^{CHAPTER 3}

 

 

 

^{Everything Ain’t 100}

 

 

 

 

 

^{Noodles was flying on one thousand. Deep rage was an enemy he already struggled with on a daily basis, and right now puffs of hot smoke were seeping through the cracks of his self-control. He was doing his best to slam the bitter blackness deep into his gut, because experience told him if he lost this battle he had no chance of ever winning the war.}

^{He strode back and forth along the narrow ledge behind his house like a mountain lion pacing at the top of a ridge. Visions of the bloody carnage he could have caused tonight flew through his mind like gory scenes out of a horror movie.}

^{Wild Man had put his fuckin mitts on him. That muthafucka had lunged at him and gone straight for his throat. The last cat who had pawed him up like that had triggered a bloodbath so gruesome it had landed Noodles in the womb of a tomb called the Asshole.}

^{He had been two seconds off of blowing Wild Man’s thoughts clean outta his head in that warehouse tonight, and it was only his respect and obedience to Slick that had kept him from aiming his gat and squeezing one off.}

^{But he had just barely managed it. He knew he owed it to Slick to keep a leash on the beast that lived inside him. His manz had put his life on the line over Noodles’s rage once before and almost got buried because of it. He couldn’t throw his dude’s sacrifice away just because some chink nigga stepped outta pocket and wanted to act ill.}

^{“Noodles,” Ayesha stuck her head out the window and called out to him softly. “Come on inside, baby. The kids just woke up and they’re asking for you. They want some pancakes for breakfast like you promised them.”}

^{Noodles didn’t look at her but he detected the tremble of concern in her voice. The sun had gotten high in the sky and he had been out there for hours trying to keep his rage away from her. What he carried inside of him was too big for her. Too violent. And after all the shit her and the kids had been through he refused to bring that type of destructive energy into their home.}

^{Nodding once, he continued to pace back and forth until he felt the glow of his personal demon shrinking and getting smaller and smaller. When it was finally tiny enough for him to handle it, he stuffed it back inside his mental box and psychologically threw away the key.}

^{Yeah, this was much better, Noodles told himself as he went inside the house. When he calmed the fuck down he was able to think clearer. He was able to strategize and rationalize. Yeah, the hit had been fucked up from the gate, and since it was Wild Man’s gig the nigga had cause to be on one.}

^{But even with the shitty surveillance and without the proper background info, something felt real grimy about the entire Zip ’em up program. It seemed like there was some type of hidden conspiracy floating around that Noodles couldn’t quite put his finger on.}

^{But he had his suspicions, though. He didn’t wanna ring no alarms to Slick just yet without having something concrete to show and prove, but some fuckin body in the click was smelling shady as fuck. And even though all the details hadn’t revealed themselves to him yet, Noodles couldn’t shake the feeling that certain niggas in his set was living foul.}

^{Noodles knew this was the wrong time for him to be having these hunches but he just couldn’t shake them. His mother was sick in Guatemala and he had made arrangements to go see her. He had bought tickets for Ayesha and the kids to go with him, and not only was he gonna surprise her with the trip, while he was there he was gonna get down on his knees and ask her to be his wife.}

^{Noodles gazed at her standing near the kitchen table setting out plates and he smiled inside. Everything in his life had turned to sugar ever since his woman and her kids had come into his world. For the first time since he got outta prison Noodles’s life had a purpose. He had peace of mind and peace of heart, and he slept damn good every single night.}

^{He forced himself to smile as Ayesha came over and stood on her tip-toes in front of him. She reached up for a kiss and touched the side of his face lovingly.}

^{“You don’t have to tell me what’s bothering you,” she said softly. “But whatever it is, I just want you to remember that life’s too short to hold grudges.”}

^{Noodles nodded. He loved Ayesha way more than he had thought it was possible to ever love a woman. No other chick in the world, no matter how fine she was or what she was throwing at him, could ever claim a piece of his heart. Ayesha had it all. She had the whole fuckin thing. And he was gonna show and prove that shit to her when they got to Guatemala and he asked her to be his wife. And to top it all off, he was also gonna ask the children to take his last name and to give him the honor of adopting them and becoming their legal father.}

^{Noodles couldn’t wait for all that to happen, but right now his gut was talking to him and his gut didn’t lie. As he lifted their youngest son up high and placed him on his broad shoulders, he knew for a fact that something wasn’t right in his set. Matter fact, something was far from right. Noodles didn’t know what the fuck was what yet, but given some time he was sure as hell gonna find out.}