by Tranay Adams
T.J. turned his attention to Drama after observing the work he’d just put in on the helpless E.M.T and Meka. “What’s popping, Blood?” Drama didn’t say a damn thang, he just stared up at T.J wondering if he was going to murder his ass or not. “You remember me, old head?” he asked him and pulled the neoprene mask from off his face, revealing his identity. “I got all the money and the work back y’all punk-asses jacked me for! But the way I see it, I ain’t paid in full ‘til yo’ life is mine.”
Drama mad dogged T.J. and took the oxygen mask from off his face, shouting out, “Fuck you! Kill me! Kill me, you bitch-ass nigga! I ain’t scared to die!”
“I respect yo’ G!” A scowling T.J. spayed that ass with automatic gunfire and made him do a quick dance. Drama’s blood saturated his button-down shirt and some of it dotted the machinery and other stuff inside of the ambulance. “Hoe-ass nigga!” T.J. kicked him in his head and put the neoprene mask back on his face. He then took a few pictures of Drama’s dead body with Te’Qui’s cell phone and slid it inside of his pocket. Afterwards, he jumped out of the van and darted over to his getaway car. He fled from the murder scene and left the sound of Twelve’s sirens filling the air behind him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
T.J. parked the G-ride used in Drama’s murder on a residential block and wiped his fingerprints off of everything with a bandana. He grabbed his AK-47 from off the backseat and jumped out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him. He tossed the choppa into the gutter and stalked the streets until he found a car he liked. He came upon a burgundy Pontiac Grand Prix with sun burns on its rooftop and hood. T.J. pulled out his banga and looked up and down the street. When he didn’t see anyone watching him, he busted out the driver’s window with the butt of his gun. He then cleaned the windowsill of the jagged glass sticking up from where the window once was. Next, he reached inside of the Pontiac and opened it. Once he swept the broken glass from off the driver’s seat, T.J. sat down and hotwired the vehicle. The car came to life and a smile came across his face. He slammed the door shut and pulled off, glancing back and forth between the windshield and the rearview mirror. He relaxed when he didn’t see anyone watching him.
T.J. pulled out his cell phone and made a call.
“’Sup with it? We gon’ have to bust that move a lil’ sooner. You think you can get out tonight? Cool. I’ll see you in a minute.” T.J. disconnected the call and slid the cellular back into his pocket.
An evil genius is at work!
***
Te’Qui came through the door, shutting and locking it behind him. He made his way inside of the kitchen where he saw Kesha leaned over inside of the refrigerator, rummaging through it. He crept up on her while she was talking to whomever and smacked her on her ass.
“Aaaaah!” Kesha screamed startled, shooting her head up from out of the refrigerator. She looked to Te’Qui and smacked him on his arm a few times. She was wearing a Blu-Tooth headset and holding her cellular.
“You asshole, you scared the shit outta me!” Kesha said, wide eyed and breathing hard. His scaring her really got her heart working overtime.
“My bad, bae, I seen all that ass hangin’ out the frig and couldn’t help myself.” He smiled and kissed her on the lips.
“Aye, my boo is here now, so I’ma let chu go girl. I’ma dip to the store. I’ll holla at chu later, though. Alright now, bye,” Kesha looked back inside of the refrigerator and grabbed a Pepsi, cracking it open. She tilted her head back a little as she took a drink from it.
“Who were you talkin’ to, babe?” Te’Qui asked.
“Boy, you know that wasn’t nobody, but Lisa’s ass. I had to rush her off the phone. That hoe can talk her ass off.” she bumped the refrigerator door shut with her hip.
“Where you off to?” He took the can of Pepsi from her and took a drink.
“Just to the store, I needa get out. I been cooped up in this house so long, I’m ‘bouta go crazy.”
“I feel you.” he handed her the Pepsi back.
Kesha’s eyes widen when she saw something on Te’Qui’s shirt sleeve. “Babe, what happened to your arm? You’re bleeding through your shirt sleeve.”
Te’Qui looked to his sleeve and noticed he’d bled through the length of shirt he’d tied around his arm. This was the same arm he’d cut with the meat cleaver to create a diversion so that Cordary could escape T.J.’s wrath.
