Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
DRE
Ihad the whole city mad yet I was sleeping good, out of sight and out of mind with a thick ass red bitch sucking and fucking on me whenever I liked. I knew Seth was pissed he couldn’t find me, which was crazy because somebody so close to him knew exactly where I was.
RING.
My phone cut through the quiet. I rolled, grabbed it from the nightstand. Leon’s name burned the screen. Of course.
I let it buzz twice before answering. “What up, Unc.”
“We gotta fix this, Dre,” he said, voice tight, like he was the one making orders.
“Fix what?” I asked. “Seth got what he deserved. That mess is handled.”
“You think it just ends like that?” He snapped. “You think the king doesn’t come after who tried to take his queen?”
“I took care of what needed to be taking care of.” I kept my voice cool. “Seth killed my family first. I was just repaying the favor.”
There was a pause... “Stormi’s not dead,” Leon finally spoke. “Both her and the baby survived.”
I pictured the house, the blood, the way she’d looked when I left. “How the hell do you know that?” I asked anger and confusion across my face.
“I went to the hospital,” he said. “I went because… because she’s, my daughter.”
I laughed… then I asked, “You serious?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Stormi is mine.”
“Wait what? You had a baby with Jo?” I sat up, the mattress creaking. The morning light cut the room in half. “You ain’t never told me you had a kid with a crackhead.”
“The Jo you know and the Jo I loved are different people.” His voice went softer, like a man holding on to a truth that hurt him.
I glanced at Imani across the bed. She was awake now. Her hair loose around her face, features rough from the night we had. She didn’t miss a beat though. She slid down to the middle of the bed, pulled my mans out and placed him right in her mouth.
“So, Stormi’s your daughter,” I said slowly. “That makes her my cousin.”
“You shot your cousin,” Leon spat, like he’d been carrying that sentence for days. “I should…”
“Don’t.” I cut him off, hard. “You should what, Leon? Been a man and raised her? Because Unc, this the first I hear you got a child. Especially one in the same city who grew up with a crackhead mother.”
“It’s complicated,” he said.
“Uncomplicate it, nigga. You need to tell me everything now. This ain’t small.”
Leon’s laugh was hollow. “You need to be focused on staying alive, not on my life.”
“My life is the one in the crosshairs,” I said. “This changes things, Leon. This changes everything.”
He breathed out. “I went to see her because she…. because it mattered. I didn’t want you finding out from someone else.”
“Yeah, I bet.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling the fatigue of a hundred fights. “Look. Stormi lived. That’s one loose thread. Seth’s empire is still standing. And now my family’s tangled up in it. I need clarity.”
“You’ll get it,” Leon promised. “But you gotta be smart, Dre. Don’t make moves you can’t walk back.”
“And you?” I asked. “You gonna stand by or run if this blows up?”
He hesitated long enough that I could hear the question reflect in his silence. “I’m here. For her. For you when it counts.”
I let the words settle. Leon had ruined my thought process that I had forgotten that Imani was down there giving her best performance.
I tossed the phone down on the bed and relaxed my mind while she finished pulling my nut out of me and swallowing it all down her throat before getting up and going to the bathroom.
“Yo I’m hearing Stormi’s alive,” I shouted toward the bathroom as Imani walked in, hips swinging like she ain’t got a care in the world.
She poked her head out, toothbrush in her mouth. “Damn,” she mumbled, foaming at the lips. “That lil’ bitch don’t die, huh?”
I stood up, heart pounding, blood hot with confusion. Threw my boxers on, pacing. “I need you to confirm that. Like now. If she’s alive… everything shifts.”
Imani came out with her face glistening, dragging the towel over her mouth slow.
She moved toward me, eyes locked like she was hunting.
“Oh, Daddy,” she purred, pushing me back down onto the edge of the bed, straddling me like she ain’t hear a word I said.
“You really tryna dip out on me already? I ain’t even got my fix yet. ”
“I’m not playin’ right now,” I growled, gripping her hips but not with desire. My mind was still at Jo’s house, still seeing Stormi’s face gasping for air, still hearing him say, “she’s your cousin.”
“I need you to find out if Stormi’s really still breathing.”
Imani rolled her eyes and slid off me, stepping back with attitude. “Man, fuck that hoe,” she snapped, venom in her voice. “You shoulda let me handle her from the jump. Got all bold thinkin’ she could play stepmom to my son, take over my family like I ain’t been here holding it down.”
