Chapter 8
Trap Queen Islah
Ipulled into the parking lot, parked, and stared at the sky. My mind wasn’t racing anymore; it was focused.
Gio was alive; that’s what mattered first. After that?
Our life, picking up the pieces, and putting shit back together while he was away.
I sat in the car for a second, staring at the ring on my finger. That diamond was shining, even in the dark, and it made me smile.
“My nigga is down, I gotta hold shit together,” I whispered to myself.
I grabbed the duffel bag and headed inside to my room. Once I locked the door behind me and went into the bedroom, I tossed everything out on the bed.
The bricks.
The money.
Everything Gio left for me.
I sat in the middle of the bed and stared at it.
“Iight,” I muttered to myself. “I know what to do.”
I stayed up half the night, cutting up the bricks, weighing them out, and bagging them up before I went to bed. The next morning, I was up bright and early, waiting in the lawyer’s parking lot for it to open.
As soon as I saw that man unlock the door, I was out of my car, across the street, and pulling the door open.
“Gio needs you!” I blurted out as Mr. Groom was fixing his coffee.
“Good morning, Ms. Walker. I haven’t seen you in a long time.”
I sucked my teeth. “Look, I’m not here for small talk,” I said, stepping further inside the waiting room area. “I need you. Gio is locked up. They ran into our place.”
Mr. Groom took a sip of his coffee and nodded.
“Follow me.”
I followed him to his office, and he motioned for me to take a seat.
He looked me over for a second and took another sip of his coffee.
“I heard about the arrest,” he said calmly, pulling a file from his drawer. “And expected to hear from one of you.”
I swallowed hard.
“What is it looking like?” I asked.
He flipped through a few papers, scanning them.
“They are trying to hold him on possession with intent,” he said, “but from what I’m seeing, they don’t have nearly as much as they hoped.”
A smile came over my face. “So he’s coming home?”
Mr. Groom put the paper down and leaned on his desk.
“It’s not that simple, Ms. Walker, but I will get to work on getting him a bond hearing.”
I nodded. “I don’t care what it costs. I just want him home.”
He gave me a nod like he already knew that, and I stood up and headed to the door. As I opened the door, Mr. Groom yelled out, “Ms. Walker.”
I stopped and turned around.
“I deal with a lot of cases with men in the streets. When situations like this happen, people start paying more attention to their spouse. I just want you to be careful.”
I smirked. “People have obviously been watching or talking. Just get my man home.”
I left his office and sat in my car for a minute.
Gio told me to hold it down, so that’s exactly what I was gonna do.
Gio has had lil’ run-in with the police.
A lil’ police chase a few years ago, a weed charge that got dropped last year, but this shit?
Police running in our shit? Has never happened.
But now that I knew the lawyer was in motion, I could breathe.
I could breathe enough to focus on the next thing, the duffel bag sittin’ beside me full of bricks that were broken down and ready to go.
I pulled off and headed straight to Crenshaw. When I pulled up on the block, it was already live, but most of the people were in front of my door, watching maintenance fix it. One person saw my car, gave the nudge, and scattered as I pulled into a parking lot.
“Nosey asses,” I muttered to myself as I hopped out of the car.
The men fixing the door nodded at me as I waved, headed over to Bully’s side, walked up the steps, and knocked on his door. A few seconds passed before Bully opened his door. When he did and saw all the people watching, he moved me to the side.
“Aye, move around,” he said, gripping his waist. “And mind your fuckin’ business.”
Again, they scattered, but this time to their homes or out of the complex.
He then turned and looked at me. “You good?” he asked, walking into his place.
I followed him in, closing the door behind me.
“Yes and no.” I opened the duffel bag and showed him what I did. “Gio left work for me to take care of things while he’s away, but I don’t know if I should be standing on the corner like that.”
Bully smoked. “I got you, sis,” Bully walked up his hall and came back down with his own duffel bag.
“Do you have his phone?”
I shook my head. “Nah, my house is trashed, but I’m pretty sure they took that bitch.”
He nodded. “True shit. Give me your keys.” I tossed the keys to him. Bully walked to his door and opened it. “Come on.”
I followed him out and over to my car. He opened the back door.
“Get it.”
I tilted my head, but didn’t ask any questions, and just got in.
After closing my door, he walked around and hopped in the driver’s seat.
“Look, me and brah do this thing where we ride around and hit licks. We gonna do that today. I’ma take you to the hood where brah is respected so they can bless you.”
