by Niecy P
That was my time to answer and give her the answers that she wanted. She deserved that shit because she did put up with a lot of my shit. I wanted to tell her that I was angry at how they treated JoJo with respect and me as a baby that they didn’t want to see grow up. I wanted to say that I felt like I had something to prove to make me look like the man that my father was going to be proud of. I hated being in the shadow of JoJo. It made me sick, and that was the time for me to say so, but I didn’t.
“As I told you before, I don’t have time for this. I gotta go,” I said as calmly as possible.
“But I need to know Jeremiah, please,” she begged.
“For what! So that you and dad can try again and not make the same mistakes that you did with me. Fuck that. You don’t need to know shit. Now, get the fuck outta my way!” I yelled. Mom's eyes were full of tears. She closed her eyes and sighed. Mom opened her eyes at me and smiled.
“I love you, Jeremiah,” she said and turned to walk out the door. I didn’t want to make another trip back into the building, so I bent to pick up the other bag. I didn’t know how she knew I was there or who brought her there to confront me. I turned to ask her that question.
“Ma how did you get…” I paused at seeing JoJo at the door. Mom walked towards him and placed her hand on his chest.
“I forgive you,” she said and walked out of the door. I didn’t know what she forgave him for. JoJo looked up at me with hate. I dropped my bags and prepared myself for the beating he was about to give me. It wasn’t going to be like last time, though. I was prepared to shoot his ass if he thought he was going to manhandle me.
“You never listened, man,” he shook with disappointment. I laughed out loud and threw my hands up.
“Nigga and you did. And where did it get you? No fucking where. You around this bitch trying to please everybody else but you forgot that you had a brother. I should be sitting by your side. Me. Not no fucking Mason or another nigga that ain’t even related to us. Truth doesn’t have the Davis blood in his veins and he got say so. All because you listen. Just like now. Pops want you to beat my ass up a little bit and bring me home. Right. That shit ain’t happening. I got major moves I’m trying to make, and I’m not letting none of y’all get in my way,” I said.
“Beat, nigga,” he smirked. “Nah, you passed that point, when you contacted them assholes to come after the family. You were done when you set them muthafuckers up to kill Madison. Because if I do let you walk out this bitch alive, you won't last six hours once they find out.”
“Yeah, cause like the loyal dog you are, you will run back and tell them, want you. Want you! I’m your fucking brother!” I yelled at him. He hunched his shoulders like he didn’t care about shit that I said.
“You were right, Jeremiah. We didn’t know what you were capable of or the connects that you had. I met up with your friends in the east part of Philly. You know, the ones that helped you create that fucking bomb you put underneath my car. It was the car that I drove to the meeting that yo ass set up. When Madison told you that she was going to get Mason to come to the meeting with me, you thought that you had stopped that from happening. But they acted too late. Mason and Truth weren’t supposed to be at that meeting. I was the target. They were there to kill me, and when I left, you made the call to your assassins in Portugal. You are sitting here yelling that you are my brother. Nigga what was I when you put that bomb in my car,” JoJo pulled his gun out.
I backed up to the table and couldn’t believe his ass. After all the shit he put me through, he acted like he didn’t think that he had that coming.
“At that time, you were a nigga I wanted dead, just like the rest of them. I didn’t see where I should separate yours from the rest of them. Why should I?”
I gave him the honest answer. It didn’t hurt his feeling or shake his soul. It made him slower, though. So slow that I had a chance to pull my Glock on him. “I am what Pops want at the head of the table. Not yo punk ass. You ain’t shit, JoJo. I will run this shit the way I want, and you won’t get in the way of that, nigga,” I said.
I didn’t have any words left to say to his bitch ass. I pulled the trigger, and nothing happened. My Glock clicked. I pulled the trigger again and again. I dropped the gun and reached for another weapon that he got from the DW’s days ago. I pointed a 9mm at him and got the same results when I tried to let off shots.
“They won’t work Jeremiah. None of them will,” JoJo told me as he tapped his gun on his leg. “Kareem made sure of it,” he said and held his gun out on me. I tossed the gun down and tried to reason with him.
“Come on, JoJo. Look, I gotta a big deal waiting for me in other places. We can run that shit together. We can branch off and bring more clients to the Davis Corporations. Think about it brother. You and I can run this shit, man,” I told him.
“Nah nigga, I don’t think so,” he said with no chance of reconciliation.
“Damnit, JoJo. I’m your fucking brother!” I screamed.
“You was,” he said and let off on me. I felt the heat pierce my body everywhere. The impact of the bullets had my body flying back and into the wall. I was in pain all over and felt my life slipping. There was no need for me to fight for a life that no one cared about. I closed my eyes and succumbed to death that called me.
Epilogue
Mason
“Chaisty Bridge,” the announcer said through the mic at Marley’s graduation. After everything that we went through, Marley was able to finish off school as Valedictorian. He gave a short, yet informative speech about what life was and how it can become what you want it to be if you are surrounded by people you love. My mother cried through the whole thing. I would say that it was the pregnancy, but she was really proud of her Marley. We all were.
