She motioned to her shoulder and I remembered the tracking device Adrianna put there. Looking at me, I knew she wanted to say something, but as my former best friend I knew exactly what she was thinking. She wanted me to forgive her, especially since Ray was alive after all, and to continue being best friends like nothing had ever happened. She wanted me to show her real love, break bread with her once again, and to be my ride or die again.
“We’re here,” Ray said, interrupting our wordless conversation.
His driver pulled up to a building and I recognized it as the gun range.
“See you in a minute,” Ray said to Don who did not exit the vehicle. “You sure you don’t want to come?”
“I am okay. You two need to do this alone.”
The three of us walked in the building and I was anxious to see why we were there. My face was still beyond swollen and my head didn’t ache anymore thanks to the medication the hospital gave me. We followed behind Ray until we reached a window that had three pistols laying on the top. Ray nodded his head down the lane. What I saw brought the biggest smile to my face, and my hand naturally reached for my pistol. When Mocha saw it she smiled at me and grabbed her gun too.
“Ray,” I said. “What the fuck kind of sick shit goes through your head?”
He laughed and grabbed his gun too. The light down their lane turned on and shined down on their target. Instead of having a paper target of some burglar or something, Khiron was bound naked to a chair with an apple in his mouth.
“Three hundred stacks to whoever blasts the apple from his mouth,” Ray said, aiming his gun.
Khiron looked at us and several tears fell from his eyes. His eyes lingered on Mocha, and her raised gun shook slightly. He began screaming, but there was no point. It just came out muffled and nobody would hear him anyway. He fought against his binds, but it was no use. He knew he was about to die.
“Go!” Ray yelled.
Fuck that apple, I thought, and emptied my entire clip in his head.
“Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!” I yelled and watched as the force of our bullets splattered blood and tore him apart, literally. It felt so good.
I squeezed my trigger until it clicked, and by the time I reloaded there was really nothing more on his body to shoot.
“And that my friends,” Ray started, “is how you kill a bitch nigga.”
“He’s dead,” I heard the smile in Mocha’s voice.
I looked at Ray. Although it had been over a year since I had seen him, I still knew his facial expressions. He set his gun down and nodded to me before he made his exit. Mocha set her gun down too, preparing to walk out, but I stopped her with my left arm and pushed her back. The gun still hung from my right hand, and I stared down at it for a second. The look on her face told me that she knew this was coming, but she was hoping it wouldn’t.
“Sadie,” she said, but really had nothing to say after. She knew what was up.
“You know why I have to do this, Mocha,” I said to her, aiming my gun at her. “I can’t let you live. You don’t deserve to. You betrayed us, and death almost found us. You will never be able to be a part of The Last Kings again.”
“But I don’t want to be a part of it again.... I know I will never be welcomed back. I never wanted this life, Sadie.”
“I know, but you still accepted it,” I said, trying to ignore the lump forming in the back of my throat. It was getting harder and harder to look into her eyes by the second. “And if I don’t do this now I’m positive that Devynn or Adrianna will.”
I cocked my gun, and Mocha just stared at me with tears running freely from her eyes. I couldn’t help it, I started to cry too. Mocha was my best friend who I loved like a sister, and even though she had committed the worst crime by breaking her loyalty to me, I still loved her. Love wasn’t supposed to judge, but there was no telling when she would turn on me again. I couldn’t trust her, and there was no way she would be able to get that back.
“Kings don’t die,” she said to me. “I love you, Say.”
“I love you too, Mo. I will always love you,” I said through my tears. “But you aren’t a king . . . you were a mistake.”
I shot my gun one time and saw the bullet enter the middle of her forehead and explode out the back due to the close range. Her head snapped back and when her body dropped, I felt like a piece of me died with her. I sobbed heavily and dropped the smoking gun. I couldn’t even stare at her body, I just turned around and exited, knowing Ray would send somebody to clean it up later. When I was outside of the range I lost my composure and bent down and threw up everything that was in my stomach. My palms were on my knees and my body was convulsing when I felt a strong hand on my back.
