TWT1- Luis “Lopez” Pilar

The block was graffiti. On my block everything has a layaway option. My block was corner stores where the Muslims slid your change under bullet proof windows. My block was when you see a fine ass girl walking down the street with a shitload of sugar mixed with a shit load of grape mix. My block was grimy. My block was dangerous.

My block was home.

“FUCK ME!”

I grab onto Yusef’s waist. There is a mirror that we're staring at. I looked a lot different then before I went to jail. I'm covered in tats. I have a tattoo right underneath my eye. That means you're a known murderer in the streets.

I smack Yusef’s ass. He has a fat ass. It jiggles when I hit it. Yusef is a Buchanan. The Buchanan girls used to be known around the block for having fat asses. Little did they know that the Buchanan boys had fattys on them too. It's been years since I've been up in this ass. His ass was wet as fuck. It's not tight. Someone's been in there, but how can I blame Yusef. We aren't in a relationship and it's been 10 years since he saw me. He's probably been getting pounded out by someone. I just don't know who. A part of me doesn't want to know either. None of my business.

I'm pounding the fuck out of him. I'm balls deep. I'm thrusting like a champ! I bring my dick all the way out, spit down on the condom and put it back in. Yusef throws his head back. He's enjoying every moment of it. Yusef was sexy. I used to date his cousin Kenyatta back in school. He'd always been my fuck buddy or whatever. As soon as I get back in town Yusef is my first stop.

I didn't fuck anyone in jail. I've been waiting to get out. I've been waiting for this, “Yeah. Lean back. Just like that. Bounce on that dick. Dance on it. Yeah. Mhmm. I miss that ass. Slower. Let me see it. You like that dick?”

“Hell yeah.”

“I knew you would. Yo you don't got no jealous dudes that's gonna run up on me huh?” I ask him, and when he shakes his head I get a little excited, “It's good. Don't get me wrong but I know you ain't tight like you used to be.”

“Fuck that's supposed to mean?” Yusef asks.

I shake my head, “Nothing. Sexy. I'm just saying while I'm in it...I'm daddy. You hear me? Call me daddy.”

“I love it. Fuck me daddy. Give me that long dick. You still so sexy.”

I'm watching myself in the mirror. I was feeling myself. I'm tatted up. My muscles are more cut. I was always feeling myself though. Hell. I was a fly fucking dude. Don't get me wrong. Yusef was cute or whatever, but dammit...I was Sexy Lopez. I had the bronze skin. I had the perfect body. I had dudes in jail going crazy for me. Now I was out though and I was ready to run these streets.

I'm beating up his guts. I'm poking at his prostate. I'm making him scream. That's when I hear someone pull into the driveway.

“Fuck, what the fuck! Someone's here. Fuck. Gimme my underwear. Fuck is my underwear! Yo. Hide the condom. Not there. Hide the condom somewhere else. The first place bitches look is the trash dummy.”

I'm panicking.

Yusef seems more annoyed then anything, “Damn...it's my baby's mother.”

My eyes get wide, “Your what?”

I knew that Yusef messed around with girls every now and then but the fact that he had a baby's mother blew my mind. I guess you miss a lot in jail. I pull my dick out of Yusef and I'm struggling at that moment to get my bearings. I'm pulling up my underwear and pulling up my pants.

I quickly dive on the side of the couch and put a pillow over my semi-hard dick.

It's Yusef that shakes his head and runs to the door. He opens it.

“What the hell you doing in here?” she asks.

“Yo---Nene, calm down,” Yusef responds.

“You got a bitch in here,” she's screaming, “I know you do. Where she at? WHERE IS SHE? I can smell the sex. I can fucking smell it. I knew you ain't shit Yusef. You know how I know? Because you're sweating. So tell me where she is.”

The girl walks in the house at that moment. She has no baby with her. It was almost like she knew that Yusef was up to something. I have to admit. The house does smell like sex. It smells like ass, condoms and lube. The fact that she can smell it before even entering the house tells me Yusef probably gets into shit like this a lot. She seems to be expecting it.

I recognize Nene when I see her. She's friends with my ex-girlfriend Kenyatta. Everyone on the blocks knows each other. That's when her face lights up at that moment.

“Omg Lopez. You're back!” Nene says with a smile.

“See I told you no females were in here,” Yusef says, “It's just Lopez. He came back after he had a run in with the Bakersfield gang.”

