by Brick
“Chasity,” I heard Trigga call and wasn’t surprised that was the first person he went to.
I was coming down the hall just as he was. Yeah, he was concerned about me. That was why he paused and looked at me, but his heart pulled him into the room with Ghost and I wasn’t mad at that. She jumped from the bed like she was never sleeping and hopped in his arms.
“I knew you was coming, Trigga. I knew you was gonna save me,” she cried. “I was scared for real, for real. Like I was really scared, but I knew you was coming.”
I smiled at the sight but was crying myself because of what Chyna had told me happened to her. I didn’t know what was going to happen when Trigga found out.
“Always, baby girl. I’ma always come for you no matter what.”
“Sorry I got snatched up. I wasn’t meaning to. Was only trying to make sure that li’l nigga didn’t snitch on us. I wasn’t trying to make no more trouble.”
“Shhh with all the rah-rah,” he joked with her. She smiled. “You did good.”
“I did?”
“Yeah, you did.”
I looked farther down the hall and could still see Anika, Chyna, and Phenom all hugged up. Both Anika and Phenom were still covered in blood, just like Jake and Trigga. Gina was up around Big Jake’s waist as he hugged her. He always had to pick her up to her because he was so big and tall and she was so much shorter than he was.
“Did he hurt you?” Phenom asked Chyna.
I wasn’t surprised when she shook her head no. “No, Daddy. No.”
I didn’t think that nigga would be able to handle the news that Dante had raped his daughter. Took her innocence. I dropped my eyes when Anika looked at me. In her eyes was that burning question that I would not answer for her. I turned back to Trigga who was still hugging Ghost but his eyes were on me. Although he didn’t know his cousin, I could tell he was relieved to hear she hadn’t been hurt either, although it was a lie. He laid Ghost back in the bed and told her he had to get clean then he would come back.
“Did he hurt you, Ghost?”
She quickly looked at me and then I turned back to Trigga. His face fell so hard and I swear all the color drained from it.
“He cut her, Trigga, on her thighs,” I told him quickly. “Was going to use his sword to gut her from the inside out. Nothing else. Just cut her real bad,” I told him repeating the words Chyna had told me.
He used both of his hands to roughly rub his face as he gave a guttural groan to show his pain at it all.
“I’m sorry, Chas. Swear to God, never again,” he assured her.
“It wasn’t your fault, Trigga.”
Even though she was saying that to him, Trigga was going to take that on him.
“We have to get her to a doctor. Chyna said she did the best she could trying to fix her up.”
He only nodded. Big Jake groaned like he was in pain at hearing it. Gina was crying.
“Chyna save me though,” Ghost quipped.
I shook my head and held my finger to my lips. Trigga looked up at me. He had always been able to read me so he knew why I was telling her to be quiet.
Gina asked, “Well did y’all kill that nigga?”
Jake shook his head once. “He got away.”
My head started to hurt in that moment. This shit was never going to be over. We wouldn’t know any peace because, to be honest, we had never known real justice either. From the cradle to the grave, all we ever knew was death and street justice.
Chapter 14
The Intermission Trigga
In this life, you got two choices: life, or death. In understanding that shit, I came to learn that no matter how hard we tried to run, wasn’t nothing going to keep us from the bullshit that came with being hood misfits. Wasn’t nothing to be done in it. We started from the bottom, made it to London, and shit still came and followed us. Now we were here cut up and bleeding. Bleeding from the heart, the mind, body and soul and wasn’t shit going to heal it all.
I glanced around at the new spot we were at. It wasn’t hard to see that Ghost and my cousin Chyna had been hurt by that nigga, but it wasn’t my place to tell them that they were lying. I knew why they were and glancing at my uncle, I could see he saw the truth just like I did. Living in the streets like we both did, it wasn’t shit we didn’t see. Wasn’t psychological scars that couldn’t be read in the eyes of street survivors and today that shit was apparent as the open wounds on our body. But, one thing I learned about code was that you let it be what it is and plan for another day.
