Rozalyn (Includes Tamar Preview) Read online

  One of the bandits spoke up and responded, "We need to come to a solution. Ever since this nigga got out he been scaring my soldiers off and putting his boys on. We gotta eat too."

  "You already know what you gotta do to eat. I don't make the rules," the braided muscle bound dude said with the meanest mug on his face.

  Most of the dudes around here mostly fought over drugs, territory and girls. Obviously, this was over drugs and territory. I ain't never seen this many guns in one place in my life. Money was the root of all evil and damn near thirty percent of all evil was standing here face to face.

  "Well, who make the rules then?" the second bandit asked with his gun still pointed towards Tae's head.

  "I do bitch, and you'll be lucky if you and your crew see another dollar in this city nigga," Tamar spoke up and answered his question. Damn, who was this Tae? I ain't never seen or heard of him, but he obviously was a big deal. He wasn't backing down no matter how many armed weapons were pointed at him.

  "Ray-Ray!" The muscle braided dude stepped in between Tae and the bandit Ray-Ray trying to bring some peace, but it was inevitable.

  "That's how it's gone be blood?" Ray-Ray was angry and wasn't trying to hear anything the muscle braided head dude had to say. The more and more Tae spoke; the more pissed Ray-Ray became.

  "I ain't your muthafuckin' blood homey. Nigga you and your boys should have killed me when you first pulled up. I ain't a negotiator. If it was the other way around, you pussies would have been dead by now," Tae said and cocked the AK-47. Instantly, you could hear fifteen to twenty other guns cock in unison.

  Where were the police when you needed them? Not one officer was in sight. I finally got the courage to back further away from the scene to hide behind a car. I figured if bullets started firing at least I would be covered.

  "Tamar calm that shit down! Put your gun down! Ray-Ray, get that muthafuckin' gun out my bruh face." The muscular dude, I now know to be Tae's brother was really trying hard to settle the beef.

  "Tell him drop his shit first!" Ray-Ray shot back. Ray-Ray had heart. Him and his boys were outnumbered, but he wasn't about to back down.

  "Ray-Ray drop the fucking gun my nigga before I have one of my soldiers put one in the back your head! Now I'll holla at Tae, and we'll come up with some kind of solution that'll make everybody happy. Now get the fucking gun out my bruh face!" Tae’s brother roared.

  Ray-Ray stepped back and then lowered his weapon, but Tae didn't.

  He still had his gun cocked with his finger on the trigger. I couldn't believe what I was seeing right now. The war in Iraq was no one's concern considering there was a war going on right here in my neighborhood.

  Finally, Tae lowered the AK he was holding and took one step back. Ray-Ray picked his homeboy up from the pavement, and they returned to the Nissan and sped off.

  "What the fuck is wrong with you bucking up to them niggas like you crazy?" Tae's brother was now in his face. I could tell which one was the youngest and who was the oldest. Even though they stood at the same height, it was obvious that Tae's brother was the protector.

  "I'm in these streets 24/7 all by my damn self! Don't act like you saved me my nigga," Tamar yelled as he walked away.

  I didn't know what that was all about, but I felt like Tamar should have been praising his brother and the rest of those guys for coming to his rescue. I watched as Tae ran across the street and jumped in a black Yukon with twenty-six inch rims on it.

  Glad to know he doesn't have his priorities mixed up after all.

  2: Tamar

  I ain't been out of jail a good week, and niggas already trying to kill me. One thing I know for sure is that I ain't scared of death. Hell we all gotta go some day and if today had been that day then so be it.

  Fresh out the pen, I came home to put in work. Niggas been slipping the whole time I been gone and too many soldiers were going to the bosses complaining about not eating and not being able to make ends meet. From behind four walls, I was making all type of deals, so the bosses saw fit for me to take over the streets when I was released.

  A lot of cats ain't too happy with an eighteen year old running and controlling things, but it is what it is. Even my own family hates me right now; I thought to myself. They supposed to be the ones that have my back, but them muthafuckas wanna see me fail just like the rest of these cats.

