“I doubt if she gets here before the cops do.”
“She said she was nearby,” Jackie said.
“What; does she live in that van?” Marvin asked.
“She said she gotta stay ready.” Jackie laughed. “We drop a lot of bodies. Besides, reports of shots fired in this neighborhood aren’t gonna bring the police anytime soon. She’ll be there.” She started the car. “We out.”
Marvin watched as the car drove away before he walked back to the club. First, they tried to kill him and now they were trying to burn down the club and if Jackie and Baby Chris hadn’t been there, they would have succeeded. Mobley was coming hard at them over killing Frank and Evander. They were at war over that decision and he had to be ready. That meant he needed to get serious about recruiting muscle like Nick told him.
Although he knew that if they got deep in it and couldn’t handle it, The Family would step in. They were a part of Doc’s crew and Judah was Doc’s son, that was more than enough to crush Mobley.
But this is my shit, Marvin thought.
It all started with DeMarco. That’s why they were there when Evander got there. He was the one who went to RJ and insisted that they had to get Evander and Frank before they came at them. He was the one who put a bullet in Mobley’s brother’s head. No, this was his shit and he had to be the one to handle it.
By the time he got back to the club, the police hadn’t arrived, but Edwina had. She not only had the bodies off the street and in the van with a little help from Judah and Kelsey, but she had secured the gas as well. With her task complete, Edwina prepared to leave when the sound of sirens began to fill the air.
“That’s my cue.” She kissed Judah on the cheek. “You guys sure know how to keep a girl busy,” she said and got in the van.
“What’s up with that?”
“You’re guess is as good as mine, Money,” Judah said as they walked to the club to talk to the police. Marvin told the police that he didn’t know anything about any shooting. And after Judah assured them that he had been outside the entire time and there was no shooting, the police got another call and left. Marvin and Judah walked back in the club and were glad that the police didn’t look around and see the blood on the ground.
They had only been back in the office for a few minutes when RJ got there with Venus. The second that he hit the door, Kelsey had told him what happened there earlier.
“What the fuck?”
“Mutha fuckas tried to firebomb the club,” Marvin said. “First Mobley tried to hit me and now this.”
Judah shook his head. “I saw the bodies, Money. They wasn’t Mobley’s people. It was Darren, Larry and Kenny.” He turned to RJ. “Those are Barnes’ people. This is about you RJ.”
“Barnes said it wasn’t over,” Marvin said, looking at Venus and thinking that she didn’t need to be in the room when they were discussing business and he hoped that RJ would ask her to leave before he had to.
“That’s not all Barnes did tonight. He tried to hit me outside Venus’s apartment. I can’t say for sure that it was Barnes himself that did it, but Venus recognized his car.”
Judah shook his head. “This is not good. We got both of them at us now.”
RJ stood up. “We need to go to The Late Night and talk to Pills.” And with that, Marvin, Judah and Venus followed RJ out of the office. But Venus only got as far as the front door.
“Kelsey. Take Venus home. Stay with her until she packs some things and then you take her to a hotel,” RJ ordered. Marvin nodded his head. “I’m trusting you with her life.”
“I got her, RJ, for sure,” Kelsey said, and RJ turned to Venus. She, of course, did not look happy.
“I need you to go with Kelsey.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
He took Venus by the hand
and walked her away from the door. “I really can’t say for sure if he was trying to kill me, you or both of us.”
“I never thought of it that way. I betrayed his boy and that’s why you had to kill him for me.” She nodded her head quickly. “Now I understand.”
“I just need to know that you are someplace safe.”
“I’ll go with Kelsey,” Venus said and kissed him on the cheek. RJ signaled for Kelsey and he left with Marvin and Judah. When they got to The Late Night and explained the situation to Pills, he had one thing to say.
“This is not good.”