“We?” Pain made a face. “Nigga, you run errands for Don B. You ain’t even a member of Bad Blood.” This broke the tension and drew a laugh from all the young men in the room. Pain’s cell phone started ringing, but he just looked at the caller ID without picking it up. It was the third time he had done it over the last hour.

“Fuck you keep looping?” Lex asked.

“Just this little chickenhead that can’t get enough of daddy’s dick,” Pain lied.

“Well, why don’t you call that bitch so we can all bust ass?” True said.

“Fuck outta here, you don’t ever share your bitches, so why should I share one of mine?”

“’Cause we a group.” True tried to put his arm around Pain, but he brushed it off.

“Man, let’s go outside. Its crazy hot in here,” Lah said, fanning himself.

“Shut up and stop complaining,” Pain said. “Matter of fact,” Pain said, and tossed him a bag of weed, “roll that.”

“Leave the little nigga alone, yo,” Jay cut in. “He’s right, it is mad hot in here. This project has always got some rat bitches running around trying to get their heads popped off. Let’s go see if we can find some.” They all agreed and filed out of the apartment in search of a good time.

The weather had dropped so Yoshi had changed into jeans and a short leather jacket. Her heeled leather boots clicked on the ground beneath her, making a strange melody accompanied by the rumbling of the wheels of her small rolling case. Her cell vibrated, causing her to reflexively slow up.

“Speak on it,” she answered.

“What’s good, informer?” Billy asked jokingly.

“Hey, Billy. Listen, I hope you’re not tight about me giving Marcus your number?”

“Nah, it’s cool. I was glad to speak to him.”

“That’s good. Marcus really is a nice guy.”

“I guess I’ll find out for sure tonight. I’m supposed to meet him at the club,” Billy admitted.

“You freaky little heifer!” Yoshi squealed.

“It ain’t even like that, bitch. I’m just meeting him there. He’s taking me out for a nice Italian dinner.”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Yoshi said proudly. “Some niggaz try to jump straight for the pussy before they spend some dough. Knowing Marcus, he’s probably gonna take you somewhere nice. Why can’t all these niggaz move like that?”

“Well, I’m not making him out to be Superman just yet, but so far he’s on the right track.”

“‘Bout time you get out and date. I’m happy for you, Billy,” Yoshi said honestly.

“It feels kind of funny, ya know. I’ve spent so much time trying to avoid dudes that I probably won’t know how to act around him tonight.”