Mocha felt her second phone vibrating from where she kept it hidden under her mattress. It was three in the morning, and she lay on her bed wide awake as she ignored the soft buzz of her mattress. It had been a while since Mocha had gone on a date. Her clients had been blowing her phone up, but she didn’t feel the need to entertain them anymore.
Strangely, her thoughts fell to Tyreek. She wanted to warn him so badly about what was coming, but as fucked up and twisted as it seemed . . . she couldn’t. She was just about to turn on her side to try and get some rest, but in the silence of her home she heard the jangling of her doorknob being tampered with. Before she could get up and go see who it was she heard the door open and close. Without thinking, Mocha reached under her mattress and pulled out her chrome weapon. She hopped out of the bed with a killer mentality and held the gun steadily in front of her. She knew not to say, “Who is it?” Only bimbo bitches did that in movies; she wanted her attacker to be caught off guard. She moved silently into her hallway, protected by the darkness of her home. When she got to the entrance of the living room she turned with her gun extended to see a small, dark figure standing before her. Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger. When nothing happened she pulled again . . . and again. Still nothing.
“You should know better than to hide your gun under your mattress, Mo,” Mocha heard a familiar female voice say.
Suddenly the lights were flicked on and she was able to see who her intruders were. Sitting on the couches in her tiny living room were two faces she hadn’t seen in over a year. Devynn and Adrianna stared back at Mocha with nothing but resentment in their eyes. Standing in front of her was Sadie. They were dressed in all black; Mocha assumed that was to be undetected in the hood. She knew Khiron’s dogs were watching her house. All three women wore black hoodies, black jean shorts, with all-black low top Chuck Taylor’s. Sadie turned her palms and let go of what she was holding in her hands. Whatever it was made of it made a loud pitter-patter on Mocha’s wooden floor. Looking down, Mocha saw that they were the bullets to her unloaded gun.
“You’ve lost your touch, Mo,” Sadie commented. “You can’t even tell the difference between a loaded and unloaded gun.”
Mocha threw the gun down and shrugged her shoulders at Sadie; she didn’t know what she was supposed to say. She stood there, unarmed, in nothing but a black Victoria’s Secret teddy with lace boy short underwear.
“Sit,” Devynn instructed from the brown couch and nodded to the black love seat across from where she and Adrianna sat.
Mocha looked at Sadie before she moved.
“Bitch, I’m not going to shoot you when your back is turned. I’m not you,” Sadie snapped. “Go sit down, we have business to talk about and we don’t have much time. The tranquilizers we shot your man’s goons with will stop working in an hour.”
Her comment stung, but Mocha obliged and sat on the love seat by herself. Sadie joined Adrianna and Devynn across from her. She got comfortable between them.
“Damn, Mo, this nigga got you living like a fuckin’ slave,” Devynn said, shaking her head as she glanced around the place Mocha called home. “You don’t even have matching furniture! Hell, nah.”
Adrianna stifled a laugh.
“Shut up, Dev,” she said.
As they made fun of her, Mocha realized how much she missed them. They were like her sisters. But she knew no amount of apologizing would make them forgive her. Despite the sweet outside layer she knew they had, deep inside they were ruthless killers, and she had gotten on their bad sides. Adrianna laid a big, slightly bulky manila folder on the table that separated them.
“Open it,” Sadie informed her, but Mocha was already reaching for the folder.
She opened the folder and pulled out what seemed to be a big blueprint sheet. When she looked closer at it she saw that it was a blueprint sheet. The question was, of what, though? Her suspense didn’t drag out for long.
“That’s the blueprint of the hotel that Khiron will be meeting Don Rivera in,” Sadie said bluntly.
Mocha looked to her and couldn’t help but to wonder how she came across the information. She didn’t even know where the meeting would be held. But not only did Sadie know, she had a paper that listed every single room inside of the building with tacks stuck to it, telling you which room was which.
“Even with the Dominicans running Detroit the Italians still have reach here, Mo. An informant told our Italian connect of the location.”
