Codeine and Fully Automatics

by Ghost

  I rushed into the kitchen, just as Bryon was loading two plates of scrambled cheese eggs and pancakes with bacon. When he saw me, he dropped the skillet. Hot grease popped into the air. The skillet bounced off the floor and spilled its contents on to the linoleum. Before he could get a word out, I swung and smacked him so hard with the gun that he flew into the refrigerator and knocked the boxes of cereal from atop it. He fell on his side and jumped back up. “Say Mane, what’s all this shit right here bout. Hopefully not dat bitch over thur.” He pointed at Toya.

  I kicked him as hard as I could in the ribs, then smacked him with the gun one more time. He fell to the floor. “You bitch ass nigga. You gon put yo hands on my muthafuckin daughter. Huh!” Another kick to the ribs.

  He flipped on his back, and scooted away, holding them. “What? I ain’t did shit to yo daughter mane. Her mama beat her ass, not me.”

  “Stand yo punk ass up.” I ordered, aiming the gun at him.

  “Nigga put that gun down and we can handle this like men. You come into my home on this bull shit. Let me see what you really got.” He urged, breathing hard.

  “Stand yo punk ass up nigga. Hurry up or I’m bout to pop you!” I cocked the hammer and aimed at his face.

  He slowly made his way to his feet. There was a serious mug painted on his face. Bryon was every bit of six feet four inches tall. He had to weigh in at two fifty. He looked all muscle too. I was six feet even, about a hundred and eighty pounds, slim, and muscular. His skin was black as oil. His eyes a yellowish red. Compared to my light caramel complexion, he made me look almost white. I was good wit my hands, but his size was intimidating. I knew my bullets would break him down to size real quick.

  “Ain’t nobody did nothin to yo baby gurl mane. Some body lying on me. Can’t be nobody but yo baby mama. She just mad cuz I ain’t fuckin wit her like that no mo. Bitch is a bum.”

  Toya walked into the kitchen. “I tried to prevent this. I begged him to not get in yo ass Bryon, and all you’ve done is disrespected me this whole time. Now I don’t care what he do.” She said this and walked up on him.

  “Bitch you lying anyway. I ain’t never touch that man’s shawty. You beat that baby every day. Not me.”

  “You’re lying!” She tried to push him as hard as she could, right in the chest.

  He grabbed both of her wrists. Pulled her back to him and smacked her so hard that he knocked her out. “Stupid ass bitch.” He looked down on her and kicked her in the stomach.

  I lost my breath. My eyes damn near popped out of my head. The shock caught me off guard so bad that he wound up punching me in the jaw before I could block it. The punch hurt so bad that everything went black for a second. I came to and he was dumping on my back. Whom. The pistol fell out of my hand and slid across the floor.

  “You wanna come at me in my crib about that lil bitch! Then tell her to watch her fucking mouth!” A kick to my ribs flipped me onto my back.

  I laid there for a second trying my best to catch my breath. Byron raised his steel toe boot to stomp me in the face. I rolled out of the way and jumped up. A sharp pain shot through my ribs. My arms wrapped around his waist and I picked him up in the air, before I fell backward wit him. His head ricocheted off the stove and busted open. Suddenly he was on his back hollering in pain with blood running down his neck.

  “You muthafucka. You bitch ass muthafucka.” He found his footing.

  We met in the middle of the kitchen, throwing blows like savages. One of mine caught him in the jaw and rocked him. At the same time one of his slammed into my ear lobe. That shit hurt. I wasn’t trying to feel another one of them. He swung a haymaker that followed that one. I ducked it and came back up and hit him with a right cross. Blazed him. His nose cracked. A head butt sent him flying backward. I chased him with blow after blow. My knuckles pounded into his face back to back. By the time it came to the third blow he was dizzy. His knees got weak. He hit me with another weak blow. I shook it off, and kept on swinging, fucking him up. He fell to his knees, sleep. I grabbed the sides of his head and slammed my knee into his face as hard as I could. Blood spattered around it. He laid against the refrigerator snoring.

