by Paige Green
Tyson closed his eyes and held her close in his arms as she cried.
“Jeremiah! I’m sorry baby! I’m sorry that I didn’t protect you! I just want all this to be over!” Remy kicked and screamed.
Tyson watched helplessly as her body shook and soul cracked with every scornful cry.
He cradled her head in his arms as she cried from the depths of her broken soul. He kissed each tear as she continued to cry out for Jeremiah.
Five minutes later, all cried out and gripped with pain and fatigue, she stared at the ceiling in a complete daze, silently tormented by the pain.
“It’ll all be okay, baby. It’s all almost over, it’ll all be okay,” Tyson assured her before standing to his feet and gently placing Remy’s head down on the couch pillow.
Walking towards a nearby closet, he reached into it before removing a bag containing hot oils. Taking a small mattress out of his closet, he placed it in the middle of his living room before laying the hot oils next to it before running up the stairs and into his bedroom. Reaching into his bedroom closet, he pulled out a few cinnamon scented Glade candles and ran back downstairs.
Kneeling on his knees, he pulled out a lighter before lighting the candles and standing to his feet. Walking towards Remy, who appeared almost lifeless, he gently placed her fragile body on the mattress before flicking off his living room lights.
He removed Remy’s clothes before tossing them to the side.
“Please…I’m not in the mood for this,” Remy said in almost a whisper.
“Just hush and relax, baby,” Tyson said before removing his clothes.
Taking the hot oil and rubbing a handful into his palms, he gently rubbed the oil up and down Remy’s back and shoulders.
“Oh shit, wait I forgot something,” he snapped his fingers before standing to his feet.
Reaching for his tossed pants on the floor, he reached into the pocket before removing his iPhone and running over to a nearby stereo. Turning the stereo on and placing his iPhone on top of it, he scrolled down to Joe’s hit, “All the Things,” and put it on a medium volume.
Sitting back down on the mattress, he resume what he was doing, gently massaging Remy’s back and shoulders before caressing the rest of her body. He made love to her with his masculine hands, slowly bringing her back to life. She enjoyed every moment of it as her body, mind, and soul temporarily relaxed.
“Please make love to me,” Remy said as she turned on her back and parted her legs like the Red Sea.
“No need to ask, baby. Just give me a second, I got to go grab some condoms,” Tyson smiled as he started to stand to his feet but Remy grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.
“No, not this time, baby. I want to start a family, baby,” Remy said in a serious tone.
“Baby, you know you’re not ready. Like I told you before, when this is over we…”
“Yeah I know, but by the time I conceive it’ll be over. I don’t want to pressure you Tyson but I want my child back, baby. I know I’m ready.”
“I don’t want to start a family with you just because you want to feel that void with what happened to Jeremiah, I want to start one with you when you’re fully healed and you’re truly in love with me, baby. I don’t want to discuss this anymore, Remy. Just give it time, I promise you everything will work out in the end, okay?”
Remy hesitantly nodded her head as she swallowed the huge lump in her throat and blinked her tears away.
“Now, just lie back down and relax. I’ll be back after I get them condoms,” Tyson said before standing to his feet, leaving Remy slightly drowning in her thoughts.
Chapter Nine
Knowledge pushed his candy red charger through the Northside, trapped in his thoughts with Frank relaxing in the passenger seat. Riding through Charles Street before crossing the tarnished Northview Heights bridge, he watched with an eagles eye at his young workers, to make sure they were on duty, working the blocks and making money. Turning his attention to Frank, he asked,
“Did you get any follow ups on who did that shit to Psycho?”
“Uh-uh..na-naw naw,” Frank said, nervously.
“Fuck is wrong with you?” Knowledge asked skeptically as he squinted his right eye.
“Nothing, I’m just tired and shit,” Frank lied.
Knowledge glanced at his best friend before waving it off and turning his attention back to the streets. Riding up through Chicago Street, he turned his charger into a nearby parking lot before killing the ignition and hopping out of the car.