Nene has this sense of relief as she starts making small talk with me. The whole time I just shake my head at Yusef. Yusef wasn't shit. He was my good friend growing up and he wasn't shit back then. Now he had a kid and he still wasn't shit. He could have at least told me that he got Nene pregnant while I was away. She clearly thought they must have still been in a relationship by the look on her face.

This wasn't uncommon though. My block was one more thing. My block was “Down Low” boys creeping around on their girlfriends to sleep with their 'homeboy's. That was the life.

Welcome back Lopez.

It's night time when I go meet the fellas. My brother told me I can stay with him until I get my place but once Nene got to talking I find myself running a little late. I pull up to the house and see that not much has changed. Boys are sitting out on the stoop as usual. There is a dirty looking Pitbull that is tied to the guard post. No one knows whose dog it is.

“Is that Tyson Pilar?” I scream out, noticing someone sitting up on the stoop.

“Yo---back up fool! I'll smoke you!” a little boy runs out at that moment.

I shit you not the little boy runs out in the middle of the street with a rocket launcher. A fucking rocket launcher. I put my hands up. If I was a pussy I would have pissed myself in the middle of the street. The little boy has his hands on the fucking trigger. This little boy ain't no bigger than 11 or something like that.

“Baby Base...back the fuck up. That there is my brother youngin'. Get the fuck out of here with that shit.”

He walks behind the little boy with the rocket launcher and slaps him on the back of the head.

“Welcome home bro!”

I swallow my spit as the little boy runs back in the house, “Yo please tell me that shit ain't real.”

Only around here did you see little kids skipping school and running around with military grade weapons and shit.

“Shit's real,” my brother laughs.

“What is this? Halo? Gears of War? Goddam.”

“This is Chiraq, motherfucker,” my brother tells me, “10 years and you must have forgotten. It's a war out here. Got to keep my soldiers little. Chicago ain't what it used to be. Real shit. You can't be running up on us like that. You would have got that sexy face of yours blown smooth off. You hear me? Won't be Pretty Lopez anymore.”

My half-brother Tyson, also known as Lil Ty walks up to me. He squeezes my cheeks a few times. It's annoying how he does it. He's the older brother. There is nothing “lil” about Tyson. He's big as fuck and muscular. Luckily we get the physical shape from our shared father. We had different mothers. We are both naturally muscular even without working out. The only reason that they call him Lil' Ty was because our dad was a big time hustler named Big Ty. Pops died a long time ago. Think it was AIDS or some shit like that. Well the AIDS didn't actually kill him. He gave the AIDS to the wrong bitch and she left a couple bullets in his head when she got the results.

My block has a bunch of girls who are likely to take your life if you fuck them over.

My brother squeezes my cheeks, repeating how pretty I still am. Ty isn't ugly. He doesn't have the gray eyes or face that I do. My mugshot went viral when I was in jail. All these hoes made memes about the “Pretty thug” back in the day. I wonder if that is what Ty is referring to when he squeezes my cheeks and calls me Pretty.

“Yo stop with the homo shit,” I laugh in response.

I lean up against my whip and play it cool. By whip I mean the car that I whipped around the block in. I didn't come back to the block right away. I had to stack my money before I came back to Chicago. I had to make sure that I came back and people knew that I at least went to jail for a reason. I had to visit Yusef down the street and get a nut. I needed to get my nerves together.

“Lopez! Is that you?” a voice says.

A couple of the guys run up to me. I recognize some of the old crew. Red, Kool-Aid, Boozie and DJ were my boys. The four run over and shake my hand. Kool-Aid and DJ were tied at the hips. They were always super close since they were younger. They were the best of friends. That much was clear. Boozie was there too. He was drunk right now. He was always drunk.

“It's me man.”

Kool-Aid is the only one who seems really excited to see me. It doesn't take much to excite Kool-Aid though. He gives me a handshake, “Damn. Thought you were locked up for life.”

“Good behavior? Where your brother Kool-Aid?”

Kool-Aid shakes his head. I know what that means when he just shrugs, “Everyone's dead or locked up man. Jamal's dead. Harris is dead. Lil' Joney is dead. Ace Bean from 15th street just died last week. Man. You missed a lot.”

DJ walks up to Kool-Aid. He grabs Kool-Aid, “Yo. Leave him alone with that shit yo. He just got back. He needs to talk to his brother.”

“Damn. My fault,” Kool-Aid said.

