by Sephiri J
Mariah looked at him, and I could see the internal conflict. It was crazy how the two women in the room loved Pops in different ways, but their love was strong as fuck. Mariah sniffled, but she nodded her head. Pops held his one hand out for her to come hug him, and she leaned in to him and wiped her eyes.
“You know I care about you. Don’t be sayin’ that shit,” Pops said.
Mariah leaned back and nodded as she looked into his eyes.
“Wait outside and give me a minute, okay?” he asked.
She stood up and straightened her blouse then left the room, but not before glaring at my mom.
My mom rolled her eyes as Mariah walked out. “I don’t know where you found that one,” she said, turning to my father who was trying to get out the bed.
I walked over and helped him up.
Pops chuckled and winked at my mom. “Mariah is good people.”
Twenty minutes later, we had the discharge papers and all Pops’ things together, so we could take him back to the house. When we walked out of the room, Mariah stood up from her chair. Pops reached for her, and she helped him walk to the elevator. When we got outside, my mother turned to Pops.
“I’ll come see you tomorrow. She can help you home, but please call me if you need anything. Okay?” she said.
Pops turned to her with a surprised expression on his face. “Come to the house Dahliah,” he said and let go of Mariah then walked toward my mother.
I could see the look of irritation on Mariah’s face. This shit was awkward as fuck.
“No.” My mom shook her head and gave Pops a small smile. “We’ll talk tomorrow.” She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek then turned to me. “Get him home safe, Dominic,” she said.
“For sure,” I said as she kissed my cheek then turned to walk away.
The relationship between the two of them was something I would never understand. Pops watched her as she walked away while Mariah folded her arms in front of her chest with a frown on her face.
“Let’s go,” I said, ready to be out this bitch.
I knew Mariah would have an earful for Pops when we got to the house, and I wasn’t planning to stay there longer than I needed to. Plus, I had other things to get into. Giselle had put up a Snap about an hour ago at a video shoot at this hotel on the beach. I knew exactly where it was. I was planning to take my ass over there and snatch her ass up for playing with me. She was gonna fix this shit with Bo whether she liked it or not.
I walked to the car with Pops and Mariah. Love was a crazy ass bitch. That was clear as fuck to me from my shit with Bo and Giselle and from when I looked at Pops, my mother, and Mariah. It was obvious that my mother and Pops still cared about each other, but for whatever reason, they weren’t putting the past aside to make their relationship work.
If my feelings weren’t as strong as they were for Bo, I would just cut my losses and take the L, but I was feeling her heavy. I cared about her more than any girl I’d been with in a long time. So, I wasn’t trying to give it up for nothing without fighting for it. I wasn’t about to be out here like my folks at fifty years old, knowing they in love but fighting the feelings. Nah, I was gon’ get my girl back one way or another.
4
Guwop
I looked back at the two detectives standing outside my door, and my heart race. From the outside, there was no way you could tell that shit, though. No way in the world I was gonna let a cop see me sweat. I looked between the two of them and raised an eyebrow.
“February twelfth? I’m not sure. That was a couple week ago, but I wasn’t in North Carolina. I was here. What you say this is about again?” I asked.
The white detective was looking at me like he didn’t believe shit I had to say.
Detective Garcia responded, “Can we come in?”
He looked at me then tried to look behind me into my condo.
“Nah, you can say what you gotta say to me out here,” I said, standing up straight in the doorway.
I didn’t trust cops for nothing, and the last thing I was about to do was invite two of them into my house without a warrant.
Garcia frowned. “You have something to hide? Why can’t we come in?”
“I know my rights. You got a warrant?”
He looked at me, and I saw his jaw flex.
“We have a witness who came to us and told us you were involved in a robbery involving multiple classic cars and an assault. You mind taking a ride with us down to the precinct?”
I raised an eyebrow, and my mind started to race. “Am I under arrest?”
“No, we just have some questions,” the white detective said and frowned at me.
“Nah, I’m good. I don’t know who this witness is you claim you got, but they must have me mistaken for somebody else. And since I’m not under arrest, I guess you don’t have shit on me. So, if that’s all, you can see your way back down the elevator because we done here,” I said.
This lick was supposed to have been an open and shut situation. I had planned everything out to the T. The trucks me and City drove were registered to Lucas because he didn’t have any priors or a record, so it only made sense. He wasn’t the one talking because that would implicate him too. We had pulled up with masks on, so no cameras on the streets would have been able to identify us. And the men who helped me take the cars and break them down, I’d known all those niggas for years. Plus, I’d paid them all real good off that job. They had no motivation to cross me. Absolutely none.
I knew City wasn’t behind this because that nigga was my day one, so that only left the nigga Lucas had who connected us with the job or the two men that we had to rough up in the truck. Good thing Lucas’ ass was on the way over now because I needed him to talk to his boy ASAP. I wasn’t going away over this shit.
I looked back at the cops who were still standing in my doorway. I don’t know if they were trying to intimidate me or what, but they must not have known who the fuck I was. It would take a lot more than two motherfuckers showing up at my door for me to get worried. I’d had a couple brushes with the law over the years, and I knew they wouldn’t hesitate to snatch a nigga up and throw his ass behind bars if they had one piece of evidence. So, obviously, they ain’t have shit but the words of some mystery person.
