Chapter 6 #2
Instead of looking over contracts, my eyes perused the map of downtown Pensacola, marking off the last spot Brooklyn and I had looked for Teddy.
I’d never known a crackhead I couldn’t find.
It was like someone was hiding his ass—someone who had a whole lot of money.
With that thought, I started looking into those connected to Teddy.
He wasn’t originally from the area but had built a few friendships.
Brooklyn and I had visited two of those friends already, and tonight, we would visit the third friend.
Mocking me, my shoulder ached with the thought of putting a bullet in Teddy’s ass.
Micah was a deacon at a church on the outskirts of town. How the two met was evident. It was Wednesday, Bible study night. If Micah wasn’t saved before, he would be by the time we were done with him.
“I promised Bronx I’d be home before midnight.”
“Why the fuck would you do that?” I glanced up from the map to eye my cousin.
He shrugged. “It’ll keep her off me for a minute. The past week has been crazy, and she’s on my case. We not gon’ let up until that nigga is sleepin’, though.”
“Agreed. Pen hasn’t said anything about me comin’ home late, so I’m good.”
Speaking of Pen, my door opened, and she walked in with a basket dangling on her arm.
Surprised to see her here, I quickly put the map away and changed the subject. “Yeah, but I’d go by the barbershop and make him give you ya money back for fuckin’ up ya hairline.”
Confused, Brooklyn’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“Don’t worry, Brooklyn. I know y’all were in here talking about something foolish. Your hairline is fine.” Pen placed the basket on the desk, then propped her hands on her hips.
“Are you going out again tonight?” she questioned.
Brooklyn chuckled, reflecting on the words I’d spoken not minutes before Pen walked in my office.
“I’ma slide out y’all way,” he said and made his exit.
“Hey, Baby.” I opened my arms to allow Pen to come sit in my lap. “What did I do that brings you here?”
She cupped my face and kissed all over me like I would do her. “I can’t surprise my man for lunch?” She slid out my lap and went back to the basket.
“Of course, you can, Love.”
She retrieved wrapped sandwiches from the basket followed by two bags of chips.
“Turkey for you, tomato for me.”
Balling my face up, I said, “Ain’t no meat on that shit?”
She shook her head, giggling as she handed me my sandwich. I flipped it over, inspecting it.
“You take a bite, first,” I requested, causing her to scoff. She reached for the sandwich, but I snatched it back. “I’m just fuckin’ witcha.”
Unwrapping my sandwich, I apprehensively took a bite. The lettuce was crisp, and the tomato was perfectly ripe. She’d even added some flavor to the simple entrée.
“Why’re you eating it like that?”
Slowly chewing, I inspected the sandwich some more. Pen was my baby, but this was different for her, coming to bring me lunch and all.
“I’on know; maybe you want my insurance or somethin’.”
Pen tried to take the sandwich again, this time succeeding. She took a big bite, then shoved it back in my hand.
“You happy now?”
“I’m just sayin’,” I explained. “You’ve never surprised me before.”
Sighing, Pen blinked, then rolled her eyes. “That’s changing today. You’ve been by my side more than I can ever ask you to be. I want to show you the same love and support. Is that okay?”
I motioned her over to take residence back in my lap.
We fed each other the rest of our sandwiches with me gazing into her brown eyes.
The Pen I met this summer was still behind those beautiful orbs.
The Pen that peered back at me now was softer, sweeter.
However, both sides of the woman made me fall in love with her.
“I love everything about you, you know that?”
She shyly smiled, like this was my first time ever telling her that I love her. The day for me to put a ring on her finger had long past. Once I envisioned her pregnant with my seed, that was the moment I should’ve proposed to her. I needed to make that shit right and soon.
“I love you, too, Baby—all of you. There’s nothing I would change about you.”
“Not even the no home training me?”
She laughed and shook her head. “Not even him. I love him, too. He keeps me on my toes and makes me hysterically laugh at the funny things he does. Despite how I react in the moment, I enjoy you not being so serious. I realize how much fun life is with you, and I’ll never take it for granted.”
“Hm. So, not only did you surprise me, but now you’re tryna make a nigga shed a tear?”
