Codeine and Fully Automatics

by Ghost

  On the flip side of everything, me and Mikey, were forming the ultimate plan of attack on Dragon, and his Black Haven boys. Everyday we’d add a little more to the puzzle until things were beginning to look fool proof. I was ready to murder some shit with no regard. I still had not heard from Toya, and I didn’t know if she was dead or alive. Like I said before, given the circumstances surrounding everything, I just felt that Dragon and his crew had already taken her out and disposed of the body. But that had yet to be confirmed.

  On the fifth day of the fourth week, me and Mikey were coming out of a sub joint right off Broadway. A red bone bitch, with long micro braids, and the side of her head shaved, pulled alongside of my 2020 Escalade rolling a pink drop top Jaguar, and slammed on her brakes. “Say Mane, which one of you fuck niggas is Mikey?” With a mug in her pretty face. She had a red rag around her neck.

  Mikey stepped in the street closer to her car. “Bitch I’m Mikey. What it is?”

  “Aw, I just wanted to make sho, Playboy. Dis right here is for you.” She grabbed a rounded, wrapped present and threw it at his feet. “Nigga, Black Haven will be to holler at you in due time Slime. Suuwoo!” She stepped in the gas pedal and drive off, kicking rocks from the street into the air. She left behind a cloud of smoke.

  I jogged into the street, with my hand under my shirt. I mugged her until she made a right at the next intersection. Her tires screeching along the way. “Say I should a popped that lil pretty bitch Potna. Came all the way over here like her balls bugger than ours, Mane.”

  Mikey waved her off. He knelt in front of the package and picked it up. “Dis mafucka kinda heavy boy. Fuck is it some kind of bomb or something?” He walked around to my passenger’s side, and opened the door, sat inside of the truck and got ready to pull the wrapping off.

  “Say Mane! Boy what the fuck you doing? Dat could be a bomb or any fuckin thang. You better pay somebody to open that.” I hollered, backing away from the truck. I ain’t have nothin to prove. If this dumb ass nigga had plans on opening a mysterious package I ain’t want no parts of it. His drama wasn’t worth dying over some stupidly.

  “Bruh its already written when we all gon die. You can’t cheat death. Besides these niggas ain’t that sophisticated. I just wanna see what the fuck it is.”

  “Yeah Mane, whatever. Well let me know how that work out for you.” I jogged backward. Got to a safe distance that I was still able to see him from.

  He tore the wrappings all the way off it. And hollered when he saw what he’d uncovered. His uncle David’s head dropped to the sidewalk, and rolled for a second, before it came to a halt.

  I covered my mouth with by right hand. “All, hell nall nigga. I know dat ain’t who I think it is?”

  He got out of the truck and looked down at his uncle’s severed head. “I’m tired of dis shit, Durty. Deze niggas been pushing the envelope too much, bruh. Its time to turn all the way up. Erase they ass once and for all. Mafuckas done bodied my parents, and now done took my uncle away from me and shit. Fuck all dis shit, Mane!”

  Luckily for us there were only a few people that walked down the block at this time. David’s head looked as if it had been stabbed a bunch of times before it was stuffed and wrapped. That was sadistic, and some shit I wouldn’t have ever thought about doing.

  Mikey picked up the head and got back into the truck with it. “Lets roll Mane. I gotta get some shit in order and we riding out on them fools first thang in the morning. I’m talking the wee hours.” He looked over at the head in his lap again.

  I jumped in my truck and pulled off. “Any thang you need homeboy I got you. I’m ready to ride on that fully automatic shit. I’m finna get the troops ready. You already know what it is.”

  “I’ma do the same. Just drop me off at my trap outside the Mound. Let me holler at the Brooklyn Fam and I’ma fuck wit you in a few hours. I gotta put some shit in motion.” He continued to look at David’s head.

  I sighed. “Will do.”

  ***

  About twenty minutes later I dropped him off and headed back to Sabrina’s crib so I could pick up Shantê. When I got there Sabrina rushed out to, he truck, and jumped into the passenger’s seat. “Mane we gotta talk.”

