Unstable

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

The room grew silent. Ryan had a certain aura that commanded a certain respect. Somehow, you just knew you were not to speak until he initiated conversation. Even Jerome could sense that and he knew this guy or at least he used to. Looking at objects in the room aimlessly slightly helped to ease my nerves but I was still uneasy. I didn’t know what was going on or why he wasn’t talking but I knew I had to go along with the flow. He began to laugh; his laugh was deep but not throaty and somehow lacked emotion but you could tell it was genuine.

“So what you brings here?” Ryan asked Jerome. “Last time I heard ‘bout you, you were done with this shit and nowhere to be found.”

“What brings most back here.” Jerome told him. “Money.”

“You wanted money when you gave up on this. What’s different now?”

“Back then, I was trying to earn a little change for some new sneakers. Now, I’m trying to eat once a day and find a place to sleep with four walls and a roof.”

“I hear that. Who’s your friend?”

“Oh, this is Chantelle. Chantelle, meet Ryan. Ryan, meet Chantelle.”

His eyes fixated on me, “Nice to meet you, Chantelle.”

The way he looked at me and how he spoke to me had me shaking in my FILA sneakers. Yes FILA, just because I wasn’t broke before didn’t mean I still wasn’t poor.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” I smiled weakly.

“We don’t usually get girls interested in this shit.” He laughed. “They’d rather fuck the dealer and get money that way. Why not go down that route?”

I was unsure about whether I should be intimidated or offended, “I don’t have the patience or the temperament to be sucking dick for weeks, maybe months, for dope money when I can get it myself.”

He laughed, “So what do y’all need from me?”

“We need you to help us up; hook us up with a lil’ something.” Jerome said, getting to the point.

Ryan thought for a second, “Aight, I will. Only because you’re the only person from back in the day that came back. However, this ain’t the movies. Don’t expect to be dealing with the big shit or me to be some kind of mentor and save you from the shit you get stuck in.”

Relief flooded through my body as I smiled.

“So you haven’t spoken to Jason or Tyrone?” Jerome inquired.

Ryan’s face turned sour, “Oh, I have. Let’s save those fuck boys for another time, aight?”

I wondered why he didn’t want to talk about these people and why his body language changed so abruptly. They must’ve been Jerome’s old friends; he mentioned them a lot when he talked about his childhood and I’m pretty sure he let their names slip at times. Whatever was going on or whatever went on didn’t bother me though because I knew I was about to start making money – whether it be a dime or a dollar or five thousand dollars. The fact that I didn’t know how exactly I was going to get it and what I was going to have to do made doubts circle in my head but the thoughts of all that money being mine silenced them. Money couldn’t buy me happiness but it sure as hell could buy me things that made me happy.

“So what do you want us to do?”

“You remember all of that FBI shit?” Jerome nodded his head and Ryan turned to face me. “Has he told you about that?”

I nodded my head.

Ryan continued, “In order to stay under the radar, certain precautions must be taken. I can’t leave a trail … but in my opinion that’s impossible.”