  I rushed and grabbed the pistol from the hallway floor, and drug him into the middle of the kitchen. Laid him on his back and proceeded to beat him over the face with the gun over and over. Harder and harder. “Nigga. Don’t. You. Ever. Put. Yo. Muthafuckin. Hands. On. My. Daughter. Or. My muthafuckin. Baby. Mother. Again. Bitch. Nigga.” Blow after blow was delivered until his face caved in on one side. When I felt that he didn’t have any chance of getting up, I stood, and looked down at him. The entire kitchen floor was covered with his blood. It looked like a scary movie.

  Toya staggered over to me and looked down. “Oh my God. Phoenix, what did you do? What did you do?” She started to walk over to him and slipped twice in the blood. Caught her balance and knelt in the blood before him and placed two fingers on his neck. She held them there and searched all around. Her eyes got more and more bucked. Then she sat back on her haunches and shook her head. “He gone Phoenix. This nigga is gone. What are we gone do?”

  My jaw and my ear were killing me. Both were ringing like crazy. I didn’t give a fuck about that nigga being dead. As far as I’m concerned at least I wouldn’t have to worry about him putting his hands on my daughter again. I felt like pissing on him. “It is what it is. Get yo ass up out of that blood. I’m bout to call Mikey so we can get rid of this clown.”

  “But all of them people are outside Phoenix. What if they say something?” Toya asked standing up, and once again slipping on the blood. She sashayed across the floor as if she were skiing until she was standing in front of me. Her top lip was swollen.

  I rubbed the side of her face. “Don’t worry about that shawty. Me and bruh gon handle this bidness here. I’ma drop you back off in Orange Mound.” I pulled her to me and wrapped her in my arms. I looked down at Bryon and felt nothin but anger. “Yeah shawty I got this.”

  Chapter 4

  Mikey grunted, as he helped me to hoist Bryon’s body on to the slab inside of his uncle David’s Funeral home. It was located ten blocks from Orange Mound. The door to the oven of the cremation machine was already opened. I could feel the intense heat coming from it. It smelled like gasoline and burnt skin from the past cremations. I felt weird being inside of David’s Funeral home and did every time I came inside of his joint.

  Mikey straightened Bryon’s body, and started the conveyor belt that would send him into the flames. He was five feet eleven inches tall, caramel skinned like me, and just as muscular. He had a low-cut Mohawk that was tapered on the sides. When it came to getting rid of bodies, he was a beast. His uncle David was a mortician and funeral home director. Before that he was a straight street nigga and got down in the slums. He taught Mikey some of the tricks of his trade, and because he had, we’d already stripped Bryon naked per the orders of David. I watched his body slowly travel the path to the oven. “I bet dirty ain’t never think his ass a be cremated before the day was out.” He laughed, looking over at me. “I wish I would have been there. I would have done the same thing that you did. Shantê is my God daughter. I’d kill a million niggas over her.” He frowned and slapped Bryon’s naked chest before he was fed to the fire. His skin began to pop and crackle loudly. Once his whole body was fed into the flames, Mikey closed the oven’s door, and took his big, black gloves off. “There, that shit is done. Now let’s get on something new. I got some shit I wanna run by you Potna. Come upstairs.” He took one last look over his shoulder, and then we were headed up the back stairs that led to one of his many apartments.

  When we got to the top of the flight of the narrow hallway, he beat on the door, after trying the knob. “Dis damn gurl always locking the doe Durty. Dat shit get on my nerves like a mafucka.” He beat on it again, louder this time. “Alicia open the got damn doe shawty. Fuck you in thur doing?”

  I shook my head and laughed. “Nigga how the fuck can you sleep above
a funeral home? Don’t you be having nightmares and shit?” I wondered. The heavy aroma of burnt corpse and embalming fluid was in the air.

  “Mane don’t shit make me have nightmares other than being broke. Long as I got my cake up like birthday parties, I’m good to go Durty.”

  Alicia opened the door, fitted in a tight pink and black robe. Her hair was wrapped in a bath towel. “Damn bae, you beating like you’re the police. Got me in thur scared as hell. I almost ran to your stash and started flushing shit.” She rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.

  He smacked her on her big ass and pulled her into his embrace, kissing all on her neck. “Dats how you gon talk to a boss shawty. You gon make me spank that ass in front of my mans. Dat what you want?” He asked sucking on her neck some more.

