Page 41 of Mia

He glared at me. I was never a disrespectful nigga to him under any other circumstance, but he was pissing me off. I just wanted to get this shit over with and go on about my business.

“Fine. Since you’re so eager to get your punishment, I’ll let them have at it.”

He snapped his fingers, and three niggas stepped forward surrounding me. I looked at my mama, who stood there with tears in her eyes. I knew she wanted to jump in, but she couldn’t. Back in the day, if a nigga fucked with me, my mama was handling his while I worked over her son. It was cool. She didn’t have to step today. Wasn’t no nigga gonna beat my ass in front of my mama.

These niggas knew how I gave it up, so if they wanted to jump, I was gonna give them a run for their money. It didn’t matter if it was one, two, three, or ten of them. I was ready.

I cracked my neck as I stared at them. “Let’s do this shit.”

The first nigga swung, and I clocked him in the jaw with a right hook, sending him stumbling backward. The second one grabbed me, and I gave him a headbutt before flipping him over onto the concrete floor and kicking him in the face. The first one had regained his balance, so he charged me. I caught him mid-air and choke slammed him to the ground.

Dude number three tried to sneak me, but here was the thing my mama taught me about fighting: you had to keep your eyes on your opponent and your ears open too. I heard him when he snuck up behind me. Putting every ounce of force behind it, I elbowed him in the face so hard that I heard the bone in his nose break. He cried out in pain as he held his shit.

His hesitation gave me just enough time to hit him with a two piece and an uppercut that brought him to his knees. I wasted no time hitting him with a roundhouse kick to the face that laid his ass out with his friends, who were groaning on the ground.

Thaddeus snapped his fingers, and this time five additional niggas stepped forward. I cracked my neck again, prepared to line them up as well. I was sure the plan was to tire me out, but I worked out five days a week to build my stamina and endurance, unlike most of the people here.

Two of the niggas charged me, I guess to try that double-team action. I grabbed the one closest to me up in a chokehold while kicking the other one in the stomach, sending him stumbling back. Another one pulled a bitch ass move and grabbed my locs. I elbowed him in the gut. Deciding I needed both of my hands, I snapped the neck of the nigga I had in a headlock and let his body slump to the floor. I turned on the one who grabbed my hair and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back.

“Bitch ass muthafucka. Real niggas don’t pull hair.”

I snapped three of his fingers before snapping his arm.

As I let him go, the last two men ran up on me. One managed to hit me in the face, making my lip bleed. I shrugged that shit off and lit into both of them, alternating between the two with jabs to the face and body, all while blocking the rest of their licks. By the time I was done with them, they were bleeding and knotted up just like the rest of them.

Thaddeus hadn’t called for anybody else, so I turned to him, my chest heaving. My mother wore a look of pride on her face.

“You done?” I asked, looking around.

Thaddeus smirked. “Vinchi.”

Vinchi looked up, surprised to hear his name called. “Sir.”

“Tap in.”

“Nah, I can’t do that.”

Thaddeus frowned. “Excuse me?”

“I’m second in command for a reason. I got too much respect for this man to put my hands on him. With all due respect, this ain’t my issue. I’m not about to fight this man, and neither is anybody else on this team.”

“You wanna be next?”

“If that’s what you gotta do, that’s what you gotta do. I stay ready.”

“That’s enough, Thaddeus,” my mother said, glaring at him. “He’s fought eight people. You made your point.”

“It’s not enough!”

“It’s over, Daddy,” Maddie said.

His head snapped in her direction. “He is partially responsible for my granddaughter being shot and losing their child.”

“And Mia wears the other part of the blame. What, you gonna have her come in here and fight too? This was more than enough. She knew she was pregnant, just like he did. She made the decision to keep it a secret and take her ass over there. That part is not on Titan, and you are not about to have these muthafuckas keep beating on my son-in-law because you’re mad.”

I chuckled. “Ain’t nobody beat on me, Ma.”

“Shut up, Titan.” She turned back to her father. “This is done.”