Payback Ain't Enough (17 page)

“So what the fuck is this?” Cisco asked, standing firm in his spot like his ass was bulletproof.

“Nigga, you know what this is. Y’all bitch-ass niggas in our world. Come up off y’all shit,” Snaggletooth yelled out.

Cisco chuckled and barked, “Nigga, suck my dick!”

“You hear this nigga?” Snaggletooth turned and looked at his boy while pointing at Cisco.

The next thing I heard was the clicking of the shotgun. I gripped my gun tight at my side and before I could blink my eye, a shot hit Darnell in the leg. He doubled over in pain. The roar from the shot caused the partying crowd to start screaming and ducking, giving me the diversion I needed, so I pushed Cisco to the side, grabbed Darnell up and used him as a human shield so I could bust off some shots.

Snaggletooth jumped over the hood and took cover, as shots rang out from the backseat. Cisco was crouched down on the side of the car leaning on the door breathing heavy. The other niggas scattered like roaches. I fell back on the ground and let off until my shit was empty, hitting the cat in the backseat as his head fell up against the glass. I heard the car go into gear and then speed off. Cisco rolled over, then jumped up shooting causing the back window to shatter. They sped up and were gone.

I looked around to check the damage. Darnell was dead with a hole the size of a baseball in his chest, and the other niggas were emerging from behind parked cars as sirens blared in the background.

“Let’s go, nigga,” I yelled out as we all piled in our ride and pulled off.

As we assessed everyone we realized that Mook was also hit. He had a small hole in his side. The rest of them niggas were scared and trembling.

Cisco, on the other hand, wanted to say a prayer for Darnell. After that he wouldn’t shut up. “See, that’s the shit there
I’m talking about! Y’all niggas need to take a lesson. Y’all ’sposed to be the muscle, and y’all muthafuckas froze up,” Cisco kept repeating. Nigga’s faces were tight, and the smell of fear leaked from their pores.

“Y’all niggas is pussy,” I stated with venom dripping from my vocals. I looked at my hand. My knuckles were bloody from falling to the ground. I looked out the window thinking to myself as the driver raced through the streets,
Time to get rid of this dead weight.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

That bitch Shan! I could just fuck her up. That was just plain trifling! How you gonna drop your baby off at midnight? I was pissed yes, because I wanted to have Briggen all to myself. On the flip side, it was crazy and cute seeing him in the daddy role with his son. I had never seen that side of him. He still hadn’t shared with me what happened that caused him to pack a bag and come running to my house. When I hinted at it, he just nixed me off.

I was willing to bet that, just like with myself, Sharia and Tami, once he felt that he got all that he could get from you and he’s a little bored, good ol’ Briggen was quick to toss a bitch to the side.

He and the baby had been at my home for three days. His son was beginning to cramp my style. I wasn’t used to having a baby roaming around on my white suede carpet. I had to cover it up with plastic runners real quick.

“Look at how you are acting. You don’t even come off as the mommy type,” Briggen had the nerve to say to me.

“He’s not
my
child, Briggen. Don’t you think that has a little something to do with it?”

He laughed, “That’s a lame excuse. If you are supposed to be my woman and I come to the table with kids, you are supposed to be able to step into the mommy role.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Your woman? You got jokes. I haven’t been looked at by you as your woman for a long time. I never gave up thinking that there was a chance for us. And there will always be a place in my heart for you. Plus, you know I was trying to have your baby, but you made sure that never happened.”

“I’m going to my man’s funeral, and then I have to take care of something. Can I count on you to watch my son or not?” he asked me, not even acknowledging my feelings that I had just shared with him.

“Of course you can. I’ve had your back from day one, more than all of those other bitches you had in your corner, and you know that.”

“Mia, I’m not talking about having my back more than other bitches. I just need a babysitter.”

I had the house for four days all to myself and I had enjoyed every minute of it. I missed Li’l Anthony and was surprised that his daddy didn’t come bringing him back. I guessed from here on out it would be a battle of the wills.

