by Shan
Chapter 10
Khi
“This nigga ain’t tell you what he want,” Cassidy said, as he walked through the lot to where we were instructed to meet Tamar.
“Nah, he just said he wanted to holla at me about business. At this point, it wasn’t like I could say no. That hit we took the other day was crucial,” I told him, and he nodded.
“For real. Did Dae get anything solid on them niggas?”
“Nah, he did what the fuck I asked him not to do, but I ain’t gonna say nothing else about it. I’m holla at Tamar about it and see if he knows anything, and if not, then fuck it. They wanna see me then they’ll figure out how the fuck to find me. We just gonna switch this shit up and come harder. We got like three keys left, and I’m thinking that, if Tamar ain’t talking about shit, then we each take one and work them ourselves. Get back in the streets like we used to. I got some bread saved up and been checking out some cats out in Memphis, and I don’t know who the fuck they copping from, but it ain’t coming from Tamar. One of the goonies said it’s fire too, and it would definitely bring some heat if we put it on the streets.”
“I’m with it. I don’t give a damn. You know I’m down for whatever,” Cass commented, and just then, we spotted Tamar and the goonie, Black, standing by his side. Cass and I walked up to them, and we all slapped hands and greeted one another before Tamar got down to business.
“So that lil’ situation with them Arabs, I like how you just handled that shit and said fuck me,” Tamar said and chuckled.
“Wasn’t nothing personal with you, but the beef was a little personal on our end, so we just dealt with it. One of our lil’ goonies took a big loss, so we let him handle it how he saw fit, and that was what it was. Feel me,” I told Tamar, speaking on Tramell with the loss of his baby mama Cocoa.
“No doubt. It’s cool. A problem off my hands is a problem off my hands. I wasn’t really tripping about it. Was just a little surprised, cause I thought you niggas was trying to get back to work.”
“Shit we is,” Cass chimed, and I shot his ass a look. He ran his hand through his wild ass hair, and then slid his hands into his pockets.
“I got a lot of respect for you, Khi, as I’ve told you before. I admire your loyalty to your fam, and truth be told, it really makes me envy ya ass. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ve lost both of my real brothers. They were twins; one tried to cross me, and the other one was killed by his baby mama.”
“Damn,” I said and shook my head. I then ran my hands across the waves in my head and sighed.
“Black and my wife’s fam is really all I got out here. We been holding it down, but I can really use you…your peoples and shit for what I’m trying to do.”
“Oh yea…I’m listening,” I told Tamar, and he nodded for me and Cassidy to follow behind him.
“When I started the UNC, I had no idea how big it would get or even if I would make it this long. It's been a couple of years, and I feel like it's finally time for me to get into the background like I'm supposed to be. I kinda had to make sure shit was straight and going smoothly before doing so. Anyway, I've been going city to city and meeting with a few of the Street Lieutenants who I feel can run shit, and although me and your fam have had our differences, everything kept leading back to you niggas. Never had no problems with you, and even when you took that loss, my money was on time, and not a penny short. I just need to know though, can you handle it?”
“When you say lead, what you mean…what you mean by that?” I asked, as I watched Black walk over to a trailer. He hopped on the back of it before he pulled it open exposing the contents that sat inside.
My heart fell into the pit of my stomach, and my hands began to sweat. I looked back at Cass to see that he was just as enamored and even more so as nervous as I was. There has to be about one hundred million dollars, if not more, kilos of coke sitting right in front us. Nigga got caught with this shit, he might as well put one in his own head, cause the numbers on this had to be death. Damn, I knew Tamar was big time, but I always thought that niggas had really just gassed him up. Seeing was believing though, because the kid was getting it. I covered my mouth with my hand, shocked, and at the same time, trying to figure out what he was about to do with all this dope.
“I mean, is you niggas trying to run Texas…oh and Louisiana and Mississippi too?”
“Run it…nigga we trying to own it,” Cassidy said, and I noticed that he had fired up a blunt. I looked back at him and couldn't do shit but laugh at the bruh.
