Chapter 24 Whodie
“Have you heard anything?” Adore asked.
“Nothing. I think that nigga kno’ something. It’s been a fuckin’ week, and he hasn’t been in his office all week.”
“Heard or seen Zhane?” Adore asked.
“Nothin’,” I replied.
“He may have killed her. I’m waiting on Hollow to send me the email with Rico’s file. I believe that his connection got a hit on some information.”
“Every little bit helps us find out who this nigga is.”
Rico hadn’t shown his face or done anything since the call he made.
Zhane hadn’t been seen or heard from since we let her go.
I knew that Rico knew her whereabouts, but I told her ass to lie anyway.
I just needed the cameras placed, and she was on her own after that.
Whatever she did with her husband wasn’t on me.
This Rico nigga was starting to be a little smarter than I would like.
Then my phone started ringing with an unknown number again. Adore jumped up from the sofa when I looked over at her.
“Is that her? I think that’s her,” Adore said.
I didn’t answer because if it wasn’t her and it ended up being Rico, I didn’t want to stress Adore out. The unknown number called again, but this time it didn’t ring that long. Then a third time. Adore looked at me like I had lost my mind.
“Why the fuck you ain’t answering?” Adore snapped. “What if that was her and something is wrong?”
“Why are you worried ‘bout if somethin’ is wrong?”
Before Adore could respond, my phone went off again with a text message with a video.
“Play it!” Adore said.
I hit play and the video loaded. Zhane had her son strapped down in the backseat and she appeared to be driving.
“Whodie…” she looked from the camera to the road, with her voice slightly shaking. “If this gets to you, then you need to listen and listen carefully.”
Adore pushed my arm down so she could see the video a little better.
“Rico has been watching y’all way longer than he’s known me. I overheard a conversation he was having, and he told the person on the other end of the phone that he was getting close and once it’s done, he was going to kill me.”
“I knew that bitch was in over her head,” Adore said, walking away.
Zhane paused for a minute because her son was saying something that couldn’t be picked up in the video before she continued.
“Rico knows something is off. He caught me in his office, and he has not been back in there since. I think he knows I’m lying. It was something he said that caught me off guard. He said something like this was his shit first, and he wanted it back.”
Adore shot up from the sofa again.
“What the fuck he mean, this was his shit first?” I looked at Adore.
“I don’t fucking know.”
“No wonder the muthafucka kno’ the whole operation, you didn’t change up shit that Sosa taught you?” I looked at her.
“Nigga, it was working. Why change it?”
“Dammit, Adore! You never keep shit the same. I don’t give a fuck who you got the game from.”
“Lower your voice, Whodie, before I get pissed off.”
“You lookin’ at doin’ ten fuckin’ years and you worried ‘bout me pissin’ you off?”
Adore waved me off and sat back down on the sofa. Our questions were now answered, whether we hear Rico say anything on the cameras or not.
“Did Sosa have any family named Rico?” I asked.
“No! I’ve never heard him speak of anyone named Rico. I’ve never met anyone named Rico while I was with him.”
I left the conversation at that. Since she got out of the hospital, I had been by her side, trying to make sure this shit didn’t get the best of her.
She was ordered to start seeking mental health and addiction counseling, but she had yet to do it.
Adore was hardheaded. All I wanted for the moment was for us to spend as much time together and get this shit solved so maybe she wouldn’t have to spend any time in jail.
Reese sent me a text letting me know we needed to link up soon, and it couldn’t be talked about over the phone.
I didn’t want to leave Adore alone in the house.
Lately, this was probably the most rest I had received since all of this shit had happened.
It wasn’t that I thought Adore would intentionally self-harm; her shit would more than likely be by accident.
Still, I wasn’t ready to leave her just yet.
Love and I made sure there was no alcohol in the house.
I even paid the maid to clean all the cabinets out just to make sure.
Adore was putting some clothes in the dryer when I approached her.
“You good?” I asked.
“Whodie, yes, I’m good.” She laughed.
“I need to run off, but I promise I’ll be right back.”
“Why do y’all treat me like a fragile piece of glass? I’m fine. It was just a trigger,” she said.
“And it’s easy to have a trigger while I’m gone, which is why I’m askin’ are you good.”
“Please go do whatever it is you need to do. I’m tired of looking at your face every day anyway.”
“No, you’re not,” I slapped her little booty. “I’ll be back. Call me if you need me,” I told her as I kissed her.