  I drove around looking for ol' girl; Andre's girl. Something about her caught me off guard and made my heart beat a little faster. That ain't never happened to me since the first time I had sex at eleven years old. She was fine as hell, had to be no taller than five feet, one-hundred fifteen pounds with a nice booty.

  My cousin ain't want her, so I had no problem taking her off his hands. What was another man's trash is another man's treasure. I had no problem doing something with that for the rest of time being.

  I drove about six blocks before I found her walking down the street full speed with her purse swinging and backpack bouncing up and down on her back. I pulled on the side of her blowing like crazy, but she was still full blast ahead not taking a look back.

  "Hey!" I yelled after jumping out the truck. I rushed to catch up to her. "Slow down, damn. I have been looking all over for you," I said as I grabbed her by her arm trying to keep her from running.

  She turned and looked at me with tears falling from her Chinese cut eyes. Damn she is beautiful. What the fuck was my cousin thinking letting something like this get away; I thought.

  As bad as I wanted to get her in the backseat of my truck and bang her guts out, something about her made me wanna know more. My mind had me feeling all mushy inside, and I ain't never cared to know about a female. Ordinarily, all a chick could do for me was give me brain until I bust one and then get the hell out of my face.

  I ain't got no love for these hoes. Most of these broads saw dollar signs when they looked at me; always trying to plant a baby on me and shit like that. Bitches never really saw me for me. Always talking about they love me. What is love? The type of shit I done been through with these hoes; the shit I done seen my niggas go through with these hoes, made me really think that no one knew what love was.

  "Are you following me? Let my arm go," she said wiping the tears from her eyes.

  "Told you I was looking for you. I had to make sure you were alright."

  "You could have gotten both of us killed. Are you crazy? Did you know they was gonna do that shit? That's why you came to that bus stop, huh?"

  Damn, she talked just like one of those Brooklyn chicks, and I could tell she wasn't from down South. Just looking at her gave me chill bumps; her skin was so pretty and smooth. Natural beauty is what she had. I kind of felt bad 'cause she shouldn't have had to see what she saw a little while ago. Thought about apologizing, but the look on her face told me she wasn't trying to hear all that.

  "Man I ain't know that was gonna happen. I would've never come near you if I had known some shit like that was gonna pop off. I came to that bus stop to talk you. I wanna get to know you and take you out or something." I just threw it out there; there was no need to sugarcoat it or beat around the bush.

  I saw them niggas in that black Nissan cruising about a block away. They weren’t crazy enough to run upon me again. I had each, and every last one of them fools faces stored in my head. As soon as I got around to it; they were dead. See they made a mistake about putting a gun to my face and not using it. I can be a niggas worst nightmare come true if they made it their business to get in my way.

  "After what I witnessed, you wanna take me out? And besides you know I used to be with your cousin. I ain't a toss-up."

  "I never said you were a toss-up. Look, where you on your way to? Let me drop you off." Her eyes got to rolling; then she turned to walk away. Before she got too far, I grabbed her by her arm again to secure her in my presence. I was not about to let her get away without getting her number. "Let me just take you where you need to go. At least let me do that much."

  She finally agreed
to let me take her to her destination. We both hopped in my truck and once again I could see those niggas rolling the block real hard. I would really hate for her to get caught up in another one of my mishaps, so dropping her off as quickly as possible was the best thing.

  She told me she was sixteen years old, and my skin began to crawl. Damn, I know I was only eighteen, but I liked older women; women with a little—no, a lot of experience in the bedroom. I know a sixteen year old couldn't please me the way I wanted to be, but for some reason I still wanted to know more about her.

  Just like I had thought, she was from New York. She said she had only been down here in Atlanta for a few months. She told me her name was Roz. I had tried my best to remember that from yesterday, but all I could remember was her pretty face.

