A Losing Game

"Eighteen Candles"

            The rain poured heavily over the city that Saturday night as Roderick carefully drove to the meeting he'd arranged for three of his closest former allies in the game. Their names were Nard, JD, and Trek. He had three other guys who worked under him prior to him being arrested; however, those three went to work for Don Don and he no longer trusted them. Nard had been working for two other drug dealers who weren't affiliated with Escobar or Don Don, JD had found work as muscle for another dealer, and Trek went back to selling weed on his own and working at Popeyes. When Roderick called them for a meeting under the Greater Heights Bridge, all three were eager to work with him again.

            "You slangin' for Escobar again?" JD asked. "Damn, how you even get out this quick?"

            "I made a deal that I'd finish school," Roderick explained. "Nobody gotta know I'm back in the game though. I got coke and pills."

            "Nigga, I just wanna know one thing," said Trek. "Will we still get paid the same? Because I got kids."

            Roderick smiled as he informed them, "The price of product done gone up. So, I'm supposed to cut your pay. But since I ain't in this shit for the money, I'll split my share in half and give it to y'all."

            "Yo, you for real?" asked Nard.

            "Like I said, it ain't about the money no more. Shit, it ain't even about business for me."

            "Then what is it about?" asked JD. "I mean, if you don't mind me askin'?"

            "I'll let y'all know the plan once you prove you're still loyal to me. Nard, I need you to find us a new spot to do business. JD, I need you to follow Don Don's crew tomorrow and see which corners he got on MLK Boulevard. Trek, you're gonna hold onto the stash until we can setup."

            "You got the stash on you?" asked Trek.

            "Yeah. Can you hold onto it until Nard finds us a spot?"

            "Yeah, I got you, Rod."

            "That's wassup. Now, y'all can hit me up using the number I gave you. Just make sure you give me a minute on school days because like I said, I gotta stick to that part of my deal."

            "Damn," said JD while rubbing his hands together, "it's gonna be like old times. Too bad Polo, Squeak, and Lil' Redd work for that nigga Don Don now."

            "I know," agreed Roderick. "Shit is all fucked up. But we still in this and that means even more money for y'all. Besides, them niggas slangin' on corners and we're gonna sell our shit word of mouth and by phone."

            "Hold up," said JD. "If we ain't gonna be on corners, then why you ask me to follow Don Don's boys?"

            Roderick looked at him and replied, "That's for that other thing that I'ma tell y'all about later. Any other questions? Because I got an appointment to get my dick wet and I ain't talkin' about pullin' it out in this rain."

            The four of them shared a laugh before ending their meeting with handshakes. Roderick gave the duffle bag of drugs to Trek and then they all separated; driving away in their cars. After driving to the downtown parking garage where he parked his car at night, Roderick texted Reece and asked if he was ready to come to him. When Reece texted back that he was, Roderick arranged for a Lyft to pick Reece up and bring him to Deven's townhouse. Deven was spending the night at Jazmine's place and wouldn't be back until the next afternoon. Roderick climbed out of the car and after locking it up, ran in the rain back to the townhouse.