The Game and Love

Trasha was a 23  year old mother of a smart loving 7 yr old son. She was born and rasied in Detroit but when she was 15 she moved to Chicago. Her mother was a hooker and her father was a pimp and from birth Trasha body was used for money for her parents. Her parents never showed Trasha love at all they would beat her and let men r**e her untill she was 15 when Trasha ended up pregnant by one of the slime bags that would pay her father for s*x. As soon as Trasha found out she was pregnant she ran away from her parents an ended up in Chicago. Now alone, pregnant, and young she living on the streets when she meet a man name Brave. Brave was a nice older man that young daughter was gunned down 3 years earlier. Brave found Trasha and felt like he need to help the young girl so that’s what he did. He moved her in to his home and enrolled her in school and got her ready to birth her baby. Brave was a high roller, he made his money in the streets and was good at it. He ran almost half of the drug game in Chicago. He got respect no matter where he went, every one loved him and once the city meet Trasha they loved her to. 8mo after Brave saved Trasha life her baby boy Lance was born. Lance made Brave proud and Trasha was more happier then she ever been in life. 7 years will pass within the 7 years Trasha went to school graduated both high school and college with Brave and Lance on her side. Also thru out the years Brave introduced Trasha to the family business. Slowly at first but bout time Trasha was 20 she was full fledge in the game. Trasha had a skill in the game that Brave didn’t have and that was s*x appeal. New clients would be taken back by Braves beautiful daughter and on top of that she was smart. But one night Brave had a buisness meeting and was shot a killed in his car. Now Trasha was in this world alone again with just her son. Revenge is all she could think about.     Chapter 1: Brave put to rest               Trasha quietly crying standing in the window looking out at all the cars lined up outside her home that she once shared with the only father that she known Brave, when Lee Braves right hand man walks up on her and places his arm around her   "How you doing Tra" Lee asked holding back tears of his own. With a deep breath and her eyes filled with pain she looked up at Lee and replied  "Im doing as good as I can Lee trying to be strong for Lance, you know he loved his paw paw." "yeah I know" Lee replied with a shy laugh remembering how much love Brave and Lance had for one another. " Brave did sho love that boy, but he loved you even more Tra you know that right?"  Trasha nodded her head and went back to look out the window. They stood there for a few moments just remembering the time they had with Brave. Then Lee broke the silence and siad  " Baby girl after all this is over I need you to take lil man to big mama house and let him stay the night, We have a meeting tonight and you must be there." kinda shocked that business would proceed and Brave isnt even cold in the ground yet Trasha replied " Ok ill be there but I don’t see why this meeting cant wait don’t u think its to soon" fixing his tie Lee looked Trasha right in the eye and said  " nothings to soon for Brave remember on time is to late, this meeting is to important to hold off so after you drop lil man off we will meet at the Den, is that understood?" drying her eyes Trasha nodded her head and agreed and went to join everyone else that was there for the home going of Brave.    After every one left the house Trasha changed her clothes and packed a over night bag for Lance. As she was packing she came across a picture of her, Brave and lance at a Chicago bulls game. She couldn’t hold back any emotion no more she fell to her knees and let out a loud cry. The tears were flowing down her face she couldn’t control the pain that she was feeling until she felt a warm hug around her neck. It was Lance holding on to her crying as well. He was hurt that his mother was hurt.  " Don’t cry mama ill protect you like paw paw taught me how to" lance spoke those words so soft but yet so strong is his mothers ear that it made her broken spirt whole again. She grabbed her son a hugged him so tight. After their long embrace Trasha looks Lance in the eyes and says " Baby your paw paw loved you so much and he tough you so much too. We going to miss him but he will forever be with us in our hearts ok so if u ever feel alone just remember paw paw is always with you." Lance shock his head and agreed with what his mother was saying he kissed her on her cheek and went to grab his over night bag. Laughing alittle bit at how ready Lance was she asked " you must be ready to go see big mama huh? You hurried up and got your bag and stuff" smiling hard lanced looked up at his mama and replied " yeah im ready big mama be having all the good snacks and juice and she let me sleep in the big bed with the big t.v. cause im Brave.' smiling along with lance she replied " Ohhh is that right you brave so u get the good stuff?" putting his jacket and back pack on he walks towards the door and says "Yeah, Big mama said Im Brave boy so I get the best, she see Im strong just like you and paw paw see it to." Lance said it with confidence and pride he was Brave boy and that came with some type of entitlement but as it came with honor and her baby boy wore it well just like his paw paw did. Trasha smiled and walked with lance to her BMW truck. Once she got lance buckled in she got in and head over to drop Lance off at Big mamas house.      