Carl Weber's Kingpins (11 page)

“Whaaatttt?” she asked when she noticed the way that he was looking at her.

“You just look good.”

“Boy, I am in leggings and a T-shirt.”

“You still look good.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Thanks for coming through and getting me out of that house.”

“You good; don’t thank me. How are you holding up?”

David Jr. shrugged his shoulders, trying to find the words to explain how he felt as she did a U-turn in the middle of the street. “I mean, being stuck in the house I’ve been going crazy. And every time I turn on the news I see something else. Everybody is killing each other.”

“How much longer do you have to stay put?”

“Until they find whoever killed my dad, or until this meeting on Saturday.”

“What meeting on Saturday?” Indigo asked, keeping her eyes on the road.

“Before my dad died he told me about some big meeting that he and I were supposed to go to together. But now since he’s gone I have to go by myself.”

“Wow. Those are some pretty tough shoes to fill. How are you feeling about it?”

“Shit, to be honest I have no idea. I don’t know what to expect. Everybody expects me to be exactly like my father. But I’m not him. You know? It’s only been three days since he died and I haven’t even had the time to really mourn.”

“I understand. When my father died it was the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to deal with. He was the glue that kept my family together. So when he was gone he took a piece of my family with him.”

“Well, this is one thing that I wish we didn’t have in common. But we don’t have to talk about all that,” David Jr. said, changing the subject. “Where you taking me?”

“Just this old spot that I like to kick it at. It’s where my dad took me when I turned twenty-one and got me my first drink.”

“Where is it at? In the hood?”

“Kinda. Why, you scared?” Indigo smirked at him.

“I ain’t never scared. I just like to be aware of my surroundings. I am King David’s son, after all.” It was the first time that he’d ever said that phrase with pride.

They made small talk the rest of the ride to the bar that Indigo was talking about. It was in a small white rinky-dink building across the street from a family-owned convenience store. There were drunken old heads hanging outside, talking smack to each other and laughing. The streetlights lit up the whole parking lot where she found a space.

“Don’t worry; it’s nothing but old heads in here. Ain’t nobody going to bother us. Come on.” Indigo got out of the car and waited for David to follow suit. When he did he walked around the car and grabbed her hand so that they could walk side by side.

“Aw, sookie sookie now, look at the lovebirds coming through!” an old man with missing teeth said. “You looking good, sugah. If that young man ain’t doing you right you coming back out here and see me. You hear?”

“I guess you’ll never see her again then, old man, huh?” David Jr. said, laughing.

When David got closer the old man squinted his eyes. “You look mighty familiar, boy. What’s your name?”

“Uh.” David contemplated not telling the old man who he was. But when he sized him up he didn’t think he could do any harm. “My name is David Jr.”

“As in David Mason Jr.?”

“Yeah, that would be me.”

“Well, I’ll be damned.” The old man stood up and shook David Jr.’s hand. “Your daddy is a legend in these here parts. Grew up right down the street. Look, I’m sorry to hear about what happened to him. That ain’t right.”

David Junior didn’t want to really get into the details much. So he thanked the man and excused himself to go inside the bar with Indigo.

“Look at you, you a celebrity or something?” Indigo joked.

“No. My pops was the celebrity, not me.”

Scoping the bar, David Jr. could tell that it was a spot that an older crowd hung at. There were dartboards on the wall, two pool tables, a jukebox, and a square bar was in the middle of the joint. Indigo pulled him to two empty barstools and got the waitress’s attention.

“Excuse me, ma’am. Can I please get a liquid cocaine?”

When she reached in her purse to grab her debit card David Jr. stopped her, and pulled out a crisp twenty dollar bill from his pocket and handed it to the bartender. “When you’re with me don’t you ever try to pay for anything.”

Indigo looked at him with flirtatious eyes and gave him a small smile. “Okay. You’re the boss. ‘I get it, I get it. Your hustle don’t ever go unnoticed, baby. I’m with you. I’m with it.’”

