Page 10

To get to where we were took a lot of hustle, heart, and sacrifice. Now I was in the position that I’d dreamt about; I only thought about building bigger and securing our spot at the top. Our empire wasn’t built overnight, but this shit had been more than worth it, in my opinion. Everything I put into our business was always about building something that went far beyond us being the plugs. The drugs were just a necessary stepping stone to something bigger and better. I wanted the Holloway family to set shit up so that our kid’s children would be able to say they come from old money.

That was why I had to get shit right with Xiyah’s ass. I wasn’t building all of this shit for nothing. I was building this for her and the future that we were trying to build together, too. I knew the moment I met her that I would do whatever it took to provide for and protect her, and I was standing on business about that. It was up with anybody when it came to her, and that included her ass. She was trying to get in her own way, and I wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Damn, it took you long enough to get here,” Takoda finally said after finishing whatever he was doing on his phone.

“I was handling business.”

“Nigga, fucking Xiyah doesn’t count as handling business.”

“Watch how you talk about my woman,” I said, mugging his ass.

“Damn, testy, testy. I thought your ass would be a little nicer now that you two motherfuckers had made up.”

“Well, you thought wrong. And what the fuck is going on over there? Why is that nigga on his phone like we don’t have work that needs to be done around here?”

I didn’t wait for Takoda to answer as I headed that way. I ran a tight ship in order to ensure that everyone made it home safely, and that meant dealing with stupid motherfuckers who thought it was okay to not focus on business when it was time to focus on the money.

“Damn, she’s fine as hell,” I said, walking up to him and snatching his phone.

“Hey, what you on?” he asked, mugging me.

“Aye nigga, you better watch who the fuck you’re talking to like that. I don’t know who hit you upside your head this morning, but you better tighten the fuck up before we really have a problem your ass can’t solve out here,” I said, gripping his ass by the collar of his shirt and mushing him into the wall.

“My bad, man. I’m saying, though. Why did you snatch my phone like that? I’m trying to see her once we’re done working here.”

Sucking my teeth, I took the phone and smashed it on the ground. Even though the shit had broken into pieces, I still stomped on that shit. It seemed like every time I tried to work on my anger management, stupid motherfuckers like him wanted to show me that I hadn’t made it that far in my journey as I thought I had.

“I don’t give a fuck if you planned on killing that bitch and fucking her mother after we’re done here. For right now, though, I’m paying you to do a fucking job, but you’re not doing it. So, I’m going to take that as you saying fuck me and what I got going on, which is very disrespectful. And I’m not the kind of nigga who tolerates fucking disrespect.”

Letting out a deep breath as though his ass had the right to even be remotely annoyed, he said, “Alright, man, damn.”

Raising my gun, I shot his ass twice in the head. Once his body hit the ground, I stomped on his face. Hopefully he’d learn to shut the fuck up in hell.

“You hell,” Takoda said, laughing as we walked back up to the front.

“Aye, pack that nigga up,” I said to one of our workers. He already knew what needed to be done once he saw the body on the ground.

Once everything calmed down, our men finished unloading everything, and the rest of our time at the warehouse was uneventful. Thankfully, I didn’t have to kill anyone else because I had better shit that I could’ve been doing.

After everyone pulled out, Takoda let me know that he needed to talk about something now that we were alone. I could tell from the seriousness on his face that it was going to piss me off. Normally, Takoda was the comedian and thrived on making everyone around him laugh. Our lives had been filled with so much hard shit that I felt like he used his jokes to cover the pain neither of us would ever admit we felt.

“What’s good?”

“I heard from Jasai, and he’ll be getting out in December.”

Hearing my cousin’s name in the same sentence as getting out damn near knocked the wind out of me. He’d been locked down for the last ten years, and we’d been waiting for the day he touched down and was able to enjoy the benefits that came from all of our sacrifices. Thinking about him getting out made me think about the night that landed him in there in the first place.

“Yo, cuzzo. Change of plans. Don’t meet me at the hotel. Meet me at Aunt Sierra’s house.”

The entire call threw me off because my aunt had been dead for three years. There was no reason for him to be telling me to meet him there. I immediately knew something was wrong, really wrong. Pressing down harder on the gas pedal, I weaved between the cars, trying to get to him faster than my GPS said I could.

“Fuck that, I’m on the way.”

“Don’t come here, cuz. I can see what’s good, and it’s not good. I’m probably about to sit down for a minute, and we don’t both need to be doing that. Go to the house, and when I’m able to, I’ll get in touch with y’all.”

Sighing, I could read between the lines. The problem was this drop was planned to perfection. So, if something went wrong, then that meant we had a rat in our camp. And if my cousin went down because a motherfucker couldn’t keep their fucking mouth shut, I was going to make sure they couldn’t ever speak again.

“Alright. Hit me up when you can. I love you, cuzzo.”