Page 5 of Summer in London

Naasson ended the call, sent the money, and went back to what he was doing. An hour later, he got a frantic call from his mother. “I can’t get to Kamryn because I’m at the doctor, but Brandon is over there showing his ass. Please go get those kids, I don’t want them over there doing all that in front of them.”

Naasson was pissed. For one, he had no desire to stop what he was doing and go insert himself into someone else’s business, but he knew how his mother was about her grandkids. After ending the call, Naasson finished the transaction that he was in the middle of and stuffed the money in his pockets before hopping in his Audi and breaking the speed limit all the way to his sister’s house. He pulled up in the driveway and from the moment he opened his car door and placed one sneaker on the ground, he heard yelling from inside the house.

Kamryn screamed at the top of her lungs, and Naasson took off for the front door. He tried the knob, and the door was open. Naasson walked into the living room to find the kids crying while Brandon had Kamryn pinned on the couch choking her. A broken lamp was sprawled in the middle of the floor, and the coffee table had been overturned. With no hesitation, Naasson hit Brandon in the back of the head so hard that the man immediately let Kamryn go and hopped up dazed. Naasson had to literally clench his fists at his sides because he didn’t want to traumatize the kids with even more violence, but he was itching to knock Brandon’s ass out. His chest heaved up and down, and anger had his nostrils flaring.

“You gon’ sneak me, nigga?” Brandon barked so hard that spit flew from his mouth. His eyes were dilated, and he indeed looked like he was on some kind of drug, but Naasson didn’t give a single fuck what the man was under the influence of.

“You got damn right. Yo’ ass was choking my sister. I suggest you get your shit and leave. I’m telling you. It’s those kids keeping me off yo’ ass right now. Just leave my sister’s house. It’s not like you paying bills in this muhfucka anyway.” Naasson’s voice was low, and his tone was calm, but he was as serious as a heart attack.

With tears streaming down her face, Kamryn got up off the couch and ushered her children to the back of the house. Sheand Brandon had been toxic from day one. It wasn’t unusual for their kids to see the couple argue and berate each other, but Kamryn hated when her children had to witness Brandon putting his hands on her. That wasn’t the kind of dysfunction that she wanted them to ever get used to. She had her first child at sixteen and the second one at nineteen. Brandon was down more than he was up, and she bounced from one low paying job to the other. Kamryn wanted an upscale, suburban life for her children, but it simply wasn’t working out the way that she’d planned. The $700 a month rent for the small house they occupied was all they could afford. The home had a roach infestation that wouldn’t go away no matter how many times pest control came, the tile was coming up off the floor in the kitchen, and they lived next door to a whole family of crackheads. Kamryn wanted Brandon to get himself together and help her to live a better life, but the older he got, the worse he seemed to get. He’d be on his feet bringing in money for all of a few months before he’d be back down again.

Brandon was pissed that Naasson had hit him from behind, so despite the man talking to him calmly and asking him to leave, Brandon remained volatile and confrontational. “Nigga, make me leave, nigga. You don’t know what I pay in this house. You only know what your lying ass sister tells you.”

With a sneer on his face, Naasson took a step closer to Brandon. “I’m asking you one more time to get your shit and leave this house. After that, I will make you leave, and the moment you step foot back on the property, it’s gon’ end bad for you, and that’s a promise.”

Brandon looked Naasson up and down. “Suck my dic?”

He didn’t even finish the sentence before Naasson had cocked his arm back and crashed his fist into Brandon’s face. Brandon flew back onto Kamryn’s couch, and blood immediately began spurting from his nose. He jumped up in anattempt to charge Naasson, but the man caught Brandon and easily flipped his 5’9 frame slamming him onto the living room floor.

“This what you want?” Naasson asked as he kicked the man in his side. “Suck your what? I can’t hear you,” his chest heaved up and down as he kicked the man again.

Kamryn ran into the living room. “Brandon you gotta leave before I call the police. You don’ already tore my house up. I work too hard for my stuff. I’m trying to avoid calling the police because you have a warrant, but you don’ scared my fucking kids. Get out!”

Brandon peeled himself up off the floor. Blood dripped from his mouth and stained the bottom half of his face. “Fuck you, bitch. I swear to Go?”

Another blow from Naasson sent Brandon crashing back onto the floor. “I can do this all day, homie,” Naasson stated in a bored tone. “Just leave man.”

He really had better things to be doing, and he was becoming pissed. He was about to part his lips to tell Kamryn to go ahead and call the police. Men like him didn’t fuck with twelve, but he didn’t have the patience or the time to mediate his sister’s domestic disputes. It would be better for the police to handle him versus Naasson anyway. But before he could form the words, Brandon was up off the floor and walking towards the door.

“I got something for you, pussy. You want to keep putting your hands on me. Your bitch ass mammy gon’ be buying a black dress,” he seethed as he rushed for the door.

“My mammy gon’ what, nigga?” Naasson asked with a scowl. He followed Brandon to the door, and Kamryn ran past Naasson.

“Brandon, no! You better not do that shit! I swear to God!”

Naasson angrily pushed the screen door open and stepped out onto the porch as Brandon made his way towards his car while Kamryn stood on the porch frozen, eyes wide with fear.

“I’m ‘bout to kill everything moving ‘round this bitch.”

“Oh yeah?” Naasson asked as he pulled his gun from the waistband of his jeans and walked down the steps. “You think so?”

As soon as Brandon turned back around, Naasson squeezed the trigger of his nine and watched Brandon’s body jerk as one, two, three bullets penetrated his body, and Kamryn screamed. The moment Brandon’s body hit the ground, Naasson knew he had to get the fuck out of dodge. With his heart racing, and his adrenaline pumping, Naasson got in his car and peeled out. The first person he called was his best friend.

“What up, nigga?” Josias’ voice was muffled due to the food he’d just shoveled into his mouth.

“Some real shit just popped off. I need you to meet me at my crib, ASAP.”

Naasson didn’t even ask Josias if he was busy because it didn’t matter. They’d been friends since elementary school and it didn’t matter if Josias was in hell, if his friend was calling this frantic, Josias would stop whatever he had going on and get to him.

“Say less, homie. I’m on the way.”

Three years ago, when Naasson purchased the fake documents, he packed a bag. The bag had clothes, shoes, boxer briefs, tees, personal hygiene items, money, and a few other things. He never knew when he was going to have to grab the bag and go. Times like this, he wouldn’t have time to pack. Naasson drove up in his yard so fast that he almost hit his mailbox. He ran around the house collecting his money and his dope. He sat down on the couch and rolled a blunt while his left leg bounced anxiously. He was halfway through the bluntwhen Josias came barreling through the door. At that moment, Naasson got the idea to book a flight to London. That’s where Deen was. He grabbed his laptop and went to Delta’s website.

“What’s good?” Josias asked peering into Naasson’s flushed face.

“I think I killed Brandon,” Naasson stated calmly and exhaled weed smoke from his lungs.

Josias’ eyes bucked. “Kam’s dude, Brandon?”

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