Axl

by Sonja B

  It looks like my plan was working. Before I went to the warehouse, I backtracked to Monica’s house to turn over some of her furniture to make it look like there was a fight. When I finished, I wrote a fake note to Nolan, letting him know that Monica and Alex had been kidnapped. Then I drove to his part of town and paid a crackhead to deliver the note to him. I knew once he saw it, he would try to contact Monica to see if it’s true, and when he couldn’t reach her, he would go by her house, finding it in disarray. The first person he would think took her would naturally be Romano.

  One by one, we follow Romano out of the office. As we make our way to the door, more of his men join us with their guns at their sides. When we make it outside, Nolan and about fifteen of his men are standing outside in front of black SUVs. I stop just behind Romano and Rocco, scanning the scene in front of me. I had to do a double-take when my eyes landed on Julian standing next to Nolan with a gun in his waistband. This shady mother fucker.

  “You have a lot of balls to come to my house, Nolan.” Romano calmly says, stopping at the edge of the driveway.

  “Naw mutha fucka, you got a lot of balls kidnapping my sister and niece! I want them back now! Where the fuck are they?” Nolan barks.

  Romano side-eyes me from hearing about Nolan’s niece. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. I don’t know shit about your sister or niece.”

  “Bullshit! This note was dropped off at my house forty-five minutes ago, saying someone took my sister and the only person I have beef with is you! Now tell me where my sister and niece are before I start knocking off everyone in your family starting with that pretty young wife of yours.” Nolan vocalizes holding a piece of paper.

  The whole time they are exchanging words, Julian keeps staring in my direction. I keep my head down facing Nolan. With my sunglasses on, he can’t get a good look at my face. I know he’s probably trying to figure out if he knows me or not. He gives a slight nod in my direction. Fuck, did he recognize me, I wonder, but my question was answered when Rocco discretely nods back. The other’s around them didn’t notice it, but I did. They were so fixated on the exchange between Romano and Nolan, the little gestures made by the two went unnoticed. What the fuck was that all about?

  Romano gestures for Lorenzo to get the note from Nolan. Lorenzo cautiously walks over to Nolan with his gun at his side. Nolan tosses the note Zo, who catches it with his free hand. Zo backs up until he is beside Romano then hands him the note. Romano studies the note before he crumples it up then throws it on the ground.

  “Like I said, I don’t know shit about your sister or niece. I don’t know who sent you that note, but it was not me. Now you need to get the fuck off my property before you, and your men come up missing too.” Romano says, as more of his men appear from the back of the house.

  Nolan observes the new men who are fully armed. I’m sure he knows we have more men and firepower than he does at the moment. The right side of his mouth twists into a snarl. “If my sister and niece aren’t returned to me alive soon, you better be ready to go to fucking war!”

  “Oh, the war has already begun. You think I’ve forgotten about you offing my men and fucking with my territory?! This shit started way before your precious sister and niece were taken. So, fuck you.” Romano booms.

  Julian leans over to Nolan, whispering something in his ear, but he never takes his focus off Romano. When Julian finishes, a slow smile spreads across Nolan’s face.

  “Soon, Romano. Soon.” Was all he says as he, Julian and the rest of his men get in the SUV’s and pull off.

  “I thought you said you only saw one person being taken out of the house. He’s saying his sister and niece were taken.” Romano snaps, eyeing me.

  “That’s exactly what I saw. They must have put his niece in the van before I pulled up. If that fucking cop hadn’t pulled me over, I would have disabled the van's tires and found out.” I counter.

  “He’s fucking lying, Mr. Romano. He probably let them getaway.” Rocco insists, as he stares at me with suspicion. I know he’s wondering if I found out the target was Monica.

  I step closer to him, sizing him up. “What the fuck do I have to lie for? I’m getting tired of having to repeat myself on what went down. I get paid by the kill, so you think I’m trying to fuck up my money. Hell no! Mr. Romano gives me the orders, and I carry them out.” I harshly whisper, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

  “But, you didn’t carry them out!” Rocco bellows.

  “Look, mother fuc…” I began.

