All Or Nothing

By Ryan Whetstone

Stoney is a kid with big dreams and wishes. He's headed down the right path. College is the only thing that he's focused on. His best friend and roommate Sonny, is a West side Cleveland hustler. Sonny does it all from stick ups, all the way to murder. Stoney tries to keep his focus while living in the concrete jungle. Sonny hates the fact that Stoney doesn't lead the street life like he does. One day, a robbery gone wrong turns Stoney and Sonny's lives upside down. Stoney ends up being placed in the middle of a street war, and losing three close friends to violence. Stoney had a easy way out, but he had to be hard headed. He wanted to see why his friends were so fascinated with the streets. The streets ended up teaching Stoney a lesson that he could have never studied for.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ryan Whetstone
• Release date: Apr 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476435305

Ryan Whetstone

Ryan D. Whetstone has a passion for all forms of art. He writes and records music, does graphic designs, and he even shoots and edits hd video. You can't deny someone of talent if they can do multiple things in different fields very well. His passion is what really sets him apart from others. If you don't have a passion for what you do, then you will never truley enjoy it at the essence. Ryan is all about perfection, and that alone is what motivates him to push harder. Writing is something that can help you express yourself in many different ways. Ryan is proof that you can still manage to find simple joys in life, no matter what you have been through.

Book preview

All Or Nothing

By

Ryan D. Whetstone

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

Published By:

Ryan Whetstone On Smashwords

All Or Nothing

Copyright © 2012 by Ryan Whetstone

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to anyone who was a victim of violence. To anyone who has lost a loved one due to violence in the street and otherwise. I hope that you read this book and take the lessons taught in it, and apply them to your real life. We as a people are so far from being united. This world can be a very evil place if you let it, I just want you to see how staying positive can get you out of any situation. The youth is what keeps the future moving. If we don’t try to encourage our youth to do positive things, we are helping our future become very dim. I dedicate this book to those people who lost their lives trying to provide for their families, those who struggled with college and decided to drop out. This book is just one example of how education really can save your life. I hope that you enjoy what I have in store for you. I believe that if we try to do at least one positive thing each day, we will eventually make a positive turn around. I dedicate this to the people who have went down the wrong path in life, then found the strength to change their lives around. This is for everyone who has a dream that they are chasing, or for the little kids who have no father figure. This is for everyone who is going through the struggle, but still keeping their head up.

Table Of Contents

Prologue

The Strip

Laying The Smackdown

Sonny’s House

Getting In Order

Bravo, Bravo

The Meeting

Time To Study

The Come Up

I Want Him Dead

Let Me Help You

Once And For All

We Getting Money

Legal Work

Rally The Boys

Club Night

A Soldier Lost

Job Well Done

Sweet Revenge

She Loves Me

Bad For Business

Rules Of Engagement

Start To Their End

What About School

You’re Not Gangsta

The Final Meeting

The Aftermath

Epilogue

Chapter 1 - PROLOGUE

Mark Jordan paced back and forth talking to his guests in his elegant living room. Jewels hung around his neck, diamond rings were on almost every one of his fingers. A $100,000 Breitling watch rested on his left wrist, while his right  wrist was wrapped in a diamond flooded bracelet. In his living room sat an enormous royal oak dining table. Four men were seated at the table smoking and drinking. It was a very rainy day on the East side of Cleveland, Ohio today.

Sounds of thunder crackled across the dark evening sky as the winds blew. Rain slapped against the windows of Mark's house. You can tell that a meeting was going on, and business was being discussed. One of the men at the table says to Mark, We should receive that last shipment within the next few days. Mark continues to pace as the thunder howls across the sky and the lightning flashes through the room. You could see the smoke from cigars, cigarettes, and blunts all float up to the diamond chandler that hung over the large table. 

Mark finally takes his seat at the head of the table. With cigar in hand, he gives orders to each of the men who are attending the meeting. You two, go and see what's going on a few blocks from here, Mark says. Two men, one wearing a black hoodie with the hood over his head get up from the table and make their way to the door. Mark turns to the last man at the table and tells him to make sure the connect knows where to drop the shipment off at once it arrives. Mark was a businessman who was feared on the East side of Cleveland. People told stories of how individuals turned up missing after doing business with Mark Jordan.

Others talked about all the money that Mark Jordan made in a weeks time. If this was the Godfather, Mark Jordan would be the don. This summer was going to be a very hot one for the city of Cleveland. The only thing that was on the agenda for Mark was expanding his business to the West side of Cleveland. With the money and power that he had, this task would only take a couple of months to complete.

Mark knew that he could easily take over the city because of how he had the entire East side on lock. His name was so big, that it started to spread to the West. The only problem with Mark's plan, there were a few guys over on the West who wouldn't allow him to expand that far. All of those reason is what pushed Mark to work three times harder to achieve his goal of city wide domination.

Chapter 2 - The Strip

Its a hot summer day on the West side of Cleveland, Ohio. You can still feel the humid heat as the moon shines in the night sky. Cars roll past as people walk by, some talking on cellphones as others spend time with their friends, partner, or family. Stoney is a kind, caring young man who just wants to be proud of himself and accomplish his goals. He is small in stature, around 5'6'' and weighs no more then 135 pounds. He's a young black male in his mid twenties. He rocks a low haircut with waves all the time. He sits down on top of a table outside of an ice cream shop. He reaches for his strawberry milkshake and takes a few swallows from his straw. The humidity of the hot summer night makes his cup sweat. Stoney then puts his milkshake back down between his legs and begins to eat his burger. Got damn this is good, Stoney says to himself as he takes a huge bite of his burger.

