by Niecy P
“You like the apartment. Dad thought it would be best if you were on the same floor as us.” She asked. I closed the door and walked into the room.
“He knows best,” I answered. “I thought Mason was going to be here.”
“He will be. I wanted to see how you were doing. Mason told me that you were holding up, which was no surprise to me.” She answered.
“Come on, Madison. I ain’t y’all charity case. Everybody is asking the same shit like I am going to break. You know that I am stronger than that.”
“No, I don’t know. And it’s not our fault that you forgot how to keep in touch.” Madison responded and sat on the couch. She picked up the remote and turned the television off, then folded her arms and crossed her legs. “You want to tell me what happened to you out there. And please don’t give me that water down shit you gave everybody else.” She demanded and knew that I was going to answer her.
It was a relationship that we always had with each other. When I stopped communicating with JoJo and Mason, Madison kept writing and leaving me messages on my voicemail. Her letters got me through some shit, but they didn’t keep the demons away. Them muthafuckers were waiting for me by the door with a checklist of people that they wanted me to kill. Madison impatient ass tapped on her watch with her eyebrows up, wanting to know the story before we left for the job. I crossed the room and sat next to her.
“We found out that Marclis was trading secrets with the Russian government. Someone from the inside tipped him off, and he escaped to the jungle in India. I was the sniper and was asked by my squad leader to check the perimeter. I did. Once I saw that everything was clear, I radioed back to my squad to let them know that it was clear and for my next orders. I didn’t get a response back from no one. I traveled back to the group and found them all dead. I was gone for less than twenty minutes, Maddie, and didn’t hear shit. I tried to call back to base, but the enemies closed in on me.” I sat up and had my elbows on my knees.
“I killed them all. Silently. With my hands and the blade that you sent me. One by one, I felt their lives ending.”
“What about Marclis?” She asked. I looked at her and shook my head.
“I went into the house and killed everyone in there with my team guns. I saw Marclis and didn’t want him to live. He was begging for me to take him in and that he was innocent. It was my job to bring him in. I asked him for the tapes that he had with the Russians. He told me that he wanted to give them to my CO. I chained him up and waited for my commanding officer to land with another team to collect the evidence. Marclis retrieved the tapes and placed them in the hand of my CO. When he did, I snapped his neck, right then and there. I didn’t give a fuck about what they were going to do to me. I did what I did and still to this day I don’t regret it.” I finished.
Madison was quiet. She wasn’t looking for words to say or questions to ask. She was good with what I told her. Madison reached over and rubbed the back of my neck. For that moment, I was at ease. I didn’t feel like I was ready to tip over and she didn’t treat me that way.
“Let’s go,” she mumbled and got up. I grabbed my jacket and followed her downstairs.
“Are you going to change clothes?” I asked her as we reached the lobby where Mason and JoJo were waiting.
“No,” she answered.
“Madison thinks that she’s Wonder Woman or some other superhero with that shit on. I told her about that, but you know how her ass gets.” Mason told her.
“Don’t come for me, Mace. I don’t see y’all questioning Mom about her outfits, which was similar to the one I have on now.” She rolled her eyes at us and walked out the door.
“No questions asked, right,” JoJo confirmed.
“You can ask all the questions you want. That’s your job. I’m killing them, niggas. They were warned to keep that shit on their side of the spectrum. I don’t know why they needed the judges to do anything for them. We all had a system that worked for everybody.” Mason said.
“Apparently not,” I mumbled and walked out of the door. Madison was sitting in her car waiting for us to come out. When she saw me, she backed up and out of the apartment complex. I walked to Mason’s SUV and was stopped by some keys being thrown at me.
“Take yo own shit, fool. I’m not about to be driving your grown ass around all day.” Mason told me. I pressed the alarm and saw lights flashing two cars down. Parked in my “reserved parking spot” was a smoking grey Ford Super Duty F-450 Platinum. That bitch was fully loaded. I was a big ass dude standing at six-foot-five two ninety solid. I needed room to move around.
