The night he was sent to do the job, Brandon’s younger brother had been in the home. Justin spared his life for the simple fact that, if the tables had been turned, he would want someone to spare Robin. That was a decision he would now regret for the rest of his life. Bruno must have been following him for a long time and had finally decided to exact his revenge.
“This is all my fault,” he said again, that time feeling a sob well up in the back of his throat. “Go grab whatever you can. You have to come with me. We can’t stay here.”
Although all Robin wanted to do was fall to the ground and curl up in a fetal position, she did what she was told. Her hands were shaking violently as she stuffed as many clothes as she could into a duffle bag. When she came back into the living room, she saw that Justin had covered both of their parents’ bodies with a bedsheet, and he had tears streaming down his face.
When he saw Robin staring at him with hollow eyes, he knew her life had been changed forever. He was all she had left, and that was because of him. In the blink of an eye, she had lost everything, and he knew that it was his job to give it back to her. His gun was already tucked away again. Right then and there, he made the decision to never lose another person he loved. Especially not his sister. He wanted to hold her and tell her that everything would be all right, but when he opened his mouth, she shook her head.
“If the gun you killed him with isn’t registered, then we have to get out of here. They’ll take you and . . . and I can’t lose you too.”
“You won’t.” Justin walked up to her and pressed her head to his chest. “I promise you won’t ever lose me. I have some people who are already on their way to clean this up. It’s still a workday, so I doubt anybody heard the gunshots. Let’s go.”
He took the bag from her and shielded her eyes so she wouldn’t see the blood seeping through the white sheets or the body on the ground anymore. As soon as they were in the car and pulling away from the murder scene, a white van was pulling up. Justin sped off in the direction of the Doubletree that he was staying in downtown. His heart was empty, and when he looked at his sister, he could tell hers was too. She had learned firsthand with sight and experience that the world was not black and white. It was bloody red.
A few days later, the home that she was raised in was found burned to the ground. The deaths of Rhonda and Mark Hood made the news, but it was said that they died in the house fire. No one ever found out what really happened to them, and it wasn’t until after the incident that Robin realized that she didn’t get any of their old family photos from the house. Her parents were literally only memories, only to be remembered in her dreams.
Robin snapped back to reality and finished her stretches. She remembered like yesterday the way Justin kept sneaking glances at her in the car. He felt guilty and responsible for their parents’ deaths. But, no matter how angry Robin was, she would never be angry at him. The universe worked in mysterious ways, and even then she knew that every happening had a reason. Then, she might have felt like nothing would be the same anymore; and, as time passed, she found that she was right.
She grew used to it, and instead of hiding from it, she welcomed her new life. After their parents were killed, Justin moved back to Omaha to ensure that Robin graduated from high school, unlike him. But, afterward, very much like him, she wasn’t excited for the college life or even trying to apply for a job. She was attracted to fast money, and she asked Justin to teach her everything he knew. It amazed her that her brother would leave town for a weekend and come back with no less than $15,000 each trip. The house that he paid cash for was one that she never dreamed she would be able to live in, and that solidified his moves more than anything else. She appreciated him for everything that he did for her, but she was grown. She was tired of him taking care of her and giving her an allowance like he was her parent. Robin was ready to move around and get to the money on her own. At first, he was against it, saying that what he did was just too dangerous for her.
“Not if you teach me,” she had told him. “The only thing in this world that I was ever afraid of was losing my parents, and that already happened. So now I feel like there is nothing holding me back from anything.”
Those words were what made him change his mind; plus, he knew that she wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. She had no idea then, but her brother would train her to be a war machine. Her name would soon ring bells in the underground with both fear and respect attached.
Getting to her feet, she went to the punching bag to let off some of her built-up steam. Both her and Justin’s boxing gloves were hung up side by side, hers red and his black. She almost started the workout without the gloves at all, but she knew she wouldn’t hear the end of Justin’s chastising if she did so. After she wrapped her hands, she stuck her hands in her custom-made boxing gloves and pounced around the punching bag.
Granted, she loved the life her brother had built for her, and she would forever be grateful; however, she was ready to just settle down and live comfortably for once. It seemed like if they weren’t on a job, they were preparing for one. When she had asked to be a part of Justin’s world, she didn’t think that it would completely consume hers. She felt as if she was losing her sense of self, and maybe that was why she had started to cling harder to Malik. He was her only getaway from the world as she knew it, but she had to ask herself, if he weren’t so accessible, would he even be her type? The way he had acted the last time they were together really was weighing heavily on her shoulders. He didn’t want her, not in that way anyway, but if he did, would she really want to be with him? She felt that maybe she was so invested in him because he was the first man besides Justin she’d opened up to. She felt like she owed it to herself to at least try to see where it went, but where did she want it to go?
Her thoughts plagued her mind with confusion. Her body moved on its own, and by the time she was done beating up the punching bag, her entire body was drenched in sweat. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but when she trudged back up the stairs, she heard giggling in the kitchen that the basement door was off of. When she emerged from the basement, she saw who the giggles belonged to. There, sitting their practically naked asses on her clean beechwood counters, were Coffee and Sweet Tea. She had to pause and turn around, for a second. After she blinked her eyes to clear her vision, because she had to be tripping, she turned back around hoping to see a different view. It was the same.
