Payback With Ya Life (23 page)

He cocked the gun. She froze into place, held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut. She felt his body heat. He was up on her, the gun kissing her temple and his mouth kissing her neck.

“Oh yeah? Try me. You think I give a fuck about killing you and my baby? I ain’t got shit no way.”

“You have a wife and a beautiful daughter, Forever,” she sobbed, refusing to open her eyes.

“Shut up!” he snapped as he took his dick and began rubbing it up against her pussy. “Tell Daddy you want this,” he taunted as he massaged her ass with the gun in his hand. “Go ahead, bitch. Tell Daddy you want this.” He put the gun to her temple. “Put it in.” He was definitely ready to fuck.

Ding. Dong. Ding
.

She gasped.

He froze.

He slipped his dick back in his pants and grabbed Shan by the back of her neck. “Who is that?”

“I d-don’t know,” she stammered.

He squeezed her neck as he tossed her down onto the couch. “You better not make a fuckin’ sound.”

Karin kept ringing the doorbell and trying her best not to panic. Realizing that Shan wasn’t going to answer she headed to her car to call Peanut.

Peanut was doing a hundred on the highway. He fumbled with the phone and dialed Karin. As she searched her bag for her phone it started ringing. She answered it immediately and began rambling, “Hey, Peanut. I—”

“What the fuck is going on?” Peanut hissed.

“I’m over here now and shit ain’t right. The lights are on, her car and Markeeta’s is parked. She ain’t answering the door. Markeeta is out of town until tomorrow, so shit ain’t right. What do you want me to do?”

“Fuck! I’m getting there as fast as I can.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

T
he notorious Jack Brunswick, attorney to drug kingpins, sat patiently waiting for the U.S. Marshals to bring his two clients from the bullpen.

Mr. Brunswick had been Big Choppa’s lawyer for almost twelve years. It was because of him that Big Choppa had remained indictment-free all this time. Over the years they had become good friends. Jack kept Big Choppa two steps ahead of the game. He watched as Big Choppa groomed Janay to fill his shoes. He had seen it all in his twenty-one years as a criminal defense attorney, but grooming your daughter to become a kingpin? He was unable to come to grips with that. And now he was facing one of the toughest challenges in all of his career: Janay’s indictment on kingpin and murder charges. Even though he had seen it coming, this would be difficult for him because Janay and her sister were like family to him.

Janay entered the room first, dressed in an orange jumpsuit. She wore a grim look on her face that displayed all the stress she was under and the knowledge of how serious this was. Crystal, surprisingly, looked calm. He wasn’t sure if she understood the extent of what they were up against. Her orange jumpsuit was two sizes too big.

“So what do they have?” Janay wanted to know as soon as she sat down.

Jack popped open his Valentino briefcase. “The government is coming hard at your family. Since you guys have been untouchable for years, they now feel that they got you by the balls. I’ma be straight up with you, it’s not looking good,” he said while pulling out a file folder two inches thick. “And you, Janay, won’t be going anywhere no time soon. They are trying to put two bodies on you. Crys should be straight. We’ll see this coming Wednesday; that’s when your bond hearing is scheduled.”

“Wednesday?” Crystal shrieked, her calm demeanor flying out the window.

“Hold on, Crys. Let me finish with Janay. For right now, you have a four-count indictment: conspiracy, CCE (continuing criminal enterprise), money laundering, possession with intent to distribute five kilos of cocaine. And . . . they are most likely going to hand down a superceding indictment to add murder and weapons charges.”

“What! Where did they get the five kilos?” Janay needed to know.

“Nay, that’s the least of your concerns. I will be getting that dismissed.”

“This is bullshit, Jack, and you know it!” Janay spat.

“It sure the fuck is,” Crystal agreed.

“Ladies, you know how they play. Believe me, they are not going to play fair. I’ve never known them to in all my years as a criminal defense attorney. They are going to come at you with everything they can. You are going to get everything that they couldn’t get Big Choppa for. And your father has just up and disappeared.”

Crystal popped up out of her seat and began pacing the small space that they called the attorney/client room. “Look at us. We are fucked.”

Janay frowned at her spoiled sister. “Crystal, I told you time and time again that no good comes out of the dope game. It’s a setup from the start. You either end up where we are now, or dead. But it’s a choice that we made.”

“I ain’t tryna hear that shit, Ms. Gangsta. You got a lot of nerve to be talkin’. I can’t even think right now. All I know is that I got a body,” Crystal snapped.

