13. Joker
Joker
A couple days later
“ D id you get anything on those names I gave you?” I questioned Dough over the phone.
“You still ain’t told me what you wanted with them.”
“I just want to play a game.”
“I got a hit on Devante. I’m still working on the others. I’ll let you know when I get something. I’m sending over the details for him now.”
“How ’bout you meet me at the location.”
“You’re being all secretive and shit. You gon’ have to tell me what’s going on once I get there. I’ll be there in an hour,” he told me and disconnected the call.
Soon after, the phone buzzed with an address. Getting up from the couch, I went into my bedroom and opened my drawer. I’d been lounging around the house. It was a Sunday afternoon, and I didn’t have much to do at the moment. Ma had called this morning and said that she wanted me to come over for dinner once she got out of church. I had plenty of time to go out and do what I needed to do before heading there.
Opening the drawer, I pulled out a pair of black sweats and a t-shirt and then tossed it on. Going into my closet, I grabbed a pair of my black Nike Air Force Ones and slipped my feet into ’em. Exiting the closet, I went over to my nightstand and grabbed my strap and left out the room. Stepping onto the elevator, I went down to the first floor. Mason was standing outside, talking to another one of the valets when I exited the building.
“Wassup, Joker. I heard y’all won yo’ game Friday.”
“We did. You should’ve seen ’em out there.”
“I bet it was dope. I’ll go get yo’ car. I’ll be right back,” he said and grabbed my keys off the hook. I stood there, waiting for him to come back with my truck. This chick and her daughter, who looked to be ’bout four, walked down the sidewalk in my direction. I stepped back out her way. She winked at me and smirked as she passed.
My truck pulled up and Mason got out the driver’s seat. I got in and put the address Dough gave me into the GPS. It was twenty minutes away. Pulling away from the curb, I pulled out into traffic, following the GPS, not knowing where it was going to take me. Judging by the address, it looked to be a house or something.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled up in front of the house directly behind Dough’s truck. Soon as he saw my truck, he hopped out and approached my driver’s window. I let it down and relaxed back in my seat. “What we doing?”
“We’re kidnapping him.”
“A’ight,” he replied and stepped back from the truck. This nigga was always down with my shit.
Opening the door, I climbed out. We took the driveway up to the stone walkway to the front door. The Ring camera caught us.
“You’re being recorded,” the camera said.
Gripping the camera, Dough yanked it from the wall. A few seconds later, the door opened and this skinny guy stood before me. He was ’bout average height. Standing there in a pair of red basketball shorts and a white t-shirt, his hair was thinning. I knew that from all the black spray he had around his hairline.
“Are you Devante?” I questioned him and pulled my phone from my pocket.
“Yeah, who are you?” His head poked around the frame of the door where the camera once was. “And why did you take my camera?”
“You know this woman?” I asked, shoving my phone into his face.
“Yeah, I know Halo.”
That’s all I needed to know.
“Grab him,” I instructed Dough.
“Say what?” Devante asked once it processed in his mind what I said.
Dough drew his arm back and then connected his fist with Devante’s face. It took one blow to knock that mufucka out. Dough reached down and picked him up, tossing him over his shoulder. I followed him back to his truck. He opened the trunk and tossed him inside.
“I’ma get him back to the warehouse before he decides to wake up.”
“Bet. I’ma head over there to Ma’s crib for dinner right quick. I’ll get back up with you after.”
Dough nodded and rounded his truck to the driver’s side. I went back to mine and hopped into the seat. Pulling away from the curb, I went straight to Ma’s house. By the time I got there, she was back from church. Dinner should be ready.
Getting out the truck, I went up to the front door and used my key to let myself in. Food attacked my nostrils soon as I stepped through the door.
“Ma?” I called out her name, not wanting to alert her. She had a camera up, but I wasn’t sure if she got the notification that I’d entered the house.
“I’m in the kitchen!” she yelled back.
