by A. G. Khaliq
LOUIS
I put down my games controller and walked over to Steve, wondering what was taking him so long. Him and Mum were making out, and I felt like puking. I shifted about uncomfortably, wishing they would stop.
Mum giggled, pulling away from Steve and Steve kissed her cheek again. I didn’t understand their relationship. One minute, they were at each other’s throats, and the next, they were playing happy families again.
“Steve, Louis is here!” Mum said, with her hands on her hips.
“So what?” Steve rolled his eyes, and sighed.
“I’m gonna go upstairs,” I said awkwardly.
Steve coughed, embarrassed. “Shit, sorry Louis. I just haven’t seen your mum for a while, that’s all.” He shrugged, and I rolled my eyes. “So what’ve you two made me to eat? I’m starving.”
“Sandwiches,” I shrugged.
“Sandwiches yeah?” Steve said. I quickly handed him one of the sandwiches from the kitchen. He started eating it, and then sighed angrily.
“What is this crap? Some out of date tuna, Louis. Make me some proper food,” he said angrily.
Mum looked mortified.
“I didn’t even make it, Mum did!” I said defensively.
Steve stared at Mum with a blank expression on his face, and Mum looked down to the floor sadly.
“It’s alright babe, we’ll order some takeaway instead,” Steve said reassuringly. He turned back to me. “Louis, put this shit sandwich in the bin.”
I nodded, taking it back from him to put it back on the plate. But before I knew it, the plate slipped, and smashed all over the floor.
“Shit,” I sighed, suddenly even more pissed off than I was before.
“For fuck’s sake Louis, you’re so dumb sometimes,” Steve scolded.
“Look at all this mess!” Mum said angrily, taking her head in her hands.
“I can’t be arsed to tidy this shit,” I complained. “Can we just chill and play games?” I turned to Steve.
“Yeah, we will do. Linda, tidy this mess. I’m gonna order pizza now.”
Mum shook her fists angrily, storming out of the room.
MUM
I stormed into the kitchen to collect a dustpan and broom. While I was away from Louis and Steve, I kicked the hoover on the floor angrily. I started screaming, tears streaming down my face.
LOUIS
“Yeah, that’ll be two 12-inch pizzas mate,” Steve said on the phone.
“That’s a twenty minute wait, yeah?”
“Make it quick if you want a tip.” Steve hung up the phone and then turned back to me. “Now, we playing Grand Theft Auto or what?!”
“Fuck yesss!” I exclaimed.
“Language Louis!” Mum said angrily, as she walked back into the room.
“Sorry Mum,” I said awkwardly, and Steve rolled his eyes. I suddenly felt bad for the way I spoke to her earlier. “Let me help with that,” I signaled the broken plate on the floor.
“Thank you baby,” Mum sighed.
The floor was cleaned and tidy now, and Mum was in a much happier mood. We all sat down together on the sofa, having a fun time playing games.
20 MINUTES LATER
∆∆∆
STEVE
“That’ll be 25 quid, mate,” said the delivery man, as I took the pizza box out of his hands at the doorway. I handed him his cash quickly.
“Thanks donny, enjoy your food!” he said, as he took the cash.
“Will do, big man,” I replied, making my way back inside.
When I made my way back to the living room, my phone started ringing. Louis tried looking over at my phone but I wouldn’t let him.
“Louis, take the pizza to the table for me g. Just let me answer my phone.”
Louis nodded happily, diving into the pizza straight away. Fat fuck.
As soon as he took it from me, I stormed out the room, because I knew the name ‘Abid’ flashed up on my phone screen. From the get-go, that meant this call wasn’t gonna be good fucking news.
I pressed the green phone button on my phone, and Abid started rambling on the other end.
“What do you mean, ten bags are missing?” I shouted angrily.
ABID
Bilal. The motherfucker that crossed us. Me and Trex were in an old parking garage, and we had Bilal tied up in a chair with his mouth taped.
