As I pulled onto the block in this big ass U-Haul truck, I lowered my music to not draw too much attention to myself. I wanted to be inconspicuous but I also know people wanted to know who the fresh meat was on the block.
I pulled up outside the house and hopped out. As I approached the front door, I grabbed the keys out of my pocket and unlocked the doors for the first time.
I had never actually seen the place in person before buying it. I needed a place to stay, money to dump, and a neighborhood that wasn't half bad. This was the best looking place I saw so I just bought it.
My mom kicked me out of her place a few weeks ago. I was tired of hopping from couch to couch, it made no sense for me to be homeless with the amount of disposable income I'm bringing in.
I stepped inside to check the place out. To my surprise it looked just like the pictures I had seen online.
"This could work" I thought to myself and nodded my head approvingly. I walked into the master bedroom and looked around. It was a pretty nice size even though I didn't need the space, all I cared about is having enough room for my bed. All that extra shit wasn't a necessity. As long as I had a safe space to lay my head, I was good.
It's not like I'm going to be here all day, every day anyway.
I stepped out onto the front porch to scope the scene. It was half past two on a Monday, so I knew I wasn't going to see much action. I just wanted to know if there was anybody I had to worry about and keep an eye out on.
I walked over to the truck and opened the back up. There wasn't that many boxes to move but the way the sun was beaming, I know I'd be tired in no time.
My phone began to vibrate in my back pocket and I answered it not bothering to look at the caller i.d.
"Wassup" I said holding the phone up to my ear with my shoulder as I began to carry the box.
"One of yo boys missed the drop" Killa's voice spoke.
"Fuck you mean they missed a drop?"
"Nigga they missed the drop. Tony called and said nobody showed up"
"Well find out who it was and handle that shit asap. I got shit to do right now. Ion got time to be riding around looking for niggas"
"Ight"
"Keep me posted" I replied and hung up the phone.
I stuffed my phone into my pocket and got to work moving all the stuff into my house. It was hot as fuck outside and not a single gust of wind was blowing. I looked in the fridge as if there was going to be any water in there but I still looked anyway.
As I walked into the living room I could see a car parked next door that I hadn't noticed. Just seeing directly outside made me mentally note that I needed to pick up some curtains. I walked outsides down two girls got out of the car and walked up their driveway.
"Hey, how y'all doing" I said with a wave as I walked back to the truck for another box.
"Heyyy" They said at the same time.
"You're my new neighbor?" One of the girls spoke. She had these big brown almond shaped eyes that caught my attention almost instantly.
"I guess so"
"I don't live here but ya know, I be here all the time" The other girl added in trying to get my attention. They had on book bags so I knew they were still in high school. I definitely wasn't trying to catch a case so I wasn't going to pay them too much attention.
"Neighbor do you have a bottle of water by chance? It's kinda hot out here and I forgot to stop at the store"
"Yeah I gotchu" She nods her head and then goes inside the house. I had only a few boxes left but I was already feeling the symptoms of dehydration kicking in.
"Here you go" She cuts across the driveway with a large bottle of ice mountain and a red gatorade. Just the site of the cold bottles made my mouth feel even more dry.
"Thank you" I twisted the cap off the water bottle and started to chug it down. I closed my eyes as the cold drink rehydrated my system. My body began to cool down almost immediately.
"You don't got no help? You out here slaving"
"Nah, I'm almost done now though. It probably wasn't smart to move in on the hottest day of the week" I wiped the sweat off my brow and looked back at the truck to see how much shit I had left.
"Yeah no shit" She retorted and we both laughed, "So you're living here by yourself?"
"Yup I'm all alone"
"Well I'm gonna let you finish up. If you need more water just knock on the door. I don't want you to pass out out here"
"Alright thank you 'preciate it" I smiled and nodded my head at her.
I looked over at her house and her friend was watching us from the window. I laughed to myself and finished moving everything inside of the house.
After waiting around for a few hours my couch and bed set finally got delivered. I wasn't going to survive another night sleeping on the floor or a couch so having a bed tonight was a must.
My phone started to ring again, however, it was my boy Leon this time.
"Who was it?" I said as I answered the phone.
"John. Nobody seen him since last night though. He hasn't been on the block. I checked the county and he isn't booked"
"Call a meeting, he'll show up if he smart. I'll be there in like 30 minutes" I said to him and hung up the phone before he could even respond.
I took a quick shower before heading to the warehouse to see what the hell is going on. I was the only one to blame for this. I don't know why I thought I could depend on other people to make drops for me. I shouldn't have been dumb enough to put my life and my well-being in the hands of some other nigga.
I pulled up to the warehouse and I could already see some of the guys starting to pull up as well.
"Ayeeee Mr. Home Owner" Leon greeted me as I approached. I tucked my gun into my waistband and covered it up with my t-shirt.
"Wassup Lee" I chuckled as we dapped up with each other.
"I got you a few bottles of that 1942 in my trunk. Remind me to give it to you before we go"
"Ight, appreciate it" I nodded my head.
"Did that new shit come in with no problem?" I asked Killa.
"Yeah Mario and the girls down there picking that shit now"
I nodded my head and leaned up against my car. "So wassup?" I asked.
"That's John right here in the red hoodie" Killa said into my ear. I nodded my head and kept my attention down on the ground. I didn't want to make it seem like something was going on. Random meetings happen all the time so this wouldn't be suspicious at all. He probably thinks he got away with it.
I gave everybody a little more time to show up before starting our discussion.