DJ waves over at me and gives me a head nod, “Check you out in a minute Lopez!”

I nod. DJ and Kool-Aid have always been close as fuck. They are inseparable. They were like brothers. They were even starting to look alike. Both boys had big lips and dark brown eyes. DJ was sexy to me always but Kool-Aid was pretty good looking. DJ's personality made him sexy. He was the too cool for school kind of dude. Kool-Aid used to be a geek but DJ brought him into this lifestyle. Now Kool-Aid was becoming a mini DJ if you ask me. I always wish I had that relationship with my own brother. Lil' Ty and I were always competitive. I wonder if things were still the same.

My brother looks hard at my ride, “This shit is HOT! How much you pay for this?”

It's a 2017 black Lexus. A couple of my brother's homeboys get up off the stoop and take a look at it. I recognize a few of them. Red is eyeing the fuck out of my car. I give him a hard look though because everyone knows that Red steals.

“Enough,” I laugh.

“You think you fly?” Red asks me, “You think you a real pretty boy huh?”

Red and I always had a weird relationship. We hung out in the same group. We called each other friends. We weren't friends though. Everyone who was around us for more than two minutes knew that we weren't friends. See Red had an issue. He was...jealous. Red was always the more handsome guy around town. Red and DJ used to pull all the girls together. The girls who liked light skin guys went to Red. If they liked dark skin guys, they went to DJ. A lot of the girls thought Red was mixed with Native American. It was bullshit. His family were goddam Haitians. He still got all the girls based off his lie though. He was popular as fuck. Red was THAT guy. Actually, correction. Red was THAT guy whenever I wasn't around. When I came around panties came off. Red knew that as much as DJ. DJ was too cool to care or compete. Red on the other hand was another story. I can see him lining me up now. He's looking at my ride; he's checking me out. He's trying to get a feel on me.

“How you been Red?” I ask.

I offer to shake his hand. Red just gives me head nod and returns to the stoop. Back in the day I would have fought him for that kind of disrespect but now I was different. I wasn't as crazy as I used to be. Plus, I just got some good ass from Yusef not too long ago. I was in a good mood.

“I got a something for you,” Ty says, “Bro...”

Ty gives me a smile, opens my palm and hands me a wad of cash.

“Cash?” I ask.

“We got a new hustle now. We stuck up a few of the Bakersfield boys a few weeks ago,” Lil Ty says, “That's your cut.”

It was interesting that they were robbing the Bakersfield boys now. The Bakersfield boys were our rivals. They lived several blocks away from the 5 blocks of my neighborhood. Bakersfield was just as violent as my neighborhood in Southside Chicago. The Bakersfield boys were run by a guy named Tonio.

“What's this for?” I ask.

Red is being ignorant from the stoop, “That's a damn good question. We all want to know why the hell you're giving him that money. This dude wasn't around.”

“You got a fucking problem with it?” Ty asks Red, “Does anyone have a fucking problem with me helping my brother out now that he's back?

I look at the others. Ty is in charge now. I always figured he would take over the blocks. He was always the toughest motherfucker I know. I knew it was either going to be him or Red. I guess he became the guy in charge.

“Thanks bro,” I tell Ty.

“There is more where that came from,” Ty tells me, “I got my partner in crime back. Shit is going to be the same. You rolling out to the club with us right? You remember Club Havoc Downtown?”

Red, DJ, Boozie and Kool-Aid exchange stares but they don't say anything. There is a tension among the boys. I'm sure Ty just gave me at least a thousand dollars. They don't seem happy about it. A part of me wants to give the money back to Ty but I know that would be disrespect. The look on Red's face says it all.

I guess my boys aren't happy that I'm back home after all.

The club is actually decent that we end up going to that night. I end up changing into a nice little flight jacket that is olive green. Everything else is black including my snapback hat. I know I'm sexy when I see a couple of girls licking their lips and whispering about me when I walk in. DJ is teaching his best friend Kool-Aid how to bag girls. Most of the girls are flocking towards our section anyway. It's not because of Kool-Aid succeeding. He's awkward when it comes to getting girls. The kid definitely is just one of those weird type dudes. They are coming here for me. DJ notices and laughs a little bit. Someone else notices as well. Red is sitting not too far away from me. He's giving me the funny eye.

I dig deep in my phone and start texting away, avoiding Red all together.

“Who you texting?” Ty asks.

