by Koko Brown
“Bullshit.” Russell continued toward the door.
“I’ve got to do something.” Victoria ducked into the kitchen.
“Haven’t you done enough?” Russell called after her. Then he brought his attention to Jelly. “I’m not going anywhere with you people.” Russell stood in between Crush and Jelly, ready for a fight.
“Good plan.”
Russell turned when he heard a new voice, but a familiar one. While keeping his hands in fists, he had to blink several times to make sure he actually saw who stood before him.
“Quinton?” Russell hadn’t seen his brother in years.
ELEVEN
Russell did the one thing he wanted to do if he ever saw his one and only brother again. He wrapped his arms around Quinton’s shoulders and embraced him. He half expected for his baby brother to still smell of an orange creamsicle, Quinton’s favorite ice cream treat. Instead, he smelled like expensive cologne. The scent reminded Russell of himself when he used to work for Crush prior to his arrest.
The thought had him pulling back from him and studying his face.
“Hi, brother.” Quinton smiled as he patted Russell on his shoulder.
Quinton looked different from the last time he had seen him. Fifteen years ago, Quinton, like him, had a head full of dark hair that he had kept short. His shaved head matched Russell’s. Unlike Russell, he wore a suit. Now he resembled a white version of Crush. Christ, was Russell’s baby brother now working with Crush Crandall?
“Good to see you.” Quinton clasped his hands together and kept them in front of his body.
“Great to see you.” Russell glanced at Crush, who still appeared doubled over from Russell’s beating. “Are you working for him now?”
Quinton snickered. “Are you kidding me?” Then he returned to the front door and closed it. “Although I looked up to you and wanted so much to be like you, I wouldn’t work for him.” He pointed to Crush.
“This may not be the right time to say this, but I wanted to tell you I’m sorry.” Russell put his hand to his chest. “I should have been there for you more back in the day.”
Quinton waved his hand in the air. “Don’t worry about it. Trust me. Even without you there, I learned from you.”
“Learned from me? What could you possibly—”
Before Russell could finish his question, Jelly started to approach him and Quinton. Jelly’s attack got stopped abruptly when Quinton pulled out his gun and pointed it at Jelly’s face.
Russell’s pulse accelerated. The only gun he had ever seen Quinton holding had to be a water gun when they used to chase each other around as kids.
Russell viewed his brother differently now. Deep down, he didn’t think Quinton would use the gun on him.
He didn’t recognize the man standing in front of him. Or maybe Russell didn’t want to acknowledge that he stared at himself when he used to be cocky young man.
“No, no, no.” Quinton shook his head. “You pump your brakes. I’m running this show.”
Quinton stood in front of Russell. At this proximity, Russell noticed how his brother’s once bright green eyes looked mossy and dead. Cold.
“So what have you been doing since getting out?” Quinton kept his stare directly on Jelly although he spoke to Russell.
The tense scene caused Russell’s heartbeat to pound in his head. “I saw Mom’s grave.”
Quinton finally broke his stare from Jelly. “Good. Yeah, her death was unfortunate.” He wiped his hand over his clean-shaven face. “Family is a funny thing.” He glared at Crush and Jelly.
“What are you doing here? Are you and Victoria a couple?” Had Victoria lied to Russell about that aspect of her life? She had told him that she didn’t have a husband or a boyfriend.
Quinton snickered. “No. Back then and now, I knew she was your girl.”
Russell shook his head. “I didn’t date her before I went in. Too young.”
“That didn’t stop her from wanting you. Even after you went in, she still talked about you.” Quinton wagged his finger at Russell. “Where is your girlfriend?”
“I told you. We’re not—”
“I don’t give a shit.” He waved his gun in Russell’s direction. “I just need to know if you’re still with me or if I’m going to make this situation a lot messier than it needs to be?”
Russell peered down at Crush. “What the hell is going on?”
