Chapter 17 Amethyst
Chapter seventeen
Amethyst
“Diara, you pick the players, and I’ll make it work,” Pyrite said to the coach of his WNBA team, the Queens.
Diara LaBlanc was brought in a few months ago because the original coach, Laurel, wasn’t cutting it.
One thing Pyrite didn’t play around with was making sure whatever he invested his money in turned a profit, and that went for everything.
Everyone on his payroll was expendable, and he never hesitated to remind them of it.
“I need a budget,” Diara replied as she dribbled a basketball between her legs.
As a Hall of Famer, Olympic Gold medalist, and three-time WNBA champion, there weren’t many people who didn’t know who Diara was or could say they didn’t respect the dedication she had on the court.
She was a living legend, and there was no denying it.
“Ain’t no budget,” Pyrite sighed.
I leaned against the wall, crossed my arms, and chuckled lowly.
Diara and Pyrite’s friendship was a lot like mine and Yale’s, except for the sexual tension.
They legit looked at each other like brother and sister, but respected the fuck out of each other’s position.
Diara only came on as a coach because of her friendship with Pyrite and because she needed to escape her previous situation and start fresh.
“It’s always a budget,” she laughed. “Now give it to me so I can give you my list.”
“Nah, tell me your ideal starting five,” Pyrite replied. I knew what he was doing, and so did Diara. Whoever she mentioned, he would make it his mission to have them on the team. Diara was far too important to what he was trying to build to bullshit her.
“DeCorte, Glover,” she stated, and I saw Pyrite’s brow go up in surprise. Diara saw it too because she started laughing. “That look tells me everything I need to know about your budget.”
“Nah,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m down with those two with no problems. I’m just surprised you mentioned them first. Usually, people start small and then try to go for the big names.” He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his slacks and nodded. “I ain’t gonna lie, I want both of them too.”
“Then make it happen.” She stopped dribbling and patted him on the shoulder. “I can build around them with the other names I have in mind. But I won’t give you those until I for sure have those two.”
“Alright,” Pyrite nodded. “Give me a few days, and we will talk again.”
“Okay.” Diara looked around Pyrite at me and gave me a small wave. “Hey, lil brother.”
“Coach,” I greeted her. Pyrite looked over his shoulder at me and lifted his brow in question. “We need to talk, Pyrite.”
“Business or personal?” he questioned, and I smirked instead of answering him.
Pyrite nodded, then turned back to Diara.
“Get out of here and go spend time with Destyn. I’ll be in contact.
” He pulled her into a quick hug, then Diara headed toward the daycare in the arena. “Alright, let’s talk in my office.”
We walked side by side to Pyrite’s office, not saying a word. When we arrived at his office, Pyrite sat behind his desk, and I took one of the empty seats in front of it.
“The beef you have with the Franklins,” I started, and then someone knocked on the office door.
“It’s Hood and Krude,” Pyrite said before I could say something. “Come on!”
The door opened, and Aceyn ‘’ Bowlin walked in with a mug on his face. Genesis “Krude” DeCorte was behind him with a big ass smile on his face. Krude closed the door and then approached us. They dappped me up, reached across the desk to do the same to Pyrite, and then took a seat next to me.
“What’s the word?” Hood asked, looking between me and my brother.
“He was just starting to tell me,” Pyrite said, nodding at me.
I wasn’t even surprised to see Hood here.
Pyrite didn’t make too many moves without him by his side.
Most people thought that because Hood was the team doctor, he had left the street life behind.
That was the furthest thing from the truth.
Hood lived up to his nickname; the letters behind his real name didn’t mean shit.
The surprise guest was Krude. Why he was here was beyond me.
“How do you want to move, Am?” Hood asked, and I knew he was itching to pop off.
“Smart,” I answered with a low laugh. “This shit involves the Franklins, too.”
“Good,” Hood smirked. “I don’t like them niggas either. How many of them do you want to kill tonight?”
“None,” I answered, and they both stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “As much as I want to bring shit to their door, my focus is on the Kilmores. I’m handing the Franklins over to Psalms and letting her have her way.”
“Psalms?” Hood laughed, and I nodded. “She’s bringing Script into it, isn’t she?”
“She is,” Krude nodded. Even though Krude was usually the jokester, seeing him with a serious look made me pause.
“Wednesday called me last night and said she’s not sleeping, which means we are all waiting for her to start showing out.
” Krude turned to me and grilled me. “This shit you dragged her into is going to cause a lot of fucking damage to her mental.” He tapped the side of his head.
