Chapter 4 Adore
The warehouse smelled like weed and motor oil.
It was the same spot we came to when something needed to be said without outsiders hearing or seeing us.
We took up phones and all, so nothing could be recorded.
About twenty-five niggas stood around the room while Whodie leaned against one of the metal tables rolling a blunt like nothing in the world bothered him.
But I knew his ass was ready to go to war; he just needed to know with who.
His eyes were watching every nigga standing in the room.
I stepped forward so everyone could see me clearly.
“I’m gonna make this quick so we can get back out there,” I started as Whodie came and stood next to me. “When y’all step out this door, I want you watching everything. If somebody you don’t know starts asking questions about our movement, our stores, or our stash houses, you do not answer.”
The majority of them nodded.
“And if somebody keeps pressin’ you, let me muthafuckin’ kno’. I wanna kno’ what that nigga or bitch was wearin’. If they had a fuckin’ mole on their face. I want all the details,” Whodie added.
“Don’t try to play tough and impress nobody. Call one of us,” I told them. “We don’t know if it’s the police or another crew.”
“You think somebody’s watching, Adore?” One of the younger runners asked.
“I think people get curious when they see money moving.”
A couple of the older niggas laughed.
“But curiosity gets niggas killed in this business,” Whodie said calmly. That shut the room back down.
“So, until further notice, everybody moves smart. Don’t be talking to no random hoes. Don’t be doing all that fucking bragging about what we’re doing. And if anybody new pops up around the stores…”
“We find out who the fuck they are,” Whodie added.
Everyone nodded slowly.
“Good! Now let’s get back to work, I said.
They all dapped Whodie up and filed out.
Today, I was hanging out with my man. He suggested that we stay separate just in case a nigga was really coming for him instead of me.
It had been a minute since we hung together in the trap and I wasn’t taking no for an answer.
He folded just like I thought he would. Since I was with him, he pulled out the Hellcat.
Let him tell it, he’ll burn a bitch out in the hellcat if we had to get away.
“Since you wanna be wit’ a real nigga today, you ready to make our first stop?” Whodie asked as he chained up the warehouse.
“You see what I got on? I ain’t come to be cute. Let’s go.”
Anytime I went to the trap houses, I made sure to have on tennis shoes and loose-fitting clothes so I could hold my gun.
Whodie knew how we used to run this shit before I let him become my man.
Our first stop was my old hood. I missed the fuck out of my house.
Sitting on my porch, watching my product being moved.
“Ain’t no need to be smilin’. You miss this shit ova here, huh?” Whodie asked as he pulled over to the first house.
“I miss the fuck out of it. It was for the best that I got from over here. Especially how things are going right now.”
Whodie checked his mirrors before he got out and came to open my door. His gun was already drawn as he walked behind me. Once that house was cleared, we were approached by a fiend.
“Adore, we miss you, girl. You look good.” Then the scratching started, and I knew that was going to trigger Whodie.
“Stay up,” I told them.
“Aye, you had someone over at yo’ old house looking in the windows,” they added, before walking off.
“Aye, you remember what they look like?” Whodie asked.
“Face was covered.” He shrugged and continued walking off.
Neither of us said anything. Just went to the next stop. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I saw the door open and no one on guard.
“Stay right here,” Whodie said.
“Fuck no!” I snatched the door open.
“Gawd damn, Adore. You hardheaded as fuck.”
As soon as we walked in, bodies everywhere. Cash was everywhere. I stepped over the bodies, went to the back, and noticed all the pills were gone. My safe was still sitting there. When I opened it, money was still stacked in that bitch. Whodie stood behind me.
“They took the product and no money. This shit is personal.”
Whodie grabbed all the duffel bags and stuffed them with the money. He threw one at me.
“Empty the safe. We gotta move quick ‘cause we don’t kno’ where the fuck they at or if this mystery bitch comin’ back.”
Fifteen minutes later, we were throwing the bags in the trunk.
My heart was racing as I sat in the passenger seat.
Whodie got back out of the car and popped his trunk.
He walked from the back with a gas can and started dashing the house with gas.
He walked to the back and came back with an empty can.