  She laughed and tried her best to get away from him. “I’m sorry baby. Damn. Nall I don’t want no spanking right now. You just scared me that’s all.” Alicia laughed some more, then ran from him. The back of her robe flying upward to reveal that fat caramel ass. The cheeks jiggled.

  Mikey smiled, and shook his head. “I had to marry her lil thick ass. I’da been a damn fool not to of.”

  I felt my piece hardening just thinking about the last time I’d smashed Alicia. Her pussy was always good especially from the back. Them cheeks were soft and felt so delightful crashing into my lap. I shook myself out of my zone. “Y’all make a perfect couple Mane. What good wit this bidness though?”

  Mikey waved for me to follow him down the hallway. His crib was nicely furnished, with hardwood floors. Now that I was inside of it, it smelled like incense. That was cool. That funeral home scent was horrible. We wound up in the guest bedroom. He closed the door behind me and motioned for me to sit on the couch. “You just plant yo ass right thur and I’m about to show you something. That two-liter bottle of Sprite got a sixteen in it. Pure codeine. Take you a shot of dat shit homeboy.” He opened the closet door.

  He ain’t have to tell me twice. I twisted the cap and filled the glass that was already on the table. “Dis glass clean ain’t it?”

  Mikey grabbed a duffle bag and carried it to the couch, then sat down on it. “Yeah I bought that glass in here right before you called me earlier. I was gon turn up and take my wife down, but you said you needed me, so I put that shit on the back burner. You good nigga.”

  “Cool.” I filled the glass, and swallowed half of it. That codeine was stronger than Popeye on his spinach. It burned my throat and gave me that sleepy effect right away. I fought through it and allowed myself to lean like somebody with a broke hip. In a matter of minutes, I was feeling kosher. High as heaven, eyes low as hell.

  Mikey unzipped the duffle bag and pulled out a Mach Ninety. He set it on the table and set two clips beside it. Then he pulled out another one with the same number of clips. “These bitches scream three bullets at a time and hold eighty in the clip. Both got scopes on top of ‘em. We can buck a nigga down from across the street, or down the block. They got an accuracy level of eighty five percent. You can’t beat that when it comes to a fully automatic. But I ain’t done.” He dug around in the bag and came up with two fully automatic forty fives. Then bruh put clips beside them that looked liked oversized Pez dispensers. He screwed a silencer into one of them. “Mafuckas ain’t ready for these bitches here mane. Fully automatic forty fives that spit with ninety five percent accuracy. Military edition. Silenced. These bitches keep secrets that only we gon know about.” He laughed and tossed one of them to me. “That’s yours, and so is that Mach right thur.”

  That was just like Mikey, no matter what bro did he always made sure that I was just as good as he was. He was a good nigga. I had mad love for him, despite what had taken place with me and Alicia. “This good looking bruh, but now that we got these tools what you tryna do? You got something on your mind?”

  He grabbed the bottle of Sprite and turned it up. “Don’t I always.” He took three long swallows, before setting it down. “Dragon nem. Them fools right down the way from Orange Mound. Its time we take a good look at them. We need that turf if we gon really kick this Duffle Bag shit off the right way. I got some of my cousins that’s coming down from Brooklyn next month. By the time they touch down I wanna have everything in place. Its time we get all our ducks in a row. You feel me Mane?”

  I felt like my eye lids were heavy as anvils. “I got seven gees to my name, and a daughter. My baby mama just got evicted from her crib, and as much as I care about her I ain’t trying to have her living wit me bruh. I need my space. That mean I gotta get her right. Its time I start to take care of my ladies, bruh. That’s what’s real.”

  “Yeah well I hear that. On some real shit we can bring this city to its knees, Phoenix. I got a crazy plug out in Brooklyn that a hit me wit whatever to sew this bitch up, but before we do that, we gotta move some niggas around, and snatch they clientele. What’s crazy is while I’m doing all of this I still gotta finish these last few credits so I can get my business degree. I found three buildings. One gone be a barber shop for the lil homies to work out of. Another one gone be a beauty salon for the women, and I’ma put my mother’s restaurant in the other one. She been dying to put that Creole food out there for a long time in such a way. So, we gotta get a move on. You know what you wanna do outside of this street life shit?”

