Chapter 5 #2
Juelz leaned forward. “So, what’s the move now that you home?”
“Shit… I’m finna run this paper up.”
“How?” Skeet asked.
I shrugged. “You know what I mean?”
Smoke and Alonzo looked at each other, then nodded. Skeet still wasn’t convinced.
“So what else you finna do besides hustling?”
“What you mean?”
“What else you gon’ do?”
I leaned back. “Shit… we’ve been hustling all our lives. I ain’t finna punch no fucking clock. This shit is in me and on me. I wanna do something different one day, but right now, I’m finna do the only thing I know how to do: move these fucking bricks.”
Skeet took another pull from his cigar before speaking. “I hear you, but hear me out.”
“I’m listening.”
“We’ve been hustling our whole fucking lives.
But what the fuck are we really hustling for?
” Skeet looked around the room. “We got the cars, the clothes, the jewelry, the houses. So, what’s next?
Hood, this next lap gotta be personal. You gotta build some shit that still pays you when you sleep and provides for your family long after you take that final flight out of this motherfucka. ”
I stayed quiet. Skeet had my attention.
“I don’t want you back in these streets. The game has changed. If it were me, I’d start buying up everything for sale in Edgewood. Every piece of real estate left over there, buy that shit, nigga. And if you’re short on the money, we’ll front the rest.”
I looked at him. “It’s like that?”
“Hell yeah, for you, it’s always like that, fuck you mean? It’s time to let our money work for us. The fuck are we still looking over our shoulders for? Let them young niggas have the streets.”
I rubbed my beard. “My momma been saying the same shit. And this one chick I was fucking with too. Now yo ass too.”
Skeet nodded. “That’s ‘cause these young niggas ain’t built the same. They crash out over nothing.”
“I wouldn’t mind owning a spot like this.”
Skeet smiled. “Then find a spot. I’ll get my people to handle the licenses and permits. Shit, the lawyers, too. Whatever you need.”
“You really don’t want me back in the streets?”
Skeet looked me dead in the eyes. “Hell no. I want you alive long enough to enjoy what you built.”
“I hear you, and I’m soaking it all in.”
Skeet nodded. “I hope so.”
The energy around this table was different.
The bag was different. I fucked with Cash and Guap the long way, but Skeet, Juelz, and Alonzo?
Even though we came from different sides of the city, I always felt safest around them.
These niggas moved different, thought different, wanted more, and, most importantly, wanted the best for me.
Smoke was younger than all of us, but he fit right in.
A few minutes later, the wives made their way over. Nikki, Journee, and Alexis… The three of them slid in beside Skeet, Juelz, and Alonzo as if they owned the fucking section.
Nikki looked over at me and did a double take. “Well, damn… Is that Hood’s blockhead ass?”
I laughed. “What’s up, Nikki, Journee, and Alexis?”
“Hey, Hood,” they all said at once.
The three of them started grinning, then laughing.
I already knew some bullshit was coming.
These three stayed on bullshit. I ain’t with it tonight.
Skeet and Nikki had been together since we were kids, back when we first started hustling.
Journee had been around just as long. She had my boy Juelz wrapped completely around her finger.
And Alexis, man, I wasn’t even finna start on her ass. I looked around the table. I grew up with damn near everybody here.
“What’s funny?”
Nikki folded her arms across her chest. “I’mma let yo ass breathe tonight.”
Journee nodded. “But tomorrow?” Alexis finished Journee’s sentence. “We getting on yo ass.”
I frowned. “For what? I ain’t done shit… I just got home.”
Nikki laughed. “You know exactly what the fuck you did.”
“I don’t.”
“Oh… You acting slow now?” Nikki smirked. “Fumi, nigga.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “Man… y’all still crazy as hell. I ain’t done shit to Fumi.”
The three of them looked at each other before saying in unison, “Yeah… okay.”
I pointed across the table. “Get y’all wives.”
Skeet took a sip of his drink without looking up. “I can’t.”
Juelz shrugged. “Ain’t nobody controlling them.”
Alonzo grinned. “You on your own, my boy.”
The women burst out laughing. Nikki stood up first. “Come on, ladies. We’ll let Hood lie to himself tonight.”
Journee pointed at me on her way out. But tomorrow… We’re picking this conversation right back up. “Pull up.”
Alexis winked. “Sleep on it, Hood, we on yo ass tomorrow”
The three of them walked off still laughing.
I shook my head. Man… They’re irritating as fuck.
Skeet laughed. “Nah, they just know you.”
“Nah… I feel like y’all sent them over here to fuck with me.”
The table erupted in laughter.
“We didn’t. Man, hell nah.”
I looked around the table and shook my head. “Shit… All y’all niggas married? They don’t let a nigga be great.”
I already knew Alexis was involved. She was probably the one feeding Fumi information after she caught me slipping with another bitch. I couldn’t prove it… But I’d bet money on that shit.
Alonzo laughed. “Alexis won’t marry me right now. I think she’s trying to get away from me.”
I smirked. “Oh yeah?”
That didn’t surprise me. Alexis always struck me as the type of woman who wasn’t in any rush to settle down. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d been in Fumi’s ear, telling her to leave my ass alone.
I looked over at Smoke. “What about you?”
He shrugged. “Not yet.”
Juelz pointed his cigar at me. “What about you, Hood? Still out here juggling women?”
The whole table laughed.
I pointed back at him. “Nigga… I know yo ass ain’t laughing at me. I always played my position. I remember when Journee had yo ass ready to risk it all. She disappeared for years. I remember yo ass had the whole city looking for her.”
Everybody laughed.
Juelz shook his head. “She did. But look where the fuck she at now.” Juelz reached across the table and slapped Skeet’s hand.
I leaned back. “I ain’t juggling women no more. Shit… I cut Adrienne off my first day home.”
Smoke nearly spit out his water, laughing. “Damn… That was quick.”
I shrugged. “It was overdue.” The table fell quiet for a second. “I wanna settle down. Shit, I want a wife one day. I wouldn’t mind having a few kids. My momma’s waiting on some grandbabies from me. I need a reason to come home.”
Alonzo looked at me. “You seen Fumi?”
“Yeah. I saw her ass tonight.”
Skeet leaned forward. “Oh yeah?”
I nodded. “That’s why I ended up over here. She’s out here playing hard to get.”
Skeet chuckled to himself. “She came through here a few weeks ago.”
“Who was she with?”
“Nobody. She came by herself. She kicked it with the girls.”
I rubbed my beard. “Oh, she still does that?”
Skeet nodded. “Yeah. Fumi’s been outside.”
The whole time I was behind that wall… Fumi never stopped crossing my mind. I wasn’t keeping tabs on her. I had eyes on her, though. I wasn’t asking niggas what she was doing. I wasn’t checking the score. That would’ve made my bid even harder than it already was. So I left that shit alone.