Hood Misfits 3 Read online

  Micah tsked. “Bianca, my Angel, there was always an innocence about you that I liked. I liked you a hell of a lot. I would have made you a made woman, a kept woman. I don’t get how you choose to align yourself with a nigga who’s the same as the nigga you worked for in the beginning.”

  I tilted my head and frowned at him, but didn’t speak. I was clearly confused.

  “You don’t get it now, but one day you will and by then, it will all be too late,” he continued.

  I couldn’t front like Micah wasn’t a fine man because he was. Under normal circumstances I may have been attracted to him, but I knew too much about him, knew all his dirt. I didn’t want to be a made or kept woman under him. It required me to do his dirty work and I wasn’t down for that. I’d rather take my chances with Enzo because at least I knew he would keep his word if I kept mine. A girl like me needed at least that security.

  “It’s going to hurt me to kill you, Angel. Truly, it is.”

  His dark eyes gave me a once-over as he reached behind him to remove a gun from his waistband. I hadn’t counted on that, I thought as my eyes widened.

  “All you had to do was treat me like a person and not a piece of meat. I wasn’t going back to that lifestyle, Micah. I wasn’t. You came at me the same way Dame used to. I couldn’t do that shit again,” I told him. It was a half lie. I wouldn’t have worked for him either way, but he didn’t need to know that.

  He chuckled low. “The funny thing is, you’re so busy running from Dame’s ghost that you’re closer to him than you think you are. My sweet Angel, you told him about me, didn’t you?”

  He moved closer to me, almost like he was stalking me as I backed away. I just needed to get to the door that was only a few feet away. But I knew if I ran, I was as good as shot in the back and left for dead.

  “Told who, what?” I asked feigning ignorance.

  “You know what the fuck I’m talking about, bitch. Don’t fucking play stupid with me,” he snapped.

  Another reason I would never be under his lock and key. The nigga was bipolar as fuck. At least when it came to Enzo, I knew he wasn’t evil just because. I knew in order to get him to go stone-cold crazy, you had to push him to the limit. With Micah, all you had to do was breathe the wrong way and he was trying to kill you.

  “I ain’t tell nobody shit because I don’t know what you’re talking about. What the fuck would I tell him?”

  “Cut the shit, Bianca,” he yelled.

  He went to grab me and I kicked him in his nuts. The guttural groan he gave as he bent forward and grabbed his dick almost distracted me from running away. I quickly ran for the exit.

  “Ahhhh, fuck! Angel! Why you gotta make a nigga act all crazy and shit? Huh, baby?”

  I looked behind me to see he was advancing on me. A shot rang out behind me that made me duck and screech out. I almost fell when my ankle went one way while I was trying to run another. I kicked myself for choosing to wear six-inch heels. My ankles were burning as I righted myself once against and kept running. The door was within the distance, but Micah was closer. He caught up to me and grabbed the back of my hair, throwing me head first into the wall. I screamed out, but no one could hear me over the music. So if Micah decided to shoot me dead in that moment, no one would have known. I fell backward, thankfully, and used my boots as weapons. I kicked at him like a madwoman, knowing that if I didn’t get outside that door, Micah was sure to finish me off. The heels of my boots caught his arms and chest. The more I kicked the harder he came at me. I tried to kick for his face but he grabbed the foot I was aiming with. With the gun in his other hand he tried yanking me to him. He swung the gun at my head, but I fell back, using my other foot to kick him in the neck.

  It backed him up off me enough for me to get up and run to the door. The cool night air assaulted me as I clumsily rushed forward. I almost fell again, but knew that was a no-go. I knew Enzo was there but had no idea where he was. The back parking lot was almost empty, except for a few foreign whips that belonged to some of the high-profile players. The wind whipped around me as the trees swayed in the night. I turned in a circle, kind of delirious. Something wet trickled down my forehead causing me to touch it with my hand. When I came away with blood, my heart rate sped up faster.

