Chapter 12
TWELVE
SINCERE
As I drove to the other side of town, I thought about Kenedi and how she came into my life and shifted shit around without even really trying to do so.
I was sure that when she barged her way into my business, stealing my heart along with a job wasn’t the plan, but that was exactly what she did.
She had a nigga thinking about buying her a ring and everything, and that shit scared me.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t ready for marriage and kids, it was that I wasn’t sure if I could be the nigga she really needed.
When she looked at me, she only saw Sincere Hill, the record executive with a dangerous past. But there was so much more to me, and that dangerous past was still part of my present and future.
While most men were ready to settle down and get out of the game, that wasn’t the plan for me.
I knew that I would eventually wash my hands of everything, but I had a number in my head that I had to hit before that even became a possibility for me to truly consider.
Just as I told myself that I needed to push her out of my head and focus, a call from her came through. Hitting the button on the screen, I answered for her. I didn’t care what was going on. I was going to see what she needed.
“What’s up?” I asked, answering the phone.
“I was just calling to check on you. I got to work today, and you weren’t here. I’ve never known you to miss so much work. Are you trying to avoid me?”
“I would never avoid you. I just have some other business that’s been popping up that I need to take care of.”
“I don’t like the tone of your voice, Sincere. Does this have something to do with the man who approached us the other day?”
Everything in me wanted to lie to her, needed to lie to her.
But I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to build a relationship on lies, so I wasn’t going to do it now.
I might’ve had to reconsider that if she ever directly asked me if I was still in the streets, though.
Thankfully, the topic had never come up before.
“Yeah, something like that. I just need to make sure that shit never happens again.”
“Are you afraid that he’ll do something to you?”
Laughing, I replied, “No man walking this planet puts fear into my heart, ma. I just don’t want him popping up when I’m with you. You don’t need to be dealing with that.”
“Okay, I guess I understand. Do you think you’ll make it to the office today?”
“I’m not sure. But, if I don’t, I’ll link up with you after work.”
“Okay, well, be safe, Sincere. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I said, hanging up.
Just as I did, I saw Mitch getting out of his car.
Today was going to be eventful, but the statement needed to be made.
Motherfuckers had another thing coming if they thought they could do whatever the fuck they wanted to in a city that I ran.
The crazy part about how chaotic shit was about to get was that it could’ve been avoided.
I was a fair nigga and didn’t mind letting anybody sit at the table and eat.
It was when motherfuckers forgot that I owned the fucking table was when shit started to get deadly.
“What’s up, bruh? You ready to handle this shit?” Mitch asked.
He was used to getting active a lot sooner, and I didn’t blame him for being antsy.
While I liked to be a little calmer and more collected when I handled business, he believed in making as much noise as possible.
Both got the job done, so I let him do his thing when it was called for.
But when it came to Eithan and his bullshit, it was personal and would be handled in my own way.
“Yep, no time like the present,” I said, walking up to the door.
The minute I was in front of it, I kicked it down and stepped inside of it.
Before the niggas in the room could raise their guns, we already had ours trained on them.
As I looked around the room, making eye contact with everyone in the room, none of them looked familiar, which let me know they weren’t people from our team.
“If you’re going to kill us, then do that shit,” one of the men said from behind me.
Turning to him, I figured I’d let his ass be the example he was trying so hard to be. Most of these niggas didn’t know that there was a difference between loyalty and stupidity. His ass was being stupid, and he was going to die like the stupid motherfucker he was.
“Is that right?”
“Yep,” he said, chin held high.
“How old are you, lil’ nigga?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“If I had to guess, you’re barely past twenty-one,” I said, watching his eye twitch, which let me know that I wasn’t that far off. His poker face was trash, and he was telling me everything I needed to know about him without saying a damn word.
“You’re right, it doesn’t matter. You’re ready to die, right?
You believe in that nigga who could give a fuck about you so much that you’re willing to die behind him, huh?
Let me ask you something. Where is he? Why doesn’t he have more protection out here for y’all?
