Thanking her, I walked away. Sparkle jumped up to her feet when she took one look at me, and I shook my head because I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to go confront Ocean.
She rolled her eyes at me and took back her seat. I went to my locker and grabbed another t-shirt and my backpack.
Going into the restroom, my mouth fell when I caught a glimpse of myself. Just like I thought, my mascara had run down to my chin. I looked a hot ass mess.
The shame hit me. As I stared at my reflection, my hands shook because I was angry but also afraid. Afraid because I wanted to react, but all I could see in the end was my father and brother paying for my retaliation.
I allowed Ocean to treat me that way because of her father, who was very close to Viper. I’d seen firsthand how Ocean used her father to get what she wanted. If I confronted her like I wanted to, I knew just one phone call would devastate my family.
Grabbing a washcloth from my backpack, I used it to wash off my makeup, and then I wet my hair to get the liquor out.
As I stared back at myself, I made my decision. If she could embarrass me, then I could return the favor without her even knowing!
CHAPTER TWELVE
MAKARI “HAVOC” SANCHEZ
THE NEXT NIGHT
“Hell, I’m telling you, something doesn’t sound right! After those niggas ran up on us at the club, I don’t think that shit is a coincidence,” I let him know.
Yesterday, I found out that some niggas had broken into my brother’s crib. He had been out with Sony, and when he came home, his shit was trashed. Clearly, someone was either looking for something or hoping the nigga was home. He was trying to brush it off as it being a couple of crackheads, but I wasn’t believing that shit. Especially because Orlando had failed to find out who the fuck was behind that hit at the club to begin with!
It damn sure didn’t help that Hell was out there in the streets, drawing a lot of attention to himself because of Orlando’s stupid ass. All of that shit was fucking with my mental, and all Kelechi wanted to do was brush it off as nothing.
There was no reason for any niggas to be up in his shit and it be nothing.
My gut was telling me it was the same niggas behind it, and my feelings were never wrong. I couldn’t understand why he wasacting so nonchalant about it. My pops had really filled his head up with a bunch of bullshit!
I wanted to comb the streets and knock on a few doors until we found the mothafuckers, but he wasn’t trying to hear that. The old Hell would have been out the door before I could grab my fucking gun, but Orlando had him acting like a goofy. And I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone caught him slipping.
“Chill out, baby brother, it’s not that deep,” he said, making me close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. It was like no matter what I said, I just wasn’t getting through to him.
If, by some weird ass chance, Sincere really had it in mind for Hell to take over, I knew he wouldn’t last a week with the way he was moving.
Not only was he acting recklessly, but people were starting to whisper. I knew it was nobody but Orlando’s doing, but now people had been murmuring that Hell was the one set to take over.
Out of all the sanctioned leaders’ sons, my brother was the eldest and would have been the better choice out of all of them. However, that was the old him—not this new one who had changed his thinking to mirror Orlando’s.
Walking on the streets to be seen, like he was untouchable, instead of moving in silence. What happened to the man who told me neither to let anyone know my movements? The one who taught me how to move in silence. Orlando turned me into a machine, but it was my damn brother who taught me to be alert.
I rubbed a hand down my face and sighed in frustration.
Hell laughed.
That was another thing. He had started to see everything as a fucking joke!
“Calm down, Havoc. Nobody is that stupid to come for me,” he said. I frowned.
Why, because Orlando said he was untouchable?
I decided not to bother saying anything else to him because he wasn’t going to listen to me anyway.
“Aight, I’m gonna go. Pops wants to talk to me. Come check me in the morning,” Kelechi said. I shook my head, knowing he was about to let that man fill him up with even more lies.
I would forever be my brother’s number one fan, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t hope that Sincere made up his mind soon, so that it would knock Hell back into reality. I didn’t know who Sincere had his eyes on; I just knew in my heart it wasn’t my brother. If I spent fifty years building a legacy like The Society, I wouldn’t leave it in his hands either.
Hell and I used to be about that business. My father’s empire ran smoothly because of us. But now the only business Hell seemed to have was drinking and throwing money around instead of really putting the work in.
