End of the Line (19 page)

Leesa felt like she had one helluva run in the dope game. She had been running the streets since back in the day when she and Hutch first met. When he got killed, her original mind-set told her to just back away from the unforgiving streets and get a regular nine-to-five job. But she could not bring herself to live like that. She was spoiled to getting fast money no matter who got hurt or got in the way. Leesa had effectively cut herself off from feeling any type of emotion or having any sort of real true attachment to anything or anyone . . . with the exception of Jessica. She truly loved her like a sister; yet, now that relationship was strained because of Q. Not thinking Jessica was being reasonable in dealing with the reality that Hutch was gone out of their physical lives forever, Leesa was prepared to just give her a small bit of time to come to grips with it. She herself was behaving the same way . . . until Q. Now he had asked her to marry him and leave the streets behind, and, of course, she’d agreed. For the past few days since their big blowout at the hospital, Leesa had her cell powered off and was trying to get accustomed to the quiet life; damn beefing and damn drama.

“Baby, we’ve been in this bed all day.” Q smiled, elated that he was about to have Leesa as his queen. “Get up and get dressed. I wanna take you to the jewelry store to pick out your own ring so it can be official. You can have whatever you want! I love you that much!”

Leesa could only smile as she got up and headed into the bathroom. After turning the shower on and allowing it to get hot, she stepped inside. As the water flowed down on her body, she made a mental list of all the things she had to do; the first being put her house up on the market, and then get in touch with the plug she’d been rocking with for years and inform him that she was retiring and out of the game.
I just hope Jessica can be happy for me and my new life. I wish she could be one of my bridesmaids, but I now it might be too much for her to handle; especially after she just lost the baby. But fuck it, I’ma call her anyway and just clear the air.

Never being so happy since being with Hutch, Leesa stepped out of the shower with a gigantic smile on her face.

“Put your hands up!” Hazel ordered, standing in the steamy bathroom with her firearm pointed directly at Leesa’s chest. “DEA officer. Are you Leesa Jones?” she asked following the proper procedure. As she waited for the answer, she heard her fellow officers on the task force yell out “all clear” from the front of the dwelling. “Well, are you Leesa Jones, thirty-two, of Detroit, Michigan; daughter of Samuel and Patrice Jones?”

There was nothing to say; nothing to do but be honest. “Yes, I’m Leesa Jones.” She then tried covering her naked body with her hands.

Hazel was there to do a job, but could not help but to lust after her soon-to-be-arrested three-county drug sting target’s perfect body. After allowing Ms. Jones to slip on a track suit, she handcuffed her, then led her out to the living room. With Q, whose only crime was loving a girl from the hood, laid out on the floor, also handcuffed, the two of them never got a chance to say their good-byes when Leesa was paraded out onto the front lawn, then tossed in the rear of an undercover vehicle.

Once he was allowed to get up and the handcuffs were removed, Q found the nerve to ask the last officer on the scene what Leesa was being charged with.

“Attempted murder of a federal officer, for one! So get your pen and paper ready; she gonna be gone a long damn time!”

* * *

I can’t believe my nigga gone. He was just here. It seems like we were just little young niggas running around getting into all kinda dumb bullshit.
Mario had spent what seemed like hours reminiscing on his and Tone’s childhood. That’s all he had left—just memories. Mario took all the things that had happened to him in life with a positive attitude, but he couldn’t do it this time. He was down for the count. Having received a call from some of the young guys they had out in the streets hustling that there had been a shoot-out up at the liquor store around the way involving Tone, he rushed up there. In denial, he saw his brother’s arm sticking out from underneath a white sheet. He wanted nothing more than to run over to him, snatch the sheet back, and ask him who was the dirty rotten motherfucker that had stolen his life away from the land of the living. However, Mario knew that if he did that, he’d run the risk of police contact. He wanted to avoid any light being shined on him so he could hunt down Tone’s killer without fear of being arrested.

“Gimme another shot,” he yelled at the bartender, slurring his words. The bartender walked over with a bottle of Jack Daniel and started pouring. “Just gimme the damn bottle.” Mario snatched the bottle out of the man’s hand. He then went in his pocket and threw a knot full of money on the bar. “Keep the bottles coming! I don’t care how much it cost!”