You’re going hard as hell for a nigga that left you out here like a sitting duck. ”
“He—,” he started, but I put my hand up to stop him.
“Don’t say anything stupid to further piss me off. Now, I’m going to honor your wish because you asked for it, and I like to consider myself a fair man.”
“Man, whatever, go ahead and shoot me.”
Laughing, I replied, “Shoot you? Nah, that’s too easy,” I said, smirking.
Reaching into the bag I’d brought in with me, one most of their asses probably hadn’t even noticed, I walked over to it, pulled my machete out, and swung it at his fucking neck. As his head disconnected from his body, I watched it roll over to where a couple of the other niggas in the room stood.
Walking over to them as they tried to hold in their vomit, I stuck the tip of the machete into his head and picked it up. Pointing at them around the room with it, I made sure I had everyone’s attention.
“Anybody else ready to go before I say what the fuck I gotta say?”
“Nah, man, say what you gotta say,” one of them said.
“I want to know everything about what that nigga had y’all working on, where the shit is stored, and anything you know about what he’s up to.
If you give me something valuable, you get to live long enough to leave my fucking city.
If not, your ass can go, too. Get to talking,” I said, motioning for whoever wanted to speak first to start spilling the beans.
Thirty minutes later, I had everything I needed to know about Ethan and why he was back.
I had my suspicions about his ass, but they’d pretty much confirmed everything I already knew to be true.
Now that I knew what his ass was really up to and how the fuck he was back on the streets so quickly, I could move accordingly.
“What are we going to do about these motherfuckers?” Mitch asked as we stood outside the house.
“Fuck them niggas,” I said, motioning for one of the niggas on my team to blow the fucking house up.
As the house went up in flames, I strolled to my car without a care in the world. I hated to admit how much I loved the shit we’d done today. I was out of the streets because it was what was best for me, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t still love them.
“Make sure nobody makes it out of there in case one of them motherfuckers has a praying mother somewhere,” I said, dapping up Mitch as I hopped in my car. Now that I knew what Ethan was up to, I needed to make a few calls.
As I sat in the park, I watched the kids running around.
I couldn’t wait until I had one of my own to hang out with, too.
Something in my gut was telling me that Kenedi and I would make some pretty good parents.
I didn’t have much of an example to go by, but her parents seemed pretty cool.
I knew that they’d done a great job with her, and that was good enough for me to know that we’d be just fine.
“What’s up, cuz?” Reese asked, taking a seat next to me.
He was the only person from my mother’s family that I kept in touch with. We happened to meet by chance a few years ago, and since he had no effect on how the adults handled shit when we were kids, I agreed to meet up with him for drinks, and we’d been locked in ever since.
We always met here because it was in our old neighborhood, and nobody would think to come here looking for either of us.
We both had reputations that we needed to uphold, him more than me.
And while I leaned on him for help whenever I needed him, I never wanted to do anything that would fuck up his livelihood.
“Ain’t shit. Were you able to look into Eithan for me?” I asked, grabbing the folder he held out for me.
“Yeah, everything you need is in there. I somehow managed to make all that shit disappear for now, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t still be a problem. You need to get rid of him a lot sooner rather than later.”
“Trust me, I’m already knowing. He won’t be breathing too much longer. Do I have anything to worry about on your end?”
Looking at me over his glasses as though I’d asked him the dumbest question in the world, he replied, “You know damn well I wouldn’t let shit show up on your doorstep if I can help it.
You’re good. Just take care of that nigga so he can’t continue to run his mouth anymore.
Oh, but I would definitely make it look like an accident.
If you don’t, the people he was talking to might go digging for answers. ”
“Damn, that limits me, but I get what you’re saying.”
“Yeah, sometimes you just have to eliminate the problem and be done with it. If anything else comes up, I’ll let you know.”
“Alright, as usual, you know I appreciate it,” I said, dapping him up.
“I know. You should bring your girl to the house later this month. I’m doing a little BBQ now that me and the wifey are all moved in.”
“That’s what’s up. My girl Kenedi and I will come through for sure,” I said, standing.