Murderville (25 page)

“I can’t believe that boy. Baron’s raised him as his own and this is the way he repays him,” Big Ray stated.

“Don’t worry about it,” A’shai stated. “All I need for you to do is keep his goons occupied. Show em’ a good time.” A’shai winked his eye as Big Ray looked over to the table where Nico’s new entourage was partying.

“I’ll show em’ a real good time. I’ve got the perfect distraction,” Big Ray stated. He pulled one of his best girls to the side and sent her, along with four other ladies, over to their table with a bottle of premium vodka. Big Ray nodded his head, and A’shai slid him his last $2,000 then patted the older man on the back.

“I’ll handle the rest,” A’shai said.

Big Ray nodded, admiring A’shai’s actions. He had been present at Willow’s funeral and had been one of many who had witnessed A’shai be turned away at the door.

“You’re a good son, Shai . . . Baron knows that. Willow did too,” Big Ray said.

A’shai nodded his head and walked towards the private room where Nico was being entertained. It was show time, and A’shai was about to send one of the devil’s minions right back down to hell.

Nico’s hands rested on the girl’s ass as she danced between his legs. He groped and grabbed at her curvaceous frame.

He pulled out a thick rubber band knot and placed it on his thigh. “I got it to spend, ma . . . now earn your keep,” he said daringly, knowing that just weeks earlier he was the most humble nigga in the club. Before he had robbed Baron he would have never had the nerve to behave so piggishly, but he was smelling himself.

“My time is valuable, but from the looks of it you can afford it,” the girl replied as she began to unbutton his jeans before sliding the zipper down slowly. She licked her red stained lips and positioned herself between his legs as he revealed his manhood to her.

He was comfortable and had a pocket full of rubbers. He waited for her to get it popping and he massaged himself as he watched her walk across the room. When he saw her step into a pair of jeans he frowned.

“Yo. What’s up, baby? What you doing?” he asked.

“Setting you up,” she replied.

“What bitch?!” he shouted, caught off guard. A set up was the last thing that he had expected when he had entered the soundproof, private lap dance room. He started to lunge towards her but was halted instantly when he saw her pointing his own gun at him. Her hand shook slightly, revealing her nervousness, but Nico knew that all it took was the slightest tug on his hair trigger to send lead flying his way.

“Sit your ass back down,” she instructed as she walked over to the door and unlocked it. Moments later A’shai walked into the room. He kissed Liberty on the lips and tapped her behind slightly.

“Finish getting dressed, ma,” he said. “Did he touch you?” he asked, slightly vexed that Nico had even gotten a chance to see Liberty’s body.
Don’t matter. The nigga won’t be seeing nothing in a minute. As soon as I get that paper I’m rocking his ass to sleep,
A’shai thought.

“Damn, fam,” A’shai said sarcastically as he looked at naked ass Nico in disgust. “You got your little dick all out, making it rain . . . you doing it real big, huh?” He took a glance at Nico’s manhood as it went soft. “Or should I say little.”

Nico kicked himself for not recognizing Liberty. The last time he had seen her he hadn’t been paying attention to her face and because of that she was able to lure him without arousing suspicion. Liberty finished dressing, and A’shai nodded towards the door. “Wait for me in the car, ma,” he said.

Liberty put Nico’s gun inside of her handbag before walking out onto the crowded club floor. A’shai stared menacingly at Nico. His pistol wasn’t even drawn, and he could already see the intimidation in Nico’s eyes.

“What is all this about, fam? You coming up in here like this . . . going through all of this to catch me by surprise. What’s going on?” Nico asked playing dumb.

“Where’s the money?” A’shai asked.

Nico’s eyes shot behind A’shai as he hoped that his crew would come in and save him.

“If you’re looking for the clowns you came in here with you can stop. A few of my lady friends are taking care of them,” A’shai said as he rubbed his hands together. “Where’s my father’s money? You’re the only other person who knew the combo.”

Nico knew that there was no use denying it, but his mind spun as he tried to think of a way out of the situation. “That’s what this is all about?” Nico asked. “Unc’s paper? I wasn’t going to steal it, fam. You got it all wrong. I was trying to make sure the FEDS didn’t take it. After Unc got arrested, I went into the safe. I thought I was looking out. I moved the money so that the FEDS didn’t get to it first,” Nico explained, lying through his teeth.