I stared at her. The jealousy dripping from her tone made my skin itch. “Don’t be bitter, Imani. That shit make you look real weak.”
She scoffed. “And envy don’t look good on you, Mister. You out here obsessed with Seth because he killed your slimy ass daddy. Fantasizing over Stormi. You ain’t never looked at me like that. But I know how to fix it.”
She leaned in close, lips brushing my ear.
“I know how to bury Stormi for real this time. I know how to put Seth on his knees and hand you the kingdom.”
That’s when I snapped.
I grabbed her by the throat, hard enough to remind her this wasn’t love, and slammed her down onto the mattress. Her eyes went wide, but she didn’t flinch. That’s the thing about Imani; she liked the chaos. Breathed it. Used it.
“Watch your fuckin’ mouth,” I growled low, holding her there, heat between us turning violent. “You don’t get to talk like that unless you ready to back it all the way up.”
She smirked beneath my hand, like pain turned her on. “Then let me work. Let me get you what you need, Dre. You just be ready to share that money.”
I ripped her thong clean off, and she laughed like she was in on the joke.
I shoved myself inside her, rough, fast like I was punishing both of us.
She wasn’t even as wet as I wanted, and I didn’t care.
The only way I stayed hard was picturing Stormi.
Stormi’s thick ass bouncing when she walked, Stormi’s smile that didn’t make no damn sense with the life she lived.
Stormi with Seth’s baby swelling her body in all the right ways. Her breasts fuller, her glow brighter. I hated them both for having the fairytale while I was stuck here, living the nightmare.
Imani clawed at me, breathless, whispering, “You’re thinking about her again, ain’t you?”
I tightened my grip on her throat, just enough to shut her up, not enough to end her. “Shut the fuck up, Imani.”
She smirked through the pressure, eyes daring me. “You only come to me because she’ll never want you.”
Her words sliced through, and the hate in my chest burned hotter. I wanted to snap her neck, but she still had use, at least I thought she did. But the truth? The bitch knew nothing. Her kid wouldn’t talk, she didn’t even know where Seth laid his head. Seth had played her like the fool she was.
When I finally pulled out, I finished all over her face, watching her wipe it with her hand and lick it clean like it was nothing.
“Freaky-ass bitch,” I muttered, disgust twisted with satisfaction.
She licked her lips and whispered, “And you’ll be back for more.”
“Find a way to get close and see what’s really happening with Stormi and Seth.”
“I got you, bae.”
That little nickname crawled under my skin every time she used it.
She said it soft like she already owned the corner of my life she wanted.
But she had her own plan, one built on being there when Stormi dies, on stepping into a life she didn’t earn.
I didn’t like the way she smiled imagining it, but she was useful.
“I’ll touch down in the city for my birthday,” I said, checking my phone ready to plan a war. “Turn up with my peoples, have a good time before I end this.”
“You sure that’s smart? Seth got eyes everywhere.”
“If he had eyes everywhere, he’d know where I am now. And if he knew where I am now, he’d know your ass is with me.” She didn’t argue. She swallowed, like she’d just finally seen the cost of being right here with me.
I leaned back and watched her. “Don’t trip. Just get close. Learn his routine. Make him so family focused he forgets to watch his back.”
Imani laughed a soft, dangerous sound. “Bae, when Stormi goes down, I’ll be there to pick up the pieces. We’ll raise our kids. We’ll be the family he should’ve built with me.”
“You ain’t Stormi,” I said. The words were sharper than I meant. “Pretty face only takes you so far.”
She straightened, heat in her eyes. “Pretty face can move mountains when it knows the right spots.”
“Just—” I paused, thinking about my mother’s voice lecturing, about anchors I couldn’t afford. “Don’t mess this up. When I slide back into town, I need the path cleared. I want Seth exposed and vulnerable before he even knows I’m back.”
Imani pushed off the bed like she owned the room and headed for the bathroom. “I’ll handle it. Don’t trip. Tunnel vision. You know how I do this.” Her whisper followed me, cold as a blade: “End Stormi. Get your family back.”
The door clicked shut. I let the silence sit on me hard and hungry. Imani would get what she could, and I’d take whatever it left behind. By the time I walked back into that life, I was gonna make sure nobody forgot who I was.