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I shrugged him off and stood over Eric, pointing the gun to his head.
“You know who I am. So you know if I pull this trigger, nobody’s calling the police,” I said. My voice was steady, even though my blood was boiling and I was seeing red.
Eric’s eyes locked on the barrel. “I’m sorry, bruh. It was just jokes.”
I laughed and crouched down. “Bitch nigga, don’t ever fix your lips to say her name again. Crawl back to your section, get your shit, and get the fuck on. If I see your face again—anywhere, any borough—I’m putting a hot one through your dome. Feel me?”
He scrambled backward. His boys grabbed him and half-carried him down the stairs. None of them looked back. The birthday group two sections over had gone dead silent, suddenly very interested in their phones.
“Well that killed the vibe,” Priest said, watching them disappear.
“Shut the fuck up, Priest,” Marco and I said at the same time.
“You good?” Tariq asked me. He was looking at me like he wasn’t sure which version of me was currently present.
“I’m good.”
He didn’t look convinced but nodded anyway.
“Check every phone up here,” I told Priest and Yomi. “Anybody who was filming, I want that shit gone before we leave. This can’t end up online.”
They moved out across the floor. Two sections over, I watched them lean into the birthday group who’d recorded the whole thing, and every one of them started pulling out their phones to delete it. Yomi dropped a stack on the way out.
I put my piece back in my waistband and flexed my hands. There was dried blood on my knuckles that I needed to wash off.
Zeke pushed a fresh drink in my hand. “Here.”
I took it and downed it in one go.
“The nigga must’ve had a death wish talking all that shit,” he said.
“I’ma deal with him. Trust.”
It was wild that the scuffle hadn’t interrupted a thing downstairs. The DJ was still rocking, and everybody was getting lit off the free Ace of Spades courtesy of Priest.
Marco came back over. “One girl sent it to one of the gossip pages, but I had her unsend that shit real quick.”
“Good looks.”
“You staying or heading out?”
I checked my watch. It was a little after 1:00 a.m. I wanted to get home and lay up under Belle, but I was having a good time and didn’t know when I’d get another night out like this.
“I’ll head out in about an hour.”
Priest was pouring out shots for everybody. “To the homie Cardez,” he said, raising his glass. “‘Cause who else would knock a nigga’s head off at his own bachelor party? Man’s an inspiration to us all.”
“Fuck you,” I laughed.
“To Dez,” the whole table said in unison.
1 Listen to Dior by Pop Smoke
2 Listen to Computers by Rowdy Rebel, Bobby Shmurda
3 Listen to I get money by 50 Cent
39 LA’BELLE EVANS
