Page 12 of Breaking the Rules

TEN

Burying her head under her covers to drown out the incessant ringing of her phone and knocking on her door.

Tired was an understatement. The emotional rollercoaster on top of whatever undoing that was happening with her was draining her energy.

It was either that or the encounters with Noble were unnerving her in a way she’d never experienced before.

After another sixty seconds of the phone ringing and the banging on the door, she huffed and kicked the covers off her. She grabbed a t-shirt, slipped her feet into a pair of fuzzy house shoes, and stalked toward the door. The unknown number still calling.

Hair peeking from under her pink bonnet, sleep mask haphazardly pushed over her brows, Savanhi unlocked the series of locks and yanked it open. She squinted at her brother’s left-hand man, simply known as Manny.

“Why don’t you answer the phone? I’ve been out here for ten minutes sweating my balls off,” he fussed. “Put some clothes on, we got to go.”

“First of all, watch your mouth talking to me. Where is Zay?” Savanhi quipped. Her tired mind put the pieces of the puzzle together. Her irritation quickly morphed into her worst fear. “Where is Zayden, Manny?”

He pulled in a deep breath. “He was shot this morning by the police. He’s fine and alive, but he’s in the hospital and you need to get down there before they move him.”

“Why didn’t you start with that!” Savanhi fussed and spun around. She kicked her slippers off, ran down the hall, slammed her bedroom door, and haphazardly got dressed. No underwear or bra, but an oversized shirt and leggings would have to do.

She snatched her keys off the counter, and Manny halted her. “No, he told me to drive you. We don’t need you running no one off the road.”

“Manny, shut up talking to me,” Savanhi huffed, stomping past him. “Come on, if we going!”

“I’m going to chalk it up to you being in a state of panic,” Manny huffed, making her stop and glare at him.

For a moment, Manny remembered that Savanhi could knock him out in one punch.

Choosing to shut up, he preceded Savanhi out as she secured the door and started toward her car.

Within seconds, her car was screeching through the parking lot and out of the complex.

The hospital was a thirty-minute ride, and Savanhi got there in twenty minutes flat.

No regard for who was cut off, who was blowing at her, or if the police were behind her.

She only stopped moving to find out which room her brother was in.

Once she discovered that, she took the stairs to the fourth floor and rushed down the hall.

She was stopped by the lone police officer.

She immediately recognized him from Tempt.

“I can’t let you go in there,” the officer said, not recognizing Savanhi in her current state.

“We can handle this one or two ways; you’ll either move around and let me in, or when I go get my hair done, I’ll show your wife what you do every other Thursday with your check. It’s solely up to you.”

The officer looked closely and huffed. “You got three minutes.”

“I only need two. Go take a walk.”

The officer hesitated, but Savanhi gave him a pointed glare. He turned and walked away, allowing her to go into the room where Zayden was cuffed to the bed.

“I got two minutes,” Savanhi stated, prepping herself for this day. “What do I need to do?”

“There’s a woman named Kymber. Find her lawyer. Tell her lawyer it was me.”

Savanhi squinted. “Was it?”

“Doesn’t matter, she has a kid. Tell them that.”

“And what else?”

“Go to our spot, take everything. Use it to open your space and stack the rest. It’ll keep you afloat while I’m gone.”

“How long?”

“Long enough. I was moving major weight. So for however long I’m gone, I’m gone. Do not come visit me. If you write or email, I’ll return it. I want you to go live your life and don’t go back to the club. You understand me?”

Savanhi nodded with a quivering lip. “I do.”

“Don’t cry. Chin up. Just do what I asked you to do aight?”

“Alright. Can I at least have a hug?”

“Twenty seconds,” Zayden spoke, holding out his arms. “Be careful, they barely missed all my important organs and shit. They’re moving me to the county hospital soon.”

Savanhi hugged her brother and kissed his face. “I love you, big bro.”

“I love you too. I need you to remember all the shit I taught you and apply it. Don’t let these niggas or these bitches play with you. No more midnight ballerina shit. Do what you were put here to do, aight?”

Savanhi nodded and swiped the tear from her face. “When you get home, I got you.”

“I know. Make me proud in the time I’m gone. Two minutes is up, get out of here.”

Savanhi saved her tears for when she was alone in her car. A knock on the window startled her. Lawryn. Savanhi unlocked the door and watched her open it.

“Manny called. Let me drive you home. When we get there, we can cry and we can eat ice cream and make a plan, okay?”

Savanhi sniffled. “Okay. We have to make a stop first.”

For the amount of pain Savanhi had to carry throughout her life, Zayden being shot and arrested all at the same time seemed to fit the story of her life. Life amongst vultures, life affiliated, life in L.O. It was all tiring.

Savanhi climbed over the console and sank into the passenger seat. Dropping her head back, she took a deep breath and blew it out. “Do you know the details?”

Lawryn’s brows dipped. “Are you sure you want to know them?”

“I feel like I should know something.”

“They’re saying fifty kilos. The thing is,” Lawryn started, as she buckled her seat and put the car into reverse. “Zayden was moving weight, but he never ever had that much at one time. At least not in one spot.”

“And you know this…”

“Because how do you think I got the shop in The Village? All of this is a part of the game Vanhi, he just kept it from you. Because this was bound to happen and he prepped for it. Zay is smart. Too damn smart to have that much product stocked in one spot.”

“So you’re thinking set up?”

“I know it is. We just got to figure out which one in the crew is the rat.”

“Anyone new?” Savanhi watched the hospital disappear from her view.

“No. It’s been the same program.”

Savanhi asked, “he told me to reach out to a lawyer to help some girl named Kym. Do you know her?”

“Kookin’ with Kym. Yes, I know her. She used to have a food truck. She and her dad ran it, and then, when he passed, she moved her attention to a storefront. You know your brother.”

“Always got his eyes on the hustle and the come up.” Savanhi huffed. “Hustlin’ ass.”

“And apparently, he was in business with her dad before. Girl, it’s a whole thing. What I need to know is what’s your plan now?”

“Zay wants me to take the money and invest it in a studio. But after all of that, I really feel like it’ll be better used getting his charges and hers reduced. I can still dance and stack and be out in three months.”

Lawryn looked at Savanhi with a soft smirk over her lips. “You can never take the elevator. Always the stairs. Always the hardest way.”

“Got to get my muscle up. Zay’s been hustling all of my life.

No way a nine-year-old boy should have been taking care of his five-year-old sister.

No way. But I understand. And I know what I saw him do for me, I got to be able to handle myself on my own.

It’s a must. So if that means I’m shaking ass for a few more months, then that’s what it is. ” Savanhi sank deeper into the seat.

“Y’all being each other’s keeper really makes me upset Dame is away,” Lawryn shared. “You’re doing what I wish I was able to do for him.”

Savanhi held her hand out. “I’m your keeper too. We got this shit. I think, anyway.”

The two shared a silly look and then laughed through the tears.

“Can you be serious for a minute?” Lawryn huffed, swiping her hand over her face.

“If I get serious, I’m going to be mean and crying all the time. I am so tired of this space. Tired of fighting, tired of waiting on the other shoe to drop.” Savanhi punctuated her sentence with a sniffle only to laugh with Lawryn replied.

“Well, bitch, we might just have to be barefoot.”