Page 8 of Love At Close Range

“Hey,” he grumbled his response.

Once we got into his car, we left and headed to Mona’s.

“So, Rhyse. How’s camp?” Dorian asked, trying to make conversation.

Silence…

“Boosie,” I turned and called his name.

“Ma’am?”

“Did you not hear Dorian talking to you? Stop being rude.” I didn’t care how much he didn’t like him… he wasn’t about to be rude on my watch.

“It’s aight,” he responded.

“It’ll get better,” was all Dorian said.

The rest of the ride was filled with Dorian talking about work and ignoring his phone.

“You need to get that?” I asked because he and his phone was starting to piss me off.

“Nah… It’s just Mello. He’on want shit,” he countered.

“He clearly does, but whatever.” I didn’t continue the conversation because I was already over it. I spent the rest of the ride looking out the window.

When we pulled up to Mona’s, I got out without waiting for Dorian to open the door for me. I opened Rhyse’s door, and we headed up the walkway with Dorian trailing behind us while on his phone.

“About time y’all showed up,” Mona greeted once she opened the door.

“Where’s the liquor because I need it,” I responded.

“Damn, you okay?” She asked genuinely.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. “Boosie go find your cousins,” I said and waited until he was gone before I spoke again. “Girl, I’m about to be done with Dorian’s ass. Now he’s ignoring phone calls and saying it’s Mello. The fuck he gotta say to him that he can’t say in front of me?” I was getting pissed just thinking about it. “I’m not about to sit around and let another nigga play with me,” I voiced, just as Dorian walked in. He looked like his ass was hiding something.

“We’ll be in the back,” Mona said before walking off. She tolerated Dorian, but she didn’t like that he could be playing me. She was more like my sister than my cousin and always had my back.

“You done?” I asked once she was gone.

“Yeah… I handled it. Let’s go enjoy the festivities,” he countered with a fake smile.

I don’t know what Dorian was hiding, but he better get that shit together soon, or this shit is a wrap.

4

Dorian Pierce

later that night…

I’ve been on edge since Mello called me and let me know that the deal with Cyrus didn’t go as planned. The niggas that I sold the bricks to wasn’t as green as I thought and their boss, some nigga named Drex is out for blood. I quickly turned that shit on Cyrus because that’s who I originally got the bricks from. Mello heard about the nigga killing two of Cyrus’ men and told him he was next if he didn’t have his money. That was a few weeks ago, and Cyrus has been quiet… too quiet.

Every day that passed without hearing anything made me question whether that was a good thing or the calm before some shit I wasn’t prepared for. I knew the risk I took when I switched the load, but at the time all I saw was the money. Forty bricks was too much product to let pass through my hands without finding a way to make something extra off it. I thought I had covered my tracks well enough for everybody to point fingers somewhere besides me. Now, I wasn’t as sure.

“Maybe the nigga left town,” I suggested. Nobody wanted a price on their head, so he probably packed his family up and left.

“That could be the case or that nigga is somewhere plotting. I wouldn’t trust the shit,” Mello chimed in.

“Yeah, I hear you, but if he ain’t saying nothing… he probably don’t know nothing.”