He attempted to size me up, but he tripped over his own feet. Between the alcohol and whatever pill he popped, my cousin could barely hold himself up.
“Levi, I’m trying to stall you out. You’ve been in and outof thecountry for months, and I know why, clown! Unless you want to have this conversation now, move the fuck around.”
He jumped in my face. “What the fuck you gon’do if I don’t, bitch ass?—”
Thedisrespect, combined with the sensation of his sloppy speech on my cheek, sent me into a spiral. As quick as a flinch, I punched Levi in his face so hard, I could feel his jaw break.
“Fuck that!” Levi’s dad, Lester Sinner, shouted from the sideline. “Give my boy a fair one,especiallywhen you’re doing this over a bitch.”
“Mybitch!” I corrected him. “Make that part clear when you tell the story, and be sure to add Levi got dropped for beinga sneakybitch,not for speaking like one.”
Done for the night, I pulled out my phone to see where Kannon was, but it started ringing.
“Yo!” I yelled into the speaker.
“Neptune?”
“Nigga, you know who you called.What do you need, Perkins?”
“One of my guys called to warn me that three ladies were just picked up on Peach Street. One of them dropped your name. She said she’s your girl.”
My blood boiled, thinking about the way my night continued to get worse by the second. First, a group of men I admired made me question their word. Then I had to lay hands on my cousin. A call from the cops five minutes after Kannon left my sight should have been expected.
“Fuck!” I yelled. “Why the hell would you let that happen to someone who belongs to me?”
“I wasn’t on the scene. Lakes called me and said his partner made the call to dispatch before he could stop him.”
“Where is she now?”
“In route to the station.”
I signaled for Pluto and Echo to follow me as I powerwalked to the parking lot. I didn’t want to drag my cousins into bullshit on their birthday, but once I dropped Levi, I knew the party was a wrap.
“Perkins, call the officer who arrested her, and tell him to take her back to where he picked her up from. When you get the location, send me the drop.”
By the time I reached my truck, my cousins were pulling the passenger and back door open. Perkins didn’t take long to send me the location, and since it was nearby, I sped down the backstreets to avoid traffic.
“What you on, Nep? Where are we going?” Echo asked from the passenger seat.
“To pick up Kannon’s drunk ass. She got pulled over, and Perkins called to lace me before some rookie took her to the police station.” I snatched a half-smoked blunt from my middle console. “I’m going to break her fucking neck. All this wild shit is giving me a headache!”
Pluto’s drunken laugh reached the front of the truck. “Stop frontin’! You love it. Chrissy’s phony ass was around for a year, and you never ran to her rescue.”
“That’s not true.”
“All right, well, you were never kissing on her in the club. I don’t even remember y’all partying together.”
“So what?”
“Calm down with your mad ass. I’m not saying it’s a problem. I go hard for my bitch, so I get it. I also don’t deny that I love my bitch.”
Though Pluto’s observation was spot on, I grimaced at someone calling me out. I kept the details of my relationship with Chrissy to myself, but my cousins were around enough to see I was more protective of Kannon than I had ever been over any woman. It could’ve been because she needed to be protected, or maybe I needed someone to look after. Either way, I felt like Kannon’s safety was my responsibility.
The sight of police lights let me know we’d arrived at our destination. Three officers stood on the curb of the residential street, but I didn’t see Kannon. I left my truck in the middle of the block, then hopped out and marched over to Perkins so fast my calves burned.
“Take her out the fucking car!”
Perkin’s pale skin turned a rosy red. “Neptune, I understand you’re?—”
