Page 9 of The Mob: Shio Cuppacio
Shio looked impressed. “You know the word?”
“Yeah… Well, when I learned the urban fiction section books by heart, I figured if I could read fake niggas living fake lives, I could dive into the Bible. To be honest, that book more ruthless than the urban and street lit I consumed.”
I’d been dragged to church by a few of the older ladies in the hood growing up, and I knew I believed in God. However, I had never been deep into Christianity like that because I was too much of a fucking heathen and had no plans to fix my ways. But when you didn’t have shit else to do, shit changed. I was still very much a demon, but I knew the word now.
“That’s what’s up. I’ma have to bring you to my stepfather’s church.”
I didn’t know how I felt about that, so I didn’t respond to it. I was still confused as to why this nigga was standing in front of me.
“To be honest, I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing here. All I know is that you my brother, and I want us to have a relationship. I know you were doing your thing before you got locked up, but?—”
“But you know that hoe bled me dry, hunh?” My cheeks warmed in embarrassment. I wasn’t the motherfucker that waseasily shamed, but letting Stella take my freedom and my gwap was enough to make me want to kick my own ass.
That was another reason I didn’t want to talk to my sister and refused her letters when I was locked up. She met Stella once and told me to leave that hoe in the streets of the A. I didn’t listen, though. She got with one of the many scammers living in Atlanta, not even a week after I was locked up. A whole other nigga from the one I caught her with was balling out with that bitch on my dime. She’d taken me for everything I had. No lie, it was the first time I came close to shedding a tear behind a female. It wasn’t because I’d lost, but more so, I should have never let her in my space in the first place. The bitch didn’t even have access to my accounts or the passcodes to my phone, but that didn’t stop her scammer from robbing the fuck out of me. My brothers were just as pissed as I was and had been searching for the bitch, but she had to have been living under a rock because they had been unsuccessful in locating her.
I was raised by women, so Stella didn’t leave me with a bad taste regarding the opposite sex. Plus, my forgiving-ass ways couldn’t allow me to dump my insecurities on another woman. I did know that I wouldn’t be entertaining another female until I got my shit together, and even then, I didn’t want nobody that wasn’t already bossed up in their own right. I’d fallen for that sickly bitch. She’d gone through breast cancer and everything that came with that. During that time, I had to nurse her back to health, pay for treatments, and more. So much had happened in the nine months we’d been dating that the relationship felt like it had been going on for years. As sick as she was, her one titty ass still fucked another nigga and ran off with my shit. When I did get myself a new bitch, she had to be a hundred percent healthy and paid. I was no longer in the business of reviving bitches from their deathbeds. I needed mine with a clean bill of health and her own wealth.
“We can’t change the past. I even looked into finding Stella, but that scammer she was with must have given her a new identity. At this point, leave it in God’s hands. I can’t fix the past, but I can offer you a brighter future. I really don’t know what the fuck I’m doing out here, but I do know I can’t go another day without having a relationship with my brother. Join us.” He stood taller.
“The mob?”
“Yes, the mob. Join the mob. In Jagoda Bay. It ain’t what you think. That TV shit? Some of it is true, but we coming different.”
“So, you saying y’all better than the Godfather shit I’ve seen?”
Shio flicked the tip of his nose with his thumb. “Nah, I’m saying we worse. Joining the Rinaldi Mob has been the hardest shit I’ve ever done, and it ain’t got nothing to do with the missions.”
“Missions?”
“You’ll see.” He chuckled barely, but I heard it. “It’s fucked up most of the time, but at the same time, it’s rewarding too. I know you have other brothers, but youmybrother. I want you to live life like a fucking king.”
“So it’s gone make me rich?”
“It is.”
“On God?”
“On foe ’nem.”
“Count me in then.” I grinned mischievously while rubbing my hands together like Birdman.
“It’s stipulations, though. You have to get m?—”
“Ion give a fuck. The stipulations don’t matter. I’m in.” Using the back of my hand, I tapped his chest and walked around him to the driver’s side. “Come on, I’m driving.”
Hopping in the big-ass truck, fresh leather and black cherry filled my nostrils. The display stretched across the entire dashboard and lit up dimly. I hadn’t expected a pickup truckto be this luxurious, but I was fucking with it. Resting on the middle console was a mountain of rubber-band money.
Shio eased into the passenger seat. “Welcome to the mob, nigga. It’s more where that comes from.”
“Shit, say less.”
I was all for the mullah. I didn’t give a fuck what I had to do as long as that shit wasn’t degrading, didn’t test my manhood, and didn’t get me locked the fuck back up. Show me the fucking money! Stella had taken me for everything I had, but my first day out, my dear ole brother had come through in a major way. I would entertain this brotherhood, but I wasn’t staying with that nigga when we got to the city. I had a sister and a brother I could house with.
Jagoda Bay, here comes a fucking goonie.
Chapter 2
Glow
