Down by Law by Ni-Ni Simone Read Free Book Online

time it is!” I held my hand out.
    â€œOh my bad,” Face said. “Let me hit you off real quick.” He handed me a fifty-dollar bill, a gold chain, and a ring.
    Oh. Hell. No. He didn’t.
    And just when I didn’t think it could get worse, K-Rock handed me a gold watch and said, “I thought about keeping this for myself, but here you go, Icy.”
    I slid the money in my pocket, but everything else I tossed alongside of Schooly. “I know you not asleep, Schooly. And you can have all that.” Schooly opened his eyes long enough to sweep his new jewelry collection under his pillow and then he turned toward the wall and closed his eyes again.
    I lifted a nine and thirty-eight from the dresser. I didn’t know if the guns had bullets in them or not, but I still pointed ’em anyway. “The way I see it, just like I told them soft mothersuckers tonight. You got two choices. This nine or this thirty-eight ’cause one thing y’all not about to do is play me out. I was an equal part of the drop and I want some of that money. Now y’all fools can have the dope and the weed, but that money, I need at least twenty bills outta there. Period.”
    Face frowned. “Yo, you buggin’. Put them guns down.”
    K-Rock smiled at me and I hated that all I could think about was how beautiful his teeth were.
    â€œI ain’t puttin’ nothin’ down, until you put my money up. You got at least a hundred grand in that bag. Now don’t let me get Queenie in here ’cause you already know she’ll keep all the dope, the weed, and take half ya money just on G.P. Now try me. I said twenty bills, but since you have pissed me off even more. I need twenty-one.”
    They laughed.
    â€œYou think this is funny?” I knocked the safety off the guns. “And you think I’ma put back on my ski mask? And this is how you handle your business? Oh, you dead wrong. And K-Rock, don’t let Face supe you up. ’Cause Face already know how I gets down.”
    â€œYou trippin’.” Face shook his head.
    â€œNo, you trippin’. Now cough it up.”
    I watched them count out twenty one-hundred-dollar bills. “Now hand them to Schooly.”
    Schooly turned over and sat up. Face handed him the money.
    I put the safety back on the guns and set them on the dresser. I took all but three bills from Schooly. “You can have that.”
    Then I turned back to Face and K-Rock. “Nice doing business with you.” I pointed to the rest of the goods. “Now back to your regularly scheduled program. Nah mean.” I hit ’em off with a smile. Walked back to my room, tossed the money on the bed, and giggled as I stretched my arms out and landed on it.

8
    Sucker MCs
    â€œI SIS, THE POLICE HERE!”
    â€œWhatchu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” poured from the TV as Schooly flung my room door open, freakin’ out. Tears a blink away from fallin’ from his eyes.
    I was in the middle of getting dressed for school when my heart fell through the floor.
    I pulled Schooly into my room and pushed the door closed. Drew in a breath. And held it. Until it kicked its way outta my mouth.
    The cops.
    I wanted to die. Right now. Right here. I couldn’t believe it.
    â€œWhere is Daddy and Queenie?”
    He hunched his shoulders. “They ain’t here. And I’m scared. What you and Face do last night?” Schooly’s eyes wildly combed me from head to toe.
    Sweat bubbled across my brow, my nose, and my palms felt clammy. I whispered, “We did a lick, that’s it. Some dudes was tryna move in on Face’s turf. And we handled ’em.”
    â€œThey still breathin’?”
    â€œYeah, they breathin’. Unless somebody else sent the grim reaper. But we didn’t.”
    â€œYou sure?”
    I hesitated. “Wait. What? I know you don’t think they here for me?! Do you?!”
    Schooly shook his