A Kingpin's Obsession: Ajoni's Story (18 page)

“No, it wouldn’t, but what happened still happened, and shit is still happening.”

I lose my cool and yell, “And you’ll never recognize that half of that is your fault will you?”

“I recognize it, Ajoni, but you’re about to take away our second chance at being a family for Anjuwan.”

“And I won’t produce another baby just to get it either. As long as you think only about what you want, we’ll never have a chance, and I’m not taking on another shitload of responsibility just so you can be a father from beginning to end.”

“
I want to be the father of
your
children from beginning to end
,” he yells suddenly, startling the hell out of me.

“Then you have to leave the past in the past. Neither of us can change it and Anjuwan isn’t through growing up, even though you missed—”

“
Her first everything, Ajoni!”
he hurls across the bed, cutting me off. “
Words, steps, missing tooth, I missed it all!
”

“You would’ve anyway,” I whisper, realizing this conversation is going nowhere fast. King was stuck on what he missed out on with his daughter, and would never get to be a part of no matter how angry he got with me, and he is determined to stay in that frame of mind no matter what I say.

“You couldn’t have been there even if you wanted to, King, and who knows how long you would’ve lived before one of your competitors, enemies, or your lifestyle took you down? Larkin was going to take
us
all down. I did what I could to make sure you would have some semblance of a life even after what you and the rest of the Blue Kings did to me that night. I was as loyal to you as I could be in the only way I knew how to be at eighteen years old without destroying the rest of my life in the process. I’m not going to keep apologizing for it and you’re going to have to forgive me for doing what was best for me even if it wasn’t for you. If you don’t, so be it. We brought this shit on ourselves with our decisions.”

“I can’t forgive you,” he murmurs.

“Then so be it, King. Enjoy standing in your own way and not getting what you claim you want.” If he would get out of it, I wouldn’t be forced to go on without him again, but I failed to convince him that I am still the woman he wants, and there is no reason to keep standing here.

I reach across the bed and grab the sack before rushing out of the warehouse, leaving him with his demons. I have enough of those already, but his manages to follow me outside where Raw waits leaning against the hood of car, facing the door of the warehouse, and dressed all in black as well. I wonder where in the hell he got dressed at.

He opens his arms wide. I drop the bag and run into them then break down. I may have kept my composure in front of King, but the bottom of my world is falling out now, and I feel every single piece as it rips and falls away.

CHAPTER Fifteen

King

Ajoni’s last words echo in my head as I sling the bag in my hand down on the bed then begin to strip my clothes off for the third time today. Am I really standing in my own way? But how the hell do I just forgive her for what she has done when she never gave me the chance to get us out of all the shit that Larkin tried to drown us in? She just made an executive decision and stuck with it, costing me everything that matters; her and Anjuwan.

I grab a black tee from the bag and toss it over my head as my mind whirls with things that could have happened between us but never will now, and she is about to cost me even more, all because I cannot let go of what she did to me and my daughter when I need her to wait for me to get over it. I want to, but I need more than a day to make that happen.

When it is almost too dark to see in the warehouse, it is still only about six o’clock, with four more hours to go until the streets of Mecca are almost completely empty of civilians that has 911 on speed dial. I walk to the table still sitting against the wall, and retrieve the same lighter that I used to light the candles for Ajoni’s birthday. I light one, and then take Ajoni’s seat on the bed. Neither her nor Raw have come back inside the warehouse, and I have no intentions on going outside. I needed to think clearly and make plans for using Shad’s information to our advantage, without Raw crawling my ass about Ajoni.

Apparently, Lea and the driver named Chang, who is a minor dope dealer on the rise that showed up in Mecca a year ago and made fast friends with Lea, are holed up in his warehouse with a back door four miles away from here. The few members of his fledgling crew are armed and guarding the door. It is good that they are all out in the middle of nowhere. When I take them down, no one will hear, and my plan is simple.

Raw and I will split up then approach from the front and back, take out the crew on the outside first, trap Lea and Chang inside the building, and shoot anything that moves in it. After that, we will load the bodies in their cars to keep from spreading their DNA to places it should not be, and bury the bodies deep in the woods behind Chang’s warehouse. Then I plan to burn down the warehouse and the large broom that I keep a few of standing beside my warehouse, along with shovels just for this purpose, when I need to get rid of our footprints and hide bodies in the dirt.

