URBAN: Chosen By A Kingpin (51 page)

It’s been a month and two weeks since my brother’s death, and word finally got to Gunnah. It was time for him to get what he deserves. All we had to do now was wait for him to come find Kendale. Once Kendale led him to my apartment it was gonna be over for him. The perfect set up. I couldn’t wait to stare into the face of my brother’s killer. Once I got the news, I was back in business. I never realized how distracted I was from the task at hand until the phone call came. Now that I know, there’s nothing anybody can do now that will change my mind. Gunnah was going to die, and that was that.

I looked under my bed for my gun safe and ran across my old memory chest. This held every memory I had of my father and Montrell. I opened it up, inside held pictures, my father’s obituary. My baseball glove, bat, ball, and cleats. Montrell’s first basketball uniform, shoes to go with it, and on top of the uniform sat a picture that I took after he won his first championship.

He was five. You could see the excitement written all over his face. I remember that day like it was yesterday. Montrell scored ten points, had three assists and two steals. He was crowned MVP that year. I was so proud of my dude.

I picked up the pictures and started looking through them and began to get emotional. Each picture reminded me of how my life used to be before all of this happened. I stopped at a picture of my family. The picture was taken before my father died and everything went south. My mom looked so happy. In fact, our whole family did. It was a perfect family picture. the picture was taken two years after Montrell was born and he was standing in front of me with my arms on his shoulders around his neck. My dad had his arm around mama kissing her on the cheek and mama looked so beautiful. She looked stress and worry free. A beautiful smile was spread across her face. My dad was her soulmate, when he left so did a piece of her.

The next picture I saw was a picture of me, Montrell, and pops. This picture was taken in the hospital after Montrell was born. I was six years old, holding my little brother in my arms.

“Daddy he’s so cute!” I said. “He looks just like me as a baby, but I’m big now.”

“I know son,” he said. “And because you’re the oldest you have to look after your little brother and protect him. Be a good role model to him.”

“I will daddy,” I told him. “I won’t let anybody hurt my little brother. I love him.”

Montrell had not opened his eyes yet so I just stared at his pale face. I used my hand and rubbed his forehead. Then, I kissed the top of it.

“I love you little brother, and no one will ever hurt you. Not anyone. I promise,” I kissed his forehead again and watched as his eyes began to shift. “Daddy look, I think he’s going to open his eyes.”

My father came over to Montrell and put his arm around me. Montrell blinked a couple times and looked up at me. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Mommy look, he has eyes like yours!”

I put up the chest and went to the kitchen to fix me a drink. My face was wet from crying. I grabbed one bottle of Ciroc, downed it and then took another to the room. I laid down on my bed holding the bottle of Ciroc in my hand. My memories were flooding my head and I was planning on drinking away the pain. There was no denying that this man was going to pay for what he did. He ruined my life.

I woke up to a kiss on the forehead from Candace. I opened my eyes to see her sitting on the bed next to me rubbing my face. She smiled at me but by the look on her face she knew something was wrong. I’m sure my eyes were bloodshot and my pillow was soaked with tears. I probably reeked of alcohol because as I looked on the nightstand the second bottle of Ciroc was gone. I looked around to see what time it was. My clock said midnight. That means I was out for a good twelve hours. I looked up at the beautiful woman sitting above me and began to feel a little better. To be completely honest, I was beginning to love this girl. She was always here when I needed her the most.

“You okay love?” she asked me. I nodded but truthfully I was still hurt and I was hungover. “What happened?”

“I went to get my gun case to clean my guns and ran across my old trunk. It was filled with pictures of my family before my father died, and of Montrell as a baby. I broke down and drank myself to sleep,” I told her. She continued to rub my face, her touch was so soft that it set me at ease. “Candace. I’m going to kill him. He fucked up my family. If I could’ve found my dad’s killer he would’ve died too but I was too young so now he’s really going to pay. I did everything for Montrell so he could grow up and live the life he deserved. So my father could be proud because I did as I was told, but he took that from me. I loved Montrell like he was my son. Not my brother. Like he was my seed. That man is going to die.”

