in amusement. “First of all, who the fuck are you? Second of all, why the fuck are you so sensitive? And third, I ain’t got no problems with stabbin’ you in the eye with a rat tail comb, but I really don’t wanna do that since I’m havin’ a good day.”
“He’s Roman!” Cleo mocked him from his corner.
I stood up after I heard that. Although I didn’t recognize the face, the name was familiar to me after I put some thought into it.
“ Ahhhh you’re Khalil’s boy.” I shook a lazy finger at him.
“I aint nobody’s boy! I’m a grown ass man and I’ve been itching to put a bullet in you nigga!” Roman’s chest swelled up under his tight fitting red T-shirt.
Peck stood up angrily. “Please let me shoot this Kimbo Slice lookin’ fool.”
“ Fuck you lil’ white boy, I’ll-”
Roman flexed in Pecks direction , but I quickly jabbed him in the throat with the pointy end of a key on my key ring. The unseen blow was a direct hit to his Adam’s apple causing a once irate man to instantly retreat as he struggled to breathe. I calmly walked up to a bent over Roman, snatched a fistful of his long hair and sent him crashing to the floor from a razor sharp elbow to his right temple.
“What we re you about to say Roman?” I put a finger behind my ear. “I can’t hear you nigga, speak up.”
I put the bottom of my baby blue all suede Jordan’s on Roman’s dark, wrinkled forehead.
Then I took my gun out from behind my back and mashed the barrel into my victim’s neck. Roman was still fighting to breathe and the added pressure on his throat was making his air intake labored. Everyone in the shop watched with wide eyes as I leaned over him.
“ The only reason you’re not swallowing this bullet is because of Malik. I know he don’t want CSI up in here and caution tape all across his damn seats.”
Roman’s eyes began to tear up as a result of the lack of oxygen to his brain.
“And the only reason you’re not being skull dragged into the alley and scalped…is because of your boss. Tell Khalil to call me.”
“Come on Tyce, let me shoot him! I’ll put a nice lil’ part in his head.” Peck finally pulled out his new gun. He was anxious to break it in.
“Naw, he’s cool. He would apologize if he could talk. We’ll come back for that cut later Malik…let’s go Peck.”
P eck turned to follow me out, but turned around suddenly to address the stunned on lookers, “It was a pleasure meetin’ yall…nice shop Malik.”
~Déjà vu
Why does everybody keep testing me? Every time I look around some nigga is trying to earn their stripes or take me out for some bull shit reason. First it was Biz, and then it was my punk ass daddy Diego and his brother. Oh let’s not forget about the shady detective, the parking lot Crips, or my so-called best friend Omar. All of a sudden it was that nigga Roman. Don’t get me wrong, I could handle my own. If they wanted it, I delivered in thirty minutes or less. I was just tired of people flexing on me. Maybe I should get a line of T-shirts that say, “DON’T FUCK WITH ME!”
On top of the challenging job of robbing an armored truck, I had the added pressure of a dysfunctional relationship. Angelique still wasn’t talking to me outside of the normal hi and bye shit. We were still sleeping in separate rooms and we hadn’t had sex in over four weeks, but I still held my ground. I was not about to cave in and change my ways, or my morals for anybody, including her. I wasn’t telling her to stop running that sex club because she was a new mom. What mom spends her days and nights around horny strangers having orgies? I’ll tell you who; the mother of my daughter and to tell you the truth, that was just fine with me. She was the one who wanted a different person, not me.
Lately, when my head hit the pillow at night, I found myself thinking of Dallas. Maybe it was