CHAPTER THREE

JOBA'S P.O.V

Ayo, Musa, Omale and I returned from the day's mission. Stressed as hell. The mission was quite difficult, it didn't go as planned but we thank God for success. We walked towards the entrance of the building with Ayo leading the way, he didn't hesitate to press the bell. After a while the door opened revealing a shirtless Dubem.

This guy. He was always shirtless. Always. Except we were to leave the house for a serious issue. Like this dude has gone out to buy pizza shirtless before, good thing he took a car. I won't lie, he had a great body. Neat and heavily built, but why rub it on our faces. I made a bet with myself that the day he wears a shirt for 24 hours straight, I'll walk around the house with only pant. It's never going to happen so don't anticipate. lol .

We walked in, one after the other, even if the door was big enough to pass in threes.

We settled down at the briefing lobby, waiting for the rest guys to be present. Everyone was already sitted on their appointed sits, when Musa stood up to address us. 

"Good evening, guys". He greeted. Nobody replied him cause he liked it that way. He hated people talking when he was still on his feet. If you're normal you don't talk while Musa is talking, you'll wait till he was done and gives you the permission to  speak. He did that to everyone, even our clients. He saw it as a huge act of disrespect and disorder, he was the most eldest amongst us and he made the rules around here. So you just have to give him what he desired. He wasn't so strict but he could be very wicked when his lines are crossed. He was like a dad to us, even if the age gap wasn't much, he ensured he filled that space in our hearts. That's for me sha, I don't know about the rest. 

"Today's work was clean and clear, even tho it almost got rough. The fool proof plan worked perfectly well, but the security was tight, very tight. I assume they had I idea of our visit". He said and turned to face Dubem and Benji. "I don't know what happened, but from all the work you two did, I'm very sure you told me that the security level there wasn't too high and that we should expect a maximum of 15 men." He said furrowing his eye brows at them

"Anyways, we planned for 15 but met with 50, We ran out of bullets and thought things would go berserk from there. But Joba took extra bullets with him, if not for him we would have been stranded and it would have taken a miracle from heaven for us to be here at this time, alive. For that little act of his, he's getting paid double of his usual pay." He continued as he gave me a reassuring nod. I nodded back and smiled. More money for me. 

"Now that's that for today. Mr. Amade has completed his pay, so y'all will get credited this night." 

He turned to face Benji and Dubem again "Ensure you cut all connection we have with Mr Amade and the deceased. Clear the phones and the laptop and dispose them. Kingsley would get new ones tomorrow. And please make sure what happened today doesn't repeat itself again. And I mean ever again." With that he clapped his hands rubbing them together to indicate he was done. Dubem and Benji were the tech guys, they did all the findings and communications before Musa came into any case. While kingsley and George were the shopping guys, they go shop for things needed for any mission. And they usually didn't go to the same shop twice. 

We all exited the room, heading into various corners of the house. The house was very large, large enough for 15 people to live comfortably.  

"Omo!!...is there anything to eat!!?" Omale asked shouting on top of his voice. His statement reminded me of my empty stomach, making me stop on my tracks. 

"Yh...Nana came by, she made 3 different soups, jellof rice and one weird sauce like that. They are all in the freezer except the egusi soup, she left that one in the pot and made swallow to go with it. It's in the warmer." Dubem explained as he opened the laptop to start his work. His statement made me smile, at least I'll stop eating cereals for a while.

"Joba, collect mine and bring it to my room" Ayo shouted from the stairs. He didn't even let me reply before he turned his back and walked away. Lazy ass. He was down stairs already why wouldn't he just wait and collect it, and he knew how much I hated people sending me. I knew he was just trying to piss me off but it didn't work cause I just earned double of my pay!! for doing absolutely nothing!!. Funny enough I didn't take the bullets on purpose, it just happened to be in one of the bags I usually took on missions. Double pay. That's huge.

