“Come on,” I whispered.
I hiked her up enough for her to reach the window and squeeze inside. Once she was in, she reached out for my hand. I went to jump up but stopped. First, the shit reminded me of what went down with Esteban back in New York, and second, what was the point of this when the nigga was a dead man walking anyway?
Apple glanced down at me. “Are you coming or what?”
I looked up at her. “Man, I’m not doing this shit. Something ain’t right,” I told her.
She smacked her lips. “Fine. I’ll do it myself.”
“I’m out,” I told her.
She waved me off before disappearing into Jesaiah’s crib. I pulled my hoodie down and jogged away. What I wanted to do to that nigga didn’t call for snooping around. My mind was already manic; I didn’t need to add fuel to the fire. I needed to try to save any piece of humanity I had left. I hoped Apple got whatever she was looking for, but I couldn’t be the nigga to be by her side. Shit, where I should have been was by Mars’ side, but I chose Chi Kappa Chi. My relationship was strained because of it, and I wasn’t doing anything that could have potentially resulted in me fucking up my chances of seeing this shit through.
By the time I reached campus, it had started raining. I was trying to quickly jog back to my room when I saw Brian calling out to me.
“The Dead Zone!” he shouted.
“Fuck!”
I ran back to the parking lot, unlocked my car, and got in. Moments later, Brian came over, tapping on the window before opening the door and getting in.
“Where is everyone else?” I asked.
He pulled the hoodie off his head. “At the Dead Zone. I waited for you. But check this out.”
Brian pulled out his phone to show me a fucking video of Anika and me going back and forth. I laughed. “She tried it,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, but the video has no sound, so anyone who watches it might think you’re engaging with a woman while you're on the line. This is a bad look.”
I became pissed. Then I thought about Samara.Is that why shecalled me?I banged on the steering wheel. “Fuck! Who sent you that? Where did you get it from?”
He shrugged. “It was a little website created. A bunch of people are on there.”
I didn’t give a fuck about anybody else. All I cared about was me and what that shit looked like. I knew if he had this, then so did Mars.
I started my car and took off. I tried calling her as I made my way to the Dead Zone, but she didn’t answer. I knew once I was done with this, calling her again would be the first thing I’d do. I found it odd that they were meeting at the Dean Zone when Apple said they were Hoodoo’s. I hoped like hell she got what she needed and got the fuck out of there. Maybe it was a good thing we were meeting up because it would allot her more time to do what she needed.
When I pulled up, we hopped out and jogged further into the woods, only to see one of the bruhs’ cars’ headlights beaming on the rest of the guys who stood there in the rain.
“Fuck!” I muttered.
Without excuses, Brian and I quickly rushed over and got in formation. Of course, with us being late, it was an automatic fifty push-ups. Doing push-ups in the mud while it was raining was treacherous. Once we were done, I noticed someone was missing. Thick Neck wasn’t here. The bruhs made us run the show routine in the rain, all while I was hoping that Apple got her ass out of Dean Thick Neck’s crib. If not, shit was about to be like a bad science project. If he caught her, he was going to eat her ass up like acid, just as Samara was going to do to me if she saw that video.
APPLE
I wasn’t surprised that Dio backed out. It was just like the guys who joined Chi Kappa Chi. They were dedicated and did not want to mess up their opportunity. It was their frat over everything. All I wanted was something that showed Jesaiah was out here doing more than being the Dean of Pledges. His ass was evil, and people needed to know.
I turned my phone’s light on and began moving around Jesaiah’s place. Oddly, it was clean as hell. It gave OCD serial killer vibes.
As I moved through his small apartment, the sound of the upstairs neighbors stomping and moving around reminded me of another reason why apartments weren’t for me. I made my way to his room to see a neatly made bed. The first thought was to fuck it up, but I wasn’t here to be petty. The first place I looked was the nightstand beside his bed. When I noticed a picture frame, I picked it up to see him, two older women who looked almost alike, another older lady, and a young girl whom I could have sworn I’d seen before.Probably another victim,I thought.
I set the picture down and began going through his drawers.Socks, grinder, condoms, lube, papers, and pills. I picked up the bottleof pills and stared at the name. At first, I thought they were pills he may have gotten from Harlem, but it didn’t look like any I had seen him with. I opened my phone and began entering the name to see what they were for when I heard the front door open and close.Shit, shit, shit.I got so scared, I dropped the bottle, rushed to the closet and got in. His footsteps grew closer until he was in the room. “Paddle, paddle. Fuck did I put that paddle?” he muttered to himself.
When I glanced down at my phone, my light was still on. I struggled to turn it off when the description of the pills appeared on my screen. “What the fuck!” I yelled.
That was when the closet door went flying open. Jesaiah stood there looking like the monster he was. I began swinging on him.
“You’re sick!” I shouted.
