Chapter 13
The Sullivan Approach
AURA
I’d been on a high the last couple days since becoming acquainted with Danae’s cervix.
It felt like home as soon as I slid inside her, further solidifying that she was made for me.
My life didn’t allow me to float in my feelings for days, not when the decisions I made held weight and my movement had purpose.
But the feeling that hadn’t left my chest since that night was one I wanted to last a bit longer.
We hadn’t gone more than a few hours without talking since then.
Between the texts, FaceTime calls, and random voice notes in the middle of the night, everything was playing out the way it should have from the start.
She’d even spent the night at the crib without my encouragement, just a random text in the middle of the night asking if I was available for cuddling.
I didn’t respond, just showed up a short time later and told her to bring her sexy ass downstairs.
That night, she fucked me so good, I was sucking her toes by the morning.
It was something about new pussy that would have a nigga’s head gone, but new pussy from a woman you cared deeply about made you think about the future.
And seeing that I’d already envisioned what Danae would look like walking down the aisle, I was already ahead of the game.
As of today, Amil hadn’t said anything to either of us about the cameras at the diner.
That shit had Danae walking around on eggshells.
I, on the other hand, was prepared to hear my sister’s mouth if she did come across the footage.
Part of me felt like if she had seen it, she was waiting for the opportunity to play it as her ace in the hole to get something out of me.
The Libra in her wouldn’t be able to help it.
“You overworking your brain again?” Grandma Lettie asked from where she sat across from me.
We were in her living room watching the latest episodes of Love After Lockdown.
“I’m a thinker, G.”
“That’s true, but when you get to thinking real hard, you get real quiet.”
I sat up straight. “What are you, the grandchild whisper? How you just be knowing shit?”
“It comes with age, baby.” She smiled. “How’s Danae?”
“She’s good. Out shopping for Key’s Valentine’s Day party and Mil’s Galentine’s Day dinner she’s having later.”
“Okay. A sponsored shopping trip, I hope.”
I smirked. “You know it.”
“You come from good stock.”
Laughing, I nodded in agreement. “She’s been opening up more. Letting me in little by little. She even spent the night.”
G paused and looked at me over her glasses.
“Before you even start, she came on her own.”
“Hey,” she said with her hands up. “You just never know witchu, grandson. I know you ain’t above a little kidnapping in the name of love.”
We both laughed, and I waved her off. “Mannnn, it ain’t never that serious.”
She cut her eye at me, lips twisted like she didn’t believe what I was saying.
“Aight. Aight. I might,” I admitted.
She shook her head, still laughing. “And Grandma still love you, baby. And I’m happy for you too. For a minute there, I thought I was gonna have to pull up on Danae myself. You been driving us crazy.”
I chuckled. “Damn. That bad?”
“Boy, yes. I was on the phone wit’ ya daddy yesterday, telling him about it. He was cracking up. That’s cause he knows he was just as bad when it came to ya mama.”
I sighed, feeling the residue of grief that still held a piece of my heart come up. “I told Danae about my moms and what her suicide did to him.”
“Did you tell her what it did to you? I think that’s far more important considering she’ll be with you and not your father.”
“She asked me why I never gave the women I dated in my life my heart. I said I saw how it broke him after she died. And I didn’t want that for me.”
G pushed herself up off her favorite chair and slowly walked over to sit by me. “You can’t build on a lie you’ve told yourself for years in order to maintain, Aura.”
I squinted, and my forehead creased in confusion. “What I lie about?”
“The reason you never gave anyone you dated your heart wasn’t because of what you seen your father go through. You never gave your heart because you couldn’t give away something that was broken, baby.”
“Ho…”
“I need you to hear this,” she cut me off. “I watched your heart break in real time at thirteen-years-old when you sat in this living room, curled up in my favorite chair, questioning why God couldn’t make your mother stronger. And what did I say to you then?”
I closed my eyes and felt her grab my hand the same as she did that day. “You told me it was okay to let my heart break and that the pain and the loss would lessen as time went on.”
“And what else?”
