Authors: Cynthia White
Chapter 22
Boss
And for her I would.
I watched Meesha lay in a hospital bed, pregnant with my child, cryin
g
out for her li
ttle
brother
-
and that shit damn near broke me
.
I knew all too well how she felt
, and a
ll I wanted to do was make her pain go way. I loved her in a way that was new to
a
nigga like me. She wasn’t just some freak bitch I was passin
g
time with
; s
he was the woman I planned on marryin
g
one day. Even if it meant starting a war
,
I was goin
g
to find out who killed Ant
-
and I was goin
g
to end that muthafucka
’
s life. Her family was my family now
,
and you don’t fuck with a Boss’s family and live to tell the tale.
Anthony was only fourteen years old, but bein
g
the oldest male in the family was startin
g
to put weight on his shoulders. I remembered that feelin
g
all too well. I was the youngest of my family, but I was also my mother’s only male child
; t
hat meant I had to become a man much earlier than I was really ready to. For me
,
it meant poppin
g
weed on the corner from sun up to sun down damn near seven days a week
; f
or Ant
,
it meant stashin
g
rocks for a twenty-one
-
year
-
old hustler named Gino who thought he was a bigger nigga on the block than he really was. After a few months of loyal service
,
he hooked Ant up with a small amount of crack to move
; t
o his surprise
,
Ant popped it all in only a few short hours. The next day
,
he gave him more. Sellin
g
crack was a hell of a lot more dangerous than poppin
g
bags of weed. There was nothin
g
a crackhead wouldn’t do for that high
– and i
t didn’t take long for Ant to learn that brutal lesson.
Yuk was the most annoyin
g
, beggin
g-
ass crackhead in the hood. Every five minutes
,
he was hittin
g
somebody else up for a dollar or two. At first
,
he
’
d do favors for Ant in exchange for a couple bucks. Eventually, the favors stopped
-
but the beggin
g
sure as hell didn’t. Anthony decided to distance hi
m
self from the opportunist
, but t
hat
only
worked for about a week or two. Cluckers were like huntin
g
: o
nce they got a whiff of your scent
,
they were goin
g
to find you
– and t
he hood wasn’t big enough to get lost in.
My source gave Yuk up as soon as I dangled that white diamond in her face. She told me how she saw Yuk stab Ant in the back thirteen times with her own two eyes. There was no way she could have known that any other way. After Yuk stole the last three rocks Ant had stashed in his underwear
, as well as
the three hundred dollars he had in cash, he shot him with his own gun
,
then disappeared into the night. That was all I needed to hear. I gave my crackhead source the fat ass rock that had her foamin
g
at the mouth
,
then
began my hunt.
I put the word out on 21
st
Street that I was lookin
g
for Yuk and
that
my reward was high. Any nigga would have turned him in for free, but even his crackhead buddies would have gave him up for ten grand. It didn’t take long for my cell to start blowin
g
the fuck up. The stupid bitch had the nerve to be back on the block wearin
g
the same blood
-
stained
T
-shirt he was wearin
g
earlier when he left Ant bleedin
g
in the gutter. I didn’t even care who saw me
;
21
st
was hot because of me. I made that bitch
,
and there was no way I was lettin
g
a crackhead get away with murderin
g
my woman’s brother on the block I created. Niggas gave me the name
‘
Boss
’
for a reason
– and i
t was time to remind them why.
“There he go right there.” Pee-Wee was the first to spot Yuk as we turned onto the block in his chromed out black Hummer. “That muthafucka got some nerve.”
I sat back and watched him for a few minutes. My baby was laid up in the hospital with a broken heart
,
and that muthafucka was high as a kite. He looked like he didn’t have a care in the world
– and t
hat was my cue.
“Stay here
,
” I instructed my cousin as I started to get out of his truck. “I got this nigga.”
I marched like a soldier to the rhythm of my own heartbeat. Meesha’s face flashed in my head
; s
he didn’t deserve the day she got dealt
, which
started out with a phone call from a bitch I fucked one drunken Friday night out with cuzz. Pee-Wee told me not to hit it, but I gave the hoe a facial anyway. My guilt
may have been
drivin
g
me, but my thirst for revenge fueled my mission.
