by K'wan
“Same old Diamonds, defiant to the end.” Big Slim chuckled. “You can play tough all you want, but I think we both know that you’re on borrowed time, thanks to this.” He pulled the black dagger from his jacket pocket. Diamonds’ eyes lit up at the sight of it. “What, you didn’t think I knew what this was and what it was capable of?” He twirled the knife in his hands. “I tried to buy this thing from Auntie a few times, offered her good money for it too, but she would never sell it. Good thing I was able to take it off you for free. To be honest, I’m impressed you’ve lasted this long. The poison in this blade would’ve killed most men within the first three days, but you’re proving to be full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“Why don’t you just kill me, fat man, so I ain’t gotta listen to your annoying-ass voice anymore.”
“Oh, you’re just as good as dead, but it’ll be when I say and not a moment before. I got plans for you, dear boy. See, when I tracked your slimy ass to New York I had intentions on just taking you out for what you did to my people and for them bullets you put in me, but when I saw the little lane you had opened up for yourself I saw an opportunity to make back what you took from me and then some. What I started in New Orleans, I will finish in New York.”
“You think these New York niggas are going to let you waltz in out of the blue and set up shop?”
“Of course not, which is why it’s fortunate for me you’ve already laid all the groundwork. You already ripped out all the weeds, so I figure why not let you plant the fresh crops too?” Big Slim capped.
Diamonds laughed. “Slim, you must’ve fell and bumped that big-ass head of yours. I told you before I aired you out the first time that I was done working for you.”
“You did, and sounded damn sincere when you said it. Yet the universe has saw fit to bring you right back to the foot of my table, waiting for me to drop some crumbs. By this time tomorrow your boys will have received the first shipment of heroin from your new suppliers and start distribution in the territories promised to you by Eddie, right before you turned around and bit him like the snake you are.”
Diamonds shrugged. “So, you keep up on current events. I’m still waiting for you to get to the part where I give a fuck. Whether I’m there to see it through or not, that ball is in play and ain’t shit you can do to stop it.”
“Why would I stop it when I can capitalize off it? In all your peacocking around making plans to be the next king of New York, you never once stopped to ask yourself how such a sweet deal fell into the lap of a dumb country nigga like you?” Big Slim asked.
“You trying to tell me it was you who set me up with the connect?”
“Even better, it’s my dope they’ll be hitting you with,” Big Slim said smugly.
“Bullshit!”
“No, real shit,” someone called from behind Diamonds.
When Diamonds turned to see who had joined the party, he had to do a double take. The man’s baggy clown clothes and cowardly demeanor were gone, replaced by a tailored black suit and a cold sneer. “Rolling?” Diamonds asked in disbelief.
“Good to see you again, Diamonds. I just wish it’d been under different circumstances,” Rolling said, adjusting his tie.
“You sold me out? I knew you was a two-faced snake the minute I laid eyes on you!” Diamonds spat.
“Then you should’ve followed your instincts,” Rolling told him honestly. “See, me and Slim go back a little ways. When my brother exiled me from New York I found myself in limbo, floating from state to state, hustling where I could, and eventually found myself in New Orleans. This is where I met Slim and he helped me start making some real money. When I got my weight up I made my way back to New York to settle the score with my brother, then I started hearing about this bad-ass cowboy who had some of the most dangerous men in the city hiding under rocks. It was pure coincidence that you happened to be the same person who tried to kill my benefactor. Slim wanted to kill you immediately, but I convinced him to let you live. At least until you killed Big Stone for me. I saw the value in having a rabid dog at our disposal, and then you fell for my niece and became a liability, and had to be removed from the chessboard.”
“You think my crew gonna let this fly? Buda and my team gonna hunt you like dogs when they find out about all this.”
“Buda?” Rolling laughed. “Who do you think signed off on all this?” He removed a recorder from his pocket and pressed play.
“We’ll call this the icing on the cake. The minute I lay your brother out, you have to lay mine. Diamonds has to die.”
Hearing the recording from the meeting made Diamonds feel physically ill. He didn’t want to believe what Slim and Rolling were feeding him, but the voice on the recording was undeniably Buda’s. The man he had loved like his own brother had sold him out just to get his position.
Big Slim looked down at Diamonds. “You feel that, Diamonds? The lump forming in your throat threatening to choke you? That’s hopelessness. Killing you wasn’t good enough. I needed to break you first. Now I’ll let you die.” He waved Blue and Tariq forward. “He’s all yours, boys. Wait until I’m gone then flush this piece of shit.”
“With pleasure.” Blue beamed. For what Diamonds had done to him, his death would not be quick or pretty.
PART
IV
RED RAIN
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Domo had just enough time to get an oil change and a fresh wash for his new bucket before heading back to the block to get ready to meet Vita and the others. He had to admit that the sudden way in which this new plan had arisen had him concerned. The crew was usually cautious before they moved on someone, scouting them first, and this seemed to come out of the blue. It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d taken on a spontaneous caper with them since he joined up, but something about the way this one was going down felt different.
