When Loyalty Dies, So Does Love

by Dorothy Brown-Newton

  Forty-five minutes later, I pulled up to the address that Perkins had given me, but I was on guard because it was a dead-end street filled with warehouses that looked worn down. I looked over at Lecia, and she had the same facial expression that I had. I tried calling Tasha’s phone again and hoped she would answer, because this shit right here couldn’t be good. She still didn’t answer; her phone went straight to voice mail. Being that it was dark, it was hard to make out any movement on the street, so I decided to investigate the warehouses one by one, starting with the warehouse that had a few cars out front. I killed the lights, drove farther down the block, parked, and turned off the engine. Once again, I told Lecia not to leave the car under any circumstance.

  With my .380 in my hand, I quickly climbed out of the car and crept up to the warehouse. I didn’t hear anything, so with the gun at my side, I approached the door and pulled it open. It opened with a loud screeching noise. There goes my element of surprise, I thought as I stepped inside. It was dark inside the warehouse. I couldn’t see anything, but I did hear the sound of a gun being cocked as it touched the back of my head.

  I dropped my .380 on the floor, hoping that the person with the gun wasn’t trigger happy and wouldn’t fuck around and shoot my ass. I was pushed into another part of the warehouse, where I heard faint crying and moaning. Then I was shoved hard into a wall. I hit my head before I fell to the floor, but not hard enough to knock me unconscious. Suddenly, the lights in the warehouse all came on at the same time, and in walked Ms. Marcia, Thomas, and, to my utter shock, Perkins. What the fuck was going on?

  “Stand the fuck up and move,” Perkins said, pointing a gun at me.

  “Perkins, you fucking snake. What the fuck is going on?” I snarled.

  “Move your ass before I shoot you right where you are standing. I’m trying to give you a chance to die alongside your girl, so now move,” he yelled.

  I did as I was told after hearing that Tasha was somewhere in the warehouse. I walked through two doors before seeing Tasha. She was tied up and was leaning up against a wall, and on the other side of her was a badly beaten Jason, who was also tied up. I was beginning to freak out because I was clueless as to what was going on. I knew this didn’t have anything to do with me firing Ms. Marcia, because Jason didn’t fit into that equation.

  “Okay, let’s get this party started. You don’t remember me, do you?” Perkins said, looking at Tasha.

  I watched as she shook her head no. I wanted to go to her and hold her, but I was sure if I made any sudden movements, these punk-ass motherfuckers would shoot me.

  “Do you remember Ricardo, who was dating your brother Tron’s ex-girlfriend Cindy?” Perkins asked her. “Look at us. We don’t look familiar to you? You don’t remember us sitting in that courtroom every day of your brother’s trial?” he yelled, causing her to jump. “Do you remember when that lying bitch Cindy told your brother Tron that my son, Ricardo, molested Tron’s son, Jahlil, and Tron tracked my son down and murdered him?”

  “Yes, I remember, but your son molested my goddamned nephew. My two-year-old fucking nephew! Your son deserved to die,” she yelled.

  “See, that’s where you’re wrong. My son never touched your nephew. My son called me an hour before he was killed and told me that he had caught Cindy in bed with another man. He said that he had beaten up the man and had told Cindy it was over. He had slapped her around, and that was it. That bitch told your brother that lie because she knew he didn’t give a fuck about her. If she told him Ricardo had beaten her ass, he wouldn’t have done anything, so she made up the entire story. She wanted Ricardo dead, and your brother killed him without any proof. He didn’t even give my son a chance to explain.”

  “Okay, so if what you’re telling me is the truth, what does any of this have to do with me? Why the fuck am I here? I didn’t kill your son,” Tasha shouted.

  “No, you didn’t, but he was taken away from his father, his grandmother, and his uncle and was killed by the hands of your brother. Since he’s doing life in prison and is very well protected, I can’t touch him, and I’m tired of waiting for my revenge. You’re here because he killed my son, so I set out to kill his sister. And this junkie of a brother, who I just found out he had, is a bonus,” he said. He pointed the gun at Jason and shot him twice in the head, killing him on impact.