“Bossman, dat you?” Yuk spotted me instantly. “Man, you clean as a muddafucka.” He tried his hardest to get on my best side with compliments a nigga heard every hour of every day, but it was no use. I was immune to his shuckin
g
and jivin
g
. I knew I was clean
, and
-
stained teeth turned my stomach
; h
e was nothing but a big
-
ass cockroach
-
and everybody knew that in the hood roaches got stomped out.
“Nigga, you fucked with my girl’s family.” I raised my 9mm and pointed it directly at his skull. “Now you gotta die.”
Yuk was born and raised in the hood. He knew what happened when you fucked with a hustler’s wife
: d
eath was the only punishment fit. He knew he was livin
g
out his last seconds on earth
-
but instead of mannin
g
the fuck up
,
he cowered like the punk he was all the way deep down in his soul.
“Boss, please don’t kill me
!
” His pleas fell on deaf ears. “Please, man
!
I’ll do anything
!
”
h
e continued to beg.
I pulled the trigger without so much as a second thought. His head exploded like a melon
,
sprayin
g
brain matter all over the vacant building beside him. He was definitely dead
;
I made sure of that. I also made sure that no one saw what happened
- n
ot even the ones that did.
I walked away from the scene of the crime feelin
g
no remorse whatsoever. That bitch
-
ass nigga got exactly what he deserved. The only thing left for me to do was build my alibi in case them
boys in blue
ever came knockin
g
on my door.
When I walked back into Meesha’s hospital room
,
she took one look at me and knew what I
’
d done. That part of her nightmare
may have been
over
, but i
t didn't make the pain go away
; o
nly time could heal that wound. She was goin
g
to miss her brother every single day for the rest of her life
, and n
obody knew that torture better than me
; s
he was the one who helped me get out of bed every morning. I was prepared to do everything in my power to be that same source of strength for her.
“If anybody asks
-
”
“You were here with me all night.” She finished my sentence like the Boss Bitch she was. “I got you, baby.”
Just three days later
,
we all came together to bury Anthony. The funeral was hard
;
Meesha and her mother cried the entire time. It hurt to see them in such pain, but I knew there was nothin
g
I could do. I held her when she let go of her mother and wiped her tears away when she couldn’t see any longer
; o
ther than that
,
all I could do was sit by her side and feel useless. All the money I had didn’t help
, and a
ll the years I spent puttin
g
in work didn’t mean a damn thing
...m
y woman was in pain
,
g
I could do about it.
Chapter 23
Meesha
After my brother’s funeral
,
I was a wreck. I couldn’t eat
,
I couldn’t sleep
, and
I couldn’t even stand to be around most people.
Even though s
chool was a constant struggle
,
I still managed to get my work done, but walkin
g
the halls like I used to was over
;
I didn’t have shit to say to anybody
, and t
hey all knew about Anthony’s murder
-
so they gave me my space. They also knew I was Boss’s bitch
,
so they gave me respect as well.
“What the fuck?!” I yelled and stomped my foot in frustration when I saw what had been done to my Cayenne. “Like I need this bullshit right now.”
I
’
d just come from my sixth period
C
alculus class to find my driver side window smashed to bits. All of my belongings were gone
, including
my custom Alpine stereo system. I was mad, but Boss was goin
g
to be pissed. I took a minute to process everything before I made the call I knew I had to make.
“What’s up baby?” Boss answered his cell on the first ring, knowing it was wifey on the other end. “You outta school already?”
“Boss, somebody broke into my car.”
“I’m on my way.” He didn’t fuck around. “Stay right there.”
When Boss and Pee-Wee pulled up in the Escalade
,
you would have thought he was Jay-Z or somebody. Kids crowded around and watched him like he was a celebrity
– and t
o them he kind of was. It was legendary the way he built his empire
,
comin
g
from the same run-down projects that most of them also came from. He was a star
; h
e was
their
star.