Page 6 of Stay Dangerous

And I looked back to find my brother.

He threw a hard right into Remy’s head, dropping him.

Right before a scrawny lil’ fist landed right on my eye.

I stumbled a little and whipped my head back in front of me. Set stood there, grinning as blood clouded half my vision.

“You bitch ass nigga!” I shrieked, rushing him.

Distantly, I heard Pooh call for Fredo, but all I focused on is a nigga who I knew would be a problem.

He squared up again, and I got my second wind as I threw everything I had into hooks and haymakers.

Arms wrapped around me from behind, and I was primed to headbutt whoever it was, until I heard my brother’s harsh voice in my ear.

“Chill the fuck out, Rick.”

I let him back us out of that nigga’s face, but I grinned at him, feeling blood coat my teeth.

He grinned back, backing up until Tiny wrapped her arm around his collarbone.

He was a year younger than me, and was taller than her already. I shifted my gaze to her, and my grin widened.

That look on her face… I’d seen it so many times.

Everyone in the Birch knew how Tiny took him in when no one else could. She was his second mother, and he was her little pitbull puppy, nipping at her feet every time he took down a little bird that was bothering her.

Set was a problem, let Pooh tell it to the OGs. Ma could barely handle raising us, so she couldn’t take in another boy, especially one with a body count. Tiny was his savior.

But she was still just a bitch. A horny bitch, if I went by the way her pupils dilated and her teeth combed her bottom lip.

It would have been almost too easy to turn her freak ass out, and I knew she was a freak. I had a sixth sense about that shit.

“You two Looney Tunes be in Tower Six at six a.m. tomorrow,” she called out as the other BBs began to congregate around Gee and Remy, who was just waking up.

“Which one’s Looney?” I asked, spitting out the excess blood from my mouth.

Her lips twitched before she backed away toward her own car with Set. “The way you think you can go against Set It Off, you fasho Looney, lil’ boy.”

“Ain’t nothin’ about me little,” I called out at her back, before Fredo pulled me back toward our tower. I glanced to my right without thinking and my shoulders slumped, just slightly, when I noticed the Monte Carlo was gone.

“Leave that bitch alone. She ain’t nothing but trouble, Rick.”

I chuckled, wincing when my ribs pinched. The adrenaline was wearing off, and I knew by the time we got back into our crib, we’d both be sore and achy.

“What Pooh always say? Trouble always got the best pussy attached to it.”

That bitch nigga Set gave me a black eye. Nan made me keep a frozen steak on it, but my shit was still bruised when we slipped out of the crib the next morning.

School started the next week, and yeah, we’d be protected now, in a new school, but I was sporting a shiner, and I couldn’t get any get back because now, he was my brother in Birch or some shit.

Bullshit gang politics.

“It ain’t that bad,” Fredo said as we made our way to the meetup. The only light outside were spotty streetlights, but I still saw Fredo’s grin when I glanced at him.

He got away easy, with a couple scratches on his face. That bitch Remy was giving out body shots, so Fredo’s stomach was a mottled up, but he more than held his own.

I was proud.