but Danny was eager to prove just how ’bout it he was. When his time came, he would surely step to the plate. Danny dropped Gutter off in front of his building and drove off into the night.
When Gutter got into the duplex, he noticed that the light was still on in the study. He had hoped to come in and wash the gun smoke from his body, then ease into the bed with his lady. Unfortunately, Sharell was still up. He walked into the makeshift office and greeted his lady.
“Sup, boo,” he said, kissing her on the cheek.
“Hey, Ken”-she patted him on the leg-“I left dinner in the oven for you.”
“I’m not hungry,” he said, turning to leave the room.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything is blue. How’s Satin?”
“Still the same.” She shrugged. “The nurse said she’s up and down, but no major changes. She’s putting on some weight though. Probably all that medication they’re giving her. My heart really goes out to her. Lord knows I’d probably lose it if something were to ever happen to you.”
“You ain’t gotta worry about that. I ain’t going nowhere,” he assured her.
“That’s easy to say, Ken, but no one can foresee God’s plan.”
“I don’t know about God’s plan, but I know about
“Not if you keep running like you do, Ken.”
“Don’t start this shit again, Sharell.” He massaged his temples.
“The truth is the light,” she said, turning her chair around to face him. “You can say what you want, but ain’t no good gonna come from the way you’re living. The devil is always busy, Kenyatta. More often than not he uses troubled souls like you to do his will. The Lord says-”
“Man, miss me with that ‘the Lord says’ shit,” Gutter snapped. “The Lord ain’t said a muthafucking thing when my partner got blasted. His ass was silent as the grave.”
“Kenyatta Soladine, don’t you be in here blaspheming,” she warned. “It was a terrible thing that happened to Lou-Loc. I loved him like family and didn’t nobody cry harder than I did at the funeral. That still doesn’t change the fact that it was the Lord that brought you back to me. I prayed by your bedside everyday and he let you come out of your coma. You should be thankful for that.”
“Oh, I’m thankful, but not to the Lord. He ain’t have shit to do with me getting up out that bed,” Gutter said, in a matter-of-fact tone.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” He sighed. “Look, it’s been a long day. I’m going to bed,” Gutter turned and walked out of the room.
Sharell felt like crying, but she promised herself she wouldn’t. She and Gutter had the same argument more times than she cared to recount. With each passing day, he seemed to become more and more obsessed with his mission. Sharell knew Gutter was a good man at heart, but she was hardly a fool. Every time she read about a gang-related shooting, she knew just who was behind it.
Gutter had the homeys putting in overtime on the streets of New York. No matter how much blood was spilled, his thirst never seemed to be sated. It had gotten to the point where her friends from church refused to be seen publicly with her. They feared that her man’s reputation would land them in a cross fire. Regardless of his wrongs, she loved him and would stick by him no matter the outcome.
HAWK LEANED against his car, watching while Ruby punished a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Even before he had gotten her phone call, he knew about Supreme’s murder. In the streets, news traveled fast. No one really understood why Ruby was taking his death so hard, but Hawk understood. He was one of the few people that knew about their secret love affair.
“I want him dead!” Ruby said in between sobs. “Gutter has finally crossed the line!”
“Ruby, calm down,” Hawk said in an even tone. “We’re all upset about what happened to Supreme, but drinking yourself into a stupor isn’t going to bring him back. I need your head to be clear so you can command your troops. Get it together.”
“Fuck that,” she slurred. “This shit is war. Y’all can keep playing with these crab niggaz, but I’m taking it to ’em. He’s going down.”
“What’re you gonna do, march into Harlem and single-handedly take the whole set?” he questioned.
“If I have to. That nigga should’ve been put down a long time ago. Y’all kept playing with it and look what happened. We lost three set leaders and God knows how many soldiers. We gotta do something, Hawk.”
“Something has already been done, Ruby. This problem with Gutter is officially out of our hands. We’ll be getting some outside help from the West.”
“Just what we need, some Cali clowns coming out here trying to tell us what to do.” She guzzled her bottle.
“This clown comes highly recommended,” Hawk said, taking the bottle away from her.
“I don’t even give a fuck no more.” She slumped against the car. “I just want him dead.”
“Soon, I don’t think that’ll be much of a problem.”
IT SEEMED like Gutter had just gone to sleep when he heard his cell ringing on the nightstand. He grumbled something in Arabic under his breath as he reached for the phone. It was four o’clock in the morning and he wondered who the hell could be calling him from a 310 area code.
“Hello?” he rasped.
“Kenyatta?” the caller asked.
“Who the fuck is this?”
“Ken, it’s Rahshida,” the woman replied. Rahshida was his aunt who lived in Watts.
“Auntie, it’s one in the morning out there. Everything okay?” he asked, sitting up.
“Ken, oh God, I’ve been trying to get in touch with you all day.”
“Rahshida, what’s wrong?”
“It’s Gunn. He’s been shot!”
Gutter almost dropped the phone. As if things couldn’t get any worse. Big Gunn was like the surrogate father for all of the lil homeys on the set back home. It was because of him and his tutelage Gutter and Lou-Loc were able to come up through the ranks. He taught them what banging was really all about. In their eyes Gunn was invincible, now his aunt was on the phone telling him he’d been wounded.
“Kenyatta, are you still there?” Rahshida cried.
“Yeah, I’m here. How is he?”
“Not good. They’re saying he might not make it. Oh, Ken, he was just going to the store and some Swans rolled up on him. They just started-”
“Don’t even say no more over the phone,” he cut her off. “I’m catching the next flight out.” With that, he ended the call.
“EVERYTHING OKAY?” Sharell asked in a sleep-laden voice.
“Yeah, go back to sleep,” he replied, sliding out of bed.
Sharell was about to call out to him, but didn’t. Whatever had stirred her man at this hour had to be of the utmost importance, but he would tell her when he was ready. Sharell tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t. The early-morning phone call rattled her, but it was her visit with Satin that was nagging at her.
She was used to the wordless visits, but there was something different about Satin physically that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She had some sick days she needed to use anyhow so she decided to make another trip to see Satin the following day.
AFTER MAKING himself a drink, Gutter stepped out onto his balcony and lit a blunt. The news of his uncle’s shooting was unexpected and ill-timed. There was a full-scale war raging in New York so he couldn’t really afford to dip out, but his family came first. Taking a deep drag off the blunt, he looked out at the water.
It had been more than two years since Gutter had last walked in the California sunshine. He always knew he’d
