Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
“Fuck it. Just drop the bread and cop it, fam!” Los encouraged him as he rubbed his hands together eagerly.
He could see the apprehension on Kross’ face. Although he would never admit it, he knew the only reason he was holding out on buying the car was because he felt guilty for making such a huge purchase without having Cassie around to enjoy it as well.
“Man, I don’t know. Rolling around in a Maybach right now probably ain’t the brightest idea.” He shook his head.
Los smacked his lips loudly. “Nigga, fuck that. You did seven years. You deserve this. Plus, you ain’t got no whip, so you better leave out of here with something ‘cause I can’t be driving you around all day without gas money,” he scoffed jokingly.
“Los, you pushing a Tesla.”
“Same shit. You be taking up all my battery with all this back and forth,” Los said, evoking laughter out of Kross. “You ain’t have to give the Range up.”
“Man, yes, I did. It wasn’t mine, and I wasn’t ‘bout to be riding around in it like it was when I don’t fuck with Ezekiel no more.”
“It was a coming home gift, K.”
Kross shook his head, disagreeing with his homie. “Nah, it was a handout I ain’t need. I can buy my own whip.”
Los let out a deep sigh before shrugging his broad shoulders. “Whatever you say, man.”
He was out of town when the blowout between Ezekiel and Kross unfolded at the trap.
He knew better than to pick sides when it came to family drama because blood always managed to make shit right when things were all said and done, and he didn’t want to get caught up in bullshit.
What he did was hear both brothers out and tell them their brotherhood was better than that.
Them niggas came out the same womb. Wasn’t nothing worth severing ties with family in Los’ opinion.
Kross took another walk around the luxury vehicle, assessing whether it was worth the asking price of $175,000. “Fuck it,” he carelessly shrugged, agreeing to purchase the vehicle. “My lady would’ve wanted me to do it big if she was here.”
“Hell yeah!” Los exclaimed with heavy claps. “Cassie loved to do a little humble flex and shit on motherfuckas!”
Kross chuckled as he thought back to his lady.
As much as she claimed that she would be fine without all the extra shit his money could buy, once she got accustomed to the lifestyle he provided her, she made it into her own.
She was a money-making boss, and it reflected through the way she carried and spoiled herself.
“I gotta do it big one time for my lady,” Kross said as he flagged the car salesman over.
The salesman trudged back over to Los and Kross eagerly. The smiles on the men’s faces had him confident that he was gonna land a hefty commission. “I’m trying to leave off the lot with this.” Kross tapped the hood of the Maybach with a smirk.
“Excellent choice, Mr. Hunter. I can lead you inside to speak with my finance rep.”
Kross shook his head, prompting the salesman’s brows to bump together. “That won’t be necessary. I’m paying cash,” he asserted as he lifted the Goyard backpack he had stuffed with stacks of money.
The man’s eyes widened in shock since he didn’t expect Kross to foot the bill for the luxury car without setting up a payment plan. He pre-judged him and thought looking at the Maybach was a waste of time, but he was wrong as hell.
After a couple of hours of handling all the legalities and paperwork for the vehicle, Kross was granted the keys.
“You back in action now!” Los clapped as he marveled at the newly purchased vehicle. “These fuck niggas not ready!”
Kross chuckled as he nodded, agreeing with his homie. “Copped this shit with the old money. I ain’t even have to touch the money my lady stacked up for me.”
Los was all for Kross hyping himself up. The nigga had been getting kicked while he was down since he was set free. He deserved to flex a little.
“Nigga, I’m trying to be like you when I grow up,” Los cackled as they met for their signature handshake.
During times like these, Kross was grateful to have homies like Los and Noonie who didn’t mind helping him put the pieces of his life back together.
He was dealing with the loss of Cassie, the unknown with Aniyis and was still terribly institutionalized.
Having a support system through his homies was a blessing.
He thanked Los for sticking it out with him all day during the car purchasing process before they got into their individual cars.
As he sank into the plush leather of his seats, he extended his gratitude to God.
The engine came to life before he pulled off the lot.
