Chapter 8 #2
“What else? Just tell me everything right now,” she said, just waiting for me to say the wrong thing.
“The bracelet I got for you… it had a tracker in it.” Her body tensed, but I kept going.
“It’s a camera on your balcony, but I disabled both, Dev.
I told Vic not to tell me nothing else. I was really trying to respect your space.
The only reason I showed up to that party was that that nigga Miko likes to take advantage of women. ”
No matter how tight I held her, she still got up from my lap and sat back in her seat. She just stared at me, trying to figure out how far I’d go. What she didn’t know was that I loved her; there was nothing I wouldn’t do.
“That’s honest as hell, huh?” she scoffed, shaking her head. “This is insane, Azani.”
She stared down at the bracelet that she still hadn’t taken off, rolling it around her wrist. When she looked back at me, she sat back in her seat.
“How do I know you’re not still keeping surveillance on me? How do I know you won’t do it again?” she muttered.
“I know you don’t trust me… I’m tryna earn it, Dev. Just give me a chance to prove it. I promise I’ll still give you the space you want. I won’t push you to see me when you don’t want to. I’m on your time, baby.”
A nigga would beg at this point if it meant she’d forgive me. I wasn’t watching her anymore. I wasn’t tracking her either. Vic was there because of the threats on me from Black Crow and Shadow. She did need protection, and no matter how she felt about it, Vic was staying.
“I think we should keep things like this. We can meet here whenever both of our schedules allow. Get to know each other now that I know the truth. There are things we still don’t know about each other. If I have to marry you, I want to know who you really are,” she said quietly.
“Okay… whatever you need.”
Devyn had me right where she wanted me. I couldn’t see her if she didn’t want me to.
I couldn’t touch her if she didn’t let me.
It was cool when I had unlimited access to her, but now I had to follow her lead.
Her phone buzzed on the table, and she grabbed it.
She sucked her teeth and shoved it back in her bag.
“I need to go meet up with my mom and dad. They’re waiting for me at home,” she said, standing to put on her coat.
I stood up too, grabbing her coat to help her put it on. When she turned around, she leaned in and kissed me. It wasn’t soft like it was when I first got here, but it lingered like she was telling me something.
“I love you,” I whispered against her lips.
She didn’t say it back; she stared at me long and hard, then stepped out of my arms. When she started walking, I followed her out the door to her car. I opened her door, and she got in, tossing her purse into the passenger seat.
Then, she looked up at me. “I love you, Azani… I just don’t trust you.”
“I know,” I said, stepping back, shoving my hands in my pockets. “You still gon’ text me later? I gotta go outta town for business. Ima be gone for three days.”
“Yes, I’ll text you. What business?” she asked, staring at me.
I knew what she was asking, and I hated it, but I answered anyway. “You know what business, Dev.”
“Okay,” she said, throwing her seatbelt over her shoulder. “I’ll see you later, I guess.”
I leaned in and kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes, leaning into me.
When I pulled back, she glanced at me one more time, then I closed her door.
I nodded at Vic, and he started his truck.
Watching Dev drive off felt like she was creating a whole new boundary.
She would be asking me more questions. Looking for holes in my story, digging into my brain for shit that I buried.
But I had to take it. We had ten months to make it down the aisle. I’d do whatever I could to earn her trust and get her back.
My next line of business was making it to Africa to get more information on that nigga Shadow.
I went back into the tea shop, grabbed my coat, and made my way to the airstrip.
No matter what, I had a job to do. Getting Shadow before he started eliminating names on the list was the goal.
This time, I’d make sure that nigga was dead for real.
After a fourteen-hour flight and a long ass car ride, I finally made it to Eswatini.
I was meeting with Thabo Dlamini. He had some intel on Shadow and where at least two of his wives were located.
Shadow had four wives and thirteen children.
Nigga was out here moving around the whole continent, making babies.
I brought a small team with me, just in case shit got sticky—me, Duke, Trey, Jamal, and Reaper. That’s all I needed. It was 4:00 a.m. when we landed. The sun hadn’t come up yet, so the compound was still dark. As we drove up the long road, I started spotting guards with big ass dogs and AK-47s.
Bo was cool, but I’d lay all these niggas down—the niggas with me would too.
“Do these niggas got some gas out this bitch?” Duke asked.
