End of the Line (14 page)

“Hey, bro, my Desert E still under your bed?” Mario asked his brother as they were packing up some things to go stay at J-Rite’s place for a little while.

“Yeah, where else would it be?”

Mario went in the room and started looking under the bed. “What the fuck? How this get under here?” he wondered, picking up an earring from off the floor. He looked at the gold hoop that he’d bought Raven for her birthday. “Hey, Tone! Tone!”

“Damn, what the fuck is it now, nigga?”

“Yo, how the hell this get under your bed?” Mario held the earring up for his brother to clearly see.

Here we go with this shit,
Tone thought.

This nigga better not lie.
Mario’s heart was racing, waiting on an answer.

“Come on, dawg. How you think? You smarter than all that.” Tone braced himself for the fallout that was sure to follow.

“I know she better not lost it like I think she lost it,
that’s
for sure.”

“Man, you better stop acting like some love-sprung pussy! She ain’t your girl and never was. So what the hell does it really matter?” Tone was the only person that could talk slick to his brother and not expect to be killed.

“So you telling me that you been fucking Raven?
Really,
my nigga?”

“Come on, bro, it don’t take a map to figure that shit out! But it was only once or twice when we was high.”

“That’s messed up! How could you play me like that?”

“Play you like what? She ain’t even feeling you like that, so get off that bullshit! And I know we ain’t ’bout to beef over no pussy, is we?”

Mario was heated. To him, it was more than some pussy. It was the point and principle. He felt betrayed by not only his brother but by Raven also. “You think I’m one of these ho niggas in these streets or something?” he said, squaring up on his brother.

“Nigga, I know you ain’t trying to throw them—”

Before Tone could finish what he was saying, Mario sucker punched him dead in the jaw and rushed him into the wall. Mario hadn’t fought his brother in a long time. He tried to swing, but Tone ducked and caught him right in the eye.

“This
what you want, nigga? Is it? You stopped being smart because of some pussy?” Tone raged before he caught his little brother with a left to the jaw, resulting in Mario falling to the floor.

Fuck this shit!
He jumped up, grabbed his gun off the table, and pointed it at Tone.

“What you plan on doing? I know you ain’t gonna shoot me! Don’t be stupid!” He started to wonder if his brother would actually pull the trigger.

“Fuck you, nigga! You’re nothing to me.” Mario started walking toward the door.

“Mario, damn, hold up. It ain’t even that serious.”

“Naw, nigga, you dead to me!” Mario yelled before walking out the door and slamming it shut.
Him and that scandalous bitch Raven got me all the way fucked up! Family, my ass!

* * *

J-Rite had absolutely no remorse for what she had just done. She was headed back from handling Meka. Instead of going out and ending the woman’s existence with gunplay, J-Rite sent her home happy. She’d prepared a “special” hotshot mixture and watched as the eager-to-get-high Meka stuck the needle into her own veins, becoming her own executioner. She knew Rhonda and Sean still had to be taken care of because when word of Meka’s death got out, no amount of product or cash they were blessed with for their silence could keep a drug addict from running off at the mouth for the next blast. J-Rite called Mario and had him deal with those two ASAP. She truly had come to like both of them; however, this was business, not personal. They had to go.

Having gotten all her ducks in order, J-Rite received a call from her attorney. He let her know that she needed to be in court the next day and that the case was getting thrown out. Leesa had given the guy that was shot in the still suspicious carjacking some cash to “forget” his story. He reached out wanting money to go dumb, so now he was dumb. When J-Rite got back in the house, Tone was there asleep on the couch. He had a gun on his lap that he held tightly, and another next to him. She smiled, then went up to her room. With him big and strong and armed, she felt safe. J-Rite knew that even though he was big, he couldn’t stop a hail of bullets, but he’d still try his best to protect her. Knowing that she had somebody that was willing to go out in a blaze of glory, with or for her, put her mind at ease.

She called Leesa to inform her about court in the morning, along with the update that she hadn’t seen or heard from Dino, but only got her voice mail. After hanging up the phone she went to sleep. The locks and alarm code had been changed so that brought her even more piece of mind. She knew she had to move on with her life for her baby’s sake; that was, if she decided to keep it.

* * *

Ever since J-Rite had her encounter with the cops, it seemed like they were everywhere. As Leesa drove home, she could see them following her. She wasn’t worried about being stopped, because she knew that the only thing she had on her was a registered gun. She knew that they wouldn’t stop her and try to harass her, because they knew that she wouldn’t have anything on her that could get her locked up. All the time that she and Hutch were selling drugs, the police never could catch them in the act. The one time the police thought they had something ended up costing the police a lawsuit and internal investigation. Sadly, she always thought that was the true reason Hutch was tragically murdered by the police.

