Chapter 1
Tunan “Tune” Payne
“Payne! Be ready in ten!”
Walking over to the pile, I picked up the only thing I would be taking with me.
It was a picture that had been getting me through this one-year stint.
A bright smile and a pretty face, frozen in a Kodak moment, had my heart fluttering.
I hadn’t loved a woman like I loved Tuscany Payne Cherman, ever.
Not even my mother received the love I had for my sister.
She’d stepped up and sacrificed so much for us, and for that, I would never forget.
She was my everything, and seeing her hold her second son, who looked just like his big-headed-ass daddy, got me through my darkest days in here.
With his arm wrapped around her waist was her oldest son, my nephew, Tulsaire.
I loved that young nigga with my whole heart and couldn’t wait to hear what he’d been up to.
One stipulation of my being behind bars was that I only conversed with my brothers.
I didn’t want my sister and nephews anywhere near this place, even if it was just a phone call.
I didn’t even accept letters from Tuscany.
I knew my sister was disappointed in me.
I had no reason to be in this musty-ass jail serving a year’s sentence.
I knew my brother, Tulscan, was outside the gates waiting for me, and I knew he would take me straight to our big sister, so she could cuss me the hell out.
I was ready for that shit, too, because I knew I deserved it.
“So you out this bitch today, hunh?”
Snatching me from my thoughts as I leaned against the concrete wall with my knee bent so that my foot was planted on the peeling paint while the other was on the dirty-ass ground, I eyed my cellie.
With his elbows resting on his knees, he had the look of defeat on his face, and I knew it had nothing to do with my release.
“Hell yeah,” I answered truthfully.
Typically, one wouldn’t tell an inmate that he was going home.
Niggas were so slimy that they’d sabotage your chance at freedom.
I didn’t fuck with too many outside of my brothers, but my cellie was cool.
He was in this bitch pending sentencing.
He’d undergone a speedy trial and was convicted on all charges.
Now, he was just waiting for the pussy-ass judge to hand him his time.
“You know I’ma be in this bitch for a minute. Ion wanna see you come back through here.”
More than likely, when Leader was given his time, he would be moved to a federal institution. This jail was simply a placeholder. But I got his message loud and clear. He wouldn’t have to worry about seeing my face in this hoe ever again.
“I ain’t coming back in this bitch, at all. I can promise you that.”
Leader searched my eyes for what I assume was the truth, and when he got what he was looking for, he pulled a pack of index cards out of his jumpsuit pocket.
When he showed up a few months ago, I had already taken the top bunk because I knew I wouldn’t be in this bitch long.
I had no plans on getting comfortable. He wasn’t getting out anytime soon, so it was only right that he got the bottom bed.
The nigga was only twenty-two and was facing hardcore time.
I’d heard of him and his brother, Emperor, and those young niggas were moving plenty of weight in Cove City, which wasn’t too far from the A.
Grown-man time was a possibility when you made grown-man money.
That young nigga had run up numbers I hadn’t even seen yet.
He was a product of his environment, as his father had been heavily involved in the streets at one time.
With his knowledge of the system and how the odds were never in a Black man’s favor, he knew that a lifelong sentence could be the outcome of his illegal doings.
Leader wasn’t defeated because he was facing fifteen years.
This young nigga was defeated because he had some shit he had to let go on the other side of the gates. More than likely, it was a bitch.
It was always a bitch.
“Aye, what’s on them index cards?” I jutted my chin.
He studied them bitches religiously. You would think he was preparing for an exam with the way he flipped through them motherfuckers day in and day out.
Slapping the stack against his palm, he placed them back in his pocket before standing. “You ever met the perfect girl?”
We’d talked about surface shit in the last few months, mostly regarding niggas we knew in the streets and family and shit.
I knew about his son, his mama, and his siblings.
I knew his daddy was dead. He knew I didn’t hold my fuck-ass pops in the same regard as he did his, and he knew about my siblings and nephews.
I knew his baby mama was the reason he was in this bitch, and just like him, he knew I was in this motherfucker because of a bitch too.
“Hell nawl. I ain’t never met the perfect girl.”
Even my sister had her faults, and she was my world. I’d never met nothing close to perfect, and if she was out there, I damn sure didn’t want her. I was good on these hoes.
“I did.”
Just like I suspected. That nigga spent most of his time staring at those cards and working out. He was going to be swole as fuck when he got up out of this bitch if he kept it up.
“She forbidden fruit, though.” His eyes lowered, and his shoulders slumped.
“Aye…” I tapped his chest with the back of my hand. “Chin up, nigga. You waiting on yo’ sentencing, but however this shit go, you ain’t gone get life. Do your fucking time like a G and get home to her.”
Leader squared his shoulders and lifted his head. “She got a future and shit. I should have never fucking touched her. She was pure. Still pure. Fuck a doctor going to do with a dope boy?”
I didn’t know much about his baby mama, but I’d heard him fussing on the phone we had illegally stashed in the wall behind the toilet with her a time or two.
From those conversations, I knew she was just the type street niggas went after.
Sack chasers with nothing to offer but pussy and problems. Had it been me getting caught with bricks in the car, her ass would have had to take that charge on the chin.
How the fuck the provider going to do the time?
Hearing that he’d cuffed something with a future made me smile inwardly.
“Nigga, she knew you was in the streets when she got with you, just like you knew she was in school to be a doctor. It takes like, what? Fifteen years to be a physician, right?”
He nodded.
“Aite then. Whenever you get out, because you will be walking out of this bitch one day, it’s going to line up with her being done with school. Divine timing. You got this nigga.”
Leader slapped hands with me and slapped my back in a brotherly hug, holding me in place.
“I’ma get my brother to hand you a lil’ something.
Stay up, nigga. I want to see you shining when I touchdown—legally.
” He lowered his voice so that his words would only be heard by me and not the prying-ass COs.
I slapped Leader’s back and nodded. “Say less, nigga. I’ma hit the phone when I get one so we can stay in contact.”
“Love, bruh.”
When the guard showed up at the cell, he glanced past Leader and me to my pile of belongings with a questioning look.
Instead of elaborating on our moment or telling him that I wasn’t taking any of that shit with me, I held my arms out so he could put the cuffs on.
He didn’t need to know I was leaving all that shit for my cellie, even though Leader didn’t need it.
“Leader, you ain’t got life, nigga. Remember that shit!” I reiterated as I stepped out into the prison corridor. This would be my very last time walking through these stale-ass halls, and he couldn’t direct a nigga fast enough.
My young cellie nodded, and I felt a sense of sadness wash over me even though it was supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life.
I’d done this time alone. I told myself I wouldn’t form any bonds because I was never looking back.
Plus, these niggas in here were either gay as fuck, grimy as fuck, or weak as fuck.
But Leader was as solid as they came, and the talks we had distracted a nigga from being so upset that I’d been placed in this bitch to begin with.
I hoped he didn’t lose his mind behind these walls.
I was going to hit him up as soon as I got situated to check in.
I appreciated his offer to let his brother break me off, but I was good on receiving anything that wasn’t from my brothers.
I wasn’t opposed to help, but whatever they didn’t have for me, I would figure out the shit myself.
I was led past the empty-ass pods, and with each step I took, my spirits lifted higher.
It was yard time, so there was no one in the cells we passed.
Everyone had probably run outside, wanting to feel some fresh air and soak in some sunlight.
I was one of them niggas just yesterday, but today, my time was up in this motherfucker.