David Jr. couldn’t help bursting out with laughter as she referenced the Drake verse. “You think you’re smooth.”

“I can show you smooth.” She leaned in and sucked on his bottom lip. “Mmm, you taste so good.”

David Jr. took in the woman before him. She wasn’t wearing any makeup and her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail. She looked tired, but that didn’t take away from her natural beauty. He was beginning to really feel her. He knew a long time ago that she wasn’t like the other girls.

They talked for a little while longer over shots, and when they both were feeling a buzz they decided to take over the dance floor. He pulled her in close as they danced to the sound of Usher’s voice crooning through the speakers. It was the first time in a long time that he’d enjoyed a woman’s company without being intimate at all. There was something about the way she smiled up at him and the way her eyes looked like they were holding something back. He didn’t mind, though; he planned on learning everything about the girl in his arms.

“What are you thinking about?” Indigo whispered in his ear.

“Nothing, just about how I want you to be around for a while.”

Indigo was taken aback for a second but then she caught herself. She cleared her throat and hugged him tighter to hide the shock on her face. “Really?” she whispered.

“Really.”

Before the two got to say another word to each other, the door of the bar burst open and a group of young thugs entered all toting weapons.

“Ay! Some old head outside this bar just told me that King David son was in here. So where you at, nigga?”

David Jr. looked around the bar and saw the older couples ducking under their tables. The sight of the weapons terrified them, especially with all the death plaguing the area. He pushed Indigo behind him and stood his ground. “I’m King David’s son. What’s good?”

“You got a price on your head, boy, and I’ve come to collect.”

“A price on my head? And who set this price?” he asked, thinking that maybe it was whoever had murdered his father.

“Everybody out here in these streets, nigga. Everybody out here tryin’a be the next kingpin. I figure if I kill you then that makes me that nigga, right?”

“I don’t think it works like that,” David Jr. said, trying to buy himself some time.

The young’un in front of him shrugged his shoulders. “Shit, it’s worth a shot.” He pointed his gun at David Jr.’s head and began to apply pressure to the trigger.

“If you kill him I kill all of you niggas.”

A familiar voice boomed from the entrance of the bar and startled all of them. David Jr. looked behind the young’un and saw Mac standing there with five more goons, all holding automatic weapons.

“Get the fuck out of here and don’t let me see your face again, little nigga, or I’ma blow it off. ”

“A’ight, man!” The boy waved his hand at his friends and they ran through the clearing that the goons had made for them.

Mac’s murderous stare was on David Jr. He glared at the stupid young man before him and he wanted to slap him. The only thing that saved him was the fact that he was the son of his best friend. “What were you thinking? Nigga, didn’t I tell you how dangerous it is out here for you? Hurry up and get in the car.”

“I’m not a kid, Mac.”

“You sneaking out the house like one. Tell your girl bye and let’s get out of here. I don’t know how many more people know you’re here.” Before Mac left he looked at the girl David Jr. was with. There was something familiar about her face but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “Do I know you?”

She shook her head no but didn’t speak. He stared at her for another moment before turning and walking out of the bar. David and Indigo followed soon after and he hugged her after walking her to her car.

“I’ma text you,” he said. “You still coming by tomorrow?”

“Shit, if they let me through the gate.”

David Jr. grinned down at her and shut her door. “They will.”

Turning his back on her he walked and got into the black Audi that Mac was in as well. They sat in the back seat in silence for half of the ride because both of them had bad attitudes at the moment.

“How did you find me?” David Jr. finally broke the silence.

“Both you and your sister have trackers on your phones. Your father’s orders.”

Even from the grave his father still looked after them. David Jr. suddenly remembered what his father had said to him the last time he saw him:
“There is no place on this earth that you can go and not be King David’s son. Understand that.”

“Thanks,” David Jr. said, looking at the his shoes.

Mac didn’t respond and David Jr. understood. He put his hands in his pockets and leaned back in his seat. “I didn’t ask for this.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s yours.”