I smiled and leaned back in the seat.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Bully started the car and pulled out of the lot like it was just another day, even though I had no idea.
My duffel bag sat on the seat beside me while his was on the floor in front of his feet. The music was low; the windows cracked just enough to let the Cali breeze slide through.
For a minute, neither of us said anything.
Then Bully reached back and handed me his phone.
“Take the calls,” he said. “I sent out a kite to let people know we’re outside.”
Before we even made it three lights down Crenshaw, the phone buzzed in my hand.
Bully glanced at me through the mirror.
“First play, let’s get it,” he said.
I answered and kept my voice steady. “Yeah.”
The dude on the other end paused for a second, then got straight to it. “Brah said you got it.”
“Yeah, where you?”
He told me the corner and hung up.
Bully smirked. “See? We in motion now.”
A few minutes late, we pulled up, and a nigga stepped to the window. He leaned down and looked me up and down while talking to Bully.
“This Gio girl?”
Bully nodded. “You know she’s good.”
The guy nodded. “I heard what happened to ya man. Making moves for him is respected.”
He handed me the money, and I padded the bag forward.
Just like that, my first play without Gio was done.
Bully pulled off, and the phone buzzed again before we even turned the corner.
Stop after stop.
Block after block.
Everywhere we went, people asked about Gio, and I simply responded, “He’s good, I got him.”
And they saw that.
The money started piling up in my lap, and the duffel bag slowly got lighter.
Bully looked at me through the mirror and laughed.
“I know brah has been teachin’ you some things, you movin’ like you’ve been doin’ this all your life.”
I smirked. “I have a good teacher.”
He nodded.
“That nigga Gio gonna be proud of you! Most women wouldn’t do what you are.”
I agreed.
We rode like that most of the afternoon, sliding through different hoods. Blood corners, the Crips knew me well. I even ended up in a few spots where you didn’t ask questions, you just handled business.
Nobody tried me.
Everybody respected me because of my man.
By the time the sun started dipping down, Bully took us back to the complex. Once we pulled in, I saw that the door was fixed, but I damn sure didn’t feel like dealing with what was behind it.
“Count your shit up,” Bully said as he turned the car off.
I started stacking the money in piles on the seat. I had to smile when I finished counting.
“It’s about 55K.”
“With this money and the money Gio left, I should be able to take care of moves, his bond, and re-up. You think you can hit T for me?”
Bully paused.
“Give me the money and I’ll re-up for you.”
He gave me a look, but I didn’t question him and handed him 20K.
“I’ll take care of that for you, and we can hit the block tomorrow.”
We hopped out of the car, and I walked around the driver’s side. Bully hugged me as I thanked him for helping me.
“You’re family, I know brah would do the same for me. Slide through when you’re ready to hit the streets.”
I nodded and hopped in my car and pulled out with Bully standing there watching. As I drove to the hotel, I felt accomplished. Gio getting locked up was not in our plans, but just like Keyshia Kaior, when it’s my time, I’ma grind for my nigga the way he did for me.
When I got to my room, I lay across my bed and thought about what was next when my phone rang.
I looked at the number and didn’t know who the fuck it was.
“Hello,” I said, low and confused.
“Hey, baby.”
My heart melted.
“Gio! Hey, baby. Whose phone you using?”
He laughed. “I got a guard’s phone, I needed to hear your voice. I damn sure wasn’t waiting until tomorrow.”
I smiled. “I miss you.”
“I miss you, too, girl. What have you been doin’?”
I rolled on my stomach with my smile getting wider by the second.
“Well, I have secured your lawyer; he’s working on a bond hearing. And I hit the streets with Bully today and made some money.”
Gio started clapping.
“Islah, my wife! I’m so thankful and proud of you, baby!”
“It’s what I’m supposed to do. I’ma hold shit down when you can’t.”
“You know, I’ma smart ass man for marrying you, right?”
We laughed.
“Nah, but the next few days are going to be very busy. Getting movers, packing, and everything in between. I hope Groom can get you home.”
“Me too, baby,” Gio said low. “Just know they can’t hold a nigga down for long. You won’t be doing this without me forever.”
That calmed me a lil’ bit. Gio knew what to say at the right time to give me some peace.
We talked until the guard’s lunch break was over, and that smile slowly slid off my face, but before he hung up, he said, “Soon as I get home, we’re knocking the last thing off your list.”
And just like that, my smile was back.