Eraserheads

by Brick

  The toothpick in Boots’s mouth wobbled back and forth, only to pause in its dance when he gave a megawatt smile. “Besides, I have a feeling that you and your crew can also be good friends but a formidable enemy as well, and I’d rather have a crew like that on my side than start a war over some manipulation going on. Makes good business sense, yeah?”

  Something like a smile played against Auto’s light almond skin. He gave a slight chuckle, then nodded. “To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see, I can conceive of death, but I cannot conceive of betrayal.”

  Boots walked closer to Auto and extended his hand. “Let’s be diplomatic in what we do,” he said. Then he thought for a moment. “I’m not your enemy,” Boots added for good measure.

  I saw Auto look down at Boots’s hand before taking it in a firm grasp and giving it a shake. “It is what it’s going to be for now. I’m down with this peace for what it is for now. We have bigger fish to gut and fry, so we’ll have this convo later. I hear the trucks coming. Let’s get our people moving faster with that cleaning, then burn that bitch while heading our separate ways.”

  Auto gave a cool smile. Walked off with his hands in his pockets, but then he paused and turned back around. He tilted his head, as if in thought, and said, “Code . . . don’t kill this dude before we all can talk about our plan.”

  Code rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and frowned, then said something in Spanish. I noticed both Auto and Boots shaking their heads. Boots crossed his arms over his broad chest. I understood only a little of what she’d said; she’d commented that you had to thank a man for taking something that was already his. The rest was lost in translation.

  When Code strolled my way with her head held high, she gave me a hug. The way she controlled the show had me chuckling at the power she was throwing. Her arms hugged me tightly, and then she spoke over my shoulder, and in my mind, I knew she was giving both dudes a defiant, heated gaze. “If this culo treats me right, we’ll have some peace . . . for now. Let’s ride out. Take care of yourself, chica. I know you can.”

  I felt the corners of my lips tilt up into a smile; then I gave a nod. “Ask for some of Alize’s peach cobbler. It was dope.”

  I heard Boots grumble to Auto, “Is she always like that?”

  “Like what?” Auto asked.

  “Crazy and bossy as fuck?” he asked while taking his hat off, then running a hand over his deep waves.

  Auto sucked his teeth and blew out wind. “That’s her being nice. You saw her pissed off, slightly. So yeah, maybe. Have fun . . . friend.”

  “Shit . . . Might be the type of venom in that bite that I like,” I heard Boots mutter while Auto guided me to his ride.

  I swore Boots was watching the way Code’s ass seemed to sway to its own rhythm while she walked. He moved past her to open a back door to the Explorer, with a scowl on his face. Once she was inside the vehicle, he turned to give orders to his team while putting his hat back on.

  “Did he touch you?” Auto asked, cutting through my thoughts.

  Hopping in his ride, I shook my head no. While putting my seat belt on, I said, “Seriously, he didn’t.”

  Auto closed my car door. Moved around his car with purpose. Then both teams divided the kids up among the cars. They all waited on Boots and Auto to head out. Once Auto got behind the wheel of his car, he stuck his hand out, gave a signal, and then Boots turned his ride and pointed for us to go in the opposite direction of the cars coming our way.

  “Did any of the others touch you? Physically? Sexually?” he asked.

  I noticed a slight icy chill to his tone, which caused the hairs on my arms to rise up. I shifted in my seat and looked him over, wondering what had him dressing as he was. He had a serious scowl going on, as if he was at war with his thoughts. His hands clutched the steering wheel, and it made me very anxious all of a sudden. I didn’t want him to worry about me or try to turn around and start shooting.

  “No . . . well, yeah, but it wasn’t like anything crazy. I was fighting him, and he was holding me back. What got me bruised was the handcuffs . . . and when Shango had to hold me down by my neck. I was kicking him . . . so he, like, held me down, that’s all.”

  “Don’t lie to me,” he said, turning slightly to watch me while he drove.

