Diamonds and Pearl Read Online Free Page A

protector, but he had failed to save John-Boy. Everyone knew it wasn’t Diamonds’s fault and nobody held him accountable, but his heart was still heavy with guilt.
    Standing just behind Diamonds was roughly three-quarters of what remained of his crew. The small fire they had managed to erect on the patch of mud sputtered as drops of rain fell to their deaths in the heat. They’d created a small tent of sticks and leaves over it to keep the fire lit, but it was waning, as was their time in the Big Easy.
    Buda stood closest to the river, whispering softly to his brother’s corpse. Every so often he’d take a deep swig from the bottle of whiskey clutched in his hand. Buda had never been much of a drinker, because he couldn’t hold his liquor, but he had been making slow love to the bottle for the better part of an hour. He hadn’t said much since they’d left the stash house, but he wore his feelings on his face. It looked like somebody had ripped his heart out. John-Boy was the last of his blood kin, and being that neither one of them had any children, Buda represented the last of their bloodline.
    Vita sat alone on a rock, polishing a dented gold horn with an oil rag. It was what she did when she was nervous, or angry. For as long as any of them had known her, the horn had been an extension of her heart, and you could always tell what was in it by what she chose to play. If you asked Vita about her relationship with the horn, she’d tell you that she could articulate herself through music in a far better way than she could through words. Every so often her gaze would drift to John-Boy’s body and she would start crying again. Vita and John-Boy had fought like cats and dogs in life, but next to Buda, she took his death the hardest. They’d had a nasty argument that morning over the fact that Diamonds didn’t want her going with them when they took off Slim. Vita was a down-ass solider, and her gun went off when called on, but she was still young and somewhat green. This was the reason Diamonds gave for not wanting her along, but others suggested different.
    There were mixed feelings amongst the team, so they put it to a vote; John-Boy had sided with Diamonds and voted against Vita. He, too, claimed it was for her own safety, but Vita accused him of wanting to cut her out so he could get a bigger split of the pie for putting in the work, which led to words being exchanged. The two of them arguing was hardly unusual, but Vita had said some hurtful things to John-Boy, and now that he was dead, she’d never be able to take them back.
    Goldie paced back and forth while mumbling under his breath. Every so often he’d look down at his watch and shake his head so hard that Diamonds feared it would fall off his shoulders. John-Boy’s death had affected Goldie, too, but he processed grief differently than most. Instead of being sad, Goldie channeled his grief into balls of rage. When he was hurt, he wanted to hurt people. Diamonds had to be sure to keep an extra eye on his little brother, because Goldie could be a wild card when he was in his feelings, and his temper could derail their whole plan.
    Diamonds couldn’t say he didn’t understand why Goldie was so irritated. In addition to everything else they had going on, Dip had gone missing. After the robbery they had all split up with plans to meet on the riverbank at ten o’clock to see John-Boy off. From there they would head to Texas, where Diamonds had a deal in place to sell off some of the dope they’d stolen, before heading to Florida. It was nearly eleven, but there was still no sign of Dip.
    â€œWhere the fuck are these niggas?” Goldie asked for what felt like the hundredth time in the last fifteen minutes. He was incredibly impatient.
    â€œYou gonna wear a hole in them Timberlands if you don’t stay still,” Diamonds warned.
    â€œFuck these boots. I can buy twenty more pairs when we