Another Man's Treasure (Joey Bada$$ Story)

Part Nove

I could’ve had a seizure if I wasn’t careful. If Joey wasn’t calming me down. If the neigbor hadn’t come in to check if everything was alright.

My baby was gone. My baby was gone, and it was all my fault because I trusted a nineteen-year-old stranger to keep us safe. It was all my fault because I had no choice but to trust him, given that I didn’t have enough money to support us. I was the only one to blame, and if Edwin knew of this (God forbid if his mother knew) he would probably kill me.

Still, I managed to calm down. I had no choice. The only way I could get answers was to at least listen to him.

“You alright?” Joey asked me as I sat on his couch, drinking tea and trying not to cry.

“I’m fine.”

“So you’re going to listen to me now, right?” He asked. “Without trying to stab me?”

“Yeah, whatever. Just tell me what you know.”

Joey sighed, folded his legs up onto the sofa, and began. “I pretend I don’t know why Steez killed himself, but I do. Some guys were after him, that’s why. It was a group of boys who kind of had this rivalry with me and Steez, ever since we were little. It serious once when they threatened to kill Steez. That made him really scared of them - he was never scared of anyone until then. The guys started to blackmail him; they said that if Steez didn’t do their dirty work for them, like killing people here and there, they’d tell everyone that Steez raped one of the guy’s sisters. It was the head of the mob’s sister, too, so the situation was really bad.”

“Did he really rape her?” I asked.

“Yeah, he did, but he was drunk and young. Anyway, he didn’t want to keep doing things for them because he didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize his career. See, Steez’s dream was to take over rap completely; he had the potential, too. But those other guys were keeping him down. Sometimes he’d come to me, almost in tears, saying ‘why me? why wouldn’t they keep someone else hostage to their folly?’. But then I’d remind him that he was reaping the consequences of what he did, how he raped that girl. At that point he’d get embarrassed and just keep quiet about it. One time Steez sold drugs to some guy - I don’t know what kind - but they were laced with something else. That same night, the dude he sold the drugs to was going to a party, and that’s why he took the drugs - he wanted to be a little buzzed. But it was worse than that, he was out of his mind.

“So at the party, he ended up raping this girl because of how high he was. But this guy, I think his name was Isaiah, he didn’t get away with it. The girl sent the cops after him. Isaiah was so pissed that he went after Steez, since Steez was the one that sold him the bad drugs in the first place.”

“What does any of this have to do with me finding my baby?”

“Wait a minute.” Joey told me. “Isaiah tried to kill Steez, but Steez ended up killing him. Then he went to those rival boys and told them how he almost died that night. The guys weren’t on his side, though. They actually held a gun to his head and told him that they didn’t care, that Steez had raped a girl just like Isaiah did so he had to expect karma. After that, Steez completely gave up. He had no one in his corner and everything that happened to him was a payment for this one mistake that he made. So he decided to kill himself. He wrote me a letter explaining all that I just told you, and he jumped off a building in Manhattan.”

Joey paused to blink the tears away before they came. I looked away to give him privacy, but it wasn’t long before I urged him to keep talking. I still didn’t know where Latara was and it was pissing me off.

“Those punks that Steez was a puppet for, they came after us after Steez died. They knew that we knew Steez killed himself partly because of them, and we’d want revenge. They didn’t succeed the first time - they tried to break into Powers’ house but he wasn’t home - and now they’re back. They found us, me and you. That’s why they took Tara, as a message.”

Joey seemed to think that this was supposed to make some kind of sense to me, but it didn’t. Not one part of it made any sense in my brain, only processed for a few seconds and then took my back to square one: where is my baby?

“How do I get her back?” I asked.

Joey sighed and shrugged. “There’s only one way - to stay the hell away from me. They’re not after you, not yet. They haven’t figured you out yet. They’re just after anyone I care about. They might think that Latara is related to me or something, so they took her to piss me off. You gotta let them know that that’s not the case. Let them know that you’re not affiliated with me. That way, after they see that you’re not around me, I can go and explain to them that I was just housing a homeless girl. I can tell them to give me Latara back.”

I stared at Joey. My fingertips itched, fought the urge to curl into a fist and punch him bloody. I bit down on my bottom lip so to not scream. I was...I was upset. The word doesn’t justify how I felt, but it was the most simple term to use.

“How did they get in here, Joey?” I asked him. “How did they break into this house, without waking either of us, and take Latara? How?”

“They’ve been criminals for years, Jamie. They’re experts at taking things.”

“Okay, and let’s say that I stay away from you. I ‘let them know’ that nothing’s going on between us. How will they even know? What are they, spying on us? They could be completely oblivious to the fact that I’m gone.”

“Jamie, I know them. They’re not spying on us - if they were we wouldn’t be able to have this conversation - but they check up on us. Every day, every two days. They check on all of us, all the Pro Era guys. That’s why I have to notify the rest of them. Next few times they drop by, they’ll see that you’re not here. Then it will be safe for me to visit them.” Joey said this so confidently.

“I...I don’t know, Joey. I don’t know.”

He took my hand in his. “Neither do I. But it doesn’t hurt to try, right?”

I could see the fear in his eyes. I could see the disappointment and pain it brought him to tell me this, to invest me into a plan filled with holes. I felt sorry for him. This wasn’t just about me; he was scared for his own life. It was that reason that I went along with it. I took a shower, accepted the clothes and money that he gave me, and left the house. Each step I took toward the bus station pained me. No Latara, no Latara, no Latara. I fought against the tears. I purchased the bus tickets. I called Abigail - since there was no more pride in the picture - and told her that I was coming back. She said she could house me for one night, but her house was still full so when I got there they’d have to work something out. I agreed to these terms. What else could I do, anyway? The people in my life were now the controllers of it. I just followed their instructions, because I was a beggar, and I couldn’t choose.

I fell asleep on the bus and hoped that I’d never wake up.