“I do. We’ll chill soon.”
Mitch nodded and sat down. Sym leaned over and kissed his cheek before getting up and heading to the front door.
Chapter Eight
“Pass the fucking ball son,” Niem barked at Nino as he traveled to the other end of the court. The guys were in an intense game of two on two against Mitch and their other boy, Logan.
Nino ignored Niem’s pleas for the ball and took the shot. Of course, because he was trying to show off, he missed the basket entirely.
“What the fuck was that? That’s what you get for being a ball hog,” Niem scolded him.
Mitch caught the rebound and dribbled down the court while laughing at Niem and Nino’s antics. This was the norm for them. Whenever they played ball, Niem and Nino would team up only for one to complain about how the other played. Mitch didn’t get it, but he got a kick out of it.
“Ya’ll niggas gotta stop whining,” Mitch shouted while going for a jumper that went in. “Focus more on the game and ya’ll be hitting buckets like that.” He boasted.
“Fuck this game. Don’t we got some money to be getting,” Nino hugged and tossed the ball to the other end of the court sending it flying into the gate.
“This nigga always crying and shit. Next time we ball, I’m taking Logan or Mitch. You and this bitching shit, is wack,” Niem was over Nino, and his girl fits. It was just a Basketball. They used the game as more of a workout than anything else.
“I’m tired anyway, and we up by seven. Yo, Lo it’s safe to say we were gonna spank these niggas anyway.”
Logan laughed while pulling his shirt over his head to wipe the sweat from his forehead. “Facts, bro. Facts.”
The foursome made their way to the benches that were along each side of the court and sat down. The sun wasn’t being merciful at all, and the sweat that cascaded down each of their faces was proof of that.
“What ya’ll getting into today?” Mitch asked.
Niem pulled a baggie of weed from his pocket while speaking, “Honestly, today a nigga just wanted to kick back and do absolutely, fucking nothing. Once we leave here, I’ma run and check on a few spots then go kick it at mom’s crib.”
“I’m Prolly going to go check my shop and shit,” Mitch stated while eyeing the group of chicks that just walked into the park.
“You know one of them?” Logan asked.
Mitch, Nino, and Niem answered simultaneously, “Nope.”
“They staring like ya’ll do. I guess we gotta go over there and get acquainted and shit,” Logan stated while rising up from the bench.
Both Niem and Nino followed him across the courts to the bench where the chicks that walked in was chillen. Mitch stayed behind and played the background like he normally did. He wasn’t looking to add another chick to his roster; he had enough on his plate with running into Sym again and…
“Yo, Mitch come here,” Niem called out to him.
Mitch let out a low breath, before getting up and jogging over the group.
“What happened?” He questioned once he came upon them.
“Shorty right here asked why you were being antisocial,” Niem pointed to chocolate tone shorty who was sitting on the end.
Mitch didn’t want to be rude, so he smiled in her direction and walked closer to her.
“What’s up,” he leaned down toward her ear and whispered.
He stood up and eyed shorty. Mitch thought she was cute. She had small round eyes that were dark brown; her nose was kinda wide, but it fit her round, chubby face. She had a dimple on both sides of her cheeks that showed more when she smiled. It was the fact that she looked average that made her cute to Mitch. She wasn’t trying too hard, there was no makeup, and her real hair was pulled up into a ponytail.
“Nothing, really. Just wanted to know why you were over there on your lonesome when your boys came over to kick it with us. We don’t bite.”
“Definitely not worried about that because if you did, I bite back.”
She smiled flashing her dimples once again.
“Keisha,” she reached her hand out for Mitch to shake.
He returned the gesture and shook her hand. “Mitch.”
“What ya’ll out here getting into?” Keisha questioned.
Mitch looked over at his friends who were completely occupied by Keisha’s friends before averting his attention back to Keisha.
“We just finished playing a quick two on two. I’m about to dip and go to work; I have no idea what these niggas going to do.”
“Yea, we were just passing through honestly. Headed to my house. I hope I see you again, Mitch.”
Mitch thought about offering another time where they could see each other but decided against it.
“Maybe,” he said.
“Really? Maybe? That’s all you can come up with,” Keisha laughed.
Mitch could tell when a chick was throwing the pussy at him and although he wasn’t sure if he wanted to catch Keisha’s or not. Maybe getting her number and seeing where it may or may not go wasn’t such a bad idea.
He laughed seeing the look of disappointment on her face.
“Nah, I’m fucking with you. Take my number and hit me up.”
He waited for her to take her phone out before rambling off his number.
“I’ma text you now, so that you can save my number,” she spoke.
Mitch nodded.
“Ya’ll ready?” Keisha asked her friends.
After a few more words were shared between her friends and Mitch’s boys, the ladies went on their way leaving Mitch and the guys alone again.
“This nigga Mitch just scooping all the bitches. What up with Shorty, from Starlets?” Niem asked.
Mitch rubbed his beard and took a seat on the bench. Briefly, he thought about Sym and got frustrated. He never dealt with a chick who had so many sides to their personality before, and it was tiring. He knew no matter what he said or how hot and cold Sym was toward him, he was going to keep her around. At least, until he got to the bottom of McKenzie’s paternity. Out her mouth Sym said she wasn’t his but in his heart, Mitch felt otherwise.
