Page 8 of In Too Deep

Leaving the visitation room, I staggered out of the school towards my car with the heat blazing down my back.

I was here a little longer than I intended to be because I had my day mapped out already.

Tuesdays are the days we receive our shipments for Telo Wireless.

Tonight's anticipated high-volume inventory arrival necessitated a thorough operational readiness check.

“You sure that’s the right tracking number?” I questioned, Javon.

It was after hours, and I was in the back of the store counting inventory to make sure there weren’t any discrepancies with the count.

I made sure we never ran low, and my connect in China expedited the shipping.

It still had to go through tariffs, but the advantage of getting the trendy iPhones firsthand, meant more customers and more money.

Apple advertised a new iOS software, built for newer devices, along with new colors; people were going crazy trying to get their hands on the devices.

My plug hit me up the day after the advertisement, and I bit the bullet, paying a hefty fee to get it first before any other major cellular companies.

Usually, I’m here alone, tallying everything up, but Javon was doing over time, taking care of some quick iPad screen repair.

He’s the store manager who keeps a handful of shit underway, so I’d be cocky to take all the credit, without giving him a pat on the back, making him appear useless.

Counting inventory was easy, but our difficult days acquired a tentative skill that a goofball ass nigga could easily fuck up.

Javon is the one I trust aside from anyone else.

While doing my part, he yelled from the front, telling me to check some shit out on my end regarding the shipping status.

“Log in to your account and double check it.”

I grabbed the MacBook and slid it closer to me. “Watch out.”

“Let me know if you see something different.”

“That’s what I’m about to find out. I don’t know what the fuck goin’ on.”

When my plug from China ships the loot, he gives me a tracking number.

Although I have a FedEx Freight account, it’s easy to track shipments when I click on the link he sends me via email.

That shit was dumb versus the common way—copying and pasting the tracking number into the website, but he says the website has common glitches, and it’s easier to click directly from the email for faster access.

I knew Javon was no fool, but I wanted to see what the fuck was going on for myself.

A ”202 UNKNOWN ERROR” appeared across the screen. My brows furrowed in confusion as I retracted back to my email after closing out the browser and clicking on the tracking number again. Nothing changed; the same error message popped up.

“What the fuck,” I muttered, becoming annoyed by the mishap.

Trying another way, I entered the tracking number exactly as it read in the email, and nothing popped up. This would make sense, but the other night, we saw an estimated delivery date. Thinking quick on my feet, I went back to another email from a prior shipment, and the delivery date was there.

“This shit ain’t adding up, mane.” He responded, taking the words out of my mouth.

Running my head across my waves, I released a deep sigh of frustration.

The prior shipment showcased an estimated delivery date of today, but the issue was that the inventory had already been delivered.

We had the boxes back there, still labeled with the tracking number we were viewing now.

Something wasn’t right, and had it not been for the time difference in China, I’d call my plug to see what the fuck is going on with the current shipment. This shit was different.

In other instances, when there’s a delay in shipping, it’s due to the holidays or bad weather.

I ain’t never had any shit happen like this to me before to cut out the culprit.

This was some internal shit. Going off on my plug wouldn’t do me any good because once it’s shipped, it’s out of his hands and judging by this shit here, it’s out of my hands too.

“If shit gon’ go down like this, I might as well board my shit up myself and meet them niggas at the gate,” I mentioned, as I checked the time on my phone.

“I’ll make a note to call customer service in the morning to see what’s up.

Inventory is straight, and hopefully this shit is just a mix up with the freight. ”

I closed the MacBook and trotted to the back so I could lock up the stock room. I made sure the cameras were turned on before yelling out for Javon to lock up after me so I could exit out of the back door.

“How long you plan on being here?”

“Not long. I got an iPhone screen to fix after that iPad, but that’s light work. I’ll hit you up when I leave.”

“Cool, stay safe nigga.” I dapped him up.

“Aite G.”

On the way home, I stopped by this top notch soul food restaurant.

Honestly, after seeing that shit with my shipment, fucked up my appetite, but I had to put something on my stomach.

I’d been on the move all day. The only thing I ate to put something on my stomach was a bowl of cereal and a muffin.

When hiccups happen, that’s the only thing I think about, which means it’s easy for shit to fuck up my day.

Also, a good night’s rest would be hard to come by.

The thought of a nigga playing with money had me ready to murk a nigga, if that was the case.

I go by a schedule, and if that’s steered in the wrong direction, my whole day is fucked up.

Thinking ahead, when I first started looking into selling cellular phones, I didn’t want to go through a plug to get my shit, but being in the drug game for a while taught me that every dollar has a totem pole and in order to get to the top you have to shake hands with the boss and sit at the roundtable.

