Chapter 10
TEN
Baby, you're the finest
Pussy taste like diamonds
How'd you get so timeless?
Wanna get behind it, behind it
Remind ya, I know how to find it
Hit it how you like it
I sang to the SiR track that I’d stumbled across during my shower after getting home last night. I’d never heard of the nigga before that and now he’d replaced my entire list of go-tos. I was getting on Laike’s last nerve. I saw it on his face.
“I can’t wait until you finally hit that shit because she got you smiling and singing and shit. I don’t know who the fuck you are right now.”
“You complain a nigga the Grinch. Then when I loosen up a bit, you don’t know who I am? Pick a side.”
“I’m on the other side because I’m ’bout tired of whoever this new motherfucker is.”
“New? ’Cause I’m laying on a new sound?”
“And singing it and bobbing your head and yeah… that’s just too much.”
“Don’t lie. He aight?” I asked, taking a quick second to glance in my little brother’s direction.
“You going to turn this shit, or do I need to get in my own fucking whip? I’m not trying to hear this all day.”
“Then get out and go pay for the gas. Give your ears a break,” I suggested, pulling up to the pump.
I was on a quarter tank leaving Baisleigh’s House and wanted to refill, even with over one hundred miles left on the dash. With a shake of his head, Laike opened the door and placed the Glock that had been resting in his lap into the back of his pants and pulled his shirt over it.
“And, I’m adding this high ass gas to your fucking tab.”
“When I got in, this motherfucker should’ve been on full. You’re just paying for the gas you burned before I got the chance to.”
“That’s OK. I know the account number.”
“Then you should know that there isn’t a man alive that can say they played with my paper. Do with that information as you please.”
“There he goes!” Laike slapped the dashboard.
“Fuck you,” I spat in his direction.
“The Grinch is back.”
He hopped out of the truck and slammed the door before I could respond, leaving me with my thoughts as the music played in the background.
Ever’s pretty face came into full view as I drifted to a faraway place, one where her worries rested with me.
She had no idea just how much I wanted to lift any and every burden from her small shoulders.
I saw the desire for more, for better in her eyes.
Unlike the nigga she’d left, I only wanted to help her reach her full potential, never hindering or holding her back.
It would take patience on my end, waiting to gain her trust, but I was willing to wait if it meant undoing the damage that he’d done.
For once, I wanted to save someone but to my surprise, she didn’t want to be saved.
Ever wanted to be her own knight in shining armor, and my heart tightened at the revelation.
Baby had been damaged. The nigga who’d played with her had played her right into my arms, and I couldn’t wait to show her what it felt like to fuck with and fuck on a real nigga.
Laike caught my attention from the second he exited the store, mainly because he wasn’t alone.
He had company. Squinting, I tried determining who was at his side while clutching the strap in my lap.
As they got closer to the truck, the contorted facial expression dissolved as I relaxed my features.
Before they reached the vehicle, I was out and headed in their direction.
“My nigga!” Ken shouted, spreading his arms and welcoming me into his personal space.
I accepted the invitation from my friend of over twenty years, patting his back forcefully to demonstrate my appreciation for his presence.
There wasn’t a doubt about it. I’d missed my nigga.
Eight years of not seeing his face, hearing his voice, or kicking shit with him hadn’t seemed like so much of a big deal until I was standing in front of him, again, dealing with my emotions.
“Wow. Eight fucking years, bro.” I recalled my time away.
“Eight fucking years. You ate that shit, big dog. I thought my ears were deceiving me, hearing motherfuckers claim they’d run across you in passing. I’m like, not my nigga. I would’ve heard something by now. What’s good?”
“I got home yesterday and had plans to pull up on you. A phone call wasn’t gone do it for me, fam.”
“Me, either,” Ken agreed. “What’s up? What you niggas about to get into?”
“Shit, pull up on Moms at the center.”
“Aight. Aight. How the fam? How’s Lyric? I ain’t seen her in, man, shit… since you’ve been gone.”
“Everybody straight, according to Laike. Lyric is the only family I’ve seen since I touched down. Mom and Pops been out of town.”
“Word. Laike got the number. I’ve got to run, but hit me up. I don’t give a fuck what I’m doing, I’m going to make time. Just give me the play and it’s on.”
“Aight. Here, program your shit in my phone. I’m about to text you the number now.”
“Bet. Welcome home, nigga.”