Raheem wanted to go joyriding in the Mustang, and when Domo told him he had something to do it opened the door for Rah to start asking a million questions. He knew there was something Domo wasn’t telling him. Rah’s pestering went on until Domo dropped him off on the block. Domo promised to clue him in, but Raheem was already in his feelings about being left out, which seemed to be the norm with him lately. When Raheem got out of the car he didn’t even give Domo dap before leaving. Domo would deal with his emotional friend later. He needed to get ready.
When Domo got back to the apartment he was surprised to find his mother home. She was in the kitchen frying up some chicken and talking on the phone. Domo waved hello and tried to slide into his room, but Carla motioned for him to stay put. He could tell from her body language that something was bothering her. Domo let out a sigh. He was pressed for time and the last thing he needed was one of his mother’s lectures making him later than he already would be. He leaned against the kitchen door and waited for her to finish with her call.
“Where you just coming from?” Carla asked once she was off the phone.
“Nowhere special. Just running around with Raheem,” Domo told her.
“I should’ve known.” Carla snorted. “I don’t want that boy in my house when I’m not here.”
This surprised Domo. “Ma, Rah comes over here all the time and you’ve never had a problem with it. Did he do something?”
“It’s not about what he’s done, it’s what he might do that worries me. That boy has been moving around real funny lately. I went to the store the other day and when I came back I found him nosing around on our stoop.”
“Maybe he was about to check and see if I was home,” Domo reasoned.
“That’s possible, but from the guilty-ass look on his face when I caught him, I doubt it. To add to it I’ve been seeing him spending a lot of time around that greasy-ass guy L.A. lately, and we all know how he gets down. I heard a story about him robbing his own mama, and a man like that ain’t got no hang-ups about who he steps on. Don’t be hanging around them too much because I don’t want you catching any part of what they surely got c
oming to them. I can smell it on those two.”
“Ma, you acting real strange. Is everything okay?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out, Domonique.” That Carla had called him by his full first name meant it was about to get serious. “Look, I’m too tired to dance around the issue so I’m just gonna come out and ask you: Are you out there doing things you don’t have any business doing?”
“Of course not.” He faked ignorance.
“Don’t bullshit me, Domonique!” Carla’s voice was heavy with emotion. “I’m giving you the opportunity to come clean now rather than have me get blindsided by the police later.”
“Ma, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I mean, you know I keep a little side hustle going here and there, but I’m not into nothing crazy.”
Carla folded her arms. “So you’re standing here trying to tell me that sixty-five hundred dollars came from you doing side hustles?”
She had found his shoe-box stash.
“Ma, before you get all crazy let me explain—”
“I don’t even wanna hear it, because I know anything that comes out of your mouth next is going to be a damn lie. You know, if we’ve never had anything else in this house we’ve always had trust. I can go out there and work for thirteen and fourteen hours a day and not have to worry about you so much because I trust you to make good decisions, but apparently that trust has been misguided.”
“But you’re not even trying to let me explain,” Domo insisted.
“Finding a shoe box full of money in my unemployed teenage son’s room pretty much explains itself. I just hope you ain’t been stupid enough to stash no drugs in this apartment. You know we can’t afford to lose this place.”
“I would never do anything like that. You should know better.” Domo was hurt at the accusation.
“At this point I don’t know what you’re capable of, Domonique, I know we ain’t got much but I bust my ass from sunup to sundown so that you won’t have to be in the streets throwing stones at the penitentiary. I know I can’t always get you the latest sneakers or clothes, but I provide you with a roof over your head and food in your stomach.”
“Why should you have to provide me with anything?” Domo asked, a bit sharper than he intended. “Ma,” he softened his tone, “do you have any idea how hard it is for me to sit back and watch you work your fingers to the bone and not be able to do anything to help out? It was killing me, so I went out and did what I had to do.”
“You know, you sounded just like you brother when you said that.” Carla shook her head sadly. “That’s the same shit he used to pop before the police caught up with him and tossed him in prison. But maybe that’s what you want, to end up like your brother, or worse, your father?”
“My brother got caught up because he was with a crew of dumb niggas, and don’t even get me started on my sperm donor. I ain’t never gonna be a nigga who abandons his kids.” Domo’s father was a sensitive issue in their house and they rarely talked about him.
“Sometimes the streets don’t give you a choice,” Carla shot back.
“You sound like you’re defending him.” Domo gave his mother a look.
“Boy, you know better than that. Your father was a bastard for leaving us without a pot to piss in, while he set his other three kids up in that mansion, but God settled his tab. I’m just sorry his eldest got caught in the crossfire because kids are innocent. Domonique,” she took his hands in hers, “the point I’m trying to make is the streets have already taken enough from me, and you getting in the game will open the door for them to take the last good thing I got left.”
“That’s not going to happen to me,” Domo promised. His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He looked at the screen and saw a text from Buda: How long? It was almost game time and he wanted to make sure Domo was still in. 40min, Domo replied and put the phone back in his pocket.
“Who was that? Raheem, maybe L.A?” Carla asked.
“Nah, this girl I’ve been seeing. I got a date tonight,” Domo lied.