He didn’t have much planned now that getting a car was checked off on his schedule, so he opted to drive to the condo to stash the rest of the money he had left in his Goyard backpack.
Now that he knew there was a target on his crew, he wasn’t about to let none of these Zone 7 niggas have one up on him and think he was an easy lick.
As he drove, he decided to shoot a call over to his mother.
Raq wanted to do better with being a support system for Aniyis, so after a ton of convincing, she was able to get Kross to agree to let her stay overnight with Aniyis.
He figured it was probably best to allow his mother to step up for her grandson.
Lately, it had just been him and Amoura rotating, so Raq stepping in gave him and Amoura a well-deserved break from the hospital before they lost their fucking minds.
“Yes, Kross?” his mother answered the phone, agitation evident in her tone since this was the third phone call he made since he left.
“How he’s doing, Raq? Any changes?”
A deep sigh drifted out of Raq as she glanced over to Aniyis. “Still the same, son. If anything were to change or happen, I promise you I will call you quicker than the speed of light. “
“A’ight. I appreciate you for doing this.”
“No problem, son. Enjoy some time to yourself. You need to have a sound mind for ‘Niyis.”
Kross nodded, agreeing with his mother. “I heard that, Ma. I’ll call later.”
The two shared goodbyes before the call ended.
Kross pulled into the condo before stepping out of the car.
As he hit the locks, he took another brief moment to admire his new purchase.
He was grateful that despite being locked up for seven years, he didn’t have to go back and start at square one again.
He made his money work for him while he was locked up, and only a handful of niggas could do that.
Once he got upstairs, he was met with an Edible Arrangement delivery that was sitting in front of the door.
Although he couldn’t do much, he always made sure to get a reoccurring delivery for Cassie at the top of each month.
It was just a small token of appreciation for her to look forward to.
It never crossed his mind that now that she was gone, he needed to put an end to the deliveries.
With a deep sigh, he grabbed the arrangement before stepping inside.
He picked the card out of the arrangement, reading the little message he would always write to her.
“Forever my lady. Love you, Cass,” he read aloud, causing a tightness to surface in his chest.
There were days where he felt like he was strong enough to move forward and heal from losing Cassie.
Then little reminders would come about and knock the fucking wind out of him.
This shit was hard, and the only way he felt like could cope was channeling his pain into anger.
He’d always been hot tempered and quick to flash out, but as of lately, he’d just been a completely different person.
He knew he could’ve handled the fall out with his little brother without getting physical, but he was desperate to have someone else feel the same pain he felt or something close to it.
Kross just wanted to get to a point where he was no longer at war with his emotions and find peace, but he knew that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon since he had a couple niggas to put down behind Cassie and Aniyis.
Finally having a moment for himself, Kross decided to just kick back and relax.
He appreciated the silence in the condo since he had gotten used to the constant beeping of the monitors that were keeping Aniyis alive.
Just as he sparked his blunt, there was a knock on the door.
His brows bumped together since he wasn’t one to ever really have company, and neither was Cassie.
He kept his piece on him as he made his way to the door and craned down a bit to look through the peep hole.
On the other side of the door was Amoura, prompting a sense of relief to wash over him. He opened the door, and he was met with her holding a box that was packed to capacity with a sewing machine and a few rolls of fabric.
“Hey. I got a call from the manager of the suite Cassie rented, and he said he needed her things out for his next tenant,” she explained with a depleted tone.
He took the box from her before he stepped aside and let her come in. “Fuck. I been meaning to get around to that. I just got caught up.” He ran his hand down his face frustratedly. “You could’ve called, and I would’ve handled it.”
She shrugged her shoulders lightly. “It’s cool.
It was nice to have a little a moment in there alone since we had so many memories there.
” He could tell just by the red tint in her eyes that the packing wasn’t as easy as she was portraying.
It cut deep, and she spent most of the time crying her eyes out.
“Cass had a lot of shit. There’s more in the car. ”
He sat the box down with a nod of his head. “Bet. I’ll bring them up. You can chill since you did all the packing,” he offered while extending his hand for her car keys.
In response, she smacked her lips before waving him off. “I can help you. It’s nothing,” she assured.