Crystal had a puzzled look on her face. When she dialed it again that same voice answered. “Who is this?” Crystal snapped.
Janay snatched the phone from Crystal and spat, “Daddy got some hoochie over. Hello, put my father on the phone!”
“Daddy’s not available,” the male voice replied before hanging up.
Janay’s mind went to churning. She ran over to the window and peeked out. Sure enough, law enforcement was getting in position. There were DEA, FBI, ATF and the local police.
“Muthafuckas!” Janay screamed. “Of all the fuckin’ days!”
Crystal ran to the window and peeked out. “Shit!” She took off running with intentions of getting rid of the gun.
“Crys, we ain’t got nowhere to run. The bastards got the house surrounded. You might as well assume the position.”
Janay ran upstairs to put on some shoes, put some money in her pocket and call Miss Ida to come get Marquis.
“Crystal, get some clothes on. We are going to jail.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Forever Thompson, report to Mr. Moseby’s office. Forever Thompson, report to Mr. Moseby’s office.” Mr. Moseby’s voice boomed through the compound speakers.
Forever looked at his watch. “A quarter to eight? What the fuck he want with me?” Forever shrugged it off. “C’mon, niggas, let’s finish this hand.” He and his partner Rob were trying to dig themselves out of a fifty-point hole in their third game of spades. They were playing against J.T. and Flip, two well-known cheaters.
“Moseby is a lazy-ass unit manager. He only put in work if it’s absolutely necessary. So it must be important,” Hamilton, the nosy but respected old-timer, slipped in as he walked by the rowdy card game and kept it moving.
After finishing the card game Forever reluctantly got up and headed to his unit manager’s office. He was convinced that it was nothing but some bullshit. When he arrived at Mr. Moseby’s office he tapped on the door.
“C’mon in,” Mr. Moseby yelled out. He was a deacon of a church and always had gospel music or a sermon playing lightly in the background. “Have a seat, Mr. Thompson, and tell me your inmate number; better yet let me see your ID as well. You haven’t been here long, have you?”
“No, sir. I just got here.” Forever rattled off his inmate number as if he had an attitude and showed him his prison ID card.
“Okay, then, I’ll be releasing the correct Forever Thompson.”
“Yeah, eventually,” Forever joked, not really catching on to what Moseby was implying. “What can I do for you, Mr. Moseby?”
“Good news and always remember that God is great. Now tell me, does a Lieutenant Billups ring a bell?” Moseby grinned as if he were holding the winning lottery ticket.
“Of course, I saved his ass from gettin’ shanked to death and I got myself sliced in the process.” Forever lifted his shirt to show the scar.
“Well, does getting out of this institution tomorrow make that little ole scar a small price to pay?”
Forever’s heart dove to the bottom of his stomach. He moved to the edge of his seat. “What are you saying?”
“Your early release that you filed over two years ago finally came through. You’re outta here first thing in the morning. You saved an officer’s life. The Bureau of Prisons takes that kind of thing seriously. They may have screwed up and sent your paperwork to the wrong place”—he let out a hearty chuckle—“but they take saving one of their own very serious.”
“Man, do not play with me like this,” Forever gritted.
“I’m a man of God. I would not do that to you, young man.” He opened a folder. “Here is a copy of the order granting your immediate release. It is official. We got a lot of paperwork that needs to be signed, so let’s get started.”
Moseby slid the immediate release document over to Forever, who kept reading it over and over. The next two hours and the rest of the evening were all a surreal string of events to Forever.
Tonight was a big night at Briggen’s club. Some new hustler who went by the name of Cisco was celebrating his birthday. He had paid for Rich Boy and his crew to perform.
The club was definitely the place to be. Cisco must have really been makin’ noise in the streets. There were several BMF cats posted up, so money, drinks and weed were raining all night.
Briggen knew that he couldn’t have chosen a better night to go out with a big bang . . . literally. Everything was going as planned. Woo and damn near everybody else were toasted as he and Briggen watched the partygoers pour out of the club.
“Maine, let’s kill the last of this fifth,” Woo slurred as he held up a damn near empty bottle of Henny X.O to Briggen.
