𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕯𝖔𝖕𝖊 𝕲𝖆𝖒𝖊 ⫸ 𝖔𝖍𝖌𝖊𝖊𝖘𝖞

Old Friends

Valentine

My phone rang. It was loud and annoying. Tookah grumbled as I reached over to grab it. I looked at my caller ID. It was my brother, Joseph.

"What do you want bitch? It's two in the morning." I answered sleepily. He smacked his lips. "Get up foo. We got some big spenders at the underground. Come help." I groaned and sat up. The Underground was hotel that wasn't too far from the house. If you were rich, you would definitely live there.
"But Tookah's here. I can't leave him."
"Give him to papa. He's not your kid, you know that."

Tookah is our little cousin. His momma was on drugs real bad and she couldn't afford to take care of him so we took him in. My brother loved him but I loved him more. He was like my son. I always took good care of him. But he was right. He isn't my son.

"Come on Titi." I rolled my eyes and pushed back my blankets. "Okay I'm coming. I'll be there in 10."

I picked Tookah up and carried him to my papa's room. He was up watching some sort of Spanish tv. He secretly liked those telemundo shows. "¿podrías ver al bebé?" Papa looked up from his show and patted the bed.
"Only for a few hours. Your brother mentioned this was important deal. Go make me some good money,"

I hated when talked to me like I was some kinda ho on the corner. You'd think at 24 year's old I wouldn't feel like a little girl taking orders from him but I do. My father is 55 years old and runs the gang and has done so since he was 16 years old. He's also very sick. The great Dominic Batiste was falling off due to years of unhealthy choices. He met my mother when she was about 17. He was 18 at the time. They fell in love and got married. They had my brother not long after. But a black woman being with a hispanic man didn't sit too well with her family or his so they disowned them both and they struggled. That's when my father started pushing more drugs and taking over more areas.

My mother was pregnant with me when my dad first got shot. She decided then and there she didn't want anything to do with this life. So she left him. But after a while my brother wanted to help us so he got into the game too. By that time she couldn't control him so when papa moved to California. She sent him to go. And then at 15. I wanted to see my father and ended up staying. She tried to keep me from going. But she knew I was hardheaded just like him.

I went in my room in a hurry to put on my camo jeans and a tank top with my Air Force highs. Then grabbed a coffee drink out of the refrigerator. This was going to be a long ass night.

"It's about time you got here Valentine. The meeting will be in Suite 16. Papa convinced the hotel manager  to let us use it for meet ups from now on."Joseph said as I got out the car with my drink in hand. "By convinced you mean beat the shit out of him until he said yes right?"

Toledo stood up. "You shouldn't give him such a hard time Titi. He's your father. He does this for you."
Toledo was my father's main man. They've been best friends since they were babies. Aside from my brother everything went through him. All the meetups, drug deals, money swaps, moves for the gang and everything else went through him when my father was too tired or too sick to participate. Which is always the case usually. "Ledo. He doesn't do this for me. I can support myself. Thank you." I snapped at him. Joseph grabbed my arm to calm me. "Suavizar." Ledo gave him a suitcase full of cash from our last drop.

I rolled my eyes and walked to the building. It was a lavish ass hotel. Chandeliers dangling for the ceiling, fancy white folks talking with their wine glasses and nice clothes. I felt weird being here. Joseph walked beside me confidently. "You know you were wrong back there right?" He spoke softly. Joseph believe it or not was the peacemaker. "I didn't do nothing wrong. Ledo is the one hyping papa up like he's some sort of saint." I shrugged as we got in the elevator.