Payback Ain't Enough (30 page)

“Mommy, I don’t see my clothes.”

“Here I come,” I yelled back then stood up, throwing the shirt over my shoulder. As I started to walk away a piece of paper fell from his shirt pocket. I bent over and picked it up. I then began unfolding it. The words leapt off the page as my mind began to race. Here it was, I thought, I would never get to the bottom of all this shit, and now Forever Thompson was speaking from the grave.

The letter read:

My Dearest Nyla,

Baby, if you are reading this note then things are going exactly as I predicted they would. I need you to do this for me: go into the basement. You know that old sofa you kept trying to get me to throw out? Give it to my baby girl and tell her Daddy loves her. And then that picture frame of that 2 dolla bill on the wall in the bedroom, open it. That’s a gift from me to you.

I was confused. I read the note again and again. This was not like Forever to leave his daughter some damn old ass sofa, and me a fuckin’ $2 bill! I kept asking myself, is he serious?

I ran upstairs and my baby asked, “Are you okay, Mommy?” She smiled at me as I laid her clothes out and turned on the TV to the Disney Channel.

“Yes, I’m fine, baby,” I replied as I walked out of her room and into my bedroom and ripped that picture frame off the wall. I then headed straight downstairs to the basement to destroy that fuckin’ ugly ass sofa. I stormed down the basement stairs and
there it was… an old dusty, raggedy red and black suede sofa, the one he refused to let me throw away.

“I am gonna get rid of this piece of junk tonight, so help me God!” I said out loud.

I began pulling and pushing that sofa across the basement floor, but for this to be a love seat it was really heavy. But that wasn’t going to stop me. I yanked the cushions out one at a time throwing them across the floor with such force, causing one of the zippers to bust. I grabbed the box cutters and wanted to slice it to shreds. But that’s when I saw it.

I ripped a hole large enough for me to see the stacks of bills strategically wrapped and stacked in plastic and couldn’t believe my eyes. I tore a large hole in the back of the sofa and saw more stacks of money. That’s when I fell to my knees and cried. “Damn, baby…” Now I had to think about the picture frame. I stood up and went to pick up the picture frame off the floor, took it apart and a key fell out. The key was to a safety deposit box and there was a card that had a bank address.

“Nay! Nay! You understand where I’m coming from, don’t you?”

I heard my dad and yes, I understood him clearly, but I kept walking away. The only reason I came to visit him was to hear him tell me face to face that he didn’t want me out of the game. And he did, he said it was because the legacy of our family name was more important.

“Nay.” My dad caught up with me. “Don’t leave until the visit is over. Don’t you want to hang out another hour or so with your old pops?”

“What for, Daddy? So you can try to convince me that the legacy of our family name should be upheld in the underworld? Daddy, we are not royalty. You talking about the dope game. Illegal activity. Activity that won’t preserve the family name. Look at me! I’m all bandaged up because I was shot. They tried to kill me. If I remain in the game, I might as well just kill myself, Daddy.

“This has to stop somewhere. I will either end up dead or sent back to prison. Is that what you want for me? I don’t want it for myself. My mind is made up. I’m leaving with Boomer.”

“To do what, Nay? Sit behind some cash register? Is that what you want? You want to punch some damn 9–5 time clock? I see for you much more than that. You can have that whole city, Nay. All you gotta do is do like I tell you.”

“Daddy, I don’t want the whole city. I don’t care what it takes. I don’t want to go back to prison and leave my son out here for somebody else, or worse, for the streets to raise. I’m leaving, Daddy. I’m out.”

My mind was made up. My daddy was one of them niggas that would die in prison or watch the entire family die first before letting the game alone. Well, this time, he would be dying by himself because I was gone, no longer a puppet at the end of a string.

As I was being led out of my half-million dollar colonial home, I was in shock. Them bastards had me in a box. If they had their way, I knew that I would never again see the
light of day. As Fat Boy opened up the back door, I noticed Sharia’s Porsche pulling up beside us. I didn’t want her to see me like this so I tried to turn around. But Fat Boy had my arm and was talking to his partner. Sharia jumped out the car, ran up to me and spit in my face. She then stuffed two dollars in my pocket and dusted off her hands.

“Bitch, you cold.” I thought I heard Demetria’s voice but nixed it off.

“Ma’am, you have to move away,” Fat Boy said in the direction of Sharia’s car.

I heard laughter and looked over at the car. Nyla rolled down her window and said, “How does it feel to get fucked?”

Sharia rushed to her car, jumped in and pulled up so that the back passenger window came down. Demetria yelled out as she fanned herself with a stack of bills, “When they bending you over, just relax your muscles, nigga!”

I wished more than anything that I could snatch that bitch Demetria up and pull her snitching tongue out of her mouth. “Fuck you, bitch! You was a mule and always will be one!”

“At least I’m a free one muthafucka!” she yelled at me.

All three of them bitches burst into laughter, and then they pulled off.

I ended up back at Benny Thrillz, where it all began for me. I was sitting by myself thinking about how everything came together in my favor. I couldn’t believe that all them OGs came to me one by one like I was the pope and each one of them confessed their sins and rolled over on the other one.
But the kicker was the chick. She came bearing gifts. This bitch actually had a connect. Big Choppa was no joke.

Crystal walked in and sat down across from me. She pulled out an Arturo Fuente and lit it. She obviously was feeling herself. “I told Big Choppa that I’ve been waiting a long time for this.” She said and took a puff.

“Not longer than me.” I told her, “I done killed me many muthafuckas to get in this spot.”

“We could go back and forth all day about who fucked up for us to get where we at, however time doesn’t afford it. This is business and I had to step up to the plate and think like a man.”

