Page 3 of For the Love of City
“Nah, one thing I know about my boy and he knows about me, we’d take that shit on the chin if we got jammed up. The last thing we would do is sell one another out to save ourselves. It don’t work like that with us.”
King shot Trav a look that said he didn’t believe a word he was saying. “You say that shit now but it’s different when shit gets real.”
“Sounds like a copout cause you can’t handle the shit that you’ve done. You slipped up. Got to pillow talking to the wrong bitch and she ran with what she knew. The first thing you taught us was never tell your business to somebody that ain’t involved. But you out here trying to get clout and being flashy and you bout to die for it.” I was no longer interested in his words because he wasn’t saying shit that made sense. I should’ve known from jump that would be the case because nothing he said was logical.
“You can’t kill me. You think they not looking out for me? That they not gone have questions and immediately come to y’all?”
“They might. But it’s gone look like you left willingly. Skipped town to avoid your responsibilities. We switched shit up recently remember? You were smart enough to put the blame on us and then make all the changes. You counted on us being too loyal to turn on you and you were right. Our word actually means something to us. Just like when we vowed we’d murder anyone who ever crossed us. Damn shame you were the nigga who chose to be the one we had to make an example of.”
Travis was grinning as he spoke, because this was just the cost of doing business in his head. And he ain’t really fuck wit’ King too tough but was loyal by default.
“Y’all niggas ain’t got it in you to lay me down. I been too fucking good to the both of you. When your mamas ain’t give a shit who looked out?”
He was slapping his chest and grandstanding as his voice echoed through the near empty kitchen. The walls were this odd butter yellow color that everyone seemed to paint their shit but it would soon be covered in blood splatter and brain matter.
“And you’ve been more than paid back for it.”
“You saw two boys that needed something but instead of offering help you offered us a way that ultimately only served you. Nigga, we made you who you were. Two boys that got in the game after you running your shit better than you ever could. And that’s what’s really fucking wit’ you. The fact that you know you ain’t ever gone be that nigga the way you are in your head. And it kills you to see the way we’ve long surpassed your ass.”
That was all I had left to say. One last jab at the nigga who thought he was something he wasn’t. We’d already been here for ten minutes and despite the time they’d given us, I wanted to be efficient. I was ready to get the fuck out and step into the role I’d already been playing but actually getting paid for the work I was doing.
“Y’all think y’all so fucking bad, do sumn’ then.” King puffed out his chest and tried to wipe the fear that was etched into his features off his face. It was useless because he was going to be as much of a coward in death as he was in life.
We didn’t speak another word just stood tall and both emptied our guns into him.
We’d been taught not to flinch. Not to think twice about a kill because where we lived the shit was eat or be eaten. Trav and I never got into unnecessary beef but we’d end some shit quick. As the bullets entered King’s body I watched the limbs jerk from impact. The bright white kitchen cabinets getting splattered with blood droplets. Neither of our guns had been used before. I wasmore than willing to just spray this nigga up but when I heard about everything he’d been trying to put on us; I needed to get up close and personal. Without him to corroborate anything, they didn’t have a case against us but we would have to be extra careful. Shit had been moved around, houses closed up and cars switched out. Trav and I had been smart enough to still work odd jobs when we first came up so that our income was legal. It was now being funneled through a few places around the hood like the check cashing store nobody knew we owned. We’d thought that we’d have to step back and let the heat die down, but Xavier assured us that we’d already done enough and could get back to business as usual. His body slumped over the kitchen island before falling back and hitting the floor with a wet thud. The silencers had done the job of keeping anyone from hearing us and alerting the police. The only sounds in the kitchen besides him falling were the bullets hitting the cabinets and the granite countertops.
“That shit didn’t make me as happy as I thought it would.” Trav was looking at King bleeding out with a look of disappointment on his normally happy face. Trav didn’t give a shit how hot the barrel was and screwed the silencer off the tip as soon as he stopped shooting.
“Facts, but ain’t shit else we can do now. We can’t reanimate his ass to kill him again.” That disappointment was a mutual feeling because nothing had to end like this but he forced our hand. “Maybe not.”
Trav went over pulling a glove on his hand before he checked on the body ensuring that King wasn’t breathing. When he gave me a nod, I finally relaxed and went to the duffle bag.
“You know what we got to do now.” I pulled out one of the empty bags before tossing it to him.
“Yeah, run this shit.” Travis was grinning as he looked back at our handiwork.
“Besides that.”
“I ain’t cleaning this shit up, City.” His grin fell as he looked around at all the shit that would’ve needed to be done to get everything right.
“Nah, Xavier said they got people for that. His ass gone look like he skipped town or sumn’.”
Travis was nodding while still looking around at the mess. “We got to play this shit smooth. They gone look to us to keep shit running and that’s what we’re going to do.”
“We got a couple weeks before Xavier said he’d link back up with us. Do I think he’ll do it? Probably. But the shit he’s talking about seems too good to be true. Bruh really said that we need to just walk out with what we need and he has everything else.”
“I know you trust his ass, though. And to be real, old head don’t know us to give a fuck about us. He could’ve just as easily have killed King himself and let us still catch a case. They seem solid.”
Travis being this eager to trust after we just got burned was the confidence I needed to go with my gut. I felt like the Millers were solid, but I’d put that same faith in King. I focused on the tasks at hand so we could get out of here. I’d worry about my fucking feelings while I was counting this severance we were about to find.
“We got forty-seven minutes. Let’s get this bread so we can get the fuck outta here.”
“How much you think he got stashed?”
I pulled out the other duffle bag and I already knew these wouldn’t be enough. “Knowing him? A good bit of everything he holding. His ass was never smart enough to invest in shit and putting it in a bank would raise too many red flags. Should be half a mill especially since the reup money Should be stored around here. It’s probably double that, if not more, unless he spent it all on bullshit. ”
Trav tossed the bag down on the counter angrily. “Oh, so we finna walk out this bitch with ten dollars.”
