Securing The Bag (The Lagos Hustle)

Caught Sleeping

I tried my best to make Jackson and Offwhite understand that my picker had really gone awol and I never received their money. I offered them the little I could gather under short notice (a little over $4000) and asked them to give me two weeks to gather the remaining. Offwhite wanted them to take the money but Jackson had other plans and refused. In two weeks time, I was going to provide every cent of the 70% cut and if I didn't, they were going to fuck me up and make me regret double crossing them.

"For the last time bro, I didn't doublecross you I swear!" I cried out but as usual my pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears. And I wasn't really innocent. I had taken a stupid risk cause of greed and now I was knee deep in debt.

The only option I had was to keep on hustling to get the money. I tried to inspire myself and I stayed up all night. It was easy to motivate myself when I had 13 days left to pay the debt, but then before I could blink, I realized 9 days had gone by already and I had till Thursday to at least pay a substantial amount or else....or else what?I knew Jackson and Offwhite were not the type of guys to let this kind of matter die, they were going to make a move and it would probably be something drastic. I suspected they were going to show up at my house in the middle of the night with a couple of their friends and beat me to within an inch of my life. Probably leave a permanent scar to remind me of what happens when I mess with them. Or maybe they'll try to get me killed? I didn't think they had the mind to kill but when money was involved people became unpredictable.

On Wednesday I finally decided to leave my house very early Thursday morning and go some place far to lay low for a while. I didn't know where exactly I'll go. I couldn't go home or go to Shaq's. I'll probably just lay low in a coded hotel somewhere on the island. Thanks to Jackson for adamantly refusing the four thousand I offered them last week. That was literally all the available cash I had on me. By now I'd sent over a thousand messages to Lori, pleading and threatening for the money, I even tried reverse psychology, I tried anything I could think of but I still didn't get a single reply from her. I was Fucked I spent the whole Wednesday putting my apartment in order. I expected they'll come looking for me that weekend when I didn't pay up and I needed them to think I had traveled at the last minute. I bought rolls of plastic from a Supermart and draped it over all my furniture. My Tv, tables, couches, kitchen racks, I even draped it over my wardrobe. That might give them the impression I wasn't coming back anytime soon. It was just unfortunate I'd paid my rent barely 3 months ago, it felt like a waste now that I didn't even know when or if I'll be back. By night I had packed a single backpack with a few clothes and my laptop in my booth. By 6am tomorrow, I planned to hit the road.

I retrieved my laptop from the car but I was so distracted that I couldn't chat properly. I gave my new online love interest some flimsy excuse of coming down with the flu and logged off. I decided to call it an early night and retired to my room by 10pm however, I was too worried to sleep. I spent an hour tossing and turning until I decided to have a strong drink. I needed to drink my troubles away, alcohol should do the trick.

I had a half bottle of absolut vodka in my kitchen cupboard, I usually added a shot to my cup of coffee every morning but I needed something much stronger this time around and poured it raw into my tea mug. I took a long gulp and felt it burn my throat all the way to my belly. The mug was much bigger than your regular teacup and I refilled it before returning the almost empty bottle to the cupboard. I put on the stereo and connected my bluetooth, increasing the volume till Kendrick's Lamar voice filled my apartment. I wasn't much of a drinker and I was tipsy in a couple of minutes, slouched on my couch and mouthing of the few rap words I was familiar with. "...bitch be humble, sit down....be humble sit down...."

I took another long drink, thankful for liquor. I couldn't even remember what had been troubling me so much. I decided to go hard and soon staggered to the kitchen to retrieve the remaining vodka from the cupboard.I was almost merry for 30 minutes, rapping and singing until my eyes got heavy and I passed out.When my alarm rang 6 hours later I didn't move, I was wasted on my couch, too deep in my alcohol induced sleep to hear the mechanical cock crowing from my phone and urging me to wake up.

I finally woke up by 10:30 with a splitting headache. For some minutes I had trouble remembering where I was as my sitting room gradually came into focus and I realized I was sprawled on my couch. I blinked about a dozen times and ran my tongue over my teeth, my mouth tasted like an abomination and my head felt like someone had hit me with a crowbar. I had such a terrible headache. Why on earth did I drink so much last night? Then I remembered! Today was the D day. I was supposed to take flight before dawn and judging from the bright light spilling through the window I was far behind schedule.

"Shit!"

I struggled to sit up, I needed to use my mouth wash, take some panadol and get the hell out. I noticed something from the corner of my eye and turned my head. The movement sent a sharp pain to my brain and I cried out in surprise as the object fully came into focus. Leaning on my doorjamb and smiling at me was a fierce looking man I had never seen before in my entire life. He was tall, about an inch taller than me and he was in a tight fitting polo shirt which clung to his hard rock muscles like a second skin. He had thick arms folded over a barrel of a chest and his shoulders were broad and wavy with hard muscles. He had the physique of a body builder but you instinctively knew he had probably never lifted weights in his life. But it was his eyes that feared me the most. He had the coldest eyes I had ever seen in my life, he kept them narrowed on me, staring right into my eyes and no doubt seeing the fear in my soul. When he spoke, his voice sent a chill down my spine and at that moment I really thought I was a dead man.

"Hello Fuoyo, I thought you'll never wake" He smiled a wicked smile and I swallowed, unable to find my voice.I didn't even wonder who he was, I had a pretty good idea already. The only thing that I could think of was how on Earth this scary looking beast had broken into my house and I hadn't heard a thing. Damn the alcohol.