“And? Is it true?” I asked feeling myself getting angry.
“With Trell sending word through Junebug, we don’t believe so which is why we accepted the meeting,” Countee said.
“Junebug said to come as loaded as necessary to make you feel okay but it will just be him and Trell. I said that nigga ain’t brave enough to go nowhere alone. He will have guys somewhere,” Roc said.
“Me and my guys are already posted up at the location just in case he tries something stupid. Brick will be there beside you,” Countee explained.
We arrived on one of the many streets on the north side, that the city had seemingly forgotten about. All the houses on the block were boarded up, dilapidated, or burned down with grass and weeds overgrown all around them. Junebug stood next to a snow-white Bentley with his hands at his sides.
Brick pulled our car in front of the Bentley. Junebug went to the passenger side and opened the door. Trell stepped out of the car. My heart sped up a little thinking about all the good times we’d shared as a family until he lost his mind and messed it all up. I knew that Trell would have taken a bullet for me at one point in our lives, so it hurt to think that he was the one that orchestrated my shooting.
Brick came around and opened my door. Roc got out on the other side, and we walked to the front of the car. I hated for Trell to see me using a cane but I was still healing and needed the assistance.
It had been years since I’d seen Junebug or Dontrell. They say black don’t crack but in Junebug’s case black had shattered. The years had not been friendly to him. He used to be a somewhat attractive guy but now his already dark skin had darkened more, once smooth skin now was filled with holes and his cheeks were sunken in.
Trell had aged and put on some weight but he didn’t look nearly as bad as Junebug.
I looked at Trell waiting for him to speak.
“I’m glad to see you’re okay, El. I know shit between us is foul, but I never wished any harm on any of y'all.”
Roc made a noise but didn’t speak.
“Why did you contact me, Trell? We don’t have anything to discuss.”
“I contacted you because I wanted to look you in your eyes and tell you that I didn’t have anything to with your shooting.”
“Who said you did?”
“A nigga that’s been dealt with. One of the lieutenants from Roc’s old crew was trying to come up and thought he could capitalize on a war between us. He didn’t realize that at one point we were family,” Trell explained.
“Yeah before your ass went apeshit and tried to kill me over some shit you know I didn’t have anything…”
I held up my hand to stop Roc.
“That was business. We squashed it,” Junebug said.
“Nigga ain’t nothing squashed,” Roc said through his teeth. “We just decided that we didn’t want all the bloodshed that retaliation would have brought starting with your bitch ass…”
“This is not why I asked for this meeting,” Trell spoke over Roc.
“Why should I believe you? Why shouldn’t I believe that you wanted me dead?”
“Two things, one, if I wanted you dead, you would be dead. Two, you know a lot about me, and the one thing you can say for certain is that I am not a liar. You’ve never known me to lie. Look, man, I’m tired of mothers crying over their son’s caskets for some senseless shit. Honor, loyalty, respect are all worth dying for not hearsay, lies and bullshit. I’m telling you, man to man, I ain’t have shit to do with you getting shot. As an act of goodwill, I have some of my best investigators on the hunt. When they find something, I will let you know.”
“I don’t need anything from you, Trell.”
“Take or don’t take it. It’s up to you. I’m just trying to show, what do they call it, a show of faith.”
“Godless men don’t know faith.”
“Well call it whatever you want.”
He was right. If he wanted me dead, I would be dead. He always got the job done. Even if I would have survived the first attack, he would have finished me off. I’d never known him to lie. It wasn’t in him to lie. That put us back at square one figuring out who did this.
I turned to walk back to the car.
“El,” Trell called out behind me. “How is Momma V?”