CHAPTER 1: WHODIE
A year had passed since Adore and I let the streets know we were official. Since then, it’s been bitch ass nigga after another. Ever since I laid eyes on Adore, protecting her came natural for me. It was never about who was above who. I respected who she was and how far she had come. Just as she respected what I brought to the table. But the streets? Them niggas couldn’t stomach the shit. Most of the time, I tried to handle shit before it even got to her. All I wanted her to do was give orders and be pretty. That shit never worked. She loved being in the thick of things.
Just yesterday, I got word that one of our very own was feeding a nigga information. The nigga was taking money under the table to tell what the fuck we were doing. From the stash houses, childhood house, and store locations. He had completely told our whole operation and I wanted the nigga head on a platter. After questioning his ass yesterday, his dumb ass never met the person that was calling the shots. He was just giving out shit and didn’t know who he was feeding it to.
I knew a lot of street niggas was gonna feel a way about a woman taking over so much territory. They forgot that I was standing behind her like the fucking grim reaper, ready to slide on a bitch ass nigga about her.
Now the same nigga was hanging upside down in an abandoned warehouse deep in the industrial district. With piss and shit running down his body and pooling on the concrete under him.
I walked in and headed to him. This was supposed to be a meeting. A reminder to the crew about how things worked around here. Most of the crew was already inside. Adore had already texted and said she would pull up not long after me. I wanted these few minutes alone with this nigga. Just to get some shit off my chest before Adore got here. Pulling my blunt from my ear, I lit it and blew smoke in his face.
“Somebody wake this nigga up. I’m not touchin’ his ass with shit all over him,” I told one of the runners.
One of the runners poked him with something he found close by. While they handled that, I walked over and grabbed a chain off the table. Wrapping it around my fist, I placed my blunt between my lips and walked back towards him. His eyes got big as fuck when he saw me approaching with the chain. Without saying a word, I swung. The metal smacked across his chest and split the skin open like a fucking zipper. He screamed so loud that it echoed through the building.
I swung again. This time the chain wrapped around his face causing something to fly across the concrete. I smiled when I noticed it was the nigga ear. Blood was now starting to mix with his shit. I lifted the chain to swing again.
“Enough!” Adore hollered.
She came in just in time, because I was about to swing it one more time. I’m sure it would’ve ended his ass. I made sure blood was never on her hands. I would go and do the time before I allow anyone to put a body on her.
“You know what’s crazy?” she said, taking the blunt from my lips and taking a pull. “I knew this muthafucka was going tocross us. And I say us because if he fucks with me and my money, he’s fucking with yours too.”
“Adore,” the nigga whined. “I promise I’ve never seen the nigga. It was always somebody else calling shots.”
“Nigga, shut the fuck up before I shoot your mouth off,” I threatened.
“Is there anyone else in here got a problem with me? Let me know now. I know y’all see a bitch and think you can do what I do.”
There was silence. I looked all them niggas in their eyes to see if any of them had a twinkle. If so, I was pulling the trigger and not thinking about it. This was a crew that Adore put together herself. She didn’t want the 239 Boyz involved because we did tend to bring too much attention.
“We good?” She asked again.
They all agreed.
“Good,” she pulled a gun from her back and pulled the trigger, hitting him between the eyes. “Y’all can go. My cleaners stay behind.”
Now that it was just us, I laid the plastic down so they could cut the nigga down.
“Fuck you pulled the trigger for?” I asked.
“I need my crew to know that I’m not afraid.”
“Fuck you got me for?” I snatched the gun from her.
I had somewhere that I got rid of guns that had bodies attached to them. She would have another clean gun before the end of the night. I believed in her keeping one on her so I gave her mine. Adore slid the gun in her waistband like she had been doing this her whole life. She walked over to the folded table and watched as they did the work.
“You think this is the last one?” she asked.
“Fuck nah,” I said, sparking another blunt. “Niggas been feeling froggy lately.”
“That’s what happens when people start believing rumors.”
I already knew what she was talking about. The streets were saying Adore was going soft and that I was the one running shit. That the love we had for each other made us both sloppy. All the shit was lies in my book. But shit, lies spread faster than any bullet in the streets.
“Have you heard anything else?” She asked.
“Adore, you know I’m not about to sit here with you and talk about no bullshit ass rumors. We know what the fuck we doing. Are you going soft on me?”
