We switched positions three times before I filled her womb full of my seeds. When we were done, Breezy and I took turns in the bathroom cleaning up. In her bed, I wrapped my arms around her and slept better than I’d slept in a long time.
That evening, I rode with Maino to Amoure’s house. He was concerned that he hadn’t heard from her in two days. It had also been two days since she confessed to him that the dealer she sold the painting to had been acting funny. The Nigerian immediatelysuspected her of the robbery because she was the only one that knew of his whereabouts and that he would have the painting in his possession. He had moved carefully and discreetly and still managed to get the painting snatched.
Amoure called Maino paranoid two days ago that the art dealer was going to tell the Nigerian our whereabouts. He was still in town and had apparently been asking around to see if anyone had come across the painting. If the dealer confessed about her part in the set-up, she would surely die. But if he was going to kill her anyway, there was a possibility that she could drop Amour’s name. Amoure was as green as they came, so if the Nigerian pressed hard enough, she’d probably give Maino up.
My first reaction was who the fuck cares let them catch me. I didn’t regret getting those M’s. I was sure Maino didn’t either. However, if I was going to get taken out by the Nigerian, I didn’t plan on making it easy for his ass.
“Shorty knows where you live. You think it’s safe to play your crib like that?” I asked Maino. The car ride had been fairly quiet. I knew Maino, and he was more than likely in deep thought about how to handle Amoure. If she hadn’t already been handled.
“That’s a good question.”
“Did you tell her who was going to do the robbery with you?”
“Hell nah,” Maino frowned. “She didn’t need to know all that. She doesn’t know you or anything about you. Even when you were at my crib that night she was there, I never spoke your name.”
I bobbed my head. “So, you can stay at my crib for however long is needed. That Nigerian might be salty over eight M’s, but I doubt he can stay in town forever trying to track down a painting. Shit, it’s really a waste of time attempting to come after us. The dealer is the one with the painting. We don’t have that shit.”
“It could just be the principle for his ass. I did hit him in the head with a gun and make him give up something he was about to sell for $8,000,000.” Maino chuckled. “Muhfuckas want the reward but when the heat comes, they fold like pretzels. The art dealer whoever she is, and Amoure aren’t even built for this kind of shit. I’m certain if he applies pressure, she’ll drop my name.”
“How you want to handle that?” I glanced over at him. It wasn’t like Maino and I sat back and discussed feelings and shit. I didn’t know how he felt about Amoure, but I doubted he was feeling her so much that he wouldn’t kill her to keep her from running her mouth.
“I’m probably going to go ahead and dead that situation. Just gotta try to find out if she ran her mouth first.”
I gave a curt nod. Whatever he wanted to do I was with it. There were times when my mind was racing that I still saw Rich’s face and how he looked at me right before I pulled the trigger. I didn’t regret killing him. I just didn’t expect it to be haunting me. If I added another body to the list, I was sure that one would haunt me too. But there were a lot of things haunting me. The thing that stressed me out and hurt me the most was Tyler. That one was gon’ hurt forever.
Maino pulled up at Amoure’s house. Her car was in the driveway, and the house appeared to be pitch black on the inside. If she was inside, she had every light in that muhfucka turned off. Maino and I emerged from the car, and I followed him to the door. Before he could ring the doorbell, we both noticed the door was cracked. Maino looked over his shoulder at me to see if I noticed. Simultaneously, we pulled our guns from where they were resting underneath our shirts. Slowly, Maino used his shoulder to push the door open. The moment I stepped into the living room, I knew what it was. The stench of something rotten burned the hairs in my nostrils and mademe damn near gag. Maino placed his shirt over his nose as we inched further into the space.
Since we couldn’t see anything, Maino pulled his cellphone out and turned on the flashlight. The living room was spotless and not a thing was out of place. Quietly, we crept through the house and as we neared the bedroom, the smell became stronger. I was going to end up passing out from holding my breath or throwing the fuck up from the odor. In Amoure’s bedroom, the light from Maino’s phone showed us what we needed to see, but he still flipped the light switch.