Her smile faded. “Look you’re just upset right now. After you cool down everything will be ok and you’ll feel at peace again.”

“Nah, not this time. I’m going through with it. There’s no stopping us now. Gunnah is on his way back. Everything is going according to plan,” I told her, grabbing my gun case from under the bed.

“What do you mean,” she asked. I waved her off.

“Don’t worry about it,“ I said. “Just know Gunnah is going to die as soon as he touches down.”

“There had to be another way,” she said. She grabbed my arm. “Please don’t do this.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you girl? You act like you trying to protect the nigga. Like he your brother or something,” She straightened up then came closer to me. She kissed me on the cheek.

“I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” but I could tell it was a lie. She was acting strange and I was going to get to the bottom of it. She could tell I wasn’t taking her bullshit so she tried another approach.

“Terrell, make love to me,” she said. Kissing me on my neck. “I just need you inside of me.”

The look on her face invited me in but I was ignoring it. I felt like she was trying to distract me. Like she didn’t want me to kill Gunnah. Like she was trying to protect him or something, and the way she changed up on me after I mentioned it gave it away. Something was up. Maybe this girl wasn’t exactly who she said she was. I pushed her off of me and walked outside to get some fresh air. The way Candace was acting rubbed me the wrong way. The closer it got to finally catching Gunnah, the more she tried to distract me. Something wasn’t right and I was going to get to the bottom of it.

Candace continues to act strange like she’s hiding something from me. There’s something she’s not telling me and I’m going to find out what it is.

“Hey bae, good morning,” she handed me a plate of food. This morning she made eggs, cheese grits and sausage. My favorite breakfast meal. She gave me a kiss and laid down to finish reading the last book in The Cartel series, like she does every morning.

“You off today?” I asked her and she nodded.

“Yep, so I can spend all day with my baby,” she said putting the book down and laying towards me.

“The boys are coming over later. Kendale just copped him a new pistol said it was nice and wants to show it to us. So we figured this could be the last meeting before the big day,” I said.

“There’s no stopping you huh?” she asked.

“Nope. This man is going to get what he deserves.”

“Do you ever think about his family?” she asked. “Maybe he has a brother too. One that’s just like you. What if he comes after you.”

“Then he gon’ get it too. I know one thing though. I’m not gonna run like a pussy. This nigga didn’t even come to me and apologize for what he did. He too much of a bitch to do that. Maybe if he would’ve apologized he wouldn’t have to die but to me it means he shows no remorse for what he did. My brother didn’t deserve to die but this nigga does,” I told her and sat the plate on the nightstand. “What kind of nigga does a drive-by in a neighborhood that has kids in it? Huh? At least the man that killed my father looked him in the face and shot him. At least he knew who he was shooting at. This nigga a coward. My life will never be the same because of him.”

She tried to touch me and I jumped up out of the bed and paced the floor. I looked at her and she looked concerned and worried. She begged me to come lay back down and I denied. I started pacing the floor.

“And what’s up with you?” I asked. “Why is it like your trying to protect the nigga?”

“It’s not that love. It’s just…When I came into your life your whole attitude changed. You looked peaceful and happy and seeing you angered makes me upset. I just want to see you happy again. I just want it off of your head so you’ll be at peace. That’s all,” She assured me and then said. “Now come back to bed and let me work the tension out of your body. Let me relax you.”

I laid back down on the bed and turned over on my stomach. I could use a massage right now. She started to massage my shoulders and it felt so good that I could no longer be mad. I started to drift off to sleep and she knew it. She kissed me on my neck and I was out.

***

I woke up about two hours later to some yelling in the living room. I had forgotten that Romello and Kendale were supposed to come over. I checked my phone for missed calls or text messages. There were none, so they couldn’t be here because Romello always calls first and if I don’t answer he texts me. Who was yelling then? I listened harder and it sounded like Candace.

“What you mean fuck what that nigga says? I can’t hold out any longer. He’s catching on to my game,” I heard her say. Who was she talking to? I sat up and walked to the door. She was in the kitchen passing back and forth. I hid next to the door to the bedroom, making sure she didn’t see me. She had whoever it was on speaker because she had started cooking dinner.

