Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
SHAKUR MOORE
Zzzzzaapp. Zzzzzaapp. Zzzzzaappp.
I stood back and looked at my handy work. Installing this damn Ring doorbell had been testing my patience this morning.
I’d been home for days now, waiting up at night for those niggas to come back so I could finish them off, and nothing. So now I was taking another step to help me find them—installing a Ring doorbell.
Did I want my coming and going monitored? Hell no! But if it was going to help me find those mothafuckers, I was all for it.
My pops kept telling me to let it go, but I was never going to do that. I was on these niggas’ heads until I found them. On my mama, I was going to find them and fuck them up!
I didn’t give a fuck what anyone had to say, everyone around knew this was my house and my family. So, to know someone had the audacity to run up in here on them had me seeing red. And until I saw their bloods on my hands, I wasn’t ever going to let it go.
I knew my mama would be upset with me, but she would also understand me too. The love I had for my family would make me go to war with anybody.
I didn’t fear anyone but God.
After making sure I installed the shit properly, I checked my phone to see if it was recording correctly. Wasn’t that it was difficult to put up, it was just my annoyance level was too high to fiddle around with all these screws and shit. But I got it up and that was good enough for me.
“Heyo Donny!” I heard someone shout a name I hadn’t heard in a long time, and my head snapped up to see Donny jogging across the street.
“Didn’t I tell yo’ ass to stay from around here!” I barked.
Donny jumped and stopped running to look at me. His eyes bulged, full of fear.
“Shakur, you’re back!”
“Yeah, nigga. Move, before I move you. I don’t give a fuck who you’re here to see. I better not look up and see you again,” I warned him and looked down at my phone, knowing he’d better be gone.
Four years ago, he tried to move on Kairi and when she declined, he started to harass her. I put a stop to that and told him not to bring his ass on my street again.
He must have thought that shit changed because I left, but I was back now.
I kept looking down at my phone before I put it away, satisfied with my work, and went back into the house. By then, Donny was long gone.
My pops and Kairi were already out. I laughed, knowing they were gonna be pissed that I installed something that would keep an eye on them too.
In the meantime, I was praying those niggas slipped up and I caught them on this camera.
It was still mind blowing to know that Sony didn’t hear or know shit about it. I felt goofy as fuck for listening to his bitch ass about looking out for my family if I left. I was yet to hear from or see Viper, but I was prepared for when he did show his face.
Luckily for me, some shit was going on in The Society and that had all of their attention. In my quest to find out who broke into our house, I’d heard the whispers. Sincere was stepping down, so a new king was set to take over.
Honestly, I couldn’t give a fuck what they did, as long as they stayed the fuck away from us.
For whatever reason, my pops had lost his job with The Society.
He said it was a misunderstanding between him and Viper.
I wasn’t sure if that was the truth or not, or if it had anything to do with Sincere leaving, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t pleased about it.
For years, I wanted my father to cut ties with them vultures, and now they had.
Hopefully, neither of them entangled themselves with them again.
My phone vibrated in my hand, and I narrowed my eyes when I saw it was a call from Sony. I only had that nigga’s number because he kept trying to recruit me three years ago, and I saved it just so I knew it was his ass calling me. But he damn sure hadn’t hit me up since I left.
The right thing to do was ignore the call and then block his ass, but since I was with the shits, I answered it because I wanted to know what he had to say.
“Yeah?” I answered.
“Yo, Shakur, what’s good?”
“What you want?” I asked. I had no time to play with this nigga on my phone.
Sony chuckled even though I knew he was embarrassed as fuck.
“I just wanted to know if you found the niggas you were looking for?”
“You will know when I do,” I responded. Silence, then he cleared his throat again.
“If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know.”
“I got it. I’m around until I do,” I let him know I had no intention of leaving any time soon. He could tell his fucking pops that shit too!
Just then, the camera picked up movement. A shadow slithered past, but I didn’t see anyone.
What the hell was that?
“I hear that. Well, let me at least speak to my pops about yours getting his job back.”
“Nah, we good,” I shut that shit down. “Anyway, I’m in the middle of something, I will catch up with you,” I said and ended the call before he could respond.
Sony and his shit were the least of my problems because what I really needed was to find a job. Then my pops definitely wouldn’t need to fuck with Viper ever again.
Only problem was that everything in our city was mixed up, one way or another, with The Society. That shit pissed me off because I couldn’t stand anything about them, but there was one person I could fuck with that was a part of them.
“Be with you in a minute!” I heard him yell from the back when I stepped into his store.
I chuckled and leaned against the counter until he appeared.
“Shakur!”
He looked at me like his eyes were about to pop out of his head.
“How you doing, Oblique.”
The nigga staggered around the counter, in complete shock, and slapped hands with me.
“I heard the rumors you were back, but I see they were real,” he said, patting my back.
I was the type of person to stick to myself, so I didn’t really have friends like that. Everyone I used to go to school with and who I ever classed as a friend wanted to sell their asses to be in with The Society. So, we hadn’t crossed paths in years.
But Oblique was the only one I truly fucked with. He didn’t want to be part of this shit either, but just like me, he had no choice when his father involved their family.
Now, he ran a shop that Orlando had control over because of his father’s decisions. To me, it was different when you were involved by affiliation and you choosing to walk into the lion’s den on purpose.
