8. Riot St. James #2
“I’m good. Go back out front. I’ll call Dolo to get someone to come clean it up,” I let him know, and he nodded.
“What happened though?” Adrian wanted to know. He was another one of the younger dudes that worked for Dolo.
“I was getting ready to leave, and I walked past the door, and overheard a conversation that he was having on the phone with someone. He made jokes about snitching on Dolo and working with the feds. It was a chance that I couldn’t take within the business,” I shared with them, and when I said it, you could see the look of anger written all over their faces.
“What? What the fuck! Man, I would have killed that nigga for that shit too. That ain’t the kind of shit you joke about. I’m glad you popped him. I ain’t ever care for that nigga anyways!” Leon responded.
Before they left, each of them wanted to know again if I was okay, and I assured them that I was.
They left, and I was able to step out of the bathroom, but I kept the door open, so I was able to look right in, and my eyes were on Rakim’s dead body.
His eyes hadn’t closed yet, so as I stood here, it was as if he was still staring at me.
Knowing that I’ve seen my fair share of dead bodies, I didn’t let it faze me, as I pulled my phone out, dialed Dolo, and I placed the phone to my ear. I knew that he was busy tonight, with a lot of running around to do, which is why we separated, and he had me doing my own thing tonight.
“What’s up bae? You good?” he answered for me on the last ring.
“I made a mess. You gotta bring the cleaning kit,” I spoke to him in code.
It was lingo that Dolo taught me within the weeks that I’ve been working up under him, learning how to navigate within the business.
The life we lived, the shit that we were out here doing, it would be reckless of us to admit to certain things over the phone.
I couldn’t admit to Dolo over the phone that I’d just killed Rakim, and that I needed him to get the cleaning crew over here to dispose of his body, and to have this bathroom looking brand new again.
“Riot, what? What kind of mess you talking? Shit that can easily get swept up, or motha fuckas need to put on gloves, and come with garbage bags to toss it out?” he asked, using the lingo back on me, and I knew what he was asking me.
“Gloves, and fuckin garbage bags, Dolo! It’s too big for me to clean it myself!” I yelled at him because I was annoyed. Not annoyed with him, but annoyed that I even had to do this shit tonight.
“Aight. Aight. Ima send somebody over there right now to clean it up. You did the count already?” he asked me, changing the subject.
“Yes,” I let him know.
“Where it’s at?” he inquired.
“Right here with me. I still have it. I didn’t drop it off yet,” I said.
“Leave it there. Get back in the car with Mitch and let him take you home. I’ll come through there, and get the money, and drop it off. When I finish, I’ll pull up on you, so that you can let me know what the fuck happened,” I could hear it in his voice that he was angry and annoyed as well.
“Why do I have to go home for the rest of the night? It was still things that you wanted me to do tonight,” I said to him.
“Riot because I motha fuckin said so! That’s why!
It’s dirty where you’re at right now. Did you not just call me about a fuckin mess?
I don’t know who in those apartments might have heard your shit go off.
Granted, that kind of area is known for its high crime rates, so the residents are used to the sound, but just in case someone is in a snitching mood tonight, I need you to go and be put up at home somewhere.
You did your part, let me handle the rest yo!
” he snapped on me. Instead of responding back to him, I just hung the phone up in his face.
I placed my phone in my back pocket and closed the bathroom door. The duffle bag that I had sitting in the hallway, I took it in the back room, where I had been counting money, and I placed it inside the closet for Dolo to get it when he arrived.
Once it was locked up, I closed the door, and I went up front where the men were.
They were cooking up, and bagging. Literally moving on like nothing ever happened.
I let them know that I was out for the night, and that Dolo was sending a crew here to dispose of the body, and that Dolo would be pulling up as well.
They let me know that that was fine, and then I left out.
I locked the apartment door behind me, jogged down the stairs, and Mitch was still parked in the parking lot.
I tried pulling on the handle, but he had it locked. I tapped on the window, and that’s when the doors unlocked, and even with him sitting in the front seat, he reached back, so that he could open the back door for me.
When the door opened, the lights came on inside the car, and I could see him wiping his face, as if he had been in the car, sleeping.
“Wake up nigga! Fuck is you sleeping on the job for?” I asked it in a serious way, but I was just messing around with him.
“Chill. A nigga wasn’t sleep. Just resting my eyes a little bit. I didn’t expect you to come back so soon. You good? I’m about to take you to the other spot?” he asked, turning his head around, so that his eyes could be on me.
“No. I’m done for the night. You can take me home,” I let him know.
You saw it in his eyes that he was confused that I was turning in so early. It was only 11 at night. Usually, shit would begin to pick up at this time. Mitch never really got in my business like that, so I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t ask me why I was finished with my workday so soon tonight.
He turned around, and he drove the car in silence.
So many things were swarming through my mind right now.
Every time I would close my eyes, there would be visions of Rakim’s dead body.
It wasn’t that I was scared, but I felt as if I’d looked at his body for too long, and now I couldn’t get that fuckin sight out of my head.
That’s why I was upset that Dolo sent me home tonight because at least if I was able to continue working, moving around, I wouldn’t have to think about what just went down in that trap.
It was going to linger on my mind all night now.
Mitch eventually pulled up to Ari’s house, and I thanked him for the ride.
With the money that I was making now with Dolo, honestly, I was able to move out and get my own spot.
I kind of hinted at it the other day to Ari, and that girl damn near threw a fit when I said it.
Ari didn’t want me to move. She told me all the time that she enjoyed me living with her.
We only saw each other during the day because at night, we would both be away from the house, working.
Even on those nights where she was off, I was typically gone.
I knew that it was going to break Amir’s heart the day that I moved out.
My little cousin loved that I was living with him, and his mom, and he told me all the time that he never wanted me to move.
I was comfortable living with Ari. I had my own room, own bathroom, and everything, but it was time for me to experience living on my own.
I let myself inside the house, disabled the alarm, and locked the door behind me.
I stepped out of the tennis shoes that I was wearing, held them in my hands, so that I could take them upstairs, and put them in the closet.
I needed to take a shower. I had to wash my hair and everything.
Sins were on me, and I needed to scrub them off.
Now that I was in my room, I placed the shoes in the closet, and right when I stood in front of my dresser, for whatever reason, my eyes zeroed in on the small picture frame that was sitting there, that held a picture inside of my brother and I.
I picked the picture up, held it with both hands, and I stared at us.
I stared at the love, and the bond. The way I was smiling in that picture, as Roman had his arm wrapped around my neck, proved how strong my love for him was. I missed him to pieces.
I knew that if I stared at this picture for too long that I was bound to get in my feelings, so I placed it back down on the dresser, and I pulled out the drawer that held my pajamas, and once I had a set, I tossed it on the bed.
I grabbed a pair of panties as well that I dropped on the bed, and I walked into the bathroom, so that I could take a shower.
Before I even started scrubbing my body, I just stood under the water, allowing the steaming hot water to beat against my skin.
I was directly under the shower head, so my hair was getting wet, just like I wanted it to.
It’s almost like my mind was on overdrive right now.
I was thinking about it all. I thought about the doctor’s appointment that Dolo took me to the other day.
I was able to get all the information from Ari and book the appointment online.
I wasn’t playing with Dolo’s ass. I made that damn appointment on the way to Uzi’s class, right after he grabbed the plan b for me.
When I booked the appointment online, I made it clear that I wanted the IUD inserted in me the same day that I went in.
I thought that they wouldn’t be able to do it the same day because that’s what Ari told me. She said when she had hers inserted, that her first appointment was more so a consultation, and that they had to schedule another appointment for when they would insert it.