Chapter 13
Three days. Zaire had been in that hospital bed for three long ass days and all I could think about was the nigga who put him there.
Toolie, the nigga they sent to kill my brother, he was dead.
Zaire handled that - but Demon was the one who gave the order.
Demon was the head of the Brick Boyz, he was the one who decided my brother should be dead after what we’d taken from them.
Like they wasn’t the muthafuckas who’d started the war.
And now Kaseem was playing house with his new wife while I was supposed to just sit back and act like everything was cool. Waiting on Kaseem to call a shot. That shit wasn’t happening.
Yeah, I was happy as fuck for my brother, but I wanted blood too, and I wanted that shit bad.
The entire time that I’d stood beside Kaseem at his wedding, I couldn’t even focus on how nice the shit was.
I couldn’t focus on how much this meant for and to my brother.
All that was on my mind was killing niggas.
Still, I had to put on a fake face and push through.
Cause deep down, I really was happy for my brother.
This put him a step closer to what he had been working for.
I'd been parked outside one of Demon's trap houses since midnight.
The car I had rented was tinted dark enough that nobody could see inside, but I could see everything around me.
Every person coming in and out. Every transaction.
Every movement these fuck niggas made. Now, the old me would have shot the whole muthafuckin street up. But I was trying to change.
Mars pulled up to the location I’d given him around two in the morning and slid into the passenger seat without saying nothing. He just looked at me like he already knew I was about to do something stupid.
"Have you been sleeping?" he asked.
"Nah," I said, eyes still on the trap house. "Can't sleep at a time like this. These bitch ass niggas crossed the line with this last one.”
"You need to go home, get some rest, clear your head," Mars said. He was speaking that calm voice that older niggas use when they trying to save you from yourself. "This ain't the time to move off emotions."
"This is exactly the time," I said. "While niggas is comfortable. While they think we ain't coming."
Mars sighed. He knew me. Knew that once my mind was set on something, it was hard to pull me back. But he tried anyway.
"Kaseem said—"
"I don't give a fuck what Kaseem said," I cut him off, my voice cold.
"My brother almost died. Zaire almost got took away from me and everybody acting like we supposed to wait and strategize. Nah. I'm moving. I love Kaseem but I’m gone let him focus on his business with his woman, while I hold shit down out here.”
We spent the next six hours going to every spot we knew Demon touched. The trap houses. The club he owned downtown. The car wash where he laundered money. We pulled up to each location, watching, waiting, looking for that nigga or his crew to slip up. Waiting for an opening.
We came up short on every single one.
The sun was starting to come up when Mars finally told me we needed to stop.
"You need sleep," he said. "You running on fumes right now and that's how niggas get caught slipping or get killed."
"I don't need shit," I said, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tight my knuckles were white. "I need Demon. And I'm not stopping until I find him."
Mars looked at me for a long moment. He knew he couldn't convince me. Nobody could when I got like this.
"Alright," he said quietly. "But I'm telling you now - Kaseem find out you been out here doing this without him, there's gonna be problems."
"Let it be problems then," I said.
I knew I was talking off emotions, I didn’t want problems with Kaseem, I just didn’t want to wait for his orders either.
Mars got out of the car and I heard him tell me before he left that I could reach him whenever I needed him. But I was staying put. I wasn't leaving until that nigga showed his face.
Hours later, around eleven in the morning, I got a call from one of my workers asking if I was coming to do the pickup. I'd completely forgot I had legitimate business to handle. The kind of business that kept money flowing and business moving smoothly.
I spent two hours handling that. I knew if Kaseem got word that I hadn’t been doing my job, he’d be on some bullshit, so I tried to get my head back in the game.
Going to all four spots, collecting the cash, making sure the numbers added up, checking in on the workers.
The whole time, my mind was still on Demon.
Still on what I was about to do to him when I found him.
When I was done, I got back in the car and my phone was ringing before I could even close the door.
Nyla was calling.
I almost didn't answer. Almost just sent her to voicemail where she belonged. But I ain't never been the type to run from nothing. So I picked up.
"Yeah?" I said, my voice dry as hell.