“Hell naw, I’m high enough and so are you. Yo’ ass look like you about to pass out, nigga. I’m probably gonna end up carrying yo’ ass up outta here.”
“I can walk. But shit, I gots to go to the bathroom.”
“Don’t piss on my floors, nigga!” Briggen teased. “As a matter of fact, I’ma go with yo’ drunk ass.”
Briggen stood up and Woo was still sitting. “Nigga, get up. What you gonna do, piss in the chair? Get yo’ drunk ass up!” Woo stood on wobbly legs and Briggen couldn’t help but laugh.
“Maine, I . . . am . . . fucked . . . up!” Woo slurred as he had to laugh at himself. “You would have thought it was my birthday.” Woo was cracking up at his own joke as he followed behind Briggen.
“Woo, did you see that fine honey Rat had on his arm?” Briggen held the men’s room door open for Woo as he thought of gettin’ with the chick. “I wonder if she got good credit and good pussy.”
“Yeah, you want me to h-hook you up?”
Briggen smirked. “Since when did I need your help to pull a bitch?”
“Awww, man,” Woo hiccuped. “That’s low. But she from New York. She fly. You prolly gonna need my help with dat.” He stumbled over to one of the urinals while Briggen went to the one next to him.
They both began pissing but Briggen turned toward Woo and began pissing all over his shoes and pants.
“Yo, Brig!” Woo yelled. “What the fuck, man!” Briggen put his dick in his pants while Woo was still taking a leak. “Brig! What the—” His eyes got big as saucers as Briggen pulled out an eight-inch Bowie special hunting knife and rammed it into his stomach.
“Ooooohh,” Woo screamed.
Briggen pulled it out and rammed him again. Woo appeared to be in shock. His mouth was wide open and his face was turning purple. Briggen yanked the knife out and stepped back. He watched as Woo grabbed his stomach with both hands as if he was trying to catch all of the blood that was seeping out. He went down on both knees while looking up at Briggen.
“W-why, dawg?” his voice croaked as Briggen plunged him again, twisted it, pulled it out and rammed it into him once more.
“Why? You know why, nigga. Because of your treachery.” Briggen pulled the knife out of his stomach and began stabbing his hands while slicing off several of his fingers. While laughing he said, “That was for your greed.”
Tears were streaming rapidly from Woo’s eyes. Blood was everywhere. He looked as if he was going to pass out.
Briggen, seeing that, said, “Unh-uh, nigga. I’m not finished with you yet.” He grabbed Woo’s jaw and held his tongue out. He then took the knife and cut out his tongue. “And that, my friend, is because you talk too much.”
Woo made some gurgling noises before falling flat on his face.
There was a knock on the bathroom door.
“Yo, Brig.” It was Silk.
He hawked and spat on Woo’s body before backing toward the door. “C’mon in, man. You right on time,” he said to Silk with disappointment evident in his voice. Woo had been his running partner for almost ten years. He wouldn’t have even dreamt of having to take him out.
Silk walked in and looked dead at the piece of Woo’s tongue laying on the floor. “Damn, Cuz, you butchered that nigga.”
“He got his just due. I want him to bleed an
d burn like the pig that he is. Make sure they torch this muthafucka down to the ground. I want this muthafucka to fry. Start right here with this nigga in this bathroom.”
“I need to get you out of here first. Let’s roll out.” He held the door open for Briggen and they glanced once more at Woo and were gone.
Forever still could not believe the turn of events. Here he was a free man, due to him being at the right place at the right time damn near two years ago. Fo’real, he had given up on getting the time off for that deed.
However, he wasn’t actually in rejoice mode. It was more like revenge mode. This was supposed to be a happy day. His loving wife and daughter were supposed to be picking him up and crying tears of thanks and joy. Instead, his homie Ronnie was having his family members meet him at the front gate. Ronnie knew both Briggen and Forever and wanted to know why Briggen wasn’t picking him up. He simply told him, “I want to surprise that nigga.”
