Chapter 22
“You need us to ride?” Dom asked while Asao walked through the parking garage and hit the locks to his Charger. It had been a minute since he’d needed the switch, but for this, it was very necessary.
“I’m good on this solo. Just hitting you up so if shit goes left you know how to handle things.”
There wasn’t a chance in hell Asao was going to take a L with the plans he mentally mapped out but he also had to consider there was always a possibility of complications, even if rare.
A late night studio session meant Dom was available and letting his boy know what his moves were would give them the opportunity to be first to pull up if he got caught slipping.
“And you’re sure this is the route you want to take? That muthafucker doesn’t have anything left. You took everything that matters.”
“He’s still breathing which means he’s gonna keep trying.
” Asao’s tone was laced with irritation.
When Cobra cornered one of the artists Track Killaz was vetting with promises of a fast track career and deep pockets, Asao made the decision to permanently put an end to things.
He had very little patience for people who refused to know their place and his patience for Cobra had long expired.
Cut the head off the muthafuckin’ snake…
“I got you, but don’t let that shit go left, Sao. It’s been a minute. You still know how to handle that piece?” Dom’s tone was laced with amusement which had Asao exposing a cocky grin. A killer was always a killer…
“I’m a shooter. Not a damn thing’s changed.”
“We’re gunnin’, they’re runnin’,” Dom delivered with an arrogance that had Asao’s trigger finger twitching.
“I’m about to fall off the grid for a minute.
Make sure Mari is covered.” For the past ten years, the number of people who were a priority in his world had remained the same—his boys and his parents—but Mari was now incorporated into that circle, taking the top spot from them all.
She owned his heart and he owned the responsibility of making sure hers maintained a steady rhythm.
“Where she at?” Dom asked.
“Crescent Cove. She should be chillin’ until I get back.”
“Bet.”
Asao ended the call, put his phone in airplane mode, and placed it into the console.
It was two in the morning when Asao left the house, made the hour drive to his place, and switched his Jeep for the Charger.
He reached Cobra’s neighborhood and entered through the back of the gated community of Chandler Heights.
To reach that point where the uneven ground was high enough to grant Asao proximity to make it over the iron gate on the perimeter of the property required a short hike through the woods and a ten-minute walk to Cobra’s house.
Asao made sure to move along the backyards of the houses he passed to avoid cameras pointed toward the street and pulled a balaclava over his head before he moved with long strides through Cobra’s property.
Comfort made people sloppy, so he was granted access to the massive home by hitting the garage door opener inside the Bentley Cobra left unlocked in the driveway.
As soon as he stepped inside, balaclava in place, gloved hands and a thirst to kill, Asao examined the scene before him.
Darkness, an empty bottle of liquor, and a loaded gun pressed to Cobra’s temple…
A neutral expression eased onto Asao’s face as he removed the gun from the small of his back, quietly crossing the kitchen and covering Cobra’s hand with his at the same time he maneuvered his gun under the man’s chin.
“Look at you making this shit easy for me.” Asao’s arrogant tone made Cobra tense. The alcohol in his system had his mind cloudy and his thoughts scrambled, but he knew the voice and the fate that would be attached to it.
“You think I give a fuck that you’re here? I don’t have shit to live for. You made sure of that.” Cobra spoke through clenched teeth while Asao firmly gripped the hand that held the gun at Cobra’s temple.
“Nah muthafucker, that was all you but I didn’t come for a conversation. Let’s get this shit over with.” Asao didn’t need his ego stroked. He needed to see Cobra take his last breath.
“Fine…” Cobra pulled the trigger and his body slumped forward.
He hadn’t slept in days, possibly even weeks, for fear of the enemies he’d made.
He owed money to people who had a target on his back.
Very dangerous people who weren’t allowing him any more passes.
They now knew the loss of his livelihood meant there was no longer a possibility of collecting.
Cobra was tired of looking over his shoulder and sought a permanent solution.
His bullet over theirs. The situation worked in Asao’s favor because a suicide was better than an open investigation that had the potential to find its way to his doorstep.
