by Kiki Swinson
“Yeah, I know that,” I responded in a nonchalant way. Instead of Quincy responding, he just looked at me with an expression that said he was down for whatever. I gave him a nod to let him know that I was feeling his loyalty and we left it just like that.
A few minutes later, I sent word for Rameek to bring out my Brindle pit named Coco, because the fight was about to start. That fat nigga Lloyd stood on the other side of the ring with his pit on the leash. And I ain’t gon’ lie, that muthafucker he had standing beside him was a beast. His head was big as a muthafucker, but the frame of his body was a little smaller than Coco, so he might be able to lock onto her neck and cripple her ability to breathe. But hopefully Coco wouldn’t let that happen and would just rip his ass apart from the door. Rameek entered the ring with Coco, Lloyd came in from the other side with his pit and the crowd started going crazy. Both Rameek and Lloyd stayed in their corners so they could finish prepping both dogs. Not too long after, the judge entered the ring and instructed Rameek and Lloyd to bring the dogs to their scratch lines. Seconds later, the short, old, gray-haired man yelled, “Let ‘em go!”
Immediately after those words left his mouth, the adrenaline inside me started pumping like crazy. Niggas all over the spot started going wild when Coco and Lloyd’s pit charged at each other. And like two Mack trucks, they slammed into each other hard with their teeth flashing as they tried desperately to find a vulnerable spot to tear into. “Get him Coco! Get ‘em!” I roared into the ring. Listening to my command, Coco stretched open her mouth and leaped head first and grabbed the pit’s right front leg, tearing into the coat and ripping open the flesh. Blood shot out all over the floor and into Coco’s face. All of a sudden, you heard a snap, and the other pit got flipped onto its back. And from that point, I knew my girl had broken one or two of that pit’s bones because he couldn’t get back onto his feet. Coco released his leg and went straight for his throat and tried to lock onto it, but the judge hurried up and ordered Rameek and Lloyd to break them up.
Rameek rushed in and grabbed Coco while one of Lloyd’s homeboys walked into the ring with a blanket and picked up his pit. While this was going on I watched Lloyd’s facial expression the entire time. And boy, was he pissed. “Dump that muthafucker outside ‘round back,” he told Rameek.
“That nigga Gaza ain’t gon’ let us leave him here,” Lloyd’s homeboy said as he struggled to hold the pit in his arms.
“Well, do something wit’ ‘em, ‘cause he ain’t going back to the crib wit’ me,” Lloyd fired back.
“Want me to get the vet ‘round back to set his leg?” the guy asked like he was pleading for the pit’s life.
“Shiiid, nigga, is you crazy? I ain’t paying no vet two grand to set his leg. Just throw his ass in the back of the truck and get rid of ‘em,” Lloyd snapped back and then he walked off.
Now you know I wasn’t gonna let that nigga walk out of here without me saying something , so I caught up with him. “Ay yo, nigga, you ‘bout to leave?”
“Yeah, why?” he asked in a frustrated manner.
“Oh, because I didn’t want you to leave without me saying thanks for that easy money!”
“That wasn’t no easy money. That was just luck. Because if they would’ve let me use my drill whistle, your bitch would’ve been done from the gate.”
“Nah, homeboy. I don’t think so, because Coco is a Presa Canario and they go harder than any other pit ‘round here.”
“Nigga, I don’t give a fuck what kind of pit you got,” Lloyd fired back. “Cause, that pit I got is a Blue Nose and he’s a monster and if these ol’ sucker-ass niggas would’ve let me use my joint, you wouldn’t be smiling right now.”
“Yeah, nigga! Whatever,” I replied with a smile as I waved him off with my hand and walked off. I mean, it wasn’t making any sense for me to keep talking to the moron. He wasn’t trying to hear me anyway. I bounced and headed over to the bookies to collect my dough. When that mission was completed I put my dough away in a safe place and hopped back in my whip.
