Page 28 of Omar

But I thought about him anyway. His hand on my arm. The way he'd said my name like he'd been holding it in his mouth for fourteen years and finally got to let it out.

I was in trouble.

And I didn't care.

Chapter 11

Omar

The barbershop on Flatbush was quiet when I walked in just after noon. Three chairs, two barbers, one customer getting lined up in the back. The bell over the door made everyone look up. The barber working the clippers stopped mid-fade.

"Shop's closed," he said.

I walked past him to the office in the back. The door was locked. I put my shoulder into it once and the frame cracked. Second time it opened.

Darius Webb sat behind a desk counting cash. He looked up when I came through and his hand went for the drawer but I was already across the room. I grabbed his wrist, pinned it flat on the desk, pushed my thumb into the pressure point until his fingers opened and whatever he was reaching for stayed where it was.

"Omar." His voice came out strained. "Man, what the fuck?"

I let go of his wrist and sat down in the chair across from him. The cash was still spread across the desk. Looked like maybe four thousand, all small bills. Protection money from the block, probably. Darius ran collections for one of TK's mid-level guys. Not important enough to matter but connected enough to know things.

"You been moving product through Bed-Stuy," I said.

"Nah, man. That ain't me. I don't touch that side."

I reached across the desk and picked up one of the stacks. Counted it without looking at him. Two hundred. I set it back down.

"Two of your boys got picked up last night on Nostrand. Both talking about how they work for you. Both saying you sent them to set up on our corners."

"They lying." Darius's voice went higher. "I ain't never sent nobody to Bed-Stuy. That's on them."

I stood up and walked around the desk. He tried to push his chair back but there was nowhere to go. I put one hand on the armrest and leaned down close enough that he had to look at me.

"You got two choices," I said quietly. "You can tell TK to keep his people off our blocks. Or I can make sure you ain't running collections for nobody no more."

"Aight, aight." He put his hands up. "I'll handle it. I'll talk to my boys. Won't happen again."

I straightened up and walked back around the desk. Picked up three of the cash stacks and put them in my jacket.

"What you doing?" Darius half stood. "That's TK's money."

"Now it's tax for stepping on our territory." I looked at him. "You got a problem with that?"

He sat back down and shook his head.

I walked out of the office and through the shop. The barbers and the customer all had their eyes on their phones, nobody looking up, nobody seeing anything. The bell rang when I pushed through the door and the street noise came back in.

Devon was in the car half a block down. I got in and handed him the cash.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Darius gon' keep his boys out of Bed-Stuy."

Devon counted the money and put it in the glove box. "Kadeem want you back at APEX. Said he got some intel on the TK situation."

I checked my phone. No missed calls. "Tell him I'm running down a lead on the vehicle plates you flagged. I'll be there in two hours."

Devon looked at me. "You good?"