This time, Naheem’s blood and saliva mixed and flew from his mouth. The idea of him having the heart to pull the trigger on his son didn’t sit right with me. “Clark’s going to have your head on a platter,” he barely got out.
That triggered me, and I said nothing as my hand quickened, jabbing Naheem over and over. “Fuck that nigga! Fuck you, you don’t deserve to live. Your child, your blood, is lying in the hospital. Fuck you, nigga!” I shouted as my knife impaled his ass so much, he had blood leaking from every hole.
By the time I glanced up, Naheem’s head was cocked to the side as his eyes looked off into the distance. He sucked in one last breath before his soul traveled to the place it was supposed to be. Hell. “That was for you, Bishop,” I mumbled.
Just to be sure the nigga didn’t come back from the dead, I sliced down his stomach, allowing his insides to hang from him. I closed my eyes and said a small prayer as the Zoo had captured another soul. I didn’t know if my nigga Bishop would be freed from his past, but knowing that this problem was no more, I hoped it would send him in the direction of healing.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I saw it was a call from the hospital. I was afraid to answer because the last thing I needed to hear was that Bishop didn’t pull through. I hit answer, “Hello?”
“June, it’s Indigo. Bishop, he’s awake!” she sniffled.
I dropped my head and smiled. I felt like killing Naheem released the noose from Bishop’s neck, and now my nigga could live. I knew I still had to deal with Clark, but at least someone I now considered a brother was free. I told Indigo I would be upthere to see him. As soon as I hung up with her, Z was calling. “Sup, baby?” I said.
“June, you need to get here now. It’s Samara, she’s—”
I hung up on Z. I didn’t even bother to grab my sling as I rushed out of the Zoo to fucking snow falling. I hopped in my Caprice and took off. All a nigga wanted was some peace, and each moment I thought I could breathe, the Devil had found a way to intervene.
SCOOTER
I had gone to all the spots that I had met up with Naheem at previously, but the nigga was like a ghost. It started to snow, and I knew with no car, a nigga couldn’t be out here long. I waited at the bus stop when a G-Wagon pulled up. When the windows rolled down, I saw Dio. “Get in,” he said.
I rubbed my hands together, “Nigga, I don’t have time for your bullshit. I’m on a mission.”
Dio dropped his head and shook it. “Your ass is going to be on the news, reported frozen to death. Get in,” he said again.
I glanced around, noticing I was the only one out at the bus stop in the snow. I hopped in with Dio, and he took off. “Where were you headed?” he asked.
“Back to my girl’s crib,” I muttered.
He nodded. “Well, I’ll drop you off. Nigga, we need to get you a hoopty or something, cause catching the bus ain’t it. I can’t have a nigga I work with walking these streets.”
I turned to look at him. “Nigga, what the fuck are you talking about?”
“Oh, the nigga didn’t tell you. Beans asked me to manage you. You know, get you to the top,” he laughed.
“You’re not managing me. I don’t need a manager.”
“Yes, the fuck you do. You need that and a stylist, an accountant, a publicist, a—”
“Nigga, I get it. Shit, for real, after that shit with me and you in his studio, I honestly didn’t think anything would happen after that. My nigga Beans has way more shit to be worried about than someone like me.”
Dio didn’t say too much as he continued to drive. When we got to the red light, he ran his hand over his face. “Look, I don’t like your brother, but I’ll ease up off him. When you said what you said back at my place, the shit has been living rent-free in my head. We all have demons, and Beans will get through his, I’m sure, but the things that you and I have experienced, no one would ever understand unless they’ve been through it. You cool and shit, so let’s call it a truce.”
As the light turned green, Dio made a left. Before he could take the back road to where he was going, we noticed an ambulance on the side of the road with yellow tape. Dio slowly drove by until I noticed something, or someone. While the car continued moving, I hopped out, almost falling on my face, and rushed over. When I saw Keith lying there looking into the sky, it felt like any piece of air I had left in me was gone. I pushed past the officers over to my brother’s body. My knees sank into the bloody snow. “Keith! Fuck! Who did this?!” I shouted.
I rocked Keith’s lifeless body back and forth. My face fell onto his chest as my sobs mixed with the blood seeping from his shirt. “I knew it. I fucking knew it,” I repeated as I cried.
I felt hands pulling me back. “Don’t fucking touch me. Man, fuck. Damn, bro bro, I’m sorry.” I sobbed.
More than one officer had to pull me away from Keith’s body. I tried getting out of their grasp, but because I was shattered inside, I didn’t have it in me. “Damn, my nigga, I’m so sorry,” I heard Dio say. “We can stay until they get him out of here. Kareem—”
Everything went into a fucking blur. The moment shit seemed to be looking up for me, this happened, and now I felt like everything Naheem and Clark said to me was true. My life wasn’t shit.
PAIGE
We all gathered in Chevy’s living room. Alyse rocked back and forth, Morgan’s leg bounced nervously, and Samara stood near Zaria with trembling hands. I'm not sure how we got here, but we did. Zaria took charge, making calls as if it were her domain. She arranged for someone to pick up Braylen’s car. She also had all of us clean up, and now she stood at the center of us all. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and then opened them. “Ok. I need all four of you to listen to me,” she started. “I know what you guys experienced was a lot, but we Zoo women and Zoo adjacent women have to put on our big girl panties. Samara, are you sure you shot Keith?” she said, looking at her.
“Yes, Zaria. I didn’t know what to do, but you and Chevy taught me.”
