Page 1 of Ghetto Heartstrings

Wise gently grabbed Brook’Lynn’s wrist, before she stepped foot out of the car.

“Be careful and hurry the fuck up Brook. You know these churches and shit make a nigga nervous. I done did everything up under the sun but surrender to the Lord, and I don’t want the spirit fuckin’ with me, being in front of this shit too long.

It’s already enough I had to go in; this shit got me feeling crazy,” he said as his eyes bounced around, scanning the parking lot.

He made sure his tool was sitting on his lap, loaded and ready.

Brook’Lynn stared straight ahead at nothing in particular. “I’ll be quick,” she said. “And about that, maybe we all need to surrender to the Lord. We’ll talk about it one day,” she replied, walking away and into the church.

Five minutes later, the creaking sounds of the heavy church doors could be heard opening behind Brook’Lynn, causing her to hurriedly run off from the casket she was staring into.

Trying to be as discreet as possible, she made it behind the pew just in time, not wanting to be seen.

She knew her being there was risky, but a part of her felt like she needed to come and say her final farewell.

The funeral was set to start in an hour, and she planned to be long gone.

Wise had already made his peace and was in the car waiting for her to return.

Her throat was on fire, as she stared at Brody walking in with his black Ray Ban shades covering both his eyes.

Even from a distance, she knew from the aura that his body gave off, he’d been crying or at least shed a tear or two.

But what confused her the most was why, as she wondered what the fuck he was doing there.

He was alone, which wasn’t unusual, but that was beside the point.

How did he know the face of the empty body that once bared a soul lying in the casket?

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, as she bit down on her bottom lip to contain from saying anything or making herself discoverable.

Looking down at her little Michael Kors bag, she eased her iPhone out and silenced it, not wanting to get caught in case it rung.

She needed Brody to hurry up and say what he was going to say.

As if he could read her mind, Brook’Lynn watched with glued eyes and a racing heart as he removed his shades, exposing his bloodshot eyes.

The crisp suit he wore complemented him well and the glow from the lights showed how handsome he really was but, underneath all of that, Brody had his own secrets.

He was a different kind of man; the life he lived forced him to hide what lied beneath.

Now, he was staring into a casket, wondering if this was a part of his punishment…

was this how it was supposed to happen? The person he was looking at was too young to be lying there.

His heart tugged at him, as he made sure his gun was tucked in the small of his waist before he spoke.

Brook’Lynn knew that what she’d been impatiently waiting for was coming.

She’d been scrunched down there for five minutes, waiting for him to say something, so she could get the fuck out of there.

She prayed like hell that Wise didn’t come in looking for her and fuck this all up.

Snapping her out of her thoughts were his first words, his first sentence, his true thoughts, causing Brook’Lynn to go weak in the joints.

It wasn’t how he said it; it was what he said that had her in tears and on the brink of passing out.

“You fucking liar… you’s a fucking liar,” she involuntarily mumbled.

Brody briefly snapped out of his moment and immediately grabbed his gun. He thought he was alone, but the voice told him otherwise. “Who the fuck is there?” he asked, looking into the casket one last time as he squinted his eyes while scanning.

Brook’Lynn used one hand to cover her own mouth, mad at herself from not being able to control her loose tongue.

The beads of sweat trickled down her forehead; she wanted to gag.

How was it that she was suddenly scared of a man she’d been around her entire life?

Life wasn’t always what it seemed and the people you thought you knew everything about always turned out to be the most crooked ones.

Would he shoot me? she wondered, although she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

She went from hoping that Wise wouldn’t walk in, to now praying that he did.

Closing her eyes tight while hoping that this shit was some kind of sick joke, she took slow deep breaths and counted backwards. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six…

She thought about how it came to this in the first fucking place. Her mind raced, wondering where to even start. What better place than the beginning? Fuck it.