I started my business plan, and my first event was a month
away. I had noticed that there were a lot of old heads who liked to get their party on. So, for my first event I was bringing in Frankie Beverly and Maze, Cameo and Charlie Wilson to add that flava. I had booked the venue and had hired a street team to pass out flyers at all the salons, barbershops, bars and local mom-and-pops. I even paid for some ads on the radio stations during prime time.

But then I had this brainstorm. It said, “Go for it!” Since Halloween was coming up I was going to do something for the young heads. I needed to get some rap artists to come through and perform. I was on the phone for days making calls, only to learn that people didn’t want to deal with you if they didn’t know you. But the good thing was that money is a universal language and I was speaking it fluently. Before I knew it, I had an all-star lineup. Shit, I was geeked, and I was feeling myself.

If it wasn’t for the fact that I was enjoying the time taking care of my son, I would have already taken him back to Shan and put my foot in her ass.

And Mia? That bitch had been talking about how she’d been down with me for years, how much she loved me and how she was the only one that got my back, but the bitch was jealous of my son. What kind of shit is that?

I had my boys’ company come and put up surveillance cameras in her crib. I left her to babysit because I needed to see how she was going to treat my son and couldn’t wait to play the tape back. It didn’t make sense to drag him out
to a funeral. I wish I would have thought about surveillance cameras and had them installed in my own damn house. The first chance I get I’ma make that happen. But the business at hand was after Melky’s funeral I had to sit down with his cousin Wise. Just like me, he had beef with Choppa’s family and wanted to talk to me about it.

Me and Wise left the funeral together and went to this hole-in-the-wall bar and grill on Rosemont called Scotty’s. We grabbed a seat at the bar, and Wise brought a bottle of Hennessey.

“Dude, you really tryna get fucked up, ain’t you?” I teased him.

Wise poured both of us a shot and tossed his back. He then poured himself another one, leaving me out.

“That’s fucked up, man. That beef was supposed to be squashed,” Wise complained. “If them muthafuckas think for one minute that I’ma let that shit go, then they obviously don’t know about me.” He threw another shot back.

“I feel your pain, but to take a head you gotta be ready to give one. And them niggas you planning on going after, they ain’t no lightweights.” I had to remind the nigga what he was up against.

“So what are you saying, Brig?” Wise threw another one back. “Just let the shit go?”

“I’m just saying, be ready to die, that’s all. Ain’t no way in hell you gonna fuck with them niggas and stay alive,” I reminded him.

“So what? Act like shit ain’t happen? You already know I can’t do that.”

“Just don’t throw caution to the wind on this one, man.
Not having a plan, my nigga, is a death wish in itself. You need to have a plan. Me personally? I’m sick of all this shit. I got a son, one on the way. You got how many kids? It’s a suicide mission, and Melky was my man, but it ain’t nothing I can do.” I said what I had to say and got up to leave.

“It’s like that?” he asked, still on the defense.

“Nigga, I ain’t got nothing to do with it.”

“Aiight, then, cool.” He held out his fist and I bumped it. “Just stay out of the way,” he warned.

I left and headed to my house.

Marquis and I were driving around the city. I was going down Northwestern one day and stumbled on this restaurant called Beans and Cornbread. They served a Louisiana gumbo that was to die for. We were just here two days earlier, and now we were back. Nick was meeting us for lunch. I was hesitant about bringing Marquis, but he kept begging to hang out with his mommy.

“What’s up, boss lady?” Nick snuck up behind us and kissed my cheek. He grabbed the seat across from me. “I didn’t know you were bringing a guest.” He held out his hand for Marquis to shake. “I’m Nick.”

Marquis extended his hand. “I’m Marquis. Nice to meet you,” he stated proudly.

“Likewise.” Nick turned to me. “I’m not going to order anything because I have another engagement. I was hoping that Boomer would be here. Should I wait? I really wanted to speak with him.”