“Now, I know good and damn well y’all don’t have your nasty and trifling asses on my counters!”
Coffee, who had been in the middle of telling Sweet Tea something, shot daggers toward the basement door. Her dirty look was meant for the owner of the voice, but when she saw the owner was Robin, she quickly fixed her face.
“My bad, Rob. We trippin’!” She tried laughing to play it off. “You know we’re a little tipsy. Your brother had us up there working us out. Okay?” She and Sweet Tea shared a laugh, but they got off the counter.
“I don’t want to hear about what my brother did to you, okay?” Robin mocked them. “I just want to know when you’re leaving because y’all are stinking up my house.”
“We aren’t leaving until the morning,” Sweet Tea told her with a slight neck roll, “because Justin said we could stay.”
“Justin said what?” Robin said, giving them an incredulous look. “Aw, nah, y’all got to get up out of here before then.”
“Yo, Robin, why you trippin’?” Justin entered the kitchen while putting a white Ralph Lauren T-shirt over his muscular body. By the way he walked, it was obvious that he was tired, but that didn’t stop Sweet Tea from looking at him like he was a snack.
“You took a shower already, baby?” she asked with a pout. “But I like you when you’re sticky.”
Robin pretended to throw up in her mouth. She could have punched her brother in his neck, and the glare she was giving him told him how badly she wanted to. She pointed at the women and shook her head. “They can’t stay here. They need
to go. I already hate when you have them over when I’m awake. Do you think I want them here when I’m asleep?”
“Chill, Robin. It’s late. I don’t feel like driving them all the way back to the club.”
“Shit, I have the Uber app.” Robin made like she was going to get her phone. “I’ll have a motherfucka named Sam outside in five minutes. And then it’s obvious that the hoes didn’t shower, but they had their stank asses all on the counters like they pay a bill in here!”
Justin groaned. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to be able to have his way, although he was looking forward to another round with the women. But it wasn’t like either one of them was his girlfriend, and sending them home now would get him out of getting up early in the morning.
“Call the Uber then,” he told her and then looked at the girls. “Y’all clothes are upstairs where y’all left them at.”
Robin gave the girls a gleeful smile. She always got her way with her brother, and that wasn’t going to change until he had a respectable girl on his arm. Coffee left the kitchen first, seeming to not care that they didn’t get to stay the night. Sweet Tea, on the other hand, stopped in front of Robin and put her hand on her bare hip.
“I swear it’s always bitches like you looking down on women like me,” she said with a sneer Robin had to give the girl props.
Robin knew that if she wanted to, she could beat the brakes off of Sweet Tea, but that would be too easy. Plus, women like Sweet Tea never learned their lesson by getting beaten up. No, you had to hit them where it hurt: their hearts.
“Woman?” Robin laughed in Sweet Tea’s face and got so close to her that their noses were touching. “A woman doesn’t come into a man’s house to fuck for money. A woman doesn’t put her bare ass on a counter where other people place food. And a woman would never make a living out of shaking ass and selling pussy. I don’t care what the media shows you; all you are is a pastime and a nut to these niggas. Ain’t nobody gon’ be with you for real. Least of all my brother. He did to you what every man has done and will do: fuck you, duck you, and hit you up again when he wants to pluck you. Bye.”
It looked like Sweet Tea had just been slapped in the face by a ton of bricks. Her face twisted up into a grimace and her hand twitched like she wanted to lay it on Robin.
“Don’t do it, shorty,” Justin warned. “That’s a problem that you don’t even want.”
“Fuck both of y’all!” Sweet Tea said and stormed off.
Robin grabbed her phone from the glass coffee table in their African-themed living room and requested an Uber. She then followed her to the bottom of the stairs but allowed her to go up alone, letting her know that the Uber was a few minutes away.
“You have two minutes to get dressed; otherwise, I’ma whoop your ass like I should have when I saw you sitting on my counters. And I wish you would try to take something out of my brother’s room, ho,” she told her.
Her words were heeded because in exactly one minute and fifty-eight seconds, Sweet Tea and Coffee were coming back down the stairs with long faces and their bags over their shoulders.
“Just think,” Robin said from behind them as they walked to the front door. “You still have a few hours to make some dollars at the club if you make it in time.”
Coffee made a face at her while Sweet Tea used to her advantage the fact that she was on her way out the door. She flicked Robin off and spat at her feet before she opened the door.
“Bitch, fuck yo—”
Bop! Bop! Bop!
As soon as Sweet Tea opened the door all the way, three bullets opened her chest up. She was dead before she hit the ground. Coffee, completely shocked, tried to find her voice to scream, but a bullet went right through her neck. Robin dropped to the ground right before that same bullet whizzed past her.
“Rob!”