  “I’m not. I promise. No bullshit went down. I was scared. They were on one with scaring me. Thought he was going to kill me, but, I mean, it was weird. He treated me good, fed me, got me these clothes . . . stuff like that. I mean it. Why do you look like you’re ready to go off? I mean, I know why, but it’s like there’s something more there,” I said, concerned.

  “Nothing, Smiley. I’ll trust your word. It’s good to have you back. I’m going to take you to my place so you can rest your head and we can start planning what to do next. You sure he’s worth trusting on this level?” Auto replied, looking me over and giving me a smile that his eyes didn’t reflect.

  There was no hesitation in me when I answered. Anytime I felt like I couldn’t trust someone, I felt a knot in my stomach and an ache in my head. This time, there was nothing, and I gave a quick nod and answered, “I’m sure. He was mainly wanting his bullets back. That was all he wanted. Then everything flipped.” Pausing, I kept trying to read Auto’s face but got nothing. “Um, you’re freaking me out, Auto.”

  “I understand that . . . and it’s nothing.” Auto tapped his Bluetooth speaker in his car, then began to elaborate while shifting gears. “I’m not feeling him coming after you and trying to offer business with you, but it is what it is.” He paused, then addressed Seymore over the Bluetooth. “Hey, Seymore, ride out! Thank you for stalling them. Y’all good?”

  I was a nosy chick. I was not about to just sit there and not find out what was really going on. So I was going to ask as soon as he got done talking.

  “Yo, we got these mofos trying to juke us up, but we good,” Seymore said as I heard shooting going off.

  “Get out of there,” Auto ordered.

  “Will do,” Seymore shouted, his voice breaking up from what sounded like his car shaking.

  Auto shifted gears, glanced into the rearview mirror, then added more juice to the gas. “Good. Make sure they don’t follow. You know the deal. We’re going off grid. Go to your zone, and I’ll connect later.”

  Only the sound of Seymore driving, then a loud bang was our answer. Auto ducked his head as he glanced behind him.

  “Oh shit! Did y’all just make some shit explode?” Auto said to Seymore.

  I quickly turned in my seat to see a plume of smoke fill the air behind us. “Damn . . . They weren’t playing.”

  Auto drove faster, merged onto the expressway as I gawked at what was behind us.

  “We can neither confirm nor deny,” Seymore said, then chuckled. “How’s the new girl? You get her back? Code chilling?”

  I smiled, appreciating that he had asked about me.

  “Code is good. She brought some of her family as backup. She went as collateral and to get our computers back. As for Smiley, all seems to be well. I’ll hit you up soon, man,” Auto said, then turned off his cell.

  “Welcome to the family, Smiley. Fuck Boots’s proposition. You’re an Eraserhead now,” Auto said with authority and pride in his voice while he gave me a slight smile.

  My shoulders slumped a little from exhaustion, and I gave a chuckle.

  Auto drove us to his place hidden in a cool-ass warehouse away from the trap but close enough to the city to get around quickly. I wanted to go home, but from what Auto had said, it was just safer this way.

  “You could have taken me home. I just need to get some clothes,” I said as we got out of his ride. I just wanted to see if he’d be willing to take me home.

  “Nah . . . It’s better that you’re with me.” Light washed over us both as he walked toward the building. “They won’t look for me or you where we are. Besides, I want your home to be a safe spot for you, and I do not want to have trouble come your way. I’ll
send someone over there to get you your stuff. In the meantime, you can chill in Code’s room here. You’ll know it when you see it once we get inside. You can put on some of her stuff. She won’t mind.”

  “Okay, I guess . . . ,” I said, giving up.

  Auto unlocked a steel door, and then I slowly walked into his place. He followed me, then closed the door behind us. I looked down at the floor in the foyer, and under my feet was something I had seen only on HGTV when I used to watch it with my mom in the hospital: bamboo flooring. It covered the foyer floor and the long set of steps that led to an open den. In this room there was fly modern-style furniture. A large cream-colored L-shaped couch faced an expansive glass panel, and this window provided a view of everything. However, from the outside, you couldn’t tell if the structure had any windows at all, and so you could see inside, so how this glass panel was designed was too cool. He also had plush chairs for seating in the den, and a dark mahogany table sat in the center of the room. Behind the seats on the left side of the table was a granite-tiled fireplace. A large abstract painting hung above it.

