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“Oh, shit. You hit the police.” Peanut said in a panic.

“Everybody get out! Don’t stop running until the soles is off your shoes.” Flinging the door open, we all bailed out of the car and ran. When we reached the library, I glanced back to see if we were being chased and stopped.

“What the fuck are you doing? Bitch, let’s go.”

“Peanut. Where the fuck is he?” I could see the panic in her eyes, but she followed behind me as we slowly eased back towards the crash. I knew he was on the passenger side, but why the fuck would he run the opposite way? When we were close enough, you could see the police slamming him against the car. Not about to let him take the rap for my dumb ass decision, I started that way.

“Where are you going?” she asked in tears.

“I gotta go back and tell them it was me. This shit all my fault, I can’t let him go to jail.”

“Friend, no. You can’t. Look.” Her ass ducked down as she pointed towards the corner, so I did the same. Looking through one of the car windows, I could see the big guy standing there watching Peanut.

“Fuck!” I looked at him and then back toward the police.

“They already got Peanut. We have to get out of here before our asses be dead.” Staying low, we made our way up the block towards Springfield. “We gotta get from over here. They know the police don’t have us and they probably riding around looking for us.” Taffy was right, and I was starting to feel like shit for having us in this predicament. Then it hit me.

“Juanita house.” Her head snapped around and she looked at me like I was crazy.

“Girl, if your mama see us bring that money in there, she gone rob us.” While that was true, she wouldn’t be able to do it this time.

“She’s gone to Robinson. This her weekend to visit my daddy. She won’t even know. We can hide it there until we figure out what to do.” Taffy didn’t put up a fight, so we ran a couple of more blocks to Hamlin. Walking on her porch, I hurried up and got the hideaway key before letting myself inside. My ass turned every lock she had on the door. Once we got up to my old room, we sat on the bed in silence. Out of nowhere, Taffy bust out laughing.

“Bitchhhh, I can’t believe we got away with this money.” I looked at her and fell out laughing as well. “I know you thinking about Peanut, but he not going to jail for a robbery. They gone book him on a hit and run. He will be alright. His square ass don’t have a background, so they might let him out on an I bond.” Knowing she was right, I relaxed some. Opening the bag, my eyes fell out of my head when I saw the stacks.

“It gotta be at least fifty thousand in here.” Taffy’s mouth dropped open. Dumping the money out, we both began counting it. Once we were done, we realized it was actually seventy five. This was the biggest lick we had ever hit.

“You crazy as hell, but I swear to God I love yo ass. We rich.” Laughing, I put the money back in the bag. Putting it in my closet, I closed the door and sat back on the bed.

“We gone stay here for a lil while to make sure the heat dies down, and then we can go. Nobody knows who we are, or that the money is here. As long as we don’t say shit, we good.”

“You think I can get a couple of hundreds out of there to get my hair done?” I looked at Taffy and fell the fuck out laughing.

“No, bitch. We don’t touch it until we know we’re safe. After that, we ball the fuck out.” We continued to laugh and celebrate, but I was still worried about Peanut.

Anton “Tax” Hodges

My phone vibrated against the console again, but I didn’t have to look to know who it was. That nigga Key had been calling me all morning, and I ignored every one. Just like I had been ignoring the messages that came behind them. He knew where I was, and he knew I was straight. That was enough. It had to be. Leaning my head back against the seat, I closed my eyes. It was only one thing I wanted to do today, but I should have grabbed a bottle before I left the house. Leaning forward, I typed in the liquor store closest to me and allowed my truck to drive me there. I stared out of the window until it pulled into the lot.

Climbing out, I walked inside ignoring the stares. I know I looked like shit, but I looked exactly how I felt. I hadn’t lined my beard up, done anything to my hair, and I grabbed the first pair of sweats and t-shirt I could get my hands on. I had zero fucks to give. Grabbing a bottle of Don, I headed to the register. Normally, I didn’t drink this shit, but I wasn’t drinking for the taste. I needed to be fucked up, and this was going to do the trick.

“Anton.” I closed my eyes for half a second. Not today Satan. Of all the fucking days, I had to run into her today. I turned around and this bitch Crystal was standing there with a smile on her face. “Hey, can we talk?”

“Naw, not today,” I said hoping that was enough for her to move around.

“Anton-…” I cut my eyes at her making her stop midsentence.

“Use the money I gave you and buy a fucking clue.” Paying the clerk, I grabbed my bottle and walked out the door. By the time I got back in the truck, my phone was vibrating again. Silencing it, I cracked open the bottle and took a nice long gulp. The shit burned going down, but I took another one. Typing in the cemetery, I leaned back as I tried to fight off memories. Most days, I was successful at it. I had too much going on to be worried about shit from the past but today wasn’t one of those days.

The truck pulled into the grounds, but I had to take control. Making my way around plots, I pulled up close to my section. Once I parked, I took another long drag of Don. Getting out, I made my way over. I glanced at all the plots wondering whose lives they fucked up when they left. Yeah, the Don may have been getting to me faster than I thought. Finally, I reached two headstones sitting side by side. My parents. I stood there staring for a hot minute. Taking another sip, I decided to speak.

“What’s up, Ma. Pops.” I took another drink. Staring at their plots, I made my way down to the date. August 13th. It didn’t matter how many years had passed, how much bread I had made. Some shit just couldn’t be undone, and it would forever fuck with you. Even after you got closure. I had to learn that shit the hard way. I continued to stare at the date, until my eyes began to blur.

My uncle didn’t want me in his business, at least that’s what he said. Which was hypocritical as fuck since he didn’t mind bringing his problems to me when he wanted me to fix them. Something wasn’t adding up, a nigga was stealing, somebody feeling like they wanted to take over. He would always come get me to handle it, but the minute I wanted to know more than what he put in front of me, I got the your daddy didn’t want this for you speech. What he wasn’t understanding was if he allowed me to see the entire picture, he wouldn’t keep having these random ass problems. I could look at the whole system and put a stop to all the bullshit permanently. Since he wouldn’t show me, I needed a way in, and I knew exactly how.

Once my uncle saw I was good with numbers, he threw me into school for accounting, and that’s where I met Key. He was enrolled for business management. One day we were in class, and I watched this nigga hack the school system to change his grades. He would be perfect for this job. Class was over, so I waited for everybody to bail out before I approached him.

“What all can you get into?” Key looked at me confused.