Chapter 14 Goon #3
“Yo, Kim!” She turned toward the brownskin nigga across the street.
He was dressed down in a royal blue Nike tech sweatsuit and had hopped out a Mercedes Benz.
Kim’s concern with being someone I just fucked on went out the window quick. She smiled and waved at him.
I looked at him, and he nodded, already knowing who I was. Most of these niggas knew I didn’t bang, but they already knew who my brother was. I didn’t need to bang to show they asses that I would tear this whole city up.
“Hey, Keyshawn! You heading over to the block?” she called out to him, and he nodded his head.
“Grabbing me something to eat real quick… wanna ride over there?”
Kim looked towards me, as if she didn’t want to hurt my feelings. “Fuck you looking at me for permission?”
I walked backwards, laughing, because if I told her ass to stay there, she would have. Dick ruled everything, especially when you was putting it down the way I did.
Kim quickly snatched her temporary drink station from the mailbox and sprinted across the street. Keyshawn, better known as Keys, gave her a hug, squeezing her ass. I chuckled, turning around to handle my problem.
“Why you ask that girl that question?” I questioned, as I stood in front of her.
Zoya looked up from her phone. “Answer the question.”
“Goo! I thought that was you,” my mother hollered from across the street. “Come here, Carmen is back from Trinidad.”
She waved me over.
Carmen had moved to Trinidad and came back and forth; it had been a while since she had been back. Carmen and her girls used to live on the bottom floor of our old apartment building.
She was connected to the Brooklyn Reapers, her late husband, being the head. Now, Bia was the head with her sisters riding right behind her.
I pulled Zoya behind me as she tried her hardest to stay rooted on the curb near the car. After realizing she wasn’t getting anywhere, she allowed me to pull her behind me. When I came over toward them, all her friends were seated on the stoop.
Some smoking cigarettes and eating whatever food one of them cooked. “Si mi pickney—nuh so likkle again.” She held me around the waist, pulling me closer to her, as I placed a kiss on top of her head.
Whenever she was around her friends, my aunt, or went back home, her accent always came out full blown. I could remember getting in trouble, and once that accent came out thicker, I knew to sit my dumb ass down and not to try her.
“You raised such good boys… Gerald, how you doing?” Carmen’s New York accent mixed with her Trinidadian accent was thick, as she took a pull of her cigarette.
“I’m good, Carmen… welcome back,” I came over and gave her a quick hug.
My mother looked over at Zoya, who stood there with her hands in those damn pockets again. “Ms. Lawyer, eh?”
Zoya smiled. “He talks about me, huh?”
“Yes, very much. I finally get the chance to meet the woman that has my son going to war about aunt flo.”
Zoya removed her hands from her pocket and covered her face. “Gerald, Jesus.”
I shrugged. “Anybody cause my baby pain, got smoke with me.”
She ignored me, as I walked back over toward her. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Paulette.”
My mom smiled. “Call me Sharon.”
“Ms. Sharon.”
With the way my mother smiled, I could tell she approved. “I was heading back home; I can put something on for us.”
“Sharon, we going out of town. I came to check on my favorite lady before going away for the weekend.”
My mother swatted me as her friends laughed. “That boy still knows how to get up under that armor of yours.” Carmen chuckled, flicking her cigarette away.
After shooting the breeze with her friends for a few minutes, we ended up walking her down the block toward the apartment. “Make sure you come back around, Zoya.”
“I don’t know, Ms. Sharon. Your son has other prospects that he might introduce you to.”
For somebody to be so damn shy on meeting my mother, her ass wasn’t acting like it. My mother raised her brow. “Yuh a play games, Gerald?”
“Yuh a liad,” I kissed my teeth and looked at Zoya, who was smirking in bliss because my moms was about to get on me.
“How else is those babies supposed to happen?” She winked at Zoya, who blushed.
I knew if we went inside, we would never leave, and I wasn’t trying to hit traffic. As I watched my mother use the ramp to get inside, she stopped and looked across the street. I touched my gun and turned to look.
Inez slammed the car door and walked across the street. I could tell she was high from the way she was walking. The black Maserati pulled off, not even waiting for her to make it across the street.
“Is everything alright?” Zoya’s voice brought me out of the shame and anger I felt when I looked at my cousin.
“Goo, you home for the weekend?” Her voice was weaker, like she wasn’t even trying to form the correct words or wanting to make sense.”
“Nez, what the fuck?”
Zoya remained quiet.
“Here he go… always trying to be someone’s father. You weren’t a father when it mattered.” She snorted.
I bit the inside of my cheeks, as I heard the sound of my mother’s motor scooter in the distance. “A likkle pickney dat, gwaan easy pon ha.”
“Mommy, that’s the problem. Nez is not a damn little kid anymore… she’s fucking grown!” I raised my voice.
“Go, Goo… Enjoy yuh weekend.” It was a warning before she full on cursed my ass out. I knew she was worried that me and Nez were both going to start up, because her accent became thicker, rushing me away. “Likkle girl, in here.”
Inez climbed the few steps to the building, and held the door open while my mother rolled inside. “Have fun, Goo… Ms. Lawyer, I will see you again, eh?”
“I can’t lie, Ms. Sharon… that’s up to your son. Apparently, he has a bunch of suitors,” she smirked.
Even with how upset I was feeling, Boobie made me chuckle. I snatched her smart ass up and held her hand. “You like fucking with me?”
My mother sat in the doorway and smiled at us. “I like her, Goo.”
I never replied.
She gave me that look that she always gave whenever we disagreed on something.
She always allowed me to have my moment, but I knew we would sit down and talk.
My mother wasn’t the type that liked to shove shit under the rug.
If there was an elephant in the room, she was the first person to call it out and deal with the shit.
Inez closed the door behind them, and we walked back toward my truck. Holding the door opened, she climbed inside, while I rounded the truck and got in. I sat there for a second before I pulled away from the block, beeping at Carmen as I slowly drove by.
“If anyone understands family drama, it’s me… I’m not here to force you to tell me what just happened. Whenever you’re ready to talk about it, we can… okay?”
I nodded my head, not wanting to speak.
“Gerald?”
Looking back over toward her, she said, “I don’t care if you were fucking her… if you’re courting me, there’s no one else… K, Pumpkin?” She smiled brightly, like she just told me about the scheme Todd was cooking up.
Our eyes locked, not wanting to speak in the moment. All I could do was take her hand, kiss the back of it and understand exactly what she meant.