by Jhon Rose
Chapter Nine
Swinging the Kawasaki Ninja inside parkway hospital where Angela said Tony T were twenty minutes after leaving his apartment complex, Dante found a parking space, parked the bike, and headed across the parking lot hearing his cell phone ringing from inside his pocket. Dante ignored it for a moment because he was pretty sure it was Angela calling him.
Once inside the hospital, Dante asked the nurse at the front desk what room Tony T was in since Angela wouldn't tell him. Dante had to show ID then he was allowed to visit his boy, discovering he was on the third floor in room 310. Taking the elevator up to the third floor, Dante stopped off on the third floor, ignoring the two nurses who were at the call desks staring at him. Looking around and trying to locate 310, he found the room at the very end of the hall. Dante didn't even bother knocking as he pushed the door open to room 310. “Dante,” both Kerry and Harmony said in unison upon seeing him.
Hugging Tony T's baby sister, Kerry after she rushed to him, Dante walked over to Tony T's bedside with Kerry hugged onto his side. He nodded to Harmony, and then looked to his boy who laid smiling a small smirk toward him. “How you feeling my nigga?” Dante asked.
“I feel how I look,” Tony T replied. “Fuck you been at?”
“Handling business out of town,” Dante answered. “What happened? Who did this to you?”
Looking to Harmony then Kerry, Tony T said, “Let me holla at Dante real quick.”
Shaking her head and rolling her eyes at Tony T, Harmony called to Kerry, “Let’s get something to eat.”
Watching both Kerry and Harmony leave the room, Dante looked back to Tony T asking, “How long have you two been kicking it?”
“Since two days after the shit with Big Worm went down,” Tony T admitted, but then became serious. “I ain't sure who these dudes were but I got word that all this shit was because of this bitch named Rachel.”
“Who the fuck is Rachel?”
“What I hear is this bitch out in the streets bragging about having her brother get at me for playing her like a hoe.”
“Okay, so who’s her brother?”
“Some chump named, Big Daddy.”
“Big what?” Dante replied with a look of disbelief on his face. “You got to be kidding me ...”
“Nah, that's what I hear he goes by,” Tony T replied. “Homeboy supposed to be the same major coke and heroin pusher out of Alabama.”
“That's good news to hear,” Dante said smiling. “How long you gotta be in this shit?”
“Doctor’s trying to hold me until next week, but I'm leaving this place by Friday. Fuck a doctor.”
“You’ve grown. I'm going to look into this shit with this Big Daddy dude,” Dante told Tony T, and then added, “Don't trip about this bitch Rachel, I’m gonna get that handled.”
“Bet my nigga,” Tony T told his homeboy and dappin him up.
$ $ $
Making it back to her townhouse after making a few sales and dropping off work with Amber, Alinna called Harmony and discovered that she was at the hospital with Tony T after she found that Harmony was not at her apartment. Harmony told Alinna that Dante was also there with Tony T. Alinna walked inside her home as Vanessa drove away to go meet up with Dre at his place. Locking the front door then walking upstairs to her bedroom, Alinna changed into gray cotton sweat pants and an oversized white tee shirt that fell past her hips. She grabbed the backpack she had for Dante and then headed back downstairs, dropping the backpack in the den and headed into the kitchen. Looking through the refrigerator for something to fix for her and Dante to eat, she caught herself smiling at the thought of Dante. Alinna decided to cook chicken wings, yellow rice sweat peas, and butter rolls.
Alinna was halfway finished with the food when she heard Dante's motorcycle pulling up out front. She smiled as she moved the frying pan from the heat then found herself rushing for the door a small smile showing.
“What's up, shorty?” Dante asked, bending to kiss Alinna's lips. She hated how she responded so hungrily for him. Alinna rounded her eyes as she turned back facing the inside of the house. “Where’ve you been?”
“It smells good up in here,” Dante said, ignoring her question. He closed and locked the door behind him. “What you cooking us?”
“I’m cooking me something to eat,” she said, looking back at him from over her shoulder.
“Oh, something for you, huh?” Dante repeated with a sarcastic tone as he walked into the kitchen stopping behind Alinna and looking over her shoulder. He smirked seeing the amount of food she had cooked.
“Move Dante,” Alinna told him playfully shooing him away from the food.
“You better be really hungry with all that food you made for just your little ass,” Dante told her, laughing as he walked over to the fridge.
