12
"All I'm saying is a nigga not about to keep eating hungry man dinners and shit. Just like you had to study and learn how to be a nurse, you can do the same thing with food," I said to Lyric.
"Ok but you didn't have to do all of that like I worked really hard on that pasta. I thought I followed all the directions on the box. It really wasn't that bad," she said laughing.
"The noodles was still hard as fuck," I said.
"The polite thing to do would be to lie and say you liked it," she said.
"Hell naw because then you would have cooked the shit again. Lying not helping you," I said.
"Whatever, but I have to go check on my patients, I'll talk to you later on when I get off," Lyric said sounding salty.
"Aight," I said before hanging up the phone. Ever since we had established somewhat of a relationship, shit had been good with us. I knew her ass couldn't boil water, but it was cute that she was willing to try for me.
"You know you can tell sista girl that they be having some bomb ass recipes on TikTok that ain't hard to follow," Jamison said as I put my phone down and turned to him.
"And you can go find you something to do and get out my business," I said to him playfully.
I had been working with him for months getting the store ready, so we'd build a good business relationship.
He's the assistant manager of our men's and street appeal clothing store in the plaza.
Despite the shooting, we didn't incur much damage to the stores at all.
After outfitting all the stores with shatter proof windows, we decided to move ahead with opening business as normal.
When news of the shooting flooded the streets, the official grand opening of all stores to the public became an overnight hit. I couldn't tell you what it was about shopping some place that had a shootout, but our first day open, sales hit five hundred grand.
"Whatever, I was tryna help you out. Enjoy chicken nuggets and french fries for the rest of your relationship," he said laughing.
"First off I don't give a fuck if she can cook or not, I'll hire a chef before I ever eat some damn chicken nuggets and fries. But good dick will make a bitch do some shit they ain't never did before. Watch how she turn into Gordon Ramsay," I said.
"I can't argue with you when you right," he said flipping his hair.
The nigga had a weirdly unique fashion style.
He wore this long ass hair down his back, but his outfits be fly as fuck, and his sneaker game go crazy.
He was a mixture of feminine and hood, but I didn't give no fucks bout that.
He had an extensive work history, good recommendations, and a bachelor's in fashion design with a minor in business management.
Me, Jugg and Khaizon had all agreed we didn't give a fuck what the nigga did on his personal time, long as he did his job, and kept his comments playful and didn't go too far with that shit.
It's a difference between being comfortable in your sexuality as a man that you not bothered by the next man.
And having a nigga try you like you won't put a bullet in his dome off the principle.
Jamison fit in just fine with everybody and surprisingly him and that crazy ass nigga Jugg got along the best. Put two niggas who liked to joke and play and have battle rap sessions all day and a friendship is bound to form.
"Whatever, I'm leaving for the day, but if anything serious comes up, please hit me or Jugg line," I said.
"Okay, boss man, it's slow anyway so you know I got this, boo," he said.
"Aye, what I tell you about calling me that shit?" I grilled him.
"I'm sorry. It just rolls off my tongue," he said.
"Don't lose that tongue then," I shot back walking out of the door.
Getting in my car, I turned on some music before pulling out of the parking lot heading home.
Almost forty five minutes later I was turning onto my street.
Of everything I've ever spent my money on, this was the purchase I took the most pride in.
Pulling into the long circular driveway, I hit the button on my garage before pulling in, and parking.
Walking into the door that led from the garage into my house I felt a sense of relief as soon as I crossed the threshold.
Although I had a bad start in my house, the shit was still my happy place and the thing I was the most proud of.
I loved coming home to peace and quiet, a place where I could relax and recharge.
Although it was originally purchased and remodeled with the sole purpose of being the house I would raise my child in with my then ex-fiancé, that didn't stop me from loving my house any less. Shit, I had worked hard for this five bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom, contemporary style home.
Opening up my fridge, I grabbed some bread so I could whip up a sandwich before heading upstairs to my bedroom.
Walking into my room, I kicked my sneakers off and laid across my comfortable ass bed.
