“Make a statement,” R.J. said.
“Send a message,” Doc said.
After he went over the details that they needed to know about the spot, he sent The Four Kings off to do their work.
On the way there, they reviewed the job. According to Carter, there were only two exits, one in front and one in the rear. There were four men that ran the spot. One at the front door, another near the back of the spot, while the other two were in an office near the bar.
“Me and Pills will go in the front, Judah, you and Marvin take the back,” R.J. ordered.
“When we get inside, I’ll take the one at the door, Marvin, dude at the back is yours. While Pills clears the room, me, Marvin and Judah will move to the office.”
Once assignments were issued and accepted, they talked about how they were going to do it. And then the Suburban got quiet as each man thought about what they were going to do that night.
“Y’all realize that we’re all gonna make our bones tonight. Together, the way it should be,” R.J. said, and Marvin decided that he wasn’t going to contradict him.
He had never told them that he already made his bones one night in the office at The Four Kings with his father. This life requires commitment … commitment to this family, Nick told him the night Marvin killed Stacks.
“I thought Judah and Marv already made their bones?” Pills asked.
“No,” Judah said. “Mutha fuckas was shooting at me and Marv and in the process of defending ourselves, we killed several people.”
“This is different,” R.J. began. “The Captain of our crew just came from a meeting with the boss of this family and the other Captains. When he came back, he ordered us to kill on behalf of The Family. So we make our bones together.”
“Four Kings for life,” Pills said as he drove.
“For life,” his brothers said.
And then, once again, the Suburban returned to silence, until Marvin began telling R.J. about what happened with Sterling at the club. “What happened?” R.J. asked.
“Monique said his boys was rollin’ in the spot, so I reminded him that it was against house rules,” Marvin said.
“How’d he take that?” R.J. asked.
“Not well,” Pills said.
“Words were exchanged, guns were drawn, Sterling left,” Marvin told him. “And in case you’re wondering, Venus wasn’t with him.”
“I know.”
“We thought he came back and was gonna pull a drive-by,” Judah said, and explained what happened. “But with all that’s going on, now I’m thinking that it could have been Coleman that came at us.”
“Fuck all that, R.J.,” Marvin said. “Fuck you mean, you know?” Marvin asked. But he already knew the answer.
“I mean, I know Venus wasn’t there that night.”
“No you didn’t?”
“Yeah, Money, I did.”
As it does with most things, it started out simple.
R.J. saw Venus when she’d come to the club with Sterling and he would admire her beauty every time. And Venus was a beautiful woman that stood five feet, eight inches tall and to R.J., she had a perfect asymmetric body. But despite his admiration, he kept his distance, until one night at the club while Sterling was in the gambling room, a man was bothering Venus and R.J. came to her rescue.
It was nothing really, R.J. and Pills stepped up, grabbed and escorted the man out of the club. When they came back inside the club and he saw Venus, she smiled and nodded her head in appreciation.
After that, any time they’d see each other, they’d smile and nod to acknowledge the other’s presence. That went on for a few weeks and then it began.
One night, R.J. was standing at the bar with Marvin and Judah, when Marvin saw her walking through the club.