by Nene Capri
“I thought about it, Bleed, and that’s my muthafuckin’ answer.”
Chapter 34
Time Is Up
Treebie moved up her walkway juggling bags and her cellphone, trying to retrieve her keys. She fumbled with the locks while listening to Lissha angrily insist that a meeting was needed as soon as possible.
“What the fuck happened now?” Treebie was rushing, they had to leave in an hour to make the pickup from Riz’s people.
“Bitch, I don’t want to talk about it on the phone, meet me at the Winking Lizard out in Independence.”
“Way out there!” Treebie held the phone with her shoulder as she slid the door key in the lock.
“Yeah, way the fuck out there,” Lissha said.
Treebie stepped inside her house and almost fainted. Wa’leek was sitting in her living room with his arms rested on the back of the couch and a look on his face that said he was ready for a war. “Oh shit, let me call you back.” Treebie dropped her bags and ended the call over Lissha’s heated protest.
Wa’leek was eyeing her like a hawk.
“What you doing here?” she asked, laying her phone on the counter and frowning at him.
“What did we agree on?”
“Wa’leek I told you, I need time.”
“Well, times up. When I leave this city, you’re coming with me.”
“That’s not happening.”
“It’s already in motion.” He stood up wearing all black, heading in her direction.
“Baby, please. I have something I have to do first,” she maintained.
“Yeah I know, pack. Get ya shit together and be ready to roll and none of this shit is up for discussion. I’m about to shake this whole muthafuckin’ city up.” He peered through those gray eyes and her heart sank to her toes.
Wa’leek turned to walk to the door and Treebie grabbed his arm. “Wah, please. I got a lot of shit on the line.”
He turned back around and locked eyes with her. “Like what, running to get that pussy ass nigga’s shit from way out in fuckin’ PA?” His revelation made her very quiet and confirmed her worse fear, Wa’leek was back in contact with Riz. But what all had he told him.
“Yeah, shocked the shit outta you with that one. I had a sit down with my boy.”
“Why the fuck are you going behind my back and getting in the middle of this? This ain’t got shit to do with you.” She began heating up.
“What the fuck is you talking about? If it involves you then it involves me.”
“I’m fucking grown, I don’t need your approval, I’ma do me and I suggest you do you. Please stay the fuck out of my business. And for the record, I ain’t going nowhere with you.” She stood breathing fire.
Wa’leek moved closer to her. Only an inch remained between them. “When I get finished with these muthafuckas, it ain’t going to be shit to stay for. I’m giving you an out. Because I promise you this, I never show mercy to my enemies. I love you, but please don’t fuck around and make yourself a problem I have to solve,” he calmly warned.
Treebie took a half step back. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Why the fuck are you doing this to yourself? You act like you owe this bitch. You don’t owe her shit,” he boomed, causing her to jump.
“It’s not about owing her, I gave her my word.” Treebie’s voice sounded feeble under his attack.
“Did she give you hers?” he challenged.
Treebie got quiet.
Wa’leek pounced. “Let me ask you something, and I want you to weigh the question real good. Why is it that Lissha don’t go on the pickups? You don’t think that shit is a little foul that she gets to sit home blowing Gator while you out there risking your fucking life and freedom?”
Again Treebie didn’t respond.
“Yeah, toss that shit around for a little while.” He turned and walked toward the door. “I’ll be back in a little while so start getting your shit together,” he ordered then rolled out.
Treebie walked to the counter and grabbed a glass and a bottle of 1800 and poured herself a drink. As she downed it Wa’leek’s words played back in her mind. She hadn’t looked at it in that way. But now it was crystal clear. Lissha and Big Zo weren’t taking any of the risk but collecting all the dough.
Treebie’s phone started ringing, interrupting her thoughts. When she looked down at the screen it was Lissha. “What’s up?” she answered, feeling some kind of way.
“What the fuck happened? You just hung up.”
“Ain’t nothin’.”
“Are you on your way?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can. I gotta throw my shit in the car.”
“A’ight, see you in a few.” Lissha hung up as she cruised through the streets worried about why Kiam wasn’t answering his phone and what was going to happen if he found out who Blood Money was.
Treebie walked into her bedroom and gathered her road clothes and loaded her guns. Her mind was all over the place. They had to pick up later tonight. Lissha was all heated behind them hitting Kiam’s spot. And now she had Wa’leek’s crazy ass wandering around the city getting ready to make things worse than they already we’re.
“Fuck it,” she said out loud as she grabbed her bag, phone, and keys and headed to the door.
On the other side of town...
“Oh, shit! What’s up, fam? What brings you to the Midwest?” Gator said with a semi smile as he opened the door for Wa’leek.
“You know how I do, never know where a nigga gonna show up next,” replied Wa’leek as he passed Gator and walked right into his living room and took a seat on the coach.
Gator closed the door and followed suit, taking a seat across from him, “So what brings you this way?” Gator said, reaching over and grabbing his cigarette off of the cocktail table and lighting it up.
“Don’t do that shit right now,” Wa’leek ordered.
“Same old Leek,” Gator said as he put it out and placed it in the ashtray.
“What the fuck is going on with this nigga Kiam?” Wa’leek went straight to the point.