“We’ve counted the cash g. We’re missing ten bags of cash and two weeks’ worth of goods. You need to fucking sort this, we’re losing money fast,” I said to Steve down the line.
STEVE
I started sweating, frustrated. I treated Bilal like a brother… and now this was the news that I was fucking receiving.
“Bilal… no fucking way man,” I sighed. “The last person I thought was gonna fucking snake us.”
“I didn’t like that motherfucker from the start you let him in with us,” Abid said on the other end of the line. “He’s always been making booky movements, and now we’ve caught the motherfucker before he did any more damage.
I took out a long, deep breath, and reached into my pocket for a box of cigarettes.
“You still there, Boss? What do you want me to do?”
I put a fag in my mouth and lit it. “Put a blade to the motherfucker’s neck, stick nails in his toes. Burn his feet till the bastard talks. I’m on my way.”
“You got it, Boss. I’ll text you the address.”
I hung up the phone angrily, taking more puffs of my cigarette. I looked down at my phone, my eyes lingering at the text with the address written on it. 33 Sycamore Street.
I ran downstairs, making my way out the door, slamming it, getting inside my whip and driving off.
LOUIS
I heard the door slam and put my half-eaten pizza slice back in the box.
“Steve?” I called. “Steve, where’ve you gone?”
Mum finished eating too, and got up. “Do you want me to have a quick look around the house?” she asked.
“No Mum, I heard the door slam. He’s gone somewhere.”
“Oh right. Bit rude of him to just walk off without letting us know,” Mum said condescendingly.
I raised my eyebrows. “I’m gonna save him his share of pizza, Mum. He’ll come back, I know he will.”
Mum smiled at me warily. “Hopefully sweetheart, he’s probably just gone to run an errand. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”
I nodded, smiling at Mum and going back to my pizza… but as soon as I looked at the box, my smile faltered. I don’t know why I kept kidding myself. Steve always let me down, and I was always making excuses for him, latching onto a dream. I guess I was too blinded by this perfect image of Steve that I never saw him for who he really was. Mum was always giving me that “I told you so” look… but for once, just once… I wanted to prove her wrong.
I took my phone out of my pocket and sent Steve a text saying “Where are you?”
ABID
I slapped Bilal’s face, holding a lighter flame next to it. This motherfucker deserved all the torture that was coming to him.
“Trex, hammer a nail in the bastard’s finger,” I said angrily.
Trex nodded and walked over with his hammer, while Bilal was trembling, his face red and beaten from my doing, his legs shaking. Trex started waving the hammer in Bilal’s face, and I ripped the tape from his mouth.
“You gonna talk, motherfucker?” Trex shouted.
Bilal started bellowing in pain, crying desperately. “I - I can’t! The Surenos will fucking kill me!”
I started laughing. Poor bastard didn’t have the slightest idea about how we were gonna deal with him if he didn’t co-operate.
“What are you on about, motherfucker?” I said. “If you don’t give us information, we’re gonna kill you our fucking selves.”
“I can’t die, man! I gotta feed my mum, she has no money, my little baby sis needs looking after man, she’s only two, my mum’s not well, she…”
“You should’ve thought about all
that shit before you ratted us out to them motherfuckers,” Trex shouted. “Now you’re gonna have to face the fucking consequences.”
Bilal started shaking uncontrollably. “My mum’s got cancer man, I can’t die, I…”
“I don’t think this motherfucker understands,” I spat. I nodded at Trex and Trex nodded back, it was like our fucking code when we mutually agreed with something. Trex resealed Bilal’s mouth with tape, and Bilal started wailing again. He was really fucking pissing me off now.
“We gave you a chance to talk, motherfucker,” Trex warned. He took the nail in his fingers and crouched down to Bilal’s feet, positioning it in the middle of his foot. He started hammering it inside and Bilal rattled in the chair in pain. I set Bilal’s hand alight with the flame in my hand.
