Treasure's Pain

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONEThe weather was quite nice that day. It was sunny with the occasional breeze. For as welcoming as it was that evening, an older man and his daughter were oblivious to it all. At the moment, they were at their loved one’s grave stone, standing with their fingers interlocked with one another’s. The daughter stood upright, holding a bouquet of roses while wetness slid down her cheeks. Her father took the time to pull out a folded handkerchief from his pocket and dab her face dry. His eyes bled his grief as well, but he knew at a time like this that he had to stay strong for the most important woman in his life now.

“You okay, baby girl?” Grief asked his child as he dried her cheeks. He looked sharp as f**k in his dark blue pinstriped suit and fedora. The black leather crocodile skin shoes, as well as their respective buckles were shining under the graces of the sun.

Treasure took the handkerchief from her father and began dabbing her own face dry.

“No, but I will be,” she claimed in her white blouse with the ruffled collar which she wore underneath a grey vest and matching pencil skirt that hugged her curves. The material embraced her lower half like Saran Wrap.

No matter how many times they visited her grave, no matter how many times they saw her name and image on the black marble stone, their minds refused to accept the fact that Rose Jones, Treasure’s mother and Grief’s wife, was dead. Every time they came out to visit her, they hoped that it was a nightmare and that they’d both be awaken from their sleep somehow. Every time they visited, they ended up being disappointed, depressed, hurt, and in turmoil.

Treasure got down on her knees before her mother’s grave and laid a bouquet of roses beside it. She then took the wine glass and the black bottle with the maroon label around the neck. Opening it, she poured the glass full and sat it on the other side of the grave stone, across from the flowers. Her father got down on his knees beside her and interlocked his fingers with hers. They stared down at the stone of the most wonderful woman either of them had known for a minute. Next, they hung their heads and shut their eyelids, saying a prayer that only they could hear. Once they’d finished, they got to their feet and met with Fat Rat and Buddah at the vehicle they’d been chauffeured in. Grief opened the back door of the car. He was just about to lead Treasure in when his left-hand spoke up.

“f**k is he doin’ here?”

Fat Rat tightened his jaws, and a vein bulged at his neck. Everyone else looked to see Pain standing at the hill. His eyes were focused down on them. There wasn’t any doubt in Grief’s mind that the young man had come to have a word with him. He couldn’t help but admire his bravery, being that he threatened to have him killed if he ever saw him again.

“You want me and Buddah to wet his lil’ young ass up, maine?” Fat Rat asked, trigger finger itching like he had poison ivy.

“Nah, I’d like to holla at him. Y’all two come with me.”

He turned to Treasure.

“Baby girl, you stay here. I’ll be right back.”

She nodded, and he kissed her on the cheek. After motioning for his niggas to follow him, he fell in step to go holler at that nigga, Pain, to see where his head was.

****

Pain stood on one of the many hills of the cemetery with his thumbs hooked in the loops of his jeans. He wore a navy-blue bandana around his forehead, a matching thermal, and ACG Nike boots with the laces untied. It was hot out, but the occasional cool breeze would disturb the hairs of his thick, nappy beard. Behind him was an old-school Cutlass, sitting on those big chrome thangs. His right-hand man, Epic, played the front passenger seat while their home boy, Lil’ Joe, sat in the backseat. At the moment, they were sharing a smoldering blunt between them, stinking up the interior of his ride. The two men looked to their home boy down to the people that he was focused on, who were a middle-aged man and a younger woman. They appeared to be standing over a grave stone, more than likely visiting a deceased loved one.

Pain had followed the middle-aged man and the younger woman, who were actually Grief and Treasure, to the cemetery. The thug was hoping to squash an old beef between himself and the OG. He came there looking for a peaceful conversation, but if he didn’t get one…well, let’s just say some real gangsta s**t was going to happen on those resting grounds.

“Pain…Pain.”

Hearing someone call his name, he slowly began to come back to the here and now.

“Huh?”

The husky man finally looked alive, turning toward the voice that was calling him. At the end of his line of vision, he found his home boy, Paco also known as Epic. His eyelids were narrowed into slits, and his eyes were red webbed. You could tell that his ass was high.

“Here, foolie.”

Epic passed Pain the withering blunt, smoke wafting from it. When Pain took the blunt, he looked down and saw the ashes sprinkled over his shirt. He sighed and brushed the ashes off of his person, hoping that the small embers didn’t burn any holes into his shirt.