Quinton put his hand to his chest. “You hadn’t heard?” He snapped his fingers. “That’s right. You have been out of the loop. Since Crush has gone straight, I’ve taken the opportunity to step up and take a spot that was tailor made for me.”
Russell felt lightheaded as soon as it clicked in his head that Jelly and Crush hadn’t lied about them going straight, or about a new boss taking over. He wished they had warned him that Quinton had taken a full one-eighty turn.
“You were supposed to be the good brother.” Belle had told Russell that several times.
Quinton put his hand to his chest. “I am. Trust me. I’m damn good at what I do.” He sauntered to the side. “I did get my business degree, and I used it to start a lot of cash-only businesses. Car washes, Laundromats, arcades. Makes moving money around a lot easier to do things that aren’t so legal.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Russell had to figure out his brother’s angle. More importantly, how did he fit into Quinton’s plan?
“Bad business is profitable and time-consuming. I need a partner.” He held his gun up. “But I also don’t need reformed assholes wanting to stop my flow.” Casually, he lowered his piece and let it hover close to Crush’s head.
Maybe because of years of doing what Quinton now did, Crush didn’t flinch when Quinton positioned the gun so close to him. For that, Russell had to give the man some respect.
Back then and now, Russell couldn’t see Quinton on the wrong side of the tracks. “You want me to work for you?”
Quinton shook his head. “I need a partner. No one is better than blood.” He glared at Jelly. “Get down there with your uncle.”
Jelly split his attention between Quinton and Russell. He stared at Russell longer. Russell imagined that Jelly would have said, “I told you so.”
He crossed in front of Russell and got down on his knees beside his uncle.
Quinton held out his hand to Jelly. “Come on. Give it up.” He wiggled his fingers.
“Mother fucker.” Jelly pulled the gun from the inside of his waistband and handed it over to Quinton.
“Good.” Quinton smiled, checked the gun, then fired it into Jelly’s shoulder.
The sound shocked Russell as much as the action. Jelly recoiled backward and clutched his shoulder. Bright crimson blood poured from the open wound onto the floor.
“Fuck!” Jelly slammed his fist on the floor.
“Your trigger is really sensitive.” Quinton snickered. He stood in front of Crush. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure the guns will be on safety when dealing with you – for now. I need some answers.” He turned to Russell. “I’m sure my brother has some questions. But before we get to that, where’s that bitch?”
Russell’s gut twisted when his brother referred to Victoria as a bitch. He didn’t understand why she retreated to the kitchen earlier. Now, after seeing how volatile his brother could be, he wanted her to remain hidden.
“Victoria! Get out here.” Quinton remained quiet for a beat before he held up his gun to her father’s head. “Tick tock. Tick tock. I don’t know how long your father has before he gets a headache.”
Russell’s body vibrated with each thump of his heart. “We don’t need her.” He nodded. “We don’t need any of them. Let’s just go.”
“I appreciate your enthusiasm.” Quinton put his hand on Russell’s shoulder.
The touch that should have made him happy caused his stomach to knot.
“I need the Crandalls here together.” He looked around Victoria’s home. “I’m not going to repeat myself.”
Russell heard the light footsteps coming from the kitchen area before he spotted Victoria. Considering the situation, she actually looked angry and tough. He found her determined expression sexy, but he couldn’t think about that now.
“Good girl.” Quinton laughed.
Victoria glanced at Russell quickly before she stood next to Jelly, who remained on his side on the floor.
“Hail, hail, the gang’s all here.” Quinton pulled a chair up to the trio. Before taking a seat, he grabbed a second one and directed Russell to take a seat. “Now, let’s have some fun.”
Fun wouldn’t be the way Victoria would describe this turn of events. This would be her Tom Sawyer moment. Nothing bad happened to Tom and Jim as long as they stayed on the raft. She and Russell should have stayed in the hotel.
Looking at Russell and his maniacal brother, she didn’t recognize Russell anymore. In a blink of an eye, he became that thug again. This time, his heart of gold vanished.
