“I’m doing this so I don’t have to stand on these blocks anymore and hustle! I’m doing this for you!”
“Whatever Dame! Don’t try and make it seem that this is the only thing you can do to make money. Taye is going to need his father more than anything else. I can’t do this by myself!” Trina yelled at him.
“I need you to hold it down for a few months. Taye’s gonna need you more than he needs me.”
“I don’t know if I can handle it if I lost you again.” Trina said, and Damien pulled her close to his chest.
Trina knew that Damien was going to leave one way or another. She felt lucky that Damien even wanted to be a father and take care of Taye. She knew plenty of men who wouldn’t even acknowledge that the baby was theirs.
“Listen baby, once I do this job, we are gonna be set for life. I can step away from this shit and just be with you and we can raise our son together. I’m doing this for us.”
“I’m just gonna miss you. You might meet somebody else down there and forget about me.” Trina said as she looked in his eyes.
“Don’t be silly girl. You know you’re my heart. It’ll just be a few months and I’ll be back home with you. I promise.” Trina looks in his eyes, nodded her head, and Damien hugged her.
Damien’s cell phone interrupted their moment together. He answered his phone and stepped away from Trina.
“What’s up?”
“Yo Dame, I’ve been blowing up this nigga Cornell’s number since last night and that nigga ain’t answering shit. I think that cornball nigga got us for five bricks.” Corey said to him.
“What? You telling me that this mutha’fucka stole my shit and dipped?”
“Yeah man. Quan and me rolled over to his crib and that nigga is gone!”
“Fuck! I’m a find that nigga and split his wig myself!” Damien yelled and hung up the phone.
“What happened now?”
“That little sheisty nigga Cornell rob me for some shit and skipped town. When I find that little mutha’fucka he’s a dead man.”
“Great. Is this how you gonna handle every problem?”
“Yo, I can’t let these niggas front on me like that. As soon as they think you’re weak, these niggas will think they can try ya. It’s like blood in the water.” As much as Trina didn’t like Damien’s lifestyle, she knew he was right.
You can’t show any signs of weakness or niggas will come at you.
Luckily for Cornell, he got out of town and went to New Jersey to lay low for a while. Cornell’s plan was to steal a couple of bricks from Damien and hook up with his half-brother Absolute out in Brooklyn and flip it. He knew he was taking a big risk but he also knew that Absolute had the muscle to deal with Damien and King if he came after him. Damien was looking for him for a minute but didn’t have any clue where he had gone. For the time being, Cornell would be a loose string he’d have to tie up later, because King was ready for him to go down to Atlanta.
Before Damien left with Quan and Corey he needed a little bit more muscle with him, and King knew the right person to call. King put his old cellmate from Rikers when he was locked up with back in 1996 named Horace Jackson down with The Flip Set. Everybody called him Horse for short. Horse was about 340 pounds, 6 foot 5, and had a bad attitude. He had just gotten out of the joint after doing 14 years for robbing a grocery store up in Yonkers back in 1991. He was a career thug who was willing to kill in a heartbeat. Horse was the lethal weapon of the crew.
The only one missing from the crew was Irv. In the past few years, Irv decided to fall back from the life. Damien wanted to have somebody he could count on and he knew Irv was that man. Damien went to Irv’s spot in Brooklyn. Irv had bought a four bedroom house in the suburbs. He knocked on the door, and Irv’s wife Tia opened it.
“Hey Damien, come in.” Tia said as she let him in and walked through the house. Even after having a baby, Tia still had an hourglass frame and a fat onion ass. He couldn’t help but stare at it. “Irv baby, Damien is here for you.”
Irv was on the couch, holding his newborn baby girl, Nina. Irv’s house was nicely decorated with a plush tan carpet and black wood furniture. Damien came in and sat on the brown circular couch with Irv.
“What’s up Dame?” Irv asked.
“What’s up homie? What’s good?”
“Everything my nigga. What’s going on with you?” Irv asked, already knowing.
“I’m getting ready to make this move to the ATL.”
“I heard about that. King’s had his eye on Atlanta for a minute now. So you going down there to lock it down?”
“Yeah, you know how I do. Got me a little squad of niggas I’m taking with me too. Some young niggas.”
“Word? What about King’s nigga Horse?”
“Him too. Yo, that nigga is a beast. I can really use a nigga I know that can get shit done. Keep them young niggas in line.” Damien threw that out there for him but Irv simply smiled and put Nina down in her bassinet. “So what’s my nigga?” Damien continued. “I know you’ve fallen back and become the family man but I know you ready to get back out here and make this money.”
“Things change my nigga. There comes a time when you gotta put shit in perspective and figure out what’s important to you.” Irv said to Damien and sat back on the couch.