Epic was a Haitian nigga of fair height and naturally curly hair. He had a cross inked between his eyes and two teardrops at the corner of his right eye. Located on his neck was a fading tattoo, Bullet Boy. Having lost both of his parents in a fire at the tender age of nine, he was sent to stay with his grandfather. It was there that he basically became the old man’s slave, attending to his every beck and call. When he failed to complete the chores that he was assigned, or hadn’t done them in the time frame he was given, he was beaten with a switch until he bled.

Living with his grandfather wasn’t all that bad though. The old man taught him everything he knew about voodoo. It took some time, but Epic eventually got the hang of the practice. After his grandfather passed away from natural causes, Epic made the streets his home and ran the city with other misfits like himself. It was there that he eventually linked up with Lil’ Joe, Pain, and his younger sister, Skylar. The three young men performed a blood brother ritual and promised to always stay down for one another.

“Damn, my nigga… Pain, you okay? Your head seems to be in another place,” Lil’ Joe said from the backseat, watching Pain take pulls from the blunt, letting a fog roll off of his tongue. He was a five-foot-seven cat of a brown hue. He had thick eyebrows and mustache. The nigga weighed a buck twenty-five soaking wet in boots.

Now, by no means was this little nigga giving it up in the streets like his homies, but don’t get it f****d up. He would bust his gun, but that was only if his back was against the wall. Lil’ Joe was the weakest in the trio’s link, and they knew this. For a long time while they were juveniles running the streets, he wasn’t accepted by them. He’d follow them around like a lost puppy, and occasionally be used as a punching bag whenever Epic was going through his s**t. Every now and again, the fellas would throw him a little something from the licks they hit. When it became clear that the little mothafucka wasn’t going anywhere no matter what was done to him, they finally accepted him into their little street family and put him down with the schemes they had planned. It wasn’t long before Lil’ Joe became as good as blood to them.

“I’m good,” Pain replied, blowing smoke into the air and then passing the blunt back inside to Lil’ Joe. When he finally turned around, he saw Grief and Treasure saying their final goodbyes to their loved ones whom he assumed was his ex’s mother.

“Yo, Pain… how you want us to handle this, big dog?” Epic inquired, watching any and everything around him.

“Just play it cool,” he replied.

“If old head on some bullshit, then we are taking it to the guns.”

“I hear you, fam.”

Epic took the bleezy from Lil’ Joe and settled in the front seat.

“But what if the princess gets in the way?” he asked, referring to Treasure. Pain stared at Treasure. He didn’t turn his head when he finally responded.

“No matter how it goes down, lil’ mama walks. That’s still my heart. A nigga can’t live without that. As far as Grief and the rest of them OG niggas, they can get it.”

“Straight like that,” Epic said. Pain finally looked at his right-hand and said, “Straight like that.”

He dapped both of his niggas up.

“Here them old niggas go now.”

Epic spotted Grief and his niggas approaching. He mashed the blunt out in the ashtray, then he and Lil’ Joe jumped out of the Cutlass. Wearing hard faces, they took their places on either side of Pain, hands lingering near the bulges on their waistlines. They didn’t give a f**k about the influence that Grief held over the city. If he dared to harm one f*****g hair on their home boy’s head, then bullets were going to fly.

“Whoa, now.”

Grief came up the hill holding up his hands in surrender. Fat Rat and Buddah were bringing up the rear.

“I came in peace, son. You can call off your dogs.”

“I came in peace, too.”

Pain gave Epic and Lil’ Joe a nod, signaling to them that everything was okay. With that, his niggas dropped their hands to their sides, but they still stood by their nigga’s side.

“What’s the deal?” Pain asked, and he kept his scowling face as he threw his head back.

“Well, there was a time that we were like father and son. We looked at one another as family.”

“Yeah, that was before you swore to have me killed,” he reminded the OG.

“Only after you broke Treasure’s heart,” Fat Rat butted in their conversation. Him opening his mouth got hostile looks from Epic and Lil’ Joe. Grief frowned and looked to his old friend. He turned to him and said something to him in a hushed tone, garnering a head nod from him. Home boy knew to stay in his place then. Grief turned back to Pain.

“Listen, son…uhhh, Trip. Can I call you, Trip?”

