“Take care of this,” she told him, her tone even.
He nodded without even looking at her. Staring past her at the store, she didn’t have to make such an obvious request. He’d done more for a lot less. A crowd had gathered around to watch them, but it was beginning to thin out as they wrapped things up. There was yellow tape everywhere, and the street was blocked off to keep any traffic from coming through.
“I’m going to the hospital to be with my baby.” She stepped past her husband and went to jump on the back of the ambulance.
The doors closed, and Max stood there as they hit the sirens and took off down the street. Detective Mario Perez approached him as he sparked a Newport and inhaled.
“Sorry for your loss,” Perez replied, humble.
Max didn’t glance at his way. He was a man of few words. Right now, part of his heart was gone since his baby girl left this earth. He inhaled the nicotine once again and exhaled. He and Perez went to school together. Familiar with one another, often he would turn the other cheek when Max handled certain matters. That was as personal as it got. Perez didn’t want a bloodbath to take over his city, but there was nothing but malice behind Max’s stare.
“You already know we are going to do everything we can to find this nigga.”
Max turned to him, still unresponsive. His eyes glistened over, and he thought about the first time he held his daughter, Mickey. Rage brewed inside his chest. She came from him, and now she was gone. The aching and hollowness inside him was enough to cripple a normal man.
“You won’t have to,” he assured him, walking off into the crowd.
His crew didn’t need him to tell them to follow. Ready for whatever he instructed, they lined up behind him. Blood was going to spill on these streets, and until Javon was found, every member of his fucking family was about to get sent home to God. Max didn’t play about a damn thing, but his children and even Mila were off limits. Niggas had no code, no values, no nothing anymore. It was time for him to enforce the rules of the game or die trying.
Twenty years later…
“Why can’tI come into the club with you, Rose? You got a bitch in there you trying to hide from me?” Nadia Faulks rolled her slanted hazel eyes toward Ambrose and blinked several times while he looked at her like he hadn’t heard her.
“Nadia, I hit you with this dick already. The fuck wrong with you? I just got back into town?—”
“And you spent an hour with me before you were getting dressed and having me take you all around town to make sure your shit was straight. What the fuck you think I am, a chauffeur or something?” she responded snippily.
“You sounding like my fucking woman right now, and I don’t like that shit.” He shook his head before glaring in her direction.“I appreciate you holding down the gym and everything for me, and I did thank you, am I right?” He tilted his head.
Nadia shifted in her seat, still upset. She hated that Rose had this kind of control over her life. He took her virginity way back when and they’d been off and on since. He would walk away, and she would let him. She would find a new nigga, try to give him a chance, but any time Rose was around, she knew it was always a possibility that they would have sex. Neither of them could help themselves. The art of fucking was mastered years ago. Now that they were in their thirties it was even more lit. She loved him, but he didn’t know how to love her correctly.No commitmentwere his words. He wasn’t interested in being a one-woman kind of man. He didn’t even see the point of that shit. The only semi healthy relationship he’d ever seen was Max and his wife Mila, and they still went through their share of drama.
“I want more than sex from you, Rose. How is it we’ve been together all these years and you still don’t get that?”
“Nadia, we broke up after high school. The fuck you mean all these years? You decided to walk away and do what was best for you. I didn’t fault you for that shit. I just want you to be good. You deserve that. What you want, I can’t give you. You know that. But I got this dick for you on deck. Just hit me up.” Rose leaned forward and kissed her cheek before he hopped out of her BMW.
Slamming the door shut, he walked toward the rear entrance to the club. This nigga named Forrest was parked outside the door, one foot propped on the wall blowing smoke from the cigarette in his mouth. Rose mugged the shit out of him on his way inside. Since high school, he never liked that nigga. He was a snake for real, and his name had come up in a lot of conversations that got niggas locked up.
“The fuck you looking at, rat? Matter of fact, the fuck you even doing hanging around here?” Rose stopped in his tracks and addressed him.
Laughing with his home, Forrest dropped his cigarette and stomed it out before pushing himself off the brick wall.
“These niggas might give you a pass, but as long as I’m around, you already know what the fuck it is,” Rose made clear.
“Man, fuck you. This ain’t yo’ city.” Forrest waved him off, knowing full well that Rose didn’t play when it came to disrespect.
Flaring his nostrils, Rose rushed him, forcing his back into the wall and getting in his face. He didn’t bother going for his heat, this nigga knew what it was. The streets talked, and they had a lot to say about Ambrose Westbrook. His name rang bells, and they weren’t for holiday cheer. More like death tolls that sent ice sweeping up your spine. Breath caught in his chest, with Rose’s dark, piercing eyes on him, he was tight. His homies too back like some bitches.
“Say that shit to my face, nigga!” Rose growled, waiting for Forrest to speak up. “What, nigga? Tongue tied or something? Let me help you out.” Going into his waist, he withdrew his pistol and held it at his side.
“Aye, bruh—” Forrest’s partner, Richie, stepped up behind Rose.
“I suggest you stay out of this, my nigga. It ain’t shit to dig two graves.” Rose’s deadly stare over his shoulder sent Richie tossing his hands up and backing off.
Bitch ass nigga.Rose turned his attention back to Forrest. He brought the barrel of the gun to his chin and looked him right in the eye. Something told him to pop him there, but there was going to be too much clean up. It was coming though. Other motherfuckers might have been okay with him roaming around, but Rose wasn’t them.
“When I see you again, it’s gon’ be to put you in a body bag. The king is back. And I ain’t about to let some snitch ass nigga wander these streets. I don’t trust you. If you smart, you’ll leave.”
“Do what you need to do, Rose. Shit changes, and you been gone a year. Some people know how to let certain shit go when it comes to getting the paper. Business over beef, king.” Forrest mocked, and it took everything in Rose not to squeeze on him right there.
