The good thing about being at my brother’s house was that I had my own space. The bedroom was on the other side of the house, so I had some privacy. The bed was so comfortable that I had to sit up before I fell asleep. I grabbed the burner phone and dialed Whodie’s number.
“Adore?” Whodie answered.
“I’m home,” I told him.
“Bet, I’m on the way.”
“No!” I told him.
“Fuck you mean no?”
“‘Cause I’m not at home. At Hollow’s house.”
“Well, shit, I’ll drive down there.”
“Whodie, you can’t. We gotta lay low for a minute. I really feel like they are coming for you next.”
“Nigga, you been gone for days and you think I’m not ‘bouta pull up on you.”
I closed my eyes for a minute and squeezed the bridge of my nose. I was hoping this was an eye-opener for him.
“Whodie, I need you to listen to me. I need you to lay low for a minute. No traps, stores, or clubs. Them muthafuckas know everything.”
“What you mean by everything?”
“The whole operation. How I move, when I move it, and who I move it with.”
“No wonder Hollow told me to get a new phone.”
“This wasn’t Mazi. He watched us, but not enough to know my whole operation. This shit is bigger than this.”
“You think it’s someone on the inside?” Whodie asked.
“The lawyer said it’s a mole somewhere.”
“Bet!”
“No, we’re not about to take it there. I just need to sleep and get my mind clear.”
“Adore–”
“Adore nothing. I need you to listen to me right now. We cannot be emotional right now. And no, I’m not calling you dumb, but I know how emotional you get when it comes to me.”
“You right,” he admitted.
“I miss you.” I tried to change the subject.
“I missed you too. I do have my boys lookin’ into this Mazi shit a lil’ deeper. I ain’t gonna be able to function until I get some answers.”
I really didn’t want to talk about it anymore. All I wanted was to joke with my man. He sensed it and changed the subject, talking to me until I started snoring on the phone.
CHAPTER 16: WHODIE
I couldn’t even hang up the phone. While Adore slept, I just put my phone on the charger and listened to her. I had gotten used to her being in this small condo with me. This week had been long without talking to her. Even when we were mad, we still talked, even if it was brief. Leaning against my headboard, I lit a blunt and stared out the window. Adore was telling me not to be impulsive, but I needed to get to the bottom of this shit because I needed my girl back by my side. The longer we let this shit linger, the longer we were apart.
Her being out on bond was putting a strain on our business, and I knew them muthafuckas were going to be watching our every move now that they knew the operation. I had to come up with a way to move the operation around under their nose. It wasn’t out of greed; it was more so if they wanted to bust any of the spots for evidence, I needed that shit to be empty. They didn’t have a case if there was no evidence.
The sun had come up and I still hadn’t gone to sleep. Adore’s phone went dead hours ago. I showered and hopped in my car. I wanted to just look around and get a feel of how hot things were since they let Adore out. Sure enough, undercover cars were sitting outside every store I rode by. That shit was going to behard. As far as the trap houses, they were clear, so I gave the boys the go ahead and cleared them out. It was close to noon when Adore called.
