Hard As It Is

Chapter 13

Amir
"You okay Soul? Is Auntie Cash treating you good?" Jahmir speaks on the phone with his daughter as I run through the drawers of August office.

I can hear Soul squealing as she speaks through the speaker. "I'm okay Daddy, but when are you coming to get me?"

Jahmir turns towards me as we stand in August office. It was the next morning since we spent the night at the trap.

"You can start looking through the drawers. Let me know if you find anything." He turns away walking out of the office while still engaging in the conversation.

"Baby I'll be there to pick you up in a few more days. No not today."

His voice fades as I hear the a door close.

I look around the office, it wasn't much, just look like a normal room to me. I take the opportunity to walk around it peaking at the different things in the office.

Behind the desk were four sets of drawers. I open the second drawer flipping through documents of different types of drugs. I have to admit it was fascinating, how the male manages to keep up with most of the drugs he sold.

I pull out the envelopes placing them on the desk, noticing that those were all that was in there. "You're not going to find anything useful up in those," Jahmir tells me grabbing the envelopes I placed on the desk and opening them up.

"We won't know unless we look, or are you to scared to see what you'll uncover?" I ask him but he continues to flip through the envelopes. I go back searching the third drawer coming across some old bank statements and photos. The photos were clearly old some of them were taken by polaroid cameras and others were more modern.

I flip through the older ones, most of them were of August, Lorenzo, and more in their younger days. The older pictures weren't all that interesting, so I place them back in the rubber band. However, the modern ones, these told a different story.

The first one was August and Maverick, the two in this picture were much younger, and standing on the steps of a Highschool. As I go through most of the photos it was clear that majority of these pics were of them both.

"What pictures you looking at?" Jahmir questions me kneeling picking up the polarized set. He scrolls through them smiling at majority of them, until he pauses on one. "I wonder who this is? He's in most of these pictures, but I've never seen him in my life," he tells me turning the picture my way.

I wasn't all that interested in the photos of the Kingpins to notice the male. Mainly because to me he was just another stranger like August and the rest, but Pa was curious, nonetheless.

"It's probably nobody important. Those pictures are just old gang members of your gang," I let him know as I stand up with the pictures of August and Maverick in my hand. "I know that but he and August seem so close, not only that he seems close to Lorenzo too? August never mentioned him no matter how many times we went through these pictures," Jahmir tells me standing up with the photos.

"Gasp, August didn't tell you about him, ah how shocking," I place my empty hand over my cheek mouth slightly open as I fake the exaggerated shock.

Jahmir ignores my jab at him, starring down at the picture. "What's running through your head Pa?" I ask wondering why he was so stuck on that picture. " The more I stare at the picture, the more I can't help but think I've seen this man somewhere before," he says to himself quietly. Whether or not it was responding to me or questioning himself I had no idea.

"We can't dwell on the nigga Pa, it's a waste of time to try and look into everything, only the most important parts," I let him know handing him the photos I had in my hand. He takes the pictures looking through them his face pure confusion. "These are just pictures of August and Maverick, were they-