“Duh, bitch. I know that. I was there. Right now ain’t no time for no dumb shit. We need to put our heads together so that we can figure out the best way to fight this shit,” Janay calmly explained.

“Please, girls. Sit down, Crystal. We do have to work together. In order to come out on top, we must work and stick together.”

Crystal started to say something but changed her mind, choosing instead to sit back down.

“Okay,” Jack continued. “Let’s start with your father. Any idea where he could be?”

“You got us fucked up if you think you’re going to get away with this!” Shan spat.

He leapt across the room and backhanded her. “Shut the fuck up!” Blood trickled down her chin where her lip was split from the force of the slap.

She watched as he ripped open the camouflage-patterned bag and snatched out a rope and tape. Shan, seeing what it was, went off. She grabbed the nearest lamp and tossed it at him. He moved out of the way and it crashed into the wall. “You think you’re going to tie me up? You must be outta your fucking mind!” She ran off into the kitchen with him carrying the rope and dead on her heels. She yanked a kitchen drawer open and hastily grabbed a carving knife. Forever grabbed her by the top of her head and she swung her arm around, slashing him across his rib cage.

“You bitch!” He slammed her head repeatedly against the kitchen counters, drawing blood. He then slammed her into one of the kitchen chairs and proceeded to tie the rope all around her. Then he found a clean dishtowel, wet it and began pressing it against his bleeding wound.

“Forever . . . untie me . . . please. I feel sick,” Shan gasped as a gash on her forehead leaked blood down the center of her face. Her head was throbbing so bad that she was nauseous.

He kept his back to her as he tried to stop the bleeding. “This was not supposed to go like this, Shan. You know that, right?”

“What the fuck is the matter with you? Untie me, Forever! You haven’t been out of prison twenty-four hours and look at you. Why are you trying to go back?”

“Oh, I ain’t going back. No sir. Forever will hold court in the streets first. Believe that.”

“You’re holding me hostage, Forever. I’m fuckin’ tied up, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Chill out. When my brother gets here, we’ll take care of everything.” He had wet another towel and wiped her face.

“Just leave, Forever,” she begged him. “When
my brother
gets here it’s going to be ugly. Leave now while you got the chance.”

“Not until I do what I came here to do.”

“And what’s that?” She watched as he nonchalantly walked out of her kitchen. “Forever!” she yelled after him. “Come here, dammit! Forever!”

Forever went to the bathroom and found some gauze, alcohol and Band-Aids to bandage himself up. He then went to the living room, took off the bloody shirt and put on another one. He decided to turn on the CD player and got comfortable enough to snort a few more lines. Shan was screaming his name, so to drown her out he turned the music up louder.

Thinking about the time it takes to drive from Memphis to Detroit, Forever looked at his watch. “Six more hours till showtime.” He grabbed the cell phone and called Karmel and found out that they were still all hanging out. Mason jumped on the phone and tried to convince Forever to come out and play, which Forever politely declined to do. After he hung up he took a tour of the house, covering every square inch of it. He couldn’t believe that it looked as if Shan had all of her shit there as well as Briggen and they were actually living together as a couple. And to make matters worse they were getting ready to play house . . . with
his
baby. This shit made absolutely no sense to him.

He flopped down on the king-size bed in the master bedroom and gazed up at the ceiling. Before he knew it he had dozed off.

Forever began to dream . . . dream about how it was supposed to be. He dreamt that when he was released Nyla was carrying their daughter and was waiting for him at the front gate. His heart and soul filled with joy as he swooped them both up and planted sloppy kisses on both of their faces. Then they got in the car and drove off into the sunset and lived happily ever after. He kept dreaming the same dream over and over, waking up in a hot sweat almost five hours later.

“Shit!” He sat up, startled by his silhouette staring back at him through the dresser mirror. He felt as if his body had been run over by a herd of elephants. But then he froze when he heard a vehicle pull up in the driveway. “Fuck! I don’t have my piece!” He flew out of the bedroom and down the stairs. The CD player was still on blast as he turned it off.

“In here! I’m in here! Somebody please help me!” Shan was still screaming, her throat raw and hoarse. He ignored her as he pulled his piece from under the sofa cushion.

It was dark as Briggen entered the house. “Shan!”
Click
. Briggen looked up into the barrel of a piece.

“What’s happening, big brother? What? You came to save the day?”

“Briggen, Peanut . . . please come help me!” Shan cried.

“I’m here, baby, I got you,” Briggen yelled.

Forever started laughing. “Nigga, you ain’t Superman, how you got her and I’m here holding the gun on you? You done lost your fuckin’ mind fo’real.”

