"𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵' 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦"
Migos - Stir Fry
~
How did Riley have the money to do things?
People often asked him this question because he always seemed to go over his allowance limit. Huey and Riley had an allowance of fifty dollars a week, though Huey liked to save up his money when he wasn't using it, which explained his abundance of cash.
But Riley? There were times where he'd spend more than fifty dollars the day he got his allowance and still have money to spend, he couldn't have been getting it from Carrie because she was strict on her "if you waste your allowance you gotta wait until Sunday to get any more" rule, and he was quite lazy so they doubted that he had a job.
Whenever asked this question, he always brushed it off with some half assed answer but they ate it up so it's not like they cared.
The day this became a problem was when he brought home that expensive ass Supreme x Louis Vuitton hoodie, the one he wore to Huey and Tahiry's birthday party.
He was certainly asked a tone of questions, but he would either say he managed to grab a cheap version someone was reselling, or that it was gifted to him.
That simply wasn't the case.
It was a Saturday and Riley had told Carrie and Huey that he was spending the day with Fatima, when he left, he took a left instead of his usual right to her place and kept walking until he found an unmarked apartment, Riley then knocked on the door and was soon allowed in.
Inside this apartment were a group of people, Riley regretted not bringing some sort of mask because the room stank of weed and probably other substances. One of the men, light brown a man with long thick locks on his head, grinned when he saw him "aye y'all, it's lil' Reezy!"
The others in the room were clearly either very high or very intoxicated, but they did everything they could to greet him. There were a few women there, but they either wore minimal clothing, were passed out, or were high out of there minds.
It was pretty obvious what kind of people they were.
Now, to answer a few questions:
Was Riley in a gang? Not necessarily. The dude with locks, (his name was Khalil) was someone he had met through someone who knew Gangstalicious, he had to relocate to Chicago a while back but they had known each other before then. Khalil was technically gang affiliated, but most of the time he was just a pothead that spent his day chilling on his couch.
Did Riley ever join them in their... activities? Well... only once, but only because he wanted to know what weed was like! It messed him up a little bit, so he swore to wait until his body had matured a bit to maybe get into it.
Why was he even in a place that looked like a makeshift crackhouse and what does this have to do with him making money? See, Riley did have a job, though it wasn't a conventional. His job was simple, he would transport their not-so-legal substances, as well their payment for said substances, over to a location they gave him and he would be paid by Khalil.
Keep in mind, it was never a small payment.
Due to Khalil's dabbling in drugs, he always had a shit tone of money to spend, sometimes he'd pay Riley so much that the boy would ask for a smaller amount simply because of how difficult that much money is to hide.
That was all he did however, Khalil wanted him to be a little more useful than just a runner boy, but one of his girls (a stripper named Ty) convinced him that Riley was too young and being their runner boy was the safest job he could get without having a target put on his back.
They only met once a month, more specifically the twelfth, that way no one in Riley's life would get too suspicious, and to answer what he told people when they asked why a random child kept entering their apartment every month, Khalil told them Riley was his son and he got to see him once a month.
Riley stood next the couch, one of the girls Khalil had on rotation was knocked out, whether from alcohol or drugs he had no idea, whilst Khalil sat there with a blunt in his hand and a grin on his face "you a lil' late nigga, you busy?"
"Had to get my aunt of my tail, and I had to call my girl and ask her to cover for me if they call her"
"Oh yeah" Ty said softly, she was sat on the floor in front of the couch seemed pretty out of it "I forgot you had a lil' girlfriend, aaaw..."
"I'm a cool nigga so ain't gon' get mad 'cause you late, you a kid and shit-"
"Then why is he heeeeere" Ty drawled, he head relaxing to the left "he should be at hoooome play Pokémon or somethiiiiin'..."
Another girl rolled her eyes "why you movin' like he yo son Ty? If you wanna play mom so bad you shouldn't have aborted the last one"
"Shut the fuck up Lee don't play wit' me-"
"Uh uh, don't fight ladies" Khalil chuckled "Ty high as shit so it's gon' be whack, wait 'til she sober, then y'all can box"
"Wow, you're soooo considerate..." Ty sarcastically let out, not caring to hold herself up and slumping down.
Khalil then laughed and looked back at Riley "anyway, I owe this gang about fourteen bricks, and I got 'em, but they movin' too sheisty and too weird so Imma give you a lil' heater in case they try sumn" Khalil brought out what looked like a heavy ass bag, inside like he said were fourteen bricks but they were disguised to look like girl scout cookie packages.
"I put a few actual girl scout cookies on top, about seven packages so niggas don't get suspicious, I'm also gonna lend you a cart since I doubt to lil ass can carry all this" he chuckled.
Riley honestly didn't care, and was already sold at the mention of 'heater', but then he paused "wait, you givin' me a strap 'cause they movin' sheisty? Watchu mean?"
"Ion know man, I just feel like they gon' pull some bullshit on me and Ion want you catchin' strays 'cause of allat" he then handed the bag to another man who slid it on a red cart and gave Riley a small bag, the one that probably had the gun in it.