I had spared no expense when it came to my house, from the eight thousand dollar Villa Valencia king size poster canopy bed that made a nigga feel all presidential and shit.
Down to my comfortable ass Eliasa Ecru Winter Grade A Iceland Eiderdown oversized comforter set.
On my wall were two huge pictures of Scarface and other black and white pictures of Tony Montana that faced either wall. A gray chaise sat directly in front of my bed along with a black and gray rug on the side of the bed to the right of it.
Leaning up, I pressed a button on my headboard as a seventy five inch HD smart TV slid down from the ceiling.
Flipping through channels, I stopped on ESPN and decided to catch up with the highlights of the week.
An hour into watching tv that was really damn near watching me, my ringing phone startled me out of the nap I was taking.
Looking at the screen seeing who was calling me, I went to press ignore and accidentally answered the phone.
Fuck, I was not trying to answer this bitch's call. I thought to myself.
"Kilo? Hello Kilo you there?" The annoying ass bitch on the phone asked.
"What the fuck you want Amber?" I asked her.
"Please, I need you. I didn't know who else to call." She said.
"Bitch you never know who else to fucking call. Look, get off my phone line. I told your junkie ass don't fucking call me no more," I said.
"Please, I just need your help. I-I-he won't let me leave. I'm tired of this, Kilo. I want to get clean for my daughter, but I don't know how," Amber said.
"Daughter?" I whispered. Amber was once the love of my life and was pregnant with my child when she got hooked on the very drug I was flooding the streets with.
Finding out she was pregnant was why I had purchased this house and renovated it.
I thought I was about to be a daddy and I'd always told myself I would never be the man my pops was.
I would man up, step up and take care of my responsibilities.
That was around the time I found out about the drug use.
Shit had fucked me up because I blamed myself for it happening even though it wasn't my fault she'd gotten hooked on laced blunts.
Which were blunts that had weed in them with a small ounce of meth.
Til this day I have no idea how she even got her hands on one.
I just know when I caught her she was smoking laced blunts which I thought I had put a stop to.
However, it wasn't until the bitch was rushed to the hospital while I was out of town with Khaizon that I found out she had upgraded to a full fledged meth user.
The bitch had almost died from that shit which resulted in her pushing a dead baby out, my daughter, my princess.
The doctors said if my baby had lived, then she would have lived a life of pain because she possibly would have had so many different complications and problems due to the excessive drug misuse.
When I found out the extent of her drug use and the fact that it resulted in me losing my baby, that was it for that hoe.
It was no coming back for us after that.
That was almost five years ago. Although I had left that hoe in the hospital, I didn't completely turn my back on her.
I'd paid for her to go to rehab when she'd been released from the hospital.
And, over the years, I occasionally took pity on her every now and then when she called begging, like right now.
It's been years since I've heard from her and I knew to move forward I had to fully let this part of my life go completely.
"Yes, I have a three year old daughter." Amber said snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Funny how you cared enough not to overdose with her like you did our daughter." I said.
"Please, Kilo, I just need you to come get us. It doesn't matter where you take us; we just have to get away from here before he turns to my baby. I regret every day what I did to our daughter. I wasn't well, and I had problems you couldn't even begin to imagine,
but I want to be okay for my daughter now. The Lord gave me a second chance to be a mother," she said.
"And you repay him by still getting high? He needs to stop saving your ass," I said.
"I don't willingly use, Kilo. When I don't do what my baby daddy wants, he holds me down and sticks me with a needle. I'm a prisoner in my own home, and I just want to do better for my daughter. She'll be four soon," she said,
further hurting me by revealing that not only did she contribute to killing my baby.
But, less than a year later, she was pregnant again.
So she must've been cheating on me all along.
"So you was unhappy with me, a nigga who only tried to love you and wanted a family, yet you have a baby by a nigga that's beating your ass?" I laughed. "Get the fuck off my line bitch."
"He's never hit me before." Amber said.
