Chapter 12 #3
A small chortle escaped my lips before I pointed over to where the new boxes were. “You’ll need this. It should be accurate because It’s new, but sometimes, the company will short a bottle or two by mistake.”
“Aw naw. I’ma an alcoholic. I don’t even like the sound of that.” He shook his head like he was offended.
The room erupted into laughter. I just nodded my head.
Once I gave everybody a task, I also went around and asked what they wanted to eat. Before I went to put the order in, I walked over to Savior and held my hand out.
“What?” he had his sleeves rolled up, and he was currently carrying boxes of alcohol over to Lane.
“Card.”
He had a smirk on his face. “Why yeen ask me what I wanted to eat?”
“Because I already know what you eat, baby.” I smiled sweetly at him.
He reached into his pocket and pulled his wallet out. Seconds later, he was handing me his card. “Order extra for tonight, because I know yo’ ass ain’t cooking after we pick up Baby K.”
With much more help than I thought I needed, we were all done with the entire inventory after about four hours. The only thing that needed to be done was putting the numbers in, but I left that for the morning manager.
“I almost had Beck throw you in the trunk and bring yo’ ass back to the building.” His head was on my lap, and we were in the back seat of the car on our way home.
“No way you thought that would’ve been a good idea.” I peered down at him. We were supposed to be going to get Kale, but she wanted to stay with her grandmother.
“It was, considering the fact that you should’ve had yo’ ass at the crib in the first place.”
“I just don’t know how to sit around. It’s like I need to have something to do.” I looked out of the window, then down at him.
He bit his bottom lip. “I’ll never fuck with your bag, but you gotta take my son into consideration. You gotta take it easy and assign somebody to do that shit. All I want you to be doing is delegating. That way, you’ll be able to pay me my lil’ money.” He had a smirk on his face now.
“Nigga, I pay you well, don’t I?” I toyed with the tight waves in the top of his head. “And I better be the only—”
“Not today, baby. Not today.” He closed his eyes. “I’m tired as fuck, and you just had a nigga working for a lil’ meal and the promise of some pussy later on.”
I giggled. Instead, I leaned down and pressed my lips against his. Today was a great day, and it was an even better night, so I wasn’t gonna spoil the mood with my nutty moments. “Fine.”
SAVIOR
I glanced down at Regancy as I pulled the hoodie over my head.
I hated to leave her in bed this early, but I had to hit the pavement.
Something was happening right under my nose with my territory, and I wanted to know what.
Niggas had forgotten how I came up in this shit, so it was up to me to remind them.
They’d allowed the cushy suits and expensive cars to make them forget that I was down for whatever when it came to mine.
That included my woman and my territory.
“Baby, come back to bed,” she moaned without opening her eyes.
“I can’t, love. I need you to chill out. On my way back, I’ll pick up Baby K. Stay up here for me.”
Her eyes shot open, and she was now sitting up with my ash-colored sheets covering her top half. “Why? My computer and everything is downstairs.” Seeing that I was fully dressed and moments from walking out of the door, she had a pout occupying her beautiful full lips.
“I had it brought up here this morning. It, along with both files that were sitting next to it, have been placed in my office. I need you to stay up here because if a motherfucker knew where to serve you, then that means they know where you stay. I don’t like that.
” I leaned into the bed, buried my fist in it and made sure we were at the same eye level before I spoke again.
“I mean it, Re. I should be back in a little while.”
“I don’t wanna be cooped up in yo’ house all day.”
“And why the fuck not? It ain’t like you go anywhere but the bar and probably out to eat with Lane. Where else you gonna go, bae?” I asked seriously.
“I don’t know. I could want to go to the store, grocery shopping, shopping, the mo—”
“I shouldn’t even be gone that long, so go ahead and take yo’ morning-breath-having ass back to sleep.” I laughed but never moved.
She slapped her hands over her mouth quickly. “Nobody told you to get in my face as soon as I opened my eyes.” Seconds later, she hopped up from the bed, still clutching my top sheet and dragging it to the washroom.
“I’m just fucking with you, baby.” I loved messing with Regancy.
