Page 27 of Can I?

“Yeah. I told Ashanni to call y’all and SS. They were outside of Rima’s house tryna get at me.”

“Yeah. Those niggas deserved everything they got. I told Karima if I would have had more bullets, I would have unloaded that fucking clip.”

“Yeah, and you know I don’t give a fuck. I’m gon’ be at the meeting later tonight. Since the police are slightly turning their backs, I’m finna go ham on those muthafuckas,” PJ added.

I slowly shook my head. “Well, I guess you’re doing okay, Ace.”

“I am. I mean, a nigga don’t want to have to do no time, but it is what it is. They weren’t about to get away with what they did to Grandpa.”

“So what are the attorneys saying?”

“Well, Mister Berotte’s criminal ass fucked with the surveillance. It shows them beating Grandpa, and it goes blank during the attack. It’s enough footage to see all three of their faces. Hopefully, that will be enough to get me off. It’s the shots to the heads that’s questionable. I didn’t want their asses coming back. The one that got shot in the chest, actually looked remorseful, but oh the fuck well. He was with them, so he suffered the same fate.”

“Malik didn’t attack Grandpa?”

“No. He was the one that distracted him. So his ass was in on it.”

That only made me feel worse. I huffed as Ace stood and sat next to me. He put his arm around me. “Shit happens.”

“You sound like your father.”

“Well, you know where I get it from then. Had anybody rolled up and saw what I saw, those niggas would have suffered the same fate. Honestly, I’m honored to be the one to seek retribution for Grandpa. I feel like I did something for him instead of him always doing something for me. You feel me?”

“I guess. I’m just glad that you weren’t upset with me.”

“That shit would have happened anyway.”

I frowned and sat straight up. “What you mean?”

“Mister Ali found out that the Andersons had been planning that shit for months. They were just waiting for Grandpa to becaught alone. They had a muthafucka watching for him. One of their people worked at the Dollar General. That was really why the police weren’t called right away. They didn’t count on one of us pulling up. By the time anyone else would have gotten there, those muthafuckas would have been gone.”

“Wait! I thought they said some people were restraining them when you got there!”

“All an act. Those were Andersons. They had to make it look good. They were going to ‘unintentionally’ let them get away,” he said, holding up air quotes.

“What the fuck?” I said.

“Right. Those other two niggas just got in on something that was going to get done anyway,” PJ said, reiterating what Ace had already said. “They should have kept their pitiful asses where they were, and they would still be alive for the time being.”

“Shit. This clears up so many unanswered questions I had. While none of it brings Grandpa back, it helps me.”

“You should havebeenbrought yo’ tall ass over here. You would have known a long time ago,” Ace said and gave me a slight smirk.

I wished I would have caught him without PJ being here. He wouldn’t dare show me how he was really feeling in front of PJ. I could imagine he was somewhat scared. PJ had done a little jail time for stupid shit. Ace had never been in trouble.

“What’s up, niggas?”

I turned to see SS, King, Kane, Royal, and Crew walking into the room. That was definitely my cue to get the fuck out of here. There wasn’t enough estrogen in here. After greeting them all, I turned to leave. Before I could get out of there, King said, “I saw Ferris. Me and Kane were at Mister Red’s house practicing with him and Mister Zay. He introduced himself.”

“He came back to Nome?”

They looked at each other and frowned then shrugged their shoulders. “I don’t know. I just know he was there a little bit ago.”

He probably never left or could have possibly changed his mind. “Was Asad there too?” I asked.

“Yeah. Red Squared and Carter Legend too. That’s the only Anderson we got love for.”

I’d forgotten Mr. Red’s last name was Anderson. “Is he related to them?”

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