"After breakfast though," I said, my voice shifting to something colder, something harder, "we got real business to handle. That's priority. That nigga Demon has been doing so much shit, I didn’t even have time to put you up on game. We had to sit back in order to get you out. I knew that we were bringing you home, and didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize your freedom. Swallowing my pride and allowing that nigga to live has been some of the hardest shit. You home now. Enjoy your night, I’m not gonna tell you everything right now and have you pissed off, but tomorrow, its back to business. These snakes heads will be chopped off.”
Zaire's entire demeanor shifted in a way that was almost unnoticeable if you weren't looking for it. But I knew my brother. The gratitude was still there, the love was still there, but now something else surfaced—that quiet danger that made him the deadliest of all of us. He didn't say much, which was exactly why he was the most dangerous. You could never see him coming. He would move through the world like a ghost and handle what needed to be handled before anybody even realized what was happening.
He looked me directly in the eyes with a focus that was almost scary from how intense it was, and said simply, "That's good as handled." He ain’t care about Namier telling him that he was gonna take care of it. Zaire wanted blood no matter how calm he seemed.
And I knew he meant it. Demontae Sullivan and Brick Boyz were already dead as far as Zaire was concerned.
Me and Namier left his house to let Zaire get himself together. When we walked out into the night air I exhaled a long, deep breath. Before we could split up and go our separate ways, I grabbed Namier's arm and pulled him to the side, away from Zaire's house, away from anywhere this conversation could be overheard.
I ran down the Mallory situation to him, I told him about the call that I had gotten from my wife while we were at the prison waiting on our brother to be released. He immediately raised his brow.
Namier's eyes went sharp, understanding the situation immediately. "What the fuck she want? Why she even here?"
"Hell, I don’t know yet," I said.
"So what you going to do?" Namier asked, and his question carried weight because he already knew the answer. He was just testing me, making sure I was thinking clearly. "Because if you don't handle her right now, you know Tatti’s ass will. We already seen what she capable of when she feel disrespected. And if she said she’ll smoke the bitch, I’d believe her."
Before I could answer, Tatti walked up on us from out of nowhere. Just appeared like she'd been waiting in the shadows the whole time, watching, waiting for her moment to make her presence known. Her ass was too swift and sneaky. I gave her a cold ass glare, because I still wasn’t over what happened earlier.
Her hand was on her hip and her eyes were cold as ice. The kind of cold that said she was holding rage in her chest all this time, waiting for a reason to let it out, waiting for the right moment to strike and Mallory had chose the wrong time to pop up here.
"Take me to this bitch," she said, her voice steady and dangerous, cutting through the night air like a sharp blade. “Kaseem I know you didn’t think that you could get over on me and sneak this bitch off before I saw about it. Come on, let’s go see what she wanted so fuckin bad!” it was clear she had overheard my conversation to my brother, about where I had ol’ girl stashed.
She was standing there like she was ready for war, and the look in her eyes told me she meant every single word. My wife was a fuckin trip, this woman I'd just discovered had been lying to me about her entire life, she was still calling shots. Knowing damn well I was seconds away from getting on her ass myself.
One thing that I knew was that she wasn’t going to go home or drop the situation, unless I said and did exactly what she was telling me to do. Namier gave me a look to let me know it was about to be some shit. I was just glad that I had this nigga with me a back up.
The fact that Tattiana really waited near Zaire’s bushes in the night like a damn stalker, all so she could get taken to Mallory. That shit was crazy, rather she knew it or not. Namier looked at Tatti standing there making demands. He leaned over close enough that only I could hear him.
“What you gone do now? You ain’t gone be able to make her go home.” he asked, his voice low, watching me like he needed to know if his big brother had a plan or if I was about to move off pure rage. Today was the day that I was liable to do some crazy shit just off the strength that I’ve been feeling played with all day.
“I ain’t got a choice but to take her ass with me,” I said, keeping my voice even, even though everything in me was tight enoughto snap. “If I don’t go see what this bitch Mallory want, it’s gonna turn into a bigger problem than it already is. I’m finna see what the fuck she came looking for, then I’m gonna deal with her accordingly so I can handle my wife and get to the bottom of the shit that happened earlier.”
Namier shook his head and let out a long breath. He already knew that the night wasn’t nearly over.
I turned to Tatti and told her to come on. I said it stern and dry.
I wasn’t in the mood to soften nothing for her right now, not after everything that had already happened. Especially not after finding out my marriage had a hole in it big enough to make us sink. I was really disappointed in her ass right now, and here she was, acting like I owed her something. She’d demanded that I take her to this bitch. My dumb ass was going along with her demands too.
She got in the car without arguing, and I drove around the property until we hit the little house near the back where Sam had Mallory stashed.
“You really just trying to take the heat off yourself right now,” I told Tatti while I parked, my eyes locked straight ahead because I couldn’t look at her and keep my composure at the same time. “Soon as we get home, you got some explaining to do. And the shit better make sense, cause right now I don’t even know who the fuck I married.”
She didn’t respond. Just kept her eyes out the window.She was bouncing her legs in anticipation and I knew she was pissed off at what was going on.
After I cut the engine, we all walked in together. It was me first, Tatti behind me, Namier ass was in the back like he had somewhere better to be.
As soon as we walked inside, Mallory was tied to a chair in the middle of the room. The second I saw how she was tied up, I knew Sam had rushed the job. That rope looked thin as hell, barely wrapped around her wrists, the kind of tie job a nigga does when he ain’t thinking straight cause he’s moving fast under pressure.
“Nigga, I know you ain’t tie this bitch up with no damn shoestrings,” Namier said, holding his temple like the sight of it physically stressed him out.”
You know damn well she can burst out that shit.”
I cut Namier a look that told him now wasn’t the time for that. This wasn’t the time for him to be a comedian.
Sam stepped forward. “That’s all we had lying around on such short notice,” he said. “Wasn’t expecting to have to apprehend nobody tonight. So I did what I could with what I had on me. I can promise you that it’s secure.”
“Wait outside,” I told Sam. Tired of looking at his damn face too. “Stay close though.”