Both men walked through Northview, strictly demanding attention. Knowledge was dressed in an expensive Italian suit while Frank, on the other hand, wore an all-black Adidas jogging suit. The hustlers and other bystanders nodded their head in respect at both men as they walked towards their main workers, Bills and Vermont.
“What’s up, Knowledge?” Bills asked, giving Knowledge a hand dap and brief hug.
“What’s up, Bills? How’s that money coming along?” Knowledge retorted.
“It’s all good,” Bills said before looking at Frank and twisting his nose up in disgust.
Noticing Bills ice-grilling Frank, Knowledge discreetly pulled Bills to the side as Frank and Vermont conversed.
Bills had been a loyal worker of Knowledge’s for the past four years of his life. At the tender age of twenty, Bills was a laid back young man who stayed in the background and watched the world move around him in silence.
“What was that all about?” Knowledge asked, folding his arms under his chest.
“I’m telling you, that nigga is snitching, boss.”
“What? Why the fuck would you think some shit like that?”
“I’m not thinking, I know! I saw that nigga on the Southside last week talking to that one black cop named Ty-something,” Bills said, clenching his jaw.
“Tyson? What? And you’re sure you saw him?” Knowledge asked, trying his best to suppress the anger that arose in his chest.
“How you know Tyson? But yeah, that’s him! And fuck yeah I’m sure! I damn near saw the whole thing but it slipped my mind until just now.”
“Explains why this nigga been acting funny lately,” Knowledge thought to himself as he balled his hands into tight fists.
“How did you forget to tell me that shit, Bills? That’s not something that just fucking slips your mind,” he said through gritted teeth.
“My bad boss I….”
“Fuck your apology right now, man. Gather the rest of the crew and I want to see all y’all asses at The Dungeon in an hour. Don’t tell them shit Bills and I mean it,” Knowledge demanded before turning around and making his way back over to Frank and Vermont.
“You ready, bro?” Frank asked.
“Yeah, let’s go we got a special meeting, homie,” Knowledge said, forcing a fake smile.
An hour later, Knowledge and Frank arrived at Knowledge’s team meeting place, The Dungeon. The Dungeon is where all of Knowledge’s dirty work was handled. Everything from cutting and bagging drugs, killings, sex, and meetings were held. The Dungeon was located in a spacious basement of a drugstore on the Westside. With soundproof walls, any and everything went down in that basement.
Hopping out his charger, Knowledge bit down on his lip, balled his hands into tight fists, clenched his jaw, yet walked at a steady posture as he watched all of his workers and business partners walk into The Dungeon.
“What’s this shit about, man?” Knowledge’s business partner, Emilio, of ten years asked as Knowledge and Frank walked down the stairs.
Knowledge ignored him as he kept a hard, stoned glare and glanced around the spacious basement. There before him stood at least twenty people. Everyone’s face was filled with confusion and concern as they glanced at Knowledge. The only time Knowledge called an emergency meeting like that was when they all needed to come together to see how the money was flowing and if there were any problems within the group that needed to be resolved.
“Now, I know y’all
all wondering, why the fuck are we here right? Why are we here while we can be out there making money, right?” Knowledge asked, finally breaking the silence.
“Yes!” everyone yelled in unison.
Placing his index finger over his mouth as if he was in deep thought, Knowledge slowly paced the ground before looking at Bills and asked,
“You got that?”
“Yeah, here you go, boss,” Bills said before handing a manila folder to him.
Everyone remained silent as they anxiously watched Knowledge reached into the folder and pulled out what appeared to be a couple of photos.
Lifting the pictures up in his hand to show everyone, Knowledge waved the photos around before he said,
“You see, the man thought I thought was my best friend, that I thought was my motherfucking homie, my right hand, been snitching.”
Everyone gasped as they glanced at the photos that revealed Frank speaking to Tyson at the coffee shop. Before Bills and Knowledge arrived at The Dungeon, Knowledge called Bills and demanded him to go to the coffee shop to pay off the cashier to capture photos of Frank talking to Tyson from off the security cameras.
