Protect Me From My Friends Page 2

  I watched in slow motion as Tamia lifted her gun, aiming it straight at Olay's chest. She looked happy that Olay was runnin' up on her. I saw a slight smirk on her face as her eyes got smaller, locking in on their target.

  “Stop!” I yelled out to both of them, hoping one of them would listen to me.

  Neither one did. Bleed jumped in front of Olay, blocking her path at the last moment and more than likely, saving her life.

  “Get out the way so I can kill this bitch! This pregnant ass bitch wanna come in my muthafuckin' house!” Olay yelled at the top of her lungs.

  “Bitch, fuck you! Come on closer so I can send you to your sister!” Tamia shot back.

  That statement must of really hit Olay where it hurt 'cause the crazy bitch went berserk. She started fighting with Bleed just so she could get to Tamia. I had to help him restrain her ass. She screamed every disrespectful word in the book at us, while trying to break free.

  Why the fuck did she have to say that shit? was all I could think about as we struggled to keep them separated. I couldn't blame Olay though for flippin' out. 'Cause if a nigga disrespected Gotti or Boobie like that, then somebody was going in a casket, period.

  “Fuck you! I'ma kill you, bitch!” Olay was going wild, using all her strength while trying to break free from us.

  I was in a fucked up predicament and didn't know what to do about it. The two women that I loved the most were at each other’s throats and out for blood.

  What’s a young killah to do? I did what any real nigga would do and sided with the one who had proven their loyalty. As much as it hurt, I had no choice but to side with Tamia and escort Olay out the building. What once was our house of love, was now the final scene in our journey. I knew there was no coming back.

  Bleed and me had to damn near drag her out the spot and all the way to her car, kicking and screaming. She was really on some Diary of a Mad Black Woman type of shit. I was glad I had already taken her gun 'cause if I hadn’t, Tamia and my unborn would have been another statistic. Shit, me and Bleed probably would of been dead, too. She was trippin' that hard.

  “Olay, calm down!” I yelled after we’d finally got her inside the whip.

  “Nigga, fuck you!” She looked at me like I had two heads or somethin'. “You in there defending that punk bitch over me? Really? I never thought I'd see the day.” She had some fuckin' nerve.

  “Bitch, what! You were just in there pointing a pistol at me over somethin' a nigga told you. You crossed me! You just did this!”

  She stared at me with crocodile tears in her eyes like that shit meant somethin'. I was getting mad just thinking about the shit. She lucky I don't kill her right now. I took a step back before I zoned out and ended up choking her out.

  “Fuck you!” She slammed the door and skirted out.

  I felt what was left of my broken heart shattered into pieces as I stared at the taillights leaving the driveway. I couldn't understand how I lost my favorite relative and my bitch in the same day. Both situations masterminded by Burnside.

  “Agghh!” I roared at the sky with both my fists clinched.

  “Let's go do what we gotta do. It's time,” Bleed announced.

  I nodded my head. No words needed to be said. We knew what the triv was. Meaning, nothing else needed to be said. A few seconds later, my phone went off. When I seen Phatz’s name on the screen, I just knew it was triv.

  “What's mobbin?” I answered. I listened for a few seconds, then cut 'em off. “A’ight, not on the phone. Just meet at the spot.” I then hung up.

  “What?” Bleed asked.

  I shook my head in frustration. “Let me go tell Tamia we shakin', then I'll tell you in the car, man.”

  “You having her stay here?”

  “I'ma give her the keys to the 'Rati and she can do whatever she want. I'm too mad to give a fuck right now.” I walked off still shaking my head.

  After I hollered at her for a few minutes, I walked back out with my game face on. I was officially in beast mode. Protect me from my friends, I thought as I hopped in Bleed’s Camaro. What a fuckin' life.

  Chapter 2

  Hours later, we pulled up in the Ville at one of our meeting spots where Twin and Phatz were waiting on us. I was emotionally drained but still ready to kill somethin'. I exhaled real slow, while massaging my temples with hopes of slowing down the headache I felt coming.