“Look. The nigga I tried to kill is calling me a pussy. Saying that he living like that and that’s why I ain’t kill that nigga. He calling me a bitch nigga for doing a drive-by too. Said a real nigga would’ve came to his face and shot him,” the man said and I knew exactly who he is. It was Gunnah’s bitch ass but what was he doing talking to Candace? What did she have to do with this? “I’m losing respect and that little boy is gonna pay.”

“Look you risking your life coming down here. Terrell said he’s going to cap you as soon as you come down here. You won’t even have a chance to find that boy. You are going to die,” she told him.

“I’ll kill him too,” he said.

“I’m not about to watch you kill Terrell. He’s a nice guy, a sweetheart, and I love him,” she said. “You need to learn from your dumb ass mistakes. None of this would’ve happened if you would’ve found dude and killed him in his face instead of doing a drive-by.

“Oh you love that nigga now?” he asked. “You wasn’t supposed to fall in love! You were just a distraction until everything died off! You supposed to be protecting your brother not loving that nigga!”

“This could still work. Just hold off and act like what happened never affected you. You aren’t running, you’re visiting family and have planned to do so. Wait it out a few more months and everything will be fine. You can come back and be safe and Terrell won’t be worried about it anymore,” she said and took him off of speaker phone. Just listened for a while and then said. “You know what fine! Do what you want.”

I watched her as frustration took over her. She slammed her hands down on the counter and then laid her head into her hands. She then sighed and went back to stirring the pot. I couldn’t believe this girl. I finally find a girl I think I can trust and she turned out to be playing me to protect her brother who killed my brother. My head was spinning and now I was angrier than I had ever been. Everything made so much sense. No wonder she was acting strange and catering to me so much. Romello was right. She was distracting me. I was mad. I was more than mad. I was furious. This girl was going to pay. She wants to play me? I’ll play her as well.

Now that I knew her plan I was going to make her a part of mine. Not only would Kendale lead him into our trap but she would too.

Candace doesn't know that I overheard her conversation with Gunnah and I don't plan on telling her until I know there was no time for her to save him. Last I heard Gunnah was going to touch down in two days, and Candace has been on tens with me ever since. The closer it got to time for her brother to come, the worse it got. She was acting pitiful, begging me not to leave the house. She was trying so hard to keep me from going after her brother. If only she knew that her brother would actually be coming to me.

The day before her brother came, Candace hid my gun case. I knew at that moment that I had to find a way to get her out of the way before she ruined the plan. So that night I faked a breakdown. I had to make her believe that I wasn't going to kill her brother. So I lied. I told her I wouldn't do it because that's not what my father wanted, and my mother needed me, and some other bullshit. She believed it of course, and then suggested we invite Gunnah over for dinner to talk things out since she said they were from the same neighborhood. I agreed and she hasn’t bothered me since. Now with her out of the way, I knew there was nothing stopping me.

I was sitting down on my bed cleaning my guns like I always do. Today was the day I’ve been waiting so long for. The day Gunnah was finally going to get what he deserved. Candace came in and threw her arms around me. “I’m so proud of you bae.”

“For what?” I questioned.

“You overcame your anger instead of taking another man’s life,” She said. I smiled. She was so oblivious. I couldn’t believe it was that easy to trick her. “I finished dinner and he called and said he’ll be here in ten minutes.”

“Great,” I said. “Romello will be here in five, open the door for him.”

“Romello?” she asked. “What is he coming for?”

“Oh, I invited him. You know Montrell was like his brother too. Your brother owes him an apology as well,” I lied. Now take your pretty self in the living room and get ready for your brother to come.”

She was hesitant but did as she was told. She went into the living room and as soon as she was out of sight, I cocked my gun and placed it inside my pants. The plan was simple. Instead of Gunnah trying to find Kendale in the streets, he was going to be standing near the apartments. Gunnah was going to chase him into the apartment where Romello and I would be waiting for him, guns drawn. He would run right in and stare down the barrels of two guns. Candace would get to see her brother get shot in front of her face. Just like I did. She deserved it for trying to set me up.