16. Darius
“The disrespect is real, Darius. You left me standing there in a room filled with people that I don’t know while you chased after her,” Bree fussed as she drove.
I didn’t respond. Instead, I gritted my molars together and tried to keep my cool. First, Vani blew me, and Bree was doing the same. Both of them had pissed me off for the day. I couldn’t even grieve Wally in peace without extra drama from Bree and Vani.
“Say something! I’ve been by your side since you learned about Wally, and this is the thanks I get?”
“Why the fuck are you yelling knowing my daughter doesn’t like loud noise?” I asked through clenched teeth.
Bree couldn’t get to her house fast enough. I wanted to be away from her as badly as I wanted to be away from Vani.
“The way you run in behind her is comical. I’ve been holding you down the longest. I have your child and when it comes to her you still give me your ass to kiss.”
“You’ve been around longer than her, and I still chose her.
That should tell you something. Fuck outta here with the bullshit.
For years, I never chose you. Even when Vani was in prison, and you were carrying my seed.
I still didn’t choose you. I have love for you, and I appreciate you for giving me my daughter, but stop acting like you haven’t known from day one what the fuck this was.
At this point, I don’t want her ass either.
Both of y’all get on my muhfuckin’ nerves.
” I seethed. “Stop ignoring what a person tells you over and over again. Stop ignoring what the fuck they show you. Take off the rose-colored glasses, leave the land of delusion, and touch some muhfuckin’ grass. ”
Bree chuckled angrily. “Say less. You’ll never have to tell me again that you don’t want me. I promise I heard you loud and clear.” She had an attitude, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t told her one lie. She kept waiting to win me by default or some shit, and it wasn’t happening.
When Bree arrived at her house, she jumped out of the car like her ass was on fire.
The moment I opened the rear passenger door and laid eyes on Dymand, the anger instantly oozed off me.
The only thing I could do was smile when her eyes lit up at the sight of me.
I unbuckled her and lifted her from the car seat.
As I carried her inside the house, I tried my best to let go of all the negative energy I was holding onto, so she wouldn’t feel that shit.
She laid her head on my shoulder, and my chest exploded.
At the moment, she was the only sense of calm and peace I had in my life, and I cherished it.
Bree wasn’t in the living room, so I sat down on the couch.
I was going to spend another hour or so with my daughter.
As she ran across the room to retrieve her toys from the basket tucked in a corner, the information that Wally’s wife gave me swirled around in my head.
When he left the house, he was going to go meet Tyson.
She knew who Tyson was because Wally only served a select few.
She had heard Tyson’s name many times over the years.
He was a functioning addict that was able to maintain a job.
He worked at a shop detailing cars, and he often cleaned her and Wally’s cars for free in exchange for free heroin.
The thing about Wally’s death was that when the police found him, supposedly, there was no money or drugs on him or inside his vehicle.
He was robbed and if I had to guess, I’d say Tyson was the person that robbed him.
A man worked for more than half of his entire life and still had to hustle in order to live comfortably even after he retired.
The fact that Wally did whatever it was that he needed to do in order to make sure he was straight, and a coward came and ended his life that was nuts.
I knew Wally. I knew that he would want me to leave the situation alone.
Say it wasn’t worth it, but unless he was able to pull some strings from the afterlife and stop me, I was going to see Tyson.
And I put that on my daughter. After giving her dinner and a bath, I put Dymand to bed and left.
Bree would be alright. She always was. I needed another drink, so I headed to Azarius’ crib.
When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was the small gash on his bottom lip.
I shook my head because I already knew what it was.
“What Hailey done went to your ass about?”
Azarius chuckled. “She didn’t do shit. We were out last night, and she started fighting some bitch. I’m trying to break it up, and her nigga snuck me. I went to his ass, and Hailey dog walked shorty.”
I looked at him in awe before laughing. “Y’all really are The Joker and Harley Quinn. Fuck y’all fighting for?” I followed Azarius into his living room. He already knew what it was, so he grabbed a bottle of 1942 and two shot glasses off his minibar.