“Domonique, maybe you should stay in tonight. I got a bad feeling in my spirit.”
“Ma, you bugging. We ain’t gonna do nothing but go to the movies and get something to eat.”
“Then why don’t you invite her here instead?” Carla’s voice was almost pleading. “I’ll cook for you guys and we can rent some movies now that the cable is back on.”
“Okay, I’ll hit her up and see if she’s with that.” Domo started toward his bedroom.
“Domonique,” she called after him. “I hope that you know that I ride you so much because I love you.”
“I love you too, Ma,” Domo said and shut his bedroom door.
Carla collapsed on her living room couch and let out a deep sigh. She felt like the weight of the world was on her shoulders, and it was. She was pissed at Domo, but she couldn’t say that she didn’t understand, probably better than he gave her credit for. She too had to sit by and watch her mother struggle to raise her and her siblings on her own, and this is what had pushed her into the streets so young. It was also that need for a man’s love she had been deprived of as a child that pushed her into the arms of both her useless babies’ fathers. One thing Domo had been wrong about was him being nothing like his father. He was more like Thomas than he would ever truly understand and that’s what scared Carla most. The call of the streets was strong in his ears and she knew he was at an age where he could go in either direction. Domo might have Poppa Clark’s genes, but she would fight until her dying day to make sure that her son never lived his father’s life.
* * *
Carla had just finished frying the chicken and was thinking about baking a cake for Domo and his company. She went to his room to ask him what kind she should make. She knocked on the door and when she didn’t get an answer, she figured maybe he had gone to sleep so she went inside. Carla’s heart broke when she found Domo’s bed empty and his window open.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“About damn time you two got here,” Buda said to Vita and Goldie when they walked into the apartment. He was hunched over the coffee table loading a machine gun.
“We ran into a problem. Me and Goldie went to the meet with the Wolf, and ran into an unexpected guest,” Vita told him.
“What the fuck did you go see that pig for?” Buda asked suspiciously.
“We were following up on a lead about Diamonds.”
“What’d he say?” Buda questioned, hoping the detective hadn’t somehow foiled his plans. If anyone could get to the truth of what had become of Diamonds it would be that bloodhound.
“I never got a chance to speak to him because Knowledge showed up,” Vita said in frustration.
“You think the detective tipped him off? Maybe cut a side deal with these niggas?” One-eye Willie asked. He was perched by the window, with a rifle mounted on a tripod facing the street. He looked anxious.
“At this point, I don’t trust no-fucking-body.” Vita was talking to Willie, but had her eyes on Buda.
“As you shouldn’t,” Buda told her, chambering a round into the gun he had been loading. “I don’t know why you even wasted your time when I already gave Goldie the word about what happened to Diamonds.”
“But that’s the thing: I have reason to believe that Diamonds isn’t dead at all. I went by Diamonds’ place today and his car was in the garage, still in his spot. Not only that, I also found his cell phone and there were some text messages in there that I’m still trying to make sense of. Buda, I think we need to put this on hold until we get all our ducks in a row.”
“Maybe she’s on to something,” Lucky added. He was sitting in a chair across from Buda, smoking a blunt. His face was calm, but his eyes were dancing in his head. He was nervous.
“Man, later for all that weak shit the both of you are talking.” Buda waved his hand dismissively. “At this point, whether he’s dead or alive ain’t gonna stop what needs to happen. Everything is in place and we come too far to
not go through with it. Everybody strap up, we need to get into position.”
“Say, where’s Hank?” Goldie asked, noticing for the first time that he was absent from the war party.
“I ain’t seen him since he left the spot this morning,” Willie said.
“He check in with any of you?” Goldie asked the others but no one had heard from him. “How the fuck the OG go missing all day long and nobody don’t think to check up on him?” he pressed heatedly.
“Relax, Goldie. Me and Hank got into it this morning so he’s probably still in his feelings. We don’t need him to pull it off. Domo can play his role tonight. You did call on him, right, Vita?” Buda shifted the focus. He watched her face closely to see how she would respond.
“I spoke to him a while ago. He’s running behind so he’ll meet us at the spot, but he’ll be there,” Vita lied. “Why you so hell-bent on making sure he rides on this one?”
“He’s a part of this crew, ain’t he? Everybody gotta earn their keep. Besides, for the stakes we’ll be playing for soon I need to know how the young boy is built. This here will be his baptism of fire.” Buda stood. “Now if everybody is done giving me the third degree, let’s load up and go lay these niggas out.”
Buda watched over his team like a proud father while they armed themselves and prepared for the coming battle. All of their months of careful planning were finally about to bear fruit. Rolling had been right when he said that Diamonds had laid out a perfect plan, but it took Buda to execute it. He couldn’t wait to see his friend’s face when he broke the news to him that he had done what he couldn’t. He would give Diamonds a minute to savor the taste of crow before he took his life.
“Buda, I need to rap with you for a minute.” Vita broke him from his thoughts. Goldie and Lucky had already left the apartment, but she lingered behind.
“Sup, V?” he asked in a tone that said he clearly didn’t want to be bothered.