“You know you ain’t getting this back.” I jumped in my shit and started it up.
“Nigga, nobody doesn’t want that ride but you. Oh, country ass!” JoJo yelled out his ride.
“New Orleans isn’t the country bitch,” I told him. Mason laughed at him and peeled out of the parking lot in his ride. We rode behind him all the way to the spot where the Toronto was. They were posted up in at an old church that was ducked off from the street. It was trees surrounding it, with no houses around. Their car was parked around the church. We parked on the other side of the road away from the church. Madison was in her trunk, pulling shit out. I didn’t need anything special to kill anyone. My 45 did the same job as any other weapon. But, I was only here for observation. I got out of my car and walked up to hers.
“Do we know how many they have in there?” JoJo asked.
“Twelve. Dem comes Inna ten minutes ago.” Maddison deadly voice spoke. I got closer to see her transformation. When she stood up straight, she had an ax in her hand. The beautiful brown eyes that I was staring at in my apartment was gone and replaced with black eyes. If this was the way she was going into a situation, I didn’t see how she was giving muthafuckers second chances looking like that.
“Did Malik get dat fi yuh?” Mason came up from behind and asked. The nigga dreads was covering his face.
“Yeah, bredda. Mi did inspire by Abraham Lincoln di vapire slaya,” she said and placed the ax on her shoulder. Mason nodded his head and gave us the direction on how we should enter the building. I turned to look behind me for Madison, and her ass was gone.
“What the hell?” I asked Mason, but he was gone too. JoJo smiled and shook his head.
“That shit never gets old, bruh,” JoJo said. He motioned for me to get into his car so that we could drive down the pathway to the church. We were greeted by some of Toronto's men, which JoJo was banking on.
“I need to talk to Brian,” JoJo told the man. He looked at JoJo and then turned his eyes at me. I stared at him hoping he said something stupid.
“Who is he?” The man asked. JoJo frowned up and gave that nigga a dismissal laugh.
“Nigga, you don’t ask me questions like that. I told you that I need to see Brian.” He told the man. The bitch got nervous and told us to step out of the car with our hands up. He went to frisk JoJo.
“Don’t fucking think about it,” JoJo told him and walked up to the church. I walked behind him to make sure that the nigga didn’t do anything else stupid. JoJo knocked on the front door and was greeted by a big tattooed ass dude with a scar on his face.
“Eden. Where is Brian?” JoJo asked. Eden looked to JoJo right and saw me standing next to him. I guessed he thought I wasn’t a threat because he opened the door and let us in. The men were scattered around the church. There were ten pews on each side of the church and a stage up front. There was a man standing at the front of the podium with two men sitting behind like they were the deacons. I stopped in the middle of the aisle while JoJo continued walking up to the front. The man smiled and opened his arms out to JoJo.
“Jordan Jr. What brings you out here, unannounced?”
“You know why I am here, Brian,” JoJo told him. Brian put his finger on his head like he was thinking.
“Well, let me see.” The bitch exaggerated. “Nope. Nothing rings a bell.” He said. I didn’t know if he was slow or not. Brian was built like the nigga
that answered the door. Big with tattoos everywhere. The difference was Brian had a bald head. He was a pale, White man with a long, red beard.
“The two judges asshole. The ones that didn’t want to sign on with your crew. They dead, Brian. We already had a talk about you not selling that shit in our area. What is your fucking problem?” JoJo asked him.
“Whoa! Whoa! You really are going to use that language in the house of the Lord.” Brian said. He stepped around the podium with a gun in his hand. JoJo didn’t flinch. Not because of the three killers that were in the room, but JoJo could hold his own.
“When you stepped your grimy ass in here, it became the house of the dumb asses,” JoJo told him. Brian started laughing with the men in the pews.
