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

Part Ventisette

This was where I was supposed to be. For my entire life, I didn’t quite know why things were always going wrong or where the winds were always pushing me to, but it wa shere. In this very bed, cuddled up with this very boy. This was it. All the good and bad was to make me strong enough, wise enough, calm enough and versatile enough to experience this. If it wasn’t for all the bullshit that sometimes made suicide look like the only solution possible, the sun shining on my back through the blinds wouldn't feel so tranquil and Joey’s lips wouldn’t taste so sweet.

Our lives were still a mess, but some things were coming together.

We lounged around in the hotel room for the rest of the night. We didn’t answer our phones when they rang, and pretended to not be home when room service came knocking. The guys were in their other rooms, probably aware of my wild episode after Kirk and CJ told them. Latara was with Darius, and i trusted that he was taking good care of her. For once, there was no part of me that wondered what he could be up to. He may be fishy, but he’d never harm Latara. In fact, he wouldn’t do something so stupid with hopes to getting closer to me. I could trust him on the basis of his infatuation toward me.

So I slept right by Joey’s side, free of worries. Comfortable. Peaceful.

Of course, that didn’t last long.

We woke up the next morning to knocks at our door. I was up first after three attempts of trying to ignore it. I sat up in bed, my vision still hazy. The knocks paused for a few moments, as if whoever it was knew that I was up and wanted to mock me. As soon as I rest my head again, there was the knocking.

“Joey,” I groaned. He was sleeping beside me like a rock. I pulled the pillow from under his head and slapped his face with it, and only then did he shoot up from the bed with his hands in the shape of a gun and his eyes bright and wide.

“Chill out, Rambo. Someone’s at the door.”

“So get it.” He lay back down.

“You’re the man in the room! What if I get shot?”

“What if I get shot?”

I pulled his pillow again. “Joey.”

He sighed, pushed the sheets off of him, and dragged his feet all the way to the door.

“Didn’t I have the guy downstairs make another key to our room for y’all?” Joey snapped once he opened the door and saw it was the full Pro Era roster.

“We lost it.” Kwon pushed past him. The rest of them piled in, calling their good morning's to me and taking seats wherever there was space.

“But we did bring a gift,” Sole said. He held up a box of Domino’s pizza. “It’s from last night, but that’s what microwaves are for.”

Joey rolled his eyes and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Why y’all here so early?”

“Well for one, I didn’t know what to do with her anymore.” Darius replied. Latara squealed in his lap, as if she knew who he was referring to. I took her from him and thanked him for watching her. She was in one piece as I’d expected though she did smell like no one changed her diaper since last night. i carried her off to the bathroom, leaving the door a little open so I could hear their conversation.

“We really came to show you this.” Sanchez handed Joey something. The room was quiet while Joey read, so I took the opportunity to undress Latara and run the water for her bath. When he was done, though, I turned the water low - not completely off. That would be too conspicuous.

“They were that important that their deaths had to be in the newspaper?” He asked. So it was a newspaper clipping. Who were ‘they’?

“Well, Gary did say they were in the Mafia. Mafia people are important.” One of them suggested.