by Jade Jones
There were now tears in her eyes. “You are something fucking else. I can’t believe you played me for that bitch.”
Romeo was silent.
Maya tossed her hands up and walked around him. “You know what? I don’t even know why I let myself think you could ever change, Romeo. You the same fucked up, indecisive ass nigga you’ve always been.” Maya quickly started grabbing her shit as she prepared to leave. “I’m going back to L.A. You ain’t gotta worry about me being in the way of what ya’ll don’t have.”
Maya walked past him and towards the door. She was hurt, because she had actually allowed herself to fall for Romeo. The short time they spent together was magical. They got along so well, and were perfect for each other. Why the hell was he throwing it away for a bitch that was out of his league?
Romeo tried to apologize on her way out the door. “Maya, what the fuck you want from me? She’s my wife—”
“I don’t give a fuck! Don’t call me when that weak bitch flakes on your ass again! I’m done with you! And here. Take your fucking key.” Maya threw his spare at him. “Ya’ll stupid asses deserve each other.” After her last insult, she stormed out of his condo, slamming the door. The $13,000 original oil painting on the wall fell and shattered into tiny pieces.
***
Shayla hadn’t even been home three hours before Quay started blowing her phone up. She’d kept it off during the entire time she was in Europe. Romeo had her undivided attention throughout their vacation.
“Hello?” she answered. Shayla could hear loud music in the background on his end. It sounded like he was in a nightclub.
“Somebody been MIA. Wassup wit’chu? Why I ain’t hear from you these last few days? You can’t pick up the fuckin’ phone and call nobody?”
Shayla didn’t particularly like his tone. “Hold up. Chill, Quay. You coming at me like you my baby daddy.” She laughed a little to lighten the blow of the insult.
Quay wasn’t amused by her humor. “Oh, so that’s how you gon’ play me?”
Shayla sighed. How the hell do I tell him I’m getting back with my husband? She knew after the time she and Romeo spent together that she didn’t want anyone else but him. That meant eventually having to break things off with Quay. She hoped he took it well. After all, it wasn’t like he didn’t know about her marriage.
“Look, we gotta talk,” she finally said.
“Shit, I’m out right now. But you can pull up on me though, ‘cuz I don’t know the next time I’mma be on yo’ side of town.” Quay reversed the game on her ass since she wanted to act funny.
“Okay. I’ll come to you then,” Shayla agreed. “See you soon.”
“You still boo lovin’ with that bitch?” Kaniel said after Quay hung up. He knew his cousin was on the phone with Shayla. He only grinned into the receiver like that whenever she called. “Man, that bitch ain’t shit but a fine ass setback. You oughta let me body that hoe.” If they couldn’t kill Romeo, then he at least deserved some sort of payback.
Quay snatched Kaniel up like a chump in the streets. “If you ever touch her, I’ll put’cho mufuckin’ ass in the ground—alive! You hear me?”
“Yeah, man. Damn. Aight. I hear you loud and clear.”
Quay finally turned his cousin loose. Kaniel straightened up his t-shirt and walked off to sulk. Since childhood, they’d always had minor spats; from toys, to drugs, to bitches. They fell out about everything.
After making his point, Quay resumed drinking. He couldn’t wait to hear what Shayla had to get off her chest that was so important.
Twenty minutes later, she arrived at Opera Nightclub in an Uber. She didn’t want to be stuck with the hassle of parking so she left her car at home. Shayla found Quay and Nick in VIP popping bottles and smoking cigars. They were flossing off the lick they hit, openly spending up the cash Desmond and Romeo worked hard to earn.
Quay’s expression didn’t change when he saw Shayla walk up. He didn’t even stand to greet or hug her. He was mad at her ass for going AWOL.
Shayla scooted past Nick in order to get to Quay. He was sitting on the back of a plush chair with his Jordan’s on the cushion seat.
“Hey, Quay. Can we talk in private?” she asked.
Quay took a swig of his drink. “Nah, we can talk right here,” he said, nonchalantly.
Shayla looked at him sideways. It wasn’t until then that she realized she didn’t know anything about him. “Why did you tell me you worked at a warehouse? I looked up the name of it and it’s not real.”
