Told her that we need to holler. I was coming to pick her up ASAP.
“Yeah bruh, we got big thangs about to take place in our future. We can’t let shawty ruin that shit all because she was head over heels for that fuck nigga who put his hands on my God daughter. That ain’t how that work. Just remember that I’m riding with you in whatever you decide. Its love Potna. Til the dirt.” He hugged me and stepped out of the room.
I stayed in there for a few more minutes trying to gather my thoughts. I waited for Toya to text me back. When she finally agreed for me to come and pick her up from her Auntie’s house, I responded that I was on my way. I finally stepped back into the living room and set four zips in front of Smoke. “Huh lil nigga. You pop three of these for me and the fourth one is all you. I need you to stay on your bidness lil homie. We trying to put these chips together for something greater. We got you lil niggas in mind. Don’t trip.”
Smoke smiled. “Mane, you niggas eating like a mafucka homeboy. I don’t know what y’all up too, but long as y’all got me and my potnas in mind when you get to it, then its all gravy wit me, Durty. I got this work for you. Give me four days.”
Chapter 8
When I left Mikey’s trap, I went all the way over to Toya’s Aunty’s house just as it was starting to storm outside. When I pulled up on State street, she was just bending the corner. Toya pulled up behind my truck and jumped out of her car with her jacket over her head. She knocked on the window, until I popped the lock, then she got in. Lightning flashed across the sky. The rain was coming down in a steady pitter patter on top of the roof of my truck. “Damn, its raining bad as hell out there baby. And it seems like it just came out of nowhere.” She said this and slammed the door.
I turned the heat up a lil more. She’d let in a draft. I smelled her perfume and the scent pissed me off. I started remembering everything that Mikey had said, and it only added to my anger. I pulled away from the curb with thoughts of rolling a few blocks so we could holler.
“Baby why are you so quiet?” She asked reaching over and squeezing my thigh.
I flicked her hand off me. “Don’t touch me, shawty. What the fuck is your problem, Toya?”
“Aw shit. Here we go wit dis bullshit. Nigga I know you ain’t bring yo ass all the way over here just so you can get on some dumb shit? Ain’t nobody got time for none of that shit. You can drop me back off.” She started to texting on her phone.
I felt myself getting heated already. For some reason whenever I was in her presence lately it was a common feeling. I started to wonder if I’d ever felt anything for her. “Shawty why you going around running yo mouth in some got damn Tavern about what happened wit Bryon? You trying to get a nigga locked up or stanked out here in these streets?” I asked, mugging her.
“Nigga I ain’t trying to do shit. You shoulda never killed my nigga. You brought this shit on yo self. And I don’t remember saying nothing to nobody. I must if need faded a something. Drop me back off. I don’t wanna hear this shit.” She crossed her arms and looked straight ahead as if she were set on having an attitude.
“Toya, on everythang, Mane I’m tryin as hard as I can to not fuck you up right now. You been on some dumb shit for the last week. Saying that stupid shit to our baby. Popping off about dude situation and attacking my lil cousin and shit. Bitch, you know if you was anybody else that I would have gotten up wit yo glamour already, especially when it comes to that rat shit.”
“Phoenix, I ain’t worried about you doing nothing to me. I ain’t scared of you. You ain’t nothin but another one of these niggas in Memphis to me. Whatever you gon do, you gon do anyways. Nigga I ain’t worried. Far as I’m concerned, Mane, fuck you.” She said this without even looking over at me.
I was so heated that I was shaking. I looked her over and curled my top lip. “Toya, if you ain’t have my daughter I woulda smoked yo ass already. You out playin right now, when life ain’t a game. You risking my life. Making it seem like you don’t care about Shantê’s. I’m wondering why I’m even giving you a pass right now.” Achill went down my spine. I was shaking so bad that I knew I was on the verge of snapping. I could see Toya’s corpse in my head, and I ain’t feel no remorse about that. I pulled up to Widow’s Peak, a spot that over looked the city and parked my truck. I reached down and took the forty-five from under my seat and set it on my lap. The rain seemed to fall harder against my windshield. The wipers swished back and forth loudly.
Toya looked over at the gun and sighed. “So that’s why you brought me out here huh, Phoenix? You brought me out so you can kill me?” She scrunched up her face, blinked, and
allowed tears to roll down her cheeks.