Justin appeared and grabbed Robin’s arm, pulling her to her feet right before their house was swarmed by peopled they’d never seen before. He pushed her in front of him, and they ran back toward the kitchen. He didn’t have to tell her what to do; she already knew. Strapped underneath every chair at the rectangular kitchen table was a fully loaded pistol. Robin used to think Justin was too paranoid, but right then she was thankful for his paranoia. She tossed two guns to him and kept two for herself as they posted up on either side of the entrance to the kitchen.
“Who are they?” she called to her brother as she heard the quick footsteps getting closer to the kitchen.
“I don’t know. They look like some young niggas,” Justin told her. He peeked out to see how many of them there were. “Whoever it is, they want us bad. They sent a mini army in here.”
“How many?”
“Eight inside. I don’t know how many are out.”
“I call five,” Robin said, checking the clip of her gun.
“I don’t know how that’s gon’ work when I’m calling eight,” Justin said, cocking his gun. “Fuck! My vest is upstairs.”
“Don’t get clipped then,” Robin said just as the first man came through the entrance.
With a loud war cry, she chopped him in his esophagus with her left and followed through with a quick jab to his jaw with her right. He was on his way to the ground when she put her gun to his temple and blew his brains out.
Justin took off out of the kitchen toward three of the men shooting wild shots his way. With the aim of a marksman, he quickly put bullets in the chests of the men on the sides and sent them to the ground clutching their hearts. Throwing his gun at the man left standing, Justin got the young goon by surprise, confusing him to catch the gun in midair. Justin used that as his chance to hit him with a three-piece combo, followed with an uppercut so powerful that he heard his neck snap. Justin snatched his gun back and put two bullets in his face just for GP.
Bop! Bop! Bop! Bop!
He felt gusts of wind as two bullets flew past his head and stopped four more goons from coming his way. He turned his head and saw Robin standing there aiming two pistols.
“That was almost my ears,” he said with his eyebrows raised.
“Eh,” Robin told him, putting her back on his. “They’re too big anyway. Get the car keys before more—”
Her eyes grew wide when her eyes fell on something behind her brother. He was so focused on Robin that he didn’t even notice somebody come up from behind him.
“I never pegged you for a nigga who paid for pussy.”
The deep, menacing voice made the hair on the back of Justin’s neck stand up, only because he knew what was next. He turned around just in time to see Amos aim his gun and pull the trigger.
“No!” Robin yelled, putting her guns back up, but someone had snuck up behind her too.
There was a loud gunshot, but not from her weapons. The last thing she saw before she was sucker punched in the back of her head was her brother falling to the ground.
Chapter 5
The sound of glass breaking in the distance entered Robin’s dreams. Her senses awakened and the pain in the back of her head shot to the front, causing her to groan. She went to put her hand to her forehead but found that she couldn’t. Her head was nodded down, and she forced her eyes to open. Her next breath was a sharp inhale when she realized that she was tied to a computer chair with a rope so thick and tight she wasn’t getting out of there.
“Fuck.” She winced at the pain shooting through her skull.
She used the little bit of energy that had just come back to her to pick her head up. When she did she saw that Justin was bound to a chair exactly like hers, and although his knee was drenched in blood from being shot there, she could see his chest moving. He’d begun to stir as well. It was only seconds before he came to. He was probably better off knocked out. If she thought her head hurt, she could only imagine the intense agony he would endure.
Focusing on the scenery around her, she felt her chest become a brick of ice. She recognized the room as one that she’d been in literally only twice: once when it was finished, and the
second was right then. She inhaled deeply because there was only one way that Amos could have known that the secret place behind the bookshelf in Justin’s room existed. It was his man cave, a place that he would go to clear his mind. Inside there was a black two-seater couch, a computer on a mahogany desk, and a shelf full of books. Sitting on top of the bookshelf was Justin’s safe, a safe that held his most prized possessions: diamonds.
“Damn, nigga.” She heard a voice that she recognized as Amos’s speak behind her. “I thought you liked the bitch. You hit her so hard, I was sure she wasn’t going to wake up until tomorrow.”
She wanted to turn her head to see who he was speaking to, but somehow, she already knew. She didn’t want to believe it, but when she heard footsteps coming toward her and she smelled the Burberry Weekend cologne that he loved so much, she knew it was true.
“Malik,” she said right when he kneeled in front of her. “But why?”
“Why what?” he asked in a dopey voice. He was wearing all black like they always did when they performed a job. She guessed that night, she and Justin were the job. There was a time when she thought he was one of the finest men in the world, but right then he looked more like scum. She now understood that the reason he could never take it to the next level with her was because he was scheming on her the whole time. She deeply regretted the night that she told him about Justin’s secret room, but they’d been so wrapped in conversation it just slipped out. A separate time, when they were lying wrapped in a set of hotel sheets, he asked her what she would do when she got out of the game.
She’d said, “With the three mil in diamonds I know Justin is going to give me, I’m going to move far away. It will be like I don’t even exist.”
It couldn’t have been hard for him to put two and two together on where Justin might have kept his most prized possessions, and he must have told Amos. She wondered how long the two of them had been in cahoots and how Amos had been able to turn Malik against Justin, a man he called his brother. A ball of emotion formed in the back of her throat, and she didn’t know whether to scream or to cry.
Hood Tales, Volume 1 Page 14
