Chapter 9
Crew
I woke up confused as hell, staring up at the ceiling until everything hit me all at once. This wasn’t Hov’s guest bedroom, and I’d slept way too good last night.
“Fuck,” I jumped up out of the bed, panicked when I saw the sun coming through the windows.
“What’s wrong, babe? Are you okay?” Bria got out of bed with me.
“I was supposed to leave at twelve. It’s fucking 10:50 am, man. What the fuck?”
“Oh. I was knocked out, too.” She replied, rubbing her eyes.
I grabbed my phone and saw no missed calls from Pernelle, just a text from Hov.
Hov: You better get back here fast, nigga. Yo ass in trouble.
I shook my head because I already knew what that meant. Pernelle had probably said some slick shit to her friend, and Hov was warning me before I even showed up.
I ran into the restroom and grabbed the same toothbrush I had used the last time I was here. I didn’t give a fuck how much of a rush I was in, I was never leaving out of her house, or anybody else’s, with sleep in my mouth.
“Crew, calm down. Why are you rushing? Slow down and let me make you something to eat since you are still here.”
“I don’t have time to sit down and eat shit, Bria. I was supposed to be gone last night. I told you last night was my night to watch the baby, and that’s why I set an alarm. I don’t understand how I didn’t hear it. You saw me set that shit, right?”
“Yeah, I did,” she said, standing behind me.
I grabbed the toothpaste, the same kind I use at home, and put it on my toothbrush. As I went back and forth in my mouth with the toothbrush, realization hit me out of the blue. Alarms don’t turn off on their own and someone has to turn them off manually.
“Bria, you didn’t turn my alarm off last night, did you?”
“Huh?” she acted confused as she put a layer of toothpaste on her toothbrush.
“I said, you didn’t turn my alarm off last night, did you?”
“What kind of question is that Crew?”
“Just answer the question. Say yes or no. Did you do that shit?”
“No, I did not.”
She wouldn’t look up at the mirror to face me.
“If you didn’t do that shit, look me in my face and tell me you didn't. Because I know for a fact that I put my phone on ring, and I didn’t hear shit go off last night. And if I didn’t snooze them, they would’ve kept going off every ten minutes.”
“I don’t know, Crew. Okay! Maybe I did it by accident or just by force of habit.”
The truth finally came out of her in an irritated tone.
“Well, that’s fucked up, Bria. I don’t appreciate that shit at all. I needed to be there for them last night.”
“Crew, if you overslept, you overslept. Why are you acting like you owe this girl more than just being her baby’s father? Why do you have to be with them every night?”
I washed my mouth out with water and used a towel from the rack to wipe my face. Once I was done, I walked close to Bria so she could feel my next words. Her ass didn’t just need to hear them.
“Bria, don’t question me about anything I have going on with the mother of my child, alright? That situation doesn’t involve you at all, and we're going through shit you don’t even know about. Or understand.”
“You are right because I don’t understand why you are panicking like that’s your girlfriend. Is she your girlfriend?”
“It doesn’t matter, Bria. I have a responsibility back home, and that’s where I’m supposed to be.”
“So, you’re her man? You two live together?”
“No, but she just had a newborn two weeks ago, so of course, we’re staying together right now. That doesn’t mean shit, though. Pernelle and I haven’t made anything official yet.”
“Oh, yet? Interesting.”
She walked out of the restroom, clearly mad as hell with her arms crossed, and I followed behind her.
“I don’t understand why you are mad. You told me last night that I didn’t have to explain anything to you and that you understood my situation. Don’t turn around and switch up on me now.”
“I’m not. I just feel like you should be able to spend time with me, too.”
“And I did, but you turning off my alarm last night was over fuckin stepping and dead ass wrong because I told you why I had to leave. Interfering with me doing for my child is where I will draw the fuckin line with anybody.”
She didn’t say anything back. And that’s how I knew she did it on purpose. Bria wasn’t the type to get accused of something she didn’t do and just let it rock. She argues with people for a living, so she damn sure would defend herself.
I put on my shoes on the side of the bed while she sat on the other side, mad with her arms folded. I got up and walked over to the door.
“I’m about to roll. I’ll talk to you later.”
I walked out of her room, grabbed my keys from the counter, and left the apartment. Fuck giving her a kiss, a hug, or any of that because she had me fucked up from that stunt she pulled last night.
I made my way across town to Hov and Ciara’s spot, letting the ride stretch out while my mind stayed busy.
