Biggie eyed him. He was one of the niggas on his radar. His attitude seemed to challenge Biggie the few times he had seen him. He was in his early twenties and didn’t know shit about shit, so Biggie let him rock, but that nice shit was out the window now that he knew there was trouble being stirred up.
Antonio was tall with muscles, but Biggie could fold his ass if it ever came to that. The tattoos on his neck, arms, and even on his face didn’t intimidate Biggie at all, nor did his menacing eyes. Biggie would chew him up and spit him out.
Biggie eyed Antonio for several seconds. Antonio didn’t drop his gaze.
“Tell them to take the rest of the day off,” he nodded slowly.
“Nah, man. We can’t?—”
“Aye,” Demo barked before Biggie could say anything. “Do what the fuck he said. I ain’t hear him ask you to do shit. Hetoldyo’ ass. Do as you’re fuckin’ told, lil’ nigga.”
Biggie’s jaw clenched along with his fists as he waited for Antonio’s next move. The young nigga stared between the two OGs for a moment before sucking his teeth and pushing a couple of niggas out the way as he moved toward the door that led down to the basement.
Biggie and Demo exchanged glances.
“Tell all them niggas outside to come in here. Let’s get this shit over with,” Demo said to no one in particular.
A lil’ nigga with locs jumped up from his place in the tattered house to oblige Demo’s command when Antonio came up from the basement with a trail of women following behind him.
“Y’all will be paid for a full day,” Biggie said as they walked out the door.
A few of them smiled curiously at him, and he nodded back, appreciating their beauty and admiring their hustle but knowing he would never fuck any of them. He never mixed business with pleasure.
“What’s this meeting all about?” Antonio asked as soon as the last woman left the house.
Biggie frowned his face up at him and took a step toward him.
“You do realize you ain’t runnin’ shit, right?”
Antonio didn’t back down.
“I been holding these houses down the past three years, so I think I can ask a simple question.”
Antonio was a little too calm for Biggie and a little too comfortable. In a flash, Biggie closed the gap between them, knocking some lil’ niggas out the way in the process, before he grasped the collar of Antonio’s shirt and hemmed him up.
“You got it wrong, lil’ nigga. You can’t ask any questions without my permission. You got that?”
It pissed Biggie off that Antonio still kept his cool.
“You got it, OG,” he said quietly, but it was in a disrespectful way that only heightened Biggie’s anger.
Demo quickly stepped between the two of them, but Biggie didn’t let go of Antonio’s shirt.
“Big, come on, man. Too many people,” he murmured.
Biggie stared Antonio down for a few more seconds before he let him go, causing Antonio to stumble back slightly, but he caught his footing quickly.
While looking at Antonio, Biggie addressed the room.
“From here on out, you report directly to me and Demo. And if anyone has an issue with that, be a fuckin’ man and take it up with me. I’ll respect you a lot more and will probably let you live if you go that route.”
There was nothing else that needed to be said. Antonio had pissed Biggie off, and the only reason he still had breath was because Demo was right—there were too many witnesses. They were supposed to be lying low. Killing someone in front of twenty other people was not a good look.
Biggie turned and walked toward the door. Niggas parted like theRed Sea. It wasn’t until they were in the truck and Demo pulled away from the curb that he relaxed some. He didn’t trust a soul aside from the nigga driving theRange, and being in tense situations like that always had him paranoid. It was clear to him that Antonio didn’t like him and Demo being around, so Biggie would make sure he lost the respect of the entire crew. Had he been cool, Biggie would have let him continue to oversee the block. His loss.
“You hungry?” Demo asked, and then he chuckled. “I don’t know why I’m even asking.”
Biggie chuckled. He was always hungry and ready to eat.
