He was quiet. I shook my head and masked my tears with anger.
“I’m sorry, Diamond, I really wish I could turn back the hands of time and fix this.”
“Get out!” I yelled.
“Diamond, please.”
I turned my back and hoped that he wouldn’t speak another word. Soon I heard his footsteps and the door closing behind him. I burst into tears as soon as the door shut. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse he dropped that bomb on me. I didn’t know what to do or who to call. My mind was racing. My biological mother—the one I never thought of seeing before—and my asshole of a father had left me out to dry. Where the hell was he when my mom was strung out on drugs? Where the hell was he when I fell into depression after Johnny went to prison? Where the hell was he every time I needed him? I was hurting and confused. I sat down on the sofa and placed my face in the palms of my hands. The phone rang a few minutes later and startled me. It was Black.
“Babe, how’d everything go?”
“Crazy, my mind is racing over here. I told him to get out. I can’t believe the shit that he just told me.”
“Do you need me to come home?”
I wanted him to be there, but honestly, I needed time alone to clear my head. I didn’t want to end up taking my anger out on him. I was quiet for a second before speaking for fear that I’d say the wrong thing, which I often did when I was upset.
“Honestly, I just need to be alone right now. I appreciate you asking. I want to talk to you about it but right now I’m still trying to take it all in. I’ll see you tonight when you come in and we’ll talk then. Is that okay?”
“Whatever you want, babe. If you change your mind, call me. I’ll call and check on you in a little while.”
“Okay, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I’d never felt a pain as deep as the one I was feeling at that moment. I knew he wouldn’t listen and would probably be on his way back home to see what the hell was going on. Being alone was what I thought I needed but most likely wasn’t the case. I thought about my mother and how special she was. I mean, a woman who could take care of a child that her husband went outside of their marriage and created was extraordinary. I loved her before but even more at this moment. I tried to fit in and it never really mattered. I continued to cry until Black walked through the door and held me. Breaking down was a sign of weakness and lately I felt myself slipping. I felt like something was taking over me and I hated it. I struggled to tell Black all that I’d just heard from my father. He comforted me until I was calm enough to begin drifting off to sleep.
Chapter Thirty-five
Black
New Money
“Yo’, what’s taking this nigga so long? He called over an hour ago. How long does it take to drive from G-town?” I was getting annoyed. I was waiting on Kenyon to bring me the money from last night’s pickup. I should have stopped fucking with him the day I saw how he felt about Kemp but I let it slide because he was a good worker. JB and I were sitting inside the warehouse for way too long. I’d called his phone six times and hadn’t gotten a response yet.
“You want me to call him again?” JB asked, noticing my frustration.
“I already called that muthafucker six times, he’s gonna make me bust a cap in his ass for real!”
JB sat there quiet, glancing down at his phone. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. I felt like I was losing control of them since they believed Kemp was alive. I had to figure out a way to get my soldiers back in line even if it meant permanently getting rid of the bad seeds. One thing that stood out about this situation was a comment Kemp once made to me. It was back in 2002 and things on the strip had never been better. We were killing all the other local crews in sales and were slowly taking over. Of course with more money comes more jealousy and envy. I always knew it but had never witnessed it myself. I thought that if there were any form of hate it would come from the outside. Everyone that worked for Kemp was paid pretty well—maybe not as much as he was or as much as they wished they should have been—but it was well in my books. They never wanted for anything, or at least that’s what I thought.
Back then there was a runner named Tony that handled most of the money pickups. He’d known Kemp since they were kids and had actually been one of his best friends. Money began to come up short and it didn’t take long to figure out where the money was going. Kemp confronted Tony when he came to the warehouse to drop off the money.
“How much is this?” Kemp asked. You could tell Tony was nervous but he tried to maintain his cool. Kemp remained calm.
“Ten thousand.”
“Ten? You sure?”
“Yeah, I counted it myself before I came here.”