Forever’s gaze fell on the white-on-white Ferrari Spider gliding up the road. Forever let out a long whistle as it cruised to a stop right in front of him. “Gotdamn!” He had to give the whip its props.
The window rolled down and a man’s voice said, “Forever, right?” even though a brown-skinned honey dip was looking in his face.
“Yeah, I’m Forever.”
The beauty in the front stepped out and two more honey dips stepped out the back, giggling. Forever felt as if he had died and gone to heaven.
“I’m Ronnie’s cousin Mason. This here is Ciarra.” He pointed at the tall chocolate sister with the short, fly haircut and perky breasts. She waved at him.
“That’s Neecy.” He pointed to the light brown honey with the cute round face. There wasn’t any doubt that she was mixed with something, plus she had ass for days. She waved as well. “And this one right here is Karmel.” He nodded to the sister with the sexy smile who was sitting in the front and obviously thought that she owned the world. “You can either ride in the front with me or in the back with the two of them.”
“Let me get in the back.” Forever wanted to cheese real big but managed to play it cool.
As soon as everyone got settled, the Spider whizzed to life. Forever kept saying to himself that he owed Ronnie big-time. He had no clue as to how much money these Detroit niggas were gettin’, and now they were showing him mad love. He could see why Brig had to camp out and set up shop down here.
Six hours later, Forever had a driver’s license, some fly gear and a heater, and had enjoyed a couple of blow jobs. He couldn’t have been happier. Now they were parked in front of Markeeta’s, waiting for her to come home. They were working on their second blunt and third bottle of Moët when she finally pulled up. When Mason saw who she was he said, “Man, that’s your people?”
“Yeah, that’s my little cousin.”
“She fine, man, I saw her before. But listen, you got my digits. If you need anything, anything at all, holla. I know you said you going back to Memphis tonight but if you decide to change your mind, get at me. We can continue this. I was just gettin’ started.” Ronnie had this huge grin on his face.
“I got the number and, yo, you gotta hook a nigga up with a rain check. If I don’t get back at you tonight, it will be soon. Believe that. Be sure to tell Ronnie I said good lookin’. He blessed a nigga real nice.” He gave Mason a pound, then whispered something in Neecy’s ear and headed for the house.
“Bye, Forever,” the other two girls sang. He winked at them and they both burst into giggles.
Forever rushed up the stairs, rang his cousin’s doorbell and started banging on the door as if he were the po-po. He smiled when he heard her fussing in the background.
“I said who the fuck is ringing my bell and banging on my door like they crazy!” She peeked through the peephole. “Who is that?”
“You know who I am. Girl, open the damn door!”
“Oh my God! My big cousin! Oh . . . mygod!” she squealed. “Tell me I’m not dreamin’.” She unlocked the door. “Forever! Boy, when did you get out?” She jumped into his arms, gave him a hug and rained kisses on his forehead and cheeks.
“Girl, what you been eatin’?” he teased her. “You need to get yo’ heavy ass down and cover that ass up.”
“Boy, I am grown and I ain’t covering up shit!” She pushed him back. “Let me look at you. What’s in the bags? When did you get out? How you get new clothes so fast?” she rattled off the questions back to back.
“I got out today. My peoples hooked me up. Cat named Ronnie and his cousin Mason. Mason said he be seeing you around.”
“Ronnie? Mason? I don’t know who you talking about.” She grabbed his arm. “Come on in. I just saw your brother yesterday. Why you ain’t tell nobody you were coming home, Cuz? We would have done it real big for you, Detroit-style. You know how we do it.”
“I wanted to surprise everybody. And I’m asking you to promise me you won’t say a word about me being out. Don’t tell nobody. I’ma sneak up on everybody. You got that?”
“I got you.” She could barely contain her excitement.
“You better have me. Y’all can throw me a party in a couple of days. This freedom snuck up on me unexpectedly.” She was following him as he walked around the house checking things out. “How long this house been in the family?”
“You older than me, you should know. Shit, I wasn’t even born when Mommy and Daddy bought this.”
“That’s a long time.” Forever took a moment to reminisce.