“So I have questions. I know you do, too.” Quinton tapped Russell on his leg. “I’ll let you start.” Then he held up Jelly’s gun to him.
Victoria watched Russell staring at the piece for a while before he finally took it. Her heartbeat slowed down. She wanted it to stop.
“Go ahead, Russ. Ask everything you ever wanted to know from any of them. You probably won’t get this chance again.” Quinton sat back and crossed his legs.
Russell scanned the group and settled his gaze on Victoria. “Did you call the police on me the day I got arrested?”
She swallowed hard but kept her stare on his eyes. “Yes. Right before I sent you that message—”
“What message was that?” Quinton cocked his head. He split his attention between her and Russell. “Bro, I thought you said you two weren’t dating.”
“We weren’t. We aren’t.” Russell stretched his neck like Quinton’s teasing annoyed him. “Go on.”
Victoria took a deep breath. She glanced to the side at her father. “Before his change of heart, I guess, my dad knew something bad was going down. He wasn’t sure of the deal.”
Crush looked at his daughter, but he didn’t seem like he felt her words betrayed him. He almost seemed ashamed.
“Crush had heard that some other gang was going to try and get the shipment you were supposed to pick up. I didn’t believe my dad would do anything to hurt you. I knew he liked you.”
Crush lowered his head.
Victoria sniffed when she felt the stinging of tears attack her eyes. “I still sent the picture because I thought my father was going to take measures to protect you. When I heard him say that if anything happened to you that he would just have to find someone else, I got scared. I called the police. I thought that once you got my message that you would have called me right away or come to the house. I wanted you, um, I wanted you to be as far from that location as possible.”
“Why not call me first instead of the police?” Russell sat at the end of the chair.
“Great question.” Quinton scratched the top of his head. “Explain that.”
“If the group that Crush described was going to descend on you, I wanted you to have support first. I wanted you to not get caught when everything went down. I didn’t want you hurt.” She took a deep breath. “I love you.”
Quinton laughed. “That is so desperate. Are you going to tell me that you love me, too, so that I won’t kill you?”
Victoria snapped her attention to him. “No. Russell talked about you like you were someone special. He actually called himself the screw-up, and said you were the one who had it all together.” She shook her head. “I don’t see that.” She returned her attention back to Russell. “You are the good one. You’re the honorable one. I love—”
“Jesus, lady, shut the fuck up.” Quinton waved his gun in front of her. Then he turned to Russell. “Any other questions for her?”
Russell stared at her. “Not right now. I want to know from Crush if she’s telling the truth. Was I going to be ambushed?”
Crush nodded. “Rumor had it that some new outfit wanted to jump on this deal and they were going to take out my crew. I didn’t know Victoria had heard any of that.” He glanced at her. “Considering the outcome, I’m glad she did. Let’s face it. I wasn’t going to tell you to leave the deal. And had I told you that you were going to be jumped, you would have wanted to stay and shoot it out. You know I’m not lying.”
Russell glanced down at the gun he held like he wondered about the possibility.
“Good thing he didn’t believe you.” Quinton put his hand on Russell’s shoulder. “I’d rather have my brother than lose him and my mother.”
“You would?” Russell turned his full body toward his brother. “You didn’t visit me when I was in prison. Every letter I sent got returned.”
Quinton shrugged. “I was going through some things. You lived high on the hog, but me and mom lived in that shitty house in Virginia Beach. You remember the one with the big tree in the front yard.”
Russell nodded. “I went by it when I got out. As far as the shitty living conditions, that’s not my fault. I tried several times to get you and Mom into a better home. I even asked Mom to let you move in with me, get you into a better school system.” Russell shook his head. “She said she didn’t want you near me while I was working for him.” He pointed to Crush.
Quinton laughed. “You won’t have to worry about that for much longer.” He aimed his gun at Crush. “Get ready to get everything you ever wanted.”
At that moment, Russell glanced at Victoria. She found something in his eyes that gave her hope that he didn’t fall for his brother’s bullshit.
