“Yeah?”
“Yes, bro. If he gets to this nigga first, I’m going to be pissed!”
“Lay low.”
“Bet.”
I ended the call, exiting the vehicle in pursuit of my target. Sitting like a duck, waiting for Laike to handle his business and finish off whoever he thought had witnessed his crime was not a part of my plan. I crossed the street while attaching the silencer to my piece. It locked as I approached the dark figure dressed in denim and a white shirt.
“Yo?” he asked, scrunching his features.
His delayed response to my presence assured his state of mind. He was intoxicated, mourning the loss of his homie. My condolences were not with his ass. I hoped that nigga died a couple of times on his way to the devil’s playground. Though Icould’ve laid his ass down from a far with my precise aim, my conscience wouldn’t allow it. I needed further confirmation of his identity before I put an innocent person in the mud. There was no doubt that I had my guy once I was close enough. He reached for his waistline, revealing his piece as a warning.
Don’t show it if you ain’t gone shoot it, I thought. That was the difference between me and the rest of niggas. You wouldn’t see my piece until your time had come. I was a walking threat. I didn’t need a gun to enhance the fear in niggas, not when they very well understood I could end their lives with my bare hands, too.
“Tell Dewayne I’ll meet him in hell.”
Doot. Doot.I penetrated his brain and pierced his heart one after the other. As his body hit the pavement, I crept to the car from which I’d come. As I slid into the vehicle with the engine still running, my cell vibrated again.
“Yeah?” I answered.
“You can’t be fucking serious right now, nigga!”
Silence coated the line.
“I know your wide back ass from anywhere,” Laike joked. “The fuck you got me wasting my time for when you knew you’d handle the shit. I could be laying up in some pussy right now.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Nigg—”
“I haven’t slept in two weeks, Laike. Two weeks. I’m fucking tired. I want to lay down, close my eyes, and rest knowing I’ll see them niggas in hell when I get there. I can’t do that with that nigga still roaming, gathering his thoughts and planning his retaliation. Ever expecting me to marry her at that altar in fourteen hours, bro. That couldn’t happen until he was extinct.”
“I was going to handle it… tonight.”
“I know you were. I never doubted that. But, shit, bro. It was a little more personal than I let on.”
“Understood.”
“You know where to meet me. Wheels up in thirty.”
“Bet.”
“Put the car in the cubby closest to the hangar. Next to mine. It’ll be handled.”
“Say less.”
Feeling three hundred pounds lighter, I hiked the volume on the stereo slightly. Stan played low as I burned the tires of the Toyota headed straight for the strip. My home, my bed, my children, my future wife, and our unborn child were the only thing on my mind. I needed them all and I needed them bad. I desperately wanted to go home, stretch my limbs on the couch as they snuggled around me, falling fast asleep as soon as their heads touched my skin.
Serenity lingered, filling me to capacity. When the plane was in sight, my nervous system was given permission to rest. I parked in one of the designated spots and laid my head against the seat. Blindly, I unscrewed the silencer while allowing exhaustion to have its way with me. The consequences of two weeks of cat naps and restless nights hit me simultaneously.
I exited the car and made my way onto the plane, which was fueled and waiting for departure. When I made it up the staircase, staff was waiting to greet me. Unfortunately, I had no words for anyone. A simple head nod or three and I was seated, waiting for my brother and little homie to arrive.
I didn’t have to wait long before watching Laike swerve into the lot like the fool he was. Hopping out, he took a deep pull from the blunt in his hand. With his FN in his other hand, he pulled his pants up on his waist, walking gap-legged toward the staircase. Sighing, I rested my forehead between my index finger and thumb.
“Nigga, what you got a fucking turbo engine in that little piece of shit?” he asked the second his feet touched the cabin.
“Laike, I’m tired and I’m not on that shit this morning.”