I would have told you guys the specific amount but I won't. My number 1 life motto is TRUST NO ONE. yes. No one. So I don't trust you guys too, not one bit sef. Maybe with time I would. So where did I stop...

Ayo sent my with every opportunity he got. Even when Musa warned him, he didn't stop, he warned everybody to stop but Ayo being the big headed boy that was didn't stop. Musa didn't hide the fact that I was his favorite. He claimed I was his personal baby. Baby of the house actually. Even if I hated the fact they called me the baby of the house, I started loving it when the sending stopped. But Ayo claimed that we were yoruba boys and he can't watch me spoil, that as a young yoruba kid running errands is part of life. He was the only one that could talk back at Musa or alter his words. He was another devil in disguise,so I don't hesitate to do whatever he asked me to do, except the days we are both high.

I stared at his retrieving figure, cursing him. That was all I could do. Curse him at his back. Lazy ass!!!. Now I have to enter that his rubbish room.

I turned around to move when I noticed Dubem staring at me, the look he gave me was weird.  Dubem and I spoke only once in a while, we didn't really connect but there was a cool energy around us. Sometimes. While some other times he acted really weird.

After giving him a questioning look and got no response back I walked away, entering the kitchen. 

I met omale dishing the soups already. "Yo!.which one is for Ayo and I?." I asked him.

"Take any" he replied.

I lifted two plates and placed them on a tray. I carried that tray and walked towards the door, then I remembered I was missing something. 

The swallow. 

I went back to him " guy please where is the swallow?". He turned to me with a serious face and lifted his finger to his nose. "See it I'm my nose" he said, using his well manicured index finger to lift the bridge of his nose "come and carry it." I stood there dumb founded as fuck, and wished the nail of that finger entered his eye. Yes it was that long and he painted it too, I used to wonder why, when he wasn't a girl but they explained to me that it was a new trend for guys.

" It was just a question."

" A question that I answered." This time he didn't look at me.

"You would have just said you don't know."

"But I know. I can't say I don't know, when I know." He said smiling down at the soup he was dishing out. I knew he was trying to annoy me, and he was getting there already. Infact I already felt irritated. What was up with everyone and annoying me today?. They wanted me to lose focus, but it's not possible. I'm too hard for that.

"Why do you have to be so annoying everytime. Infact I don't blame you, shey na me open mouth ask y..."

" Abeg e don do. Baba con dey preach for me." He said, cutting me off. Laughing he continued " it's there" using that same index fingers he pointed towards the fancy blue and white warmer Nana once bought for us. I pitied the girls he fingered with that finger sha. I walked towards the warmer and picked 3 wraps of semovita. I would have taken 4 but I wanted Ayo to come and get his extra himself. With that I dashed out of the kitchen

" You cannot say thank you abi!!!" I heard Omale shout from the kitchen. " Come and collect it!!" I shout back

"Can you guys just shut up" that was George. I would say he was the nerd of the house. Always reading, I read too but his own was just too much. He hated noise...any form of noise, and guess the worst, he believed in being a virgin still marriage, so he found our acts very irritating. Lol...

Sometimes I wonder why God decided to waste such beauty on his kind of personality. But sometimes he breaks out of that his shell. It rarely happens sha.

I turned to face him, but he wasn't looking my way. He had his eyes fixed on the book he was holding. I didn't know why Musa decided to fix him under the shopping guys, cause dude was smart. Smart as fuck. But I guess he wasn't wise unlike Dubem. I walked towards the stairs, debating on whose room to enter first, mine or Ayo's.

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The strong smell of weed filled my nostrils as I stepped into Ayo's room. This was the reason I disliked coming to his room, dude was always smoking. If it wasn't weed it'll be cigarette, if not cigarette it'll be shisha. Like he smoked everything smokeable. Sometimes I wondered why his fingers and lips weren't black, I guessed he was just born for smoking.