  A large mahogany bookcase stood behind the couch and served as an additional wall. I moved around it and saw Auto kick his shoes off, then go left. Once I looked that way, I saw a huge chef’s kitchen that had me dropping my mouth. Shit was like a gold mine. Everything in this place was, actually. I could lift quite a bit and make some serious street dough off it. However, I wasn’t going to do anything like that, but I couldn’t help the thought.

  Uncertainty had me biting my lower lip and tapping my nails against the sides of my legs. I wanted to sit down, since I was tired, but given how clean and nice his place was, I didn’t want to mess it up in any way.

  “Hey, today was a crazy day. Did you see them crazy-ass boots dude had on? They were cool, but let me tell you a secret. He always has them shits on. Different pair every day,” I said, laughing, as I tried to find somewhere to sit that I wouldn’t dirty. I ultimately opted for a simple ottoman by the fireplace.

  “You’re wild, Smiley, for real. I said you’re a fit on our team, but trust me, in the beginning I wasn’t sure. I saw how you were fighting in jail. Was thinking that maybe I chose wrong.”

  “Wait now, dude. I was fighting like The Hunger Games whateva! Let you get locked up and watch how fast you’d be scrapping to keep your ass safe,” I said in all seriousness, but I found myself laughing with him.

  Auto turned on his feet to watch me for a moment. I noticed his gaze lingering on me for a second before he turned his back to me and began unbuttoning his shirt. “I’ve been locked up before, and . . . you’re right, Mama.”

  “Yeah?” I asked just to ask, because considering his line of work, I wasn’t shocked.

  He paused in the middle of his crib, then crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah. Part of the hood, right?”

  “Yeah, right it is,” I muttered, then yawned. “Thank you for bringing me here. It’s cool that you feel I’m part of the team.”

  “You are. I mean that. Like what you do . . . the tech skills. Shit coming up with wild-ass apps,” he said with a smile on his face. “Like there’s fucking potential in you. I just hope that you stay and let us see how you grow.” He paused for a moment. “Let me show you Code’s room, Mama, so you can get cleaned up and go to sleep,” he added, then looked me over, humor visible in his exhausted eyes.

  In that quick moment, I felt a big shift between us. Respect and trust had just been given to me, and I appreciated it. I got up and followed him down a hallway. Halfway down, he pointed to Code’s room. I nodded.

  My life had changed drastically, but it was cool to be held down, I thought as I walked into Code’s room. Like Auto had said, I was an Eraserhead now. I guessed that it was time to act like it.

  Chapter 14

  Code

  “I’m going to just go ahead and hypothesize that it’s safe to say by now you know that I’m not stupid,” he started off. “I need to know why the man who was protecting my client is also a part of your goon squad.”

  We had been driving for about thirty minutes. I could only assume that we were headed back to his place of residence. The woman he’d called Oya was driving the truck we were in, and of course, I had had to bring along Freddie as part of the deal I’d made with him. As we cruised down I-20 and hopped onto I-75, the traffic was moving at a steady pace. I regarded the man they called Boots with caution, as I didn’t trust him. I must say I was relieved to see that Smiley had come to no harm.

  We’d had to follow Boots for a few days, longer than expected, in order to find out where he’d taken Smiley. It hadn’t been back to Copper Hills. He’d moved like he was in a hurry, and while he had still taken precautions to cover his ass, I’d been doing this criminal shit for way too long not to know how to tail someone without them knowing it. The man was smart. He’d covered his tracks well, until today.

  However, what I hadn’t expected to see was a truckful of children and drugs. My heart was beating. Set to jump out of my chest, because I didn’t want to believe the old man had a hand in it. By the way Freddie kept glancing at me, it was clear he was thinking the same thing as I was.

