End of the Line (17 page)

Hazel had deep feelings for the street-oriented Asia. The odd couple was like night and day, and Hazel seemed to care less. Wanting to spend some special alone time from the norm, they drove to Chicago. Not used to doing things like this, Asia was overjoyed at all the new things her relationship with Hazel had brought into her life. After Buzzy had got knocked she felt lost, having no game plan or direction. Her first thought was to come up to Grand Rapids and hook up with J-Rite because Buzzy had always said that if there was anyone of his all-girl team of drug sellers that could survive without him it would be her. So, of course, Asia did what she thought was best, trying to hook herself up to a rising star. Since J-Rite had been playing her off about hooking her up with a package, she was more than ready to leave and go back home to Detroit until meeting Hazel. It was because of her and her alone that Asia was still in Gun Ru. Now, in Asia’s eyes, life was perfect and everything was starting to fall in place. She was on a surprise minivacation getaway with her girl, and J-Rite finally promised to bless her with some product as soon as she got in a new shipment.

Asia turned over in bed in the lavish hotel suite looking for Hazel. After calling her name out and getting no reply, she got out of bed and took a shower.
Maybe she went to get us some breakfast or something.
Stepping out of the shower she called Hazel, who was still not back in the room. Her phone went to voice mail after the fourth ring, further annoying Asia. Glancing at the digital clock, it read one in the afternoon. Not realizing it was this late, she got dressed and headed downstairs to the restaurant. Getting seated in the far corner, she tried Hazel’s cell once more; straight to voice mail again. Fed up and frustrated, Asia picked up a menu ready to eat and break her diet. When the waitress came to take the order, Asia looked up and saw the unimaginable. There was Hazel in the lobby area with some man . . . hand in hand.

Oh hell, naw! Who the fuck is that?
Now back on her feet, Asia was pissed watching the man lean in and kiss Hazel on her lips
.
Throwing the menu down on the table, Asia stormed out of the restaurant heading into the lobby. “Bitch, have you lost your damn mind?”

Hazel was stunned. Caught red-handed, she didn’t know what to say or do. Here she was having just been kissed on the lips by a man, and nine out of ten, her woman had seen it. “Oh, hey, Asia, I didn’t see you standing there.”

“What the fuck you mean ‘hey, Asia’? Who in the fuck is this nigga? And why in the hell y’all kissing? You got me twisted!”

“I’m Maxi. It’s nice to meet you.” He extended his hand out to shake Asia’s acting as if he hadn’t just heard her turn up on Hazel.

Asia looked him up and down as if he was no more than filth. Besides the fact that she always dressed like a man, this day she wished she really was one so that she could sucker punch this joker directly in the face. She turned toward Hazel, not even speaking to Maxi. “Who in the fuck is he? And why the fuck was y’all kissing?” Hazel tried to give Asia a forced smile.

“It ain’t what it look like, baby,” Hazel tried explaining.

“Yo, this nigga had his tongue down your fucking throat!”

“Man, who the hell is this?” Maxi finally asked the million-dollar question, tired of being ignored.

Asia turned around to face her nemesis. “I’m her better half; now shut the fuck up talking to me and her!”

“Bitch, you got the wrong nigga! I don’t let a ho wannabe a bro talk to me like that. You wanna act like a dude, I’ma treat you like one.” Maxi walked up on Asia waiting for her to keep running off at the mouth.

Hazel jumped between the two of them seeing that things were getting way out of control. In between the noise that the three of them were making, other hotel guests and restaurant patrons were gathering around to see what was going on. Not wanting to have this type of thing go on in their establishment, security started walking over to intervene. “Excuse me, folks, but do we have a problem?” the security officer asked looking directly at Maxi.

“What in the fuck you asking me for? Ask that bitch. She the one that came up on me and my girl acting a fool.”

“I ain’t a bitch, and she ain’t your girl.”

“Just hold on a minute.” The security officer took out his walkie-talkie asking for the front desk to call the police.

“Wait, sir, I can explain everything, Officer,” Hazel vowed, opening the side of her purse. Not wanting the local authorities to come into play, she had to expose herself and the double life she’d been living with Asia.

“What the fuck!” Maxi frowned as he quickly turned to leave the hotel.

