Page 133 of Just Listen
He leaned in to speak directly in my ear. “We’ve been having a few cars that are with us at all times,” he let me know for the first fucking time. “It’s been like that since we came back from ya pop’s island. And just now, they called me from outside to let me know that a van was parked behind my truck, blocking us in. And once they figured out who and what it was, they handled it.”
My jaw dropped, as I was rendered fucking speechless.
~~~Chapter 31~~~
Being shaken was an understatement. The thought of some people actually sitting outside of my sister’s shop to hurt me was completely unnerving. Then to know that Malice had people tailing us, and I was none the wiser, showed me just how delusional I’d been.
I had to learn in real-time just how different my man was. Not only did he have shooters on deck, but two of them were off-duty fucking police officers. Undoubtedly, they had to be dirty to work side by side with the likes of Malice, but it was shocking to know that he even had that type of pull. So, when the police arrived on the scene, and there were four dead bodies on the pavement, nothing went as I’d expected.
With that van still parked, blocking Malice’s truck in, I knew for sure that he’d be questioned thoroughly. Instead, it was regarded as a botched attempted robbery that the off-duty officers were praised for intercepting. The guys parking behind Malice’s truck was considered just as coincidence, as it was assumed that the guys were armed and masked up to rob either my sister’s salon or another one of the surrounding businesses in the shopping strip. We knew better, though.
Needless to say, my parents were there on the scene in a flash. My daddy wanted to know what the fuck was going on, and I knew then that I couldn’t keep everything to myself, anymore.
Then with Malice’s truck being blocked in at an active crime scene, we ended up riding with Riah and Sin J to my parents’house. As we were exiting my sister’s Rolls-Royce, I grabbed Malice’s hand and we locked eyes.
“Tell them the truth,” he told me, letting me know that I didn’t have to lie to appease him.
“So, none of y’all recognized the faces of those niggas laying out on that ground?” My daddy interrogated me, Riah, Malice, and Sin J, once we were all seated in the family room.
Riah and Sin J both shook their heads.
“I never seen none of them a day in my life,” Sin J spoke up.
My daddy’s eyes then traveled to me. “What about you, Jaylah? You recognized any of them niggas?”
I shook my head.
“What about you, Malice?”
Turning to look at him, I saw Malice casually lick his lips. “Yeah, I recognized two of the faces.”
Riah dramatically gasped.
Sitting on the arm of the recliner my mama was sitting in, my daddy’s nostrils flared. “Do you know why they’d be out there for you and my fucking daughter?”
Malice sighed. “Yeah. The shortest version of it is that it’s because of my ex.”
“Your ex?” My mama frowned.
“Yeah. My ex Paisley. Her daddy is retired from the game, and when she started with her pull-up shenanigans, he decided to uphold her, instead of telling her to do what’s right. Her daddy pulled up to Jaylah’s house, before we moved, trying to check us.But things didn’t go in his favor. I pistol whipped his shooter, and Jaylah drew down on him.”
Riah’s eyes bucked. “Jaylah did what?!”
My mama cut her eyes at my sister. “Riah, calm down, before I have to send your dramatic ass to the next room. Me, Jhyrah, and Jaylah regularly go to the shooting range, so I’m confident that Jaylah knows how to useallher guns. You’re the one too scary to come with us. So, your sister knowing how to protect herself shouldn’t come as a surprise.”
“So, that’s all that happened?” My daddy probed.
“Nah.” Malice shook his head. “Right after we came back from your island, her daddy sent somebody to rob…some houses of mine.”
My daddy hooded his eyes. “Her daddy’s name is Drop, right?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
My daddy gradually nodded. “So, the nigga just been coming at you left and right, and you just been running, and letting him?”
“Nah. Never that,” Malice responded calmly, making me realize that he rarely lost his cool in high stake situations. “But I need you to know that there’s only but so much that I’ma discuss in a room full of people.”
My daddy nodded, before his eyes traveled to Sin J. “Hey, man, let us holler at them alone.”
