Page 64 of Another Constant

Chapter15

Kinga

I left Harlem in my office, locking it so no one could get in. She could get out if she wanted but I told her to stay in there until I returned to get her. I didn’t worry about her coming out because I could see the exhaustion in her face. Shorty was going to sleep, which meant I had time to handle what I needed to handle. We were on the way back to my house after dinner when Big Jay called. He said we had a situation, in so many words, but his sentence was simply, “mouse caught in the mouse trap.” Though we never established codes or things like that, he still knew what to say over the line to get me to the shop or pique my interest.

“What’s the situation?” I asked as soon as I entered the general area toward the front of the garage. My first stop was turning on the radio. I know I told her to stay put no matter what she heard but I still wasn’t going to have her hearing somebody scream for dear life.

“We were getting ready to close when this fool ran in and held a gun on Ayden and Kayson, looking for you. He didn’t know I was here, so when I knocked him upside his shit, he was out cold.”

My eyes landed on who I now knew was Kyro, hanging from the ceiling by his arms, feet barely touching the ground. He was still out cold.

“So he came to us.” I laughed aloud.

“Yeah, and also, June dropped this off for you.” Ayden called my attention to the file at the workstation.

I nodded. “Wake him and let’s make this quick.”

Jay nodded, and before I knew it, lifted him all the way up then dropped him. He stopped him before he could fall and hit his head. He must’ve thought he was having one of those falling off a building dreams because his eyes opened immediately and landed on me. He looked like he’d seen a ghost, which brought an even bigger smile to my face.

“I heard you were looking for me, homie.” I stood there with my arms crossed.

“Fuck you,” he gritted out, like we had some type of valid beef.

“Damn, fam. I know you or something? You wanna tell me where all this animosity is coming from?”

He just glared at me, to which I nodded in Jay’s direction, who lifted him higher, making the man feel like he was… as Sora called it, dangling by his own body. Shit was kind of uncomfortable when you had a sick motherfucker like Jay in charge of setting you up. Attached to his waist was a chain dangling three eight by eight concrete bricks. By Kyro being so scrawny, that shit had to feel like he was being stretched.

“You wanna talk or what? ’Cause I ain’t got time to be having blinking contests and shit with you. They got families to go home to and I’m tryna go home with my baby mama, so what’s up?” Impatience lived in me at this very moment.

“You killed my cousin, then you came at my boy. I hope you get every fucking thing coming for people like you.”

“People like me? My man, I be minding my business, but fools like you think you’re on my level. So don’t bitch up on me now and talk about what I deserve. Tell me what all this is about.”

“Nah. I’d rather you fee?—”

“Cool.” My piece was from my back in seconds, aimed in his direction.

He begged upon seeing I had no intention of going back and forth.

“Wait, wait… I was just saying.”

I nodded for Jay to lower him.

“You're just saying what? You are mad about your blood. Okay, but remember you’re the reason your blood is dead.”

He screamed. “I was doing what I was told.”

“And what were you told?”

“To bait you. To get you to shed blood on the streets, but you never did. Twan said you’d play into our hands. Now he’s hiding and that fucking Agent Beckham is tucking his tail. They had this whole damn thing planned out, but you never played right!”

I nodded. “Good plan.” Then I turned and made eye contact with Jay. “Finish him off. Get me Twan. Make a mess too.” Then I looked at Ayden.

They both nodded and walked off. I heard a lone gunshot but I never turned around to see who or what it was. I had my mind on other things, so I grabbed the folder and left the immediate space. When Kyro said the last name Beckham, I knew exactly who that was. What was fucked up was I’d known Demi had a part in this; I just couldn’t put my finger on it. That ass whooping I had given him was the least I could do but what would happen next he had definitely earned…him and Memphis.

When I returned to my office, my baby was sleeping just like I thought she would be. She was curled up against the storm gray, suede sofa under one of my hoodies. It was then that it dawned on me I had indeed referred to her as my baby mama. Deep down inside I didn’t need a test to confirm what I already knew. Harlem was carrying a child we’d created without intention and no prevention. I knew if we made a kid all my reckless ass ways had to simmer down, because the last thing I wanted to be doing was bringing a kid into this world and not being around to raise it. I couldn’t raise my kid from the grave nor could I raise it from a cell. If we made a baby, then we’d raise it. There were no ifs, ands, or buts. I would be handling my shit as a man, the way my aunt and uncle raised me to.

By the time we made it to my house, she was knocked out again, which I was cool with. I had some shit to handle. So while I made that fucking cake she wanted, I handled that. I was mentally making my list, sure of who I’d hit first, so all this mess I was dealing with would be over before it fully started. While they handled Twan, I’d handle my blood. I didn’t need help with that much.

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