"Damn Namier! What's up for real?" Her voice was sharp. Angry. "You acting like I did some shit to you. You got your dick wet and been treating me like the scum of the earth ever since. I didn’t take you to be that type of nigga. What you on?”
I closed my eyes. I didn't have time for this.
"Man, you making shit bigger than it gotta be," I said, and I could hear how cold I sounded. "I don't want to be tied up with no bitches right now. I got real life shit going on. Nothing more, nothing less. It was just head, don’t act like I fucked and sold you no dreams. Mane, Grow up."
Even as I said it, I knew it was a lie. Even as I was pushing her away with words I didn't mean, I knew I was doing her dirty. But I couldn't afford to have nobody close to me right now. I couldn't afford to care about nothing except getting that nigga Demon back.
She went quiet for a second, and I thought maybe she was gonna cry or back down. That's what most bitches would do.
But Nyla wasn't most bitches.
"Wait, who you calling a bitch?" Her voice got louder.
"Listen, I was trying to give you space and grace because I know you've been dealing with things in your personal life but if this the person you are, then I definitely don't wanna deal with your lame ass.
You really had me feeling like you was the one.
Get the fuck off my phone, hoe ass, wishy washy ass nigga. "
The line went dead.
I sat there holding my phone, looking at the screen like I couldn't believe what just happened. Nyla just checked the fuck out of me. She called me out and hung up on my bitch ass.
Part of me wanted to call her back and apologize a lil bit. Wanted to tell her she was right. That I was fucked up and dealing with shit that had nothing to do with her. That I didn't mean none of what I said.
But nah. Fuck that!
Instead of kissing her rude ass, I just sat there with that cold feeling in my chest. I knew that with my fucked up ways, I'd possibly just lost something real because I couldn't get my head off of revenge long enough to see what was right in front of me.
My phone rang again before I could think about it too much.
Mars.
"I'm about to send you an address," he said, no greeting, no bullshit. "Meet me a street over and be discreet. We gotta get in and get out."
My whole body went still.
"You found him?" I asked.
"I found where his family stay," Mars said. "And right now, he ain't there but he will be soon. So if you wanna make a statement, this is your shot."
I didn't hesitate. I started the car before he even finished talking.
"Send the address," I said.
This was what I'd been waiting for. This was the moment I was about to put that bitch ass nigga in his place. This was about making a nigga hurt for the constant disrespect he showed. The game was about to be over. Kaseem liked to drag shit out, that wasn’t how I moved.
Demon was about to see what playing games with mine really meant.
I respected and looked up to my brother more than anything, but I also knew his plate was full right now. I was gone take a lil off his hands for him.
I drove toward the address Mars was sending me, my jaw clenched, my whole body vibrating with that energy that came right before something dark happened. The kind of energy that made men do things they couldn't take back.
Kaseem was playing chess.
I was about to play something much more dangerous.
—
I was parked on the side of a warehouse in Deep Ellum waiting on Mars.
The address he'd sent me was in a quiet part of the warehouse district - the kind of spot where you could handle business without too many eyes on you. I wondered what the fuck Demon’s family would be doing out here, but I was on a mission.
I had Mars's number pulled up, ready to call him if he took too long.
My hands were shaking. Not from fear. From adrenaline. From the need to move and handle this shit in a timely manner. From the fact that I was about to do something that would make Brick Boyz understand that you don't fuck with my family and come out on the winning end.
A black Escalade pulled up in front of the warehouse. Windows tinted dark. I recognized it immediately even before the door opened.
That was Kaseem's truck.
My stomach dropped and I threw my head back against my headrest.
He stepped out wearing all black. He had on black jeans, black hoodie, black boots.
No jewelry. No flash. Just pure business.
He walked toward my car like he owned the whole block, and I knew right then that Mars had set me up.
This nigga knew that I wanted Demon so damn bad that I was willing to risk it all just to touch him.
I got out of the car before he could get to me.
"What the fuck is you doing?" Kaseem asked, his voice steady and cold. He wasn't yelling. That was worse than yelling. "And don't even think about lying to me right now."
"I'm handling something that I ain’t want to worry you with," I said, but even I could hear how weak that sounded.