“Shit.” Te’Qui said as he lifted the sleeve of his bloody shirt to look at the shirt tied around his arm. It was nearly soaked. “I’ma need stitches for this shit. I’m bleedin’ like a bitch, bae.”
“I’ma take care of you before I bounce from outta here.” Kesha claimed, as she looked at the length of shir wrapped around his arm. Looking back up at him, she said, “I’m sure you got this as a result of fucking with that nigga T.J., right?” she looked at him like, You need to leave that fucking psychopath alone.
“Yep. That’s exactly why I broke thangs off with that nigga tonight. We officially through.”
“For real?”
“Yeah, I told his ass if I find ‘em snoopin’ around the crib, then I’ma knock his head off.”
Kesha frowned up when he told her that. “You did?”
“Hell yeah.”
“You sure you shoulda did that? I mean, I know my boo don’t play but obviously that nigga doesn’t either.”
“I ain’t wettin’ that nigga.”Te’Qui waved her off. “Blood act like he’s the only gangsta in town. He bring any bullshit this way, I’m puttin’ blood in his mouth. Show that ass how a real Eastside, Low Bottom nigga get down for his. You feel what I’m sayin’?”
“Sho’ you right.” she smiled as she caressed his cheek and kissed him. She just loved his thuggish ways. “I’ma run upstairs to get the first-aid kit so I can take care of that arm.”
“Alright, momma,” Te’Qui kissed her and smacked her on her ass again as she headed out of the kitchen. His eyes followed that bodacious ass of hers. She stopped at the kitchen’s doorway, looked over her shoulders at him and made her chunky buttocks do a little dance. Smiling at him, she walked off to retrieve the first-aid kit from the upstairs bathroom.
When Kesha came back down stairs, she found Te’Qui getting dinner prepared.
“Boy, you can cook later, limme take care of your arm. Come on now.” Kesha said, as she sat the yellow first-aid kit down on the kitchen table. She then grabbed Te’Qui by the hand and walked him over to the table, sitting him down in a chair. She pulled up a chair for herself and sat down, cleaning the cut in her man’s arm. Afterwards, she stitched it up and wrapped it in an Ace Bandage. Having done all of this, she kissed his arm like a mother would her child’s arm after a boo-boo. Looking up at him, she smiled and kissed him. Then, she placed all of the items she used back inside of the kit and closed it shut.
“Thank you, baby,” Te’Qui told her as he held up his sleeve and looked at his arm.
“You welcome, my love.” Kesha said as she rose from the chair with the first-aid kit. She kissed her man on the forehead and headed back upstairs.
Once Kesha had gone, Te’Qui went back to preparing dinner for that night. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn’t notice Kesha slip out of the house.
***
Club Vicious was popping like it always did on Saturday nights. Maybe even more since J. Cole and a host of other famous acts would be performing that night. There wasn’t a shortage of beautiful women and fellas out on the dance floor having themselves a good old time. D.J Flip was on the turntables and he had the club rocking like a mothafucka. He was playing all of the hottest and latest hits. Mixing those shits with older cuts and then playing them solo. It was safe to say that the club was lit which was the reason why the line to get in was wrapped around the corner.
Ducked off behind the velvet rope of the V.I.P section was Big Will and Enzo. They were sipping champagne and taking in the scenery. They were surrounding by their most trusted goons. And every last one of them t
hug ass niggaz were packing something for the drama.
“Boy, you sho’ know how to pick some talent. I’ll give you that.” Enzo told Big Will as he poured his champagne flute up again.
“Well, I’d hate to be the type of nigga to pat myself on the bat, but, uh,” Big Will patted himself on the shoulder, smirking. He and Enzo busted up laughing. At the moment, J. Cole was exiting the stage and Killa Tay was coming up to perform his latest single which was blazing hot in the streets ‘Act like you know’.
“Man, I’m glad I took a chance and invested in yo’ vision. Pretty soon, a nigga gon’ be able to get up outta these streets. As addictive as they are, they ain’t worth spending a century behind bars for or windin’ up getting killed in. Mothafuck that! I got big dreams and big plans to execute before I leave out this bitch. Ya feel me?”
“Fa sho’.” he replied as he refilled his flute. After filling it to the brim, he sat the champagne bottle down on the table and turned to Enzo. “I’d like to propose a toast to the good life.”