“Why all the shady shit then, fam? Why didn’t you just say that?” A’shai stated as he kicked Nico’s clothes over to him. “Put your shit back on, duke. You straight slipping out here. If I had been another nigga, you would be slumped.”

“I know cuz . . . I’m tripping. That shit with Baron got me kinda fucked up. You get the head, the body will fall, nah mean?” Nico asked. “I thought we were all next. I’m up in here trying to get my mind off things.” Nico quickly put his clothes back on, and A’shai palmed his own pistol inside the hoodie. His finger was already on the trigger just in case Nico tried to jump stupid.

A’shai shook his head and wrapped one arm around Nico’s shoulder as he patted him sympathetically. He was putting on a naïve show befriending Nico, when he really wanted to splatter his brains all over the floor. Not wanting to create a scene inside of the establishment, A’shai played nice and lured Nico outside, making him think that all was forgiven. “You got to move smarter, fam. You had me worried . . . thinking you had pulled grimy. I go to check the safe, and it’s empty . . . you know how that can look,” A’shai schooled as he led him towards the exit and into the parking lot.

The only light that illuminated the parking lot was the overhead street lamp. Although the lot was full of vehicles, no one loitered outside.
No witnesses,
A’shai thought, the murderous part of him coming out.

“I need you to take me to that paper. Pops need it for the lawyers,” A’shai stated as he walked behind Nico.

There was no way that Nico was coming up off that money and thoughts of killing A’shai filled his mind.

“Of course. I’ve got it in the trunk,” Nico said. A’shai shook his head in disgust at Nico’s carelessness. He was surprised that his bone-headed antics hadn’t led the police to them a long time ago. A’shai knew niggas that would tie up a bitch and her kid for that type of paper and here Nico was riding around with it in an unsecure trunk.

Sweat formed on Nico’s brow as he hit the alarm and popped the release on his trunk. He reached into the trunk where the bag lay and reached right beside it to grab the chrome .9mm that rested beside it.

“You still keep that nine in your trunk?” A’shai asked letting Nico know that he was two steps ahead of him.

“I..uh..yeah why what’s good?” Nico asked.

“I’mma need that too,” A’shai stated simply. Nico knew that if he tried to come up shooting A’shai would blow his brains off. He had the drop on him and at that moment all Nico could do was concede. He came up out the trunk and handed A’shai the bag of money, then dropped the gun inside.

Nico held out his hand, and A’shai embraced him, pulling him into his chest to show love. “Sleep tight, you bitch ass nigga,” A’shai whispered as he squeezed his trigger.

POP! POP! POP!

Nico’s body crumpled instantly to the concrete and Liberty immediately pulled up beside A’shai. He hopped into the car and she pulled off smoothly, disappearing from sight before anyone even came out the door to witness their departure.

NINETEEN

LIBERTY AND A’SHAI DISCREETLY RUSHED INTO THEIR
hotel room, and A’shai tossed the duffel bag full of money on the bed. “Look in there,” he stated.

Liberty unzipped the bag, and her mouth fell open as she looked at all of the street money that it contained. “How much is this?” she asked.

“I don’t know . . . start counting,” he said with a smile.

Liberty dumped the money out on the bed and then tossed two handfuls into the air. It floated down around her and she laughed giddily in disbelief. “I didn’t know you were getting it like this,” she said.

“There’s a lot about me you don’t know,” A’shai replied as he joined her on the bed. “But I’mma teach you. I’mma share everything with you . . . always. Before you get too excited, that’s not ours.”

Liberty stopped flipping through the bills and looked up at A’shai in confusion.

“I’ve got to give some paper to my father’s lawyer. I’ll put the rest of the money in the streets. I need to re-up and flip this so that we can be straight. Baron will never know. In the end he’ll be paid back, and we’ll have enough money to be straight for awhile.”

A’shai dropped the money off to Baron’s lawyer and picked up on the details of his father’s case. Things weren’t looking well for Baron, but Clarkston assured him that money could buy any judge in the state if the price was right.

A’shai left Clarkston with a quarter million dollars, more than enough to handle Baron’s case, and he kept the rest so that he could hit the streets with it.

