by Nicety
That sounded like Shine’s friend’s name but I wasn’t sure. I walked over to him rubbing his head for comfort while still keeping my aim on the wife and kids. I had to make sure that he was okay with the news he had just received but he was colder than a witch’s tit. I knew that shade all too well but if I knew anything about him, it was that it wasn’t directed towards me.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” His voice was throaty.
“Please, I’m begging you.” Captain White interlocked his fingers, begging Shine for their lives as tears cascaded down his cheeks. “Don’t hurt us. Don’t kill us, please God.”
“Daddy, I’m so scared.” One of the little girls cried hysterically. “I’ve gotta pee pee.”
“Please don’t kill us. For Christ’s sake,” His wife mumbled.
Shine paced the floor gradually, beating himself upside the head slightly with the gun. “What the fuck?”
“Baby, let’s just drop their asses and get the fuck up out of here.” I moved in his line of motion forcing him to stare me in the eye.
“I’m not killing no fucking kids, Bonnie. I’m not doing it.” He woofed back at me.
“Then, I’ll do it. I can do it and you can go wait in the car.” I rose my gun pointing it right for the wife’s eyes.
“No!” Shine slapped my hand down. “We aren’t doing this. Enough innocent blood has been shed. I won’t kill harmless people on my daughter’s blood.”
Shine had grown a soft spot for women and children. He was squeezing my arm so tightly that I thought it would pop the fuck off. I snatched away from him, never taking my eyes off of him for one second. It was understood about the woman and kids but I knew that leaving them alive would indisputably seal our fate in the worst way. We were lucky, damned lucky to have gotten as far as we did. But he was throwing that all away. I could see the treachery hiding behind his dark eyes. He was anything but going soft from his murderous rage. His lips touched mine gently laying peck after peck against them.
“Trust me. Everything is going to be fine,” he whispered amorously in my right ear.
“I do.” I smiled up at him.
“I’m not going to kill your family.” Shine turned back towards the good captain raising the gun to his dome.
“Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.” Captain Rell repeated shutting his eyes before opening them again staring into his daughter’s eyes. “I love you all. You do know that don’t you?”
“Yes, daddy. We love you too.” They all chimed in with tears on deck.
“I love you.” Captain Rell shook his head.
He was breathing so hard that it looked as if he would have an asthma attack right there on the floor. His hyperventilating did nothing to deter Shine’s thoughts of making him pay for his role in the death of his daughter. I could tell his sympathy for him was nothing like the kind he had for his wife and children. No, his retribution would be swift and if God had any mercy on him, painless. Shine stood there stiff for a second, before raising his piece, beating the skinny dude's face in like he was kneading dough. He pulverized his face, tendering his meat while gripping him securely by his throat, nearly digging a crater into his face.
No one would stop him. We all sat there watching as the beating commenced for what seemed like hours, but was actually only a few minutes. When Shine finally let up, the captain dropped to the floor seemingly dead from his wounds. He lay there motionless as the weeping in the background from his family filled the room. They thought he was dead too. But Shine and I knew better. Shine had let him off the hook easy. If I was in his shoes, I would’ve been grateful that a disfigurement to the face was all I got as long as I was breathing to be able to tell about it.
“Let this be a warning. Stop joining in to do bad shit to good people.” Shine picked him up off the floor, shoving the end of the piece into his shattered mouth. “You got that? Or next time when I come back, your pretty pregnant wife here might not be so lucky. Now where can I find Steel?”
“I-I-I don’t know. He quit the force and moved about two weeks ago. Nobody’s seen or heard from him since. Word is he won the lottery or something. Bought himself a big fancy house out in the North suburbs somewhere.”
“Your ass better not be lying.” Shine tossed him back down on the floor.
“You son of bitch. You didn’t have to do this to him.” His wife walked up to Shine as the girls screamed out in terror of her absence.
“Shut up Martha,” the captain gurgled through his blood.
