yo… It ain’t even gotta go down like this,” one of the men said, still down on his stomach.
“What you say, nigga?” Biscuit asked, stepping to him.
“I said…”
Biscuit shot him twice in the head.
“Yo, fuck y’all niggas man!” the next man shouted. “Yo, I’ll give Tiny the message not to come around here anymore.”
“Omega, we gonna let him know not to fuck wit’ you anymore,” the second man said, backing his partner’s plea.
“You know what, I appreciate that, but I’ll give him the message myself now,” I said, shooting both of them.
Whistle came back into the room. Nobody else was in the house. I told Tiny not to fuck with me and to prove my point, I murdered his right hand man, Smoke, to show him.
We left the bodies and headed back outside into the yard. Jumping the fence, we walked down into the bodega’s basement. Monk and Tank had two butt-naked niggas tied up. They were bleeding and badly beaten.
“Fo’ real, why y’all ain’t kill these niggas yet?” Biscuit asked.
“Thought you might wanted to have some fun with them,” Monk stated.
“Send one of them back to Tiny the traditional way, ya heard me?” I smiled and said.
Monk winked at me. Biscuit walked up to one of the fools, put his gun to the man’s forehead and squeezed, blowing his brains out through the back of his head.
“That’s word up, Mega, niggas ain’t fucking with the team now, fo’ real, fo’ real,” Biscuit said. “With me at your side, you know I always got your back.”
Biscuit was my number one guy. He killed at will, and had more heart than most niggas I knew. He was my kinda dude. We cleaned up the store and walked back to the car. My cell phone started ringing. It was Greasy, Soul’s cousin.
“Greasy, what’s good my nigga?” I shouted out.
“Mega, you ain’t heard?” he shouted.
“Heard what?”
“Soul’s home. He got out the other day.”
“Soul’s home?”
“Yeah, he’s out on parole. His girl drove upstate and scooped him.”
“Word? Why he ain’t let niggas know he was getting out?”
“Don’t know. My nigga, Soul, is finally home!”
“I hear that, Greasy. But I gotta take care of some other things. Tell that nigga I’m gonna definitely get up with him.”
“Ahight bet,” Greasy replied.
“One.”
I hung up kinda upset about Soul not telling anyone he was out, especially me. We’ve been tight since knee high and I could a thrown the phat welcome home bash. Been four years since I seen him. Soul back home made the crew even stronger. It was the perfect time to get at Tiny, and move his ass into retirement, permanently.
“Who was that, Greasy?” Biscuit asked.
“Yeah.”
“What he had to say that got you smiling, my nigga?”
“Soul just got out.”
“Fo’ real?”
“Don’t know, but I definitely gotta link up wit’ my nigga, catch up on old times and shit. Ya heard?”
“I thought he was doing at least five?” Biscuit asked.
“Not anymore,” I said.
“Fo’ real, that’s all good,” Biscuit said.
I drove off, feeling really good. Goddamn, it was a new day. Tiny was almost out of the way. And with Soul back, it was gonna be like old times.
7
Two things to preserve in life;
your health followed by freedom.
You lose one you lose both…
Omar
The past few days back home felt like heaven to me. Being with America again was great. Everyday we made love and it seemed like the first time. We did it in the bathroom, in the shower, the toilet, on the floor, the sofa, against the wall, in the kitchen, the kitchen table, countertops—shit if we could fuck on the ceiling, then we would have done it there also.
I was home four days, and spent every last one of them with my girl. The only time we left the apartment was to eat. I only wanted to spend my time with America during the first few days back home. I didn’t want any interruptions.
I knew my time alone with America would be short-lived. I ran into Connie in the chicken spot on Liberty Ave late one night. She recognized me on the spot and shouted me out, giving me a hug and was really happy to see me. It was cool seeing Connie again, but I knew she couldn’t keep a secret for shit, even when I told her to keep quiet about me being back.
The very next day, my cousin Greasy called the apartment. America picked up and when she heard Greasy on the other end, her facial expression did not look too pleasing. She handed me the phone with a sigh.
“It’s Greasy. How did he get this number anyway?”
“Hello…”
“What’s up, cuz. Why you ain’t tell anyone that you were getting out?”
“Greasy man… What’s good?”
“You, my nigga… Yo, where you at right now? Greasy wanna come by and scoop you up,” he said.
America was close by, listening to my conversation. He was so loud you’d think he was on speakerphone.
“Right now is not a good, Greasy.”
“How ‘bout tonight? There’s a jump-off on Hillside. The crew’s gonna be up in there. Soul, you need to come through. We missed you, man.”
“I missed y’all. I’m gonna have to take a rain check on that. I’m chillin’ with America.”
“Damn, Soul, can’t she let you off the leash for one night? We family, cuz.”
“You ain’t change one bit.”
“Soul, you know how Greasy get down, pussy and makin’ that gwap. I spoke to Mega the other day too… You know he’s doing his thing and he took over shop while Rahmel’s been locked down. He’s doing it big.”
“Yeah, I heard that.”
I glanced at America and she had a look of impatience waiting for me to get off the phone. She walked up to me, pulled me slightly in her grip, and whispered in my other ear, “I’ll be in the bathroom, getting things ready for us. Hurry up, baby.”
“Ahight,” I answered watching her walk away. “Damn…” I muttered.
Greasy always ran his mouth. I was happy to hear from my cousin again, but I was horny once more and America was waiting for me. I promised Greasy to link up with him over the weekend. I was still making up for lost time after being absent from her for so long. When I hung up, I smiled. It was good to hear Greasy’s voice again, but then I cursed myself for forgetting to ask him what he did to my car.
I walked into the bathroom, and America had everything set up romantically. She was patiently waiting for me while lounging in the bathtub that was filled with bubbles and soothing warm water. Candles lit the room faintly and America stared at me with a seductive smile.
“You know the drill,” she said, raising her leg out the water, and running her hand up and down