“Mannnn,” he drawled. “We were at that seafood spot that gets ghetto after ten pm with the DJ and all that. Boom, Hailey went to the bathroom, and I went outside to take a call because it was loud in the restaurant. Some shorty that was there with her man came outside and was flirting with me. She was drunk as hell, and I was ignoring her. Hailey came outside and caught her ass. I’m trying to break them up, and her duck ass nigga comes out there trying to defend her honor I guess not knowing that Hailey went to her ass for flirting with me. ”
All I could do was laugh as he handed me the shot glass filled with tequila.
Azarius knew he met his match when he met Hailey.
That was the reason he ran from her for so long.
“Vani was at the wake,” I announced before throwing the shot back.
“She saw Bree holding Dymand and left. We kind of got into it.” I ignored the burn in my throat and chest while visions of Vani’s face clouded my mental.
“It’s gon’ take her some time to get over that. It’s not so much about Dymand as it is about who her mother is.”
“I knew Bree way before I knew Vani, and I still ended up with her. I was with her and only her. Never cheated on her, but somehow, I was constantly having to convince her that Bree wasn’t a threat to her.”
“Listen, we’re street niggas, and we think like street niggas.
You kept Bree around mostly because of her name, credit, and income.
That car wasn’t the only thing she had in her name for you.
Because of those things, she was always coming around at least that’s what Vani felt.
In her eyes, Bree held some kind of weight in your life.
No matter how many times you told her otherwise, she went off what she saw.
And most times she looked up, Bree was sniffing around you somehow some way for whatever reason. ”
“I’m good on all that,” I sucked my teeth. “Vani can do whatever it is she needs to do to feel better. I’m not about to keep apologizing for my daughter, and I’m damn sure not gon’ keep chasing her ass.”
“That shit sounds good,” Azarius smirked. “You love that girl. It’s all good G. It happens to the best of us.” Azarius pulled the cork out of the bottle of liquor and refilled my glass.
I was gon’ keep tossing them back until life didn’t feel so heavy anymore.
I stared at my phone screen contemplating my next move.
It was five days after Wally’s wake, and I was ready to make my move on Tyson.
Azarius was going to be with me, and Kyle was out of town.
There weren’t many people that I trusted, but I needed an alibi.
When Tyson’s body was discovered, there wasn’t any reason for me to be the top suspect but still, I would never commit a crime without having a solid alibi.
Bree was at home with Dymand, and I didn’t want to bother her.
Biting the bullet, I unlocked my phone and went to Vani’s contact.
More than likely, her stubborn ass wouldn’t even answer.
When her soft tone floated into my ear after the third ring, I was shocked. “Hello?”
“You busy?”
“Not at the moment,” her tone was kind of dry.
“You got plans tonight?”
“What is it that you want, Darius?”
“I need you. You got me?” the question was a loaded one. She knew more than likely there was something tied to that question.
“What you need?”
“Meet me at the carwash on Third. I need you to take my car. Around nine, I want you to go to that new club on Hidden Cove Road. They don’t have cameras in the parking lot, so they won’t see who gets out of the car, but if you take 895, you have to go through a toll.
They have cameras that will catch my license plate.
I’m also going to leave my phone in the car, so my phone will ping off the towers in that area.
Got it? I’ll come to the club and get my car. Then I’ll take you home.”
“What time am I meeting you on Third?” she still sounded bored with the conversation, but she was gon’ come through for a nigga, and that was all that mattered.
“In two hours.”
“Okay.”
The anger I had toward Vani had faded. The same way it always did.
If another woman could come along and make me feel the way Vani did, it would be a miracle, and I could finally let her go.
What I loved about Vani, how she made me feel, I hadn’t come close to finding that in another person.
There was a time I wished that person was Bree.
There wasn’t a damn thing wrong with her, but she didn’t get me out my body like Vani did.
She had a pretty face, the sex was good, shorty was smart, and a damn good mother.
Being in her presence didn’t make my dick swell.
Imagining another man between her thighs didn’t make my blood boil.
