Page 2 of Terrez and Shalene (D-Ville Projects #4)

Terrez Blakewood

“Little, you said these niggas was runnin’ shit smoothly. That phone call don’t sound like shit is smooth,” I stated before placing the blunt to my lips.

“Chaos is one of the best men on the team. He keep shit together and the counts are always on point. If he’s callin’, that means it’s some shit out of his control,” Little explained.

Little had been my homie since the sandbox days.

With both of us coming up with similar lives, it took no time for us to create a bond.

By the time the two of us were teenagers, we were running the block better than niggas twice our age.

Our hunger only grew and so did our names in the streets.

Everybody in Diamond Falls knew who Little and Terrez were and knew we weren’t to be fucked with.

On multiple occasions, we had to prove that we could hold our own.

The night of my twenty-first birthday was a night I’d never forget.

I was having a party at the strip club and the connect we were using called a last-minute meeting.

Little volunteered to go and told me he’d call me if the meeting was important.

Luckily, I didn’t need to be there, but it still turned out be a fucked-up night.

While Little was en route back to the strip club, he got pulled over.

We never rode around with shit on us, but the unregistered gun he had caused him to do three years in prison.

I did everything I could to get my nigga out, going from lawyer to lawyer, but there was nothing I could do.

I was so used to having Little as my right hand that I contemplated giving up all the street shit.

He was the only person I trusted to have my back and vice versa.

About six months into his sentence, our connect stopped fucking with me.

He thought since I no longer had a partner, product wouldn’t get pushed through at the rate it had been.

Although his assumption wasn’t true and the money was still right, Enrique decided to cut ties with me.

No connect meant I had no team. I watched an empire I helped build crumble before my eyes.

Eventually, other hustlers from different gangs took over my territory and I couldn’t do shit about it.

Coming from humble beginnings taught me to always have a stash for a rainy day.

I’d blown a lot of money on bullshit over the years, but I also had a nice amount saved.

One day, I was at a diner thinking about my next move.

I’d made my way to the top of the food chain and couldn’t see myself starting over as a block boy.

There was another connect I knew about, but shit didn’t work like that.

You couldn’t just walk up on people and start discussing that type of shit.

Moving like that was a quick way to get you sent to glory.

Getting a legit job crossed my mind but I didn’t want to do that shit either.

I didn’t have a problem getting in the field and getting my hands dirty, but I couldn’t deal with another man telling me what to do.

I knew how the world operated, but I didn’t see that for myself.

Someone telling me what time to come in, go to lunch, and go home didn’t sound like a life I wanted to live.

I was down to my last ten thousand dollars and felt like my back was against the wall.

I was about to say fuck it all until I was approached by one of the leaders of DP.

Kassir was a street legend and had been running shit since I could remember.

The few times we crossed paths, we acknowledged each other with a nod and kept it pushing.

That fact alone was why I was surprised he’d approached me that day.

When Kassir offered me a position on his team, I was hesitant.

The thought of being surrounded by men I didn’t know was unsettling.

On the other side of that coin, I knew it was an opportunity to get me back in the game as a boss.

Kassir informed me that he knew all about Little and me and he was impressed.

He made me a deal I couldn’t refuse and the rest was history.

Not only did he keep his word about my place in DP, but he kept shit real when he said Little had a place in the gang when he came home.

By the time Little came home, the trap houses I was once overseeing belonged to me.

Kassir let me have them. The only stipulation was I had to keep him as my plug.

That was cool because that meant I would never have to deal with any issues between him and the connect.

That was ten years ago. I wouldn’t say things had been perfect because nothing ever was perfect when it came to the streets.

But what I could say was that I was truly surrounded by real niggas and making more money than I ever thought.

Including the houses I got from Kassir, I now had a total of five houses that I ran.

Last year, Little came to me about letting him take over the house I had on Roosevelt.

He wasn’t hurting for money, but he was trying to move up in the food chain.

He was my brother and whatever I could help with I would.

I trusted Little with my life, so trusting him with my money and product was light work.

So far shit had been cool. I didn’t care for the young nigga he had in charge, but that wasn’t my business.

Little had been doing this shit just as long as I had.

He knew what a snake looked like, so I wasn’t worried about ol’ boy pulling some shit.

About ten minutes ago, Little got a call from Chaos, saying some product was missing from the last delivery.

I was going to let Little handle the situation the way he saw fit.

I would only step in if I felt like these little niggas were playing in our faces.

When we pulled up to the house, Little parked across the street and we finished the blunt before getting out the truck.

Despite everyone in the house being part of DP, I made sure my heat was on my hip and easy to access.

I didn’t care how long I’d been in these streets or how much respect I had, I’d never be a nigga who thought I was untouchable.

“What’s up? Why you lil niggas ain’t at y’all post?” Little asked as we approached.

“Chaos told us to come back to the house until you got here,” Simba answered.

“So ain’t nobody on the block?”

“Nope. He pulled us all off,” Kwan said.

Both Kwan and Simba had to be in their early twenties. Little said they reminded him of us when we were just some young niggas trying to get some money. They’d been working under Little for a little over a year, but they were cool. I didn’t trust many, but I fucked with them.

“What’s good, Terrez,” Simba greeted.

“What’s good, bruh?”

“Y’all got the work on y’all right now?”

“Yeah. We had just came to re-up when Chaos told us not to leave,” Simba said, answering Little’s question.

“Y’all get back out there. I got Chaos.”

Nodding in response, Simba and Kwan stood from the porch and went to their spots.

When we made it inside, my jaw ticked at the way Chaos had handled the situation.

He wanted to be a boss so damn bad, but didn’t know what the fuck he was doing.

He thought since he was a block boy for a few years, he was ready to be a boss.

All I’d say was, everybody wasn’t meant to lead a herd.

“Why the fuck you niggas sitting at the table like it’s the last supper?”

“Little, I shut down shop until you got here,” Chaos said as he stood from the counter he was leaning on.

“And why the fuck would you do that? If the product was off when it was delivered, then that means some shit went down with the shipment, dummy. Everybody get back to the mafuckin’ money now!” Little spat as he walked deeper into the kitchen.

When everyone cleared out, Chaos went to speak but I knew he wouldn’t get too far. Little was pissed and rightfully so. On one hand, I could see why Chaos thought shutting shit down was best, but on the other hand, it wasn’t his play to call. He was the overseer, not the head nigga in charge.

“My bad, man. I thought closing up was what you wanted me to do until you figured out what was going on.”

“If I wanted you to shut shit down, I would’ve told you that when you called me.

What I’m trying to figure out is, why the hell you accepted the delivery if the shit was short.

And please don’t sit in my face and say you didn’t know it was short.

You can look at the bag and tell it was short, so what’s up? ”

From the look on Chaos’ face, I knew he would be somebody who needed to be watched.

Shit had been smooth up until now, but there had always been something with him that didn’t sit well with me.

Under regular circumstances, he was a decent overseer, but he did questionable shit.

Little wasn’t exaggerating when he said you can eye a bag and tell if the shit was off.

The shit was true when it came to product and money.

“I fucked up, Little. That shit won’t happen again though.”

Instead of speaking, Little shook his head and walked over to the table where the product was laid out. Without even having to touch it, he knew how much was missing and so did I.

“I’ll check on you niggas later, since it’s clear you still need your hand held. Until then, keep shit moving unless it’s something serious. By serious, I mean police, or somebody being shot,” Little said as we headed to the front door.