Page 74 of Adonis Gates

“Bruh…”

“Bruh?” I frowned.

I wasn’t used to this side of Apollo. He was always respectful and well-mannered with me, so I didn’t know who was sitting in front of me right now. Just as I got ready to tear into his ass, the front door was opening. I closed my eyes briefly because I knew that Adonis was about to go off when he found out what happened.

“What y’all doin’ up?” he asked, closing the door slowly. “And y’all dressed,” he examined us both. “Well sort of.” He chuckled looking me over, but his smile faded when he noticed that I wasn’t returning the gesture. “What’s wrong?”

Sucking in a deep breath, I said, “I just picked Apollo up from the police station.”

His brows dipped immediately, and he zeroed in on his brother.

“What?!” he barked. “Fuck you was doing at the police station?”

“Man, they bogus.”

“No, Apollo, you’re bogus.” I fussed. “They had you on camera.”

“On camera? What the fuck is going on? What happened?”

“Apparently, the police got reports that Apollo and his friends were in The Foundry breaking into cars.” I confessed after a heavy sigh. “He called me with an officer and they asked me to come down and get him, then they gave me these.”

I held the papers out. He accepted them and began to look through the stack of nine sheets for breaking and entering, malicious damage, and interfering with the police.

“Ain’t this ‘bout a bitch.” He chuckled humorlessly, still reading over the paperwork then turning his burning gaze to his brother. “What the fuck were you doing breaking into cars?” he growled. “Matter of fact what the fuck was you doing out of the fucking house?”

“Shawn was having a kickback at his house…” Apollo answered.

“Shawn?” he asked incredulously. “The nigga that you just got jammed up with in the bathroom at school?!”

“Yeah.”

“AP, bro.” He chuckled again, gripping the paperwork tightly. “I’m trying real hard not to beat the fuck out yo’ ass right now, my nigga. What the fuck be going through your head?”

“Same thing that be going through yours when you getting money,” he answered and I dropped my head. He was justaskingfor his brother to jump on him.

“Naw, nigga, dumb shit like that don’t be going through my head,” he snapped. “I ain’t ever stolen shit in my fucking life, especially if I didn’t have to, and I damn sure wouldn’t be doing the shit with stupid niggas that constantly get caught.”

“Whatever bruh.”

Adonis got ready to move toward him, but I intercepted and said, “okay, stop.” I looked between them both. “Apollo, try losing the attitude. You’re the one in the wrong here…”

“I ain’t got an attitude,” he cut me off. “And I ain’t talking to you. You not my real sister anyways.” He mumbled the last part, but I heard him very clearly.

I didn’t even have time to fully register his words before Adonis was clearing the space between him and his brother and hopping on his ass. It happened so fast. He was over him raining blows all over him while Apollo was balled up trying to protect himself. I had to run over and pull on the hoodie that Adonis was wearing while begging him to stop.

He finally pulled back, but not after busting his brother’s nose and lip. I hurried next to him, grabbing some nearby Kleenex for him to hold there.

“Move, Jru,” Adonis gently grabbed me, but I pulled away from him.

“Stop it, Adonis.” I rose to my feet and pulled Apollo up. “Come on.”

I tugged him toward my kitchen to get an icepack from the freezer then the first aid kit from the drawer. I helped him get the nose bleeding to stop, then I cleaned his lip.

“Nigga’s not a baby, Jru,” Adonis fussed. “He act and talk like a grown ass man…”

“But he’s not a grown ass man, Adonis!” I fired back. “He’s a child—your little brother—so you need to stop.” I snapped, shaking my head. “Okay, I think the bleeding stopped, Apollo.” I examined him some. “Take these and go clean yourself up in your bathroom.”

He gave me a somber look before taking he gauze from me and leaving me and Adonis in the kitchen in an awkward silence. I grabbed some bleach to spray the counter down then I used some Clorox wipes to actually wipe it.