by Kia
“So that gangsta shit got you hot again, huh?” she asked as she shook her head and played with Rena.
“If you gonna be judging me, I can send you back to our place.”
“And does he know that you’re pregnant?” she asked with a raised brow.
“Yeah. I threw up all in his car yesterday, so I was forced to tell him. I mean… he wasn’t tripping though,” I said as I sipped on my ginger ale soda. That was the only thing that helped me with my sickness during this pregnancy.
“So I hope you ain’t fucking him.”
“Not yet, Red, but if I want to, I will. The fuck?”
“I’m just saying, Diamond. Don’t forget our task at hand. I just don’t want you to fuck up too bad. You know?”
“I know. But you worry about you and Yazz. And I’ll worry about me and Gee. Cool?”
“Whatever,” she said as she sighed and shook her head.
“It’s just fun, Red. It’s all fun. That’s all.”
“It’s all fun and games until you fall in love and be with another nick sack hustling mothafucka.”
“I won’t fall in love, and I can promise you that. I have Rena for that. If I need someone else to love, I can just love my baby.”
“Oh, so you’re keeping it now?” she asked.
“Yes. I decided not to get mad at him and fuck up his dreams. You know? Gee’s a great guy, just not for me. Maybe for Kasha. But not for me.”
“I don’t know, B, that’s just the type of nigga I am,” Emo said to Neek as they both walked back inside with some food and Red Box movies.
“You ladies hungry?” Neek asked.
“Yep,” Red and I said in unison.
“We got Chinese food,” Emo said.
“Yo, why New York niggas always eating Chinese food?” Red asked.
“Shit, the mothafuckas own all the good food joints,” Neek responded as he put some food on a plate and handed it to me.
“Yo, put a movie in,” Emo said as he looked over at me.
Knock Knock
“Get the door, B,” Neek said as he opened a bottle of soda.
“Bizz, my guy, whats up?” Emo asked as he let the short guy in. I’d never seen Bizz before.
“He’s a cute lil’ shorty,” Red whispered in my ear.
Bizz looked like a cuter version of Kevin Hart. Same height and everything. Or maybe Emo was just tall as fuck and made everyone look short.
“Yo, go get the bricks. My guy waiting on the stoop. Say he want all of ‘em,” Bizz said.
Red and I were both being nosey.
“All of ‘em?” Neek asked.
“That shit sounds suspect,” Emo seconded as he put a piece of shrimp in his mouth. He then took his chain off and got comfortable.
“Man, come on. Scared money don’t make no money,” Bizz said as he started to tremble like he was nervous. Something was wrong.
My phone started to ring. It was Gee. I slid into the hallway so I could talk in private. I went a few doors down so no one would hear me.
“Yes?”
“Where are you?” he asked.
“I’m minding my bu—”
My words were cut off by three men in masks making their way up the stairs. They were looking right at the door that I had just come out of.
“Diamond,” I heard Gee say, but I was too scared to talk. All I could think about was Rena and Red.
“He just texted and said not yet,” one of the guys said. Then the men rushed back down the stairs.
“Gee, let me call you back,” I whispered as I hung up and walked back in the door.
“Ain’t no drugs here,” I said when I saw that Bizz was still arguing with Emo and Neek.
“Baby, what’s up?” Neek asked.
I didn’t say anything. When I saw Bizz send another text, I already knew what time it was, and it was too late to talk about anything. Emo was still talking shit to Bizz.
I rushed over to Red. “You got that strap?” I asked. Ever since our incidents, Yazz had purchased us both some 9mm and told us not to go anywhere without it.
“Yeah. Why?” she whispered back.
“Put Rena behind the couch. They about to get robbed. This nigga setting them up,” I whispered.
Bizz made eye contact with me.
“Yo, nigga, what’s ya problem, B?” Neek asked him.
Just before he was about to respond, the front door came flying open. “Don’t nobody move!” the men yelled as they pointed their weapons, then they took their masks off.
