I laughed under my breath and leaned forward a lil’.
“You probably forgot to pack Toni dirty draws for the trip,” I said. “You know you be needin’ them for comfort and shit.”
“Bitch,” he shot back without even thinkin’. “Keep my wife and her damn draws out yo’ mouth.”
Pressure let out a laugh and shook his head.
“This nigga retarded,” he said.
For a second, it really did feel normal with just us sittin’ here talkin’ shit, drinkin’ and smokin’.
But that noise behind us kept breakin’ through. Yunique was cryin’ through the tape, shakin’ and makin’ them lil’ sounds like she was tryna hold it in but couldn’t. After a while that shit started gettin’ on my nerves more than anything else.
I turned my head and looked back at her, watchin’ how she was fallin’ apart now that shit was real. All that bold shit she had in her when she was helpin’ set Sha’Nelle up was gone, and now she just looked like somebody who finally realized she picked the wrong people to play with.
I stared at her for a second, then shook my head.
“You crazy as hell, you know that?” I asked, standin’ up from my seat.
She flinched when I stepped closer, her whole body tensin’ up like she thought that alone was gon’ stop what was comin’.
“You had ‘Nelle thinkin’ you was her friend,” I went on, lookin’ down at her. “Callin’ her, checkin’ on her, sittin’ up in her face like everything was cool, but the whole time you was tryna line her up. She told me she gave you eight hunnit to put down on that raggedy ass apartment… and you turned around and tried to kill her. That’s some crazy work, mama.”
She cried harder, tryna shake her head, but I wasn’t hearin’ none of that.
“That ain’t even no regular backdoor,” I added. “That’s some low down shit right there, and the crazy part is you did all that just to end up right here anyway.”
I took the last of the liquor and swallowed it, then set the bottle down and grabbed the blunt from ‘Lo.
“You ever heard somebody talk about loyalty?” I asked her, crouchin’ down so she could hear me clear. “That shit supposed to mean somethin’. You don’t cross people that trust you like that, especially not over money that ain’t even yours.”
She kept cryin’, and I just shook my head again like she was irritatin’ me at this point.
“You know what,” I said, standin’ back up. “You deserve to get thrown from a jet for that shit.”
Her whole body jerked at that, and she started beggin’ through the tape, shakin’ her head like she was tryna undo what already been done.
I reached down and ripped the tape off her mouth, and the second it came free, she started goin’.
“Please… please don’t kill me… I told you the truth… you said you wasn’t gon’ kill me if I told you?—”
I let her talk for a second, then let out a slow breath.
“I hear you,” I said. “I do.”
She nodded fast, thinkin’ that meant somethin’.
“But the more I think about it,” I added, tiltin’ my head. “The more I’m realizin’ you just ain’t fit to live after that.”
Her face dropped, and she started beggin’ again, louder this time, panic settin’ in for real.
Pressure looked back at me, hittin’ the blunt.
“I know this nigga ain’t about to do what I think he about to do,” he said.
I looked at both him and ‘Lo.
“She tried to get ‘Nelle killed,” I said. “That bullet could’ve hit a lil’ different, and we would’ve been plannin’ a funeral instead of sittin’ here with these muthafuckas laid out behind us.”