“HaHa. You a funny nigga, JoJo. You don’t give us fucking orders and think that we are going to abide by them. We are our own crew and want to do our own thing. There will be drugs sold in your town whether you like it or not. I suggest you get with the program. Shit, your Daddy was all about being on top, I thought you would have enough sense to do the same.” He raised the gun in JoJo's face. JoJo snatched his wrist and pulled it down with a pop, making Brian drop the weapon. JoJo tagged that nigga's face three times before his people tried to react.
I shot the doorman in the head and two of the other men that were closest to JoJo in the first two pews. The deacons tried to run and helped their leader but were struck by the flying knives coming was a majorette. With one swing, she chopped one of the guy’s head off. She hit the other guy with the butt of the ax and chopped his arms with a down thrust taking half of his leg off. She then tossed the ax across the church hitting another guy in the head. Mason came from the choir stand throwing knives like he was on a Mardi Gras float. The shit was crazy to see. I stood back and watched them perform as if they were entertainers.
The door opened up behind me, and I turned around with my gun up. Mason’s boy Juice was standing there with another one of them niggas, whose name I wasn’t going to remember because he was irrelevant. Juice name was in my memory bank because I owe him an ass whipping. I didn’t like how that fool was looking at me earlier and was waiting for him to fuck up. How I was feeling, he didn’t have to fuck up. I was going to kill his ass regardless.
“Shit,” I heard Madison groan out. She had her hand on her face, with her eyes closed and head back. I saw how her breathing became uneven and rushed. Mason's head was bowed, and he was pinching his nose. She explained that feeling to me. Baby girl looked sexy as shit in her element. Now, she was moaning as if a nigga was touching her sweet spot. Madison opened her eyes and stared into mine. She bit her bottom lip and let out a sigh. Fuck. Madison had me bricking up. She took steps in my direction and walked around me to the guy that held her ax in his head. She yanked that shit out and walked to the other end of the pew. JoJo was still fucking Brian ass up with stiff jabs to the face. He stood up and pulled out his Glock 43. JoJo unloaded his whole clip in that fool’s face.
“Whatever y’all find in here, bring it to the Center. We will separate the money and give it to the judges’ family.” JoJo said with his head down, glaring at the holes in Brian’s head. I knew that what Brian said about his father hit a nerve. JoJo hated that shit. I didn’t know everything that went on with his Dad, but that shit was eating at JoJo. We heard a noise behind the door near the stage.
“Mek it easy fi yuhself an cum out,” Ghost said out loud. The door opened, and out walked a boy that looked like he was eighteen. He held his hands up and stood by the door.
“Who are you, man?” JoJo asked. The boy had shaggy red hair. It was the same color as Brian’s beard.
“My name is Andy,” the boy answered.
“Brian was your father,” JoJo said to him. The boy nodded and glanced at his father.
“What were you doing here?” Madison asked. I looked at her and noticed that she was herself. Mason shook his head and called out her name.
“Smoke.” He said. Madison ignored him and continued talking to the boy.
“It’s okay. You can answer me.” She told him. The boy looked at all the men and glanced back at Madison.
“My father brought me here. He wanted me to be a part of this business.” He told her.
“Is this something that you wanted to do?” She asked him. I didn’t give him time to answer. I pulled my 45 out and shot him in the head. Madison’s head snapped at me and frowned.
“Really, Truth!” She yelled.
“Yes, really,” I said and placed my shit back in my jeans. “That dude didn’t shed a fucking tear behind seeing his father dead, and you were ready to send his ass back out here so that he could prep for some revenge type of shit. Nah, you tripping.” I told her.
“You don’t know that shit, Truth. Get the fuck outta here.” Madison said. She picked her weapon up and strolled to the back of the church.
“I do know that shit. Maybe you need to look with your other eyes and stop letting Madison through. She is too soft.” I said to her back. Madison stopped, and I saw the difference in her stance. She peered over her shoulder at me.
“Soft. Yuh call mi soft bowy.” Smoke asked.
“Not you. Madison. You need to make a better decision for the both of you, or you will get yourself hurt.” Smoke turned around with the ax in her hand. Her dark eyes were staring into my spirit. She took slow steps towards me and began to tell me some shit that I needed to know about her better half.