The shit was comical to see that deer caught in headlights expression she always gave me.
When I walked into the washroom, she was brushing her teeth and still clutching the sheet for dear life.
I didn’t know why, especially when I’d seen and felt on every inch of her perfectly proportioned physique.
Shit, she was fucking perfect, and I made sure to tell her that on a daily.
I stepped up behind her, leaning down and kissing her neck while she continued to brush.
I found myself looking at our reflection in the mirror.
I did that the entire time she took care of her personal hygiene.
Once she finished, she went to exit the washroom, but I pulled her back and put her on the counter.
I could tell she had something on her mind.
It was in the way she zoned out and started wrinkling her nose each time she focused on whatever it was.
“I thought you had to go.” She looked at me.
“I do, but I ain’t about to walk out of the door while you got whatever it is you have on your mind. So what’s up? I got time.”
She looked at me, then down at her hands as she fidgeted with the ring on her index finger. “I just… It’s nothing serious.”
“It’s something, so talk.” I looked at her seriously.
“I’m gonna tell Kale about the baby, but I know that she’ll ask the questions that I’m not yet ready for. I can see it in her eyes sometimes, but like the coward I am, I can’t tell my eight-year-old that I wa—”
“Then don’t. I told you I had y’all, and I meant that.
As far as I’m concerned, Kale is mine.” I wasn’t just saying that shit either.
I meant it with every fiber in me. Shit, if she needed me to sign some paperwork or something, I’d do that too.
It was what it was, and I wasn’t ducking no responsibility when it came to anyone that I considered mine.
Kale, Regancy, and the baby growing inside of Regancy were mine.
When I finally did leave the house, it only took me fifteen minutes to get where I should’ve met Taurus about an hour ago.
Just like I thought, this nigga was sitting in his car smoking and smiling.
I assumed he was talking to Lane by the way he smiled.
He was happier than he had been in a while.
Even though I never commented on it, I could tell my boy had met the one that would live up to all his expectations.
Over the years, Taurus had gone through bitches simply because none of them lived up to his high ass expectations.
It was certain shit he regarded highly, whereas I wasn’t looking.
I was just testing the waters and enjoying my tests.
That was when I met her. She was more than a test and more of a fucking obsession after I first experienced her.
If only Regancy knew what she did to me, she definitely would’ve been way less fucking difficult.
The thing is, with Regancy, I saw all of the things I never wanted but clearly needed.
She gave a nigga a sense of love and belonging.
If a nigga didn’t know what that meant or how it felt, then I felt sorry for him.
A sense of belonging and unconditional love was a necessity to street niggas these days.
“Where the fuck you been?” Taurus fussed the moment he climbed into my truck.
“Handling something.”
“I hope it was fucking important because you missed our window to throw that bitch in the trunk. Now we gotta wait until she comes out for break or whatever the fuck she does.”
I nodded. “Ain’t nobody throwing that big ass bitch in their trunk. We’re about to go talk to Ms. Jacobs.”
“Old girl is about six-seven. If she starts swinging, I’ma shoot her ass.” Taurus had a mug on his face.
I laughed. We sat there for a few moments before deciding to go in and talk to the woman.
She was going to try that lawyer-client privilege shit, but if she cared about her life, she’d give it up.
The moment we entered the building, Taurus made his way to the receptionist’s desk, and I followed.
He went back and forth with the girl a few times before she finally gave him the floor and location of Leslie’s office.
Good thing that shit was on the first floor because I didn’t like being places where I might have to do some shit and not have control over things like elevators and exits.
We walked down the hall a few feet until I spotted her name in bold gold letters across a glass door. The glass was matte, so I couldn’t get a good view of the office, but through the blurriness, I could definitely spot the brown figure behind it.
I went to open the door, but Taurus put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t go in there on no goon shit. Anybody ever told you that you can catch more flies with honey than shit.”
I screwed my face up. “Nigga, what the fuck is that? You on some philosophy shit now too?” I turned around and looked at him. “Matter of fact, weren’t you the same person talking about tossing her in a trunk?”
