Page 2 of Nobody But You

“Look at his ass walking in here parting bodies like he’s King Kong. But King Kong ain’t got shit on me!” Devin loudly spoke in a singsong voice.

“Yo, you deadass right now?” I laughed because he was referencing Denzel’s character from Training Day.

“Nah Yeah, ain’t that what y’all New York niggas say? Because this shit is about to be mine if he doesn’t have my money!” Devin said, holding his arms out and motioning around him. I laughed again.

“Chill, Yo. You don’t want this dirty old-ass shit. It smells like someone died in this motherfucker.” I said as I flicked a piece of wood off the table end that was sticking up.

“Not yet,” Devin said and laughed.

“We on that type of time tonight?”

“Facts,” he returned. We watched as they pushed through the club patrons, heading toward where we sat. They didn’t know we were there. We watched them pass before swiftly standing and heading down the dark hallway toward the back, where the offices were held. We didn’t have to worry about their surveillance. I didn’t expect to see any inside since there were none outside. I discreetly located only two cameras when we came in, and theyweren’t positioned to see shit. As we stood outside the door, Devin nodded in my direction to be sure I was ready. I nodded in return, then we dropped our masks and barged into the small office.

Behind the desk, one of the guys who parted through the crowd jumped out of his seat at the loud thud from the door. Seeing that it was us, he immediately threw his hands up in defense. The other promptly sat on the sofa to my right of the desk with his hands also thrown up. We’d caught them off guard; their surprised expressions covered their faces. I stalled, then entered slightly behind One, gently closing the door. I immediately faded into the darkness after all their attention rested on him. Once there, I began to scan the room. I don’t think they realized that I had entered behind him.

“Shit,” I heard the guy behind the desk say as panic and worry set into his facial features. I was very observant, often taking inventory of everything in a room. That’s just how I was. If someone moved an inch, I would notice. He sat contemplating what bullshit he would let spew out of his mouth. For that reason alone, there was a possibility that we might not get what we came here for.

One stood before the desk, but he wasn’t saying a word. He didn’t need to because they knew why we were here. As One began to speak, I caught a noise. I looked down to see it was coming from the doorknob; it could barely be heard over the music. It slowly turned and opened. Then came the nose of the gun, and lastly, the toe of a boot. It was some stupid nigga; he had to be.

I quietly and quickly whipped out my weapons as he entered. I always carried two under each arm in a holster under my jacket.When he came through the door, I cracked him on the back of the head with the left one, dropping him to his knees, letting off two to his back and one to the head. I hadn’t even seen his face. It was also the moment that my presence in the room was revealed. On instinct, One drew his weapon on the man sitting at the desk; he otherwise hadn’t flinched. As the man I’d just dropped descended backward, I jumped to miss him, falling back onto a set of filing cabinets in the corner. It rattled loudly, causing some of its contents to fall to the floor. For a second, his lifeless eyes transfixed on mine, startling me because they looked like mine. Then I saw myself there, dead on the floor. I quickly swiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

You're tripping, Rock!

“Fuck!” I yelled as dust particles filled the air around me.

“You good?” One asked.

“Yeah, man. That motherfucker almost fell into my damn knee. You know I can’t have that shit. That would’ve made me knock all this dirty ass shit over,” I said as I fanned the thick air with my left hand and finger still primed on the trigger. One chuckled, then returned to his questioning. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man who sat in the chair shift in his seat. He thought the distraction gave him a chance, but my right hand was still pointed in his direction.

“Aye, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I calmly told him as I trained the weapon in my right hand directly between his eyes from where I stood. He immediately threw his hands up again so Icould see them.

“Do you think I’m stupid, motherfucker? I knew when you walked through the front door of this shitty ass establishment that you were going to tell me you didn’t have my money. I’m also guessing that you sent this dumb motherfucker in here to stage a robbery so that you can lie to me and tell me that you didn’t have my shit,” One said, gesturing towards the man lying dead on the floor. Without being told. I approached the man sitting on the couch, motioning for him to stand by tapping my gun on the back of his head. He leaned forward to stand, and I walked him over to the safe behind the desk, urging him to empty it.

“All of it. I don’t even want to see a smidgen of dust left. Mr. Clean that shit, you hear me,” I said.

“A smidgen? I see you using your big words today. You know his dumb ass don’t know what that means, right,” One said, chuckling.

“Oh, he knows what the fuck it means because he doesn’t wanna meet Smith. His boy over there already met Wesson.”

He started unloading the safe that, in fact, had the money his boss claimed he didn’t. I didn’t understand why niggas always tried us. Once I was content with what he’d collected, I ushered the man back to his seat and then nodded to One. Then he put one in the head of the man behind the desk, causing his body to slump forward.

On the way out, One walked straight past the man I was still holding at gunpoint. Then he swiftly turned around and shot him in the knee. The man quickly grabbed it, writhing in pain. One squatted down, speaking directly in his face.

“You sure you want this shit? Because if you don’t, decisions can be made.”

“Ye…yeah. I’m gonna be sure I have your money on time.” The nameless man stuttered through the pain I knew he was in.

“Smart man,” Devin said as he removed the bookbag and threw it on his lap.

“Clean this shit up! Every smidgen! Let’s be out,” One said as I laughed. We exited the office and, eventually, the club. Once in the car, I asked the question plaguing my mind since I’d seen it happen.

“Yo D, why in the hell did you shoot that man in his knee like that?” I asked as I rubbed mine, shuddering at the thought of a knee injury.

“Oh, that,” he said casually.

“Those dumbass niggas almost messed up your damn knee. The shit pissed me off so…” He shrugged as if what he’d just said made perfect sense.

“Man, what?” I asked with a perplexed expression as we looked at each other. Then we both burst out laughing. I laid the seat back and tried to get some sleep on the hour-long ride back to campus. I could only hope this game went well.

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