Page 41 of Kobalt

“So, what’s up with your girl? Is she suspecting y’all?” Revere asked.

I sighed. “I think she was on the fence until she heard that her brother was hanging out with us. When she heard about EJ being here, her suspicions rose, and I tried to dispel them, but I won’t lie to her.”

“If she figured it out, do you think the others did too?” EJ asked.

“Others like who?” Nate asked.

“Niagara. Passion. Sky. She’s with them, and they all know what happened. They could have figured it out if she said something, but no one can prove anything. Besides, I doubt she’d say anything to any of them,” I answered.

“Can’t prove shit without a body,” Royal pronounced before he sipped his whiskey.

Everyone sat around the table now, and Nate pulled out dominoes.

We all got into the game as we talked about the events that conspired earlier in the evening. We had been planning for a few days to pull Jaziel’s punk ass off the streets. That job was left to EJ, and he and a couple of his boys had done the job.

Once Jaziel was delivered to us in the hearse, EJ beat the shit out of that boy and then asked if I wanted to do the same. I wasn’t about playing games. The only reason I’d taken the time to beat Jax was because he had a gun, and I didn’t. Once I delivered that first kick to his head, it was like I was in the ring again, and I couldn’t stop the blows from my fists.

In Jaziel’s instance, I didn’t have to go in fighting first to protect myself. He was defenseless. I thought back to those events.

“Why’d you do it, nigga? Why’d you sell your own cousin out like that?” I asked.

He sneered through this swollen face and busted lip. “She ain’t blood to me. Fuck family, ’cause family don’t fuck with me like that. I’m on the street, hustling. Think she ever hired me to work for her li’l company? Ain’t never gave me a bag to come up.”

“Nigga, she didn’t owe you that. You should’ve worked your ass off to get what you needed the same way she did. You had the same opportunities she had. Hell, your daddy made a helluva lot more money than her dad did. You chose not to make shit of your life,” I countered.

“Nigga, fuck you. Pussy must be good. Got me⁠—”

I pulled the trigger and then handed the gun to Royal, who had given it to me. It couldn’t be traced, and I asked him no questions about it. Royal looked at Frost and then nodded.

“A’ight, my guy. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you. Make sure you take care of that pretty little lady,” Frost stated, dapping me up.

“’Preciate you, man. Let me know how I can repay you,” I stated.

“Give that woman plenty of babies and make her happy. That’s it.” He grimaced. Men like Frost didn’t really smile, so you took what you could get.

EJ, Royal, and I walked out of the papermill and headed to Charly Mac’s to meet Nate and Revere, who had been waiting for us all evening.

“Glad you two finally figured your shit out,” EJ muttered halfway through the game, pulling me back to the present.

“Who?” I asked, looking up at him.

“You and my sister. Y’all are good for each other.”

“Yeah, well I’m kinda in the doghouse now.”

“Even after the grip you spent on her and her girls’ weekend?” Nate asked.

“Man, I wasn’t until this shit with Jaziel,” I replied.

He shook his head and threw a domino on the table.

“Find a way to straighten your shit out, cat,” Revere stated.

“I will. If I’m in the doghouse with my woman, I’m coming for that ass,” I proclaimed.

Nate smirked. “You gon’ fuck around and lose her.”

“I ain’t playing. It took forever for me to break her defenses down and get her to return to me.”