Some Things Never Change: An African American BWBM Urban Fiction Romance

by Marian Grey

  “Lou, tomorrow is promised to no man, I could walk out of the bar at this exact moment and get knocked by a car, left for dead on the street. I don’t make promises I can’t keep, and some things are just beyond our control.”

  “You are right, I can’t force you to make that decision. I just have to trust you and believe that you will. Everyone has an appointment with death but that doesn’t mean you have to hasten the process.”

  Wayne looked at his watch, speaking of appointments he had one to keep. He needed to wrap this conversation up fast. He was to link up with Dutty Bloodz in the next hour by the pound.

  “I’m so glad we had this talk Lou. With you by my side I can leave it all behind.” He basked in the affection coming from Lou. Even though she had yet to say it, her eyes radiated with love for him. It pleased and unnerved him at the same time. “Don’t worry about me Lou, I will be fine.”

  Lou stared backed at him with tears of love and admiration in her eyes. “I think it’s wonderful that you’re finally doing this.”

  Wayne pulled her into a hug to reassure her then lightly kissed her forehead. He knew he felt more for her than she did for him. He knew that what he was about to do next would only break her heart. Would she be able to forgive him? He was intelligent, he could stay too steps ahead of her and let her be none the wiser. Just be smart about what he told her, going forward, the less she knew the better, until he finally cut all ties with the business. He had seen many of his friends spurned by women when they got pissed at them. He wasn’t about to be another statistic. Lou wasn’t the mean type but he didn’t want to put that to the test.

  He felt selfish for wanting all her love and affection and not having anything to give of himself in return. Deep down he knew he lied to her about quitting the Dutty Bloodz so that she wouldn’t withhold sex or leave him. He was the man, the provider, and her champion when in need. She should respect his decisions even if she didn’t agree with them. In a battle of wills between them he wanted to always come out the victor but at what cost. He would have to weigh the risks and see if it was truly worthy it. He floored the brakes and the car came to a screeching halt in the middle of the road.

  The horror at his realization that he was in love with Lou marred him. He knew he wasn’t worthy of her. She deserved the best of everything. He wanted them to eventually get married, settle down and have a few kids. He was doing this for her, just one last round then he would call it all quits.

  Lou looked at him as if he was crazy, she checked his vitals and asked him if he was alright. He said yes, not to worry, he saw a dog run cross the road and swerved to avoid it. She didn’t look like she believed him but she didn’t push the argument. They drove in complete silence to her home. He sped off the moment she got inside. He was a haunted man trying to outrace the guilty thoughts he wished to keep at bay.

  Wayne needed someone to confide in and he trusted Lou to keep his secrets but he didn’t want her to get hurt. He didn’t want anyone to use her as a hostage to get to him. He had never before unburdened so much of himself to a woman before. His feelings for her were new and tender. He finally found someone he could share the daily aspects of his life with.

  He didn’t like that he had basically lied to her, telling her that he would have nothing more to do with the business. She told him what she expected, nothing new, just get out of the business before it’s too late. He struggled with a guilty conscience. He knew drugs affected people differently. Some can have their first experience and come out unscathed, others were not so fortunate. He knew of many athletes who were all set to make it to the major leagues and after their first hit became mentally unstable or a slave to the drug and it ruined their career.

  He shouldn’t feel guilty though, they had a choice, why beat himself up about it. He didn’t shove the drug down their throats. He couldn’t force them to buy. Indirectly he was not the one standing on some god forsaken street corner selling it. He should be praised, he did the community a service by providing work for those who could never make it in the rat race so that they could feed their families. It was a two edged sword someone benefited and someone lost out, isn’t that the way of life. Why was the drug dealer always seen in the harshest of light? They were human beings, they have wants and needs, bills to pay and families to feed. If you prick them, do they not bleed?

