by CJ Hudson
Just as he was about to get out of the car, Tammy and another woman came walking out of the house. Dryer perked up as the two women hopped inside the car Tammy was driving and headed up the street. Dryer let them get a half block up the street and pulled them over.
Janice had to do a quick job of calming her daughter down. Tammy’s bowels almost released when she saw the man in the dark suit walk toward the car. She was sure he was coming to arrest them for killing a man.
Dryer knocked on the window and smiled when Tammy rolled the window down. “Good afternoon, ma’am,” he said with a fake smile on his face.
Tammy and Janice looked at him like the devil he was.
Dryer leaned into the car and looked in the direction of the back seat. As soon as the two women looked back to see what he was looking at, he dropped a bag of cocaine between the floor and the driver’s side door.
“What the hell are you looking at?” Tammy asked.
“Ma’am, I’m not looking at anything back there, but I am looking at that bag of a powdery white substance right there.”
“What the fuck? You planted that shit there,” Tammy screamed.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s what they all say. Get out of the car, ma’am.” Dryer snatched the door open and pulled Tammy out of the car.
“You’re just going to pull on a pregnant woman like that, huh, asshole?”
“Pregnant? Tammy, why you ain’t tell me that I was gonna be a grandmother?”
“’Cause I haven’t seen you, that’s why.”
Pregnant, Dryer thought. My day just keeps getting better and better. Dryer eased up, but just slightly. “I’m sorry about you being knocked up and all, but you’re going to have to get up against the car and spread your legs.”
Dryer did a quick search of Tammy and then told her to wait there. Dryer then walked away and called Stone. He knew that Stone was on vacation, but this was his chance to bring Red down. When Stone answered the phone, Dryer told him exactly what he needed him to do. Then he arrested Tammy and took her to jail.
Right before getting into the police car, Tammy told her mother to get in touch with either Hakim or Bobby. Janice noticed Tammy’s phone in the cup holder and picked it up. She immediately started looking for Bobby’s number.
* * *
After Hakim left, Bobby kicked back on his couch and lit a blunt. He didn’t know if Tammy had gone to see her mother, but since he and Hakim had taken care of Steve and his friend, he felt that Tammy was safe. He wanted to get to know Hakim somewhat, since Hakim was going to be in his life now.
His cell phone rang, annoying him slightly, so he chose to ignore it. It rang two more times, irritating him, so he picked it up with an attitude that quickly disappeared when he saw Tammy’s number. “Hey, li’l mama. Where you at?” he asked, smiling.
“Bobby! This is Tammy’s mother, Janice!”
Bobby’s heart sank. He knew that if someone other than Tammy was calling him with her phone, then something was terribly wrong. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Tammy has been arrested! Some punk-ass detective planted some dope in the car she was driving.”
Bobby knew right then that Dryer was the culprit. He’d been trying to get at him and Red for quite some time. “Yo, where’d they take her?”
“I think they took her to the sixth district.”
“A’ight, I’m on it.” Bobby hung up and called his lawyer. He had one on retainer, just in case some shit popped off. He was pissed that it went straight to voicemail. “What the fuck am I paying this muthafucka for?” he screamed. He grabbed his keys and headed out the door. Bobby opened the door and saw a note taped to it.
* * *
If you don’t want that little bitch of yours to remain in jail, meet me at Tiko’s in thirty minutes.
Dryer
Tiko’s was a small diner known for its juicy cheeseburgers. Bobby had no idea why Dryer wanted to meet there, but he had no choice but to go.
Bobby ran to his car and jumped in. He raced over to the diner, ignoring any and all traffic laws.
Meanwhile, Ray-Ray got behind Bobby and followed him the entire way. He didn’t know why Bobby was driving so fast, and he didn’t care. His original plan was to wait for Bobby to come out of the house, catch him slipping, and blast him. But when he got to Bobby’s house, Bobby was just pulling off.
* * *
Dryer smiled as Bobby walked into the diner. He was finally going to bring Red down, and Bobby was going to do all the work. “Why, Robert, nice of you to show up,” Dryer mocked.
Bobby gave him a death stare as he sat across the table. “The fuck is this shit all about? You can’t touch me, so you wanna fuck with my girl?”
“Well, it’s like I told you before. We want that piece of shit cousin of yours. Now you can either play ball with us, or your little bitch and that bastard child of yours will rot in jail. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Bastard child? What the hell are you talking about?”
Dryer smiled. “Ooohh, you didn’t know, huh? Your girl is pregnant,” Dryer said as he leaned across the table.
Bobby was stunned. Tammy hadn’t said a thing to him about being pregnant.
“Make up your mind, Bulletproof Bobby. You either help me take down Red, or by the time I’m finished, your little girlfriend will look like Scarface.”
Bobby seethed. He wanted to reach behind his back, pull out his gun, and blow Dryer’s brains out. He knew Dryer hated him, and he really had it in for Red. As fate would have it, a young couple walked past the diner, pushing a stroller. Bobby glanced out the window and took a deep breath. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. No man wants his girl locked up, especially while she is pregnant with his child. What if Dryer made good on his threat? What if he really could get her locked up for a long period of time? Bobby leaned back and looked into Dryer’s wicked eyes. If Bobby had any doubt that he would do that to a pregnant woman, the look in Dryer’s dark pupils erased it. Bobby was torn. Dryer was asking him to break one of the most sacred street codes of all. He was asking him to snitch.
“What’s it going to be, Mr. Walker?”
Bobby took a deep breath. He leaned forward and looked Dryer directly in his eyes. “I’ll tell you what,” Bobby started.