  During the ride, it took a lot for her to feel comfortable with me, but she finally let loose and let me in. I could see a lot of stuff had been bothering her. From what I could tell she had a fucked up relationship with her daddy and her mama.

  That was something we had in common because my relationship with my daddy was on bad terms too and I barely speak to my mama. Rozalyn spoke with a lot of pain in her voice, and it was clear that something laid heavily on her mind.

  Hesitantly, she gave me her phone number, but advised me not to tell my cus Andre. I agreed, but truth be told all I could think was fuck that nigga and in due time I'm a make sure he knew all about it.

  I dropped her off at school and then headed back to the block. I stayed getting up early, and hardly every slept. That was the only way I knew to get money. I never let my body get tired 'cause that's how mistakes happened and how you got caught slipping. I strived to get at least two to three hours of sleep, but sometimes it was impossible to even do that.

  I was too money hungry and the only way to feed my soul was to get out here and eat. Eat whatever competition that came my way. My strategy was to shut down block to block, and put my soldiers up, only posting up what I knew to be real thoroughbred cats.

  I didn't have time for no whiny ass, cry baby ass niggas either. I needed niggas that I knew was gonna get out there and make shit happen from day to day; niggas that was going to stand tall and shut down anybody that tried to cheat, steal, or rob them. I wasn't into putting people out of work, but if you were incapable of doing your job; then I could find somebody that could.

  ***

  Hours later, I found myself sitting outside of Ray-Ray's baby mama’s house. I had to have been here for over six hours waiting on that nigga to come out. Didn’t no bitch need that much chill time. I would have run up in the house and got this shit done hours ago, but I could see the reflection of little kids through the curtains on the front windows.

  Niggas could say I was grimy all day long, but I know what it's like to see death and it can fuck ya' head up, for real. Plus the kids ain't have nothing to do with how disrespectful they daddy was. Yea I took over their block, but so what. Hell, they wasn't making any money, so they didn't deserve to be there.

  I had already taken care of that coward ass nigga Antwan that had the balls to put that damn A-K in my face. He was a pussy that didn't deserve to live. Soon as I approached him coming out of a convenient store a few blocks from his crib, he turned the other way and took off running.

  He wasn't too brave when he didn't have his homies with him. I chased him for about two blocks, and then said fuck it and just put two holes in the back of his head. I wasn't the type to kill someone from behind. I liked to be eye to eye so they could look at me as I snatched their souls from their bodies.

  I didn't have time to chase him though, so I had to take the opportunity then. We had gone too far down the block and any further, it would’ve been full of people, and I didn't wanna take the chance of being seen.

  I didn't have any remorse for what I had done. I hated when people say you don't have a heart if you don't feel remorseful about some of the things you have done that are wrong. I had a heart, but I didn't have love for these niggas. They should have taken care of me when they had the chance, and they could have lived on to see another day.

  They were phony! Neither one of them had the heart to take me out, but I had enough heart for all of them. I was gone show them that what they had heard about me was all too true.

  Ray-Ray didn't come out until four-thirty that morning, and had he waited another hour or so, the sun would have been up. Good thing he came out when he did cause I wasn't trying to stake out the place another day. I wanted his ass now. I didn't want him to breathe another minute of the air we shared.

  Soon as he made it to his car, I hurried and hopped out of mine and ran to his driver's side door. Within in seconds, I had the gun planted against his jaw, "What's up Ray-Ray?"

  Even masked, I could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew exactly who I was. I decided not to shoot him right away 'cause I wanted to hear his sorry ass beg for his life.

  "Come on Tae, don't do this man! I know it's you bruh! Don't do this man! I got my shorties to live for bruh! Come on dog!" He begged and whined like the little bitch that he was. I didn't have any sympathy for him or his shorties. His shorties needed to thank me for saving them from this chicken ass muthafucka'.

  Inwardly, I laughed at that fool. He had the nerve to beg for his damn life and cry to me about his damn babies. He was the one I actually I had the most respect for, being that he spoke up for his team, but hell he quickly lost my respect when he started crying.

