Chapter 10
Second Quarter
We got to the airport and had a long ass wait, and all I could do is sit there and think about that nigga running in my room once again, but this time, beating my ass, and my nigga sat there and watched the shit.
I looked over at Bully and sucked my teeth.
“Nigga, you could have helped me,” I said with an attitude.
Bully laughed. “Nigga if you left Islah alone and left the city, none of this shit would have happened.”
I shook my head, and that shit hurt like a bitch.
“I can’t believe she chose that nigga over me.”
“Nigga, this is the last time I’ma say this shit to you…
Islah been done with you. When she left your ass in that cell and moved away from yo’ ass, she was done.
She got a whole nigga that don’t play. She ACCEPTED the nigga’s proposal.
What the fuck else do you need to tell you that she don’t want yo’ ass?
That yo’ time with her is over, ain’t no spinning the fuckin’ block. ”
I turned in my chair to look at Bully.
“This shit ain’t over until I say it’s fuckin’ over.”
Bully looked me up and down, laughed, and hopped up, walking away from me.
My whole body was throbbing sitting there as I closed my eyes and tried to let it fade away, but all I could think about was the look on Islah’s face, and the way she wrapped her arm around his.
She was really choosing another nigga over me, and that shit didn’t sit right with me.
I loved that girl, and she acted like all her love for me was gone. I tried to give her space and let time bring us back together, but she didn’t let time do its thing.
I drifted off to sleep for a while, and when I woke up, Bully was hitting my foot, telling me it was time to board the plane.
I had to get him to help me up, and I leaned on him all the way to our seats.
We got settled, the plane took off, and Bully instantly went to sleep. I looked out at the night sky. At all the city lights under me, thinking about how somewhere down there, my girl was laid up under some nigga celebrating my defeat.
“This shit don’t have to be over,” I mumbled under my breath.
I thought about that shit the whole flight, making plans in my head.
Once we touched down in Cali, and we stepped outside, my city didn’t feel the same—it didn’t feel the same because Islah wasn’t with me.
I kept my thoughts to myself and chilled in a wheelchair while Bully got us an Uber.
We went back to Bully’s crib. He had to help me out once again, and I couldn’t help but stare.
Crenshaw looked the same, but felt so different.
I looked over at the apartment I used to share with her.
By the looks of it, people had already moved in.
Bully opened the door, and his girl looked at me like she was looking at death.
“Gio, what the fuck happened to you?” Candy asked me.
“He got fucked up by Islah’s man, that’s what happened,” Bully responded before I had the chance to.
He dragged me to his guest room and tossed me on the bed, and walked out as I pulled myself up a lil’ bit at a time. My body was sore all over.
When he walked back in, he handed me some weed and a few blunts.
“I need you to get your shit together, nigga,” he said, grabbing the door. “Smoke this shit and get some rest. We will get you fixed tomorrow.”
Bully shut the door behind him, and I took my time doing what he said. To be real, I needed something to calm my nerves.
I put two blunts in the air back-to-back and tried to clear my mind from Islah, but it was hard to. That girl was my world, and I didn’t see myself letting up on her.
But I had to admit, I was moving sloppy. Thinking with my heart and not with my head.
Just like that nigga was the nigga in his city, I was the nigga in mine, and I knew I still had niggas who would ride for me. I just needed to get around them.
That weed definitely put me out, cause when I woke up outta my weed coma, the sun was up, birds were chirping and shit.
My body was still sore, blood was dried up all over me, but I managed to get up by myself. I made it out the room and down the lil’ hallway and tossed myself on Bully’s couch. It took no time before I heard Bully’s fat ass feet coming down the hallway.
“What’s the move for today?” he asked. “You know yo’ ass broke.”
I sucked my teeth, not needing him to remind me of shit.
“Nigga, shut up, I need to go holla at Kronic, see what the hood talkin’ about.”
Bully nodded while chomping on some bacon his girl left on the counter.
“I like that shit. Get yo’ ass in the shower, change your clothes and shit.”
I stumbled my way into his bathroom and turned on the water, and when I jumped in, that water hit my body, and I damn sure wanted to scream.
I hurried up and got the dried-up blood off my body while trying to be as gentle as I could. When I got out, I wiped the steam off the mirror and stared at myself.
I was black as hell. That nigga left purple bruises all over me. From my face down my chest and back, I was fucked up.
I threw on some clothes that I had with me and stumbled down the hallway again. Bully stood up when he saw me.
“Are you ready?”
I nodded. “Yeah nigga, let’s go.”
He walked out ahead of me, giving me time to get down the steps on my own. Along with my nose, I knew my ribs were even more fucked up than before.
By the time I reached the bottom of the steps, Bully had the car on and the AC bumping. I got in slow as hell and shut the door behind me while he looked over at me, shaking his head.
“That nigga beat the main character syndrome outta your ass.”
I looked at him. “Drive before I slap the fat off your neck.”
Bully laughed and pulled off.
The ride through the city was quiet for the most part. I smoked and stared out the window while my body kept throbbing. Every now and then, Bully would glance at me and laugh under his breath like the shit was still funny to him.
It wasn’t.
Love embarrassed me once again.
Not just with the fight, but the way Islah left with him after.
That shit sat in my chest and flashed through my mind the whole damn ride.
When we finally made it over to Kronic’s hood, and as soon as we hopped out, niggas was staring at me.
Some even started laughing.
“Ayeee!” one nigga yelled. “Who the fuck hit you with a brick?”
Another nigga walked up on me, looking at my face.
“Nahh, this shit look personal. He got new bruises on top of old ones.”
I pushed the nigga outta my face.
“Are y’all done?!” I barked, and they all backed up, leaving me alone.
I headed up Kronic’s sidewalk as he came out the door with a cup in his right hand and a blunt in his left.
He looked me up and down, then past me at Bully.
“That nigga fucked him up, didn’t he?” Kronic asked Bully.
“That nigga ran him outta the city!” Bully responded.
They laughed together while I made my way to sit down.
Kronic kept laughing as he stepped off the porch to catch a play.
I sat back, watching the niggas gamble, smoke, and listen to the music that was blasting from somebody’s car.
That’s one thing about the hood, no matter how long you stay gone, the shit is gonna stay the same, and after all I just went through, normalcy felt good.
After Kronic was done, he stood by the car and talked to Bully for a few, both of them niggas looking over at me at the same time.
After a while, Kronic came back on the porch and took a seat beside me, passing me the blunt.
“What you here for? I know you didn’t bring yo’ crippled ass out just to sit on my porch.”
I smirked. “I need to make some money.”
Kronic nodded. “Does that mean you keeping your ass away from that girl?”
I tried to sit up as straight as I could.
“I can’t say that, looking at me,” I said low. “She watched that nigga fuck me up.”
Kronic shook his head.
“I’ma front you this work, not because I want you to go fuck with that girl, but because I am hoping that you change your mind after you get back to the bread.”
Kronic stood up and walked inside while I sat back and puffed on the blunt until he came back.
When he did walk out the door, he had a black store bag in his hand and handed it to me.
“I know you can’t move like that right now. I’ll send the birds to you.”
I nodded and dapped him up.
“Good lookin’ brah, I appreciate it.”
Kronic smirked. “Show me you really do and stay in the city.”
I nodded. “I’ma try.”
Kronic walked away, and I started to break the coke down. I wasn’t gonna try shit. I had my plan, and my plan moved in three steps. Step one: Get some work and get back to the money. Step two: Eye some niggas in the hood that TTG. Step three: Get my fuckin’ get back.