Trap Queen.

24♛

                                                     C H A P T E R - 24

      “What the hell are we going to do, Egypt? Serena already snitched, and of course the police gon’ believe her ass,” Reggie worries. “Neither one of us wanna be in no damn jail. You sure as hell won’t make it there.” My eyes water because I began to get so mad. Now it was a lot easier for us the police to just arrest us just because they don’t want to work on the cases.

      “I got an idea. This shit may seem crazy, but it might work,” I tell him.

     “What is it? We ain’t gonna kill nobody is we?” Reggie asks. I shake my head.

     “Before this trial shit begins, we gonna need a good ass lawyer. One of the best in California. We can hustle up some money, have my dad help me out, and boom — the charges are dropped and we get out of jail. Plus, we can get Serena to tell the court that she had a mistaken identity and she basically lied. . . They don’t have any other evidence against us, Reggie,” I explain. “This could be a hell of a lot easier than we think.”

     Reggie’s confused face to turned into a beaming smile. “Egypt, you so smart. This is why we need you around more.” I smile at him.

      “Come with me to my dad’s house. He probably know something about a good lawyer.”

      “So you and him are cool now?” Reggie asks me.

     “I guess so,” I respond, “He’s helping me out a lot. There ain’t no reason for me to resent him yet.”

     “If you say so, Egypt. Just be careful around that nigga. You haven’t seen him awhile,” Reggie warns me. I nod my head because I understand, but all these little ‘warnings’ are making me weary of my father. If he did something wrong, I want somebody to come out and say that shit already. I’ve had too many people fuck me over already. I don’t want no more surprises this year.

      When Reggie and I approach my dad’s doorstep, his house wasn’t something I imagined when I saw him for the first time in a few years. For one, it looks like he ain’t even trying to keep the house up. It has yellow paint chips coming off of it, and there’s his pitbulls in his fence. Before you get inside, his house smells like smoke — not like barbeque, though. It’s more like a cigarette smoke. Reggie scrunches his nose up once he smells it.

      Cairo answers the door with a smile on his face. “Is that your boyfriend?” Cairo asks, like he’s almost excited. Reggie and I both holler ‘no’ in unison. “Okay. . . okay. . . What brings y’all critters to the house today?”

      “I need to use y’all’s computer. We need to look up some good lawyers in the area,” I tell him. “There ain’t tellin’ when the next time they’ll bring me back in court and I need a good ass lawyer to back me up.”

      “You know a lawyer like that is going to be expensive as hell. I’ll be willing to help y’all both. Our dad has enough money to go ‘round.”

      “Then why do he live on this side of town? Why don’t he just move to Beverly Hills or some shit?” Reggie asks. The way he says it comes off as rude as hell, but I don’t say anything to him.

      “I don’t know,” Cairo replies simply. “It’s really none of my business.” Cairo lets us in his house, and it looks nice for them to live in Compton. It reminded me of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The house looked a lot different on the inside than on the out. 

      “Where’s your computer?” I ask him. He points to a separate room, where I assume is the computer room. There was three desktop computers, and one laptop. I chose the laptop because I assumed it would load and start up quicker. I opened the laptop, and it was already loaded up. In the Google search bar, I typed in ‘lawyers in Compton California’. Ads were already popping up, and I clicked a guy named Kit Hampton.

      “Look, Egypt. It says that he’s one of the best lawyers in Southern California. You need to check this dude right quick.” I follow Reggie’s instructions and click the guy. I inspect his lawyer profile pic, and he seemed like he could do Reggie and I well. Even though we weren’t convicted of a crime yet, we’d still have to fight, just in case.

      “Call him and see what he talking about,” Reggie tells me. He hands me his phone out of his pocket and I dial the number on the screen. It rang and it rang, but I got no answer at all. 

      “Since this dude is the best lawyer down here, how the hell are we gonna come up with all that money? I don’t know how much lawyers be costing, but I know it ain’t cheap at all,” I let him know. I knew that Reggie was slanging, but even after this case, we’ll still have to live a completely normal life. It would set us back a lot, so we needed a set plan.

      “Look, Egypt, you don’t even have to worry about it. We’ll get the money somehow. There’s never been a time were we without something we needed. Your dad will help out, you’ll help out, and I’ll help out. Nine times out of ten, Rah’s ass gon’ help too. So don’t even worry about it. We all good.” Reggie’s voice made it seem like he just knew everything was going to be okay. It made me feel secure. 

                                                       A.J  P O V

      “Son, if you know anything about the case, you need to let us know. We know you associate yourself with the criminals. Go ahead and confess,” my dad tries to get the truth out of me, but it’s not going to work. I swear to God, I hate him. He only comes around when he wants something, but he ain’t getting shit from me.

     “I don’t know shit,” I reply. My dad isn’t even on duty right now, so whatever happens right now doesn’t even count as evidence. My dad won’t never get shit out of me, cuz I ain’t no snitch. I’ll never be one — I’m more loyal to my team than that. There’s been plenty of times where somebody could’ve snitched on me and I woulda been in jail for life — and I would never put somebody else in that situation — I don’t care if they’re my worst enemy.

     My dad slams his fist on the table, but I’m not the least bit shaken up by it. “A.J., I don’t care if you’re my son or not. If you don’t confess about what you know then I have no other choice than to have you arrested!” My dad exclaims. It gets me pissed because he acts like he’s my boss. He acts like he was a father to me. He wasn’t there when I needed him, so there’s no sense of acting like he’s my real father.

      “You can’t arrest me if I just told you that I don’t know shit! They’re my friends, but they don’t tell me anything about nothing. Our conversations don’t even get that far,” I yell. “And what’s with this bullshit with you acting like you’re my father or something? You ain’t shit to me!”

     “I am your father and you have to listen to what I say. I don’t give a damn if you live with me or not. If you don’t confess, then whatever you’re hiding is going to come back and bite you in your ass, Alexander,” He exclaims. 

     “Don’t call me that shit. My name is A.J. Not no damn Alexander.” I get out of the chair I’m sitting in and leave the house. It was a damn shame that I had to leave my own house just to get away from my father. 

      “Get back here now,” My dad warns. I ignore him and keep walking out of the door. “Alexander, get back here now or they’ll be some serious consequences.” I don’t care, because I’m not scared of him at all.  There’s just something deep inside of me that just doesn’t give a fuck anymore.