Page 27 of Bear
“What’s up, Bear? Did I do something?” Nick stood with his back straight and his eyes fixed on mine.
“Tell me about your nephews from Houston, Nick.” I leaned against the brick wall and pulled a shiny, gold cigar case from my pocket. I flipped it open and pulled out a pre-cut cigar then lit it with my gold, Zippo bear lighter.
“My nephews? How’d you know I had nephews?”
“I know everything. Tell me about them. They in trouble?” The glowing end of my cigar was the only light in the entire area. Not even the moon and stars dared to enter our conversation.
“No offense, Bear but I don’t like talking about my family. Work and family are separate.” I felt my hairs stand on end from the sheer audacity of the motherfucker standing in front of me. Anyone with a brain knew that if I asked a question, I already knew the goddamn answer.
I smiled at him with the cigar tucked between my lips then I nodded. “I get it. I get it, Nick. Family is sacred, right?”
“Exactly.” He nodded. I chuckled and gray smoke filtered through the velvet bands of night. I reached behind me, gripping the gun hidden in my waistband. I pulled it out and pressed it against Nick’s nose.
“Isyourlife sacred, Nick?” The laughter dropped from my voice revealing ice shards sharp enough to impale a grown man.
“Bear, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Bear.”
“So, back to what I was saying…tell me about your nephews, Nick.” My voice never wavered once. I took another puff of my cigar and listened to him spill his guts about his two nephews, Darius and Ashton. They were fleeing from Houston because the police were looking for them after they shot it out with some assholes in front of an apartment building. Darius and Ashton missed their targets but they did hit a five-year-old little boy sleeping in his bed. A five-year-old little boy named Kaiden Foster.
I lowered the gun and nodded slowly after the words stopped trembling from his lips. “Can I ask why you’re talking about my nephews?”
“They’re looking for asylum in one of my territories. They said you told them to ask permission.” When I finished my cigar, I dropped the butt to the ground and smothered the embers with my shoe. I blew the remaining puff of smoke in Nick’s face. “Did you tell them they could lay low here?”
“I didn’t tell them they could lay low here. I told them if they ended up here to speak to you first. Wasn’t that the right thing to do?”
“In any other circumstance, yes. In this circumstance…no. Your nephews are responsible for killing a fucking child. I don’t tolerate murdering women or children and you know it.”
“It was an accident. They’re a little reckless but…”
“A little reckless?” I scoffed. “They’re sloppy. You don’t have shootouts in public. They’ve been watching too much fucking TV. They’re stupid and reckless and they killed a kid. They need to turn themselves in.”
“They’re not gonna do that, man. You know it.” The whites of Nick’s eyes were glassy. They were wet with fear. I smelled it in the air and it made me want to reach into his chest and squeeze it out of his heart while I watched it run down my fingers and arm.
“Ride with me, Nick.” I walked over to the Monte Carlo and unlocked the door.
“Bear, where are we going? I don’t understand shit that’s happening right now,” he said clicking his seatbelt in place.
I started the engine and pulled off, ignoring Nick’s questions. I turned on Miles Davis and drove an hour to Baton Rouge. My thoughts drifted to Cecily and I hoped she was still at the house when I got done. It would be late as shit but I hoped she was there. I had no idea why I wanted her to be there so bad but I could feel the need to see her dripping through my veins.
When I got to the Baton Rouge warehouse, I called Ace. He answered on the first ring. “What’s up, Bear?”
“I’m here. Open the door. You still have our two friends?”
“Oh yeah. They tried to leave several times, I think they got spooked.” Ace laughed and I could tell from the sound that he was itching to put a few bullets in them. They must have been annoying as hell.
“Good.” I ended the call and looked at Nick “Time for a family reunion.”
“Can you please tell me what’s going on?”
“Nah. You can see for yourself.” The low screech of steel on steel groaned in the silence of the night as I approached the side of the warehouse. Ace nodded at me when I walked in then he guided Nick and me toward Darius and Ashton.
“These your nephews?” I asked Nick. Ace and one other high-ranking soldier were the only other people in the warehouse at the time. Good. The fewer people the better.
“Yeah.” Nick shifted his weight from one foot to the other and looked at them sitting at one of the tables used for separating and bagging drugs.
“Unc, what’s up? Is your man gonna let us lay low here?” One of them asked, looking at Nick. A cold smile lifted one side of my mouth as I approached.
“Y’all really don’t have home training, huh? Wow. You’re in my warehouse, seeking asylum in my territory and you won’t even speak directly to me when I walk in the room?” I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth and shook my head, walking over to them.
