Previously on

"I love you." Jada says, hugging Pac tightly and rocking back and forth. "Love you too light bright." He chuckles, letting go.

"And as for you pretty lady, tell Pac to give you my number so we can chat it up sometimes." She says, before throwing her arms around me and squeezing tightly.

"Okay." I chuckle.

"Igh, ima catch yall later." She says, heading towards the door.

"Call me when you get back." Lesane says, she just waves him off before leaving, closing the door behind her.

"Why have you never mentioned her to me?" I ask, turning to Pac, who's taking off his shirt.

He just shrugs.

"I figured yall would meet eventually. Ain't seem necessary." He says, throwing his shirt at me.

"Oh." I say, taking the shirt in my hands and bringing it to my nose. I inhale deeply, it smells like saw dust and his cologne. Anything is better than gun powder and the metallic smell of blood.

"Stop being a creep." He chuckles, snatching the shirt from me and heading upstairs.

"I'm not a creep." I say, following close behind him.

"Yea whatever, you showering with me tonight? Or you getting your freak on alone?" He asks, making me laugh.

"I'm showering alone. Thank you. But not because I wanna get my freak on or whatever you said." I say, rolling my eyes before jogging past him.

Sometimes I think about how me and Pac still haven't had sex yet.. and he hasn't complained. I mean I kinda feel bad that I've kept him waiting, but he doesn't push.

We've had our intimate moments, but he's always the one to stop it, and I'm always sort of relieved that he does.

"Don't be tryna beat me to the shower." He chuckles, grabbing my arm.

"But you always use all the hot water." I whine, fighting him off.

"Shit. Guess you showering with me then."

Chapter 27

"It's four in the fucking morning De."

I hear Lesane talking on the phone, making me get up from my bed. I walk quietly across the hall to his room, standing in the doorway.

"I can't help you with shit like that no more-" Tupac's tone is sleepy and frustrated.

"I can send somebody, but I can't."

He sighs deeply, before shaking his head. "Igh, I'll be there in thirty." He says, before getting up from the bed. He stops in his tracks when he sees me in the doorway.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up baby." He says.

"Where you going?" I ask.

"DeVante need my help with something, it shouldn't take long." He says, approaching me and kissing my forhead.

"What is it... that he needs you for?" I ask, folding my arms over my chest.

"Dri.."

"Just tell me, it's okay." I say, making him let out a breath. There's a pause before he finally tells me.

"One of his girls o'd last night. He wants me to help him move her." Pac says, his voice low and still a little sleepy.

My heart sinks.

Could it be?

"Did he say who it was?" I ask, clutching my t-shirt tightly.

"Nah." Pac says, walking over to his dresser and pulling a shirt out. "I know what you're thinking.. Don't think like that." He adds, pulling the shirt over his head.

I nod.

"Just.. check for me, please." I say.

Tupac clears his throat.

"Okay baby." He says. I stand there for a while, watching him get dressed before going back into my room and closing the door.

Tupac

I pull into DeVante's driveway and get out my car slowly.

This nigga is out of his rabbit ass mind if he think ima be his do boy, callin me at all times of the night and shit.

I ring the doorbell a couple of times before he opens the door and waves me in quickly.

"This shit couldn't wait until later in the day?" I ask, following him up the stairs. But he shakes his head.

"Nah, my girls need to get to work and I don't need a body in the house scaring them." He says.

I suck my teeth.

He pushes the door open to his room and that's when I see it. A girl lying on his bed, lifeless. I've seen alot of dead bodies, but this one ain't sitting right with me. I glance at De. Something ain't right with him either. He's fidgety, meaning that he prolly high out of his mind right now.

I get closer, only to see that he's put a bag over her head, keeping her face hidden.

I look over at De again, his eyes are puffy and red like he's been crying.

"Who is it?" I ask.

"Nobody. Just help me move her." He says, walking over to the bed and grabbing one of her arms, he winces as he touches her.

I furrow my eyebrows, approaching the body. I reach for the bag, just to check like I told Adrienne I would.

De grabs my wrist roughly, making me push him back.

"Nigga don't ever in yo life grab me like that." I say, already frustrated with having to do this.

"Seeing who it is won't make this better for you Lesane." He says, making me hesitate slightly before I pull the bag off of the woman's head, a sharp pain shoots through my chest as my eyes land on who it is. Jamie.

"Shit.." I mumble. "What the fuck De."

"Told you." He chuckles, a brief wave of nonchalance passing through him before his voice cracks. Donald shuts his eyes tightly. "It was a accident. She was like this when I woke up man... I cared about her." He says, before turning around, pacing the room.