Leesa walked in the house and was greeted by Q. She loved coming home and having him there.

“Hey, baby,” he smirked, kissing her softly as he headed to the bedroom in his boxers.

“I couldn’t wait to get home. Half the time I hate having to leave at all,” she said, following behind him.

Leesa walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. Q immediately got on his knees. He started kissing and teasing her. It turned him on to see his woman squirm. As he teased her, Leesa let her mind wander. She thought about spending the rest of her life with Q. She still hadn’t told J-Rite and didn’t know when she would. Leesa didn’t know how J-Rite would take the news, and at this point, didn’t care. She was grown and going to live for herself, no longer the memory of the past. Right now, at this moment in time, she was just going to close her eyes and enjoy what Q had in store for her.

After making love all night, the couple woke up for round two, not missing a beat, going right at it. Leesa put her legs up in the air as he slid inside of her. “Baby, it feels like it’s about to come out my throat,” her voice purred as Q rammed her deep and hard. She could feel herself on the verge of coming. “Oh my God, Hutch,” she moaned out loud. She didn’t know why she did it or if Q heard her.

Q gave her a hard stare, indicating he did. Crushed emotionally, he pulled out and sat on the side of the bed. “Wow, Leesa, why you do that? You think of him when we have sex?”

“No, baby, I swear I don’t.”

“So why you just say his name then? I’m confused.”

“Baby, I don’t know.” She dropped her head looking down at the floor. Leesa felt bad and embarrassed. She knew she messed up and didn’t know what to do to fix it.

“Look, I’m going to take a shower. Alone!” Q said, heading into the bathroom smelling a strange woman’s scent as soon as he took a piss.

Leesa went and sat on the couch staring at the wall.
Why the fuck did I call him that?
Hutch had been on her mind more and more lately, and she didn’t know why. She hadn’t had a lot of experience with men. Hutch was her first, and up until she met Q, he was also her last.
I guess I’m going to have to just sit and talk about it with him.
Leesa got up to walk to the bathroom to beg his forgiveness. Walking past a calendar, she glanced at it, and the fifteenth jumped out at her.
Oh shit! I know why I been thinking about Hutch. His birthday was the other day, and I forgot. Damn, but that’s still not an excuse for calling Q by the next nigga’s name; especially when I did.

J-Rite walked out of court feeling above the law. She had paid her way out of a prison sentence. Although J-Rite had never been in any real trouble before, she knew if she didn’t have money she would have been possibly spending the rest of her life in jail. After talking to her attorney in front of the court building, she went to Asia’s house and paid her for the phone calls. Of course, she was badgered into promising to finally putting her on, and since she and her team were pulling out of the dope game in Grand Rapids soon, Asia could have it and the entire headache that came along with what had proven to be a bad-luck city. On the way from Asia’s house she thought about what her attorney said about the cops and the information that they had. Off the record, he suggested that her best bet was to maybe pay them off like Leesa had just done with the witness.

Overjoyed at the outcome, she decided to go to Leesa’s house and tell her the good news in person. She pulled in the driveway, taking her spare key out of her purse just in case.
Maybe she parked in the garage or is still asleep.
J-Rite knocked on the door, then rang the bell but got no answer. She stuck her key in the door, letting herself in.
Damn, I gotta pee.
She went in the bathroom, used it, and then came out. As she stepped into the hallway, she heard sounds coming from Leesa’s room. J-Rite slowly opened the door and couldn’t believe her eyes. Leesa was naked, legs in the air, fucking some man.

J-Rite was at a loss for words. She couldn’t even speak. She felt like somebody had punched her in the stomach. She closed the door and walked out of the house without saying a word. She drove off with tears running down her face. J-Rite was flying up the street not realizing how fast she was going as she thought about Leesa’s betrayal to Hutch’s memory.

A car was pulling out of the driveway. By the time J-Rite saw it, it was too late to stop. She swerved around the car—and hit a tree. On impact, the airbag deployed.

* * *

“Why didn’t you do what I said to do?” Tyrus asked his nephew.

“The time wasn’t right. I couldn’t find a time when the place was empty.”

“No sooner than I told you to take care of the place, the son of a bitch starts getting real busy, huh? Is that right?”

Benji wanted to tell his uncle to go fuck himself, but he knew that wouldn’t be a wise decision.

“Well, it has to be taken care of, and I mean
soon
. And I don’t give a fuck about how busy it is—
handle
it.”

“But, Unk, I told you, it’s always busy. I’m serious!”

“Listen, little nigga! I don’t give a fuck if Jesus is inside passing out Bibles. You burn it down with him in it.”