We are in a little section. All the boys have bottles. Boozie is the local drunk. He's standing on the couch waving his bottle around and making sure that females notice him. It's the usual thing about him. He's always gets drunk and starts trying to get attention. Too bad Boozie is probably the ugliest guy in the group. He gets no love.

“No one man,” I respond putting my phone away.

As soon as I put my phone away I notice Red giving me another mean mug. This dude really had a problem with me. It was clear as fucking day that he had a problem with me.

“Live in the moment man,” Ty tells me.

I want to but then I notice Red staring at me again. It's the third time tonight that he is giving me this shitty ass look.

“Yo. You got a fucking problem dude?” I ask him.

Red laughs, “You ain't shit man. Ain't no body thinking about you. You just want attention, just like always.”

He laughs almost like it's a joke. I don't play like that. I try to be mature about this but this guy doesn't know me. I'm not the same guy that I was when I was locked up. I'm not the same guy that I was when I was in jail. I would literally fuck him up. I would beat his ass. I would kill him if he pushed me far enough. I feel my knuckles crack as I get up.

Ty sees it coming and he grabs me, “Yo. Bro. Calm down.”

“I was just playing with him. He acting all sensitive and shit. Must be that prison shit made him soft,” Red starts with me out of nowhere, “I hear they got a lot of homos in prison.”

“You probably would know all about that fag shit,” I respond to him.

Red gets up. I'm in his face before he can react. My fists are balled up and ready for action. A few of the guys run over. They pull us apart. DJ and Kool-Aid grab Red. I have no doubt they are closer to him than me. They would have his back.

My brother is the one that grabs me.

“Come on. Let's walk to the bar.”

Red continues to laugh. His buddies DJ and Kool-Aid are laughing with him. God knows what they are laughing at. I feel outside of the group though. I feel like I'm not welcomed. A long time ago I knew a lot of these boys like brothers. Things had changed. Everything had changed.

Luckily my brother pulls me to the bar. He sits me down.

“You OK?” he asks me.

“I'm cool...” I respond, “What's the deal with Red?”

It seemed more than jealousy to me. Red seemed to really have a problem. I didn't get it. He had always been sly back in the day but right now I was feeling some type of real tension with this guy for whatever reason.

“A lot has changed since you've been gone,” my brother tells me, “Streets are tough man. Red has been fucking Kenyatta.”

There it goes. My ex. This was over some girl that I dated a lifetime ago back in high school? Seriously?

“Well he can have her,” I respond, “I don't give a fuck about Kenyatta now.”

Kenyatta was a pretty girl back then. I could only imagine what she looked like now. However, after 10 years being locked up I kind of got used to not dating girls. The first person I got with when I came out of jail was Yusef after all. The last person I was thinking about was Kenyatta.

I wondered if that made me gay.

No. Can't be gay. Just not in the mood for girls right now. That's all.

My brother laughs at that moment giving me a slight elbow, “It's deeper than that. Kenyatta has been close to the Bakersfield boys. Yeah them. The Bakersfield boys. The same boys who you had that run in with and went to jail fighting them. The war with them is worse. They gaining ground. I think she may be telling them our business. And I think Red may be helping her.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“You think Red turned on you?” I ask.

My brother nods, “The Bakersfield boys know too much. They know where we are. They seem to know all my moves. The only people that know my moves are the boys and you when I call you in jail to get your advice.”

I shake my head, “It could be anyone of them.”

“I have a feeling it's Kenyatta and Red,” my brother tells me, “And I think we might need to go take them out one of these days. Permanently.”

My brother pats his leg. I look down at that moment. He has a gun in his pants. When I left for jail I was the one always carrying around metal with me. Things changed now I guess. Ty might as well have taken out his gun and waved it around the bar. It was clear he had it with him. I look across the bar. Red was mean mugging me not having any idea that my brother was plotting on his ass. What a dummy.

I guess it's dumb that I'm sitting here pretending to make peace too, “Yo. Cool out. Let's just get some drinks. If we find out Red is up to something, then we'll deal with him.”

“Together?” he asks me.

Ty gives me those eyes he always used to give me. He's a boss now. He is the guy who I used to be. He's taken over while I was gone. He runs these streets and yet still he is looking up to me as though I'm the one who he needs to verify him, not the other way around.

“Always,” I state, “Whoa. I uh...damn...don't mean to change the subject. But hey look over there. You see that guy standing over there. No. Not him. Right next to him.”

“Yeah?”

“Who the fuck is that?”

