Chapter 14 - Relic #4
Relic choked out a cough and fisted a hand at his lips to hide his grin at her doing the damn most. Kennedy was about to eat being in a relationship up, and he could admit that he didn’t mind it one bit. By the time he’d get tired of it, they’d have him in handcuffs, hauling him away.
“Yea, Larenn. I got it from here. Milan, send me what I need, and inform the sellers that it’s a cash purchase. It’ll speed up the process. Can you get a closing in under two weeks?”
“I’ll try my hardest.”
“Don’t try. Do. Larenn, I have to head back to the stu, so let’s go.”
“I thought we were chilling today.” Kennedy trekked behind him after he brushed past her and Milan like he’d suddenly remembered time wasn’t on his side.
“And I also told you that you fucked it up. Just ‘cause you conned me into a relationship doesn’t mean a thing. I meant what I said. Actions have consequences.”
“You know what, they sure do. I absolutely agree.”
Kennedy smirked, patted his bicep, and then pranced past him while he watched, knowing he’d stuck his damn foot in his mouth.
As fast as he found a loophole out of her wrath, he’d given her a reason to resume her bullshit after validating every action deserved a consequential reaction.
Relic was convinced, he couldn’t win for fucking losing.
“Nigga, you ain’t ‘bout to have me out all night. Fuck is we doing, and why you got me out in the woods, riding in a semi-truck sleeper cab? I’m two seconds from getting in that muthafuckin’ bed back there, but I don’t know who had their nasty ass body on it.”
Relic kept his eyes on the unlit road instead of giving Los the answers he’d been digging for since getting picked up from his home in a semi cab.
The nigga would find out everything he needed to know soon, but until then, Relic needed the quiet drive for his peace of mind.
He needed to wrap his head around the fact that in a few minutes’ time, another person would know about his impending arrest. Each time he admitted it aloud, it made it realer and put a gnawing ache in his stomach.
As much as he prepared, he realized there wasn’t enough preparation in the world for not knowing how the cookie would crumble.
For once, his planning didn’t mean shit.
His strategic moves didn’t seem as well-laid as before.
A soft pounding in his temples commenced as he accepted that one wrong step could ruin the intricate details he’d obsessed over for well over a year.
Relic couldn’t predict what was coming, and that fucked with his mental more than his arrest.
“And on top of your bullshit, now my phone ain’t got no service,” Los groused, dropping his phone into his lap as Relic snorted a breath.
“That’s the fucking point. We’re about to pull up to the cabin soon. Chill the fuck out.”
“A cabin! Nigga, I love you and all, but this ain’t that. Me and you ain’t finna be in no cabin together, having no man’s night alone. We could’ve hit up the strip club, a bar, or anything else but this.”
“Anybody ever tell you, you act just like your dumb ass brother?”
Los chuckled at that. “Nobody acts like my dumb ass brother. For real, what’s up with all this shit? I didn’t even know you could drive a fucking semi. Then, you ain’t said much since you picked me up. I know you. Fuck is going on in that big ass head of yours?”
“If you know me, then you know that I show people shit better than I can tell them. We’re here.”
Relic turned onto the dirt trail cut between the trees to take Los to the same spot he’d taken Shabu to by boat.
The same repository he had shown Kennedy where he stashed his product.
It was also where the bulk of his physical cash resided inside his safe under lock and key where he never intended for a soul to find out about it.
After getting shot and then being gunned at again, he came to terms with it being a chance he might not get to tell them later.
The rest was being held in a private location for backup in case his folks were dumb enough to fuck up his money somehow.
“This is where yo cabin is? This shit looks like where them cannibalism ass people take their victims to tie them up and eat them later,” Los said, peering out the window at nothing but blackness and towering trees that blocked out the sky.
The only other thing he could see was Relic’s single cabin up ahead.
“Yea, this is definitely the spot they take ‘em to. You ain’t got no neighbors or nothing?”
“Not close to where you can see them. I can take you on a tour, though. Stroll around the neighborhood and—”
“Hell to the fuck nah!” Los interjected, making Relic chuckle as he pulled up to park in front of his cabin.
“I didn’t think so. Let’s make this shit quick, ‘cause I got better things I could be doing.”
