Free RedBone 2 by T. Styles Page B

now that Ma gone and Dad is locked up! You gotta pick yourself up today, Farah. We gave you three weeks, but we not doing it no more. We even let you stay home and not go to the funeral, and held Grandma back when she tried to kick down the door to drag you there. But I’m done with this shit.”
    “I feel like this is all my fault,” Farah sobbed, wiping her nose with her hand.
    “What the fuck you talking about?” Shadow inquired, pushing the cereal out of the way. “This ain’t nobody’s fault! Nobody knew that she was going to jump in the truck with Audio and get into an accident. Can’t nobody in here tell Chloe what to do, and we all knew that.”
    “I can’t take this! I can’t take it.” She continued the pity party without any guests.
    Shadow was fed up, and Mia wanted to slap her for the way she was performing. They missed Chloe too, but they also knew Farah was going about her grief in the wrong way.
    “Listen, Chloe rode with a nigga she was feeling and paid for it with her life,” Shadow said. “That shit don’t have nothing to do with you, me, or Mia. Now, I need you to stop moping around the fucking house and wash your ass. You smell like one of them dirty bitches down the street.” He stood up in full rage mode. “I’m sick of all this weak-ass shit around here.” He pushed toward his room.
    When the door slammed, Mia took a seat next to her sister. “One minute he acts like he loves me, and the next he goes crazy,” Farah said as she wiped her tears.
    “Shadow is taking it hard too, Farah, but he does love you, and every night he walks into your room when you’re asleep just to make sure you’re still alive. We both are worrying about you, but it’s time to snap out of this shit and get your life together.” She paused. “You gotta do it for yourself and for Chloe.”
    “I’m trying,” Farah said under her breath. “I just don’t know where to start.”
    “You can start with a bath,” Mia suggested, and Farah laughed for the first time in weeks. “There go the smile I love from my sister.” She rubbed her hand softly and observed her face. “Have you looked into the mirror? You have scabs everywhere on your body.”
    “I know. That’s why I don’t want to look.” She swallowed.
    “Do you remember the nigga Jean Hershey?” Mia asked. “Who went to school with me? With the water head and big eyes?”
    Farah frowned. “Mia, I didn’t go to school with you, so how would I know him?”
    Mia rolled her eyes. “Anyway, he was on the news the other day,” Mia explained. “Apparently when the kid Amico went missing, he was on duty as a manager for the movie theater. Miraculously the surveillance tape showing what happened that day is missing.”
    Farah was relieved that the tape couldn’t be found, because even though Chloe killed him instead of her, Farah was still her sister and would most likely be linked to the crime in some way. “That’s good for us, right?” Farah asked.
    “I hope so, but I know this dude, Farah. He’s hiding something. Bet money he got that tape either because he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to at work, or he may be holding it for ransom.”
    Farah raised her eyebrows. “You think he’s going to try to blackmail us?”
    “I think if that was his plan, it would’ve been done already.”
    As long as the tape was gone, Farah couldn’t care less what happened to it. Her mind was on other things. “Has Slade been by to check on me?”
    “No.” She removed her hand. “But it seems like every country nigga from down South live in this building now. They stake out the front, and I’m not sure, but something tells me they’re looking at this door. Be careful when you leave out, Farah. Shit is serious.”
    Farah’s head tightened. In her mind she would be seeing Chloe sooner than later if the Bakers had anything to do with it. “How you know they with Slade?”
    “Because they been in and out of Markee’s apartment and