by Shan
“What happened?” I asked unable to put together what was going on. It was so much to take in.
“The tear in her aorta wall caused her to have a stroke and now she is in a coma. The doctors aren’t sure if she is gonna wake up. They want us to pull the plug on her, but we are God-fearing people. We believe that God has the final say-so. Not gonna give up on her that easily.”
My hands went to my head and my chest fell in defeat. I was the one that had done to this to her. I had damn near killed her behind Rain and now she was suffering because of it. If I had allowed Jahzara to pull the trigger and end Rain’s life, none of this shit would be happening right now. I wouldn’t have had to travel across the damn country, wouldn’t have lost my fucking cousin, and Jahzara damn sure wouldn’t be going through this shit.
“I’m so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. I appreciate you for calling me to let me know that she was going through this. I promise I-”-”
I was stunned when Evelyn wrapped her arms around me and held me tight. She squeezed me tighter and I could feel the love radiating from her body. I would think that the two of them would want to kill me right now. I had never gotten the chance to formally meet them.
The first time that I saw them was when I was in the middle of a gun battle with Quin inside their house. Now, here I am at the hospital standing at the foot of their dying daughter’s bed because of two bullets I had put into her. How could they be so forgiving and allow me to be here like this?
Tears flowed down my face from my eyes unexpectedly and when I tried to wipe them away Evelyn grabbed my hands and pulled me over to Jahzara’s father.
“Jahzara didn’t get a chance to tell us everything, but she told us that she had done something so bad that she left the man that she loved with no choice but to shoot her. She begged for us to call you and allow you to be here. Whatever happened between you two that caused this is not our concern. We only want to honor her wishes. This is definitely not the time for finger pointing,” Evelyn said to me and she reached for her husband’s hand. “I want you to pray with us. God is a healing God. He will make Jahzara better and if you believe that then I want you to pray with us, okay?”
“Yes ma’am,” I nodded.
I bowed my head and listened along as James began to pray. I wasn’t as spiritual as I needed to be and mostly only prayed when I needed something. I just hoped that she was right and that God would heal Jahzara. After Kira, I don’t know if I could take another loss.
21: Imran
6 weeks later
I stepped off of the porch of B.B.’s house where I’d been staying for the past few weeks. I pulled my hat over my head and walked down the sidewalk to my Dodge Charger that I’d just purchased a few days ago. Thanks to my uncle B.B for his help and letting a nigga put in some work, I was able to make a little money to set me towards getting my life back in order. I wasn’t getting money on the scale that I had been previously, but it was enough for me to get a car and start saving until I figure out what I was gonna do next.
I hadn’t forgotten about Chino or Rain, but after coming home and finding out that Jahzara was in a coma, I wasn’t so eager to go after them. It would go down in due time, but for now, I wanted to be by Jahzara’s side until she finally woke up.
Her parents were holding on to all the hope that they had left in them. Every day they prayed and prayed. I wanted to believe that one day their prayers would work. Some days I actually did believe and some days it just seemed like God wasn’t into the business of answering any prayer that had something to do with what I wanted or needed. As long as they weren’t giving up, then I would stick by their side and not give up with them. I guess it was easier that way. I jumped inside of my car and stuck the key in the ignition, cranking it up and turning the knob up all the way to the max.
The difference between me and you is
I’d rather get money and try and flip me something
You can’t tell me nothing.
The difference between me and you is.
You’d rather sit on your ass
Begging from another man holding out your hand
The difference between me and you
Is I would never love her
I would never trust her
I nodded my head to Rich Homie Quan’s Differences and eased my ride down the street towards the hospital. Rain and I were supposed to hook up a little later so that she could give me the latest she’d heard on Chino. She’d been working with Jina and some other cat out of Maryland. So far, it sounded like he’d made a major comeback off my chedda and my bricks. Inwardly, I laughed at the thought of it all cause the nigga probably actually thought he’d gotten away with it. It wasn’t even about the money for me any longer. I was hustler before anything and it was too easy for me to make that little chump change back and flip that shit ten times over. I was just mad as hell in the beginning when it first happened, but as time went on, the money was the least of my concern.
It had become about the principle and how I couldn’t just sit back and let karma work for me. I had to put my own work in and show that nigga that I wasn’t the type that would lie down and take whatever was thrown at me. They all had caught me at a weak point, but every dog has their day. His was just around the corner.
I quickly turned the volume down on the radio when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and slid the bar across the phone to answer it.
“What’s up? I’m a be through there around nine. Going to the hospital to sit with Jahzara and her folks for a few hours,” I said to Rain the moment I answered the phone.
“No, you need to hear this. I just heard from Jina that one of the boys she is messing with that works for Chino told her that Chino and a couple of his boys will be in Dallas tonight. They’re meeting up with Tamar’s wife,” Rain said sounding like she was out of breath.
“What? Meeting with his wife? Meeting with her for what?”
“She said that he overheard Chino and Ray talking about Tamar was down and that his wife was handling things for him. And they said that they were supposed to be copping ten bricks from her, but wasn’t gonna pay her for any of them. They supposed to be trying to rob her.”
