Chasing Bliss (27 page)

“I don’t think you should tell Cyrus shit. If Wolf and his pals
do
show up, you should lock him
in the VIP room with Cyrus and his crew and let the best man win,” J.T. interjected.

“Sounds like a plan.” Chase walked over to Corey and put his hand on his shoulder. He loved
his little brother to death and always had, even if he was better at showing it than saying it. “I love
you, Corey. Stay close to me tonight okay?”

Corey looked startled at first, but then he laughed. “I love you, too, Chase. I ain’t no punk,
though, and I can handle myself.”

“I never called you one. Just don’t argue with me, Corey, and do like I asked you to.”

Corey shook his head. “You
always
treat me like a damn little kid, Chase. In case you hadn’t
noticed, we ain’t walked home from no schoolyards in years.”

“I don’t think this is a good time to raise up, youngster,” J.T. said.

Corey narrowed his eyes at him. “Mind your business, J.T.”

J.T. smiled. “I
am
.”

Corey looked at Chase resentfully.

“Fuck, Corey, just humor me,” Chase said.

Corey shrugged. “Fine. Consider me your goddamned shadow.”

“Thank you. Now, if y’all are ready, let’s go. We’ll sit at the bar and watch who drifts in and
out of this place.”

******

An hour went by, then another. Though Chase hadn’t called in any favors to any of the many
celebrities he knew, asking them to make an appearance, more than a few showed up to show
Cyrus some love, through Chase. At the end of the second hour, Chase stood up and stretched.
Cyrus’s club opening was a success, even if he didn’t think enough of Chase to at least pop his
head out of the VIP room. Chase didn’t really give a shit. The club could fall to ruin the very next
day for all he cared. He’d done his job, and the rest was Cyrus’s problem.

Still, Cyrus’s blatant disrespect for him bothered him a lot more than he cared to admit. He was spitting in his
face by holing up in the VIP room like that, and Chase was tired of waiting his ass out. He drank the rest of his
Pellegrino, but it didn’t do anything to put out the small flames of anger he felt for his brother, and his radar was
still up. He turned away from the bar.

“Where you goin’, Chase?” J.T. asked. He’d been watching him like a hawk since the night
started.

Chase smiled to himself. J.T. always had his back, and he always cared where his head was at.
He looked over at Corey, who had his back to him, trying to talk to some honey. Chase didn’t think
either one of his brothers would hold him down like J.T. Cyrus wouldn’t because he didn’t give a
shit, and Corey probably wouldn’t because he was so used to Chase holding
him
down like steel
that he probably didn’t even know how. Chase looked back at J.T. “I’m gonna go holler at Cyrus
and find out why he ain’t showin’ his face.”

J.T. shook his head. “I don’t know why you keep lookin’ for somethin’ he ain’t never gonna
give you, Chase.”

Chase stared at him. “I ain’t lookin’ for shit. I just want to know why he’s bein’ rude.”

J.T. sighed. He looked like he was thinking about saying something slick, but given Chase’s
current mood, he wasn’t sure that would be the way to go. “You want me to come with you?”

“Nah, that’s okay. You stay here with Corey.”

J.T. nodded. “Don’t be too long, or I’m comin’ up. I got my own qualms about this shit.”

Chase walked out of the bar area and through an alcove to his right. He went up the spiral
staircase to the VIP room, looking everywhere at once. The music in the club was so loud that he
couldn’t hear shit, and it was giving him a headache. He turned left and entered the VIP room.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, it registered that he hadn’t called Bliss, but that would have to
wait. Chase had a feeling what he’d been waiting for all night was just around the corner.

It was off the chain up there, and it was no wonder Cyrus hadn’t brought his ass downstairs. It
looked like Cyrus had his whole crew up there partying hard and drinking champagne straight out
the bottle. Cyrus and Khalid were holding court in one of the big round booths, smoking trees, with
women hanging on their arms and wannabe hustlers hanging on their every word.

Chase looked around. Everyone in the room seemed to be over their fucking limit—some more
than others. There was even a brother in the corner getting a blowjob like he was in his bedroom.
Chase walked over to Cyrus’s table and stood there staring at him.

Cyrus was so high that he didn’t even see him at first, not until Khalid hit him in the shoulder
and nodded in Chase’s direction.

Chase smirked at him and nodded. “Cyrus.”

Cyrus laughed, grabbed a bottle of champagne off the table, and started pushing his way out
of the booth. He finally made it, and Chase stepped back. Cyrus was one drink away from being
totally fucked up, and Chase was disgusted.

“Cyrus, look at you. You twisted back man.”

Cyrus swigged out the bottle. “Yeah, I am. You give a great party, Smoke, and I’m grateful, but
if you want to talk to me, you gotta follow me to the head. I gotta get rid of some of this liquor.”

