Three Weeks Later
A pulsating pain shot through Six’s body as she slowly opened her eyes. The room was dark, and she was unaware of her surroundings.
Beep, beep, beep, beep
. The steady tone of the machines around her was all that could be heard. The small sound seemed so loud inside her head. Each beep made a sharp explosion go off inside her brain, causing her great pain. Her eyes darted wildly around the room as she searched for something familiar.
Where am I? What happened?
she thought frantically as she tried to move her body. Her lungs felt deprived of air as she struggled to breathe deeply. She wanted to sit up, she wanted to scream for help, but her body would not cooperate. No matter how hard she tried, she was unable to move. Her throat felt like it was on fire, and her heart rate increased dramatically as fear gripped her body.
Beep, beep, beep, beep
. The sound of the machines intensified, and she heard the sound of people rushing into her room.
“Is she all right? What’s happening to her?” Six heard Big Lou’s voice, and her eyes scanned the many faces that were surrounding her bed as she tried to locate him.
“I’m sorry, sir, you have to wait outside. You can see her once we’ve stabilized her.”
“Is she okay? Just tell me what’s happening!” she heard Big Lou demand, his voice frantic with worry.
“Free!” she cried out. His voice was the only voice that she didn’t hear. He was the one that she needed right now.
Where is he?
“I need her calm. Her body is in shock,” one of the doctors instructed. Six watched as a young nurse filled a syringe with fluid and injected it into her arm.
“No! Free—I want to see Free!” Six cried in a raspy tone. Her voice was almost inaudible. Her body was weak, but she still fought against the hospital staff as she begged to see her man.
“Look at my hand and count down with me,” a doctor stated.
“Five, four, three, two ...” Before he even got to one Six felt her eyelids close involuntarily, taking her to a temporary sanctuary of peace.
Six opened her eyes and immediately sensed the figure who was sitting in the chair beside her bed. She couldn’t move her head to see who it was, but she could feel him watching her.
“Free,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
“Free’s not here, Six. It’s me, Big Lou,” he whispered as he stood up so that she could see him. “You had me worried for a minute, sis.”
“Where is Free? What happened to me? I feel like I can’t breathe. Why isn’t he here?” she asked.
“You don’t remember anything? You don’t remember what happened?” Big Lou asked her in bewilderment.
“No, where is he, Lou?”
Before Big Lou could respond, a middle-aged black man entered the room. He was wearing a long lab coat with blue scrubs underneath. Big Lou was grateful for the interruption. He didn’t know how to tell Six that Free was dead.
“Six Jones,” the doctor stated as he walked up to her bed. He took off his stethoscope and placed the cold metal to her chest. “You are a very lucky young woman.”
“What happened to me?” she asked the doctor. The doctor’s face immediately expressed confusion as he looked toward Big Lou.
“She doesn’t remember,” Big Lou answered the doctor’s question before he could even ask it.
“Well, Ms. Jones ...” the doctor started. He was hesitant to inform her of her condition. “You were shot in the head. You are extremely lucky to be alive. That’s why you are having such a hard time moving and breathing. During the shooting, a part of your brain called the cerebellum was injured. A part of the brain stem that controls your breathing was also injured. The massive head trauma that you have sustained has caused you to become immobile.”
“I’m paralyzed?” Six whispered with tears in her eyes. She stared up toward the ceiling as she tried to process what the doctor was telling her.
“Not exactly. The damage is not permanent. But your body has to learn how to function again. That’s why you are hooked up to the breathing machine. Your brain is not sending the correct signals to the rest of your body. You can’t breathe or move on your own yet.”
“Where is Free? I need him,” she said as her tears began to flow. She gasped for air, struggling to breathe.
“She doesn’t know?” the doctor asked as he looked toward Big Lou again.
“I can’t tell her, yo’,” Big Lou said as he gripped Six’s hand and tears began to well in his own eyes.
“Tell me what?” she asked. “Where is he? Big Lou, where is Free?”
The doctor excused himself so that he could give them some privacy.
“Six, he’s gone. He shot you, then he turned the gun on himself.”
Six didn’t respond. She stared at Big Lou as tears streamed endlessly down her face.