Ever since it had come to light that Angela was having an affair Day had steered clear of her. The house was big enough that the two of them didn’t have to see each other if they didn’t want to. Day’s loyalty would always be to her father and she couldn’t believe that her mother would step out on him. After everything that he’d done and sacrificed to give her the life that she wanted. When she was a teenager her mother would always tell her that women had the most power in the universe. It was apparent that she was a firm believer in using what you had to get what you wanted. It never dawned on Day that her mother would be bold enough to sleep around. She was happy that her dad didn’t leave her mother anything, because she didn’t deserve it. She had done a good job at avoiding her so far but soon her luck ran out.

Day was in her room rummaging through an old photo album. She shut herself away that day, not wanting to be bothered by anybody. David Jr. was somewhere downstairs with the girl named Indigo and she just wasn’t in the mood to be bothered with anybody else. The last couple of days had been very hard for her but she didn’t tell anybody about the pain that she was feeling; she didn’t want to talk about it. The more she talked about it the more real it became. Everything had happened so suddenly and she hadn’t had time to wrap her brain around it. She had been crying herself to sleep every night and no matter how much she tried to push the tragedy to the far back of her mind, it always came back.

She still couldn’t believe that she would never see her father alive again. She didn’t want to believe that she would never see him smile and hear him tell her how proud of her he was. She didn’t want to believe that it had really been him tied to the chair. There was so much more that she wished she had the chance to say to him, and now she would never get that chance. The hardest thing for her to cope with was the fact that she wasn’t able to say good-bye. Out of all the things that King David schooled her on, the one lesson he forgot was how to go on without a father.

As she sifted through the photo album she passed many pictures of David Jr. and her when they were kids. She stopped flipping pages when one specific picture caught her eye. She, David Jr., and their dad were flying a kite at the park. She smiled, remembering that it was taken on her fifth birthday, and she was so happy. Even though she and her brother were twins she loved the fact that they didn’t have to share a birthday. On her day her dad would do whatever she wanted to do and on David Jr.’s he was able to do what he wanted. That year all Day wanted was to have a picnic in the park by the water, feed the ducks, and fly a kite. To that day it was her favorite birthday party. Looking at her brother’s face she could tell that it was one of the happy times; their smiles said it all. That was back when they were a whole family. Now they were just two fucked-up twins with a ho for a mother.

Knock! Knock!

Day looked up to see who had come to interrupt her thoughts. When she saw who it was knocking on the door she wanted to kick herself for even thinking about her mom because she felt like she must have thought her up. Angela pushed the door open slightly. She stood there wearing a pink Gucci jogging suit with white Nikes on the feet. Her hair hung loosely around her pretty face and she looked at Day as if she hadn’t thought about what she was going to say yet.

“Hey,” Day said.

“Hey, Davita,” Angela said softly. “I know you must not like me very much right now.”

“I can’t disagree.”

“Aren’t you going to let me explain my side of the story?”

“What do you mean, your side of the story? You were a married woman. There shouldn’t be any ‘your side of the story.’” Day felt her anger surge and she slammed the photo book closed. She got up from the bed and walked toward her bedroom door. “Excuse me,” she said and slid past her mother.

Angela grabbed her arm softly to stop her but Day snatched away. Being that close to her, Day could smell the alcohol on her breath. She shook her head, knowing that Angela was either tipsy or drunk out of her damn mind.

“No. I’m not tryin’a talk to you right now. You’re foul. I just can’t wait for all this shit to be over so I can go back to my normal life.”

“That’s what you don’t understand, Davita,” Angela said, following her down the stairs and into the kitchen. “Our lives will never go back to normal. Your father is dead, which means all of this”—she waved her hands around in a circle—“is yours and David Jr.’s. I am very sad at the loss of your father, and I did love him, whether or not you believe me; but maybe it happened for a reason. I agree with you, baby. It is time to leave all the shit behind us. It is time that we put an end to the cycle. All you and David Jr. have to do is sell everything and start fresh. Your dad wanted the best for you.”

