Spectrum

Chapter 19

It had now been a total of five days since Riana and I had chosen to return to our mother's house and needless to say, things have been quite stiff in the house as expected, Riana being sanctioned for leaving with me and her going back to avoiding me which was expected to say the least.

It was a Friday and Azariah had invited me to spend some time with her and the group at The Oaks to which we, including Tiana, were now walking towards, the air was quite stiff in light of what had happened the last time we were all together after Jamal and Azariah had both been shot at.

While walking Tiana had pulled me back a bit to which it took almost everything in me to not retaliate violently.

" I just wanna say I'm sorry, I shouldn't have reacted that way witchu, " She said walking a bit closer to me her tall frame blocking the sun from hitting my face.

Taking into consideration all she was saying, I replied " That's ok, your reaction was understandable, " I smiled at her as a form of reassurance.

Her reaction to me, truly was understandable, though, not the best way to express your feelings, it was understandable.

" I said was sorry to Azariah and I thought it would be right to say sorry to ya too, " She said shoving her hands into the pockets of her hoodie even though it was like seventy degrees.

" We're good, " I said smiling at her, honestly, I really had forgotten about that whole thing with her because lately, so much has been on my mind and she really was the least of my concerns amidst everything else.

Silence befell us for the rest of the journey, Azariah still walking a few paces in front of us.

When we got to the house Azariah opened the house and to say that I was shocked by the scene before me would be an understatement.

Don, along with two other males sat on the couch having a cigarette while three shirtless females were giving them a lap dance over the blaring music which I had deduced to be somewhere in the genre of Rap/Hip-Hop but that wasn't really what I had my focus on.

It was the females in lingerie bagging what seemed to be cocaine and w**d while other women adjacent to them were counting and bagging money.

The whole room was wrapped in plastic from head to toe, an attempt to catch any residue I would think. To me, this was messy, utterly and completely messy.

Not only was it dumb to do this right in the entryway where anyone could walk in and easily pick up on what was going on it was also sloppy and very much alarming to me that they weren't paying attention to the women who were dealing with their money and product.

I could only cringe at the whole sight, this was a business, I would assume and by participating in whatever Don and the other males were doing with the women came off to me as mixing business with pleasure as I could tell they worked under Jamal and Azariah.

Don, was their right hand, their first commander and by default, he would be left to oversee everything and I had no doubt that he was not paying attention to anything going on as Don had the attention span of a toddler.

They could be stealing from him and he wouldn't know, honestly, this shouldn't be bothering me much but from the many sit-ins and learning sessions I've had with my father, I know too much to not criticize everything before me.

On the other hand, Azariah was fuming and Tiana was desperately trying to keep herself together at the, to her, the amusing sight before us.

Azariah strut towards the entertainment system turning off the music which had caught everyone in the room's attention and I could instantly see the look of pleasure slip off of Don's face as he met Azariah's fuming one.

" Boss, " One of the men stood up shoving the girl off of his lap.

Azariah said nothing as she scanned the room passing everyone before coming to a stop behind one of the girls who were counting money before she snatched her by the hair flowing down her back.

" So this what we doing now, " She said looking at the girl who was closing her eyes in pain, I could imagine from Azariah digging into her scalp.

Azariah's statement seemed to not be aimed at the girl only as I saw a few others shift uncomfortably.

The room was getting a bit heated as Azariah dipped down into the girl's b*a which I had noticed was the only one that was opaque. Azariah pulled out a few hundred dollar bills out of one cup and a few more out of the other one.

She lifted them, putting them to her eyes before banging the girls head on a table allowing her to fall to the ground before forcefully throwing the money in Don's face.

" You allowing them ta steal from me? " She asked reaching for her pocked her eyes slipping past mine to which she paused for a second, moving her hand away from her pocket walking a bit closer to Don who was currently being quiet.

Azariah closed her eyes a bit before taking in a deep breath " I want all this s**t cleaned up by the time I come back out here, " she said before turning down one of the halls.

Tiana, being how she was, took a look at Don's face and burst into a fit of laughter which caught his attention as he stared hatefully at her, " What you looking at me for? " She asked " Go clean this up boy, " She added cackling a bit more.

" Shut up mane, " Don replied harshly which shut Tiana up quickly before she decided again to be smart.

" I'm not the one who allowed money ta be stolen, " She said narrowing her eyes at him to which Don clenched his fist at, his teeth grinding together and that had Tiana holding onto my had before dragging me towards the hall, only giving me enough time to wave at Don.

Tiana pulled me o the last door down the hall which ended up being an office to which Azariah was sitting in the chair behind the desk a few others scattered around the room.

" Y'all can sit anywhere, Ace should be here soon anyway, I want him to see that s**t out there," She said still sounding a bit upset as she sorted through papers and that's how we spent the rest of the day, sitting in the office, Tiana and I watching Netflix movies on the small Tv in the room while Azariah was calling someone, who I assumed to be Jamal, every few minutes leaving a voicemail when she got no answer.

Around six, Tiana had gotten up to go get something outside when Azariah had turned to me a look of worry on her face " This ain't like him to not pick up, especially when it's me, " She said fidgeting a bit.

" Maybe he's busy, " I said shrugging. 

" You don't get it, he always picks up, he said he would be done quickly, " She said hyperventilating a bit " I don't even know where he went, he probably in trouble, I should have asked more, " She started pacing a little bit.

I got up, moving over to her a bit, placing my hand on her shoulder offering her some type of reassurance and out of nowhere, she stopped abruptly her features broadening as f she had realized something.

" No, she said, he went to meet with them, he's in trouble, " She locked eyes with me " What do you mean? " I asked generally confused.

Her hand started shaking a bit, " Our supplier, s**t, I should have known, he wants to get out, " She said getting even more fidgety before she slumped into me.

" He's probably not going to make it out of this alive, " She said as if she was trying, more forcing herself to come to terms with the words passing her lips.

I cupped her cheeks " No, we don't think like that, he's smart, he's going to make it through this, "

" What if he doesn't, " Her voice cracked towards the end.

" We have no way of knowing either, but all we can do is wait and hope, now, get yourself together, you need to go out there and check on Don and the girls, " I said letting her go.

She wiped her face and freshened up a bit before we were both making our way to the main room which was surprisingly clean, the plastic had been leaned, the money and bagged cacaine had been put away and all the females and other males were gone, it was just Don and Tiana sitting on the couch.

" Hm, " Azariah huffed, " You actually did sum good fa once, " She said snarkily to which Don rolled his eyes.

" I have sum ta talk about with y'all but first, where's Ace? " The words slipped out of Don's mouth and none of us would receive an answer to that question until the following week.