Chase was so surprised by the compliment and the thanks that he followed Cyrus into the
bathroom without a second thought. He watched Cyrus as he set the champagne on the counter and
turned his back to him to use the urinal. “Glad you’re satisfied, Cyrus. You get any weird feelings
about tonight?” Chase asked, running his thumb along the scar under his jaw. He shook his head,
watching Cyrus, and answered his own question. “Never mind. You’re probably too fucked up to
notice.”

Cyrus flushed the urinal and fixed his clothes. He turned and looked at Chase in exasperation.
“Why you gotta say shit like that, Smoke? You always say shit to piss me off. I was
tryin’
to be nice.
I wasn’t tryina fuck with you. I didn’t bring up the fact that I should be walkin’ a mile in your ass
right now for breakin’ my nose—twice—now did I?”

Chase looked at him grimly. “No, Cyrus, you didn’t.”

Cyrus washed his hands and retrieved his champagne bottle. He swayed a bit. “Good. Then shut
the fuck up.”

Just as Cyrus was turning the bottle up again, there was a thunderous
crash
from the VIP room.
They both dropped into crouches, sending the champagne bottle crashing to the floor and exploding
into shards. Cyrus pulled his gun out as Chase made his way to the door, still in a crouch. He
cracked it open and saw that people were screaming, and there was the unmistakable sound and
stench of gunfire. “Shit!” Chase muttered.

Cyrus started for the door, and Chase stood up to his full height. He stood between Cyrus and
the door and put his hand on his chest. “You can’t go out there like that! You’ll get yourself killed.
Gimme your gun…I know you got another one.”

“Fuck
you
,”
Cyrus said. Panic was working its way into his eyes, delayed because he was
high.

Chase snatched his gun out of his hand, without saying anything else. He gave Cyrus a dark
look. “I can get you out of here, stupid.”

A bullet punched through the door near Chase’s right shoulder. It zinged through the air and
shattered the mirror.

“Don’t fuckin’ move! I’ll send somebody back to get you.” Chase went out the door with
Cyrus’s nine in his hand, almost duck walking. There was a man directly in front of him, firing into
the crowd with his back to Chase. Chase gave him a quick once-over. He didn’t know the guy, and
it was time for the shooter to go down. Chase thought of using his razor, but the gun was already in
his hand. He walked right up to him, stuck his gun behind his right ear, and pulled the trigger.

The man’s brains exited through his left temple and splashed his boy, who was standing next to
him, reloading.

“Joe!? Oh shit, man!” was all he had a chance to say before Chase grabbed him in a headlock
and pulled him back toward the bathroom. Chase tucked Cyrus’s gun into his waistband and pulled
out his razor. He flicked it open and held it in front of his captive’s face.

The hostage immediately started mewling and trying to fight.

“I see you know who I am. Wolf send you?”

He was fighting so hard that he almost broke free.

Chase tucked his lips in and cut the man’s right ear off with one swipe of the blade. “Stop
fightin’, or I’ll cut your fuckin’ throat.. Is Wolf here?”

“Noooooo! Jesus Christ!”

“How many of you motherfuckers are here?”

He developed a case of lockjaw again, and Chase opened his scalp up.

“
Jesus
! Ten! There’s ten of us!
Please, man
!”

“Fuck you,” Chase said and cut his throat. He pushed him away and let him fall like yesterday’s
garbage. Chase didn’t want his face exposed, so when he walked into the VIP room, he snatched
a cap off a guy fleeing toward the stairs and put it on his own head. The whole place was a mess.
Some people were already shot up, some were still shooting, and others were crushing each other
trying to get down the spiral staircase.

Chase spotted Khalid, who was blazing his gun and bleeding profusely from a shoulder wound. He caught
one dude in the head, and the guy went down. Chase made his way over to the fire exit and threw the door open.
He started pushing people through, knowing others would follow and free up the stairway.

When he turned around, Khalid was right next to him. “Where the hell is Cyrus?’

“In the bathroom.”

“What’s he doin’? Takin’ a fuckin’ shit?” Khalid asked harshly.

Chase shrugged and stepped away. “Go figure. I’m checkin’ for Corey. Go get him.” Chase
hurried down into the pandemonium that was the main floor. People were running and breaking
out. The party was over. Chase got to the middle of the floor and did a 360.
Okay. There ain’t any
shootin’ going on down here.
As soon as he thought it, a shot rang out, followed by a chorus of
screams, and Chase turned in time to see J.T. step away from a man going down slow, holding his
chest. Chase didn’t see Corey anywhere, so he made his way over to J.T., who’d put some distance
between himself and the man on the floor. “Where’s Corey, J.T.?”

“I’m not real sure, but the cops are most likely on their way. We need to be ghostin’, Chase…
NOW!”