Chapter 9

I found myself back in the house that Fidel and I were staying at on the weekend. I had been calling Shay for days and he just wasn’t answering his phone. I knew something was up. As I walked into the house it seemed like Fidel was almost waiting for me.

His eyes were pressed up on me…almost judgmental.

“You hurt him, didn’t you?” Fidel asked me.

The way he looked at me was weird almost like he was judging me.

“My relationship with Shay is none of your business, Fidel,” I told him.

He looked over at me and shook his head, “What relationship? You have a relationship? Aren’t you undercover? You are using him and you are hurting him while you’re at it.”

“Using him?”

“You getting his feelings involved. He thinks the two of you are …” Fidel stated, “Man. I dunno. I don’t like how he looks at you.”

I had to laugh. I had to just laugh at Fidel at that point. Fidel knew that Shay had feelings for me. He could see it in the camera. It was kind of weird because if Fidel who was once Shay’s supposedly soulmate felt me and Shay had a connection then maybe that connection was right. Maybe what me and Shay were building was real.

I had feelings for Shay. I had to admit it.

“So you’re jealous? That’s what this is about.”

“Let’s get one thing clear, you undercover faggot,” Fidel stated taking a few steps with me, “That dude right there. Shay. That’s my heart. You get it? You hurt him and I’ll---“

“You’ll what?” I asked, “Say something funny I’ll put your ass behind bar tonight and throw away the key…”

I knew Fidel wasn’t about to just threaten me.

Fidel gave me the hardest look. This dude really thought highly of himself. I could see the confidence just coming out of his pores. It was ridiculous.

“Naw you good. I ain’t threatening you. Fuckin’ pigs these days man,” Fidel shook his head, ‘It don’t matter. You not me. Shay only with you because he misses me. He misses my swag. He misses this dick bra…”

“Nigga you LEFT him. You left him and hid undercover like a little pussy,” I found myself telling.

“What the fuck you just say to me?”

“Man. I’m not even about to argue with you. Let’s keep this business. I’m a professional. I got a job to do and so do you. So for Cesar’s sake I’m going to fall back.”

I found myself walking into the bedroom. The house smelled like weed. I rolled my eyes. I had no doubt Fidel had been smoking in here. He must have forgotten I was a cop. Truth was I could kind of care less either. I just walked into the room and shut the door behind me. I looked down at my phone, searching for Shay’s return message. Dude was really mad about something and it was getting to me. It was actually hurting my heart.

Before I knew it Fidel just BARGED into my room.

“YO WHAT THE FUCK!”

“I was talking to you.”

“I don’t know who you think you are. Maybe those guys in your gang gassed your head up,” I explained shaking my head, “You might be a local legend or whatever, but I’m the authority here. Don’t forget that shit.”

Fidel didn’t even pay attention to me. He had this mad look in his eyes.

“You want me to leave, I’m going to leave. I’m going to go see Shay…”

“No the hell you aren’t…”

“Man fuck you.”

Just at that moment Fidel started to walk away. I didn’t know what got into me but I found myself running after him. I followed him into the living room and just as I got into the living I turned him around.

Fidel turned around immediately and swung at me! This dude HIT me in my face.

“I’m a fucking cop!”

“I don’t give a fuck bitch.”

I completely forgot all my training at that moment. Fuck the fact that Fidel was a witness. Fuck all that shit. He didn’t give a fuck and I didn’t give a fuck either.

I found myself grabbing onto Fidel. Before I knew it were fighting on the floor. I could feel him punching me. This motherfucker was strong, but I managed to get on top of him and hit him hard in the jaw. I could feel my hand cracking onto his jaw at that moment.

“Fuck,” he screamed out.

I knew I hit him good but somehow Fidel managed to get from underneath me by kicking off. It took a few minutes but I was about to hop back on him when I saw Fidel had something in his hand.

It was a gun.

“Are you crazy?” I asked, “You going to pull a gun on a cop? You want to catch a case that bad?”

“You are fucking with the one person that still means something to me. I’ll end you right here and right now for that man. I promise you. You hear me?”

“Do it. You so tough. Nigga. Do it.”

My heart was racing. I didn’t know what it was but I fucking hated him. I fucking hated this dude. Fidel held the gun to my head and then backed up slowly.

Before I knew it Fidel started backing up so much and just ran out of the apartment.

Fuck.

I ran straight to my phone. Fidel was emotional right now. He was acting crazy. He could blow everything up. I was at the phone dialing my brother as soon as I could.