“Damn, I heard that Tamar had been stabbed and shot and that he was in the intensive care unit, but I didn’t know that his wife was handling his business. That’s crazy as fuck. Do you trust that info?” I asked her wondering why B.B. didn’t tell me that little bit of info when he told me about the tragedy that had happened to Tamar.
“Yes, she said that her little friend makes money by running packages and cleaning cars for Chino. She said that he is always around him and that he always eavesdropping. He pretends like he is listening to his music, but he really be getting info out of them.”
“Damn, so they gonna be here tonight to try and rob this lady.”
“Yep. She said that Chino them was saying how stupid Tamar was to let his wife handle things and that he should know that it’s a man’s job. He said they’re gonna rob her. They’ll probably kill her if they have to.”
“Shit,” I said and shook my head.
I bust a U-Turn in the middle of the road and made my way back to B.B.’s house. Although Tamar had cut me off, I didn’t have any ill will toward him ‘cause he only did what he thought was best for him. There are too many shady people in this business. If I had been in his position, I would’ve done the same damn thing. If you felt like you couldn’t trust someone it was easier to just cut them off than to give a chance to even show you that your feelings were right.
“Alright, I’m a hit you right back Rain.”
I hung the phone up and parked against the curb in front of B.B.’s house. I quickly shut the engine off and jumped out of the car. I ran up the sidewalk and inside of B.B.’s house.
“Hey Braylon! B.B.!” I yelled and made my way through the house to his room.
His girl Luscious came out of the bedroom first followed behind him. I looked at
Luscious and immediately thought about Jahzara. Not long ago, Luscious was in the same place that Jahzara was in, in a coma from a gunshot wound she had suffered. She had been down a long time, but one day she had woke up like nothing had ever happened.
B.B. had been by her side constantly and had never given up. Every time I saw her, I hoped that the outcome would be exactly the same for Jahzara. She was proof that it could happen, but I still wouldn’t get my hopes up.
“What the hell are you yelling for? I thought you were on your way to the hospital to see your girl,” B.B. said while breaking down a cigar.
“I was. Yo’ you won’t believe the shit I just heard.”
“What up?” B.B. asked and I followed behind him as he walked out of his house and sat down on the porch.
B.B. had a big ass Victorian style home that he’d brought from an old couple that moved out of state. He restored it and it had it looking brand new. The porch wrapped around both sides of the house and had a huge backyard. It was his favorite hangout spot whenever he wasn’t working.
“Aye, Rain just told me that nigga Chino who killed Kira and took my shit will be here tonight in Dallas,” I said and sat down on the porch.
“Word? So what you wanna do?” B.B asked.
He was ready to do whatever I needed him to do. I had lied and told everyone that Chino was responsible for killing Kira because I couldn’t bear telling them the truth. I didn’t want them looking at me crazy, wondering why I still had Rain around. They would never understand that I needed her to get my money back. They would all tell me that I needed to put her down with the quickness before one of them did.
“Nah, listen to this. He is coming out here to cop some work from Tamar’s wife.”
B.B. stopped filling his cigar with the weed and looked at me. His forehead wrinkled and he stared at me blankly. I could then tell that he hadn’t known anything about Tamar’s wife handling his business.
“What you mean...cop some work from his wife? What the fuck kind of shit is that?” B.B. asked and continued rolling his blunt.
“Same thing I said, but Rain said these niggas on some set up shit and they plan on robbing her for ten bricks and killing her if they have to.”
Again B.B. looked at me and this time he stood and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He scrolled through it and then placed the phone on speaker. The line began to trill and a familiar voice sounded through the speaker.
“Aye, bro, have you talked to Tamar?” B.B. asked Dom.
“Nah, I don’t think no one has talked to him. Last I heard, he wasn’t taking any visitors. Why what’s up?”
“Just got some info that his old lady supposed to handling business for him and that some niggas that she working for tonight supposed to be on some set up shit,” B.B. told him.
“Who is these niggas?” Dom asked.
“Same nigga that did Kira in and got Im. Aye, I don’t like that shit. They are fucking with our money now. Nigga done already took our cousin away, now he trying to hit us in the pockets! No,” B.B said, shaking his head in disgust. “I’m not feeling that at all.”
“I ain’t with that shit either. Let me get up with his old lady and I’ll get back with you in a few minutes,” Dom said.
“Alright, hit me back ASAP.”
B.B. hung the phone up and slid it back into his pocket. He came out with a lighter and lit his blunt; taking a toke off of it before passing it over to me.
“I got your back on this shit for real. I wish I would’ve followed my mind and went with you to Maryland, the niggas would already be dead and gone by now. It’s all good. We gonna do this shit for Kira.”
“Alright, for Kira,” I said and took a toke off the blunt.
I thought about everything thus far and realized that this was working out all too perfectly. Them niggas would be in my city, where I had goons all over, ready to put in work just off of GP. Not only that, I would be able to possibly get some favor back if we could stop this shit from happening, which I knew that we would.