  I was in utter shock as I listened to Perkins. He had been dealing with me long before I met Tasha, so I was wondering at what point he figured out who Tasha was. Did I give him the ammunition that he needed? I looked over at Tasha, who wasn’t even fazed by the fact that Perkins had shot Jason. She was probably thankful that she didn’t have to get her hands dirty. I didn’t know how we were going to make it out alive. There was no way that Perkins, who knew what I was capable of, was going to let me walk up out of here. He knew that if he killed Tasha, I would be gunning for his ass.

  “Well, are there any last words you want to say before you join your brother?” Perkins asked Tasha.

  “I don’t think any last words are going to be necessary,” said a voice behind us.

  I looked at Tasha and she looked at me as we both tried to figure out who had spoken. I glanced around, and I couldn’t believe who I saw. Turk and three young dudes who used to run for me back in the day were all standing there, strapped. I didn’t know how the fuck Turk had got out of jail, or how the fuck he knew we were here, but I was one happy motherfucker when I saw him standing there.

  Perkins looked like he was going to shit on himself, and he dropped his gun before even being ordered to. I picked the gun up and shot him in his fucking forehead without any hesitation. I turned the gun on Thomas and shot his ass in the back of his head as he tried to run. Ms. Marcia was babbling something in Spanish; I assumed she was praying. I felt bad about having to kill her, but I couldn’t leave any witnesses behind, and I was sure she wouldn’t hesitate to turn my ass in for killing her two sons. I didn’t second-guess my decision as I shot her in the head. Turk was already in the process of untying Tasha.

  “Turk, how did you know we were here?” I asked him.

  “Look, bro, we have to finish this shit up. We can rap about that shit later,” he said.

  I heard the same screeching sound the warehouse door had made when I walked in, and I raised my gun, but Turk told me it wasn’t necessary. Then I saw my little nigga Q carrying Lecia inside. My old cleanup crew was in tow, carrying containers of gasoline. Damn, I was feeling the love. I felt kind of bad about Lecia, but Turk had made that decision, and I had to respect it. I grabbed Tasha and hugged her tight, ready to get the fuck up out of there. But before we left, I had to take a minute to give my old team some love.

  “Go on with all that mushy shit. You done got soft now. Get Tasha and go so we can finish up here,” Turk said, joking.

  If I wasn’t here witnessing this shit, and if someone else was telling the shit to me, I would not have believed it. This was some crazy shit, and I was glad it had ended the way it had. Tasha and I would get to live another day to make this shit right and raise our family. She didn’t even want to go home first and get cleaned up; she wanted to go straight to Kane’s house to see our babies, and that was exactly what we did.

  “Tash, are you okay? I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you,” I said as we walked quickly to my car.

  “To be honest, I’m still in shock. I was hoping you would come to find me, but when you did come and you were helpless, I just knew that we were going to die,” she said as her tears fell.

  “Tash, don’t cry. I know this was some scary shit, and I still don’t understand it, because there’s still a lot of unanswered questions that I have. Other than that, I was glad Turk showed up, but if I had had to die tonight, I would have been cool with it as long as we died together.”

  “If you say so. No way in hell I wanted to die tonight, knowing I would been leaving my children behind.”

  “Of course we would have missed our children, but
you wouldn’t have been at peace if you’d died with the love of your life?” I asked.

  “Who said you were the love of my life?”

  “I feel my heart breaking,” I joked as I reached over and kissed her on her lips.

  We climbed in the car. She rested her head back and closed her eyes, I drove in silence to Kane’s house, deep in thought. When we got to Kane’s house, Tasha jumped out of the car and ran inside. I followed her and grabbed Kane. We sat out back while I told him everything that had gone down, from what Lecia had said about Jason, and how it was true, to the part where we bonded Lecia out of jail so that we could set Jason up in order for Tasha to kill him. I then shared the part about Tasha and Jason being kidnapped and explained why she was kidnapped along with Jason. Finally, I told Kane that Jason had been killed, and that Turk had shown up and saved me and Tasha from certain death.

