Money & Love Don't Mix

by Ace Gucciano

  “Class starts first thang Monday morning over my crib at 9:00am, don’t be late!”

  “Slick, I ain’t gonna be able to make it, sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime but I’m going to find me a job Monday. I can’t come back to--,”

  Maniac started hitting him on the arm, interrupting him, “Look, Look!”

  A thick 5’9, caramel toned female was making her way over to where they were. She had a pair of voluptuous breast and was thick in all the right places.

  “Shawty been eyeing you for a minute, cuzzo, she on her way over here. Remember what we told you, dese brawds aggressive.”

  “Hey, what’s up? My name Cierra and I’m the baddest bitch in here!” She came with a bold approach and then began dancing for him without seeing if he even wanted one.

  He looked her from head to toe, observing her flawless body for a moment, before pouring himself a shot of Ciroc. He downed it with a cocky, arrogant attitude as if he didn’t even notice her. His reaction was unusual and nothing like she was used to, normally guys would flock to her but the nonchalant attitude broke her down.

  “Well, damn, no response!? I’m sorry bae, but I recognized something different so I tried to get you before da’ next bitch got a chance to. I’m just bein’ honest!” He chuckled at her outburst as he took another shot.

  “First of all, I ain’t ya bae! Second, if you knew who I was and the type of nigga I am, you wouldn’t even come at me the way you did. But I respect you fo’ that now that I know you’re crazy.”

  “Mmm, well you must have a helluva a rep out here if a bitch can't even approach you…who are you supposed to be anyway; am I even able to ask?”

  “You can ask whatever, but if I tell you,

  I’d have to kill you.”

  They continued challenging one another back and forth the rest of the time they both were there. Before the night was over, Trouble had her in his room and was eight inches deep between her thighs.

  Chapter 2

  Monday morning, Trouble woke up around 5:30, the time of his prison’s wake up call, and his body was adjusted to getting out of bed at that time every day. He got up, did a routine work out of 500 push-ups and crunches before taking a shower. While in the shower, he began thinking of places he could go in search of employment, but suddenly he had the idea of catching the Fox News at 6:00am to see if they’d air anything.

  After watching for a few moments, he heard the Unites Parcel Service was having a job fair tomorrow for anyone who would love to load and unload trucks, no experience needed. He quickly got up, grabbed a pen and sheet of paper and continued listening to the reporter as they spoke more about the job.

  “Anyone interested stop by the United Parcel Service on Pleasantdale Road in Doraville, Georgia, tomorrow between the hours of 9:00am to 11:00am.”

  Once he finished writing all of the info, he thought to himself, Shit, working at UPS loading and unloading ain’t all that bad when I think about it, shid!! Plus, I ain’t gotta worry ‘bout being embarrassed cause nobody will see me workin’…yeah, that’s the move! I’ma get Slick to take me on up there first thing tomorrow morning. As a matter of fact, let me call his ass and see what he got going on this morning.

  He got the phone and began to dial his number, but before he could finish, the news caught his attention.

  “Last night in College Park, officials made an arrest at this residence in which they believe this suspect, known as Mr. Sean Bradley, had been charged with numerous counts of theft by deception, financial ID, fraud, and tax fraud. He is being held in Clayton County Jail without bail where he’ll remain until his court date. We’ll have more details on this case tonight at 6:00 pm as the case develops.”

  Trouble couldn’t believe what he heard and said to himself, Damn, I was just wit this nigga the other night. They finally freed a nigga after all these years and now the only nigga in my circle that got something going on gets locked up. Goddamn, I ain’t even been home a week yet…What the fuck! His mother came storming in his room with a dramatic approach.

  “I just your friend on the news, and he’s facing some very serious charges.”

  “I know, I saw it, too, ma.”

  “Oh really? Well, I’m letting you know now if you get in some shit, you on your own! I ain’t got no more tears for a nigga that don’t wanna be free.”

  “You trippin’, ma. I mean you ain’t even give me a chance but steady drawing ya’ own conclusions. What’s up with that!?”