Throwing her head back, Pen busted out laughing. I took that time to kiss on her neck. Her laugh soon turned into a moan.
“Aight, don’t start nothing you’re not willing to finish in here,” I mumbled.
She rubbed her pussy on my dick, instantly bricking me up. Her fingers fumbled with my belt and zipper.
“Stand up,” I commanded.
Swiftly, she moved to her feet. Of her own will, she turned to face my desk. I had her panties torn off and skirt around her waist before she could bend over.
“Ooohh!” she shuddered and cooed as I entered her soaking wet pussy.
“Damn! You stay ready for me, Baby,” I praised.
Pen had the best pussy. Her shit had me in its grip—literally.
My eyes glazed over, and my vision blurred while watching my dick move in and out of her.
Fingers digging in her skin, I held tightly to her hips, begging her to have her way with me.
Once my baby learned how to take me in this position, she’d been throwing her ass back too fucking good.
So good that, in this position, she dominated me.
Hand around her throat, I turned her face to mine to smother her with a kiss as her walls rippled and collapsed around my dick.
“It’s mine forever,” I whispered in her ear. Seconds later, I came so hard and rested my body on her back until I gained enough strength to pull my ass together.
Micah stumbled out of Bible study like he’d drank a whole six pack before going in there to do his deacon duties. His car was the only one left in the parking lot, yet the woman who hustled out of the building behind him ran off in the opposite direction of where he was parked.
Shaking my head, I waited for the good deacon to start his car and pull out of the lot before following him. If our information was correct, he was headed to make a drop. Just in case he decided to deviate from his routine, we had to catch him where we knew he’d be.
“What if this nigga doesn’t know where he is?”
“Then we move on,” I told Brooklyn.
He didn’t like that and neither did I.
We followed the deacon for almost thirty minutes before he pulled into the parking lot of a run-down club that hadn’t seen a good day since the Pacers won a championship. Not a recording device was in sight. We didn’t wait long as the deacon was in and out in less than ten minutes.
I hopped out of the car with Brooklyn following me. Before he knew what was going on, I had the deacon hemmed up against his car, with Brooklyn’s gun to his head.
“I’ain got nothin’!” he cried.
Gripping his shirt tighter, I lifted him off his feet. “Nigga, that’s the first thing you think about? We know damn well yeen got shit. Look where the fuck you at.”
He sputtered and, wide-eyed, glanced back and forth between me and Brooklyn.
“We’re lookin’ for that bum-ass nigga, Teddy. Where is he?” Brooklyn questioned.
“Teddy?” He looked confused. “I-I thought he was dead.”
“What?” Brooklyn and I spoke at the same time.
“Word on the street is he shot somebody, and they got him.”
“Word on what street?” I asked. Wasn’t shit like that floating around the city.
“Yeah, Teddy called me and said he was dead.”
My dumbfounded expression mirrored Brooklyn’s.
“Nigga, we know you high as fuck right now, but listen to what the fuck you just said. Teddy called you and said he was dead.”
The deacon moved his head up and down like a bobblehead.
Brooklyn shook his head. “Did you go to a wake? A funeral?”
This time the deacon shook his head no.
“Nigga, how you a deacon and ain’t go to the wake or funeral of a friend of yours?”
He shrugged. “I can’t be associated with him.”
“Hate to break it to you, but you’re associated with him, my nigga. Now tell me where the fuck his ghost ass is ‘fore I fuck you up in this parking lot,” Brooklyn threatened, sticking the barrel to the deacon’s head.
“I don’t know!” he cried. “I haven’t seen him since that phone call. Please, I got a wife and kids.”
“A wife and kids that you fuckin’ around on!” I spat. “Save that shit for somebody who gives a fuck.” I went upside the deacon’s head, sending him to his knees.
“Ahh!” he screamed.
We walked off, leaving him a crying heap.
Angry, we both were quiet on the way back home.
Nothing was going as planned. All we were trying to do was kill a nigga.
Teddy had some angels on his side. That was the only thing I could think of that was saving him.
Because for anyone else that had crossed me or my family, they hadn’t lived to see so many days.