“That my mom had to go to be free, but she’d send someone special to mend my broken heart when it was time. And when it was time, you knew I’d let you know.”
I thought about Danae and felt goosebumps running up my arms once I opened my eyes.
“That’s the woman you asked me to pray for,” G said with a small smile.
“This is why I didn’t want you to rush it.
Danae was the woman that your mother sent to fill that void in your heart.
She can deal with both, Aura, the boss in the streets.
But with a whole heart, you’re able to give her Aura Sullivan, the man. ”
“Hey, they both men. Come on now, G.” I laughed, wiping the corners of my eyes where tears had welled up.
“Boy, hush. You know exactly what I mean. Your mom would be proud.” She pointed a finger at me. “Don’t forget what I said though. Make sure your love feels like fresh air and not suffocation.”
“Understood.”
She kissed my forehead and got up from the couch.
My phone rang on the coffee table. It was Enzo calling. I answered without hesitation.
“What’s good?”
“On my way to the Bronx,” he said. “Pulling up on KJ’s uncle about that weed shit.”
“How far are you?” I put the phone on speaker to put my coat on.
“Like forty-five minutes.”
“Bet. I’ll meet you over there.”
“Nigga always wanna get in on the action.” He chuckled.
“Shiiiddd. Them niggas betta not even act like they want problems. I’ll meet you halfway.”
“It’s Mitchells projects so meet me by the Western Beef.”
“Aight.” I ended the call and picked my keys up from the couch. “I’m out, G. I love you.”
“Love you too!” she yelled out from wherever she’d disappeared to in the back of the house.
I headed out the door with one steady thought at the front of my mind.
We were going to the Bronx to get an understanding about family.
However, if we weren’t received well, we could take the Sullivan approach.
That approach usually involved guns and shit.
Either route, I planned to leave the conversation with an understanding.
By the time I pulled into the parking lot at Western Beef, the sun had gone down. I spotted Enzo’s car near the back and pulled up next to it, rolling my window down.
“Leave your car here and hop in mine,” I told him.
“Why we gotta leave my shit? Why we can’t leave yours?”
“Cause there’s a $200,000 price difference between this Urus and that Q5.”
“Nigga, this my work car,” he said, hopping out of the driver’s seat.
Enzo was dressed like he’d just left the office with a black Lacoste sweater, black slacks, peacoat, and a pair of black Pradas on his feet. I was dressed down in a Thom Browne sweatsuit, constructs, and a leather coat. We both looked and smelled like we made money, just in different areas.
“We some smooth looking niggas,” I commented once he was in the passenger seat.
“All facts.” He dapped me up, and I pushed forward.
Pulling up to the first building on the corner of Alexander Avenue, we double parked.
I’d never done business with Koric or his brother directly because I didn’t deal on that level.
I paid people to be in certain places and handle certain deals so that I could focus on the big shit.
However, I knew his face after looking into him when Thyri was first introduced to Enzo.
His brother, Kaleb, Thyri’s ex-husband, had removed himself from this part of the game and took his talents down to Georgia to lock down the fraud market.
I assumed Koric’s heart remained in New York because he stayed in the Big Apple after having already made a name for himself in the Bronx.
The front of the building was busy with activity as the block boys settled into their usual formations, one group making sales and the other serving as lookouts.
No real security. I couldn’t say that I expected much.
Enzo and I stepped out at the same time and walked up to the entrance, ignoring the stares along the way.
My father taught me early on that it wasn’t how you pulled up when you had a whole crew with you that let niggas know what time it was.
It was the kind of statement your presence made when you were small in numbers that showed power.
And by the way heads turned when we moved, I knew he was right.
As we approached the lobby door, a guy stepped out from the group. “What’s good? Who y’all here to see?” he asked like he was the spokesperson for the building.
I hated to be questioned, but I had an understanding that we were unfamiliar faces in their hood, so the alert was warranted.
“We here to see Koric,” Enzo replied evenly. “He around?”
The nigga looked us up and down like he could somehow measure the reason for our visit by what we had on.
“Who y’all?”
