Читать книгу Hardhearted: It's Better to Be Feared than Loved - Sherrod Tunstall - Страница 10

Chapter 1

The New Beginning

When Brad got out of the car without as much as a goodbye, Midnight sped off in the van like a bat out of hell. Swag looked back at his cousin for the last time before he saw smoke and nightfall cover Brad. Much love, cuz.

Swag turned back around and looked at Paco and his crew, plus Tyler and Travis, who continued their little party in the van. Swag couldn’t believe Tyler and Travis continued partying with Paco after losing their friend since junior high. He shook his head and felt disgusted that he had just lost the only trustworthy and loyal person that had his back, no matter what. He and Brad had been through a lot together growing up in St. Louis and coming from a fucked-up family. Brad, however, got to know his father, who turned out to be an asshole. Swag had never met his dad. He ran out before he was born. That had always bothered him, and after what had just happened, Swag sat back on the seat with a pounding headache.

He’d been through a lot these last few weeks, particularly from getting locked up in one of Brazil’s notorious prisons for trying to traffic drugs back to the United States. He was thankful that Paco Hernandez, the former head of the Hernandez Cartel of Texas and Mexico, saw potential in him and the fellas. If it weren’t for Paco, he and the fellas would’ve been someone’s bitch in that cell. The whole ordeal was scary, and Swag regretted what had happened to his friend, Stan, in prison. His conscience started to kick in, and Swag knew he was dead wrong for feeding Stan to the wolves. He should have known Stan wasn’t built for, or about, that life, and he had betrayed him.

Back in the day, he viewed Stan as one of the lucky ones who grew up in a two-parent home with a father, who was the chief of police of Creve Coeur, and his mother was a nurse-turned-homemaker and president of Creve Coeur Police Wives Club. She spent most of her days taking care of her home, family, and planning/organizing events for the club. Stan was living the dream that every little black boy in the hood wished they had. He grew up not wanting for anything, but then Swag remembered that Stan’s parents cut him off when they found out he flunked out at Lincoln University. After that, they made him get a job at the restaurant. It wasn’t enough to pay his bills, so when their friend Armand mentioned the 50K deal to the boys, Stan saw a way out of his financial state and a chance to get out of his parents’ home. Swag knew Stan was too much of a sheltered suburban type to take on this type of work, and in the end, it cost Stan his sanity, pride, and his life.

Swag knew Karma would come back to him, and even though he didn’t want to be in the van with the other fools, he was glad to be free thanks to his new connections and poisoning others. His job title had changed from drug dealer to stickup kid, thief, trafficker, and now, fugitive from justice. He was on the run and had to play low key for a minute. He missed his kids, Solomon Jr., aka Li’l Swag, and Namond. He really missed his down chick, Zaria, too. She’d held him down in the past, even though he’d lied and cheated on her with many of the thots in St. Louis. All they wanted was his money and jock. No one ever gave him unconditional love like Zaria. It was like what his late grandma used to tell him when he was little, “You don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone.” She was right, and so was Brad. He’d also told Swag what a good woman Zaria was, and all he could think about was why he hadn’t listened. He lowered his head, and with eyes full of sorrow and pain, all he could whisper was, “Damn.”

“Yo, Swag, yo, Swag, Swag!” Tyler shouted and interrupted his thoughts.

Swag lifted his head and looked at him. “What, dude?”

“Man, you wanna hit this?” Tyler placed a fat, twisted joint close to Swag’s nose so he could sniff it. He smelled it for a moment—it was a smell he missed while he was in prison. Since he was in desperate need to erase the bullshit that was happening in his life, he gave in.

“Pass that shit here, man.”

Tyler smiled and watched Swag take a hit. It took a second for the weed to affect him, but soon, Swag was fucked up and started to think happy thoughts. His head fell back, and with a broad smile on his face, the horrific memories of that day washed away.