“Symphony cool, she just plays too many games for me.”
“Oh, so you keeping your options open, huh?” Nino added.
“Ain’t no options. Soon as Janelle come back all these bitches gonna have to get ghost,” Niem stated matter-of- factly.
“True, Nellz is crazy as fuck,” Nino joked.
Mitch didn’t want to discuss Janelle, his ex. He hadn’t heard from her in a month since she went to Atlanta to take care of her grandmother. He hoped like hell she decided to stay there because he didn’t want to deal with her shit. She was one of those chicks, who had a hard time letting go. If anyone was to ask her today if she was in a relationship, she would say something like yea, but they on a break; knowing damn well, she and Mitch had been broken up for a year. They fucked often, but that’s as far as it went.
“Ain’t nobody worried about Janelle ass. Anyway though, I’ma get up out here. I’ll get up with ya’ll niggas, later on, tonight.”
Mitch stood up and dapped his boys before getting low. While walking to his car, he thought about Symphony and how she left his house in a hurry and decided to call her.
“Hello,” Sym bellowed into the phone.
“Damn, you good? Why you yelling and shit.
“Yea, I can’t really talk right now. Hit me later?” Sym huffed.
“How about you hit me up when you have time.” Mitch disconnected the call.
__
Symphony sighed and tossed her phone in the crate on the shelf before walking into the room and taking her seat at the table. Mitch’s reaction was expected. Most dudes who she entertained couldn’t handle the fact that she was completely unbothered by anything they could possibly offer her. Symphony would never admit out of her mouth that there was indeed something about Mitch that made her want to keep him around. She put it in her head a long time ago that she wouldn’t let another
man get close to her. Derrick was the first and last. Sym leaned back in her chair and while Nadja and Kory discussed Omere and his arrival, Sym’s thoughts drifted off to the day she swore off men, forever.
“I love you,” Derrick whispered in Symphony’s ear before placing a kiss on her neck.
“I love you more,” she admitted.
Symphony and Derrick had been dating for four years. Since the second month of her freshman year at Central High. Derrick was a junior at the time, and while most would have thought he would have been into girls in his class or seniors, he was completely smitten by Symphony from the day they met. What started as something innocent as chillen together at lunch and in between classes, quickly escalated into something most people thought she was too young to be involved in. Most people; meaning her parents. They didn’t like Derrick, not because he was into the streets because they didn’t know that. They didn’t like him because they didn’t like how Symphony became so involved in him. Her life was school and Derrick and for a seventeen-year-old, they wanted it to be about much more. Derrick was all she had known outside of her family and Nadja since she was thirteen and if they would’ve had it their way, it would have remained that way.
“What time I gotta take you home?” Derrick inquired.
They had just got done catching a movie. It was only a little after nine, but Derrick did his best at trying to appease her parents. They may not have appreciated their relationship, but they did acknowledge that he did right by Sym. He was done with school but made sure that she remained focused. He kept her on track when it came to that, and she kept him alive when it came to being in the streets. Knowing that he had Sym on his team made him want more and to be better. She was saving his life in ways she didn’t know.
“Tonight can we forget about curfew. I just want to be with you tonight and not think about what my parents will say when I get in.”
He thought about it for a minute before pressing his lips against hers.
“I gotta ride to Mt Airy to pick something up. You want to take the ride?”
Symphony knew exactly what Derrick was into and how he got his money. She didn’t care. All she wanted was her dude, and that meant accepting everything that came with him.
“Yea, I’ll just wait in the car and after that can we get a Philly cheese steak, then go to your house.”
“Of course. Whatever you want, baby girl.”
Derrick grabbed her hand, and they made their way up the street toward where he parked his car.
“Can I drive?” Sym asked.
Derrick had been teaching her to drive for a year. She was pretty good at it, so usually, when she asked, he didn’t mind. That was one of those nights. He tossed her the keys and walked to the passenger side. Sym unlocked the door and got in. She reached over and unlocked the door for him to get in as well.
“So, tell me where I’m going.” She started up the car.
She held one hand out, and he clasped his inside hers. Derrick raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.
“Baby girl, only I could get away with this. Both hands on the wheel and we going to Mateo’s spot.”
He trusted her driving but not well enough to allow her to drive with one hand on the wheel and one hand in his like he did. Sym sucked her teeth and pouted but adjusted both hands on the steering wheel before pulling out of the parking spot. During the ride to Mt. Airy, they discussed the plans they had for spring break. Sym told her parents she was staying the week with Nadja but in actuality, she was planning on spending it in New York with Derrick.
“Aight, I’ll be right back out,” Derrick announced as they pulled up to Mateo’s apartment.
“I love you!” She called after him.
“I love you too.”
Sym waited until he disappeared into Mateo’s house before pulling out her phone and calling Nadja.
“Hey, girl. What are you doing?” Nadja questioned when she answered the phone.
“Waiting for Derrick. We in Mt Airy right now headed back that way in a little while.”
“Oh okay, tell him I said what’s up.”