  “Enough!” Romano barks. “Stand down, Rocco, both of you. I don’t have time for this shit. We are about to go to war over some shit that doesn’t even involve me. Granted, I was going to have his sister killed for the bullshit Nolan pulled, but now with someone else getting their hands on them means we have another player in the game. Rocco, have the foot soldiers get out and see if the streets are talking. Someone knows something. Everyone else meet back here at midnight.”

  Rocco and I continue to stare each other down. He breaks eye contact, as he spits on the ground, before acting like a good pet and follow Romano back into the mansion. Pussy.

  “So that was the hit’s brother?” Lorenzo asks, coming to stand next to me.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” I reply still looking at the front door. I have a feeling that before all of this is over with, I’m going to have to snatch Rocco’s soul.

  “You know Axl, I consider you my friend, so I have to ask if you had anything to do with the girl’s disappearance?”

  I considered Lorenzo a friend too, but at the end of the day, he’s Romano’s cousin and answers to him just like I do. “Naw, Zo, I didn’t have anything to do with it. If Nolan pissed off another rival like he has Romano, then she’s probably dead by now.”

  Lorenzo regards me, before nodding his head. “Alright, well, I’m going to hit the streets to see what I can dig up. I guess I’ll see you back here at midnight.”

  “Yeah. I gotta run home and check on Felix and Adam. I’m sure they’re still pissed at me. I’ll get up with you later.” I tell him before I head to my car.

  Instead of going straight home, I sat hidden on one of the back roads about twenty minutes away from Romano’s house, waiting for Rocco to drive by. If my intuition was right about what I saw earlier, he should be coming this way soon.

  As if on cue, his white Cadillac speeds by. I let a couple cars pass by, before I jump in behind them. Luckily, with it still being dark out, I was able to keep track of his white vehicle.

  I followed him for thirty minutes on the highway, until we ended up on the bad side town. He drove around like he had no care in the world, until he finally pulled into an alley behind a fried chicken restaurant. I slowed down, as I came upon the alley. Rocco had parked his car under a dull light hanging from one of the buildings and got out. He was leaned against the front of the car, puffing on a cigar like he was waiting on someone. Driving past, I found a dark place to park my car.

  I kept to the shadows, as I crept back to where Rocco parked. I was able to hide behind a dumpster that was cloaked by the darkness fairly close to him. His stupid ass wouldn’t hear me if I made any noise because he was listening to music from his car radio.

  A few minutes later, headlights from another vehicle approach from the other end of the alley. When it parks in front of Rocco, I notice it was Julian’s white SUV. He gets out, walking over to Rocco and shakes his extended had. Rocco backs away to reach into his car, turning down the radio. Thinking quickly, I pull my cellphone out of my pocket. Whatever these two were about to discuss, I was gonna get that shit on tape.

  Rocco pulls another cigar out of his suit jacket pocket, handing it to Julian. Julian takes it, putting it in his mouth. Rocco lights it, as Julian takes a big pull, then blows a thick puff of smoke out before speaking.

  “Seems like everything is going according to plan,” Julian says, before taking another toke of the cigar.

  Rocco nods his head, doing t
he same. “Yeah, now, with your boss being a loose cannon over his sister and niece missing, this will expedite things quicker.”

  “First of all, he’s not my fucking boss, well at least not for long. It was easy to convince his greedy ass, we should expand our territory by taking out a few of your guys and seizing the area. Second, do you know who took them? I need to get her back because once Nolan is out of the way, she will be my lady. Everything he has will finally be mine, his empire, and his sister!” Julian snarls.

  “Romano got pissed when your people took out those workers, which we knew he was going to be. But instead of taking the fight straight to Nolan so they could kill each other, giving us the opportunity to take over their spots, he put a hit out on the sister and niece in retaliation. Before the hit could take place, they were taken by some other people.” Rocco concluded, shrugging his shoulders.

  “What the fuck do you mean a hit was put on them? They were not supposed to be a part of this! If anything happens to them, I will kill all y’alls spaghetti eating asses!” Julian booms.

