out the door.
“Where’s the food at, bitch?” Kendra asked her sister as she stepped in the house. “I don’t smell no swine frying in the pan.”
“Shut up with that yelling and shit. Muthafuckas ‘round here still sleep,” Nia said with an attitude, putting a t- shirt over her body.
“I know like hell you ain’t talking ‘bout somebody being loud. Anyways, I came over here to go over the paperwork for the tenants,” Kendra said, looking at her sister.
“Ken, it’s not even eight A.M., and your ass is up. Shit! People still sleep around here. Shit! Go lay down and try this shit again at noon,” Nia yawned, turning around and heading to her room.
Kendra wasn’t in the mood. She wanted to hurry up and get things taken care of.
“Nia, look. I don’t have all fucking day. Let’s get this shit over with.”
“Damn!” Nia said as she rubbed her eyes. She grabbed a pen and sat at the table to go over the tenants for the house they were renting out. They went over a few applications and called for a few references. They finally decided on a couple with four children that reminded them of their family. Nia did the honors of calling the couple to let them know that, if they were still interested in the house, it was theirs. They chatted for a few minutes. Then, Nia told them congratulations and ended the call.
“Are you satisfied now?” Nia asked her sister as she hung up.
It had only taken them two hours to go through twenty-five applications. Nia was happy that she could finally go back to sleep, but she knew her sister wouldn’t let her.
“I’mma go take a shower and get dressed and, when I come out, breakfast better be ready. Damn it!” Nia said with a serious look on her face.
Kendra whipped up a small but hearty meal while Nia got dressed. After they finished eating, the two sisters headed out for a day of pampering.
“Do you have a date? Do you know the kind of dress you want, or do you think you want it custom made?” Nia asked question after question.
“Calm down, Nia. There isn’t going to be a wedding. Wiz wants to elope, so we’re going to Cancun at the end of the month,” Kendra answered.
Nia huffed, “I can’t believe you. Is this something you really want? I mean you hardly even know him.”
“Oh, like waiting around six damn years for a nigga who gets another bitch pregnant was better? Fuck him and fuck whoever else can’t be happy for me,” Kendra said, rolling her eyes and continuing to enjoy her mud bath.
Trent was posted on the block. He was more than ready to catch Wiz. The nigga had a price to pay and that was with his life. Trent had disguised himself, so, if there were any witnesses to his crime, they wouldn’t really know what he looked like. Trent wore his paint splattered Levi’s, a dingy, raggedy shirt, and some sneakers that had holes in them. He, also, wore a beanie on top of his head. To put the icing on the cake, he pushed a basketful of trash with a pipe in his hand. Trent kept his head low, too, while he pushed the basket to his target.
Wiz had just pulled up, not knowing what the DT life had in store for him. He lit a blunt as he stepped out the car. Everything seemed cool, wasn’t nothing funny ‘bout this day. Wiz checked to make sure he was strapped. He felt around his waistband and was satisfied when he felt his gun. He continued on. He made a quick stop at the corner store. While he was there, he made small talk with one of the local dealers on the block.
“Ha! Ha! My nigga, long time no see.”
They embraced each other with a brotherly hug. They talked about all the homies who were locked up.
“Say that nigga BG served to the Jump Out Crew. They took his ass down. You know how niggas think they fly when you try and tell them something. They think you hating, but niggas have that mentality like no one can tell them shit,” the dealer said.
Wiz nodded his head in agreement. Then, he added, “Yeah, I ran into that nigga Byrd from Galveston the other day. I remember when the nigga used to run with my crew. When he was with me, he was big ballin’ and shit, but, now, that nigga out there bad. I seen him out by my way, snorting and shit. Nigga told me his wife had left and was ‘bout to divorce him. She kicked him out, so the nigga sleeping wherever he can lay his head. Niggas be going out the game backwards.”
“A’ight, my nigga. I’ll catch up to you later. Have to handle some business,” the dealer said.
They gave each other dap, and Wiz departed from the store. He never saw the man pushing the basket when he bumped into him.
“Yo, dawg! Watch where the fuck you going!” Wiz screamed, but the dude kept pushing his basket. After getting no response, he said, “Yo, nigga! Did you hear what the fuck I just said?”
The bum stopped and turned around quickly with his.9mm drawn. Before Wiz realized what was going on, it was too late. Trent fired off five shots. Two of them caught Wiz in the shoulder, and the other bullet caught him in his chest. Wiz fell to the ground.
One of the on-lookers screamed, “Somebody call 911!”
One of the women in the crowd was a nurse. She rushed to Wiz’s side and said, “Blink your eyes if you can hear me.”
Wiz blinked his eyes rapidly.
The nurse said, “Good! Stay with me. I’m a nurse. You’re going to be okay.”
She took off her sweater and applied pressure to his chest to help the bleeding to stop.
Trent was long gone from the scene. He pushed his basket to the other end of Main by the Barclay Hotel better known as New Jack City. That was where he discarded the basket in the alley. He grabbed his clothes that were inside the cart and quickly changed. He, then, grabbed a can from inside the cart and doused the basket with gasoline. He pulled a blunt from his pocket and lit it. After his blunt was lit, he tossed the lighter on the basket. As the basket burned, he took off his gloves and tossed them in the fire. No one saw him go into the alley, and no one saw him come out the alley because all the attention was diverted by Wiz laying on the ground. Trent kept right on walking. He met up with Marquise on Fifth and Crocker.
“Did you handle that?’’ Marquise asked as Trent got into his car.
“Yeah, the nigga laid out now,” Trent smiled, but that still didn’t fill the missing piece in his heart because he still hadn’t found his sister.
“Yo! I’m good. Let’s get the fuck away,” Trent said.
Marquise took no time in putting his foot to the accelerator. Trent’s head was spinning. A migraine had shot up from nowhere. As he relaxed his head on the back of the seat, his phone started buzzing. The noise irritated him.
“Aye! My nigga, look. There goes Nicole right there,” Marquise hollered out. He slowed down the car and made a U-turn in the middle of traffic. Marquise parked a few feet from where Nicole was standing.
“My nigga, looks like she grinding hard. Look at those bags in her hands,” Marquise stated while looking in her direction.
He watched Nicole go from store to store. At the same time, Trent was talking to his G’Mama. She was telling him about how Nicole had come by the other day. She didn’t really think nothing of it until the neighbors informed her that they had called the police because a woman and a man were lurking in her backyard.
“At first, I thought it was your aunt and uncle, but they went to jail last week, and they are still there,” G’Mama said.
Trent couldn’t believe what he was hearing through the phone. All he heard was the name Nicole. Then, he looked up, and there she was.
“Okay, G’Mama. I’mma call you back. I’mma handle it. I promise,” he said, hanging the phone up. Trent exited the car and waited by the door of the store that Nicole was in. When she walked out, she was totally taken by
