Always

1.

Spencer James
"Yo, am I talkin' to a ghost or what?" Ace questioned in frustration as he glared at Spencer.  "I need to know now, foo" he said as he took another pull from his blunt.

Spencer briefly sat with his thoughts before he glanced at Ace.

"How much was it again?" He inquired, giving Ace a curious look.

"400k and I'd split it even" Ace answered as he blew the smoke out of his mouth. "Or, since you may need it more than I do, you keep 300 and I'd keep 100" he continued, attempting to convince Spencer to agree to it.

"Why you offerin' me more than what you originally said?" Spencer questioned with a raise eyebrow.

"To get you to come with me" Ace simply stated. "You know how this shit go, young Killa" he continued.

Spencer felt his phone vibrate in his hand and noticed he received another text message from Olivia.

"I know what you tryna do and it ain't gon' work" Spencer said as he stared at the young man. "You gon' have to find somebody else" he watched Ace's facial expression change.

"Hmm" Ace lightly chuckled as he shook his head. "I'm probably the only real one you got left in this shit. Hope you know what you doin'" he said, placing his blunt in between his lips.

"The fuck does that mean?" Spencer tilted his head and raised his eyebrow.

"Whatever you want it to mean" Ace replied, releasing the smoke from his nostrils. "The real you would've had my back and rolled with me. You went uppity for sure" he said, shaking his head.

Spencer shook his head as he watched Ace speed out of the gas station.

He then exited the gas station and sat in silence as he rode through the streets of South Central Los Angeles. The dark clouds began to move in and the smell of rain in the air engulfed Spencer's nostrils. The arm on his jacket buffeted repeatedly as the wind flowed through the opening of his windows. Spencer then came to a stop at a red light and unlocked his phone.

"I know you ain't it back to yo part of town that fast" Mr. A chuckled as he answered Spencer's phone call. "You aight, son?" he inquired curiously.

"I'm good, Pops. Just leavin' the gas station" he answered as he popped his knuckles. "I ran into an old friend there" he continued.

"An old friend?" Mr. A questioned and Spencer nodded his head as if he could see him. "You've got to be one stupid dude, Spencer. I can't believe you would even do somethin' like that to Liv, it don't even sound like you" he said, causing Spencer to furrow his eyebrows.

"What are you-"

"Who is she?" Mr. A questioned and Spencer's eyes grew wide.

"Who is she?" Spencer repeated in shock. "Pops, I ain't talkin' about a woman. You have no faith in me at all" he chuckled to himself.

"I have faith in you but I also know how men are" Mr. A said as he also laughed. "But what were you talkin' bout?" he inquired.

"An old friend asked me to hit a quick drop with him" Spencer answered, shaking his head at the encounter he just had.

"Okay? You obviously told the nigga no so why you call me?" Mr. A lightly chuckled.

"I considered joining him" Spencer answered as the light turned green. "I ain't realize how easy it is to fall back into that shit until now" he accelerated on the gas. He then checked his blind spot and switched lanes.

"Spencer, you've come too far to nearly fold like that" Mr. A said as he shook. "How much would you have gotten?" he questioned.

"He offered to give me 300k" Spencer answered.