“Look, Nick, get over it. You are looking at the decision maker. Just say what you got to say,” I told this chauvinistic nigga.

“Alright then. Because of who you represent I will. I’m musclin’ Mr. G out. I am monopolizing the game. I wanted Boomer to be the first to know out of respect. All prices are going up twenty percent. But for your family, ten percent. Everybody else, twenty percent. Even with the increase I’m still damn near twenty-five percent lower than Mr. G. If you don’t have any questions I’m going to excuse myself. Oh, and Melky’s people said for you to watch your back.”

I sat there watching this nigga leave. What does he mean by, “monopolize the game”? He’s not holding like that. And muscle? I know he can’t go up against a triple International OG like Mr. G! I mean, he got work, but shit, so does half the city. What is he talking about?

I couldn’t believe my luck. This was un-fuckin’-believable. I kept putting it off, but Dark wouldn’t let up. I could kiss him right smack in the mouth for that! He was determined to find the owner of the license plate that I had tossed into my garage. And bingo! Who did it belong to? The ol’ bitch! Briggen’s baby mama. I was ecstatic. That bitch was finally getting ready to go down, and I wanted a front row seat so I could watch it happen.

I couldn’t wait to get back so I could fill Boomer in on Nick’s announcement. Boomer would have gone to breakfast with
me, but he wasn’t feeling well. I was beginning to worry about his health. When Marquis and I walked into the living room, Boomer was in his easy chair knocked out.

“Go play, Marquis. I need to talk to uncle Boomer.”

“Mom, can I go next door to Shawn’s?”

“No. Stay on the porch.”

“Let that boy go next door, Nay. Why he gotta stay on the porch?” Boomer said, not opening his eyes.

“I thought you were asleep?”

“Just because my eyes closed don’t mean I was asleep. Go on next door, Marquis.”

“Y’all got that boy spoiled.”

My son took off running. I sat down on the sofa. “You ready to hear this?”

“What?”

“I saw Nick this morning, and he said that Mr. G is out. He said that he was going to monopolize the game and that we all should be buying from him. All prices are up twenty percent, but for our family, ten percent. And he said that’s outta respect. But at the same time he bragged that he was still coming in twenty-five percent lower than Mr. G.” I sat back and waited to hear what my uncle had to say. He closed his eyes and didn’t say a word. After several minutes, I got up to go get something to drink. I came back with a glass of sweet tea.

“You want something to drink?” I broke the silence.

“Your father always called him the ‘spook who sat by the door,’ and he called it right. He works quietly and strategically. I told you that boy was a damn genius.”

“Genius or not, Mr. G’s shit is five times better. Nick’s is five times cheaper. If he muscles G out, how long will his
prices be so low? What happened to Mr. G? Why didn’t he call a meeting to let everyone know that he was out and Nick was replacing him?”

“Because that’s probably not what happened.”

“What do you mean that’s probably not what happened? He can’t just muscle Mr. G out. And what? Are we going to sit back and let him do it? What is everyone in The Consortium going to think?”

“Baby girl, that’s up to you. If you would have been in this business as long as I have, you would have seen and heard of a lot of things. And you would know that anything is possible. But you are in charge of this family now. If a nigga is hungry enough, he can move mountains. If my hunch is right, this youngin just cornered the market.”

“Greasy muthafucka,” I laughed. “I can’t be too mad at him because I would do the same damn thing if I could have. But I will tell you this, if he gets too greedy, some changes are going to have to be made.”

“Calm down Nay. Don’t think with your emotions. Mr. G most likely will be asking for a sit down. Once you hear what he’s got to say, then you move from there.”

“I hear you, Boom, but damn. This Nick character is rubbing me the wrong way. And before I forget, he told me that Melky’s camp said for me to watch my back.”

Boomer let out a sigh. “That’s how this game is played. I really don’t want to go to war right now, but we will do what we gotta do to protect our family. But we got a man over at his camp. If and when they make a move, we will be ready.”