“Man.” Gator dragged the word out real slow as if he was considering how to respond. “That muthafucka done came out here and took the fuck over,” he reported.
“On whose orders?” Wa’leek questioned him.
“Big Zo’s.”
“And you just let that shit happen?” Wa’leek raised an eyebrow.
“You know how Big Zo do.” Gator sat forward and folded his hands, ready to get it all off his chest.
“Yeah I sure do. And I got four years behind the shit that he do.”
“Well, he spent three years preparing that nigga to come out here and take the food off the very tables of the people that held shit together the whole time he been gone. That nigga Kiam killing everything that gets in his way.
“So what you gonna do, just sit there with your thumb up your ass or you gonna handle your business? What, your gun don’t pop off no more?”
“You already know how I get down. I got some shit on the front burner and when that shit finish simmering it’s on like a muthafucka.”
Wa’leek stood up. “I hope so. I would hate to have to make this trip bloody.” He turned to the door.
When his hand touched the knob, Wa’leek stopped and slowly turned back around to face Gator who was right behind him. “Oh, you might want to make sure you put some shit on the fire for Riz while you at it. He told that nigga one of your little secrets.” “What secret?” asked Gator.
Wa’leek smiled. “Happy hunting. I got my own rat to smoke out of a hole. Good luck.” He turned the knob and walked out, slightly slamming the door behind him.
Gator returned to the living room, grabbed his cigarette, lit it up and began taking long hard pulls. He sat back down with his mind ran a mile a minute. If Riz had told Kiam what he thought he did, then Kiam had more than a head start. That wasn’t good at all, in fact it was deadly.
Gator jumped up and grabbed his gu
n, tucking it in his back. He threw on his boots and left his apartment to head over to see Wolfman.
Wa’leek sat slouched in his rental car watching as Gator pulled out his driveway. “That was easier than I thought,” he said to himself as he pulled off following Gator.
Chapter 35
One Thing after Another
As Kiam drove from one block to another, it was like he was seeing the city for the first time. The air was turning crisp as the leaves threatened to fall from the trees. The pulse of the city was idling at the moment, but at its heart was a thirst that needed to be quenched.
Behind the cloak of darkness that casted a shadow over the hoods, there were strong feelings of poverty, death and despair which seeped from every alley and crevice. The season was changing and Kiam was changing with it. It was the autumn of a new day, the whole way he dealt with muthafuckas from this point forward was going to change.
Kiam was in total beast mode, his temper was high and his patience was short. So much had gone on in the last couple of weeks that it had his mind and spirit in an uproar. The one thing he knew he definitely had to repair was his relationship with Eyez.
They had barely spoken since their argument on the way home from the retreat a week ago. Here it was the Eve of their new day and already he had managed to draw a wedge between them with the very things he promised her he wouldn’t let tear them apart.
Hitting the Bluetooth in his truck he spoke out, “Call Eyez.”
The voice command dialed her number and he waited to hear her voice flutter through his speakers. “Hello,” her soft voice called back to him. Its sound was medicine to his soul.
“Hey you.”
“Hey, baby, where are you?”
“I’m on my way to Bw3 on Mayfield. What you doing?”
“Laying here thinking about you,” she admitted with a purr in her tone.
“Put on some clothes and come meet me.”
Faydrah looked over at the clock on her nightstand. It was 10:15 and she had to be at work at six o’clock in the morning. She started to just tell him to come on over but she knew that they had things to rectify. If he came over she would sacrifice what really needed to be said to satisfy her yearning to have him in her bed.
She decided that it would be best for her to go to him. “Okay, let me get dressed, I’ll see you in about thirty.”
“A’ight, baby girl, drive safe. See you in a minute,” Kiam said as he disconnected the call.
Faydrah rolled over and climbed out of bed, mentally and emotionally preparing herself to have this sit down with Kiam as she wiggled into her jeans.
Once in the car she took a deep breath, turned on the radio and cleared her mind.
Twenty minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot in her red Mustang convertible and parked next to Kiam’s truck. Exiting the vehicle she straightened her shirt and hit the locks.
When Faydrah walked through the door Kiam stood up to greet her. Smiling, she walked right up to him and stepped into his arms. Kiam held her for several minutes, trying to comfort her weary mind and ease the tension between them. “Have a seat, ma,” he said releasing her from his embrace.
Faydrah slid into the booth and Kiam slid in next to her, affectionately pressing his knees against hers. She smiled at the gesture, but the first few seconds were filled with a pregnant silence as she fidgeted with her keys.
“I’m sorry,” they both said at the same time.
“Don’t be trying to steal my lines,” Kiam smoothly stated, taking her hand into his and bringing it to his lips. “I missed you, Eyez,” he confessed.
“Kiam, what are we doing?” she asked as she connected her pretty brown eyes with his.
“I love you, that’s what I’m doing. I know what it is to have you, and I know what it is to be without you, and that’s not even an option. No matter how hard I search, I would never find another woman like you. Hurting or losing you is never my intent.” Faydrah listened and blinked back tears.