He can’t be gone. He told me he would never leave me. Why would he do this to me? Free, I need you
. Her body shuddered as she thought about the death of Free. He had been her best friend and her heart. She couldn’t find any words to describe how she felt; her heart was numb.
She closed her eyes, and images of Free entered her mind. The entire scene instantly came back to her as she played it back in her head. She could hear the blast from the gun in her ears. She could feel his pain as he asked her repeatedly,
Do you love this nigga? Do you love this nigga?
Six saw the spark from the barrel of the gun as Free pulled the trigger. “Oh my God! Big Lou! Oh, God! He can’t be gone. I can’t do this without him. I need him,” she cried. Tears of despair stained her cheeks as she lay helplessly in the hospital bed. “How did this happen? Where is he? Big Lou—”
“He’s gone, Six ... he’s gone,” Big Lou said as he held her hand.
“I just want to be alone,” she stated as she closed her eyes.
Big Lou nodded slowly. “All right. I’ll be right outside if you need me.”
“Big Lou ... when is his funeral?” Six asked before he stepped out.
“You’ve been in a coma for the past three weeks. The funeral was two weeks ago.” He waited for her to reply, but when she didn’t, he walked out of the room.
She couldn’t stop the tears from escaping from her eyes. She was deeply hurt by Free’s death. Her soul ached unbearably as she tried to imagine her life without him in it.
How did we get here? How did I let this happen?
Six stared at the ceiling as she thought about when her life began to spiral out of control.
Chapter One
One Year Earlier
Six stood beside the Audi S8 and tapped her foot anxiously as she waited for Free to exit the prison gates.
“You nervous?” Big Lou asked. She had been silent the entire trip there, and she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. She silently hoped that her man would be the same as he was before he went in. She knew that the life and times of an inmate were hard and hoped that time hadn’t changed him too much.
“Nah, I’m cool,” she replied. Just as the words came from her mouth, the clanging of the large metal gates could be heard and Free came waltzing out. He turned around and stuck his middle fingers up at the guards who were positioned in the towers above each gate and then held his arms open for Six, who was running toward him full speed.
“Oh my God, baby, I missed you so much,” she cried as she jumped into his arms and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. He spun her around wildly and lifted her off the ground.
“Let me look at you,” he said eagerly as he placed her on her feet and held up her hand as he twirled her around.
Six blushed as she felt Free’s eyes roam her body. Big Lou approached the couple and embraced his friend.
“Big Lou!” Free exclaimed as he hugged his closest friend.
“Nigga, I see they were feeding your ass in there,” Big Lou clowned as he noticed Free’s change in appearance. Free had gained thirty or so pounds of muscle from eating the prison food and the everyday weight-lifting routine he had picked up while in prison.
“Shut up, Lou, my baby look good,” Six defended playfully as she walked ahead of them to the car. When she was out of ear’s reach Free turned to Big Lou.
“Yo, man how she been acting while I was away?” Free asked out of concern. He wanted to know what had been going on with her for the past three years. He had not expected her to wait for him and was pleasantly surprised that she had.
“Man, Six is the same chick she was when you left. She held you down. I never heard about her entertaining no other niggas. As far as I know, she was faithful. I know she been kind of hurting financially though. I been helping out when I can, but shit has changed, and times are rough, feel me?”
Free slapped hands with Big Lou and replied, “Yeah, I feel you. Thanks for watching out for her.”
Beep, beep!
“Let’s get out of here, baby,” Six yelled from the car as she honked the horn lightly.
When Free got into the car Six pulled a shopping bag from the backseat. “Go ahead and get fresh, baby. That jail suit got to go.”
Six drove home while Free and Big Lou let the road lull them to sleep. She looked over at her man who was sitting in the passenger seat and a tear fell from her eyes. She was so happy that he was finally home with her. The past three years had been one constant struggle. Emotionally and financially she was spent. The lawyers for Free’s trial had taken most of their money, and she had been struggling to make her ends meet and maintain her high-class lifestyle. Things had gotten so bad that she had even began working as a bartender in a local strip joint called the Kitty Kat. She knew that Free wouldn’t like it, but she did what she had to do to maintain. They pulled up to her one-bedroom apartment, and she announced, “We’re here, wake up.”
Free drowsily looked up at the worn apartment building and then over at Six. “How long you been staying here?”
