Page 24 of Dom 4
“I swear, I can’t even get no damn black-eyed peas in peace,” she said under her breath with an attitude. “All I asked for was some macaroni, some cornbread, and a peace of mind to go. But no, soon as I step foot anywhere, bullets wanna start flying like confetti around this bitch. I’m so fuckin’ annoyed.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Keondra, relax.”
“Relax?” she chuckled. “I almost got my baby shot over some collards. My spirit is disturbed.”
Carmen had been quiet the whole time. She was sitting slightly to the side with her hand resting over her stomach, as if she was protecting it. Her face wasn’t shaken with fear or any of that… as a matter of fact her face wascalculating,already sorting through possibilities, motives, and timing. That lawyer brain never slept. Before any of us could speak again, both of our phones rang at the exact same time. Mine lit up with Dique’s name. Hers lit up with Dom’s and the truck got real still real fast.
I answered. “Yeah.”
Dique came in mad as hell and he was pissed. “What the fuck goin’ on O? I just landed and Tone talkin’ about the hood turned into Baghdad. He got the call. Tell me my baby girl ain’t out there in that shit…”
He stopped speaking because Amour’s ears perked up at the sound of his voice. She looked around, with her small eyes wide and glossy. “Daddyyyy?”
The whole truck fell silent for a second once again, hell even Keondra killed the attitude.
“Yeah, baby,” Dique said, and his whole tone changed sounding softer but hiding what he really felt. “Daddy’s right here. You, okay?”
Amour nodded even though he couldn’t see her, and the little tears still sliding down her cheeks. Keondra kissed the top of her head and swallowed hard. “She’s alright,” Keondra said, in a shaky voice still too upset. “We all fine.”
The anger came right back into Dique’s voice. “Who the fuck shot at y’all?”
Before I could answer him, I heard Carmen speaking quietly into her phone, but she was calm, and precise with her words. “No, I’m not hurt. Yes, I promise. The baby is fine, Dom. We’re already en route.” She paused, listening. “Alright. I’ll put you on speaker.”
She tapped the screen and Dom’s voice filled the truck. He didn’t sound like he was panicking and he didn’t sound loud. He sounded like a man standing in the middle of a chessboard who already knew the next five moves.
“Everybody listen,” he said. “We’re not reacting sloppy. We don’t move off emotion. We move smart. I’m already handling the back end. Y’all sit tight and do exactly what I say.”
We all answered in our own ways but mine was a simple, “Got you.”
Dom continued, in a controlled tone. “No panicking. Keep yo’ eyes open and keep short communication. I’ll call back when I find out who was behind this shit. I already know for sure it wasn’t another cartel and wasn’t no affiliates from Cuba, Mateoconfirmed that. Get out the streets now,” he said and then the line disconnected.
I lifted my phone back to my ear. Dique was still there. “Tell me where y’all at,” he said.
I gave him the truck number and the route. “Bet. I’m comin’ straight there.”
Then the call ended. The truck interior was quiet except for Amour’s little hiccups. I leaned my head back for a second, trying to let the adrenaline really slow down. Carmen finally looked over at me, but her hand stayed on her stomach as she slowly ran her thumb back and forth across it. She didn’t have to say anything. I already knew what that look meant. This wasn’t random, this was intentional and as a soon-to-be mother, it was exactly what she was afraid of. I nodded at her, letting her know I understood and she nodded back as the truck kept moving.
Me and Tone were in the back of the truck with the seats pushed back just enough for us to breathe. Tone had the laptop open on his thigh and the footage from earlier played again in slow motion this time, because the other two times we watched it on regular speed. Neither one of us spoke at first because sometimes you had to listen quietly in order to think and catch every detail.
Tone pointed with two fingers. “See how that car eased up the block? It ain’t coastin’. Whoever in that driver seat was watchin’ something specific.”
The tape showed the dark sedan rolling past one time and then looping back around like it was trying to get the angle or the timing right. It pulled up again around the time Carmen and O’Shynn were stepping outside, but Stone had walked out right before that, and the timing overlapped so it was too close to call it.
“This ain’t cartel,” I said sure about it. “It’s no signatures, ain’t no patterns either. If somebody wanted to send a message to me? They would’ve made it loud enough that I heard it before the first shot.”
Tone nodded, agreeing. “Right, this wasn’t precision right here. This shit was too emotional and somebody doin’ too much, thinking they’re makin’ a point.”
I sat back with my wrist resting on my knee, my heavy chain out sitting on my chest, and my phone in my hand. My mind was moving fast like it always did in situations like this. “We don’t know who the shot was for yet,” I spoke again. “Could’ve been Carmen, could’ve been O. Could’ve been that nigga, Stone. Could’ve been Keondra just being at the wrong place, wrong time. Point is, we don’t know.”
“And that’s the fucked up part,” Tone groaned.
“Exactly.”
Uncertainty is how people get killed. Tone’s phone rang and he glanced at it before passing it to me. The more I looked at it, the more it seemed like Stone was with them not just casually an ironic situation and if I had to bet my dollar I’s say he was with O’Shynn because Carmen was out the question and he was out of Keondra’s league, so maybe it was O he was either trying to talk to or get at. Of course, I didn’t react out loud but inside I wasn’t fucking with that because it was about responsibility. O’Shynn didn’t let men close. So, if he’s close, she let him be.
“Anybody who gets close to my sister gets vetted," I muttered. “I don’t care how many rings he got or what team he plays for. If his problems can bleed into my family, I need to know before it happens, not after.”
Tone leaned back with a low laugh. “Yeah, you gon’ have to ask her about that directly, ‘cause you know she ain’t volunteering shit.”
