Free Secrets of a Side Bitch by Jessica Watkins

“Nothing.”
                  I didn’t know what the fuck else to do. Here I was giving her a car, when she hadn’t had one in years, and she was still moping.
                  “Here. I can’t get you a whip right now, but you can at least go shopping.” I stuck my hand in my pocket and handed her a couple hundred bucks. Still, there wasn’t a smile on her face! I knew that her issue wasn’t totally with me. If she had something going on for herself I knew she would feel better, but that was out of my control.
                  But at least I was doing what was in my control. Being able to pay my own bills and kick my girl down put me on ten. Yet, here she was with a car and shopping money with her lip poked out. She was blowing me. Luckily, Ching pulled up right behind me as expected. He hollered at me about an hour before telling me that he was meeting me at my crib so that I could take a ride with him to take care of some business.
                  When Aeysha peeped Ching pulling up, she got even more frustrated. “So you’re about to bounce?”
                  “I’ll be right back.”
                  “You’ll always be right back, Omari!”
                  Then she had the nerve to throw the bills that I gave her in my face and stomp off towards the house. I didn’t even argue with her. I picked up the money, noticing that she damn sure didn’t throw them car keys. She slammed the front door hard as hell. I didn’t even take it personally. I knew she was going through some internal shit. I wasn’t about to stop making shit better for myself and her because it was making her feel insecure.
                  “Trouble in paradise, Pretty Boy?”
                  I snickered as I climbed into Ching’s box chevy. “Something like that. Where we on our way to?”
                  “Gotta make a quick move,” was all he said. Then he pulled off, bumping Jay Z’s Holy Grail album.
                  Though I got robbed two weeks ago, Ching was pulling me further into his camp. Shit, I thought he was going to stop fucking with me on the hustle side after that robbery. I had already fucked up when he tried to put me on the block years ago, so I thought the robbery was the icing on the cake. But he took it in stride. He told me that he would handle it and kept giving me more work. Not only that, he was also pushing me more into the front lines of his business. I was more present on the block; picking up money and checking on the block boys. I was even talking directly to the connect when it came to making shipments. It was making it easier for Ching to lay in the cut and was putting more money in my pocket.
                  Ching was pretty quiet as we rode. I knew he was high as hell ‘cuz his eyes were damn near low to the ground and bloodshot red. The music was so loud that I couldn’t say shit anyway. I was really too busy thinking about Aeysha’s ungrateful ass to say more than two words anyway. Eventually, I dozed off. Next thing I knew, Ching was waking me up with a hard nudge on the shoulder.
                  “Wake up, nigga.”
                  When I sat up, I realized that we were at a lake, hidden amongst brush and trees. What area of the city we were in, I didn’t know. We’d driven pretty far though because, after looking at the clock, I realized that I had been sleep for about forty-five minutes.
                  Ching hopped out the car without a word. When he went to the trunk, I figured he was meeting somebody here to make a drop. So, I met him at the trunk thinking nothing of it. But when he popped it open, my heart dropped to my stomach.
                  “Yo, man! What the fuck?!”
                  I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was some nigga, bound by his wrist and ankles, with duct tape