“I know I shouldn’t have popped off like I did on Nickel, but that nigga had it coming.”
“Did he? Or were you looking for a reason to go against a truce that’s been in place for a long time?” Audiemar queried.
“That nigga slime. So is his crew. I clocked their little operation. The truck pulled out around one-fifteen. There was a car with two hitters and two young bitches that trailed them.”
“So, you are the reason Riddle’s entire shipment was left on Dunbar Avenue,” Audiemar concluded. “On top of Nickel already feeling a way about what happened last night at Luxe.”
“Am I?” Mozzi pushed himself off the desk, a deep scowl embedded in his face.
“How many times have I told you to tune that shit out, Moses?” Audiemar tested him, brows cinched together. “You and your fucking impulsiveness!”
Mozzi always knew it was serious when he called him by his government name.
“Tuning shit out don’t work on everybody! Not niggas like Nickel. He thinks that truce makes him untouchable!”
“It fucking does!” Audiemar barked, removing his hands from his pockets. “What part of truce do you not understand? Now, I have to sit down and have a talk about this shit and see if we can rectify it.”
Typically a stern man, Audiemar rarely showed emotion, not even anger. His sons knew him well enough to gauge his reaction off the glint behind his slanted, roasted brown irises. As boys, one look could tell them whether he approved or disapproved of something. Kong glanced at Mozzi. Of the three of them, he was always challenging Audiemar. Jane used to say it was because he was bullheaded. Mozzi was used to tough love, and he had mastered provoking people. When he was done, he’d push them away, then expect them to want to get back in his good graces. Jane told him one day he was going to reap what he sowed, but Mozzi had yet to see that come to fruition.
“I don’t need you speaking on my behalf. I’m the one who fueled this. I’ll take the heat for it.”
“That’s not how this works.” Audiemar voiced. “Riddle don’t give a fuck about that. You fucked up his shipment from Donahue, which is going to escalate things even further.”
“Do he know how Nickel out here moving? I’m not talking about the drugs either. I’m talking about these girls.”
“I’ll discuss that with him.” Audiemar stroked his beard. “This on top of the bell tower shit is bound to bring smoke that we don’t need.”
“You made the call on the tower.” Mozzi passed the blunt back to Kong. “I’ve seen the drives, too. I’m banking on Donahue being more concerned with getting those back in his possession than anything. The shipment falling through will be Riddle and Nickel’s problem.”
A flicker of that little fine shit outside the lounge briefly invaded his mind. She’d damn sure left him curious. When she went toe to toe with him, she didn’t flinch, so she obviously had no idea who he was. He probably should have been offended. Instead, it only intrigued him more about who she was and why he hadn’t been in her orbit before last night. The doorbell chimed throughout the halls of their home, and all three men turned to the cameras to see who had arrived.
“Welp, that’s my cue to roll out.” Mozzi slapped his hand against Kong’s shoulder and chuckled as he pushed himself off his desk. “I don’t like putting my hands on bitches, and those two be having the palm of my shit itching.”
“We’ll talk later, Mozzi. Stay on point,” Audiemar told him as he strolled past him to the door.
Studying the camera screen, he watched Phoebe Taylor and her daughter, Nayelli, standing at the door together. Phoebe and his wife, Jane, were college friends, and since Jane died, she’d been around more in the last five years than ever before. At thetime, Audiemar appreciated it. Losing Jane took a huge part of him, leaving him numb in a world where it was already dark and cold.
Phoebe was nothing like his wife. Where Jane was effortlessly beautiful inside and out, Phoebe had undergone multiple surgeries over the years to perfect her appearance. She wasn’t over the top with it, and some of the surgeries had improved her appearance. However, if you did a side by side of her ten years ago versus today, the images would be very different.
“We need to figure out this situation, Kong. We can’t keep blowing through these girls at the agency. Pretty soon, they won’t want to send anyone out here.”
“What is it that you want me to do?”
“I need you to pay attention to your kids! Stop acting like it’s normal for them to be running everybody off with their antics! Take some time off if you need to. Spend time with them. Put them in fucking therapy! They are begging for your attention!”
“You think this shit is easy for me?”
“I know it’s not, but you can’t keep living like this. Those two kids know that there is a disconnect. As their father, it’s up to you to repair that.”
“You the wrong one to be giving me speeches about disconnect.”
Kong left the rest of the blunt in his ashtray and leaned back in his chair. He wasn’t telling him anything that he hadn’t been thinking over the last few years, though. It was one thing to lose Jane, but a year later, Twyla, the mother of his children, also died while giving birth to their daughter. Kong hadn’t been quite right since. He buried himself in work and the organization, avoiding being a father since the only reason he’d signed up for that shit in the first place was because Twyla wanted it. Hefelt like shit sometimes because he loved his kids, but he never imagined raising them on his own.
“It’s about the message. Not the messenger. You chose to be a father, so take some accountability,” he told him, ambling over to the door.
Kong stared ahead at a photo on his desk. Twyla stood outside their home on the terrace, with her hand draped over her very pregnant belly. It was the last photo she’d had professionally taken while pregnant with Kara. It seemed like a lifetime ago. He’d since sold the house and gotten rid of every trace of her. Out of sight, out of mind was easy when it came to possessions, but he couldn’t do that with his own children.
Giving himself a few moments to process the start to his day, Kong shook his head before standing. He followed the voices down the hall to the kitchen, where he found Audiemar and Phoebe at the island together and Nayelli on the other side with her hands propped against the counter. A slow grin filled her cheeks, and her brown eyes lit up at the sight of him. On those lonely nights when the bed seemed too empty, Kong allowed her to fill the space, but it was nothing serious on his part. Nay was familiar since they grew up together, and she knew that he’d been silently suffering since Twyla died. He appreciated her being a good friend, but he’d never allow himself to see anything with them beyond that.