My head hurt. My body ached and I felt sick and shit. Felt as if I was back in that closet watching my fam die around me, but only thing was that we all had survived. I told Gina that that nigga Dante had gotten away, but that wasn’t all the way true. I had the knowledge of knowing that he was somewhere bleeding the fuck out as he tried to heal. See, back at his mansion compound, Phenom and me had found that cat trying to ghost out. I ran past dead bodies that were piled up everywhere, some with holes in their chest, others with holes in their skulls.
Ghost had told me as I hugged her that that nigga was eating kids and other niggas’ hearts and shit. I told her that nigga musta been on some old world, demonic voodoo shit ’cause he was trying to scare niggas with that loco Hannibal shit. But, it wasn’t doing shit for me, it was just fucking disturbing. Anyway, because I was faster, I was able to follow him through a meat locker, where Phenom came after me.
Nigga was covered in nothing but blood and naked as fuck. It was pure insanity and pleasure that I used when I made my environment my weapon and decided to take it out on his body. Meat hooks were all around us, some with bodies swinging on them and some empty. Reaching up, while I stared that nigga down, I unhinged a hook and placed it on my belt buckle.
The sound of my heart thumping in my ears and the trickle of sweat slipping down the side of my neck had me going through all the codes I learned and the teachings of Sun Tzu. Being subtle and not a threat allows for the expert fighter to leave no trace. By being divinely mysterious, he then becomes invisible, thus making him the master of his enemy’s fate. Taking my hoodie off just to get into my zone better, I adjusted my Glock while assessing my enemy from my hidden advantage point. See, I understood one last teaching in that, speed is the essence of war, especially in taking vantage of the enemy’s unpreparedness. This nigga hadn’t expected this type of retaliation and now he stood in front of me like a naked mole rat, covered in blood with a maniacal expression on his face.
In that moment, it had me laughing out loud, as I sneered and fisted my hands. My shoulders rolled in place and I grounded my feet, making sure to fix my gloves while playing bored. “Nigga, ain’t shit about you scary, let’s get that straight.”
I carefully kept my steps quiet and cautious, noticing how Dante erratically turned in circles trying to see where exactly I was in the dark meat locker. Nigga gave out a disjointed laughed, then spit on the floor while wiping at his soaked stern face.
“Face me, blood, or little nigga as your people say. Wut ya gwan use on mi ey? Ya hoodie?” He chuckled. This fool reeked of anxiousness, ready to kill and maim while he tried to goad me into talking again.
All I could think about was nigga had jokes.
I tapped a hanging chain then gave a menacing laugh in the darkness. “You one funny dude, my nigga.”
“I can be even proper funnier once I rip your sphincter muscle from your asshole, bruv. But again, what can a child as you do to a monster like me? Eh? Oy, bring out our toys and play with papa. Because if you were a true threat you wouldn’t stall like you are.” Dante crooned as if eager to get his hands on me.
I gave a light laugh. He was trying to trip me up but fuck the rah-rah. He was on some loco shit, thinking I was just going to use a gun or shank to get at his big ass. Clearly ain’t know shit about me. Nah, I was schooled by the best and I knew I was going to use my weapons and then some.
“A’ight then, old head, let’s do that shit, and see who comes ou
t a victor yeah?” I threw out.
My voice traveled near him in a way that had him swinging out at air. This exposed him for me to side swipe him and with a punch then slam of a meat hook into his side. His shocked harsh scream gave me sensational pleasure. But I knew not to be blinded by it, so I moved back into the shadows of the locker, grabbing another hook and placing it on my belt.
No lie; dude was a good fight, because though he screamed from the pain, he also seemed to get a sick pleasure in it, which appeared to amp him up at the same time. While I tried to use the shadows to my advantage, he used his own knowledge of the set up to his benefit as well. As I was moving in a circle, Dante shifted into the same shadows. I listened to the pattering of his bloody wet feet. While I focused on any tiny sound from him, I soon was sideswiped by a hanging body.