  Micah came bursting through the back door. He, too, had blood dripping from his chocolate face from the assault with my boots. “Bitch, you must be out cho motherfucking mind tonight,” he roared.

  He charged at me so quick that my scream got caught in my throat. I swung out as he grabbed for me. I surprised myself with the fight I had in me, so imagine his astonishment at the heart I was showing. Even still, the fight in Micah was bigger than and stronger than I was. In the end the butt of his gun took me to the ground. I didn’t know where the rest of those niggas had come from. But I was sure as hell glad when they got there.

  “What it is, boss man?” I heard a male’s voice.

  As I lay on my back, head splitting with the pain from the hit Micah had given me, I could see the feet of about six men. I backed away, scrambling to my feet.

  “Grab that ho,” Micah ordered the man.

  I smiled as I shook my head. “The only ho getting got tonight is you, nigga.”

  Micah looked around as the men, all clad in ski masks, all black clothing, and black boots surrounded him. “What the fuck is this?” he yelled out. “You niggas—”

  “We niggas got a bone to pick,” Dragon’s voice called out.

  “And seems that bone is coming outta ya ass, my nigga,” another player’s voice came through.

  I wanted to stay and see them beat the cold piss out of Micah, but the text to my phone from Enzo was etched in stone. All I was supposed to do was get him to the parking lot. My heart continued to race at the possibility that I almost got killed before I got him outside. I wasn’t to know what happened in that parking lot after I got Micah out there. He didn’t want me to know shit so I couldn’t say shit. So like the damsel in distress I usually was, I took off running like a madwoman.

  Chapter 17

  Angel

  I made it in no time to the rental car Enzo had gotten for me. People were so busy doing what they were doing that no one even noticed me. For a couple of minutes, I sat there to get my thoughts together. I was supposed to pull right out and head back to my condo but my hands were shaking so badly that I could barely get the key into the ignition. Once I was calm, I pulled out into the Atlanta nightlife traffic.

  The phone Enzo had given me started to ring and since no one knew I had the phone but Enzo, I thought it was him. “Hello?”

  There was a cough on the other end of the phone. “Angel, is that you?” the almost frail voice asked.

  It was his aunt. To hear her voice so sickly and to remember the way she looked last time I saw her saddened me. I could tell she was a strong woman and to know something as evil as cancer had taken a street warrior down was a sobering moment.

  “Yes, ma’am, it’s Angel,” I answered.

  “Where’s Shawn? Is he okay? Are you okay?”

  “I . . . I, ah, really don’t know where he is,” I lied. “And yes, I’m okay.”

  She was quiet a moment. She probably knew I was lying because of the hesitation and shakiness in my voice.

  “Well, since you don’t know where he is, I suppose you can’t tell him that his brother has gotten away from the security here and is out there God knows where. Drew said he wanted to see his brother so I’m assuming he went to his place.”

  Oh, God. The last thing Enzo needed was to know Drew was out in the streets of Atlanta running around somewhere. I was sure it would ruin Enzo’s plans to get Micah if he knew Drew was missing. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon. I can tell him then.”

  “Angel, do you know where Shawn is?” she asked me in a tone that let me know she still had some fight in her.

  “I can’t say that I do.”

  “Is he in trouble?”

  “No.”

  �
�Is he doing something that may cause him trouble?”

  “I can’t say.”

  “Where is Micah?”

  “I honestly don’t know the answer to that question.”

  She went into a coughing fit again. I heard a voice in the background I knew was Anika’s telling her she needed to rest and let them worry about finding Andrew.

  “Angel, if Shawn was in trouble, you would tell me, right?” Shy asked me.

  “Yes, I would.”

  “If he was doing something that would get him in trouble, would you tell me?”

  “Not if he asked me not to,” I answered honestly.

  “On one hand I’m happy to know that he can trust you. On the other, if anything happens to him and you could have prevented it from happening, I’m going to be one pissed-off woman. No one likes me when I’m pissed, Angel. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good. If Drew happens to come his brother’s way you call me, understand? And if Shawn can’t get to his brother, you keep Drew.”