  Kane shook his head. “That sounds like some shit on television, but, bro, next time anything is going on with my family, I need you to confide in me, because I would do the same for you.”

  “I apologize, and if I knew shit was going to go down the way it did, you would have been the first person I called. I didn’t know what was going on.”

  “Damn. I still don’t believe all the shit that went down in the past twenty-four hours,” he said.

  “You and me both. I just want to get my family and go home,” I said, giving him a brotherly hug.

  We went back inside the house, and Tasha hugged her brother. They packed the kids into the car while I went upstairs to kiss my baby girl. I told her that I would be back to pick her up on the weekend.

  All I wanted to do once we got the kids settled was to take a hot shower and lie in the bed with Tasha and cuddle up with her and sleep. Tomorrow we could deal with all the unanswered questions I had and everything that had gone down.

  Tasha

  Once Rellz fell asleep, I crept out of bed. I went downstairs to the living room and lay on the couch, trying to wrap my head around everything that had taken place. I had tried to act brave back at the warehouse, but I’d been scared to death. I had thought I was going to die. I couldn’t help it as the tears poured out of my eyes as reality set in. If Turk hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now, and no matter what we had gone through, I would always be thankful, because he didn’t have to come to our rescue. Kane was a little upset at Rellz and me for not confiding in him before everything went south, but he had already done the prison thing and he was still on probation. I hadn’t wanted him to get into any more trouble.

  I tried to remember a happy time, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t stop crying. I lay there for hours, and when I finally looked at the clock, it was already six in the morning. My eyes were heavy, but I couldn’t close them, because every time I did, I thought about what went down. I turned on the television and saw NY1 talking about the deadly warehouse fire, so I turned the channel with the quickness. I looked up and saw my sexy baby daddy approaching the couch. He took a seat next to me, pulled my feet onto his lap, and proceeded to give me a foot massage.

  “You’re up early. What happened? You couldn’t sleep, either?” I asked him.

  “I was sleeping fine when you were in my arms, but once I realized you were no longer in the bed, I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Aw, how sweet. But I couldn’t sleep. I can’t stop replaying what happened in my head.”

  “I’m trying my best not to recall any events that took place . . . well, at least until I’ve gotten some more sleep,” he said.

  “Well, I just have one question. Did you know that Turk was home from prison?”

  “No, the last thing Perkins told me regarding Turk was that he was taking his case to trial, but given that Perkins was a fake, I don’t know what to believe until I talk to Turk. I’m in the dark, just like you.”

  “Well, how did you feel about seeing him?” I asked him.

  “He saved our life, so I was ecstatic about seeing his ass standing up there, with those guns pointed at Perkins and his brother.”

  I scooted down to the end of the couch that he was lounging on and lay between his legs, with my head resting on his chest. I felt my eyelids trying to close, so I stopped asking him questions and dozed off in his arms.

  Turk

  When I got released from prison, I couldn’t wait to find Tasha and pay that bitch back for setting me up and playing me against my brother, Rellz, but after following her around for a few weeks, I realized that I still loved her and I was going to charge what she did to the game. Even though I decided not to seek revenge, I just couldn’t find it in me to stop following her around and watching her. When I saw her being kidnapped, I knew I couldn’t do anything to stop it at that time, so I followed them to the warehouse. En route I called and set up a few things, and that was how I was able to come to her aid. Yes, I still loved my brother, but I was there on the strength of Tasha. No matter how much I had tried to hate her, I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t come back on the scene to try to cause problems with her and Rellz. I wanted to be a part of his life again, and I was willing to respect his relationship with her. I had missed him just as much as I had missed her, so I was not trying to do anything that would jeopardize our brotherhood again.