  I looked out the window into the darkness, wishing like hell I could spot somebody to kill. Anybody. I also didn't want Bleed to see the tears creeping down my face. The last couple of hours had been traumatizing on my soul. Hearing my mother and aunty crying their hearts out over the phone was the worse shit I had ever been through. I'ma kill these niggaz.

  “Yo, O? You good?” Bleed asked, breaking the silence.

  “Naw, blood.” I tilted my head back so the tears would stay in my eyes. “I don't think it's ever going to be good. I just listened to my muthafuckin' aunty bare her soul, my nigga. Her oldest son, my favorite relative!” I hit the door as I yelled the last part.

  “And now we gon' make their mamas bury all their sons so they can feel how ours feel. You know how we rockin', my nigga. Mob up or get shot down. We gon' do it for Gotti.”

  It was in that moment that I had truly lost my soul. I could actually feel the ice pumping throughout my body. I knew then that nothing would ever be the same. I was cold inside. I thought nothing would ever feel worse then Boobie getting killed. I was wrong. Me and Gotti shared the same blood in our veins and there wasn't nothing more sacred than that.

  “I know how I'm rockin' for now on.” I turned my head so he could look into my eyes. I wasn't tryna hide to the tears no more. I wanted him to see my pain. “I'm killin' all those niggaz and whoever got love for 'em. And I'ma tell you another thing too, everybody is suspect right now. Somebody real close in the circle gave us up to Burnside. Ain't no fuckin' way he just guessed that shit, blood!” I spat fire out of my mouth.

  “It will all come to the light eventually.” You right about that, nigga, I thought while tryna get a read on him. We stared at each other for a few seconds, then hopped out.

  I kept my hand on the heater the whole time. We were walking to the apartment. It was cold outside and too quiet. That's usually when the wolves came out.

  As soon as we stepped into the spot, I could feel the tension in the air. It was that thick. Twin and Phatz were sitting on the couch, looking mad as a muthafucka. They both locked eyes with me, nonverbally letting me know they were ready to slump somebody.

  Good. Standing against the wall in the corner was Ruger and even he had a face of stone. Fuck is he doing here? I wondered. When we locked eyes, I saw the look of murder written in them. I was beyond surprised.

  They had hella gunz lying across the table, lil' shit and big shit. Twin was loading up a Mac-10 with thirty shots when we walked in. I wasn't the only one ready to die that night.

  “What's mobbin, Ruger? Fuck you doing here?” I asked.

  He was my nigga and all, but this was some next level shit we were on. His place was the studio and nowhere else.

  “I'm suiting up with y’all niggaz. What they did to Gotti was outta pocket and they gon' have to see me for that shit. He was the realist nigga to ever walk this earth and I would feel like a bitch if I didn't do nothin'.”

  He spoke from the heart. I felt where he was coming from and all, but nobody just becomes a killer overnight. Especially on the level we were playing on. It was eat or be eaten.

  “Look, brodie. I feel you, but don't let yo’ heart get you signed up for some shit that you ain't read for. It's really about to be murkin' season and ain't shit gon' be safe. Ain't nobody in this room guaranteed to see tomorrow. Them niggaz gon' be gunnin' at any and everything around us.”

  “Exactly. That means just being in the studio with y’all is enough to get me killed. So either way, I'm stuck in this shit and prefer to go out shootin'. I'm not new to this shit, just a lil' rusty.” He picked a .45 up from
off the table, then cocked it, smirking at me.

  “He do got a point,” Bleed added his opinion.

  “Once you fire that gun, ain't no coming back. This ain't no rap song or none of that shit. Niggaz gon' die.” I tried to give him another out.

  “You don't think I know that?” he snapped at me. The look he had on his face let me know I had offended him. Good. He was gon' need the aggression. “You coming at me like I'm some fake ass studio gangsta that ain't never bust no gun. I'm not about to stand here and tell all my business, but I will say this. Y’all ain't did shit that I haven't done. And either way it goes, I'ma ride on them suckaz with or without y’all.”

  I looked over at Bleed. He just shrugged his shoulders like he didn't care either way. Them other two niggaz were nodding their heads, but that was expected since they brought the nigga here. Fuck it. I'ma let 'em ryde.