“Don’t go too far,” the white one said and turned to walk away like his words were supposed to faze me or some shit.
“You know where I live,” I said before I closed the door.
I stood there for a minute, just thinking. The days leading up to the lick and the night of the job played through my head. I was trying to think of any loose ends I could have missed, but I kept coming up with the same thing. Either the connect snitched, or the nigga who was driving snitched, or the white motherfucker in the passenger seat snitched. But he ain’t even really see shit since I’d knocked his ass out within the first couple minutes.
Lucas and I needed to talk. I had to shut this shit down before it got bigger, even if that meant putting a bullet in the connect and the two bitch ass drivers.
“Fuck,” I cursed under my breath as I walked back to my computer. This was bullshit.
The good news was, everyone for the most part was paid now. I’d divided the money up to the connect for him and the driver, the mechanics all got paid as well as the niggas who I had drive the cars off the trucks. All that was left was for me to divide the rest between me, Lucas, and City. I thought about what Lucas said that City was saying and shook my head. There was absolutely no way my boy would cross me. No way. That was like my blood brother if I had one. Lucas had a whole lot to explain when he came through.
A few minutes later, my doorbell rang again. I jumped up and opened the door to see Lucas standing in front of me.
“What’s up?” he asked when I stepped to the side, so he could come in.
“We gotta talk,” I answered and walked back to my dining room table then pointed to one of the chairs on the other side.
“Two cops just left a c
ouple minutes ago,” I started then sat in my chair and watched Lucas’ face.
I was pretty good at telling when someone was lying to me, so I was watching him for any kind of change in his expression. I trusted him, but at the end of the day, you never knew what a person could do if they were motivated in the right way.
“About what?” he asked and raised his eyebrow.
“They talkin’ ’bout they got someone who claims I was involved in a robbery outside of Charlotte on February twelfth. You spoke to your connect recently?”
He shook his head slowly. “Wait, what? Who the fuck would be talkin’ to the cops?”
“Nigga, I don’t fuckin’ know! That’s where you come in. You the one who found this nigga and sold me on trusting him. All my men are clean. I know they wouldn’t snitch on me. So, it’s gotta be your end. To be fuckin’ honest, I’m mad as fuck. This was supposed to be a wrap, a fucking done deal. Now I got cops sniffin’ around, and that affects a lot of shit. I gotta ease back on stealin’ these cars through the shop just in case these niggas watchin’ me and trying to get dirt. This has the potential to set me back for a minute, worse if they find something else. We all goin’ down if that happens, so I need you to get me a meeting with your connect because I’m not with the shit,” I said.
Lucas looked back at me with wide eyes, and I could tell this was the first time he’d heard anything about a snitch.
He nodded. “Okay, I got you. I’ma call him after I leave.”
“So, what you gotta tell me now?” I asked and leaned back in my chair.
“I got something you need to listen to.”
“Okay.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“I need some context. When was this, and why you recording City?” I asked.
“I heard from a couple people that he was talking shit,” Lucas started. “I didn’t like what I was hearing, especially since I heard he was talking about the job we did and the money we made. So, I met up with him yesterday to see what was going on. Something told me to record the conversation even though I didn’t know what was going to come out of it.”
“Okay, I’m listening,” I said.
Something didn’t seem right, and Lucas wasn’t really looking me in the face, but I would listen to whatever he claimed to have.
“You been good?” I heard Lucas’ voice say over the recording.
“Yeah, for the most part. Except niggas been moving funny, and I’m not with the shit,” City’s voice said.
“Who you mean?”
“Guwop,” City’s voice said. “This nigga just out here robbin people.”
“What needs to be done?” Lucas’ voice asked.
“Get at that nigga and snatch that shit,” City’s voice said. “Nigga weird as fuck, man. I’ve known him my whole life, obviously. He don’t work for shit, just stay takin’ from everyone around him. I been ignoring some of the shit he been on, but lately, he been moving crazy. I don’t give a fuck no more. He don’t deserve none of the shit he got. If it was up to me, I’d take all his shit and put a bullet in his head.”
“Damn, it’s like that for real?”
“Hell yeah, man. He a bitch ass nigga. That money he got could’ve been put to better use. Shit, I know better things to do with that shit than what he ’bout to do. He stay takin’ shit that don’t belong to him. I’m ’bout to do something about that shit.”
There was silence in the room as I marinated on what I had just heard.
“Play it again,” I said after a few minutes.
Lucas did what I asked, and I listened to the tape in silence. That was definitely City’s voice, but the things he was saying didn’t make sense to me. City wouldn’t talk shit like this about me, but I couldn’t deny that it was his voice.
“When you say this was?”
“Yesterday,” Lucas said.