"You foul as hell for calling me to do this." I say, shaking my head.

"I can't." I add, turning to walk out of the room.

"Fuck you mean you can't? You den seen the body now so you might as well." De says, making me turn around.

"You betta watch yo mouth-"

"I said you will. I don't wanna have to make you." He says, walking towards me. "Nigga you got me real fucked up right now." I say, placing my hand on my gun in the waistband of my pants.

"Woah there, everybody just take a breath.. well except for her of course." De chuckles, before brushing past me out of the room. A few seconds later he comes back with a girl, his grip tight on her arm.

"Tell em what we know baby." De says to her, letting her go roughly.

I cringe at the way he handles her.

The girl's eyes switch back and forth nervously between me and Jamie's dead body.

That's when I realize who she is. The girl from the bank, the one I told not to press the emergency button or Raheem would've shot her.. I was looking out for her.

The girl refuses to talk, making De suck his teeth.

"See Lesane, if you don't do what I ask you to do, I'm sending her to the police department to give them a real good description of you." He says, a smirk on his face.

"And from what I heard.. they already wanna put yo black ass away real bad." He adds.

A part of me wants to shoot the girl. Number one rule is to never let a nigga blackmail you. If I kill her right now then I can leave this mothafucka here with two of his own dead bodies and he can deal with his own shit.

But I look at her, she's terrified.

"What's it gonna be man?" De chuckles.

I take my hand off my gun, letting out a breath. "Get her outta here so we can get this over with." I mumble. DeVante nudges the girl towards the door, making her scurry away to her room.

I look over at Jamie again, what am I supposed to tell Adrienne?

She's gonna be heart broken.

"Chop chop." De says.

I sigh. Ain't this a mothafuckin bitch.

"I'm gonna get you away from all this one day. I promise." I say, looking over at Jameria.

She's sitting cross legged on my bed, a book in her hands as her eyes scan the page vigorously.

"De, you say that alot."

"I know. But I'm serious." I say, making her look up at me.

"I want it to be just us, all the time. You deserve so much better than this." I say, scooting closer to her on the bed and pulling her body against mine.

"You've been at this a long time.. You say that you want a different life but do you even know how to work a nine to five De?" She asks, making me let go of her.

"I can figure it out."

Jamie just hums.

"I've been thinking.. and I want you to go see your friend tomorrow." I say, making her eyes light up.

"Adrienne?"

"Yea, I know you miss her and I've been feeling real bad about it lately. So, I can take you to see her tomorrow." I say.

Jamie squeals excitedly, throwing her arms around me and squeezing tightly. "That would be great De. I bet she'll be so happy to see me, we have so much to catch up on."

"I bet." I chuckle, rolling a blunt.

"Wait.. what will you tell the girls?"

"I'll tell them whatever the fuck I want. What can they do about it?" I chuckle.

Jamie just nods, smiling to herself.

I light the blunt and take a pull before passing it to her. "You know.. I think we should try something different tonight." I say, reaching over to my nightstand and pulling the small drawer open.

"Like what?"

"The candy man gave me these this morning." I chuckle, tossing the new bottle of pills to her. She barely catches them. "Said they were apart of a fresh batch. Stronger shit or something."

Jamie opens the bottle and rolls one of the red pills around in her palm.

"What are they?" She asks.

"I don't know. Said they're good though."

I take the bottle from her and open it, taking one of the pills with no water.

She does the same.

"So what are these supposed to do anyway?"

"Hell, I don't know. I guess we'll see."

Tupac

Present..

My hands shake as I turn the key to push the front door open.

I fucked up. How am I supposed to explain this to her? It'll break her.

"Tupac." Adrienne throws her arms around me as soon as I open the door. "I was worried sick about you, that took way longer than you said."

"Yea I-"

"It wasn't her right?" Dri looks at me with concern in her eyes. I swallow the lump in my throat. I wanna tell her the truth so bad, but I can't watch her cry right now. I just can't.

I shake my head. "Nah.. Nah it wasn't." I lie.

She let's out a breath of relief.

"It's almost eight o'clock. I thought something happened to you." She says, before hugging me again, tighter this time.

"I.. um. Ima go take a shower." I say, making Adrienne let me go. "You.. you should go back to bed." I can feel my voice trembling, but I hold it together, hoping she doesn't notice.

"No, I'll start on breakfast. Are you okay?" She asks, her eyebrows furrowed at me.

I clear my throat.

"I'm fine baby." I say, before heading up the stairs.

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