Larkin has never found any proof of the Blue Kings’ deeds because we do not leave any, but he does not need it when he can blackmail people like Ajoni. He would not have been able to if she had trusted me to take care of her. I could kill him for using her like that, but deading a prominent District Attorney that is always in the limelight is not as easy as it is to take down a small-time hood, so

Larkin will live. Hankin will not have the privilege though. I am sure that Raw has come up with the same plan, loaded the shovels and broom in the trunk of his car, and told Ajoni all of this too by now, for no reason. She will not be getting out of the damn car if I have to glue her ass to her seat.

A knock on the door reverberates through the tin can. I get up slowly and put my hand on the nine stuffed in the waistband of my pants behind me.

“Yeah,” I holler out.

“King, it’s me!” Raw yells back. “You should have to use the bathroom by now, and I’m hungry, so bring your ass out of there and let’s go get something to eat.”

“I’m a man, Raw. I can stand up and use the bathroom, but take Ajoni to any service station in the county that does not have cameras, and get some chips or something. We don’t want to run into anyone that knows us, and can report that they saw us together after this shit goes down, and I don’t want anything.”

It takes quite a few seconds before he responds, “Aight!”

When I hear the Camaro drive down the lane, I sit back down on the bed, then wonder if I should have let them go anywhere by themselves when it takes what seems like forever for them to come back. I manage to not barge out the door, demanding they tell me where the hell they have been, and let the minutes tick by until the candle has burned down to a puddle on the table.

It starts to feel like it is ten o’clock—I have nothing to keep time with, and can count how many times Ajoni entered my mind after they left me here; one. She never left it. I get sick of thinking about her, and decide it is time to clap back at Lea and Chang, no matter what time it is.

When I open the door, Raw is leaning against the hood of his car with his arms crossed, glaring at me walking towards him. He opens his mouth to speak just as I see a dark silhouette sit up in the backseat of the car and take a swipe at its face. Ajoni.

“Raw, keep that shit to yourself,” I warn before he does speak, and wonder if Ajoni is okay.

“I was going to ask were you alright, but yeah you are, and still the same ole unbendable bastard with a massive chip on his shoulder and the whole-world-is-against-me complex.”

It is not the whole world being against me that I give a shit about, just the woman sitting in the car.  I cannot seem to stop caring that she is not with me, no matter how angry I am with her, and that pisses me off with myself.

“Am I wrong for feeling that way after all that has happened? And you and Ajoni must’ve taken the scenic route back here.”

He drops his head, then shakes it. “And now you’re jealous too. Damn! How many times can a man be wrong in one day?” he asks while standing up. “Let’s go, King, before you find something else to be wrong about.”

Instantly, I think about laying his body down as he moves to the driver’s side. Nobody asked him to call me out on my feelings. Ajoni had already done that enough for the both of them earlier.

Raw starts the car. I get in the passenger’s seat, and make sure not to slam his door this time—that will just make him say something to me about it, and who knows what else will come out of my mouth for him to call me on.

I glance back in the darkness of the back seat at Ajoni’s frozen profile facing the back of Raw’s head. I do not need to see her expression to feel her sadness, and want to comfort her while wallowing in her pain at the same time. She finally understands what I have felt for eight years, and it will probably take that long for me to get over it since she is going to take that damn pill. However long it takes for me to forgive her, she will not be happy or enjoy the touch of another man while I wait for my resentment to fade—she won’t be making any more babies with anybody else.

Raw drives down the dirt lane until the GPS system advises him to take a right on the main road that will intercept with Pasadena Avenue four miles away, where Lea, Chang, and their crew wait like sitting ducks.

“Raw, don’t drive down Chang’s road. Back in at the top of it then park so no one can come in or get out, and we will walk down the dirt road, sticking to the edge of the woods. When we spot the front door of the warehouse, you will circle around and come up from the back while I take out the front men. When I stop shooting, you pull a kick door then I’ll do the front. Whoever’s inside won’t know who to shoot at first. Whoever sees Chang first takes him out since he is probably the best shooter. Ajoni, I don’t have to tell you to stay in the car no matter what you hear inside that warehouse, do I?”

“Whatever,” she grumbles. “Just don’t die before Anjuwan meets you.”

I glimpse back at her. “I won’t. You can count on that.”

I wish that she would count on me, and then I realize that is mostly my problem—she does not believe enough in me to keep her safe and protect her.

I turn around in my seat.

“It’s not whatever, Ajoni. I want you to trust that I’ll do what I say I’ll do for you.”

“Well, I don’t, King. You never game me a reason to, just orders, like you’re doing now.”

I am never going to get this woman’s respect.