  I mugged her lil ass. “Shawty you gotta wait. I gotta pick up Shantê so I can drop her off at Kamaya’s crib so she can be there when Kamya get off work. I got some shit I’ma have to take care of tonight. I’ll fuck wit you later, go and get my daughter.” I ordered, nodding toward the house with my head.

  “Nall, I don’t think you understand. Its some shit that happened that I should have told you a month ago but yo nigga told me not too. He said it wasn’t a big deal, but now I know it really is. You might be in danger fucking wit Mikey, Homeboy.” She licked her juicy lips, and ran her fingers through her naturally, long, curly hair.

  “Danger. What you talking about Sabrina? Every day I step into the slums I’m in danger.” I wondered if she was talking about that Black Haven beef? What had she wanted to tell me that Mikey had prevented?

  “Say knuckle head, you ain’t listening, potna. Look, dat nigga Mikey heard y’all whole ass phone call about a month ago.”

  “Y’all, who you talking about?” I was confused.

  “You and Alicia’s. Remember the day I took those bullets out of his shoulder?”

  Yeah, what about it?”

  “Well that nigga left one of his phones in his truck that day you and Alicia took it to get some gas. That same day, he kept Alicia’s phone wit him, and I don’t know how it happened, but y’all wound up calling her phone, and he heard y’all talking about their baby supposedly being yours. And how she hated him and wanted to leave him for you. He heard you tell her that you were going to rescue her real soon, and to keep lying about the true father of the baby until you and him finish making some major moves together. Man, that nigga was so heated that he damn near took the bullets out his self afterward.”

  “What? Why the fuck you just telling me this shit?” I asked ready to slap the taste out of her mouth. What the fuck kind of cousin was she?

  “I don’t know why I ain’t tell you earlier. I wish I had. I’m sorry about that, but that’s just what it is right now. What are you going to do? And is that really your baby that Alicia is carrying?”

  I was so angry at Sabrina that I imagined myself blowing my cousin’s head off her shoulders with no remorse. “Dat ain’t yo bidness Sabrina if it is or ain’t. You should have told me this shit a long time ago. That nigga could have been smoked me and I wouldn’t have been none the wiser. I’m real disappointed in you. Get out my shit, bitch, and tell my daughter to come on. I ain’t fuckin wit you for a few days. I though we was better than that. But clearly, I see we ain’t. Just be thankful that I ain’t knocking yo head off yo shoulders. Bye.”

  “But... I’m sorry cuz. I know I should have told you, but I just thought y’all should figure that shit out. Y’all been cool for so long and Alicia just pussy. I thought I was supposed to stay in my place. Dats all.”

  I reached across her lap and pulled open the door. “Bitch get the fuck out my shit and go tell my peoples what I said. Gone.”

  She tried to grab my arm. “Wait a minute, Phoenix. Don’t shit on me like dis. Its my fault, I know, but please cuz. You know we go way back.”

  I pulled my arm loose and muffed her face. “Get the fuck out my shit. Go. Now.”

  She fell out of the truck, on to the grass. Got up and looked back at me. “Aiight den Phoenix, well fuck you den. Fuck you and Alicia. I don’t care what happen to yo trifling ass.” She stormed up the stairs, and into the house.

  Minutes later Shantê appeared crying. She slowly came down the steps, taking them one at a time. When she got to the third one, she fell. This really got her to sobbing loudly. I jumped out of my truck to rush and console her. As I was getting out of my truck, two drop top Jaguars were rolling toward Sabrina’s house in slow motion. They had two masked shooters in each car sitting in the back seats with
assault rifles in their hands. My heart dropped. I looked from them to Shantê, and then it was like everything started to go in slow motion. I pulled both Forty Fives from my waist and started shooting in their direction, just as two more cars turned onto the block from the other direction. My bullets slammed into the windshield of the first car and shattered it.

