hit her square in the chest. She still clutched the bag of nachos she had been eating as her lifeless eyes stared up at China.
“Bitch-ass nigga!” Pop Top shouted, as he limped to the curb. There was blood leaking from his wound, but it didn’t hinder his shooting arm. He leveled his pistol and fired two shots into Vlad’s face.
“We out!” High Side shouted, jogging back to the car.
“Let’s go, lil nigga.” Pop Top limped past China. Seeing that China was rooted to the spot, Pop Top tried a different method. He grabbed China by the collar and slapped him across the face. “Nigga, unless you plan on spending the rest of your life in the fucking joint, you better get on your fucking feet and move!”
China looked at Pop Top as if he were seeing him for the first time. He looked from the smoking rifle to the two dead bodies, before he was able to stagger to his feet. He still felt like he was trapped in a dream, but he understood the prison time that came with what he had done.
SHARELL WAS just about to find out who the baby’s father was on
The newscaster went on to tell the story of a shoot-out that had taken place there not long ago, leaving three people dead, one of which was a little girl. Tears ran down Sharell’s face as a family member tried to console the grieving mother of the little girl. Touching her stomach, she knew she would surely die if something were to happen to her little one. The police suspected that it was over drugs, as usual, but something in the pit of Sharell’s gut told her that it wasn’t. She recognized one of the boys’ names and knew that the shooting was gang-related.
Even on the other side of the country Gutter was still managing to keep the chaos going in New York. She flipped her cell phone open to call him to deliver the news of what he had caused.
chapter 15
WHEN THE two-car entourage arrived back at the house there were people scattered in front of it. Some were standing around laughing, while others were getting in their cars and preparing to leave. Snake Eyes, Danny, and Gutter looked on to see what was going down. Tears stood out front, puffing a cigarette and looking highly irritated. Gutter stepped from the Regal and addressed his home boy.
“What it is, cousin?” Gutter rolled up to the front of the house.
“Man, I’m glad you’re here, G. Yo peoples is in there loc’n.” Tears sighed.
As Gutter listened, he could hear shouting from the partially cracked front door. More and more people began to file out of the house, all wearing looks of frustration or disgust. When Gutter spotted Monifa among them, he grabbed her arm.
“Man, who in there making all that noise?” he asked.
“Who you think?” She sucked her teeth.
In answer to the question, a woman came stumbling out of the house. She was tall and thin, with bleached blond hair. Her eyes were lined in black mascara and partially covered by a pair of dimestore glasses. She had yellow skin that had begun to splotch in certain areas from lack of care. Gutter looked on in shock, while Lil Gunn just turned his head.
“Ol thug-ass niggaz,” Stacia slurred, as she staggered out onto the front line. “Posted up in this muthafucka like it’s some kinda damn clubhouse.”
People laughed or stared at her like she didn’t have any sense, but Gutter just shook his head. It had been quite some time since he had seen Big Gunn’s baby mama, but from the looks of things she was still as wild as hell. Stacia had always been a pretty girl, and still was to that day, but those who knew her back in the day could tell she was slipping. Her clothes and hair were crisp as always, but she looked worn.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” she said, noticing Gutter for the first time. “Nigga, I heard you was dead and gone. ’Course I’m not surprised to see you here, being that none of you evil green-eyed muthafuckas know how to lay down and die.”
“Nice to see you again too, Stacia,” he said sarcastically.
“I’ll bet. So, what you doing back out here? Them New York niggaz showed you what a real thug was about?”
Gutter started to bark on her, but remembering Lil Gunn was with him he kept it cordial. “Nah, baby girl, business is business like always. I’m the man on whatever coast I stomp through. You ain’t that drunk to where you don’t recognize this Crip’n.” He flashed Harlem, then Hoover.
“Whatever, nigga. Tariq”-she turned to Lil Gunn-“what the hell happened to your face?”
“Nothing, Ma, I fell riding a bike,” he lied.
“Young nigga, who you think you fooling? I ain’t flew here, I grew here. You probably got your lil ass whipped trying to play gangsta. You better quit while you’re ahead, unless you wanna end up like yo daddy. You see that nigga in there knocking on heaven’s door.” She took a sip of her drink.
Gutter immediately checked her. “Hold that shit down, Stacia. Don’t disrespect my uncle like that, especially in front of his seed.”
“Y’all niggaz just can’t handle it. See, I’m a real bitch. I call it like I see it. Big Gunn is always gonna be my boo, but the truth is the light. This gangster shit got him living between two worlds right now. That’s the reason why I moved Tariq away from this shit. I call myself saving him from the streets.” She looked Lil Gunn up and down. “As you can see, that didn’t pan out too well.”
“You need to go somewhere and sober up,” Gutter said, getting frustrated.
“Sober up? Muthafucka, I ain’t even
Gutter could feel the fire in his gut expand to his face. Reflexively his hands curled into fists, and he shot daggers at Stacia. Monifa must’ve felt it, because she moved to his side and placed a calming hand on his shoulder. Just like that the anger drained away. She could still work that magic on him.
“I ain’t even trying to hear this shit.” Lil Gunn stormed past her and into the house.
“I’m going for a walk.” Gutter turned and headed down the block.
“Hold on, I’ll go with you,” Monifa called after him.
Snake Eyes already knew what time it was, so he took Danny into the house, leaving Tears alone with Stacia. Tears knew her from back in the days, when she used to kick it around Hoover with Gunn and his lot. She was always a little outspoken, but now she was just plain rude. He didn’t really fuck with her back then, but he absolutely couldn’t stand her now.
“Fuck you looking at, Scarface?” she spat.
Tears sucked his teeth and walked toward the house. As he passed Stacia, he swept his foot out and “accidentally” kicked her drink over. “Bitch,” he mumbled, before disappearing behind the screen door.
AFTER CHANGING into a pair of jeans and a black sweatshirt, Lil Gunn came lumbering down the stairs. There were still a few people lounging around the living room and in the backyard. Stacia sat near the kitchen entrance, sipping yet another drink. He scowled at her and went in the opposite direction toward the backyard.
Blue Bird stood off to the side with several other young men and women. The ladies were working the grill and playing cards, while the homeys were gathered around Blue Bird. Though he was a loudmouth, and more often than not a troublemaker, he had his stripes in the hood. Lil Gunn slipped into the crowd, and grabbed a forty ounce from the cooler.
“Look at this lil nigga.” Blue Bird nodded toward the youngster. “Out here trying to drink with the grown folks. Put that forty down, young’n.”
“I got this, cuz,” Lil Gunn said, turning the bottle up and taking a deep swig of the beer.
“You see that boy do that there?” Charlie beamed proudly. He was from Grape Street.
“That boy got it honest.” Blue Bird patted him on the back. “Man, we all rooting for yo daddy. Them Swans
