“I have proof! It's on my phone!” she blurted out.
Her words fucked me up so much, I couldn't move or think straight. My body was experiencing complete confusion. The only emotion I understood was pure anger. Crystal took my lack of movement as permission for her to pull her phone out. We waited with anxiety as she scrolled through the phone.
Something deep down inside me told me that this wasn't no set up. That it was real and my whole life was about to change for the worse. “When I heard the gun shots go off is, I started recording. I ran to the window and caught everything else after that.” She held the phone out.
I snatched it with a vengeance, then pressed play. The video was almost two minutes long, but it felt like an hour. I watched it three times, each time feeling my heart break into a thousand different pieces.
I'd never felt hate at that level before. I was literally seeing red! The video showed O-dawg, Gotti, Twin, and Bleed walking outta the house and speeding to a Honda or Nissan. Their faces were twisted in evil glares and Bleed was even tucking his pistol in still.
“I saved it to my iCloud right after that so the time and date would be saved. I can pull it up if you want me to.” Crystal broke my chain of thought.
I didn't need to see no fuckin' iCloud or none of that shit. I had asked O-dawg had he or any of the homies been to Joe's house at all, anytime close to his death. He looked me in the eyes and said no. That lie was gone cost him his life fo' sure.
I passed the phone to Beast and watched them watch the video. I pulled out a few stacks and handed them to Crystal. She took a step back, shaking her head.
“I didn't do this for that. I did it 'cause Falcon was my friend and she deserves justice. She never did anything to be killed like that.”
“The money is for a better future if they find out y'all told us than your death. So save the money for a rainy day,” I reasoned.
She took it. “Thank you.”
“My bad for the mistreatment, and now is probably a good time for y'all to leave. I already sent myself the video too.”
My relatives looked like they were ready to crush them just for standing there. Crystal took her phone and they jetted outta there. I dropped to the floor distraught like a muthafucka.
“You know what this means, son, right?” Premo felt the need to ask the obvious.
I laid out on the floor, staring at the ceiling. The hate ran through me at a rapid pace, making me feel like the Hulk or some shit.
“It means we go to war with our friends. But first I wanna find out why they killed him,” I replied with a heavy heart.
I opened my eyes slowly, letting the pain, anger, and betrayal from the past run through my veins. I looked back at Ralo and saw the same glare in his pupils that were in mine. The pain of having your so called friends kill your family.
“Yo, Ralo. We gon' ride for that sucka shit them niggaz did on me. Let me take care of this business first, then we gonna figure somethin' out,” I promised my nigga.
“They killed my lil' brothers and my grandpa, my fuckin' grandpa!” He slammed his fist in his palm, emphasizing his anger.
My nigga was ready to explode and I felt his pain. We all did. We knew they just weren't going to lay down and accept what we did. They weren't built like that, so we were ready for a real war. But damn, we never expected for dem to strike back like this. Did we make the right choice? I questioned myself, letting the doubt creep in. I shook my head, shaking that sucka shit outta my system. I'ma muthafuckin' beast, I reminded myself.
“I know and we gon' make 'em pay for it, all if them.” I placed my hand on his shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes.
I wanted him to really see that I shared his pain and I was gonna kill on his behalf. I needed all of them to see that we were in this shit together. That they didn't make the wrong decision by choosing to follow me. I could never let them doubt me.
After he nodded his understanding, I walked to the table where all the money was piled up. Money was the only thing outside of murder that could calm my wolves. Especially money that came directly from the enemy. I lifted a stack of money in the air.
“This is ours by rights of conquest! And we're going to take everything those bitch ass niggaz have piece by piece. Life by life, brick by brick, and dollar by dollar. We're gonna do it for Joe. We're gonna do it for Ralo's people and for ourselves. They betrayed us and their gonna pay for it.” I stared in each of their eyes to let them see my seriousness. I saw no fear or regret in their eyes. “Everybody getting thirty thousand and two birds a piece—”
“That's what the fuck I'm talkin' 'bout, nigga!” Killah yelled, interrupting me.
