Page 3

“Alright, good. Then I'll see you around.”

A knock came to the front door, grabbing our attention and Caine grabbed his pants from the chair nearby. He didn’t ask who it was, and whoever was standing on the other side didn’t knock a second time.

Caine walked over to open the door, and I sat on the couch still with my forearm across my chest.

“That lil nigga Smoke is dead.” The voice on the other side spoke.

Caine didn’t say anything for a second.

“Where?”

“His lil ass came to the shack off Mills Road and didn’t know I was in there collecting some money from Priso that he owed me from a gambling debt. I caught wind of his presence, and when he left, I followed him to a stoplight and turned his lights off.”

There was another pause, and I sat up a little farther, listening even though I knew damn well what they were discussing; I probably shouldn’t hear.

“Who was with you?”

“Nobody.”

“Anybody see you leave behind him?”

“Nah, not that I know of.”

“Not that you know of nigga? Do you know how that shit sounds?”

“And do you know I don’t give a fuck? I handled that shit, Caine. You know it was no stopping me from taking care of that nigga when I found him. It is what it is.”

“Look, I understand the situation, but you have to think smarter than that. You trying to get locked up?” Caine replied, and a short pause followed before the other man spoke again.

“Cainan, make your decisions the way you see fit, and I will make mine. I was just coming here to let you know that we no longer have to look for him, because he’s been found. Now I’m about to go and clean myself up. I’ll talk to you tomorrow”

“Yeah, I hear you, nigga.” I heard the door slam and footsteps coming back my way.

Caine walked through the living room, past me and into another bedroom down the hallway opposite of where Kharti was. I sat there in the dark, too unsure of what my next move should be.

Once Caine came back out of the room. He was dressed in joggers and a black V-neck shirt, with a silver chain around his neck.

He grabbed some keys from the fireplace under the television and turned to me.

“Remember, when you leave, don’t discuss anything that happened, or anything you may have heard here tonight.”

“Okay, I won’t.”

Caine walked out of the front door and locked it behind him.

When the bedroom door creaked open, Kharti peeked her head out like she was scared to get reprimanded again.

“Caine?”

“He’s not in here. He just left.”

“Oh, okay.”

She replied, walking into the living room and picking up the pillows and other shit that was out of place.

I watched her for a few seconds, and I still hadn’t gotten up because my mind kept replaying me and Caine having sex, and what I’d heard at the door between him and that other guy. What bothered me most was that I knew a Smoke from South Hill Apartments, where I live. He and my little brother used to hang out before he was killed, so I pray that isn’t the same one they were discussing.

Caine had already made my role in this arrangement clear: carry his baby, follow his rules, collect my money, and return to my life. Anything beyond that I’m sure wasn’t my business, but curiosity had always been one of my biggest problems. I was the child who never accepted “because I said so” as a real answer. My father, used to call me Channel 2 News because of how nosy I was as a child.