EXCLUSIVE ***Excerpt*** of She Was a Friend of Mine 4 by Jasheem Wilson.

Prologue

“Girl, I don’t know what possessed yo’ ass to put a shop here,” Ra’Nee said, looking in the mirror at her new low Fantasia Fade, which was done up into a Mohawk. “I mean, sure it fixes up nice, but bitch, yo’ ass know the only place to stay in business over here is Kitty’s Cleaners—how many hair shops done been in this one spot over since you can remember?”
Scheyenne ignored Ra’Nee as she looked around the shop. She was pleased with it all. She hadn’t been inside the little space since the day before her graduation, when she’d gotten her hair done by Sista Fritzy. She remembered the shop the way it looked before, but now she couldn’t recognize it. It had been completely remodeled. The design mimicked her first shop in Oakland, which was doing well. She was more than satisfied with the results. Sure, because of the amount of times that the place had changed hands, it seemed like a bad location, especially considering the other locations she had to choose from in East Palo Alto. However, because of the success of her first shop, she was confident she could make it work.
If you build it they will come, she thought, looking out the front windows.
A forest green Chrysler Town & Country slowed to a stop in front of the shop. She stared at it for a second and then disregarded it. It was just a potential customer reading the signs for the grand opening the next day.
“Bitch, don’t act like you don’t hear me,” Ra’Nee yelled.
Scheyenne sighed and turned to Ra’Nee. “Nee-Nee, you done had damn near a year to bitch about this place. Now yo’ ass gon’ wait ‘til we signed the contract and put up the money?”
Ra’Nee put her hands on her hips and looked Scheyenne up and down. “Who you gettin’ an attitude with; don’t forget where you came from, better yet, where I came from…”
Scheyenne didn’t hear the rest. She began laughing somewhere in the beginning of Ra’Nee’s bitchin’ and had turned her head to the left. While Ra’Nee was in the middle of her rant, Scheyenne spotted something out the corner of her eye that didn’t fit. The green mini-van was still there; two jet black Dodge Chargers with tinted windows were now parked behind it. Scheyenne had stopped listening to Ra’Nee altogether as the Chrysler peeled off and the doors of the Dodge Charger began to open.
“Shi? Shi! Bitch, yo’ ass just gon’ ignore me again?”
Scheyenne’s heart was pounding as she watched four men, dressed in all black, wearing hoodies and hats creep towards the shop.
Black meant death.
“Scheyenne Hen—”
“Ra’Nee, get down!” Scheyenne said, reaching for her Prada.
“Bitch, what?”
“Ra’Nee, get yo’ ass on the ground,” Scheyenne yelled, looking towards the window as the first bullet shattered the front window, silencing the world.
Ra’Nee was screaming, but Scheyenne could not hear them over her own heart pounding in her ears. In one fluid motion, Scheyenne reached into her purse, gripped the nine she was so accustomed to carrying. She threw herself at Ra’Nee, knocking them both down as holes began appearing in the back wall. Scheyenne was trying to get herself together as the sound whooshed back into her ears. Ra’Nee was hysterical and Scheyenne did the only thing she could; she slapped her. It shocked Scheyenne and obviously, Ra’Nee, as she held her cheeks.
“Ra’Nee—”
Scheyenne’s face caught fire.
“Bitch, who the fuck you slappin’?”
Scheyenne was stunned and a second away from putting a bullet in Ra’Nee, when she heard glass crunching. “Ra’Nee, crawl to the bathroom and stay down.” Scheyenne thought she’d get an argument, but Ra’Nee turned and hauled ass.
Scheyenne laid on her back with her eyes closed, trying to slow her breathing as she thought. There were four men with guns. She had a plain old nine, with eight in the clip and one in the chamber. That was two shots per person, or she could shoot herself out. She knew the latter was not an option with Ra’Nee there.
Fuck!
She heard them moving around slowly in the broken glass and opened her eyes. She was on the other side of the counter, with her gun to her chest. A head appeared over the counter and Scheyenne took aim. The man looked down at her and she winked before pulling the trigger twice.
One down, she thought as bullets began flying over her.
Her heart was pounding as she instinctively covered her face, waiting. She heard the sound of clips falling and being replaced.
Now or never, she thought as she got to her feet as fast as she could.
The three remaining guys stood a few feet from one another, reloading their weapons. Scheyenne smiled as she began shooting. She had no idea where she hit the first guy, but he went down fast. The second guy grabbed his throat before falling. Her heart almost came out of her chest as she pointed her gun at the third guy. His M11 was aimed right at her chest.
Shoot Shi! she thought, praying he wouldn’t shoot first and kill her.
Click…click…
Scheyenne’s knees almost buckled. He hadn’t reloaded yet.
Scheyenne shook her head, trying to get her vitals back under control.
“Never send a man to do a woman’s job,” she said, before sending one in his heart.
Where the fuck is the police? she thought as she pointed at one of the idling Chargers and shot the side window out, causing them both to speed off. Once they drove off, she dropped her hand, sighing with relief.
Sighing again, she looked around the front of the shop.
“It may be a woman’s job…” Scheyenne heard as a gun pressed into the back of her neck. She raised her hands, dropping her gun and slowly turned around as the man said, “But it’s a man’s world.” He jerked his head towards the back of the shop.
Scheyenne marched to her office where there was a back door. On the way out, she saw Ra’Nee peek her head out the bathroom and she slowly shook her head so she’d stay put.
Out back, she saw the green Town & Country.
As they approached, the back was popped and the man said, “Get in.”
Scheyenne turned and looked at him. “Really? Are you serious?”
He cocked the hammer back and she rolled her eyes and climbed into the back of the minivan next to the rope and duct tape…

* * *

Yeah, that’s me—Shi… I know, I know, you wonderin’; is this bitch in the trunk of a car? Again? Hold up; check it out. It’s not a car, it’s a minivan and the proper term is cargo hold, not trunk. I mean come on; at least it ain’t my car this time. I mean, I’ll be damned if a bitch was gon’ tie me up and put me in the back of my own shit… again.
But yeah, look; this time, I have no idea—
All right, I ain’t even gon’ lie like that. I might have some idea of why I’m in this trun— I mean cargo hold. Come on y’all, you know who my daddy is, then what my ex-best, whom I still can’t find did—I’ll explain how she is still alive later, I promise—, and then there’s the man’s wife that I’m… fucking.
Aye! Don’t judge me; you don’t know my life, or maybe you do.
Anyways, I ain’t even gon’ stress off the shit though. I’m just gon’ sit back, ride the shit out, and… wait… is this… Aww yeah, this nigga’s playin’ my shit.
“Nigga, don’t act like a bitch, bitch, bitch… that’s why I don’t got love for a…”
But yeah, I guess it all started when I met Josh…

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