Benji couldn’t take it any longer. “Fuck that shit! I ain’t killing innocent people.”

“Oh, you think you got the balls to disobey me?”

“Why is this so important, Unk?”

“Don’t ask me questions! I done told you that before!”

“Look, Unk, I got love for you, but you better watch the way you talking to me.”

“You think you can take me? I’ll put you under the earth—and don’t ever forget that! Now get the fuck outta my office before I put hands on you.”

Benji was ready to explode, but he held it in. “All right, Unk. No problem.”

“Hey, boy, what them niggas say about my money?”

“I’ll be picking it up in a few hours if you still want me to.”

“Yeah, and when you get it, take it to the safe house. The rest you keep. Remember, I love you, boy.”

“I love you too, Unk.” Benji walked out of his uncle’s office low-key hurt. His old family wanted to hurt his new family.

He was ready to call Raven when ironically, she called and asked how things went. After he explained he had to pick up some money and would call her back, he pulled up to Dino’s spot and hopped out. He was praying they had all the money.

“What up, guy?” Rell said when he saw Benji.

“Shit, the money ready or what?”

“One thing you ain’t gotta worry ’bout when you fuck with me is your money.”

“That’s good to know.” Benji nodded, hoping what he said was true.

Rell thought that maybe he should be hustling with Benji. Ever since he and Dino started having problems, he wanted to do his own thing. “Hey, dude, I need to holla at you over here on some shit. See, I been fucking with dawg and them for a while, and it’s ’bout time I break and do my own thing. I was wondering if I could cop from you on the solo tip.”

He trying to cut a side deal.
“What, you need a plug?”

“Yeah, from you.”

“How much?”

“Maybe a big eighth or so a week.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Rell looked at him. “Yeah, that’s all a nigga gonna need for now.”

“Well, when you want it?”

“If you got it, I’ll take it now.”

“Well, let me think on it. I’ll get back!”

* * *

Before Leesa could offer a heartfelt apology for her hurtful slipup, the phone rang.

“Hello, may I speak to Leesa Jones.”

“This is her, who is this?”

“This is a nurse from Mercy Hospital, and we have you down as the emergency contact for Jessica Sanders.”

“What about her?” Leesa panicked, concerned . . . knowing all that was going on with the drama from Tyrus and Dino.

“Ms. Sanders was in a terrible car accident earlier today.”

“Is she all right?”

“She’s still in surgery, and we’d like for you to come down to the hospital as soon as possible.”

When Leesa hung up, she had tears streaming down her face.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Q wondered, coming out of the bathroom still drying off from his shower.

“J-Rite was in a car accident!”

“Damn! Is she all right?”

“I don’t know. I’m on my way down there now.” Leesa was trembling as she started to get dressed.

“You want me to go?”

“Naw, baby, it’s all right.”

“Leesa, I can’t let you leave here like this. I’d be worried to death about something happening to you, and you damn sure can’t drive like this. I know we supposed to be doing the low-key thing, but fuck all that! I love you too much to let you leave here like that.”

Leesa walked over and hugged him. She was glad that she had him in her life.
I swear to God if Dino had something to do with this, I’ma lay that nigga down!
Leesa sat quietly in the passenger side as Q drove her to the hospital. He dropped her off at the emergency door, then parked. She ran in the hospital and waited for an elevator.
Damn, I hope she all right. I can’t lose my sister.

After checking in at the front desk, she was led toward the area where her sister-in-law was. Leesa pulled the multicolored curtain back, and her eyes started watering. J-Rite was unconscious with tubes down her throat and IVs in her arm.

“Damn, girl, I hate to see you like this.” Leesa walked over to sit down next to J-Rite’s bed. As she sat down, Q stuck his head in the door.

“Baby, I’ll be in the hall.”

“All right.” Leesa turned her attention back to Hutch’s little sister. “J-Rite, you know I love you very much. I need you to pull through this.”

Just then, a doctor walked in the room and put down his chart. “Hello, I’m Dr. Mead, and you must be Ms. Jones.”

“Yeah, I am. How is she doing?” Leesa asked, wiping tears from her face.

“She’s going to be okay. She’s sleeping right now from the medication. The police said that she was going way over the speed limit. Luckily, she was wearing her seat belt. It saved her life.”

“So she is going to be all right?”

“It’s too early to say, but I think she’s going to be fine.”

Leesa had enough stuff on her mind to worry about, but this just made things a lot worse for her. “How’s her baby?” she then asked, praying for the best.

“I’m sorry, but she lost the baby.” Dr. Mead knew how Leesa felt from the look on her face; he had seen it many times before.

“Well, hopefully, she’ll be all right.”

“Yeah, I hope so. I’m going to give you some time alone. Don’t stay too long. She really needs her rest.”