Frank’s words got caught in his throat as his heart raced, throat burned, and palms became sweaty.
Almost every face in the room began to frown at Frank as they watched his legs tremble in fear.
“You fucking snake! Somebody kill that bitch!” Emilio yelled angrily as he began to charge at Frank, but kept his composure.
Frank continued to stand there, dumb-founded and scared for his life.
Knowledge remained silent as he shook his head in disbelief. When he arrived in the game, his father always warned him never to trust anyone, not even his own best friend. But Knowledge never took heed to his father’s great advice. In his mind, he’d never think Frank would ever cross him. Knowledge always thought he was blessed to have a loyal partner like Frank, but at that very moment, he knew he was wrong.
“What you have to say for yourself, Frank?” Knowledge asked, walking up to him and staring him directly into his eyes.
“Ma-m-man, I c-c-can explain,” Frank mumbled in fear.
“Man, just fucking kill that nigga!”
“Yeah! Fuck him! That nigga put all of our lives in jeopardy! Make that nigga suffer!”
“Slit his fucking throat, dawg!” Random men in the small crowd yelled in anger.
Frank swallowed the huge lump in his throat as he glanced at the ground. He knew he messed up in the worse way and silently agreed that he’d deserve any and everything coming for him.
“Nah, you know what, I’m not gone make you suffer, homie.” Knowledge said before reaching into the back of his pants and retrieving is .9mm. “You was my dawg, I’m just gone make this shit quick and easy, man. But before you go, tell me why? Why you do some foul, fucked up shit like this?”
“Man go ahead with that sentimental shit! If you don’t fucking slit his throat, I fucking will!” Emilio warned.
“Man watch your….”
Before Knowledge can utter another word, a big crowd of armed men dressed in all-black burst through The Dungeon with huge AK-47’s, revolvers, .45 calibers, .9mms, and huge shotguns.
“Yeah nigga, wasn’t your ass looking for me? You thought I forgot, didn’t you bitch?” Shemar yelled before ripping off his mask.
Knowledge, Bills, Vermont, Emilio, and mostly everyone else reached for their guns before pointing it at Shemar, Trigger-Happy, and the rest of Shemar’s crew.
“You’re one disrespectful as nigga! I should’ve smoked your ass a long time ago!” Knowledge growled as he cocked his gun at Shemar.
“Yeah, you should’ve!” Shemar said, smiling mischievously before aiming the gun at Knowledge.
The whole room became quiet as each man looked their opponent into their eyes as they clenched their jaws.
Not even a second later Trigger-Happy glanced at Frank, who didn’t have any protection on him, and pulled the trigger repeatedly. A slew of bullets pumped into Frank’s body, causing his body to twist and turn in uncontrollable angles with each bullet that pierced through his body. His face was a mask of a grotesque monster as he fell to the ground before taking his last breath.
As soon as Frank’s lifeless body slapped the ground, both crews began to pull the trigger on their weapons, aimlessly shooting at any intended target on the opposite side of the room. Shemar aimed his silver-plated .9mm at Knowledge before pulling the trigger, causing a bullet to slam into his arm.
Knowledge’s body twisted as he fell to the ground, grunting and clutching his arm in pain.
He tried his best to aim his gun at Shemar, who walked up towards him and kneeled on his knees.
Whispering into Knowledge’s ear as he held the gun to his head, Shemar bluntly said,
“Bitch you didn’t know? These are my fucking streets! Like you fucking said, you should’ve killed me when you had a chance! See you in hell…bitch!”
Before Knowledge can utter a word, Shemar pumped a single bullet into his head, causing brain matter to decorate the dirty floors and walls.
Staying low on the ground, he continued to shoot at Knowledge’s team, killing mostly everyone on sight.
Fifteen minutes later with only Bills, Emilio, and two other men from Knowledge’s team standing, Shemar stood next to Trigger-Happy with his chest heaving and sweat decorating his face.
Shemar had most of his men still standing with the exception of six, who lay lifeless on the ground in back of him.
“Germs, finish this shit, homie,” Shemar said to one of his workers as he kept his gun aimed at all four men before he started backing up.
