Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
MAKARI “HAVOC” SANCHEZ
THE NEXT NIGHT
“Hell, I’m telling you, something doesn’t sound right! After those niggas ran up on us at the club, I don’t think that shit is a coincidence,” I let him know.
Yesterday, I found out that some niggas had broken into my brother’s crib.
He had been out with Sony, and when he came home, his shit was trashed.
Clearly, someone was either looking for something or hoping the nigga was home.
He was trying to brush it off as it being a couple of crackheads, but I wasn’t believing that shit.
Especially because Orlando had failed to find out who the fuck was behind that hit at the club to begin with!
It damn sure didn’t help that Hell was out there in the streets, drawing a lot of attention to himself because of Orlando’s stupid ass. All of that shit was fucking with my mental, and all Kelechi wanted to do was brush it off as nothing.
There was no reason for any niggas to be up in his shit and it be nothing.
My gut was telling me it was the same niggas behind it, and my feelings were never wrong. I couldn’t understand why he was acting so nonchalant about it. My pops had really filled his head up with a bunch of bullshit!
I wanted to comb the streets and knock on a few doors until we found the mothafuckers, but he wasn’t trying to hear that.
The old Hell would have been out the door before I could grab my fucking gun, but Orlando had him acting like a goofy.
And I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone caught him slipping.
“Chill out, baby brother, it’s not that deep,” he said, making me close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. It was like no matter what I said, I just wasn’t getting through to him.
If, by some weird ass chance, Sincere really had it in mind for Hell to take over, I knew he wouldn’t last a week with the way he was moving.
Not only was he acting recklessly, but people were starting to whisper. I knew it was nobody but Orlando’s doing, but now people had been murmuring that Hell was the one set to take over.
Out of all the sanctioned leaders’ sons, my brother was the eldest and would have been the better choice out of all of them. However, that was the old him—not this new one who had changed his thinking to mirror Orlando’s.
Walking on the streets to be seen, like he was untouchable, instead of moving in silence.
What happened to the man who told me neither to let anyone know my movements?
The one who taught me how to move in silence.
Orlando turned me into a machine, but it was my damn brother who taught me to be alert.
I rubbed a hand down my face and sighed in frustration.
Hell laughed.
That was another thing. He had started to see everything as a fucking joke!
“Calm down, Havoc. Nobody is that stupid to come for me,” he said. I frowned.
Why, because Orlando said he was untouchable?
I decided not to bother saying anything else to him because he wasn’t going to listen to me anyway.
“Aight, I’m gonna go. Pops wants to talk to me. Come check me in the morning,” Kelechi said. I shook my head, knowing he was about to let that man fill him up with even more lies.
I would forever be my brother’s number one fan, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t hope that Sincere made up his mind soon, so that it would knock Hell back into reality.
I didn’t know who Sincere had his eyes on; I just knew in my heart it wasn’t my brother.
If I spent fifty years building a legacy like The Society, I wouldn’t leave it in his hands either.
Hell and I used to be about that business. My father’s empire ran smoothly because of us. But now the only business Hell seemed to have was drinking and throwing money around instead of really putting the work in.
Since Orlando told me to leave it all to Hell, niggas had been getting out of line. They both thought I wouldn’t hear about it, but I had because I still fucked with Oblique, and he’d been telling me the shit he’d been hearing lately.
Shipments being late, left unchecked, and fees being unpaid or short. Kelechi couldn’t see the real problem. And that was, if I heard about it, who else had?
“I’ll get up with you later, Makari,” Hell said, calling me by my government. I simpered.
“Yeah, later.”
I hung up feeling a damn headache coming on. Because of how my brother had been moving lately, I’d been pulling back a little, not that he was coherent enough to notice. We all liked a drink from time to time, but even I knew when to stop.
The last time we were at the club, Hell got sloppy drunk, and if he thought he could be the fucking boss of all this shit and do something like that, he was sadly mistaken.
Even if nobody made an attempt on his life, Kelechi would lose the respect of the other sanction leaders if he acted like that.
This was the shit I was trying to make him see, but he wouldn’t.