  I looked the forty-five over in my hand. It looked so pretty. I could imagine sparks flying from the barrel as I bucked something down. “Nall, I don’t know what I wanna do yet. Like I said before I only got seven gees to my name. So, I don’t feel right. I can’t see that far into the future right now. I gotta take care of my daughter today. That’s all that matters to me.”

  Mikey nodded. “I can feel that my nigga. You already know what’s mine is you’re. Its gone always be that way. I ain’t got no shorties yet, but Shantê is my heart. I gotta help you get right so you can make sure she’s good at all times.” He grabbed a blunt from his front pocket and sparked it. A thick cloud of gray smoke appeared and floated toward the ceiling. “I got this move I want us to bust for a friend. First, we gone bust the move, then I’ma introduce you to who the move was for.”

  “How much we talking?” I asked. I didn’t give a fuck who the move was for, it had to be beneficial to me at the same time.

  “Its for ten gees total. We can split the pot fifty fifty. That’ll push you up to twelve. If all goes right this one favor is going to put us in to the path of a hundred more. Before the summer get here, we should be sitting lovely and well on the way to starting our Duffle Bag Cartel. Cuz nem from Brooklyn have already said they’re down for the cause. They got a lot of heat back East and are looking for a new start anyway. We’re family and they’ve always looked up to me. If we can have a nice amount of territory before they get here, by the time they come we’re going to be in a position to be filthy rich. How does that sound?”

  “Like a fucking plan. So what you wanna do? I’m bout that life. I need that lil cake too.” Five gees would fill in the hole that Toya had created with her eviction situation. I didn’t like being under ten gees. Five gees was about what you needed in Memphis to make sure that you always had bail money. And a true hustler kept at least twenty gees put up for the retainer of a lawyer. I had to get right, and always keep my daughter up to par. That was my heart.

  “Let me get all of my ducks in a row. As soon as I do I’ma call you. I know for sure we gon have to take a trip out to Brooklyn this year. I want you to meet some of the family out there. I got some cousins that’s gon eat yo ass alive. Plus, the city is a good time. They do shit way different out there. They helped me to think outside of the box. Life is bigger then Memphis. We gotta get our chips all the way up so we can see that.”

  I agreed.

  ***

  That night when I made it back to Orange Mound it was two in the morning and Toya was no where to be found. Her car that had at once been parked in front of the crib was no longer there. When I got inside of my place, I found Kamya sitting on th
e couch reading a book on her tablet. All the lights were off inside of the house except for the one in the kitchen. She looked up at me and smiled then rushed over and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Dang you done had me in this house waiting for you all night. I thought something happened. I was worried out of my mind.” She stood on her tippy toes and kissed me in the lips. Traced both with her tongue, then sucked my bottom one into her mouth.

  I slid my hands down her back and cuffed her ass. She wore a pair of tight booty shorts. The bottom portions of her ass was fully exposed. Her cheeks were fluffy, and hot. She was born and raised in Memphis. That meant she had that real freaky forbidden shit in her real tough. She, like most of my cousins in Memphis didn’t understand what boundaries were. They would be quick to give me some pussy, and then would have no problem going to lay up with their niggas like nothin ever happened. I wasn’t in Memphis long before I started to adopt their ways of doing things. To make matters worst they were all so fuckin bad.

  She moaned into my mouth and slid her hand in between us. Kamya gripped my dick and squeezed it, looking up at me with her light brown eyes. “Toya left like two hours ago. I don’t know where she went but she said she’ll be back in the morning. Shantê's in the room sleeping. She was up all day and night playing that Fortnite and worried about you. The house is quiet, so I’m saying. You gon finally let me get some of this or what?” She unbuttoned and unzipped my pants. Kamya stuck her hand inside of it until she was gripping hot skin.

  That codeine started really taking effect. My dick got super hard, real fast. It began to throb in her hand. She rubbed all over the head with her thumb. It caused me to shudder. I kissed her yellow neck and scraped it with my teeth. “You wanna give me some of this young pussy don’t you lil cuz.”