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Aleesha and Savage helped her little sister Laila move the last of her things into her new Georgia home. She had just gotten married to Brandon, a guy she knew since she was 8 years old. They met up six months ago during the beginning of fall while she was vacationing in Atlanta, and moved there with him a month after they got together. Now presently in March, five months later, they were married and had moved into a house together.
“So when are you two getting married?” Laila asked as she put the last of the dishes in the cabinet.
“Damn we just got back together like 3 weeks ago. Getting married is the last thing on our minds,” Aleesha said as she grabbed a soda from the refrigerator, and took a seat at the kitchen table.
“Oh it is?” Savage asked as he walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the table across from her.
“Hell yeah it is if we trying to get this delivery service started,” she said, rolling her neck at him.
“Oh yeah, how is that going?” Laila asked as she joined them at the table.
“Good. We’re opening in two more weeks,” Aleesha replied, drinking a gulp of soda.
“Well congrats. I heard people have been making bank opening these dispensaries and stuff.”
“Yeah. Once that gets off the ground I want to own my own apartment complex and I want to invest in some businesses.”
“Dang sis, seems like you have it all planned out,” Laila said, smiling at her sister.
“Yeah, I like money too much and there’s too many ways of making it for me to let some slip by,” Aleesha said as she smiled back.
“I heard the fuck outta that.”
“Y’all down for some bones?” Brandon asked, walking into the kitchen with the container of dominos in his hand. Brandon was white and Dominican, but from the way he walked, talked, dressed and acted, you would have thought he was black. He had an olive-colored skin tone, brown eyes, and a bald head. He was the same height as Savage, but had a more muscular build, being as though he was a marine.
“Yeah we down. Team couples or team solo?” Savage asked.
“Couples,” everyone else answered in unison.
The couples talked smack and enjoyed a few games of dominos before Aleesha and Savage called it quits. They all had plans to be up early in the morning to hang out one last time before Aleesha and Savage flew back to California. As Savage was driving back to the hotel, Aleesha couldn’t stop thinking about what her sister asked them earlier. She hadn’t really gave marriage much thought until now.
“I can’t believe Laila is married,” she said aloud, trying to bring the topic back up.
“I know, how long did you say she knew ol’ boy?” Savage asked as he navigated the rental car through the streets of Atlanta.
“Well they’ve known each other since like elementary. A few years ago he moved out here and somehow they met when she was out here with her friends. I was shocked when she told me she ran into him. And next thing you know, I was getting a wedding invitation,” Aleesha joyfully answered, happy for her sister.
“Hell yeah. But I see he makes her happy.”
“Yeah he does. It’s crazy because they’ve always liked each other.”
“Yeah, shit I guess they was meant to be together.”
“So what about us?”
“What about us?” Savage countered.
“Do you think we were meant to be together?”
“Yeah, Leelee, I love you. I plan on you being the mother to my kids and eventually my wife,” he admitted.
“Time is only wastin’ so why wait for eventually?” she asked, quoting Alicia Keys from her hit song “Unthinkable.”
“So you wanna get married?”
“I mean, yeah,” Aleesha answered, kind of confused.
“Aleesha, you know I love you, and if that’s what you want right now, then that’s what you gon’ get,” Savage responded as a serious look spread across her face while he glanced at her.
“But is it what you want?”
“Man babe, if it’s what you want I’ll get yo ring as soon as we get home.”
“You serious?”
“Yes. The real question is do you seriously wanna marry me?”
“You know I do,” she said as a grin spread across her face.
“Then that’s what it’s gon’ be,” he replied.
They were both hungry, so they stopped at Grand Champion BBQ, ate some of their famous ribs and mac and cheese, and went back to the hotel to rest up.
The next morning, Savage and Aleesha were up by 9 a.m. Their flight was later that night, so they had plans to spend time with Laila and Brandon to occupy their time. They packed up their things and checked out of the hotel they were staying in, then were on their way. They met up with Laila and Brandon at Sun in My Belly for breakfast, then they all hit the ATL streets. Laila and Brandon followed behind the couple as they returned their rental car, then they took the couple sight-seeing. After, they shopped around and stopped by other famous restaurants to taste test some award-winning food.
