"Royce" Part 8

Click here for previous "Royce."

"Albany, I have heard that you were involved in what happened to our brother. Please tell me it's not true."

Anne sat across from Albany at a hole in the wall bar near Royce's apartment. Albany brought Oberon and Djinn along. Anne brought Lady. So while Anne talked to Albany to find out the truth their help sat at a nearby table.

"I had nothing to do with the attack on Royce. I was very saddened by what I hear happened to him. I was planning on visiting him but he was taken away before I could" Albany said. He tried to hide his smirk underneath his mustache. "I heard he killed over twenty people leaving."

"It was thirty three. He was leaving whether they wanted him to or not, you know how he is. And seeing as how I know you know how baby brother is you know that if he finds out that you had anything to do with that attack, he will kill you. He would kill me if he knew that I was even talking to you."

Anne remembered for a moment all those years ago when Royce shot both her and Albany. She took a bullet in the arm. Albany took two in the leg. His cane is his own personal reminder of what not to say to Royce.

"Have you seen him since the accident?" Albany asked.

"Accident my ass!" Anne screamed. "That was a calculated assault! They broke his arm, leg, fingers, his collarbone, and six of his ribs. He had more than fifteen lacerations all over his body. Accident. You must be kidding."

"Well, he has made a lot of people unhappy in his life" Albany said.

"Yes, he has, brother. You being one of them" she said as she tapped his cane.

At the other table Lady sat opposite Oberon and Djinn. Djinn sat eating almonds that he brought himself. He stared at the table Anne and Albany were seated at. He never was a fan of loose women. And Anne was the living embodiment of all that was wrong with women in power. Oberon smiled and winked at Lady. She gave him the finger and rolled her eyes in return.

"I am used to you usin' the other hand, sexy" Oberon said to her. "You look good. Back in the day you looked like a bucket of shit, but that fat bitch fixed you up nice. I'd never guess you were a fucking crack head." Oberon shifted his weight a bit, uncomfortable sitting so close to Djinn.

"Fuck you" Lady said. "Just 'cause I gotta sit at this table with you don't mean I gotta talk to your monkey ass. Now just sit there and shut the fuck up."

"You sound like this nigga here" Oberon said pointing to Djinn. Djinn sighed and looked at Lady. He saw her hand and smiled.

"What did you steal, woman?" Djinn asked Lady.

"What the fuck you talkin' about, Apu?" she asked. She had met Djinn many times and heard some stories about him from Anne. She has never liked him. She did a few jobs with him and hated him more each time.

"Never answer questions with questions, woman. What did you steal?" Djinn repeated.

"Naw, man" Oberon said. "She ain't stole nothing but my heart. Ladine, where dude is from if you steal some shit they chop ya fuckin' hand off. That's some wild shit, huh? Genie, she got her shit blown off. Guess how" he said to Djinn. Djinn shrugged.

"Shut up, Obie" Lady said.

"Now she tryin' to sweet talk a nigga by callin' me 'Obie'. Albany said she fuckin' grabbed the barrel of a gun that someone aimed at Anne! What the fuck was you thinkin'?" Oberon motioned to a waitress to come over.

"Yes, sir?" she asked.

"Bring me a beer or some shit. Ya'll want anything?" he asked.

"I'll have a vodka straight. No ice" she told the waitress.

"And you, sir?" the waitress asked Djinn. He ignored her.

"He cool" Oberon told the waitress. "Vodka straight? You been hanging with that creepy nigga Royce too much" Oberon said. "Do he talk to you?"

"He don't talk to anybody" Lady replied. "Not even her" she said motioning to Anne. 

Back at their table Albany finished the rest of his brandy. Anne waved the bartender over.

"Bring me another whiskey", she told him. "Albany, I don't think you are taking this as seriously as you should. That only leads me to believe that you did indeed have something to do with this."

"Believe what you will. Go and tell the monster that I ordered him attacked. Tell him that I had his car rigged to explode when he started it. I honestly do not care" Albany said.

"What did you say about his car?" Anne asked.

"Excuse me?" Albany replied.

"You said something about his car being rigged to explode. Lady didn't find an explosive until the day after Royce was attacked. How did you know about the bomb?" she asked, leaning uncomfortably close to Albany.

"I did not say anything about a bomb." Albany cursed himself inside.

"Lady" Anne called to her. "Let's go. We have something to do." 

Lady took her vodka and drank it in one quick gulp. Normally she savored the drink but she was happy to leave Oberon and Djinn behind. Oberon stared at Lady's ass as she left the table.

"Man, you shoulda seen what she used to look like!" he said to Djinn. "Bitch was all kinds of nappy headed and shit. All skinny and shaky. Anne fixed her the fuck up." Djinn looked over at Albany and knew he had made a mistake.

"We should find out what new problem our employer has just made for us" Djinn told Oberon.

"What? He's good, man", Oberon said.

"No. He isn't. He said something that he wasn't supposed to. This will end badly", he said.

"Fuck it" Oberon said. "Let's go. Mister Danish don't make mistakes." They walked over to Albany and he was smoothing his mustache and breathing heavily.

"Are you okay, sir?" Djinn asked.

"No" Albany replied. "It appears I have made a grave mistake."