“Oh, shit! She said something in the chat? Give us the tea, Bonnie,” Pierre incited, unable to hide his excitement about the drama unfolding. Relic swiped her phone out of her hand before she could.
“Play time is over. Everybody turn off your phones. I just got the text from Rocco that the targets are leaving the club soon, so we need to get in position.”
“Man, I know my favorite soap opera didn’t end on a cliffhanger like that. What day is the next episode airing?” Pierre joked, evoking chuckles from everyone besides his brother.
Los looked affronted but did as Relic instructed while staring at Shabu, who twisted his mouth to one side with indifference. Kennedy tried not to laugh at how the tables turned from Los bothering her to get under Relic’s skin, to being pressed about his ex-wife putting Shabu too far up a list intended for fun. She couldn’t wait to report back their reactions.
As they filed out of the apartment, her mouth settled into a frown after Relic collected each phone and passed it to Pierre, who removed a knapsack from his back to store them inside.
“Why you give the phones to P? He ain’t coming with us?” Shabu beat her to the punch with that question.
“Nah, he has another play to make. One that you’d be doing with him if you weren’t so fucking insubordinate,” Relic retorted.
“Nigga, I ain’t a worker. I’m your little brother. I was put on this earth specifically not to listen to shit you say.”
“Facts,” Los uttered, cutting a side-eye at Pierre, who laughed. “Before we head out, are we putting your artist on ice? Let me know before I go in, blasting on everything moving.”
“Hold up. I know y’all ain’t talking about who I think y’all talking about? Y’all ain’t tell me that,” Pierre said, his stare pinging between Relic and his brother.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you that. Aren’t you the main one who stresses not leaving witnesses, P?” Relic clasped his hands together in front of him and mugged his cousin. “Ain’t you the one dead set on finishing shit we start and not giving passes?”
“This is different, nigga!”
“How so? What makes her special outside of the fact, she’s signed to the label? I can find a new her tomorrow.”
“Man, she ain’t have nothing to do with this. She got caught up, but it ain’t shit she should die over.”
“Oh, yea? This isn’t the same tune I recall you singing about a similar situation. What’s changed, eh?”
Pierre grew tight-lipped at that, but their muted stare off spoke volumes that Kennedy heard loud and clear. The similar situation Relic referred to was her. Outside chatter from the young men posted up nearby, and music blasting from their car speakers, muffled as it registered that Pierre had possibly played a hand in the salon fire. It made sense why he lowkey threatened her at every opening he saw to do it. She was unfinished business in his eyes—a loose end to tie—and pulling a gun on him had amplified his urge to put her on ice. She’d take a gander that Shabu was the one who had given her a pass.
A fleeting wave of sympathy swept over Kennedy for the unsuspecting girl who was so close to being placed in a situation she might not make it out of, like Kennedy was blessed enough to do. Aura had no fucking idea how deep the pile of shit she’d stepped in went or how far Relic was willing to go to clean up the rancid mess.
“Sonny was kidnapped.” She blurted that secret and shrunk as every set of eyes locked on her. “You recall my dad mentioning that my friend ran away, Relic? He didn’t. Sarge had gotten into some shit, and his opps kidnapped Sonny and held him for a week. We thought he was dead until they found him in an abandoned building, bleeding from every hole and beaten within inches of his life. Sarge convinced Sonny to tell their family he ran away and got into it with a gang, so their parents wouldn’t disown him. I don’t know if what I told you can help, but I’m throwing the story out there.”
A prideful smile spread across Relic’s face. “Big Dog muthafuckin’ Kennedy. Welcome back.”
“Damn,” Pierre voiced, staring at her like she grew a second head before his eyes. “So, you’re saying, we should kidnap her and make it seem like niggas killed her friends to snatch her up for a quick payday?”
Her shoulder raised in a half-hearted shrug before she answered, “I mean, why not? She is the flashiest outside of you. She’s always posting her money, designer labels, and her location. A walking lick. Where she is tonight is public knowledge, too, so she’s up for grabs for anyone. It’ll also mean, she won’t have proof that you all were in on it... unless you’d rather do it Relic’s way.”
“Now, you and my cousin creeping make sense. Both of y’all some grimy muthafuckas. We gon’ do it, but I see I gotta watch you, Bonnie.”
“Ditto.”
Pierre tipped his head with a crooked smirk before he glanced at his cousin, who was too preoccupied staring at Kennedy. He could tell his folks was in deep, and it would bite Relic in the ass if the nigga didn’t keep both eyes open at all times around her. It wouldn’t surprise Pierre if Relic ended upstabbed well beyond in his back, fucking around with a guileful woman like Kennedy.
“There goes our ride.” Los pointed out a car speeding into the section they were in.
Kennedy turned to watch a black, older model sedan with no hubcaps, tinted windows, and a spotlight latched on its driver side door pull into a parking spot feet away. It mirrored an unmarked police vehicle to a T.
“P, toss the rest of that drank, and get the fuck on, so I can watch you leave. Drish, stick around and listen out for anyone talking greasy once we leave. Shabu, fill the gang in on our change of plan,” Relic instructed before yanking his brother into a hug. He dapped up Pierre next and then Drish before telling them, “Keep your eyes and ears open, and be safe.”
“Heard.” They saluted in unison before rushing off to do their respective jobs.
“You ready for this shit, Kennedy?” Los quizzed once they were gone. Relic stepped in between them before she could answer.
He pulled her toward him by her hoodie and took his time tucking her braids inside its collar before flinging the hood on her head. A soft smile spread on her face when he produced a pair of shades from his pocket to slide overtop her eyes before doubling down on the pressure Los tried applying to her.
