Family Tithes

Lines Are Drawn

I pulled my eyebrows together while I followed his train of thought. There was four other niggas working there and I know because I put them there.

Then me and Red kicked 'em out.

"One of them niggas is standing outside the door right now," I said.

Simon was on his feet before the rest of us knew what was happening. We all exchanged looks before we scrambled to follow after him.

Now, we jog to catch up to Simon as he throws the front door open.

"Tell me it ain't true, Cal," Simon says.

At the door, we see Simon standing next to Cal while Cal chews on sunflower seeds.

He looks at Simon with a funny look as he spits some seeds into a plastic cup.

"What ain't true?" He asks.

Rondo braces up to Cal with a mean mug on his face.

"Don't play dumb, nigga. Ain't nun I hate more than a snake and a liar. You already got one strike against you; don't make it two," Rondo says.

Cal's eyebrows pull together. He looks at Simon to see that Simon wearing a similar look.

He bends down to sit the plastic cup of seeds by his feet. He stands up straight again, looking at all of us.

"What this nigga talkin' 'bout, bruh?" Calvin asks.

"That sound like another strike to me Rondo," Cutta says.

Rondo pulls his glock free from his waistband. I hear another gun cock into place around us.

Calvin looks at me for help, but I'm grilling him just as hard as the next nigga. Calvin laughs to himself as he looks at Simon.

"This what we doing now?" He asks.

Simon shrugs.

"I gotta know, Cal," He says.

Calvin lets out a deep breath.

"Know what?" He asks.

"Talkin' 'bout some 'back so soon'. You knew we wasn't gon find shit," Keezy chuckles.

Calvin still looks confused. This shit is getting real old real quick. I step through the crowd to catch everybody up to speed.

"You know what we talkin' bout, bruh. You had us running through that hood getting shot at when the whole time you knew who took her," I say.

Calvin looks at me like I've grown two heads.

"Candyce? Y'all think I had something to do with that?" He asks.

Rondo tightens his grip on his gun. Calvin notices. He ain't laughing when he looks at Simon again.

"You can't be serious, bruh," He says.

I don't know what kinda friendship they have but whatever it is, Simon ain't budging. Cal starts to plead his case to me.

"I been right here all fuckin' day! Caese you know I ain't move from this spot. You saw me when you came here with Candyce this morning," He says.

I cross my arms, nodding my head.

"Yeah, we saw you. Then you told Simon 'bout it after I asked you not to. Clearly you can't be trusted. We just tryna see where yo loyalties lie," I say.

Calvin looks at Simon.

"I called you 'cause I thought you was dead. Candyce had all this blood on her clothes and she was too fucked up to tell me whose it was. I wanted to make sure you was straight," Calvin says.