“I suggest you make your way back over to your precious, alluring daughters.” I grabbed that bitch by her hair, pressing the gun to her cheek. “It would be a shame for them to grow up without their mother to nurture them. Now don’t fuck with my man. I’m crazy about shit like that.”
I licked her cheek for fun as I laughed and watched her cry in horror. Shine tugged my arm as we jetted back down the stairs and out the front door into the darkness. We tucked the guns and bolted to the car, before revving it up and speeding off. Time was dwindling down now and it was only a matter of time before the good captain found the strength to send his goons after us, the feds. There was no way he was letting his go. It was the unspoken elephant in the car. We were digging the hole to our graves ourselves, jumping in deep water like that. But right was right and killing those kids wouldn’t have been that.
Sixteen
1:01am
An Offer That Can’t Be Refused
Shine
The shooter was the last motherfucka on the list. I was ready to get this nigga on and popping on his one way ticket to hell. If he had family, they would just be buying that black dress. He actually delivered the fatal blow to my baby’s dome and for that he couldn’t breathe. My daughter probably would’ve been able to live with the fact that they raped her. Many rape victims get over their attacks every day. But a gunshot wound to the head was unnecessary. He killed her to end the attack on her, but who should’ve been aiming for was those bitch ass counterparts of his.
“So, how are we gonna find him if he moved, Shine?” Bonnie slumped down in her seat.
“We’re not. Vegas is.”
“Oh yeah. That’s why I love you baby. You’re so smart. You’re always thinking.” Bonnie giggled clapping.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say that.” I couldn’t hide the muddled expression written in bold letters on my face.
“First time I said what?” She played coy.
“That you loved me. We’ve never said that to each other before.” I smiled a bit, loving the warm feeling it gave me but not wanting to let her know just how deep that ran. “It just flowed out of your mouth naturally.”
“It did? Huh. How do you like that?” She stared out the passenger side window, protesting the need to say anything else.
I was cool with her not wanting to get mushy, especially now that we were on a blood thirst chase. But eventually I would have to break that bad girl, hard exterior and get down to the creamy filling that was inside her love. She needn’t be afraid to love me since I wasn’t like all those other lame as niggas she had fucked with in the past. Deep down, I think she knew that but was too hardheaded to admit it. It wasn’t necessary now, but soon she wouldn’t be able to speak with me without leading with those infamous three words.
We pulled on the side street of Bronx’s block and walked a block up to his trap house. He was inside doing his usual thing, smoking and watching. I didn’t know if he had heard about the shit that I’ve been popping off since Bonnie and I weren’t exactly discreet with the shit. Going bar none earlier is what set the shit off but if not for her doing that we would’ve been locked up or dead by now. He would need to understand that.
“What the fuck’s the matter with you? You trying to pinch me, get me popped off in this bitch or something. What the fuck’s the matter with you?” Bronx went dead in on us as we walked through the door and he saw our humble faces.
“Nothing, B-man. I�
�ve just been out here doing my thang, you know. I’ve just been doing what we discussed.”
“Yeah, I feel that. But did you have to bring that much heat to the scene. Now you coming here is only going to bring heat to my business. And, nobody fucks with my business, Shine.”
“Man, I’m not trying to fuck up shit, B. I’m just trying to get these motherfuckas popped and dropped, you feel me.” I planted my feet firmly on the ground just in case he tried to take a swing at me like he did most niggas who he thought wronged him.
“Shine, you out here with this bitch losing your motherfucking mind. You don’t know how to carry your own damn weight bruh?” Bronx circled us, discreetly checking us for bangers.
“Aye, calm all that bitch shit down. This is my girl. And, I know how to handle mines. Just make sure you handling yours.” I countered, letting this nigga know he wasn’t about to talk to me any kind of way on this shit. “Meanwhile, fuck all that. I came here to ask you for another favor.”
“Another favor? Nigga do you got my bread from the other favor I just lent you?” Bronx sucked his teeth.
