Chapter 3 (Edited)

Hey Huey I….Oh Hell no."

Huey's eyes snapped open and he tried to stand but found a weight in his lap prevented him from doing so. Riley walked into his line of vision and plucked Cindy off of his brother's lap and laid her on the opposite side of the bed, being careful not to wake her. Then he turned to his now standing brother and threw a fierce punch at his face. Huey, who saw this coming even in his half asleep state caught the younger boys hand and turned him around. After this he roughly pushed the boy out of the room still holding his arm.

As soon as the door was closed he turned his brother around and covered his mouth, "nothing happened Riley."

Riley knocked the hand off of his mouth, "my ass nigga! You tapped the ass of yo brothas girl!" he paused seeming to realize what he just said before turning his heel and walking down the hall. He didn't know where he was going nor did he care, his brother was bound to catch his slipup. He had to get away before-

"Wait, what did you say?" Huey asked catching up with his brother. Damn it, Riley silently cursed, damn him and his supercomputer brain.

"I aint said nothin nigga!"

Huey paused, "you like her don't you?" the future revolutionary asked with the beginnings of a smirk on his face.

"No! Why would I want that bitch ass cracka?"

"Maybe because that 'bitch ass cracka', as you so crudely put it, is more black than most of the black people in Woodcrest"

Someone behind them groaned "Ugh ….Huey?"

Both boys' heads snapped in that direction. There stood Cindy rubbing her unbruised eye sleepily.

Riley stood speechless at her battered appearance, where did all of those cuts and bruises come from? "W-wha…" he watched as Huey made his way over to the strangely timid girl.

"Huey where'd you go? I had a dream about what happened… a-and when I woke up you weren't there" she sounded like a sleepy eight-year-old child scared of the boogey man.

"I'll be there in a second" Huey paused and glanced over his shoulder at his brother's confused face "can I tell Riley about what happened?" he asked looking back at her.

"I don't care as long as he doesn't tell Jazmine" she muttered through a yawn. With out further questioning she went back inside the room and shut the door behind her.

Huey turned to his brother, "Go to the guest room and wait there in a minute to explain" with that he entered the fluffy pink and purple room to offer his comfort for a short while.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

"Aiight man," Riley said as his brother entered the room, "explain"

Huey sighed as he sat next to Riley 'Esco' on the bed of the guest room, "First let me explain that nothing intimate happened between Cindy and me ok?"

Esco nodded, "I believe ya man, I jus ovah reacted ya know? I'm sorry I went off on ya like that" He held his fist out and let the elder hit it with his own. A moment of silence passed, "Any day now"

Huey nodded, slightly annoyed by his brothers impatience, and sighed, "what I'm about to tell you is serious, and you have to promise me you wont tell anyone, especially Jazmine, or hurt anyone no matter what they have done" he said pinning his brother with a serious look.

The future gangster nodded realizing that this was not something where he could just hit someone and was over. This was serious and would affect other people's lives and by the way his brother was looking at him it would take much more than a threat to make this go away. It took a lot to get The Huey Freeman to actually show His concern.

"You know how Cindy's mother remarried after her real dad died?" he waited for Riley to nod before continuing, "did you ever like him?"

"Hell naw man, I mean he was always looking at me wit dem Michael Jackson eyes ya know?"

Huey blinked, "…Michael Jackson eyes?"

"Yeah, you know, a grown man looking at 'chu like he wants ya" Riley nodded and looked up at his brother, "what's that got ta do wit dis?"

"He beat and tried to rape her"

Riley's eyes narrowed. That Michael Jackson wanna-be was a dead man if he had any say in it.

"I'll kill 'em" he growled standing only to get pulled back down by a strong calloused hand. He glared at the elder boy next to him in pure rage. "Huey, I love ya, you ma brotha. But if you don't let go of me right now I'mma rip your arm off."

"No! I told you, this wont go away just like that. We all will figure something out after she calms down"

"Fine."

"Promise me Riley."

"Alright, alright, I promise."

Huey sighed and let go of his brother, "Good."

"Why didn't she call da pigs? (Police)" Riley asked suddenly.

"They wouldn't believe her if she tried"

"Why not? She white aint she?"

"Yes but she already tried to go to them once and it didn't work out"

"Why not?"

"She was lying", Silence passed between the two as they contemplated on what to say. As the minutes passed the tension dissipated into nothing but a comfortable silence shared between brothers.

"So," the elder broke the silence with a smirk, "you like her uh?"

"Shut up"

"I mean its ok to like her. Interracial relationships are common en-"

"It aint yo business"

"I'm making it my business"

"Don't be up in the kool-aid wit out knowin the flava." There was a pause, just long enough for Riley to think he won.