I started grinding my teeth together. Right now, I didn’t know who to trust. Somebody was talking to the cops to try to get me locked up. I didn’t know if I could trust Lucas because his vibe was off to me. I didn’t know what it was. I couldn’t put a finger on it, but something wasn’t right. City was saying shit about me that I heard with my own two ears. So, I didn’t know if I could trust him either. The way I was feelin’, everybody was a fuckin’ snake.
“Aight. Thanks for looking out,” I said and got up from my chair. It was time for this nigga to go.
He stood up too, taking my cue. “I don’t know if you moved the money or what, but you might want to check the safe just to make sure everything is still there. I don’t know what City is on. Plus, since he been talking reckless, who’s to say whether he’s the one talking to the cops or not.”
I frowned. This was crazy.
“We’ll talk,” was all I said.
There was a lot that I needed to figure out. I walked him to the door, but right before he left, I stopped him.
“Aye, text me that connect’s phone number real quick cuz I gotta talk to him about them niggas he had in the driver’s seat when we ran up.”
Lucas nodded and turned to walk away. After he left, I pulled out my phone and dialed City.
“Yo,” his voice came over the line. He sounded like he was driving.
“Ay, you busy?” I asked.
“Nah, leavin’ the hospital. Pops got out today. I gotta go hit up Giselle about something, though. What’s up?”
“I gotta talk to you. Meet me at the shop,” I said.
“Aight. About what?”
“I’ll tell you in person,” I said before hanging up.
I felt a coldness wash over me. If this shit with City was for real, it would change my entire life. That nigga was my day one dog. I rocked with him heavy. I would take a bullet for this nigga. He had to explain this shit to me. I had to look him in the eye and see for myself what they looked like when I told him about this for the first time.
Exhaling hard, I went to grab my car keys, so I could head to the shop. Just then, my phone started buzzing. Looking down, I saw it was Sade.
“What’s up shorty,” I said. I knew I must have sounded distracted, but there was nothing I could do about that.
“Hey, I need to talk to you,” she said.
“I’m kinda busy right now. Can I hit you up later?”
There was silence on the other end, and I thought the call dropped.
“Hello?”
“Hey, yeah, I’m here. Okay. Please don’t forget to call me back. It’s important, okay?”
“Aight,” I said then hung up.
There was a lot going on, and I cared about Sade, but whatever she wanted to talk about would have to wait.
5
Lucas
As I drove back to my place, I hit the steering wheel because I felt like I had fucked up. Guwop didn’t seem to 100% believe me, and I was really surprised. What was there not to believe?? The fucking evidence was in his face and loud as hell for him to hear. I had listened to the recording at least ten times. It flowed; it didn’t sound chopped and screwed. He should have jumped on the shit out the gate and been ready to tear City’s head off, but it seemed like there was something holding him back. Like he was looking for an explanation. Or like he just didn’t believe me.
I tried to make the shit sound convincing, but I was the worst kind of liar because I couldn’t really look people in the eye and lie about shit. There was a lot riding on this one, so I had forced myself to put on the best performance of my life.
To be honest, the news about the cops showing up at his house had thrown me off at first and was probably why I hadn’t been 100% on my game. I hadn’t expected to hear that. Who was talking? I was convinced it had to be either the driver or the one in the passenger seat. I needed to call my boy and find out what the fuck was going on, but first I needed to get to my house where Rigs was so we could talk about our plan.
Late last night, I’d gone to Guwop’s shop and gotten in the safe. He told me he paid everyone alre
ady and what was left the three of us were supposed to split. Since I was putting this on City, I knew I needed to take the money before I went to Guwop about the tape. Sure enough, the money was inside, safe and sound. I’d taken it all and stashed it in the trunk of my car. It was a little over two million dollars. I was ready to get the fuck up out of there and move across the country with my man, especially now with cops involved in this situation. The last place I was trying to be was Miami.
I pulled up to the house went inside. Rigs was sitting on the couch talking on his phone. He hadn’t gone back to his place since City had that rock thrown in. He’d paid for his moms to stay in a hotel instead of coming to stay with us which didn’t make sense to me but that’s what he had insisted on so I wasn’t about to make a big deal about it.
“I’m back,” I said as I walked into the house.
“How did it go?”
“He seemed to believe it, but I’m not sure. We gotta see how it plays out. Listen,” I started. “I think we should leave soon. Like tomorrow.”
Rigs sat up in his chair and looked at me. “Wait. Why so soon? What happened?”
“Cops are sniffing around. They came to Guwop’s house this morning, he said, asking about the lick. I’m not tryna get caught up in that. We got the money, and we can disappear. So, tell your mom and pack some shit, because I want to leave tomorrow. Thursday at the latest.”
“Nah, hold up,” Rigs said and stood up. I turned to look at him. “We can’t leave so soon.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Cuz,” he started then scratched his head. “I need some time.”
“The fuck for? Did you hear anything I just said? Guwop is about to confront City. I don’t want to be around when that shit hits the fan. Let them two niggas fight it out, especially when they see that the money is missing. Plus, cops, nigga. You want cops showing up at my doorstep? I’m not built for prison, so I’m tryna bounce. So, tell your moms we leavin’. Either that or the two of us is leavin’. Up to you what you want to do with her.”