“Please let Baron know that the rest of his money will be waiting for him in an off-shore account. I would like to visit him . . . let him know to be expecting me sometime in the near future,” A’shai stated before leaving the office.

A’shai hit the streets as a one man army going hard to ensure that he could provide for Liberty. They had to keep low to avoid Samad so Liberty was confined to a different hotel room night after night. She was trapped there because it was unsafe to leave, but being trapped with A’shai was like heaven to her. Although he kept long hours in the street, the few hours they were together they used to become reacquainted. They fell in love all over again, and although they were in hiding, for the first time Liberty felt content. Cramped inside old hotel rooms, she had never been so free.

A’shai quickly found a new connect out of Miami and purchased so many kilos that he had to hire two drivers to bring them up to Detroit in separate U-haul trucks. He wasn’t fucking around. Nothing about his situation was a game. He was hustling for the love of a woman . . . the love of his life. He refused to lose Liberty, and he was determined to provide a better life for her, the life that she deserved, the life that GOD had designed her to lead. MURDERVILLE had never been her destiny. A’shai had personally misguided her down that ruthless path, and it was the one regret that he had in life. She didn’t deserve the suffering that she had been through, and he would turn cold in his grave before he allowed her to return to Samad. A’shai spent a lot of time in the streets, hustling from the bottom up in order to move the bricks that he had purchased. He barely slept because he was working so hard. He had invested Baron’s money without his knowledge, and he wanted to put every dime back before Baron ever realized it was missing.

Some people know how to cook, some people are good at math, and others are experts at science or English . . . A’shai was good at hustling. He hit the pavement hard and took no prisoners as he continued to reign over Baron’s empire, making sure to put up interest for his father so that there would be no ill feelings. He was grinding so hard that it felt as if he had a nine-to-five, but in his mind it was all worth it because when he went to lay his body down each night it was always beside Liberty. What he was doing couldn’t be explained using reason. A usually logical A’shai was acting strictly off emotion, and it felt right.

A’shai entered the hotel room that had become their hideout and temporary home. He had Chinese food in his hands and expected his girl to greet him with open arms as she did every night, but she was nowhere in sight.

“Lib, I’m back baby girl. Where you at?” he asked. “I got your favorite from the Chinese spot.”

He sat the food down on the small round table and began to remove the dishes from the bag.

“Hey Liberty!” he called as he went to knock on the bathroom door. He knocked lightly. “Yo, ma!” he said. He frowned at her silence and entered the room. When he saw her lying on her side in the middle of the floor, A’shai’s heart sank.
Samad
, he thought as he rushed to her. “No, baby girl no . . . not now. I’m almost done. I’m doing this for you, ma . . .” he mumbled as he checked her body, trying to find the bullet hole that had ended her life. He pulled her into his arms and put his fingers to her neck. The racing pulse that he felt startled him slightly and his hands shook as he realized that she was alive.

“Liberty! Lib . . . wake up,” he said as he patted her face urgently and lifted her up from the floor. He burst out of the bathroom door into the room, knocking over the nightstand as he frantically carried her over to the bed. “Wake up . . . Liberty,” he whispered in her ear as he rubbed her hair. It was as if she was waking up from a deep sleep, and her eyes began to flutter wildly as she came to.

“What happened? Who did this to you?” he asked as he hugged her tightly, bringing her to his chest as relief flooded over him.

“Shai?” she whispered, confused as her brow creased and she reached out to touch his chest.

“Don’t do that to me, ma. I thought I lost you,” he whispered. He held her as if he would never see her again. His worst fear felt as if it were so close to coming true. “Who hurt you? What happened?”

“I was dizzy . . . I’ve been exhausted all day. I was lying in bed and I couldn’t get up . . . my body . . . it was just so tired. I couldn’t even force myself out of bed to order room service. The last thing I remember is stumbling to the bathroom. I must have fainted or something,” she explained.

A’shai exhaled and kissed her lips. “I’m sorry, ma. I had you here all day by yourself. I’ve got to take better care of you,” he said guiltily.

“You do take care of me, Shai. I know that you’re in the streets for me. You’re doing all of this so we can be together. I’m a big girl. I can handle it. I guess I was just hungry and tired,” she dismissed.