A LaLa Land Addiction by Ashley Antoinette Page B

said.
    â€œFuck you mean?” Messiah asked.
    â€œSometimes you got to fight hate with love,” Noah said.
    â€œLove? You gone show love to this nigga family? These the same mu’fuckas that tried to murk you. You’ve got to make the city fear you, my G.”
    â€œNah, I got to make the city love. A scared nigga will kill you, but a nigga who got love for you will kill over you,” Noah said, hoping he wasn’t making the mistake that would cost him his life.
    *   *   *
    â€œYou sure about this?” Messiah asked as he pulled up to the small one-story house on the south side of Flint.
    â€œWe playing by new rules. No women, no kids, no innocents. I’m with the gangster shit, but it’s time to end the nonsense. This little nigga ain’t in the game. You snatched him off the hoop court. If he not a part of this life he shouldn’t die behind this life,” Noah said sincerely.
    â€œThat’s some real shit,” Messiah said as he palmed the gun that sat in plain view on his lap. “It’s your move. I got the back. I got the goons behind us in case his people want a problem.”
    Noah climbed out of the car and pulled his chrome 9mm from his waist before popping the trunk. He looked behind him and saw the two cars that parked behind him. All it took was a head nod for bullets to fly. With Messiah as his right hand, he acquired an army by default. He was a street king with an army of killers.
    He pulled the kid from the trunk and walked him toward the porch. The kid tripped up the steps he was so nervous.
    â€œRelax, homie,” Noah said. He knocked on the door hard, and a short fair-skinned woman with silver hair answered.
    â€œOh my Lord,” the woman said with a gasp as she covered her mouth.
    â€œI have something that belongs to you,” Noah said as he pushed the kid toward her.
    She opened the screen door and hurriedly ushered him inside. “I mean no disrespect by coming here, ma’am, but I’ve got a message for your grandson Demarcus. You tell him that I don’t want no smoke.”
    The woman’s eyes watered as she nodded her head in understanding before she slammed the door closed in haste.
    Noah turned around and headed back to the truck as Messiah followed. They got inside and pulled off with a caravan of shooters trailing behind them.
    â€œFuck was that, bruh? You know we got to find this nigga now,” Messiah said.
    â€œIt’s already taken care of,” Noah replied knowingly. “I got somebody on it as we speak.”
    â€œI’m lost, fam; I can’t even lie. It would have been easier to put two in that little nigga head you just let go. Send a message to anybody else out here thinking shit sweet,” Messiah said.
    â€œThat message would have cost me my freedom. I’ve been on the inside. I ain’t trying to go back. You kill a fourteen-year-old hoop star the police gone be on us. He go missing for too long and Granny back there calls the cops. The kid is innocent. He don’t got nothing to do with this. I dropped him off and declared peace so when his brother turns up missing no fingers will be pointed my way. The next relative I send home will be in a coroner’s bag, but we got to do it right,” Noah said. “Snatching homie in broad day light isn’t how I play. No slipups, no mistakes, no witnesses. It’s being taken care of as we speak.”
    *   *   *
    â€œPenny for your thoughts?” Naomi asked as she slid onto the barstool next to a man who sat, head lowered over the glass of cognac he swirled in his hands.
    â€œNo thoughts. I’m just chilling,” the guy said as he lifted the glass to his weed-darkened lips, finishing the liquid. He motioned for the bartender and said, “Another one.” He turned to Naomi. “And whatever she’s drinking.”
    Never fails. Niggas smell pussy and get stupid, she