Stoney takes a few more bites and flushes it down with a couple more sips of his milkshake, then pauses for a second to let out a huge burp. After catching his breath, Stoney sits still on the table top and enjoys the warm but refreshing summer breeze as it bounces off his brown skin. Out of nowhere, Stoney hears the sounds of sneakers stomping across the concrete. Stoney turns his head to try to see whats going on, and to his surprise he sees a random man who looks like a junkie, and his friend Sonny chasing him. Yo Sonny, whats goody? Stoney asks. Sonny and the junkie both fly past Stoney, run past the ice cream shop and past a few people out standing around the shop. Okay, so it's like that huh? You can't even say whaddup to a nigga? Stoney says in disappointment. Sonny follows the junkie around the corner and into a dark alley. Stoney watches them cut the corner and he shakes his head then picks his burger back up and continues to eat.

The streets are busy tonight, for what reason is unknown. A few minutes later, you could hear the sound of four gun shots from a handgun echo across the dark Cleveland sky. Stoney's eyes get bigger then what they are and he drops everything. All of the people outside run towards their cars and run for cover. Stoney runs to the corner and heads up the alley, fearing that something happened to his friend. Stoney dashes up the alley and stops once he sees the junkie laying flat on his back with a pool of blood around him. He then looks for Sonny and sees him kneeling down and leaning against a dumpster.

Sonny hears someone walking up behind him, so he stands up quickly and turns around with his gun pointing. Stoney jumps back with a confused look on his face. Yo Sonny, what the fuck are you doing? Put that shit down nigga. Sonny lifts up his shirt and slides his gun into his pants then flips his shirt back down. This nigga owed me some money, and tried to run off on me. So I had to get my shit back ya dig, Sonny says as he counts the money to make sure it was all there. Stoney looks down at the junkie as he lays stiff and motionless. Sonny walks around breathing in deeply to try and gather his thoughts. Stoney turns to Sonny and says You really buggin' right now, you makin' shit extra hot my nigga. Sonny looks at Stoney as if he disrespected him, then walks over to him and the dead body.

You see this mothafucka on the ground here? This is what happens when people fuck around with my money, replies Sonny. Sonny was from a different breed of street thugs. Sonny would sell you drugs that he stole from another dealer. He even killed a few customers who came short with the money too many times. The sounds of police sirens begin to get louder and louder, and it sounds like a whole squad of Cleveland police are getting close enough to start flooding the block where the shooting took place. Sonny and Stoney both run up the alley.

Sonny and Stoney run side by side as they bolt up the alley. They are running so fast that both men can feel the wind blow past their face and they can hear it in their ears. After about fourty seconds of running, they reach the top of the alley and make a left then head down a backstreet. To their surprise, they could see about three cop cars pull up to the bottom of the alley where the dead body was. Sonny could see the cops between the gaps of the houses as the street he and Stoney are going down is only one street over from the alley. Stoney and Sonny manage to make it to the end of the street. They turn down the next street and try to make their way home.

Yo I don't think we about to make it man, Stoney says out of breath hunched over gasping. You can hear the sirens scream across the night sky. The police were all over the crime scene not too far away from Stoney and Sonny. At the scene, yellow caution tape now covers the entrance to the alley that Sonny chased the fiend into. Some people stand out along the side walk and by the tables of the ice cream shop. You can tell that everyone knows someone is dead back there, but they don't know who it is.

The CSI team examine the corps laying on the ground. His body is still warm. This murder had to have taken place not that long ago, says the female investigator. The victim was a older black male, mid fifties. He was the neighborhood crack head. Everyone who knew him called him Wesley Pipes. He got the nickname because his first name was Wesley, but whenever you seen him he had a crack pipe, no matter what type of pipe it was. The male investigator reaches into the victim's pockets to try and find some form of identification.

Nothing at all, we have to ship this one back and scan for dental records, says the male investigator. The EMS zip the victim up in a black bag and place the body into the ambulance. CSI sweeps the area to see if they can find a murder weapon, or shell casing, but nothing was found on the scene. The fun night that was at hand, has yet again been turned into a tragic night once again in Cleveland.

Sonny and Stoney are now on the RTA bus, heading back home. Stoney has been around the streets, he just never chose to get deep into it. He had his hopes set on graduating from college and getting into graphic designing. He has a major test coming up in a few days, a graduation test. He wasn't about to let anything hold him back. Until then, he has to worry about making it home with his friend Sonny. After all, Stoney was at the scene of a murder, even though he had nothing to do with it at all.

 Sonny pulls the wire to signal he wants the bus to stop. The back door on the bus opens and Sonny and Stoney hop off. The bus pulls off and heads down the street. Nigga that's how you do that shit, boasts Sonny as he and Stoney walk down the busy street. You see, I been doin' this shit for so long, its easy to me now, says Sonny. A car comes rolling down the street. The car is filled with four males of various age and race. Whaddup Sonny, yells a voice from the car as it speeds off down the street.

Stoney and Sonny head down the street and stop into the corner store. Sonny Sonny, how are you on this fine evening? the store owner asks. The store owner was a loved guy in the neighborhood. He looked out for people when they was starving and had no money to buy food. Even though he was a nice guy, he was also hustling drugs out his store. He was a young Arabic dude. He was in his early thirties, but he had a lot of money. He respected Sonny because out of all the drug dealers on the West side of Cleveland, Sonny never bothered him. "Aint nothin'