Chapter 5 #2
“Okay.” She smiled into the camera and hung the phone up.
I glanced over at Vee. He was just getting in the car and not privy to the conversation I’d had with Kale. “We may have to push dinner.”
“Why, what’s wrong, baby?” he questioned.
“Kale doesn’t want to stay with my mother, so I told her I’d be on my way to get her in a few.”
“Okay, what’s the address? Put it in the GPS because you know your sense of direction is fucked up.” He laughed.
“Not true. I just know landmarks and shit. I see no point in knowing street names.” I laughed and started keying my mother’s address into the system.
“See what I mean?” He waited until I keyed the address on before he started driving.
The entire drive, he rested his hand on my thigh.
Vee was attentive and thoughtful, and I couldn’t understand why it didn’t feel real or why the hell it felt like I didn’t belong.
True enough, I was giving us a fresh start, but it didn’t feel like it should’ve.
The entire drive to my mama’s house, I got tripped up in my thoughts, and all I could do was question if the fact that I was damaged was why it didn’t feel like this was for me.
Maybe one day it would feel like me, huh?
I convinced myself to let those thoughts go as we pulled on my mother’s block, and sure as hell, she was sitting on her porch with a face I didn’t recognize.
I went to reach for the door handle when I heard his voice behind me.
“Do you want me to get out with you?”
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling before responding sweetly.
“If you want to, that’s fine.” Of course he wanted to.
He wanted it to be real, so he felt that he needed to meet my mama.
We walked up toward the yard as my mama squinted her eyes with a smile on her face.
I’d shown her a photo of Vee a while back, so she’d finally get to see him as well.
The funny thing was I should’ve been ready for them to meet since Vee and I had history, but I damn sure wasn’t.
“Mama, this is Vee and Vee, this is my mama.” I introduced them before walking toward the door and yelling Kale’s name so she’d come on.
I turned around, and Vee looked comfortable talking to my mama, so I continued into the house to get my baby. I spotted my brother watching TV on the sofa as Kale came running toward me.
“Damn, you leaving ya uncle, lil’ bit?” he asked Kale.
She smiled. “Y’all boring, Uncle Mill. Mommy is a little more fun, and I get to go home to my puppy.
” She wasn’t fooling anybody. She just wanted to get home to that damn dog.
I was so grateful that our neighbor had a dog damn near the same breed as Kale’s, so while I was out, she would babysit for me.
“Damn, Kale. Over a dog?” He laughed at her.
She nodded her head. “Oh, wait, Mama. I forgot my iPad.” She took off toward the back of the house.
My brother peeked out of the window before back at me. “Who is that nigga on the porch?” he asked.
“My friend. Why?”
“That nigga looks like he sells Bibles.” Amil shrugged his shoulders.
“No, he doesn’t. He’s nice.” I giggled at what he said.
“Yeah, alright. Call me when y’all get in.”
Once we picked Kale up, the night went kind of fast. We ended up going to dinner before he took Kale and I home.
He walked us up to my door, and of course I invited him in.
The problem with Vee and I was the fact that there was no spontaneity.
Everything was damn near textbook, and I knew him like the back of my hand.
Just like I thought we would, we sat on the sofa and talked.
It was nice, but it was missing something.
I was listening to him when I felt my phone vibrate in my lap. I glanced down, and it was the same number that I purposely neglected to save.
Unknown: Either you send that nigga about his night, or I’ma send him up to meet Allah.
I stared at the message for a while wondering if I wanted to reply or not, but before I could, another message came through.
Unknown: It’s him or both of y’all. You got all of five minutes to tell that nigga bye. Or on my mama, it’s up.
I shook my head because I didn’t know what was crazier: the fact that I believed him, or the fact that his crazy ass had me hot as fuck just off his words alone. Why do I crave this toxic shit when I have a damn near perfect man in front of me?
SAVIOR
She had me fucked up the moment she let that nigga’s lips come in contact with her face at the bar, but by the time I was about to act up, she was gone. I wasn’t that nigga, nor was I the type to get bent over a female, but Regancy had tried the fuck out of me, and I didn’t give a damn what I did.