“I'm giving you the opportunity to own it. I plug you in with the dope and you push it to the streets. From here on out…you and Cassidy are the only niggas I communicate with,” Tamar said, and I shook my head. “What? You don't want it?”
“Yea, he wants it. Just a little shocked,” Cassidy answered for me.
“Hell yea, and no lie, I thought we was gonna be at each other's heads forever. That shit with my young one really fucked me up being he was there cause I was chasing this dope shit. All I ever wanted was to build an empire with my brothers and make sure our family was good. This feels too easy though. Like after all I've gone through…this it? You just gonna hand all that over to us and the city is ours?”
Tamar chuckled. “That would be too easy…but that's why I'm only giving you 10 days to move it and bring me my cut which is 30%. You show me that you can handle this kinda work and shit, I’ll keep supplying you as much as you need.
“Woo shit,” I said and chuckled. I looked over at Cass just as he was handing the weed in my direction. I took a pull off it and looked back at Tamar. “We can do it.”
“Bet,” Tamar said, causing Cass to rub his hands together.
“Let me ask you something. You got beef with some Jamaicans,” I asked Tamar, and he frowned and looked back at Black.
“I ain’t got beef with nobody, but a muthafucka’ gonna always have beef with me. Get used to it, but learn how to handle it before it comes a money problem,” Tamar said, and I nodded. “I’ll get up with you niggas later. I’m about to head back to Miami. You can leave this here until you ready to come back for it. The nigga at the gate is Deon, and he already knows to, either expect you, or Cass to come through.”
“Preciate it,” I told Tamar, and we slapped hands before he and Cassidy did the same thing.
“No doubt. At least I know my nephew gonna be good both ways, huh?” Tamar shot, and I chuckled and shook my head. Dae, his sister, and that whole situation was always gonna be a tough topic. No matter what, whenever we linked up, we was always gonna wonder if it was gonna be beef or love. Right now, I welcomed the love that came with the keys to the city. Shit. We was about to turn the fuck up.
Soon as them niggas, Tamar and Black, pulled out of the lot, I took a pull from the weed and looked over at Cassidy. We couldn’t even say shit and just burst into laughter. That’s how good this felt. Nobody would understand but us, the Princes’, because only we knew how hard we worked and how it seemed that, every time we took one step forward in the game, we were knocked ten steps back.
Cass and I slapped hands and hugged briefly. Cass rubbed his hands together, and I nodded. This was the start of a new era for us. The Prince legacy was about to be one hell of a ride, but I was down, and I wouldn’t let nothing or no one fuck this up for my brothers and myself.
***
I pulled into the subdivision where I lived and drove the few blocks that it took to get to my block. The moment I pulled onto my street, I immediately noticed about five police cars that sat outside of the gate of my home. They had my shit surrounded while a few of them stood around the intercom obviously trying to get inside.
I slowed my car down and then hit a U-turn in the middle of the road before driving away and back out of the neighborhood. Thoughts of this nigga Tamar setting me up danced around in my head, and my body heated with anger with the possibility of me going to jail for all that work. I knew this shit was too good to be true with this nigga all of a sudden want
ing to plug me and my brothers in and giving us what we needed to run, not only Texas, but Louisiana and the Sip, too.
“Hoe ass nigga,” I hissed, as I pulled into the first gas station I came to and parked in an empty spot. I pulled out my cell phone to shoot Cuba a text to make sure she and the kids were good.
Me: Bae, what the fuck they want???
Send.
Wifey: OMG, where are you? I was just about to call you. Twelve got the house surrounded.
Me: I know. I saw them. What are they saying?
Send.
Wifey: They want access to the house for a warrant. What do I tell them? I’ve just been sitting here letting them talk.
Me: Hold them off for as long as you can. Let me call KaeDee.
Send.
Wifey: Okay, hurry.