"Shit, you said he forces you to take drugs, so if he doesn't hit you, how is he forcing you to take drugs?" I asked losing interest in the conversation.
"Okay, so he doesn't hold me down and force me, but he buys the shit and bribes me to do things I don't want to do and gives it to me as a reward. I always feel so dirty afterward," she said as she started to cry. "Look, never mind. Forget I ever called."
"Send me the address," I said. I was only going for the child, not her ass.
I didn't give a fuck if that bitch lived or died, but it sounded like they had some damn crack hoe house going on, and I didn't want the baby to be part of that shit.
I wasn't no super save a hoe but I did have a soft spot for kids.
"Thank you for doing this for me, I really appreciate it. I promise—" Amber was saying but I cut her off.
"I'm not doing shit for you, and if you were solo, yo' ass would still be bussing it wide open for that crack. I'm doing this for that baby," I said. She grew silent for a second, probably absorbing what I said.
"I snuck and used the phone because this was my only chance, so I won't be able to answer when you call, but I promise I will be ready," she said as the line went dead.
What the hell did she mean by that shit?
I wondered as I got up and went into my walk-in closet, pressing a button that flipped over to reveal my gun collection.
Grabbing what I needed, I walked out the closet and out the room.
Running down my stairs, I debated on hitting Jugg or Khaizon up letting them know what was going on.
However, I quickly dismissed that idea because not only did neither of them like Amber's ass, they definitely wouldn't have given a fuck bout the baby either.
Which sounds crazy since Jugg has kids and Khaizon has a child that's not his.
Amber is the exception to the rule of fuck that bitch and them kids.
Which really makes me wonder why the fuck I'm doing this shit in the first place?
"You are barely a month old, you have no reason to be so angry Royalty," I said looking down at my niece who was frowning up at me in annoyance.
I promise Khi really cursed this baby because I have yet to see her ass smile.
She's such an inquisitive, observant baby who only really has two facial expressions; annoyance, or puzzled.
"That's because you woke her up," Journi said from the bed.
"I did not wake her up. She was already up staring at the ceiling when I grabbed her," I said.
"Bitch you leaned over the bassinet and said her name," Journi said laughing.
"That's not the same as waking her up," I said as my niece chose that moment to agree with her mommy letting out a loud piercing scream. I started bouncing her trying to soothe her cries before her crazy ass daddy came in here and put my ass out.
"Hand her here because she's not going to stop. I think she trying to snitch on your ass," Journi said with her arms stretched out.
"Whatever I have to get to work anyway. I see me stopping by before my shift is not appreciated," I said jokingly as I passed Royalty to Journi. The minute she was in her mother's arms, her mean ass instantly stopped crying.
"Aww don't do your auntie like that," Journi said laughing because she knew as well as I did that that further confirmed Royalty's mean self just didn't like me.
"When your daddy has you locked down tighter than Fort Knox barely seeing the light of day, you gone wish you was nicer to your aunt Lyric," I said sticking my tongue out at her.
I've never had beef with a newborn before until now.
I had to hold back tears as I watched my baby sister and her baby having such a peaceful moment together.
I was so happy for her and her little family.
She deserved nothing but a world of laughter, happiness and peace after the hell she had endured.
"I gotta get out of here, don't forget to take your medicine and eat," I said to Journi noticing the untouched breakfast on her nightstand.
"I took my medicine already but I'm not hungry right now. I'll eat a lil bit later," Journi said.
"You're breastfeeding, so you need to constantly eat to keep nourished. Eat the eggs at least because they are a good source of protein." I said.
"Yes Nurse Mitchell," she said laughing as she rolled her eyes.
"I'm serious Journi," I said.
"I know I know. I'll eat once I get her back down," she said.
"Ok I gotta go, I'll call you later to check on you guys," I said before heading out.
I really had to hurry or I would be late for my shift.
I shot a text off to Kilo as I got in the car because I hadn't heard from him since we'd spoken on my lunch break yesterday.
I made a mental note to call him when I got free time to make sure everything was ok.