Shan couldn’t hold back anymore as the tears flowed endlessly down her cheeks.

“What the fuck did you do to her, man?” Briggen yanked his piece out a little too slow. Forever fired at his chest, knocking him and his piece backward.

“Chill the fuck out, bruh, we need to talk.”

“Briggen! Briggen! Answer me! Oh God, no. Forever . . . Forever!” Shan screamed.

“Big bruh, what the fuck ever happened to MOB, man? Money over bitches? You let that bitch in there come between us?” Forever heard a car door slam and a pair of feet running. He stepped over Briggen’s body, kicked the gun back and went to see who was coming. He opened the door.

“Forever! Forever!” Nyla looked into his face and rushed up to him, hugging him around his neck. He hadn’t been expecting to see her. He was definitely stunned and caught off guard. “Baby, I am so sorry. You gotta give me one more chance. We have a family. We have history. Please, Forever, you gotta let me make this right.” She hugged him tighter and then he moved her arms. She backed up and looked at him. That’s when she noticed the blood on his shirt from the stab wound and the gun in his hand. She put her hands over her mouth and started backing up farther. That’s when she saw Briggen’s body on the floor. “Oh God, no. Forever, what have you done? Baby, no, please say you didn’t kill your only brother. Oh Lord, no!” She fell to her knees, letting out a gut-wrenching scream.

Forever’s ears perked up when he heard a car door slam. He watched as Peanut raced up the stairs.

“I should have sent out invitations so that we could have had a fuckin’ family reunion.” He smirked, ignoring what he felt was Nyla’s charade. “So . . . you must be Peanut. We finally get to meet.” Forever stood there pointing the gun at him with a huge grin on his face. “Drop that burner, nigga.”

“Fuck!” Peanut gritted as he reluctantly allowed his piece to hit the ground. “Where’s my sister? I just came here to get my sister. I don’t want shit else.”

“Fuck your sister, nigga, you should be coming here to see me. Tell me that you came here to see me.”

“See you for what?”
Bock
. A shot rang out, striking Peanut. Nyla yelled out and Shan started screaming once again.

“The next one is going to hit you in the neck. Now tell me that you’re here to see me,” Forever ordered, obviously enjoying his reign of power.

“I came to see you . . . damn.”

“That’s what I thought. You came to tell me that you owe me for taking my dope and that you got my bread, with interest. You also came to tell me that you merked my boy Skye.”

“I didn’t touch that nigga. But you can believe that I was on my way to see his punk ass.”

“Forever . . . please. Put the gun down, baby. Your dau—”

“Nyla, shut the fuck up! Nigga, you did Skye. You ain’t got to lie about it.”

“Maine, believe what you want to believe. He better be glad that somebody got to his punk ass before I did. Because for that stunt that he pulled, I had planned to do him nice and slow.”

“Oh, you a cocky muthafucka, huh? Is that why you was able to pull my wife? Nyla, you like to fuck these cocky muthafuckas, don’t you? Come over here and stand with your nigga.”

“Forever, what the hell are you talking about? I did not fuck him. Tell him, Peanut. Tell him how I told you that I was saving all my love for him. Forever, you’re home, baby. Don’t fuck up, your daughter needs you, I need you. I didn’t fuck him. I swear, baby.”

“Maine, I ain’t fuck your wife! I don’t know where you got that bullshit from.”

“Nyla, you forgot you told me you was fuckin’ this nigga?”

“No, I didn’t,” Nyla screamed with conviction. “You
accused
me of fuckin’ him.”

“Bitch, Skye told me he spent the night in my fuckin’ house, Nyla.”

“Skye is a gotdamned liar. I would never do that to you, baby. Skye just wanted me for himself. He didn’t tell you that, did he? Of course he didn’t.” She could sense Forever’s hesitation and thought that she had him but it didn’t last long.

“Y’all muthafuckas think I’m stupid? Get over here by this nigga, Nyla. You want to be with him so bad. Watch what I do to him.”

“Forever, stop. I don’t want to be with him. I want to be with you and be a family. We have a family. You’re home now.”

“I don’t want your wife, man,” Peanut told him.

“Y’all muthafuckas want to play games, huh?
Bock, bock
. “Play with that.” He watched as Peanut went down, blood oozing from his mouth, and Nyla screaming her head off. “You like that, didn’t you?”

Nyla’s face was contorted, her mouth was wide open as she saw Shan looking a horrible mess coming toward them. She was tossing the rope and duct tape aside, as she had finally got loose. She saw Shan bend down next to Briggen and when she came up, she came up firing.