  A lot of effort, thought and hard work went in to the business. He felt he should be amply rewarded for how diligently he marketed the business, so what if it was by illicit gains. Lou just sat there all self-righteous and cute telling him shit he already knew. He doubted that she even knew what hunger was. She just wanted him to walk away from all of that money like it was easy. The moment he stepped outside the crew, he was fair game, all his rivals would be coming for him unless he moved out of state or left the country.

  Chapter 6

  “The man of the hour has finally arrived.” Said Fat Boy.

  “Whatever man.” He bumped fists with the twins, then did the same with a few other members of the crew.

  “Where’s Sizzla?” Wayne asked.

  “He’s inside with Crazy T and the other groups.”

  “You left them alone in there?”

  “He’s not alone a few of us are with them, besides Sizzla said not to come in until you’ve arrived.”

  “Ok then, I’m here guys let’s go.”

  When Wayne had first arrived at the pound, the place was deserted except for a few scattered cars. Clearly tonight’s event was invitation only. They followed the sound of the dogs barking, a match was going on. Sal was the owner of “The Pound” and would be raking in big money from the popular black market dog fights. Everyone would watch the live dog baiting until all the important people had arrived then the real bartering would go down. The moment he had been waiting for and anxious about all day had finally arrived.

  “Sizzla, what did I miss?”

  “Lost fifty on that worthless mongrel lying in the corner, all bark and no bite. Now that you’re here we will all go around the back and make our bid with the others. We can only take a third of our men with us.”

  “You’re cool with that bro?”

  “Not really Crazy T hates the idea even more than I do but we don’t have a choice. Those are the rules of the house.”

  “Are you sure these guys are trustworthy?”

  “No. The only person I trust is Sal, he and Crazy T go way back. He’s always been fair but I don’t know if the others will keep their word. I’m willing to overlook that because we need the edge this new drug can give us with the competitors.”

  They walked along a corridor until they reached a large open area and saw nothing but Bainbridge hoodlums ahead of them. “What are these guys doing here?”

  “Did you really believe that we would just allow you guys to take over our base and drive us out of business without a fight?” Shouted the Bainbridge Leader

  His voice came from directly behind Wayne. They would have been in the room all along and waiting patiently for their guests to arrive. Suddenly overhead lights were turned on. He saw Sal the owner of The Pound was bound and gagged in the corner.

  “It is time we taught you guys a lesson. This is what happens to people who try to compete with us.”

  He spoke loudly and with authority so everyone in the room could hear him. The Dutty Bloodz were severely outnumbered, things weren’t looking good. To think that it was a ruse, there was no hot new drug on the market. They had fallen into a wicked trap, like a moth caught in a spider’s web, they had walked into this blind. They tricked the Dutty Bloodz with their greed to get them all in one place. They had them by the balls and was squeezing tight. It was a no brainer that if a battle was to go down the Bainbridge boys would come out on top.

  “Guys calm down, let’s work something out.” Said Wayne ever the peacemaker.

  “Shut up!” screamed Crazy T. “Don’t you see that these guys want to run us out of business.”

  “There is nothin
g to work out. Pay for your disrespect.” Replied the Bainbridge Leader.

  He signaled to his men and they closed in around the group and circled. The enemies had blood in their eyes from the last altercation outside the club. Most of their people had been apprehended by the police and they were still upset about that incident.

  “No way I’m gonna die in this dump tonight Sizzla, do something.” Wayne whispered low so that only Sizzla could hear him.

  “This was your plan the whole time. How dare you take us for fools and make a mockery of our business.” Sizzla was outraged.

  “Say your goodbyes now, this will be your final resting place.” Said the Bainbridge leader’s right hand man.

  “Not if I have anything to do with it.” Shouted Crazy T. He brandished his machete in a flurry of moves that had everyone riveted. The blade gleamed and the edge was sharp, it could cut a single strand of hair in two with ease. “We’ll end this tonight.”

  Sizzla nodded in agreement. “I’m not going down without a fight and if I do, I’m taking you with me. Dutty Bloodz today we fight. We have our pride and no one can take that from us.”