  I continued to buck moving from side to side. “Get on the ground Shantê. Get on the ground!” More bucking, and then I was running to her at full speed. Scooping her in my arms and running along the side of Sabrina’s house with my baby in my arms. Bullets whizzed past our heads.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. “Black Haven nigga!” Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

  We fell to the ground behind Sabrina’s house. I could literally feel the house being rocked from the rapid bullets that assaulted it. Shante screamed loudly in my arms. She shook worse than I’d ever felt her shake before.

  A car slammed on its brakes in the alley. I heard doors opening, and guns being cocked. I stood up with Shantê in my arms and took off running as fast as I could. “Hold on baby. Just hold on baby. Just hold on to daddy as tight as you can!

  She wrapped her legs around me and tightened her grip along my neck. I scaled one fence with her and then another. Running, knowing that out lives depended on it.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. “Get his bitch ass. Shoot! Shoot!” Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

  Another fence. Bullets tinked against the short gate. I held my daughter tighter and kept running. My chest felt as if it was on fire. I could barely breathe but I knew I had to will myself forward. When we got four yards over, I felt like my heart was getting set to burst. The bullets kept on coming. I looked forward and saw a cellar wide open. I imagined somebody had been out in the yard tending the beautiful garden back there and when they heard all the shooting they rushed into the cellar for safety, in doing so they’d left it wide open. I willed myself forward a little more. Got to the cellar and fell to my knees out of breath.” Go baby. Go. Please.”

  More shots were fired in our direction. They kicked up the dirt beside us. I looked behind me and saw people jumping fences with guns in their hands. Shantê pulled at my arm. “Daddy come on. Come on daddy.” She fell on her bottom because she was trying to pull me so hard.

  I got to my knees and got up. Picked up my baby once again, and ran into the cellar, closed both metal doors. Bullets slammed into them, putting big dents into the metal. I slid the bar across it to lock the cellar in place.

  “Get out of here! Get out of here or I’m going to call the police!” An older white lady screamed, holding a pair of gardening shears in her hands.

  “Just stop it lady. Stop it right now! Somebody was shooting at my daddy, and we have to be here!” Shantê yelled with her little fists balled and tears running down her cheeks.

  The old lady cocked the big shears back like she was about to attack my baby girl. I stepped in front of Shantê. “Look lady, as soon as all that chaos stops, we’ll be out of your hair. We don’t want any trouble.”

  “Just get out! Get out of my fuckin cellar. Now!’ She screamed, turning red in the face.

  Bomp. Bomp. Bomp. Bomp. It sounded like somebody was trying to beat the doors in. Then the shooting started again. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

  The old lady fell to her stomach and covered her head. “This is y’all’s fault. Help me somebody!”

  I laid on top of Shantê while the shooting ensued. It seemed to last for an eternity. Whoever was trying to get a hold of me was angry, and definitely trying to take me out of the game.

  Chapter 20

  That night I held Shantê in my arms as she shook. Her teeth chattered together. I’d been holding her for a full two hours, and there had still been no change. We were at Kamaya’s house, and I was doing all that I could to calm my baby down.

  Kamya came out of the kitchen with an apron wrapped around her waist. ‘“Dinner’s ready y’all, its time to put some food in your stomachs.” The aroma coming from the kitchen smelled amazing. Like fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, and pound cake. Kamya might have only been eighteen years old, but she was a southern woman already. Her cooking skills were second to none.

  I loosened my hold on Shantê so I could stand up. She grabbed a hold of my neck even tighter. “Daddy. No. No. Somebody going to try and kill you. Please don’t go. Please daddy.”

  I felt so defeated. I kissed her cheeks. “Baby I’m not going anywhere. We’re both going to go in here and eat dinner. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not hungry, but I don’t want you to leave me.”

  Man, I’d never seen my daughter so afraid before. It was the most demoralizing feeling in all the world. I wanted to break down and cry, and at the same time I wanted to murk a million people that had ever hurt a child before.

  I sat Shantê on my lap and fed her a little bit of food off my plate. She ate it reluctantly. After we had our fill, she took a bath, and I held her until she fell asleep. Stroking her cheek and kissing her forehead every few minutes. I loved my daughter with everything I had inside of me.