Germs, who held an AK-47 in his big, beasty hands, nodded his head as he smiled devilishly before aiming the gun at Bills and pulling the trigger. The loud thunder from the gun echoed throughout the room as a slew of bullets smack against the walls and ground. Bills, Emilio, and the other two men kneeled on the ground, trying their best to duck and dodge the deadly bullets.
“Go! I got this shit! I’ll finish them off, just get out of here!” Germs yelled at Shemar and the rest of the crew as he turned his attention back to the task at hand.
Shemar, Trigger-Happy, and the rest of them of them nodded their heads in agreement as they raced up the stairs and out of the drugstore.
Racing to his black Mercedes Benz, Shemar hopped into the driver seat before placing his keys into the ignition.
He watched as Trigger-Happy and the rest of his team parted ways before started his car up and drove away.
“One down, another one to go,” he mumbled to himself before pulling out his cell phone and dialing Trigger-Happy’s number.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Trigger-Happy answered after the second ring.
“I’m on my way to handle this business with this bitch, you all good?”
“Yeah, I’m straight. I thought you wanted me to help you handle that with her? You sure you got this, man?” Trigger-Happy asked with concern.
“Yeah I’m sure. I heard she staying with some bitch ass cop but I can take both,” Shemar assured him.
“Alright man, Just call me when you handled it so I know you safe.”
“I got you,” Shemar said before ending the call.
****************
“You ever think about moving away, baby?” Tyson asked Remy as she laid her head on his chest.
It was ten ‘o’clock at night and Remy and Tyson had laid there in the bed, talking all night. Tyson knew if he could get Remy to talk about life, she’d be able to temporarily get her mind off of her problems.
“Yeah, I always thought about moving to North Carolina,” she said as she stared at the ceiling.
“Really? Why North Carolina?”
“I don’t know, honestly. It just seems like a big change from this freaking city. I truly hate Pittsburgh with a passion.”
“Don’t say that baby, but I know what you meant. When this is all over, why don’t we pack our things up and mo
ve to North Carolina?”
Remy smiled as she stared into Tyson’s eyes and nodded her head. She closed her eyes before planting a wet kiss on his lips and began to feel on his thick member.
“Not tonight, baby. I just want to enjoy a nice conversation with you, okay?” Tyson smiled.
Remy nodded her head as she glanced back up at the ceiling.
“I feel you.” she replied. “So, tell me, what’s something that you struggled with for a long period of time?”
“Umm…” Tyson mumbled as he rubbed his chin. “I’d say seeing my mother love a liquor bottle more then she loved me. I never got to experience that motherly love and affection from her. It’s something I craved most of my life, even now.”
“I feel you, baby. It’ll all be okay, you know? Speaking of mother I need to go see my….”
“Shhh, did you hear that?” Tyson whispered, holding his index finger to his lips.
“Hear what?”
Tyson held up his finger, silently telling Remy to remain quiet. She looked at him confusingly as she watched him hop out the bed and reach for his .9mm that was on his dresser before tossing Remy her .45 caliber.
Hoping out of the bed and walking behind Tyson, she remained silent as she watched Tyson discreetly cracked their door open.
The low noise of someone creeping up the stairs echoed throughout the hallway as Tyson reached behind him, tapping Remy before opening up the door and running to the steps.
“You lost your fucking mind, boy?” Tyson growled with a crazed look in his eye as he aimed his gun at a stunned Shemar.
“Fuck you and that bitch!” Shemar yelled before pulling the trigger, missing Tyson’s head by at least two inches.
Tyson hopped out of the way as he then watch Remy bend over the banister and aimed her gun. Cocking the gun at Shemar, she pulled the trigger, watching as a single shot slammed into his forehead.
An overwhelming feeling of mixed emotions overcame her as she watched his lifeless body fall backwards down the stairs.
She dropped the gun in her hand as she fell to her knees before crying.
“I-I-did it! I finally did it,” she mumbled to herself as her hands shook uncontrollably and her heart raced.