“I will. Here he comes right now,” she glared out the window as Derrick advanced in her direction. Something coming from the other direction caught his attention and halted his pursuit to the car. She turned and saw a guy approaching him. Derrick dapped the dude, so she was able to relax knowing that they knew each other.
“How was the movie?” Nadja asked.
“Hold on, Nadj,” Sym rolled down the passenger window a little to hear the conversation clearly.
What started as a friendly dap, turned into a battle of intense words between the two of them.
“Mike sends his regards,” Sym heard the guy say before hearing the body shaking sound of a gun going off and the flash of light.
Symphony jumped as if she heard the gun go off again as if she saw Derrick’s body hit the ground again. That’s the part where she would wake up panting. However, she wasn’t sleeping. She was supposed to be preparing for a meeting, but she was stuck in that moment.
“Right on time, Omere. Have a seat.”
Hearing Nadja, greet the guy they were expecting pulled, Symphony from thoughts of Derrick. She blinked rapidly to keep her tears at bay. It wasn’t the time nor place for her to be weak. She was hurting after reminiscing on the day that changed her life forever, but her feelings had to go on the back burner. Business had to be handled. She looked up at the guy and noticed how he looked around the room confused. He probably was wondering why the room was so empty. There was a conference table with only three seats occupied, by Kory, Nadja, and Symphony. That’s it. They didn’t even have a window in that specific room, and for good reason.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Nadja. This is Kory, and she’s Symphony.” Nadja stated.
He reached out his hand in Nadja’s direction before shaking her hand and taking a seat. He looked at Symphony oddly. Maybe because she has yet to say a word. He could probably sense that she was the one in charge because of the aura she gave off. It was a good aura to give off, especially in their line of business. When playing on the field, they played on, you had to give off the sense that you weren’t to be fucked with. Especially, if you were a chick.
“So, how ya’ll knew who I was? Niggas just opened the door for me and shit.” He laughed, in an attempt to loosen them up. He didn’t like how they were acting stiff.
Kory laughed with him before speaking. “We know who you are.”
Unfortunately, the feeling wasn’t mutual. Up until his guy, John put me on to their services, Omere had never heard anything about the all-female squad that was putting niggas out of commission.
“So, Omere. Tell us exactly what you need to be done.” Symphony stated, after finally mentally calming herself down.
He turned his attention to Symphony, “She speaks.” He smiled. “I’m sure John told you the surface of what my issue is. I need this FED; Kyle Dash handled like yesterday.”
Symphony shook her head and cut him off, “A FED? John left out that bit of details. That’s going to cost you extra.”
Kory claimed they knew who he was. But Omere felt otherwise, because if they did, they would have known that money wasn’t an issue. He shrugged her off and continued his spiel, never bothering to address her ‘it’s going to cost you more’ comment.
“All I need for you to do is to locate him and have him delivered to me. No more, no less.”
“That’s it?” Nadja questioned.
“Yea, but it’s not going to be simple. Like I said, he’s a Federal Agent, on top of that because of our previous history, they moved him to another state. At least, that’s what I think. I had people on him, but the nigga literally disappeared into thin air. That’s the only reason I can come up with.”
Symphony sat with her head leaned back as if she was uninterested in anything he had to say. Omere chuckled at how her aura really exuded this she don’t give a fuck type of attitude, but it was dem
anding at the same time. He thought she wasn’t listening but in fact, she was. The entire time he explained his issue and what he needed to be done, she thought of ways to get to it. Symphony and her girls were successful because they didn’t waste time sitting around dwelling on things. They got a job, and they immediately pieced together a plan to get it done.
“Aight, is there a time frame you need him delivered in?” Symphony asked. She finally decided to join the conversation. “Oh, don’t think I wasn’t listening to you speak, Omere. I zoned out because I was plotting in my head. Believe me, we take our job seriously. We not here to waste you time or our own.” She explained to him what her sister and Nadja already knew.
Omere felt better knowing that she actually did care about why he was there. Her demeanor could have fooled him, but he could hear the sincerity in her voice.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a time frame. I would say the sooner, the better. This nigga caused enough havoc in my life; it’s time for him to cash in.”
“We’ll get on it right away and be in touch in a few days with an update,” Symphony assured him.
“Sounds good. We done here?” Omere questioned while sliding the envelope he had in my pocket across the table. “We straight?”
“We don’t take cash here. Give the money to John and have him contact us for delivery,” Kory instructed.
Omere nodded and grabbed the envelope.
“Aight, bet. I’ll have him set that up. We good, now?”
“Sure is,” Symphony said.
“Bet, nice doing business with you ladies. Am I free to go or ya’ll got some protocol in place?” He joked.
Nadja laughed and pointed toward the exit. “Normally, yes there is protocol, but they’ll show you out.”
Once the door closed behind him, Symphony sprang into action. She had to do something clear her head. She felt a taste for blood. The only thing that would settle the way she was feeling was taking a life.
“Alright, so here is the information we got from Terrance,” Sym spoke while spreading the documents and photos across the table. She had the information from Rodger, and the proof Terrance got that helped Nadja and Kory get the location of the witness.
Street Symphony: A Tainted Love Story Page 7