Emo laughed, still eating his shrimp. “Rocki? I thought we were cool, homie?”
“Ain’t no friends in business, I told you that,” Neek said as he shook his head at Bizz in disappointment.
“Shut the fuck up!” one of the men yelled.
“Y’all niggas been ‘round this bitch eatin’ good and holding out,” Bizz said with his gun pointed at Neek.
“My guy, we just got hit off with them bricks. Shit just picked back up. You didn’t even give us time,” Neek said.
“Can you believe I share blood with this nigga? Same ma and pa, and this nigga gonna leave me out in the cold with chump change,” Bizz said as he looked over his shoulder at his men and laughed. I didn’t even know Neek had a brother.
“I’m ready when you are,” Red whispered. The guns were under the pillows and pointed at our assailants.
“So you just gonna kill me over some bricks? Ma will never forgive you,” Neek said, but he never folded. He stood tall and prepared to die like a man.
“Na, yo bitch gonna kill you. She gonna kill everybody in this bitch, and I’ma come save the day. Or at least that’s what the news will think,” Bizz said, again with a hearty laugh.
No one else was laughing. I could tell he was nervous.
I looked over at Red and saw that her and Emo made eye contact. When Emo nodded his head, Red pulled her nine from under the pillow and start busting. So did I. Then Emo reached under the table and pulled out a big choppa. Neek ran over and reached under the couch and pulled out a semi-automatic.
My adrenaline was rushing, so it didn’t register to me that I was actually in a shootout. Smoke started to crowd the room, then the shooting stopped.
“Fuck! Bizz got away!” Emo yelled as he looked down at two men who were dead on the floor.
“At least we got Rocki and his homie,” Neek said.
“He dead, B! That nigga dead!” Emo yelled as he punched the wall.
I ran over to grab Rena. “Yo, the boys about to come arrest everybody in this bitch. Y’all need to get outta here,” Neek said to Red and I as he put his gun on the table.
“But I can’t let you go to jail. You ain’t so shit,” I said in anger. We were all just chilling until that fuck nigga came up in here on some trip shit.
“I got an idea. Red, you take my car, and Diamond, you take Neek’s car. Get these drugs and guns outta here so the boys won’t find nothing,” Emo said. Then him and Neek ran to the back and came out with suitcases.
“Come on,” Neek said as he pulled my hand.
When we got to their cars, he put some bags in his car, and Emo put some bags in his car.
“Yo, do the speed limit and no extra stops,” Emo said as they sent us on our way.
As we got halfway to the house, my phone rang. It was Red. “What the fuck just happened?” she asked.
“I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Red
The next morning…
“How much longer do we have to wait?” I asked Diamond as we sat in front of the county jail waiting on Emo and Neek to be released.
Early this morning, Neek called Diamond and informed her that the police had detained them. They couldn’t charge them with murder because it was clearly self-defense, and they didn’t find any drugs. So they arrested them on old warrants. Diamond and I had been up since before the sun came up trying to bond them niggas out with the money they had in one of them
suitcases. Though I didn’t want to be in the mix like this, I had to. They looked out for us because I know for a fact one of my bullets took one of them niggas out.
“There they go right there,” she said as Neek and Emo walked out, looking rough as hell.
Diamond and I hopped in the back seat with Rena so Neek could drive his own car.
“Man, them bitches tried to hold a nigga. Talkin’ ‘bout they had me now,” Neek hissed as he got in the driver’s seat and slammed his door.
“Fuck them hoes,” Emo said as he also slid inside.
“You good, baby?” Neek asked Diamond as he turned around.
Baby? Since when? It’s only been a week. I didn’t like this shit at all. I felt like Diamond was being stupid again, and dangerous.
“We good, and them bags at the house,” Diamond said.
“Ay, stop by my brother’s crib. I need to lace him up,” Emo said.
