by Darrell King
“Oh right” Cyrus rolled his eyes
He continued “but that kinda’ seem unusually bi-”
Cyrus looked at him, narrowing his eyes
“Oh okay…no homo…Follow me” He said as he picked his gun and walked
towards one of the closed doors opposite them. He opened the door and stepped aside for Cyrus to walk in.
Cyrus was awed. This big room was filled with a thick dense smoke. There were about three huge gangstas sitting on the sofas positioned in a haphazard manner with girls sprawled all over each guy while some other naked girls were dancing in a slow manner.
They didn’t seem to notice Cyrus who was trying to walk carefully past them as dollars littered everywhere on the floor of the lounge. One of the girls who were dancing beckoned to Cyrus seductively with her fingers.
“Yo Walls. This nigga says he’s got a message from Frankie” the sentinel called out to one of his fellow gangstas. The guy grunted as he stood up in the midst of sexy girls. “You know the drill” the sentinel added
“This way” the guy said, leading the way to the stairs. The sentinel walked briskly back to the exit and closed the door.
As Cyrus followed him to upstairs, he took a glance at the erotic view back down stairs and shook his head. These bitches are friggin’ nasty
When they got to the upper floor of the building, Cyrus saw two gangstas having a discussion. One held a smoking Cuban cigar; the other folded his bulgy arms
while listening to what the other was saying. Both of them had revolvers tucked in their waist. They both turned to see who was coming; they glanced at Cyrus and then back to each other in unison.
The guy walked past them and proceeded to knock on a door which was some meters away from the stairs.
There was a placard on the door which read ‘STORE’. Without hesitating the guy turned the knob and ushered Cyrus in. Sitting across the hand-carved oak desk was a huge and muscular Negro who looked to be in his late thirties. He seemed to be having his quiet time while fiddling with a bullet. His left leg laid comfortable on the desk; displaying the design of the stud of his big black boot
“Boss, this guy says he’s got a word from Frankie” the guy said
The boss narrowed his eyes focusing on Cyrus. Cyrus forced a lump down his throat
“Thanks” he said, he raised his leg from the desk and stood up. The other guy then left and closed the door, leaving Cyrus with the boss.
“So nigga, how come you got to know Frankie?” he asked
“I was jailed for assault and was sent on some -” Cyrusshut his eyes tight as he tried to remember something
“Diesel therapy?” the man tried to remind him
“Yes exactly. I met him the day I left solitary” Cyrus said, pointing his index finger at him in a casual way; the man frowned. Cyrus got the message and so he quickly comported himself in the manner of a gentleman.
The man wheezed as he tried to stand up“Did he give you anything?”
“Nothing except this-“Cyrus fumbled in his pocket for the piece of paper that Frankie gave him and extended it to the man.
“Did he write anything at the back?” he asked Cyrus without looking at the paper he held out to him
“Yes he did” Cyrus said and then turned the paper to the back “C-119” he called out the code
The man shot up his glance at Cyrus, looking at him from head to toe as though he was sizing him up. After some seconds, he finally spoke up “He’s asking me to let you join the family”
“Oh that’s right” Cyrus sighed, as he got to finally understand what the code was all about
“Are you dangerous?” He asked Cyrus
Cyrus squinted “well, it would depend on the context with which you’re asking”
“Are you daring?” he asked Cyrus
Cyrus narrowed his eyes at him, and then gave him a smug look “I’m an ex-serviceman, if that would mean something to you, sir”
“Oh!” he grinned. “Welcome to the family” he said as he walked towards Cyrus“Call me Wale” he added, shaking his hands firmly.
They left his office and to downstairs where he asked the girls to excuse them. The girls left to another room. The rest of the gangs gathered around Cyrus and their boss as he introduced all of them to Cyrus
“Hello everyone, listen up. Today we have a new kid in the family. His name is Cyrus, a former serviceman and convict. Let’s welcome him”
Everyone clapped. They came one by one to Cyrus, hugging him.
“Hey what’s up dawg, I’m Ted” one big guy said
“Yowhaddup, I’m Walls” another said
“Hey, they call me Gunplay”, a hefty guy said.
Cyrus nodded, acknowledging them all.
“Hi my name is Redbone, I kill people for a living” everyone laughed as they left the scene. Cyrus turned to see who made that sarcastic introduction. It was the sentinel; the first guy that let him in. He held the barrel of his revolver close to his nose as though he smelled it
“Hey Cyrus, meet Redbone. He’s quite the funniest of them all” Wale said, pointing at Redbone. “Gunplay, it’s your turn” Redbone said, tossing the revolver at him as he walked up to Cyrus “Nice meeting you, man”
“Same feeling, bruh” Cyrus replied, looking into his eyes. They shook hands as Gunplay walked past them. They had a similar physique and height.