He couldn't contain his excitement and I understood why. He had never been more than a trap house nigga his whole life. He was literally playing with his own brickz overnight and I knew the feeling.
“And y'all ain’t gotta pay shit back. It's all on the house. Just keep in mind that it's gonna be a drought until I find a new plug. But I plan to have us in the game within a month.” My words forced all of them to crack a smile, even Ralo.
What I didn't tell them was I had kept some extra money from O-dawg’s bitch ass and Joe just for the re-up. I even had an extra ten brickz in the safe, too.
“So, what's the plan far as killin' them bitch ass niggaz?” Head asked when it was his time to receive his share of the fruits.
He was another lil' nigga that was loyal to me but had never made it past the trap house. He liked getting money just like the next man, but he loved bustin' his gun even more. I knew he was gon' be pivotal in the civil war. I felt it in my bones.
“We gon' move like ghosts on them suckaz.” I walked back to the center of the room, giving it enough time for the words to sink in. I had all of their attention now. “We not deep enough to stand still and shoot it out with them niggaz, but that's a plus for us.
We know their locations but we don't have one. We can go shoot up their trap spots, but we don't have none of them to shoot at. We gon' stay applying pressure on every spot they got until they crumble one by one. You can't hit what you can't see.” I laid the plan down, then gave them the smirk of death.
“Yeah, son,” Beast said and smirked back, while rubbing his palms together. “Like a Ghost Mob.”
“Word is bond,” Premo added.
I liked the name. It had that Killah ring to it. Plus, it's always good for a leader to make sure his solders felt like they had a say so.
“Ghost Mob it is. Now it's time to make the whole town know our name. I gotta go meet up with somebody, then we gon' paint the city red, on me,” I promised.
***
1 hour later
I drove down Missouri block and parked right next to the bright red small body Benz. I chose this spot for two very important reasons. One, it ended up in a cul-de-sac and I needed to be able to see everything that moved. I know a lot of real niggaz that got their faces blown off for bein’ parked on the wrong street.
I've crushed a few suckaz with the same exact move. Catch 'em while they’re behind the wheel, creep up from the back and it's a done deal. Murder she wrote. Another sad funeral.
Another bitch niggaz’s gravesight to piss on. So, if Marshawn thought he was gonna end me with one of my own moves, then he had another thing coming. I'ma kill him and this punk bitch, I thought as I gripped the .45 on my lap.
The second reason was because we were parked right in front of Falcon's house. I needed the emotional attachment to kick in. I needed her to remember how they did our loved ones and where they did it at.
I needed her on my team so I could slay the dragon. I sat there checking out my surroundings for a minute or so. After I was satisfied she wasn't on no set-up shit, I hopped out and quickly jumped in the passenger’s seat of her whip.
Whatever expensive ass perfume she had on was filling the car up, attacking my nose as soon as I closed the door. It smelled good as a muthafucka and made some blood shoot through my dick.
; She had on some black sweats and a tank top with her hair in a ponytail. When we made eye contact, I could tell that she had done a lot of crying and definitely some soul searching. I was an expert at reading souls and hers was screaming revenge. The anger mixed with pain was flashing across her eyes. I knew at that moment that Olay was going to help me slay the dragon.
“About time you got in the car,” was how she greeted a killah.
“First off, watch how the fuck you talkin' to me ‘cause I ain't yo’ weak ass baby daddy. I don't go for that talkin' slick shit.” I looked at her like she was crazy while my words sunk in. When she bit her lip and swallowed her tongue, I continued. “Now, tell me why that snake ass nigga ain't living in the ground?” I growled through gritted teeth.
“I couldn't do it.”
“That's obvious, Olay. Tell me why you couldn't do it. We had a perfect plan that woulda worked and saved a whole lot of blood shed if you woulda held up your end of the deal. Now we gotta take it to the streetz and bang it out with them pussies. So again, why ain't he dead?”