“Krude-”
“Nah, let me say this,” he interjected. “You haven’t been around when she gets like this. It’s worse than you can fucking imagine.”
“I know,” I nodded.
“No, you don’t,” Krude replied. “You think you know because you see her now, and you’ve seen Cross in action, but Psalms is different. She moves differently than everybody but Judge, and you’ve never seen that nigga move. I’m telling you this now so that you won’t be surprised later.”
“If you think it’ll be that bad, then I’ll call Gift and let him know that he’s about to be putting in overtime,” I said.
“Nah, that shit is going straight to Kenbral,” Hood suggested. “Let him handle that shit. He wants in anyway.”
“Who the fuck is Kenbral?” Krude asked. Pyrite and Hood shared a look that made Krude sit up. “Who the fuck is that nigga?”
“I can’t answer that,” Pyrite said, shaking his head.
“Can’t or won’t?” Krude challenged him. “Because I don’t know who that nigga is and if he’s going to be around, then I need to run it by my people.”
“Do what you gotta do,” Pyrite said, sitting back. “I’m not getting more involved than I need to be.”
“Bet.” Krude pulled his phone from his pocket and started texting. More than likely, he was sending a message to Nine or Cross asking for information.
“You think they’re ready for that shit?” I asked, Pyrite shrugged, and Hood smirked.
“It won’t matter if they are or aren’t because it’s happening,” Pyrite answered, then sat back in his seat. “Now, back to you and Yale’s situation. How are you going to move this shit without her knowing?”
“Wait, you ain’t telling her?” Hood asked, and I shook my head. “Why not?”
“In case it goes left,” I truthfully answered. “Going after the Kilmores is going to take some fucking work, and the last thing I ever want to happen is her getting touched because of me. It’s the reason I’m in this fucking mess as it is. To protect her, so I gotta make sure I always do that.”
“So, what are you going to do with her?” Pyrite asked.
I sat back in my seat, stretched my legs out in front of me, and ran my hands over my hair.
“Love the fuck on her,” I answered. “I let that nigga have years with her because I thought I was doing the right thing.” I sat forward and shook my head.
“I was doing the stupid thing. Yale has been my fucking woman, ain’t no reason to pretend otherwise, and now I’m about to man the fuck up and take what’s always been mine. ”
“You know I like you niggas,” Krude chuckled as he stood. He adjusted the collar of his shirt and smirked. “Y’all a little slow, but I legit fucks with y’all.”
“Did this nigga just call us slow?” Pyrite laughed as he looked between me and Hood.
“I did, and I meant it,” Krude said, nodding. “But as the spokesperson for the DeCortes, I’m throwing our name officially into this war.” He turned to me and smirked. “You already had Psalms on your team, but now you’re getting all seven of us.”
“Does your family know you’re the spokesperson?” I asked.
Krude shrugged, then said, “It doesn’t matter. I was here checking on a new recruit for the family, and Hood brought me along, so it’s officially my title.”
“New recruit?” I questioned, and Krude nodded. I turned to Pyrite with a twisted expression. “Who did you sign?”
“Nobody,” Pyrite answered.
I turned back to Krude, who was now on his phone. “Who is the new recruit for the Kings?”
“Who said it was for the Kings?” Krude replied without looking up from his phone. “This shit is personal. I needed to lay eyes on a nigga to make sure he was worth the time that is about to be invested in him.”
“Again, who, nigga?”
“Not your business,” Krude chuckled, then put his phone in his pocket and looked at us. “Call me when you need us to show up.” He threw us a salute and then left the room.
“I’m confused as to why that nigga is allowed to be in the world,” I said, shaking my head. I looked at my brother, who was laughing hard. “You know, when you meet people in the asylum, you should leave them there, right?”
“I left the boring ones,” he replied and shrugged. “That nigga.” He pointed to the door. “And the Twelve are the exception. Ain’t no way I could’ve left them.”
“Whatever,” I sighed as I stood. “You ready to go?”
“You call Citrine and let him know you’re ready to move?” Pyrite asked as he stood. Hood got up from his chair, untucked his shirt from his slacks, and started to roll up his sleeves.
“Yeah,” I answered with a nod. “He’s going to meet me at the house.”
“Whose?” Pyrite asked as we left his office.
“Luther’s,” I replied.
**
I watched as Luther fucked some old ass woman. Nigga really thought he was doing work, but I could see the woman’s face. She was out of it, probably high as fuck, and just a body at this point.