“Go find Brat and ask her for a snack, CJ.” Whatever he wanted to say, he needed nephew from ‘round us.
“Yes sir.” CJ took off out the room leaving us alone.
Once he was out of earshot, Royce said what was bothering him. “Look, I really don’t give a fuck ‘bout y’all creating chaos, to be honest. I already paid the owner twice the amount the pieces were worth. Her store ain’t hurting for shit. My thing is the nigga you sold them too is invading my fuckin’ territory. I ain’t too fond of intruders. You should know that.”
I laughed at his response. Royce was possessive and played no games ‘bout his shit being touched. I realized that when he put Walt down without a second thought. If his name was on it, you better call and get permission to enter first.
Zeus wasn’t from the Springs, he just passed through from time to time on business. He was really from Charlotte, North Carolina. The Springs just had his attention for that week. I wasn’t giving him up to satisfy Royce’s ego. He was possessive and territorial which showed his crazy side often.
“You ain’t got to worry ‘bout him. He ain’t even from here. Hell, he only got me right ‘cause he was passing through. It ain’t an issue Junior,” I explained.
“So, what he give you?”
“Eight even. Why?” I shot back.
Nodding, he focused his attention on Maaz but remained speaking to me. “Humor me lil’ nigga. You and yo’ crew done took from me before, huh?”
I smirked at his curiosity. He was referring to the lick Twenty-One took from Walt. Walt was too eager to please Bentley’s unorganized ass that he missed key points. Bentley wasn’t moving the way he wanted us to believe. It was something fraudulent ‘bout him that I couldn’t put my fuckin’ finger on. The plans he brought to the table were all flawed and they were always aimed at Junior. Whatever hard on he had for him was something I didn’t understand.
“What we did before this…” I paused pointing back and forth between us. “Ain’t got shit to do with you, bruh.”
“You a lie if it don’t. Y’all took my new shipment, and I ain’t appreciate that. I put up millions to supply my city with grade A shit. It all went to waste behind y’all and that dead ass nigga Walt. I don’t like throwing my bread away once it’s worth a few commas.”
His demeanor grew cold. I witnessed him shifting from a family nigga to a business one. I couldn’t take away how bossed up of a nigga he was. The muthafucka really put a lil’ fear in yo’ heart if you ain’t know him.
“So, what you trying to do, Junior? What we on? ‘Cause I ain’t handing my boys over.” I really ain’t have time to go back and forth with his ass. If we were ‘bout to throw bows in this bitch, he needed to let me know.
“I ain’t ask you to, now did I? Where that bread at from the heist you and yo’ crew did?” he inquired sitting back giving his attention back to Maaz.
“Why? You don’t need it.”No cap.
“And neither do you.”
“The hell I don’t. I ain’t eating off Brat and I got a son if you ain’t realized it yet. I need every dollar I got to supportmine,” I replied. I got a lil’ heated and offended when I spoke on providing for them.
“Oh, you ‘bout to touch more than a few hundred thousand dollars nigga. Mama Rose looked out for yo’ ass fa sho. Give yo’ crew that bread and let me know when you ready to touch some real commas nigga,” he stated wearing a sly grin.
That was the second time my grandma was mentioned in the same sentence as money. Senior dropped a hint, but Junior was letting it be known she set a nigga up. I wasn’t ‘bout to refuse that in no shape or form. At least she thought about the kid when I thought everybody on this side denied me.
“I ain’t giving up my bread without knowing what I’m walking into, Junior. That’s a dummy move,” I said playing it off.
“You gon’ be an even bigger dummy if yo’ ass don’t listen to me. Bless yo’ crew. You can afford it. Fuck all that though. My mama need to holla at you.”
“I don’t give a fuck ‘bout yo’ mama, Junior. She ain’t shit to me and never will be so what we talking ‘bout.”
“Boy, you better watch yo’ mouth ’bout that one. I’ll turn you into some merch fast behind her. I said, she need to holla at you. Go put some fuckin’ clothes on so we can go. She ain’t ‘bout to wait all day,” he demanded.
I had to rear back and look at him like he lost his damn mind. I wasn’t no fuckin’ child and he damn sho wasn’t my fuckin’ daddy. The sad part ‘bout this dumbass shit was I almost took my ass in there and got myself together. He might’ve commanded respect but I ain’t have to give him a damn thing.
“I’m not ‘bout to sit down and hold a conversation with the same person that told Senior to get rid of me. You throwed off, but you ain’t that slow nigga,” I countered.
“And I ain’t repeating myself. I’ll get him together and wait for you downstairs. Aight nephew, we ‘bout to go meet a few folkyou ain’t never seen before,” he said standing then walking to Maaz’s closet.
He ignored everything I said and kept doing what he wanted. If I had to describe this nigga, I’d say he was spoiled as fuck and didn’t understand when muthafuckas denied his request. No was like a foreign language to his ass or something. I walked out shaking my head. I was gon’ give him what he wanted ‘cause I had a feeling he wasn’t gon’ stop until he got it.
It took me and Brat a lil’ under an hour to get ourselves together. I slipped back into Maaz’s closet and took down the bag of money from the attic. This was my family’s safe haven. I wouldn’t jeopardize that for nothing. Twenty-One was jack boys, that was still a remaining factor. Boys or not, I wasn’t setting Brat up to be a target.
I didn’t trust many, but I trusted many of the things Royce said. If he said I could afford to let this bread go, I believed him. The crew was gon’ keep the whole bag. The Atkins were swimming in Benji’s and Junior was the one controlling most of it. He wasn’t ‘bout to see me done wrong now that I was here. I could feel it just from how he spoke. His words were always laced with confidence and conviction.
