“What!” I snapped.
She stood from the desk and walked over to me. “The name is Samara Calloway. The next time you decide you want to have an attitude with a bitch like me, make sure you know who you’re fucking with,” she said as she stuck something in my pocket.
I reached in and felt my pills. My eyes widened as I stared at her. She wore a smirk as she waved bye. I couldn’t fucking believe this. As if things in my life weren’t bad enough, everything seemed to revolve around the word downfall, and now its energy felt like it was attached to me, making me worry that everyone could see it.
DIO
PRESS PLAY
I blew out the smoke that I held in my lungs. “Nigga, I’m telling you that muhfucka got one more time and fah, fah, fah, fah,” I said to Streets.
He chuckled. “Nigga, you’re wild. I get it. You think he’s trying to push up on Samara or what?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but somebody got in her head. Now I’m getting crazy-ass heat from his ass. If the nigga knew better, he’d do better. What’s up with you, though?”
He looked at me like I was crazy, but he knew exactly what I was talking about. “I know you’re fucking with Dark and Lovely, my nigga. I mean, we talked about it. Just watch her ass is all I’m going to say. You know how we shake and move in the Zoo.”
He nodded slowly. “She and I are just cooling. Nothing serious. It’s a thing for the moment. You know—” he paused as he lifted his foot with the boot, “—during my downtime.”
I took another pull at the blunt. It was crazy how we all made excuses for why we fucked with the women we did. Deep inside, we knew we liked them, and they were the ones we wanted to be with,yet we found ways around the truth by making excuses. I laughed to myself when I thought about what some of the Big Brothers were saying about making excuses. All the while, I made excuse after excuse about why I stepped away from Mars. I wondered if she had gotten the flowers I sent.
Moments later, Beans pulled up. He had us meet him at his house. He hopped out of the car and waved for us to come inside. I put out my blunt and stepped out of the car with Streets. When we got inside, my mouth almost hit the floor.
“This shit fyiah,” I said to Bean.
The outside of the house looked regular, but the nigga had this shit laid in the inside.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Beans muttered.
“Clearly,” Streets added.
He moved around, grabbed a bottle from his bar, and brought it to the table. “Dio, no more smoking until you cross. I need you to stay on your square. Them niggas waiting on you to fail.”
Streets laughed loud as hell, making me grimace at him. “I fucking knew it. I knew you were pledging, my nigga. Explains the plain-ass clothes and no walking on grass and shit.”
I cut my eyes at Beans. “Tell everybody.”
Beans looked at Streets, then at me. “That nigga ain’t nobody, and he better not tell anybody.”
Streets threw his hands up. “I ain’t hear shit. However, good luck, my nigga. I don’t see how you do it.”
I didn’t know how I was doing it, but I was learning things. It was making me feel more disciplined. In my mind, it was shaping me into a stronger nigga.
I ran my hand over my head as I looked at Beans. “Shit, I have everything to gain. I’m not quitting. I feel like I’m losing my fucking girl to this shit, man. I have no choice but to see it through. I amgoing to tell you, though, that nigga Jesaiah’s ass is mine when it’s all over. I suggest you start looking to replace your dean now.”
Streets burst into laughter again. “Dio, you can’t kill the nigga.”
I sat there with a straight face. I poured myself a shot and took it back. “Nigga, I may be moving like a prince, but I’m still a demon. That nigga will be pushing daisies.”
Beans laughed and shook his head. “Man, shit. So, check it. We’re hitting up Hoodoo’s tonight. I’m not one of those niggas who’s into the club scene, but the bruhs are sliding through. We’re getting closer to probate season, which means Hell Week will be approaching, and I have to show my face. Dio, don’t bring your ass up there. Do you hear me?”
“Is Samara going?” I asked.
The way Beans looked at me, I knew she was going to be there. If my girl was going to be there, I would be there too, with or without Chi Kappa Chi’s permission. I took another shot with my niggas as my mind started to take a dark turn. Every thought I had was about Samara. I pulled out my phone and stared at her picture on my screen.
“You miss her?” I heard Beans ask.
“Like crazy. I want to tell her so fucking bad, dawg.”
