Trust No Bitch
Rico
The lunch bell sounded and soon hella kids crowded the halls of Ulysses S. Grant High School. Peanut had hit me up, saying he was on the front lawn with pizzas, So I made my way there, spotting Ty-Ty and Fredo already sitting next to him.
I dapped up my bros and grab two slices of pepperoni, placing one on top of the other and biting into half of it.
“Where Set and Reem?” Peanut asked, mouth full of pizza.
Ty-Ty swallowed and grabbed an orange soda. “Set got lunch detention for the next five days. Reem’s prolly in the library, fucking his fine ass chemistry partner. Lucky bastard.”
“Maaaan, Reading Ass Reem is not fucking that girl in the library… ay, but if he is, make sure he wrapping it up. You never believe what the fuck I just got done doing.”
“Tatiana pregnant? You cracked?!”
Peanut shoved Ty and glared at him. “No, bitch. Why me and Turkey had to get Autumn’s ass from the abortion clinic in South East this morning? Turkey had smoke coming out his ears until she admitted she was there with Wynter.”
My mouth stopped chewing.
Shit, my whole body froze up.
“Damn, foreal?” Ty asked, scarfing down more pizza.
“Yeah, she let some nigga knock her ass up, but she did a fetus deletus. Autumn was supposed to stay with her, but she had some test she couldn’t miss, so Turkey had me go get her and bring them back to they school. You talked to yo bottom bitch lately?”
Peanut cackled, pushing me playfully, snapping me out of whatever stasis I was in. I smiled automatically, and answered how he wanted me to.
“Nigga, fuck you.”
“I’m just wondering who the daddy is. Shad and Sean say she hella cool with them Get Money niggas. I bet it’s one of them.”
“You a nut,” Fredo chuckled, but it didn’t sound genuine.
Even Ty was more quiet than usual, even though neither one of us ever brought up Snow to each other.
“Whatever. I know you two out the game, but you coming by Jute, Ty-Ty? Pookie ass shoulda stayed in school; that nigga can’t count for shit.”
“Yeah. I got after school detention since they wanna separate me and Set. So I’ll be there like four, four-thirty.”
“Fasho. Stay dangerous niggas.” We gathered our trash and dapped up Peanut before he walked back to his car.
“Fred–”
“You ain’t taking my car alone, Rick,” Fredo stopped me, steering us back toward the building.
“And whatever you finna do, you shouldn’t use Fredo’s car. So I’ll come and we can get a new one.” Ty-Ty winked before setting off toward his locker.
Fredo and I went to our own, depositing our backpacks and making our way to the student lot, where seniors parked. Ty caught up to us, his backpack still in his hand, since he always kept any tools he needed to lift a car with him.
“Don’t ask no fuckin’ questions, and keep anything we see or do to your fuckin’ self,” I gritted before opening Fredo’s passenger seat.
“Ain’t gotta tell me twice, Dub.”
“But I’ma ask you to think before you do whatever it is you thinking of,” Fredo said as we left the parking lot. It was still lunch, and seniors could go off campus to eat, so it was still open.
We’d probably catch flack for leaving in the middle of the day, but I ain’t give a fuck, and my brother and cousin were riding with me through whatever.
We could sweet talk Ty-Ty’s granny, but Nan would be a tough nut to crack.
She was on our ass after all of us disappeared during Tryouts Labor Day weekend, and we’d been trying to at least not miss any days at school, especially since Fredo and I were done moving work.
But she was going to have to make an exception. I needed to see my bitch in the abortion clinic for myself.
Fredo pulled into the warehouse district and let Ty-Ty out. He got into an old Nissan, got it on, and followed us to South East, parking in a strip mall next to a church, about ten minutes from the only abortion clinic in the city.
Fredo popped the trunk and I got out the automatic glock we were getting rid of that weekend, and slid into the passenger seat of Ty-Ty’s stolen whip. Fredo got into the back and Ty-Ty took us to the clinic, parking two doors down from the front.
“I’m not gon’ shoot her, Fred. I just wanna know who she called after Haze left,” I muttered in Spanish, thankful Ty-Ty never tried to get higher than a D-plus in Spanish.
“Why wouldn’t she call you? I told you to check on her. What have you been doing?”
I glared at my brother. “Just ‘cause you got time to do whoever it is that you do now, doesn’t mean my time is freed up. I’m not moving work, but I’m still Kilo’s left hand, and that nigga moving like we Sparta. Bloods, crips, Latin Kings, they all wanna piece of the projects,
and they looking for weakness. Snow is a fucking weakness, as evidence by us staking out a fuckin’ clinic. Nutty and I be in the fuckin’ field.”
“Well, you clearly been between Wynter’s legs, too. Unless you aren’t her baby’s father?” Fredo lifted his eyebrows, and I narrowed my eyes at his use of English.
