Page 85 of Weddings on the West: Vol. I Brick & Destiny

“Oh, okay… Well, I hope that gets better for you. Kat, girl, I’ll just wait for you in the car.” I continued backing up until I ran straight into another man who had silently crept in. The scowl on his face let me know right away that I was right for not trusting the situation and should have listened to my instincts.

“Where the fuck you think you goin? Yo’ hoe ass husband killed my fuckin’ brother, bitch!” he spat, looking at me in disgust.

“Sir, I don’t know your brother, but I’m sure we can get Brick over here to verify. Let me—” I tried to reason with him as I slowly pulled my phone out. He smacked it right out of my hands, sending the phone flying across the room. He lunged at me, and I jerked away.

“Don’t touch me!” I snapped.

“Oh, I’ma do more than touch you, bitch!” he boomed as he grabbed my arm so tight I could already feel it starting to bruise

“Get her in the car!” Que demanded. That’s when my panic set in. I knew enough to know that my chances of being found lowered if they were able to take me to a second location. Brick could track my car and my phone’s location, but with my phone being broken somewhere behind the couch, I needed to stay where I was.

“I said don’t fuckin’ touch me!” I said, using all my strength to pull away from him. In my free time, Brick had gotten me into some self-defense classes, boxing lessons, and we had gone to the gun range a few times. I thought he was being dramatic, but clearly it was for good reason. I was able to detach his grip on my arm and block a punch he threw my way. After that I went into offense, hitting him so hard with my fist that I heard the bones in his nose crack and blood immediately started pouring from it.

“Bitch, what the fuck?” he screamed out as his hands went to his face. My face went completely blank when I saw four more grown ass men rushing down the stairs. For the first time, Que had a smile on his face, and I knew I was in trouble. Kat walked up to me with a creepy ass smile of her own, grabbing my chin to force my eyes on her.

“You can’t win, Des. It will hurt less if you don’t fight us.”

“Don’t, please! Whatever it is y’all want! Brick wi—” That was the last thing I remembered before feeling a sharp pain in my head and everything going black.

* * *

The next time I opened my eyes, I was in an empty room. When I tried to move, I quickly realized that my arms and legs were tied to a chair. The ties were pulled so tight that it burned where they cut into my flesh. My head hurt worse, though. I could feel the back of my skull thumping and instantly felt nauseous from the pain. I closed my eyes again, willing it away, only opening them again once it subsided.

“Hello?” I called out. “Is anyone there? Can someone help me, please?” I screamed loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear me, but quickly realized that was in vain as the loud bass of a rap song seemed to rattle the walls of the entire building.

“Fuck,” I mumbled. Then the door opened and Kat, Que, and another group of men came in.

“Well, look who’s awake. How you feelin’, babe?” she asked with a sick smile. I never wanted to hit a bitch in her face more.

“Why?” I asked, eyes locked on her as if she could feel the hate coursing through me.

“Because my man said so,” she said with a simple shrug. I was more than disgusted. This bitch was willing to do harm to me to please a nigga.

“I…” I stopped to cough, throat still raw. “I thought we were friends! I thought you liked me!” I said through tears.

“You know what I do for a living, right?” she teased, stepping closer. “I sell fantasies to niggas who could never have me, Des. You can’t have really thought I fucked with you like that? It’s just part of the job.” She snarled down at me.

“I can fuck with you like that, though,” the nigga in the corner said, grabbing his crotch as he looked me up and down. I shot him a look of disgust so lethal that all he could do was shrink back into the corner and call me a bitch under his breath.

I looked around, silently assessing the group. They weren’t professionals. They looked like a group of friends who all banded together to do some stupid ass shit.

I chuckled and looked off.

“Bitch, what’s funny?” Kat asked.

“You realize who my people are, right?” I asked. “You gotta know that you, and all those niggas with you are as good as dead.” I kept my voice steady even though I was scared out of my mind and really wanted to cry. Regardless, I knew what I said was true. Between Brick, Eden, Kalida, Kilo, and Pistol, anyone who fucked with me was signing their own death certificate…

I just hoped one of them found me before mine needed a signature too.

“Girl, fuck you!” she spat.

“What’s your endgame?” I asked. I overheard Brick telling his brothers that every nigga who touched a dime of the stolen money or product was six feet under, so I had to wonder what these fools wanted.

“Easy,” Que answered. “I want Lady West’s bitch ass to bury one of hers just like we did… I know she probably don’t give a fuck about you, but you’re the perfect bait to lure in one that she does care about.”

My heart dropped to my stomach as I tried to keep my face even.

“It won’t work,” I whispered. “And when it doesn’t, your people will have even more bereavement days to take.”