Chapter 26
“Who’s there?” Reg’s head turned slightly to his left and over his shoulder when he heard a door slam.
He made out two sets of footsteps moving across concrete from behind him.
He was scared as shit, sitting tied to a metal chair with something thick and dark draped over his head and secured around his neck.
From what he could determine, he had been there for hours.
Early that morning, as he was leaving his apartment and approaching his car, someone caught him from behind with a sharp blow to the head.
Reg was knocked out cold and woke up hours later with his head pounding and no idea where he was.
From the fact that his stomach was in knots from hunger, his throat was dry from thirst, and he had pissed his clothes because his body could no longer handle the task of managing the urge to release his bladder, Reg concluded it was late in the evening and he had been here all day.
“Take that shit off so he can see me,” East instructed Chuck.
Chuck was the one who ran up on Reg and had gotten him to the warehouse he used to store the product East purchased from Cabo.
From time to time it didn’t hit the streets all at once, so a safe place that held no connection to either of them was occasionally necessary for storage.
Chuck had also recently gotten into selling illegal firearms, so those were kept there as well.
East had never stepped foot in the building prior to today because he was cautious about keeping himself separate from the business Chuck managed for him. But today it was necessary.
“What the fuck is this about?” Reg squinted a few times since he had been in darkness for so long because of the canvas bag Chuck secured over his head. Reg’s vision was skewed but he knew it was East a few feet from him. East is the reason I’m here.
Not one to waste his time, East took two long strides and his fist landed against the left side of Reg’s face.
Due to the fact that Reg’s body was so weak and the impact was so hard, the chair he was in tumbled over with ease, causing Reg’s limp body to land with a thud on the cold concrete floor.
Pain shot through him, starting at his face from the hit then moving to his side and shoulder which made contact with the ground.
“Untie him so his bitch ass can pretend to be a man and take this shit.”
Chuck smirked and removed the switchblade from his pocket. After kneeling next to Reg he quickly cut him loose then stood upright again.
“Get up,” East gritted, cracking his knuckles while he waited.
Reg shook off the daze from the first hit and flexed his jaw, sitting up slightly while his eyes darted back and forth between Chuck and East. He knew he had fucked up.
Since the night he put his hands on Joi, Reg had been cautious about his moves, barely showing his face.
Because of his fear of running into East, he had even given most of his work to Riggs, knowing it was necessary for his safety to keep a low profile.
“I didn’t mean for things to go down how they did. I was drunk that night and shit just got out of hand. You know how that shit goes—"
“Nah, I don’t. Now get your ass up because if I have to wait any longer your family is gonna have a hard time making peace with what they find.”
“East, come on, man. I just—"
“Ay, I know you’re not too bright, but I suggest you get your ass up…
and fast.” Chuck smirked at Reg who then scrambled to get to his feet.
It didn’t last long because East approached him with a left so nice that teeth flew from Reg’s mouth as his head spun from the impact.
Reg attempted to defend himself as best he could, but the blows came back to back with so much force that he eventually just ducked under his arms, using them as a shield to protect himself as best as he could.
East unleashed all the frustration he had been dealing with recently on Reg until he was a bloody mess on the ground wheezing through labored breath.
It wasn’t until Chuck pulled him back that East snapped out of his zone.
“Ay, you said you didn’t want to kill him.
Stop now or he isn’t gonna be breathing in the next few minutes. ”
Just as quickly as East had gone into beast mode, he was calm again. He looked down at his bloody hands and smirked. It had been a while since he felt the high of almost taking a life with them. East didn’t always like the dark places he slipped into, but he respected it as a means of survival.
Seconds later, East kneeled beside Reg, gripped his face hard, and forced Reg to look at him through damn near swollen shut eyes.
“The only reason you get to walk away from this is because I want you alive, knowing you’re indebted to me.
I own your life. If you ever so much as look at Joi again, I’m killing your entire fucking family.
I want you out here in the world knowing she’s happy and it’s all because of me.
Killing you isn’t punishment enough but living each day knowing you can’t do shit without my approval is.
As long as you’re in my city, you won’t be able to do a gotdamn thing without approval moving through me, and trust me, I have the authority to make sure that’s possible. ”
“I…I…don’t…” Reg paused and wheezed heavily before finding the strength to finish.
His body was experiencing more pain than he ever dreamed possible, and as much as his ego pushed him to retaliate, he knew better.
He understood that he was being given a pass and he was damn sure going to take it.
Karma had hit him with a vengeance and proxied East to be the person who delivered it. “I don’t want no prob…problems.”
Chuck laughed from across the room and East shot him a warning look to chill out before he addressed Reg again.
“Nah, you don’t, so every time you think about doing some dumb shit, you remember who I am. I’m not the one you want to fuck with and now that Joi is under my watch, you don’t want to fuck with her either. Are we clear?”
Nodding slowly, Reg agreed to the only terms that would allow him to live to see another day.
He hadn’t always made the best decisions, but he knew better than to chance it with this one.
He had a baby on the way. One he wasn’t expecting but it was happening, and as fucked up of a person as he was, he wanted to be there for his kid.
Even if he hated the woman carrying it. He had always imagined it would be Joi but that wasn’t an option, so he had to deal with the hand he was dealt.
East left things as they were and made his way to the side entrance to leave. Chuck was right behind him and didn’t speak until East reached his car and leaned against it.
“Make sure you get him out of here soon.”
“Got you. You’re really about to make him miserable. After a few months when he can open his eyes again and feel his face, he’s about to be sitting around crying and shit.” Chuck laughed, shaking his head. “You beat his ass, took his girl, and you ’bout to make it hard for him to eat.”
Unbothered by any of it, East shrugged. He wasn’t moved by the future of Reg’s existence one way or another because he really didn’t give a fuck. “I can’t respect a man who puts his hands on a woman. He better be glad I’m leaving it like this.”
“Nah, I think this gon’ be worse than if you had killed him. He ’bout to feel that shit daily for the rest of his life. You pretty much set him up to get your approval just to take a shit.” Chuck exaggerated but laughed at the thought. East shook his head, exposing a smile as well.
“He fucked with the wrong one. You know I don’t play that shit but I’m out. You good, you need anything?”
“Nah, I’m straight but we’re getting low. You have everything set up?”
East nodded then considered the conversation he had with Cabo. “Yeah we’re good but I think I want to put you at the table soon. The two of you need to meet. I want a clean break and no transition period. When I walk, I just want to let that shit go.”
“Shit, I’m ready.” Chuck grinned like a kid.
The possibilities had him excited. There was no doubt he made good money working for East but to take over would damn near triple that.
He already consumed the risk since East excluded himself from the day to day, but Chuck respected East. He had no issues accepting his role under him.
From day one East promised that when he stepped down, he would hand over his position to Chuck as long as he handled the job and played his role.
Chuck had done just that and was inching closer to the day when he would be in East’s position.
At twenty-two years old, he would have never accomplished it on his own, so Chuck was grateful for East.
“Aight, I’ma set it up. I’m out. Be easy.”
East offered a nod to Chuck before pulling his door open. It wasn’t until then that Chuck remembered one last thing.
“Ay, what about card night? Everyone is hitting me up. It’s been a little minute. We doing it or what?”
East gave it a moment of thought before he looked over at Chuck.
“I’ll get with you. I have a few things to tie up before we do.
” Patterson had to be handled before it happened so East needed to decide on his next move.
Until then, everyone would have to wait.
Chuck only nodded and left it alone. He never questioned East because it wasn’t necessary.
Since the day the two men linked up, they had an understanding, and it wouldn’t change.