“The Italians are here?” Mocha asked, trying to disguise the anxious tone in her voice.
It didn’t go unnoticed by the women before her, and they all gave her a knowing look.
“Nobody is going to touch you before the meeting, Mocha,” Sadie said, and Mocha took heed.
“Why?” Mocha asked.
“Didn’t I tell you that we need you?” Sadie said.
“You never said for what, though,” Mocha snapped back and glared at her.
“We know the building that Khiron is meeting Don Rivera in,” Sadie started. “But we don’t know what room. We can assume that the meeting will last all of fifteen minutes—that isn’t enough time to play Guess What Room. That’s where you come in at.”
“How am I supposed to tell you what room it will be in? They wouldn’t even tell me where the meeting is, let alone give me access to a phone to—” Mocha stopped when she saw what Adrianna pulled from behind her.
In Adrianna’s hands was a small device the size of half a pinky fingernail, a needle and stitches, a towel, and a sharp knife. When Sadie saw Mocha’s confused face, she smiled.
“It’s a tracking device. Adrianna is going to put it in your arm,” Sadie informed her. When she saw Mocha open her mouth to protest she made her voice turn cold and held up her hand. “Shut the fuck up. You don’t have a choice. Do it, A.”
Adrianna got up from her seat next to Sadie and went and took a seat next to Mocha. The sleeveless teddy was perfect for the procedure Adrianna was about to perform on the back of Mocha’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Mo,” Adrianna said with a slick smile. “This will be very painful.”
Mocha heard Devynn laugh, and before she could brace herself she felt searing pain at the back of her left shoulder.
“Shit!” Mocha screamed with her eyes clenched shut.
Squeezing the couch cushion while biting her lip, she managed to open her eyes to glance at Sadie and saw her watching with a pleased expression plastered across her face. She was enjoying Mocha’s discomfort. Once Adrianna had successfully planted the device into Mocha’s shoulder she stitched her up and wiped away any access blood.
“All done,” Adrianna said, standing up.
Sadie and Devynn stood up as well. The three of them walked toward the door.
“We’ll be seeing you,” Sadie said and flicked off Mocha’s living room light before she shut the door behind her.
Mocha didn’t move from the couch right away, she just sat there in the dark. She knew now that Sadie would be watching her every move. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or bad thing. In less than two days everything would either change for the worse, or go back to normal. Mocha knew she was just a pawn in the game. If things would have been different, she would have been a soldier fighting with her sisters instead of a pawn. But then again, if things were different there wouldn’t even be a war to fight. Ray would be alive and The Last Kings would still be on top.
Mocha finally stood up from the couch and walked slowly back to her room. On her way up, her foot kicked something and stubbed her pinky toe.
“Fuck,” she whispered, wincing at the pain.
She turned on the hallway light to see what had caused her pain. She looked down and saw that it was her gun that she had thrown down. Bending down, she grabbed it and snatched up all the bullets around it. When she held the gun that time she did notice that it was a little lighter, she didn’t know how she didn’t feel it earlier. She got back to her room and placed her gun back into its h
iding spot so that she could lay back down in her bed. The throbbing and discomfort in her shoulder caused her to have to sleep on her right side. Sadie was right, she had lost her touch. Although a small part of her missed the life she lived as a hustler, she knew she wouldn’t ever go back to it. Things would never be the same; she would always be looked at the same way people looked at snitches. No one that mattered would give her respect despite the affiliation she once had.
She knew by the way Sadie looked at her when she sat there cringing in pain what her intentions were after her use for Mocha was up in less than two days. But at that moment, she decided that she wasn’t ready to die. She wasn’t going to just let anyone kill her. Mocha would miss Tyreek. Over the past year she had grown a strange attachment to him, but she also knew that she had to get far away from anybody she knew. She had enough of her own money saved up to make the trip and to live off of until she found a job.
“Brazil sounds nice,” she said, right before sleep found her.
