Page 40 of Only You

“Love? What the hell do you mean by love, Ma?” Stephon asked like he had the right to.

“See what I mean, I’m going to get the dessert,” she said as she stood to walk out of the dining room. Stephon stood to get up behind her before Jourdan called out.

“Foo sit your ass down!” I heard him tsk under his breath.

“That part!” I added.

“What’s the deal, Steph? Come on, Baby-Boy: Jody, lil’ Jody. Mama gotta have a life too. You act like that man put you in a headlock and had you calling out for your mama,” Brice said and laughed.

“Yeah nah, y’all LA niggas not about to be hard R, and dead homie me to death tonight. Don’t ever compare me to one of them either. I’m Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn til’ I die,” Stephon said, then smirked.

“Yerr, Ok, Son! Steph, I’m gone hold your hand when I say this, but you’re ‘deadass’ from North Carolina. Cypress Crest til’ you die!” Brice said, causing us all to burst out laughing. Stephon’s mom eventually returned with the dessert while we tried to convince Stephon the rest of the night that he needed to let go of NewYork because he’d technically lived here longer. I looked around at the people in the room and felt whole for the first time in a long time. This was my family, and I would kill anyone who dared to take it away from me.

CHAPTER 22

Brice

The room was dark, aside from the TV playing Baby Boy. The sound was background noise to the voice in my head. We’d decided to watch it when we came home before Tayla fell asleep on my lap. As we watched, we both reminisced on our time in LA. Aside from when my parents were alive, we couldn’t think of any recent times that would make us want to return. Tayla turned over in my lap and was now facing me. I looked down at her beautiful face, which was illuminated by the TV, running my finger down the front of her lip. It caused her nose and mouth to twitch and a smile to form on my face. Tayla was happy. The smiles, joy, and laughter that she carried throughout the night were something that I wanted to provide to her until we both died.

To secure her future happiness, I needed to rid her life of everything that took that beautiful smile off her face and keep her from getting herself killed in the process. That was Nina and all her baggage. Everyone included in that baggage would all suffer thesame fate. Tonight, that was Sincere. Quietly, as Steph and I sat on his mother’s living room floor, we hashed out a plan that started with a simple snatch and grab of Sin. I glanced at the time and saw that it was eleven thirty. We had planned to meet up by twelve. If I wanted to be on time, I needed to get moving.

I gently slid Tayla from my lap and stood, covering her with the blanket from the back of the couch. Trying to make as little noise as possible, I climbed the stairs and headed straight to my closet, where I put on black sweats, a black t-shirt, and a black hoodie. Lastly, I stooped down and grabbed my black Timberlands, holding them in my hands until I could leave the house. I didn’t want to do anything to wake Tayla because there would be questions I wasn’t willing to answer. Then she would ask to be involved, and I didn’t want that either. I needed her ass safe and sound right there on the couch where I left her.

I quietly slipped past the couch and out the front door, throwing my shoes on once I was on the other side. I trekked across the yard to the carriage garage and hopped in her EV because it was soundless. Then I headed downtown to the Haven Computer Sciences Executive garage to meet Rock. There was no further irritation tonight as I cruised through every green light. I was leveling out on my body’s natural dopamine. Like every other time I had to put on this mask, my adrenaline began to spike in anticipation. It was the high I gained from knowing I would soon be fucking some shit up.

As I drove, my mind returned to the countless nights I’d spent learning everything about the game with Devin. I thought myfather had taught me everything, but he had only scratched the surface compared to what I knew now. However, one fact remained the same: cutting the grass reveals the snakes that were already there.

Pulling up to HCS, I used my fob to enter the garage and traveled to the executive floor. As I rounded the last corner, reaching the top, I saw that Rock was already there waiting. I parked beside his truck and got out to dap him up.

“You left the house in that loud ass truck?”

“Yeah. I told Jourdan I was about to handle some shit and she just let me leave no questions asked. Now that you mention the shit I still don’t trust the fact that those two are into some shit they aren’t telling us about.”

“You’re probably right, but Tay was asleep when I left,” he nodded. We both tucked our suspicion away as we walked to the Altima and retrieved the key from the fender. I popped the trunk and lifted the spare tire latch to reveal three guns. There were two twin forty-caliber Smith & Wesson guns for Rock, and my weapon of choice was a Glock G23. I also took out two needles full of ketamine and secured them in a band around my bicep.

“Let’s get this shit over with,” I said as I jumped in the driver’s seat and started the ignition. We got caught by a few lights as we headed to The Grove. As we rode through this time, Rock was shocked by the changes.

“Damn, D and them really did what they set out to. This doesn’t even look like the same place. And it’s all still black owned,” he sighed in amazement.

“That’s what’s up?” I followed. I hadn’t grown up here, but from what they all described, this was worlds away from the trap houses and corner huggers that used to have shootouts every weekend. The same as the first time I’d driven through, I couldn’t picture it being a drug capital. I parked a few blocks away from Sin’s address. Rock and I got out and bumped the doors closed to minimize the noise. It was late; we didn’t want to alert anyone in this quiet neighborhood to our presence.

Rock stood phone in hand, following the precautionary measures of erasing our ride here and scrambling all the surrounding cameras. He nodded once we were to move. Masks down, we slipped into the shadows running between the houses until we arrived at the house. As before, the familiar car was in the driveway. We could see a light creeping through the front window thatlooked like it was from a TV, so we decided to go in through the back.

I took my lock pick as quietly as possible, jimmying the door open. Rock and I walked through with our guns aimed and ready to shoot. The house was dark, except for the light coming from the living room. Rock turned down the hall towards the back rooms to check for anyone else before returning with an all clear. Together, we stepped into the living room. We found Sin sprawled wide onto the couch with his head thrown back and eyes closed. Audible moans escaped his mouth along with the indistinguishable slurps and gags of him being pleasured.

“You think we should let him finish,” I said as I stepped behind Sin cocked my gun and placed the tip directly to his head. The sound and feeling of the cold steel caused his eyes to pop open. His hands immediately searched for his gun. I was sure he had stashed it in the cushions.

“Now, why would you want to go and do that? You’d be dead before your finger could even find the trigger.” Rock walked around, retrieved it, and tucked it into his pants. The woman kneeling on the floor between his legs fell back, immediately throwing her hands up in fear. I looked at her face, and my eyes widened in recognition.

Charise Newton? The car out front is hers.

I was momentarily saddened by the fact that she’d found herself caught up in some shit she had nothing to do with.

“Ice,” Sin said, bringing me out of my revelation. I took the butt of my gun and cracked him across the temple.

“Shut the fuck up, you had to know I would eventually come for you so please don’t beg I hate that shit,” I said as he groaned in pain.

“Shhh! You hear that?” Rock whispered and slowly took out his other gun, aiming it at the kitchen entrance. In walked two women dressed the same as us and also masked up.

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