Another Man's Treasure (Joey Bada$$ Story)

Part Ventitre

So we went to California.

When Darius first proposed the idea, Joey said that they couldn’t afford spontaneous trips right now, that they were trying to save. It only took a few seconds for him to remember that there was a briefcase in the house filled with a million dollars. He took out the money, left the briefcase in its hiding spot, and we left.

T’nah stayed at home with Latara. If it weren’t for this, we would’ve left the house hours before we did. I had to make sure there was enough food, toys, and other essentials for Latara since I wasn’t going to be there. I gave T’nah a list of things that she needed, like what times she needed to eat and what shows she shouldn’t watch and how much lavender to put in her bathwater before bed. T’nah eventually got sick of me, and demanded that if I didn’t leave now she would starve Latara for a day. So I packed a small bag and followed the guys to the airport.

None of the guys knew exactly why we were going to California, but they trusted Darius. For some reason, they thought he had a good head on his shoulders (something that I’d come to doubt). Still, a couple of the guys would ask every few minutes about why they were going to California and how pissed off they would be if they went through a five hour flight for nothing. Darius assured them that there was nothing to worry about, and in no time we were off the plane and looking for a hotel.

Darius led us to a nice, cheap hotel in the LAX Area, where checking in was difficult given how many people recognized us (or them, rather). It took almost half an hour for us to finally tear ourselves away from the crowd and check into the hotel, and the boys still had to keep their promise and go back downstairs to some fans who didn’t get to take pictures with them. An hour later we were all settled into our separate rooms and met at the hotel’s almost-empty weight room. There was only a massive bodybuilder in the corner and an overweight (responsible) girl in the back. We basically had the place to ourselves.

“Alright, now can you talk?” Nyck asked Darius. He rubbed his hands together, sat on one of the chairs, and began.

“I was talking to one of Cheddy’s boys a couple of weeks ago. We were friends back in middle school, so he’s cool with me even though he knows he’s not supposed to be. He wants me to join his crew, to get with Cheddy’s goons. He said that they’ve been doing big things, like getting in contact with the Mafia and stuff, and he wants me to join the ‘winning team’.”

“Did you?” Joey asked with raised eyebrows.

“No,” Darius shook his head. “Of course not. I told him I’d be getting back to him later, though. I said that I would think about it.”

“So you are thinking about it,” Joey said.

“No, man, I just said that -

“It doesn’t matter what you said!” Joey yelled. Our two guests looked up at him, and quickly averted their gaze once they saw his mean countenance. “The fact that you were even talking to one of them says enough.”

“What does it say, Joey? That I’m a traitor?” Darius asked him. “If I was, why would I bring you guys out here? Why would I tell you what I’m about to?”

Joey looked down, beginning to look more calm.

“I only wanted to do it to spy for you guys, to keep tabs on them. One day I called Gary, the old friend, to ask him how they got in contact with the Mafia, and which one. He said that he couldn’t say much, but that he knew a lady in the Mafia who they asked advice about what to do with Jamie. This lady didn’t know who Jamie was, they just described her as an enemy’s girlfriend. She said that Cheddy’s boys need to take her down before anybody else. She also asked Gary to describe who this girl was, since the name ‘Jamie’ sounded familiar to her. They described what they’d seen of her and what they knew about her, and the woman said: ‘Listen, don’t hurt her. That’s my son’s girlfriend. I’m not too fond of her, but they’re in love. The only way I would actually want something bad to happen to her is if she did something bad to my son, like jeopardize his career or give him cancer or something.”

I gulped and sat down on one of the weight machines, my feet growing cold. It was Edwin’s mother.

Darius paused for the guys, and me, to register what he’d said, and then went on. “That’s why those guys at the hotel brought Edwin with them.They told Edwin that he’d be helping them kill somebody. They told him that they had his daughter and if he didn’t help them, his daughter would die. He agreed. They knew that by bringing him there, Joey would come in and try to shoot everybody, including Edwin, which would then piss off his mother. They would tell the mother that it was Jamie’s fault, Jamie’s boyfriend did it. So the mother would help them kill Jamie. Maybe even Joey too.”

“Gary told you that?” Powers asked.

“No, that’s my theory.”

“Are you sure it’s Edwin’s mother we’re talking about?” I asked him. “I mean, I know this woman personally. Yes, she’s evil and Italian, but I don’t think she’s the Mafia type.”

“I’m sure of it.” Darius nodded.

Joey shook his head and sat down beside me. “They’ve been one step ahead of us the whole time.”

“That’s why we’re here, to be one step ahead of them.” Darius looked behind him to check for company, but the two people had left. “We have to kill the mom and dad.”

I closed my eyes. Here we go again. As if I didn’t feel guilty enough for being in the company of people who killed the man that was supposed to raise Latara, who’d raised her thus far, they were planning on doing more damage. I thought about how sweet it would be to hear of Edwin’s mother’s death before, but not like this. Not after so much had happened. Not on purpose.

“Nah, bro.” CJ shook his head. “We can’t do that.”

“I agree with you,” I said to CJ.

“Exactly. If we kill them, we’ll have the Mafia after us.”

“Not only that,” I added. “I don’t want to kill them. I’m tired of killing people. You guys act like it’s nothing. Let’s talk to them, how about that? Let’s visit Gary or Cheddy or my mother-in-law: whoever we have to talk to, let’s do it. Who knows? Maybe after we explain things to them, they’ll show us mercy. They’ll understand.”

Joey turned to me, held both of my hands, and said, with the most genuine concern in his eyes: “We can’t, Jamie. I’m sorry, and it woudl be really nice if life could be the fairytale you just described, but that’s not how things are. Never were, and never will be. No one likes ‘talking’ anymore, not when we have guns. It’s not safe to talk anymore. You won’t even be there, so it’ll be okay. You won’t see anything.”

“But what about the Mafia?” Kwon asked. “I don’t want them on my ass!”

“It’s our only choice!” Darius barked at him.

“Look, if it’ll make you ladies feel better,” Chuck said, “we’ll pray for forgiveness after we do it. Okay? We’ll ask God to understand us. He’ll be the one we do the explaining to.”

“Deal?” Joey asked the guys. They all held their hands out, Joey’s on top.

“Deal.” They confirmed.

Although I didn’t put my hand in, and I really didn’t want this to be a deal, we left the weight room and went up to the room that Joey and I had, where the guys each took something from a duffle bag Joey had brought with him. By the look of how they concealed the items on their bodies, I knew they were weapons. One of them, or some of them, would be used to take out my in-law’s. That was it. There was nothing I could do about it.

“You’ll be okay here by yourself, right?” CJ asked me. I nodded, though I really didn’t know.

“Yeah, I guess. Just be careful. I can’t lose you guys.”

They promised to think of me. Joey hugged me before following his friends out the door. The only ones left in the room were me and Darius. He was about to go, after fishing something extra out of the duffle bag. He didn’t even look at me, just headed for the exit.

“Wait!” I called. He turned around, his hand still on the doorknob. All I could think about was the precious poem he recited for me as I planted a gentle kiss to his cheek. “You be careful too, please. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

He nodded, kissed my forehead, and said: “Nothing will. I promise.”

I promise.