An hour before Savage and Aleesha’s flight, Laila and Brandon drove them to the airport and was going to wait with them until they got on the plane. After being processed and going through metal detectors, Aleesha and Laila went to the restroom, while the men sat around and waited with the luggage. Laila didn’t have to pee, so she waited at the sink while Aleesha relieved herself. Laila couldn’t wait to tell Aleesha her good news when she came out of the stall.
“Sis, guess what?” Laila asked excitedly as Aleesha washed her hands.
“What?” Aleesha asked, looking at her sister through the mirror.
“I’m pregnant!” Laila exclaimed as she jumped up with joy.
“Oh my God sissy congratulations,” Aleesha said as she hugged Laila with wet hands. “Why are you barely telling me?” she asked once they broke apart.
“I don’t know, I guess I was just nervous,” Laila answered.
“Nervous about what?” Aleesha asked as she grabbed some paper towels and dried her hands.
“About having a baby. I always thought you would have one before me and could walk me through it,” Laila confided to Aleesha.
“Aw,” Aleesha let out with a pout, getting sad. “I did too, but you still have mommy,” she said as she got back excited for her sister. “Have you told her yet?”
“I didn’t have to. I swear she has telekinesis or something,” Laila said, laughing. “I called her when I first found out and as soon as I said hello she was like ‘Are you pregnant?’ I was like dang mommy how did you know? She told me she prayed on it and had a dream about it one night, and she told me you next,” Laila said, laughing even harder.
“Whatever. I’m not having kids no time soon,” Aleesha said as they walked out of the restroom.
“Why not?” Laila asked, changing her playful mood to a more serious one. “You’d be a good mom.”
“Thanks Lai, but I’m just not ready for that yet. I’ll just enjoy being an aunty for right now,” Aleesha said as she rubbed Laila’s stomach. They made their way back over to their men, and chatted until departure time. The sisters hugged and Laila even cried as they said their goodbyes.
“Babe c’mon or we gone miss this flight,” Savage said to Aleesha as the two sisters stood and hugged each other.
“I love you Lai,” Aleesha said to her sister.
“I love you too,” Laila said with tears still in her eyes as they pulled apart. They held hands as they stared at each other. They had become closer as they got older, and them living so far away from each other was hard for them.
“Come on babe,” Savage said, grabbing Aleesha’s hand away from Laila.
“You and me must never part,” Aleesha began to sing and do the hand gestures like Nettie from the Color Purple, making everyone laugh.
“You so stupid,” Laila said as she blew her sister a kiss. She and Brandon waited until the plane was off the runway before they left the airport.
***
Once they landed back in the dirty Dino, Aleesha and Savage headed to his place to rest up. They slept late into the next day, waking up at 5 in the afternoon. They immediately got up and started taking care of business. They had to go over some finalizing paperwork for their delivery service, and didn’t want to waste another day prolonging the opening.
Over the next few weeks, they were so busy that they forgot about their engagement. They opened their delivery service, In The Stars, on time and business was booming. Over the next few months they were able to save up enough to move into a new three-bedroom home together in Rancho Cucamonga, and opened up a store front dispensary in San Bernardino with the same name as the delivery service, where they also began to run that from. Savage stopped hustling, and they began doing everything the legal way. Things were going well until they were set up one night.
It had been a very busy day with the deliveries and at the shop, and it was near closing time when Aleesha got a last minute call for a delivery.
“Babe!” she called out to Savage as she was sitting in the office.
Less than a minute later, Savage appeared through the door. “Yeah, what’s up babe?”
“I just got a call for a delivery but all of the drivers are out. And all of them are on their last deliveries,” Aleesha explained.
“Damn, what did they want?” Savage asked with uncertainty.
“A quarter ounce of some Blackwater,” Aleesha answered.
“Damn, aight well I’ll deliver it then? Where am I goin’?”
She hesitated. “To the Westside.”
“Hell nah!” he exclaimed. “Are you fuckin’ serious?”
“Yeah, and I really ain’t tryna have no one else deliver it over there. I’m going with you though. I really ain’t trustin’ that shit too much.”
