“I’m positive.” She nodded as she eyed the screen. “I couldn’t help but think about how he looked so familiar.” She squinted at the screen once more. “He kinda looks like… Noooo! It can’t be!”
Looking from my dad to me to the screen again, my mother said nothing as she shook her head and left the room. My father hadn’t spoken much about TJ outside of the night when we were at the warehouse. Knowing that nigga had the nerve to approach my mother did something to me, and from the look on my dad’s face, he was also vexed. I’d wanted to kill him before now, but something in me was craving a hunt, and he was the perfect prey.
“Let’s be honest here for a second,” I started, meeting the eyes of everyone in the room. “We know that at this point, your shit being stolen was the drive behind catching those involved and attempting to recover everything. Y’all know as well as I do that the product is a lost cause. I witnessed Rowan in action at the Governor’s Gala, and he’s a Grade A junkie.”
I eyed my uncles and Pops, waiting for some type of acknowledgment that my words were true. It had been weeks since the hit, and I was sure they knew the dope, as well as the money, was good and gone.
“I know TJ, and that nigga hates me. Hell, he hates this family, and I’m certain he knew who my mother was when he approached her at that bar. I’m killing him. Their ties to the governor and police force don’t have a fuck-ass thing to do with me.”
“You sure you want to go that route?” Uncle Amir asked as he pulled a blunt from behind his ear. “I mean, I don’t give a fuck about them niggas or the ties they have, but being in the profession you’re in?—”
“No offense, Unc, but there’s no better nigga out there than me when it comes to this murder shit.” I cut him off before he could give us his whole spiel. He was the most logical between him and my father, so I knew he would be the one to speak up to make sure I was plotting with reason. “TJ has been wanting me to knock his ass off for a long time now, and this is the perfect reason. Not to mention, when he finds out I took his fiancée…”
“Well I’ll be damned!” My Pops threw his hands up in exasperation. “This nigga took my dope, and you took his bitch. If this ain’t history repeating itself, I don’t know what is.” He pulled his own blunt out to light it up. “Kill that bitch-ass nigga dead, JJ. I’m not going to try to talk you out of it because, at the end of the day, you’re your daddy’s son, and my ass doesn’t play. If you plan on going to war with this nigga, have your shit together. Make that nigga feel you.”
Nodding at what my father said, I dragged my eyes back to the still shot of TJ on the screen. He could have lived a longer life than his father did had he kept his nose out of my family’s business and away from my fucking mama. He thought my father was evil, but he was about to find out I was more of a nightmare in comparison. He was going to get a front row seat to just how wicked this shit can be.
Boom!
“This nigga…” I heard Marshall chuckle behind me as I kicked in TJ’s door. “I love when these people piss you off. You’re so fuckin’ dramatic.”
Ignoring him, I walked into TJ’s house, hoping he was here. It hadn’t been a full twenty-four hours since I found out TJ had not only robbed my father’s stash house but also approached my mother while out with friends. That was enough for me to visit him. I didn’t care if it was a friendly hello; he didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as Breonna McKnight. He knew once I became aware of his actions, it would be a fucking problem.
“I’m going to go check upstairs,” Jax called out behind me. My brother was home for the week, and he was on whatever time I was on once again. “You know I’m shooting anything moving.”
Once up there, it didn’t take long before the sounds of rummaging and overturned dressers filled the silence. As I walked past Marshall, who was leaning against the wall, he said nothing as he lit his cigar and kept his eyes on me. I was here for one reason and one reason only: to send a message and let TJ know I was coming. I wanted his blood on my hands just as much as I wanted to shoot my next nut inside of his ex-girlfriend.
As I walked further into the living room, I slid the tip of my blade across the couch, ripping it open with each flick of my wrist. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, wishing it were his flesh that I was ripping open instead. His home was nice and tidy, in an elderly-uncle type of way, but by the time I was done in this muthafucka, he was going to think Hurricane Katrina had touched down.
Eyeing his mantel, similar to the one in Blossom’s home, I sneered at the pictures and accolades from his life over the years. With my gloved hand, I placed my knife on the shelf and removed a photo of him as an infant with his parents.
“So this nigga is the reason you’re throwing temper tantrums?” I held up the photo and eyed it closely. “The bitch in you didn’t fall far from the pussy tree, huh?” I simpered, backpedaling to Marshall. “May I?”
Handing me his cigar, I used the burning tip and placed it in the corner of the picture. I watched as a small flame began to spread until it eventually began to burn. Dropping it to the floor, I handed Marshall back his cigar and walked back over to the mantel. I removed a single photo of Bloss Baby from a frame before I swiped and knocked the remaining items to the floor.
"Say, bro, this muthafucka is empty.” Jax jogged down the stairs with a look of aggravation on his face. “Let’s trash the place and get out of here.”
After making sure Jax and Marshall secured their hands in medical-grade gloves, we all went in separate directions and tore through his home like Tasmanian devils. I took my blade and shredded through his entire lower level. Going into his living room closet, I zeroed in on a single duffel bag sitting on the floor. Crouching down, I shook my head at the rubber-banded knots of money.
“This might move me up in Pop’s ranking of his favorites.” I chuckled, grabbing it as well as a metal baseball bat. “Let’s wrap this shit up.”
Lifting the bat in the air, I walked back over toward his glass coffee table, shattering it instantly. Repeating the same thing with the television, bar area, and dining table, it didn’t take us any time to destroy what was left of his home.
“I came to be a spectator and not part of the show.” Marshall frowned and heaved, exiting the kitchen with a variety of chips and a pack of Gatorade. “I might as well take these with me. No sense in them going to waste. I’m sure his appetite will be nonexistent when he gets here.”
“Marshall, I love how you have all the money in the world and still act like a nigga.” Jax laughed deeply as he looked around the room. Feathers from the shredded pillows floated through the open space, blowing around due to the running air conditioner. “That nigga is going to be pissed.”
“Good,” I mumbled, hearing the sound of glass under my shoes with each step I took. My adrenaline was still pumping, so I wasn’t done yet. “We got one more stop to make before calling it a night.”
Walking out of the home the same way we came, we left his front door wide open as we made our way back toward Marshall’s Escalade. You could smell the rain coming, and the gloominess did nothing but piss me off more since it had been raining nonstop. I wanted TJ tonight, but I knew the bitch was hiding. With someone like him, I knew the perfect way to make him show his face, though.
“You know, when I told you I had a bye week, I thought we were going to be kicking it on some chill shit,” Jax fussed as we headed up the stairs to our next visit of the night. Thankfully, we didn’t have far to drive from TJ’s crib. “I never thought I would be spending the day with Michael Myers.”
With the handle of my machete, I knocked lightly on the front door as I chuckled at my twin. Jax was not a stranger to my crazy, but with football being the focal point of his life right now, tonight was probably a reminder of how crazy his twin brother truly was. I was hunting, not caring about how insane my behavior looked. Chris was dead, and Rowan was still going to pay for sticking his nose in shit that had nothing to do with him, but right now, my dear old cousin was the one I wanted first.
“You know that nigga isn’t here,” Marshall said as he stood off to the side of us, scoping the scene of the multiple side-by-side duplex buildings. He only wanted to tag along tonight forhis own personal amusement, and since he said he would drive, I didn’t mind. “That nigga and his brother-in-law are somewhere hiding.”
“I don’t give a fuck if the nigga is in this muthafucka or not.” I glanced over my shoulder and mugged him. “I’m not a hide-and-seek type of nigga, so if the bitch is somewhere laying low, I’m going to make him come to me. And I know just the thing that will have him running to me with murder on his mind. Here or not, I guarantee you, I’ll still make him feel me.”