  “For once I agree with that nut job, it ends tonight.” Said the Enemy’s leader.

  Powder shivered behind Wayne, he didn’t want to fight any more than Wayne did. Blood lust filled the air, no one escaped it's impact and all felt crazed. The fight had started amidst hoarse shouts and obscenities being hurled by the opposing sides.

  Sizzla staggered from the fierce blow flung by the Bainbridge leader. He then bounced back like his feet were on springs and jumped on the enemy. Crazy T and the enemy’s right hand man circled each other in the open just shy of the exit. No one wanted to rumble near them for fear they got a knife or machete chop if they were in their vicinity. They feinted to the left or the right and looked for an opening to strike and catch their opponent off guard.

  They continued to size each other up. They looked for any form of weakness in their target. It was going to be a brutal showdown once they got each other’s measure. He had looked in Sizzla’s direction just in time to see him fling the Bainbridge Leader across the room and watched his body dent the wall on impact. Sizzla had his back against the wall so that no one could tack him from behind. Crazy T had his opponent cornered and wielded his knives making mincemeat of his enemy. Powder gripped Wayne's arms and turned his attention back to him. He realized Wayne was inching near Sizzla, determined to help his best friend. Wayne’s anger was aroused. He needed to get himself out of this alive. This was about survival, the betrayal was fuel for his rage. The thought of finally having found true love with Lou only to lose her weighed heavily on his conscience. He felt incredibly stupid for having fallen so neatly into this trap.

  Powder said. “Fat Boy said to stay here. Neither of us are true fighters and our opponents know this, let's not give them any more of an advantage than they already have.”

  “That’s not possible. I can’t stay by the sidelines and not do anything to help.” Responded Wayne.

  “It’s hard, I know. I want to help too but we would end up doing more harm than good. Let’s not be a distraction when the others are trying to concentrate. Sizzla said to stay out of it unless someone messed with us.”

  Crazy T downed another enemy, Wayne couldn’t help but admire his stamina. He was in his element, like a mistreated caged animal released on unsuspecting prey. His blood lust knew no bounds, his machete had already severed the tendon on his next opponent. The opponent collapsed in shock, blood splattered all over his shirt, dripping from his open wound and gushing from his mouth.

  “It seems stupid to be having this conversation when it’s evident they need help.” Wayne pointed to where the struggle was real. Powder tightened his grip yet his hand still trembled.

  “Wayne you’re the brains of the entire operation that is why everyone is jealous of you. Sizzla specially requested that Fat Boy and I keep an eye on you for your personal safety.”

  Wayne looked at Sizzla. “It’s hard for me to believe that Sizzla has acknowledged my greatness but I don’t like being discussed behind my back, it makes me wonder what else has been said. How comes he hasn’t said it to my face, was he waiting to write it on the marker of my grave?”

  “Sizzla didn’t want to make your head swell any more than it already has. Don’t worry Sizzla, Fat Boy and Crazy T got this, if anyone can pull this off they can.”

  “Yeah, but at what cost. It doesn’t look like they want us to leave this place alive. I promise myself if I make out of here alive I’m done with this business.”

  Sizzla and the enemy’s leader were really going at it. It was a crucial turning point in his life, this business was literally a dead end. Wayne finally realized that he didn’t have the hardcore ruthlessness needed to lead a gang, he wanted more out of life. He was glad he realized this sooner than later.

  Sizzla and Crazy T were enjoying themselves, it gave them great pleasure to see the pain in their opponent’s eye and watch them mess up. They were going at their enemies hard, all were bloody and bruised. Then Sizzla faltered and his opponent drove his victory home with forceful blows that rained down hard on Sizzla’s body. Sizzla adopted a defensive stance, in a bid to ward off the blows. So that his enemy couldn’t hit any vital areas that would damage to his internal organs in his weakened state.