“Yuh should be lucky dat Madison a mi buffa. Har calmness mi peace. Without Madison's softness dis world wouldn't be safe from mi. Yuh wouldn’t be safe round mi. Yuh boldness sup'm dat mi nuh use too. An its sup'm dat yuh need fi be careful bout.” Smoke spoke. She placed her hand on my chest, above my heart. Smoke stood on her toes so that her lips were to my ears. “Di way yuh heart beating through yuh shirt eitha of fear or yuh wanting to fuck mi. But mi cya tell yuh now dat yuh nah survive neitha. Pray dat Madison continue being soft. Nuh even Duppy cya tap Smoke.” Smoke whispered and bit my ear.
I tried everything in my power to keep my hands to my side. That act alone had me ready to slam her ass to the nearest wall. She didn’t give me a chance. Smoke pushed off of me and swung her ax over her shoulder, which caused me to duck. I heard her snickering as she walked away. I turned around and saw that JoJo and Mason were staring at me.
“You alright, nigga. You do know that Smoke was going to beat your ass.” JoJo said.
“Yeah, I heard. I also was told that Duppy couldn’t stop her if Madison wasn’t her buffer.” I told them.
“She told you that.” Mason was back to his self. I nodded my head. He stared at the door she walked out of. He grunted and strolled to his boys at the back of the room. Juice ass was standing outside the door, watching after Madison. I didn’t like the shit, and that was what I was waiting for. I headed to the door, and he was still staring at her ass. As soon as I cleared the doorway, I spun and punched his ass in the forehead. He fell back into the nigga he came there with.
“Avert your fucking eyes nigga,” I told him. JoJo stood by the door and shook his head.
“Well, at least we know it isn’t fear that you feel towards our little sister,” JoJo said. I didn’t respond to his silly ass. She deserved to know my answer first.
Six
Mason
When I first saw Beauty sitting in the car three weeks ago, I knew that I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight. She had that deep rich chocolate skin that looked sweet to taste. She called to tell me that she made it home once I was on my way to the apartment to pick up Truth. We stayed on the phone and talked until I reached my destination. After I gave Juice and the rest of them their orders, I called Beauty on my way home. Surprisingly, she was up preparing for classes the next morning. I didn’t want to keep her. I just wanted her voice to be the last sound I heard before going to sleep. It was weird for me, but I was cool with that.
Marley and I had been hanging more and more after school. The days he didn’t have schoo
l, he woke up and went into the office with me. He learned the routes of the shipments and the background of each of our clients. The boy was blessed with an eidetic memory. He only needed to see the shit on paper one time for him to remember it vividly. I brought him to a couple of meetings so that he can get the understanding of things. Pops was proud that we were involved more. He and Uncle JJ came up to the office once, while JoJo and I were eating lunch.
“Whoa, nephs. What y’all got going on in here?” Uncle JJ asked. We were sitting at the table eating the food that Mama made for us.
“Nothing. Trying to find another route for Nickerson's shipment. They are dealing with a lot of heat in Scotland.” JoJo explained to them.
“As long as they keep that shit over there, we don’t have anything to worry about. Have y’all figured something out yet?” Pops asked us and bent down to get a piece of steak off my plate.
Alright, people. We all had our pet peeves, and that was mine. I hated when people put their hand or fork in my plate. That shit to me was disrespectful. My family knew that, but my dad didn’t care. The nigga would put his fist in my shit if he wanted. I moved my plate and shook my head.
“Yeah, Marley came up with something. He is going to swing by when he gets out of school.” I told him with my plate in my hand. Pops dismissed my actions.
“I didn’t want yo shit,” he said and sat behind my desk.
“You was reaching, though,” I mumbled.
“How is Jeremiah working out?” Uncle JJ asked JoJo. He told me that Uncle Jo didn’t want him around the business until he did better. Jeremiah was behaving better than before without restriction. Marley didn’t want to be bothered with him after their argument. He kept an eye on him to make sure he was safe.