After that twenty-grand victory, I camped out in my hideaway spot in Chesapeake. It was a nice, plush, four-bedroom lake house, sitting on two acres of land, overlooking the Garden Ridge Lake off Battlefield Boulevard. I picked up this pretty, red chick named Sasha on the way here since I was in the mood to get my dick sucked. Quincy called her up for me and told her to meet me up at the car wash.
He fucked her a few times himself and told me that she was about her work and I wouldn’t have to pay much for her services. All I had to do is promise the hoe breakfast and a shopping spree in the morning and I would get the royal treatment. It worked every time. When it comes to dem’ other hoes like Nikki’s cousin Kira, you had come at them from a different angle. Believe me, they were hip to the game and they could smell bullshit from the gate. So, I handled Nikki the way I would’ve handled Kira, if I would’ve met her first. She was one clever chick and she knew how to manipulate niggas to do what she wanted. I’m sure Nikki mastered some of her tricks so I would be keeping my eyes on her and always make sure I watched my steps around her. Hoes like that can’t be trusted, which was another reason why Nikki ain’t never been here. And I intend to keep it like that too. Because if anything were to ever go down, I could come here and lay low without worrying about if she was gonna tell muthafuckers where to find me. And that was a good feeling to have. But, what’s going to be even better was right after I bang Sasha’s back out, I was gon’ catch me some shut eye. What a way to end the night!
5
Three hours later
Me and Sasha were lying in the bed knocked out when we heard a loud bang. That shit scared the hell out of us.
“What was that?” she asked, sitting straight up in the bed clutching the sheet against her chest.
“I don’t know. But it sounded like somebody just kicked in my front door.”
“Whatchu want me to do?”
“Get underneath the bed and hide,” I instructed her as I jumped to my feet and grabbed my 40. caliber glock from underneath my pillow.
While Sasha was climbing underneath my bed, I tiptoed over to my bedroom door. After I closed and locked it, I stood there butt naked, dick hanging, pistol in my hand and one hollow point bullet in the chamber ready to bust it at the first thing moving. Now as I began to stand there, I couldn’t help but wonder who in the hell could be in my house. The only muthafuckers who knew about this spot were Quincy, home girl underneath the bed and Mark. And Mark’s dead. I know my boy Quincy wouldn’t sell me out. So, to be in the dark about what’s going on the other side of this door was killing me. And I ain’t gon’ lie, I want so badly to open up that door and just start blazing everything moving. But, I know that would be a bad move on my part so I was just gonna sit tight and wait to see what happened next.
Twenty seconds later, I heard a couple sets of footsteps creeping up the stairs to the second floor, which was where my bedroom was, and my mind started racing faster than my heart. And without even giving it a second thought, I took a couple steps backwards and aimed my burner directly at the door because I didn’t know what was about to happen. And judging from them foot steps I just heard, it had to be at least two or three niggas out there, so I had to be ready to go for what I know. And that was some real shit!
While I was standing there, a whole bunch of emotions were running through my entire body. But the one that was overpowering ‘em all was the feeling of uncertainty.
And I didn’t like feeling like this. It’s was not a good thing. But hey, what could I do?
Sasha was hiding underneath the bed and so it was like I was on my own. While I was trying to contemplate my next move, one of them niggas grabbed a hold of the doorknob and turned it. As soon as he figured out that it was locked, three bullets tore right through the door, leaving huge holes around the lock area of the doorknob. Sasha screamed, as I jumped back and started busting my gun.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!” I let off six shots. “Die
you muthafuckers,” I screamed, and then continued to empty out the entire fifteen round magazine, while shells were popping out all over the place. My bedroom door looked like Swiss cheese and was barely hanging on its hinges because I wasn’t the only one busting off rounds. Immediately after I sent the first slugs through the door, dem’ niggas started returning heat too. And at that point, I knew I needed to take cover so I dove on the other side of my bed and landed next to my jeans.
