2. Jovani （Von） Bendetti
Chapter 2
Jovani (Von) Bendetti
It took me two hours to put all the money away. Jeovanni’s ass just sat there and watched, lecturing me the whole time. I wouldn’t have it any other way, though. Half the shit my brother said to me went in one in and out the other and the rest I stored for safe keeping. I knew no one on this earth loved me like that nigga did so, I took all of his tongue lashings even when I wanted to lay his ass out. That nigga fist was big as fuck though and he hit hard so, I would just continue ignoring him.
The rain had cleared, but the skies were still grey, meaning more rain would occur. If the sun didn’t come out, that meant the sky wasn’t done watering. Hell, here in Florida, you could still get some rain even when it was sunny. As I pulled in beside my grandma’s Benz, I looked to the left of me to see if I spotted her nosey ass bestie. Ms. Nixon was Rainah’s grandma and something like a grandma to us. Even she’d popped my ass in the mouth before. In the hood, everybody disciplined everybody’s kids. She was nosy as hell, but I was glad that her surgery had succeeded. She was a part of my life and was one of the people I vowed to protect. She and my Grams were both stubborn as hell, though. All this money we were getting, and they both could be somewhere living lavishly. There was no way we would upgrade our Grams and leave her homegirl. The only reason she didn’t have a Benz is that she refused. She claimed she didn’t drive like that. Thankfully, Rainah had convinced Ida Mae to move into her old condo. Still, she was home more than the condo. I didn’t know what the fuck it was about old people still wanting to live in the ghetto. I was fucking out of here the first chance I got with the first real money I made.
Using my key, I entered my grandmother’s house and the smell of incense burned my nose and damn near brought me to tears. That shit was so fucking strong. She smoked cigarettes mainly when she was stressed and had been doing so since before I could remember. She didn’t like the smell to linger in her home and instead of burning candles like regular folk, she was still stuck in the 1990’s with these Dubai smelling ass incense. The living room was clear, except for some cartoons playing on the TV, so I trudged through the house.
“Grandma! What I tell you about burning them strong ass incense. Bad enough you live in the hood! You don’t need it smelling like the Afghan store!”
As I approached my grandmother’s bedroom, walking down the long hallway, she emerged from behind her door with a scowl.
“What I tell you about coming to my house with all that loud talk?”
“And what I tell you about them incense? You don’t smell that?”
Squinting her eyes at me, I could see her salt and pepper curls even in the dark.
“You ain’t got to smell it! This is my house.”
“Who paid the taxes on it this year?” I smirked.
“I raised your tired ass after I’d already raised my own damn son. That’s over forty years of raising kids. Damn right you paid my taxes and you gone pay whatever else I need you to pay too.”
Joanna was full of sass. She’d been that way since we were children. I guess when you sold cocaine for a living and ran a hole-in-the-wall club, you had to be tough. She didn’t read us bedtime stories and knit blankets while nestled in a rocking chair. She taught us about the boogie man and how to sell water to a whale. Ms. Mitchell was a thug.
“My bad killa. You still got that for me?”
Scratching the back of my head, I looked off. My grandmother took me in. Studying me from my head to my shoes, she leaned in close and just when I thought she was about to love on me, my lips stung.
“Grams! What the fuck was that for?”
Holding my mouth, I had to look at my fingers to make sure my shit wasn’t bleeding.
“You know good and well what that was for! What the hell you got me tied up in and who’s damn white baby is this?”
Yeah, I lied. I fucking lied to my brother about turning the baby over because what I did in my spare time was my business. He had a whole two-piece and a biscuit at the house. What went on at my residence didn’t have shit to do with him. When we left the Russian’s human holding spot, I knew I had to act quickly. I didn’t have a solid plan outside of wanting to keep the baby, so I brought her here. Before I went to the club, I tried reasoning with myself to turn her in, but the longer I stared at her, the more I knew that wasn’t an option.
“Ma. I told you, it’s my baby-“
Whap
“Shit!”
“Lie to me again! That baby, as pretty as she is don’t look like you. Plus, you and your brother can’t make nothing but twins. Y’all get that from your no good ass salami eating mama.”
“She shol ain’t no good is it Grams,” My words were muffled due to me holding my mouth.
“What the young folk say? And ain’t! She not fooling me with her bubble booty and long extensions while walking around here like she twenty two instead of damn near fifty. I owe her and ass whooping for popping back up and causing all this trouble. Had my fucking shit burned to the ground. Stupid hoe.”
“Ole skinny legs ass. Don’t you know your other grandson tried to get on me about not wanting to build a relationship with her?”
My Grams drew her head back.
“I know you lying to me!”
I held up two fingers like I was a fucking scout.
“I swear.”
“Oh I’m going to have to call his half breed ass. Just because he wants to see through her bull doesn’t mean we all want to wear shit stained glasses.”
“Right. Dookie booty lil boy,” I cackled.
