Chapter 9 Whodie
Pain woke me up before the sun did. My leg was throbbing like a bitch.
My neck wound wasn’t hurting as bad but it had bled through the gauze and gotten on my pillow.
Hollow was right, the bullet had done more damage than I thought.
I shifted slightly in the bed and clenched my jaw when the pain shot straight up my thigh.
“Fuck!” I mumbled.
I grabbed my gun and tucked it in my waistband as I slowly crept towards the bathroom to piss and brush my teeth.
Even after everything, Adore still took care of me.
I shook the thought and grabbed some water.
By the time I stepped out of the condo, two of my boys were already outside the garage elevators waiting.
Reese and Tone were close to my age. We rocked the hardest. All I ever had to do was call, and they didn’t ask any questions.
“Damn, they got my boy down bad,” Reese said, hopping out of the car to help me.
“Still muthafuckin’ standin’ though.”
“So, what we on?” Tone asked.
“We gotta find this nigga, Mazi.”
“Lowkey, they say the nigga don’t even show his face like that. He moves through people.”
“So, he got a crew?” I asked.
“He got soldiers. Brought all them niggas wit’ ‘em from Miami.”
I leaned back in the seat. Just letting my mind catch up with the information.
Miami niggas were getting money. Fuck he wanted with our country ass territory?
We pulled off in search of one of Mazi’s runners.
All I needed was one. We got word that one of his people hung around the north side.
We pulled up to one of the smaller trap spots.
A spot that Adore and I didn’t give a damn about because it wasn’t interrupting our flow of business.
We let the small traps with no names niggas live. Hell, we all had to eat out here.
We stepped inside and expected more. It was two niggas there counting money. The nervousness on their faces said a lot when they saw our faces.
“Which one of you niggas know Mazi?” I asked calmly.
They looked at each other.
“Don’t make me ask again.” I pulled my gun out.
One of them raised their hand.
“I just know his name. I don’t know him like that,” he said quickly.
“Then why you working his shit?” Reese asked.
“I ain’t working for nobody. I just move product.”
“This muthafucka lying,” Tone said.
“I’m not—”
I hit him in the mouth with my gun before he could finish. He hit the floor, and the other nigga froze.
“Talk,” I said, pointing the gun towards him.
“He just been asking questions. Having us find out shit about y’all.”
“What the fuck is he askin’?”
“How Adore moves…where the money at…who she trusts? Shit like that.”
So, my confirmation was correct. He wasn’t hitting random spots. He was studying Adore’s operation.
“Where he at now?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
I cocked my gun, “Stop tellin’ me you don’t kno’.”
“I swear. He don’t pull up himself. He sends folks.”
Coward ass nigga asking questions but scared to show his fucking face.
“Reese, pick this pussy nigga up,” I said, pointing to the one I hit in the mouth. “Have you ever seen him?”
He shook his head slowly.
“I’ve only heard stories,” he said through his leaking mouth.
“Stories.” I laughed.
“Stories about how he don’t miss.”
“It’s only one nigga I kno’ that don’t miss and his name not Mazi.” I looked at both of them before looking at Reese and Tone. “Burn this bitch down.”
“What?” One of them yelled.
“You heard me correctly. Y’all boys enjoy yo’ visit to hell.”
Back in the car, I was fighting back the tears from my leg. While in the house, I was working off straight adrenaline. Now that the house was burning and we were pulling away, my shit was hurting.
“Here.” Tone held out his hand with two Percs.
Adore worked so hard for me to get those muthafuckas out of my system.
The only way for me to get rid of the pain I was in was to take them.
I snatched them up and swallowed them down with the water I’d brought.
When I made it back to the condo, Adore was waiting for me.
My pain had subsided, but I was tired as fuck and barely able to get through the door.
“Where the fuck have you been? I’ve been blowing you up,” Adore said.
“My phone is on the side of the bed.”
“No fucking shit. Where have you been?” She asked again, crossing her arms.
“Handlin’ business.”
“Whodie, do you even give a damn about your leg? You can’t move like you need to in case of an emergency. Can you just please heal before you go out trying to handle fucking business?”
“Fuck do you care for?”
“You’re right,” she threw her hands up. “I’m only here for one thing.”
She threw my arm around her neck and helped me to the bed.
“I’ll have you some breakfast ready in a minute. After that, I’ll be gone.”
My eyes were closed before she even shut the door.
We both knew I needed her here, but right now, I was high, and sleep was needed.
By the time I woke up, I had a cold breakfast sitting on the side of me and my orange juice was warm.
I reached over to grab my phone and noticed it was almost four in the afternoon. I dialed Hollow’s number.
“How you feelin’?” He asked.
“I’ve been better. Let me ask you this. Can a nigga take a shower, bruh? I can’t be sittin’ ‘round this bitch stankin’.”
We both shared a laugh.
“You don’t want to fully emerge that wound in water just yet. Have Adore give you a good sponge bath.”
I went silent.
“Nigga, my sister still there, right?”
“Nah, she’s gone.”
“Well, if you don’t call her back, yo’ ass gonna be stankin’ like Charles off Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”
One thing I hated was being dependent on another muthafucka to take care of me.
Since my parents left, I told myself I would never depend on a soul for anything.
I guess I didn’t take into account that a nigga might get shot and need someone.
Unlike Adore, my pride when it came to her was something I could put aside.
I was a street nigga, but one thing I was going to do was wash my ass and brush my fucking teeth.
I wasn’t one to keep the same clothes on for days while I hustled. Not knocking the nigga that do it.
“Hello,” Adore said with an apparent attitude.
“I need help,” I stated.
“Oh, I didn’t think you needed any help. Being that your ass is back taking pain pills.”
“How the fuck would kno’ what I been doin’?”
“Whodie, it’s obvious. When you take them, your mouth is dry. You were asleep, but you asked me for three water bottles. You swallowed them bitches down with your eyes closed. Now, what do you need help with?”
I sighed, “I need help washin’ my ass, man. Hollow said I can’t shower right now or I’ll get an infection.”
“Damn, now I gotta wash your ass. Ain’t that some shit. What? You can’t call one of your homeboys to wash it. Oh! What about your baby mama?”
“Adore, it’s either yes or no. You kno’ I hate depending on muthafuckas and you throwin’ this shit in my face as a joke ain’t helpin’.”
“I’m on the way,” she said, hanging up in my face.
When she mentioned Zhane, I remembered I was supposed to meet her at the testing center for the DNA test. I had no number or anything for her to tell her what was going on.
My only result was to search her social media and see if she would respond.
After going to Instagram, I went straight to her DM’s and told her we would have to hold off another week because I had an emergency.
The streets ran their mouths, and she was already hitting me back, asking if I needed anything.
I was not about to be caught in the crossfire between her and Adore.
So I shot her down and then went through her pictures of her son.
Nigga looked nothing like me. Still didn’t feel an ounce connection, so I logged out and waited for Adore.