  I decided to lie down and get some sleep, because tomorrow was the day I was going to show up at their door and put all my cards on the table. It was already going on seven in the morning, and I wanted to at least get over there by noon, so I knew what I needed to do, and that was take my ass to bed. Damn, I must have been really tired. I didn’t get up until, like, three that afternoon, so I went and hopped in the shower. I wanted to get this over with before I lost the nerve and backed out of going over there. I threw on a white tee, some sweats, and my white Air Force 1s, and I was ready to roll. I put the duffel bag in the backseat and rode out.

  When I got to Tasha’s house, I sat in the car for a few minutes before emerging. I grabbed the duffel bag and walked to the front door. I rang the doorbell, and when Tasha opened the door, she stepped to the side and let me in. She closed the door and told me that Rellz was in the living room. As she walked up the stairs, it took everything in me not to watch her ass. When I got to the living room, Rellz was sitting on the couch, so I dropped the duffel bag and sat on the chair facing him.

  “Look, bro, before you say anything, I just want to apologize to you, because what I did was fucked up, and I wasn’t thinking with my head. You knew that I was feeling Tasha from the first day we met her, and I’m not using that as an excuse or to blame her, but I couldn’t control or turn off the feelings once she began coming on to me. At first, I didn’t understand where you were coming from when you left me sitting in jail, but I had some time to really think about how things went down, and I don’t blame you for what you did. I probably would have did the same thing,” I told Rellz.

  “I appreciate that you’re owning up to what you did, and I want to apologize too. I did you dirty when I knew you were feeling her, so I apologize for stepping on your toes as well. But when it’s all said and done, I just want you to know that I love Tasha and my kids, and I love you as my brother. I’m hoping that we can go back to being brothers, without you still lusting for my girl, because I would really hate to kill you,” he said in a joking manner, but I knew he was serious.

  He went on. “Bro, how did you know that we were at the warehouse? I appreciate you being there, because I probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now, but I’m curious to know.”

  “I’m going to keep it one hundred. When I got out of prison, I really wanted to get at Tasha for that foul shit she pulled, so in all honesty, I was watching her on some get-back shit. But when I saw her being kidnapped, all that shit went out the window. I got on my phone and called the old crew to assist me with that shit. And I want you to know that you can trust that I will never hurt Tasha. I miss how we all used to be, and I just want to be a part of the family again.”

  “Bro, you ne
ver stopped being family,” he said as he gave me a brotherly hug.

  I grabbed the duffel bag at my feet and handed it to him. He opened the bag, then looked at me like I was crazy.

  “Good looking out, bro, and I appreciate you trying to right your wrong, but you keep this. It was never about the money,” he said as he handed me the bag back.

  “Thanks, bro. We’re brothers for life. I love you, man,” I said, really meaning it. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed being around a real nigga—my bro.

  “What you tell me? Quit with all the mushy shit. Let’s grab some beers and go out back and light up the grill. Let’s do how we used to,” he said.

  I spent the rest of the night hanging out with Rellz, Tasha, and the kids, just shooting the breeze, and it felt really good to be a part of a family again. When it got late, we went inside to chill. The kids were already in bed. I had got up to fix myself another drink when the doorbell rang. We all gave each other that “Not again” look. I made sure I had my burner on me, but when Rellz said it was Shea at the door, I was cool and went ahead and fixed my drink.

  “Shea, what are you doing here?” Tasha asked her when Shea walked into the living room. “I thought you were out of town.”

  When Shea saw me, she ignored Tasha’s question and came over and gave me a hug. I felt something brewing, so I hugged her back, took my drink, and went and sat my ass down on the couch.

  Tasha

  I couldn’t believe that my best friend, Shea, had shown up at my house and was throwing shade. She had told me she wasn’t able to watch the kids, because she wasn’t going to be home. She had said she was going out of town for a few weeks, so all I did was call her on it. She ignored my question, as if I hadn’t asked her anything, as she focused her attention on Turk.