Page 36 of Breeze and Melodie

They looked surprised, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I wanted to handle Sean or because Rocky was letting me do so. Whichever it was, they didn’t question Rocky.

“Cool. He’s all yours,” one of them said with a nod.

“I wasn’t expecting an audience. How do I know I can trust you niggas?”

“Shit, how do we know we can trust you?” the other countered.

“What’s not to trust? I came here?—”

“Aye, chill, bruh. I been doing this shit since I was sixteen. I probably got more bodies than people you know. I don’t have people around me I can’t trust. If you’re here, that means I trust your ass too. Don’t question how I do shit.”

“Who the fuck?—”

“Chill the fuck out, nigga. We’re on the same side with the same goal,” Russell said, stepping between me and Rocky.

I took a deep breath and refocused my energy.

“My bad. You right. I moved alone most of the time back home because I couldn’t trust many people.”

“This ain’t back home,” Rocky said in response.

I took a few steps toward Sean, lifted the blindfold, and ripped the duct tape they’d just applied from his mouth.

“I should’ve known it was you. Melodie’s pussy ain’t good enough for you to have a nigga kidnapped,” Sean said snidely. “She ain’t gon’ even let you hit that shit raw.”

I used my thumb to flick the tip of my nose because this nigga clearly didn’t know this was more than a kidnapping.

“Oh, what? You wanna rough me up to teach me a lesson and drop me off in the middle of nowhere,” his cocky ass continued when I didn’t speak. “At least untie me so it’ll be a fair fight.”

I planned on beating his ass until he was unrecognizable, then finishing the job with a gunshot right between the eyes. However, the more he talked, the less I wanted to waste my time or energy.

“Say something, nigga. I know you didn’t come here to—argh!”

While he continued to talk shit, I reached behind me, grabbed my gun, and shot him right between his legs.

“Are you—are you—ahhh! Oh fuck! You shot my—you shot my dick! What the?—”

I was sick of hearing his voice, so I pulled the trigger again, intentionally grazing his neck to shut him up.

“Shut the fuck up! I knew I should’ve killed your bitch-ass the first time you thought it was cool to put your hands on Melodie. You got lucky and caught me trying to be a decent human and positive member of society. It was cool while it lasted. Say a prayer.”

I pulled the trigger one more time, hitting him between his eyes.

“How will you dispose of the body?” I asked the two men who were here when we arrived.

“You’ll have to trust us. We don’t know you like that,” one of them responded.

“I’m Breeze.” I extended my hand toward the one who’d responded first.

“Semiyon, and this is Noel.”

I shook Noel’s hand and repeated my question. “Now that we know each other, how will you dispose of the body?”

“Yo, Rocky, get your boy,” Semiyon said.

“Breeze, you gotta chill. They got it from here. You ain’t got shit to worry about. Let’s go.”

Rocky and his brother headed out the door we’d come in, and I followed but stopped before heading up the stairs. Semiyon and Noel had already started the clean-up process. I watched for a while, and they seemed to be thorough. Rocky and Russell were waiting near Rocky’s truck when I got outside.

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