“Pooh,” Cordova called groggily, shoving my arm. “Your phone is ringing,” she whined, confirming what I thought I heard but wasn’t sure about.
My eyes popped open, and I sat up in bed. Leaning to the side, I snatched my phone off the nightstand and rubbed my eyes. At the sight of Clover’s name, I jumped out of bed.
“Wassup?” I answered, clearing the sleep from my throat.
“Roll from under my sister and get yo’ ass to the warehouse. We got action, nigga.”
“Y’all sure about this?” I confirmed as the Sprinter pulled to a slow stop. When Clover called with information, I wasn’t expecting him and Pops to roll out with me and my brothers. I knew they were down to ride that first night, but this felt different. This felt like an intentional choice for them to stand by my side, and I wasn’t sure how to process that just yet.
“I got a team. Y’all don’t have to do this,” I added. Hell, I’d even told Keem and Nathan they didn’t have to come along. My team was solid, and even with me retiring, they all came through to handle this with me.
“Fuck I look like letting you handle this without me, Son?” Pops asked, tightening his bulletproof vest.
“I promised sis that we would handle this, so we gon’ handle this,” Clover said, and I decided to leave it alone.
He’d gotten word that Brandon was hiding at Matthew’s warehouse in South Memphis. Matthew was one of our first stops that night, and he assured us that he hadn’t heard from Brandon. He promised to call if he did because he didn’t want no smoke with us. I respected the fact that as soon as one of his men gave him word that he’d been hiding out at the warehouse, he called us. Problem was, Brandon had created a bond with the lieutenant and street team at that warehouse, so they wereloyal to him. Eddie was annoyed by him and didn’t like him, and apparently, that was the reason he told Matthew what was going on.
Regardless of the competition, our prep and process was the same. Usually, we’d try to spend more time researching the building, checking for all exits, but that was impossible this time. I didn’t want to risk them seeing us for too long and having time to prepare, so we hopped out of three Sprinters and headed toward the large, wooden doors.
Like always, I was in the middle of the pack. But different from any other times, Pops and Clover were in front of me, and Keem and Nathan were behind. It took about a minute to get the door down, which I knew was giving them time to scramble and prepare for the attack. As soon as we had a way in, bullets started flying, and bodies started dropping.
As long as my brothers and Pops were still standing, I didn’t pay attention to too much else.
We made our way through the warehouse toward the racks, where Eddie said Brandon had been working. A whistle flew past my ear, and the sound of a grunt coming from Clover gained my attention.
“Somebody on the second floor shooting,” Keem said, confirming my suspicion.
When Clover’s body dropped, mine did too, but he insisted, “Go! I’m good.”
With a growl, I stood, looked up toward the second level, and locked eyes with the shooter. I filled him with bullets, causing him to crumble over the railing and fall to his death. My eyes shifted toward Clover briefly as I ran toward the racks. It didn’t take long to figure out where Brandon was, because he started pushing the racks down on my team. While Pops and Keem went toward the left, me and Nathan went behind him on the right.
Pops yelled and taunted him, gaining his attention, giving the perfect distraction for me to light him up from behind. As happy as I was that I’d gotten him, my mind kept going back to Clover.
To my brother.
I waited until the life left Brandon’s eyes before rushing back out to Clover. He was leaking from both sides. Lowering myself, I tossed him over my shoulder, and he grunted. While my folks formed a shield wall around me, I carried him out of the warehouse. As fucked up as our relationship was, I didn’t want him to die,… especially while trying to help me.
“Y’all can go see him now,” Derrick said.
His eyes were red and puffy, a clear indication that he hadn’t gotten much sleep over the last several days. When Draco came home last night, he told me that Brandon had been taken care of and that his brother was shot. I automatically assumed he was talking about Keem or Nathan, so I was in for an even bigger shock when he casually mentioned it being Clover.He stayed long enough to shower and change clothes before he was heading back out, and I insisted on going with him.
None of them had eaten, which was understandable, but I needed them to keep their strength up. I ordered them all food and forced them to eat it. Mona hadn’t shown up, and that broke my heart. She said she’d come see her son after Draco and Derrick left, and that showed me why after all these years he’d finally decided to let her go. Mona was the kind of person that took being stubborn and unyielding to a whole new level. That need for control wasn’t just about safety… There was something deeper going on with her.
About twenty-four hours had passed since the shooting, and Clover was finally stable enough for visitors. The brothers alternated between sitting in the waiting room and outside Clover’s door.
“You ready?” I asked, standing.
Draco looked up at me, eyes just as red as his father’s. “Yeah,” he muttered, putting his hand in mine.
We made our way down the hall toward Clover’s room. I wrapped my hand around Draco’s wrist as much as I could and gave it a gentle squeeze. While he may not have been honest with his family about it, I knew his heart and mind were at war. He might not have wanted a relationship with his brother, but Clover almost dying had seemed to change that.
Draco tapped on the door lightly before going in. His grip on my hand tightened, and I smiled. Slow, short steps led Him further into the room. There was a grimace on Clover’s face, but at the sight of us, he smiled.
“Sis,” he called, and I released Draco’s hand to give Clover a kiss on the forehead and gentle hug around the neck.
“Thank you. I’m glad you’re okay. Well, alive. I’m sure you don’t feel okay right now.”
“I actually do,” he confessed with a wide smile and low eyes. “They switched the morphine to some other kind of pain med because that shit wasn’t working, so a nigga feeling good and high as fuck.”