He stepped back and looked at the scene around him, making sure to move out of the way before the blood that spilled to the floor moved to the spot where his feet had been planted.
Once he was certain there was nothing that could be traced to him, he left the same way he’d come and put the situation behind him.
“Keep it one hundred, Sao. You weren’t talking all that shit when Reg had you hemmed up.”
Asao smirked and brushed a hand over his head. In the early hours he had taken a life. Now he sat next to his father in the home where he’d spent his childhood, shooting the shit with his pops and his boys.
After he’d taken a life, he returned to his beach house, dressed in the clean clothes he changed into at his apartment in the city.
He showered, not once giving a second thought to the life he’d taken, then made the hour drive to climb back into bed with Samari and slept peacefully until she woke him with his dick in her mouth.
“Shit, neither were you.”
Dom flashed a grin. “Hell nah, I wasn’t about to say a damn word because Reg didn’t fucking play and he was mad as hell that we’d broken into his shop.”
Niles chuckled and Asao turned to his boy. “The fuck you laughing about? You were scared as hell too.”
“I didn’t do shit. That was y’all.” He motioned between Dom and Niles as the three men revisited a night they’d broken into Reg’s shop to break down their product. None of them dared take it to the homes where they rested their heads.
At seventeen and eighteen the three of them had been hustling for a few years and rotating their operation and stash between the women they were fucking until they got caught slipping.
The one Niles was dealing with at the time found out he was cheating and gave the stash to her brother in retaliation. That granted her brother six hands as an ass whooping and a reminder to never cross one of them. The product was sold before Dom, Niles, and Asao could get it back.
To remedy the situation, because they had a debt that needed to be paid, they’d robbed a dealer in the next city to recoup what they lost and vowed to never stash their product with women they were fucking ,which was how they’d ended up breaking into Reg’s shop.
“Muthafucker, you’re the reason we did that shit.” Dom frowned at Niles who shrugged the accusation off.
“I’ll take that but I also told your dumb ass breaking into Reg’s shit was a bad idea.”
A neighborhood junkie tipped Reg off that someone was in his shop, hopeful to cash in for the heads up.
When Reg pulled up, he cursed the three teens out, punched them all in the chest. He followed up with a lecture about how things could have gone left had it been the cops who’d shown up instead, then allowed them to use his stockroom to handle their business.
The deal was made with Reg demanding twenty percent of what they sold to teach them a lesson.
That was the deal for the first time only.
He never requested a dime thereafter but allowed them access to his shop to keep them out of harm’s way.
He couldn’t stop them from hustling but he could do his best to keep them from doing time.
Access to a safe space allowed that, and regardless of Reg never asking anything in return, the teens made sure a stack of cash was tucked away in the drawer of his station each and every time they risked his livelihood for running drugs through this shop.
“Shit was wild back then. I still can’t believe we made it out.” Asao grinned, brushing his fingers over his beard.
“You owe Reg a lot for that,” Leedren stated solemnly and the three men nodded to agree.
“Hell yeah we do. OG looked out, but we also know why, so respect,” Dom added, looking right at Leedren who tipped his head.
Reg was the neighborhood unc. He had a good heart and would always look out for the neighborhood hardheads, but with Asao, Dom, and Niles he took it a step further as a favor to Leedren.
He made the promise to look out for his son and that occasionally meant turning his shop into a trap house.
He risked his own livelihood and freedom to keep his word.
“Yeah, Pop. Your name meant something and we appreciate that.” Asao looked at his father, sharing a moment. Samari watched from the kitchen while she helped his mother clean up after their meal. Too much food that had Samari ready to curl up in bed to deal with the itis that had a hold on her.
“Those three cost me a lot of sleepless nights,” Kendra said, turning her head toward the living room.
“Oh I’m sure they did.” Samari grinned and glanced at Kendra.
“Now I can sleep and his father can worry.”
“Is that how it works?” Samari asked.
“No…” Kendra rolled her eyes amusedly. “But I can pretend and I have them both now so I won’t complain.”
Samari didn’t miss the way Kendra’s eyes drifted to her husband nor did she miss the smile on her face.
“It’s late, we should probably go.”