  I figured we was gon' need all the extra gunz we could get since we had lost some shooters. He gon' be my secret weapon.

  “Alright, nigga. Just don't try and fall back when shit get too real.” I turned away from him. I was done with that issue and ready to address the next. I looked Phatz dead in the eyes. “Tell me what happened, blood?”

  I already pretty much put the pieces together from the lil' bit he told me over the phone. He moved up to the edge of the couch, full of anger. He looked like he was ready to scream, cry, and kill, all at the same time.

  “We pulled up to the spot to see if the money was really gone—”

  “Who is we?” I asked, cutting him off.

  “Me and Twin. Ruger was taking care of the shit at the studio. Anyways, soon as we pulled up, niggaz start eating us up off the rip. We didn't even get to park before they started sending shit our way,” he said full of shame.

  “Y’all ain't bust back?” I already knew the answer from the way he was telling the story. The embarrassment was clear on his face.

  “Naw, shawdy. Dem fuck niggaz was on us. They bounced out and did they shit. Really tried to put our dicks in the dirt,” Twin spoke for the first time.

  I could feel the heat coming from off his words. I knew it was only a matter of time before he made the ground shake.

  “Did y’all at least see who it was?”

  “I saw that fuck nigga head. I couldn't see the other pussy,” Twin spat. Phatz shook his head.

  “It was probably Ralo’s bitch ass. They're always together, on me,” Bleed swore.

  I nodded my head while tryna envision the set up my niggaz were painting for me. It definitely had that traitor’s name written all over it, no question. But I felt like something wasn't right. Something was missing. Then it hit me hard. He wasn't gunnin' for me. He knew I wouldn't be there, I thought to myself.

  “What's good, O?” Bleed asked after I didn't speak for a full minute. He knew I was on to something.

  “I was just tryna put it all together, his plan that he thought was so bulletproof. Using Olay as a decoy, then killing me while y’all was isolated—”

  “Nigga, what?” Phatz yelled, cutting me off. He jumped off the couch with a scowl on his face. “Hold on, blood. Olay tried to off you? She fuckin' with Burnside or somethin'?”

  “Of course not. They’re hard but not stupid. We wasting our time looking for these niggaz out in the open. They somewhere sitting around counting all of our money, laughing at us,” I spoke up.

  “Then the question is, what spot are they hiding at? Bleed asked.

  “I doubt it's one that we know about. You gotta remember, they've probably been planning this shit for a month. Just keep riding around until we figure somethin' out. We might get lucky.”

  I sat back in frustration as we pulled off. My ego was really fuckin' with me at this point. If it was one thing I hated over everything else, it was being out smarted. But it cut me ten times worse coming from the inside.

  After another hour of dry runs and empty parking lots, we were ready to call it a wrap. None of us had anymore ideas and the frustration was killin' us. Just when I was about to call it quits, Phatz spoke music to my ears.

  “I know where the nigga Ralo's grandpa lives at. I think his brother live there too.”

  I couldn't believe this nigga had just now thought of that shit. We'd been driving around for hours and the whole time, he had the drop. Me and Bleed looked at each other at the same time with those “what the fuck” looks.

  “And you just now thinking of this shit?” I looked at my watch. “At damn near one o'clock in the morning?” I just had to ask.

  “It just now hit me.”

  I exhaled my frustration. “Where's it at?”

  “It's on eight and Buffalo. I took him some work over there one time. I remembered he said it was the family house. It seemed like a few people lived there, so I don't know who all gon' be there,” he answered.

  “It don't matter, dawg. Ain't nobody innocent in this world,” Twin said, letting his feeling be known.

  “Nobody's innocent while my mother and aunty are cryin' their hearts out to God. Take us over there.”

  My words put the nails in their coffins. It was a wrap and there was no coming back. I made eye contact with Ruger, really hoping that he understood that shit. It wasn't gonna be one of those Cuba Gooding Boyz N the Hood get outta the car situations.

  I knew a lot of real killaz that didn't believe in shedding innocent blood. I usually respected that theory, but that shit went out the door when they almost killed my baby mama. And as far as I was concerned, Gotti's blood was innocent, too.

