Free Killer Diamonds by Michael Goins

Step. “What’s up?” he asked surprised.
    “ What you’re now a good boy? You don’t fuck with a girl no more?”
    “ Come on Step, you know you my girl. So what’s up?”
    “ What did your boy say?” she asked.
    “ Who?” Time asked confused.
    “Skillz. What he say?”
    “ I’m not following. Say about what?”
    “Nique said she was going to tell you to hook me up.”
    “ Oh yeah? When was this?”
    “ When we went shopping. We ran into Skillz we when were at the mall.”
    “ Hold up a second.” Time reached into his pocket and paid for his gizzard dinner. They were at Pam’s Restaurant. It was on the corner of Helms Street down from the Riverdale. When he received his change, he stepped to the side and waited on Step. “Nah… she didn’t say anything to me,” he told her. Step looked back from the ordering window. “First, let me pay for that,” Time said.
    “ You going to buy my lunch? What I do right?”
    “ Nothing!”
    Time reached into his pocket. He then handed a twenty dollar bill through the window and walked away uninterested in the change. Step waited, and then she caught up with him.
    “ You forgot your change!”
    “ You can keep it.”
    “ God… why are you being so generous today?” Step stuffed the money into her extremely tight dress pants.
    “ Can I ask you something?” Time began.
    “ If you keep paying for my food, I guess you can.”
    “ How cool are you and Nique?”
    “ We cool, not like you and me though.” Step had a where is this going look on her face. She then opened the box and removed a wing smothered in sauce.
    “ If I tell you something, you think you can keep it quiet?”
    “Boy q uit playing. I work for a law firm. The first thing you learn is attorney-client confidentially.”
    Time look at her closely. “ I guess that will work. How about I tell you, Nique don’t want to hook you up cause she fucking Skillz.” Step gasped almost choking on the chicken. “What! Get the fuck out of here! That’s your boy.”
    “ I know right. My boy and my girl.”
    “ Time… are you sure? I mean you could be tripping, do you have some proof? Cause I don’t think that sounds like Nique. Let alone with Skillz.”
    “ I can’t prove it yet, but I will. I was thinking you could help me.”
    “ Well… I don’t know Time. How about you’re wrong and Nique finds out we’ve been keeping a peep on her?”
    “ She ain’t going to know.”
    Step looked at him thinking. “Alright… I’ll help you.”
    “ Okay, give me your number and I’ll call you.”
    Step called out her number. Time recited it to make sure he had it right.
    “ You make sure you holler at me. I’ve got to get back to work.”
    “ Do y’all got some good lawyers over there?” He asked.
    “Time don’t start acting crazy on me. Wait until you find out something before you think about retaining a lawyer.” Step walked back to where he was standing and looked into his eyes. “You haven’t gone crazy on me have you?”
    Time smiled, “I ain’t crazy yet.”

Chapter 11
    “You got some homework?” Tip asked as she and Dice walked into the house.
    “ No ma’am. Ms. Gregory said we were good today so I don’t have any. Can I download some songs for Dontae?” he asked.
    “ Do you know what you doing?”
    “I got this M a.”
    Without any warning, the doorbell buzzed. Tip was in the process of removing her earrings when it happened . She signed loudly and sat them on the kitchen table. “Who is it,” she called out.
    “Mr . Jones… Nano’s probation officer.” Tip opened the door with a peculiar feeling. “Is Nano in?” Jones asked.
    “ No… but he should be soon.”
    “His home visit is next week, but since I was in the area, I thought it would be alright if I stopped by.”
    Tip glanced at the diamond-clustered watch she’d received from Hitman on her last birthday. “It’s not a problem, come in.” Tip stepped to the side for him to enter. The first thing she