11. Brick #2
“Yeah, she can be emotional and hardheaded. She hates when she’s wrong about some shit too. I ain’t never fuck with that nigga like that, and for good fucking reason. He be on some fake fuck shit. I’d rather deal with this shit now and handle her and the fallout later.”
“What if it ain’t no coming back from this for her? You know about holding grudges.” I nodded to him.
“I also know about forgiveness. Eventually, she’ll know why we did what we did. I’d rather be safe than fucking sorry at the end of the day. We’ve lost too much but also come a long way. Justus asked me to take the reins, and that’s what the fuck I’m doing,” Staten insisted.
“Aight.” I threw my hands up in surrender.
“Let’s ride out. We need to catch up to Mace.” Ivo marched toward the door with me and Staten following closely behind him.
By the time we got outside, Haco was in the driver’s seat of his black Escalade with his phone pressed against his ear and the windows down.
“Sol, I ain’t on no bullshit. I’m with Brick and ’nem now.
We heading out for a minute, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.
I thought you was going to hang out with Cambrie and the kids anyway.
Ain’t that why you had me drive you out here?
” Haco shook his head as we all piled into the truck, me in the passenger seat while Ivo and Staten slipped into the back.
“Aight, baby. I love you. I’ll call you a little later.
” After hanging up, Haco tossed his phone in his lap and shook his head.
“She on some paranoid shit. I swear a nigga fuck up one time and a woman will hold that shit against you forever. I ain’t fucking perfect. ”
“She don’t expect you to be,” I voiced. “Sol just want you to keep it real. If you can’t do that, you failed in her eyes. She’s used to a muhfucka keeping it a buck with her, whether she want to hear the shit or not.”
Haco seemed to take heed to my words. Nodding, he turned his attention back to the road.
The engine was already running, and he shifted us into drive before pulling off.
I hit Mace and let him know we was en route, and I needed to know where they were.
According to him, they had about an hour before they were pulling into Omaha.
“Aight, Haco. I need you to punch this shit, but get us there without getting pulled over. Does that make sense?”
“I got you. Y’all just buckle up.”
Ivo brought a freshly rolled blunt to his lips and sparked the tip. Three Six Mafia blared through the speakers, and pretty soon Haco was punching the gas. We exited through the main gate to the estate, and my mind was on one thing: making sure Six was good and bringing her back home safely.
“Yeah, I don’t like this shit at all.” I skimmed the map and saw that Six’s phone was in Omaha, and a nigga was on edge.
I couldn’t be mad right now, even though I was pissed that she’d been so hardheaded about her flaw ass sister.
I knew a fuck muhfucka when I saw ’em, and I read that shit all over Leni the minute she walked through the door.
I understood Six wanting to give her the benefit of the doubt, considering she was family, but sometimes even blood didn’t deserve it.
“You know where she is?” Ivo asked, sitting up from the back seat and passing me a new blunt.
We’d smoked like three of them bitches on this drive, and my nerves were still all over the place.
Six had me outside myself. This was the second time in a month or so that I felt like her life had been in jeopardy, and she had to know this couldn’t be the norm.
My life and family had enough shit going on without throwing in all the drama and bullshit that came with hers.
She needed to know if she was going to be my girl, she had certain rules and regulations that she had to abide by.
Shaking my head, I let the phone rest in my lap.
“Mace said they stopped at some fucking project-type apartments. Niggas outside circling Six’s G Wagon like some vultures and shit.”
“Sounds like we need to be ready to go.” Staten popped the magazine out of his AR-15 and made sure he was loaded up before popping it back in and gripping it in his hands.
“My only goal is making sure Six comes out of this.”
“We know.” Ivo bobbed his head. “We got ya back. What Mace said about the building? How many floors, and what we looking at for entry and exits?”
“Four floors, six apartments on each one. Four exits, two in back, one in the front, and one on the side.” I recited off memory what Mace had sent me.
“Aight, bet. Me and Haco will take the back,” Staten chimed in. I knew when he said that he was on the bullshit, but now wasn’t the time for it. “Ivo, you take the side, and Brick, you go through the front. Do we know what apartment they went into?”
