AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The fuck?” That information was surprising. Tucci prided himself on being a faithful husband and hating black people. He was notorious for using the N-word and had used his power to stop minority businesses and black people from buying homes in his neighborhood.
“Exactly.” Lafayette chuckled. “At least he’ll get some good pussy before he dies.”
Chapter Four
Aweek later, Tucci’sclassic black Mercedes gleamed brightly in the driveway, partially hidden by overgrown shrubbery. A lookout kid with wild twists stood nearby. I watched from down the street in the next block as Lafayette approached the kid. They dapped in recognition, Lafayette placed a hundred bill in his hand, and the boy walked away. Lafayette donned his hood on his head to protect his identity, stood in the boy’s place, and beckoned me with the slightest nod. We’d caught the streetcar and walked the rest of the few blocks. During this time of the day, quiet roamed this lower-middle-income neighborhood. Most residents were at work or in school. With my head covered in a black baseball cap and shoulders hunched, I walked up the next street and entered the yard of Candy’s neighbor from the back. I then climbed a fence into Candy’s neatly kept backyard. Luckily, her bedroom window didn’t face the backyard, and I kept low to the ground in case Tucci happened to be in her kitchen that did look out onto the lawn. He would be shot the minute he walked out of her side door on his way to his car. I didn’t want or plan to kill his mistress but would if she saw me.
Lafayette and I made eye contact when I approached and hid across the side door. He would shoot if I missed or if I couldn’t do it since he seemed more ready than me to be a killer. Ready for a different path. I kept my hand around the gun barrel in my jacket pocket.
A few minutes later, I heard laughter and his bellowing, deep voice, a voice that I recalled hearing right before bullets hit my father’s torso and head. My body tingled in anticipation. Instead of fear and trepidation, a fiery boldness coursed through my veins. A high, an adrenaline rush I’d never expected, readied me more than any words from Mamma or Lafayette at the sight of his round, pale face who’d opened the door alone. I lifted my weapon right as the sunlight hit the silver of my barrel that pointed at his chest. Tucci’s lips curled down in that split second, and he quickly reached for his gun from his waistband and fired at the exact moment the bullet shot out of my weapon with the slightest touch of my hand.
I almost jerked back from the sheer force of my gun firing. Almost. My hand remained steady, and I watched Tucci fall to his knees, eyes wide open in forever stunned silence. Once he fell flat on his face, I stood over him and emptied the bullets into him the way he’d slaughtered my father, simply because my father dared to be a man. A light rain drizzled over me as I carefully picked up his hand, holding the gun, and shot it directly behind me. I made sure the bullet hit the carport wall. Only then did I notice Lafayette against Tucci’s car, the front of his shirt stained with blood. He must have taken the bullet meant for me.
“No,” I yelled, uncaring about Mamma’s advice to hide my emotion. I kneeled in front of him. “Laffy?”
He gave me a weak smile, his breathing shallow. “Give me the gun, and the cops will think I shot him.”
“I can’t let you take the rap. Cops won’t believe anything you say. They’ll make it a race thing...accuse you of being a criminal and make him the victim.”
He calmly said, “I don’t think I’m going to make it. I don’t mind going out a hero. My people hated Tucci.”
I tried to pull him up, and Lafayette resisted with his last strength. “G, you already been here too long...someone may have heard the gunshots. Candy never came out of the house. I doubt she called the police, but she probably called someone scared for her life.”
“I can’t leave you here.”
“We already talked about this. A fallen soldier is no longer of use.” He winced in pain and closed his eyes. “Give me the gun and go, Gianni.”
With a trembling hand, I gave him my life. He placed the weapon by his side, and his head dropped, and his body went limp. I wanted to scream, yell, and curse a God that would be so unfair to take away two people I loved in less than two months. I looked at my best friend, my brother, and then at Tucci, fucking glad I killed the motherfucker who’d taken their lives. If I could pump more lead in him, I would in a heartbeat. I’d become a killer, and I had no remorse. I’d avenged my father’s death. I had taken back the power for my family, and with blood on my hands, I’d officially become a DeLuca. And Tucci would not be my last kill.
Wanting somehow to stay connected to my best friend, I grabbed a stick near Lafayette’s feet and crudely carved “BFL” on my wrist. I expected a stinging pain, but all I felt was numbness. When I used the end of my shirt to wipe my face from the rain, my shirt revealed that the sprinkles I felt on my face were Tucci’s blood. I pushed myself up and walked back to his body. I spat on his blood-soaked back. “Now, you can’t hurt anyone anymore. You fucking son of a bitch.”
With every step away from my best friend, I forever tucked my emotions deep within my soul. I vowed to be the quintessential soldier who would rise to the top...who Lafayette aspired to be. He would not die in vain.
