Chapter 8
Deadline
Sunday morning, I woke up and hopped straight into the shower.
As I walked down the hallway, I could see Islah cooking and Amir eating.
I walked over to him, kissed his forehead while I dapped him up, then walked around the island and kissed Islah, telling her I would be back later, and walked out the door.
My walk through the lobby was normal: a few handshakes and a few head nods as I made my way to my car.
As I hopped in, I called Keith. That nigga picked up like he was waiting on me to call.
“What’s the word?” he asked, answering the line.
“I’ma meet you at the store,” I said, hitting a turn. “But I need you to ride with me, tell them niggas to meet us at the barber shop.”
“I got you.”
I took my time getting to the store, grabbed breakfast, and spoke to a few niggas that eyes on Gio. They said he looked rough, face was beat up, and he moved to a hotel.
Good.
That meant that ass-whooping sat with him.
But if I knew niggas like him the way I thought I did—and that laugh that nigga gave me. That shit wasn’t gonna be enough.
I was ready for him to crash out harder.
I pulled up to the store and saw Keith already waiting outside, leaning against his car, smoking.
“You look calm again,” he said as I hopped out of my car.
“That’s the only way to be, my boy,” I said, walking into the store.
I walked around and checked on my staff, and took a few customer orders before me, and Keith was back out the door and hopping into my car.
As we pulled off, Keith asked, “What’s the move?”
“Reeling this nigga in means I have to turn my niggas up.”
“On this good ol’ Sunday?” Keith responded.
I laughed. “Yes, Lawd.”
Keith shook his head while I moved through traffic.
Sundays in the city were always a slow day. Stores opened late, old heads sat outside early with music leaking from their cars, trying to enjoy the day before Monday hits again.
We slid through Zone 6 and stopped in front of the barbershop. As we hopped out, some kids came over to speak as we made our way inside to see it full of all the niggas I needed to speak to.
I smirked and walked through. You could hear a pin drop in that bitch.
One of my niggas, Mikey, was in my barber chair. As he saw me getting closer to him, he raised the fuck up so I could sit down.
“So,” I said as Sammy threw the cape around me. “It’s funny y’all all are in here. I was coming to speak to a few of y’all.”
All them niggas sat up, eyes wide as hell while I continued.
“Some of y’all niggas laid eyes on him, and led me to a place he should have never been, and some of y’all were blowin’ my phone up with bullshit.”
The room was still quiet. All you could hear was the clippers going.
“Richie, JP, and Stacy. Y’all three spotted him the most, and Richie, you caught the nigga outside my lady’s job, so because of that, I’ma throw you a stack.”
I pulled it outta my pocket and tossed it to him. It landed in his lap.
He nodded at me to thank me, and I turned my attention back to the room.
“The rest of y’all niggas is done in my game. My startin’ four, I need y’all to lock in, and gimme that nigga when he’s somewhere I can lay his ass down. I don’t care if you have to speak to that nigga and set him up so I can get him in the cut…I got too much to lose, that nigga doesn’t.”
The room nodded, and them niggas raised up, dapping me up before they left.
“Aye, Lo,” JP said, walking up to me. “I have a picture for you, it’s in my other phone. I lost the charger.
“Well, if it’s worth it, send it to Keith. You might get broke off with something.”
He nodded and walked outta the barber shop.
“You still keep a pinky finger in the streets,” Sammy said.
I smirked. “And in a moment like this, it’s good that I do. A nigga don’t know how to take no for an answer.”
Sammy finished my line-up and took the cape off me.
“You know these niggas don’t move the way they used to. Back in the day, it was easy to catch a nigga, now, they don’t mind being scary.”
I nodded as I pulled money outta my pocket. “Facts, but I don’t mind dragging a nigga out, and by the looks of it, I’ma have to.”
We walked outta the barber shop and slid through a few more spots after that. Every hood knew somethin was serious if I was coming outta retirement. I chopped it up with a few niggas, added some more niggas to my game that I knew would do what I need and more if I asked.
By the time we pulled off from the last spot, my phone rang through the speakers.
My lawyer.
I picked that shit up quick.
“What’s the word?” I asked.
He cleared his throat. “I know I missed your calls, but I have been working behind the scenes.”