“You had to do it, shorty,” Ray said. “Or eventually somebody would have done it for you.”
I just nodded my head, not wanting to talk. I just wanted to inhale as much fresh air as possible. He knew me, no matter how long he had been away. He forced me to stand up straight and held me while I sobbed into his shoulder. Murder had never touched me more than it had that very moment.
“I love you, Ray,” I said to my cousin.
“I love you too, Say,” he replied. “Come on, there’s Don.”
I wiped my eyes and walked slowly to the limo.
“Have you talked to Vinny?” I asked as we walked on the sidewalk to the advancing vehicle.
“Of course,” Ray said.
“When are you copping?” I asked, knowing that since he was back The Last Kings could go back to its regularly scheduled program.
Ray looked at me and smiled sadly.
“I’m not,” he said, and I didn’t understand.
“What do you mean you’re not?” I asked, stopping in my tracks.
“Exactly what it sounds like, little cousin.”
“Then what did you come back for? To just leave again?”
“Business in Azura is booming,” Ray tried to explain. “The product over there is perfection, and the money I make there is almost double what I could make here. I figured that with you here in Detroit, and now you have a new city, Atlanta, you can really be the leader of The Last Kings over here in the States. It’s time to expand our shit. We are the physical binds that connect the Italian and the Dominican cartels. We’re three major cartels, and now with Atlanta we are untouchable. You feeling me, Say?”
I was being selfish. I had just gotten him back to lose him again. Even though what he was saying made a lot of sense I didn’t care, I wanted him to stay.
“You not gon’ lose me shorty, you rich!” he said, reading my mind. “You can just hop on a plane whenever you want to and come see a nigga. And vice versa.”
“Okay. . . .” I said, giving in. “You can leave again, but there is one stipulation. And you really don’t have a choice but to say yes. I’m just trying to be nice and make it seem like you have an option, feel me?”
Ray laughed and looked at me.
“Niggas done bossed up on me. I feel you, Say. What’s up, shorty?”
“Adrianna goes with you. And if you take A then you gotta take Dev too.”
Ray smiled at the mention of Adrianna’s name.
“You don’t need them here?”
“I have a whole new team,” I told him, smiling. “Plus Adrianna needs to be with the man she loves.”
We embraced one more time before getting into the limo with our grandfather. That realization would take some getting used to. I knew Grandma Rae was stubborn, but to drop a rich man like Don and move to the hood proved that she was truly a brick house.
“So will you come home with us?” Don asked me once the vehicle began to move.
I shook my head gracefully.
“I wish I could,” I said. “I have things to do here, though.”
Ray smiled at me, nodding his approval.
“We have two new people joining us though,” Ray said, and his voice trailed off.
I didn’t hear their conversation, instead I got lost in my own th
oughts until we reached the house. I put Mocha in the furthest part of my mind and thought of the great things that were to come. We could officially claim the city as ours. I went in first and saw everybody sitting in the living room. I smiled at them, not knowing how they were about to react.
“Umm, everybody . . .” I said. “I have somebody here who I’m sure you want to see.”
If time could really stop, I would have experienced it right then and there, paused when Ray walked through the door. Adrianna dropped the glass she was holding and Legacy stood up so that he could squint his eyes. When her initial shock wore off, Adrianna ran like a track star to get to Ray.
“Ray!” she screamed and began to sob into his chest, clinging to him. “Ray!”
“What’s up, ma?” he said, kissing her forehead. “I missed you, too.”