“To the good life,” Enzo clinked flutes with Big Will and took a sip of the champagne.
Big Will and Enzo spent the rest of their night chopping it up and letting the thirsty bitchez trying to get at them entertain them. Having grown tired of the night life, they decided to take their leave early and hit up a Denny’s, which was oddly enough, Enzo’s favorite place to eat breakfast.
***
Big Will and Enzo stepped outside expecting their respective chauffeur driven bulletproof Suburbans to be curbside, but those bitchez weren’t there. With furrowed brows the men looked around for their vehicles. Big Will was the first one to spot them. They were across the street inside of a lot you had to pay ten bucks to park in.
Big Will tapped Enzo and pointed across the street to their black on black, big body trucks. “There them shits go right there.”
“Fuck them niggaz ain’t where we told ‘em to be? I’m puttin’ my foot up Clyde’s ass as soon as I see his mothafuckin’ ass.” Enzo swore with a scowl. He and Big Will then pulled out their cellulars and dialed up their individual chauffeurs. When the drivers didn’t answer either one of them it seemed to piss them off further.
“Yo’, what the fuck is up?” Big Will asked Enzo as he stashed his cell phone back inside of his suit.
“Who knows? Them two niggaz are probably asleep behind the wheel or sloppy drunk. Either way, ain’t nobody walkin’ away from this without havin’ to have my shoe surgically removed from outta they ass! That’s on my momma’s grave.” Enzo swore.
“Bet. Come on, Enzo, let’s walk over there.”
“Alright, y’all niggaz come on,” Enzo motioned for his goons to follow him as he and Big Will headed over to the prepaid parking lot.
The gangstaz and their goons made their way across the street. Once Big Will reached the SUV he was driven to the club in, he found brain fragments and blood splattered against the driver’s window, with a bullet hole surrounded by breakage in the glass. Big Will pulled open the driver’s door and discovered his chauffeur, Glendale, dead with a gaping bloody hole in the side of his head.
“What the fuck?” Big Will’s forehead wrinkled when he saw his chauffeur was dead as a mothafucka. He and his goons stepped back with shocked looks on their faces. Right after, they overheard Enzo holler out ‘Oh shit’ and they walked over to where he and his goons were. Once they reached them, they noticed that Enzo’s chauffeur, Clyde, had suffered the same fate as Glendale.
“Damn, somebody done smoked Clyde’s ass!” A shocked Enzo looked down at his driver’s dead body as it hung halfway out of the truck.
“Nigga killed Glendale too, but who the fuck was it?” Big Will’s forehead creased.
“I thought this might get chu niggaz’ attention!” a manly voice called out from the night. Big Will, Enzo and all of their goons walked to the center of the parking lot and found a fat nigga wearing a hood over his head. Big Will and Enzo exchanged glances wondering who the fuck homeboy was in the all black attire with the hood over his head.
“Just who in the fuck are you, nigga?” Enzo asked.
With that question posed, the fat nigga slowly and theatrically pulled the hood from off his head and revealed his identity. It was T.J.
“I’m T.J., Blood. I just came here to drop a bit of info on you old niggaz.” T.J. told them as he rubbed his hands together, looking between the larger than life street figures.
Enzo’s eyelids narrowed as he stared at T.J. trying to recall his eyes. He imagined a bandana covering the lower half of T.J.’s face off and on, several times. That’s when he realized T.J. was the nigga busting at him the night some fool tried to rob him in that very same parking lot that he was standing in.
“Wait a minute, I know this mothafucka!” Enzo announced once things clicked inside of his head. Big Will and everyone else looked at him with questioning expressions on their faces. “This the same fool that tried to rob me some time ago in this same fuckin’ parkin’ lot.”
“That’s right. I’m willing to tell you who that other man was with me, too.” T.J. told him. He then looked to Big Will and said, “The same nigga smoked yo’ uncle, the old head. Drama.”
“Drama’s dead? Bullshit!” Big Will pulled out his cell phone and hit up his uncle. He called that nigga three times but his jack kept going to voice mail. Having grown angry and frustrated, he put his cell phone back inside of his suit.