  POW! POW! POW!

  Three shots to the jaw. I saw one bullet escape through his neck and the seat of his car. I had covered my gun with a bag to catch my casings, but it really didn't matter though. I planned on dropping the weapon in the car of one of the other two niggas they was with anyway. I would have the police thinking that they turned on each other.

  I took his wallet from his pocket and snatched the stereo out his car. I didn't want anyone to even think about me when they saw him dead in these streets. I had no use for his stereo or the lil’ two-hundred dollars he had.

  Suddenly, I heard the screams of the baby-mama and the kids getting closer, so I knew it was time for me to get away from the scene before the police were called.

  I walked away with my head up, still no remorse or regrets for what I did. I actually felt proud and felt like the streets would be a better place without them.

  ***

  Later that morning, Rozalyn, didn't head for school until about seven-fifteen, and I was right there waiting for her. I took her to the Waffle House a few blocks from the projects so she could have something to eat besides those Mexican burritos.

  She looked really pretty this morning. Her long black hair was curly, liked she'd just washed it. I stared at her the whole meal and watched her eat. Sad to say, she ate like she was starving; like her last meal was yesterday morning when she had them burritos. I hated to ask her, but I kind of cared to know, "When the last time you ate?"

  "Yesterday morning. I kind of been too upset to eat," she told me.

  I knew she was lying about that. Something told me she didn't have anything to eat at home. That's how a lot of folks were in them projects; starving, and living day to day not knowing when they were going to see their next meal. I was thankful that my daddy never let me and my brothers go hungry. He was a hustler and made sure we had a hot meal at least three times a day.

  "What made you come to Atlanta, all the way from New York?"

  I was trying to find out more about her. She was so quiet, and I could already see that she wasn't nothing like these ghetto ass girls around here. You had to watch out for the quiet ones though. They were usually sneaky and conniving.

  "I ain't have a choice. Trust me I wish I could have stayed in New York with my mama."

  That was all she said. I knew it was more to it than that. I wanted to know why her and my cousin broke up. I wanted to know so I could make sure whatever he did that I didn't do. I hate my fucking cousin; I thought to myself. Even though he was blood, I could ca
re less about that nigga. Fuck those who didn't understand that.

  "What happened between you and Andre?" I hated to be the one asking all the questions, but I got tired of sitting at a quiet table. It made me sleepy, and it was nowhere near my bedtime.

  "He couldn't help the fact that I'm a virgin. I wasn't ready to make that commitment with him. Hell, he was sleeping with my neighbor, and my worst enemy anyway. I should have broken it off with him. I know he told you anyway, so don't be trying to act like you ain't know."

  "I didn't know. I don't talk to Andre like that. I was just wondering how he could let something as pretty as you go. That's good you a virgin. It makes you that much better than the rest of these hoes out here."

  Damn, why the hell she had to be a virgin? That just messed up my whole plan. I was hoping to bed her by tonight and take naked pictures of her sucking my dick, so I can send it to Andre.

  "Yea, that's real good. I don't know how you do it. The first thing I did when I got home from jail was get me some pussy."

  She laughed, "Can't miss something you never had. I have never had sex before, so it really doesn't bother me that much. It hurts that a lot of my relationships are affected by it, but it is what it is. One day I'll find somebody who will stick by my side and wait 'till I'm ready."

  "What you trying to wait on marriage until you make that decision?"

  I had to know 'cause if so I was gonna drop her off at school and never look back. I wasn't no marriage type of guy, so there wasn't any point of sticking around for something I knew I wasn't going to get. This was exactly why I chose to talk to older chicks, so I didn't run into these kinds of problems.

  "No, not necessarily. I just want somebody to appreciate me and love me as much as I love them. Just don't wanna give up my goods to somebody who didn't appreciate it, if that makes sense."

  "Yea I feel you on that. I hope my little sister be the same way. I would hate to have to bust a nigga in his ass for fucking with her. You doing the right thing."