“What do you want me to do, Save?” Reese asked.
“Put that beam on his forehead and let her stupid ass see it.”
At that exact moment, he was on the roof with a rifle trained on old boy’s chest. I’d never been that reckless, but she did that shit to me. She made me make stupid, thoughtless ass decisions. “They ain’t moved?” I asked.
“Nope.”
I was about to give Reese the green light when he spoke.
“Yo’ ass is crazy as fuck, but that worked. She just rushed that nigga out of the door. Now she’s in the window trying to see where the beam came from.”
I didn’t even have a response for him with that one, because he was absolutely right, and I didn’t even recognize myself.
I mean, yeah, I went ghost on her, but that didn’t give her the right to move along like it was nothing.
My ass was fighting with myself on whether I should go down there and let her hear me or not, but I quickly decided against it.
She’d already pulled enough of a reaction from me that night. I needed to find some type of normalcy.
About an hour later, I looked up and Taurus was sending me an address and telling me to meet him.
I got dressed and was out of the door within minutes.
The drive took about forty-five minutes, then I pulled up to one of the older places that I got paid through.
The difference with that space and most of my others was the fact that the owner was stupid, and he damn near worked for me.
Che owned the chicken joint out south, but he was in so much fucking gambling debt, that bitch belonged to me.
I just let him and his family say this place was family owned because it was damn near cheap labor, and I ran a lot of product through there.
Once I parked my truck, I hopped out and walked through the back of the joint.
Immediately, the smell of fried chicken hit my nostrils as I took the kitchen to the basement where his office was located.
When I opened the door, I came face-to-face with Che and Taurus with a menacing stare.
My boy looked pissed, which meant money wasn’t good and then there was my stupid ass cousin.
“Tell yo’ cousin why the money is short, Zay.” Taurus used his gun to point.
I crossed my arms across my chest and looked at my cousin.
Like the bitch he was, he started stuttering and shit. I couldn’t understand a word coming out of his mouth, so I screwed my face up and leaned in closer to hear him better.
“Speak up, bitch ass nigga. He can’t understand you.”
Zay looked like he was about to piss his pants. “I’ve been keeping a G to—”
I didn’t give him the chance to finish his sentence, because his words confirmed what I already knew.
The back of my hand stopped his sentence before he could finish it.
“Now what the fuck does Che have to do with this?” I turned around and looked at the old man.
I just hoped I didn’t have to knock his ass off too.
“Shit. I happened to pop up when your boy was taking his top money.”
I nodded my head and looked toward Reggie. He had been with us for a minute, so I knew Taurus had called him there. “You’re up, nigga. Don’t fuck up like ya boy.” I cut my eyes in the direction of Zay, and I nodded my head as he held his face like I had hurt his soul.
“This betta be the last time I see yo’ ass because on me it’s—” I couldn’t even finish my sentence before Taurus pulled the trigger and popped Zay. He dropped quickly, and I shook my head.
“Damn, nigga. No warning or nothing?” I questioned.
“Nah. You was finna instill false hope in this nigga and let him leave. Then call and have Reese catch him by surprise. Aye, Reggie, deal with that. Help him, Che.” Taurus and I were already out of the office and going back up the stairs.
Once we were outside, Taurus looked over at me with a smirk. “Welcome to the club.”
I was taken aback and confused at what he’d just said. “What are you—”
“Don’t bullshit me. Nigga, I just talked to Reese. You got on your nut shit, huh? I don’t think I ever had a sniper beam on a nigga’s forehead because a female wouldn’t put him out.” He wanted to poke his fucking fun.
“Fuck you.” I walked over to my car about to get in.
“Don’t get mad at me because shorty had you in the window sweating beads and calling hits on niggas you don’t even know. Just answer me this: how did that shit feel?” He looked at me seriously for an answer.
I shook my head with a smirk and pulled the spare key that I had threatened the building manager for out of my pocket. “Like I was about to light that motherfucker up.”
He laughed. “I knew you had it in you. Now if they put your disgruntled ass out of that building, you can’t sleep on my fucking couch.”