Hate the Player and the Game

chapter 20

Chapter 20

Cruze

          I was running. I was running so fast out of that abandoned warehouse with Raheem, Miles, and Uncle Ronnie trailing behind me. When we got out of the warehouse we were shocked to see that one of the jeeps were gone and so was Gay Tony with our forty grand. We all hopped into the remaining jeep and luckily we still had the money that we just copped from another one of Slick's stashes in The Bronx. "Go, go"! Uncle Ronnie yelled at Raheem. We were all panicking. Gay Tony's nigga had gotten shot up and now it was only us left. Some of Slick's nigga's ran out of the warehouse and started busting at our jeep. One of their bullet's flew through the back window and straight through the windshield. We all ducked as the glass shattered all over us. Raheem then stepped on the gas and I could hear the tires screech as we zoomed away. "What the fuck man"! Uncle Ronnie shouted. "Where the fuck is Tony"!?

"That nigga got ghost on us"! Miles yelled angrily. "How could he leave us like that"!?

"His fagot ass need to get put in his place"! Uncle Ronnie said. Uncle Ronnie leaned back in the passenger seat. I could tell he was tired as he tried to catch his breath. "We can't do this anymore. We have no more guys, it's just us. I say, we take the money that we have now, split it up, and just go with what we got".

"What are you talkin' about man"? Raheem said swerving on the rode a little as he sped through traffic. "We still got more moves to make. Slick got a couple more stashes that we know about. We can go hit em up, leave town, and go to a place where they'll never find us. Me, I'm going' to Long Island.....I mean I know Slick got some money hidden there too, but he'll never know that I'm just around the corner". He said getting on the freeway.

"Raheem". Uncle Ronnie almost yelled. "It's done, It's over. We already then lost Calli, and Gay Tony abandoned us and took the forty grand".

"I say we go hunt that nigga down"! Miles protested.

"No". Uncle Ronnie said. "Why would you start another war with Gay Tony knowing that we're going through hell with the beef we got with Slick right now? Gay Tony is more powerful than Slick. I ain't trynna sound like a bitch, but he'll take us down. Without Calli's guidance, I don't know if we could take Tony".

"Look, yall sound dumb as fuck". Raheem said. "I think we should go hit up Slick's stash in Long Island".

"With the four of us Raheem"!? Uncle Ronnie yelled. "We don't even know much about Slick in Long Island. How we gonna find out where he moved the stash to? You have to think, you can't just DO all the time". Raheem pulled into a parking lot of a hotel and we all got out of the car and went inside. The Sheridan was a big and beautiful four star hotel, but we didn't come to vacation. We just needed a chill spot for now until we could figure out what we were going to do next. Raheem booked us a room and we all followed him to an elevator and to the third floor. When we reached our room, Raheem and Uncle Ronnie quickly started to dump the contents of their duffel bags onto the bed. I starred at the hundred dollar bills wrapped in rubber bands in awe. I wanted to jump on top of it and go to sleep on it. I could tell that the money was way more than forty grand. We all spent a whole three hours trying to count all of it. It came to a grand total of a hundred thousand dollars. We all huddled into a big group and jumped up and down with excitement, dapping each other up, and giving bear hugs.

"Now I don't have to worry about how I'm take care of my baby". Miles said throwing a hand full of hundred's in the air.

"Gay Tony a salty ass nigga now". Raheem said laughing. "This is his money, and he took off with ours. That nigga sleazy as fuck. I swear you can't trust no niggas out here on these streets".

"So". Uncle Ronnie cut in. "I guess it'll be twenty-five thousand each".

"Yeah". Raheem said. "I'm glad too. If we would have kept that forty it would have been ten thousand. Now we got double. Hell yeah"!

"Look yall". I said frowning. "We raided two of Slick's stashes, smoked allot of his niggas, and torched his safe spot back in Harlem. When he finds out about all this and decides that he wants us dead, then what we gon' do then"? Raheem touched my shoulder and looked at me.

"Ahh, don't you worry about Slick. That nigga ain't gon' do shit. That nigga can't touch us". He said.

"But what if he doesn't stop"? I ask. "I have a bad feeling that the only way out of this is if we get rid of that nigga ourselves. He keeps running and hiding. I think we need to get rid of him once and for all".

"Cruze, If it comes down to it, then it will happen. We'll get that nigga, but for now. Don't worry about it. Just enjoy the moment of having money, man". Uncle Ronnie said to me. A faint smile came across my face. I really had twenty-five thousand dollars to my name and I was only fifteen.

"Well, what are we going to do next"? I asked them. "Are we going to go home? Am I going back to school? Are we ever going to go back to Queens at all"?

"Hold up, Young Blood". Raheem said. "You askin' too many questions. I already told yall.......a nigga gotta start over with his life. I'm going to Long Island".

"Yeah". Miles cut in. "I got Ebony to worry about and since all this shit happened, I'm movin' her out of the projects and somewhere in Manhattan just to keep her and my baby safe. I'm going to marry her, and I'm a try to keep her clean. I don't want a full blown crack baby".

"So we're done"? I asked with a tinge of sadness. "We just gon' split up since Calli's dead"?

"Cruze". Raheem said. "Without Calli it just isn't the same. Plus we got enough money to last us a couple years unless yall spend it all on stupid shit. I know I'm a get a place in Long Island and still hustle".

"But you Miles". I say looking at him. "Your just completely out? Your out of the game for sure"? Miles just stood there then looked at me and nodded his head.

"Yeah, I'm out...............I gotta a family to look out for now. It's been a hell of a ride trynna make this money, but it's either life or death when it comes to this shit and my baby needs a father so I choose life. I'm having' a little boy, and if I'm gone, who's gonna be there to teach him how to be a man"? I just starred at Miles. It seemed like everything was falling apart since Calli died. I lost my girl, I was losing my homies, and we couldn't go back to our lives back in Queens unless Slick was gone. I started to nod my head as if I understood everyone and their excuses to just give up. I looked at my cut of the money sitting in a big pile on the bed. I was happy that I had it, but I didn't feel like celebrating. I went over to the sofa and plopped down on it. This life wasn't fun anymore. I was losing everything. I didn't know what our next move was, but we all sat there in silence.

"Cruze and I are just gonna get our own place". I heard Uncle Ronnie say. "We goin' back to Queens, and we gon' live north on the side. We gon' stay silent. I don't want to attract no negative attention toward us. I'ma finish raising him and we just gon' live life". This all sounded so sad. Our story of thug chronicles together as a crew were now coming to an end. I shook my head from side to side. Their story might of been ending, but mine wasn't. They then started a whole new life style for me and I was determined to finish my life the same way. I hated starting things that I couldn't finish, but now since they introduced me to the game, there was no way that I was saying goodbye to it. I watched Uncle Ronnie, Miles, and Raheem start to pack their money into their own bags. We stayed in that hotel for another two days after that. We decided that our next move was to hunt Slick down.