Leesa sat silently, not knowing what to think or what to make out of the situation
. I hate I let shit get this far. We supposed to be on a beach right now. This shit’s all my fault. I should have never let J-Rite get in the game. Hutch would be pissed. And damn, how do I tell her that her baby’s gone?
Leesa had never second-guessed herself like she was doing right now. Even though she knew J-Rite was in the game anyway, she still felt that she added to the problem. She felt that she could have had J-Rite change her ways. At the thought of not knowing if her friend would live or not, she broke down and started crying.
I gotta get outta here.
“J-Rite, I love you. I’ll be back.” Leesa got up and walked out of the room.

“How is she, baby?” Q got up to comfort his woman.

“She’s asleep. The doctor said that she should be okay, but you know how that goes. I’m about to call everybody and tell them to come down here.”

After she called Raven and Tone they went in the cafeteria and got coffee, then headed back to check on J-Rite.

Leesa had her head on Q’s shoulder, trying to calm her nerves when she heard voices. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw Tone, Raven, and Benji walking toward her. She felt a little better now that her family had arrived.

“Baby, you all right?” Raven asked, walking up and hugging her.

“Yeah, I’m good. The doctor said she gonna be all right.”

“You shouldn’t worry; you know she a trooper.” Tone walked up putting his arms around Leesa.

“And who is this?” Raven asked, looking at Q.

“I’m Q. It’s nice to meet you. Sorry it’s under these circumstances.”

Raven nodded her head and grinned.

“I’m Tone.” He went over to shake Q’s hand. Tone could tell from the way that Raven looked at Q she was wondering where Leesa had been hiding his handsome ass.

She better not get stupid. This ain’t the time
. Tone wasn’t the only one that picked up on it. Benji noticed as well.

“Did one of y’all call Mario?” Leesa noticed he wasn’t there.

“Yeah, I called him. He said he was on his way. But you know how that nigga is. He still mad about you know what.”

I wonder what they talking about,
Benji thought, remaining silent meeting Tone, Leesa and Q for the first time.

Raven didn’t tell him that the two brothers had gotten into it. She felt she couldn’t tell Benji that she had slept with Tone. Even though it was before they met, she knew how it sounded, and she knew how he would take it.
I wonder who this nigga is to Leesa. I should ask, but that shit gonna have to wait.
Raven had gotten suspicious of all new people that came around her team. She knew that Tyrus had long arms and could stretch out to touch, if need be. “I’m about to go see her,” Raven said walking off toward J-Rite’s room.

“Don’t stay too long. The doctor said she needs a lot of rest.”

“Yeah, I won’t, I just want to check on her.”

* * *

“Baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that to you, but you tried to flip the script on me, and that Detroit tramp you messing around with is the one out here burning niggas,” Monique said to Dino after begging him to come back so that they could talk.

He didn’t know why but he still had feelings for Monique, and it was more than just sex. Since he knew J-Rite couldn’t be trusted, he was going back and forth in his mind regarding where his heart was. “Naw, baby, I’m the one that’s sorry. I should have never put my hands on you. That’s some shit that real niggas just don’t do, and from now on, it’s just gonna be me and you.”

This made Monique happy. She had wanted Dino all to herself for a long time. “Bae, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

I hope this nigga don’t bug out.
“What about J-Rite’s baby?”

Dino didn’t speak. He hadn’t thought much more about it. He figured that J-Rite wouldn’t want him to see the baby anyway. Plus, he still felt that it wasn’t his. Instead of having a blood test done when the child was born, he was just going to wash his hands of the whole thing like it wasn’t happening. Period. “What about it?”

This took Monique by surprise. She knew that Dino felt J-Rite was cheating on him and that the baby wasn’t his, but she thought that by now he’d have come to his senses.
I wonder if that nigga would play me like that.
“Do you want kids?”

“Damn, what’s with all the questions? A nigga not in the mood.”

Monique didn’t speak. After the fight they had she didn’t want to fight again. She had heard that if a man hits you once he’ll do it twice. But she loved Dino so much she didn’t care if he hit her. She would do whatever it took to make him happy.
Here goes
.

“I’m pregnant.”

Dino tightened his face as he sat up. “Oh yeah? When you find this out?”

“The other day I wasn’t feeling good, so I went to the doctor, and she told me. Are you mad?”

“Why should I be? It’s mine, right?”

“Yeah, of course, it’s yours.”

“Are you going to keep it?”

She started feeling sad.
He gonna tell me to get rid of it.
“I want to.”

“Well, what we gonna name it?”

Even though Dino was burning and had some explaining to do, Monique felt like she had finally beat J-Rite at her own game.