Going days or weeks without seeing her didn’t make my chest hurt.
Not even three years away from Vani stopped any of those reactions from occurring.
Maybe I should have risked it and visited her monthly.
Maybe I should have been more careful and not had a baby while she was down, but I couldn’t go back.
The only thing I could do was go forward.
If I had it my way, Tyson was going to be the last body that I dropped before leaving the streets.
He was going to be the last person that I purposely sought out just so I could end his life.
Wally had money saved, and his wife knew where it was.
She told me she was good but as long as I was around, I would always check on her and make sure she remained good.
There was no other way to do it. I went home, took a shower, and dressed in all black.
If I went ahead and smoked, my high would be gone down by the time I got at Tyson.
I could do anything high that I could do sober, but I didn’t want to chance any kind of error while doing something as critical as taking a life, so I didn’t want to be high for that.
In the car on the way to drop my car off with Vani, I replayed all the conversations I had with Wally where I could remember the jewels he dropped.
Tyson was young enough to be Wally’s son and the fact that he took him out over some heroin that was probably worth less than $100 would never sit well with me.
Wally didn’t sell weight, and Tyson couldn’t afford to purchase weight.
I was more than willing to bet that he wanted Wally to front him, and Wally refused.
Only a junkie would deem someone’s life worth such a mediocre amount.
The more I thought about it the angrier I became.
By the time I reached the car wash, my jaw was aching from clenching my teeth so tight.
Azarius was already backed in waiting on me, and Lo was pulling in on the opposite side of the parking lot at the same time as me.
I backed into a spot and waited for Vani to emerge from the passenger side of Lo’s car.
Fuck, shorty was fine. She rocked a navy-blue tennis skirt from Alo and a matching sports bra.
On her feet were white, blue, and gold sneakers.
She was rocking a long ponytail that reached her behind.
Her lash extensions were full and thick and brought out the shape of her eyes.
From the watch on her wrist to the necklaces draped around her neck and the hoops in her ears, I copped everything she rocked from head to toe except the hair.
Annoyance made me suck my teeth. A stiff dick was an automatic reaction to me seeing Vani’s face. As she approached, I eased out of the car. Her eyes locked on my face, and I could see the concern in her eyes.
“What you got going on?”
“I just gotta handle something real quick. It won’t take long.”
Vani stared at me briefly probably trying to figure out whether or not that answer was good enough for her. “Be careful,” she finally replied.
“Always.”
I eased past her and walked to Azarius’ waiting car.
He wasn’t as close to Wally as I was, but that was my brudda, and he was always going to slide with me.
I didn’t need any help. Just somebody to watch my back.
I knew where Tyson worked, where he lived, and where his girlfriend lived.
I was gon’ find that ass before the night was over.
Once it was done, I was going to take another shower and slide to the club.
If any questions came up, the club would be my alibi. My car would be there and so would I.
Inside the car, I gave Azarius a head nod.
He was going to park his car, and we were going to Tyson’s crib in an old ass blue Lincoln that he bought for $3,500 cash from an old head that we only used when we went to do dirt.
He already knew the plan. After I handled what I needed to handle with Tyson and took a shower, I was going to ride with him to the club.
“Thought you were done with her,” he smirked.
“Man,” I sucked my teeth. “You always worried about the wrong thing. She’s driving my car to the club. That’s it that’s all.”
“We lying now? Bro, I don’t even know who you are anymore,” Azarius joked. “It’s all good though. Vani is my sis, and I’ll be glad when y’all make it right.”
I didn’t respond to him. It was funny to me how whenever I was freshly pissed with her no one could tell me I wasn’t serious about being done with her ass.
But the moment I saw her I folded like a lawn chair.
I didn’t even like Vani knowing she had that much power over me.
It was all good though. Whatever was supposed to happen would happen.
Pushing Vani to the back of my mind, I had to focus on what I was about to do. There was no room for distractions. Killing Tyson wouldn’t bring Wally back, but if Wally wasn’t alive, Tyson’s bitch ass wasn’t going to be either.