I appreciated B.B. and letting me make a little paper by putting in work for him, but it had been a minute since I held a brick in my hand. I needed to get my hands wet again.
22: Rain
I nodded my head as I listened to everything that Imran was telling me on the other end of the phone. I had been staying in a hotel for about a month now since I had left the hospital. I had a huge ass brace around my leg that would be ready to come off in about another two weeks.
Other than that, I was feeling good and had never felt better. I had done everything in my power to make it up to Imran for all the foul shit I had done to him. So far I had done well and I know I was proving to him that I was really for him and not against him. I knew that he could see it in me by the way we were able to have casual conversations without him looking at me so disgustedly.
It was almost like old times when we were dating and I found myself always wondering how I could fuck up such a good thing. I wondered how I would even lie down with a nigga like Yurie after Imran, and then couldn’t detect that Chino was a lame ass nigga. Neither of them could hold a candle to Imran. It was a shame I didn’t see it in the beginning.
Sadly, I had screwed things up so bad that I would never get another chance with Imran. His was heart was in another place anyway, waiting for Jahzara to awake from her coma. She had been out for a long time, and I didn’t know I felt about the whole situation. I could easily wish that she would never wake up, but it wouldn’t do me any good. Imran didn’t want me and never would. I had to hope that once he’d gotten what he wanted out of Chino, that he would at least let me live.
Even though we were all smiles most of the time we were in each other’s company, I could always detect those subtle moments when he would give me that death stare. He might not have known that I noticed, but I noticed it every single time.
“Okay, whatever you need me to do Imran,” I said into the phone.
“Real shit, we can’t fuck this up. It’s either all or nothing, you know?” Imran said.
I nodded. “Yea, I know. You don’t have to tell me how important it is. I’ll get myself ready for when you get here,” I told Imran and then hung up the phone.
They had talked to Tamar’s wife, Rozalyn, and had found out where she was supposed to be meeting up with Chino. Imran needed me to come through and cause a scene with Chino’s henchman, Ray, and whoever else he might have had with him. The thought alone had me shaking from the inside out.
This could be the day that my life ended, but I was willing to make that sacrifice for Imran. There was no way Ray wouldn’t kill me on sight, since he’d failed to do so the last time. I was just as sure about him wanting me dead as I was about Imran wanting the same thing.
I sat down on the bed and thought about everything that I had done and if I even deserved anything better than the hand that I’ve been dealt. Innocent people had lost their lives because of what I’ve done and I hadn’t felt any remorse for it until just recently. I hadn’t cared that I’d killed Chino’s right hand or Yurie until I feared that Imran or someone else would take mine.
I placed my head in the palm my hands and tried to think of some type of solution that would free me from this shit in the end. Although I had Imran’s best interest at heart, I still needed to look out for myself. I began to think of a plan that would keep me alive and put enough money in my pocket to be able to run in the other direction when this was all said and done. I couldn’t just die. I couldn’t just allow them to both to take me down without even putting up some kind of fight.
I got up from the bed and began pacing the floor. Placing my hands in the pockets of my jeans, I thought about every possible outcome, every possible scenario of what can happen tonight and then it came to me. The idea I had in my head was a risky one, but if I executed it properly, it could work. Imran would have want he wanted in the end, Chino and Ray would be dead and gone, and I would be able to walk away with my life. It was my only opti
on and there was no other choice but this one.
23: Imran
Nightfall had come quickly. B.B and I were set up and ready to go. My cousin, Turk, one of the OGs from the hood named Joe-Joe were with us too. Joe-Joe was Kira’s ex-boyfriend who always held on to the hope that they would get back together one day. He had dogged out her so bad when they were together that she would spit fire in that direction every time she saw that nigga. No matter how mean and evil she was toward him, it was always evident that she still had love for him. seeing how ready he was to ride with us on this, I could tell it was the same way for him.
I hated that I had to lie to them like this, but I couldn’t tell the truth no matter what. It was a secret that I would always keep with me and when I die, it was a secret that would be buried with me. I told Rain the same. She knew not to speak on Kira’s death or the events surrounding it.
“So, she already there or what?” I asked B.B. as I checked the clip on my .45. I picked up the chopper that my uncle Dom had given me and checked that too. I smiled at the beauty of that thing, knowing I could bust six rounds per second with this muthafucka.
“She said that her and this cat named Black will be there around eight, but she told the nigga Chino to be there at 8:30,” B.B. said as he walked around to the driver side of his Black Tahoe.
He popped the locks on the doors and I opened the door and placed the chopper underneath the passenger side seat. I hopped inside and quickly grabbed a cigarette to calm my nerves.
“So, what did she tell Tamar?” I asked and took a huge puff from the cigarette.
I wiped the sweat from my brow and turned the knob up on the air conditioner. I don’t know why I was so nervous, but I guess ‘cause I know shit could go either way. We had no idea how many niggas he was bringing with him or what type of artillery they had if any. They had to bringing something with them if they’d planned on setting this girl up and taking her for everything.