Hiding there with thoughts of me lying in my own casket wasn’t something I wanted to think about and immediately erased that thought. I also knew that in order for that not to happen, I was gonna have to find a way to get out of this place. I knew going out of the bedroom door would be out of the question and since the window was my only other option, I knew that was the exit I was gonna take. I peeped underneath the bed skirt and noticed that Sasha had her face buried in the floor. She looked as if she was scared to death. I know she was beating herself up on the inside for hopping in the truck with me tonight. And I honestly couldn’t blame her for feeling that way. Because the way shit looked right now, I ain’t gon’ be able to help her. It was too many muthafucking bullets flying around here for me. The best thing for her to do was to stay where she was and hope them niggas don’t find her because as soon as I get the right opportunity, I’m gonna be ghost. And I ain’t gon’ look back either. In the meantime, I also needed to figure out how the hell I was gonna get into my safe that’s hidden in the back of my closet. There was $200,000 in it so if I didn’t get to it before them cats busted up in here, then I might as well forget it.
The very second that I got up the nerve to crawl over to my closet, the shooting stopped, which either meant that dem’ nigga were reloading or they were standing out there waiting to hear any sign of movement. Either way they were going to be coming in here and I didn’t want to be around. Without giving it a second thought, I snatched up my jeans and put them on and slightly opened the window.
“Psst, Sasha,” I whispered. “Come on we gotta bounce.”
Her stupid ass began to make all type of noise as she tried to climb from underneath the bed.
“Shoot ‘em! He’s trying to get away!” one nigga yelled as he kicked open the door and stormed into the room.
Seeing this muthafucker dressed in all black and a mask covering his face sent me straight in panic mode. And when he aimed his burner at me and started busting dem’ caps, I knew this nigga wanted to take my life. I did a Superman stunt and dove right through the partially opened window. When I hit the ground I could feel my skin burning in my right shoulder so I knew that I had been hit. Not only that, I believe that I had either sprung my ankle or broken it because after I hit the ground and tried to get back up, my leg couldn’t stand the pressure, so I just laid there and pretended as if I was dead.
“You think he’s dead?” one voice asked as he peered out the window.
“He should be because I hit him with at least two or three joints when he was going through the window,” the second voice replied.
“Want me to go down there and make sure?” the first voice asked.
“Nah, we ain’t got time for that,” the second voice said. “Now, let’s get what we came here for.”
Hearing the second guy’s decision to leave me alone made me happy as hell. But, I knew that I wasn’t in the clear until they broke camp.
Meanwhile, I was lying face down in the semi-wet grass and the burning sensation of my bullet wound was starting to torture the hell out of me. The shit was becoming really unbearable and I was pissed that I couldn’t stand up on my feet and make a run for it. Man, if I wouldn’t have fucked up my ankle I would’ve been gone. But, since I had to play it safe and thug it out right here, then that’s what I was gonna do.
While I lay there feeling helpless and stupid, I heard one of them niggas fire two shots.
“Pop! Pop!”
I ain’t gon’ lie; that scared the shit out of me. I knew that it was Sasha’s body that took them two slugs. At that point I was really feeling fucked up behind that. I mean, I really liked shorty. She was cool as hell and her fuck game was on the money. So, she would be missed.
As I continued to lay face down in this fucked up condition, I heard the doors to a car slam shut and then I heard the tires squeal as they peeled off. Immediately I felt a sense of relief. At that point, I knew that I was going to live. But, that feeling of joy came to an abrupt end when I heard the sound of someone walking on the broken pieces of glass in my bedroom surrounding my window. And boy, was my heart on the verge of jumping out of my chest, as I laid there, my back facing the window and my eyes closed tightly. As I waited for whoever it was to make their next move, something unexpectedly happened.
“Oh my God, they killed him,” a woman cried out softly.
I wanted to believe that I just heard Sasha’s voice and that my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, but I continued to lie there. Then something in my mind convinced me otherwise and I opened up my eyes, lifted my head up and turned it around as far as my neck would allow me to and then I said, “Nah, Sasha I ain’t dead. But, I’m fucked up pretty bad.”
“Can you get up?” she asked.
“Nah, I think I broke my ankle.”