“I know your pops and sister happy to have you back,” he said, smiling widely at me.
“Yeah, I’m happy to be back,” I let him know.
Oblique put his hands up in mock surrender.
“Listen, I don’t know why you left and I don’t want to know. I’m just glad to see you back.”
And that was why I really checked for him. He knew how to mind his business and not believe the rumors.
I already heard how Sony was telling people he made me run away. I would let him have that because that shit was beneath me to defend because eventually the truth would come out.
“Oblique, you hear about some young niggas running up in my house fucking with my pops?”
Oblique looked at me and paused.
“Young niggas? Are you sure?” he questioned.
I hesitated for a moment as if I was now questioning myself.
I nodded, knowing what my family had told me.
“Now you know nobody is stupid enough to touch your family, Shaks. Here or not, they all know you’re not the one to cross unless they have a death wish,” Oblique said. That much was true, so who decided to try it?
Something about my pops’ story wasn’t adding up to me. So, either someone felt brave enough to go into my father’s house or it wasn’t what my father said.
I knew if I asked, my dad wasn’t going to tell me, which was why he told me that bullshit story anyway. And that made me wonder if it was someone we knew.
“Why? Something happened with your pops?” he asked, looking at me, waiting for a response. I thought about telling him but decided against it because sooner or later, the truth would be revealed.
“Nah, I was just checking. Wanted to make sure nobody was messing with them. And you know my old man isn’t gonna tell me.”
“Unc stubborn like fuck!” Oblique said, and we laughed together, even though he wasn’t lying. My pops always told me that I was hardheaded, like with me not giving up until I found out what happened that night, but he was just the same. So, where the hell did he think I got it from!
“So, you back here now, for good?” he asked, looking at me. I nodded.
“That’s what I’m talking about. So, you trying to join me here? You know I could do with your help,” Oblique said, smiling at me. I chuckled.
“That’s why I came to see you,” I nervously said, rubbing a hand across the back of my neck. “Do you—?”
“You don’t even have to ask, Shaks. You will always be a brother to me. Besides, I just got a custom order on a Harley I think you would be great with. Come, let me show you,” he said, leading me outside to his warehouse.
Oblique and I spent a few hours going over some things before he gave me a few jobs he wanted me to do.
Before I left three years ago, I was just starting to work on my craft customizing motorcycles, so I was grateful that he was trusting me with these big ass jobs.
It seemed I came back at the right time because with me handling those jobs, it left him the time to deal with Orlando’s merchandise.
Oblique knew that I wanted nothing to do with Orlando or Viper’s shit, and he respected that.
At some point, I looked at my phone to see that my sister had made it back home.
“I’m glad to see you came home at a reasonable hour after leaving out so early this morning,” I spoke to her through the camera. I roared laughing when this damn girl jumped ten feet in the air and grabbed her chest.
“Is that you, God?” she questioned, looking around before she finally located the camera.
“Girl, I sound like God to you?” I snapped. Kairi looked at the camera and fell out laughing before shrugging.
“I don’t know. Who really knows God’s voice?”
I smacked my mouth, making her giggle. She lifted a finger and pointed directly at me.
“Uh, but who said you could install this?” she sassed.
“I did. And y’all better not take it down.”
“Kairi! Who the hell you talking to?” I heard Pops shout before he appeared on the camera.
“Shakur. He’s watching me through the camera,” she pointed at me. Snitch ass.
I laughed when my dad removed his glasses and peered into the camera lens with squinted eyes.
“Why take off the glasses if you can’t already see?” I questioned before laughing.
“Shakur! Boy, if you don’t take this dang thing off my door!”
“You better not touch it, young man. I’m not playing with you,” I playfully warned.
My dad’s mouth opened and closed a few times, showing me he was stuck for words, before he finally spoke.
“You’re not playing with me?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. It took me all day to put that up,” I let them know. “So, leave it. I got it for your protection.”
Daddy sighed heavily.
“You ain’t gotta look after us, Shakur. I’m the father.”
“And you’ve done enough. Let me take it from here,” I said.
Just then, I heard the bell indicating that someone had entered the store.
“Anyway, I’m at work with Oblique. I’ll be back a little later on.”
We exchanged a few more words, and then I went to go see who came inside. Oblique was in the warehouse dealing with some shit to do with Orlando.
I grabbed a cloth to clean off my hands as I went to greet the customer.
“Can I help you?” I asked to the nigga’s back. He turned to face me, and I was surprised to see that it was Havoc.
The nigga looked me up and down before slowly approaching.
“Yeah, I’m here to meet with Oblique. Said it was urgent.”
I nodded and pointed to the back with my thumb.
“He in the warehouse.”
Havoc bounced his head at me and walked past. I noticed the way he stared at me but chose to leave it alone. As long as he didn’t say shit to me, I wouldn’t say shit to him either. As he went out back with Oblique, I finished off what I was doing before I called it a day.
Oblique was still in the warehouse once I was finished and ready to go, so I went out there to let him know that I was leaving.
As soon as he opened the door, Havoc was stepping out to leave too. Again, he stared me in the eyes before subtly nodding and leaving. I turned to watch him do that.
“You know him?” Oblique questioned, stepping up beside me. I shook my head.
“Nah, and I want to keep it like that,” I said, meaning every word.