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“You know what, I’m coming to your house. Fuck that!”

“Bitchhhhh, you a lie. Go stay at Juanita’s house. If they come in there, at least she deserves it. She the reason the money gone. I’m an innocent bystander, and I’m not ready to meet the Lord.” I laughed hard. I couldn’t believe this bitch.

“Hoe, you ain’t ever gone meet Jesus. All the dirt you done did. See you in Hell, bitch.” Hanging up the phone, I drove toward Juanita’s house. She might have been petty for not letting me come there, but she wasn’t wrong. This was all Juanita’s fault, and if they came in there, she better hope I ain’t tell them that. Laughing at myself, I continued to drive. Even though her ass deserved it, I would never snitch. I wasn’t cut from that cloth, but I’d damn sure blink a few times her way, letting them know which way to look. This time when I laughed, I shrugged as I headed toward her house.

Anton “Tax” Hodges

I’ve been staring up at the ceiling in my thoughts since Bubbles left. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what possessed that girl to go to the trap by herself with the intent to kidnap somebody. What was even crazier was now knowing the reason. She had somehow stolen the seventy five thousand they were supposed to pay me. That ended with Peanut in jail and niggas threatening to kill him if she didn’t return it, and this was the solution she came up with. Then my dumb ass ended up being the nigga she took. I was supposed to be collecting a debt. Instead, I was lying in a nigga named Earl’s basement. I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my mouth. This shit was one for the books.

Fats had some kind of angel on his back. If Bubbles hadn’t grabbed me, that nigga was good as dead. I thought the nigga was testing my word, and I couldn’t have that. If somebody decided they weren’t paying, I made saying no cost him enough that yes eventually sounded better. This wasn’t the issue though. Fats hadn’t said no. My problem was he agreed, so the seventy five became a debt. I expected my bread to be where I instructed at the time that I said. Once that doesn’t happen, I now have a debt to collect. Which is what I was doing tonight.

I was amused and curious to know how the hell she got the drop on him, but shit, he could say the same about me since she had gotten the drop on my ass too. Knowing when the drop was supposed to happen, I wondered how the hell that girl spent that kind of bread that fast. Whatever she did, Peanut was paying for it, and instead of accepting she fucked up, she kidnapped what she thought was a worker to negotiate with his boss. That made me laugh again. Crazy with a purpose.

Yeah, I could have blown her plan up and told her I didn’t have any ties to them niggas, but that wouldn’t have helped me. I needed to know all of it, so I called Key and played along. It was hard as fuck to do without laughing, but not because of lack of seriousness on her part. Bubbles really thought she was negotiating. She had no idea how bad it could get for her if I wasn’t intrigued enough to let her lil plan play out. I almost ended that shit when she searched me. Bubbles got close to finding my other gun, and I had to shift to stop her from feeling it. When her hand started groping my dick, I almost said fuck this lil fake kidnapping. It took everything in me not to throw her on the bed and stretch that pussy out.

I closed my eyes and remembered how her hand felt as it slowly traced over my dick. When she looked up at me, we both knew her ass was no longer searching for a phone. She continued to stroke my shit until my dumb ass fucked it up talking shit. I replayed that shit in my head repeatedly until I heard a door upstairs close. I wasn’t worried about who it was. The way I unnerved Bubbles, I knew her ass wasn’t coming back. So, it had to be Key. Lifting my arm, I looked at the watch on my wrist. Key told me this mufucka would come in handy one day.

To anybody else, it was just a diamond bezel Rolex. To me, it was a way for Key to know where I was at all times. Key believed that if he could hack into anything, someone else could too, and one day they would use it to get to me. I believed if someone got close enough to cause me harm, only one of us was walking away, and it would always be me. Tonight, his way saved me from having to explain some shit I didn’t want to and possibly killing the girl who obviously had me intrigued enough that I allowed her to put my ass in a basement. The footsteps finally made their way to the basement door. I could hear it unlocking before it crept open. Key came strolling down the stairs like he was visiting instead of retrieving a nigga who had supposedly been kidnapped. Nigga didn’t have a gun or a care in the world. Sitting up on the bed, I shook my head at his ass.

“What if she was still down here with a gun on my ass?” Key gave me a look like nigga please.

“You know better. I tracked her phone before I walked in. I thought she was still in here, your ass was gone have to know how to duck. I was gone air this bitch out from the driver’s seat. You know I don’t be with all that back and forth shit.”

“You could have still hit me doing it that way, lazy ass nigga.”

“Guess we would have found out.” That was one thing about Key, his ass wasn’t busting a sweat for nobody. “Aight, give me the rundown. What ol girl mean by she don’t have the money to give back? Who is she and what that shit got to do with you?” A smile crept up my face.

“Bubbles.” His eyes got wide before he fell out laughing.

“Your lil girlfriend?” I nodded and he laughed harder. “That crazy mufucka kidnapped you? Say sike right now. You gotta be shitting me.”

“Naw, I’m dead ass.”

“Wait, and you let her?” He was confused because he knew it was no way she got the drop on me and kept it long enough to get me way out here.

“I was curious,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“I’mma need you to make it make sense. You in here trying to hold the shit to your chest because you know I’mma clown you out, but that’s already coming. So, tell me what the fuck is going on.” I explained to him everything that happened tonight and he stared at me in disbelief. “That girl crazier than I thought.”

“Me too.” We both laughed at that. I laid back down, and Key looked at me like I had lost it.

“Nigga, what the fuck you doing? Let’s go.”

“I’m staying.” Hearing that wiped the smile off his face.

“Here?”

“Nigga, that’s what staying mean.”

“That bitch kidnapped you, and you choosing to stay?” This nigga was annoyed as fuck with me right now.

“For a lil while.” Pure shock covered his face.

“What in thee entire fuck?”

“Hey, I’m trying to spend a lil quality time. Don’t judge me.” I shrugged.

“With your kidnapper?” His ass was flabbergasted.