6. Scotty
Some Time Earlier
An Unfortunate Event . . .
“Blakeney, go the fuck back to my place. This is not up for a debate.”
Her head turned slowly toward Seneca. He avoided eye contact with her, as he should have. “You betta listen to your man, Blake. This ain’t the time. We got shit we need to handle here.”
My woman had a hard head. You had to be stern with her, and it only mattered if it was someone that she respected. That was not a doubt for me. I knew my woman respected me. Yeah, she stomped her hardheaded ass out of here.
My eyes fell on this little nigga that was still in my arms. I sighed because this shit was sad, and I knew how it needed to end. “Let’s get the hell outta here so we can talk to this lil boy and see if he’s past redemption.”
We moved to the living room to let the team get into the room to handle their business there.
They were already finished with the yard and the front.
I never asked how they did what they did.
What I did know was that this part of the team was connected to a company out of Charleston, South Carolina, that specialized in handling these types of situations.
The company on the top of the table owned multiple mortuaries.
Under the table, they were what we referred to as cleaners.
“Let’s move to the warehouse. I told Blake about a year ago that something was changing in this lil nigga,” he said as we walked to his car. “You could see it in his eyes, you know? You know, Blake, though. In her eyes, kids are pure.”
Yeah, I did know that. Her soft spot for children was a direct contrast to her street side.
I knew there was a reason for it, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Yeah, when he called, I knew some shit wasn’t right.
The call just didn’t make sense. A PS5 though?
These kids are entitled like a muthafucka these days. ”
I sat in the back seat with Travis just in case he woke up.
The warehouse was on the outskirts of the city in a place called Monroe.
It took a little second to get there from where we were.
Once we got there, I lifted him out of the car.
He shifted in my arms before his eyes popped open.
He immediately fought against my hold. “Let me the fuck go!”
This was the first time I’d met this little boy. I wasn’t sure how he previously acted around Blake, but this little boy right here could not be who it was. He was one hell of an actor if he acted in a way that softened my woman’s heart.
I smacked his ass on the head. “Boy, shut the fuck up. Stay still, with your bad ass.”
“Fuck you! That bitch killed my mama. I hate her! I’m gonna get that bitch!”
There it is! That was what I waited for. He intended to cause future harm to my bloodline. That was the tough part of this street shit. There were times when shit happened, and an entire bloodline had to be dropped so no one from it carried out their vengeance later. Yes, the kids too.
It was the part of this life that I hated.
It was an unfortunate situation, but in this life, you had to know what came with it.
When you jumped off the porch into the street life, you had to know that you could put your entire family in danger.
There were niggas that wanted to be in this street life when they needed to stay their asses on the sidewalk and, most of them, on the porch.
When we got into the warehouse, Grady, who I called and told to meet me here, and Stitch took Travis to tie him to a chair. I wanted to have a talk with him. The entire time, he talked shit. I’d give his young ass credit. He had heart.
“Aye, shut the fuck up. Understand that you caused this shit because your young ass felt entitled to something you didn’t deserve!” Seneca bellowed. “Just last week, Blake was up at that fuckin’ school because your ass was in trouble, but you’re out here asking for a PS5.”
Travis wore the hardest mean mug I had ever seen. It looked like it hurt. If he had the chance to get out of that seat, he would try to beat all our asses, like he really could. The bridge of Travis’s nose scrunched, then he took a deep inhale and hocked spit at us. This lil nigga is on one.
Stitch took his belt off, then moved toward Travis. He took him from his restraints. Like I knew he would, he started to fight Stitch. He was crazy. I would have tried to get the hell out of here. Sometimes, having heart wasn’t enough when the heart was stupid.
We watched Travis scuffle with Stitch for a second before Stitch backhanded the shit out of him. Travis’s body flew back a little until it landed on the floor with a thud. For his age, he was actually a big boy.
“Damn, Stitch. You’re out here pimp slapping the kids,” Seneca jested. He walked toward Travis. When he got close to him, Travis popped up, ready to fight again, which caused Seneca to grab him by the throat.
