“Hollow bitch ass. Since he thinks I don’t include him in shit that involves you.”
“Yo,” Hollow answered.
“We got contact wit’ this nigga again,” Whodie said, setting his phone down on the counter.
“Talk.”
“He hit Adore up through one of her store owners. His ass popped up tellin’ them he was comin’ to take over ‘cause it was his shit. Now, he’s ready to meet.”
“Of course that nigga is. Nigga feels like he already won,” Hollow said.
“The nigga thinks we’re weak.”
“Shit, we are,” Hollow said bluntly.
“Excuse me?” I yelled from across the room so he could hear me.
“You got a fed case, yo’ nigga got one dead homie, and one missin’. We just got done fightin’ and goin’ to jail,” Hollow continued. “Yeah…from the outside, we look a fuckin’ mess.”
All three of us went silent. We were the main core. Though we had a massive crew, everything he named were people that we held close to our hearts.
“So what do you think we need to do?” I asked.
“Shit, it’s simple,” Hollow said. “We let him think he’s right. We give the nigga what he wants. Make him think he’s in control. But really, we’re in control.”
“How?” I asked.
“You don’t show up weak. You show up prepared.”
“He said he wasn’t leavin’ empty-handed, so shit, I’m goin’ in that bitch on go,” Whodie said.
“I’m glad he said he wasn’t leavin’ empty-handed ‘cause neither are we,” Hollow said.
“Y’all talking like this is a shootout,” I said.
“It might be.” Whodie shrugged.
“We need to do this my way,” I told them.
“Explain,” Hollow said through the phone.
“Since he wants control, I’ll give it to him. I’ll agree to his meeting and make him think it’s just me and Whodie. I already know he’s going to try and get in his head,” I said.
“And he won’t let him,” Hollow added.
“I hope not,” I said, staring at Whodie.
“I think I’m the best person to help with that,” Hollow said. “I’ll swing by tomorrow.”
CHAPTER 26: WHODIE
Silence had filled the condo as Adore laid next to me asleep. Our legs were intertwined, and I hated to move in fear that I would wake her. It had already taken hours for her to relax and fall asleep. It was just a few months ago that we could both sleep without a worry. I mean, we had the usual worries of being in the streets, but not to the extent we were now. I slowly removed my legs from her and eased out of the bed. I grabbed my ashtray and bag of weed and headed towards my balcony. As soon as the fresh air hit me, I took a seat and rolled the biggest blunt that I could.
As I stared off into space, I had made up my mind that this was the end of the road for me. I was more than ready to move the fuck on and start something fresh. Maybe have some kids once I figured this life shit out. Losing people important to me had fucked up my mental health, and I wanted to keep the little bit that I had left. I took a big pull from my blunt until I started coughing uncontrollably. That was my sign to put the shit down. I set it in my ashtray and just looked off again, wondering what was out there. As a little jit, I had never explored outside of my state. It was time for me to live.
“Whodie! Whodie!” Adore slapped my face.
“Damn, what!”