Chapter 15
Devynn stood in the doorway of Sadie’s room and watched her sleeping soundly on her bed. She leaned on the door frame and watched as Sadie’s chest heaved up and down. Devynn viewed Sadie like a little sister, and she knew how much she and Adrianna were needed. The weight of the world had fallen on that girl’s shoulders, and Devynn didn’t know how she could even sleep at all. She felt somebody come from up behind her, but she did not avert her eyes.
“She’s beautiful,” Devynn heard Adrianna’s voice say.
Devynn didn’t respond. She finally stepped back and walked down the hallway to the big room that she and Adrianna had began sharing since the arrival of Tyler and Looney. She walked to the dresser and pulled out a fifth of scotch and two glasses from the top drawer.
“What’s wrong, mami?” Adrianna followed her back to the room
It was obvious something was bothering Devynn, and she didn’t need to see the glasses of scotch being poured to realize that. Devynn took a long gulp of the drink and welcomed the burning sensation trickling down her throat. She took another before she turned back to Adrianna, handing her a glass.
“I don’t want to fail again,” Devynn said, shaking her head. “I−”
She paused and clenched her glass in her left hand. Devynn wasn’t a crier, but her thoughts caused a glaze to come over her eyes. She took a brisk breath and pursed her lips tightly together.
“You what, boo?” Adrianna said, urging her friend to continue. “What’s on your mind, Dev?”
“I can’t lose another one of y’all,” Devynn swallowed. “After D and Amann . . . Ray. I just can’t. I feel like I have to be strong for Say, but this shit has been wearing tough on my heart.”
Adrianna stood still, shocked. Devynn had always been the fearless one of the twosome. Although Adrianna wanted to comfort her with words, she knew there was no promise that she could make to reassure Devynn that everything would turn out okay. You couldn’t make those kinds of promises in a war. Sadie wouldn’t tell anybody what was going on in that head of hers, but Adrianna knew that they had to trust her.
“All we can do is trust her, Dev,” Adrianna said, setting her cup down without even taking a sip. “In every war there will be casualties, you know that. Put that glass down, mami, we need clear heads. The next drink we have will be to celebrate The Last Kings taking back what’s ours.”
“I know,” Devynn said as she put her almost emptied glass back down on the dresser. She went and sat on her queen-sized bed and looked deeply into Adrianna’s eyes. “I never thought any of this shit would happen, man. Seeing Mocha face-to-face just brought all this pain back. Some nights I can’t sleep because I can’t get the images of my bros out of my head.”
“I know,” Adrianna agreed. She took a seat beside Devynn and placed her arm around her shoulder. “I almost slit that bitch’s throat, but we need her for now. We have to play our cards the way they were dealt. When the time comes, Mocha will pay for all that she has done.”
“You think Say is going to be able to do it, though? You think she’ll be able to kill Mocha?” Devynn asked.
Adrianna wanted to answer the question, but in all honesty she didn’t know. Granted, Mocha deserved to die for everything that had gone down. Adrianna also knew that Sadie’s heart wasn’t completely black. Although she had hate in her heart for Mocha, Adrianna also knew love was still there as well. Mocha was a reminder to Sadie of who she once was.
“Well,” Devynn continued when Adrianna didn’t comment, “If she can’t pull the fuckin’ trigger, trust and believe I will. That bitch needs to be in the dirt. The fact that we still share the same air disgusts me. That bitch has to die.”
What Devynn said was meant wholeheartedly. The image of Ray’s flesh being eaten by the acid flooded her mind. There was no way that Mocha could walk after that. The days Khiron gave her were a blessing and a half, because that was as much leniency as she would be granted. She and Adrianna sat in silence, but they were both thinking the same thing. They couldn’t wait until the morning came. Everybody would finally touch down in Detroit, and final plans could be put into place. Vinny was supposed to show his face as well, but knowing Vinny, he was probably already there watching all of them.
“Let’s go get something to eat,” Adrianna finally said, removing her arm. “We need to put something in our stomachs.”
