The Circle: Autumn

by Keisha Ervin

  “A’ight. A’ight,” Quinton relented. He grabbed her bag and headed into the garage. He opened the garage door that led outside and began loading the car.

  Autumn stepped out into the garage and out of the corner of her eye she saw someone storming towards her. Autumn thought she was seeing things, but the loud screams that followed let her know she had definitely not been seeing things.

  “Oh!! This is why the fuck you ain’t been around!! This is why I haven’t seen your ass in fuckin’ days!!” a female screamed as she charged into the garage. “It takes me following your sorry ass to a house I didn’t even know existed for me to find out this is what the fuck you been doing!!”

  Autumn’s eyes flew open. She looked at the red faced female storming into the garage and then she looked at Quinton. Autumn could see his face looking surprised but that didn’t change Autumn’s immediate feelings of hurt and betrayal.

  “Yo! Naja! What the fuck?!” Quinton barked, shock and terror registering on his face.

  “Don’t yo Naja me! You bitch ass nigga! You ain’t even seen the kids because you been laid up with a bitch! And when did you get this house?! Oh now a nigga got stash spots for bitches too!” Naja screamed, turning her evil squinted eyes towards Autumn.

  “And you…you bitch! You ain’t know he had a fuckin’ family!” Naja shrieked, jutting an accusing finger at Autumn. Autumn’s insides immediately heated up. She wasn’t the one to be standing around letting no bitch punk her like that.

  “I ain’t gonna be too many more bitches. Quinton tell her she ain’t about this life,” Autumn said calmly as she slowly began opening her pocketbook. Being ready was one of the first lessons Autumn learned from her siblings. Porters didn’t stand around and wait for the next bitch or nigga to make the first move. Nah…Autumn knew better than that bullshit.

  “Keya! Keya! Oh we gotta a tough bitch in here!” Naja screamed for her friend who had been sitting outside in Naja’s car. Autumn looked out towards the driveway and saw an almost three hundred pound Gorilla in the Mist looking bitch wobbling in the direction they were all standing.

  “Nah! Ya’ll sorry bitches need to go. Naja, we ain’t been together in two years! Get the fuck over it! Yeah, I love your kids, but I’m not their fucking father or did you fucking forget that. I left your sorry begging ass just like I found you. Be happy you got a roof over your head and clothes on your fucking sorry ass back all paid for by me! You lucky I still provide for the kids because I’m a fucking good nigga. I treat them good, but I am not fucking obligated to do shit! We ain’t together either so get the fuck from around here!” Quinton barked at his crazy ex. It looked like his words hit Naja like an open handed slap to the face or a punch to the gut. She had a hard time accepting the fact that Quinton didn’t want her anymore. Naja had a lot of things to hold over Quinton’s head…she knew it and he knew it too.

  Autumn could see the hurt all over Naja’s face, but it didn’t change what Autumn was feeling inside either. Autumn bit the inside of her cheek when she heard him say he was still taking care of the kids. He hadn’t told her anything about taking care of the kids after he’d broken up with Naja. Autumn felt her heart breaking and it made her seethe inside. She gripped the knife inside of her bag and held onto it.

  “Oh it’s like that? You are the only father they know Quinton! You think I wouldn’t notice that you haven’t been on the scene? You think niggas and bitches ain’t talking about you being MIA? You think I am stupid…that I wouldn’t figure out that you got some bitch you fucking with!” Naja cried, her voice rising and falling like she was about to completely lose it. Before she let all of her business out, Naja turned towards Autumn with fire flashing in her eyes.

  “And as for you, you home wrecking bitch…I hope you know he just ate my pussy last week,” Naja lied. Autumn twisted her lips and giggled at the stupid girl in front of her.

  “Impossible because he was here eating mine that’s why you going so crazy right now. You found me here with him so if you was his main bitch how come I been fucking him and playing house in a house you didn’t even know about,” Autumn shot back calmly. Autumn saw fire flashing in Naja’s eyes. Autumn had too much street smarts to let the woman get the jump on her. Autumn reached into her bag and gripped the kitchen knife, figuring shots ringing out in that quiet neighborhood would certainly draw the police. If this bitch bring it she’s gonna lose her life today. I am not the fucking one. Autumn thought. Before she could fully finish her own thoughts Naja bucked.