Day stopped filling her glass with water so that she could turn around and look at her mother like she was a fly on the wall. She couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. But looking at her face, Day could tell that she was dead serious.

“So what’s best for me will be for me to sell what my dad left to me?” She scoffed. “You are so sad, do you know that? That’s not what he wanted and you know it. You know what? I think that you’re just mad that he didn’t leave you anything, so you don’t even want us to have it. You’re mad because you can’t go run off with that nigga. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not,” Angela said even though she felt her face going red. “I’ve already talked to David Jr. about it. He’s giving it some serious thought. He wants to leave all this dirty money behind. He never wanted anything to do with your father’s business dealings and I don’t understand why you do. You are a young, bright, beautiful woman. Why do you want to patrol the streets like a man? You can still go to scho—”

That’s where Day had to cut her off. “I should have known that you and Mr. Perfect teamed up on this one,” Day snapped with fire in her eyes. She was pissed off that she had helped David Jr. the night before and he was going behind her back and discussing things with their money-hungry mother. “I can’t talk to you right now. I just can’t do it and I just need for you to leave me alone. Daddy didn’t give you any money so now you’re trying to get it out of us. You are one sad bit—”

“Watch your mouth! I am still your mother!”

“Barely!” Day looked Angela up and down with a look of disgust on her face. “Everybody knows that David Jr. was always your favorite. You pushed him to do the best but encouraged me to be a ho like you! But you want to sit up here and act like there is something wrong with the lifestyle I live! Yes, you are my mother, and I am grateful to you for bringing me into this world, but starting right now I’m not fucking with you. Now go powwow with your golden child and get the fuck out of my face, Angela.”

It was obvious that Day had finally reached her breaking point. Sh e turned her back on Angela and grabbed the glass that she had just filled. She took a gulp and hoped that it would calm her nerves. Angela stood there and looked at Day like she was the spawn of the devil. Day’s words sliced through her like a sharpened knife. Seeing that approaching her in the first place had been a bad idea, Angela turned her nose up at Day’s back and sneered.

“Fine. You want to be like your father so badly?” she spat. “You’ll end up just like him. Dead.”

She left Day where she was standing and stomped back up the stairs to her room. When she got there her eyes brushed over the empty bottle of wine that had been knocked over on her vanity. Any other time she would have hurried to set it upright, not wanting anything to drip on the floor, but right then that was the least of her worries.

She and King David had separate walk-in closets, each on an opposite side of the room. Deep in hers, hidden behind a wall of shoes, was a duffle bag that she had packed a long time ago just in case she ever got the courage to leave King David and go be with Aman. There weren’t any clothes in the bag; instead, there was $200,000. The liquor in her system was controlling her thoughts and actions, but she had made the decision to leave and not come back. There was nothing left for her there and after talking to Aman the night before it was clear that he still wanted to be with her. It was time for her to move on with her life. Davita and David Jr. would have to fend for themselves.

Slinging the duffle bag over her shoulder she went back downstairs and into the kitchen to where the key holder hung on the wall. From it she snatched the first set of keys she could find, then made her way back out of the kitchen.

“I’m leaving.”

Day’s eyes went to the duffle bag on Angela’s shoulder and she already knew where her mother was going. “Humph. Daddy hasn’t even been dead a week and you’re already hopping into bed with another man.”

“I was hopping in bed when that man was still alive,” Angela threw over her shoulder, and power-walked to the front door.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I can’t let you leave,” one of the black suits keeping watch at the front door said, and held his hand up to stop her from going any farther.

Angela hit his hand away from her and kept walking toward the door. She opened it and dared anyone else to try to stop her. “Bite me! Whoever killed my dumb-ass husband wants them. Not me!”