“Man, I know you ain’t come all the way up here to ask me that shit.”
“You told me if I always kept it real with you, you’d be real with me.”
Quay finally met her gaze but didn’t speak. She took his silence to mean he didn’t care. “I think that I’m gonna fall back.”
“’Cuz I lied or ‘cuz you miss that nigga?”
Before Shayla could answer, Kaniel walked up with a fresh Heineken. He winked at her after they briefly made eye contact.
Shayla automatically froze in place. He was the same man who’d shot and kidnapped her. Shay’s knees became weak. The sinister grin on Kaniel’s face taunted her. Before running into him there wasn’t a single person she could actually say she feared.
Shayla looked from Quay to Kaniel in horror. Suddenly, it all made sense. They were in the same sheisty ass profession. Shayla still didn’t know they were cousins, and she didn’t care.
“We’re done, Quay. Stay the hell away from me.” Shayla turned to leave, but he latched onto her forearm. Apparently, she didn’t know who she was dealing with.
“Fuck you think you goin’?”
“Let go of my arm!”
After hearing a familiar voice, Desmond looked over in their direction. Shayla was arguing with Quay only a few feet away. Tapping Apollo on the chest, they quickly made their way over towards them.
Apollo’s cell started ringing but he didn’t hear it because of the loud music. It was Liberty calling to tell him what happened, but right now his attention was on something far more important.
Romeo wasn’t with Desmond that night, but Dez would be damned if he let some lame disrespect his nigga’s wife. “Aye, is it a fuckin’ problem?” he asked Quay.
The entire VIP fell silent. Desmond had no idea that he was staring at the mothafuckas who’d been trying to kill him. He’d blindly walked right into their territory. He also didn’t know that Kaniel was fucking his baby mama now.
Shayla snatched her arm away from Quay. She then pledged her alliance by standing next to Desmond and Apollo. Her husband may’ve not been present, but she knew she was safe with them.
“It wasn’t until you walked up,” Quay said.
Desmond stared into the young killer’s eyes as they stood toe to toe. He could’ve laid his ass out where he stood, but he had better shit to do. Being the bigger person for once, Dez turned to walk away.
“Yo’ time windin’ down, fuck boy. Remember my face. I’mma be the last nigga you see, pussy nigga—”
Desmond punched the shit out of Quay. Now he was certain that Quay was the one trying to bury him. But why?
Desmond didn’t think to ask as he rained blows on his face and upper body. Kaniel attempted to crack him with a bottle, but Apollo quickly jumped in. There was a full on brawl inside the nightclub before security intervened.
Quay was a bloodied mess by the time Desmond was finally pulled off. Half of the security ushered Dez and his crew out the front doors, while the other half led Quay and his boys out the back.
“We don’t get tired of sprayin’ at you fuck niggas!” Quay yelled with a bloody mouth.
“We keep dem shootas with us, nigga. It’s whatever!” Dez shouted. Together, he, Shayla, and Apollo headed towards his truck. He never anticipated on getting into a fight, but at least now he knew who was after him. Dez thought his problems had ended when he killed Cool, but apparently he wasn’t the one out to get him. It was Quay and his niggas all along.
Desmond couldn’t get to his ride fast enough. He had to call Romeo and let him know the news.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the club, Kaniel was amped off the altercation. “Man, what the fuck we gon’ do, cuz? We can’t let dem niggas ride after that pussy ass shit. Wassup? What’chu on?” he asked impatiently. Kaniel was more than ready for some much-deserved payback. “What we gon’ do?”
Quay walked over to his car and popped the trunk. Underneath the floorboard was a stash of guns and ammunition. He kept that heat on him at all times for moments like this. Quay grabbed a pistol and loaded the magazine. “Fuck you mean what we gon’ do? We finna light dem niggas up.” He tossed an AK to Kaniel who caught it. “That bitch can down with ‘em.”
In the front of the parking lot, Apollo opened the passenger seat for Shayla. Since she had caught Uber there she was hitching a ride home with them. Dez had just hopped in the driver’s side when Quay, Kaniel, and Nick ran up with their weapons aimed.