“Fuck!” Savage said as he put his head down. “Hell nah babe I already told you I don’t want you makin’ no deliveries,” he said, looking back up at his girl.
“I know but no one else here can go with you,” Aleesha reminded him.
“Damn,” he said as he stood and thought about it. “Aight I’ma have Amina close up.”
“Okay,” she replied nervously.
Aleesha and Savage hopped into one of the delivery vehicles, a 2006 Chevy Trailblazer, and headed to their destination.
The night was chilly and still, and not a soul was in sight. The liquor stores, fast food restaurants and other various small businesses that lined the streets were closed, and the few cars that were on the roads were hurrying on their unknown journey.
“Man I got a funny feeling about this, babe,” Aleesha said once they could see their destination, which was a corner store. They had patients meet them somewhere public at night because they didn’t do house visits after dark, but Aleesha still felt uneasy being on this side of town late at night.
“Everything gone be cool, Leelee,” Savage said as they pulled into the parking lot. Aleesha called the patient who had placed the order to inform her that they were at the location. She appeared three minutes later and walked toward the car.
“Hi,” she said as she walked to the passenger side window.
“Can I see your I.D. and your rec?” Aleesha asked as she pulled out a folder containing paperwork. She verified the patients I.D. and rec, and had her sign a couple of forms. “Okay, it’ll be $70,” Aleesha said as she reached for the container of weed. The woman handed her the money and they exchanged goods, and she quickly walked away.
Aleesha took notice to a car she saw coming as she was putting away the paperwork, but it was too late by the time she was about to say anything. A dark gray Oldsmobile Cutlass swerved into the parking lot and had them blocked in. Aleesha could see that the car’s plates were missing, and already knew that things were about to get hectic.
“Babe, whatever you do don’t scream or panic, aight,” Savage told Aleesha as he slowly grabbed his M9 Beretta from under the seat. “Remember what we talked about.”
“Okay,” Aleesha said as she sat frozen in fear.
Savage slid the pistol under his shirt and into his waistband. Three men in all black with red bandanas tied around their faces hopped out of the Cutlass, and ran up to the Trailblazer. The driver of the Cutlass turned off the lights but kept the car running as he sat inside, watching. The men had their guns drawn and pointed at Aleesha and Savage as they approached the car.
“Get the fuck out!” the guy who walked up on the driver side yelled at Savage as the two other men approached Aleesha’s side. Savage slowly unbuckled his seat belt, and opened the car door. The man pulled Savage out of the car and swung him onto the floor. “You, get out,” he instructed Aleesha as he picked Savage up off of the floor.
One of the masked men on her side opened her door for her as she unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out, and he kept his pistol pointed at her the whole while.
“Search the car, nigga,” the guy next to Savage told the other guy standing by Aleesha.
“Man, y’all ain’t gotta do this,” Savage said as one of the guys next to Aleesha started going through the car. He sat his gun in the driver seat as he searched through the car’s compartments, while the other guy held her at gunpoint.
“What you say?” the guy next to Savage asked.
“Nigga you heard me,” Savage hastily replied.
Unbeknownst to the robbers, Aleesha had her arm behind her back, gripping the .380 ACP she had tucked in her waistband.
“This nigga must be crazy,” the guy next to Savage said with a laugh. “Nigga, who says I won’t blow yo fuckin’ brains out right now?” he asked as he nudged Savage’s head with the pistol. “Then me and my niggas will run a train on yo bitch,” he said with an evil laugh.
The guy with the gun pointed at Aleesha started laughing and put his head down, slightly turning his gun away from her for a split second, and that’s all Aleesha needed.
She hit him with a smooth uppercut to the jaw, causing him to fire a bullet as he stumbled. He let his grip go from around his gun, and it fell to the ground firing off another shot. She swiftly got her gun out as she moved behind him and held him at gunpoint.
“Aah shit!” the guy in the car screamed. When the gun went off as it hit the floor, the bullet shot him in the lower back. He was bent over the front seats paralyzed, not able to move.
“Drop your fucking gun!” she yelled at the guy who had the gun pointed at Savage.