“You could’ve had it easy, motherfucker,” I said. “Told us what we wanted, we give you protection, you get to live for one more day. But you had to make it difficult for yourself.”
I put out the flame on his skin and nodded at Trex again, who removed the tape off of Bilal’s mouth again. Bilal wailed in pain, crying horribly for a short while. I was getting quite fucking tired of babying this bastard and getting no results.
“A - a - alright, I’ll fucking talk!” Bilal stuttered, hardly able to compose his sentences properly. “The Mexican motherfuckers were gonna kill my mum man, I had to do what they wanted…”
“What are their plans?!” I roared. “WHAT ARE THEIR FUCKING PLANS, BILAL?!”
“T - they want t - territory,” Bilal mumbled.
“Answer our questions properly, motherfucker! Do you have a fucking death wish?!” Trex shouted.
STEVE
I walked into the car park with my phone in my pocket. It started buzzing so I took it in my hand, and a text from Louis appeared on the phone.
“Where are you?”
I took out a deep breath that I didn’t know I was holding, and ignored the message, shoving my phone back into my pocket. Louis was the least of my worries right now. He was just a fucking kid… only 14. I didn’t want him to get caught up in my life. As far as Louis and his mum were concerned, I was just a plumber. Not a fucking mafia kingpin. It was the best thing for all of us if they didn’t know my real lifestyle.
I shrugged off my jacket and threw it to the ground. I nodded at Abid and Trex, walking closer to them.
“Boss is here now,” said Abid.
I saw Bilal in his chair, trembling, and rage suddenly boiled over me.
“I trusted you, motherfucker!” I roared. “I saved your ass so many times, and this is what you do to me?!”
“Steve, I s - s - swear, I d - didn’t have a choice!”
“Shut the fuck up, bastard!”
I freed Bilal from the ropes, and then punched him so hard that he knocked off the chair, falling onto the hard ground with a painful smack. It wasn’t enough, though.
I began punching his face and beating him repeatedly, kicking him in the ribs in repeat succession. Bilal was wailing underneath my grip, but I wasn’t satisfied. This motherfucker needed to suffer for double-crossing me. Double-crossing me, the very man who brought him into my organisation, gave him an opportunity, helped him level up in business, push product, make shit tons of money.
“P - please Boss, I was t - talking, I w - was!” Bilal cried.
“Sorry, I didn’t quite hear that,” I said quietly, and then stamped on Bilal’s face. At this point, Bilal was struggling to breathe. I grabbed him with force, sitting him straight and slapping his face, which was already blue.
“Talk to me, motherfucker,” I spat.
“I s - said they w - want territory!”
“What territory, motherfucker?!” I roared. By now, my white vest was drenched in sweat. I ripped it off and threw it to the side.
“O - over all the places we sell to. S - Small Heath, Alum R - Rock, S - Smethwick…”
My face dropped. It felt like my blood was running cold. Somebody was coming for my organisation? Everything I’d built from nothing, built from the ground up. They wanted to destroy everything I’d worked so hard for? Everything I’d put my blood, sweat and tears into?
They were coming for all of my territory? I didn’t just own Birmingham in the drug business. I owned pretty much the whole of the damn United Kingdom. I had operations in London, Manchester, and even Cardiff, a city in Wales. I’d learnt the game well. I had somebody taking care of operations in all of the other cities too on my behalf. Was this the result of their own fuck-ups? I didn’t know. I guess I needed to keep a better eye on the bastards that I allowed to represent me in my organization.
I wasn’t going to let a pathetic cartel come and compete against me. They needed to be sent a warning not to fuck with me. Nobody was going to ruin what I’d built. Nobody. Maybe the Surenos being given a warning would also teach other cartels a lesson too, to not sell on my goddamn land.
I slowly turned away from Bilal, my heart thumping against my chest. My blood was boiling to the point it almost dried up. I got up on my feet, and the room was silent for several minutes as the sweat on my face fell onto the floor in tiny droplets.
Abid took a deep breath in. “So the Surenos want our territory, Boss…” He began, sighing. “What’s our next move?”