“No but we got half. Here’s $1500, right there.” Bonnie took the dough out my pocket and slapped it down on Bronx’s glass coffee table.
“See that’s the problem now. I keep letting motherfuckas build installments with me and these niggas think they on 30 year plans or some shit.” Bronx spat as his goons started laughing.
“Okay well I ain’t them motherfuckas, B. Have I been anything but truthful with you on all avenues? I ain’t never played you crazy.” I huffed, changing up my attitude. “All we ask for is a little extra time and we got you. You know I can get the money.”
“Fuck the money,” Bronx barked back.
Bonnie and I looked at each other, baffled by his remark. He was obviously a man about his money and who would never turn down a dollar. He knew my profession and how I got down. I could get the money if that was his concern. All I had to do was strategize another major heist and I was back on top in a matter of a week, tops. But the glare in his eye, told me he had other plans in mind. Bonnie and I were ready though. Even if we died trying, with her slick skills and my quick reaction time, at least one of our bullets would reach his ass and cause some major fucking damage if nothing else.
“What’s the deal, Bronx?” I was ready for anything. I could only hope she felt me and was ready too.
“I need you to pop off that favor now. Niggas been running my kindness for weakness and today is the last straw with that.” He began lighting a blunt. “I need for a nigga to stop breathing.”
“Oh shit, that’s all? Well, we can do that.” Bonnie smiled, waving him off. “Who is it?”
“Aries.” Bronx paused, staring me dead in my eyes.
He knew I knew exactly which one he was talking about. I couldn’t even fake like I didn’t know if I wanted to. What he didn’t know was that I had just found out he had betrayed me in the first place. I didn’t give a shit about popping a few hollow points in this nigga’s skull and watching him bleed out before I walked away. Aries was dead to me once the words poured from the greasy cop’s mouth. Our friendship, our history obviously didn’t mean shit to him.
“What’s your beef with the punk?” I had to know, even though I had my own reasons.
“I loaned the dude $200,000 in scratch so he could buy that crib outright over there where he’s at. The nigga was supposed to return it with $200,000 interest.” Bronx’s words were croaky as he hit the blunt mad hard.
“Damn. That shits steep ain’t it?” Bonnie grimaced.
“That’s the price of doing business with me. I don’t do anything that’s not bringing me revenue. But so I found out the other day when you came to me, that the nigga stuck you up and came into all this money you had stashed. Something like $500,000, right?”
I nodded angrily. “How’d you find out?”
He chucked his chin in the direction of Vegas. I knew he had went through this niggas life history and found anything he needed to know. But that still didn’t answer my question. Then it hit me.
“Those cops you killed got money for hitting your spot and bought all kinds of dumb shit. He spread his winnings out to everyone but me…and he had no intention of paying me. I linked one of those cops back to him and automatically knew what went down. Vegas over there found tickets to Okinawa that he booked the same day, one way.” Bronx blew the smoke out of his mouth. “It’s been three years and I’ve been giving that nigga chance after chance and this is how he plays me. The house has been on the market for 3 months. Sold right away.”
“So this nigga plans on skipping town—“
“First thing in the morning,” he interrupted Bonnie.
“Alright then. We’ll blast his ass tonight.” My lips curled hard through my snarl. “But if you knew this nigga was behind the shit that happened to me, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Shit, figured you could use some payback in your life. You feel me.” He winked, moving slowly over to the window. “But before you leave, there’s more.”
“What’s good?”
“He’s not the only one who needs to kiss the dirt. I need them all to go. His wife and his mothefucking kids. Everybody gotta go.” The expression on his face turned from solemn to sinister in a matter of milliseconds.
“What? Why the kids, fam?” Steam blew from my lips, as I ran my hand down my face relieving stress.
“Everybody. That’s what I want. You got a problem with that?”
“Nigga you could’ve got any one of these niggas standing here to do that airing out shit for you. Why the fuck would you wait ‘til now to have me do some shit like this?” The inflection in my voice was on ten.