“Whatever it takes,” I told her. Her connect was the missing piece to my puzzle. Me and Crystal sat down last night over a couple of drinks. I knew of her but didn’t know her. She said that her dad, Choppa and uncle Boomer didn’t think she was capable of being in the game. But since Janay stepped down, her father was desperate and had no one else to turn to. She seemed ready. However, her being ready or not was of no consequence to me. I just needed her connect. I started to say something else but I looked up and saw the rest of the crew walking through the door. Six-Nine was in front trailed by Born and Tareek.

“Yo, I heard you got fucked up! Legs, arms broke all that shit,” Born said.

I had a cast on my arm, but that was it. “Nah, niggas be exaggerating. My arm was fucked up that was about it.”

“I heard you ain’t get no bail,” Tareek added.

“If I ain’t have no bail, I wouldn’t be here now, would I?”

Each one took a spot at the table, and we started handling the business at hand. It was now a new day in Detroit. After
about an hour we managed to restructure the whole organization and everybody was happy with their new position. We called the waitress over and ordered a round of drinks to celebrate our new partnership.

As we sat talking, drinking and laughing, my phone rang. I noticed it was that same 757 area code from when Cisco’s wife had called me. What the fuck could she want? Curiosity had me by the balls so I hit the answer button.

“Hello,” I said with apparent agitation.

“I heard you were doing real well for yourself, so I wanted to send you a gift.”

“Bitch, don’t call my fuckin’ ph—” she abruptly hung up. “Hello?”

Everyone looked at me as the whole atmosphere of the room changed. Six-Nine and Born were grinning. Before I could digest what had just happened, three gunmen holding semiautomatic rifles burst through the door wearing black masks and began lighting shit up.

As the plane lifted off the ground I was caught up in mixed emotions of both relief and regret. For the first time in my life, I had made all of my own choices. As I looked down at my son who had finally conked out, it confirmed that the move I had just made was the right one. I was free. Calvin, or Briggen, no longer had a hold on me. And ironically, I managed to walk away with everything I worked for—and his shit too. I wish I could have been there to see the look on his face when he checked my car. And even more so, when he
went for his stash and found out that it was gone too. And his dumb ass thought I was the stupid one.

I took a deep breath. The pressure made my ears pop. I never could get used to that feeling. Once the seat belt sign went off, I unfastened myself and went to the bathroom. When I returned to my seat the flight attendant asked, “Would you like anything to drink?” as she grabbed a cup from the stack.

“Yes, I’ll have a glass of cranberry juice with ice.” The woman poured my drink and passed it to me. “Thank you.” She nodded and moved on to the next passenger.

“Are you okay?” the deep voice comforted my ears as his hand rested on my stomach.

“I’m good, thanks,” I said, smiling back at him as I rested my hand on top of his. I wished that the baby were his.

“Can we toast to this?” he asked as he raised his glass.

I grabbed mine and raised it to his. “To Shan and Nick.” We clinked glasses.

“And to all the muthafuckas that didn’t see this coming,” Nick added.

We both laughed and took a sip.

I sat back and closed my eyes, reveling in the moment. “
Payback Ain’t Enough,
but it sure is a muthafucka.”

READING GROUP QUESTIONS

1. What do you think was the cause of Shan’s unexplainable behavior? Or was it explainable?

2. What was it about Briggen that allowed him to have such control over the ladies in his life?

3. Do you think Nick showing up or Forever’s death caused the wedge between Shan and Briggen?

4. Is Big Choppa crazy, delusional or power hungry to want his daughter to take over his seat in the drug game?

5. Who do you think that mystery man was who Sharia had sex with?

6. Did you like anything at all about Dark?

7. Did you foresee Shan tricking Briggen?

8. What was your reaction to Briggen’s response when Mia told him she was pregnant? What was your reaction when she threatened to blow her own brains out?

9. What was your reaction in the end when Briggen was taken away in handcuffs? Or were you rooting for him to get away?

10. What was your reaction when Shan and Nick ended up on the plane together?

A Preview of

THUGS
PART 6

CHAPTER ONE

“Fah, this place is going to be crawling in a minute, dawg,” my cousin G told me again.

“My son, man. My son, G,” I said.

“I understand, but 5-0 will be here. What you wanna do?”

“My son, G. They shot my son.” I squeezed him tighter, wishing I could turn back the hands of time. I had just met my son and was so grateful to have him in my life. And just like that… he was gone. This bitch called life don’t ever play fair.

“Believe me, man. I know how you feel. You already know I’ve been there,” Snell said. “But we got two muthafuckas dead and my little cousin here. You hit, and we got all of these burners on us.”

“Y’all go. I got this. Ain’t no sense in all of us dealing with this shit. Leave me be.”

“Can’t do—”

“Snell! Y’all get the fuck away from here. Y’all played y’alls part. You and G, go. Just get a hold of Jaz and tell her I need her. Don’t tell her what happened, just tell her I said to come back home. Make sure the burner Wali had is still on him. Take mine.” I kicked it away and went back to hugging my son while getting my story together.

My heart beat a mile a minute as I picked Kyra up from the porch and took her to my car. It felt as if I was performing a kidnapping. My palms were sweaty; my adrenaline was high. Moving like I was on a real live mission, I lay her across the backseat. My cell rang. It was Nina.

“Shit!” I spat. Now I was feeling like I was caught cheating so I decided to take the call. “Nina, baby. I’m in the middle of something. Can I call you back? Is everybody okay?”

Silence lingered on the other end. Then she finally asked, “Is everything okay with you?” as if she knew something was up.