Free Hard Candy Saga by Amaleka McCall Page A

might’ve kidnapped Razor ass.”
    â€œDamn! That’s fucked up. Who would want to do that?” Candice asked calmly. Her stomach cramped as soon as she asked the question. Suddenly, she was on her feet, feeling the need to pace, a coping mechanism she’d acquired over the years to deal with rushes of emotions.
    â€œThey found his truck on the side of a road out in New Jersey. Girl, niggas in the streets are saying that he might be dead. It’s not like Razor to even miss a day—much less three days—calling Broady or coming around to make money.”
    Candice didn’t really know what to say to comfort Shana. “Why would somebody want to kidnap him? Did he owe somebody money? Did Broady do something to somebody?” Candice asked, pacing the room. She closed her eyes and tried to picture Razor’s face the night he’d followed her out of the club.
    â€œGirl, they finally put a thing about it in the paper. Just because his baby mother is making such a big deal about it.”
    â€œDamn! It’s in the newspaper?” Candice immediately thought about Uncle Rock and his daily morning newspaper review. Her heart thumped a little bit. She wondered what he would be thinking if he read about Razor in the paper, if he’d even realize who Razor was.
    â€œI still can’t see why somebody would want to kidnap a grown-ass man,” Candice said, wanting to hear Shana’s assessment of the situation.
    â€œWell, Broady is convinced it’s some uptown dudes that want to move in on his spots in Brooklyn. Broady had beef with some of them from back in the day. I heard Broady saying something about he recently got into something with these dudes. I think Junior and Broady will surely prepare for war if Razor don’t turn up soon. I’m telling you, this is not going to be a good look. If they don’t find Razor safe and sound, it’s about to be war out here, Candy.”
    Candice was quiet on the other end of the phone. The fact of the matter was, Corey “Razor” Jackson was missing, and she was one of the last people to see him alive and in the flesh.
    * * *
    Junior Carson paced up and down his living room floor, rubbing his neatly trimmed goatee with his left hand. All of his workers, including his brother, were silent. They didn’t dare interrupt him when he was thinking or pacing, or both. Junior finally turned toward his brown leather sectional, where all of his workers sat uncomfortably quiet and looking at their feet.
    â€œI leave for one fuckin’ week and y’all niggas go buck wild, partying e’ery day, flashing big money, beatin’ niggas up on the streets and embarrassing them. I mean, I can’t fuckin’ step out for a minute without shit getting out of hand.” Junior slammed his hands down on the oak bar that sat on the far left of his living room, near the sliding glass doors, making a few of his workers jump.
    â€œNow what the fuck are we supposed to do? Y’all sayin’ y’all think it’s niggas from uptown that got Razor, but why? Why would Phil and those cats even reach all the way down to Razor’s level if they were tryin’ to make a point?” Junior’s words were stiff and bitter as he looked each man in the face. His crew’s assessment of Razor’s disappearance just didn’t sit right with him.
    Broady jumped up and screamed, “It was those niggas! Hands down! Who the fuck else would do some shit like that? Brooklyn niggas know better!”
    What he failed to say was that just last week he and Razor had encountered Phil’s girlfriend in a club uptown. When Broady tried to push up on her and she refused him, Razor stepped in and tossed a drink in her face. Broady mushed the girl’s head so hard, it really constituted a slap, and she almost hit the floor. Broady was sure that she had reported the events of that night to Phil soon afterward,