“Fuck niggas, wassup now?!”
POP!
POP!
POP!
TAT! TAT! TAT! TAT! TAT! TAT! TAT!
33
Two shots landed in Apollo and the third took out the back window.
Shayla screamed and ducked in her seat as glass shattered and bullets flew. Desmond quickly reached over and fetched his gun out the glove compartment. He fumbled with loading the magazine because his nerves were so on edge. How the fuck did he let the niggas catch him slipping?
Apollo pulled his gun off his waist and fired despite being shot. He usually carried two at a time, but he’d misplaced one of them.
After successfully loading his gun, Desmond busted a few shots of his own.
POP!
POP!
POP!
POP!
Nick was struck in the chest by one of them.
Kaniel sprayed up the exterior of the truck. Dez had to duck down just to keep from being hit. Apollo let off two more shots before he finally fainted from blood loss.
Shayla looked down at the gun still clutched in his hand. She thought about grabbing it, but quickly decided against it.
After emptying their clips into Dez’s Benz truck, Quay and Kaniel took off running, leaving Nick behind.
Desmond jumped out the truck and considered going after them. Fuck it. They were too far now, and he figured he could get answers out of Nick—who was only halfway alive.
Desmond knelt down beside Nick and placed the barrel of his gun under his chin.
Nick surprised him by laughing. In between chuckles, he coughed and spat up his own blood. “Go ahead, mufucka. Shoot me. That bitch Ava gon’ kill you either fuckin’ way.”
Desmond’s brows knitted together in confusion. Ava was the one behind all the madness? Dez wouldn’t have believed it if it didn’t come from the horse’s mouth. I’mma carve that bitch’s heart out when I see her.
“Desmond?!” Shayla cried out.
He looked over his shoulder and saw her tending to Apollo. He wasn’t moving, and it didn’t look like he was breathing either. They had to get him to a hospital quickly.
Desmond turned his attention back to Nick. His glazed over eyes stared up at the dark, starry sky. He’d gone to meet his maker.
“Desmond! We have to go!” Shayla screamed.
Desmond stood to his feet and let two off in Nick’s face just because.
POP!
POP!
One of the bullets blew through his eye.
Desmond tucked the gun in the back of his jeans, and walked over to help her put Apollo’s body in the backseat. Afterwards, they hopped in truck, and peeled out of the parking lot. Shayla was eerily silent after seeing what he’d done. Things had definitely taken a turn for the worse.
***
Liberty was the first person Apollo saw when opened his eyes after surgery. She hadn’t stopped crying since she got the news that he’d been shot. Her problems with Trip had momentarily been placed on the backburner.
“You gotta ugly cry face,” he said.
Liberty cracked a smile. She knew it was true. People had been telling her that all her life. “Shut up,” she laughed. “You almost gave me a damn heart attack. I thought I lost you.”
Suddenly, Desmond and Romeo walked in his hospital room. Neither of them looked happy about the news that Ava was behind the assassination attempts. “We gotta talk,” Dez said. “Can you give us a quick minute, L?”
Liberty looked from them to Apollo. He gave her an expression that read: Don’t argue. Just do it.
Liberty kissed him on the forehead before leaving the room in one peace.
“So how the fuck ya’ll wanna approach this situation?” Romeo asked them.
“I want that mufuckin’ bitch flayed!” Desmond said. “Then I’mma set her ass on fire and watch her roast like a fuckin’ turkey. That bitch fucked with my money. Then she fucked with my life. Now she fuckin’ with my family. I can’t take that shit lyin’ down, bruh. That bitch got to go! Put down like a fuckin’ stray dog.”
It was hard for Romeo to hear Desmond speak that way. Even with all the messed up shit she did, Ava was someone he used to call his little sister. If it came down to it, he was still unsure if he’d be able to pull the trigger. He had spared her life once and it ended up costing them over two million dollars.
Desmond would’ve flipped if he knew Romeo didn’t kill her when he had an opportunity to. Omar had lost his life because of that. Romeo was in the middle of a bloody war, and it would only end with either Desmond or Ava dead.