  I didn’t want to give in to that coiling in my stomach that was telling me Papa was pulling a double cross. That would mean too many things. Things that I didn’t want to have to ask about. Things that would open another can of worms. For as long as I’d been old enough to understand the inner and outer workings of my familia’s crime syndicate, the one thing I had never wanted any part in was the trafficking of humans. I’d shipped drugs and guns. I’d even tortured a few men in the name of Papa as he looked on. But the fight between him and me had always centered around the trafficking of children and women.

  I sighed and shook my head as my stomach started to free-fall. If Papa had been able to intercept Boots’s truck like that—I sighed as the thought ate away at me—that meant that he’d been working behind the scenes all along. Admitting that would mean I would have to admit that he had something to do with the Eraserheads’ missing cars as well.

  Boots took off the gray ten-gallon hat that made him look like a black cowboy. His impatient movement brought me back to the matter he’d asked me about. He crossed his right leg over his left thigh, making his legs look like the number four, then folded his arms across his chest. I sat to his right as Oya whipped in and out of lanes. Shorty was driving like NASCAR was in her blood.

  “Since you’re so smart, maybe you can figure that out on your own,” I responded to him.

  “You’re related to my client? If so, how? I need to know these things if I’m going to be doing business with you and your crew.”

  I asked, “What does one have to do with the other?”

  “I just need to know who I’m dealing with in all aspects.”

  “Let’s just say the man who’s your client is also a client of mine.”

  Boots grunted, then glanced out the window before looking back at me. I could tell by the way his eyes watched me that he wanted to keep interrogating me, but something stopped him. His boots stood out to me. Made me remember a story Papa had told me about a man and his boots. I remembered that story because it was connected to all the other stories the old man would tell me about a war that had left a lot of people dead in its wake. I’d never seen a black man in cowboy boots in person, and with a cowboy hat to match. Still, I had to admit that Boots wore the look well. Not to mention that his Texas accent worked me anytime he spoke. It made me feel like ice was creeping up my spine, only to be chased by a fiery heat that made me take notice of the man in ways I shouldn’t.

  Shit, I needed to stay focused on the task of killing those who were trying to kill me and my crew. I didn’t need to be thinking about the spicy, musky smell emanating from a potential threat if things went in a different direction. Boots was everything the woman who had birthed me had warned me to stay away from. Men like Boots were good for only one thing, I thought, my mother’s words echoing in my mi
nd. They were good only for fucking and breeding. Nothing more.

  My eyes took in the bulge in his pants. I chuckled.

  “What’s funny?” he wanted to know.

  “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

  I sighed, folded my arms, and turned my attention to the passing exits and billboards. We passed the JCPenney Outlet, the farmers’ market, the automobile auction house, and more before we got to exit 235, where we left the highway. Took a right onto Upper Riverdale Road. Made a right by Southern Regional Medical Center onto Garden Walk Boulevard. Passed a firehouse, then Riverdale Elementary and Drew High School. Kept going until we made it to Copper Hills Apartment Homes.

  If you had ever seen the hood, Copper Hills Apartments on Garden Walk was it. The Dumpsters looked like they hadn’t been emptied in over a month. Trash littered the parking lot. Dirty little kids ran about, making as much noise as possible. Men, and boys pretending to be men, walked around with their pants hanging off their dirty asses. Women, and girls wanting to be women, strolled about in clothing that made them look like they should have been down on Metropolitan.

  Loud music banged from car stereo systems. You could smell someone had a barbecue grill going. If you paid close enough attention, you could see the ever so subtle drug deal going down. If you looked even closer, you could see the old man paying the fifteen-year-old for pussy as they walked into one of the abandoned apartment buildings. It was when Smiley and I had done our stakeouts to find information about the man staring at me now that I had got to hear the whispers about the nigga who lived in building fifty-five. No one else lived in that building. All four apartments in that section belonged to him. Nobody liked him, but nobody would step to him about their disdain for him, either.

  I could see now that how he ran things was all a front. He had to keep up a certain appearance. Had to make people respect him enough to fear him all at the same time. As we turned into the complex, I could see some people rushing back inside their apartments, the looks on their faces saying they’d been doing things they shouldn’t have been.