Chapter 3 #5
“Love you, Queen.” he called behind her.
Blair stopped mid skip and turned toward him. “Love you, King.”
I looked at the both of them and laughed because it took a while for them to get here.
It wasn’t always butterflies and rainbows when it came to love.
It could be, but the love worth fighting for will have you with dirt on your hands and chest exposed, because loving someone was the most vulnerable and messy act.
You had to open yourself to someone, even if you didn’t know the outcome. I knew loving Zoya was worth the fight. She was worth the storm, and I was prepared, knowing that I had my work cut out for me.
“You straight, King?” I snapped my fingers in his face, ’cause he was staring a hole in the back of his wife.
“Yeah… chilling.”
I smirked. “Chilling looks good on you.”
“I like to think so… shit feels nice too.”
Navy had gone into the barbershop behind Zoya. “Think I got a chance?”
“With Zoya? Yeah.”
“How you figure?”
“Why you asking?”
“Cause Queen had to damn near beat your chest in to snatch your heart, and this feels like that same situation. What made you keep running from what you wanted?”
Zoya ran from the shit that she feared, so I never took her playing hard to get to heart. She was afraid of having what she spent so many years convincing herself she didn’t need.
“Guilt. It’s easy to toss the dirt on the coffin when you lose someone, but it’s not the physical part of mourning that fucks with you.
It’s what comes after they’re already in the ground.
New grass has sprouted and covered their grave, meanwhile, the shit is still raw and hard to process.
Doesn’t matter how much time has gone by.
Shit feels like a lump of food that you can’t choke down.
I felt guilty for moving on without them.
Felt like I didn’t deserve happiness. Survivor’s guilt is a muthafucka.
” He whistled, and looked to the sky, before returning his attention back to me.
Quasim was used to being that person to everyone that he surrounded himself with. When I was locked up, I could look forward to him coming to visit, a letter in the mail, or sitting on the phone and letting me process what I was going through.
He never counted favors because that nigga was just built like that. Most solid man on the planet and was too damn humble to ever take credit for that shit.
I looked over at him. “You believe that shit now, right?”
He smirked while slowly nodding his head. “My wife and kids remind me every day how blessed I am. Harley put this shit in play for me… she wanted this for me.”
I held my hand out and we hit the IG shake and pulled each other into a hug.
“Get your girl, G… Zoya’s a tough nut to crack.
She’s strong because she had no other choice but to be.
We stubborn, but we mean well. If Anjo would have given up on me, shit, I’d still be in that house reliving everything that went wrong day in and out. ”
“Real shi—”
“Leroy!”
“Winston!”
We both turned as we watched Alaia and Erin run out the barbershop behind their husbands. Cappadonna was running while laughing, and Capone was chasing his brother with a barber’s cape around his neck.
“I’m gonna fuck him up… why the fuck would you zeek my shit!” he roared, as he continued to try and catch his brother.
Cappadonna ran every morning, nigga did that shit for fun. Capone was in shape, but his ass wasn’t getting up at the ass crack of dawn to run with his twin every morning.
“It’s not that bad, Winnie… I promise.” Erin yelled out, trying to make her husband feel better.
“And I love dolphins, Erin!” he replied, irritated with his brother, while his wife tried to make him feel better. “You see how we both fucking liars?”
“What?”
“Erin, baby, not right now,” Alaia laughed, as Cappadonna rounded by us, and stopped to take a breath.
“Why the fuck you playing, Capp?”
“Goon, stop fronting like I didn’t line you up in prison.” I nodded because I remembered.
A nigga in our block was lining people up and he fucked up Cappadonna’s line up, and Cappadonna fucked him up, took his clippers, and noodles. Next thing you know, this nigga started lining us up.
His shit was shaky at first, but only somebody brave would complain. If you complained, then you would end up with a fucked-up line up and getting yo ass beat by Cappadonna. By the time I made my way to his cell, nigga had gotten decent, so I felt comfortable.
I was prepared to take down his big ass if he fucked my shit up too. “When the last time you cut hair, Capp?” Quasim laughed.
“Shit, been a minute… got so much other shit going on.”
He ducked when a wave brush came flying our way. “Capp, you bullshit and I’m giving Promise bacon and the shit ain’t beef either.”
“I’m taking CeeCee to SeaWorld.” he hollered back, knowing Capone wouldn’t do anything like that to his daughter.
“Why do I have to pay for what you did?” Erin replied.
Alaia was standing with her legs crossed in front of the other. “Joy, don’t you piss out here.”
She waved her hand while her face turned red from laughing. “Baby, please… shhh,” she pleaded because she could barely breathe, and was trying hard not to piss on herself.
Erin stood in the street. “I just wann—”
“Enough, Erin,” we all collectively hollered, because she was about to break into a whole fucking lecture about the dolphins and why it was illegal for us to communicate with them.
“Oh, fuck all ya’ll… and you too, crooked.” She mushed her husband and went back into the barbershop.
“The fuck we getting into tonight,” Cappadonna clapped his hands together like he didn’t just cause mayhem with his twin.
“Me and Anjo need a night out… we been on our parent shit, and I just need a night with my baby.”
“Same… between Promise and the twins, shit, we ain’t did shit.” He looked across the street and winked at his wife.
She blushed. “You talking about me, Leroy?”
“Always, Joy.”
Havoc exited the barbershop, laughing. “Tell his ass fuck you in sign language,” we heard Capone holler out the door.
We all busted out laughing when Havoc did the sign before Alaia closed the door behind her. “I’m just trying to chill with wifey and not blow a nigga’s head off.” Cappadonna said.
“Pool party at your lake house… your pool bigger anyway,” Cappadonna told Quasim, who shrugged, ready for whatever.
I looked down at the text message that came across my screen.
Sharon: Inez left earlier and hasn’t come back. She left her phone this time and money is missing from my wallet.
I shook my head and slipped my phone back into my pocket, knowing I wasn’t going to chill tonight.
“Some shit just came up… turn the fuck up,” We all hit the IG shake, and they both knew it was some personal shit.
“Hit me when you’re good,” Quasim said.
“Bet.”
I looked toward the barbershop where Zoya was showing Ryder that her dog knew how to give paw. “Boobie, I’ll see you.”
“Leaving already?”
“Yeah, some shit I need to take care of.”
She didn’t look convinced but quickly checked herself from caring too much. “Cool… see you.”
I could have corrected it, told her why I was leaving, but we weren’t there yet. In due time, I would be able to open up to my baby and show her what my life was really about.