"The actual gang outta town on some kinda gang business so you gon' be meeting up wit' some other runner boy, I'm pretty sure he like yo age or sumn, but still keep yo eye on him" he said as he prepared Riley to go.
"You gotta go to the same place as last time, y'know, the abandoned warehouse, try and be as fast as you can and don't look or talk to anyone, aight?"
"Nah I gotchu" Riley said.
After a bit more talking and some cautionary leading to the front, Riley was soon set off to his location. Like Khalil had told him, Riley kept his head down and didn't look or talk to anyone else, he just continued to walk. He wondered what this other runner boy was like, not that it mattered, even though he wasn't officially in a gang even Riley knew making friends on the job was stupid and lead to more problems than it was worth.
After a long walk, Riley made it to the abandoned warehouse, where he could already hear noises coming from the inside, Riley took a deep breath before walking in. The place was empty, save for a boy that was on his phone that was seated on the box.
The bot had black hair that was styled to the side, and had a natural tan with dark brown eyes, he even seemed a lot older than Riley, which naturally annoyed him, why was everyone growing quicker than he was?
The boy seemed to die on the game he was and whined, before noticing Riley when he looked up "ayo wassup, you Khalil's boy right?"
"Yeah yeah" Riley said with a tad but of hostility, which got the other boy to chuckle.
"Aye man chill, on everythang I won't do nun', I just want the crack so I can dip and go home"
He sounded genuine, but Riley was still cautious, he carefully brought out the girl scout cookies and revealed the disguised bricks inside, the other boy nodded and brought out a suitcase.
"Cool, ayo lemme get yo name, 'cause we prolly gon' be meeting more, I'm Quincy"
"Quincy...?"
"I ain't givin' you no last names bruh, you got the game all thw way fucked up"
Riley snorted "I'm just fuckin' witcha, I'm Riley"
"Aight cool, just hand me them packs and lemme be on my way then Riley, oh! Tell Khalil that Rondo gon' pay him when they back in town, they don't trust me wit' allat cash" Quincy snickered as he began placing the heavy bricks into his suitcase.
Riley raised a brow at his actions, this Quincy dude was way to laid back, and he didn't seem cautious at all that they were technically dealing drugs. Maybe this was a good things though, at least Riley didn't have to fire off any shots that day.
Once done, Quincy zipped up the suitcase "well, Imma be on my way now, see you on the flip side big homie"
"Aight bet, see ya"
With that, the two boys left the warehouse, and went their separate ways.
Riley soon made his way back to the apartment, it was a lot easier when he didn't have fourteen heavy packs of cocain weighing him down. When he arrived, he was first met with Ty, who was now seated on the ouch whilst two dudes played on the PlayStation in the front.
"Yo Ty, where Khalil?"
"Upstairs wit' Nini, knock first 'cause I'm pretty sure they smashin'..." she groggily responded, Riley began to wonder what she took the other night because she somehow still wasn't down from her high.
He walked upstairs and found Khalil's room before he then knocked on the door. Riley could hear rustling and noises before the door then opened. Khalil was in a bathrobe whilst a girl (presumably Nini) was laid in the bed with a blanket covering her.
"Aye, you back lil' man, you was quicker than last time I bet" he said "I'm sure you just want yo payment so you can go home huh?" When Riley nodded, Khalil smirked and walked into the room.
A few minutes he walked out with an envelope "1.2k, threw in a lil three hunnid there 'cause why not"
Riley was ecstatic, he knew he was gonna be paid eight hundred dollars but now he was getting $1.2k? What was he even gonna spend it all on?
All he had to do was keep it hidden from Carrie and Huey, then he'd have all the time in the world to decide.
"Thanks man, for real,"
"Don't thank me lil' nigga, now go home! It's damn near 6'o'clock, yo aunt prolly wonderin' where you are!" Khalil said with a laugh, watching as Riley scurried down the stairs with a goodbye and left the apartment.
When he walked home, he began thinking of different things he could spend the money on, he could buy a gift or two for Tima, pay for a fun day out, nothin' too fancy or they'd get suspicious. He could treat himself to a few things, when he entered his home, he could feel himself get more and more excited.
"Look who decided to show up" Huey said, the older boy was sat on the couch, with Newton on his lap as they watched TV "how was Tima's place?"
Riley grinned "it was lit" he simply said, sliding the envelope in his pocket so Huey couldn't see it.
"Cool, why couldn't you get the phone when we called her? She said you was caught up"
Tima, on life you the coolest, downest girl on the planet.
Riley didn't even tell her why she needed to lie on his behalf and she was down to anyway, how lucky was he? "To be honest, I was takin' a fat shit"
"You coulda just said you was usin' the bathroom man" Huey groaned, which made the other cackle as he walked up the stairs.
Riley went to his bed and slumped down. Sure, he was making big bucks, but this job of his was really dangerous, one wrong move and he'd end up on a tshirt. However, he didn't want to stop, it wasn't like he was actually dealing drugs, he was only transporting them, and he wasn't technically a part of a gang so that was okay.
He brough out the envelope and smiled at him, "wonder if Tima free tomorrow..."
~
The Norwoods were a mixed bag of emotions.
