Page 3 of Dom 3
“King, what a surprise, always,” the voice said.
“When I text you ‘July’, you cut that rope and get on one accord with your people here and let the ocean do what the ocean loves.”
“I got you.”
I hung up and we rolled back to the tower and back in the headquarters. I called Carmen again and this was the most I ever called her since I’d been knowing her. “You sleep?” I asked.
“I’m waiting for you, Dom,” she simply replied. “Did you eat?”
“I’m working on it,” I lied. Carmen never ask me if I ate and shit like that. The baby was making her softer… hell maybe me too.
“Don’t lie to me,” she said, smiling through the phone. “Drink that ginger tea and call me when you’re on your way…” she paused for a second. “Well, you never really call any damn way, you watch me on your little camera and let yourself in. I’m going to find that damn camera.”
“You don’t want that camera found ‘cause if you did, it would be gone by now. You like me watchin’ you and I’ma be watchin’ forever. I love you,” I said. I didn’t say that to nobody by accident either.
“I know,” she sighed but again, I could tell she was smiling before she hung up, and wanted to say more, but she didn’t.
Tone watched me with that quiet look as he pulled a chair and sat forward with his elbows on his knees. “You told her,” he said looking over his shoulders at everyone else moving around us before he turned back to me.
“She knew before I said it,” I told him, rubbing a hand down my face smelling the gunpower. “But yeah, she know and beenknew. I told her the parts I’ve been tryin’ not to say out loud. Shit, we having a baby. She really ain’t going nowhere now.”
Tone nodded slowly and let his eyes linger on everything else before he looked back at me. “You still scared.” He asked.
“That fear will never leave, especially when I lay eyes on my baby.”
He chuckled flashing his gold teeth. “Nigga, you still Dom.”
“Always…”
“Just know, I’m yo bro for life and you not doin’ this alone.”
“I know, I never was,” I said thinking about Tone’s situation too. We worked hard to build this empire, and we’d been building so long, we were accustomed to watching our own backs. The thought of somebody targeting a baby in the Royal camp to get to us already had my trigger finger itching. “You not in this shit alone either, you know that. We just got a lot of blood to wash before we get that peace.”
“Then let’s get to cleanin’ the tacos and shit then, so we can do bedtime stories without a chopper on the nightstand.”
I laughed and then coughed twice wishing this cold would leave me alone. “Bedtime stories gon’ be about logistics and money laundering.”
“Kids gon’ be a genius,” he said. “Or a fuckin’ menace.”
“Both,” I replied. “Like us.”
Tone’s phone started ringing as the screen lit up with SHONA in all caps and a little heart emoji. He grinned, wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, and answered. “Aye, bae, you good?” Before she could respond, he hit speaker, glancing at me with a half-smile. “Dom right here too.”
Shona’s voice filled the room, all bright and hyped. “Ooh, both y’all together? Good. Y’all need to hear this! Tone, the baby kicking for real now…like a whole salsa class in my belly. I put on some music, and it started going crazy, like flutters for real. I can’t wait to see what we having.” She laughed.
Tone’s eyes went glassy for a second, then he chuckled. “Told you, baby got rhythm. Probably got yo’ dancing ass feet and my attitude.”
“Mmhm. You talk big, but you better not forget what you promised. I want them flaming hot chips, the purple bag Doritos, some Little Debbie oatmeal pies, and don’t you come home with no off-brand snacks either, and stop at the corner store by Lisa’s, not the other one, the dude with the lopsided wig sells stale stuff.”
I shook my head. Tone shot me a look like,See what I deal with?Shona kept going, her list was rolling out like a grocery haul. “And one of them big pickles in the plastic, the ones come with the pepper in it, and a blue freeze cup. And ooh, some Now & Laters. Grape or watermelon, I don’t care. You hear me?”
Tone grinned, letting her have her moment. “I got you, ma. I ain’t about to mess up and come home empty handed. Dom, you taking notes?” He winked at me.
I simply shrugged glad Carmen wasn’t at that point yet. Damn, Shona wasn’t fuckin’ around with Tone. After he ended the call, we gave each other that look, pushing the females aside and back in killer mode. It was time to go.
We strapped up for the Grove, and I left the long ass sawed off chopper chilling in the case while everything else was on me, tucked just right. When we arrived, we slid up, parking a couple blocks away, moving like some mob bosses fresh out a dinner meeting at a steakhouse. When we hit the gate, I banged my knuckles on it and heard the lock click, and the gate man opened it like it was nothing which was a big mistake because it showed that he was too comfortable and too trusting. I rushed his ass, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him back like I this was a residence I owned and had the right to. Before he could even get a word out, the back of his head smacked tile, and he was on the ground seeing stars like he just caught a Mayweather hook.
Once inside, we swept the hall, the kitchen, the den, and the bedrooms. You learn to read a house by smell. This one smelled like bleach, fresh laundry, and cocaine. The inside was clear, but we could feel the cameras watching. Dique and I ended up back-to-back with our Glocks in hand ready to shoot while our eyes bounced. It was so quiet, you could hear a rat piss on cotton. When the rotation of the camera changed, Dique grinned shooting a middle finger at it.
