This Time Around

Chapter 33 - Rome

James asked us to meet him at his warehouse. I didn't want to leave Ari and Denise, but he said it was urgent. Everyone is on lockdown until we know what's going on and who is involved.

"Rome, I need your head in the game. James is always about business. For him to reach out for help, things are critical. You and Rick need to make sure these fucking kids are straight. We can't afford any fuck ups."

Me and Rick start laughing because he is the reason those mothafuckas are out of control.

"Old man, they gon' take care of business. Or else."

After reassuring him that our kids will not act up and after about twenty minutes of him and Rick arguing, the guys showed up. June is always the one that I am looking for. I love my nephews but my son comes first.

We get out of our car and I spot him getting out of Marcus's passenger seat with a fucking scowl on his face. Marcus has one to match. These mothafuckas are always fucking with each other, but this seems different. They never stay mad at each other for long.

"They gon' take care of business, right? I want all of them at the house as soon as this shit is over."

Clearly my dad sees the same thing. There has been some tension throughout the group, most of it centered around June, but never this bad.

"Let's get this shit over with, I need to get back to Ari. These niggas are grown. My baby needs me."

We all walk into James' warehouse and I can see why he is after Lays. He's her fucking yin. She can deny it all she wants, but this is the nigga she was referring to. This warehouse is just a level down from Keli's shit. He can easily stand next to the twins.

Everything in here is black and has gold accents here and there. You would never know this was a fucking warehouse. I need to ask who cleans this shit because there is not a speck of dust. The floors are marble and it looks like the tables and countertops are too. There's no way I would invest this much money into a place to stash drugs. Feds ain't about to fuck up my shit.

"Follow me."

Rashad was born for this world. He's always straight to the point and does not take bullshit from anybody. We walk down the hall and then down two flights of stairs.

"This nigga has a double level basement?"

"Ricky, it's not the time."

We finally end up in a room that has a two-way mirror for one of the walls and I can definitely see them in here watching someone being tortured on the other side.

"I see that we all have been called here, amigos." (Friends.)

I turn to see Carlos, Pierre and a few of their guys walking into the room. Before I can greet him back, Keli walks in. We all go ahead and greet each other and inquire if anyone knows what is happening.

James walks in and gets straight to the point. These niggas can learn a lot from how his crew operates.

"I was clearing up some personal business and came across something very interesting."

He hit a switch on the wall and it lit up the other room. The guy that I now know is his father, Angelica, and his babymama are all strapped to the wall.

"Is that your father?"

"That mothafucka ain't shit to us!"

I'm surprised at his brother. Prentiss is a computer geek like Link. This is the second time that I have ever heard him speak.

"Our father is at home with his wife and our brothers. P. you have to calm down."

Prentiss listens to his brother taking a bottle of water and some pills from him. I know that he stays sick, but I'm not sure what's wrong with him.