Grams snapped her head at me, which made me jump a little. If she popped me in the mouth again, my shit was going to swell and bust.
“Who’s baby?”
“Okay, for real, Grams. She mine. Listen, Listen!”
I held my hand out to stop her heavy ass hand.
“I adopted her. Well, I’m in the process of adopting her.”
By the look on my grandma’s face, she wasn’t buying my shit.
“You’re the last person who needs to be adopting a child, Jovani. Remember when you had that rabbit? She was gone a week after you got her.”
My body tensed, and my muscles quivered at the mention of Lola.
“Grandma, you cooked her!”
“Stop saying that crazy shit! I didn’t cook your pet rabbit.”
“Yes, you did! I couldn’t find her, and then boom, you and your friends was in the yard eating fried rabbit like it was fish fry Friday.”
I had Lola when I was like eight. Third grade was the first year my brother and I had to take separate classes because we always got in trouble. I had a science project where we all had to pick an animal and give a presentation about it. My Grams was getting cocaine money so, I blew the whole basic ass class out the park when I rolled in with my power point and my rabbit. That hype lasted all of a week when I came home and they were in the yard sucking on rabbit bones. Shit still made me nauseous. I didn’t even know folks from Florida ate rabbit. A lil gator yeah. Maybe even turtle and beaver, but a rabbit? Grams was dead wrong. I didn’t talk to her or my brother for a month straight. He was guilty, too, since I caught him bringing them tobacco sauce.
“Stop saying that crazy shit. If you were adopting the baby, why in the hell did I have to lie to my grandson so that he wouldn’t come in and see her?”
My eyes bulged.
“Wait! Jeovanni came by?”
That nigga left the warehouse ten minutes before me. How the fuck?
“Umm hum. I sent him down to the corner store to get me a couple latto tickets. He should be back at any time.”
Pushing past my grandma, I opened the door to her bedroom. Even though she had central air, her ghetto ass still had an AC unit propped in the window, and she had it on blast too. The baby was laid out in the middle of the bed with one of our old t-shirts from when we were kids. My grandma kept everything, and from looking at how clean and well put together her home was, you wouldn’t tell. Open that shed in the backyard, though; one would see it was a hoarder’s paradise. Leaning over in the bed, I placed my hand on her back to make sure she was still breathing. She looked like a damn corpse in this tall ass bed. All the pillows that my Grams kept were stacked in the floor basket next to her fireplace, which was an add-on courtesy of her grandsons. The furniture was so big in here it was damn near a fire hazard to have the darn fireplace, electric and all.
“Jovani, she is asleep,” Grams spat in a harsh whisper.
“She looks unalive. And what is these damn cotton picking braids in her head?”
Her coily hair was in three plaits, flying every which way, and the strong smell of blue magic grease was present.
“I washed her hair and gave her a long bath. She’s been sleeping for hours. Poor child, no telling when she had a good night’s rest fooling with you.”
Knowing my brother could pop in any minute, I scooped up the baby who barely stirred in her sleep. With her head resting on my shoulder, I knew that cheap ass hair grease was going to stain my Prada shirt since I left my jacket in the car just as it had left a mark in Grams’s bed.
“Now, why are you taking her out of here? It’s storming and you live on the other side of town.”
“I can’t deal with the Sergeant right now. Me and Girl gotta go.”
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled off a fat knot, handed it to my Grams, and then snatched the small blanket she kept folded at the end of her bed and tossed it over the baby.
My Grams eyed the money but tucked it into her bra.
“What you just call her?”
“Her name. Girl.”
“I really think your womb donor dropped you on your head before she left you on my doorstep.”
“She probably did. You know her kind don’t like blacks.”
My Grams grabbed one of those recycled Marshalls bags from the floor and handed it to me.
“I had a friend bring me some diapers and a few outfits. They didn’t get pajamas, that’s why she’s in some of your old clothes. I didn’t know if she still takes formula since I have no clue of her age, but she’s been eating table food with me.”
“It’s cool, I got her some Pluck it in the car.”
My grandma looked mortified but I didn’t have time for this shit. Walking through her home that I knew off memory, I made it through the front door, beating the rain because the downpour came no sooner than I had Girl in the back seat. I nearly side-scraped my grandma’s Benz pulling out of the driveway. Just as I reached the stop sign, a car identical to mine turned on the street. Pushing the pedal to the metal, I got the fuck out of dodge. By the time I reached the expressway, I could breathe easier. Looking in the rear view, Girl was laid out in the back seat with her Celie braids.
My people could talk their asses off but, I was going to be a damn good foster daddy. Girl had just been holed up in a trafficking ring. She was better off with me anyway. Even my nephews cried when they had to leave my house. I was the lit twin. The kids loved Jovani. It wasn’t no Sergeant shit going on around these parts. He wanted me out the club and away from these bitches, cool. It was just me and my Jit.