The Feds had our house under surveillance, so I always had to be careful whenever I left the house.
I’m sure they were waiting on me to fuck up so they could have a reason to lock Adore back up.
I made sure I had no weed on me, and the gun that I did have wasn’t on me, but tucked away so good in all of my cars that the dog wouldn’t be able to find it.
I was never going to ride around empty, but to keep Adore out of jail, I risked not having it on me until I got to where I was going.
When I pulled up on Reese, he was waiting in his car. I got out and went to my trunk to get my gun before opening the passenger side to get in his car. Like usual, when we link up, we have blunts ready to go. Whatever he had to tell me must have been heavy.
“What you got goin’ on?” I asked as I sparked the blunt.
“How is Adore? I kno’ the shit took a toll on you, and the streets been missin’ y’all.”
“Shit, she’s good. You kno’ my baby bounces back from anything.”
“She’s a soldier for sure. How is her case and shit goin’?”
“Nigga, did I drive over here to be questioned? You could’ve asked me this shit on the phone.”
“Nah, I’m just checkin’ on sis. Muthafuckas be askin’ me how y’all holdin’ up.”
“And you ain’t gotta tell these niggas shit ‘bout us. If they wanna kno’, they can come to me directly.”
I looked at the nigga really hard to see what type of shit he was on. Reese never asked questions. Not like this anyway. He was always the it is what it is friend. Down to do whatever.
“Why you lookin’ at me like that?” he asked.
“‘Cause nigga, is you cool?”
“Nigga, I’m gucci. What I called you here for was ‘bout this little situation ‘bout the rat in the group.”
I sat up because the nigga should’ve said this shit first instead of making me on edge with the questions.
“Okay. And?”
“I was at the pool house gamblin’ and heard one of the niggas out Adore’s crew mention something ‘bout a nigga named Rico.”
I hadn’t mentioned Rico to Reese. For him to know that meant the information he was giving had some truth to it.
“Rico,” I said, rubbing my chin. “What about him?”
“Said he’s a nigga from her past. Everything she got belongs to him.”
“How so?”
“Shit, nigga didn’t go into detail once he noticed he was talkin’ too fuckin’ much.”
I hadn’t even hit my blunt yet. Right as I was about to spark it back up, my phone buzzed in my lap.
My World : Where are you?
Me: Chillin’ wit Reese
My World : Leave right now!
I chuckled because Adore knew I hated when she tried to tell me what the fuck to do. I set my phone back down in my lap and sparked the blunt. My phone buzzed again.
My World : Whodie, leave before he kills you
She didn’t even give me time to respond before my phone started ringing. As I hit the talk button, my eyes went straight over to Reese, who was staring out the window. He was fidgety as fuck.
“Hey, baby,” I said, turning my volume down on my phone.
“Never mind, I see you,” she said before hanging up.
A few seconds later, Adore pulled up right beside us. She rolled her window down since she was on Reese’s side, and my car was parked on my side.
“What’s up, Reese?” she smiled. “Can I get my man back?”
“What’s good, sis? It’s good to see you back out here in these streets. We miss you out here,” he replied.
“Aight, man, let me see what her ass wants. I ‘preciate the information. I’ll hit you later.”
“Yeah, let’s link tonight,” Reese said.
“Yeah, we can do that.”
I got out of the car and slid the unsmoked blunt in my pocket. Reese pulled off, and I hopped in the car with Adore.
“What the fuck?” I asked.
“He’s the rat,” Adore said.
I couldn’t believe what the fuck she had just said. I mean, shit in the streets you couldn’t trust anybody. Adore had no reason to lie, and for her to leave the house when she knew the Feds was watching her ass to come and get me out of the nigga car said a lot.
“I know you want to know how I know that.”
“It don’t even fuckin’ matter, Adore. I knew some shit was off when he was askin’ me a lot of questions.”
“What we gonna do?”
“Go home,” I said, before getting out of her car.
At midnight, I was in the club with Reese throwing money and stunting on the niggas and bitches that were watching.
A nigga feelings were hurt. I had already lost one homeboy, and now I was about to lose another.
This shit was grimy. I never would have thought Reese would go out sad for a couple of dollars and a dream of being a big dawg in these streets.
He had plenty of money and I would’ve given him my last if he needed it.
Earlier, I had busted open the blunt he had passed me only to find out the nigga laced the blunt.
