SAVAGE

7.

Rudy's eyes fluttered as he stirred a little. He opened his eyes wide and noticed Jersey sitting beside him on his twin-sized bed.

"Hi." Jersey spoked while placing her hand on Rudy's face. "You're finally up."

"What are you doing over here?"

Jersey sighed as she watched her cousin slide from the blankets. He sat up straight and wiped his eyes.

"I'm here to check up on you, to make sure you're okay."

"Yeah..." Rudy trailed off. "Well, this is where your boyfriend put me."

Jersey rolled her eyes and said. "Please...Malcolm is not my boyfriend. He's my boss and... I asked him to help you."

"I would've been better off hiding somewhere else."

Jersey blew out a raspberry and said, "Be thankful he's helping you. It took a lot just to convince him."

Rudy wrinkled his nose at his cousin while standing up. "What am I supposed to do out here? I don't have a phone; I can't listen to my music-plus I don't have any video games."

"Well, Malcolm doesn't want you with a smartphone. He says it will probably give your location away to Marcus. Just sit tight for now."

"Landlines are traceable though." Rudy reasoned.

"Well, I'm guessing that Malcolm has his ways. He must've had something special installed to the telephone because it's untraceable. Plus, he gave you a burner."

"Them niggas don't know nothing about technology anyway." Rudy commented dryly.

"I think you should leave the smartphones alone for a while. There's a telephone right in the kitchen." She instructed him. "And cut your hair while you're at it. There should be some clippers in the bathroom."

Rudy scoffed before saying, "Is that all?"

Jersey gave him a long look and said, "Just, stay safe."

Rudy being the unemotional person he was, just nodded his head. Jersey stood up and grabbed her purse.

"Has my mom asked about me?" He questioned Jersey. Lisa was on his mind heavily and he wanted to see her.

"I talked to her yesterday. She asked me if I had heard from you. Of course, she doesn't know what's going on, but I told her that I haven't seen or heard from you."

Rudy dropped his head.

"You should call her from the telephone. Just don't tell her what's going on or where you're at. Lisa doesn't need to be worried or worse...caught in the middle of this situation."

_____________________________

"Look at you..." Malcolm trailed off as he eyed Aaron. He was one of Malcolm's workers. Aaron was in charge of the profits. He made sure every dealer who sold drugs on the streets gave a correct percentage back to Malcolm.

Lately, he had been abusing the little authority Malcolm granted him. Aaron had a habit of taking money from the other workers and writing them down as a shortage. Because of this, many dealers ended up with harsh punishments and even worse-dead.

"Why'd you do it?" Malcolm interrogated him calmly.

Aaron just sat in the chair with his arms and legs tied. He had been brutally beaten. His eyes were swollen shut while his face was puffy and covered in bruises. Aaron sat there in a daze as his head bobbed from left to right. Clearly, he wasn't purely conscious, but Malcolm didn't care.

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" Malcolm bellowed as he grabbed Aaron by his jaw roughly. He yelped out as he tried to bear with the pain, but he could feel his aching jaw being crushed by Malcolm's large fingers. "Why did you do it? Why did you take from me? Why did you turn on me?"