After dropping Lance off she stopped to get gas at the station down the street from the Den. She really didn’t want to go to the meeting but she knew she had to. She got out the truck and walked in to the station, not looking up from her phone she walked right into the side of a man standing in line waiting to pay. "ohhh s**t my fault I didn’t mean to run into u like that" Trasha apologized looking up at this man, dressed in all black he had to be about 6'3, carmel colored skin and deep hazel eyes. He had a low hair cut and his face was nice and uniformed with his goatee perfectly lined up. Trasha gave him a sly smile as she apologized but the man just shook her off and didn’t reply. Thrown back by his rude attitude Trasha rolled her eyes and walked over to grab her a bottle of water and a red bull and got back in line. When it was her turn she paid for her stuff and her gas and walked back to her truck. The guy she ran into was getting in her car when she seen that he dropped his wallet next to his car. She ran over and picked it up but just as she was getting ready to knock on his window he jetted off. She knew he had to of seen her or even heard her screaming that he dropped something. "Rude b***h ass nigga" Trasha said out loud to herself ass she walked over and got into her truck. She threw his wallet in her purse that was on the passenger seat and drove over to the Den for the meeting.     Chapter 2: ends to a new beginning        Once Trasha got to the Den everyone was sitting around the table all the guys came and hugged Trasha and paid there respects to her. Lee wasn’t there yet but Bishop was. Bishop is the other part of Brave and Lee crew. Them 3 men has been putting in work since thy was young boys on the block. Started as watchmen then worked they way up to dealers. They been loyal to each other from the start. You couldn’t mess with one of them and not deal with all of them, and everyone knew it. Bishop was the muscle of the 3 no one and I mean no one wanted any problems out of Bishop. Not only would he beat your ass he played with guns for fun. He was the man to get the job done when someone didn’t want to do what was needed to be done. That’s Bishop but for some reason he had a soft spot for Trasha he loved her just as much as Brave and he would kill over her in a drop of a dime. "Hey B how you doing" Trasha asked with her arms out waiting on one of Bishops great big hugs. Bishop was a BIG man he stood at least 6'7 with big arms and body he look like he could have been a WWE wrestler he had to be about 290lbs. "Baby girl" Bishop replied giving Trasha the biggest hug he could holding her tight just so she could feel that he had her no matter what. " I needed that hug B, you have no idea" shy laughing pulling back from Bishop. "Well you know when every u need one Im a phone call away, how you holding up' Bishop replied with a worried look on his face. " im good B you know just trying to hold it together for Pops, you know he cant stand to see me cry so I been trying to do as less as possible" Bishop shock his head  and agreed. Brave couldn’t stand for Trasha to be hurt or crying. Bishop chuckled to himself with the memory of Trasha first heart break and how him and Brave rode down on him at the school and scared the piss out the boy. "yeah trust me I know how he is so u dry them eyes Tra we don’t want that man popping up thinking we did something to ya" they both let out a big laugh and enjoyed the moment when Lee walked in.  Lee was like I said befor he was Brave right hand man. If s**t needed to happen and Brave wasn’t around then Lee called the shots. He was more of a hot head then Brave. Brave was more laid back and classical with is movement, But Lee was a pop off a kind of show boat but he was a money man, and he made moves. I guess u needed both type of attitudes in the game. Neither Brave or Lee was push overs tho. They were real men and didn’t mined getting they hands dirty at all. But the squad together was a wrecking bomb they were known for taken over s**t and moving the most weight.   "Alight family lets get this meeting started." Lee shouted to get everyone attention. Every body turned to him and stop talking waiting to here whats going on. "We all know that with the passing of my Brother Brave its not really the time or the mood to be trying to make business as usual but we all know Brave wouldn’t want us sitting on our hands either, Everyone is going to be expecting us to be pulling back now with Brave gone and so we going to do the complete opposite. We going to keep pushing this weight and expanding our empire"Lee spoke with such passion that everyone clapped and agreed that we should keep things moving for Brave. " So that being said don’t anything change, but now Tra will be running point of all Brave estates and everyone will answer to her" Lee said that and looked Trasha in the eyes. Some of the guys moaned and talked s**t under they breath when Bishop stood and spoke. "So do muthafuckas got a issue with what Lee said or something? Like I feel a lot of tension in the air with announcement" Bishop yelled with power behind his voice. One of the runners a young goofy dude from the block stood and said " Yeah bro I aint answering to no b***h no matter who daughter she is!!" Everyone turned and looked at him like he was the dumbest nigga alive, trying to figure out what would make him say something like that. Trasha jump out her seat and pulls her 9mm out and points it at the guy and says " nigga who you think you calling a b***h bro, if you don’t remember who my pops is let me remind you." with them words she let off two rounds into buddy head. "now you aint gotta answer to no b***h nigga." trasha yelled ass buddy body hit the floor. Trasha was a sweet heart but had a heart of stone she had to be like that considering her life before Brave and also Brave wasn’t raising no soft ass girl he knew one day she would have to stand on her own so he taught her how to be strong in all ways and to never take no disrespect from no one. "Well now since that is out the way anyone else got anything they wanna add or should we keep this moving?" Lee said getting control back in the room every one was silent as Trasha took her seat and slide her gun back in her waist. The meeting lasted about another hour as everyone went over what was what and all the next plans that was in motion. Lee dismissed everyone but Trasha. He wanted her to hang back to inform her of what Brave told him if anything would every happen to him. Lee also gave Trasha a package that was wrapped and told Trasha that Brave said to not open it unless he had died. So Trasha gathered her things and took her package and went back to her house.   Chapter 3: f*******: friend              So a few days has passed since they laid Brave to rest. Trasha still hasent opened the package that Lee gave her from Brave. She was nervous and in a way opening it was a way of her accepting that Brave was really gone for good and she didn’t want to accept that just yet. So she left the package on her dresser. As she was cleaning out her purse to switch it to another bag she came across the rude dude from the gas station wallet. She didn’t want to go thru it or be nosey but she needed away to find him and let him know she has it. So she looked in it and seen his driver license. Marcus Murphy was his name. She went to her face book and searched the name on the license and it was only 2 Marcus Murphy is Chicago and one of them was white. She clicked on the profile of the man that matched the picture on the license. She sent him a message that said     "Hey my name is Tra I ran into you at the gas station a few nights back and you dropped you wallet in the parking lot I have it and im trying to return it to you."    She sent the message and closed out of the messages. Tra wasn’t really into the social media thing. I mean she would scroll thru but never really post anything. To her she didn’t want people to have a way into her personal life. Brave taught her that so she moved in silence never really letting to many people close to her or Lance. After she sent the message she went to start dinner for her and her son. Playing music and cooking was her specialty. Music allowed her to get away from her thoughts and cooking allowed her to share her self with people that enjoyed her meals. She walked in the kitchen and turned her bluetooth speaker on. She found her favorite play list and let the oldies blast. From Al Green to Bobby Wormack, And the Earth Wind and Fire she was in her zone. Before you knew it she was done cooking, Fried chicken, mac and chz, corn and cornbread and a double choco brownie for dessert. Lance loved his mom food and was already in the kitchen when Trasha went to call his name. With a chuckle Trasha said  "dang boy u didn’t even give me time to call you to dinner" laughing back lance replied  "no need to call me mama I smelled the food all the way in my room, u made chicken…I love chicken mama." licking his lips and sitting in his seat at the table. Trasha smiling said  " I know you do baby, but did you wash your hands befor you came in here trying to eat up all this food?' with out a word lance got up from the table and ran to the bathroom to wash his hands. He came back and they said grace and enjoyed they meal together. Talking about how they day was and if anything special happened. Just really enjoying their time together.  