“I pulled out the gun on him and everything, then we started yelling at each other. Then Bleed came with a gun outta nowhere, putting it to my head.”
I exhaled real deep tryna control my frustration. Fuck she mean they were yelling? I hoped her dumb ass didn't tell him she got the info from me. I looked at her again and just knew she did.
“What the fuck was y'all talking about? The very first time y'all met or what? Strolling down memory lane?” I asked.
“Real funny.”
“Olay, please don't tell me that you told the nigga that I'm the one that told you and we planned this shit together.” I held my breath and waited.
She made a stupid ass face, while twisting her hand in the “kinda” symbol. I punched the glove box hard as hell.
“Fuck! Why the fuck would you tell him that?” I yelled at her.
“I didn't tell him the plan! I only said that you told me the truth!” she yelled back, crying now.
I sat back and thought about what she was saying. I tossed and turned a few ideas around in my head, tryna see how I could still use her to my advantage.
“Do you think he knows? Nobody knows him better than you do, so I need you to really think hard.”
“He had no idea,” she answered.
“How you know?”
“Easy, his pride won’t let him even think about something like this. I always told him it would be his downfall.”
I nodded my head in agreement and came up with a plan.
“I gotta idea. Listen up.”
Chapter 4
O-dawg
February 24th
I pulled up to the McDonalds on 102nd Street and parked right next to my brother Jaxx's black Escalade. I checked the whole parking lot out and looked inside for any potential beef. I trusted my brother one hundred percent, but I had learned to never leave my life in another man's hands. The graveyard was full of those type of idiots. Plus, my brother was old and couldn't spot one of my many enemies, even if they were standing right in front of him.
I didn't see anything that made me feel any type of way. Just some typical ass Portland weather, half grey and half sunny. Nobody knew if it was about to rain or get hot as fuck. I turned the ignition off and leaned back, just tryna enjoy one signal moment of peace 'cause the past few days had been nothin' but chaos and shell casings every hour by the hour.
Burnside and the rest of those traitors were really tryna get their issue on. They were poppin' up outta nowhere at random spots, shooting my shit up. They had already killed two of my lil' niggaz and we hadn't got no get back.
They been all over Facebook reppin' some new shit called the Ghost Mob, while taking shots at us. The social media world was going crazy just eating the shit up. Nobody had known we were split up, but now they did.
Muthafuckaz were already taking sides and a lot of people were counting me out. I guess they figured with Boobie dead and Burnside against me that all my muscle was gone. Like I wasn't a certified killah. I can't wait to kill these niggaz.
I jumped out in the wind wearing the same black sweat pants and black hoody I had on the last three days, with the Kevlar under it for extra protection. It was probably enough gun powder on my clothes to get me buried under the jail. But with Gotti laid up somewhere waiting to be buried, none of that shit mattered to me. The only smart thing I was doing was keeping my black murder ones on, meaning my gloves.
“Who the hell you think you is, the grim reaper or somethin'?” Jaxx asked as soon as I closed the door.
Leave it to this nigga to always wanna be funny no matter the situation. Niggaz was dying left and right and he wanted to crack jokes and shit. I took my glasses off and looked him dead in the eyes.
“That's exactly who I am, you ain't heard?”
“Damn, lil' nigga. Do you sleep in that vest?”
I shrugged my shoulders “Sometimes, but I’m damn sho gon' die in it. What's up, bro? I know you didn't link up to talk about my clothes and shit.” I had shit to do and was losing my patience.
Bro passed me the backwood that I needed to calm my nerves. I hit it real deep about five times, then passed it back before I coughed to death. I needed that.
“I got some info on Burnside’s ho’ ass that's gon' help us out.”
“Us?” I couldn't help myself. My brother didn't involve himself with street wars and only said “us” when it involved his money.