“Come on nigga. I know you love getting money more than anybody I know.”
“I do, but I love that right there more than anything else.” Irv said, as he looked at Nina asleep in her cradle. “Besides, I got money and a family now. Listen Dame. We come from the same hood my nigga but we ain’t kids anymore.”
“I know that but you can’t quit the game.”
“Look at what the game has done to us. Nard got shot up in the streets. Big Mike got shot 50 times, 50 fucking times by the cops! You caught a bid for seven years. Bishop, the biggest OG in the game, got merked by King. This ain’t a game we playing my nigga, this is real life. I ain’t saying I’m done forever but I got something here more important, and so do you. You got a son Dame.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Trina got mad love for you too.”
“Yeah I know, but we ain’t got what you and Tia got here.” Damien said and looked around his house.
“You can. You just gotta make that choice. What is your son going to do if you get caught up in them streets? What are you gonna leave behind for him?” Irv asked him. Damien thought about his father.
“A lot more then what was left for me. Listen my nigga, I gotta get going.” Damien said, and got up from the couch. Irv got up with him and gave him a man hug.
“You know I got ya son. Take care of yourself my nigga.”
“You take care of your family man. One.” Damien said and headed to the door.
Damien got in his truck and drove back to Harlem. What is your son going to do if you get caught up in them streets? What are you gonna leave behind for him, Damien thought about Irv’s words to him and thought about what did Bishop want for him. To be King’s solider? Damien took out his cell phone and speed dialed a number.
“Hello Damien,” Vanessa answered on the other end.
“I’ve been thinking about your proposal.”
“And?”
“I think we should talk.”
“Good to hear you come to your senses. Why don’t you come over and we’ll discuss things further.” Vanessa replied to him with delight.
“I’ll be there.” Damien hung up his phone.
Damien was going to give his son more than he ever had. King had already taken what Bishop wanted him to have so he was going to take everything away from King.
Acknowledgements
I wrote this story seven years ago. Well at least the first draft. I remember I was editing the Pink Palace and was thinking what my next book was going to be about. Damien’s chapter was on my screen and I started wondering why this guy was such an A-hole. He didn’t wake up like this, so what happen to him to make him such a monster. I started rerea
ding his storyline and found his back story with Dwayne aka “King”, Vanessa, and Bishop an interesting puzzle. What happen? Why? So that’s why I wanted to go back in time and tell Damien’s story.
Is Damien a victim of his environment? Yes. Does that justify everything he’s done? Not at all. The trick was taking him back to a point where he wasn’t completely lost. So I went back to 1992 to a 17 year old Damien and see what happen to him. Hope you enjoyed it. To find out what eventually happens to Damien Ruffin, just go reread my first book, The Pink Palace.
Sheena, thank you for putting up for my shenanigans for all these years. Why you’ve decided to subject to my foolishness is beyond me. I’ve come to conclusion that you have mental problems or you must really love me. I like to think it’s a little of both. Either way I love you too.
Cachet Johnson, I’m thankful for this opportunity you provided for me. I’m very excited for what’s to come for you and Wicked pen Publications! Shout out to my Wicked Pen family, my pen brother Ben Blaze, here we go again! I can’t wait for you to get the shine you deserve. Tracie Lashay, Willie Bolden, Angie Hayes and Daniel Johnson. Remember if we move as unit, there’s no stopping us! I would also like to thank Shelby Lazenby for editing Born Sinners…you did your thing!
Lamont Gant and Creative Genius Films, we’ve been building this for a while. We’re going to create some real movie magic. I can’t wait for it all to come to light. Sidebar: Support independent filmmakers and Subscribed to Creative Genius Films7 on YouTube and on Facebook! Check out our film trailers, music videos, commercials, and exclusive interviews!
Cherron Gilmore, Shanequa Pickering, Andrea Callender , LadyLa Mickles, Rashad Shadcore Harrell, thank you for always supporting me.
My family: Rashida Malcolm, Catriona “Cutty” Mills, Kendra McCaulsky, Sandra and Joann McCaulsky, Heath McKinney. There are way too many of you all to list but Thank you.
Thank you, Cynthia Marie Jones, for not just begin my editor but for your friendship. PriScillia Weeks Sales thank you for giving me my first real break. K. Roland Williams, Thomas Green, Destiny Carter, Marla G. Fitzgerald, Tumika Cain, Dominique L. Watson, Thank you.
To all the book clubs, media outlets, and bloggers thank you for your support
To all my readers thank you so much! I can’t do this without your support!
Take care!
P.S. … BORN AGAIN SINNER is coming … as soon as I finish writing it LOL
Table of Contents
Title
Copyright
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Acknowledgements
Born Sinners Page 23