CHAPTER NINE #2
"Don't let it go." I shrugged. "You got every right to be mad. That's some fuck shit what they did to you. But you can't be out here fighting every time you see her. That's how you gon’ end up locked up."
"So what I’m supposed to do?" Her voice cracked. "Just let her get away with it?"
"Nah. You live your life, be happy, make her regret that shit every time she see you doing better without her." I stepped closer, tilting her chin up so she was looking at me. "That the real get back, that glow up ma. Not beating her ass. Some hoes like pain, that shit aint fazing her."
She stared at me, and I could see her trying to process what I was saying. Finally, she nodded.
"You right," she whispered.
“You better than that. And you deserve better than the nigga who chose her over you."
“I know I am…I just need a minute to let go of the shit,”
"Come on," I said, pulling out my phone. "I'ma call you an Uber So you can get you home."
"I gotta make sure my sister good,"
"She good. Rah drunk as fuck anyway, they probably leaving soon too."
I ordered the Uber and we stood there in silence while we waited, Yah-Yah was leaning against the brick wall with her arms wrapped around herself. When the car pulled up, I walked her to it and opened the door.
"Thank you," she said quietly, looking up at me.
"Anytime." I smirked. "Besides, I’m still not done wit’chu, I wanna finish our talk.” She almost smiled at that.
“Goodnight Sosa.”
"Goodnight, Yah-Yah, go getchu’ some rest." I said, closing the door once she was inside.
I watched the car pull away, then headed back into the club through the back entrance. The music was still pumping, people were still dancing, and most people had probably already forgotten about the fight.
There was something about Yasani that got under my skin, she made me want to know more.
I wanted to be the one who made her smile for real, not that fake shit she probably gave everybody else.
I wanted to be the nigga she leaned on, to take her mind off that fuck nigga who played with her.
She act like she wasn’t feeling a nigga but that’s a lie, I saw it all on her, she wanted me just as much as I wanted her, And little did she know, I always got what I wanted.
* * *
I was barely back in VIP for five minutes before I felt the energy in the club shift.
It was subtle at first, some shit most people wouldn't notice.
But I'd been in the streets long enough to know when something was off.
The way my security's posture changed, the way Trigg sat up straighter and reached for his waist, the way the music seemed to get louder, but the crowd seemed to get quieter.
"The fuck?" I muttered, standing up and scanning the crowd below, and that's when I saw Zach.
This nigga had the audacity to walk into my club with six of his homies, all of them strolling through my shit, like they wasn’t worried about shit.
He was wearing all black, gold chain swinging, and that stupid-ass smirk on his face that made me want to break his jaw on sight.
Zach was one of those niggas who didn't understand until you made him understand.
"Aye, Bro," Trigg said, already on his feet, "That's—"
"I see him," I cut him off, my voice cold.
Rah looked up from Yamya, sobering up real quick when he saw where I was looking. "The fuck he doing in here?"
"He wants a one way ticket to his own funeral," I said, already moving toward the steps.
My security was closing in from different angles, but Zach and his guys were already making their way through the crowd, heading straight for VIP.
People were starting to notice now, the tension spreading through the club like wildfire.
The smart ones were backing up, giving space.
The drunk ones were still dancing, oblivious to the what the fuck was about to go down.
I met him at the bottom of the VIP steps, blocking his path. My crew flanked me, Trigg on my right, Rah on my left, and at least four more behind me. We had him outnumbered in here, and he had to know that. But he kept walking anyway.
"Sosa," he said, stopping a few feet away.
"This mufucka is nice bro,"
"Appreciate it," I said, keeping my voice level even though I wanted to swing on him right there. "But it's invitation only. And you wasn't invited."
"Nah?" He looked around, spreading his arms. "Seems pretty open to me. I came in through the front door and everything."
"Then you can leave the same way." I stepped closer, lowering my voice so only he and his homies could hear. "Before I make you leave in a zip up."
Zach laughed, and his homies closed in behind him, and I could feel mine doing the same behind me. It felt like the air got thicker.
"You think you run this city, don't you?" Zach said, that smirk still on his face. "You think you can just tell niggas where they can and can't go,"
"I don't think. I know." I tilted my head, my expression deadly calm. "And you about to find out real soon if you don't get the fuck out my spot."