I clicked out of my messages and went to call KaeDee. I needed that nigga to snap the fuck out of whatever he was going through and bring his ass to the city to take care of this shit. I wasn’t tripping about them getting inside of the house, because there was nothing there, but a few guns, and I had the papers on all of them. I never shitted where I laid, so if it was that dope shit they was coming for, then they was looking in the wrong damn place.
“Bruh, where you at?” I asked the moment KaeDee answered the phone.
“Puerto Rico, why? What’s up fam?” he asked, and I took the phone away from my ear and stared at it angrily before I hung up in his face.
I took in a deep breath and bit down hard on my bottom lip before I called up Cass and then added Dae to the call too. Cass picked up first and a couple of rings later, Dae answered his line.
“What up bruh bruh?” Cassidy said, and I punched the steering wheel before I rested my head against the seat.
“That shit this morning, Cass, I knew it was some bullshit,” I said to him, and he got quiet.
“What’s up?” Dae asked. “What happened?”
“Twelve got my place surrounded. Cuba said they trying to get inside talking about they got a warrant.”
“A warrant for what?” Cassidy barked, and I shut my eyes tightly and sighed.
“Your bitch ass brother got his muthafuckin’ ass in Puerto Rico and shit. I swea’ to God, when I see that nigga, I’m fuckin’ his big ass up. The fuck!”
“I’ll go by the house, and you call up to KaeDee’s firm and tell his partner to fall through,” Dae suggested, and I frowned as if he could see me.
“I don’t want that nigga in my muthafuckin’ business though,” I said and sucked my teeth.
“Well, sit your dumbass there and wait on KaeDee’s ass then nigga.”
“Hold on real quick,” I said and clicked on to the other line once I saw that it was Cuba calling me. “Babe, what’s up?”
“I couldn’t hold them off any longer. They were threatening to break down the gate. The warrant says that they’re here under possible kidnapping and possibly unlawful restraint of Briana,” Cuba said.
“What? The fuck they mean kidnapping?”
“They said they got a—”
“Mr. Prince, this is Captain Darcy of the Dallas Police Department. We received a tip in our office a couple of days ago on a missing persons case; Briana Parsons. She’s your baby’s mother,” the Captain said, and I only listened and didn’t say anything. “Is she being held here? We were told she was being held here against her will. Where are you, Mr. Prince? We need to speak to you.”
“Do you have a warrant for me?” I asked, and he chuckled.
“We have a warrant to search the premises; I can get a warrant for you if I need to,” he told me, and I frowned.
“Search the premises, and when you done, get the fuck out. When you get that warrant for me, then you come find me,” I said and hung up the phone.
I sat back in the seat of my car and rubbed my chin while thinking. I was so deep in my thoughts that I had forgotten that I had Cass and Dae on the other line. I placed the phone to my ear and told them the situation, and we agreed to link up later before we hung up. I was glad as hell that it wasn’t about that dope shit and that the nigga Tamar didn’t actually send police for me, but this shit here with Briana was spiraling out of control. The fuck would give them a tip saying I had kidnapped that hoe; I thought before I skirted out of the gas station parking lot.
***
“Damn it, Khi, where the hell have you been?” Cuba said, as I walked into the backyard just in time to see her tossing a doobie to the ground. She had the night air lit up with that good grade so I know she had been in my stash. I nodded and sucked my teeth, but chose not to speak on it as she walked over to me.
Cuba was wearing a thin tank top that barely covered her stomach, and some little ass boy shorts that showed her pussy print. I licked my lips noticing how much her hips had spread since I met her and how the baby was starting to put some meat on them little thighs of hers.
“What you doing out here?” I asked Cuba, as I looked her up and down. I went in to kiss her lips, and she pulled away from me. She took the back of her hand to wipe her lips, and when she tried to kiss me, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards me. “What you doing?”
“It was only a little. Same shit I’ve been smoking on for the past week,” Cuba said, and I sighed. “Alright, alright. I won’t smoke anymore.”
