RIPPED & READY (PART 34)

RIPPED & READY (PART XXXIV)

Since things at home were as settled as they possibly could be under the circumstances, I decided to head over to Elijah’s to check on Collin. Due to all of the drama circulating around the court, I allowed Danita and Antwon to tag along.  I actually welcomed the company because; it's better to have at least one eye-witness present, just in case things got a little rocky.

On the ride over Danita and I discussed the circumstances surrounding our father's infidelity.  It always amazed me how certain individuals could be so consumed with their own misery that they attack a person's character and, even, put them in harm’s way instead of looking within themselves to make peace with their demons. They find fault with everything and everybody rather than looking in the mirror and facing themselves.

Darrius's vengefulness about losing Tootchie had put Collin in a precarious and dangerous position with Peewee and the Anthill Mob.  Denise's personal insecurities and her obvious bitterness about losing D'Andre had also fueled the flames of this rising tension and things were about to explode.  Collin didn't deserve to be a pawn in this war of the hearts.

I had to find a way to expose this lie for what it truly was; however, it wasn't going to be easy because Peewee's loyalty to his little brother had always been unyielding.  Darrius was a menace to the truth and many innocent people had been beaten, stabbed, and murdered behind the lies he had told over the years.  Collin's life was on the line and I refused to be a silent bystander and allow this to happen.

When we reached Elijah’s street, I saw a commotion taking place in the distance and my heart sunk.  Instead of driving into the middle of whatever was occurring, I parked and we all jumped out of the car, and jogged up there.  We stopped dead in our tracks when we saw what was going down.  Peewee's back was to us, but the look on Collin's face assured me that his fear was justified -- he was staring down the barrel of a gun.  

"NO PLEASE PEEWEE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Tootchie screamed, pulling on Peewee, begging him not to shoot. 

Off to the side I saw Denise and Darrius laughing to themselves, instigating and daring Peewee to shoot him. 

My legs felt like jelly, but I knew I could not allow my boy to go out like this.  I raced over to the center of the street and I said, "Peewee, don't do this, man, Collin is innocent! Your brother told me in the supermarket that he had lied because he was mad at Collin for taking Tootchie away from him," I pleaded.

Darrius quickly denied it, "Yo, Peewee, that motherfucking faggot is lying, Collin did steal your weed out of your trunk, Denise saw him too, dude," he said, pushing Denise forward to concur. 

"Yea, that's right, I was there with Darrius waiting on you baby, and we saw him take a tire-iron and pop your trunk open," she said, giggling, obviously intoxicated. 

Tootchie looked over at Denise and said something that put all the stops on everything.  "That tramp is lying her ass off, Peewee," she said, "The night she's talking about, her switch-hitting ass was with me in a hotel!" she announced, shocking everybody present -- including Darrius. 

"What the fuck is this hoodrat talking about, Denise," he said, toothpick in mouth, never taking his eyes off of Collin. 

"She's lying, baby, don't believe that bitch, she's just trying to save her niggas ass," Denise said, hugging Peewee from the back. 

He brushed her off of him, "Bitch get the fuck off of me, don't you see I'm trying to handle my biz'ness," he said, knocking Denise to the ground. 

"See, that's what I was trying to tell you, man, this is all a lie concocted by your brother and Denise.  He's mad because Tootchie is with Collin, and Denise is angry because D'Andre dumped her ass after he found out she was fucking my pops," I said, nervously putting out our family business to the world. 

Peewee looked over at me, then back at Darrius, whose laughter was now just a peep.  "Darrius, you mean to tell me that you were going to have me kill this nigga over a bitch?" He asked, agitated.  Then he looked down at Denise, "and you, you lousy ass cunt, you were fucking this niggas old ass father," he asked, sucking his teeth. 

When Peewee started laughing out loud and kicking at her, I knew that we had just dodged a serious bullet (literally).  He un-cocked the gun, stuck it beneath his shirt and returned it back to its hiding place.  He walked over Denise, and without looking back he said, "Bitch, you ain't shit.  I should've let my boyz run a train on your nasty ass," he said, motioning for all of his crew to get back into their vehicles. 

He shook Collin's hand, brotha man style, and said "No hard feelings, brotha." 

"Yea, right, man," Collin said, half-heartedly returning the gesture. 

"Darrius, get your punk ass in this car, I'm kicking your motherfucking, lying ass, when we get back to the crib, little punk ass bastard," he said, kicking him in the ass as he was walking towards the car. 

Collin looked at me, and said, "M6, bro, M6, he said, putting two fingers up towards his chest," smiling. 

"Yea, bro, M6," I said. 

"Thank you for having my man's back," Tootchie said, as she gave me a kiss on the cheeks. 

I gave her a hug and told her, "You take care of him from now on, baby.  I couldn't have done this without you being straight up, Tootchie," I said. 

As we were walking away from the scene, my cell phone started buzzing.  I looked at the number and a smile grew across my face. 

It was Joseph. 

D'Andre and Todd were leaving soon, and I knew that we were going to have to party our asses off.  I decided to give Darren a call to see if he and Charles were up to another boys get-away. 

Once we got home, I was going to make that call because I didn't want my sister and cousin to hear me making plans.  

The future was looking up for old Marco, hell yea. 

Santa Cruz, here we come.....