End of the Line (12 page)

“Yeah. Here’s my number. You got three days tops,” he announced, handing him a business card.

As Benji got in his truck and pulled off, Dino watched him, heated.

“What you think, Dino?” Rell asked as Marlon continued to stand silent and await his response.

“I don’t know what’s up with that nigga. We need to do our homework on him!”

“Speaking of doing homework, we need to get them motherfuckers from the mall.” Rell was pumped up to kill, and rightly so.

“Yeah, nigga, I’m working on that. I’m real close to finding out who they is. Just hold on. We gonna get revenge in due time, trust!”

“So how did it go?” Tyrus asked his nephew, awaiting an update.

“These niggas be hoes. They ain’t gonna be a problem, I gave them three days to get at me.”

“Okay, youngblood. You know I always tell you never underestimate anybody, and respect every man for who they are.”

“Yeah, I know, but these niggas nowadays be straight-up hoes. I don’t see how come the whole world ain’t like us . . . our crew, our family.”

“Sometimes I wonder about you, boy.”

This made his nephew give him an awkward look. “You ain’t got to worry ’bout me. Benji gonna be all right.”

Tyrus shook his head in disappointment. “Didn’t I tell you that a grown man doesn’t go by a nickname, and why you still dressing like some punk? Have some respect for yo’self! You represent me when you out in the streets.”

Tyrus had been taking care of Benji since he was little. His mom felt that being with Tyrus would make him tough. Benji’s mom knew what kind of life he lived and was hoping that Benji would learn how to use the streets to his advantage. Tyrus taught him, and he learned fast. The older man’s protégé was both street smart and book smart. Yet, Tyrus would get upset when Benji didn’t do things exactly his way. He hated how Benji thought he had life figured out. Sometimes he felt that the boy was too smart for his own good.

“Unk, why do we always gotta go through this? I’m who I am. You gotta live with that. You made me this way.” He leaned back in his chair on the two rear legs.

“Yeah, yeah, that shit sound good. Just take care of my business. And, oh yeah, how you and your lady friend doing that keeps you away from the club family?”

This put a smile on Benji’s face. He loved to talk about Raven. “We good, Unk. I’m ’bout to go over there now.”

“You know before you and her get real serious I need to meet her.”

“Yeah, I know, Unk. I’m gonna bring her over for dinner.” Benji was lying. He had no intentions of bringing her to dinner. He didn’t want his uncle to meet her. Period. Well, at least until they were married. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of her. It was just he didn’t want his uncle to say something about her having three kids by three different men.

“Okay, then, but now, I need you to take care of something else for me, Nephew.”

“Anything for you, Unk.”

Tyrus opened his desk, pulled out a big yellow envelope, and handed it to Benji.

“What’s these pictures of? A building you buying?”

“Naw, I need it burned down.”

“Burned down? We into arson now?” Benji grinned, trying to make a joke.

Tyrus gave him a look that meant this was no joking matter. “Look, boy, take care of it, and it better be done right.”

As Benji flipped through the photos, he wondered why it had to be done. “Why you want me to burn this down? It looks okay,” he said foolishly.

“Since when do I have to explain myself? Or ask you something twice?”

“You don’t, Unk. I was just wondering, that’s all.”

“Well, don’t! Just do as you’re fucking told!”

“Yeah, all right. When?”

“I want it done this fucking week!”

As Benji drove to Raven’s house he couldn’t understand what was going on with his uncle. They had always been so close. Now, it seemed that they were bumping heads a lot.
Unk been on some bullshit lately. I don’t know if the nigga going crazy or what. I wonder why he keep tripping on everything I do. Maybe my old girl knows. Let me give her a call
. Benji snatched his cell up off the passenger seat and dialed his mother’s number. It took four rings before she answered.

“Hello, Boncellia,” he said, calling by her first name. This was something he had been doing since he was little. She had him do it. When she had Benji, she was very young and didn’t want to be a mother, so she always acted like he was her little brother.

“Hey, baby, how things going?”

“Fine. I need to know if Unk sick.”

“Huh? Why you ask that?”

“’Cause he’s been acting funny.”

“Naw, he ain’t sick; well, not that I know of.”

“All right, cool. I gotta go.” He cut the conversation short.