“Nah, for real. I’m tired of hitting this weed pen. I wanna smoke somethin’,” Reaper said.
“Bo keep some gas. Some of the best, too,” I said, glancing at Duke through the rearview mirror.
“Nigga, I’m starving,” Trey’s big ass said, leaning back and rubbing his stomach.
“See, you ain’t been in the field enough. We done went two days without eating before, now yo’ ass complaining about not eating for a couple hours,” I said, shaking my head.
“That sandwich ain’t tell me shit. And you right, I been watching Dev’s wild ass. At least she makes sure a nigga gets a lunch break.” Trey smirked, tapping Jamal.
“You know this nigga runs a tight ship.” Jamal laughed. “He don’t even want niggas to have water.”
“Shiddd, you ain’t wrong,” Duke added, cutting his eye at me.
“Man, fuck y’all niggas. Y’all know my motto. Mission first, everything else later. Why the fuck y’all agree to come if you knew what type of time I was gon’ be on?”
“That nigga just tryna get back home to Devyn. I feel you, my nigga. I’m tryna get back home to Bun. I know Kari and Lani are driving her crazy.” Duke laughed, scrolling through his phone.
“Begging is what the fuck he's doing,” Jamal hollered, tapping my shoulder. “Vic told me what you did to that nigga from the party. Watching Dev like a fuckin’ stalker and wondering why she be running from his ass.”
All those niggas laughed hard as hell, like I wasn’t sitting there.
“Fuck y’all niggas. Call it what you want.
And Duke, I know you ain’t laughing. Every other week, Duch be ready to put your ass out.
You walking a thin line over that mothafucka.
” I looked in the rearview mirror at Trey and Jamal.
“And you two niggas don’t have a girl, a wife, a side piece, nothing. Don’t talk to me about shit.”
“Tenderrr,” Duke said under his breath, and them niggas burst out laughing again.
I just smiled, shaking my head. They weren’t wrong… Dev had my mind gone. Dreaming about her beautiful ass and wanting to be right up under her. I was determined to get her back. Shit, I was planning Valentine’s Day now, just in case she took me back. In the meantime, I had work to do.
The gates to the compound were right up ahead.
They swung open as we got closer. When I pulled in, we were directed to a garage.
Bo had four houses on this compound, big ass guard dogs, and towers to snipe a mothafucka if he ever got ambushed.
I could feel eyes on me at every turn. In this line of work, you can’t trust anybody completely.
I fucked with Bo, but I still scaled the whole place. My niggas were doing the same thing. The butler opened the door as we walked up.
“Good morning, gentlemen. Master Dlamini will be with you shortly. Follow me.”
We followed him. Our boots squeaked across the black marble floors.
Why this nigga chose this color was beyond me.
Everything was black in his house. The butler opened a door to a sitting room.
He already had refreshments and shit laid out.
Trey and Jamal’s greedy asses went straight for the table and grabbed some plates.
I dropped onto the first chair I saw and pulled out my phone, powering it on. As soon as it powered on, it started vibrating with messages.
Bratty Baby: I hope you’re safe.
Me: I am. I love you.
I sat there waiting to see if she would respond, but it never came. I shoved my phone back in my pocket and got up to grab a bottle of water. I chugged it down, waiting for Bo to bring his ass on. We needed to make a move on Shadow before he moved on us.
Then, the door cracked open, and Bo walked in. He was a big, tall, black nigga. Probably 6’7”, 350 pounds. I walked over and dapped him. The nigga was Americanized as hell. He knew all the lingo, music, and culture. His pops passed a few months back, and it forced him back home.
“Azani. Good to see you,” he said, looking around the room.
“Good to see you, too. That’s Duke and Reaper. You know Trey and Jamal’s fat asses.”
He went around shaking hands, then turned back to me. “Did you eat yet, or do you want to get straight to business?” Bo asked.
“Straight to business. I want to be in and out.”
“Okay. You brought a small team. Do you need any reinforcements? I can arrange that,” Bo asked, dropping into a chair.
“No, this is all the team I need,” I said, sitting across from him.
“Okay. Well, I want you to know that?—”
“Bo, I know we just met,” Duke cut in, smacking on some grapes. “But I need some mothafuckin’ gas. Where the weed at in the motherland?”
“Yeah, man. This weed pen ain’t cutting it,” Reaper said, peeling an orange.