He keep this up and he gonna drink his self to death,
the bartender thought looking at Mario as he guzzled down the brown devil potion. He had seen this a lot from customers over the years. At other establishments, the bartender would try to get a person that they saw blatantly overindulging like this to slow down. Not at this bar. He didn’t care. Long as you had money you could keep the pity party going full speed. He grabbed the money, counted it, then walked off.
Damn fool gave me a thousand dollars. I love this job.

Why the fuck was Tone and Benji bitch ass hanging together in the first place? I told that nigga to stay away from him
. Just then, Mario’s cell phone rang. It was J-Rite. “Yeah, what’s up, girl? What it do?”

“Mario, where are you at?” she somberly asked, feeling close to the exact same way that Mario was feeling after finding out about Tone.

“I’m at the bar, why? What you want, J?”

“Baby, I know you’re hurt. I’m fucked up in the head now too. But I need for you to come to my place, please. I need you here with me. Shit is even crazier.”

“Why, J, why? You know these niggas out here in these streets gonna pay for what the fuck they did to my blood. I swear on everything I love I’ma be all on every nigga head I even
think
had something to do with the bullshit . . . starting with that faggot Benji whenever I find him, not to mention Dino.”

J-Rite knew Mario was all up in his feelings and rightly so. “Baby, please just come over here as soon as possible. That’s what I wanna talk to you about.”

Mario put the bottle he had been taking to the head down on top of the bar. “Hold tight, J. Have you heard from that nigga Benji? Please tell me you have! What the fuck he say happened? My little homies say Benji was there. They say he was the one that was supposed to have shot that nigga that run with your grimy-ass boyfriend, Marlon, in his back. I keep calling Raven cell, and that bitch sending me straight to voice mail. I know she know where that nigga Benji at. They probably somewhere together hiding out.”

J-Rite was weak; not only in mind and spirit, but physically as well. She had got straight out of her hospital bed, pulled out her own IV from her arm, and got dressed after receiving Mario’s frantic heartbreaking news about Tone’s demise. Without bothering to officially check herself out of the facility, J-Rite walked to the elevator, out to the lobby, and in the front of the building hailing a cab. She wanted to tell Mario even more tragic news, but thought it would be in his best interest, along with any unfortunate person that could possibly be in his drunken destructive path, that it was delivered in person.

“Naw, I haven’t heard from him, and yeah, you right; fuck Dino. But there’s more to what’s going on. Plus, we still got beef with Tyrus.”

“Like what? What the fuck else could it be? Tone gone and ain’t never coming back, and believe me when I tell you, the streets of Gun Ru ain’t gonna be safe.”

“It’s Raven, she . . .” J-Rite couldn’t even bring herself to finish her sentence. “Mario, please just come over now! Please, I’m begging you!”

“She what? Raven what? Fuck it, I’m on my way!” Mario hung up. “I wonder what the hell happened.” Even though he couldn’t have Raven like he wanted her, he was still on her side up until finding out that her man, Benji, was with Tone just moments before his death
.

Mario stumbled out of the bar, got in his truck, and pulled off. Swerving up into J-Rite’s driveway, he took a deep breath before he hopped down out of the truck. He ran up to the door, which was hard because he could barely stand. As his heart raced, the dark liquor flowing through his bloodstream seemed like it was starting to boil. He wanted to throw up and tried to fight it. Seconds later, he was doubled over, gagging into her flower pot that sat right on the edge of the porch. Using his wrist and hand to wipe his mouth, he grew dizzy wanting to pass out. Mario lifted his arm. Before he could knock, J-Rite opened her front door. Definitely not under the influence of liquor, she was drained. She fell straight into Mario’s arms. Sobering up with the quickness, he caught her. Carrying J-Rite into the house, he noticed she had tears running down her face.

“Mario, Mario, oh my God! I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Sis, what the fuck is going on? Tell me,” he demanded, setting her down on the couch.

“It’s so messed up I can’t hardly breathe.”

Mario loved J-Rite like family, but she was pushing it asking him to drop everything he was doing and come to her side. But now, she was taking a year and a day to spit out what she wanted and what was so damn awful that couldn’t wait until he finished drinking. “Look, I ain’t trying to be on no bullshit with you. Right about now, my damn brother is dead and gone and truth be told, your people that you was fucking with before me and Tone even got up here is at fault! So if you got something to tell me about where Dino, Benji, or Raven’s ho ass is at, then tell me. Otherwise, let me go back to doing what I was doing and I’ll get up with all three of them hoes on my own!”