“I am, but now, I’m on some finessing shit. Meanwhile, you wanna pull a gat and knock a motherfucker off every five seconds,” he whispered harshly. “I’m working on my people skills, something yo’ ass should be trying.”
“You know what? Show me how much work yo’ bitch ass doing then. Run the show with yo’ soft ass.” I stepped back and allowed him to walk into her office first.
He nodded and opened the door for us to walk in.
I followed behind him and took a seat in the woman’s chair as I watched him interact with her.
She smiled at him and batted her big ass eyes.
Within seconds, she was tapping away on her computer.
Then she read off a name that had me looking at Taurus confused.
“You know a Darryl Jenkins?”
“Ain’t that Duce’s last name? If I’m not mistaken, that’s his pop’s name. Now why would a dead man be tryna get custody of a child he com—”
“Well, it says here that he didn’t file for custody. It was actually the family of the deceased that filed for custody of the minor.”
I heard what Taurus was saying, but that finesse shit went out of the window the moment she said that shit. “How the fuck is that supposed to go? They don’t have the—”
“Actually, the family does have the right to see and even get to know the minor.” Old girl was now addressing me.
“Nah. They don’t have the right to meet my daughter. That nigga raped her moms, and now you wanna help those motherfuckers?” My blood was boiling, and I was pissed off.
“Wait, rape? I was under the impression that the relationship was consensual.”
“Hell nah. She was fucking fifteen or sixteen years old. Who retained you?” By now, I was leaning over her desk and in her face.
“I’ve been in contact with Mr. Jenkins’ son and daughter. I am not at liberty to give you their names.”
“Oh, now you wanna withhold some shit.” I stood up straight and looked her over. If looks could kill, I would’ve been cold and lying still on her office floor.
“I think it’s best if you two leave.” She looked from me to Taurus.
Once Taurus and I were outside of the firm, he looked over at me and shook his head. He had the same look that my expression now housed. “Whatever you wanna do, I’m with it. I thin—” He didn’t get to finish his sentence, because his phone started to ring.
“Yeah,” he answered then his eyes went dark. “Is that so?” he asked. Seconds later, he pulled his phone from his ear and looked in my direction. “That fire at Hawks was arson.”
I shook my head because as of late, if it wasn’t one thing, then it was another.
Somebody was coming for my shit, but like a bitch, they did it from the shadows.
Something told me that it was the same motherfucker who had this bullshit ass custody case.
Then it hit me, and I knew exactly the game that Duce was playing.
“I don’t give a fuck if he ain’t got shit to do with it. That nigga is dead, and I—”
“We can’t even move like that, because if this shit is him, then he’s doing everything that’ll get a reaction out of us.
He either has a death wish, or he’s tryna serve us to the feds on a platter.
Think about it. First idea would’ve been to try to get back in and get ya info right there, but that didn’t work.
Neither of us budged with that shit, so what’s next? ” I questioned.
“That nigga needs us to go bullheaded and sloppy.” Taurus was now nodding his head. “I’ma call Andy. Shorty is a fed, so she gotta know if they’re tryna build a case on us.
I nodded my head, but before I could speak again, my phone started ringing. I glanced down and saw that it was Luke calling me. I pressed the green circle on my screen and put the phone to my ear. “Yeah.”
“It’s Amil. He just got popped,” Luke spoke lowly.
I looked up at the sky before shaking my head. “For fucking what?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“We was up at that wing joint on Central when that nigga Duce walked in. He was on some weird shit and started talking about how his people had bagged up some shorty back in the day. He was loud as fuck like he wanted niggas to hear him. Amil went bully and went over and got to stumping the man. By the time we got to him and pulled him off, them folks rushed us. They put Amil in cuffs and in the back of a Crown Vic.”
“Where you at right now?” I asked.
“At the station, but they saying they didn’t pick him up. Motherfuckers claiming his name ain’t in the system.”
That only meant one thing. Amil wasn’t picked up by blue and white, and Duce had set him up. He knew exactly what the fuck he was doing. “Meet me at the spot.” I hung up the phone and glanced over at Taurus. Things had gotten real as fuck in a short amount of time.