They ate and Lance helped his mom with the kitchen, as she was drying the dishes Lance went to take a shower and get ready for bed. Just then Trasha phone rang…The number on the phone she didn’t know. "Speak" trasha said into the phone "Tra whats up this Flip, Bishop told me to reach out to you when I need to drop and pick up im trying to meet with you" the raspy voice on the other end of the phone said. Trasha didn’t really know all the dudes that ran for Brave so this was new for her. She knew it had to be legit cause no one has her number so they would have had to reach out to Bishop or Lee to get contact with her. So Trasha replied  "aight bro meet me on 74th and union in a hour and ill get you right" with that she hung up and finished her kitchen and went to tuck Lance into bed. After lance was in bed sleep Trasha went to get dress for the met up with flip. She put on her red Chanel polo shirt and her black cut up jeans and her red and black air force ones. Trasha wasn’t really a dresser she was really simple in her style nothing never to flashy but always classy. She slipped on her gold rolex and matching chain and earrings. Slipped her black letter jacket on and grabbed her purse and made sure her wallet and phone and charger was in there. Before she walked out her room she grabbed her 9mm and tucked it in her waist and her 22mm and slid it in her purse. She never left unstrapped cause she never knew who could be waiting on her out side the house. She walked down to the living room and seen Lisa in the laundry room. Lisa is like the mom she never had. She been around since the start as well she was the nanny but she was close as family she helped Brave raise not only Trasha but Lance too. Trasha stopped to tell Lisa that she was stepping out for a little bit and that Lance was in bed. Lisa assured her that everything would be fine and gave her a kiss on the forehead and told her to be safe. With that Trasha walked out the house and got into a 1986 delta 88 old school. That was Brave favorite car he drove it everywhere and when anyone seen it everyone knew who it was. There wasn’t to many Deltas riding around the Chi nor did they have 22 inch rims or a sky blue body with cocaine white top, and inside dipped in peanut butter. Trasha loved this car cause it reminded her of Brave. She got in and rode to the spot to meet up. Trasha got to the spot about ten minutes late cause for awhile she sat down from the spot to watch this Flip guy. You never know what a nigga was on so its best you watch him from a far to see how he move especially a nigga you don’t know. That word of advise played in Trasha head as she sat and watched . She pulled around to Flip and got out the car. Walking up on Flip Trasha spoke; "whats up bro, you been waiting on me" Flip jumped cause he didn’t hear or see Trasha pull up on him. "Damn Tra I didn’t even see you but yeah I was waiting on you ma" Flip said biting his lower lip "Was that suppose to be sexy homie? Lets just do this so I can get back to the crib" Trasha replied with one eyebrow raised "my fault Tra no disrespect but yeah I was trying to reup double this time" With a straight face Flip said. "As long as the money right I got what you need, its in the back seat grab yo bag ad leave my bag where yo bag was at" Trasha said not even looking Flip in the eyes. She waited for Flip to make the trade. As she waited her phone message went off it was a friend request from the Marcus guy and a message. Before she accepted the request she clicked on the message but she couldn’t read it cause flip came back in and she closed out her phone. Flip came up to her and confirmed the switch was made so she went and got back in her car. She pulled away from the spot and went to the Den cause she knew Lee was there. Trasha didn’t really know what she was suppose to do with the money that Flip gave her so she knew Lee would know what to do. She pulled up on the Den Just to see Lee walking out. "Lee hey hold up" Trasha sad running up on Lee. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face Trasha "Hey Tra whats up what you doing out is everything okay is Lance cool" Lee asked looking worried "Yeah every thing cool, I just went and did a reup wit Flip and I got the money" Trasha replied " Okay what you need me to do for you baby girl? That nigga short you or something he get dirt with you/" Lee answered kind of throwing Trasha off cause that’s not what she thought he was going to say " naw the drop went smooth I just didn’t know if you wanted the bread now or should I hold it for you" still looking confused at Lee. With a smile Lee wrapped his arm around Trasha and said "Baby girl that’s yo money… u think Brave picked up bread and dropped it to me, naw that’s not how that works you keep what theses niggaz bring to you at the end of the week me you and Bishop sit down and discuss finance on how our workers get paid and how we cop more weight to push once we come up with a plan we all put in our share and we go bout normal business.. In a few weeks we will introduce you to the plugs but for now me and Bishop will handle all the previous affairs Brave had on the table for you. Is that cool Tra?" Understanding what Lee was saying she nodded her head gave Lee a hug and walked back to the car. She headed home to count her money. Once Trasha got home she bussed down the duffle bag that flip left in her back seat. Once she got done counting she was shocked that it was a total of 100,000 dollars she couldn’t believe that she actual had this much money and it was hers. Brave always made sure Trasha and Lance was take care of but she never had this much money on hand that was hers. She didn’t know what to do with it. She just sat on the bed and looked at all the money spread out on the bed. As she sat there she happened to look up at the package that Lee gave her the other day. She made the choice to go ahead and open it.  Inside the package was a letter that Bravo wrote her explaining how much he loved her and Lance and how they changed his life for the better the day him and her met. She couldn’t hold back her pain as she read the letter. It was full of happiness in the letter and she could hear his voice as she read it. At the end of the letter Brave last words to her was "Don’t trust no one that aint never showed you no loyalty cause your own people will kill you". Trasha kissed the letter and closed it up. Also in the package was a ring box that had a note attached. On the note it said "this was my daughters I gave it to her the week before she passed and now I want you to have it. It was a 4 karat diamond ring that was engraved on the inside :Brave Girl". Trasha felt honored to wear it she swore to never take it off. Under the ring box was a key ring and on the key ring was 4 keys and a note attached to them as well. On this note it said "The keys are color coded Blue is for the summer house in Miami. No one knows about it use it to get away when you want I programed every location in the phone. Red is for the stash house on the East side once you get to each house u will get another key. Yellow is for the safe deposit box at the bank that you will go to and ask the teller to give you access to. Orange is for the safe 3265. Trasha was kind of confused cause she didn’t know of any safe or where it would be. And just like the note said it was a Iphone in the bottom of the package. When she turned it on it had a passcode on it and she remembered the 4 numbers on the note with the keys. But that didn’t work. So she thought hard and couldn’t think of anything so she sat the phone on the charger to try it later. Dealing with that phone made her remember that the Marcus guy had sent her a message she never got to read. She went back to it and opened it, it said "hey thanks for finding my wallet could u drop it off at the address on the license in the morning or I can meet you some where if coming to my spot to much for you. Thanks again."  After she looked the message over she texted back agreeing to drop it to him in the morning. She got up and took a shower to get ready for bed. Getting out she still had all this money spread on her bed and didn’t know what to do with it. She put 10,000 in her purse and then thought that maybe the safe was in Brave room. She threw on her robe and walked down to Brave room. Being in there made her wanna break down again but she held it together as she walked around the room looking for this safe. After about 15min of looking she was ready to give up when she stubbled across a baby picture of lance hanging on the wall she reached out to take it down to look at it but it wouldn’t come off the wall it just lifted up and under it was a button when she pushed it a side panel on the wall opened and behind the panel was the safe. She was shocked but thought to herself how slick Brave was to have hidden the safe like he did. She went to the safe and seen it had a key hole and a number pad. She brought the keys with her just in case she found the safe. So she inserted the key and turned it the punched the 4 numbers on the number pad and the safe opened. When she looked inside it she was stunned. It was stacks and stacks of cash…atleast 4 to 5 million dollars, 4 bricks of dope, 2 guns, ammo, and a knife collection. She didn’t know what to think she ran back to her room grabbed all the cash she had and stacked it up in the safe with the rest of the money. She couldn’t wrap her head around what she found so she just went to bed telling herself she will sort this out in the morning   Chapter $; Marcus Murphy