I look across the room when I'm talking. I'm in a complete daze when I see him. He is the sexiest person I'd ever seen in my life. There is something about this boy that just blows me away. I almost forget that I'm talking to Ty. I almost forget where I am. I almost forget everything that is going on around me.

Yeah. I'm gay.

I have to be.

I'm sitting here planning a wedding in my fucking head. I'm talking bells and shit. I'm talking about trading in my player card for some matching bathrobes. I'm planning white picket fences away from Chiraq. In my mind I'm planning getting on one knee and proposing. All of this is just in my mind. It all happens in a fucking flash. I never felt anything like that in my life.

Literally felt like he took my breath away. I struggle to catch it.

This was love at first sight.

I had never experienced it before but I know it now that I am experiencing it. My mouth gets dry. My heart is beating faster and faster. I don't blink because I'm scared I'm going to miss him. I'm scared he's just going to disappear or something like that. I don't know what I'm thinking. All I know is that I'm fucking star struck.

“Who?”

“The guy right there. With the fat...” I stop myself mid-sentence, “Uh. You know. Fat jacket. Right over there. Brown skin. A little shorter.”

I was so close to saying this boy had a fat ass. I was SO fucking close to just exposing myself to my half-brother. I can't believe I'm being so sloppy. His ass is so big though. He was sagging a little bit. He didn't have a belt and his pants were pulled a few inches down just so I can see his underwear. It's sitting perfectly in his pants. I'm staring at it the entire time. I'm sweating.

“Fat jacket?” he asks, “What the fuck is a fat jacket?”

“I meant black jacket,” I respond desperately trying to bounce back from this.

He laughs a little bit, “You know Meech.”

“Meech?”

“Kenyatta's little brother Meech. Meech Buchanan.”

I'm shocked. Kenyatta's little brother Meech had grown the fuck up. Meech always used to look like a little dyke back in the day. He had this baby face that made him look like a little butch lesbian. That baby face was still there but now he was just sexy. He had facial hair now. He was well groomed. He had these big lips that I just kept staring at. His jacket is a little short. It sits right above the folds of his fat ass. He is laughing with someone at that moment with some guys he's talking to that I recognize from the block. Meech has these white pearly teeth.

“Damn that don't even look like him with that fat ass.... uh...jacket. I mean with that black ass jacket,” I quickly state.

What the fuck was wrong with me? I couldn't control myself. It was all word vomit right now. The more I stared at him the more I realize that I'm losing myself. I feel like I'm completely out of sync with what the fuck is going on. I struggle to maintain my composure and end up looking away from him. I end up staring at anything. I stare at the bar. I stare at the bartender's big tits. I stare at anything but Meech.

Ty is laughing. He leans in and then says the weirdest thing.

“Yeah that's a dope ass jacket or whatever,” Ty acknowledges shrugging, “Wonder where he got that shit. Those Buchanan's stay fly. They do work for me every now and again. I'm thinking about putting them on to sell some dope around the corner. Him and his cousin Yusef. They both got dope swag. He has a fat ass too.”

My heart beat races. What the fuck?

“Yo stop playing. You sound gay as hell talking about Kenyatta's little brother's ass,” I respond acting as though I'm disgusted.

“You weren't looking?” Ty asks me, “I could have sworn you were looking.”

“Naw I wasn't looking. What kind of gay ass shit is that? Bro. What the fuck?” I act as though I'm appalled, “I'm telling you. I been gone too long. Let me find out Ty. You a homo?”

Ty grabs me and pulls me close, “Yo. Stop talking so loud. I was just fucking with you. No I'm not no homo. Stop talking so fucking loud. You got no sense of humor since you been away? Damn...”

Things get awkward for a few seconds. I'm not sure if Ty was really joking or not. He isn't laughing. He seems more annoyed that I was saying it so loud. I'm struggling to act as though I don't want to look at him. I'm not sure how awkward I sounded talking about him.

“Oh I was gonna say. I was getting a little concerned...”

“No. Of course I was joking,” he states, “Why were you asking about him?”

“He just looked familiar,” I lie.

“It's just the way you were looking at him I thought...” Ty starts.

The more Ty is talking the more awkward things are getting. I want to end this conversation now. Ty was my brother and all that but things were just getting a little weird.

I force a laugh. I just want to laugh this all off. Ty is my brother but we haven't really been hanging out for more than 10 years. He called me and talked to me about everything that was going on with the block but he never really came to visit. It made this whole conversation even more awkward.

