Nathaniel #2
“We can and will. You’re officially trespassed from this property.
If we have to get the sheriff involved and have you arrested I doubt that would look good for you.
Not sure what you do for a living but arrest records follow you wherever you go.
You really want to have that type of record because we won’t only get you for trespassing.
I’m sure Ms. Charisma would be happy to press charges against you for putting your hands on her. ”
“You’d do that, Charisma?” He looked at Charmy like she hadn’t been the one to throw the first lick.
“Hell yeah.”
“You might as well come on. These folks got stuff to do and don’t need to be sitting around waiting on you to decide that you’re going to do what they said.
You not welcome here and you got a decision to make.
You can either crawl your ass to this golf cart behind me which gives you time to order a driver.
Might take an hour but they’ll eventually come.
Or I can let Bucky hogtie your ass and we’ll drive you to the road and drop you off.
I’m actually hoping for number two but the choice is yours.
” Lou’s drawl was just as calm as Sampson’s but that nigga was just as much of a nut as we were.
Trent looked at all of us, more to make sure we weren’t about to jump his ass before he walked slowly toward Lou. Charmy didn’t tense up and I was happy she was mugging the fuck out of him as he limped by. He climbed his ass into the cart that we’d ridden in to get here without saying a word.
“Good lookin’, Lou. I got more on your bonus for helping me clean this shit up.”
“You really wanted to reward me we’d be burying this nigga.
He don’t deserve to live putting his hands on your lady.
” He dapped me up and I appreciated that he was ten toes down for protecting the women on this ranch as we were.
I didn’t expect anything less from the men that worked with us but it was always nice to have it reaffirmed.
“Time might still come for that.”
We were speaking low but Charmy was attached to my chest. She groaned and then turned to give me a warning look.
“Bucky, baby, please. Let’s just let it go.”
Lou huffed because even he knew that shit wasn’t about to happen as he walked toward the cart to dispose of our problem.
I turned Charmy to me and kissed her forehead. I hated that even in the dimming light I could see where her shirt had left marks on her neck. That meant that bitch nigga was using all his strength to keep her contained.
“Nobody is ever going to do something to you without facing repercussions from me, Charisma Noelle Reed. You understand that?”
“Yes, Nathaniel.”
“Charisma, is there somewhere we can go and talk?”
We both turned and Mr and Mrs Reed were standing there and I could immediately see the sadness come over Charmy’s face.
She nodded toward the casita and said, “We can go back inside.”
I hoped I wasn’t going to need to kick these folks off the ranch but if they didn’t give my baby the support she needed Lou would walk them off the land just like Trent’s ass.
Instead of giving into negativity, I thread my fingers through hers so she knew she had me. She sighed and then leaned into me before we walked back into the casita behind her parents.
The footsteps echoed in the warehouse as he got closer to where I was standing.
This was probably the most cliché shit I’d ever done in my life but right now it worked in my favor.
Our connections had once again come through and I was thankful they didn’t have an issue with helping me with this particular endeavor.
The talk with Charmy’s parents went down a few days ago and there were tears but also understanding.
They felt terrible that she’d put herself in the position she had with Trent and that they’d encouraged the connection with him for so long.
Charisma felt bad because they felt bad and I was there for moral support.
They hugged it out and the rest of their visit went well.
When they hopped on a plane I had to as well which didn’t make Charisma happy at all.
“I told you that you’d see me again, didn’t I?”
The bastard who had the nerve to try for Charmy to service him screamed at the sound of my voice.
When he turned to run, I was thankful that he was giving me something to work with.
I needed to practice my roping anyway so when he got a few feet away I twirled the rope over my head.
Today wasn’t about doing tricks and impressing a soul.
It was purely for utility and I needed to get this shit done so I could get out of this city.
I gauged the distance then let the rope go and it ringed around his head falling to his neck perfectly.
I yanked back to tighten the rope, not hard enough to kill him yet, but enough to arrest his progress.