"The 'flava' is vanilla" Huey smirked at his brother's frustrated face as the younger boy tried to come up with a comeback. After a few minutes Riley gave up and Huey smirked happy to triumph over the boy in their short siblings banter.

"Oh and by the way, she's waiting for someone to comfort her, I'm going to go downstairs so I officially give that job to you. Have fun and don't come on too strong" The laughter in his voice was enough to piss the younger freeman off that much more.

"Punk" Riley muttered at his brother's back just as he closed the door behind him.

The tension in the room returned and magnified itself as soon as that door closed. Riley began to shake like he was at the epicenter of an earthquake. His hands clenched into fists trying to steady himself. His short nails dug into the skin of his hand as he tried to calm his now ragged breathing. The only thing that kept him from sprinting to Cindy's house and committing 1st degree murder was his promise to Huey not to and the respect he held for the elder boy. So many times the future revolutionary saved him but one in particular one stuck out in his mind, back when he was friends with the dynamically dumb Ed and Rummy…

Twelve year old Riley stood completely still as a placed directly onto his temple.

"E-Ed man I didn't do anything. I didn't touch yo stash! You aint really gon shoot me is you?"

Ed pressed the cold metal of the gun to the young boys' temple. This was the wrong time to talk to the man rationally. He always responded violently to heroin and Riley accidentally walked in on one of his sessions. "I don't know Riley, should I kill the person who was tryin to jack mY stash?" he clicked the safety off.

Riley's chest constricted painfully, tight with fear, but it never showed on his handsome face. He kept his face steady as he glared at the bloodshot ones of his friend. Silently he prayed to whatever God that listened to send someone to save him. He didn't believe in God, but only he could save him in a situation such as this.

The cold metal pressed harder against his temple and Ed's finger was steadly adding more pressure to the trigger. He had all but given up when…

"Riley?"

Brown and bloodshot blue eyes snapped in the door of Ed's room.

"Huey! Look ou-," a gunshot rang through the room as both boys ducked behind their closest form of shelter. Huey ducked behind a overturned a table but didn't make it fast enough to come out unscathed. The bullet caught his shoulder cutting through the skin there. He didn't take notice, his focus was on the heroin induced man standing less than six feet away from him and blocking his view of his brother under the bed.

"Come out and fight me!" Ed yelled aiming his gun at the overturned table across the wide room where our nappy haired hero hid.

Riley couldn't see what happened from where he lay hidden, but apparently Huey did attack and Ed was down for the count within the minute.

Young Reezy covered his head with his hands and shut his eyes as the gun hit the floor aiming directly at him. It was still tangled in the elder mans comatose fingers one of them just grazing the trigger.

Slowly he slid from his hiding space and looked at his brother who now stood a mere foot away from the fallen man. Anger was evident in his wine colored eyes as he glared down at the man placing pressure on his shoulder. All was silent in the room except for Huey's slightly ragged breaths.

"Lets go" the elder growled suddenly leaving the room.

Riley closed his eyes reminiscing on that day. Huey always had his back whether he wanted it or not.

Finally after a few more moments of reminiscing he stood and walked down the hall to Jazmines room. He knocked twice before entering.

There on the bed was Cindy glaring at the vanity mirror across the room.

"Cindy?" he asked keeping his voice soft. She looked as if she was on the verge of a major breakdown.

"Hi Riley" she mumbled never releasing her glare.

"'ey you ok?" he asked stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

"Do I look ok?" she growled finally looking at him.

"Guess that was a stupid question."

"Yeah it was."

Riley sighed walking over to her and kneeling in front of her, " 'ey, Cin look I aint good at stuff like this but if you need ma comfort I'll be ovah derr" he nodded his head over to the computer chair across the room. With one more glance at her tear stained face he turned and walked across the room and plopped himself into the comfy chair.

Seconds passed between the two and neither moved. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into an hour. In the silence Riley's eyes began to droop and his brain began to doze off, pulling him into a light slumber.

A body unceremoniously plopping into his lap yanked him out of his dreamless sleep. He looked down from his superior height, there sat Cindy looking timid and uneasy, like he thought he would yell at her for her actions. He let a small warming smile grace his features as he pulled her closer to his chest and gripped her loosely around her waist as to prevent her from falling. She let her arms wrap around themselves and her head lay on his paneled chest. Their position was identical to how she and Huey were earlier but there was an intimacy there that she could never even hope to have with the elder Freeman.

No words passed between the two as they drifted into a comfortable dream filled sleep, contented in the others arms.