J-Rite managed to find the strength to lift her body off the couch. Knowing that if Mario was this angry and distraught now, she braced herself the best she possibly could for the fallout that was seconds away from taking place. She walked over to the television and turned it on. Using the remote, she turned on the DVR. Going through the menu, she pulled up the recently recorded show; the local news. Although hyped, Mario sat down on the couch and watched. When it was over, it was like he was in shock. He looked over at J-Rite who was about to pass out again, then back to the television screen. After repeating those motions a few times, he managed to speak.

“How in the fuck? What the fuck? I can’t—I can’t—” He didn’t even finish his sentence before tears started coming out of his eyes. “Raven gone too? Her and them babies and that old woman? Naw, that’s fucked up! I mean, it’s one thing to try to get at niggas that’s off into the game, but kids and somebody’s grandmother? That’s straight foul! I’m telling you, girl, that nigga Dino gotsta go!”

J-Rite had lost not only Tone but Raven as well. She didn’t know how much more she could take. “Look, Mario, that’s why I wanted you to come over here. Right about now, it’s just me and you. Leesa acting like she don’t give a damn because she ain’t even called me back. I know we was beefing and all, but I done left over seven messages and blew her cell up. Plus, just like I seen this bullshit plastered all over news and the report of Tone’s murder at the store, I know her wannabe white ass watches the news every night. So either she preoccupied somewhere with that nigga she fucking around with dick up in her mouth or she just like fuck me altogether. Whatever the case is, like I said, me and you out here on our own.”

Mario took in all J-Rite was saying. He knew since Raven was gone, Benji and Dino were the missing pieces to his puzzle. “Look, baby girl, all this shit is too damn much. But I ain’t gonna sleep until I get some answers,” he bitterly guaranteed as he stormed out the door in search for two people that he planned to murder in revenge.

Monique had been watching Dino toss and turn all night. She knew since he’d come to her house talking about they need to go on some all-of-a-sudden-out-of-the-blue vacation, there had to be some shit in the game. She might have been desperately in love with him at one point, but that graveyard love had slowly dwindled away when he kept putting her on the back burner for J-Rite and any other piece of trash whore he’d come across. For months on end, she knew his game, all his moves, and what he was truly saying about her out in the streets to his homeboys. Monique knew he felt she was nothing more than his sugar momma and meal ticket. Some of his conversations she had even heard were recorded without him knowing. Thanks to Rell, she was not in the dark, but played the role.

“Hey, boo-boo, how’s my baby momma doing?” Rell asked, knowing Monique loved when he would call her that. He knew that she’d told Dino that she was carrying his child. But what else could she do to cover her and Rell’s secret affair? When they first hooked up, it was right after Dino had meet J-Rite and was playing her to the left. Like a mack, he saw the potential to get some of the money and gifts she was showering on Dino for himself. Rell felt Dino didn’t need two females caking on him; that wasn’t the way life oughta be.

“I’m good, bae. I didn’t get much sleep, though. Your friend came over here last night bugging. I don’t know if he done messed around and got burned again or what, but he was acting real strange.”

Rell hated that his plan to rob Dino was starting to unravel. He’d been spinning his web of deception, and in the next few days, he had planned to make his move. Now, the streets were talking and not in a good way. Their team that used to be so tight was not only torn apart—they were done. Marlon had been gunned down, along with a nigga that was running with J-Rite; Tone. Rell didn’t give two hot shits about the asshole who was rumored to be the brother of the guy who had stepped him and Tiffany out at the mall. He couldn’t wait for them to bury the dead gorilla so that he could go and piss on his grave. Now, as for Marlon, Rell never really cared for him and would have had no problem killing him his damn self if he got in the way of the caper he was gonna perpetrate against Dino. But to have Benji, of all people who he thought could be trusted, pull the trigger, had him confused. Neither Rell nor Dino knew that Benji and J-Rite’s crew had anything to do with the other. He didn’t know the true connection, and since Benji was locked up on suicide watch, he never would.

“Yeah, baby, he did fuck up with his dumb ass. He was supposed to be getting at the guy from that mall bullshit and ended up being a coward, leaving our boys out to dry.”

Monique couldn’t believe she ever loved or cared about Dino in the first place. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. You know Marlon? Well, he got shot in the back, and he’s dead. And Dre, well, that nigga had got his shit almost together and was going into rehab. That ho-ass nigga you got over there in your bed left Dre to do what he obviously couldn’t; kill somebody from J-Rite’s crew.

“You bullshitting! Are you for real?”