  “What’s up with that! I’ll tell you what ain’t up and that’s yo’ black ass coming home, getting back up with the same niggas you got locked up with ten years ago the same day you were released. I hadn’t even spent a full twenty four hours in your presence yet, but you back in the streets with them niggas. Fool, they don’t love you, I do!”

  “Ma, I feel everything that you’re saying, but how do you think I feel ‘bout going back to jail. I ain’t trying to be in a place where someone gotta tell me when to eat, sleep, and piss ever again.”

  “Okay son, now I don’t wanna see you out there selling drugs like Smoke and Dre. Their parents may not give a shit, but you’re my only son. I couldn’t stand to come visit you when I knew I had to leave you at that place once the visit was over.” She began to cry and he quickly grabbed her wrapping his arms around her.

  “Aww, mom, stop crying everything is gonna be a’ight, I promise! I’m done with the streets. I was done once I got arrested ten years ago, only a fool makes the same mistake twice and I’m far from that. That’s why I’m using my greatest asset to find me a job, determination. So tomorrow, I’m going to this job fair UPS is having first thing in the morning.”

  “Oh really?” she happily inquired.

  “Yeah, ma; I saw it on the news right before they started talking about Slick.”

  “Okay then son, that’s a start you need me to take you?”

  “Uhh—as a matter of fact, I do need you since Slick won’t be able to.”

  “Alright great, make sure you--” She quit talking as they both looked out the window to see who was knocking on their front door. As she noticed Maniac, Dre, and Smoke, she said, “Now, don’t forget what we discussed, only a fool makes the same mistake twice! At times, being associated with your friends can cause you to become your own worst enemy by allowing them to easily influence you.” He smiled making its exit from his room, but before he went downstairs to open the door he turn back to his mother.

  “I feel you, ma, but you, as well as my dad, and everybody else know me as a dedicated leader not a follower. That’s how I ended up with the most time, remember?”

  “Ugh, so I guess that’s what made you a leader huh?”

  He couldn’t reply, he just ignored her, made his way downstairs and opened the door.

  “What it do, homeboy?” Dre greeted.

  “Yeah, what you got going on this morning, cuzzo?” Maniac said while Smoke, who was on the phone, threw up his deuces.

  “Shit, I ain’t really got nothin’ going on right now.. why y’all boys up so early, it ain’t even 9:00 am yet?”

  “We ‘bout to get up wit Slick, you know he said classes start today if we wanted to learn da game remember? Shitt, I wasn’t able to sleep last night from thinkin’ about this shit.” Maniac replied.

  “Me either, dawg!” Smoke said as he hung up the phone. “Yeah, we ‘bout to turn up out here on these niggas,” said Dre.

  At that point, Trouble knew none of them had caught the morning news, so he shut the front door and spoke up.

  ‘Let’s walk over to the basketball court, I need to holla at y’all boys.”

  As they began walking, Smoke said, “What’s up, what you gotta holla at us ‘bout, dawg?”

  Trouble figured it was gonna be worse than telling a kid he failed on the last day of school once he let them know what was up. So, he stopped walking, looked each one of them in the eyes, and took a deep breath.

  “Damn…I hate to be the one to break th
e news to y’all but Slick got locked up last night. The police raided his shit.”

  “What the fuck?! Can’t win for losing out dis muthafucka cuz!”

  “Bruh, you sho’ that was him?!” Dre asked.

  “Come on, my nigga. I know what bruh look like, I ain’t been gone that long,” Trouble replied.

  “Since you seen that shit on the news this morning, I should be able to pull it up on their website. What station that shit was on, dawg?”

  “Fox 5, my nigga.” The moment her answered, Smoke immediately went to the Fox 5 news and weather application on his phone. He kept scrolling down until he noticed the headline for Slick, then pressed play on the attached video. The four of them silently watched and listened as the news reporter spoke.

  “Last night in College Park, officials made an arrest at this residence in which they believe this suspect, known as Mr. Sean Bradley, had been charged with numerous counts of theft by deception, financial ID, fraud, and tax fraud. He is being held in Clayton County Jail without bail where he’ll remain until his court date. We’ll have more details tonight at 6:00 pm as the case develops.” Once the recording ended, Maniac frowned, shaking his head and snapped.