I cocked my banger. My heart was getting heavy. I didn’t want to do what I knew I had to, but Toya was leaving me with no choice. “Toya, I don’t wanna do this to yo ass but you playin a dirty game, shawty. I can’t have you putting me and my daughter’s life at risk all because you feeling some type of way over that Bryon nigga. You gon either get yo shit together, or I’ma have to handle you just like I would one of these niggas on the street. You ain’t giving me much of a choice.”
She was quiet for a moment. The wind blew harshly and caused the truck to sway from side to side. The pitter patter of the rainfall grew louder, then lightning flashed across the sky, before the thunder roared angrily. “You know what Phoenix. Yousa bitch ass nigga. If you think I’m about to cower to you, or beg you to not kill me, you got the game fucked up. Like I said before, I ain’t scared of you, homeboy. Ever since I had that lil girl you been treating me real foul, as if you had an agenda all along. Don’t nobody love me Phoenix. After I gave us a child, the one place I should of been able to look for love was to you. But that’s when the bitches and hoes started to fly from your mouth. That’s when you started to fuck wit a bunch of females and push me to the side. Unbeknownst to you I was dealing with postpartum depression like crazy. Cutting on my wrists and shit. Boy, I ain’t know if I wanted to live or die. During that whole process all you did was treat me like shit. So, you know what, pull that trigger nigga, because if you don’t, I don’t know what I’ma do to you, or have done. I hate your fucking guts. Yousa bitch to me.” Toya sucked her teeth. “Yeah.”
I clenched my jaw muscles over and over. My heart was beating faster than I could ever remember. My vision started to go hazy. I was getting madder by the second. I didn’t know what to say to her. What to think? What to feel? I just wanted to react. Be impulsive.
“Well, what you waiting on Phoenix? I ain’t never known you to be scared to pop that pistol. Nigga I’m ready to go right now. Kill me. Kill me, or I swear to God if you don’t its gon be the biggest mistake you ever made.”
I snapped and aimed the gun at her. She froze. “Toya. Bitch I’m tired of you running your mouth. You think shit is a game when it ain’t. Now I don’t know what the fuck you smoking, but you seconds away from losing your life. The only thing stopping me right now is a Shantê. You’re her mother. I won’t be able to look my baby in the eyes for the rest of her life.”
A pair of bright headlights that flashed into my truck. Then a van rolled along side of us and parked. A smile came across Toya’s face. “Lucky for me I don’t give a fuck what Shantê think. I wanna see you explain yourself to Bryon’s brothers about what you did to him.”
I looked past her shoulder and saw three dark figures appear on the side of the van. Somebody started knocking on her passenger’s window so hard that I was worried about them breaking the glass.
I lowered the gun. “Who the fuck is that?”
“I told you that shit wasn’t over.” She opened the door to the truck and dropped to the ground, and then the shooting started.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
The window shattered on my truck. The body rocked from side to side. Big holes formed in the door. I didn’t waste time, I started bussing back to back at the figures. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Without missing a beat, I threw the truck in reverse and backed out.
They fired more shots. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. My windshield shattered into my lap leaving it filled with glass. I ducked down and fired five more shots before I threw the truck in drive and stormed away from the scene. I took one final glance into the rearview mirror to see what I could see. Seconds later the back window shattered. All I saw was three big niggas with guns in their hands running back to their van. Once there they threw Toya in the side door and slammed it back.
“I’ma kill that Bitch!” I snapped, storming away.
***
Fearing the worst, I sped back to my crib in Orange Mound, and woke my daughter and Kamya up. “Get up y’all. Get up now!” I shook the bed to help them awake. I knew that it was only a matter of time before Toya told Bryon’s brothers where we laid our heads. I was convinced that she’d texted them niggas our location in the hopes that they would kill me. Since I knew that was the case, when I caught her ass it was over for her.
Shantê woke up whining. “I don’t feel like waking up daddy. I’m sleepy. I’m just a kid.”
Kamya, wiped her mouth. “Phoenix, what’s the matter? You seemed frazzled?”
“Kamya, y’all gotta get up. Toya on some more bullshit. I gotta make sure that y’all are safe. Shantê get yo ass up.” I tapped her on the butt.
She jumped out of the bed hollering. “Okay daddy. Okay.” She slid her pants up her night gown and fastened them. She put her Jordans on her little feet.