“’Cause bitch,” he screeched so loud the paint could’ve peeled off the walls. “I knew after finding out the shit you know now, you’d be more than wanting to make them motherfuckas leak. Was I wrong?”
“Naw, shit I don’t care about stinging him or that bitch he’s married to. But I ain’t doing no kids though man. Real talk.” I shook my head as Bonnie grabbed my arm.
“Look,” Bronx calmed his voice as he moved in close to me blowing smoke in my face. “All that penny stealing you’ve been doing, saving your money and shit, you won’t have to do all that with me, bro. Work for me and I can promise you that I’ll make you a rich man. How does a million sound?”
His words were like the devil was in once ear while an angel was in the other. Only the angel was Bonnie and she was a fallen one, urging me to take the deal and worry about us only. My conscience was fucking with me heavy. With every fiber of my being, I didn’t want to destroy a child’s life the way someone destroyed mine. It seemed like I had been dealing that issue all night, unable to get away from it. Bonnie, on the other hand, was ready to snatch that mil and bounce to a far off country somewhere.
“Baby, it’s what we’ve been talking about. Let’s just do this shit and get it over with,” she whispered in my ear giving it a slight lick with her tongue. I looked at her sideways, but I knew she was right.
“So you’ll do it then. You can pick the money up when you’re done, cash. I’ll even pay for you some tickets to wherever you want to go. Vacation on me. That way when I need you again, I know where to look.” He never cracked a smile. Bronx walked off without even waiting for my response. “Know that if you fuck me on this, I will send the goons after you. And, note, they are not as forgiving as you may be.”
I could hear them laughing behind me, slapping hands and shaking up to confirm his words. Dying, I had looked forward to it. It was nothing to me. But I wanted to start a new life and maybe make another baby with her. Not live my life on the road of contract killing and drunken sex. I blanked out trying to figure out how my life got to this point, wondering if I had the heart to pull the trigger to the dome of a kid who had done nothing to anybody but be born.
“We need some wheels,” I responded, finally mustering up some words.
“Red, hand th
at nigga the keys to your black Jeep.” Bronx ordered, as dude tossed me the keys with no hesitation.
“Man, hand me that blunt.” Without waiting for him to hold his hand out before I snatched it, taking a few deep puffs. “We’ll be in touch.”
“Aye, don’t fuck me mane.” Bronx’s last words as I handed Bonnie the blunt before we walked out the door.
Seventeen
4:05am
The Ring Leader
Shine
We drove down the street silently. Neither one of us had anything to say even though there was no tension in the air. Our palms hugged one another, as our eyes focused on the glare the street lights made on the windshield. We knew what we had to do, there was nothing more to discuss on that. Lives had to be lost so that others could go on. A message was about to be sent and that was all to it.
“Bonnie, this shit is now or never. This is your last chance to go home and get out of this shit. Your last chance to go back.”
“I’m never leaving you.” She kissed the back of my hand and smiled.
It was comforting to know that she would always be there for me no matter what. But I couldn’t deny that I felt some type of way about her doing it and leaving everything that she had ever known behind. I never judged her on it only because it was nice having someone on my team who I could trust and feel for. My feelings were strong for her, if it was love I didn’t know, but I knew she was my rib; one that I couldn’t live without. Bonnie had her own reasons for rocking with a nigga like me. Whether they were for the right motives, wasn’t up for me to decide anymore. As long as she knew she had the option to leave if she wanted to, I was good. I was sprung.
We eased up to Aries house and parked directly out front across the street. There was no sense in hiding. I was sure he wouldn’t suspect a thing. He was so arrogant with his shit that he’d probably think that I was there to beg for more money or a place to stay. He had me begging for money that he stole from me. Stupid, greedy ass motherfucka stole from me and fucked up my life and thought he was going to blow town without me knowing. I rang the doorbell to the elegant home that was bought with my daughter’s blood.