“Who? Yazz?”
“Yeah,” Emo responded to Neek.
“No!” Diamond and I said in unison. Then we both looked at each other while Emo and Neek turned around to look at us also.
“Huh?” Neek asked.
“I’m… I mean…you know…” Diamond was freezing up so I took the lead.
“It’s been a long night and morning. We just want to sleep,” I said, softly nudging Diamond to tell her to get it together. She was always horrible at lying.
“Okay, well I’ll take y’all home first,” Neek said as we pulled off and turned the radio up.
“Bitch, see what I mean?” I asked. This was a fuck up waiting to happen.
“Like I said, Gee and I are just business partners,” she said.
“Yeah… okay. Even you don’t believe that.”
“I can’t make Gee love me. This baby that I’m carrying is a pity child and you know it. He even admitted it. I’m done letting him play with my mind. Fuck that,” she said.
“Whatever.”
She never listened to me until it was too late. I thought last night would have been an eye opener for her that maybe it isn’t meant to be between her and ol’ boy. But one thing about my girl, she wasn’t dumb by a long shot. She knew exactly what she was doing. Every once in a while, she longed for something fun and dangerous. That’s all Neek was, something fun and dangerous.
When we finally made it to the house, we let the guys come up to grab their things. Really didn’t want them staying long because Yazz was always popping up. The last person I wanted him to see here was his younger brother. Diamond didn’t give a fuck, but I did. Yazz and I were just now starting to get along on a relationship level, and I just didn’t want to mess that up.
“That’s all the bags, and we used most of the money to bail y’all out,” I said as I tried to rush Neek and Emo to the door.
“Damn, can a nigga say bye to his girl first before you start kicking us out?” Neek asked me as he turned back around and gave Diamond a hug.
“Ol’ mean ass,” Emo said as he walked out with his keys and some bags.
“I’ll be that,” I responded, waiting for Neek to hurry up and say his goodbyes.
“I’ght. See ya later, Red. I still fucks witcha, even though you rude as fuck. Thanks for bossing up on them niggas last night,” Neek said as he walked past me and stood outside the door with Emo.
“It’s good. I should be thanking y’all niggas for not giving us up. And be careful,” I said before I closed the door.
“I can’t believe his own brother was about to kill him,” Diamond said as she walked into the kitchen.
I followed her and hopped on the countertop. “Look, Diamond, we need to talk. I’m not your mother or anything, but I just want you to use your head. Yes, Neek is fun. Yes, he’s a thug. Yes, you and Gee on bad terms right now, but don’t be stupid. What happened last night was the universe telling you to get a fucking grip on life.”
“I thought about that too. But Neek like really, really fucks with me on that level. He actually wants to be around me, even though I’m pregnant with another man’s baby.
“So you honestly can say that there is no hope for you and Gee?” I asked as I tilted my head to the side.
“Gee has a woman that he loves, and I don’t wanna come between that. I mean… the bitch tried to shoot at me.”
“Did you ever tell Gee?” I asked.
“Nah, because then I’d have to tell him who I was with at the time.”
I smiled. “I thought you didn’t care about him knowing about Neek?”
“I don’t, but I don’t want no unnecessary drama either.”
“Cut the shit,” I said back.
“I’m surprised you and Yazz ain’t knocking down no head boards right now,” she said as she pulled out a pot.
“Shit, I’m surprised too. But he says that he’s handling some business. Whatever the fuck that means,” I said.
Yazz had been telling me all week about how his business had picked back up and now he was busier. He also spent a lot of time trying to calculate when and how he would kill Kasha. I did too. The bitch had to go.
It wasn’t until last night that I really thought about the fact that I’m about to be someone’s mother, and I had yet to tell my own mother. I decided that I would finally take Yazz to Texas to meet my people. They would love him for all the wrong reasons, but fake love was better than no love. That, I was starting to see.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Yazz
“What did you want to talk about?” I asked Gee as I sat on his couch.
