A Sticky Situation (23 page)

The whole time I was driving, my heart was beating one hundred miles per hour. It wasn’t like I was scared to do this nigga in because that wasn’t the case. What was fucking me up on the inside was that I was having an adrenaline rush. Picturing myself splattering this nigga’s brains all over the pavement for a large sum of cash put a huge smile on my face. I pressed down on the accelerator because I figured the quicker I got over there and got the job done, the sooner I got my money. And guess what? That was what I did. Judging from my watch, it only took me approximately fifteen minutes to get out there.

I had surveyed the area the day before, so I knew which position I would take to do Jay in. I parked my whip two blocks away from the spot, but before I got out of my car, I dialed Trina back at the number she used earlier.

“Hello,” she said.

“Ay yo, Trina, this is Seth. Where you at?”

“I’m about to pull up to the spot right now. Why? Where you at?”

“I’m walking up the block.”

“All right. Well, give me a few minutes to get in and out and then you can do your thing.”

“A’ight.”

I sat my phone down on the passenger seat of my car, pulled out my .50 caliber Desert Eagle from underneath the driver’s seat and made sure the joint was fully loaded with hollow points. I cocked it back, loading one in the chamber, and stuffed the pistol inside the pockets of my overalls.

I paced myself as I moved toward Jay’s spot. My heart was still pumping mighty fast, but it wasn’t like before. I knew I would be able to function properly while I executed my mission. When I got there, I noticed Trina’s Infiniti parked on the opposite side of the street from Jay’s spot. When I didn’t see her in the car, I took a couple steps backward and knelt by a tree. Thankfully, the tree was big enough to hide my entire body, plus it gave me a helluva view to check out my surroundings. While I was back there, I was able to see everything moving. So far, I could see only one person hanging out on the streets. It looked like a fiend was searching for something on the ground, but after he found what he was looking for, he grabbed it up and scattered like a roach. About five more minutes had passed and Trina still hadn’t come out of the house, and I was getting tired of kneeling down on the ground. When I stood up to stretch, I heard their voices echoing from around the building. It sounded like they were both laughing at a joke Jay told her, so I knew this would be the perfect time to knock him.

When they came from around the building, Jay was standing about five feet away with his back facing me. When I took the first step and aimed my pistol at him, Trina fucked around and looked into my direction, which caused this nigga to turn around and look over his shoulder. When Jay turned around and saw me aiming my pistol at him, he tried to make a run for it but I started busting my shit off at him.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
My burner roared like a cannon when the bullets exploded from the barrel. I knew Jay didn’t have a chance of escaping. When I looked down on the ground at him, I knew he was gone when I saw two of the four bullets had struck him in his head. Homeboy was laid out, his head surrounded by a puddle of his own blood, with his eyes open as if he was still alive.

Trina was struggling with her keys, trying to get into her car. All of a sudden, bullets started ringing out again. Two niggas dressed in black ran up on the scene and started firing shots. Bullets were flying everywhere, so I dove back behind the tree to take cover. When I felt like I was in a good position, I started busting my gun right back at them. Those niggas didn’t know what to do because they couldn’t see me, so they decided to retreat. I was glad, too, because I didn’t have enough ammo on me to keep those niggas off of me. I guess I did a good thing by diving back behind the tree, or else my ass would’ve been lying next to Jay. I didn’t make a move until I heard car tires squeal down the street in the opposite direction. I rushed over to Trina to see if she was all right but she was slumped over on the ground. When I turned her over, I saw that she had been shot twice. I also noticed that she was drifting in and out of consciousness, so I grabbed her into my arms.

“Hold on shorty, don’t die on me. I’m gon’ get you out of here.”

“Awwww, I’m in so much pain and my skin is burning so bad.”

“Wait, Trina, don’t panic. Calm down, I’ma get you some help.” I lifted her from the ground.

“I d-d-don’t think I am going to make it,” Trina said, her words slurring.

“Yes, you are. Stop talking like that, shorty. I’ma get you some help, and then me and Mike are going to get the niggas who did this to you.”