“Yeah, bae.” Rell had yet to deliver to her the icing on the triple-layer cake. “My manz Dre was so mentally fucked up behind the shit, having to kill that lame or risk being killed, his weak ass messed around and overdosed. His girl found him dead on the front porch this morning with the damn needle still sticking in his arm. And where the fuck is Dino while the streets is going crazy? Curled up in your bed like some little pussy!”

“Him and his loyalty to that bitch is so tired,” Monique pouted, rubbing her stomach. “That’s why I had my cousin and them carjack that bitch in the first place. Then her dumb ass wanna be all shoot-out at the OK Corral. That shit was perfect. I almost had her away from my damn life for good, but my cousin boy that she shot wanted to be greedy and take a payoff. Man, I hate that bitch probably more than I’m starting to hate Dino!”

Monique wanted to go to the kitchen and get a knife to stab Dino half to death with while he was sleeping. After she and Rell discussed more “hood news” and possible baby names, he ended the conversation telling her that his car alarm was going off and he’d hit her back later. Ready to get back to playing the game with Dino, she crept back toward the closed bedroom door. Turning the knob as quietly as possible, she was surprised when he unexpectedly snatched the door open, holding the other cordless phone in his hands.

“So, damn, Monique, it’s like that, huh? You been rocking out with my boy, and y’all two motherfuckers been plotting against me! You a real bird for that shit! You done showed your true colors!”

She didn’t know what to say or do. She was like a small mouse stuck in a trap. She was cornered and saw the rage in his eyes. She wanted to scream out for help, but before she could manage to get the words out, Dino’s hands were wrapped around her throat and squeezing. Each second that passed she fought to stay alert. “Please, Dino, the baby.”

“Rusty-faced bitch, please! Get the fuck all the way on. You mean you and that slimeball bastard Rell’s seed? You mean
that
baby? Is
that
the one you talking about you want me to care about?” His grip tightened as his mind raced on how he was going to get Rell in the same situation that he now had Monique—cornered, scared, and begging for his life. Only seconds away from most definitely killing Monique, he let her go. As she dropped to her knees gasping for air, her now-blue lips quivering, Dino gathered some of his belongings throwing them in an oversized duffle bag. Still in his feelings, he stomped Monique in the stomach before leaving in search of Rell; apparently her baby daddy.

* * *

Who in the hell messing with my ride? Now ain’t the time for trying to get down or over on a brother. Niggas better leave me be.
Running to the window with his gun clutched in his hand, he was prepared to let loose, if need be. Seeing no one near his car, he clicked the alarm off, then reset it.
It must have been one of them damn stray cats around this son of a bitch apartment complex.
He wasn’t going to allow no one to violate him or what belonged to him ever again. He’d been second best to Dino for years, but now, that was done. He was his own boss and was going to carry himself like one, even if that meant death or jail. That was the act that he put on for the outside world. In reality, Rell was trying to be hard. But after all the drama that had taken place over the last couple of months, especially Tiffany’s death, he was drained. The plotting, the scheming, and just the game in general had him ready to give up.

Minutes later, Rell was sitting back in his favorite chair watching the news report about the tragic house fire and senseless assassination of five people, three being children. Ironically, he had no clue that one of the victims in this crime was the very female that started the fight that ultimately resulted in Tiffany’s death. Rell had satisfaction and would never know it. Exhausted, he’d almost fallen asleep when his car alarm went off yet again. He jumped to his feet, this time swinging his front door wide open and darted outside. He was ready to put two in the head of any stray cat that he’d catch within five feet of his vehicle. Much to his dismay, it was not a stray cat that he found, but more than twenty-five guns aimed at him perched down behind various cars and pillars throughout the complex he called home.

“DEA Task Force! Drop your weapon and put your hands up,” a voice rang out.

Rell was frozen in his tracks. His eyes darted from side to side, trying to peep out every single officer that was locked and loaded, prepared to do him harm. “Yeah? What the fuck if I don’t?” he barked back while trying to convince himself he had a slim chance to come out of this alive and free.

“Look, no one has to get hurt! Just do as you’re told! Drop your weapon and put your hands up! It’s simple!”

Rell was done being anything other than a boss. He knew he’d done so much dirt; there was no telling exactly what they had on him. But whatever it was, he knew nine outta ten times he’d never see the light of day again once he was in handcuffs. Being in charge of his own destiny, Rell raised his gun.

Instead of handcuffs, he was taken away in a body bag headed to the morgue.