“So tell me, how was prison?” Redbone asked; his hand over Cyrus’ shoulder as he led him away.
Weeks later, Cyrus and Redbone had become good friends. He had mastered the art of heisting from Redbone that it was as though he had been part of the gang from the inception. Few days earlier, Wale had called them to meeting and informed them about plans to rob a bank. He brought out the blueprint of the architectural structure of the bank and they planned extensively on how to carry out the operation. Cyrus was to join the gang this time to get his first hands-on
experience.
Five days later, they robbed the bank in Tallahassee; keeping a lot of white customers as hostage while they kept stashing the cash in their bags. The robbery which lasted forty-five minutes had them carting away the sum of $32,000.
Wale gave Cyrus a sum of money two days later so he could go see his family in Tampa. When he finally got home, he was happy to see his mom recuperating. They were also happy to receive him. He gave Jessica, his stepsister a large sum of money for the upkeep of his family. They asked him what his new job was about, he told them he worked for a rich man at the wharf in New York and they believed him. The next day, he hugged his family goodbye and then took a train back to Tallahassee.
Later that night, they were at a strippers club having fun. Cyrus was sitting there in the VIP lounge having fun with Redbone and two strippers sandwiched between them. So many people were out there on the dance floor. They had bumped in to a group of mean looking gangstas earlier outside the club. Wale had had to address the gang. Redbone told Cyrus that those guys were members of their rival syndicate, Black Jesus and that they had had issues before
In the club, there were a lot of strippers there entertaining the guys as the music enjoyed amble airplay. Cyrus and Redbone met a waiter who then ushered them to
the VIP section of the club. Some minutes later, the waiter brought drinks to their table and left after Redbone offered him a tip.
Redbone called some strippers he knew and were passing by. Cyrus recognized them as some of the girls who were always coming to visit the gang in the crib. They hugged him and were happy to see him. He introduced them to Cyrus and then together, they went to sit on the couch. They took some of the drinks
Some minutes later, Cyrus had an uneasy feeling in his tummy; he thought maybe it was as a result of the cocktail he had drunk earlier. And so he excused himself and headed for the washroom, on his way he…
He came out of the bathroom later still feeling quite uneasy. He watched Katy and Linda, the two strippers he was with sharing a lesbian kiss with each other. Re
dbone smiled as puffed out smoke.
Linda filled up scotch in a glass and handed it over to Cyrus while she poured out some for herself too and drank while Katy proceeded to roll up some marijuana in a white paper. He watched her wet the wrapping with the tip of her tongue and press down to hold. She lit it and in an instant the heady smell of burning hemp filled the whole place.
Each time he looked at her, a great cloud of smoke was concealing her face. She
smoked as though it was a competition and she wouldn’t want the other strippers across the dance floor to outdo her.
Cyrus was on his second glass when Katy leaned over and whispered something into his ears. The music was loud and he didn’t grab all of it, but he was able to make out the ‘Enjoy yourself’ part.
She asked Linda for a dance and together they stood up from the big couch to the dance floor and started rocking each other
Steadily, the dance floor filled up. There were guys dancing with other girls; everywhere seemed lively. Redbone picked a glass of drink when this really cute girl passed. His eyes trailed her till she disappeared behind the bar.
But as luck had it, in a short time she was out again, walking past where he was seated again. And this time she looked at Redbone. She must have seen the desire in his eyes when she stopped and said hi.
‘Hello,’ Redbone responded with that small smile that he knew had always highlighted his handsomeness.
They didn’t talk much before he took her hand and led the way into the dance floor. The girl could really dance as she rocked Redbone to stupor. At one time, Redbone took quick glance at Cyrus who was relaxing on the couch and nodded
with a smile. They had danced for some time when the girl bent to his ear and whispered. She took his hand and led the way again into a narrow lonely corridor. Redbone winked at Cyrus who was street-smart enough to know they were going to fuck each other. Cyrus smiled and then raised his hands to give him deuces.
After sometime, Cyrus saw Katy and Linda cat walking towards him after dancing for what seemed to be like minutes. They flanked him on his seat as they started touching him in a sensual way. He was still having his fun with them when they heard a heavy thud on the couch. They turned to see who it was
“Whoa! That was one hell of a quickie” Redbone said as he sighed, bliss written all over his face.