"When y'all came round here looking for a way to get some money, I told y'all I got y'all. It's enough of that shit to go around so we can all eat." I began to speak "I never said this shit was easy but if you bout your paper this the quickest money you can ever make in yo life"
As I leaned against the car I just looked at all the men standing before me. Some of these niggas were old enough to be my dad but here I am running shit. It takes skills to do the shit that I do and none of they ass posses it.
The patience, the communication, the dedication, this shit isn't easy. One wrong move and I could've been dead months ago but I know how to talk to these niggas on the street. I also know how to clean up and talk to the head honchos.
"Y'all probably wondering why I called all y'all here. I'm just here with a little gift for yall. Y'all have been staying out of trouble and selling my shit. That's all I ask" I looked down the line and spotted the dude in the red hoodie.
Killa and Leon walked down the line and started to hand guns to everybody.
"I can't have y'all on the streets not strapped. It's reckless on my part, I gotta make sure y'all straight"
I watched as they all started to hold the guns in their hands, for some of them it was apparent this was their first time ever touching one.
"They unmarked but that still don't mean you can do dumb shit. Killa and Leon gon take y'all out tomorrow so y'all can learn to shoot, but y'all should already know the basics."
I lifted my shirt and grabbed the gun out of my waistband.
"Take the safety off" I demonstrated how to do so, "Then just point and shoot. Leon show them." I handed him the gun. I kept my eyes forward because I already knew what he was about to do.
"Point and shoot" Leon repeated.
The loud sound of the gun firing filled the room. I watched everyone's face as John took a bullet to the forehead. I could see fear and distress in some of their eyes meanwhile others were unbothered because this wasn't their first time seeing a nigga get killed in front of them.
"Don't try to play me. If y'all ever think y'all can take my shit and I won't find out, that's yo head ion give a fuck who you are." I made sure to make eye contact with everybody so they knew how serious I was as if a nigga getting killed in front of them wasn't enough to prove the point.
I didn't let just anybody make drops, especially when it came to the cocaine. When them white people want their coke, they want it right then and there. Save the sob story. There's too much money involved with that shit, they get crazy.
However, on the streets we pushing straight weed. That's it, that's all. If one of these niggas get caught with a little weed on them, we can bail them out and move on. If you got a lot of weed, that mean you wasn't doing the one job you got. Selling.
But if these niggas get caught with some cocaine? That's a wrap.
Everybody starts off dealing weed, that's easy shit. Killa assigns you a territory and you sell, that's it that's all. If you prove you can handle yourself, then you get moved up to coke. Moving around with that is risky especially when the market is mainly in the suburbs so we give them a bigger cut of profit.
Next we got the drops. If we dealing with actual kilos and pounds of weeds, I was the one making those drops. I had to fall back from that this week because I was busy with this house shit. John had been already selling to them white folks so I figured how hard could making one drop be.
"You don't make a drop, you fucking with my life. Now I'm untrustworthy and running game and now we all got a target on our backs. You think these muhfuckas care you was stuck in traffic? If y'all ain't ready for this life, let me know right now there's plenty of people that want yo spot" I spoke and looked around to see if anybody had something to say.
Meech and Jarod picked up the body from the floor and started to take it out of the room to dispose of it.
"Ight then. Let's get back to it" I replied. "Come see me on y'all way out. Imma pay y'all for y'all time"
I opened my car door and grabbed the stack of money off my seat. I leaned against my car and started to hand out two hundred dollar bills to all 19 of them. They were only here for less than 20 minutes but I wanted them to know that if you do right by me, I'll do right by you.
"Aye we need to meet with Julio about them pills man. That shit be selling like crazy" Leon said to me.
"We got too much going on already. We need to focus on what we got now."
When muhfuckas start to get greedy is when shit starts to unravel. Money was good right now. Pills would just be another thing I had to worry about pushing.
"Yo ass just bought a crib you could easily have all that money back in no time if we push that shit. We could hit them clubs downtown. Them white girls love that shit" Leon stated "Shit go right at the club we can hit that festival in July with no problem. That's thousands on thousands right there itself"
The problem wasn't the income, it was figuring out ways to clean it. The type of money we bringing in is no longer on some hood rich shit, this is real deal six figures a month.
I nodded my head as I kept handing out money to all the guys, "I'll make some calls"
"Somebody scrub that shit up" I said pointing to the pool of blood on the warehouse floor. I handed out the last two hundred dollars and went on my way back home.
I stopped at the Walgreens to pick up some drinks to bring to my neighbors. I just wanted to return what she had given me earlier. I pulled into my driveway and put the car into park. I grabbed the case of Ice mountain and the red gatorades before heading next door.
I sat the case of water down on ground in front of me. There was a mat on the floor that read "Henderson's"
I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. Once the door opened it was an older lady that resembled the girl I met earlier in the day.
"Hey how you doing. I'm Jay, I just moved in next door" I said with a smile.
"Ohhh you're the person that moved in. It's nice to meet you"
"I know it's late but I just wanted to drop off a case of water and a pack of gatorades. When I was moving in earlier your daughter brought me some drinks over" I glanced over her shoulder and I could see the girl sitting on the couch in the living room.
"Aww that's so nice of you but it's okay you didn't have to do that. It's not a big deal"
"You gave my damn gatorades away?" I could hear a male voice say before he appeared in the door way.
"I only gave him one!"
"Aye what's up bro" He dapped up with me and then picked up the drinks, "Appreciate it"
"No problem" I chuckled. "Well I'm gonna get going I just wanted to bring that over before I forgot"
"Do you like fried chicken? Come have dinner with us."
"C'mon now look at me. You know I like fried chicken" I replied jokingly even though I was serious, "But I need to unpack all my stuff maybe next time"
"Okay. It was nice meeting you Jay."
"Nice meeting you too Mrs. Henderson"