“About two years now,” she replied. “I couldn’t afford the condo,” she stated, referring to the luxury high-rise condominium that she and Free had shared before his arrest.
Six exited the car, and Free looked toward the backseat and said, “Big Lou, I’ll be right back. Let me get her settled.” He got out of the car and put his hand on the small of Six’s back as he followed her up to her apartment.
“What are we going to do?” Six asked Free. She was dead broke, and now that Free was home, she needed him to take care of her like he had always done.
“We gon’ get money like we always have. You don’t have to worry about anything, Six. I’m home now,” he said as he caressed her hair.
“I know, but you don’t know how hard it’s been for me. I’m living in this fucking hellhole. I am struggling to pay the rent, and my bills are piled up to the ceiling! ”
“What happened to the money we had stacked up before I went in?” Free asked.
“Your lawyers are what happened, Free,” Six replied.
“How much we got left?”
“We ain’t got shit left. It’s about two thousand dollars in my account,” Six whined.
“Two stacks! You blew through a hundred Gs in three years?” Free questioned.
“Why are you yelling at me? I told you your lawyers were expensive.”
“I’m not yelling at you, ma. I’m just trying to understand why you hurting so bad. You ain’t working? You couldn’t get a gig?”
Six crossed her arms and replied, “Of course I got a job, Free. I wasn’t just sitting back spending your dough. I’m working at the strip club, but that only goes so far.”
Free’s eyes widened in disapproval. “The club? You been shaking your ass for dollars while I’ve been locked up, showing all these niggas what belong to me?” he asked angrily.
“I’m bartending, Free, so calm down! What else was I supposed to do? I needed money, so Sparkle hooked me up with the bartending thing. Don’t make it a bigger deal than what it is,” Six defended, her voice raised a bit out of frustration.
“Damn, Six! I just got out of the joint today, and you already in my ear about some cash. Let me get my head together first. I never knew you to be the type to gold dig.”
“Gold dig?” Six exclaimed. Her hands shot to her hips, and she scrunched her face in confusion. “Free, whatever! Your ass has been behind bars for the past three years, and not once have I thought of stepping out on you. I had the opportunity to say
fuck you
and move on to the next nigga, but I didn’t. Yeah, I’m trying to find out what’s up on some money. I’m broke. Niggas is knocking down my door asking for the rent ... The world didn’t stop when you went away. I still had to survive out here on my own.”
Free turned his back to her and headed toward the door.
“Where are you going?” she yelled.
“To the block,” he replied shortly. He was obviously steamed and wanted to get out of Six’s presence before the small argument escalated. That’s how they were ... hot and cold ... on and off ... love and hate ... their relationship wasn’t one that had been pulled out of the pages of a fairy tale, but at the end of the day, all they had was one another. Despite the petty fights their love ran deep.
“You just got home. Your boys on the block are more important than me?”
Here she goes with that shit
, Free thought to himself. Without answering, he left the house to clear his head. He was well aware that he needed to get on his grind. He still had an unsettled debt to pay, but the last thing he needed was Six stressing him out more by bitching over cash that he didn’t have. He knew that she was high maintenance, but she would have to be patient until he came up with a hustle plan that would make him rich but wouldn’t send him back to prison.
“You good?” Big Lou asked as Free got back into the car.
“Yeah, I’m good,” he replied as he pulled away from the curb.
The liberated feeling that Free felt as he maneuvered his way through the city streets was better than anything that he had felt in a long time. The subwoofers in the car were on point as the two men pulled up onto Big Lou’s block.
Big Lou and Free exited the vehicle to approach Big Lou’s house. A familiar face called out to Lou.
“Big Lou! Hold up a minute, man,” a voice yelled from up the street.
Free noticed a familiar face jog up the block toward them. Ronnie was the local weed man in Detroit. He got his supply from Big Lou, who had a crazy weed connect out of New York.
“Look at this mu’fucka,” Big Lou whispered to Free. Ronnie’s pants hung below his waist, and it was obvious that he was still wearing yesterday’s drawers. The dingy color of the supposed-to-be white fabric and the dirt underneath his fingernails symbolized exactly how dirty the nigga was. His yellow gap-toothed smile and balled-up Force Ones were a dead giveaway to his grimy tactics. He kept looking behind him and from side to side as he approached. “This bum-ass nigga,” Big Lou mumbled as he shifted his stance. “What up, Ronnie?”