“I called and got report and it should be thirteen so you sure about that?” Kemp got up from his chair. I was sitting in a chair off to the side, unsure of what was about to go down. Kemp wasn’t one to discuss what he planned to do. Most times I don’t think he even had a plan. He seemed to do things at the spur of the moment.
“I’m sure—who the hell said it was thirteen? I counted ten.”
“It doesn’t matter who said it, what matters is the three Gs that’s missing.”
“This is bullshit, Kemp, you know me better than that. Why would I steal from you?”
“I’ve been trying to figure that shit out and I’m stuck. I make sure you get dough and this is the thanks I get?”
“I keep trying to tell you I didn’t steal from you. If anything’s missing you need to holla at them niggas on the street.” Tony was now raising his voice. If there was one thing about Kemp that never changed it was that once his mind was made up it was pretty close to impossible to change it.
“Well, I don’t believe you,” he shouted while reaching to the small of his back and retrieving his gun. “I trusted you, nigga, and I guess that was me being naïve. I’m not about to let you get away with that shit. No one steals from me.” He was now pointing the gun in his direction. I was still sitting in the chair waiting for what would happen next. I mean, I was pretty sure what was about to happen but I wasn’t sure what Kemp would do afterward.
“If you gonna shoot me then get it over with, you’ll feel like an ass once you find out it wasn’t me!” Tony yelled back. You could tell Kemp didn’t really want to shoot him by the look in his eyes. He looked at him like a brother.
“Me feel like an ass? That’ll never happen. You should feel like an ass for thinking that you could get away with this bullshit!” he yelled. His finger was now firmly on the trigger. His face was in knots and his eyes showed the anger that was flowing through his body. A few seconds later, he shot him twice in the chest. His body fell into the wall behind him and slid down to the floor. Blood was smeared down the wall and forming a puddle beneath Tony’s body on the floor.
“Damn, this shit gonna fuck up my carpet!” Kemp said before putting his gun down on the desk. I still hadn’t budged. I was waiting for him to give me an order. He walked over to the phone and dialed. I didn’t know who he was calling at the time but I’d find out a few minutes later. “Help me wrap this nigga up, they’re coming to get him in a few minutes.”
I got up from the chair and helped him wrap Tony’s body up in plastic. I was still in shock. I had seen Kemp kill before but never someone as close to him as Tony. He was trying to prove a point, which was that it didn’t matter who it was—if he was crossed—they would be taken care of. To me, this was a valuable lesson, which would aid me in situations like these. Kemp taught me that you couldn’t trust anyone regardless of how close you were to them.
As I stood here waiting for Kenyon, all I could think about was Kemp and this lesson. Though Kenyon wasn’t close to me, he was one of the workers and I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. He didn’t respect me the way that he did Kemp and I felt like I had to prove a point. I wanted people to fear me the same way they feared him. My mind was racing as I dialed his number one la
st time. He still didn’t answer. A minute or two later I heard footsteps nearing the door.
“Yo’, what the fuck took you so long?” I yelled as soon as his face was revealed through the opened door.
“My bad, I got caught up with some personal shit. I’m here now, here’s the money,” he said walking over to the desk and dropping the black duffel bag full of money on the table.
“Personal? What personal shit would you be handling while you’re carrying my money?”
“I said my bad, damn! All the money is there.” He pointed to the bag.
I walked over to him and stood close enough where he could most likely feel the heat from my body. “Don’t let that shit happen again.”
“All right, it won’t.” He stood firm in his position as if he didn’t fear me. This added fuel to the fire but I relaxed. I didn’t want him to know he was pissing me off. “Do you need me for anything else?”
“I’m not done talking—why the fuck are you cutting me off?”
“I’m not cutting you off, I just have some shit to handle. If you don’t need anything else I can go take care of it.”
“I didn’t say I was finished, I’m still trying to figure out why you would make a detour with my money.”