I said nothing. All I could hear… All I could feel… Was my pulsing heartbeat raising through the roof.
I swallowed. I knew I owed them an explanation. I knew I owed them a plan, a strategy on what we were going to do moving forward. Abid and Trex, my fucking sidekicks. The only men who I could really rely on… The only men who I could really trust. The men who’d been there for me from the beginning.
“Boss?” Trex repeated nervously.
I lit a cigarette, taking several inhalations… before slowly turning around to face Abid and Trex.
“They want our territory?” I pondered. “We give them a fucking war. We go out for fucking bodies.” I let my head get back into the zone, ready to assert my authority again.
“So what’s the plan, Boss?” asked Abid.
I started elaborating my strategy to them, every word, every fine detail. They nodded in approval, and we started devising together who was going to do what.
LOUIS
Mum put me to bed, kissing my forehead. I had silent tears rolling down my cheeks. I felt so embarrassed… so fucking ashamed of myself. I felt stupid for crying over a man I knew I couldn’t count on in the first place. Of course Steve was going to fucking disappoint me, over and over again.
I took a deep breath in as Mum stroked my hair, kissing my forehead again. “Mum, why did Steve let me down again?” I asked sadly.
“He’s busy with work, honey,” Mum said reassuringly. “I’m sure he’ll make it up to you…” She took a deep breath in. “He loves you to bits.”
“If he loved me so much, he would spend time with me,” I said, suddenly angry. “Whenever he comes over, something always comes up. I’ve had enough of it.”
“Cheer up, baby. Steve’s a busy man and there’s nothing we can do about it. I hate how he leaves, just as much as you do.”
“I hate him,” I said bitterly. “I never want to see him again. He always gets my hopes up for nothing, I’m done feeling like shit because of him.”
Mum cradled me in her arms as I broke down into fresh sobs.
At the end of the day… It had always been Mum and me. It was only me and my Mum that had each other’s backs. Steve never cared enough to let his personal life take a backseat for just once… I guess I knew where his priorities lay.
STEVE
“Good plan, Boss,” said Abid. “We’ll call everyone and let them know our next steps now. We’ll ship in more product from the USA to make up for all the money we’ve lost, too.”
“You need to make sure we’re buying the best fucking bud there is, so the streets will know to buy from nobody but us,” I replied, and then looked at Bilal, lying beaten and bruised on the floor. “As for this motherfucker…�
�
“Yeah?” Trex asked.
“Slice the motherfucker’s neck,” I ordered.
“NO!” Bilal shouted. “P - p - please! I gave y - you w - what you wanted, p - please l - let me live, I’ll d - do anything…”
Trex stepped closer to me. “A - are you sure, Boss?” he murmured in my ear. “He gave us information, the prick could be useful…”
“Yeah, I’m fucking sure,” I said angrily. “The prick snaked us, and we ain’t got no room for snakes on our team, info or not. Get rid of the bastard, I got somewhere I need to be.”
“Got it, Boss,” said Trex.
Trex got the knife ready, walking slowly towards Bilal, who was lying and howling on the floor, begging for his life.
“Any last words, motherfucker?” asked Trex.
Bilal bellowed in tears, and Trex shrugged.
“Rest in peace.” Trex sliced Bilal’s neck as Bilal screamed, bleeding out as the colour drained away from his face.
MUM
I stared at myself in the mirror, smoothing my hands over my ass and smiling at how I looked. I put some finishing touches to my makeup, adding lipgloss to my lips and another swab of mascara to my eyelashes. I was excited to finally go out. I deserved it… I worked too hard, and I spent so much time looking after Louis. Steve wasn’t here either, so it was the perfect night to relax and unwind with my friends.
My phone started vibrating in the pocket of my dress, and I started smiling to myself as I thought about who it could be. I took out my phone, hoping the name on the screen would be who I thought it was.
And the butterflies started hammering in my chest… Because I was right.
