Wickman •Nardo Wick•

5.

"What side of the bed you sleep on," Nardo asks me, throwing my bag on the floor.

"Right," I say. Doesn't everybody? Is that even a question?

"Ight. Lay down, imma be witchu in a few." He goes into what I assume is the closet and starts tucking things in his pants.

"Why," I ask, referring to why he had to leave. I mean what if he's going take care of that man himself? I don't know Nardo well, but I wouldn't put it past him.

"Don't worry about it," he responds, walking over to the door. "If ian back in a hour, call me."

"Okay," I reply, not wanting to get yelled at. He looks me in my eyes and it becomes a staring contest. It was something about him looking at me that made me nervous. It feels like butterflies in my stomach, if that makes sense.

"Tony and em down stairs if you need sumn, but text me first," He says.

"Be careful," I tell him, getting under the covers.

I notice a small smile creep up on his face, but he replaces it with the mug he always wears.

"Yes ma'am." And with that he leaves me and my thoughts alone. I look on the bed to see a gun. My gun that I purposely left here. I don't want anything to do with it but I don't think I'll have a choice honestly.

I pull out my phone, noticing it was past 1 am. Normally I would be asleep. I'm always sleeping. I could sleep a whole 24 hours if nobody woke me up, that's why I use so many alarms. And yet I still sleep through them all.

I stare into space for a good 10 minutes, trying to process what just happened. But I can't. I start to here racket downstairs. I wanted to know what Nardo was going to do. I want to know what's going on and why that man was so bad. Nardo said Tony was down there. Maybe they'll tell me.

Part of me wanted to stay up stairs, where I'm safe and away from everybody. I just gotta know my mom is safe. I'm nothing without her. She's done everything for me and my siblings. She's my ride or die for real. I don't want her getting hurt because of me.

So downstairs I go. I open the door and walk down the hallway I've grown to know. As I walk down the stairs, they don't creak like the ones at my apartment. I dont even expect them to.

Once I reach the bottom step, I get view of Reggie in the living room. I slowly walk in there to see a huge group of boys. Tony looks at me first and smiles.

"Wassam, Thug," he says, dapping me up. I return the smile, and the handshake.

"Who this," somebody asks.

"This Thug. Wickman's girl," Reggie says, dapping me up like Tony did.

Wassam, wassup, and what's good rings through the room. I nod and smile at all of them.

"Whatchu need Mrs Thug," a boy asks. He's dark skin, tall, and one of the only ones here without wicks. Instead, he has silky waves. He was fine too.

"J-just to talk to Tony and Reggie," I respond. Everybody in this room makes me nervous. With the weed, the guns, the smoke. And the way they're looking at me, like I'm some kind of queen.

Tony and Reggie stand up, and walk towards me without hesitation. I follow them into the kitchen and they sit on the counters.

"What's up?"

"Where did Nardo go?" They both look at each other and back to me.

"He gon kill us if we say something," Reggie responds. I can tell he's scared of Nardo, but I know he'll tell me what I want to know.

"I won't say anything, I promise. I just wanna know," I reassure him.

"He went handle that nigga ya mama was fucking with," Tony explains. My eyes widen.

"Wait, h-he went k-kill that man? What about my mama? What if she gets hurt-"

"Chill, Thugga. He know what he doing and he won't hurt dukes. He got it," Reggie says, jumping off the counter and placing his hand on my shoulder.

"You can trust him, Thug. He wouldn't hurt yo mama," Tony adds. I nod my head and look down at my hands. I don't know if I trust him, but there's nothing I can do.

"Will you drive me over there?"

"Hell nah," Reggie says, smacking his teeth. "He gon kill us too, on God."

I stay quiet. All I can think about is mama. What if he kill him in front of her? That's some next level trauma I know she ain't ready for. Shit, I wasn't ready for this. I still haven't processed what I seen at the corner store. And that wasn't too long ago.

"You ate?" I shake my head no, as Tony pulls out some soda. He hands me a can of sprite. "I'm finna go pick something up for you then."

"You don't have to-"

"What you wanna eat?"

"I-I don't know."

"I shoulda known you was gon say that shit. Imma just go get something since Youn seem picky," Tony says, playing around with the keys in his pocket. He leaves me and Reggie alone in the kitchen.

"Go upstairs. He gon knock when he back with your food, Ight?"

"Okay."

"I wanna talk more but ion trust them niggas witchu. You small as hell, they gon try to take advantage of that. Wickman done did everything for them and they still snaking him, so ain't shit gon be different with you. I gotchu tho, Thugga. Me and Tony gon take care of you."

I smile at Reggie. He could be sitting there feeding me bullshit but I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Thank you, Reggie."

"Stay away from Chris, Ight? King ain't no good," Reggie tells me. I sip my sprite and then look at him with confusion.

"The nigga that had asked what you wanted. His name Chris but we call him King too. He a opp on God, Wickman just chooses to ignore it cuz that's his homie."

"What did he do-" I was interrupted by a loud voice and a car door slamming.

"Wickman back!"

Shit, I forgot to text him.