SILK & STEEL

Chapter 5: Sweet Forgiveness

Shai was sitting on his couch in front of the coffee table, moving with precision.

There was a method.. he always had a method.

The keys of cocaine were lined up in perfect order in front of him with each one meticulously weighed to the gram to the left.

On the right, was four he had left.

Shai clicked 'tare' and placed another bag on the scale, and then watched as 1.000 kg blinked back at him.

He had a notebook in his lap and wrote it down, penmanship so neat all the digits lined up with one another.

He took it off the scale and pushed it towards the left before grabbing another bag.

1.002 kg.

"Hm."

Shai opened the bag and used a tiny reptile spoon to scoop exactly 0.002 off, placing it on a little tray he had on the side.

The digital scale blinked 1.000 kg in response to his precision.

Then, he sealed the edges with a slow breath.

Off to the left.

The thing was, he had the product now.. he had ten keys worth... now Shai just needed to find people to sell it for him.

Ray wasn't coming up off his spots and he understood that.. and Ray had brought him on the way he promised so he didn't owe Shai shit anymore.

Shai didn't believe in 'spots'.. he moved like a lone wolf but he respected street politics. Problem was... street politics didn't leave room for new niggas to come in and move weight.

So he was left with a choice; follow the law and order of the streets or make his own.

But Shai had never been one to believe in law or order, so now that he was on his own, he was left to remember who else owed him favors.

Six of the keys were allotted for.. 4 to the Serbs, 2 to the Haitians.. but he was left with 4 and knew he had to make more phone calls.

"Hm," he thought out loud.

What was he gonna do?

Then one name fell on his mind; Trae.

He grabbed a different notebook, tattered and beaten up after years of use. In it, there were names and numbers and he flipped all the way the 'T's until he came across 'Trae'.

Shai grabbed his phone and dialed the 305 number.

It didn't even ring.

"The number you are trying to reach is not in service," an automated voice said.

Shai sucked his teeth.

"Please check the number and try your call again."

He was already looking at the number directly underneath it.

Trae sister

He didn't even remember her name and he'd never written it down, and he spent a minute trying to remember what it coulda been.

Talia?

Dahlia?

Natalia??

It was something along those lines, but he gave up shortly after and just dialed her number, not giving a fuck what her name was.

"Hello?" A sweet voice answered.

"Aye.. how you doing, baby? It's Haze.."

There was a long silence.