I continued to reassure her and carried her down toward my car. People started pouring out of their houses to see what was going on but I tuned their asses out after Trina said, “Mike is the one who did it.”

“He what?” I stopped in my tracks.

“Mike set this whole thing up so you and Jay could get killed.”

“But why? I mean, what did I do? I ain’t been nothing but loyal to that nigga.”

“What I am about to tell you, I want you to keep this to yourself,” Trina began. “And the only reason why I am telling you is because I want to clear my conscience and do what’s good before I leave this world.”

“Whatchu talking about? I’m not gonna let you die.”

Trina started coughing up blood, so I lifted her head up. She said, “Mike owes two brothers from New Orleans, named Bruce and Scottie, millions of dollars. And if he doesn’t pay them back by the end of the month, they told him they were going to kill him and his wife. So all the money you and Jay made for him, he needs that back so he can pay the people he owes. And to do that, he had to get rid of y’all.”

“So, who are these niggas?”

“His cousins. I’m sure you saw them earlier tonight when they were with him.”

“Ahh shit! That was them?”

“Yep. Mike only had them in the truck with him so they could see how you looked.”

“A’ight, but why didn’t he get his cousins to kill Jay, and then kill me next?”

“Because he didn’t want to make it look like two isolated incidents. He wanted it to look like you and Jay were having a shootout, so he could kill two birds with one stone. Luckily for you, Jay forgot to bring his gun outside with him. So you better watch your back.”

Bugged out by all the shit Trina was telling me, all I could do was shake my head. And right before I tried to ask her another question, she closed her eyes and took her last breath. I panicked and laid her back down on the ground and as soon as I stood back up to make a run for it, I remembered that she had Mike’s profits on her. I dug inside of the purse she had strapped around her neck and pulled out four stacks of money wrapped up in rubber bands, and a plastic bag. I snatched her Blackberry and the holster from her pants and made a run for it.

SETH

Trying To Figure Shit Out

Since the whole thing with Jay and Trina went down the way it did, I decided to lay low at Maxine’s crib. I had been chilling with her for the past four days, and believe me, life there hadn’t been a bowl of cherries. She had been on my ass the last few days because she knew Samantha was coming home today. I couldn’t get out of the bed this morning without her saying something in reference to Sam.

“Today is the big day for your girlfriend, huh?” she asked.

I ignored her and headed to the shower. But that didn’t stop her, though. Before I could even blink my eyes good, she was on my heels, rubbing the shit in my face. I guess she wanted to get a reaction out of me.

“I know you heard me,” she said as soon as she entered the bathroom.

“Yeah, I heard you, but what do you want me to say?”

“I want to hear you say that you ain’t gonna go try and see her,” she replied, standing before me with her chest poked out.

“Look, I told you I wasn’t, so why are we going through this again?”

“Because I don’t believe you.”

I turned the shower water on. “Well, you’re just gonna have to.” I slid my boxer shorts off and stepped into the shower.

I thought Maxine was going to give me some more lip service, but she didn’t. I guess it sunk in her head that she could do nothing else but trust me. I mean, what other choices did she have? Whatever they were, it wouldn’t have mattered because I was going to see my baby today if it killed me.

“What time are you leaving?” I heard her yell from the hallway.

“After I get out of the shower. Why?”

“Because I was hoping we could go out for breakfast.”

“I thought you were going to work this morning.”

“I don’t have my first case until one o’clock, so I’m not going in until then.”

“Well, I ain’t going to be able to go to breakfast because I’ve got a few things to do.”

Her pressure must’ve risen after I uttered my last words, because she stormed back into the bathroom with the quickness, snatched the shower curtain back and said, “Like what?”

There I was, standing butterball naked, dick hanging with soapsuds running down my body, and she wanted to ask me a whole bunch of unnecessary questions. I looked at her and said that I had a few things to do for my mother. I also told her I needed to run by the spot and check things out since I hadn’t been there for a few days.

“But I thought you said that there was no need for you to go out there if you didn’t have any work?”

