14. Dominique ‘Dolo’ Shaw
Dominique ‘Dolo’ Shaw
“Look at you, man! Got a fuckin tan and shit. I see you. Handsome ass nigga!” I said to my little brother, happy as fuck to see him. He’s been gone, chilling out of the country with some fine shit that he was entertaining, so I haven’t seen him for a while.
My brother was four years younger than me, and ever since he came into this world, I’ve always been his protector.
I didn’t play that shit when it came to Diego.
I’ll make my gun sing at its loudest when it comes to him.
Our pops taught us to be this way though.
At a young age, he let us know that we were supposed to be our brother’s keeper, and that’s just the mindset that I would maneuver around in life.
Crazy because I didn’t want my brother to grow up and be a street nigga like me.
I wanted one of us to take a better route.
When Diego was in middle school, he used to love playing basketball, so I had it made up in my mind that he was going to go off, play college ball, and then go on to the NBA, but that wasn’t the route that he wanted.
He looked up to me, wanting to do what I was doing, so the second he graduated high school, he came over and was put on with MBM.
Granted, he was moving weight before that, but when our mama found out about him doing it in middle school, she beat the shit out of us so bad, that it scared him, and had him sitting down until he graduated high school.
“We were basically out in the sun all day. We did every excursion that you can think of. That shit was lit, man. I damn near didn’t want to come back home, but I understand that I gotta take care of business, and that it’s money to be made out here,” he voiced, standing up, just as tall as I was.
Diego and I were both the same height, but he was slimmer than me.
I wasn’t too deep into my masculinity that I couldn’t admit to my little brother being handsome.
I let him know any chance that I could that he was a handsome nigga.
He was basically my twin. All the features I had, he had them as well.
He didn’t wear glasses like I did though.
Our personalities were a little different from each other as well.
Diego was wild. The type of wild where I would have to pull this nigga to the side from time to time, so that I could put my foot in his ass for fuckin up.
He was only twenty-one, and Diego had already been exposed to making a lot of money.
This nigga had the nice apartment, the finest hoes, jewelry, he drove a couple of nice cars, and sometimes, I felt like he got a little too cocky, feeling like the money was just falling from the tree, which would cause him to slack off, and I hated when he started moving like that, so I would quickly have to bring him back down to reality.
Brother or not, I didn’t need a sloppy ass person working for me.
I’ll let his ass go, just as I would the next man.
“You was gone for a lil minute. You made sure you packed enough condoms?” I asked, getting right to the point.
When I asked him that question, his goofy ass laughed, and I knew from that laugh that he was getting ready to let me in on some shit that I wasn’t going to agree with.
“I swear the first few nights, we was good. Even with the weed, and the liquor in my system, I was strapping up. Man, that last night, I was feeling dangerous. Pussy was feeling too good, so I went in without the condom. I know you and pops be in my ear, telling me not to fuck these women without a rubber, but in the heat of the moment, it was feeling too good, so I went in without it. I pulled out. I swear I did. In the event that I didn’t, just to be extra cautious, as soon as we landed, I took her to get a plan b.
I’ll break down and cry like a little bitch if I get a girl pregnant right now.
I ain’t got no traits about me that’ll make me a good father,” he said, and I shook my head at that.
If I ever had a child, which I’m sure I wasn’t, I knew that my kid would come after Diego. He was too wild, and reckless of a nigga, so it was only a matter of time before he knocked someone up.
“I’m just glad you know that you’re the last person that needs to be having a baby right now. You got it here? I’m about to slide back to the warehouse,” I let him know, prepared to leave the stash house.
I only pulled up for a little bit because I knew that he was back in town, and that he would be back working tonight. I just wanted to look him in his eyes, make sure that he was good, hug him, talk with him for a little bit, and then get back to handling what I needed to handle.
“Yeah. I’m good. Before you go though, I meant to ask you, who is the chick that you running around with?
I’m hearing you had her at the stash house, and shit.
I leave for a few days, and you done fucked around, and got a girlfriend?
What happened with Jazelle? I thought you was fuckin her fine ass,” Diego wanted to know.
“Who told you that?” I was just curious to know before I answered his question.
“I hit Mook up earlier, telling him that he didn’t have to cover the stash house because I would be back in town.
Ya’ll niggas had a disagreement or something while I was away?
He sounded angry as hell over the phone, talking about you.
He ain’t really say too much, but he told me that you running around with a chick. Who is she? I know her?” Diego asked.
“Nah, and it ain’t even like that. She going to be working with us from now on, so I’ve just been giving her the ropes,” I said, and he nodded at that.
“What about Jazelle though? You still fuckin with her?” he brought that back up.
“I been on the move, so I haven’t had the time to pull up on her like I used to.
The last time that I pulled up on her, she was questioning me about someone that she saw me talking to at her job.
The shit wasn’t even like that though. She was on me heavy about it, fuckin up the vibe, so I just been chilling for now.
As far as Mook goes, I usually can handle him.
He’s been in my life for years, so I know how to tune him out, but lately, he’s been getting up under my fuckin skin.
While he was running his mouth to you over the phone, did he tell you that I had to put my foot in his ass the other day?
I hope that was just a little situation that me and him had that night that we don’t have to ever revisit because I would hate to go to war with my brother,” I shared, and when I expressed that, Diego shot me a look like he was shocked that I was even saying this.
“Damn. It’s that bad? You feel like it’s going to come to that?” he wanted to know.
“I don’t want it to come to this, but that’s what it’s looking like.
Ain’t no way this nigga got in his feelings this bad because I brought Riot around.
This shit gotta be deeper,” I went on, and after I said that, Diego gave me a questioning look, tilting his head, as if he was shocked behind my words.
“Riot? Riot that was running with Gold? When the fuck she crossed over here with us?” he asked.
“Long story man. I gotta get going. We’ll talk,” I said, putting my hand out, so that the two of us could slap it up with each other.
I told my brother to be safe, let him know that I loved him, and to hit me if he needed me.
From there, I left him in the stash house with the women, and I walked out.
I locked the door from the outside, and I made my way over to the staircase, taking the stairs down until I was on the first level.
Coming down these stairs had me thinking about Riot.
The last time I took these stairs down, she was with me, getting the shit scared out of her by a dog, and jumping into my arms. I’ll probably never let her live that shit down.
She was at the warehouse right now. We had a lot of shit going on at the warehouse tonight, so with that, I felt like that would be a good area for Riot to be right now, especially since it was still the beginning, and she was still learning how we moved around here.
She was on duty tonight for a few things, and I’d already warned her earlier to kiss, and hug her bed goodbye because she probably wouldn’t be getting in that motha fucka until sometime early tomorrow morning.
I had her working one of the busiest nights tonight.
It was an inventory night, so we knew what we needed to re- up on.
With a shipment on the way later in the week, inventory nights were important because I would find out whatever was low, what I needed to order more of, and shit like that.
Not only that, but she was going to be involved in a couple of the trainings that were taking place tonight as well.
Being as though I lost seven men the other night, I already had a few young niggas come in to take their positions, and they were going to learn the ropes this week, so that they could be put out on the block by this weekend.
It was fucked up what happened to my young soldiers, but in this game, before the obituary could get printed out, I had to do what I had to do by making moves, and having their old positions filled.
Now wasn’t the time for me to be short on men, especially when the goal was to make dem 9 boyz lives a whole nightmare.
I pulled up to the warehouse about fifteen minutes later, and it was jumping with cars parked in the lot. I quickly stepped out of the car, right before picking up my gun, placing it on my waist, and I grabbed my phone, and wallet.