Then he set the house on fire, hopped in the car, and peeled off.
“Who the fuck leaves money and takes the product?” I paced the floor, trying to wrap my mind around it.
“Somebody that knows this operation. You say that nigga Sosa taught you everything you kno’, right? Is that nigga really dead?” Whodie asked.
He knew Sosa was still a sensitive topic. How dare he question me about a nigga that I knew was dead?
“Whodie, why the fuck would you ask me that? You know that fuck nigga dead.”
“I’m just sayin’ it’s mighty strange you never tailored yo’ shit to fit you like I asked. You kept the shit just like he had it, and now shit goin’ missin’. You sure you don’t kno’ who the fuck pulled up on me the other night?” He stared at me.
“Fuck is you saying?” I got in his face.
“I tell you what. I’m goin’ to my condo tonight. Don’t open the fuckin’ door for nobody and don’t leave this muthafuckin’ house.”
“How dare you tell me what the fuck to do, and you’re leaving?”
“I’m leavin’ so I can think clearly. Some shit is off, and I can’t think ‘round you right now. In the meantime, be thinkin’ of another way to move this shit ‘round. ‘Cause if I do it, it’s gonna move how I want it to. We both kno’ you like to be in control,” he said before walking out the door.
There was only one person I could call. I had questions that only his ass could answer.
“Fuck you calling me for when I’m trying to lay up with my wife,” Hollow fussed.
“Quick question.”
“Talk, shit!”
“Do you think Sosa faked his death to get out of that FED shit? I mean…” I rambled.
“Do you think he’s dead? I had a spot hit today.
No money touched, but they took all the product out of there and left me with three bodies.
Then a fiend told me someone was lurking around our old house. Looking in the windows and shit.”
I could hear Hollow shuffling. Whatever he was about to do with Love was being put on hold.
“Adore, I’m coming over there. I don’t want to talk on the phone.”
An hour later, Hollow was walking through the door. I locked the door behind him and followed him to the sofa.
“So, you tellin’ me all your dough was left? It wasn’t a robbery. It was a fuckin’ statement. And where the fuck Whodie dread having ass at? He should be here with you.”
“He was, but he thinks I’m hiding shit and protecting Sosa.”
“It’s definitely a nigga that knows your operation. I’m with bruh on that shit. Run me down how this nigga died.”
I ran it down to him. There was no way he could fake that shit.
“Nah, that nigga dead dead.” Hollow laughed.
Death never scared him. He saw the shit too much. After seeing his son dead, he was numb to the shit. Not to mention, he worked with the dead for a living. Illegally and legally.
“Who the fuck could it be then?” I flopped down on the sofa.
“Look, flip your operation around. You should’ve never kept that shit how that pussy nigga had it anyway.”
“Now you sound like Whodie.”
“The nigga knows the streets a little better than you. Yeah, you know the drug game, but the streets are different when you’ve been in that muthafucka your whole life. Step back and listen to what the fuck he gotta say.”
“Aight.” I threw my hands.
“You wanna crash at my spot?”
“Fuck no! I don’t want to hear you and Love, the fuck!”
“Lock this bitch down. I’ll check on you in the morning.” He walked towards the door, rubbed his hand under the table in my foyer, and smiled when he felt the gun. “My muthafuckin’ sister.”
“You taught me well.” I winked.
When Hollow left, I locked the house up and set the alarm.
I rolled a blunt and searched every cabinet around the house for some liquor.
Whodie poured all of it out. Right now, I needed a shot, but I knew not to leave this house.
Not only did Whodie warn me not to leave, but Hollow did as well.
I settled for the blunt and took a shower to get the day off me.
My phone started ringing as I wrapped the towel around me.
“Why you calling? Didn’t you leave?” I said with an attitude.
“I’m making sure you’re good,” Whodie said.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Stop with the fuckin’ attitude, please. That’s why I didn’t stay home.”
I stopped being a bitch because I wasn’t really mad at Whodie. It was my anxiety fucking with me.
“Hollow said I needed to hear you out about that. So come home in the morning, and I’ll have breakfast ready.”
“Bet! I love you,” Whodie said.
“I love you too,” I said before we ended the call.