The force of it sent me slamming into the cold siding of the meat locker. My locs swung in my face with a slight stinging swat and I turned to push out of the way of the fist that followed behind it. Teeth clenching, I grunted then laughed when Dante’s fist hit nothing but wall. Nigga was so concerned about getting to me that he should have been protecting his nut sacs. One kick then a slap of chain from a chain I snatched up gave me the satisfaction of seeing him fall to his knees. I let his face meet my knee then I moved out of his grasp to move to the other side of the locker.
“You play dirty, you fucking cunt!” Dante roared out.
Laughter came from me, but for real, my head hurt from the sudden open hand hit then slam against the wall. This nigga rushed me like a line backer. Everything around me felt like a whirlwind, and I pulled at my knives sending them into his demonic flesh. Spit and blood went spewing everywhere as we met fist to fist. My head met his face, cracking his nose, and chipping his teeth.
I felt him lift me in the air to body slam me but I was quicker. I took another hook and sent it into his back, using a military flip, to break out of his hold. Dropping to the ground, I pushed up, pulled out my Glock, and sent several bullets into him and into the hanging chain and hooks around me. The sound of ricocheting bullets had me cursing out loud, reminding me at how small of a meat locker it was.
“Fuck!” I grunted out loud, the moment a bullet whizzed by me.
Dante gave his own laugh then rushed me again. This time he had a hook he took from his own body and waved it at me. Standing, I shifted my gloves and several shaved iron nails slide out. Ducking like Mayweather, I sent each fist into Dante’s flesh, cutting and slicing.
“Nigga, you like to walk around this bitch like you’re God. You ain’t nothing but flesh and bone just like the rest of us,” I spit out.
Blood trickled down my face, and the slash of the hook Dante wielded cut me good, hitting my arm and near my back. Though he was a big dude, he moved with purpose, but he also was slowing down from extreme blood loss. Taking another hook, I swung it upward meeting his chin and causing him to stumble backward. I dropped the hook, rushed to pick up the machete that he had dropped. I had to be quick. Just because the nigga was down didn’t mean he was out. Just as he extended his hand to grab me, the long blade sliced through his flesh. I watched in amusement as his hand fell to the ground. The nigga was so stunned it took him a minute to realize what had happened before his painful yells rent the air.
Behind me in the hallways of the compound, I could hear gunplay going off. It had me determined as ever to get at Dante and take him down.
Finding an open window, I moved behind that nigga, leaped up to grab a hanging chain and I wrapped that shit around his neck. It was easier to grapple with him since he only hand one hand now. More hooks sliced into that fool. I bucked and twisted. Dante’s only hand scraped and dug at me, using whatever he had to stab into me, but my hold was better. Chuckling with a grin, my fist pounded into his skull. He may have only had one hand, but the nigga was still resourceful. As I was holding his neck in a chokehold with the chain, he slowly started to stumble. I took my fist to the side of his head a few more times just to weaken him more and I smiled as that demonic fucker fell to his knees.
“Nigga, how about you play my game now? How about the hunter become the hunted, bitch-ass nigga?” I smirked, slamming my fist into his face and sending him backward into a wall.
By the time Phenom got to me, I was covered in that nigga’s blood, as missing meat hooks marked where I had taken them and slammed them into that nigga’s thigh, side, shoulders, and hand. Dante wasn’t an easy mark, shit, that was clear because he got away. He busted me up good, but I let him know I wasn’t to be fucked with and my uncle got to see that shit. In that moment, I squashed the anger and distrust in him. Was no use for it. We had an equal enemy and I got why he did what he did.
Now with knowledge of what happened to Ghost, and what I could tell happened to my cousin Chyna, wasn’t nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for my fam. Sacrificing my life was included. I was a renegade nigga, born from intellectuals who were formed by the streets, raised in the gutta to be a mercenary and take the law in my hands. I was Trigga, that nigga with the Glock and a bat and shank somewhere in my hoodie.
Walking out of the room, my eyes locked on my uncle. Only reason that nigga was able to escape was due to one thing alone: he had help. As I took Dante down, each meat hook digging and sticking into his body, white light washed the whole area and had me looking up. The sound of a Glock going off had me ducking down and rolling away for protection in frustration.