Before he could get any other words out of his mouth, the glass beside him shattered. Bullet after bullet flew through the window as Ray-Ray cut loose with his pistol. He didn’t know who the white man was with Bobby, but he was in such a rage over Red and his crew trying to kill him that he was willing to lay down anybody in his way. The first shot barely missed Bobby’s head and sent him scurrying to the floor.
Dryer wasn’t as lucky. One of the bullets caught him in the temple. He collapsed right on top of Bobby. Customers and workers alike were all screaming and ducking for cover. An elderly couple both caught slugs to the face and died instantly. One waitress was struck in the knee, leaving her with a nasty scar and a permanent limp.
After pushing a dead Dryer off of him, Bobby crawled along the floor until he got to the door. He peeked out and saw a deranged-looking Ray-Ray reloading his gun. This was all the time he needed.
Bobby pulled out his own gun and pointed it at Ray-Ray. “Ray, what the fuck are you doing?”
“You know what the fuck I’m doing! Don’t act like you ain’t have shit to do with trying to have me clipped!”
“What? I don’t know what the fuck you talking about!”
“You lying,” Ray-Ray shouted as he lifted his heat and pointed it in Bobby’s direction.
Bobby had no choice but to pull the trigger. He didn’t know what was going on, and he wasn’t about to get shot over some shit he didn’t know anything about. Bullets ripped through Ray-Ray’s body like a hot knife through butter. Bobby quickly hopped to his feet, ran to his car, and peeled off down the street.
Chapter 37
It had been two months since Bobby had been involved in the shootout at the diner. With Dryer dyin
g from his injuries, the police had no case against Tammy, so they had no choice but to let her go. She and Bobby had started talking about starting a family together. Bobby had no idea that the lawyer he had on retainer was also a literary agent and would be able to help Bobby get his publishing house off the ground. Bobby had talked Tammy into letting him pay for her schooling.
Even though she was pregnant, she decided that she would attend school until it got to be too much for her, and then she would take a little time off. To keep money coming in while his company was being put together, Bobby started dabbling in real estate, flipping houses.
Hakim was still in the streets, putting in work. Although he continued to work for Red, he kept quiet about Bobby and his sister being an item.
Janice entered a drug rehabilitation program and swore on her life that she would never again let a man control her to the point where she mistreated her children.
Ivory was still in Solon. She still talked to Tammy on the phone, but for the most part, she was enjoying her new life and had no intention of moving back to Cleveland. Every so often, she would sneak back in to chill with Tammy, but with those thugs still looking for her, she never stayed too long.
Sadly, the news of her father being fatally wounded was too much for Nancy to bear, and she overdosed on cocaine a week after he died. On that particular day, Bobby was at a meeting with his lawyer to go over the papers that would make him the owner of Bulletproof Publishing. Tammy was at home, eating a bowl of ice cream and waiting for Hakim to come over. He’d told her on the phone that he had a surprise for her and would be over in twenty minutes. After ten minutes, the doorbell rang.
“Damn, he’s early.” Tammy got up, walked toward the front door, and slung it open.
“Hello,” said a woman dressed in tight jeans with her hair wrapped in a purple bandana. “Are you Tammy?” she asked with a smile.
“Yes. May I help you?”
Without saying another word, Kat pulled out a knife and stabbed Tammy in the stomach. Tammy fell back onto the floor, screaming in pain.
“He’ll always belong to me, bitch.” Kat then put the knife back in her purse and walked away.
Epilogue
Bobby sat in the hospital chair with his face in his hands. From the moment Hakim had called him and told him what had happened, he started blaming himself. He figured if he had just told Tammy about Kat, then maybe she would have been on guard. Whoever said thugs don’t cry had never felt the pain of potentially losing not one, but two people he cared about at the same time.
Janice put her hand on Bobby’s shoulder and tried to assure him that everything was going to be all right. She didn’t know that for sure, but she really liked Bobby and wanted to be there for him as well as her daughter.
Hakim stomped around the hospital an emotionally confused young man. One minute he would scream of revenge, and the next, he would break down like a newborn baby.
Although he and Bobby hadn’t spoken to each other since their falling out, even Red showed up to give his support. He didn’t stay long, though. Just enough to show concern for his cousin.
Bobby had been there for the past four hours while Tammy was in surgery, and if he had to, he would stay there four more. Tammy had captured his heart. He loved her, and if he could trade places with her right now, he would do it in a heartbeat.
Bobby was just about to get up and go to the bathroom when the doctor came out. He was an elderly gentleman with thinning hair that was graying on the sides.
“Family for Tammy—”
“Yes,” Bobby jumped up and said before the doctor could say her last name. With Janice and Hakim by Bobby’s side, the doctor walked over and placed his hand on Bobby’s shoulder.
* * *
Red sat in his car in the parking lot of the emergency room smoking a blunt. He looked intently as the doctor walked up to Bobby and placed his hand on his shoulder. Red had never forgiven Tammy. He blamed her for getting inside Bobby’s head and capturing his heart. In his mind, it cost him a ton of money.
Red went into his pocket and pulled out a wad of hundreds. He handed the money, which totaled $5,000, to Kat. Red wanted Bobby to come back to the organization, and he figured the only way he could make that happen was to eliminate Tammy from the equation. So he devised a devilish plan to murder Tammy.
Kat smiled as she got out of Red’s car and walked back to hers $5,000 richer. Little did she know that Dru was waiting in the back seat to cut her throat. Red laughed out loud as he watched Bobby and the rest of Tammy’s family break down and cry.
The End
