Page 20 of A Toxic Redemption

I know my father and I have shared a few touching moments these past few weeks, but that's all it's been. I still feel a way about him not being around for me, and I don't see that changing. For years, I needed him in my life, and he acted as if I had never existed. For all I care, he can go back to being that way.

"Listen, you haven't called me or been answering after I told you the information I found on your brother, so I tried my luck and came by here today." He walked over and stood beside me. "I really want to sit down and talk to you."

"Talk then." I shrugged as I looked out onto the manicured lawn. "Speak your peace."

"Not here." He stepped back and shook his head. "Come to my home or my office, and we can have a conversation. Two days, Khalil. That's all the time I'm going to give you before I come looking for you again."

He patted me on the back once more and left me alone before I could give a rebuttal. The fuckin' nerve of him to tell me what I needed to do. His words and idle threats don't mean shit to me. When I feel like having a conversation with his deadbeat ass, then I will. Until then, he better make do with the few words I do have. If it's nothing for me to cut my own brother off, imagine what I'd do to his ass if it came down to it.

"I can't believe this nigga has been back in town, not to mention fucking with Lucky," Bino spoke from the backseat as he inhaled his blunt. "I wonder how long that shit has been going on."

"It doesn't really matter." I looked out of the passenger window at tonight's target, walking around as if he didn't havea care in the world. "What I do know is that nigga is dying tonight."

"Facts," Jake chimed in from the driver's seat. "Devyn ain't attached to that nigga, anyway."

Running into Luck at the Japanese spot the other night wasn't a coincidence. She called a nigga talking that hot shit on the phone about a nigga eating her pussy, and there was no way she was going to play with my feelings like that. So, after calling and bribing Kira, she let me know where her little date was. I just had to promise not to embarrass her girl. Ultimately, it was the lame ass nigga that she was with that did it to her. Of all the niggas she could have been with, it had to be Troop.

Since finding out I have a son, looking for this nigga hasn't been a priority of mine, but since getting shot, I decided it's time to eliminate all possible threats. Do I feel like this nigga is an actual threat? Nah, but I don't put shit past a scared man. The way he hauled ass out of the restaurant and was currently throwing his shit in his car, I can tell this nigga is spooked.

"How the fuck do you know Dee doesn't like this nigga?" Bino asked. I wanted to know the same, but I was going to remain quiet and just listen. "You be so far up Kira's ass that you don't know what the fuck is going on around you."

"Oh, the same way that you be up Lori's?" Jake turned in his seat and faced his brother. "Lie and say you don't like that girl. Plus, my girl and I are best friends, and she tells her nigga everything."

"Man, get out of here with your pillow-talking ass." Bino laughed and waved him off. "Lori is cool people, and her head is fye, but that's where it ends with me. I ain't trying to be serious with nobody right now."

"Yeah, okay," Jake huffed. "If that girl calls you right now and tells you she's tired, you're going to hop out of this car and go running to cater to her. Ain't nothing wrong with that."

"Yeah, Stub seems cool," I chimed in as I watched Troop load up the trunk of his car.

This nigga decided to come back to his mother's house like this wasn't where I would look. He ran off with my money and felt as if the shit was cool. He'd better hope his mother wasn't home at the moment, or her old ass was headed to glory.

"Who the fuck is Stub?" Jake asked.

"His stubby ass girl." I nodded in Bino's direction. "She seems like a dope girl or whatever. If you like shorty, just say that."

"Oh, like you like Devyn?" I snapped my head toward the backseat and wanted to slap that smirk right off his face. The shit with Luck and I wasn't even like that, but I wasn't going to waste my time arguing with this nigga. He was going to believe what he wanted. "That's what the fuck I thought."

"Man, y'all, come on," Jake interrupted before an argument could start. "That nigga is about to try to leave."

Grabbing our guns, we hopped out of an unmarked car parked across the street from his mother's house. Approaching the door, we didn't have to knock or kick it in. He'd opened it up to head back outside.

"My man." I smirked with my gun pointed in his face. The look of fear in his eyes was making my heart smile. "Long time no see."

"L-Loon..." he held his hands up in surrender as he stammered and stumbled back into the house. "Don't do this, man."

"Do what?" I angled my head as I backed him into the living room. Jake closed the door behind us as Bino went and checked the home. "Who else is in this bitch?"

"Nobody, man."

"Cool," I shrugged with my gun and eyes still trained on his, "they were going to be dying with you, anyway."

"Aye, man, y'all got something to eat in here?" Bino came back down the stairs and asked. "It smells good as fuck."

"Man, sit your ass down," Jake snapped at his brother. "You just gotta be stupid everywhere you go. We came here to kill this nigga and slide."

"Kill me?" Troop screeched like a bitch. "What the fuck did I do?"

"Nigga, did you not forget that you ran off with my dope and money?" I chuckled. "I know damn well you didn't think I was going to let that shit go."

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