I heard Enzo sigh before he pulled his gun and pointed it at dude’s head. “Look, 50 Cent. If ya name ain’t Koric, then miss me wit’ the twenty-one questions, my nigga.”
Ol’ boy’s facial expression went from hard to sheer fear in a matter of seconds.
I didn’t bother reaching for my gun. Instead, my eyes scanned the group, checking for any movements.
Everybody looked either confused or shocked.
It was clear that they didn’t know whether to reach for a gun, if they had one, and risk their peoples’ brains painting the lobby door or take their chances.
Their hesitance will be their downfall somewhere down the line, I thought.
Before anyone could decide what to do, a tall, brown skinned nigga who resembled KJ walked out with a Glock pointed in our direction. “Fuck is going on out here?” he snapped.
I couldn’t take a nigga serious in a hoodie, pajama pants, and a pair of constructs. Clearly, someone had alerted him, and he came downstairs in what he had on. I shook my head and ran my hand over my waves.
“Koric?”
“Who’s asking?”
“Y’all niggas ‘bout to blow me wit’ that shit,” Enzo said. Next to Pryce, his patience was thin as hell. “We asking. And I don’t even know why. You look just like KJ.”
His lip curled up in a frown. “How you know my nephew?”
“That’s what we came here to chop it up about. We gon’ do that with or without guns? Either way is fine with me,” I said, talking to Koric but still keeping my eye on the crowd at the same time. I had to see everything moving.
“Take the burner from my mans’ head first.”
Out the corner of my eye, I could see Enzo drop his arm and hold his gun at his side. Koric did the same.
“Let’s go to the street before I pop one of these lil’ niggas,” Enzo suggested.
“We can talk right on the sidewalk.” Koric put his hand out as if to tell us to walk ahead of him.
“Fuck we look like, one of ya hoes? We ain’t walking ahead of you. And bring this nigga if you don’t feel safe.” He pointed at the guy who still looked shook up from the gun being put to his head.
We all managed to get to the sidewalk without incident, and Koric told his mans to step back a few feet to give us privacy.
“So, wassup?”
“Well, first, I’m Aura, and this is my cousin, Enzo.”
“Yeah, and?”
“You hostile than a bitch, ain’t you?”
“Man, y’all niggas pulled up in my hood and put a gun to my mans’ head then mention my nephew. Yes, I’m hostile, as any other nigga in my position would be. The fuck.”
He had a point, so I didn’t argue.
“Look, nigga, we’re here about our nephew, Cortez,” Enzo cut in.
“He’s best friends with KJ. Recently, they got into some trouble at school for selling weed that you gave them.
We’re here simply to get an understanding.
Under no circumstances are you to give that shit to our nephew.
I really don’t even understand why you gave it to KJ, but I don’t wanna overstep, so I’m just gonna speak on the strength of mine. ”
Koric’s posture stiffened. “First off, nigga, I don’t like yo’ tone. Second, I didn’t give your nephew shit. And as far as KJ, that’s family, so that’s none of y’all concern.”
“You know what? I changed my mind. I am gonna overstep.” Enzo stepped forward so that he was in Koric’s face.
“Don’t give that shit to my nephew or your nephew.
They good kids, and we can’t teach them to be good men by giving them weed to sell or use.
And if you don’t know who I am, let me make it clear.
Enzo Sullivan. Thyri is my woman, so KJ is my family.
You can take heed to this courtesy call, or we can handle any discrepancies right here. ”
“You niggas done with this whole speech? Cause I got shit to do,” Koric finally let out after a pause.
“So long as we’re clear,” Enzo replied, taking a step back.
“Yeah, aight.” Koric went to turn away, and I called out to him. He stopped but didn’t face me.
“Aye, Koric, you got a good thing going here as far as your hustle goes. Remember, the train keeps moving as long as the conductor is in place, bruh.”
He looked over his shoulder and frowned slightly.
“I’m the conductor,” I continued. “And I’d hate to have to let you off before you reach your destination. It’s best that we’re all on one accord.”
I let him know, in not so many words, that I was the HNIC and would cut off his supply if need be. He didn’t reply, but I hoped he understood.