All of a sudden, Kimberlyn barged in the room. As soon as she saw Dez she flung her arms around him. Shayla had called and let her know everything that happened—minus the details about Dez shooting Nick.
“I wanna marry you,” she blurted out. “Let’s do it. My answer’s yes! I wanna marry you, Dez.” After almost losing him she didn’t want to waste another day waiting. The street life was crazy and there was no telling how long she would have him around. Kim kissed him passionately.
“You for real?” he asked once they pulled apart.
“I am…but only if you promise you’re done with the drug game. “I don’t wanna lose you, Desmond,” she stressed.
Desmond knew there was a catch. There was always a catch with women. Kim accepted his proposal but with serious stipulations.
Dez hesitated, and Kim knew he wasn’t yet ready to leave the streets alone.
Kimberlyn hit him with the ultimatum of his life when she said, “It’s either gonna be me or the business...”
34
The following morning, Ava received a call on her business line from Quay. “Desmond better be laying on a coroner’s slab of metal,” she cursed. It was too early in the day for him to call for no reason. “You better have good news,” she answered.
Ava gritted her teeth as she listened to Quay replay the events from last night. She hung up on his ass in mid-sentence because she couldn’t take anymore of his incompetence. They say if you want something done right then you have to do it yourself.
Ava quietly packed as Kent slept soundlessly.
Afterwards, she went to the kitchen and poured him a shot of liquor. Ava knew how he loved his pick-me-ups in the morning. She also made sure to add an extra ingredient to give it a little kick.
Like clockwork, Kent padded barefoot into the kitchen. He greeted her in a muffled voice while scratching his balls. “Hey, bay,” Kent leaned down and kissed her with his morning breath. He even stole a little tongue action. “Why you got’cha shit packed upstairs? You goin’ somewhere?”
“Yes. I have to fly to Atlanta. It’s mandatory.”
“I told you I ain’t want you down there. I swear you hard headed as fuck sometimes, Ava.” She was starting to remind him of his ex.
Ava innocently handed him his shot. “It won’t be for long. It’s just a few days.”
“I said no.” Kent tossed the shot back and slammed the glass on the kitchen island. Since he fo
oted her fabulous lifestyle he felt like he could control her. “I don’t want you…” Kent stopped mid-sentence when a tingling feeling took over him. His eyes bulged in their sockets, and he immediately grabbed his throat. The sulfuric acid he’d just consumed ate away his skin, tongue, and esophagus.
When he realized Ava was the culprit, he lunged at her, but she backed up. Kent uncontrollably slipped on his own blood and fell. A hole burned through his neck as the acid ate through the lining of his throat. After struggling for less than thirty seconds, he was dead.
Ava cautiously stepped around him and went to his safe. It was hidden behind a painting of Mansa Musa. Kent was foolish enough to unlock it many times around her, so she knew his combination code by heart. Ava dumped bricks of tax-free dollars into a small white plastic bag. Next, she collected the throwaway guns. Kent was into all types of shady businesses on the side, so he could never be too cautious. Unfortunately for him, he never saw Ava coming.
She no longer had any use for his ass. She damn sure didn’t need him pinching off half of her profits like a pimp. She’d gotten everything she could get out of him; money, clothes, jewels, and some of the best sex she’d ever had.
Now playtime was finally fucking over.
Ava planned on handling Desmond on her own. With him finally out of the picture, her empire would soar. Competition would cease to exist, and she’d be the Griselda Blanco of her time.
***
“Can I cum in it?” Kaniel asked, as he pounded into Dana from the back. He gave her blow and she let him hit it without the hat. Their exchange had been going on for about a week.
“Yes!” Dana cried out. “Cum in this pussy!”
Loud rap music poured from a Beats Pill. They were fucking doggy style on the worn out mattress of a dope head’s trap in Riverdale. Kaniel would never let a freak come to where he laid his head.
“Damn, bitch, you got some good shit.” He grabbed her neck from behind and drilled harder, his balls smacking against her clit. He wanted the tip of his dick tapping her kidneys. Normally, Kaniel wasn’t so reckless when it came to fucking, but Dana made it hard to play by the rules. “Here it come,” he groaned. “I’m finna bust.”