22

The next morning, I woke up alone. I looked at the clock on the TV: ten am. I was sure Christian had dipped out when it was close to time for mom to get home. At least he was smart enough to do so. I stretched and winced when every muscle I had didn't agree with the movement. Still, I smiled. Last night had been great. Not romantic, but special. Christian had been gentle and even worried about hurting me and the pain wasn't too bad.

Being that it was ten am, I knew my mom had gone to work at eight and that everyone was probably woke. I grabbed some sweats and a t-shirt and went straight for the shower. I could hear Christian and the other guys in the kitchen and I knew they were up to something because of the hushed tones. Deciding to deal with that later, I hopped in a very hot shower that I hoped would help the body pain.

When I was done, I tiptoed to my room, and my stomach grumbled when I smelled food. Eggs, bacon and probably pancakes. I hurried and got dressed in the first thing. I pulled out of my dresser and went to the kitchen. Sara was at the stove cooking up some breakfast and yes, there were pancakes. Thank god.

When I looked at Christian, he was smiling and so was I. I walked to him and he pulled me onto his lap and started fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. The guys were all there, but I barely paid them any mind as I noticed a very large amount of weed on the kitchen table. I blinked, yeah still there.

"Okay, who decided that my mom's house was the trap house?" I asked, standing from Christians' lap. They had me fucked up. There was a moment of silence, and then everyone looked at Christian. Of course, I can't just stay on my little cloud of happiness. I looked at Christian angrily again. "For the love of God, Christian, you need to explain why there are drugs in my house and how did you get them?"

He gulped visibly, then stood slowly. "I wasn't going to keep it here," he said carefully. "I comped it last night, and I was going to tell you, but you came home all 'Let me get that' and I forgot. It was under your bed."

"Comped?" I asked. "You borrowed that much weed? What's the weight? How much do you owe?"

Comping drugs was not a good look. It was essentially borrowing with the agreement to pay back what you owe. Smart drug dealers could make a hell of a profit. Not that I didn't think Christian could do it. He was street as fuck and I knew he had done it before. It was just risky, especially when people got high on their own supply. They all smoked weed.

"I have done the calculations," Montel said, leaning against the table, looking like some Jamaican Rasta with his locs in a bun. He was eyeing the drugs. "That's approximately two pounds of gas. According to his highness Christian, he owed his plug twelve hundred back, but he stands to gain a nice profit of about sixteen hundred from all this. The idea is to get more and do it again until his highness is comfortable with his life."

I pressed my lips together to stop myself from saying something smart. I knew what the damn result was. I had never sold drugs, but I knew many people who did. I had also seen the guys cough up a lot of money on it. It seemed like everyone I knew smoked weed. It was just what they did. It was a chill drug. They got lazy and hungry. That was it.

"Why does he keep calling me his highness?" Christian asked at the same time. I said, "That's a lot of money." We looked at each other and I wonder what the hell is he on and why does Montel keeps calling him that. It is too early for this crap.

"Christian, you don't need to be selling drugs," I said. "You trying to go to jail? Montel, why do you seem so cool about this? Why do all of y'all act like it's nothing?"

"Because it's weed," Reese says, hunching his shoulders.

"It's an easy come up," Todo says.

"We was just talking about getting money." Dale says.

"It's what we know, Anna." Joey says, looking at me with puppy dog eyes.

"And what if y'all get caught?" I said, taking my seat again. This time minus the Christian. It would seem they had already worked out a plan for this to be successful. They were apparently not thinking about the risk that came with drugs. The drug dealers I know hadn't gone on to live happy lives. They had all either met a tragic end or were at this time behind bars. My father, my mother's boyfriend, friends and family had ended up being locked up. They lasted years, sometimes all their lives selling drugs and hustling, only to lose it all in one way or another.

"We won't. I can get this shit gone by tonight," Christian said while he sat a plate of food in front of me.

"Yeah, I got a guy," Reese says with a mouth full of food. "He really needs like five pounds a week."

"Who is he?" I asked, and I saw everyone relax a little. They thought I was in. Truth was, every instinct in my DNA wanted to know more. I had never touched a thousand dollars in my life, much less twenty-five hundred. I was intrigued. Not to mention I also knew many people who came in the game made their bread and got out. I knew it wasn't always a life decision. Selling drugs was a game you made the rules to. I just didn't want my guys to get caught up. I knew it could go south so fast.

"This lil cat I knew in juvi," Reese said, "He owns the west side. He goes by the name of Ace."

"Come on Anna," Christian said, "aren't you the boss around here? If you say no, i'll, just take it back to my peoples no questions asked."

"I was joking about that." I said, rubbing my forehead.

"Well, we weren't," Dale says, smiling. "You got it in you, Anna. We all see it. Now, you just have to. And if you don't want to, we won't."

"I don't want to be in charge of a fucking criminal organization. Y'all crazy as hell. So we can go out like Al Capone or The Queen of the south, naaauhh not happening."

"Well, I'll take it back." Christian said quickly.

"Wait!" Montel said. "Anna, you will be in charge here. You won't ever go down. We will all take the fall first. Even if we got caught, you would be untouchable."

"Was that an Al Capone joke?" I asked, laughing.

"Did it work?"

"Y'all really want to do this?" They all nodded their heads. If I was going to be in charge, this just might work. With them behind me, anything was possible.

"If we do, there will be rules," I said, taking a deep breath as I looked at them. "First one is to not bring that shit here. If my mama knew we would be dead now. Second, I want this to not get to anyone but a few people. I mean, like three, they are the only people we sell to. They can get it to everybody else. So no nickel and diming."

"You actually sound like you know what you talking about." Montel says grinning.

"I've seen movies and shows. I get it mostly," I said, rolling my eyes at Montel. "We will also need jobs, because having bread with no job looks weird. We need a paper trail and don't go get a car like a fucking mustang. We keep this quiet and move smart. We can do this, guys. Three months tops and we out. I mean it."

I looked to Reese. "Can you really get this sold by tonight?"

"On God I can," Reese said stand.

To Christian I said, "And you can get more?"

"Yes," he said, smiling.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but let's do it. Let's be drug dealers." I said, standing too. "But the next pound is paid for by us. We don't want to be in nobody's pocket."

The guys relayed the plan for the night. Reese and Christian will go on the west side and make the deal. The plug will be paid by tomorrow and we could keep it going. The buyer was going to meet them at a gas station. It would be easy and fast. As long as everything went down like it was supposed to.

Easy Money.