The Plan
Isent Amir off with family and called for a small meeting at the barbershop while Sammy got me right.
“You need your braids done, don’t you?” he asked.
I stared at them through the mirror.
“Yeah, when Islah gets home, I’ll get them done.”
Some time passed, and Keith showed up, then my nigga Ricky.
That was all I needed.
Once we all rolled up, Sammy passed the bottle around so we could fill our cups while sitting in the barber chairs, and then I got started.
“I went to see Hank… He was able to spot Gio on the cameras.”
“Going where?” Ricky asked.
I took a sip from my cup. “Back to Cali.”
They all shook their heads.
“That nigga Gio got a death wish,” Sammy expressed.
I agreed.
“I’ma drive there,” I said, looking at Sammy. “I need the guns.”
He nodded his head, already knowing what I was on.
“You want us to go with you?” Keith added.
“Nah, I think I need to handle this by myself.”
“Hell no!” Sammy expressed.
“Yeah, that nigga took her back to Cali; it might be a setup. You don’t know what he has going on there,” Ricky added.
I knew they were right, but I didn’t care.
“Whatever that nigga thinks he has going on ain’t shit to what the fuck I’ma do to him for taking my girl and leaving the city with her.”
“So, what is your plan?” Keith asked.
“What do you mean? I am going there to get my girl, and if he wants a war, I’ma bring it to his steps.”
“What about Amir? I heard about his mama,” Sammy asked.
I laughed. “Oh, that bitch was talkin’ to Gio. You didn’t hear that part, Sammy.”
His eyes got big. Without me even sayin’ it, Sammy knew my name was all over it.
“She tried your hand,” he said softly.
“She did, and she should have known where that was gonna take her, but I’m not worried about her ass. Islah’s girls plus my cousin got him, and that lil’ nigga knows I am not stopping until I get Islah home.”
They all nodded.
“When are you gonna make this move?” Ricky asked.
“Once I talk to the girls, and all of them can fit their schedules around having Amir. Kenya and them work at the hospital, and Katie does hair. Once they all let me know they got him, I am hitting the road as soon as I drop him off.”
“Have you heard from Islah?” Sammy asked.
I exhaled. “No, I haven’t, and that shit is fuckin’ with me hard. I don’t know if he did anything to her or if the baby is okay. I hope that nigga don’t know about the baby; he might try some other shit.”
The room went silent for a few seconds as we smoked and took sips of our drinks. I was thinking about all that was said and my way of moving through all this shit.
“I still think you shouldn’t do this shit alone. You need a team with you,” Keith expressed again.
“I am a one-man army. I don’t need a team for that unhinged clown.”
We chopped it up a lil’ bit longer about different what-ifs and possibilities that I wasn’t even worried about because nothing was gonna stand in the way of me getting my girl back.
It was getting dark out, and Amir was hitting my phone, telling me that he was hungry. I dapped my niggas up, let them know if I wanted them to ride with me, I would hit them, then I went to pick up my lil’ nigga.
Me and him was both tired of carry-out, and neither of us wanted what was at his grandma’s house.
We took a lil’ ride downtown, and he asked to roll the window down.
I thought it was getting a lil’ cold out, but he said that it felt good.
The breeze did kind of calm the fire that was growing inside of me.
He pulled up to Vice Steak Bar. Amir loved trying different steak houses, and we hadn’t been to this one yet.
“When we get Islah back,” Amir stated low, “we are gonna have to bring her here.”
I nodded. “The first night home, we will come here.”
We got seated at our table, and I ordered us some drinks while Amir picked the appetizers. Once everything was put in, the waitress was gone. Amir started to show me pictures of photos that people did for him with his mom.
Amir was handling things better than I thought he would, not that I ever wanted this shit to come into his life, but we were living in the middle of other people’s actions.
“Did you know that I am strong so that you don’t have to be?”
That made him stop and look at me for a second.
“What do you mean, Dad?”
Before I could respond, the waitress came back with our drinks. As she sat mine down, I picked it up and took a sip before I responded.
“Meaning that it’s a lot going on in our life right now. You don’t have to be happy all the time if you don’t want to, because I’m damn sure not.”
Amir nodded.
“I have random times when I’m not happy; it’s like my brain is thinking about Islah, then my mom, and having to go to her service. I am a lil’ scared about seeing her one more time. Grandma said she is going to make sure Mom looks pretty.”
I smiled. “I know she is, and you don’t have to worry about being scared. You will be surrounded by family, everybody who loves you.”
“You are going to be there, right?” he asked me.
I paused. I had never been to a funeral of somebody I killed, but I was living in a time when everything I was dealing with was new for me.
“Yes, son, I will be right there beside you.”
He smiled. “Well then, I have nothing to worry about and don’t need to be sad, plus Mom and Islah wouldn’t want that for me.”
I nodded. “You are right, my smart boy, you are so right.”
After a while, our food came. Amir scarfed it down like that nigga was trying to get his weight up. I kept checking my phone, feeling a phone vibrate on me, but it wasn’t my phone. It was Jada’s, and without her face, I couldn’t get into it.
We finished dinner, and Amir asked for another steak to take home. Once that was boxed and handed to us, we walked out with Amir walking a lil’ way ahead of me, giving me time to check Jada’s phone.
Gio had called her five times back-to-back, even sending a message that said to call him.
I had to think.
I slid the phone back in my pocket and unlocked the car.
On the way home, Amir talked, and I thought about that damn phone. I needed it unlocked.
After a short drive, we made it home. Amir was still hyped, and I loved to see it. He opened the door, and before he got fully out of the car, I said.
“Aye, your grandma wanted to know your mom’s code on her phone. They can’t get in it, do you know it?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but don’t get mad, it’s our bday, 1213.”
I nodded with a smirk. That bitch was crazy.
“Thank you, son, I’ll tell her.”
I handed him the keys to the house.
“Give me a second, I need to call Keith. I will be in there in a second.”
Amir took the keys, and I watched him walk to the door and unlock it. As soon as I saw the door close behind him, I pulled out Jada’s phone and put in the passcode.
The phone unlocked, and I went straight to Messenger and called that nigga back.
I stared at the screen as it rang a few times, and then I saw the number start showing, and before that nigga could speak, I did.
“You thought you were up one because you got my baby mama to give you MY woman’s lo? All you did was sign that girl’s death certificate. Go ahead and tell your niggas to put your picture on a shirt because I am coming for you, Gio.”
The nigga never spoke, but I heard him breath then the line went dead.
That nigga was a bum, a clown , a nigga that wasn’t worth living, and I was finna dog walk his ass. I was more than ready.