I shift back to a facing-forward position. “Fine, don’t trust me, Ajoni. Just take the damn order and stay in the car. If shit goes sideways, leave us there.”

“Yessuh, boss, gladly,” she snaps.

“King,” Raw starts, “You could ask her for what you need from her.”

“Asking gives her the option to say no and get hurt. I’m not letting Anjuwan lose her mother.” Asking gives her option to reject me.

“I think Ajoni knows what is best for her.”

“Thank you, Raw,” she grumbles again.

“I know what’s best for her too,” I snap before revealing the rest of the plan.

No one objects or weighs in on the details like I expected them to do, making me have to remind them of who is in charge. Raw seems subdued instead of hyped as he would have been about laying some bodies down before we got locked down. Ajoni seems to not be paying me any attention at all. I wonder if either will want anything to do with me after the night is over. I do not want to lose them, and realize maybe I should learn how to bend without breaking. I want Ajoni to take part in our life together, just not make all of the decisions that leave my ass drowning.

I guess I should start as I mean to go on. “Does anyone have anything to add, or complain about the plan?”

No one says anything.

“Fine, the plan is set in stone then.”

“It was anyway,” Ajoni mumbles under her breath. “Just like you.”

I do not argue with her because she is right—I am still a taker and expect people to follow me without complaint. The silence in the car becomes too damn loud and unbearable. Suddenly, I hate that Raw and Ajoni are too damn quiet, but at least she will do as I say, then the GPS system notifies Raw that Pasadena Avenue is only a mile away.

I begin to welcome the quiet that lets me clear my mind of all the things bothering me, and focus only on surviving the night.

When the headlights glint off a street sign for the road to Chang’s tin can, Raw drives slowly past it before turning off the headlights, making it seems as if we will not stop, then he stops and reverses before parking in the middle of the dirt road exactly as I told him to. He automatically reaches up and turns off the dome light so when we open the doors, it does not come on and give us away.

I look back at Ajoni, who does not move or make a sound. I hate that her feisty ass will not be making me physically restrain her to keep her in the car. Right now, I will take any reason to be near her and touch her, without having to risk her rejecting me. She is not going to give me that reason though, and I will be damned if I do not miss the buck in her system.

This is probably the same buck that helps her raise Anjuwan every day. If our little girl looks exactly like me, she probably acts exactly like me too, and Ajoni will need all of the buck she can get. So why is she giving in so easily and taking the morning-after pill this time, and why I am asking her to obey me when it’s obvious that I love when she does not? Convincing her to come around to my way of thinking is where all the fun is.

Damn! I am letting Ajoni twist my mind again.

I turn around in my seat so that will stop, inhale deeply, and slip into killer mode.

This is the wrong time to be discovering what you love about Ajoni, King. You have some motherfuckers that need to be taught what happens when someone fucks with what is yours.

Raw looks over me. I nod, signaling for him to get out of the car before I do the same. We shut the doors back quietly, then pull our guns and move to the right side of the road into the shadows, avoiding stepping on sticks and man-made materials that will make a noise, giving us away.

My nerves tighten up in every area of my body until I feel like I am walking on a tightrope. Raw’s wisecracks usually help to lessen them in situations like this, until I have to tell him to shut up. I do not have to tell him to this time, and get a little closer to thinking that I will lose two of the most important people in my life when this is over in about three hours—the usual time it takes to kill a bunch of people and get rid of the bodies.

I will not let that happen.

“Shhh, King, damn,” Raw hisses just as the lane widens under several cars, including the Escalade, parked in front of the opened door of the warehouse with a flood of light pouring out of it.

Raw and I both stop in our tracks.

“Sorry,” I murmur, unsurprised that I had been thinking out loud around him.

He walks up to me—close enough that I can smell the shampoo in his hair. “What did you say?”

I nudge him back in the direction that he came from with my forearm. “I said sorry. Now move, man. You too damn close.”

His eyes widens in shock, before he steps back. I do not often apologize, so I am not surprised about his reaction either, then left my pointer finger, and make a circular motion in the air. He nods and disappears into the woods. I stand in the pitch black, giving him time to get to his position while watching three soldiers with their guns down by their sides chopping it up in the opened doorway instead of patrolling. I shake my head— the crew slacking off is how most bosses lose their lives.

I take aim with my right hand at the man standing in the center of the doorway, and pat the left pocket of my leather coat, making sure the extra clips are still in it. I do not expect to need them since I do not shoot in rapid succession, hoping to hit something. I count to fifty, giving Raw time to cover the few yards to the back door before I pull the trigger for the first time, but not the last, tonight.