Ken dug into his pockets and emptied them in my hands, giving me every dollar that he had on him. I chuckled, happily accepting it because I knew he wouldn’t allow me to leave if I didn’t.
“Really?” I tilted my head and asked.
“What? You too good for blue faces, now?”
“Nah.”
“Good then. You’re going to need them for this fucking tank you’re driving. Holler at me. I’m out.”
I watched as he turned and jogged back to his ride. The black Mercedes was waiting for him a few pumps over. It had been parked when we pulled up. It had been the reason I hadn’t seen him prior. He was already inside of the gas station when Laike entered.
“That nigga gets blacker each time I see him,” Laike joked after climbing in the truck.
He’d pumped the gas while Ken and I caught up.
“I was thinking the same thing,” I agreed, putting the truck in gear and pulling out.
Laike removed the cord from my cell as soon as I hit the road, replacing it with his own. I wasn’t fucked up about it. I knew he was tired of listening to slow jams all morning. He replaced SiR with Jay. I couldn’t be mad at him for that.
“’Cause when my backs against the wall, nigga I react. Secretly, though, I know you admire that. Wish you had the balls to fire back. Blat!” I sang along with my favorite few lines as I pushed through Channing with one person on my mind. My ole lady.
Twenty minutes later, and I was parked across two spots in her lot, sure that she was watching me on camera.
I debated waiting her out and making her come outside to raise hell about someone being so crazily parked on her lot, but my heart wouldn’t allow it.
I was itching to get inside of her building and get her in my arms.
“You trying to start a war or what?” Laike asked when we stepped out of the truck.
He was so busy in his phone that he hadn’t noticed my parking until we got out.
“If you know what’s best for us, you’d walk a little faster so that she won’t come out of that door,” I warned, picking up my pace.
Shaking his head, Laike continued as if she wouldn’t cuss his ass out too for allowing me to park that way.
When I got to the door, I punched in the personal code I’d remembered since my mother had gotten the system installed a year before I went in.
The sound of the lock retracting was like music to my ears. She hadn’t switched up on me, either.
“Welcome to Einsenberg Smiles,” the receptionist greeted me when I walked in. She was about to continue, but hushed as she saw Laike step in behind me. With his finger to his lips, he silenced her.
“Shhhhh. Where she at?”
“Office,” the receptionist revealed.
“Appreciate you, Trina.”
“No problem.”
I led the way as Laike followed suit. Her office was just beside the main lobby. Her door was open, but instead of walking right in, I voiced my entrance.
“Knock. Knock,” I pounded on the door and stepped inside at once.
Her head whipped around as she spun in her chair. The phone that she’d been holding in her hand fell to her desktop as her mouth slacked and eyes bulged from her sockets.
“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed.
“What is it?” the tiny voice coming from the little girl in her lap asked.
When I saw the hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair, her origins weren’t up for questioning.
She belonged to the woman who had my head in the clouds and my heart in a headlock.
There was no doubt in my mind that Ever would bear my children.
Looking at the mini version of her, my future quickly flashed before my eyes with her at the forefront, surrounded by my blonde-haired and hazel-eyed offspring.
“LUCA.”
“What’s up, ole lady?”
“Luca.” She said my name again as if she couldn’t believe it. Her eyes closed and reopened twice. She wanted to make sure she wasn’t seeing shit.
“You gone just sit there or what?”
“Luca! My God. My God!” She cried, tears staining her brown cheeks.
She stood while screaming, never dropping the little one in her hands or letting her little feet touch the ground. I met her at the edge of her desk and wrapped them both in my arms. My mother felt like home. Finally, I knew that this was real. Her essence proved it. I was really free.
“Wait. This has made my day! When did you get home? Does your father know? Oh my God.”
“Yesterday. I’ve been waiting on y’all to get back.”
“Our plane landed at seven this morning. I headed straight here.”
“Yeah. Dad doesn’t know. You were my first stop.”
“Nah. Don’t lie. She was not your first stop,” Laike snitched as he rolled a toothpick between his fingers. He’d taken one of the seats in front of our mother’s desk.
“Well, who was your first stop?” my mom asked, jealousy written all over her pretty face.
“Her mother,” Laike butted in.
“Nigga!” I turned and slapped his chest.
Shrugging, he shook off the blow to his body and laughed.
“You know he can’t keep his mouth shut, and why were you seeing Ever?”
“It wasn’t intentional. I was only stopping for food, and she so worked at Baisleigh’s House.”