"Or what?" One of his homies spoke up. It was a tall nigga with dreads and a scar across his cheek.
"Fuck you gon' do?"
"Yo, who is this nigga?" Trigg said, stepping forward. "Ain’t nobody talking to you, pussy."
"Fuck you just call me hoe ass nigga?"
And just like that, it popped off.
I don't even know who threw the first punch, I think it was Trigg, or maybe it was the nigga with the dreads, but suddenly everybody was swinging. The music was still playing, the lights were still flashing, but all I could focus on was the chaos erupting around me.
I caught Zach with a right hook that sent him stumbling backward, but one of his homies was already on me, grabbing my shirt. I shoved him off and swung again, connecting with his jaw. People were screaming, the crowd scattering, trying to get away from the brawl.
Bottles were breaking, tables were flipping, and my security was trying to break it up but there were too many people and too much happening all at once. I saw Rah wrestling with one of Zach's Homies on the ground, then I saw Trigg land a brutal punch to another one's stomach.
Zach came at me again, and we went down, crashing into a table. His bitch ass got a hit in, caught me in the ribs, and I felt the air leave my lungs, but I recovered quick, flipping him and getting on top. I rocked that nigga shit, not once, not twice, but three times before someone yanked me off.
"Getcho’ bitch ass off him!" someone was yelling, and I couldn't tell if it was my people or his.
Everything was a blur of bodies and violence, the bass from the speakers vibrating through the floor, mixing with the sounds of grunts and shouts and breaking glass. My security was finally getting control, pulling people apart, but it was too late, the damage was done.
I stumbled to my feet, breathing hard, and that's when I spotted the nigga with the dreads.
He was getting up too, blood running from his nose, and he was reaching for something in his waistband.
I didn't think. I just moved. I pulled my banger out quick, closing the distance between us before he could fully draw his.
I grabbed him by his shirt and brought the gun down hard across his face.
the sound of metal meeting his bone made a sick cracking sound.
He dropped like a sack of rocks, his gun clattering to the floor, and I stood over him, my pistol still raised.
"Y’all bitch ass niggas want smoke!" I shouted, For a second, everything froze.
Everyone looked at me, at the gun in my hand, at the body on the floor.
Even the music seemed quieter suddenly, or maybe that was just the adrenaline pumping through my veins making everything sound distant, but before I could pull the trigger… .
POP POP POP! Gunshots rang out, out of nowhere.
The club erupted into complete pandemonium. People were trampling over each other to get to the exits. I dropped low on instinct, scanning for the shooter, and I saw him, it was another one of Zach's homies, standing near the bar with his gun raised.
"Get down!" I yelled to my homies, but they were already moving, already returning fire.
POP POP POP POP!
The sound was deafening, overwhelming everything else. Glass was shattering, bottles exploding, and people were diving behind whatever cover they could find. I saw Zach running for the back exit, his homies covering him as they fired wildly into the crowd.
"Zach!" I shouted, raising my gun and taking aim, but there were too many people in the way, I couldn't get a clear shot without risking hitting someone else.
I started moving toward the back, pushing through the panicked crowd, but by the time I got there, he was gone.
"Fuck!" I slammed my fist against the wall, breathing hard.
Trigg was beside me a second later, his gun still drawn, blood on his shirt.
"He gone?" he asked.
"Yeah. Bitch ass nigga disappeared." I looked back into the club, at the destruction, at the overturned tables and broken bottles and people still scrambling for the exits. Sirens were already in the distance, and I was so blew.
"We gotta bounce," Rah said, appearing from the crowd with Mya clutching his arm, her eyes wide with terror. She was scared as fuck and I lowkey felt bad she had to witness that shit.
"Now."
"Yeah." I shoved my gun back in my waistband and started moving toward the back exit. "Everybody out. Now."
My security was already herding people out, trying to clear the place before the cops showed up. I knew I had maybe two minutes, maybe less.
We burst through the back exit into the alley, and I could already see the red and blue lights reflecting off the buildings down the street.
Multiple units, probably. This was about to be a whole thing— investigations, statements, maybe even shut down the club for a while.
All because Zach wanted to prove a point.
"Yo, Sosa," Rah said as we made it to where the cars were parked.
"What you wanna do?"