I watched as Phenom rushed in returning fire, several bullets hitting a body that became clear in the light. The nigga I had watched back in the Jamaican codes stood there with a callous grin on his face. A blunt hung out of his mouth as he stood in his designer suite, he held open a door for Dante to run through, and I noticed when Phenom hit that nigga and his lackey near the small of their backs before they both disappeared.
My unk and me followed as fast as we could but they were gone. Wasn’t shit to do but come back here to make sure we all made it out alive. That was what it was. Once Phenom got a look at the nigga running with Dante, he told me the guy was MI5. MI5 was to London what the CIA was to the United States. Just like his twin, Dame, Dante had hands and eyes everywhere. It could never be doubted that the Orlandos didn’t have power, but when you came after mine, your power meant nothing to me.
And while we walked out of that place, I picked up my souvenir: Dante’s severed hand, which I wrapped up for both Ghost and Chyna. Frustration had me occasionally glancing back to where I had pinned that pussy-ass nigga down and it started pissing me of off that he got away. Check it, though both of them niggas may have gotten way, best believe both niggas were feeling death at the door. And though Dante may not fear it, he now knew me and mine would willingly hand him to that Grim Reaper.
Yeah, man, now, here we are, surrounded by this win for now. My eyes locked on my family, and I reached back to hug Ghost to me again before letting her go. I needed to clean up and we all needed to get a plan together, but for now, all the shit that had come our way, was going to have to be put on pause.
The soft tapping on the bathroom door had me turning away from my reflection in the mirror where I stood gripping the skin, lost in thought. I stood in my baggy jeans and beater. My Timbs were in the corner with my shirt and hoodie. A nigga was in his zone, didn’t want any disturbances but the rapping on the door started up again and I gave a low, “Yeah.”
“Trig. You okay?” came from the other side.
It was Diamond. From the way her voice softened with a hit of worry in the mix, I knew she was concerned about a nigga. I didn’t feel like having her see me in my thoughts like this. I still had the rush of kills in me, still had the fresh raw emotion from Ghost being taken, with that knowledge that that nigga may have fucked her up by cutting near her private area. Shit was weighing heavy on me and I felt old as fuck. I may be eighteen, but I was starting to feel forty.
Diamond’s knocking continued and I could see the fresh tears in her eyes from earlier, in my mind. I had s
een the nurturing way she was with Ghost was the same way she was with Gina. She was there outside of her own pain. The thought of everything that just happened today, had me opening the door looking down at her before pulling her inside and locking it behind her. For a moment, I just held Diamond’s small waist in my hand while I stared into her doe eyes. She had that bun on the top of her head again and it had me looking away for a moment, noticing the bandage around her waist where she got hurt.
“You were stupid as fuck, got hurt, but a nigga is proud of you, li’l shawty,” I mumbled.
The shower ran behind us causing currents of steam to surround us. I could see she wanted to say something but I ain’t have time for all of that, my mouth was on hers before she could talk. I knew she was shocked that I was kissing her like this, by the slight gasp she gave, but the moment my mouth had hers, her body melted against a nigga like an M&M in my hand. She held me down.
She did some stupid shit, but she held me down in this game. Which was what had me holding her now like I did, but it was also that she held down Ghost in this fucked-up battle. She ain’t have to do that. She ain’t have to stay. She could have stayed afraid but she let it go like a true soldier.
So because of that, because she somehow after everything back in ATL and everything here now in London had stepped up and learned game, she deserved proper treatment. That was why I slid my hands down over the dip in her back to have her thick ass rest in both hands. I gripped all that she had, separating each cheek, and then lifting her up around my waist. When her legs locked around my hips, I pressed her hard against the door of the bathroom, while tonguing her down.
The sensation of her nails scraping down my back then at my dirty white beater made my dick swell on hundred. I felt her pull my beater off over my head, like she was just as hungry as I was and she took my mouth in return. As we fucked by our mouths, I ran my tongue over the surface of her eager tongue sucking and scraping my teeth on her juicy lower lip. The way she moaned, was definitely something I planned to make her do again, ’cause that was raw and sexy as fuck.