“I just asked what you was doing. I walk out here and you damn near naked and shit,” I told her, and she looked down as if she had to remind herself of what she was wearing.
“I tried to sleep, but I kept popping up looking for you. What’s going on, Khi?”
“I don’t know what the fuck Briana got going on. I guess she trying to get back at me for getting in her ass. Let’s go inside though; I got something I want you to see,” I told Cuba, and I grabbed her hand and pulled her inside the house.
She stepped in front of me, and I closed the door and locked it behind her. I then stepped behind her and wrapped my hands around her waist. Kissing her on the neck, I slightly pushed her forward as I walked behind her and into the kitchen.
“What is this?” Cuba said, as she giggled and tried to look back at me.
“That’s for you,” I told her.
“But how? I was only outside for like ten minutes, and I know you ain’t did all this that quick.”
“Well, we gonna act like I did. Sit your ass down and eat. I gotta make sure you feeding my damn baby,” I said, as I walked her over to the table. I pulled out the chair for her to sit down before I walked over to take a seat at the head of the table. While I was out waiting on police to get the fuck away from my shit, I had my mama cook us up some shit.
Just earlier, I thought I was about to go down for the rest of my life for this dope game, but once I realized that this shit was real and was really happening for me and the fam, I had to celebrate. Fuck that Briana situation for now; I needed a moment to collect my thoughts and enjoy what was about to come for us. Tonight, I wanted to celebrate with Cuba and let her know how important her and the kids were to me.
My ma had made us some fried turkey legs, greens, mac and cheese, cornbread, and some peach cobbler, one of my favorites. My ma knew how to get down in the kitchen, and so did Cuba, but I wanted to treat her to a home-cooked meal for a change instead of it being the other way around.
“Mama?” Cuba said, as she stood up and started to fix a plate for me and then for herself.
I laughed and nodded my head just as she sat the plate down in front of me. Before she sat back down, I grabbed her hand where the engagement ring sat and kissed it.
“If we wasn’t about to get married soon, I’d upgrade you,” I told Cuba, as I pulled her finger into my mouth and sucked them while looking into her eyes.
“You acting like you want to eat something else besides what’s on this table,” Cuba said, and I bit down on my lip and pushed my plate to the side.
“Hell yea, come here,” I told her, as I tried to pull her toward me, and she jerked her arm away.
“No, calm
your little mannish ass down.”
I sat back and crossed my arms over my cheek then sucked my teeth when Cuba sat down in her chair. I pretended to be mad, as I stared her down causing her to become nervous as she picked at her food.
“I found a—a building for my firm today. Tangie and I are supposed to go look at it tomorrow. I also found a wedding planner, but she needs to know the budget. I told her that I needed to talk to you first.”
“Just do whatever it is you want baby. I want you to have the wedding of your dreams, whatever the cost,” I told Cuba and she blushed. I took a bite of my macaroni, and then, my turkey leg before going over to the bar to pour myself a glass of Henny. “Got some good news today. Crazy cause, when I saw police surrounding the house today, I thought that nigga Tamar had set me up. I was about to go on the run.”
“You was gonna leave me here,” Cuba commented, once I made it back to the table.
“I wasn’t about to let them nigga just take me. Shit, if you saw what I saw today, then you would know why. I was nervous as fuck. Ain’t no way I’m letting them take me alive.”
“Wow, so is that what I need to expect if the police come after you? That you’re gonna commit suicide by cop or some shit?”
“Yep, my pops been in the joint since I been a damn teenager. That nigga told us from the first day he got them numbers for us not to come see him. We go every now and then anyway, but every time we do, I always see what it does to him, and why he tells us not to come. I refuse to go through that, or even put you through that. My ma holds my pops down, too. She won’t date nobody else, no matter how many times he tells her to move on. This last time we visited him, he admitted that my ma is the only reason he’s holding on. If I just so happen to get captured alive and locked up, I want you to move on and live your muthafuckin’ life.”