The Kiss of Death [Dave East]

02

       DAVE WAS WHAT ANISSA THOUGHT HIM TO be. She expected muscle, lots of tattoos and a naturally scary looking face. And he lived up to those expectations, she had to tread lightly. "You killed three of my guys." Anissa stated, standing tall. "Wasn't intentional." Dave responded, his voice was loud. It echoed throughout the warehouse, and boomed in everyone's ear. "And it wasn't me." He added. Anissa craned her neck, glancing at Spades momentarily then back at Dave. "Then why do you stand in front of me? The one who murdered my guys, should be here. Not you." She said, her voice laced with anger.

Dave's head fell lightly, his face still pressed hard. "I can't do that yo, I consider him my boy. But my guy, he didn't mean to kill your dudes." Dave was compassionate, caring and resilient. She could read that off of him, he must've been a family oriented man, the way he stood up for his men. "Do you think I care about what he did and didn't mean to do? A bullet answers for a bullet, Dave." She said, her demeanour wasn't giving up. "Then let us deal with him." Dave tried to reason, Anissa thought to herself, but her thoughts were interrupted by Cesar.

"Yo don't tell me you're actually considering this. Like you said Smoke, a bullet answers for a bullet, it's the only way." Cesar practically yelled in her ear. Anissa inhaled deeply, taking Cesar's opinions into consideration while examining Dave and what kind of a man he might be, what morals he holds dear. "You're in charge of your guys. You know how this ends. Either we take him, and everyone who stands in our way—including you. Or you just give him up, and only he dies." She finally made up her mind. He looked distraught and confused. It was clear that this choice was either going to break him, or build him.

"Dave.." Anissa slowly began moving forward, meeting Dave at an amusing 5'5. "What sounds better to you? All of your guys dying. Or just one?" Dave was deeply conflicted and it was radiating off him. Maybe it was the eyes of all her guys weighing on her, or because she saw a a certain strength of spirit in Dave, but Anissa felt almost obligated to help him. "Walk with me, Dave." She gestured down the hall. Dave stared, as he questioned her motives.

"You're doing what I first did, when I took charge." She said, as they began to slowly walk down the corridors. "Oh yea?" He chuckled, amused. "And what's that?" His deep voice asked. "Hesitating. Overthinking. Looking for ways out. Because you don't want to make the hard decisions. But that's what good leaders do. They make the decisions and bear the consequences so no one else has to." Anissa said. The words sat heavily on Dave's shoulders. She was right, he never liked making hard decisions. But he could see clearly now, the only choice he truly had. "I'll take you to him." Dave suddenly blurred out.

"But you gotta swear it, that you'll make it quick."

The drive to Queensbridge was awfully quiet, Dave and Anissa held a staring contest, not to prove dominance but more so reading each other. The car came to a heavy stop, Spades glanced at Anissa through the mirror, nodding. As they stepped out, Anissa earned looks of hate. She wasn't Queensbridge favourite kingpin. "Come wit me." Dave nodded his head to the left, Spades and Anissa followed his lead to one of the buildings. Dave was buzzed in and instead of going up, he went down. They reached the basement of the building and to no ones surprise there were at least sixteen guys down there.