Shit changed in a major way after all that went down. I stayed on with JoJo and worked with the Elites only when I was truly needed. I didn’t see myself going on a lot of mission because Beauty was carrying my first child. My mother punched my father when she found out that she was about to be a grandmother and mother all over again. Beauty moved with me on my estate with her mother. I didn’t want her mother to miss anything that was going on with her daughter. I also wanted her to meet my family and to show her that we weren’t the people that she thought we were. She understood us more when I showed her the evidence against her husband and son. She cursed and wished that she could bring them back so that she could kill them all over again. Beauty and her mother took that loss well.
A loss we didn’t take well was Jeremiah’s. Uncle Jo was shocked that his son ended up the way he did. Fuck, we all were. Madison was surprised that Jeremiah set her up. She loved him like he was another brother to her. Marley was angry and faulted himself for weeks. He thought that if he didn’t beat Jeremiah up, Jeremiah would still be alive. Aunt Lily went to my parents’ house and told Marley that Jeremiah was bad. “I love my son, but he was looking for a reason to do what he did, and if that didn’t happen, something else would have given him the motive.”
Ault Lily saying those words made Marley feel better. He told her that she always had a son in him. We knew that Jeremiah couldn’t be replaced. But we couldn’t have a nigga in the family wishing and plotting against us. That was something that we didn’t play with, and it was an example to the muthafuckers that thought JoJo was like his father. They were like ‘if that nigga could kill his brother, what do you think he would do to a nigga on the street that played with his people.’ They never came at JoJo wrong again, and that made business flow more comfortably.
Truth was called to go on his first Seal mission as a CO. He was reluctant about leaving my sister behind. Madison told him that it was okay, but if he stopped communicating with her, she was going to find and kill him in his sleep. Truth knew that killing him would have been hard for her to do, but he didn’t test it. He called Madison whenever he could. On Valentine’s Day, he surprised her by coming home early. He was gone for three months, and it looked like it was k
illing Madison. We all met up at the house, and we were coupled up for dinner.
“Y’all make me sick. You know that my man is far away and y’all invite me to this shit,” she complained.
“Girl stop all that and bring yo ass in here so that we can eat. I’m ready to cuddle up with my baby tonight,” I teased her. Madison pointed her middle finger at me and turned to leave. We all took our phones out and followed her to the door. When she got there, she pulled it opened and saw Truth on bending knee in his uniform. Truth’s parents were standing behind him smiling at a shocked Madison. She looked back at me and started hyperventilating.
“Is this real? Oh. My. God. Tell me that I am not seeing things right now,” she panicked. I passed my phone to Beauty and grabbed my sister’s shoulder. I leaned my forehead against hers and took a deep breath in. Madison closed her eyes and followed my lead.
“This is happening because you deserve to be happy, sis. Turn around and claim that shit,” I said and spun her around. Madison opened her eyes and walked back to Truth. He opened the box, and all the women gasped. Truth stared into my sister’s eyes and cleared his throat.
“I found myself thinking of a life without you, and I came up with nothing. You filled a void in me that I didn’t know was there until I almost lost you. The feeling was cold, and I was empty. But, even in your worse state, Madison you brought me warmth and love. A love that I wish. I can bottle up and take as a pill when I feel like the world is against me because you balance it all. I didn’t know that shit then but I know it now, and I’ll be damn if I let you get away from me,” Truth said and placed the ring on her finger. He stood up and kissed my sister on the lips.
“Wait. Wait. Wait, nigga. You not going to ask her to be your wife. You a demanding ass nigga,” I said. Madison mushed my face and accepted that whack ass proposal.
“I like it when he tells me what to do,” she said and jumped in his arms. I looked at Dad, and he smiled.
“She gets it from her Mama,” he said and kissed Mom on the top of her head. Everyone started to laugh and moved into the dining area to eat. That was a happy moment.
Beauty tapped my knee to get my attention to the stage at the graduation. They were about to call Marley’s name, but there was another surprise for my mother.
“Now this is the first from our school. Our Valedictorian wanted to raise the bar for all the seniors to come. Not only was he able to graduate with honors, but he received over six million dollars in scholarships. One being Stanford University,” the lady said. My mother jumped her pregnant ass up and started screaming Marley’s name.
“That’s right Momma. Scream for your baby. Because he will be graduating with a High School Diploma and an Associate’s Degree in Engineering,” the lady on the mic started dancing. The students applauded along with the teachers and other educators on the stage. My parents were shocked. I had to help my mother sit down. She looked up at me, and I nodded my head. Dad left his seat and began to run down the stairs. I knew that he was only doing that for Mom because she couldn’t. Madison took Dad’s place and hugged Mom. The proudness on their faces was evident. Our uncles chanted Marley’s name and clapped for the young Elite. Dad waited for him to walk across the stage and met him at the end of the stairs. He pulled Marley in a tight embrace.
“This is my son,” Dad yelled.
“Marley,” I yelled out and got his attention. He threw his hands up at me like I did it. He did, and we all were so proud of him.
“Dude, I’m telling you that he is going to be lethal man. Y’all niggas smart and all, but that nigga is Spencer Reed smart. And he is cold with a weapon too,” Truth reminded us. JoJo and I looked at each other and nodded our head.
“We know, nigga. We know.”
The End
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