“I’ve already said my bad, I’m not gonna keep saying it, man. It won’t happen again.” Kenyon was getting angry which only pissed me off more. Why the fuck was he angry? To me that meant he had something to hide.
“Who are you yelling at? You don’t have any reason to be upset, you’re the one lollygagging with my fuckin’ money in the wings. You should have dropped that shit off first.” I was repeating myself and I hated it. I just wanted to make sure this nigga knew not to play games with me.
“Look, I’m not no sucka Black, you’re not gonna be talking to me like some fucking young boy. I told you what happened and that’s that. You don’t have to keep repeating yourself either because I heard.”
I felt just like Kemp did when he faced Tony that day. I wanted to blow him away but I had to think about it. Was killing him going to prove anything? I couldn’t let him disrespect me like that, though I would definitely lose more respect like that. I’d worked too hard to gain what I had and I’d be damned if I’d let one nigga ruin it. “I’ll talk to you however I see fit. You work for me, nigga, don’t ever forget that!” I yelled.
“How can I? You keep reminding me.”
His sarcasm was taking me to a level of anger that I was trying to avoid. My fingers were gripped tightly around the .45 that was in my hand. Sweat was forming on my forehead from the adrenaline rushing through my body. JB was sitting there with his eyes glued to Kenyon’s back. He was waiting for one of us to make a move. I couldn’t even respond to what he’d just said. He didn’t respect me and it didn’t matter what I did at this point. For me, there was only one option: killing him. With a quick hand motion, I raised the gun and shot him in the chest. He stumbled before I released four more shots, forcing him down to the ground. JB didn’t budge, almost as if he knew what I was about to do before I did it. I gave him a look, which meant get help to come take him out. I walked back to the desk and sat down. I placed the gun on the desk and grabbed a cloth to wipe the blood that I felt resting on my face.
JB left out of the office and shortly returned with a couple of the runners, some rope, and a bunch of plastic. I still sat silent at the desk. I hated the fact that I had to resort to murder. I hoped that I could keep him around regardless of his attitude toward me after he believed Kemp was alive. He actually was a good soldier his loyalty just didn’t lie with me. After they wrapped him up and took him out of the room the female we used to clean up messes like these came in and begin cleaning up the blood that was left behind. I got up to leave the room and walked straight into JB, who was on his way back in.
“I know this ain’t a good time, but it’s somebody I want you to meet.”
“You’re right, it ain’t a good time, so can we do this later?”
“I wish we could, but with Kenyon being gone I need you to meet this dude like yesterday.”
“I just shot this nigga and you’re already trying to replace him.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do? I can’t handle the work on both ends alone.”
I stood there for a second thinking. He was right, I couldn’t expect him to handle Kenyon’s area. He had to be replaced or shit would get out of hand. At this point I had to think rationally if I wanted things to get back on track. Putting too much work on one person would only hurt the situation. “All right, where is he?”
“Out front, his name is Money.”
“Money? I think I heard that name before. Is he the one that holds down the corner outside of Papi’s?”
“Yeah, that’s him,” JB said as we walked toward the exit. I couldn’t remember where I knew him from at the time but I knew that it would come back to me eventually. We exited the building where Money was standing, leaning up against a Ranger Rover. I was impressed; for a nigga that holds down one corner he seemed to be doing especially well. It also made me wonder what the hell he needed me for. Naturally, I was a suspicious dude but I figured I’d give him the benefit of the doubt since I trusted JB.
“Money, this is Black. Black, meet Money.”
I reached my right hand out to shake his. I nodded my head before speaking. “So JB tells me that you want to work for me.”
“Well, I was thinking more like a partnership. I do pretty well on my own block so I definitely don’t want to work for anyone. I figured we could work together to knock all the other hustlers out of the box.”
What the fuck is he talking about? I thought. Why the hell would I begin a partnership with a nigga I don’t even know? I must look like a straight fool.
