I grabbed the tarp I had folded behind my parking spot and covered my bike before heading for the elevator. Once inside, I hit twelve to take me to the top floor. I’d been renting in this building since I bought Chrome and started to make a profit. The elevator dinged once I made it to my floor; I made my way to the end of the hall and let myself inside.
I stayed in an industrial-style two-bedroom loft. I kept the essentials here and nothing more. The only reason I had the extra room was in case one of the guys got too drunk or had a problem—but that wasn’t often.
I made a beeline for the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, then took a seat on the couch and closed my eyes for a few minutes.
I needed to get my head right before Juelz showed up. Solana was the last thing I needed on my mind—not when I had Black Thorn shit to handle. That woman was going to take me through it… and I damn sure didn’t mind.
Thirty minutes went by when the doorbell went off. I grabbed my phone from the coffee table and checked my cameras. Juelz held his hand up in front of the camera, flicking me off. I chuckled and stood from the couch, then stretched before heading for the door.
I pulled the door open, and Juelz was smirking. I waved him off and walked away, allowing him to close the door behind himself.
“Why every time I see you, you’re grumpy? I just knew being around shorty, who owns the shop, would have sweetened your ass up or something.” I stopped abruptly and glanced over my shoulder.
I lifted a brow in his direction, still no smile in sight.
“Worry about how thirsty you are being over a woman that’s damn sure not going to give you the time of day if you asked.”
“Yeah, aight. Why she give me her number then?” Juelz asked.
I tried to hold back my smirk when I turned to fully face him.
“She seems like the type who likes to help with charity and shit.”
Juelz lifted a brow and cracked up. I couldn’t help but to join in because this man didn’t have any sense.
“Fuck outta here.” he waved me off, then took a seat on the couch.
I crossed my arms over my chest, needing to get to business. This situation with Rafe was starting to piss me off. He was questioning the fuck out of my leadership, and I wasn’t in the mood to hear shit from the Crown, especially when they placed me in this position with the confidence that I would get shit in order around here.
“What you find out?”
Juelz leaned forward from the couch, resting his forearms across his knees.
“Rafe is out here using the Thorns’ name to get all types of shit, man. They’re giving him the shit off the strength of you essentially. I don’t know why they haven’t been double checking with you. But these muthafuckas’ don’t care as long as they get paid.”
I released a breath.
I knew exactly where this shit was going—and how I’d have to handle it.
“What kind of shit? I need you to be specific about who we are dealing with.”
“Guns, gas, pills, even the white shit man. He got his hands in some of everything and, according to a few of the dudes on the block. It’s all the old heads outside of a few who’ve been doing the shit right along with him.”
I nodded and walked over to the large glass windows overlooking downtown Rose Haven.
I hated going back there—back to the version of me that handled shit differently—but if I didn’t get rid of Rafe and his boys, shit wasn’t going to be good for the town. It had been a while since Rose Haven had a drug problem.
I’m not saying none was being sold, but we’d taken that shit out of the Black Thorns’ hands and kept it from overrunning the town. The local crews were in agreement with that. There were plenty of neighboring towns for them to move that shit.
I turned to face Juelz with a stone glare.
“I think I’ve been too cool with these muthafuckas’. I guess it’s time to introduce them to the other side of me that demands order and respect. I’m gone need you to call up Benny, Rico, Money, and Ace. Tell them we need to chop it up tomorrow at the spot. It’s gone have to be before 7pm though. I got shit to do. But, I need to get some things in place and I need you to figure out exactly who he is getting supply from. We cutting that shit off before we cut him down. I’ll handle the Crown.”
Juelz stood, gave me a nod, then came over to dap me up before heading out. I locked up behind him and made my way back to the window. Rose Haven was mine, and Rafe’s greed wasn’t about to fuck it up.
PRIVATE THORN MEETING
I pulled my bike into the warehouse and parked it along the wall. Juelz, Money, Ace, Rico, and Benny stood in the center of the room in all black. Each of them knowing what was up if I told them to meet me here. Not every Thorn knew of this place.