Early in the morning, he had called and told me that we needed to talk. I wasn’t sure about what, but I’m sure it was something to do about me calling Kasha a bitch. Gee didn’t play that shit when it came to her.
“You know I love you, right? You’re my brother, my blood, and my best friend.”
“Yeah, I know. What’s up?” I asked, getting nervous. He’d never started a conversation like that before.
“Why would you fuck my woman?”
“Huh? Who? Diamond?” I asked, trying to avoid this touchy ass topic.
I knew he was talking about Kasha. I wasn’t sure what she’d told him yet, but I knew he wasn’t oblivious to her scandalous ways anymore. It was written all over his face. Meaning, he wasn’t as angry as I thought he’d be.
“Yazz, come on. Stop it.”
“It was a while ago and we got drunk,” is all I could say. I didn’t know what else to say because I didn’t know what all he knew.
“She told me that. Now I just want to hear your side. And don’t lie to me, mi boy. She already told me most of it.”
“Shit, I don’t know where to start. She caught me taking from your stash and threatened to tell you. So I went and found out that she was married to a man with a son and threatened her back. Then one night we got drunk, and one thing led to another.”
“Did you know that she was pregnant?” he asked.
My eyes shot wide open. I had to quit sleeping on my brother when it came to paying attention.
“Yeah. Did she keep it?” I asked, knowing that he knew the answer by now.
“No, she aborted it three years ago. Did you love her?” he asked.
“No, but she fell in love with me.”
“How do you know?” he asked.
“She told me, and I could tell by the way she started acting crazy.”
Though this was an intense moment, I felt relieved to know that the baby was indeed gone. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I’d had a child with Gee’s first love. Hell, his only love.
Gee took a deep breath as he sat across from me. “Look, Yazz, from here on out, no more lies. Okay? I don’t want to lose my trust in you.”
“I just thought you would be mad and turn on me,” I admitted.
“I’d never turn mi back on mi own blood, mi boy. This you know,” he said. I could always tell when Gee was angry. He reverted back to talking like the island boys that we were.
“I see that now. You h
ave my word. From here on out, no more secrets and no more lies,” I said as I reached my hand out to lock it in.
“Is there anything else I need to know?” he asked.
I wanted to tell him about Kasha’s sister, but I just couldn’t find it in me to tell him that I was about to kill her. And that I’d accidently killed her sister thinking it was her. I just couldn’t.
“Nah,” I lied.
“Man, I been feeling weird lately and I’m scared to talk about it,” he said.
“What?”
“Like… a gut feeling inside of me.”
“Tell me,” I said.
“You might think I’m crazy.”
“I swear I won’t,” I responded as we locked eyes. I could tell that whatever he was about to say was no joke and would be very serious.
“It’s Kasha. She’s different. Almost like a new person. I can’t explain it.”
“What you mean?” I asked, knowing what he meant, but I had to peep him out a bit more.
“It’s like the movies. Shit, what if she died three years ago? That’s all that I can think about. I watch her day and night trying to figure her out.”
“Almost like she had a sister that took her place?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I would have known if it was Kafue. But then again, Kafue ain’t been around in years. Something is up, and I will get to the bottom of it.” He said. My eyes shot wide open in shock. But I couldn’t show how worried I was. I didn’t know what I was going to do now.
We talked for a few hours and then I left to go to the block to check on Emo. But first, I called my rider… Red.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Kasha needs to be dead, and we need to put a move on it.”
“Why?”
“It’ Gee. He’s getting suspicious.”
“But if we kill her so soon, won’t he get more suspicious?”
“That’s why we need to make it look like an accident.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Gee
“Do you know where she went?” I asked Red as I stood at their front door. Immediately after talking to my brother, I came over to see Diamond.
“I don’t know, Gee,” Red said with a look of sorrow on her face, like she felt sorry for me.