He fell to his knees, hands going straight to the rope as he pulled to free himself from it.
Whistling, I walked him down using my weight as a counterbalance to keep his ass from squirming too much.
He was probably regretting agreeing to the meeting that was going to end in his demise but I was thankful.
Doing this right now was far more convenient than me trying to handle it later.
I understood Sampson when he said he was ready to live without bullshit.
He wanted to get the people responsible for harming Yzzy dispatched as quickly as possible so he could enjoy his life with her.
I apparently would spend my life emulating my big brother since I was now on that same type of time.
“I know you can’t say much right now but I want you to know I’m a man of my word. That probably doesn’t comfort you when you get to hell but that’s all I got for you.”
I pulled on the rope keeping the slack in my left hand and the portion closest to his neck beneath my foot. I flipped him on his back the same way I would do a calf before I hogtied his hands to his feet with the rope.
“Damn, I should’ve had y’all time my ass.
I know that’s a personal best.” I stood up looking at the man who was now blue in the face as he struggled to breathe.
He’d luckily followed instructions and come dressed in loose fitting clothes.
It would be easy for us to set up the scene so that no one was the wiser as to where he actually died.
“You’re some kind of silly to think we would time a murder.”
This nigga that I’d been linked up with through Xerx walked his ass out from the shadows like a phantom.
His eyes were dark gray and he had shoulder length light brown locs.
This whole network of murderous niggas was something I hadn’t expected but there was a lot about the world I was finding out at my big age.
Back home in Texas we just fed people to hogs or dropped them into a ditch but they were way more sophisticated with that shit.
Made shit look like an accident so no one would ask questions.
Both strategies held merit but I was going with their methods this time.
“It was 6.7 seconds.”
A woman, who told me her name was Maalika, dropped that bit of information that had me proud and pissed.
“Damn, do you know what kind of records I would set with a time like that?” Now I was annoyed that I was wasting my talent on a dying man. Somehow I was going to have to do a repeat of this performance in the ring.
“Truthfully, you’re not jumping down off of a horse so it doesn’t exactly compare.
” She spoke almost clinically, the idea of death and dying common enough for her that the man choking between us didn’t make her bat an eye.
Maalika had a dry sense of humor and if I wasn’t so gone over Charmy I would’ve hollered at her.
She was pretty as fuck with hair as long as mine and toffee skin.
She had a slim thick frame and the way she was cool with handling this type of business meant she would be dope to hang out with.
Judging by the way this nigga Angel was watching her though, that was all him, but they had some shit they needed to work through.
The tension was thick as fuck between them.
“You say that, but I could easily repeat. Now I gotta prove you wrong.” Ole boy between us sputtered slightly and we all looked down to look at him.
“His will to live is strong. Too bad it’s futile.”
Angel’s voice held a note of respect but it was wasted since dude was damn near purple.
He was twitching on the tarp that was covering the ground.
It would prevent any fibers from this warehouse from being transferred to his house.
The way his death was going to be set up I doubted anyone was going to look into this shit.
“Bruh, I got my girl waiting at home for me. You know the one. Big brown eyes and purple ‘fro? The one you decided you were gonna fuck even though she said no?”
“He’s one of those?” Maalika’s voice grew tight and by the time I’d turned around she’d pulled out a fucking switch blade.
“Hold on now—”
“Him choking is too easy. We need to do something far worse.” Her eyes were narrowed into slits and even Angel’s ass looked like he was moving cautiously.
“I can find someone else for you to carve up, tout-petit. We can’t mess up the job with feelings, okay?” His tone was gentle, like he’d seen her zone out the way she currently was and had brought her back down from the edge before.
To her credit, Maalika looked perfectly calm. The way she griped that knife, almost protecting herself from some invisible force made something in my soul tense up.
“I know. I just don’t think it’s fair.”
“If it makes you feel better, my girl had a bottle ready to knock this bitch over the head. I just beat her to it. You’d like her, she don’t take no shit either.”