“We have a problem…”

Two hours passed before Marisol came to my house. My brother was in a meeting and I found her sitting in her car outside. She had on a disguise which made me think we were definitely in GOG territory so she didn’t want anyone to recognize her. As I got into the truck I could see her eyes watching me.

“What the hell happened?”

“Didn’t Cesar tell you?”

“He told me you lost Fidel. What I need to know is exactly how that happened?” Marisol stated.

I looked at her. Even though she was my sister in law she was a hard ass. She was my boss after all. I had to tell her the truth.

“We were fighting…over a boy.”

“Shay? Cesar is going to kill you man.”

“Don’t tell him,” I told her.

“Don’t tell him?” Marisol asked, “Nata you over here fighting civilians, who are in protective service over a guy? What’s going on with you?”

“I know. I fucked up. I fucked up.”

I didn’t know what else to say. I probably ruined everything. If Fidel came out of no where and if Fidel revealed himself everything I was working on would be ruined. Everything I was working on would be done. I had to find a way to stop this. I had to find a way to gain control of this situation. I knew Marisol was looking at me with doubt.

“You gay Nata?” Marisol asked me.

I looked over at her, “I have feelings for Shay. I’m not going to front.”

“You’re in way too deep. We need to pull you out,” she replied.

“Marisol---“

“No. It’s over…”

“I can’t just quit this now. I can do this. I just need more time,” I explained to her.

“Time is something you don’t need. For your safety we are ending this. Go clean up. We’ll put out teams to try to get Fidel back and we’ll get someone else on the case.”

“Someone else will go undercover?”

“Someone else is already undercover…”

“Who?”

“It doesn’t matter. Pack up everything in the apartment. You’re going back to your side of the town. Hell…honestly we might have to take your badge for this.”

“Take my badge? Marisol. I’m your brother in law.”

“You FUCKED up this entire investigation. Hopefully the new agent will be able to do better. Rule number 1 is don’t get involved with the people you are investigating. You’re off the case.”

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I went back into the apartment and started to clean it out. Fidel was missing. Shay was ignoring me. I hadn’t gotten any closer to busting GOG. The gang was still running the streets causing chaos. I had completely failed.

I could just hear my brother’s words already. I had no doubt Marisol was going to tell him what I stated.

I found myself just looking around when I heard a phone ring all of a sudden.

I looked down at the phone. It was Shay…

I was off the case. I should have just ignored his call. But I couldn’t. Shay wasn’t just a case to me.

I found myself picking up the phone, “Shay…there’s something I need to talk to you about…”

I didn’t know what I was saying. Was I willing to tell Shay everything? Was I willing to give it all up? I had to. I mean. Fidel was out. If Fidel was gone the first place he was going to go was to find Shay. Once he found Shay he would tell him everything.

Shay would hate me. At this moment I felt like Fidel just wanted to win Shay back. There was no way in hell I was about to let that happen. I had to come clean.

“Nata…”

Shay’s voice sounded distant. Almost scared.

“Shay are you ok?”

“Nata…I’ve been taken.”

My heart skipped a beat at that moment. Taken? What the fuck.

Immediately after Shay dropped the phone call another voice came on the line.

“Yo…is this somebody from GOG?” the voice stated.

The voice didn’t sound familiar. It was deep and masculine. The voice was very serious. My heart was skipping a beat at that moment. This wasn’t happening.

This was not FUCKING happening.

“Who the fuck is this?” I asked.

“Shay’s brother.”

“Kenyon?”

There was laughter at that moment. The laughter was cold.

“Naw bitch. Not Kenyon. My name is Donovan. From WAF pussy.”

What the fuck? That was the enemy gang. WAF was a gang who was at war with GOG. They were a bunch of gay bashers who were attempting to take over Miami. They were a reckless dangerous gang that I remembered from the force. Donovan’s name was well known as well. He was the leader of WAF. He had a lot of clout in the neighborhood. Everyone knew who he was.

He just happened to also be Shay’s brother…and enemy.

“What do you want?”

“Get your little faggots together and tell them Donovan said this,” he started off, “I got your little princess. And I want all the OGs come settle some real nigga shit if you want him back.”

With that he slammed the phone hard.

And I knew then there was no way in hell I was done with coming from under cover.

I had no choice but to go back. I didn’t hit Marisol up. I saw she was calling me back to back. I went ahead and just blocked her number. I should have been back by now giving them my recap report. I knew she was expecting me and that’s the reason she was calling like this.

“What’s this about?”

I turned to the right to see Felix and Tony standing there. They walked up to me.

We were on a bar at a beach. I had called everyone to have this meeting. I had to let them know what I found.

