The ride through the city was quiet for the most part. I smoked and stared out the window while my body kept throbbing. Every now and then, Bully would glance at me and laugh under his breath like the shit was still funny to him.
It wasn’t.
Love embarrassed me once again.
Not just with the fight, but the way Islah left with him after.
That shit sat in my chest and flashed through my mind the whole damn ride.
When we finally made it over to Kronic’s hood, and as soon as we hopped out, niggas was staring at me.
Some even started laughing.
“Ayeee!” one nigga yelled. “Who the fuck hit you with a brick?”
Another nigga walked up on me, looking at my face.
“Nahh, this shit look personal. He got new bruises on top of old ones.”
I pushed the nigga outta my face.
“Are y’all done?!” I barked, and they all backed up, leaving me alone.
I headed up Kronic’s sidewalk as he came out the door with a cup in his right hand and a blunt in his left.
He looked me up and down, then past me at Bully.
“That nigga fucked him up, didn’t he?” Kronic asked Bully.
“That nigga ran him outta the city!” Bully responded.
They laughed together while I made my way to sit down.
Kronic kept laughing as he stepped off the porch to catch a play. I sat back, watching the niggas gamble, smoke, and listen to the music that was blasting from somebody’s car. That’s one thing about the hood, no matter how long you stay gone, the shit is gonna stay the same, and after all I just went through, normalcy felt good.
After Kronic was done, he stood by the car and talked to Bully for a few, both of them niggas looking over at me at the same time.
After a while, Kronic came back on the porch and took a seat beside me, passing me the blunt.
“What you here for? I know you didn’t bring yo’ crippled ass out just to sit on my porch.”
I smirked. “I need to make some money.”
Kronic nodded. “Does that mean you keeping your ass away from that girl?”
I tried to sit up as straight as I could.
“I can’t say that, looking at me,” I said low. “She watched that nigga fuck me up.”
Kronic shook his head.
“I’ma front you this work, not because I want you to go fuck with that girl, but because I am hoping that you change your mind after you get back to the bread.”
Kronic stood up and walked inside while I sat back and puffed on the blunt until he came back.
When he did walk out the door, he had a black store bag in his hand and handed it to me.
“I know you can’t move like that right now. I’ll send the birds to you.”
