The Leak

By K'wan

The Leak is a complimentary short prequel story that leads into K'wan's hit novel, Welfare Wifeys. Learn how Animal got his start as a child of the streets, raised up by a man named Tech. Animal proves to be a quick study learning the game, but he's about to face the greatest test of all....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Sep 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466800144

K'wan

K’wan has penned over 2 dozen bestselling novels, including the widely popular Animal series, as well as several paranormal stories written under a pseudonym. He was also the recipient of the 2012 and 2013 Street Lit Book Award Medals (SLBAM) in adult fiction for Eviction Notice and Animal. K’wan currently resides in New Jersey where spends his time writing, cooking and binge-watching reruns of the Vampire Diaries with his teenage daughters.

Book preview

I

Tech had never been a heavy drinker, but that night he was trying to go over the top. Jah would’ve been twenty-three that day. It had been a little over two years since he’d been killed, but the wound on Tech heart was still fresh.

Jah had been a beast when he was on the streets. He was one of the youngest and without question one of the wildest dogs on or off the chain. His entire bloodline reeked of tragedy, with his brother committing suicide over a chick and the dark path Jah walked. He was a murderer, thief, drug dealer and the best friend a young punk from the slums could ever ask for. To those who didn’t know him, Jah was a monster to be feared or caged, but he was really just a kid trying to find his way.

The dark cloud that had followed Jah all his life finally seemed to be rolling back a bit when love walked into his life in the form of one of Harlem’s most notorious sack-chasers. Yoshi was a chick who was all about her business and if you couldn’t handle it she wouldn’t waste her time on you, but there was something about Jah’s misfit soul that melted Yoshi’s cold heart and fit them together like pieces of a puzzle. The bond Yoshi and Jah had formed made people in the hood start to believe in true love again. But as with most good things it had to come to an end. In an attempt to defend Yoshi’s honor, Jah was gunned down like a dog in the street because of a beef that was only his by association. In the end, Yoshi was left a shell of her former self and Tech was left to make his own way in the game, and so he did by picking up the mantel where Jah had dropped it.

Tech sat perched on a bar stool in the Lennox Lounge, throwing back shots of 1738 like it was going out of style. It had been Jah’s drink of choice just before he died. Tech was never sure exactly who turned him on to it, but he swore by it. Most of the cats in Harlem knew Tech and what he was about and as a result they gave him a wide berth, but not everyone exercised such caution. Two such cats were Bump and Eddy, who were sitting in the back of the lounge, plotting. They were two piss ants who weren’t worth their salt, but they were determined to be recognized as heavy weights. When they saw Tech stagger from the