Across the way Kamya got dressed as well. We were rushing out of my apartment in Orange Mound, and to my truck.
The rain had let up. It slowed to a drizzle. When Kamya saw my truck, she stopped in her tracks. “What the hell happened to that? She asked pointing at it.
“Don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s jump in your whip.” And that’s just what we did.
I got into the back seat and laid down with my book bag full of dope and money. I was so angry that it had brought on a pounding migraine. I was gon get them niggas and Toya too.
As we were rolling out of the parking lot to Orange Mound, the same van from earlier was pulling into it. They drove past us and stormed into the lot toward my place. I sat up and watched them park in front of my truck. Then Kamya turned down the avenue and I could no longer see them. Multiple shots sounded before we completely pulled away from the area. That told me everything that I needed to know. Bryon’s people were going to be a problem.
“I don’t know what’s going on Phoenix, but I think we should stay at my place until you figure thangs out. From the way yo truck looked cuz, somebody is trying to take you out the game Mane. You might as well lay low for a lil while.”
I sighed. “Who all over here, Kamya?”
“Nobody. I don’t be having folks all up in my crib and thangs. I’ve only had it for a few months. I mean my daddy come through every now and then, but he don’t stay there. Its just gon be us. And at least Toya don’t know where I stay. That gotta be a plus.” She met my eyes in her rearview mirror. “Plus, we got unfinished bidness anyway Durty.” She smiled at that.”
“Daddy, what my mama do? Is she mad at us?” Shantê asked, turning around in her seat.
I kissed her forehead. “Yo mama wiling right now. She’ll get it together soon. Until she do you gon stay close to cousin Kamya. If your phone ring and its your mother whatever you do, do not tell her where you are, or who you’re with until we figure something’s out. Do you understand me baby girl?”
She nodded. “Yes daddy, but I’m scared because of those gun shots in your truck. My mama hates me and if somebody shoot you then I’m not gon have nobody. That’s not fair.” She turned back around and crossed her arms in front of her chest like Toya had a habit of doing.
“Shantê, ain’t nobody about to shoot your father. You need to stop saying that. Its not good to wish bad luck on people.” Kamya chastised her.
“Its not good for you to think you my mama either and try to tell me what to do. You ain’t that much older than me, so mind yo bidness. Umph.” She rolled her eyes and started to play on her tablet.
Kamya shook her head and we locked eyes once again in the rearview mirror. “This lil girl is too much at times Phoenix. I swear her mouth is too sharp. She must get that from Toya.”
I didn’t have a response. My brain was spinning like a top. I had to get a hold of this Bryon situation and fast. I didn’t know who his brothers were, but I would have to do my research. If them niggas was coming at me like that, they had to be some major niggas. I also wondered where Toya fit in with them? Were they going to dump her body after using her to track me down? Or had she officially crossed over to them a
nd was something like their Queen of whatever they had going? I didn’t know, but I couldn’t stop my brain from racing like a NASCAR driver. I didn’t like for nobody to have me on the fence. Especially niggas that I didn’t even know. The worst enemy a man could have was the kind of enemy that he didn’t know. I feared these niggas not because of what they could do to me, but because I didn’t know how they moved. I didn’t know how to attack back, because I didn’t know where they were from.
“Phoenix, I just want you to know that I got your back cuz. Just lean back for a few days wit me. Gather your thoughts, and then you’ll know how to handle your bidness. I love you too.” She smiled.
I was so angry that I didn’t even return her I love you. I wanted to kill something. That was the only emotion that I wanted to explore.
Chapter 9
I wound up laying low for a full week, and the only reason I did was because the same night that I’d gotten into the shoot out with Bryon’ people I didn’t know two things. The first was that I’d hit one of them three times in the chest and he was in the hospital fighting for his life. The second reason was because the police were out worse than I’d ever seen them all around Orange Mound. According to Mikey they had fliers up looking for me in connection with Bryon’s murder, and the shooting of Bryon’s brother. Not only that, Byron’s people had rolled to the Mound that same night and Swiss cheesed my truck. Then cocktail bombed my apartment. I was devastated. They were coming for my ass in a major way. I still hadn’t heard from Toya, and she hadn’t tried to get into contact with Shantê either. I didn’t know if she was alive or dead and to be honest, I didn’t even know if I cared.