He had the audacity to scrunch his face up like he couldn't believe I was surprised.
“Yeah, lil' nigga. Us. Don't forget that Gotti's blood run's through my veins just like it run's through yours. I don't play about my family and you know that.” He got real offended.
“A’ight, what's the play?” I asked.
“The nigga Leo hit me up about pluggin' in Burnside with the work.”
“Nigga, what?”
I felt myself starting to heat up. I had personally reached out to all the main suppliers and told them not to supply Burnside with shit! I was gonna make sure that traitor didn't eat nothin' in my city. After that baby shit he stole from me ran out, I was gonna make sure he was white around the mouth. Niggaz had me fucked up if they thought I was gon' sit back and let them provide the plate to my enemy's table. They think shit sweet over here!
“Yeah, Leo on somethin’. He an old head and ain't got nothing to do with y'alls beef. I guess him and some other ole heads ain't feeling how you telling them they can't eat.”
“I ain't said no shit like that. Just not to plug in Burnside,” I interrupted.
“I know, but it's the same thing to them. So he called me to see if I could reason with you about it.”
“Fuck, no. No chance.”
“Of course not. So you know what you gotta do about it.” He gave me that kill or be killed look.
“I'ma handle it, set a nice example,” I vowed, then nodded my head.
“They starting to count you out, so siding with Burnside is looking like a smart play. Especially if they don't plug him then you lose the beef.” He laced me up.
I hadn't thought about it like that before, but now my eyes were opened up. I knew at that moment the stakes had been raised to the limit. This was no regular street beef. This was for the keys to the town and niggaz were putting their bids in.
“I'm going back to the old me, the broke me.” I looked my big brother right in the eyes.
He nodded slowly, then handed me an ounce of some of that medical shit we were blowing on. “I got a play in the making that's gone crush those niggaz. So when I call you one night and tell you to suit up, be ready,” he said, then turned the ignition on, letting me know he as done talking.
“Yeah, alright,” was my reply even though I wasn't buying it.
I hopped back in the 'Rati and peeled off, while calling Bleed on speakerphone. Niggaz had me fucked up and didn't even know it.
“What's mobbin'?” Bleed’s high-pitched voice filled up the car.
“On my way to grab a couple backwoods from one sixty-second and then we gotta link up ASAP.”
“On me. Let's link at the Mob Quarters. It's been a minute since you dropped a track,” he suggested.
“That's 'cause it's kill or be killed right now. But a’ight, tell everybody to link up. Oh, and it's time to suit up. I gotta play we needa handle.”
“On me,” he replied, then hung up.
I put on that “But I'm Bulletproof” by Young Dolph and turned that shit all the way up, really feeling myself.
“Bitch, I'm Bulletproof! Huh?” I screamed out, while doing some thugged out danced I made up.
I'ma die about my money, power and respect. I echoed Dolph's words but meaning that shit to the core. Portland was my city and they was gon' have to kill me for it. But they was gon' have to work hard for this body, on me. I changed the song to “In Charlotte” and was just starting to get into it when the song was interrupted by Olay calling in.
We'd been arguing back and forth over texts the past few days over anything imaginable but mostly Mar-Mar. The bitch thought she was about to be playing games with my son like I was some type of sucka or somethin'. We was done as far as I was concerned, but I damn sho didn't wanna see her with another nigga. I was debating on taking her back just for that reason but really to dog the shit outta her.
“What you want now, Olay?” I answered.
“Are you coming to get your son or not?”
I wish her bipolar ass coulda seen the face I was making. “I thought you said you wanted him and didn't trust me knowing where you was at?”
“I changed my mind and you can get him from my mother's house.”
“Naw, I'll get 'em in a few days. I got some important shit to do.”
“Well, I'm tryna go out, so come get your son,” she had the nerve to say.
“Where the hell you going?” I asked, letting my emotions get the best of me.
“That's no longer your concern, Marshawn!”
Protect Me From My Friends Page 4