BLUE FACE$

IV.

                               IV.
Wednesday morning couldn't come fast enough. I was so nervous. My adrenaline was pumping and I couldn't stay still, I was pacing in Tyree and Tatiana's kitchen as he loads a big, pink suitcase up. I didn't even look in it, I was choosing to be naive but I knew I was carrying something that would get me put away for a long time if the wrong person found it.
It was around 5am and Tyree and I were the only ones awake, he had let me in the door with stacks of money in his hand. "I said $10,00 up front." He stuffs it into my black purse then grabs some keys from the kitchen counter and motions for me to follow him outside. The morning air is cool and thick as we walk to the back yard and the ice on the grass crunches under my feet. This was my first time back here and you can't see it from Tatiana's room so I was surprised to see a car sitting under a bright, blue tarp. Tyree pulls it back and shows me a gray, Toyota Camry. It looks new and well taken care of. Tyree hands me the keys, "This'll be yours until you get your own, just face time me so I can check on her." I get in the drivers seat and him in the passenger and we drive to the front of the house. It felt good being behind the wheel again.
"It's all there, make sure you tell them that and vise versa before you take the bag." He says sternly from the passenger seat. I nod and he nods back at me. He loads the bag in the trunk and closes it with a hard slam. Tyree gives me the address on a white piece of paper and a black flip phone through the window (he made me leave mine in the house). I'm glad I know the city because if I didn't i'd be assed out. He looks at his phone , "You gotta be there by 7 so I'd get to moving now."
I can see Tyree watching me from the porch as I drive away from the house.

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I was almost there when the anxiety started. I gripped the steering wheel with sweaty hands and blew a big breath out of my mouth. "You're good Essence." , I spoke out loud to myself. I could always turn around , just go home and not even involve myself. I parked the car, I knew I was about two minutes away and it was going on 6:50am so I would have to make a choice. I put my head on the steering wheel and closed my eyes.
Memories of Tyree telling me one of his men just got shot behind this played in my head and I tried hard to push them away. Should I really be doing this? I thought. I lifted my head from the steering wheel and looked to the passenger seat floor. When I looked down I saw my purse had turned on its side due to my crazy driving and most of my stuff had fallen out but what caught my attention was a loose hundred dollar bill peeking it's green head from under my wallet. I gripped the steering wheel tighter and put the car in drive.

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The drop off spot was a secluded alley behind some run down buildings, I only knew how to get over here because my grandma use to take my brother and I to swim at the gym across the street, before it looked like this. I'm waiting in my car when a red one pulls in front of me, I wait for someone to get out before I do what Tyree told me to do and when a white woman with short, blonde hair gets out from the drivers side I open my door.
We stare at each other suspiciously before we both turn and hurry to our trunks, the suit case was heavy as fuck, it felt like I was carrying bricks. I don't know how I managed to carry it to the front of the car but somehow I did it. The lady was in front of her red coupe with a black, duffle bag in hand, "It's all here", we tell each other. We exchange bags and this one isn't any lighter. I put it in the trunk and the woman and I drive off at the same time.
As I drive to meet Tyree I felt giddy like I had just successfully snuck out for the first time. My anxiety was gone and was replaced with something else that I could only call excitement.
Tyree has a big, gold money counter , sitting on the dresser in his room. It looks ridiculous to me but he likes it and it gets the job done. It was all there and he claps my back in happiness, "That's what the fuck i'm talking about. I thought you wasn't gonna do it. Niggas talking shit...." he trails off before throwing me two, big stacks of money, "Every other week." I reply with a okay and he's cheesing, sitting on his bed that's covered in money. His room isn't necessarily dirty, it's more messy. He has clothes thrown all over the floor and sitting in chairs but it doesn't seem not taken care of.  Tyree stands up and hugs me and walks me to the door, he smells like expensive cologne. "Get home safe and text me or something." I nod and get in the car. I appreciate him telling me to get home safe but I wouldn't be texting him. Tyree was cute but he was Tatiana's brother and I wasn't trying to mix business with pleasure. I was waiting on a text from that dread head though, it had been three days since the party and he still hasn't hit my phone. I'm starting to think he was just playing and it really was just the liquor making me feel like that.