Still smiling while looking back at Dante as he made himself at home after going through her refrigerator, Alinna shook her head as she focused back on the food. “How is Tony T doing?”
“If you knew where I was, why did you ask?” Dante asked Alinna as he leaned up against the counter with a bottle of Corona in his right hand. “He is doing well though; he's tryin to get out of there by Friday.”
“He tell you what happened to him?”
“Yeah, we'll take care of that in a moment.”
“Who’d he say shot him?” Alinna asked.
“Some dude,” Dante answered taking a drink from the bottle then saying, “He said it's some chick named Rachel who set the whole thing up. From what Tony T says, it's supposed to be some clown out Alabama called, Big Daddy.”
“Big who?” Alinna looked back from cooking, stopping what she was doing to clarify.
Smiling at Alinna's response, Dante said, “That’s the name Tony T said dude goes by. But come to find out that homeboy is supposed to be big time in Alabama.” Alinna could hear the change of tone in Dante's voice. The tone and his body language let Alinna know he was plotting something.
She looked back to him and asked, “What's up Dante? What are you plotting now?”
Quiet for a moment and following behind Alinna from the kitchen after taking his plate she had handed him, Dante walked into the den and sat down on the sofa, while Alinna went back into the kitchen, he turned on the 38' flat screen.
“So, what's up?” Alinna asked as she walked back into the den carrying two bottles of Coronas and sitting down beside him. Breaking down what had been on his mind since Tony T had told him about Big Daddy, Dante explained to Alinna how at first he just wanted to make that trip to Alabama and see exactly who this dude was and how he wanted to watch Big Daddy to find out how he operates and runs his shit down in Alabama.
“Dante, I don't know nothing about no heroin,” Alinna told him once he finished. “You must know somebody with that mess because I don't.”
“We will deal with that once we have to,” Dante told her with a mouth full of food. “How long is that stuff from Giovanni gonna last until you gotta re-up?”
“With the work we already we already got and the shit from him it should be at least a month and a half before we will need to get more. That's just until shit really starts to pick up once people find out we really pushing heavier weight,” Alinna explained.
“Perfect, that sho99uld be enough time for me and Dre to handle shit down in Alabama. But first I’ma need you to handle something for me,” Dante told Alinna, looking into her eyes.
$ $ $
Lying in bed next to a sleeping Alinna after twenty minutes of a mixture between fucking and lovemaking, Dante thought about his plans concerning Alabama and Big Daddy.
Hearing his phone ringing on the bedside table woke him up; he grabbed the phone and looked upon Alinna curled up beside him. She instinctively curled in closer under him, wrapping her arm around his mid-section.
“What's up, braw?” he answered the call, responding to Dre as his name appeared on the screen.
“I'm outside.”
“I'll be dow
n in a second,” Dante responded and hung up.
Crawling from under Alinna, Dante climbed out of the bed, and put his boxers and sweat pants on. Then he grabbed the backpack Alinna had left for him in the den. He was walking toward the bedroom door when he heard Alinna's voice. “You better be back in ten minutes and tell Dre I said hi.” He smiled as he turned back towards the door after listening in to Alinna's request.
Walking to the front door, Dante unlocked the door and saw Dre leaning on the wall by the door, smoking a Newport cigarette. “What up Bruh?”
“What's good fam?” Dre said, tossing the Newport and then stepping inside the house. Locking the front door behind Dre, Dante tossed the backpack onto the coffee table. “I need you to put that up for me. It’s a little over $10,000.”
“Oh shit, you trying to finally save some money now?” Dre asked jokingly as he sat on the left of Dante on the sofa.
“It's for Alinna,” Dante told his boy in all seriousness as he cleared his throat and started over. “If something jumps off, I want her to be straight.” Surprised at the way Dante was talking, Dre listened and felt for Dante. He had never heard him talk the way he was at this exact moment.
Dre changed the subject. “So what's up? What you wanted to holla at me about?”
“You went and seen Tony T yet?” Dante asked.
“Yeah I went earlier; he told me you had already came by.”
“So you know what's up right? You know what happened to him?”
“Yeah he told me what's up. So what we planning on fam, because I already know you been planning on something?”
“We are gonna take a trip out Alabama, pay this Big Daddy clown a visit.”
“We’re not just going to visit,” Dante finished saying, looking at Dre with a smile on his lips. He began to go into detail on what he had been plotting on and how things would be handled.