Everybody went to surround him and ask him fifty million questions. I stepped back and let them do him. My cousin was back, and that was really all that mattered at that moment. I just wanted to see him smile. Adrianna looked at him with so much love that you would have thought his appearance was never altered. Instantly, my thoughts went to my own man. I missed Tyler already and couldn’t wait for him to come back from Atlanta. The thought of actually being with the man I was in love with made me undoubtingly happy and complete. I knew when he came back though we would have a lot of work on our hands. It would take some months dedication to get Marie cleansed of the drugs in her system, and even more time to cater to the mental abuse she had suffered. But still she was more than willing to embark on that journey as long as Tyler was beside her. I felt a presence come up from behind me, and I turned around to see who was trying to creep up on me. When I saw that I was staring directly into Tyler’s handsome face, my heart fluttered and the smile came naturally to my lips.
“Ty, I thought you left already,” I said, genuinely happy he hadn’t.
“Not without you, ma. I got tickets for a later flight,” he said, pulling me close to him and giving me a deep kiss. “I packed your bag for you. I want you to come with me. After all of this I don’t want to be without you for another minute.”
I looked down and saw that he had indeed packed my things for me in a brown Louis Vuitton bag. I couldn’t help it, the tears of joy made their presence known in my eyes. Tenderly, I ran a finger across his soft lips and then rested an open palm on his cheek.
“I love you, Tyler,” I whispered up at him.
“I love you too, baby,” he said, kissing me again. “We gotta go, though.”
I looked back to Ray and saw he was watching us with a curious look in his eyes. I was waiting for him to say something. Instead, he looked at Tyler and gave him an approving smile and nod.
“Take care of my baby, bro,” he said. “We’ve already died once.”
I laughed, and Tyler picked up my bags.
“We’ll be back tomorrow, don’t worry,” Tyler said to me. “With Marie here, the family will be complete.”
I looked to Ray and he nodded, already knowing where my mind was at.
“I won’t leave until you get back. I promise,” he said to me, giving me the “Scouts Honor” sign.
“You ain’t no fucking boy scout, boy!” I said, going up to him and giving him a big hug. “Promise me!”
“I just did,” he said, but seeing the look in my eyes he kissed my forehead and shook his head. “I promise I’ll stay here until you get back. Shit, if you want, I’ll stand in this same spot for twenty-four hours.”
“Stupid,” I couldn’t help but to laugh. I leaned back from him and looked at him once again, thanking God for bringing him back to me. “I love you, Ray. Adrianna, Legacy, Devynn, somebody just make sure this nigga don’t do anything stupid, like die again while I’m gone. I don’t think I can lose him twice.”
I pulled away from Ray when I felt Tyler come behind me and he grabbed my hand so that he could lead me away to the door. We were almost out the door when I heard Ray call my name.
“Wassup?” I asked, turning back to face everybody.
“I love you, too,” he said, and I smiled. “Kings don’t die!”
“You’re right,” I winked at him and grabbed Tyler’s hand. “Even in the grave, we live on forever!”
I smiled big at the sight of my new extended family. Blowing them all a kiss good-bye, I shut the door to the house, preparing to open up a new one to our future: The Last Kings.
Coming April 2017
by
C.N. Phillips
Deep:
A Twisted Tale of Deception
Prologue
“You can run . . . but you can’t hide, Anna. I’m going to find youuuu!” An eerie voice rang out in the cold air.
Hearing the voice behind her made the panicked young woman run faster through the dimly lit concrete tunnel, feverishly checking behind her to make sure her stalker hadn’t caught up to her. She had tears streaming down her face, and her heart was pumping with terror, but she willed her legs to go as quickly as they could carry her. It was a task, because whatever drug that was still in her system was slowing her down and making the world around her a big blur. She cried out when she heard the voice taunting her, because she knew the last place she wanted to be was in their clutches.
“Please leave me alone!” she yelled behind her. “Just let me go!”
Dry blood coated her body, and the back of her once pretty, long brown hair was matted. The more the drug wore off, the more the pain from her open wounds came back.
“Anna,” the voice echoed from a ways behind her. “You aren’t going to make it out of here. Why are you running? Just stop.”