“I wasn't looking at him no type of way,” I state.

“Bruh. If you were...”

“I wasn't.”

“I'm trying to say I know you been in jail a long time. You know. Shit goes down. Or whatever. I don't know. Fuck am I saying? Let's just drop it. Let's just drop this shit OK. YO! Lasheena...SHEENA. YOU hear me calling you girl. Shot of whiskey. Right here! Make it two.”

“You trying to call me a homo?” I ask Ty, “If you want to say it just come out and fucking say it.”

Ty gives me a hard look. I get up. Where I'm from calling someone gay was fighting words family or no family. There was no way I was going to let that shit slide anytime soon.

“Naw. Naw. Never mind bro. Like I said just drop it. Drink your whiskey.”

I stop giving him a stare like I'm going to beat his ass.

I get up and start walking away, “I'm going to sit back at the table.”

An hour passes at the table and it gets awkward. Ty doesn't talk to me. Red is still giving me mean mugs. The other guys try to give me conversation here and there but it is that awkward conversation that you give an old friend that you haven't seen in forever. Pete is too drunk. DJ and Kool-Aid are so close that they forget everyone else is there sometimes. We weren't the same people. We weren't the same guys from the block anymore. We were boys back then. Now we were men. Things were a little different.

I can't help but to look at Meech though every time I get the chance. Then I notice who he is talking to. He's talking to Yusef. The same fucking Yusef that I fucked earlier.

My heart is racing when I see Meech head towards the bathroom.

“Yo I'll be right back Ty,” I tell my brother.

“Where you going?”

“Nowhere. Just saying what's up to someone,” I say.

I walk over there at that moment. There are some girls twerking on some guys. I notice Yusef is dancing with a girl. He has her out there. You couldn't tell Yusef was really gay honestly. I mean he had some feminine tendencies but you had to really pay attention. The fact that he was dancing up on this girl like this you would think that he wasn't bent over getting fucked in the ass at some point before.

I grab him, pull him away from the girl before the beat really kicks off.

“What the fuck bro... stop cockblocking,” he says.

“Yusef. Dead ass, I need to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“Meech.”

“My little cousin?” Yusef asks laughing, “What about him?”

I look around. I have to make sure no one is listening. I'm nervous as fuck. I never actually cared to talk about a boy before or anything like that. Right now is different though. A part of me feels like if I don't talk to Yusef about Meech right he might just disappear.

“Introduce me to him...”

Yusef gives me a hard look, then he laughs.

“You fucking with me right?”

“Why would I be fucking with you? Do I look like some type of clown or something? I ain't joking. You know me better than that. C`mon bro. Hurry up and introduce me to your cousin when he gets back. You my homeboy. I'm so serious.”

“Me and you just...”

Shit. I almost forgot. I was so blinded to Meech that I had literally forgot that his cousin was my fuck buddy. It's just weird because there was no emotion with Yusef. He literally was just sex. So now when I'm interested in his cousin I realize that this is more awkward than I anticipated.

“I know,” I respond, “This isn't that though. Yusef. You're my homie. We might get it in sometimes but you're the homie. Meech is...damn. He grew up.”

Yusef shakes his head, “I can't believe you.”

He tries to walk away.

I grab him. There is no way in hell I'm letting Yusef walk away from this.

“I'm not saying hook me up with him. I'm just saying introduce me to him.”

Yusef grabs me, “First off you used to fuck his sister. You are fucking his cousin. And now you want to fuck him? You want to fuck every single Buchanan? Because he does have another sister remember Cheyenne. She's in college. After you run through the whole family should I introduce you to my Aunt Renae. What about my Uncle? My grandma?”

Yusef did have a point. I knew he had a point. I didn't just fuck Meechs’ sister Kenyatta either. I dated her.

“It ain't even like that. I just want to...you know... catch up on Kenyatta...”

Yusef rolls his eyes, “Bullshit. You would have come over here asking about Kenyatta if that was the case.”

“I swear I'll just ask him about Kenyatta.”

I'm lying out my ass. I could care less about Kenyatta. I just had this shutter in my soul when I even thought about the sexy ass boy who was just talking to Yusef a few minutes ago. The idea of just even speaking to him is making me nervous as fuck.

“I'm not introducing you to my cousin,” Yusef states, “He's not even gay.”