It would be more convenient to assemble a group of individuals, have them obtain their CDLs, and operate my vehicles.

However, finding a reliable and trustworthy group is a challenge due to the difficulty of earning my trust. To guarantee prompt and unhindered receipts, I would personally obtain the shit myself.

FedEx was prominent for having slip ups like this, but they were the only reliable source of transportation I could use for now.

I released a sigh of relief as I pulled up to the house to see that Trecee’s car wasn’t in the garage.

Earlier, after I left visiting Reese, she sent me her location.

I never checked it, and I never asked her to send her location.

She always did it, feeling the need to prove a sense of loyalty, but she never gave me a reason to second guess it.

I’m not bent or pressed about pussy that I know belongs to me, regardless of our family feud.

For now, with a full plate and a glass of bullshit on the side, the only thing I could do is eat from it and allow everything to digest. I’ve never been one to complain about a full plate when my only goal was to eat.

SUNDAY, THE FOLLOWING DAY

According to my plug, he contacted customer service, and they had a glitch in the system.

Now, under the correct tracking number from the email he sent me, everything showcased the correct information.

After two hours of unloading the truck, the stockroom was filled with boxes stacked on a pallet.

Business was still booming, so Javon couldn’t help me count the inventory.

That could take up to a week because though we’re tallying iPhone models, they have to match the serial numbers given on the Excel spreadsheet from my plug.

To make it easier, so it wouldn’t be a messy count, the iPhone models have to match the color-coded stickers on the back of every box depending on the iPhone model.

Since the latest iPhones were heavily anticipated, I unloaded the boxes from the pallet and started the count, checking off the matching serial numbers. In order, they were numbered, the first forty count ending in ones, the second forty count ending in twos, the third forty count ending in threes.

So far, shit was going smooth. I’d do it with my eyes closed, but it’d be just as easy to stumble across a hiccup.

Unloading the second set of the fourth set of fours, I started my count, and that’s when I noticed shit started to look fishy, between the count.

So, I wouldn’t stumble on a mishap and fuck up the count, I checked off the ones I could see.

Apparently, this box was out of order, but that was expected.

My plug wasn’t messy, but he always fished for accuracy.

Finishing up, I walked over to the pallet and grabbed another box, noticing the side of the box was jacked up and ripped, like it had been kicked and stepped on.

“The fuck,” I muttered as I grabbed my box cutter from my pants pocket.

By the way, it looked like the tap was jacked up and messy too, it looked rushed, making me become infuriated.

Also, it felt lighter than the other ones did.

Sparking my curiosity, I cut the box open to see about ten fucking iPhones.

Instead of cutting up and acting like a fucking donkey about the shit with a store full of customers, I tallied up the counter and scratched off whatever I didn’t have.

I continued counting inventory before closing time and put Javon up on game about the missing devices.

Together, during closing hours, we removed the boxes from the pallets and went through them to make sure they contained forty devices.

“Shoot that nigga a message on WhatsApp with pictures so he can explain this shit to me,” I instructed Javon.

“I thought he usually sends you a picture of the pallets before they get loaded onto the truck?”

“He did, that don’t answer my question as to where half of the iPhones that are missing out of this box. It’s only the latest ones,” I responded. “I been knowin’ that nigga too long for him to be slippin’ up like this. Nigga gon’ make me act stupid round this mothafucka.”

“Naw,” Javon shook his head. “Ain’t no need to bite that hands that feeds you.”

“I done spent bread with that nigga, I don’t give a fuck what hand he feedin’ me out of.”

Walking past me, he walked over to the computers and glanced over the spreadsheet momentarily, then turning back to me a few minutes after. “How you know this shit have anything to do with him anyway?”

“I don’t know shit, but I’m addressing him first because that’s where it came from. You ain’t supposed to trust the plug. Either way shit go, it’s just business.”

He stroked before running his hands across the front of his cherry shirt that said Telo Wireless above the left breast.

“I’ll keep a lookout for his message. I can finish this shit up for you.

I might as well send a text to our graphic designer about making a flyer for some shit for commercial use.

So we can put whatever we have on sale in the next few days.

Think that’ll be cool or is it delayed due to this shit,” he pointed at the dented box by his feet.

“Naw, money don’t stop.” I glanced down at my phone so I could shoot Synthia a text.

We’d been talking for the past few days after I dropped her off, but the text thread was dry for the most part.

Holding up her end of the bargain, she was still making me dinner tonight.

I honestly wanted a reason to see her fine ass.

I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t stop thinking about her since then.

It was something about her aura, her mentality, and her sweetness that turned me on.

Not even the mere fact of her being Trecee’s cousin made me feel guilty.

I’m a man, and nothing else gets my dick hard like a woman with ambition and drive to get to some paper.