Before he got even a foot away, the hotel was flooded with DEA agents. As they swarmed Maxi, he was handcuffed and read his rights by Hazel who had her badge now clamped on her side.

This bitch ain’t shit! She been playing me the whole time, and I fell for this bitch.
Shortly after that, Hazel walked in the room she’d been sharing with her lover. Asia looked at her, then slapped her across the face. “Bitch, you ain’t shit! How could you, and who the fuck is you?”

“Asia, I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

“You didn’t hurt me; I don’t even feel you like that,” Asia huffed, packing her things, ready to get back to her normal life before meeting Hazel in the first place.

Hazel knew that Asia was lying; she could see it in her face.
Damn, I fucked up. I gotta think of something.
Before Hazel could say anything else Asia walked over to her.
I don’t care how mad she is, she better not slap me again.
Hazel knew that if it came down to it, even though Asia was much bigger than she, she’d been specially trained and could beat her in a physical battle. But that wasn’t what she wanted to do.

“And the bad thing about all this shit is you made me think that you really liked me! You ain’t about shit!” Asia pouted with tears in her eyes.

“Look, baby. I don’t like you—I love you. I was on this case undercover dealing with Maxi even before we met. Now, I have to be honest. Sometimes cases cross and there’s collateral damage, like your friend Jessica Sanders and her crew and Tyrus Collins.”

Asia was lost and her expression showed just that. “Jessica Sanders? Who in the hell is that?”

Hazel forgot that she was back in personal mode and not police, “Oh, I’m sorry. You know her as J-Rite and Tyrus Collins owns the nightclub on Division Avenue.”

“So, damn, the whole time I was telling you about my homegirl from Detroit you were building up a case against her?”

“Believe me when I tell you, I didn’t mean for it to happen like this. I really didn’t. Truth be told, we stumbled up on her and her crew while we had Maxi and his organization under surveillance. He led us to begin watching Tyrus and his nightclub, and J-Rite and her sister-in-law Leesa just happened to pop up on our radar after Leesa Jones shot a female that worked for Tyrus. Well, in reality, she was one of our DEA undercover agents that we’d placed in his inner circle; so, yeah, we got a job to do.”

“This shit is bizarre. I swear to God it’s crazy!”

“Look, Asia, there was nothing that you told me that I wouldn’t have found out anyway. But I’m going to be honest with you. I care a lot about you. Meeting you was one of the best things that happened about me working these cases; an extra added bonus.”

“You must think I’m really fucking stupid! I ain’t falling for that bullshit again! You a liar!”

“Now hold the hell on! The only thing I lied about was my job! You might have helped me put names to some of these faces a lot sooner, but I would have found out over time just the same.”

“That’s more than enough reason for me not to trust you. I was just a pawn in your fucking li’l game!”

Hazel didn’t know what else to say. She knew that if the shoe was on the other foot she would be acting the same way, if not worse. “What you want me to say, Asia?”

“I don’t give a fuck what you say! I gotta go. You done really fucked up my life,” Asia said, grabbing her suitcase and heading toward the door.

Hazel hated to do what was about to come next. As much as she loved Asia, she’d revealed too much of the undercover operations that she and her field squad was involved in. “Look, baby, I’m sorry, but I can’t let you go just like that.”

Asia stopped and looked at her
.
“What you mean? As far as I’m concerned, we done; we over!”

Hazel was hurt, but this was a part of her job she hated; she’d taken an oath to uphold the law and was going to do just that. “I know you don’t mean that, but even if you do, I have to have you detained until our other investigations are concluded.”

“So now you fucking arresting me?”

“Naw, bae, we just detaining you, like I said. We have to get subpoenas together and warrants on deck. After all of that is in place, then it’s on to the execution of the paperwork and arrests. Lucky enough, baby, your friend saved you from catching a case alongside the rest of them. See, every time she refused to give you a package, she was helping you dodge the bullet of being indicted as well; no crime, no foul.”

Asia was heated and hurt as Hazel turned the doorknob allowing two male DEA officers to enter and escort her girlfriend to a secure location under federal jurisdiction until further notice.