Benji pulled into Raven’s driveway, parked, and got out.
I hope J-Rite get outta the shit she in.
He didn’t really know what was going on. He just knew that Raven told him her girl was locked up. Although he and Raven were together, they never discussed their individual street business. When he walked in the house, Raven’s grandmother was sitting on the couch. “Hey, Granny,” he spoke as he leaned over kissing her on the cheek.

“Hey, baby.”

“Where is everybody? I didn’t see Raven’s truck.”

“Jennifer is at court seeing about Jessica, and the kids are in the backyard playing.”

“Hey, baby!” Raven greeted him walking in the house.

“What up?” He winked in return.

“How’s Jessica doing?” Her granny anxiously asked.

“She’s all right; she’ll be home soon.” Her grandmother got up and left the room. “So how the meeting with your uncle go? You good?”

“It was straight.”

Raven and Benji had spent a great deal of time together; they both could tell when the other had something on their mind.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“I don’t know. It just seems like me and Unk run together ’bout to come to an end. He trip on all the shit I do.”

“Well, bae, have you tried to talk to him?”

“Kinda, but he stuck in his ways. You know how people are.”

“Yeah, I feel you on that. Oh dang, I forgot Granny’s prescription. Come run with me to CVS right quick. I just gotta use the bathroom first.”

Benji was preoccupied with the business he had to take care of for his uncle, so he wasn’t doing too much talking before they left. After Raven walked to the truck he looked in the envelope once more. He couldn’t see the building too good because the pictures were taken at night, but he had the address.
I’ve seen this place before. Well, I’ll take care of it tonight. This nigga gon’ give me damn instructions on how to burn down a fucking building. We gonna have to talk real soon or part ways.
He set the envelope down on the couch and walked out of the room, then he went and joined Raven in her SUV and discovered she wanted him to drive, but as he was pulling off, she told him to stop. She had forgotten her phone. When she got in the den, she picked up her cell off the couch. “What’s this?” she said, picking up the envelope that was lying next to it. Going through it, she came to the photos and a piece of paper. After reading it, she got upset. She had to sit down. She was stunned.
I can’t believe this shit! This nigga was playing me the whole time.

Benji walked in the room to see what was taking her so long. He saw the love of his life with the envelope in her hand and tears in her eyes. “What you doing with that? And what’s wrong?”

* * *

“I’m telling you the truth! Why the fuck would I lie? I’m a grown man. I ain’t gotta lie about shit!” Benji yelled at Raven sitting in the passenger seat of her truck. He had explained everything he knew about what he was supposed to do to the building, which wasn’t much.

“So you didn’t know that we was beefing with your uncle?”

“Look, girl, I don’t play these types of games.” Benji loved Raven very much and was willing to do whatever it took to keep her. “Just tell me what I have to do to make you believe me, and I’ll do it.”

Raven didn’t know what to do or say. She loved Benji with all her heart, but he was on the side of the enemy.
Now I know how J-Rite must feel . . . the man she loves or the only family she got? What do I tell him? I do believe him, but how can I make this shit work? My peeps ain’t gonna trust me if I keep him, but I can’t just break up with him. I found my soul mate. What do I do?
“I could talk to your uncle and see if we could solve this problem . . . That might work.”

Benji knew what type of man his uncle was; he wanted to destroy the girls. He’d heard talk but never any names. “Naw, bae, it ain’t gonna work. The beef too damn serious in his stubborn eyes. We gonna have to try something different.”

“I don’t know how we gonna fix this, but we will. But in the meantime, I need to holla at my girls and let them know what’s up.”

“Raven, baby, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. They might wanna get in they feelings and make shit really pop off.” Benji knew that Raven was about her business when it came to drama, and more than likely, so was her team.

“You gotta trust me. I’m gonna handle my part. Can you stall your uncle or what?”

“Yeah, I’ll think of something. Don’t worry.” Benji meant what he was saying. He wanted peace between him and his girl and both their teams.

After he got out of her truck, Raven went in the house to sit down and think. She never got a chance to go to CVS as planned.

* * *

“Are you okay?” J-Rite was awakened by a voice and someone shaking her. She opened her eyes. It was a nurse with a jailhouse ID pinned to her white uniform.

“What happened? Where am I?” her eyes scanned the room from the stretcher.

“You were found passed out cold in your cell.”

“What!”