“You're lying. With an ass like that---”

Yusef raises an eyebrow, “If you're interested in Kenyatta why are you looking at my little cousin's ass?”

Fuck. I'm caught red handed. I am trying to come up with something but Yusef just walks away. He doesn't walk away because of me though. Something is happening on the other side of the bar. I look over to the other side of the bar.

There is a scuffle happening.

“What's going on?”

“Bakersfield boys,” Yusef says.

Fuck. I realize that punches are being thrown at that moment. I turn and see that Ty is one of those guys throwing punches. Before I know it Yusef and I are joining in on the fight. The fight breaks out bigger than usual. I see this Bakersfield guy grabbing my brother from the back and attempting to slam him.

I come up from behind the guy and grab a bottle.

SMASH!

I hit the Bakersfield guy in the head with the bottle!

The guy falls back. In the next few minutes all out chaos breaks out to the point that I just got to drag Ty out of the place before he pulls out his gun and shoots up the place.

I take Ty to the corner. A bunch of the other guys are still fighting inside.

“Yo let me go,” Ty says.

“Get the fuck out of here,” I respond.

“Yo. Those boys knew we were going to be there tonight,” Ty states, “I'm going to kill Red. I'm going to fucking KILL his ass. I swear to God.”

“Not yet...” I state, “Go home. Let Red think that you don't know about him and when the time comes you can take him out.”

Ty seems to sit there and think about it. There is still a fight going on in the bar. The cops are pulling up to the club. He must know that if they find him with a gun that he is going straight to jail. He seems to come to his senses at that moment.

“I can't believe he turned against the block,” Ty states shaking his head, “After all I did for Red I can't believe he's turning against me. But you're right. Not now. Soon though. Very soon. We should get the fuck out of here before we get caught.”

“Go ahead. I'm going to wait for someone.”

Ty gives me a suspicious stare. I think he is going to give me a hard time about this but he doesn't. He just nods.

“Sure. Do your thing bro,” Ty states.

He gives me handshake and leaves at that moment. I'm patiently waiting to at least talk to Meech. I'm hoping he wasn't involved in that shit. I mean it wasn't just because of his fat ass or his big lips or his baby face. He was a guy from the block. Guys from my block took care of each other. Yusef jumped in against the Bakersfield boys. They weren't from our hood. They were trespassing here. So if I wanted to stand around and make sure Meech was OK then it wasn't a gay thing. It was a hood thing.

Right?

I'm staring from across the street at the club. The place is emptying. Out of nowhere gunshots break out. The cops are rushing in there right now. A part of me wants to go in there and see if Yusef was OK. Hell. A part of me wants to go in there to see if Meech was OK.

That's when I see him walking out. He walks out with a bunch of other people. He seems to be fine. He is rushing away though running to his car.

“HEY!” I scream from across the street.

He doesn't hear me.

I start running towards Meech.

“HEY! HEY MEECH!” I scream out.

If I can just say what's up I would be able to kick off some sort of conversation. I'd ask him about Kenyatta or some shit. I don't know. I'd do something. I just wanted to talk to the boy. He was so fucking sexy to me.

Just as I start running across the street I'm blocked off by a car.

Bakersfield boys!

“Get in,” the driver says.

I hop in the car. There are three guys from Bakersfield in the car with me. One of them has a gun. The others just stare out. I wonder if they were the ones who started shooting up the club. I wonder if anyone was hit or killed. I guess it wasn't none of my fucking business if they were. I didn't know those fucking people.

“Your brother ran,” the guy in the driver seat says.

I recognize his face. Tonio. Tonio from Bakersfield. He was the leader of the gang. I knew him. We'd spent some time in jail. It was just a little bit of time but the little bit of time we spent in there meant a lot.

“He sure did.”

“Where'd he go?” Tonio asks.

“I don't know.”

“Really man?”

“Why the fuck would I lie to you?” I ask Tonio, “I don't know where the fuck he went.”

“Well keep an eye out for him,” Tonio tells me, “Let us know where he's been.”

They pull the car over. We're just a street down. I offer Tonio my hand. He shakes it.

“Next time you see my brother...don't fight him. Bring your gun and kill him,” I tell Tonio.

“Ok boss...” Tonio says.

Yeah. Boss.

See.

The thing about my block was that my block wasn't my block anymore. Tonio didn't run the Bakersfield gang. I ran it. As soon as my new gang killed my brother, I’d take control of all of it.

Red hadn't turned his back on my brother. I did.

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