  “Arrgggg!” Naja screamed and charged towards Autumn in response to Autumn’s snide remark. “You fuckin’ bitch! You can’t have him! You fucking can’t have him!” Naja shrieked, her arms moving like a windmill in front of her.

  Autumn kept her cool at first, seeing the girl as a joke, but Naja kept charging forward. Autumn jumped back a few steps trying to give Quinton a chance to get his crazy ex, but Naja pushed past Quinton so fast he couldn’t get a good grip on her.

  “I’ma fuck you up!” Naja hollered swiping for Autumn’s face.

  “I’m not the fucking one!” Autumn growled whipping out the steak knife. With the swiftness of a ninja Autumn jutted the knife out in front of her, swiped it like a skilled butcher and cut Naja across her neck. Blood spurted everywhere and Naja immediately threw her hands up to her neck.

  “Aggghhh! This bitch cut me!” Naja shrieked, moving her hand so that she could look down at her own blood that was painting it. “Quinton! You gonna let this bitch just cut me!” Naja belted out. But, that didn’t stop her from charging towards Autumn again.

  Autumn thrust the knife forward, this time stabbing Naja in her right breast. Autumn couldn’t believe she had stabbed the girl. Autumn’s eyes popped open and her jaw fell open too. Naja let out a bloodcurdling scream and fell to the floor writhing in pain. Her fat friend, Keya, who was about to attack Autumn, quickly back peddled away from Autumn and tried to run, but Autumn hit the garage button and the doors closed down before the girl could escape.

  “You ain’t going nowhere until I get the fuck out of here!” Autumn growled.

  “Yo! You fuckin’ cut and stabbed her!” Quinton barked, looking down at Naja frantically. Autumn was kind of in shock too, but what choice did she have. She couldn’t just stand there and let the crazy girl attack her.

  “You should’ve taken care of the bitch! It was either me or her! You saw the bitch charging at me like a fucking bull and you ain’t do shit!” Autumn growled at him. “Don’t let this bitch leave! She’ll call the cops!” Autumn yelled, pointing to Keya.

  “This shit ain’t gonna end well,” Quinton said, putting his hands up to his head. Autumn didn’t know what he meant and she didn’t care at that moment. All she could think about was getting as far away from there as possible.

  “You obviously care about this bitch more than you said you fucking liar,” Autumn said, feeling tears welling up in the back of her eyes. She wasn’t about to let him see her cry though. “Let me the fuck out of here or everybody dies!” Autumn screamed, pulling out her gun and training it on Quinton and Keya.

  “Yo really? You gon’ pull a gun on me?” Quinton gritted.

  “What fucking choice did you leave me?!” Autumn screamed, feeling the hurt like a hard ball in her throat.

  “For real…you better quit while the fuck you ahead yo! Take these keys and go. Get the fuck away from here. I can’t let this bitch die in here. You gonna have to go alone. I gotta get her to the hospital! You gotta get the fuck away from here!” Quinton barked at Autumn. She took it hard, but she didn’t know that through it all he was still looking out for her well-being. Autumn didn’t know that Naja was well connected in the streets.

  “Yeah and what about that bitch over there? She’s seen my face and she seen what I did to her big mouth friend,” Autumn said, nodding towards Keya.

  “I’ll take care of her. Now get the fuck out!” Quinton growled. Autumn was taken aback by his change in demeanor towards her. He ne
ver loved me! He fucking never loved! She screamed inside of her head with a lump the size of a basketball forming in her throat. The pain in her chest told her that her heart was breaking.

  Autumn grabbed the keys from Quinton’s hand and spit in his face. His jaw rocked feverishly because if she was anyone else he would’ve knocked her the fuck out.

  Autumn opened the car door. Before she slid behind the wheel she looked Quinton dead in his eyes.

  “I swear to my brother and sisters…if you were any other man…and if I didn’t love your ass so much, you would be dead right where the fuck you stand right now,” she said with feeling.