  He was killed for no reason and by his so called brothers! Innocent! I planned on making the devil smile until the last man fell.

  We pulled up ten minutes later on Buffalo Street with nothing but murder and revenge on our minds. The street was dark and quiet as expected, with only a few cars parked on it. Everybody was in their beds asleep, just knowing that tragedy could never strike their so called quiet block, but that was gonna change.

  “That's the one right there,” Phatz said and pointed at a two-story home as he parked across the street from it.

  “You sure?” I asked, while looking around for any familiar cars.

  “Positive.”

  “Anybody know what kinda car this bitch ass nigga be driving?” I asked all of them.

  They all looked around like they were expecting the next nigga to know the answer. I felt myself getting ready to flash on them but had to check myself. I couldn't get mad at my squad for not knowing some shit I didn't even know. We really got rocked to sleep. I felt like that shit was a direct hit to my leadership.

  “Blood, don't nobody know what his hoe ass is driving. It don't even matter 'cause we going in there regardless. If he ain't in there, then he gon' have to live with the fact he got his family killed,” Bleed summarized.

  I nodded my head in agreement while envisioning his treasonist ass cryin' on his knees, while viewing the bodies. They think I went soft. I convinced myself.

  “You right about that.” I popped the clip outta the .40, making sure it was packed to maximum capacity. “We hittin' everything breathing, so get ready,” I growled, then popped the clip back in.

  Soon as the words left my mouth, we watched a dark colored Buick pull up right in front of the house we were stalking. My heart beat sped up instantly. We were all glued to the windows at the same time on some real life predator shit. We were lickin' our chops.

  “Who dat, blood?” Bleed asked the obvious.

  “We about to find out,” Phatz responded.

  Take a deep breath. I know what I'm doing, I attempted to calm myself down when I saw somethin' that made me smile and wanna kill at the same time. “Y'all see who that is?” I asked, feeling myself get pumped up.

  “I know exactly who that is.” Phatz said each word real slow with malice in his tone.

  He kept mean muggin' the car while he tied a black bandanna over his face. Glad the windows are tinted.

  “Y'all gon' tell us who dis fuck boy is or what?
” Twin was feeling left out.

  “That's Ralo's lil’ brother, Jermaine. Lil' nigga like seventeen or eighteen.”

  The light was on in the car, giving us a clear view of what was going on inside it. Some young light-skinned chick was sitting behind the wheel, smiling for ear to ear while Jermaine planted kisses on her neck.

  “Aww, that's cute. Let's eat,” Twin demanded.

  “Naw, we gon' wait.” I leaned back deep in thought, tryna picture everything out.

  This was definitely gonna be her luckiest night ever. She was gonna look back later on in life and praise God for having mercy on her soul. This was the type of shit that made niggaz either turn to Allah or Christ. “I wanna get inside the spot, so we gon' have to wait until she pull off.”

  “What if she get out with 'em?”

  “Then she’s getting killed, too. I don't give a fuck who die. I just wanna get in the house,” I shot back. I didn't feel like explaining that all of that kissing was 'cause she was about to leave. If she were going in, then they would be doing all that inside. He'll learn.

  “I know they better hurry the fuck up.” Me and Bleed looked at each other and just shrugged our shoulders. Wasn't no point in replying to his wild ass. Over time, he'd grow patience and become even more dangerous. We'd been there before.

  “Here we go,” Phatz damn near whispered less than two minutes later.

  I watched him get out the whip and blow his bitch a kiss as she drove off. Soft ass nigga. My heart sped up as I got that feeling that I always did when it was time to eat.

  “Nobody shoot until we get in,” I instructed the squad as I opened the door. Take a deep breath. I know what I'm doing.

  The cold air struck my face, instantly giving me the chillz. I felt the presence of Gotti standing right next to me. I could feel him. I stared at his back with malice as he diddy-bopped towards his front door. I looked to my left. Bleed was there like always and gave him the nod. The wartime nod. “Yo, Jermaine!” I called out into the quiet darkness.