Every block gave me more time to replay shit I didn’t want to think about and things I should’ve handled differently.
I wasn’t rushing anymore, not even pressing the gas like that.
I felt like a child who was coming home to get their ass beat.
When I pulled up, Ciara was outside in the bushes, working on the garden in the front yard even in the cold. She had on a big jacket and a beanie, looking like she was doing this shit professionally, not just because she wanted to.
“Yo, what up, Ci?”
“Nothing much. Just came home from going into the office handling business at the center. Now I'm trying to do some work out here.”
She dusted her hands off.
“Oh, P and the baby in there sleeping?”
“No, Pernelle left before I went to work this morning.”
“Left? Where did she go?”
“Home. We tried to get her to stay here, but she said she was going back to Castle Hill. She was mad as hell all last night and left around 6 this morning in an Uber.”
“Damn, so she’s just going to pack up my baby and leave without telling me shit?”
“Crew, Pernell is very headstrong, and you’ll learn that. She was disappointed about you not coming home last night, and you know how sensitive she is about that, especially with what happened to her.”
“Yeah, I know.”
I shook my head, placing my hands in my pockets.
“Alright then, I’m going to head over there, I guess.”
“I mean, you can go, but she said she’s not going to answer the door, so you might want to let her cool off first. I would hate for it to turn into something bigger.”
“Nah, fuck that, Ciara. Actually, my bad, excuse my language,” I knew if Hov heard me cussing at his wife, I’d have to fight his ass.
“But forget that, Ciara. She can open that door for me, especially since my daughter is in there.”
I started to pace before I saw a car rolling by slowly over my shoulder. I grabbed my pistol immediately because this was probably a hit.
“Yo, go in the house now, Ciara.”
“Why?”
“Just go. I don’t know who this is crawling down the block.”
Ciara stood up and looked before she squatted back down, laughing to herself.
“Take your hand off your gun, Crew. That’s just one of the many people patrolling the street that your friend hired.”
“Hired?”
“Yeah. You see that grey Honda parked across the way?”
“Yeah, I see it.”
“Well, there’s a guy in there named Scooby. You know Scooby?”
“Yeah, I know, Scooby. He’s been sniping for us for a long time.”
“I’ve heard, but there's him, there’s another guy named Neil watching who is coming down this block, and a few other people that work for you guys that Hov has been rotating in and out. He said he only used the people he truly trusts with these jobs.”
“Damn, y’all secure as hell over here.”
“Yeah. You know Hov is not playing any games about our safety.”
“And I don’t blame him. That’s why I wanted Pernell’s ass over here too, at least until I can get us a spot with security.”
“Yeah, I know. I tried to tell her not to go. Hov even tried to talk to her, but as I said, she’s stubborn, so she has to calm down first.”
“Damn, man. Why the fuck does she have to act like that?”
“Or maybe you should ask yourself why you have to be the way you are, too, Crew.”
“How am I?”
“Listen, no matter if you two are together or not, you could’ve come back last night.
She knows y’all aren’t together, but I think right now, she wants to feel like a family more than anything, and she even said that you make her feel safe when you are around.
Pernelle never had a dad in the house, so you being there for Amira means a lot to her. ”
Ciara broke it down in a way I actually understood.
“Yeah, I guess you are right and I see now that I fucked up.”
I shook my head and went to sit on the steps nearby, dropping my head as Ciara went back to her garden stuff. I just needed a minute to think with no distractions clouding my head and right now, I actually felt that peace on these steps right now.
I low-key see why Ciara be out here with nature, because this shit was peaceful as hell.
No television running, no noise clouding your mind, no feeling boxed in with your thoughts.
I remember when I was younger, going outside and playing basketball at the parks at night used to make me feel like this too.
The world always seemed to spin a little slower on the court and that's how my love for basketball first started.
“Crew.”
Ciara got my attention.
“Do you mind grabbing that mulch from by the steps and bringing it over here for me, please?”
“Yeah, I got you.”
I got up from the steps, grabbed the mulch, and brought it back to Ciara.
“Can you open it up and pour it right there. Under the white Snowdrop flowers, please,” she directed.
I opened the bag up with the knife in my pocket and then shook the mulch out of the bag where she wanted it, spreading it around the cold ground that she’d managed to grow some flowers out of. Ciara was a beast at this shit.
I heard the front door open and then shut above us.