  “Yeah, I love you too and trust if you was any other bitch you would be just as dead. Have a good life Baby Girl…ain’t no love lost over here. There’s a bag with ten Gs in there. Take that and make it to your peoples because I know I’ll never see you again anyway,” Quinton said, then he turned his back on her and hit the garage door to let her out. Autumn didn’t know it then, but she was lucky that he was letting her go. Quinton was going to have to deal with a shit storm for what happened to Naja.

  The tears fell like waterfalls from Autumn’s eyes as she went to leave the only man she ever loved, but she didn’t let that stop her from leaving. Now more than ever she was determined to see her siblings…they were all she had in the world, a lesson she’d learned the hard way.

  She backed the Escalade out of garage and sped out of Quinton’s neighborhood, but not before she caught the attention of a black Chevy Impala parked a couple of houses away.

  “A black Escalade just pulled out of the home of our subject Quinton Driggs. It wasn’t him driving so we didn’t follow, but if you can get a read on the vehicle let us know. There’s probably an OnStar system inside so pick up that tag as it pulls out of the development. We like to know who our friend Mr. Driggs is keeping company with,” DEA Agent Mikey Belfour said into his radio signaling the other surveillance car parked at the entrance of Quinton’s housing development.

  Chapter 5 Wanted

  “What the fuck was she doing there Q?” Loe snarled, giving Quinton an evil look that Quinton hoped he’d never see from his drug connect and business partner. Loe drummed his fingers on the desk in front of him, his huge canary diamond pinky ring sparkling brightly in the light. Loe was Dominican but he was a powerful kingpin with direct ties to the Agodoa Mexican cartel. He didn’t like to be crossed, but most of all he didn’t like his family to be fucked with in any way.

  Loe had warned Quinton when he started dating his sister, Naja, that Quinton better not ever hurt her. Naja had a big mouth and loved to be on the scene so she could show off her beauty and all of the material things she was used to getting from Loe and from Quinton. When things had begun to go south with Quinton and Naja, Quinton had gone to Loe and told him. As a man and business partner, Loe told Quinton to do what he had to do, so Loe knew that Quinton and Naja had broken up. Loe thought it was one of the many bumps in the road in their relationship. Loe thought Quinton knew that it was a privilege for him to even let Quinton date his sister.

  “You disrespect my fucking sister with another woman and then you blame my sister for getting upset and coming after the bitch?” Loe asked in a low growl. Quinton shook his head in disgust. It was like Loe didn’t understand what the fuck he was saying. Naja had come to a place that she wasn’t invited and incited a fight. She ended up getting fucked up, but that was what she deserved when she attacked Autumn.

  “Yo…Loe. I told you. She’s a friend of mine that I was helping out of a jam. Me and your sister been done, you know that. Naja is wild and wants to be in the streets…don’t act like I haven’t spoken to you about your sister calming her ass down. I can’t help it if Naja decided to stalk me and that’s what she found…a friend at my house. We both know that Naja ain’t got no chill button. She took shit to another level and home girl was protecting herself. I can’t blame her for standing her ground,” Quinton said, annoyed that he was being questioned like a child.

  “Where’s this little friend of yours now Q?” Loe asked in an eerily calm tone while leaning forward in his chair to meet Quinton eye to eye. Loe’s dead, grey eye always made Quinton’s stomach churn. The story was Loe was stabbed in the eye while doing a bid with some enemies back in the day. That ugly eye gave Loe a really deadly, scary, and dangerous look.

  “Yo, I already told you where she at. I don’t know. After the shit happened she bounced. It was never the plan for her to be with me forever. I told you, I was just helping her out of a jam and shit. I don’t know where she’s at, but I told you she’s driving my Escalade…that’s all I know,” Quinton replied, immediately hating himself for selling Autumn out just for the sake of saving his drug connect. Loe had been responsible for Quinton’s quick rise in the streets. Loe had a direct line to the Mexican cartel and they had the direct line to the finest cocaine and heroin in the world. Since signing on with Loe as his connect, Quinton moved so much weight that he was close to cashing out of the game.

  “She stabbed my fucking sister!” Loe screamed, banging his hands on his desk to make his point. His entire face filled with blood and turned beet red.