  “Fuck we gone do now? Bruh was our only come up, our only way out, something gotta give, something gotta give now!”

  “We need to go holla at ‘em and make sho’ he a’ight in there,” said Smoke.

  “Hell yeah! Cause I know he ain’t gone like bein round all dem niggas,” Dre stated.

  “Wells shit, y’all boys wanna gone up there now while it’s still early?” Trouble asked. They all agreed to head on up to the jail to visit Slick, but Maniac, who didn’t wanna be bothered, went another direction saying he’d catch back up with them a little later.

  Trouble, Dre and Smoke caught the Clayton County Transit up to the jail to visit Slick. On the other end, Maniac had just approached his townhouse, four buildings away from Trouble’s place. He peeped two Hispanic men getting out a Nissan Altima and head inside with two duffle bags. The house they went into was directly across from where he lived, so he hurried inside to get by his window so he could wait for them to come out. An hour passed and neither of them had come out. Them bags looked kinda heavy, them muthafuckas had to have a lotta money, or a lotta dope in ‘em…Yeah, y’all muthafuckas done fucked up lettin’ a nigga like me peep anythin' bad as I need to come up, Maniac thought to himself.

  Maniac knew for a fact this was gonna be their come up, but everything was gonna have to be done smooth and quick as possible. There could be no mistakes or fuck-ups because of it being so close to where he laid his head.

  $ $ $ $ $ $ $

  The moment Slick took a seat at the visitation booth and grabbed the receiver, Trouble spoke.

  “Bruh, you know you made the news, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, them niggas in the room told me when I first came in.”

  “So, when they gonna take you to court, do you can get you a bond, dawg? Cause this shit ain’t you,” Smoke asked.

  I don’t know, playboy but I’ma need a lawyer cause I got sixty-four counts of theft by deception, sixty-four counts of financial ID fraud, and sixty-four counts of tax fraud. Plus, they told me all of my bank accounts have been frozen, so I’ma need y’all boys to put some money together and get me a good lawyer ASAP!”

  “I got ‘bout six hundred dollars and a half ounce of kush to my name Slick,” Smoke stated.

  “Shit, you got more than me. I ain’t got but three hundred to mine since I re’ed up last night,” said Dre.

  “Shit, I know you ain’t got nothin', Trouble, yo’ ass just got out…So, what y’all boys gonna do? Let me know something, Don’t leave me—,” Before Slick could finish expressing himself, his time ran out which caused the receiver to lose its connection. So, he hung up and headed back to his dorm.

  Once the bus arrived, they all got on and took a seat.

  “Damn, I miss my dawg! Shit don’t even seem the same without ‘em.”

  “Fo’ real, we gotta get ‘em up outta there before they try and give him time. At least if he got out on bond he can keep putting his court dates off until the case get old and they end up comin’ with a good plea or some probation.” Dre stated.

  “Yeah, that shit sound good, Dre, but in reality when yo’ door get kicked in on that type of charge, nine times outta ten they got somethin’ on you. Y’all talking bout getting em out, well, first of all we’re gonna have to get a paid lawyer to file a bond hearing fo’ him. That’s money we ain’t got and second, to pay da’ bond…Bruh, just gonna have to sit tight and see what happens when he goes to court.” Trouble expressed, but noticed how Smoke and Dre looked at him confused once he was done. “Why da’ hell y’all lookin’ at me crazy, y’all must got another way to come up wit some money!?” The rest of the ride back to Lexington Square, they all remained quiet, contemplating on how they could help free Slick.

  $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

  Meanwhile, back in Lexington Square, four hours later the two Hispanic guys finally made their way back out to the Nissan Altima. One of them nodded his head saying ‘What’s up’ to Maniac, who was sitting on his porch smoking a blunt of kush while the other guy said, ‘What’s up, Ese?!’

  “Aye, what’s up Migo?” He replied, but in his mind he said, Fuck y’all speaking to me fo’. Soon as I catch y’all muthafuckas slippin’, I’mma lay y’all ass down.