  “No, I can’t do that,” I protested. I didn’t want that kid anywhere near me, not with all that had happened. I could barely look myself in the face after what he had been made to do. There was no way I would be able to look him in his eyes.

  “You can. I would consider it a personal favor if you did. Just keep him with you until his brother can get to him and bring him back to me,” she ordered.

  I knew there was really no way she would take no for an answer. So I agreed to her terms. After the call ended I tossed the phone on the seat next to me and it flopped down between the seat and the door. I’ll get it once I get in, I thought.

  I made it to the condo’s parking deck without issue. I parked the car where Enzo had dictated and made my way to the elevator. I was still nervous, wondering if Micah was any closer to death and if Enzo was okay. I’d done my part so all I had to do was wait. My place was two floors down from Enzo’s but since Shy had said Drew left under the guise of getting to Enzo, I took the elevator up to his place.

  I felt the bottom fall out of my stomach as I walked off the elevator and turned the corner. There was a miniature Enzo sitting by the door. He had his knees pulled up with his arms resting over them. He was dressed in khakis, Jordans, and a black polo-style shirt. I took a deep breath because I didn’t want to be anywhere near the kid, but swallowed that lump in my throat. He must have heard me coming because he looked up the moment I started walking toward him. He hopped up quickly and walked toward me, meeting me halfway. The kid was tall for his age and while he had a baby face, I could see trouble brewing behind his eyes.

  “Wassup, Angel? You seen Enzo?” he asked me.

  The bass in his voice unnerved me. Or it could have been that I was just so uncomfortable around him that anything he said or did would make any interaction between us seem awkward.

  “Why aren’t you back home with your aunt?” I counter asked him.

  He sucked his teeth and made a screw face. “Here you go. Anyway, I wanted to talk to my brother ’cause I ain’t seen him in a few days. Y’all acting like a nigga ain’t got the right to see his fam.”

  I scratched my head in annoyance and switched my weight from one foot to the other. My feet hurt, back ached, and head was throbbing from the blow to it earlier. “Well, Enzo ain’t around right now so you need to go back home,” I said.

  He shook his head. “Nah, I’ma wait on him. Where you going? I can chill with you until he gets back.”

  “Like hell you will. Enzo already on my ass about what happened. I ain’t about to have him come home and find me anywhere near you. You need to go back home, Andrew.”

  “Shawty, why you tripping?”

  “I’m not tripping.”

  “I’m cool. I’ll chill right here until he—”

  “Andrew, you really cannot be here right now. What part of that don’t you understand?” I yelled at him.

  His brows furrowed. “Don’t be yelling at me, Angel. You can’t keep me from chilling by his door until he gets home.”

  “Your brother is not here because he fucking out handling business. You sitting by his door and not being home with your aunt is just making shit worse. Go home!”

  One of Enzo’s neighbors stuck her head out the door. I really didn’t need anybody calling the cops or the security guards up. I dug around in my bag for my phone only to remember I had left it in the car.

  “You stay right here, you understand me? Stay here until I get back, Drew. Don’t move,” I ordered.

  He smirked looking too much like Enzo for my liking. The way he gave me the once-over had me shaking my head and hoping that Enzo would make Micah beg for death before he actually killed him. There was nothing worse than a child ruined by the acts of an adult. I jogged back down the carpeted hall to the elevator and hopped on. The whole ride back to the parking deck all I could think about was getting the kid back to his aunt. I rushed through the automatic doors and searched out the car. I was so focused on one thing that when Kruger stepped out the shadows, I never saw him.

  I opened the passenger door and bent down to grab the phone. It was then that he reached into the car and pulled me out by the back of my hair. I shrieked out not knowing what was going on. The phone dropped to the ground and shattered and I was tossed roughly to the ground. I didn’t waste any time getting up to run though.

  “Stupid bitch. You thought I was out when that faggot hit me, huh? Had him say your address all loud and shit like a dumb ass. Micah should have let me kill you in that hotel room,” he called out as he ran behind me.

