Page 13 of Give Me All Of You

“As long as he leaves her alone and lets her rest, then that’s fine. Disrupting her rest will only make her crankier.”

“Where’s Pops?”

“In his office.”

Nodding, I headed down the hall toward the other end of the house. When I got to the door, it was already cracked, but I still knocked out of respect before walking completely in.

“Hello, son. I didn’t expect you to drop by so late.” He lit his cigar and leaned back in his office chair.

“Yeah, I had some work to get done down at the yard. I had that meeting with Knas today and I wanted to fill you in on how that went.”

“And how did that go?” he inquired.

“For the most part, it was straight. Everything that you and his pops had in place will remain the same, in addition to them using our ports in Africa,” I stated.

“That’s not bad. That’s more money our way.”

I nodded.

“That’s not all, though.”

“Oh?” He sat up to his full height. “What are you not telling me?”

Taking a deep breath and leaning forward as my elbows rested on my knees, I told my father Knasim’s stipulation in the new contract. It was silent for a few minutes before he spoke again.

“Do you have anyone in mind?” he asked.

I couldn’t help the scowl that graced my face.

“What you mean, do I have anyone in mind? I’m not doing that shit,” I sneered.

“Listen, it can’t be that bad. What about Kari?”

“I’d rather give all this shit up than to marry that damn girl.” I meant that shit, too. If I couldn’t do this shit withoutbeing married, I wouldn’t do it at all. Especially not with Kari’s ass.

“So, you’re going to throw everything that I worked for away because of your foolish pride?”

I looked at my father like he had crack in that damn cigar he was smoking. Ain’t no way he thought this was a pride thing. Instead of rendering him a response, I simply left before shit got out of hand and I disrespected my pops. For the second time today, a muthafucka has tried to play in my face like I was just supposed to take that shit. It was best that I leave before shit got ugly.

When I walked back up front, I didn’t see my mother, and that was a good thing. I wasn’t in the mood to explain shit to her, either. I’m pretty sure my pops would do all of that for me.

Getting in my truck, I wasn’t even in the mood anymore for the pussy I had waiting for me. I took my ass straight home and showered. When I laid down for the night, all I could think about was who the fuck could I get to marry me on such short notice, and they not make me want to kill them?

Chapter Six

Rakeem

The shit that was thrown on my brother in the meeting took us both by surprise. I know how the shit goes in our circle, but our pops never mentioned or forced the shit on us. To have somebody else do it was crazy as hell, but what could he really do when the order was coming from the Head? Hopefully, he would figure the shit out so we wouldn’t lose the partnership that we already built to be solid.

I watched as my brother sped off, heading in one direction while I went in another. While I’m pretty sure he was headed to the freight yard. I was going to stop by one of our clients and pay him a personal visit. Alongside the other illegal shit we had going on, we dealt with a little banking. That means that when muthafuckas needed to get a few thousands and couldn’t get approved by the bank, they came to us, and we made the shit happen. When the payments don’t come in time, we don’t file fucking charges to get our money back. Nah, that wasn’t even an option. If I had to come and collect our money, then you could almost guarantee that I’m going to leave with either my fucking money or your fucking soul. Didn’t matter to me.

As I pulled up to Lander’s Laundry, I stepped out of my vehicle before stepping onto the sidewalk and inside the establishment. Joseph Lander owned a small dry cleaners that the bank was threatening to take from him last year. Of course,he couldn’t go to them or any other bank for a loan, because he already owed one and his house was mortgaged through another one that he was delinquent on. When I walked inside, the small bell over the door sounded to let them know they had company. I didn’t even bother to wait for his ass. I swaggered straight to the back but not before locking the door behind me. When I got to the back, I didn’t knock before entering. The sight before me would have been entertaining had it not been for the fact that this nigga was balls deep in some pussy like he didn’t have a fucking care in the world.

“So, this is why I can’t get my money? You tricking it off on hoes?” When my voice boomed throughout the office, Lander froze mid-stroke. The hoe that he had bent over his desk started screaming loud as fuck.

“Bitch, shut all that up. You weren’t that damn loud while he was fucking you.” I glared at her, disgusted. I’m pretty sure she knew this nigga was married. There was no way she couldn’t when she worked here.

“R-Rock,” he stuttered. “Wh-what can I do for you?”

---