I wondered if I should continue to try or just leave them to it.
My head felt so heavy because of all this mess.
I just wanted to dig a hole and put my head in it for a moment, just to get some peace.
My anxiety was at an all-time high, and I just wanted a moment where I didn’t have to think too much—where I could release it and just do something I wanted to do for a change!
I was worrying about my brother more than he was worrying about himself, and it was taking a toll on me.
Moments like now, I did wish I had a special girl in my corner who I could go to.
I sat there rubbing at my temples, wishing someone was rubbing my shoulders instead to release this tension.
An alert came on my phone that someone had activated the elevator to my floor. Only someone with the code could get the elevator up here. I smacked my mouth, knowing it was Ocean.
Even if I changed it, I knew Hell would just give it to her again, so I knew not to bother. But I hated when she just showed up at my crib, and with me being in a bad ass mood already, tonight wasn’t the night for her shit. I needed a release, not someone to add to it.
I picked up my phone, ready to tell her ass to go the fuck back home, but got the surprise of my life when I saw that it was actually Kairi.
Since it was Saturday, it had me wondering why the hell she was here because she didn’t work on the weekends.
Plus, it was now eleven in the evening, so that further proved she wasn’t here to work.
Curiosity had me leaving my office and going to open the front door to wait for her. A few seconds later, the elevator doors opened. She stepped off, babylike eyes on me, and her face void of makeup.
She silently walked down the hallway toward me, and I stepped back as she reached my door.
“You don’t work on the weekends, Kairi, so what you doing here?” I asked, closing the door behind her.
“I’m sorry, I just wanted to talk, but if you’re busy, I can go.”
“No, I can do with a talk.” I pulled on her arm when she tried to step out of the door. Kairi smiled at me and followed me to sit down.
“What’s up?” I asked.
She looked away from my face for a second and then focused back on me.
“What are your thoughts about revenge?”
My head cocked to the side at her question.
“Like what if you couldn’t outright confront someone, would you find a way to hurt them back or just ignore them?” she continued.
I almost laughed because it was almost as if she was talking about me. Orlando did everything in his power to hurt, use, and belittle me. There were days I would dream about hitting back, even just once, so I was all too familiar with that feeling.
I nodded.
“I’ve wanted to confront someone that I couldn’t too,” I said. I wanted to ask her who she was referring to but knew if she wanted me to know, she would have told me. “But you just have to remember that they’re not worth it.”
I knew I annoyed Orlando more when I ignored him, and that gave me more satisfaction than arguing with him. Even though sometimes, I couldn’t help it.
Kairi sat there chewing on the inside of her jaw like she was thinking about it.
“What if you can’t let it go?” she asked.
“Then you have your answer,” I shrugged.
It wasn’t my place to tell her what to do; only she could decide that, and it looked to me like she’d made up her mind. If our little conversation helped at all, I would accept that.
“Thank you,” she smiled, her eyes sparkling.
I nodded.
My shoulder felt tense, so I lifted my right arm and rotated it.
“Are you okay?” Kairi asked softly.
“Just a little pressure in my shoulders.”
She suddenly stood to her feet with a smile.
“I’ve been told I give good massages.”
I hit her with a slanted smile and asked, “Is that so?”
Kairi nodded as she headed my way. She came around the back of me and started to rub at my shoulders.
Instantly, my eyes closed, and I let my head fall back because it was exactly what I needed.
Kairi’s soft, warm hands kneaded at my knotted shoulders, giving me the release I was craving. A warm, settled, and complete feeling hit me, and I slowly opened my eyes.
Kairi froze and looked down into my eyes. In silence, we just looked at each other. Our eyes speaking but our mouths silent, however, nothing needed to be said.
Taking me by surprise, Kairi leaned forward and gave me an upside-down kiss. Her lips pecked softly at mine as her hand gripped my face.
After a few seconds, she pulled away, and we stared at each other again.
Over the last few days, it never crossed my mind to touch her, simply because of who my father was. If he ever caught wind of Kairi, he would make her life hell just to appease Ocean’s father.