Man, this is enough for me. “Aye, Travis, we not here for this. It doesn’t have to go this way,” I said as I walked toward them. “Look. This shit doesn’t have to be like this, lil man. This was your fuck up, and you gonna have to eat that shit.”
“I ain’t eating shit! That bitch could have given me the PS5. She didn’t have to kill my mama. Wait. I’m gonna kill that stupid bitch!” The truth of Travis’s words was in his tone, eyes, and tears.
My sight connected with Seneca. His stare was soft for a second.
This was the crossroad that we both hated to be at.
“Aye, why don’t you go ahead and head out.
Take my car. I don’t want to put this shit on you for the sake of your relationship with Blake.
I’d rather her be mad at anyone else but you. ”
I respected him for that because, although I knew what the outcome would be, the less I knew, the better. This would fuck my baby up. The way she looked at that boy when he admitted that he set her up told me everything that I needed to know. He broke her heart.
Back To the Present
Let Me In . . .
“You did the fuck out of that shit! I’m proud of you, man. You’re a fast learner.” I applauded Ace.
He completed his first client’s wrap on a brand-new Durango Hellcat and did the fucking thing. The wrap cost a pretty penny because the wrap had to be customized. The dude came in here and got it wrapped as a gift for his girl.
Ace’s smile was wide. “Thank you! I had an awesome teacher. Man, when people see my car, they always ask who did it. When I tell them that I did, they can’t believe the shit. I tell them to come through.”
That made me smile because, in the last week, we’d had calls about our new service. “That’s what I like to hear. As a matter of fact, a client is coming tomorrow for a consultation. I booked you as the technician. You ready to do your second wrap?”
“Hell yeah, I’m ready! Thank you, man. If I keep getting these bookings, I’ll be able to build my own place sooner than I planned instead of renting.” His enthusiasm was loud. He had goals that were honorable. What I liked most about them was they didn’t have shit to do with the streets.
We talked for a few more minutes before I headed to my office.
Yesterday, Seneca dragged me out of town for some business that he said he had to handle.
We ended up in Atlanta. I wasn’t sure what the business was and still didn’t know.
It seemed like we went down there to fucking chill.
I could have stayed under my baby for all that shit.
She had been acting a little out of it for the past couple of days.
When I asked her what was wrong, she claimed she was stressed about work shit.
I had never been the type of nigga to force someone that I loved to tell me anything they didn’t want to unless I felt it was something shady or detrimental to themselves or me.
I didn’t believe work had anything to do with it, but what I did know was whatever it was, it had something to do with that room she kept under lock and key.
The day before yesterday, I walked down the hall, and she just stood there in front of the door.
She just stared at the door. For almost five minutes, I watched her stand there.
Later that night, I asked her what was in the room.
She claimed it was storage. I loved Blake’s secretive ass.
Seneca and Q’amie alluded to her past and that she went through something that was devastating. I asked a few people in the crew about it in random conversation, but it was that thing no one talked about. That made me respect them a little more because they didn’t tell me her business.
My phone rang and pulled me from my thoughts.
I missed my baby. The last time I saw her was early yesterday morning.
When I called her last night, she kept the conversation short.
There was no worry that she was on some fuck shit.
Based on the cameras and her location, she was at home most of the day. That was also weird.
The caller ID on the screen of my phone told me that it was Blake calling from her office. After the third ring, I picked up. “What’s up, baby?”
“Sco-Scotty, this is Nadia. I need you to come to the office right now please. Oh, God, Blakeney.” Her voice was panicked.
I didn’t need to know what or why. I just needed to get the fuck there. “I’m on the way.”
My speed limit to my baby’s office was a steady one hundred miles-per-hour. If a cop tried to pull me over, they would just have to chase my ass to her office. When I pulled up, another car pulled up just as fast as I did. That put me on alert.
When the man jumped out of the driver’s side, and seconds later, a woman from the passenger side, it took less than a minute to know they were Blake’s parents. She was her mother’s fucking twin. Damn. This must have been serious if they were here too.
Mrs. Collins’s head turned in my direction when she noticed me as I got out of my car. She stared for a moment, then her head slanted. “Scotty, right?”