“All right. We’ll keep still and I’ll be right down,” she assured me and before I could blink my eyes twice, home girl was fully dressed, ready to do whatever I needed her to do.
“You know I thought dem’ niggas put two slugs in you, right?”
“You talking about when one of them shot their gun twice?”
“Yeah.”
“Nah, they weren’t shooting at me. They shot at that safe they found in the back of your closet.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I saw them when they pulled it out and tried to open it. And when they saw that they couldn’t get in it, they opened fire on it.”
“What happened after they shot it?”
“Nothing. It still wouldn’t open so, both of them picked it up and carried it with them.”
“Ahhhh shit! Nah, don’t tell me dem’ niggas got my dough.”
“Well, I’m sorry but they did. And the way that they went straight to it, lead me to believe that they knew exactly where to find it.”
“Please tell me that they slipped up and dropped some names,” I begged.
She shook her head and said, “Nope.”
“Well, did you get to see what kind of whip they were driving?”
“No. I didn’t come from underneath the bed until after I heard their car drive off.”
Frustrated, I screamed out, “Damn!” And then I shook my head in disbelief.
It took Sasha sometime to get me off the ground and back into my house. But, she did it and I was truly grateful for that. We ended up going to the downstairs bathroom since I couldn’t make it back upstairs. When we got in there I could see all the damage that was done to my body.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
Sasha sighed and then she said, “All I’m gon’ say is that you need to get on your knees and thank God.”
“Why? Whatcha’ talking about?”
“First of all, out of all those bullets that were ringing all around that room, you only got a flesh wound.”
Surprised by what she had just told me, I said, “What.”
“Don’t say ‘what’. Say thank you God,” she instructed. Then she said, “And not only that, your ankle doesn’t seem like it’s broke. It looks like its sprained.”
“For real!”
“Yes, I’m for real. But, you still need to go to the emergency room to have everything checked out.”
“A’ight. But, do me a favor first.”
“What’s that?”
“Go upstairs and get my cell phone off my nightstand.”
“They took it.”
“Are you fucking serious?”
“Yeah.”
“But, for what? I mean, why in the hell they need my muthafucking cell
phone?”
“I don’t know, but they took it. And they took your watch, wallet and chain.”
“Come on, you’re joking, right.”
Sasha shook her head again.
Out anger and frustration, I grabbed the soap from the soap dish near the sink and threw it against the wall as hard as I could. I knew my sudden act of rage scared the hell of her, but I couldn’t be concerned about that. I was trying to figure out how I was going to deal with the cats that robbed me at the house nobody was supposed to know existed.
I ended up using my house phone to make the call to Quincy. I knew I couldn’t say much, out of fear that someone could be listening on the other line, so I kept my conversation short and sweet. He got the message loud and clear because when I got to the hospital, he was already there standing by the payphone at the front entrance of the emergency room area.
We couldn’t really talk because two nurses grabbed me as soon as I walked through the sliding doors. I did manage to tell him to stick around until they got through with bandaging me up. I also instructed Sasha to stay back with him so she could tell him what went down.
While I was in back, the doctor and dem’ two nurses had a lot of fucking questions for me. They claimed they needed to alert the police that I had a bullet wound and wanted to know it happened. So, I made up a bogus ass story about how I had just left my girlfriend’s apartment to go home and when I was getting into my truck, two guys came up from behind me wearing masks, put a gun up to my head and told me to run my shit. Then I told them that when they guys started acting all crazy like they wanted to put me to sleep, I took off running. Somehow they managed to pump one in me.
The doctor asked me how I managed to sprain my ankle and get the small cuts all over my arms and chest. I told him that I got it from tripping and falling down in a filthy ass alley. Now, I don’t know if they believed me, but at this point I didn’t care. My main thing was not to get the police involved over at my crib. I got enough heat on me as it was. Not only that, I wanna deal with this matter on my own. The police ain’t gon’ be able to serve justice to dem’ niggas like I’m gon’ do when I found out who they were.