“Maxine, I am just going out there to check the scenery out and to see if Mike got a hold of some new shit.” I was lying through my teeth because, truth be told, I didn’t want no parts of that spot anymore. Especially now that I knew Mike wanted me dead. If I told her that, she would lose her motherfucking mind and would surely call a couple of her

U.S. Marshal buddies to protect us. The best thing for me to do was to

keep her nosey ass as far away from the truth as long as I possibly could.

“Why can’t you call him and ask him all that?”

“Come on now, you know that ain’t how we get down. What niggas you know talk about drug deals over the phone?”

“Oh, there are still some out there who do.”

“Well, believe me, it ain’t many,” I commented as I rinsed off.

“So when do you think you’ll be done?”

“I’m not sure, but I can try to be done with everything by the time you come home from work.”

Maxine looked at me suspiciously and then she chuckled a bit. “Yeah, OK. Whatever you say,” she commented. “Just keep your phone on, because I might be getting off work early today.” She walked out of the bathroom.

“Yeah, a’ight.” But quiet as it’s kept, I wasn’t paying her ass any mind because I wasn’t gonna do anything but wait on my baby Samantha. As soon as I got my phone call from her oldest sister Paulette to let me know that they were on their way from Alderson, West Virginia, I was going to be straight. I knew it was going to take them at least five hours to get here. In the meantime, I was going to handle some business. Mike was first on my list. I had to keep that nigga at bay. I had to let that motherfucker think that I didn’t have the slightest idea that he intended to have my head on the same platter as Jay’s. I couldn’t give him any reason to suspect that I took the dough Trina had collected from Jay before the hit. As long as I kept making him think that the police had confiscated his dough, the better my chances would be in getting close enough to kill him.

Since the shootout, I had only spoken with Mike twice. After I told him what happened and that Tina got caught up in the crossfire, I said it would be best if I laid low for a few days until the shit blew over. He agreed and told me to get with him later. I never did ask him for the money he promised to give me after I knocked Jay off, but I was going to mention it the next time I talked to him. I could not give this nigga the slightest inclination that I walked off with his dough. Knowing the way he was, he would put two and two together, if he hadn’t already. God forbid, though, because he would definitely go after my moms, and I couldn’t have that. Lucky for me, I never showed him where she laid her head because shit would really hit the fan then. I wouldn’t allow anybody to touch a hair on my mother’s head. If that meant I would have to die for her, then so be it. She didn’t ask for the lifestyle I chose for myself, so I had to protect her to the end. And that’s my word!

Right after I got dressed, I kissed Maxine on the lips and promised her that we would get together and do dinner later.

“Don’t stand me up,” she said.

“I won’t,” I replied and left.

To kill a little bit of time, I went by my mom’s crib just to make sure my dough was still in its safe spot. Once I unscrewed the door to the vent, retrieved the box from inside and opened it, my eyes lit up like lights on a Christmas tree. I counted every single bill and the count was still $317,000. I wrapped it up, placed it in the box and put it back into the vent. Immediately after I put the screws back in, my Blackberry rang. I looked down at the CallerID and saw that it was Paulette’s number. I answered it because I knew Samantha had to be in the car with her.

“Sam, baby, this better be you,” I said with excitement.

“You know it is!” she replied with the same amount of excitement.

“Where y’all at?”

“We just got out of West Virginia.”

“How far are you now?”

“Well, we’ve been on the road for about an hour and a half, so we probably got about four hours left.”

“If you’ve been on the road for an hour and a half, then why are you just now calling me?”

“I tried calling you a few times, but Paulette’s cell phone didn’t get a signal until we got out of them damn mountains.”

“A’ight, y’all go ahead and drive safe and I’ll see you in about four hours.”

“Where we gon’ meet at?”

“Paulette is going to bring you to the Marriott hotel in downtown Norfolk, so you ain’t gon’ be too far from the halfway house.”

“By the time we get there, we ain’t gon’ have nothing but two hours to spend together.”

“Trust me, Ma, that’s plenty of time.”

“Seth, have me something hot waiting for me, because I am starving.”