  “Relax Romano has instructed the men to comb the streets to find out who this new player in the game is. I’m sure Nolan has his men out looking for them too. You play your part with the search, and none would be the wiser, even if they found or not the war will go on. Our plan has not been derailed by this hitch. There’s no way I’ll sit back and let him turn over everything I helped him build to another mother fucker. So, I suggest you get back to your people and help with the search in finding them, and I’ll play my part on my end. I’ll be in contact if I hear anything new.” Rocco says before he takes one last pull of his cigar, then dropping by his foot, then stomping it out.

  “I’ll find them, and if I find out you or your people were behind it, our deal is off.” Julian states as he storms off to his SUV. He gets in, starts it up, then pulls off slowly passing me.

  “Fucking idiot,” Rocco says, as he gets in his Cadillac going in the opposite direction.

  I hit the stop button on my phone to end the recording. So, these two were in cahoots to take over their boss’s seats. As they say, there is no honor among thieves, I guess that went for wanna be Dons and drug lords too. The shit was about to hit the fan, and I needed to make sure Monica, Alex, Keirra, and my brothers won’t be caught in the crossfire.

  Chapter 9

  Monica

  After Axl left, my nerves were on edge. I wanted to call Nolan to let him know that we were okay, but I thought better of it. I would bet money he was the reason why we were in this shit. He’d better pray that we come out of this unscathed.

  I sat around talking with Keirra, Felix, and Adam to try to take my mind off the situation at hand. The brothers kept asking why we were with Axl, and since I didn’t know how to explain it to them, I suggested they waited for Axl to return so he could fill them in on things.

  It was nice to catch up with the brothers, but when I would ask about theirs or Axl’s past, they flipped it back on me and said it would be best for Axl to tell me his self. That made me wonder about their pasts even more. What exactly have they been up to since the last time I saw them?

  “So, what happened to you and the Puerto Rican prince?” Felix asks Keirra out of the blue with a devilish smile.

  “Why do you want to know so bad?” Keirra snaps, sucking her teeth.

  “Because that wasn’t just some fucking one nightstand we had! You told me shit about you, I know your boyfriend doesn’t even know about! And what we did was not fucking, we made love. We connected, and you know it just as well as I do. It scared the shit out of you, which is why you snuck out before I woke up. Then you call me the next day to meet up, claiming some bull shit about how much you were in love with him, and our time together was a mistake.” Felix replies with a deadly stare.

  Wait a minute, Keirra never told me about this. “What is he talking about, Keirra? You never told me about stepping out on Juan. Explain yourself, ma’am.”

  “Look, it’s not that serious. I was pissed off because I caught Juan talking on the phone with some bitch, so I went out to have a few drinks. Felix happened to come to the bar I was at, and we started talking. Long story short, I had too many drinks, we got a room, and I slept with him. I regretted it the next day, so I called him to meet up. I told him that it was a mistake and I had a man. A few days later, Juan and I went out to eat and got into an argument. Things were getting pretty heated between us, then out of nowhere, Felix shows up jumping in Juan’s face. Juan asked if I knew him, of course, I said no. Like I was gonna say ‘yeah, he’s the guy I slept with a few days ago.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Keirra was so nonchalant about it, like it was no big deal, but the way Felix is looking at her, I would beg to differ. I knew she and Juan were having problems, which was the reason she was staying at my house. I’d tried many times to convince her to leave his sorry ass, but she always made excuses for his cheating ass. Then last week, Juan got a little too handsy during their last argument. Keirra called me to come get her, and when I got there, she was nursing a busted lip, and that son of a bitch was sitting on the couch drinking a beer, watching a basketball game. I instantly went in my purse, pulling out my pistol. I was ready to shoot his ass, but Keirra stopped me. She said he wasn’t worth it and that she was done for good this time.

  “Argument?!” Felix booms. “Are you fucking kidding me?! That mother fucker put his hands on you. If I hadn’t walked in when I did, he probably would have beat your ass in public! And as far as having too many drinks, you had one drink sitting on the bar by the time I showed up, which was a rum and coke. We talked, and you told me everything that was going on between you and Rico Suave! So, from the time we started talking up until the time we left, you only had one more drink, and that would not have impaired your judgment. So, I call bullshit!”

