I want Marco and what belongs to me.” Meeks sounded maniacal and like he was off his fucking rocker.
I shifted away from Slider and slowly stood with my hands in the air.
“Marco!” Meeks called.
“Polo,” I replied.
Slider moved next to me but stayed down on the floor. There was a pile of debris blocking him.
“I hear you’ve been looking for me.” Meeks looked like hell. His hair was matted down on his head, and his nose was bleeding. The last time I had seen him, he had been dressed pretty slick, but now he was wearing a ripped jeans and a white shirt with dried blood stains all over it.
“You’ll have to forgive me for my attire today. I paid a visit to your friend Malman before I came over today.” Meeks chuckled. “The old coot didn’t even know who I was.” He swung the gun at me. “He knows now.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked. Malman had nothing to do with Meeks and me.
“I heard he tried to give you information about me.” He shrugged. “I didn’t appreciate it.”
“You opened a fucking can of worms if you killed Malman,” Apollo called.
Meeks shrugged again. “Like I fucking care about that. He didn’t respect me, so he had to fucking go. No one is going to miss him.”
That was where Meeks was wrong. If I wasn’t going to kill Meeks today, you could bet your ass Malman’s kids would seek their revenge.
“Where is Rider?” I asked.
Meeks laughed. “He’s grabbing something for me.”
A scream sounded down the hallway from the media room.
“Sounds like he has it.” Meeks turned his gun back on Apollo. “My son is going to walk down that hallway, and you’re not going to shoot him, you got it?”
Apollo clenched his jaw.
“Do what he says,” I said softly.
Apollo grunted but nodded. “Fine. But my offer of shooting you still stands if you take a shot at Marco, yeah?”
Meeks laughed but nodded. “Whatever, muscle.”
“Dad!”
“Come on out, Rider. You better have the girl,” he warned.
The door to the media room creaked open, and a woman cried.
It wasn’t Royal, though.
“You son of a bitch,” the woman called. “Put me down! I never should have even looked at you.”
Apollo flinched. He knew it wasn’t Royal either.
Something was happening, and we needed to figure out real quick what the hell it was.
“Would you get the bitch out here,” Meeks called. “Swear to fucking Christ, it’s like I dropped you on your head when you were a baby. Fucking moron.”
“Oh fuck,” Slider whispered.
We were able to see that Rider wasn’t walking down the hallway carrying a woman. It was Hero, and the woman slung over his shoulder was Bristol.
Everything shifted.
We had to play this the right way or Hero and Bristol were going to be dead when Meeks figured it out.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Hero called. His voice was muffled, and if I hadn’t seen it was Hero, I wouldn’t have known.
He had Bristol thrown over his shoulder, and she was kicking and carrying on so much that she kept blocking Hero’s face.
Hero stepped into the entryway and stopped.
“What in the fuck are you doing, fuckwad? Bring her over here,” Meeks thundered.
Bristol let out a blood-curdling scream, and Hero raised his arm at Apollo at the same time. “Surprise, motherfucker,” Hero shouted.
He tossed Bristol onto the floor, and that’s when gunfire rained down on Meeks.
From every angle, bullets hit him. His body was a ragdoll jerking back and forth. He collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. “No,” he croaked. “Marco,” he gasped.
The hail of gunfire stopped, and we all watched Meeks. His body was lifeless.
“Give me your gun,” I ordered Apollo.
Apollo handed me his gun.
I emptied the clip into Meeks body. It was unnecessary, but it made me feel better.
“What in the fuck was that?” Rigid shouted at Hero. “Were you trying to get fucking killed?”
“I had to do something. That fucker Rider tried to get into the media room. I thought on my feet. After I killed him, I heard his dad yell for him to bring the bitch, and it all just happened.”
Rigid ran his fingers through his hair. “I bet your mother is having a fucking aneurysm right now. Not to mention Reva.”
Chaos ensued with King and Rigid yelling at Hero while Pie made his way to Bristol to make sure she was okay. Hero had tossed her like she was a sack of potatoes.
“Marco!!!!!!”
The hair on the back of neck stood up. “Royal,” I gasped.
I struggled to make my