She didn’t wait for Devynn to answer before she grabbed her purse and started toward the bedroom door. She was hungry, but the last thing she wanted to do was go into the kitchen to cook. Her stomach was yearning for something greasy and that wouldn’t be good for her figure. She didn’t hear Devynn behind her as she made her way through the house down to the front door. She heard voices when she passed the entrance to the living room. She smirked when she heard Looney and Tyler shit talking about whatever game they were watching and decided not to intrude to tell them where she was going. Once she got to the front door her girl appeared beside her.
“I thought you might change your mind,” she said, winking once they got outside.
“Shut up,” Devynn said, walking to the side of the house where Adrianna’s new gold Audi A8 was parked. “You better not take me anywhere that serves bullshit, A.”
Adrianna didn’t even entertain her comment when she got in the driver’s seat. All For One served not one nasty dish, so she knew Devynn wouldn’t be disappointed. It was a restaurant that she frequented with Ray and it had the best food that she had ever tasted. She hadn’t gone since they’d been back in Detroit, and she hoped that the memories weren’t too much for her to bear. She didn’t speak on her personal feelings for Ray simply because she knew the pain that she felt was nothing compared to Sadie’s, but still, the love she had for that man was so transparent. Out of all the men from her past, he had been the only one to feed her mind and give her soul a heartbeat. She cocked her head as she whizzed through the night traffic and both women sung along to Fetty Wap’s voice.
“You are so damn fine, I’m so damn glad you’re mine! Aye! And you stay on my mind, I think about you all the damn time!”
It took a little over half an hour to get to the restaurant, and once there it was clear to see that All For One was a hot commodity at that time of night. It was the only restaurant in the neighborhood that stayed open later than midnight. Both Devynn and Adrianna stepped out of the vehicle, dressed casually in shorts and T-shirts. The concrete under their feet was blessed with each step they took in their barely worn sneakers. Once inside, they were seated at a booth in a far right corner. The aroma in the air coming from the kitchen was like heaven, and the restaurant was loud with good vibes. Most of the people sitting around them were dressed to the nines like they had just come from the club.
“This a hood spot,” Devynn observed with raised eyebrows after they placed their orders.
Adrianna’s eyes traveled around the restaurant and fell on all the young faces there. She didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to see that the group
of young men sitting around the table to the far left were corner boys. The guns on a few of their waists bulged through their shirts, and the ice on their wrists shined like there was no tomorrow. The gold in their teeth and around their necks signified that they were getting some kind of money.
“Fuck them,” Adrianna said, already knowing that they had to work for Khiron.
“You think it’s smart for us to be out in the open like this?” Devynn asked when the waitress finally brought their food out to them.
“What’s the worst that can happen?” Adrianna asked, popping a salty fry in her mouth.
She definitely spoke too soon. Unknown to them, there were a set of eyes on them straining to figure out why the two sexiest women in the restaurant looked so familiar. In that same booth in the far left corner, a young hustler by the name of Taylor, Tay for short, had been eyeing the two women since they had walked in. He was a built, light-skinned man with a full beard. He wore an oversized shirt and a pair of deep blue Levis with money knots in the pockets.
“I know you ain’t staring at them hoes when you got me on ya lap, nigga!” Carmen, the woman Tay had been planning to smash all night, said, leaning in his face and blocking his view. It was true, she was a bad piece, but his focus was completely thrown off.
“Man, who the fuck are you talking to?” Tay said and pushed her off his lap. “You ain’t shit but some pussy. What? You thought you was special?”
At that moment, one of the women stood up, and he got a good look at her thigh. It felt like time around him stopped. The Last King tattoo was plain as day, and he knew exactly where he remembered her from. Tay had been with Khiron when he ran up into Ray’s house. He had also been the one to put the slug into that girl Sadie’s chest.
“Nigga, you got me fucked up!” Carmen’s voice started to escalate, but her friends calmed her down before she could get too loud.
“Bitch, if you don’t shut your drunk ass up! These niggas don’t play that acting a fool mess, they got guns and shit!”
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