“Nah, but I had Moniece doing her shit. She found some connections to that punk muhfucka Skully. I think it’s his auntie or a baby mama or some shit. He more than likely using her shit as a stash spot.”
“You think he in there too?” Ivo queried.
“Nigga, I don’t know. I’m prepared for whatever though.” I took a pull from the blunt and held it out for Haco to take.
The sun was starting to set when we arrived outside the building.
I instructed him to whip his shit right up beside Six’s, where some niggas were leaning against her shit and snapping pictures while posing like it was theirs.
That shit had me hot! I hopped out of the passenger seat before we even came to a complete stop.
These muhfuckas had me all the way fucked up.
I didn’t give a fuck where we were or who was watching either as I gripped the oozie in my hand and approached.
Immediately, these niggas started scrambling like fucking roaches when my brothers and Haco joined me.
Judging from our vests and the tools in our hands, it was obvious we didn’t come to fucking play with nobody.
With a tight glare hardening my features, I skimmed the many faces in front of me.
A few of them were bold enough to stand around, sticking their chests out and putting their hands on their waist for the little toys they were toting.
“My shit bigger and shoot faster. So you niggas decide how you want this shit to go,” I growled.
“You got it, homie.” One of the young niggas in a wife beater and some tight ass jeans held his hands up.
“I need to know where the girls are who were in this car.” I pointed to the whip.
“They went inside to that bitch Trina’s spot. Apartment 3D,” he answered. “Might want to tread lightly though. That’s that nigga Skully’s bitch, and he don’t play with niggas.”
“Yeah, neither do we. Let’s go.” I nodded to the building and marched that way with my crew right behind me.
My chest was pounding, blood on fire as it coursed through my veins.
I couldn’t blame Six because the shit she was on was part of the reason I was falling so hard for her.
Dare I say a nigga even loved her stubborn, mean ass.
I just didn’t like that she felt like she could move like this without checking with me or knowing that she never had to hide no shit like this from me.
I don’t even know what she was thinking during all this.
Maybe there was an explanation I wasn’t seeing.
Right now, the only thing I wanted was to make sure she was good.
Like we discussed, I ducked into the funky ass building through the front door.
Once I was inside, I paused. Loud music thumped throughout, vibrating the walls.
You could even hear little kids running back and forth across the upper floors.
Peering at the ceiling, I heard a metal door slam shut nearby, and Ivo ducked into the front hall with his gun up and aimed.
Nodding, I started toward the staircase.
There was no way I was taking that death trap of an elevator.
Ivo followed closely behind, and by the time we reached the first floor, my door slammed shut simultaneously with one on the opposite end of the hallway.
Staten and Haco emerged through the darkness, weapons aimed at the shadows like me and Ivo.
Somebody was cooking, and that shit smelled like ass.
We covered the second floor next, doing a full sweep before arriving on the third floor.
I crept along the hallway, examining the black letters and numbers on each door while doing so.
Finally, we stopped in front of 3D, and immediately I heard my girl’s voice.
“You’re so selfish and greedy. All you care about is money, and you never cared how you got it.”
“What . . . is that supposed to be an insult, Sixtine? You think I give a fuck about any of that!” I paused with my brothers on the other side of the door so that we could all listen.
I’d heard Darlene speak the first time she came to the house, but this tone was harsh, cold, and something else I couldn’t quite place.
“What did you do? Go out on a bender?” Six taunted. “You high, Darlene?”
That was it.
“Girl, fuck you! Why the fuck you bring her with you?” I heard her hiss.
“She’s my ride and leverage. Now run me the fucking money so we can get the fuck out of here, Darlene!”
“Whose shit is this anyway?”
“Skully’s baby mama,” Darlene answered, and I could hear a lot of shuffling around like she was looking for something.
“What are you looking for?” Leni queried.
“The stash, girl!”
“You mean you called me all the way here and you don’t even have it!” Leni barked. “The fuck is wrong with you!”