“I got proof. I can let chu see it. It’s in my pocket.” T.J. told him, waiting for him to give him the okay to pull out his proof. T.J. wasn’t about to pull out Te’Qui’s cellular and risk getting his ass smoked. Fuck that! He knew he had to handle the situation delicately.
Big Will nodded to T.J., letting him know it was okay for him to give him whatever he had in his possession.
T.J. pulled out the cell phone and tossed it over to Big Will. He watched as the big man’s eyes flashed hurt and anger, seeing the flicks of Drama’s dead body. Once he finished looking through the photos, Big Will looked up at T.J. with teary eyes and flaring nostrils. He blinked the tears back before he spoke again.
“If you got whoever cell this is, then that means you were there when they smashed unc. Am I right?” Big Will asked him.
T.J. put his hands up to let the big man know that he wasn’t posing any threat to him. “Look, I thought we was going to rough the old nigga up ‘cause he was fucking around with my nigga’z girl, Boo, the next thing I know, my homeboy was hopping out my ride with a goddamn choppa chopping yo’ people down. I rolled with my nigga for a beat down, notta mothafucking 187. That’s why I’m here now, tryna get immunity. You feel me? I’m not stupid, homie. I know how you and yo’ man Enzo get down, y’all two of the biggest gangstaz in L.A. A nigga like me don’t wan’t them kinda problems.”
“Fuck that, Blood! If you know who popped unc, then yo’ ass better tell me now.” Big Will demanded with a scowl as he pointed his finger at T.J.
“The only way I’m telling y’all jack shit is if you giving me immunity!” He looked at Big Will and Enzo waiting for their response.
“You laid that hit down with whoever killed my family, Blood. I know you did.” Big Will barked back.
“Nah, you got me all wrong, my nigga. I was there when it went down, but I didn’t pull the trigga.” T.J. lied through his fucking teeth.
“You said you want immunity, right? That means a pass for your involvement.” Enzo told T.J. “Alright. Well, I’m willin’ to let chu getta pass, but chu gotta gift wrap ya man for me. I’m splashin’ that nigga! I don’t give a fuck! His life belongs to me!” he jabbed his chest with his finger with emphasis.
“And you, OG?” T.J. asked Big Will.
Big Will bowed his head and massaged the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath and his shoulders hunched and fell. He knew he wasn’t going to get the name of the mothafucka that popped Drama if he didn’t give that fat fucka standing before him immunity, so he decided to give it to him. Looking back u
p at T.J., Big Will nodded and said, “Okay. You give up ya homeboy and you walk.”
“Te’Qui.” T.J. told him.
“Te’Qui? Why the fuck would Te’Qui want unc dead?” Big Will massaged his chin as he thought back to the tension between Drama and Te’Qui. When he recalled their run-ins, he understood why Te’Qui would want to split his relative’s wig.
“Where do we find this cocksucka?” A frowned up Enzo inquired. He gritted and a vein bulged at his temple.
“I got his home address right here,” T.J. pulled out a piece of paper from the pocket of his hoodie. Keeping an eye on the opposition, he walked over to a silver 600 Mercedes Benz and lifted one of its windshield wipers. He placed the piece of paper down on the windshield and laid the windshield wiper down on it. “So, we straight now, right? I’m free to go?”
“Fuck no! What chu thought this was?” Big Will smiled evilly and pulled out his gun. As soon as he pulled out his strap, Enzo and the rest of the goons pulled out their guns and pointed them at T.J. They were all ready to light that ass up once the word was given.
T.J. slowly lifted his hands up into the air as he looked around at all of the guns pointed at him. A wicked smile spread across his face and he said, “See, I knew yo’ ol’ bitch-ass was gon’ pull some fuck-shit like this. That’s why I took precautions.”
“Precautions? Fuck is you talking about?” Big Will’s forehead wrinkled.
T.J. whistled sharply. Instantly a bright red dot appeared on the left side of Big Will’s chest. The big man and everyone else looked around wondering where a threat would approach, but they didn’t see anyone. It wasn’t until T.J. nodded to Big Will’s chest that he looked down and saw the red dot. As soon as he did, a shocked expression crossed his face. When he looked back up, his eyes were as big as saucers and his mouth was hanging open.