Page 42 of On Everything
“Wait a minute, what kind of prize would she be offering two people trying to jack her?”
“I’m about to tell you, baby. She told us she’s been wanting to find people like us for months and that she could get more money for us while making shit right in her relationship. She said he hadn’t been paying attention to her in months, and if we take her, maybe he will treasure her more.”
“Okay, that shit is nuts.” I shook my head, walking over to the small window in our bedroom that overlooked the fire escape.
“I know it sounds crazy, baby, but she was with it and it can make us a lot of money. We are going to have Hov turn over the money to a location Elijah found and give her back to him. Everything will happen safely, and no matter if Hov wants to run off in the sunset with her or not, we will get paid.”
“So, she’s doing this just so Hov can appreciate her again?”
“Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but then again, it doesn’t. You know how far some bitches will go to be seen by a nigga. Especially a nigga with money. She even says she's pregnant.”
“Wow.” I was genuinely outdone with this shit.
“How long will she be here?”
“For a couple of days. She said she wants him to worry his self to death first.”
I shook my head looking through the hole in the jagged blinds that we been needing to replace. The beautiful city lights past these blinds kind of symbolized what I was going through right now. My life is like these blinds, raggedy as fuck, but my future could be like those city lights through that hole ifthey could pull this off. Five hundred thousand dollars is life-changing money, but that’s if I don’t lose my life because of it.
Hov is a lot closer to them than they think, and that can make this whole situation go entirely wrong. For everyone involved.
Chapter 11
Ciara
Two days later
My back was hurting something serious by the time I put the final ten pack of canned sweet potatoes on the top rack. Tuesdays was truck days at work, where all of the collection box items were picked up and brought here to be sorted. In my opinion, this is a job for at least ten people, yet me and Mindy had to run the operation with just the two of us. I know the next time one of those administration positions here comes up, I’m going to go for it. I may not have as much freedom as I do behind the scenes back here, but it will be better pay, and my back won’t feel like I got jumped into a gang every fuckin Tuesday morning.
“Mindy, all of the can goods are done. How many clothes do we have left to sort?”
I approached Mindy, who was working so hard, her hair looked heavy on her head, and her cheeks were the color of bright red tomatoes.
“Just these three boxes right here. But how about you just go ahead and go home for the day? You’re off for two days and it’s your birthday. You may as well start your celebration early with Kairo.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, but couldn’t because she still didn't know.
“No, Mindy, I don’t want you to have to stay mad late because I left.”
“It’s okay really. My boyfriend is in Utah with his family and my cat pretty much hates me. I’ll get home later, read chapter number whatever of the book I’m reading on Kindle, and then crash out on the couch later with a bucket of ice cream. Rum raisin to be exact.”
“Sounds like an exciting night, Mindy.”
I laughed while shaking my head.
“Yeah, well go ahead and get out of here. Have a wonderful birthday.”
“Thanks, girl.”
We said our goodbyes and I grabbed my lunch kit from the freezer before leaving out for the day. The bus I caught home from work was a few blocks down from the center and I got there just in time to swipe my card and sit in my favorite seat in the back. I played this Scrabble game on my phone that I loved and got lost in that until we were pulling up to the stop by my house. When I got off the bus, I walked to the bodega to grab something to drink and check on Silvia because I haven't seen her sense the robbery.
“Hey, Papi, where is my girl?”
“At home, sick. She say she can’t come back here until she feels one hundred percent. She wants to be able to defend herself if they come back. How long did they chase you? We worry about you.”
“Just up to the corner and then they turned around. One of my friends scared them off.”
“Good.”
