CHAPTER SIXTEEN
1999- This Cannot Be Good
So, now I had mad people in and out of my crib and sketchy shit was obviously going on behind my back. I tried to bring it up to Mundo, but he pretty much just shined me on. I had a feeling that Cabrón would be able to straighten things out with a quickness, but there was no way I could take this to him directly. I knew it wouldn’t end well but was in no position to get things under control. Outwardly- appearance-wise at least- I was still keeping it cute, but my head was all fucked up with dope and dick. Two of my favorite things.
This lack of clarity led to some really poor decisions. People were treating my crib less as a safe house and more as a stash house or a club house. And I let it happen. At the time, I thought I was cool with it.
First up, Biz showed up with two laptops and a stack of manila folders filled to the brim with what appeared to be dozens of completed application forms- he asked me if he could store “some paperwork” in the closet by my apartment’s front door.
“What kind of paperwork?” I asked him. Like, since when do people running drug rings keep records?
“Nothing important,” he replied. “Nothing dangerous. I swear to you, Eula. It’s nothing that can get you into any kind of trouble.”
I said okay. At least it wasn’t guns- I refused to have to do anything with guns. And the more they were into it with me, the more leverage I had when it came to my escalating need for dope. I had it in my mind to peek into one of the folders to see exactly what it was that Biz had going on, but got sidetracked by the plump baggie of dope he handed me. After that, I just never got around to snooping. Like I said, my head was all kinds of fucked up.
Then, Luciano showed up with a hundred pairs of the Air Jordans that just dropped, brand new and in their boxes.
“A hundred boxes of sneakers, Lucci?” I asked, exasperated. “Really?”
Luciano shrugged, “C’mon, Eula, be cool. I don’t have anywhere to put ‘em. And I promise they’ll be gone in the next day or two. Swear to god!”
I shook my head. This shit was getting ridiculous.
“And I’ll break you off with a hundred or so, like an inconvenience fee,” he added.
I held my hand out, waiting for the bills to hit my palm.
He laughed and said he’d get me as soon as the transaction was completed.
I was waiting for Cabrón to hit me up next- I was sure he had some shady side-hustles going on in the background- but ‘Brón stayed surprisingly quiet. That raised my suspicions, but I kept them to myself. For the time being, at least.
But then, to make things a million percent worse, Mundo announced, right before Christmas, that he’d shortly be relocating to Honduras for an unspecified period of time.
“An unspecified period of time?” I asked, an audible inflection of panic in my voice.
“Eula,” Mundo said quietly, “Don’t worry. I’m gonna be gone for, like, maybe 3 months. But I’ll be back.” He looked at me again and smiled, like I was a little kid anxious that she wasn’t gonna get any dessert. “You gotta take it easy! This is how things move when Bolo is setting up new operations.”
“But, what am I gonna do?” I knew I sounded desperate, but I didn’t care. My man was going. Was my money going with him? My dope supply? My security? I didn’t like any of this.
“You’ll stick close to Biz and Cabrón,” he replied in a purring tone. “They’re gonna be running things for me while I’m out of town. And I’ll be checking up on you, with lots of phone calls and stuff.”
No mention of sending me a plane ticket to go visit him while he was out there.
“But, what about- “
Doe interrupted me.
“Eula! Don’t worry. You’ll still have your dope. Cabrón will look after you- make sure you’re safe. Biz will make sure you have money.”
I gave him a side-eye. This sounded fishy to me.
“You gotta trust me. It’s gonna be fine. And I haven’t even left yet, so don’t start pouting now.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
“Now, come here and give me a hug.”
He held his arms open.
I didn’t like any of this.