“A partnership? What makes you think I need a partner?”
“I didn’t say you needed one, but you could only benefit from having me on your team. I know you don’t know me and if a nigga I ain’t know came to me the same way I’d be skeptical too. But on some real shit, I’m one of the toughest soldiers out here. You won’t find another me, for sure.”
“Maybe we can work something out. I’m not sure if it’ll be a partnership but I’ll figure it out once I get my head straight. I got a lot of shit on my mind right now and I can’t really make that kind of decision. Give JB your contact information and I will get back to you by the end of the week.” Though most of what I said was true. I wanted to wait until I did a little research. I didn’t really trust what he was saying. I didn’t want to hear too much more of his pitch because him being my partner was out of the question. Niggas like JB had been down with me from day one and I hadn’t given them that opportunity. They’d look at me like an asshole if I let this nigga slide in so easily.
“Cool, I appreciate it,” he said, reaching out to shake my hand.
“I’m out, JB, call me if something’s up. I’ll be back shortly.” I walked over to my car and began my drive home. I had so much on my mind and so much to straighten out. I had just killed someone. In the past I’d shot at a couple of people and had hit a few but had never killed anyone. It was a different feeling, one of triumph. I felt like I could do anything at that point and I planned on using this no-tolerance method from that point on.
Chapter Thirty-six
Diamond
Where I Belong
I sat on the steps, both eyes full of tears. They had just handcuffed Johnny and took him off to jail. I was losing my best friend and there wasn’t anything that I could do to stop it. Did I cause this? If I hadn’t pushed him so hard maybe this wouldn’t have happened. I could remember the blood all over him and he ran to my house to tell me what happened. It was a vision that I’d never be able to erase. I heard banging on the back door. It was almost midnight so I knew it could only be him. By the sound of the knocks I could tell that something was wrong so I hurried to the door to answer it. It was pouring outside and he stood there in jeans and a T-shirt soaked with rain and blood.
He stood there frozen as I stood on the other side of the threshold with the same look.
“What the hell happened, Johnny?” I said as tears instantly formed in the wells of my eyes. I grabbed hold of him to make sure that he wasn’t hurt.
“I did it, I couldn’t take it anymore. I did it,” he said as he walked through the door and began pacing. Water was dripping all over the place, leaving little blood-tinged puddles all over the kitchen floor. He was disoriented and filled with anger. I had never seen him so upset. Each time I tried to touch him he’d snatch away and keep repeating the same thing over and over again. I didn’t know what it was that he’d done at that moment but I knew it couldn’t be good.
“Babe, what did you do?” I was crying at this point. I wanted to console him but at the young age of sixteen I didn’t know how. I thought about movies and TV shows to see if I could remember how they’d done it. My mind was drawing a blank and my instinct wasn’t helping much either.
“I did it, I fuckin’ killed him. I did it.”
“Who did you kill?”
“My father, he can’t hurt us anymore.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Did he just say he killed his father? The only thing I could think of doing was holding him. I wrapped my arms around him and held on tight as we cried together. I felt like my world was crashing down. He was going to be taken away and I’d probably never see him again.
“It’s all my fault, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I had to. I couldn’t let him keep abusing us. I had to stand up and be a man.”
Stand up and be a man was what I’d always told him. I told him that he’d never be a man if he couldn’t stand up for himself and protect his sister. I pushed him and now his life was over. I stood there holding him close without saying a word until I heard police sirens and saw flashing lights. A few seconds later there was banging at the door. I opened the door after Johnny gave me a nod. The cops pushed me aside and burst into the house, immediately putting handcuffs on him. My mother and aunt had since woke up and were standing in the living room with me. My mom was clueless as they dragged him out of the house. I cried and tried to free myself from my mom’s grip to get one last hug. He was out of the house and into the car before I could get to him. I sat on the steps looking on as they drove away. My head was buried in my knees.
The Black Diamond Trilogy Page 24
