Roommates

7

It was now going on 10 at night, and Khalil didn't return home. Jayla had cooked steak and potatoes knowing that's Khalil's favorite, and she was sitting at the table waiting for him.

When it hit 11, Jayla said f**k it and cleaned everything up before going upstairs and going to sleep. After dosing off, she heard a noise come from downstairs. Thinking it was Khalil, she got of bed and walked towards the kitchen.

When she entered the living room, she found 3 men standing there. They all had a red bandana on them.

Jayla turned and tried to run upstairs but was caught by one of the men. "Where do you think your going sweetie?" he said in her ear before licking the side of her face. He carried her to the couch and threw her on it.

The shortest man there, about 6'1, looked her body over and licked his lips. Jayla looked down and remembered she had on a bra and panties. "Hey Jayla, how are you? My name is Kidd" the man said.

Jayla ignored him. He chuckled, took out a blade, before taking a seat next to her, she scooted away. "I need you to do me a favor. Tell your boyfriend Khalil, I'm not playing with him. Tell him I said that next time I make a house visit, you will be coming with me ok? Can you do that for me?" Kidd asked rubbing the blade across her neck slow.

Kidd was definitely leaving cuts in Jayla's neck but not deep enough to kill her. Just deep enough so Khalil knew how serious he was.

Jayla stared at him with a blank face but pain in her eyes. She wasn't going to show how scared she was with her face. She may have looked like she could care less, but really her heart was pounding out of her chest.

The blank look on her face made Kidd take the blade to her stomach and leave cuts there also.

"I'll see you later Jayla" he said before kissing her cheek and getting up. He looked Jayla over one last time, watching the blood leak from her neck and stomach.

He smiled and walking out with his 2 men behind him. Soon as they left Jayla locked the door and ran to her room with tears running down her face.

**

**

"The f**k you mean? Somebody been stealing from us and you want me to calm down?" Khalil asked. Kevin just told the men that money came up missing. Not a few hundred, $708,178 to be exact.

"Khalil, gettin hyped ain't gon get our money back" Micheal said calmly. Micheal was the calm one in situations like this.

"Blowin motherfckin heads off will though, Kevin keep going" Khalil said as he lit his blunt.

"Iight so there is a new gang leader in town, and word is he wants our spot. So a lot of the workers say they seen a red van riding past the trap everyday around 7. One worker got the plate number but when I ran it, nothing came up. But today, there was a note dropped off addressed to Khalil personally" Kevin passed Khalil the unopened letter.

"Ok hold the f**k up, why are we just now hearing about this van?" Micheal asked now becoming upset. If the van passed everyday at 7, why hasn't anyone told the bosses about it?

"Honestly, I was trying to deal with it on my own. I don't want to bother y'all when I can get rid of the problem on my own" Kevin said. Micheal and Khalil nodded.

"I appreciate that, but next time let us know so we can get rid of the problem sooner" Khalil said. Kevin nodded while Khalil opened the letter:

Dear Khalil,

I see that you've grown up to be a nice young man. I've been watching you since the day I watched my pops gun down your old man. The thing about that Is he owed my pops some money. No matter how small, its still money. Now that he's gone, his debt has moved on to you. Pay it or end up like your pops.

If u decide not to pay, I can always have that beautiful girlfriend of yours to myself. She has an amazing body and I bet I'd have a lot of fun with her.

I know everything about you, from where you and your girl stay to where she goes to school. So I suggest you keep a close eye on her.

This is your warning, get me my f*****g money or say goodbye to Jayla.

By the end of reading the letter, Khalil's breathing became heavy and his eyes were filled with rage.

He looked at his watch and saw it was almost 12. He grabbed his keys and rushed out to his car with Michael and Kevin right behind him.

Khalil pulled up to his house and rushed inside.

"Jayla" his deep voice echoed through the house. He called her name again and ran to her room to find the door locked. He banged on the door and called her name again.

The door swung open and there stood Jayla with blood running down her neck and stomach with red puffy eyes, tears still falling. Khalil's face softened as he brought Jayla into a tight hug.

Jayla cried into his chest and clung to his shirt like he would soon disappear. Her breathing became labored and short as Khalil pulled away from the hug and looked at Jayla struggle for air. "Baby calm down. Breath" he told her.

She did as told and soon was breathing normally again. She walked back into her room, Khalil close behind, and pulled out a pill bottle. She took out 2 pills and swallowed them without water.

"What was that?" Khalil asked softly and confused.

"Anxiety pills" she answered lowly before going to the bathroom and wiping the blood off her and throwing on a tank top and sweats. Khalil led the way into the living room where Micheal and Kevin were sitting.

When they saw the marks on her neck, they both hopped up. "Jay what happen?" Kevin asked.

Micheal looked at her stomach and saw blood seeping through the shirt. He lifted it up and saw the others cuts on her stomach starting to bleed again.

After Khalil got the bleeding to stop, they all sat in the living room and stared at Jayla. "What?" she asked softly.

"What happen? " Khalil asked sitting down next to her. She got up and walked over to the arm chair, away from Khalil.

"I put the food away after waiting for you, then went to sleep. I woke up to noise and I thought it was you" she said referring to Khalil. "So I came down here and saw 3 men standing here. One said his name is Kidd and started cutting me with his blade while telling me to pass a message to you: He said he isn't playing with you and next time he has to make a house call, I'm leaving with him." she finished and Khalil got up and started pacing.

"What's going on?" she asked. She was tired of being left in the dark, while her life is being put in danger.

"Nothing" Khalil said. Micheal shook his head and sat back into the couch.

Michael found it crazy how Jayla is being put in the middle of a situation that had nothing to do with her, but Khalil won't let her know what's going on.

"Khalil, You haven't seen a certain side of me yet. But you putting my life in danger then not telling me what the f**k is going on, is pissing me off. Now I'm gonna ask you one last time, what the hell is going on?" she said camly.

Khalil sighed before sitting down and rubbing the back of his neck. "Iight, I'm in a gang with Michael and Kevin. Micheal and I are partners while Kevin is our right hand man. I got this note today that said I either pay my father's debt or you will be take in replacement of the money. Apparently my dad was shot because of his debt, and I'm guessing Kidd's father is the one who shot him and Kidd sent the letter to me. That's all I know right now"

Jayla nodded. She wasn't surprised Khalil was in a gang, she actually kinda already knew because he had 2 phone. A iPhone and a trac phone. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked "Is Kidd in a gang too? Like your rival or something?"

"I didn't want to tell you, if this thing we got wasn't serious" again, Jayla nodded. "And yea, he is. Biggest and most powerful in the country. But he want our territory to expand "

"So basically, I'm in the middle of this because I'm your girlfriend? And if you don't pay him, then he will kidnap me and do whatever he wants to me?" Khalil nodded. "Well when are you going to pay him?" she asked. Khalil's head shot up and he gave her a confused face.

"Pay him? I'm not going to" he answered. Jayla looked at him shocked, along with Michael and Kevin.

"Why not?" Jayla asked.

"Why would I?" he answered. Micheal and Kevin shook their heads while Jayla shook her head before getting up and walking into her room, tears running down her face.