  Chapter 3

  The next morning, Trouble’s mother got him up at the crack of dawn so he’d have enough time to do his normal workout routine, followed by a shower, and then they were on their way. When they arrived at the UPS job fair, Trouble was extremely nervous. Leaving the streets as a teenager and not working a day in his life, filling out job applications and communicating with employers was new to him. His mother helped him complete the application up to where it said ‘Have you ever been convicted of a felony, if so explain’. She didn’t what to lie, put no and then end up doing a background check where it’ll show otherwise.

  “Excuse me, ma’am?” She called out to one of the employers that was near them.

  “May I help you?” The lady asked.

  “Yeah, I wanted to know if y’all hire ex-felons?”

  “Yes ma’am, we certainly do! As long as you indicate what felony you were charged with where it asks, then you shouldn't have a problem.”

  By her explanationof what you should put on the application took a lot of pressure off Trouble while he completed the last section of his application. Once he was finished, he handed it to the same woman.

  “We’ll give you a call in a few days,” the lady said.

  “Okay, thanks, ma’am,” he replied.

  “You’re welcome, good luck!” she replied back as Trouble and his mother headed back to her car.

  “What you think, ma?” Trouble asked as soon as they got in the car.

  “Son, it ain’t what I think, it’s all on you from here. See, you don’t wait for them to call you or you’ll be waiting forever. You gotta show ‘em you got ambition that you want the job, and you eager to work. Call out there every day and talk to somebody. Get ‘em used to hearing ya’ voice, or we can just come back up here. Stuff like that make people wanna give you a shot, son; do you understand?”

  “I overstand, ma.”

  “Good, cause my greatest asset is helping others,” they looked at one another and started laughing.

  “How you gone take my words and use ‘em against me?”

  “I’m your mom, I can do that. Now look, let's give them about two or three days and go back up there to see what decision that came up with. We gonna make it work, son. Only good thing ‘bout you doing all that time was the fact that you don’t have any kids or shit could be worse.

  $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

  Once Maniac saw the same two Hispanics pull up at the residence across from him again, he made it his business to call Smoke and Dre over to let ‘em know what was going on. When they got there he didn't was
te a second filling them in on everything he witnessed the past two days.

  “When I left y’all boys yesterday morning, I’m glad I did.”

  “Why?” Smoked asked.

  “Cause, look out my window, y’all see that Nissan Altima parked out there?”

  “Yeah,” they both replied.

  “I peeped there two Migos get out wit two nice size duffel bags, dem muthafuckas had to have either a lotta money or a lotta dope. Them muthafuckas just did da same thing right before I called y’all over here. Look, I’m telling ya’, cuz, as bad as we need a quick come up, this is it, I know it is!”

  “How many times you made that same statement, but da shit ended up being some bullshit, homie,” Dre asked.

  “I don’t know, Dre, and we ain’t got time to try and figure it out either. Right now my fingers are itchin’, itchin’ for some paper. I got an adrenaline rush and my heart is beating faster. We need to wait on dey ass to come out, I’m tellin’ y’all dem muthafuckas so comfortable dey won’t even notice us!”

  “Nigga, calm yo’ ass down, dawg. You always quick to do some hot shit, and that’s how we all got fucked up last time.!” Smoke expressed and before Maniac could reply, the two Hispanics came back outside headed towards the Altima when the excited Maniac shouted.

  “Look, Look! There they go!” Smoke and Dre paid close attention to them.

  “Oh Shit! Duck don’t let ‘em see us in the window…I know them!” Smoke yelled.

  “Who the fuck they suppose to be, Smoke?” Dre asked.

  “Y’all don’t know? They part of the cartel, they the largest drug dealers in Atlanta. They been gettin’ money round here for years, everybody know that.” Said Smoke.

  “So what, you backin’ out on us, cuzzo?” Maniac asked.

  “Lemme put you on game, dawg. Niggas don’t even think about robbin’ them migos let alone make an attempt to. Da last muthafuckas that tried, they set a example killin’ their family right before ‘em then cut their heads off and left the bodies on the side of the highway,” Said Smoke.