Page 10 of Fire & Roses: Harli

“I need you to ride with me,” I informed.

“Bet. Where we goin’?”

“I need to go look at some spot because I need to get the fuck up outta that house ‘fore I been done spazzed the fuck out.”

“Yo’ folks may need to experience you spazzin’ so they know not to play with you like that. What’s goin’ on doee?”

“They tryna do that matchmaker shit with some snow bunny again, and I ain’t goin’ for that. When I get Harli because I’m gon’ get her… I don’t even wanna bring Harli round them and risk them scarin’ her off because she’s not some white woman.”

“I feel ya, bruh. Let’s go see what we can find.”

Chapter 7

Harli

My mind felt free as I rode down the canopy-covered road. These last few days I’d been trying to make sure that everything I had been plotting would come together. After some convincing, I was able to get Kruz on board with the robberies. I completely understood her hesitation, but I was going to be the leader; I wanted to be the only one feeling any losses we took. Now I just needed to get both of them in the room together to let them know what I was cooking up.

As I came to the end of the road, I noticed a building out the corner of my eye. Coming to a complete stop, I peeped the dirt road that led to the ducked-off building. I made sure I had my blade on me as I made a little detour to check it out. I’d been driving around Magnolia Valley aimlessly to clear my head with all this mushy shit I’ve been feeling since I started dealing with Trench. He was becoming a distraction from what I needed to focus my attention on, and that was getting to the money.

“The roses are thrivin’ out here,” I observed as I walked up to the building with rose bushes on each side of the door. I gave the handle a twist and just my luck it opened. “The inside needs some work, but this isn’t bad at all. Matter of fact, this is actually perfect!”

Pulling out my phone, I sent a 911 text to both Ryda and Kruz that included a pin of my location. While I waited for them to get here, I continued to explore the building. It was a large area with two doors inside. One was the bathroom, and the other was a smaller room. The way I could see this being our meet-up spot had the wheels in my head turning. I just needed them to see my vision, and then we’d be in business. As I moved around the large area picking up trash, my phone started to ring.

“Speak of the devil,” I chuckled to myself as Trench’s name popped up on my screen. “Yes, Trench?”

“Dang, why you answerin’ the phone like that?” He questioned.

“How I answered the phone?”

“Like a nigga botherin’ you. Am I botherin’ you, Harli?”

“No, you are not.”

“Didn’t think so. Now let’s try this again. Ring, ring.”

“You can’t be serious?”

“Ring, ring.”

“Hello, Trench.”

“Aht, aht. Still sense a lil’ hostility.”

“You should sense me ‘bout to hang up on you ‘cause that’s what I’m ‘bout to do.”

“Well damn, let me stop playin’ ‘cause I’on want you hangin’ up on me.”

“That’s yo’ problem you always playin’.”

“Maybe the problem is you don’t play enough.”

“Sir, what do you want?”

“Just tryin’ to see if you gonna renege.”

“Again, you only won because my bike messed up mid-race.”

“But I won though. A win is a win. So, you gonna be ready at eight, right?”