Page 44 of Dope Boys: Most Wanted
“How long you’ve been doing that? Holding your breath.”
She focused back on him finding he hadn’t taken his eyes off of her. “For a long, long time. Like ten years.”
He frowned slightly. “That’s a long time expecting the worst.”
“It’s a long time experiencing the worst. Since sixteen, all I’ve known is bullshit. And I really don’t want that to be my story anymore.”
“You can change that story whenever you’re ready. You just need to trust that shit is going to turn around.”
“You say that,” Reign started, finding a similar sadness in his eyes. “But I don’t think you believe it.”
Markus dropped his hands to his pants and rubbed the sweat from them. “You trying to pick me apart?”
“Not at all,” Reign shared. “Just my observation. I know a mask when I see one. I’ve worn mine for years.”
“I’m in the middle of some shit right now. Boys fuckin’ up, streets are hot, my ambition wants more and I need to pivot into something bigger, I just got to be mindful. I slip, all this shit slips. I’m not trying to have my sister picking up the pieces because I can’t see the path clearly,” he shared.
Reign had seen the game up close and personal so she understood. She also could see Markus. He wasn’t going to get out of the game, he was going to dominate it. Here she went again – flying too close to the sun.
“That’s honorable. You protecting her like that.”
“It’s my job. Some shit ain’t for the honor, it’s a standard. A man protects, he looks ahead, he provides. He knows the cost of what he has and the price if he loses it. Any nigga not understanding that ain’t a man.”
“So fuck meeting at noon,”Svyn joked as Markus strolled into the warehouse almost three hours after his demanded time.
Markus waved him off and looked around. “You and Nia hook up and you got jokes now?”
“I had jokes before then. You told me to unfuck it,” Svyn stated with a slight shrug. “How Reign doing? I’m assuming you put her up in a spot?”
“She’s at the salon. I got her in one of those brownstones Nia is renting out,” Markus shared.
Svyn chuckled. “You got a motive or your frozen heart is thawing out?”
Markus scratched his chin through the hairs of his beard. “No motive. I just … I don’t fucking know and the more I think about it, the more it’s growing out of my control.”
Svyn smirked and nodded. “I hear you, Money. So I talked to Luciano about them hustlers.”
“What he say? If it’s fucking stupid, I’m going to put the word out to light up every block until he gets the picture. How he mad about a kid and don’t have the same energy for an innocent bystander? I ain’t with it. The rules are cool, everybody in this city got to abide by them.”
“What we doing about G then?”
“I want that nigga thinkin’ he slipped and slid his way out of a bullet. I’ll get his ass when he doesn’t expect it. He’s going to get comfortable. What else you got, how we looking on product?”
“We aight for now but before we hit a drought, we need to get another supplier. Immediately. In the meantime, that nigga KC, who put the money out for Reign?”
Svyn’s smirk turned into a full smile. “You know, I thought you were never going to ask, walk with me, Money.”
Markus rubbed his hands together knowing exactly what time Svyn was on. Since they started running the streets together, Svyn knew that when Markus was after something, he was going to get it. It was the hunter in him. The Sagittarius.
The pair moved through the warehouse full of workers breaking down boxes and product disguised as retail items for the various shops around the city. Markus was always prepared for a raid, in the event he was busted they would have to earn their bust. Right now it just looked like a wholesale receivingwarehouse. Hair products, weave, clothing, laundry machine parts and a hand full of other things.
Out of the main warehouse and into the garage where a few of his workers were chopping cars. In the small office they never used, a bloodied man tied to a metal chair. Svyn grinned at his handy work.
“When I got your call, I put the word out. Corner boys are always looking for a come up. Look who they delivered.”
Markus studied the slumped man. “He working alone?”
“As far as we know, yeah.”