I walked in, further into the room and noticed him sitting on the floor, resting his arm on a small wooden table. He held the weed with one hand and the other hand danced around his nose. We was taking weed and coke at the same time!. No wonder he was very skinny. Since I knew him, he had always been doing drugs.

"I've brought your food" I announced trying to get his attention. He snapped his neck at me and quickly wiped the white-ish substance off his noise as he noticed me. He looked at me and I tried not to look back at him, in the eye. No matter how close we had become his eyes were still intimidating af, and in this kind of situation trust him to make the glare worse.

"Drop it in my table" he replied me in a haste. He didn't talk and act high, maybe he was still sober. He went back to what he was doing but he was packing up this time, I won't blame him. Musa had warned everyone not to do drugs and illegal stuffs around me till I was 18, and I was already 18 but I guess he was just too used to it. They restricted me from doing a lot of things then, according to Musa "I don't want you to spoil. And you're a fast learner so let's wait till you are mature enough" in his word. They stopped beating and punishing me when I was 16. Yes, they used to beat me. I was totally against it because my parents never laid a finger on me talk more of beating me with a cane, or a slipper, or a wire, these people used all these things in me. At first I thought they took me in slavery but I grew to know better. 

If I violated any instructions then, I'd get flogged. But now I get punished for misbehaving and I beat me tell you I preferred being flogged than being punished. When it came to punishment these people were demonic, I could spend a whole week cleaning everybody's room or trimming the flowers, and the garden was wide and long enough for it to take a week to be trimmed.

"I said drop it on my table." He said again, this time his voice was a bit higher and more commanding. His statement brought me back to reality.

"It'll get cold." I opposed his demand, how can he be ordering me around and not be polite about it. I knew he would get mad soon but who cared, looking for trouble was a hubby for me.

"Are you deaf or stupid?, if it gets cold, am I not the one eating it?" That was fast, I didn't expect him to spark that fast. Maybe he was not so sober after all.

"I was just saying oh, because if it gets cold don't call me to warm it." I said back, sounding as nonchalant as I could.

"Get out!" He barked at me. With that I removed his food from the tray and dropped it one the table under the air con.

"Why did you put it there?" He asked looking at the table "and why am I seeing only one swallow?" Now he was looking at me.

"That's the only free table" I answered looking stern knowing fully well I was lying. "And as for the swallow, that was what Omale said I should give you.".

"Omale said you should give me one swallow??, And you have 2. Come on drop another one on the table joh." He said. Ordering me around again without being polite about it. I was expecting him to say so, and my arms were hurting already so I didn't argue with him, I just dropped it on the same table with the rest.

"Joba remove the food from that table"

"No"

"See, Joba don't vex me this evening cause I won't hesitate to break you head and watch you bleed out your stupidity" he rapped. Hehehe, Ayo rapped.lol. He was trying not to get angry,and I knew it. You don't want to meet an angry Ayo. Damn. He was calm but when he gets angry nobody can stop him till he has done what he wants to. And trust me it was always bloody. I remembered the day he fought with Omale, we ended up rushing an unconscious, bloody Omale to a nearby clinic. Ever since then the only people that dared Ayo were Musa and Dubem, the rest of us just used to mind our business and stay on our lane. 

"If this food gets cold, Joba..."

"Not like you'd eat it anytime soon. I don't even know why you asked me to bring it, cause it seems like you were already having dinner." I cut him off his words and turned my back to leave

"Don't come when I call you to warm it, I promise you, I'll give you a scar to remember me for life." I laughed had at his statement.

"Lol" I yelled as I got to the door and strolled out. He can't do me nothing, Musa would just kill him straight up. I knew Ayo had issues, disturbing issues. He tried to hide it but I was able to see it, to feel it, I knew Ayo very well for him to be hiding stuff. I noticed after Peter's death, he changed. He changed badly. I didn't know what the problem was but I knew there was one. I jammed his door shut with my free hand and went to my room.