“Bitch you drop yo gun,” he said back as he grabbed Savage around the neck.
“Let him go or I’m shootin’ both of these mothafuckas,” she said as the driver of the Cutlass got out.
“Man handle this bitch!” the guy that had Savage hemmed up yelled to the driver of the Cutlass.
“Drop yo gun bitch!” the driver yelled at Aleesha as he got closer, with his gun pointed at her.
POW, POW!
Aleesha’s gun went off as she let two rounds into the car.
“Dee!” the driver of the Cutlass yelled out to the guy in the Trailblazer. When he didn’t get a response, everyone knew that what they assumed was true.
“Bitch!” the driver yelled.
He started letting off rounds in Aleesha’s direction as she pushed the man she had at gunpoint closer to her attacker. As he stumbled forward, he was hit in the neck by the crossfire. He stumbled to one knee, then collapsed to the floor as a bullet penetrated his throat. The driver stopped shooting and ran to his friends’ side as she ran behind the car.
Meanwhile, as soon as the driver of the Cutlass had started shooting at Aleesha, Savage hit the guy holding him at gunpoint in face, and broke free from his grip. He hit him a few more times, making him drop his gun. He fell back and as Savage turned around to run to his woman’s side, the guy scrambled for his gun and let off a few rounds.
POW, POW, POW, POW!
The gun went off and Savage was hit in the left leg. “Ah fuck!” he yelled as he fell to the ground.
“Baby!” Aleesha yelled as she saw Savage falling to the ground.
POW, POW!
She shot Savage’s attacker twice in the chest as she rounded the side of the car. The attacker dropped his gun, and put his hand over his open wounds. He stared at his chest then up at Savage, then back down to his chest, as his life slowly slipped away. Savage saw footprints coming around the car. He quickly turned on his back and pulled his gun out just as the driver was coming around the back.
POW, POW, POW!
He shot his gun a few times. First he hit the driver in the left kneecap, dropping him to the ground, then he fired one last bullet and shot him in the head.
“Fuck!” Savage screamed as he tried picking himself up.
“Oh my God. Come on babe,” Aleesha exclaimed as she put Savage’s arm around her, trying to help him up. She couldn’t stop trembling and her nerves were shocked. “We gotta get you to a hospital,” she said as she stood him up.
“Nah I’m good babe. Take me home. You know I ain’t fuckin’ wit’ the hospital. I’d rather have you take care of it,” he said as he hopped on his right leg.
“Okay,” she said as she helped him into the backseat of the Trailblazer. She pulled the guy’s lifeless body out that was hunched over in the front seat and laid it on the ground, and quickly hopped in the driver’s side. She backed the car up and burned rubber out of the parking lot.
Aleesha hit a few corners and was on the I-10 freeway in less than five minutes. “Omg. What the fuck!” she kept repeating as she drove.
“Baby, calm down. It’s over. On God you saved us,” Savage said, trying to bring his adrenaline levels down.
“No babe I killed someone,” she said, still jittery and shaking.
Savage sat up in his seat a little to talk to her. “Babe, you protected yourself. That’s it and that’s all. Just calm down and breath babe, focus on gettin’ us home.”
“Okay,” Aleesha said as she sped all the way home.
She helped Savage into the house and to the kitchen, gave him some pain medication, and cut his denim Diesel jeans off to clean up his wound. He downed a cup of Hennessey and bit down on a towel to deflect the pain he was enduring. Aleesha then took some Absolut vodka and poured it over the wound. The bullet hadn’t gone deep enough to reach the bone, so she was able to dig it out of his thigh with some needle-nose pliers. Next, she took a butter knife, heated it over the stove for a couple minutes, and burned Savage’s wound closed. She then put ointment over it, and covered it with a Band-Aid patch.
“So what are we going to do about the bitch who set us up?” she asked as she rested him on the couch.
“Don’t even worry about that, babe. Mac is on his way to take care of it,” he simply told her.
“Okay,” she said before walking outside.
Aleesha cleaned as much of the car as she could before Mac arrived. She gave him the girls’ information, and he was on his way to avenge what happened to his cousin.