“Are you hungry? You wanna use the phone? Nigga, say something, you actin’ all strange and shit.”
“I just got outta prison. I’m shell-shocked. How the fuck you expect me to act? Plus, I am a little tipsy.”
“I see that. Ain’t even been out twenty-four hours and you already trying to get a dirty urine.”
Forever sank into the nearest chair. “So who is the broad my brother done got ahold of?”
Markeeta flopped down next to Forever. “Her name is Shan. He brung her from Memphis and he want both of us to run the beauty salon. He put her up in a boss crib, the whole nine. You know I got my cosmo license, right?”
“Of course. You only wrote and told me about ten times,” he teased.
She slapped his arm. “You stretchin’ the truth, nigga. Maybe nine but definitely not ten times.”
“Well, I got my license too. Let me hold one of your whips.”
“Not a problem.”
“And call my brother to see if he’s home. If he ain’t find out when he’ll be there.”
Forever already knew that Briggen had gone back to Memphis the night before. He even had the directions to the house. His only concern was whether or not Shan knew he had gotten out. As Markeeta made the call he was going through his stuff, making sure he had everything.
Markeeta ended her call and said, “Okay, your brother went back to Memphis last night. But Shan ain’t sure when he’ll be back. I told her to call me when he does. Let me give you the keys to my hooptie.”
“Hooptie?”
“Yeah, nigga, you think I’ma give you my Lexus? I love you but not that damn much.” She handed him some Volvo keys.
He inspected them and said, “You play too much. I was gettin’ ready to say, how you gonna have a boss ridin’ a hooptie?”
“Whatever, boy, you can come back and spend the night. And here’s a cell phone.”
“I got one already.”
“Well . . . excuse me.” She twisted her neck around.
“You excused. But let me put your number in this phone and I’ma be out.”
“Already? You ain’t hungry?”
“Naw, I told you I’m in shock.”
“All right then.” She gave him the number and he headed out the door.
It took him over an hour to find Briggen’s house. “Damn,” he said as he slowed down in front of it and parked. He was glad that it was dark. He grabbed the camouflage-patterned bag off the floor and got out. He jogged up the front steps and rang th
e bell.
The sound of the bell startled Shan. She peeked out the window and saw Markeeta’s car. She groaned because she was tired and not feeling like entertaining company.
“Just a minute,” she yelled as she turned on the light in the family room.
“What are you up to, Markeeta?” She snatched the front door open to be standing face-to-face with Forever.
“Daddy’s home,” he said as he stepped inside, shutting and locking the door behind him.
“Oh my God,” she mumbled as her heart rate sped up.
“Get that look off your face. And no, I didn’t escape.”
“Your brother isn’t here. So you need to leave.” She stood there in an attempt to stand her ground but was scared shitless.
“What makes you think I came here to see my brother? I came here to see you.”
“Me? Shouldn’t you be trying to see your wife and child?”
“Baby girl, don’t flatter yourself. However, I will be paying them a visit. But not until I’m finished with you.”
With Woo’s body burned to a crisp and Tami’s remains put somewhere never to be found, Briggen was pleased to see his plan falling quickly into place. He wanted Sharia to suffer, so he hadn’t decided what he was going to do with her. The club that she loved, and had really built up with her sweat, labor and connections, was burned to the ground. Maybe that was enough.
He was now kicking back at Mia’s and he had just fucked her into a comatose slumber. Satisfied with his performance, Briggen sat on the edge of the bed pulling on a blunt, trying to get his thoughts together. Once he was totally relaxed he decided to check his voice mail.
“Briggen, this is your favorite cousin. You know, the one who you’re buying a beauty salon for?” She giggled. “Well anyways, I got a big secret. My second-favorite cousin told me not to tell anybody but I can’t help it. We gotta give him a surprise party. Your baby brother, Forever, he got out this morning. He came by with new gear on, money in his pocket and lookin’ good rockin’ that jailhouse shine. I told him he could spend the night and gave him my car. Call me back as soon as you get this. Love you.” She made a loud kissing noise into the phone before hanging up.
Payback With Ya Life Page 21