TWO THE HARD WAY
TRAVIS HUNTER
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
This book is dedicated to the memory of
my great-grandparents Rosa and James Charles.
Acknowledgments
Working with young adults has been my calling for the last ten years. As I traveled the country touring with my adult novels, I made it a point to always stop by a high school, youth center, or library where I could speak with teenagers about how important it is to make good choices. As I made those stops, parents would always come up to me and ask if I had anything their teenager could read. Although my adult novels are not as over the top as some of the things that are out there, I never felt comfortable suggesting something that I wrote for adults. However, I couldn’t think of any other novel to suggest, so I wrote my own.
I would like to thank God for all of His blessings; my son, Rashaad Hunter, for being the best kid in the entire world; Linda Hunter, for being the best mother a guy could ask for; Dr. Carolyn Rogers, for always encouraging me to reach for the stars; Carrie Moses, Sharon Capers, Andrea and David Gilmore, Lynette Moses, James (Ray Ray) Moses, Amado and Hunter Rogers, Barry Moses, Ron Gregg, Ahmed, Ayinde, Shani, Jabade and Louis Johnson, Mary and Willard Jones, Monica (Imani) McCullough, and all of the wonderful book clubs who read my novels; my agent, Sara Camilli, and my editor, Selena James, for making this happen; and Melody Guy, for getting this started.
Contents
PROLOGUE: ROMEO
1. ROMEO
2. ROMEO
3. ROMEO
4. ROMEO
5. ROMEO
6. ROMEO
7. ROMEO
8. ROMEO
9: KWAME
10. ROMEO
11. ROMEO
12: KWAME
13: KWAME
14: KWAME
15: KWAME
16: KWAME
17. ROMEO
18. ROMEO
19. ROMEO
20. ROMEO
21. ROMEO
22. ROMEO
23. ROMEO
24: KWAME
25: KWAME
26: KWAME
27: KWAME
28: KWAME
29: KWAME
30. ROMEO
31: KWAME
32: KWAME
33. ROMEO
EPILOGUE: ROMEO
A READING GROUP GUIDE
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
PROLOGUE
ROMEO
I paced the rooftop of my apartment complex with a .40-caliber Glock pistol in the palm of my hand, sweat pouring off of my closely cropped head. Fear had a strangle-hold on me, and my heart threatened to beat its way out of my chest. I struggled to control my breathing as I eased over to the edge of the building and took in the sight of the only place I had ever called home. That’s when I realized that life as I knew it was over.
A nervous chuckle escaped my lips. How dare I ever allow myself to dream of a life outside of this box I was placed in since the day I was born? First my brother’s dreams were snatched away, then mine. The more I thought about it, the more I realized my life was doomed from the start.
1
ROMEO
“You ever cheated on Ngiai?” my best friend, Amir, asked me as we walked home from school on a wooded path toward our home in the busted-in and burned-out subsidized projects. Atlanta’s Village Apartments had been my home for the last ten years of my life, and although it was a pretty rough spot, I liked it.
“Who is that?” I smiled.
“Whatever. You a player but you ain’t stupid.”
“I don’t cheat. I’m a good boy,” I said.
“Man,” Amir said, shaking his head. “How you function with all those girls up in your face all the time?”
“The same way you function with none in your face. I just keep it moving.”
“What? You crazy. I got more than my share of the honeys, player. I just keep my business to myself,” Amir said.
“Yeah, that’s not all you keep to yourself. But you should embrace your virginity and stop being ashamed of it.”
“You crazy. I lost my virginity a long time ago, lil buddy,” Amir bragged his lie.
“Yeah, but Fancy and her four sisters don’t count,” I said, wiggling my fingers in his face.
“Whatever, homie,” he said, smacking my hand down. “Like I said, I keep mine’s to myself. I’m respectful of the woman I spend my private time with. Don’t need to run around here telling you low-self-esteem-having clowns ’bout my business.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said.
“What the…,” Amir said, stopping in his tracks as we noticed the path to our apartments was cut off by a six-foot-high wrought-iron fence.
“I guess we’re moving on up, Amir,” I said, running my fingers along the black iron. “I always wanted to live in a gated community.”
Amir folded his arms. His face wore a disgusted scowl. He was quiet and his breathing was measured. He seemed to be analyzing the situation we had before us. One of the men working on the gate nodded at me and I nodded back.
“Don’t be speaking to no Mexicans, Romeo,” Amir snapped. He huffed a frustrated breath, then found his stride along the fence line. “Those people are the worst of the worst. The white man tells them to put up a fence locking black folks in and they jump on the job. No standards. Anything for a buck,” Amir said. “You don’t see what’s going on?”
Amir kept me laughing. He was a walking worrywart who believed the government was secretly conspiring to eliminate the black man from the face of the earth. Maybe that was the reason his hair was turning gray at the tender age of seventeen. He claimed his dad was a political prisoner, but in reality he was just a prisoner who got caught selling drugs.
“Nah, why don’t you tell me what’s going on, Reverend Al Sharpton Jr.?” I said.
“This is nothing more than the government’s way of preparing us for incarceration. My daddy sent me a book, and he said the only reason they call where we live the ‘projects’ is because the powers that be are doing a project on how to eliminate our black butts.”
“Your daddy’s a genius, dude. You are so lucky that he imparts such deep wisdom on the world,” I said sarcastically. “That’s why they keep him locked up, man. He’s too smart to unleash on the world.”
“Okay, see, you think this is a game. You’re one of those dum-dums who can’t call a spade a spade. I can’t believe you can’t see what’s going on, Romeo. They tryna condition