Angela left them all standing there and went to the roundabout driveway in front of the house. With all the family cars there she wasn’t sure which keys she had grabbed, so she pressed the button on the remote. When the doors to Day’s black Camaro unlocked she hopped inside of it and threw her bag in the back seat.

“Hey! That’s my car!” Day yelled coming out of the house to stop her mother from stealing her vehicle.

“Buy a new one!” Angela shouted before shutting the door. “You have the money.”

Day was running down the stairs in front of the house so Angela hurried up and put the key in the ignition. The last sight she saw was her daughter hitting the last step and running toward the car with her hand reached out. As soon as she turned the key over the whole car blew up. Day was knocked back from the force of the explosion. She landed hard on her back and, only a few feet away from her head, so did the hood of her car. Her ears were ringing and she tried to focus her eyes but the only thing she saw was smoke. She heard somebody calling her name but it sounded far away and she couldn’t move her body. She began coughing uncontrollably with one hand clutching her stomach.

“Day! Day!” she heard David Jr. yelling over her. He reached down and scooped her into his strong arms and carried her to a spot on the lawn where the air was clear. He looked back at all of the security guards and shouted instructions to them. “Somebody go get me some water!”

The path to Day’s lungs was cleared almost instantly. She coughed a couple more times, gasping for air. Her hand clenched David Jr.’s wrist tightly and he brushed the hair from her forehead. Indigo, who had been there visiting David Jr., showed up at his side with a glass of water.

“Drink this. Chill, it’s okay,” he said and helped her sit up. He saw that it was her car that had blown up. It was smoking and in flames. “What happened?”

“Sh . . . she . . .” Day burst into a fit of coughs and pointed to the car. She had to take another swig of water before she was able to continue. “She’s still in there. Mom is still in there.”

David Jr.’s body reacted before his mind did. He left Day with Indigo and he ran to where the burning car was. The explosion had been so powerful that it severely damaged the two cars by it; and the closer he got he could see a body still in the driver’s seat.

“Help!” he shouted when he realized that he couldn’t get close to the car to even try to get her out. “Help! My mom is in that car!”

From the house four of the security guards brought out fire extinguishers and started going to work on the car. Once they cleared the front of the car and David Jr. got to it, what he saw made his stomach churn. His mother was still in the car, but her skin had melted off of her face, her hair was completely burned away, and her head nodded forward. She had no life in her body but David Jr. didn’t want to believe it. He tried to yank the door open with his hands but burned his palm.

“Fuck!” he shouted out. “I need this door open. Somebody open this damn door!”

He already knew that it was too late to save her, but still he wanted to try. She couldn’t be dead, she just couldn’t be.

“It’s too late, son,” Mac said, coming up from behind him and touching his arm gently. “She’s gone. Come on, we gotta get you and your sister out of here.”

David Jr. jerked away and began to throw wild punches in the air, yelling out in agony. The pain he felt in his heart was so excruciating he had to drop down to his knees, much like Day did when she saw King David dead.

“Come on, we have to go,” Mac said and grabbed David Jr. by the arm again, that time with a firmer grip so that he wouldn’t be able to pull away. He started shouting instructions to his men. “Powell, get Davita and go put her in a car so we can get them out of here. It isn’t safe anymore. Harris, get Indigo and take her home right now. Turner! I need you to get me all the video footage from today and back all the way for a week.”

Before Harris could grab her, Indigo ran to where David Jr. had just gotten back to his feet. She could still feel the heat from the car even though all the fire was out, and when she looked inside of the car she saw a sight so horrific that she had to turn her head. She looked into David Jr.’s eyes and saw that there were tears welling there.

“I don’t want to leave you,” she said and gripped on to his shirt and buried her head in his chest. “I’m not leaving you.”

“She’s coming with me wherever I go,” he told Mac.

Mac was completely against that but he could tell that it was something that David Jr. would fight for, and they didn’t have time for a debate. “Whatever. We just need to hurry up and get you and your sister out of here. Whoever put the bomb in your sister’s car might still be around somewhere.”