He knew the only way to take me out was to get me high on some shit that I never had.
Nigga didn’t have any heart, but by the end of the night, I was going to show his bitch ass what it meant to have heart and look a nigga in their face.
I wanted him to see how bad he hurt me. All I could do was think about the nigga kids and baby mamas.
I would make sure his family was well taken care of because that’s what real niggas do.
Reese smiled and rapped along with the lyrics as he took the Dusse bottle down.
I made sure to keep the bottles coming. All the blunts I smoked were rolled by me.
I wasn’t taking any handoffs tonight. If Reese wanted to smoke, he had to smoke his own shit.
I didn’t want the nigga saying I drugged him.
I wanted his mind to be clear when he looked at me.
Occasionally, he would tap me and say some shit, and I had to fake smile.
It boiled my blood to be fake. Reese was oblivious that I knew anything.
Right after Adore and I went home, it took me a few hours to get my mind right.
Adore gave me the space I needed and didn’t hound me about what my next plans were.
By three, Reese and I were walking out of the club.
Besides the weed in my system, I was alert.
Reese was drunk out of his mind, so I put him in my car and drove him home.
All of this was intentional. I placed him in his bed and let the gate see me leave.
By five, I was on my bike with Adore on the back.
As much as she loved to ride on dirt bikes, she hated my Kawasaki Ninja.
I bought it for the speed only. Reese was trying to work to take me out, but he was like clockwork.
He forgot that we grew up together, and I was a watcher.
By six, Reese was pulling up in an Uber to get his car.
I made sure to leave it unlocked last night, so Adore was already in the backseat waiting for him to get in.
As soon as he got in, he pulled off. Adore raised and put the gun to his head.
I was sitting at the corner watching as he pulled to the light.
My phone buzzed with an incoming call from Reese’s phone.
“My nigga,” I said. “Check this out, I need you to meet me somewhere.”
“Whodie, what the fuck is this about?”
“Let’s talk in person. Follow me,” I said, hanging up and starting my bike.
After a few minutes, we pulled into Hollow’s funeral home and mortuary.
I smiled when I saw the fear in Reese’s eyes as he stepped out.
I hated to have Adore even be a part of this, but as usual, she was hardheaded.
Hollow and I hadn’t really settled our beef, but for his sister, he would do anything.
He opened the doors, and we walked right in.
“Reese, I just brought you here so you can let me kno’ what you wanted yo’ shit to say. Do you want it to say somethin’ like, here lies a rat or here lies a bitch nigga? I mean, it’s totally up to you. I’m payin’ for it. Oh, and what colors do you want?” I asked.
“Whodie…we niggas, bruh. The fuck you got goin’ on?” Reese asked, as Adore kept the gun pointed at his head.
“I thought we were niggas too. We grew up together and got money together,” I said as I walked him into the crematorium. “I would’ve gave you anything you asked for. You decided that our friendship didn’t mean shit to you the minute you sided wit’ the opps.”
“Look…buddy was comin’ at me hard ‘bout Adore. Goin’ to my baby mama’s house and shit. Showin’ up to my kids’ school. Fuck you wanted me to do?”
“Nigga, tell me so we could’ve hopped on this shit earlier. Our best friend lost his muthafuckin’ life, and you knew the whole time that Mazi nigga was a fuckin’ decoy. You a bitch and I want the whole hood to kno’ it.”
“Whodie… we ain’t gotta take it there. What you wanna kno’?”
“I wanna kno’ everything.”
“The nigga Rico kno’ her,” Reese turned around and pointed at Adore.
“Said she took his shit and ran wit’ it, and he wants it back.
He married Zhane because he knew she was connected to us, the 239 Boyz, at some point in her life.
Nigga said he was willing to burn down everything to get to her. He dropped a bag for details.”
“And you were about to let him?” I said. “Reese, you kno’ how I feel ‘bout her, right?”
“Of course, nigga.”
“And you still thought that shit was cool?”
“Wouldn’t you pick yo’ family over me?” He asked.
I walked up to him and looked him dead in the eye.
“I would’ve told you the play as soon as a nigga would’ve stepped me. I’m really tired of fuckin’ talkin’. I just wanted you to see the hurt in my eyes. But you kno’ I cut the tails off a rat, right?”
Reese squeezed his eyes closed as I put my gun to his head.
“I got yo’ family for life, my nigga,” I said, pulling the trigger.