  After I put her to bed, I jumped in the shower and washed the day’s poison off me. I didn’t know what I was going to do, or how I was going to handle things with Mikey. I didn’t know if I should come clean to him about Alicia and I, or if I should just see how he would play things down the road. I knew that this option would be the most dangerous. Mikey was a loose cannon. He had the ability to snap out about things out of the blue. That’s what I wanted to avoid. Him snapping out could have meant death for me, Alicia, Shantê, or my unborn child. I just had no way of knowing. On the other hand, maybe coming to him like a man would soften the blow that was sure to come. I didn’t fear Mikey. No, not at all. He was my homeboy. Had he been any other nigga, I would have knocked his head off and kept it moving. Life was too short to live in paranoia. I didn’t like worrying about anybody doing something to me. I felt that the easiest way to avoid paranoia of an enemy was to get rid of them by any means necessary. Mikey got the benefit of the doubt because he was like my brother, as cliché as that may have seemed.

  At the conclusion of my shower. Kamya came into the bathroom and dried my body from head to toe, while I stood in front of her naked. “Phoenix you need to feel lucky that you and my lil cousin are alive. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I can’t stand to lose you. I love you so fuckin much.” She dropped the towel and kissed my lips hard as she hugged my body to hers. “Damn.”

  I slowly wrapped my arms around her body and rested my lips on her forehead. That was a habit of mine. “That’s why I gotta kill them niggas, shawty. I been ducking these fuck boys for way too long trying my best to let Mikey run the show because he had all the plugs. Dat shit over wit now though. I’m finna run shit. I’m finna get rid of these Black Haven niggas, and then me and Mikey need to sit down and get an understanding. We can’t get rich with him running shit, or there being bad blood between us. Somethin gotta shake.”

  Kamya lowered her head. “Is it true that Alicia carrying your baby?” She whispered.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “It might be, I mean we have fucked around a lot, and the dates add up. If it is I ain’t got no choice other than to do the right thing.”

  Kamya smacked her lips. She pushed me off her. “Damn Phoenix. I can see you fucking her a few times, but pregnant? Man, what the fuck? I ain’t enough for you or something?” She turned her back to me.

  I pinched the top of my nose and exhaled. Slid behind her and pulled her back to my body. “Kamya, me and her was fuckin around way before you and I was. Besides all that, you’re my blood, shawty. You know can’t shit good come from what we’re doing. Pretty soon it has to come to an end.”

  “An end?” She turned around and faced me. “What the fuck are you talking about, Phoenix? I love you. I gotta be with you. This ain’t no you and Sabrina type of shit. This is my whole ass heart we’re talking about. You can’t just sever thin
gs when you’re ready to. That’s not fair cuz. I’m a long way from being able to do that.” She slid her arms onto my shoulders and laid her head on my chest. “Do you love me?”

  I nodded. “Yeah Kamya, I love you. You’re my baby.”

  “Nall Phoenix. I’m not talking that family love shit. I mean do you honestly love and care for me as a man would a woman?” She looked into my eyes. “The truth baby, because I’m crazy about you. I don’t care how silly I may sound, and I don’t care about our being related either. I don’t want us to be labeled as anything when we look at each other if it isn’t male and female. So, do you really love me?”

  I brushed her pretty hair out of her face and fixed it so that it stayed behind her ears. “Yeah Kamya, I love you as a woman. You are my baby, and there is nothin in this world that I wouldn’t do for you, shawty. You should already know that.”

  She smiled. “I do.”

  “Kamya but we can not be together in that way that you want to because you are my cou--.” I started.

  She pressed her finger to my lips. “Ssh, this is Memphis, Phoenix. Damn near every household down here doing what we doing. You’re just over thinking things. Just trace our family’s history.” She took her finger away from my lips and sucked it into her mouth. “I need you right now. I need you to lay me down, and to fuck me good. My lil pussy getting wet from just thanking about it right now. Huh feel.” She slid my fingers into her panties and rubbed them over her bald pussy lips. They were meaty and hot. My middle finger slid into her tight hole. Her lips wrapped around it “Unnnn, yes.” She placed her foot on top of the tub.