  Clearly his opponent was on some performance endurance drug that made him crazed and gave him herculean strength. His enemy was beyond all clarity and reason, his only aim was to maim and kill. Crazy T saw him flounder as well and went over to help Sizzla. He landed two hard jabs that made the enemy on top of Sizzla double over in pain.

  Everywhere he looked people were dropping like flies. It was literally a war scene with a flurry of punches and kicks. Both sides had injured men yet they fought, not wanting to lose ground. Powder took it all in, his eyes were so scared, his worry for his twin etched all over his face.

  Before this drama ensued they'd led pretty quiet lives, grew up in the working class bracket in a low income neighborhood. They were not accustomed to this much violence and had free reign over their territory. No sugar coating it, this was the most violence all of them had ever witnessed with the exception of Crazy T. They had all led very sheltered lives up to this point so it wasn’t hard to see why the situation was unbelievable.

  Look how the mighty had fallen, both leaders of each side was down, Sizzla and Crazy T had finally reached their limits. Sizzla lay on the floor gasping for breath and blood was everywhere. Crazy T was beside him, he had ripped apart his T-shirt in a bid to stop the flow.

  Sizzla was struggling to breathe just to stay alive. Powder ran to his side to assist him while Wayne tried to make sense out of Crazy T’s incoherent ramblings. All this bloodshed had pushed Crazy T over the edge of sanity, he had lost his mind. This was the first major coup the Dutty Bloodz had ever been in and it didn’t look like they were going to win the skirmish. The Dutty Bloodz wouldn’t survive with the loss of its leaders and Wayne wasn’t going to shoulder that burden alone. Life as they knew it was officially over for the Dutty Bloodz. They had more injured on the ground than their opponents.

  A hard crushing blow from a baseball bat sent Wayne tottering to the ground. Wayne closed his eyes and winced from the pain. He had never in all his years felt anything like that before. The pain registered was mind consuming and crippling. He wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball but luckily he landed into a rubbish heap. Wayne’s hand searched for anything he could use as a weapon before his adversary attacked again. Fortunately he latched onto a wooden chair leg, its broken edge would do severe damage if applied with great force. This was his only hope at survival as he had no other weapon on his body.

  The assailant was on him again and had his left hand pinned to the ground. Wayne channeled his mind so that the pain wouldn’t be the focal point. He needed to be calm so that he would know when to use the wooden peg to his advantage. It took a lot of concentrated effo
rt for Wayne to use his right hand to bring the wooden peg down on the enemies back while he was on top of him. The distraction allowed him to roll from under the enemy and get to his feet. Anger and pain was a heady combination that fueled his rage. It was like a switch had flipped in his mind and his survival instinct went up a notch.

  One minute the enemy was on him, the next minute Wayne was on him. Both were determined to be the victor in that physical tug of war. His clothes were torn and ripped from the tussle on the ground. Wayne’s body convulsed from the impact of the blows, the enemy had laid it on thick. He could barely see out of his left eye and his upper lip was busted. No makeup could hide the damage that had been done to Wayne’s face. He capitalized on the fact that his opponent wore dreads as a hairstyle. He wrapped the other man’s hair around his wrist and yanked it hard. He pulled his head backwards and made him lower his guard. It was the wrong thing to do as this angered his opponent and he grappled with him until his enemy had Wayne in a chokehold.

  His meaty hands were squeezing his neck and restricted Wayne’s breathing. Out of nowhere Fat Boy rushed his opponent, saving his life. Fat Boy turned the enemy around to face him and in the blink of an eye his fist connected with the man’s nose. The crunching sound was very loud and Wayne was glad it wasn’t his nose that got broken. The guy staggered from the blows Fat Boy put on him and used his hands to shield himself from the powerful punches Fat Boy pressured him with. While he was doing that, Powder acted fast even though he was reeling in shock from Sizzla’s and Crazy T’s demise. He tried to get Wayne to stand, he put Wayne’s arm over his shoulder and dragged him out the room.