“Just have a seat guys…”

In the next few minutes. I saw Miguel walking up. Miguel wasn’t alone. He had two guys with him. I looked over at the guys and didn’t recognize them.

“Is this some kind of set up?” Tony asked me.

Miguel didn’t seem happy to see Felix or Tony either. His face grimaced.

“Don’t know body got to set your asses up,” Miguel replied shaking his head, “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here either.”

I looked over at the two boys with Miguel.

“I asked you to come alone.”

“These are my brothers. Chevy and Cadence.”

I looked over at the two brothers. I read Fidel’s file back in the day. Fidel had been charged with raping Miguel’s two younger brothers but he was found innocent in the case. Could these two be those boys? They seemed grown up now. They honestly looked a lot like Miguel. They were identical twins who were honestly pretty attractive. Both of them were slim and extremely tall. They weren’t muscular like Miguel but they both had his pretty boy face. They domed over the rest of us probably standing at 6’2” or so.

“It’s nice to meet them and all but what the hell are they doing here?” I asked shaking my head, “I asked for only the OGs to show up.”

“They are wwo new recruits in GOG. I’m showing them the ropes.”

“Brothers?” Tony asked, “Since when do you have people join the gang without consulting with other people. Were they jumped in?”

I hated to agree with Tony but since Rashad died it seemed like Miguel was on some kind of power trip. He was clearly disrespecting the structure of the gang. It was almost like he already thought he had taken over or something. I could tell Felix and Tony weren’t feeling it at all.

“My family don’t need to be jumped in or sexed in. They are family,” Miguel stated.

“Says who…”

“Says me,” Miguel replied.

Felix got up at that moment. Tony was right after him. I could tell things were getting heat. I saw Felix’s hand grab his strap. I wondered if it was possible that he was carrying. Things were about to get real nasty and I had to stop it.

“Guys I got you together for something else…” I told them, “Something serious.”

“Well where’s Shay?” Miguel asked, “Why doesn’t Shay have to be here?”

“Shay’s the reason we’re here.”

“What?”

I looked over at them, “Donovan took Shay. He called my phone and let me know we won’t get him back until we meet him.”

All of a sudden I could see everyone get just a little bit more serious. Felix was the first to sit back down. Tony of course followed suit. Miguel just stood there crossing his arms. I could tell they were in deep thought. They might have hated one another but it seemed like everyone in the group was kind of protective of Shay.

“When? Let’s go now,” Miguel stated.

“Don’t be stupid. It’s a setup,” Felix replied.

“That’s Shay…whatever issues we have right now…that’s Shay. He’s been around since the beginning. We don’t just leave him. That’s…that’s…family,” Miguel replied.

Miguel was a hothead. I always knew it but he had a point. Shay was the only one that everyone got along with. He was like the prize of GOG. He was the trophy.

Tony shook his head, “I have to agree with Miguel.”

I had never seen Tony disagree with Felix at least in public. The look on his face seemed to say it all.

“I’m not saying we don’t get Shay back. But we need to do it the right way,” Felix explained, “Put our differences aside and make plans.”

“Go to war?”

“Yes.”

They sounded serious. I felt uncomfortable at the table. This idea of going to war seemed like shit was going to get really bad. I feel like I just opened up something that was going to get uncontrollable. I could see the intensity in their eyes. I didn’t think anything could put Miguel on the same page with the other two but right now they definitely seemed to be remembering who the enemy was.

“We need to go all out,” Tony stated, “Everyone.”

“How do we go to war with no head?” Miguel asked.

“Let’s discuss it. Who do you guys want to lead?” Tony asked, “At least for now…”

“Nata…can you step away for some time?” Felix asked, “This is an OG discussion.”

I got up at that moment, “As long as I’m involved in the end. Shay means as much to me as he does to the rest of you….”

…if not more.

I gathered myself and started to walk away.

I found myself walking down the beach. I looked back at the OG table. They were having this discussion making these high level decisions. I felt so out of it not knowing what they would decide.

I was so concerned that I hadn’t noticed Chevy and Cadence walk up to me. The two brothers were standing close to me at that moment. They had their eyes glued on me.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

I didn’t get why they were staring at me like this.

“You shouldn’t be here?” one of the twins said.

“Excuse me.”

“You’re off the case. They said you were off the case,” the other twin said.

Holy shit…

The twins were undercover cops! They were my replacements!

The twins looked at me with the most serious faces, “And I’m sure you just fucked up our investigation and started the biggest gang war Miami will ever see…”

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