I pushed through the door to the second floor and flipped on the lights. My eyes scanned the space. Half the boards I’d nailed over the windows yesterday were still holding. A couple were loose.
“What?”
“You at the building?”
“Yeah.”
“Bruh, you hardheaded as hell.”
“You just now learning that?”
“This ain’t even about yo’ ass being hardheaded. This is about you being stupid!” he barked. “They’re shutting down roads. They grounding flights. Folks leaving cars in the street and shit. The whole city is shutting down, and you down there playing Captain Save a Building.”
I shook my head at Jalen’s loud ass. He was always loud at first and concerned underneath; that was nothing new. I walked over to the nearest window and shoved my shoulder against the board to test it, making sure it was still solid.
“I hear you, nigga.”
“So why you down there?” he asked.
“Because it’s mine.”
“That ain’t what I asked yo’ big head ass.”
I grabbed a hammer off the table and drove one more nail into the corner of the board. “I’m securing it.”
Jalen sucked his teeth through the phone. “You should’ve secured it yesterday.”
“I did.”
“Then what you doing today, K?”
“Making sure.”
“You got control issues.”
“Nah, I got trust issues,” I said as I checked the next window. Silence hung between us for a second.
“You got your gun?” Jalen asked.
“Always.” I tapped the Glock sitting at my waistband.
“Good. Storms make folks stupid.”
“They’ve been stupid.”
“Call me when you’re leaving.”
“I will.”
“And K?—”
I stopped at the end of the room and looked out through a crack between the boards. The street was already flooding.
“What?”
“Don’t be tryna prove nothing.”
“I ain’t proving shit.”