Kiam went on, staring deep into the windows of her soul. “I made a promise to a very solid man who has given me all that he has left. That man became like a father to me when I was behind the wall. What happened the other night was a direct threat to some things that I’m doing for him so I gotta handle it. All I’m asking is that you don’t ask me to let him down. Just let me see this mission through.” He begged of her to understand.
Faydrah overstood. She knew that with men like hers it was loyalty or death, but too often it was both. “Baby, you don’t have to see this shit through.” She bit down on her lip to quell the anger that bubbled in her soul every time she thought about what the game did to those that refused to walk away.
“This ain’t you anymore, Kiam. All your life you have been taking on missions to save everyone else. But who is going to save you?” She rested her hand on his chest.
Kiam got quiet.
“I understand your need to rule; you’re built like that. But baby, these niggas out here have changed. Eight years have passed since you were out here, and with each passing year the game has become grimier. Ain’t no code anymore.” She paused to swallow some of the emotions that fought to spill out. Kiam looked in her eyes and saw her deep concern for him.
“These niggas don’t respect nothing,” she continued in a voice that was on the verge of breaking with each word uttered. “I don’t want you to be the next man’s badge of honor.” Her eyes became teary as the thought of him laying in some gutter on a dark street flooded her mind.
Kiam put a reassuring hand on top of hers. “I know, ma, and that’s why I’m not sleeping on these fools. Just hold me down until I do what I gotta do, then I’m out. Please, Eyez, I need you.”
That was the one proclamation she could not ignore. Her heart just wouldn’t allow her to deny him what he needed. Faydrah put her hands on the back of his head and pulled him to her. She kissed him gently on the lips, then pulled back holding his face between her hands and surrendering to his plea. “I’m not going anywhere. But please don’t force me to live without you,”
“You have my word. I’ma do everything within my power not to let that happen.”
“You better do what you gotta do, and I mean that,” she reinforced, then the corners of her mouth turned up again.
Kiam smiled back at her.
She lifted her hand up and flashed her jewelry. “Now that you done put a ring on it, you owe me some till death do us part. And I want that to be when we can’t tell whose teeth is whose in the little cups on the sink.”
Kiam chuckled. “You crazy.”
“Yup, and that’s why you love me.” She stuck her tongue out at him teasingly. It was amazing how quickly he could take her frown and turn it upside down.
“Forever, baby.” He leaned in to kiss her again.
“You better know it.” She savored the feel of his lips against hers.
Kiam stole another sweet kiss. When their lips parted Faydrah asked, “Where is that waitress? I done got hungry messing with you in the middle of the night.”
Kiam looked around then flagged the waitress.
After the last wing vanished, they sat and talked and laughed until Faydrah realized that she had better take her butt home and get some sleep.
“You know I still didn’t get my fix,” Kiam reminded her as he opened her car door for her.
“You been fucking these streets so hard, you forgot that you had something hot and wet waiting on you,” she replied, twisting her lips.
“You talk a lot of shit.”
“And I can back it up.”
“I got something you can back up on,” he boasted as the thought of getting up behind that fat ass and making her submit hardened his dick.
“Let’s see if your punk ass Cadillac can beat my four horses to the house.” She tapped the roof of her car and looked over at his truck.
“You ain’t taking about shit.” Kiam got a little charged up.
“Well, let’s go.” Faydrah thr
ew down the challenge.
“A’ight, it’s on.” Kiam put his fist out and Faydrah hit it. He nodded in agreement then turned to get in his truck.
Out the corner if his eye he noticed a black Cutlass creeping toward them with its headlights turned off. Inside the vehicle were evil eyes and faces half-covered with bandanas. “Eyez get down!” Kiam barked and shoved her to the ground just as loud gunshots erupted from inside the Cutlass.
Faydrah screamed as her elbows scraped the pavement and bullets pelted all around them. Kiam covered her body with his and hurriedly snatched his banger off his waist. When he brought it up, his Nine barked back loud. Boc! Boc! Boc! Boc!
Fearing for Faydrah’s safety, he pounced back up on his feet and swiftly moved away from her. The shots from his assailants’ guns whizzed by his head as he dashed behind his truck, crouched down and busting back at them over the hood.
Faydrah’s screams pierced through the rapid gunshots that clapped in the quietness of the night. Kiam rose up and got hit with two up high. He stumbled back against a car that was parked beside his truck. Heat exploded in his body and hot blood poured from the wounds, but he refused to go down.
Fuck death, I don’t fear that shit. If this was how it was written, well, bring that shit on! Either way, he wasn’t dying with bullets still in his clip. He was bout to show them why niggas in the streets called guns whistles.
With his left arm rendered immobile and hanging limp at his side, Kiam pulled himself upright and raised the Nine in his right hand. “This what the fuck y’all want!” he yelled out, death-struck. Then he sparked up the night.
Bullets whistled through the air and tattered holes in the side of the Cutlass. The gunmen blasted back, then zoomed away, tires screaming.
Kiam staggered around the front of the Escalade, barely able to hold himself up. He was losing a lot of blood and he felt weak. “Eyez! Baby, where you at?” he called out.
“Kiam!” She was on her feet running toward him. Crying and babbling incoherently. She had feared that he’d been killed.