* * *

“Tone, roll up a blunt,” Benji urged as he and Tone were on their way to pick up Raven and go visit J-Rite. To Mario’s dislike, the two of them had been hanging tough together ever since they met at the hospital. Benji had no idea whatsoever that Tone had hit Raven off a couple of times. He felt considering the way Benji felt about Raven it was best he didn’t.

“Yeah, nigga, I got you.” Tone grabbed a box of blunts out of his track suit pocket.

Benji and Raven still hadn’t made up. He was making every attempt he could, but she was giving him the cold shoulder. “I need to get high before we pick up Raven, because she still giving me fever ’bout from some bullshit we argued about the other night.”

“Dawg, you know females. Hey, stop at the store. I need something to drink real quick.”

A few minutes later they pulled up in a parking lot next to a rust bucket with two guys sitting in it. “What you drinking on so early?” Benji asked as they hopped out going into the store.

“Nigga, something brown if we gotta deal with both Raven and J-Rite’s crazy asses!”

“Yo, ain’t that the nigga Dino and we beefing with hanging with Benji? What the fuck this bullshit about? Maybe that nigga Benji a rat,” Marlon said to Dre as they sat in Dino’s rust bucket parked in the store parking lot.

“That is that bitch nigga!” Dre agreed, getting hyped, knowing his main focus should have been getting dropped off at rehab like the plan was.

“Sit tight, fam, I’ll be right back,” Marlon said, jumping out of the passenger seat and putting his hood on.

When Tone and Benji entered the store Dino was walking from the back. He had a six-pack of Millers in one hand and a juice in the other. He slowed down his steps thinking that he’d just had a blessing from God. He was not expecting to run up on one of his enemies in the midst of dropping Dre off, but here the fuck he was—live and in living color. It was perfect timing. Tone was standing at the counter with his back turned seeing if the sand nigga cashier had a fifth of Hennessy that was chilled. He had yet to see Benji who had gone down the other aisle as he was creeping up the other one. Dino reached over, setting the beer and juice quietly down on a shelf next to some cans of soup and some instant grits. Ready to get revenge for Rell, even though he’d been acting funny lately, Dino reached under his shirt. Getting a mental rush, he pulled out his 9 mm that already had one up top. With the rear of Tone’s head in his sight, he was a mere second away from pulling the trigger when Marlon walked in the thankfully empty store.

“Hey, Dino! Dino,” he yelled out trying to make sure his homeboy wasn’t getting stumped out on the humble.

Tone heard Dino’s name being called out and instinctively spun around, whipping out his own pistol. Immediately seeing Dino duck behind the potato chip rack, he let loose a few rounds knowing it was going down.

Benji realized something was up when he heard someone’s name he couldn’t make out being called too. He had no idea what was jumping off. He just heard gunshots ring out and wisely took out his own gun to cover his ass.

“Awww fuck!” Marlon said, running out of the store not wanting to be caught in the reckless crossfire.

Benji assumed he was the one shooting at his homeboy Tone. On a mission, he gave chase, shooting as he was running behind Marlon, not recognizing him with his hood on. Meanwhile, Dino ran in the back of the store as Tone, a seasoned goon, seemed to be having better aim than he. As the barrage of bullets ricocheted off the metal racks and shelving, nearly taking his head off his body, he panicked. He felt trapped trying to figure out his next move.
I gotta get the fuck outta here! If this dumb nigga Marlon wouldn’t have called my name I would have got his ass. And where in the fuck is Dre at?

Tone wanted to go in the rear of the deserted store gangster style after Dino and settle up with him once and for all, but he could hear police sirens in the distance.
Shit! They done called the police. I gotta get the fuck outta Dodge.
“I’ma see you soon, pussy,” he shouted out to Dino, knowing he was somewhere in the store being a coward.

With that being said, he darted out the door, smoking gun still in hand. Outside, he looked for Benji so they could bounce, seeing how he had the keys. He knew better than to call out his name in case it was possible witnesses were around listening. Tone crept to the side of the building to at least see if Benji was anywhere in that direction. Before Tone knew what hit him, he felt two bullets fly past his head. In an attempt to shoot back, he got hit with the third, knocking him damn near off his feet. With a gaping hole in the rear of his head shattering his skull Tone struggled to make it back to the front of the store where he collapsed.