I nodded. “That’s what the fuck I like to hear, take one bullshit thing off my plate. You talk to the judge to fast-track that shit?”
“I did, I was doing work to put shit in for tomorrow when I got a call from Jada.”
I looked at Keith then back at the road.
“What the fuck she want?”
“She wants to fast-track this as well. She said she would come and sign the papers you wanted, but she wanted to get paid.”
I laughed. “Of course she did, she knew she wasn’t gonna get a dime if this shit went to court, but fuck it, when she wants the shit?”
“She is on the way to my office as we speak,” he responded quickly.
“Already, give me some time, I will be there shortly.”
I grinned as I hung up and looked at Keith.
“That bitch money hungry in the end,” Keith added.
“She’s taking the easy way out,” I muttered, hitting the blinker. “She thought the calm downed version of me was somethin’ to play with. I had to remind her.”
I switched lanes and pushed the car a lil’ faster as I thought about what I was about to do.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew that Jada loved Amir in her own way, but she was also mad she couldn’t have me, and loved her freedom, attention, trips, and niggas with money.
Being a tied-down single mother was never her dream, but it was the hand she chose when she crossed me.
I just didn’t think she would come to her senses this quick, but shit, I wasn’t complaining.
After fighting with traffic, we finally made it back to the store. I walked in, spoke to a few customers, checked on my staff, then went straight into my office and stood there in the middle of the room looking at the picture of Scarface I had hanging on the wall.
“The world is mine,” I mumbled to myself while looking at the picture.
I had everything I wanted in life: my boy, my wife to be, my business. The only things in the way of our peace were two people that didn’t give a fuck about anybody else but themselves.
A few minutes passed of me standing there thinking when Keith tapped on my door and walked in.
“You good, G?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, nigga. Just thinking.”
I walked over to the picture, pulled it off the wall, and unlocked my safe. After a lil’ bit of counting, I pulled out what I needed, put the picture back, and slid the money into an envelope.
“Stay here,” I said to Keith. “I’ll be back.”
He nodded, and I walked out, hopping back in my car.
My lawyer’s office wasn’t too far from my store. As soon as I pulled up, I spotted Jada’s car out front.
“Ooou, that girl gonna be ready for her payday,” I said to myself as I hopped out.
As I was fixing my shirt and walking up to the door, I could see Mr. Motes waiting for me.
“You got me working overtime on my day off.”
I smirked as he held the door open for me. “Put it on my tab, you know I got you.”
I looked around the waiting area.
“Where’s she at?”
He laughed at my tone.
“She’s in my conference room. I wanted to talk to you before you did this. Are you sure you want to? She seems like she’s hurting.”
I tilted my head at him. “That bitch thinks she’s supposed to live off me, after this,” I said, shaking the envelope at Mr. Motes. “She is not getting a dime from me. Shit, she’s lucky that I don’t make her pay me child support.”
Mr. Motes exhaled loud and led me to the conference room. Through the glass, I could see her sitting there looking at her phone in her Citi Trends fit. I walked in behind him, and she placed her phone on the table.
Jada looked me up and down before I sat down, watching me place the envelope on the table, and she instantly reached for it, and I snatched it back quick.
“Girl, don’t fuckin’ try me,” I barked at her.
“It’s for me, ain’t it?” she barked back.
“Bitch, have you put pen to paper yet?”
“Listen!” Mr. Motes yelled out. “We are gonna do this. We are going to move through this shit quickly so y’all can go on y’all separate ways, and I can finish working.”
Jada exhaled hard and rolled her eyes.
“Okay,” Mr. Motes said, flipping through papers, laying one in front of both of us.
“This is the paper stating that you, Ms. Baits, are giving full custody of your son, Amir Mayer, to his father, Mr. Mayer. This also states that you cannot come back later and ask for money to change anything we are doing today. If you agree, sign your name on the dotted line.”
I watched her as she called herself, looking over the paper.
“What about holidays?” she looked up, asking me.
“I will let Amir decide, he is old enough.”
“So you are trying to wipe me outta his life, is that it?”