The kitchen wasn’t too far from the front door. I just stepped through the family room in front of me and came out into the kitchen. Ma closed the lid on her crock pot and turned to me.
“Hey, baby.” I closed in on her and pecked her on the cheek. “You’re just in time. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that you had a camera in here watching me or something.”
“Nah, that’s just those son instincts,” I joked.
Going over to the cabinet, I grabbed a couple plates out of there and shut it back. Sunday dinner was something that we did every Sunday. It was a tradition that Ma created when I was younger, and something that we held on to ’til this day. I always looked forward to seeing her every week. If I didn’t see her all week long, I knew I’d get the chance on Sunday. Monica used to hate the fact that I’d come over without her. Ma knew I was cracking her, but I hadn’t brought her to meet her. There was no need. I didn’t see a future with her. That was a privilege that I thought was only for special women. No woman has ever met Ma before. She was off limits.
“How’s Monica doing?” Ma asked as I took the plates over to the table.
“I ain’t really messing with her like that no more.”
“Seriously, Knox?” Ma was also adamant ’bout calling me by my government, which was another reason why I used it when dealing with coaching. I tried my best to keep my lives separate.
“It wasn’t going anywhere.”
“Lord, I don’t think I’ll ever get any grandbabies. You know I’m just getting older, right?” she asked as she placed a dish onto the table.
I grabbed some utensils and placed them on the table before taking my seat. Ma continued to bring all the food to the table and then sat down across from me.
“I know you want grandkids one day, but I have to have ’em with the right person.” I’on want no baby mama drama. That was something I didn’t plan on dealing with. I saw how a lot of relationships played out. The ones where the daddies were deadbeat killed me just as much as the bitter baby mamas who didn’t want to see their baby daddies be with anyone else. I didn’t want to have a child with someone and then they be left raising it alone because we didn’t work out. I didn’t want a single parent household for my kids like I grew up in. The plan was to have better for ’em.
“It don’t seem like you’ll ever find the right person,” she said as she began to plate her food.
Maybe I have, but I wasn’t ’bout to tell her that and get her hopes up. I needed to be certain first.
“We’ll see, Ma.”
Once we were done eating, I helped clear the table and washed the dishes. Every time Ma cooked and I was there, I always cleaned the kitchen up afterward.
After the kitchen was clean, I went into the living room where Ma was sitting on the couch, watching television. My phone vibrated. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled it out and saw it was a message from Dough. I got the other location. Meet you there. Directly after that message, an address came through.
“I’m ’bout to dip. I got something I need to go handle,” I told Ma as I slipped my phone back into my pocket. Trekking over to the sofa, I leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Be careful out there.”
“Always,” I said and left out the door.
Hitting the fob on my truck, I got in and instantly placed the address in the GPS. The location came up to be Top Notch Flavors. Backing out the driveway, I cruised to the restaurant. Dough and I pulled into the parking lot right behind each other and parked. Opening the door, I got out and met him at the front entrance.
“Do you know what this nigga looks like?” I questioned him.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone. It took him a couple seconds to pull a picture up. This nigga was so fucking chocolate that his white teeth looked like marshmallows.
We entered the building and I stopped, eyes scanning for this Andre nigga ’til they landed on him sitting at a table with some woman and a couple kids. They were talking, laughing, and eating. Lil did they know, I was ’bout to disrupt their meal.
I sauntered over to the table and stopped. Andre glared up at me as if he had some animosity toward me.
“Don’t do this in front of my kids,” Andre quickly said.
“You must already know who I am?”
“I know enough,” he said and got up from the table. “I’ll be back.” He pecked the chick on the lips and strolled toward the door. “You mind telling me what this is about?” he wasted no time asking soon as we got out the door.
Tires screeched into the parking lot and a white Malibu stopped in front of us. “You’re going for a lil ride,” I told him, and Dough opened the trunk. Andre looked from me to Dough, and I said, “Get in.”
Taking a deep breath, he walked over to the trunk and climbed over into it. Dough slammed it down on him.