Page 55 of Dr. Bell

Once we were in the Ghost, I let up the partition. Alli passed me the blunt. I hit it, then blew the smoke out.

“This stays between us. Hakeem was my informant and the confidential buyer of our product. This extends back to Tilda.”

Alli chuckled. “So, why marry Pretty?”

“I didn’t marry Pretty because I lacked trust in Hakeem. It was the people around him that I didn’t trust. Once money wasinvolved, people were liable to do anything. Including going against orders to lift the bid."

“Well, this changes some shit. You think somebody found out about you and Hakeem?”

“I think somebody has to be real stupid to go after someone in Hakeem’s position. They took out the whole fuckin’ crew. Those niggas ain’t easy to touch.”

“Agreed. Who’s ya money on? Definitely ain’t these small crews. I’m thinkin’ an organized family.”

I glanced at Alli.

“Who else could pull this off?”

“The question is why?”

“You sold Hakeem a warehouse full of work.”

“Fuck,” I mumbled.

“So, what’s the move?” he asked again.

Shrugging, I replied, “We make some house calls. And see where our shit pops up at.”

He simply laughed.

Over the next few days, Alli and I visited several known traps and a few unknown. By Friday, we hadn’t hit one single lick that profited us. We had one last stop before the week was over.

That same Friday, after clinic, I went home to shower and have dinner with my family. Since I’d been MIA most of the week, I hadn’t caught up with the boys like I normally did. Neither of them took offense. They knew my position in the family and that I had to sometimes step away for a quick second to handle shit. Thank goodness Pretty was here now to see to it that the house stayed in order.

Around the dinner table, I listened to the boys recount their week, each in detail. The only one who had few words was Quilo. I was just happy for him to be saying something other than just sitting there looking like a lost dog.

My wife ate and held a serene smile as each of the boys relayed their week. I loved that she was invested and even got onto the twins when she found out they’d been staying up past midnight.

After dinner, I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth to prepare for the night out. I lined myself up, moisturized, dressed in all black from head to toe, adorned my ice, fitted my bottom grill, and spritzed some cologne on myself. I came back down to the top of the stairs to see Pretty standing at the bottom of the stairs pensively looking at me. Her eyes searched my frame and stayed stuck on the grill in my mouth.

“I’m heading out for a minute.” I stood in front of her, lifted her chin, and pecked her lips.

Sighing, she said, “Alright.” Clearly bothered, she moved away from me, sat Indian style on the bed, grabbed the remote, and started flipping through the television streaming platform she was on. What bothered me was that she didn’t even question me.

Going to the bed, I took the remote from her hand and chucked it out of reach.

She frowned. “Why’d you do that?”

“Ask me where the fuck I’m goin’,” I said.

She gave me the craziest look. “Why would I do that?” There was attitude in her voice even though she pretended like there was nothing wrong.

I bent down and got so close to her face that our noses touched. She didn’t blink or flinch.

“You mad at me?” I asked.

“Nope. Now gon’ on wherever it is that you gotta go. Don’t come back smelling like no bitch.” The fire in her eyes made me grin.

“I would never, my baby. First of all, I’m never cheating on you. Second of all, the only woman I wanna smell like is you.”

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