Katy and Linda laughed as Redbone fist bumped Cyrus, who was smirking already. “That’s my nigga” Cyrus said. Redbone stood up and walked to the bartender probably to order for some kind of exotic drink. He was still talking to the bartender when the girl he fucked earlier on walked past Cyrus and his girls on the couch where they sat and glanced at where Redbone’s spot. Feeling satisfied that he had left; she walked over to the other side of the club where she obviously started flirting with another guy.
Later on, Redbone came back holding a bottle of liquor.
“She’s obviously a hoe” Cyrus said as Redbone was about to take his seat.
“Who? Redbone asked inquisitively
“That girl” Cyrus said, pointing over to where the girl was. Redbone squinted to catch a view of the place as it was filled with the smoke of marijuana. He narrowed his eyes “I can see”
“I noticed she seemed very interested in men. Or maybe she was just drunk.” He added he was about to open the cork of the bottle he held.
“Oh, that’s Sasha. And she is not a girl.” Linda said
“She is not?” Cyrus asked, obviously surprised.
“Yes. She is a drag queen.” Katy said, obviously stoned as she took a deep drag and then blew the smoke into the air.
“What does that mean?” Cyrus asked again, this time bending over his torso as a reflex way of trying to get what she said right.
“She is a guy dressed up as a girl!” Linda exclaimed
All eyes immediately focused on the already dazed Redbone. Behind his narrowed lids, his eyes seemed to be stoned for a moment while he maintained a grim countenance
“Oh no…” Cyrus said as he watched Redbone stand up to his feet in a slow manner. He knew trouble was looming. Without hesitating for a moment, Redbone started walking towards the spot where the girl was with the bottle of liquor clutched in his right arm.
“Linda, take Katy outta here. This shit is about to get real” Cyrus as he stood up, he felt his firearm at the back of his waist. Feeling rest assured that it was still in place, he turned back to see Linda trying to drag up her stoned girlfriend.
“Be quick about this and get the hell outta here!” he snapped as he walked briskly over to nudge Ted, who got the message instantly and then whistled to the others.
“Hey bitch!” Redbone called out to the drag queen and she quickly turned back to check who it was
“So you’re guy huh? Why did you make me fuck you, bitch?” he bellowed with anger emanating all over his well-built physique
The girl stood up fearfully, the guy she was on stood up and then gave her a slap across her cheek. She fell on the floor with a hard thud and started crying.
Not knowing how to react, Redbone stood there for some time staring hard at the girl who sprawled with her face facing the floor. After what seemed to be like minutes, he made up his mind to just go back to his crib, get high and try as much
as possible to forget about the incident. As he was leaving, he heard the guy call out to him
“Hey douchebag, you should learn to stick your dick to one place instead of fucking my girl” he said. His friends laughed.
Feeling angry, Redbone smashed the bottle of liquor he held on one of the guys laughing, the guy passed out. There was pandemonium in the atmosphere of the club house as the two rival gangs were at alert with their guns drawn, pointing at each other. Everyone else in the club ran helter-skelter towards the exit. Redbone then stepped back carefully as he tried not to be in the center so as to avoid being shot at close range. As he got to a vantage position, one of the rival gang members shot him in his left shoulder and the gunplay began.
After some minutes of sporadic shots flying all over the place injuring gangsters, Wale called for a retreat. Cyrus managed to get where the injured Redbone was and helped him get to their car and they all sped off, leaving their rival gang members counting their loss.
When they got to their crib, Cyrus helped Redbone to his wounds. He managed to remove the bullets from his left shoulder and thigh even as he grunted. He dabbed the wound with ether and then wrapped some gauze on the spot.Walecalled all of them to a meeting and did a roll call; they realized two members of their gangs
were missing. He then warned them about the impending danger. In the spirit of what was to happen soon, Wale brought out their supply of firearms and they spent the better part of the night overhauling them. Wale himself volunteered to take the first watch for the night while the rest of them went to sleep.
About 5am the next morning, Ted the last watch for the night was already dozing off when Cyrus came to tap him on the shoulder.“Rise and shine, dawg” Cyrus said with a smug look on his face as he woke him up. Ted’s instincts took over instantly as he tried to take cover but sighed when he realized it was Cyrus. He murmured some words and then grunted as he stood up and walked towards his room. Cyrus gloated like a Grinch as he took over the watch. At the first glimmerings of the dawn, Cyrus took the pack of cigar that Ted had forgotten near where he laid and then walked towards the front porch to have a clear view of the environment.
He opened the pack, took a cigar and popped it in the corner of his mouth between his lips. His long fingers reached deep down into his lower front pants pocket and finally emerged with a match. He lit the cigar took a deep drag and blew out a puff of smoke that rose straight up into the air. After some minutes, he decided to take a stroll round the house. The tip of the cigar started to glow like dying embers on