Anna sobbed but kept going. She didn’t care that she was in lingerie or about the fact that she had black mascara running down her face. She didn’t even care that the skin on her body was sliced up to the point that it looked like she was fresh off the set of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. The only thing that she was worried about was getting away from the psycho that had kidnapped her. Finally, she reached the end of the long hallway and fell into a tall wooden door. She felt the roughness of the wood under her cheek, and with shaky hands she gripped the cold, gold doorknob, trying to catch her breath. She knew that she was underground somewhere, she just prayed that the door was unlocked and that the room she was about to enter had a window. When she twisted the knob it easily turned, and without allowing another second go to waste she clambered through the open door. She glanced over her brown, exposed shoulder and saw a shadow rounding a corner a ways away before slamming it shut behind her. Turning the lock on the doorknob, she backed away from it, slowly trying to give her eyes time to adjust to the darkness of the room. The air was stuffy, making it hard for her to breathe, and the stench in there was almost unbearable, but she tried not to let that faze her.
“Window,” she muttered to herself once she could see slightly. “I need a window. Please God let me find a window.”
On the floor, there was a light that could only be given by the moon and Anna’s heart fluttered with hope. She followed the light, ignoring the cold of the stone floor under her bare feet, until she finally found the source in which the light was coming from. There was a window on the far wall, and she saw that it was just big enough for her to get through it. Underneath it there was a box that she hurriedly stood on to reach what she hoped would be her cavalry. Anna reached her hand up and tried to unlatch the hook, but for some reason, no matter how hard she tugged it wouldn’t budge. Behind her she heard the doorknob begin to jiggle, and her eyes darted toward the ground underneath the door. There was a shadow moving there, and Anna began to sob. She was so close to evading her captor, all she had to do was open the window. She stood shakily on her tip toes so that she could get a better look at what she was doing. What she saw almost made her scream. There was a pad lock on the other side of the window; there was no way to open it without a key.
“No!” She whimpered in disbelief. Balling her hand into a fist she tried to hit the windo
w, but she was far too weak to cause any real damage.
Anna stepped down from the box so that she could find something to bust through the glass with, but it was too late. The door was wide open behind her and a sinister silhouette stood there, holding a sharp machete that seemed to gleam in the light. Anna knew there was nowhere to run, but still she was not ready to meet the fate staring her dead in the face. Defeated, Anna dropped to her knees and she wept.
“P-please don’t kill me,” Anna begged through her sobs. “I don’t want to die. Please don’t kill me!”
Instead of responding, the silhouette walked slowly toward her, coming out of the shadows. Her figure was finally visible and the heels on her feet clicked with each step. When she finally reached Anna, she knelt down and put her red lips next to the trembling young woman’s ear.
“I told you not to run,” she whispered into Anna’s ear. “And you did.”
“P-please,” Anna begged in a barely audible voice. “I don’t want to die.”
“You are the only one who ran,” the woman put the cold metal of the machete against the nape of Anna’s neck. “So why would I kill you? You, my dear, have heart.”
With quivering lips, Anna looked up into the empty eyes of the person who had taken her entire life away. Freedom had been her desire for the past two weeks, and she couldn’t believe that she was going to be granted that. Maybe it had all been a test. A sick test.
“Y-you’re going to let me go?” Anna breathed.
“I’m not going to kill you,” the woman said and chuckled at the naivety of the girl before her. She gently gripped the bottom of Anna’s chin and stared coldly into her eyes. “But you will never be free . . . you belong to me. And this?” The woman motioned to the machete and placed it in Anna’s hand before standing to her feet. “That is yours. Follow me, you have work to do.”
Chapter 1
The sound of automatic rounds being fired plagued the night air as two thieves ran for their lives. Each was dressed in all black and had a duffle bag on their shoulder. Heads ducked down, they pushed their feet to go as fast as they could. Bullets ricocheted off of the concrete and found homes in cars parked on the street of the neighborhood they were running through. The neighborhood they were in was lit by the street lights and people were peeking through their windows to see what was going on outside of their homes.
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