Page 81 of He Thugged Me First

“What are you gonna do, Quari? Knock somebody's kid off?” Mazzier asked.

“Even though the lil’ nigga had every intent on knocking my ass off, nah I ain’t. I don’t need that on my conscience.” I shook my head. It was true though, Even though I beat his ass something good, I couldn’t dare. Pulling my gun from the back of my pants I aimed at the ceiling and let two off, waking him up from his semi peaceful slumber.

His eyes opened with a quickness, he was staring at me like he was afraid and he should’ve been.

“How old are you?” Kasair was the first to speak.

He looked at Kasair then back at me and the gun I had at my side. Yeah, he knew who the fuck I was. “That ain’t important old school.” He whipped the blood from his lips.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it and neither could Mazzier.

“If I’m old school I’d hate to know what they call ya ass.” Kasair looked back toward Mazzier and I.

“Dead man.” The little boy responded.

“Damn that was good, anybody got a belt?” Mazzier asked.

“Nah, old school it’s Saturday, but Imma do this really quick.” I cocked the gun back and held up his student ID. “How old are you Darius?”

Now I could see the fear in his eyes and I hated it, but nowadays you had to handle shit a different way then you wanted to.

“Fourteen,” he said before looking down at the ground.

Kasair shook his head. “I should fuck ya lil disrespectful ass up.”

“Who you moving for, because I know for a fact yeen no contract.” I looked him over. He was too young and way too green. In my life you purposely didn’t move with any type of identification because you never knew which job you’d die before you completed.

He didn't respond.

“Fine, I hope it’s worth getting ya fucking brains splattered for.” I aimed the gun like I was about to end his little ass.

His eyes damn near bulged from their sockets. “My play uncle talked about the job, I just thought I’d get it done to prove myself to the family.”

Mazzier started laughing. “Lil nigga, you gotta be stupid. How did your green ass think you were gonna murk somebody who does this for a living?”

“Then freeze up when you had the chance? You know what, what’s ya uncles name because after I beat yo ass, I’m gonna go fuck him up.” Kasair responded.

“Clay Afron.”

As soon as he said that name, I looked from Mazzier to Kasair. Now this shit was getting funnier and funnier.

“And that’s how I know yeen is built for the life you tryna prove yourself to. You just flipped on ya fam without a second thought. Where you from, Darius?” Kasair shook his head.

“Up north, my mama work?—”

“Yeah, diarrhea at the tongue. If you get out of this, choose a different path.” I responded before dropping his school ID.

When I said that he looked at me and I could see the fear welling up inside of him. He damn sure didn’t plan to be here. He thought tasking a life and choosing the street life was easy, when in reality it wasn’t. You didn’t choose the streets, they chose you and the mistake was a lot of niggas thought because the streets chose them that they were special and the streets loved them. That’s the thing, just because you were chosen didn’t mean they loved you, the streets has swallowed the hardest niggas whole, so imagine what it would to this young nigga in front of me.

I blinked a few times and escaped my thoughts before I peered down at Darius. With the pain in my shoulder getting worse, I knew I wouldn’t shoot him but I was about to scare the fuck out of him. “You got a lil’ shot off, grazed me the most so this is what Imma do for you since I’m feeling generous today. You have a choice, you either choose the streets and I kill you right here without a second thought, or you choose to go ya young ass to school and go a different path. Here’s the thing, Imma keep my eyes on you tell me one thing and I find you in the streets, I’ll do you a favor and end you before the streets can. So choose wisely because I won’t ask again, nor will it be a choice that time.”

“So, what’s it gonna be, fam?” Kasair crossed his arm and looked down at him.

Darius looked from the ID on the ground to the gun in my hand and I saw his decision before he said it. “Imma go to school.”

“Good choice now go get yo stupid ass on a bus and go home. Not to ya play uncle’s crib either. Ya mama’s.” Mazzier peeled a few bills off and handed them to the boy as he stood.

Darius looked from me to Kasair as he hesitantly stood to his feet and took the money from Mazzier.

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