  I bent the corner running like I had on Jays instead of heels. My feet and ankles would hate me later, but I had to get Kruger far away from me as possible. I prayed Drew would stay where he was or would even realize I was gone too long and head back home. By the time I looked over my shoulders I was on the second-level deck hiding between a Hummer and a Navigator. My heart drummed in my ears. Breaths came out heavier and heavier each inhale and exhale. Any chance I had of finding a weapon was dropped when my purse fell to ground as I ran. I covered my mouth to keep my heavy breathing from giving me away. I could see Kruger’s shadow as he came to an abrupt stop.

  “Come on, sexy lady. Don’t be like that. Hey, look, maybe before I kill you, we can fuck again. And then I can toss you off top of this fucking building to see how pussy looks when it’s flying,” he taunted me.

  I looked around knowing there was no way out for me. Tears clouded my vision as I tried to duck walk between cars. When that didn’t work, I got on my knees and crawled. I knew he could hear me at that point and I didn’t care. I just needed to get out of the parking deck. The faster I crawled, the faster he ran until he cornered me between the last car on the row and the wall.

  “Fuck,” I yelled as he yanked me to him by my legs.

  I just knew I was as good as fucked up with the complete look of murderous intent in Kruger’s eyes. I clawed at his face trying to get at his eyes, tussled with him trying to keep his hand from around my throat. Just as quick as he had come at me, he suddenly stopped. His eyes widened and blood dribbled from his lips. I couldn’t see what was going on because I was flat of my back. It wasn’t until I sat up that I saw Drew behind him. Kruger dropped to his knees, grabbing behind him at whatever Drew had shanked him with. Drew’s teeth bit down into his bottom lip as he pulled the knife from Kruger’s back then stuck him, mercilessly, over and over. Every time he shoved the knife into Kruger’s back it was harder than the first time.

  “Bitch-ass nigga,” Drew growled.

  There had been only one time I’d seen the look in a man’s eyes that I saw in Drew’s. The air around us seemed to get colder when Drew let out a low, throaty laugh that showed he was enjoying what he was doing. When Kruger’s body fell face first into the pavement, Drew stuck the knife into the back of his neck, then stood and started to kick him over and over. I knew this was bad. I knew the whole thing was bad and some kind of way, I knew
Enzo would blame me for it. I jumped up, ripped my shirt over my head, and grabbed the knife from Kruger’s neck.

  “Put your hoodie over your head, Drew. Now,” I yelled.

  Thankfully he didn’t question me and did what I asked. I grabbed his hand and hightailed it to the upper deck back to the main elevator. I stopped and grabbed my bag along with the broken phone along the way. I didn’t stop until we made it to Enzo’s. I shoved Drew inside and frantically paced in front of the door.

  “Shit, shit, shit! Drew, what the fuck? Why did you do that?” I asked, walking up to him to shake him.

  “I did it because he was trying to hurt you,” he said as if it was a normal thing he had just done.

  It was because of me he was no longer a virgin and because of me he had a body on his hand. There was nothing else I could say or do. I told him to sit down while I went and locked myself in Enzo’s room. For a long while I just sat on his bed with my head in my hands before heading to the shower. Afterward I walked back to the front room, thought about trying to get Drew to go home again but didn’t want to release him back on the street until everything was clear. I tried to finagle the phone back together best I could, but it was gone. I had no phone to call Shy to let her know Drew was okay since Enzo didn’t have a landline. I asked Drew if he had his cell and he told me he’d left it at home so Shy wouldn’t keep calling him. I helped him to clean up and get the blood off him. I tried my best to get rid of the evidence.

  One hour turned into two and two into four. As the night went on, my heart got heavier, wondering if Enzo was okay and what he would do to me once he found out what happened.

  I already knew that I would have to deal with the fallout behind this. And I wondered how long it would be before someone found Kruger’s body. My question was answered when I heard sirens in the distance. Flashing lights lit up the area down below as I looked out Enzo’s bedroom window.