“Ty-Ty not gonna run his mouth.”
“Yeah, this shit kinda old news anyway. I seen y’all kissing during Labor Day Weekend.”
“Callete,” I hissed next to me, before palming my face.
Taking deep breaths didn’t help, not at all. I spoke around the lump in my throat. “If I was the dad, why wouldn’t she call me? Snow ain’t hit me in weeks.”
I had been contemplating pulling up on her, but I thought it was for the best. Shit had gotten so sticky after Tryouts. We did a good job covering our tracks and Shad scrubbed the internet of the Tryouts flyer, but it was still entirely too hot in South Kenton.
Posers popped up everywhere, claiming they were the real Foe Dub, so on top of doing Kilo and Tiny’s bidding, Nutty had us running drills, showing niggas what was really up.
I had planned on catching up with Snow when shit died down, but shit never died down.
And now we were here.
“Nutty talk a lot of shit, but you really think Wynter would fuck multiple niggas raw?”
“Every nigga in the city want her ass. What would you think?” I gritted.
The car was silent for a few moments as we all considered it.
I couldn’t be everywhere. I had to trust Snow was all mine. That she wouldn't be giving out what was mine when I was away from her, even if I was giving away what was hers.
But Pooh was my pops. And the first rule he taught me, my brother, and my cousin, was trust no bitch.
The front doors open, and there the nigga Trippy is, my bitch holding onto him for dear life.
“Aw shit,” Ty-Ty muttered beside me.
I snatched the ski mask from my lap and pulled it on my head, over my braids. I ain’t have to make sure they were doing the same.
I checked the glock, and there were still some bullets left. Ty-Ty kept the car idling.
“Go slow. Then after the first shot, peel off.”
“Aight, man.”
I knew he wanted to ask who exactly was I aiming at, but he wouldn’t. Because whether it was Trippy, Snow, or both of them, he still was gonna ride for me.
I rolled the window down as Ty-Ty began to creep up the block. She said something to him, and that nigga smiled.
And I let it rip.
One shot, in his chest. If I was right, he wouldn’t die. Not right away. His lung would be clipped, and it would be up to whatever surgery team the First Nations got on standby to save they nigga.
Ty-Ty pressed his foot on the gas, and I shot up the clinic, fucking up all they windows, before we tore off back toward Fredo’s whip.
My mind was on autopilot. Dump the car. Dump the gun. I knew what I had to do.
Except, that’s not what I needed to do. No. I needed to finish this shit.
“I’ll catch up with y’all.”
Fredo peered at me as I got out, but neither of them said shit.
“Call me when y’all back at the Birch.”
“Fasho,” Ty-Ty answered, before driving off.
Raleigh Park was a fifteen minute walk from where we parked Fredo’s car.
I took in a part of the city I shouldn’t be walking in, trying to unlock the muscles in my shoulders.
I had no idea when Snow would be home, and I didn’t give a fuck. All I knew was she would come home, and I would be there when she did.
I cut through her backyard and went in through the window after an uneventful walk. I thought niggas would catch wind, and try to knock Luney, but just as I thought, when it really counted, niggas were scary. I made eye contact with multiple niggas, and they went the other way.
I prolly should have went the long way, but I wasn’t thinking. My mind was still on autopilot. I had to lay eyes on Snow. But before that, I needed to know who the fuck got to her when she was supposed to be mine.
After climbing through her window, I went straight to the shoebox under her bed, and got the piece I kept there. Tucking it in the back of my jeans, I sat at her desk and proceeded to go through her emails and her instant messages.
Nothing out the ordinary.
Nothing on her MyRoom.
Not even in her messages with Set.
But all that meant was she was smarter than me. Dumb as fuck, since nothing she could ever do would stay secret, but smart enough not to have shit just laying around.
I heard the front door open, and exited out of everything. I turned toward the door just as it opened, showing me who I thought was my bitch.
She was dirty, covered in dried blood, though the spot between her legs was prolly hers.
She really did it. Killed a baby. I didn’t know what would be worse, if it was mine or not.
I stood, untucking my gun.
“Something you wanna tell me, Snow?”
Wyn blinked, defeat and something else in her gaze as it pinponged from my gun to me.
“I guess you missed earlier. Well I’m right here. You can shoot me now.”
I kissed my teeth. “Dramatic as fuck. Unless you did some shit that warrants me shooting you. Did you? Who baby you aborted, Snow?”
She blanched. “Who?” She nodded, looking around her room, repeating Who like she was an owl.
“Whose baby? WHOSE BABY, RICO?! WHOSE BABY DO YOU THINK–”
I rushed her, backing her into her door. I planted the butt of the gun beside her head. “Watch who the fuck you talking to.”