“Yo, Big Lou, I need to holla at you about something, man,” Ronnie replied as he continued to look from side to side.
“What up, fam? Time is money, nigga—talk,” Big Lou stated.
Ronnie eyed Free suspiciously and then said, “Can we step inside or something? This a private matter, you know?”
“Nigga, you know Free. What’s good?”
“No disrespect, Free. I just need to holla at Big Lou on some private shit, you know. I mean, I heard about your beef with them Russians, and I’m not trying to be associated in that shit, you feel me?”
Free looked at Ronnie with a calm expression on his face and stated, “I don’t know what you talking about. Handle your business though, bruh.”
“Nigga, get the fuck out of here with all that privacy bullshit. Get at me when you ready to talk,” Big Lou stated harshly as he and Free stepped up the sidewalk and sat down on the porch.
“What is up with your people?” Free asked as he made himself comfortable on Big Lou’s porch, positioning himself so that he could see the entire length of the city block.
“Man, I ain’t want to be all in your business, but word is out about you and that Russian cat. Niggas gon’ be scared to fuck with you for a while. Word is you owe that mu’fucka like a mill or something.”
“Niggas talk too much about shit they don’t know, nah, mean,” Free stated with apparent anger in his voice.
“What really happened? What did you do that got those Russians gunning for your head?”
“You remember the day I got locked up?” Free asked.
“Yeah, you was driving up to New York, but got pulled over by a cop. I never understood why you took them mu’fuckas on a high-speed chase. You was playing with them pigs,” Big Lou stated with laughter in his voice. “Those crackers chased your ass all the way up Interstate 75.”
“I didn’t have a choice. I had fifteen keys in the car with me,” Free admitted. He had never told anyone the true story of what had happened that day.
“And you only did three years? Free, you snitching?” Big Lou asked, knowing that the excessive amount of cocaine that Free had was enough to have gotten him a life sentence.
“Hell, nah. Come on, fam, you know me better than that. They ain’t catch me with the bricks, just the pistol I had. I shook the police so I could get rid of the product. I tossed that shit. That type of weight would’ve put me under the jail. I didn’t have a choice.”
“What does all this have to do with the Russians?”
“It was their weight. Claude is out of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
“Damn! A hundred fifty?” Big Lou asked in disbelief.
“A hundred fifty,” Free confirmed. “I just got out, and I know he’s waiting to hear from me. I got to have something to offer when I call him, though. He gon’ be trying to speak money, and that’s something I don’t have right now. Six is stressing over money, and I got this shit on my mind.”
“Yo, you know I got you, fam. Whatever you need ... well, not whatever, nigga. I ain’t got a hundred fifty, but whatever else you need, I’m with you.”
“Good looking out,” Free said. “What I really need to know is how much the bricks going for?”
Free sat back on his best friend’s porch and watched as Big Lou’s block made money. Free could tell that a lot had changed since his reign had ended. The entire operation looked sloppy. Whoever was running things hadn’t trained his people well enough.
These niggas is making transactions on street corners, and they keeping the work on ’em. Don’t nobody stand on corners no more
, Free thought, disgusted at how off their hustle was.
“This cat named Brick got the joints for twenty-five a pop.”
“Damn, a quarter a key,” Free replied in disbelief. He had never paid more than 16.5 per kilo, and he didn’t intend on starting now. He came to the conclusion that Brick was definitely overcharging. “He’s taxing niggas like that?”
“Man, Brick the only one in the city that got ’em. There was a drought on the streets after you got hit. You know them Russians weren’t fucking with none of us, so nobody could get their hands on work. Brick came through a couple months into your bid and took over. He had them for sale, and even though his shit ain’t as good as the Russians, it was all we had to choose from. He knows he’s the only one in town with the weight so he charges whatever he wants.” Big Lou sat back in the white porch chair and smiled at Free. “You trying to get back on?”
Free shook his head and replied, “Hell, no, you know I ain’t working underneath nobody, and I’m not paying no outrageous prices for the work either. I’ll find another connect.”