“Like what? Tricking off on Kennedy?”
Fucking Kennedy immediately popped in Relic’s head as his retort, but he said nothing and hopped out the semi as Los laughed, rounding the cab to meet him before they strolled to the door.
After he’d shown Kennedy the house, he dropped her off at her salon on some petty shit instead of using his day wisely, getting a much-needed nut.
With the stress of everything weighing on him, he wished he’d put aside teaching her a lesson in exchange for temporary relief that only she brought him.
“Keep it a buck with me,” Los pressed, nudging Relic with a sly grin. “You gon’ kill her, ain’t you?”
“Stop fucking talking to me.”
“I’m just saying! The last time you had a woman in yo crib, getting all comfortable and shit, she wound up dead.
I was questioning that fake ass family shit you were doing with Jessica, so it ain’t shock me how it turned out.
I can’t call it with Kennedy, though. One minute, I think you fuck with her, but then I can tell you’re fucking with her head the next. Which is it?”
“I’m fucking with her ‘cause I fuck with her head.”
“You’re the most full of shit nigga I’ve ever met in my life.”
“That’s what she said,” Relic muttered, making them both chuckle as he tapped the small screen on his door to bring it to life. Once it lit up, he pressed his prints against it, watched it turn green, and the pushed open the door as Los observed the process with pinched brows.
“Fancy ass nigga.”
“It ain’t cost that much. I’ll buy you one for the house Nubia never lets you stay in, if you want.”
“You always got jokes about my ex-wife, but anytime I mention Kennedy, your ass goes silent.”
Just as Los called it, Relic went mute before he flicked on the lights and started toward the kitchen.
Los followed without being instructed. His forehead creased as his folks sauntered to the fridge, braced his hands on it, and shoved it toward the counter.
Los inched closer after Relic kneeled before brushing his hand across the dusty tan tile, latching a finger into a discreet hole to lift the concealed hatch door no wider than three rows and four columns worth of tile.
“Watch your head. The cellar isn’t that big,” Relic said as he turned to start climbing down without pause.
Los stood in a stupor for a split second before he got a move on, taking his time to carefully crawl backward into the dark hole, planting a foot on the stairs before lowering himself down the creaky wood. By the time his feet hit the ground, a light flicked on.
He turned to see Relic already on the go, swiping up a duffel to hook onto his shoulder. Relic grabbed the second bag and tossed it to Los, who caught it with his eyes glued to the three safes half of Relic’s height taking up the small space in the, otherwise, empty cellar.
“It’s money in them,” Relic answered the question on his folk’s mind. “Millions.”
“How many?” Los interrogated, unzipping the duffel he was holding.
The white bricks filling the bag confirmed the amount he was calculating from the size of the safes. When he was hustling with Relic, they weren’t moving brick loads over a million, and he was certain Relic started moving his load every other week.
“My guess is about ten mill, give or take. I lost count a while ago. I figured it was time to show you how to get to it in case something happens to me.”
Relic neglected to mention he’d stashed another five in an undisclosed location, and thirty more was banked in the offshore account he had checked on while on vacation.
That didn’t include his passive income from the property there, or the business he was a silent partner in.
He didn’t want his eggs in one basket. A silence rifted between him and Los, exposing the reason he had kept those things to himself for years.
Los nodded, processing the money Relic accumulated in a game they’d both started to feed their family.
They’d jumped off the porch together, grinded together, and took too many losses and wins together to count.
Somehow, his cousin had lapped him—left him behind and took off into the high million-dollar bracket when Los had barely made two when he’d bowed out after getting shot.
He’d opened a business, helped his father with his, and then stowed the rest of his bread away for a rainy day, while Relic had the kind of money that rainy days didn’t exist with.
It fucked with Los, but he didn’t address it.
“So, this is where you keep your work? P said you’d put it in the restaurant, but I knew that had to be a lie,” he stated instead.
“Nah, that was a one-time thing.”
Relic withheld that it was the first time he’d thought eyes were on him, so he hid the product there in case of an emergency.
Shabu would’ve been in for a surprise, finding out he’d have to get those bricks off for Relic to keep good standing with the connect.
Fortunately for Relic, that was one less issue he had to stress over since the Feds dragged their feet long enough for him to exit the game first.