Forever a Hustler's Wife by Nikki Turner

short. But when I tell this nigga that I need better numbers and mo’ product, he tells me to suck his dick. Ain’t no motherfucker gon’ disrespect me like that. I’ma give him something to suck on, that iron dick.”
    “Aaahhh, now we getting somewhere,” Des agreed, finally understanding his nephew’s frustrations. “Peace this, though. Let me tell you something an old head told me a long time ago about murder.” Des walked over to the couch and sat down next to his nephew. “Murder is not a crime you commit on someone else’s time. You don’t want to be in prison for the rest of your life and have to tell your family or anyone that’ll listen that you’re there because someone made you mad. You have to learn to master your emotions if you want to make it in this world.”
    “I never looked at it like that,” Nasir admitted, calming down a little as he gave some thought to what his uncle was saying. “But how do I get ’im to play fair?”
    “Don’t play with him,” Des said with a no-nonsense attitude.
    “But that nigga got the best dope in town,” Nasir explained. “I can put a one on it and more than double my money.”
    “Then go out of town and find some better shit and put him out of business. Make him your competition, and he can do one of two things: Ride with it or collide with it.”
    “I ain’t got time to shut down shop to go out of town on a scavenger hunt. That’s too much trouble.”
    “Now we have a new problem, huh?”
    “I guess I’ll just have to put up with this clown until I get what I need.”
    Des listened to his nephew go on, but in his head, he already knew what he had to do. He wasn’t going to let anybody carry his nephew, who was the closest thing he had to a son.
    Des stood up and took a deep breath. “I can make things happen for you,” he said. “But you ain’t playing for marbles anymore.” Des looked down at Nasir. “You playing for keeps.”
    “You ain’t said shit,” Nasir said, standing up and giving Des a pound. “On the real, a nigga like me is done playing period. It’s time to bring it to these fuckin’ cockroaches. Oh, it’s on,” Nasir said with a devilish smirk as he paced excitedly and pounded his fist in his hand.
    “Look, you gotta understand that this is serious,” Des said, stopping Nasir in his tracks by grabbing him by one shoulder. “Your involvement could cost you yo’ life, my life, yo’ freedom, and it can put you on the proverbial path of no return. This ain’t no muthafuckin’ movie. This shit is real. Once you take it there with them clowns, there ain’t no turning back.”
    “No risk, no rewards—that’s what you always told me, right?”
    “That’s right,” Des agreed, proud to know that his nephew had been listening.
    “I know the dangers of the trade, and I ain’t under no delusions,” Nasir assured him. “Look, Unc, I want to eat. Please give me my place at the table,” Nasir pleaded. “I can’t lose at this. I mean, Unc, let’s look at it like this. If I’m taking instructions from one of the masters of the game, how can I lose? You been a playa at this shit long before I was even born.”
    Des didn’t really want to see his nephew do what so many had failed to do before him: try to tame an animal that was untameable. The drug game was a wild beast that was obedient to no one.
    But Des could see the hunger in his nephew’s eyes and could hear it in his voice. He knew that Nasir was going to keep trying his hand whether Des helped him or not.
    “Listen, Nasir, I know with yo’ father getting killed when you were lil’ and with me being in the penitentiary that you found your way the best way you could.”
    Nasir looked at Des before he could finish and hopped on the defense. “Uncle Des, I been doing a’ight for myself.”
    “And I ain’t knocking that,” Des said quickly.
    “But like I said, it’s firsthand from a nigga like you,” Nasir said. “You’re a legend in this