Tahiry was excited, Deja was her typical moody self, whilst Granny was more calm and collected. They were driving to a place they went at least once or twice a month, though this place often brought out different emotions out of the family. Once they had arrived, Mariella parked the car and the three got out of their seats and stared ahead at the place ahead of them.
It was the local prison.
Tahiry was the first to skip forward, she was so used to this routine that it had become second nature for her, after a long abundance of security checks and verification, the three were finally inside of the building. They were lead by a guard to a familiar room in which they were tasked to wait, which they did. The three waited until a familiar face popped out, with a guard to each side of him.
"Daddy!" Tahiry squealed, running up to him and hugging him tightly, the man knelt down to hug her back, a smile growing on on his face. The man was a rather tall, dark skinned man with deep brown eyes and a face of facial hair, he wore a typical orange jumpsuit, and seemed to be having a hard time pulling away from her.
His name was Micah Norwood, he was Mariella Norwood's son, and by proxy, Tahiry and Deja's father.
Currently, Micah was serving sixteen years in prison for manslaughter, a charge that he just barely managed to get, if it weren't for his amazing lawyers, he could have been serving life. When Deja was still a toddler and Tahiry was just five, Micah had gotten into a violent altercation with another man who had grabbed one of his daughters in an attempt to pull her away. Unexpectedly, this altercation ended in the man's death, and subsequently, Micah's incarceration.
The courts took pity on him, he was a single father who had lost his wife during the birth of his youngest child, he had never been in trouble with the law before this, and he was simply doing what he thought was best to protect his kids, he couldn't get the self defence plea since technically the man was not a threat to his life nor safety, but he managed to get off on manslaughter, which meant he wouldn't spend his life in jail.
It did however mean he was forced to miss out on most of his children's childhoods. He was now ten years into his sentence, it was rough, having to watch your daughters grow up from behind bars, but it wouldn't be long until he was free once more and he could be in their lives again.
Micah and Tahiry soon pulled away, with Micah taking a seat and grinning at the three "so, how are y'all? I got yo letter Ti, what's high school like?"
Tahiry wanted to ramble about it, but also didn't want to hog all of his attention, so she grinned, "it's been cool, made some new friends and I've been doing good in class"
"That's my girl!" he said pridefully, "how about you Naya?"
"Deja dad, I go by Deja" she muttered, "and it's all been alright, I guess"
Despite how she sounded, Micah didn't seem affected by his daughter's rather cold tone of voice and instead got up, and walked over to his mother, pulling her in for a hug, "I missed you momma"
"Aw, missed you too sweetheart" Granny smiled softly before pulling away, putting her hands on his cheeks, "has everything been okay in there? You know, I heard horror stories about prison baby..."
He chuckled, "it's all good momma, the dudes in there are pretty cool wit' me actually, I haven't really had a rough time in there"
As the mother and son continued to chat, Tahiry glared at Deja, "you know, that's no way to talk to your dad that went to prison for protecting you"
"Don't start Ti"
"What do you mean don't start? You just showed him a stank ass attitude and for what?" Tahiry frowned, she knew Deja was going through some stuff emotionally (and she didn't blame her, Puberty's a bitch), but the way she spoke to their dad really had her feeling some type of way, "go and say sorry, I get that you mad he locked up but it ain't his fault the jury gave him sixteen years, prolly got him feelin' all sad in shit, rude ass"
Deja pouted, "fine! Fuck..." she then walked up to Micah, who looked down at her curiously, "uh, sorry for how I just was, just not feelin' A1 today..."
Micah then smiled, before letting off a laugh, which rightfully confused the two girls, "I'm mad your mother didn't live to meet you Deja, you act just like her"
"Huh?"
"Your mom had an attitude ninety percent of the time, but the times she didn't she prolly the sweetest woman around, you just like that" he said wistfully, putting a hand on her head.
Deja looked to the ground bashfully, "man I ain't sweet I'm rough..." she mumbled, which didn't help her father's amusement.
The three conversed for as long as they would, while Mariella looked on with a bittersweet smile. Never in her life did she think that her son would end up behind bars, Micah was a good boy, he did good in school, stayed away from all things nefarious and even married the pastor's daughter for heaven's sake, he was the last person she would ever think would get locked up and forced to serve sixteen years. So imagine her shock when she caught wind of her son being arrested for supposed murder.
Her mind eased when she learned the context, but she wasn't any less heartbroken when she heard the verdict the jury had come to.
However, she only had to wait six more years for him to be free, and then everything would be okay.
Soon, the allocated visiting time came to an end, and the Norwoods were forced to wrap up their visit. Micah gave them all one final hug, "I'll see y'all when I see y'all, okay?" he said "you two better do good in school, I'm not trynna come home to no dumbass children"
Deja giggled, "you say that every visit dad"
"Well best believe I mean that shit!" he said, the four then laughing. Soon, Micah was whisked away by guards, whilst the three were made to leave.
When the got in the car, it was silent, but not awkward. Tahiry looked out the window, trying her very hardest not to cry.
Six more years, that wasn't too long, she just had to wait six more years and they could finally have their dad back.
~
Uh oh Riley's playing a dangerous game