  “Keirra!” I gasp. I knew that to be true because Keirra could throw back some shots. One night we were at my old apartment drinking, and I passed out on her ass. The next morning, I woke up to her and Alex singing Beyonce in the kitchen, cooking breakfast. That part doesn’t bother me as much, it’s the part of her not telling me about Juan’s stank ass being aggressive with her in public.

  “Relax, Mo. He just grabbed my arm when I got up to leave. And whatever, Felix, it was one night that shouldn’t have happened. I was with someone at the time.” Keirra sighs.

  A sinister smile stretches across Felix’s face. “If that was the case, then why did you smile when I walked up on the two of you arguing?”

  If looks could kill, Felix would be laid out dead on the floor from the look Keirra is giving him. “I smiled because you saved his ass from catching these hands! Now I can’t say the same for you if you keep badgering me about some shit that happened months ago!”

  I still can’t believe she didn’t tell me about any of this! “Hold up, Keirra, you make it seem like him grabbing your arm was nothing! What about last week when he busted your fucking lip!”

  “He did what?!” Felix and Adam yell. Oh shit, the wild look in their eyes is enough for me to almost regret my last statement.

  “You know what? I don’t need this shit from y’all. It’s over with Juan, so leave it and me the fuck alone! I swear if I would have known your ass was here Felix, I would have taken my chances back at Monica’s!” Keirra snaps, as she gets up from the couch, storming down the hallway to the room Alex was in.

  “Keirra! Keirra!” Felix calls out, as he begins to follow her.

  “Felix, let her go. She’s been through a lot with that asshole.” I tell him, as he stares down the hallway.

  “He’s gonna kill him,” Adam states with clarity, causing my jaw to drop.

  “What? No, I don’t know what’s going on with those two, but Felix won’t kill him…will he?” I ask wondering if Felix would actually go after Juan.

  “You don’t understand, Felix hasn’t been the same since the day he met her. I wouldn’t say he’s obsessed with her, but he’s definite
ly smitten. So, to hear that that prick put his hands on her, it’s not gonna end well for him.”

  Well shit! Hell, I wanted to shoot Juan when I saw what he did to her, but I only wanted to wound his ass not have him pushing up daisies.

  “I’m going to get some air,” Felix announces.

  I watch as he grabs his keys, then leaves out the front door. “You don’t think he’ll hunt Juan down, do you?”

  Adam shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know, maybe. Don’t worry about it, he’s probably going out to clear his head. Hey, I just want to let you know that even though it’s under fucked-up circumstances, I’m glad you and Alex are here. Axl was dealt a bad hand, but I think with you and Alex being around, you two can shed some light on his dark world. I’m going to lay down for a bit. It’s been a wild day.”

  “Thanks, Adam I really appreciate that. I’ll see you later.” I tell him, as he retreats from the room.

  Two hours later, neither Axl nor Adam has made it back. I found myself taking a personal tour of their house to keep busy. I must say, for three bachelors living in one house, they kept it clean. From the outside, you couldn’t tell that the house practically had three different wings that they each had master bedroom in. Then there were two guest rooms, one of which Alex and Kierra were sleeping in that was located down from Axl’s room.

  After the tour, I went into the kitchen to cook something for everyone to eat. It was huge with all stainless-steel appliances. An island sat in the middle of the kitchen with a brown and cream marble top that matched the counters. The refrigerator and pantry were fully stocked. Inside of it was an equally stocked deep freezer.

  Deciding to make breakfast for everyone, I took out eggs, bacon, sausage, and fresh fruit from the fridge. After setting them on the counter, I searched for the skillets and bowls I would need. Once I found them along with a stovetop griddle, I placed the griddle across two burners and turned them on. When it was warm enough, I began laying the bacon on it then the sausage. Waiting to cook the eggs last, I begin to hum, as I start dicing up the fruit.