Pain shrugged and said, “It’s on my birth certificate.”

“Alright… Trip it is then.”

He nodded.

“You gotta couple of ticks to spare, Trip?”

Pain took a deep breath and shut his eyelids briefly, slowly nodding his head. Grief turned to his niggas and told them to stay where they were so that he could holler at the young man in private. Having left his men orders, the OG motioned for Pain to follow him. The two of them walked across the cemetery. Grief held his wrist behind his back, and Pain kept his hands inside of his pockets as they strolled along. He couldn’t help but wonder what the old man had to say to him. The last time they chopped it up, they swore that if they saw one another again that there was going to be gun smoke. Although it was all said out of anger, they both took what was said between one another very seriously.

“So what’s up, Bernard?” Pain addressed him by his government name. Grief looked to the young man with furrowed brows.

“Bernard, huh? I guess that’s just where we’re at with it.”

Pain continued to look ahead, wearing a straight face. The OG cleared his throat with a fist to his mouth.

“Do you still love my daughter?”

“A lil’ bit.”

“A lil’ bit my ass, Trip. You know besides Treasure’s own security, I have a couple of my guys follow her just as a precaution. There have been many occasions that they’ll spot you lurking there in the shadows. The first time, they were going to blow you away, but I gave them orders to fallback. I figured then that if you loved my baby girl like I love my Rose, then the two of you should be together, regardless of what anybody has to say, ya hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear you,” he stopped and faced him.

“And I do love her. I want her like I want my next breath.”

“Well, then you’re gonna have to prove it. I can tell you now that it’s not gonna be easy to win my baby girl over.”

“I can see that. A nigga been busting his ass try’na get her back, for real, for real, but she ain’t try’na f**k with me,” he told him straight up.

“She won’t accept my calls, text, or none of that s**t. I popped up at the house to see her, and she curved my ass. I’m all outta ideas now. I don’t know what to do, and truthfully…” he looked around to make sure no one was watching them and saw his niggas as well as Grief’s eyes on them.

“… I’m scared. I’m scared shitless.”

“Scared?”

Grief’s forehead ran with lines. He placed his hand on Pain’s shoulder.

“Scared of what?”

Pain fidgeted with his fingers for a minute, and then looked up at him with glassy eyes.

“I’m scared of losing the love of my life.”

Pain blinked his eyelids and swallowed the ball of nervousness in his throat.

“I’m absolutely terrified that’s she’s gone out of my life, and there’s nothing I can ever do to get her back.”

He looked down and continued to fidget with his fingers.

“Look at me, son,” Grief said as he gripped both of Pain’s shoulders and pressed his thumbs against his neck, trying to get him to look him in the eyes.

“Look at me.”

Reluctantly, Pain looked up at him, tears threatening to slide down his cheeks.

“You still gotta chance. My baby girl is still in love with chu. She’s just hurt. That’s all. She’s hurting real bad.”

He shut his eyelids briefly and took a deep breath.

“If you want her back, then you’re gonna have to start trying hard… real hard.”

“What do I do?”

“That I do not know,” he admitted.

“But I’ll tell you this… if you want something bad enough, then you’ll be willing to do any and everything in your power to obtain it. There is no such thing as ‘sky’s the limit’ when it comes down to love. You hear me?”

Grief tilted his head down and looked up at the thug.

“There is no such thing as ‘sky’s the limit’ when it comes down to love. You got that?”

Pain nodded and wiped away the tears that trickled from his eyes.

“Good. Now, gimme some.”

He opened his arms, and Pain embraced him. The OG kissed him on the side of the face and embraced him tighter, patting him on the back.

“I love you, son.”

“I love you too, pop.”

He patted his back. They broke their embrace, and Grief patted him on his shoulder. He then gave him a nod and retreated back to his men. Pain watched the old heads board the limousine, leaving the chauffeur holding up the back door for Treasure. Oddly enough, she was standing beside the limousine and staring up at Pain, eyes lingering on him. At that precise moment, tears slowly descended down their cheeks, looking like small crystals below the sunlight. The staring seemed to have lasted a century, until Treasure slipped on her shades. Pain stood there until the limousine had vanished. Afterwards, he retreated back to his Cutlass where his home boys were. Epic and Lil’ Joe embraced him in a group hug. Right after, they got back inside of the hood classic and took their leave.