I sucked my teeth. “Mann, Jada, I didn’t come here for all this shit. What don’t you get that our son asked me to do this? He came to me and asked me if he could live with me. You made all this shit harder than it has to be.”
Jada shook her head and went back to looking at the paper.
“My child support stops? What the fuck are you tryna do to me?”
I gave her a blank stare, then looked at Mr. Motes.
“Ms. Baits, if Amir is living with him, what does he have to pay you for?”
She shook her head. “How am I supposed to survive, then?”
“Get a job,” I blurted out before Mr. Motes could say anything to her calmly. “Either you can sign this paper and get this money I have for you, or we can take it to court, and YOU WILL walk out with nothing.”
Jada stared at me for a second, then snatched the papers close to her and quickly signed them.
“Here!” she said, sliding them back to Mr. Motes.
He looked them over, gave me a slight nod, and I slid the money to Jada.
“It’s 80K right there. I’m not taking our son away from you, Jada,” I stated, trying to take the tension outta the room. “Amir loves you. He’s just becoming a man. It’s almost time for him to be with me, anyway.”
Jada smirked. “Or is it because you want to play fake ass family with your new bitch?”
“Put some respect on my fiancée’s and his soon to be stepmom’s name. You have the title bitch covered all by yourself, love.”
I dapped Mr. Motes up as I walked outta the conference room, and he walked me to the door.
“I will have everything taken care of for you tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you, I have enough on my plate. I’m glad that she’s off it.”
I walked out and hopped in my car and sat there for a minute feeling a lil’ bit of peace, when my phone went off with a message from Amir with a picture of him and Islah getting ice cream. That shit warmed my heart more than I could ever explain.
I hearted it, then ordered that lil’ nigga something that he had been asking me for and a lil’ something for Islah before pulling off.
I had a few notifications come through with my niggas sending pictures of Gio. He was out with a big nigga, but it didn’t give bodyguard. I smiled at his effort and turned my music up, enjoying my win for the day.
Once I got back to the store, it was jumping as soon as I walked in.
My niggas were in there shopping with their gang and their bitches, chains hitting against shirts while music shook through the speakers.
Employees were moving around fast as hell.
They knew how it got when my people came in to spend money.
“My nigga Lo!” Blacka yelled across the showroom, holding up a bottle.
I laughed and walked over to him, giving that nigga a hug.
“I ain’t seen you in a minute Blacka, fuck you been on?” I asked.
“Nigga, you ain’t been in the hood to see me. I heard you got yourself a girl now, the nigga been shacked up.”
I nodded my head while pulling out my phone to show him a picture of Islah.
“Yeah, that’s wifey right there.”
Blacka looked and gave the nod of acceptance.
“Nigga, you keep a bad one on you, and you put a ring on it, congratulations, my guy.”
I took the gang into my office, we popped some bottles and put some in the air, giving other customers a chance to shop.
“Looks like business has been good to you. You seem like a happy hood nigga,” Blacka stated.
I laughed. “I am happy. Business is great, I got a good woman on my side, and today I just got custody of my son.”
Blacka lifted his cup in the air.
“I salute you, nigga. I see why you been missing in action, and I fucks with it.”
Me and Blacka finished chopping it up while he explained to me the custom piece that he wanted. I was in my zone, drawing out what he was describing, when Keith knocked on the door and motioned for me to come out.
“Blacka, look over this. I’ma be back in a second.”
I walked out and closed my office door behind me.
“Wussup?” I asked Keith.
Keith let out a deep breath. “I need to show you this picture I got of Gio, but I need you to stay calm.”
“Nigga, show me the damn picture. You know I’m not going for that shit. Let me see the fuckin’ picture,” I said under my breath.
Keith shook his head and passed me the phone.
I stared at the picture.
Really stared at it like it was some AI bullshit, but I knew it wasn’t.
I sent the picture to my phone, walked back into my office, grabbed what I needed, and dapped Blacka and his people up.
“I’m sorry nigga, I have to take care of something.”
I didn’t even give him a chance to ask me anything. I walked straight out and hopped in my car.
“Ayo, Lo!” Keith yelled out.
I stared at him for a second, then pulled off. I knew I was doing a good eighty-five on those city roads, not giving a fuck about the other people around me.
I needed to get home.