“Yes, Sanders. Now I’ve got good news and bad news. The reason you passed out is because you’re pregnant. Now brace yourself for the bad news. You apparently have gonorrhea.”

Gonorrhea! Gonorrhea! Gonorrhea!
When the nurse said that, J-Rite just kept hearing it over and over again in her head.
How in the fuck did I get this shit? Dino been fucking around on me.
She’d been fucking, dancing, and tricking for years and had never once been burnt; now this.

“Sanders, are you okay?”

J-Rite wanted to cry, but she knew she needed to stay strong. “I’m just kinda fucked up about it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not the end of the world. You can still have a healthy baby. Plus it could be worse. You could have AIDS. You might want to contact any sexual partners you’ve been with.”

At those words, J-Rite went off. “I don’t have sex partners! I have one man. We been together for a while.” Usually hard, she covered her face and sobbed.

The nurse had seen this before. One person in the relationship steps out, and it hurts both parties. She didn’t know what to say to J-Rite. “Well, look, I’m going to give you some meds. And when you get released, don’t go kill your boyfriend and end up back behind bars. He ain’t worth it.”

When J-Rite got back to her cell, she walked over to her bunk and sat down to think. Before she could get good and comfortable she was called for a visit. When she got in the visiting room, her eyes lit up. It was Dino. She was having mixed feelings. She was happy he was there but also mad for what he had done to her.
What the fuck wrong with him? He got the nerve to look pissed. If anybody should be heated, it’s my ass!
she thought, looking at his facial expression, but she was still worried because she had never seen this look before and hoped he hadn’t discovered her secret about the mall.

“What’s up, J-Rite?”

“Hey, I’m waiting for Leesa to get me out. I ain’t see you in court.”

“Yeah, well . . .” He was dry.

“Well, I gotta surprise for you. And I got something to cuss you the fuck out about.” She decided that even though he hurt her, she was going to try to make it work for the baby’s sake.

“Look, it’s over, J-Rite. A nigga straight done with your fake ass!”

“What! Why? What you say?” Her voiced got louder forcing a guard to tell her to keep it down or he’d terminate the visit.

“I told you I’m tired of this shit!”

“Get off that bullshit! There’s more to it than that, and we both know it. So tell the truth. Be a man for once in your weak-ass life,” she cut in, going for the jugular.

“Bitch, I know you had Rell’s girl laid out!” He verified he knew her secret pertaining to her friend’s dirty deed.

“Bitch! I got yo’ bitch! I didn’t have shit did to her. They didn’t even know them was your peeps. Plus, dawg, you gave me a damn disease, nigga!”

That took him by surprise. He just gave her a look and didn’t say a word as he gathered his thoughts. “Naw, shorty, you must’ve got that from Tone.”

“Oh yeah, ho-ass nigga? I’m pregnant, Dino, so now what?”

Dino was caught off guard by her last statement.
She ’bout to have my baby? Naw, it ain’t mine. She fucking Tone.
Even though he had no concrete proof, he made himself believe it. “Naw, J, it ain’t mine. It’s probably Tone who gave you that shit and that baby. So go be with him and leave me the hell alone!”

J-Rite was crushed. She thought him hearing she was pregnant would make him act different, even if he did know about that mall bullshit
. I can’t wait to get outta here. I’m gonna hurt this nigga.
She didn’t say anything else. She walked off and had the deputy take her back to her cell. She had murder on her mind and felt betrayed. But at the same time, she was still in love. When she got back to her area she washed her face and cried a little into her towel.
All right, I’m done crying. Let me leave no trace of tears. Can’t let them see me sweat.

“Sanders, another visit!” the same deputy said to J-Rite before she got a chance to lie down. When she got to the visiting room, she saw Leesa. Seeing her after all the stuff that had just happened made her feel better.

“Damn, I’m glad to see you.”

“Sis, you’ll be out of here in a few. I had to put one of my houses I own back in Detroit up for your bond. You just waiting on your paperwork.”

“Leesa, I’m pregnant.” Her eyes started to water.

“Girl, that’s good news, ain’t it? But why you look so sad?” Leesa assumed she knew the answer but wanted to hear it outta Jessica’s mouth just the same.

“Dino doesn’t want me anymore. And he knows about Mario and Raven jumping his friends. I think he gonna try to hurt them.”