  “I want her fucking found! My fucking family means everything to me! You fucking know I would blow your fucking brains out right here if it came to you or my fucking sister! Don’t play with me Q…I want that bitch found and I want my point made to her!” Loe barked. Quinton lowered his head and shook it side to side. This was too much to deal with all because Naja’s dumb ass couldn’t just chill. Quinton knew exactly how Loe felt about his family and what he would do to anyone who crossed the line and fucked with his family. Quinton had watched Loe cut a man’s tongue out for calling his other sister a whore in front of their mother. Loe had also castrated his sister’s baby father for fucking around with another bitch and giving his sister an STD. That’s how Loe got down. Not a good picture for Autumn. Loe’s reach also went far and wide. He had workers and connections in almost every state in the United States. Loe was the true definition of an American gangster because he had most of America on lock. Autumn wouldn’t be able to get very far before Loe cast his net wide enough to snag her.

  “Yo…word to my life Loe, I don’t know where she’s at,” Quinton said in earnest. “I wouldn’t cross you in that way if I knew. She took off and she’s probably mad far away…there is no way for me to know,” Quinton said with feeling. He wanted to know where Autumn was just as bad as Loe, but for a different reason. Quinton loved Autumn and making sure she was ok was on his mind and keeping him up at night.

  “Then you will find her and bring her to me,” Loe told Quinton. “It will just be better to see you bring her here because I think there is more to it.”

  “C’mon Loe, you got people that can do that. I got a business to run…our business,” Quinton said reluctantly, with his fingers secretly crossed. Finding Autumn was one mission he dreaded, he knew he would never be able to feed Autumn to the lions. Loe eyed Quinton through squinted eyes, shaking his head up and down real slow. Loe had been around the block, he could tell when feelings were clouding judgment. Loe could sense Quinton’s reluctance and he could also tell a man that was in love when he saw one.

  “Q, I’m going to ask you a question…man to fucking man. If you don’t answer honestly…you don’t live,” Loe said seriously. He stared Quinton down and locked eyes with him. “Do you love the girl who stabbed my sister? This one you call your…your…friend,” Loe asked, his nostrils flaring in and out and his chest going up and down rapidly. Quinton thought about saying “hell no,” but he knew Loe would be able to read that shit like nothing. Lying wasn’t an option.

  “I’ma keep it one hun’ed with you Loe…I don’t love her, but I got love for her. She’s a special person from my past and she called me for help so I helped her. She will always hold a special place in my life. I’m not saying that I don’t still love Naja and the kids…but yo, Naja doesn’t want the lifestyle that I want. It don�
�t matter who I take up time with from here on out, I’m not going to be with Naja,” Quinton said, as sincerely as he could. Loe seemed to contemplate what Quinton was saying. Loe seemed calm, but there was a shit storm brewing under his calm exterior. The vein at his temple throbbed fiercely against his olive skin and his hands curled into fists on their own.

  “Q, if I didn’t care about you like family and if you didn’t make me so much fucking money I would shoot you in the fucking face right now,” Loe said seriously. Quinton was taken aback by Loe’s words, but he knew it to be true. Quinton was Loe’s most valuable connection to the streets on the East and West coasts. Without Quinton, Loe would have supplies on his hand for weeks and months, but Quinton was moving so much weight, Loe couldn’t keep enough on deck fast enough.

  “Bain! Bain!” Loe called out to one of his henchmen. The big gorilla body man rushed into Loe’s office, gun in hand, ready for whatever. Quinton stood up, his hand ready to grab his piece at any given moment. Loe could be unpredictable, so Quinton was readying himself for whatever.

  “Relax Q…so jumpy? If I wanted to do something to you I would’ve done it by now and I would’ve done it myself,” Loe said with a sarcastic hmph afterwards. Loe turned his attention back to Bain and back to the business at hand.

  “Tell Carlo, Tito, and Alejandro to find this girl that stabbed Naja. Q is going to give them all of the information they need about his bitch. Tell them don’t kill her…slap her around…black eyes and shit like that…then bring her to me. I have to let my sister see her again,” Loe said, looking at Quinton to drive his point home. “My sister will be the one to give this little bitch what she deserves. We live by revenge in this family,” Loe finished up. Quinton lowered his eyes and willed himself to stay calm inside. He really wanted to blow Loe’s head right off his shoulders. There had only been one other time in their entire working relationship that Quinton wanted to kill Loe and that was over money…this time it’s over the love of his life.