Victoria had to buy some time. “Russell, there’s something else I need to say.”
“I think you’ve said enough, don’t you think?” Quinton laughed. “You admitted that you set my brother up. What the fuck else do you want to say?”
“Shortly after that bust, my mother straightened out her life. As a matter of fact, she got into church, which surprised all of us. She loved it. She made great friends.” Victoria stared at Russell the entire time.
“Interesting, but not necessary for anyone else to know. Besides, you can talk to your mom all about that pretty soon.” Quinton uncrossed his legs. “Make this quick.”
“One of my mother’s new friends was this sweet woman with two sons. She was a little sad because one son was going to prison and the other had gone away to college, at least she thought he had.” Victoria didn’t take her attention off Russell, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed Quinton getting agitated.
He fidgeted in his chair.
“According to her new friend, her son that she thought was in college had fallen in with a bad group of friends. She overheard him talking on the phone about taking out some convict who knew too much.” She watched Russell’s face tense up. “She said he was afraid his association would always keep him in someone else’s shadow.” She glanced at Quinton. “It’s no wonder he returned all of your letters. He didn’t want to be Chop’s baby brother. You were man enough to take the fall on a job. And I would bet money that he arranged for you to get attacked in prison.”
“Lying bitch.” Quinton bolted to his feet. “You think I would have betrayed my own brother?”
“I think you wanted quick street cred. This would have been a way to do it.” Victoria glared at him.
“You had my full attention all weekend.” Russell sat up taller as he looked at Victoria. “Why is this the first time I’m hearing this?”
“You spoke so highly of Quinton. I didn’t want to ruin that image.” She shook her head. “It looks like he did that on his own.”
“Fuck you.” Quinton redirected his anger and attention to Victoria. “You’re slick, but not slick enough. You stayed hidden long enough. I’m glad you used your house phone when you got back home. That helped me know when you returned.”
Russell put his hand on top of his brother’s that held the gun. “Hold on. I nee
d some more answers.”
Victoria couldn’t imagine what else Russell needed to know. Quinton just confessed that he had been the one tracking her. She didn’t believe the story about Quinton ordering the hit on Russell. From his actions, she now saw him as a monster. She hoped, though, that Russell came to the same conclusion.
Russell directed his attention to Crush. “Did you kill Eloise?”
Crush’s face cracked. “Are you kidding? I would never hurt my wife. I loved her.”
“Hey, hey, hey. Come on, Russ. That’s a terrible accusation.” Quinton patted Russell on his back. “No, I took that bitch out.”
Victoria doubled over at that news.
“She was connecting too many dots. At one of her many church functions a month ago, I had a server give her a special drink. I’m surprised she was able to drive home. That was a tough broad.”
Russell stood. “So you had me shanked in prison to cut our association?”
Quinton’s confident smile slowly melted. Then he laughed again. “Don’t be dramatic. I told my contact not to kill anyone. They would have done you like I did Jelly. A flesh wound. You’re still here, right?”
“Because I fought back. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here.” Russell’s voice started to rise in anger.
Victoria watched Russell’s grip tighten on the gun. “Jaleel needs help. Can we stop this Q&A? You want money? I’ll give you what I have. Please let us go.”
Quinton shook his head. “Can’t do that.” He pointed to himself and Russell. “The Griffings are taking over. I need you to write a legal document giving us control of all of your business holdings. That’ll make it faster than killing you all and waiting through the court process to acquire your properties and businesses.” He turned to Crush. “Same for you, too. Then we’ll finish this.” Quinton nudged his brother. “Are you ready for this?”
Russell waited a beat before he spoke. “I always wanted to be my own boss.” He turned to his brother. “I just don’t know if I can trust you.”
Quinton put his hand on Russell’s shoulder. “You can.” He pointed to Victoria. “Don’t believe that bitch. She’s the one who put you in prison. I picked up the baton that you dropped. We can run this town.”