Amoure was in the center of her bed, naked, hands tied at the wrists in front of her with duct tape, and her bed was saturated with blood. Her body had been mutilated. I’d never seen anything like that up close and personal. It was obvious that she’d been dead for a minute. I didn’t need to see anything else. I pivoted, and Maino was on my heels. After he started his car, he peeled out of the driveway so fast his tires screeched.
The Nigerian had definitely gotten to Amoure but what we had no way of knowing was if she dropped Maino’s name before she took her last breath. I was willing to bet money that if he tortured her, she had. Death was an inevitable part of life. No matter how much we loved a person. No matter how bad that shit hurt, we were all going to lose people for as long as we lived. Still, it wasn’t an easy thing to get used to. I wasn’t ashamed to say that after losing Tyler, if I lost Maino too, it would fuck me up. We both knew there could be consequences of our actions, but we were going to deal with whatever came. I just wanted my nigga to come out on top. I really didn’t even give a damn about myself. But Maino, I wanted that nigga to thrive.
“Is there anything from your crib that you have to have, or you want to come straight to my house?”
“I’ll lay low for a lil’ bit, but I’m not gon’ be scared to go to my crib to get some things. I don’t know how deep those niggasare, but my gun busts just like theirs. If they catch me at the crib, then they catch me at the crib.”
I shook my head wondering what happened to the two mil that Amoure got from the deal. There was no way she could put it in the bank. If it was anywhere in her home and that Nigerian didn’t get it, he was dumb. I had divided mine up between a few different locations. If anything happened to me, the only person who knew where the money was, was Maino. I had to think about if something happened to both of us. The only issue with telling my parents where the money was, was that they’d be worried about me. After losing Tyler, I was sure the thought of losing me too would be too much.
If I was still with Kiandra, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell her. I didn’t think Breezy was foul. Not even for two M’s did I want to believe that she’d cross me, but I had only known her a short time. I couldn’t tweak out like that and let her know where I had $2,000,000 stashed. I needed to get back to thinking with my brain and not my emotions.
CHAPTER 14
BREEZY
I cuppedmy hands around my mouth and yelled as loud as I could. “You better do your fuckin’ big one, Storm!”
The Hellcat Barbies, a few niggas with Hellcats or Camaros, and some spectators were gathered to see some of the Barbies race. Just because I didn’t do it didn’t mean I didn’t support my girls when they did. I could get being competitive and wanting to win, but it was funny when men got mad because they were beat by a woman. Storm was racing a military guy driving a Camaro. The engines revved, and the crowd cheered. I was trying my hardest to enjoy the festivities, but Lucci was on my mind heavy.
The best part about being single and not liking anyone, were the stress-free days and nights. I hadn’t spoken to him in more than twelve hours. Not only that, he had his location off. I was tempted to pop up at his house, but I didn’t want to do all that. No matter how much I liked him or how good the dick was, I wasn’t trying to give off psycho vibes. I had a little too much pride for that. If he wanted to talk to me, he knew how to get in touch with me.
Times like this, made me feel stupid for ignoring Gavin. Even if I wasn’t interested in him romantically, I was avoiding beinghis friend because I didn’t want to make Lucci mad. “Maybe the man is busy.” I mumbled to myself.
Tired of thinking about Lucci, I focused on the cars as they took off burning rubber. Even while I was straining my neck to see, I couldn’t concentrate on the race. The urge to check Lucci’s location was so strong, my index finger twitched. I was pissing my own self off acting like I wasn’t pressure, and I couldn’t get a man if I really wanted to. Lucci talked about preferring love over loyalty, but nobody was just automatically loyal to bullshit. At least not me. Imagine me running around acting as if he was the only man that existed while he got ghost whenever he wanted to.
“Storm smoked that nigga!” Aubree yelled.
Trying to force myself to have a good time wasn’t working. I’d rather leave than be a party pooper. Physically, I was there but mentally, I was a million miles away. I wasn’t even in the mood to tell anybody that I was leaving. I just got in my car and pulled off. I was supposed to be going home. I had every intention of it, but I found myself parking right beside Lucci’s Maserati after doing exactly what I said I had too much pride to do. I popped up at his home unannounced and uninvited.
