23
I couldn’t believe today was my last day here in a place I called home. I was somewhat scared, but ready at the same time. At first, I was going to skip going to Chevy’s, but I wanted to see him one last time before I left. Also, my sisters were of course going and I couldn’t leave without telling them goodbye. Dio coming over kind of convinced me as well. Him thanking me wasn’t needed but appreciated because little does he know he saved me too. I stood in the mirror in the bathroom, staring at the beautiful necklace around my neck. From the little I knew about Dio, he didn’t seem like the type that would buy something so thought out like this. It almost felt like it was a gift from Chevy rather than him.
I went to grab my keys so I could leave when I heard a knock on my door. I figured it was Dio being funny, so I hurried over, opening it. When I saw who it was, my stomach fucking dropped in my ass. He held a gun up to me while looking so manic, so tired and psychotic. I threw my hands up, dropping my keys and phone.
“Cortez, what the fuck!” I yelled.
He came closer as I took a step back, “Since you’ve walked away from me, I haven’t been right. I-I need more money,”
he said as his eyes bounced around the empty apartment. “Where the fuck are you going?”
“Moving, found a new apartment across town,” I lied.
Cortez’s eyes were wild. “Did you ever love me? Huh?”
My hands began sweating. My eyes glance down at my phone that was vibrating on the floor. Chevy’s name popped up. Eyes on my phone. Eyes back on Cortez. I rushed over to it, and Cortez slammed his foot down on my phone, crushing it. He then picked it up and threw it against the wall, causing me to jump. He waved the gun at me wildly while he wiped his sweaty face with his other hand. “I asked you a question!”
he barked.
“I did but you. You were the one who didn’t love me. Cortez, you cheated, you lied, you kidnapped me and you fucking stole from me, so it’s fuck you!”
I shouted.
He placed the gun to the side of his head, “I was trying Zaria, I was. You are just like Synai!”
he shouted. “She took my babies from me, and I need to get to my girls and you’re going to take me.”
I began moving toward the door, “I’m not doing this with you. What we have is done. It’s over and I wish you nothing but the best.”
“No! no! no!”
I knew I had made some messed up choices in the past and I was trying my best to move smarter. This nigga had a gun and mine was somewhere in my purse. He had broken my phone, and my keys were on the other side of the room. I could easily attack him, but the nigga wasn’t right in the head and that was a death sentence waiting to happen. I didn’t know what to do. Fuck! “Ok Cortez, let’s go,”
I said to him.
His eyes surveyed me. “You for real?”
“Yes, let’s go. I got you, baby.”
He came closer to me, gripping a handful of my hair, bringing my face closer to his, pressing his nasty ass lips to mine, forcing his tongue in my mouth. Gag!
“I love you girl,”
he mumbled in my mouth.
When he released my hair, removing his face from mine, I gagged, nearly throwing up.
He waved the gun at me, “Go grab those keys,” he said.
I moved quickly, snatching the keys off the floor. Another wave of the gun toward the door. I headed over to him and he pressed the gun to my back as we left the house. “Don’t try nothing stupid or I’m going to blow your spine out.”
My heart was racing because my next move was about to be my best one. As soon as we were out in the open. My brain clicked.
Run!
We had just pulled up to Chevy’s. I could see everyone’s car outside, so I knew they were probably waiting on me and Freckles. Chevy had gone all out decorating the entire outside of his house. He really went out this year. Normally, he didn’t do shit. This made me emotional because I knew he was preparing for an end and that hurt even more. I grabbed the gifts before heading to his door.
Freckles took my hand in her as she glanced at me and smiled. We hadn’t talked about how we were going to move forward since making up. My gift to her was telling her that she didn’t have to stay here in California as I did not want her to feel like she needed to give up her life for me. I was the man, and I was willing to make it work. She had been the missing piece to my life that I felt like I needed. To know that there was someone who could love all of me despite some of my ways was truly the best Christmas gift. If I would have known love felt this good maybe just maybe I would have been a different person back then.
By the time we had gotten to the door we didn’t have to knock as Diamond swung the door open with a corny ass smile and an ugly ass Christmas sweater with a gorilla smiling on it. “Look nigga I found a picture of you and put it on a sweater!”
he laughed.
“Fuck you, Frankie Loserman,”
I said as I stepped inside.
Chevy’s house was decked out with a big, beautiful black tree with orange trimmings. He’d wrapped all his gifts perfectly. They were in black matte wrapping paper with orange bows. There was an elegant table spread to one side and a dinner table to the other that sat next to his panoramic glass doors overlooking the city. The Christmas music played in the background while everyone talked amongst themselves. I almost thought I had walked into the wrong house.
Chevy came from the back, fresh as a bitch. He wore an all-black suit tailored to his physique perfectly with an orange bow tie, making me feel underdressed. We slapped hands closing in for a hug, “Love you my nigga,”
I whispered in his ear.
“Love you too,”
he mumbled back.
I placed my hand to the small of Freckles’s back, bringing her forward, “Let me formally introduce my girlfriend. Sasha this is Chevy, Chev this is Sasha,” I smiled.
He side-eyed me and nodded as he reached out for Freckles’s hand. “Nice seeing you again, make sure you take care of my nigga,”
he winked.
He strolled passed us taking another look at me giving me the look that he was proud. This was the first time I’d ever felt like the nigga was proud. All this shit was taking its toll, and I promised myself coming here I wasn’t going to get emotional, but how could you ignore something like your best friend you’ve known most of your adult years would soon be a memory. He headed into the living room area with us behind him. I glanced at Diamond who was probably half drunk singing his ass off.
“Siiiiilent night! Hoooly night. Allll has come. Alll is brriiiggght.”
The doorbell rang, and I could see Chevy’s eyes quickly look. He was expecting someone. I glanced around the house and noticed that Zaria wasn’t here. I’m sure it’s who he was waiting for. I held my hand up giving him the signal I would answer the door.
“I got it,”
I told him as I jogged to the door.
It was Dio. “Merry Christmas!”
he shouted.
“Let me holla at you for a minute Dionysus.”
“Damn, what I do now?”
I shook my head, “Nothing. Listen, you don’t have to go to New York. I decided I’m not going with Chev instead I’m going to stay here, and we can get through whatever it is together.”
Dio waved off. “Zeus, nigga you sound dumb as fuck. You good, I’m going to go up there with Yasin to learn some shit, besides I’ve been talking to a little Shorty. I don’t know maybe it’ll be fun,”
he shrugged.
“You sure?”
“Yes! Zeus you’ve done your job. It’s your turn to breathe. I love you bro,”
he said as he leaned in for a hug.
I nodded as I sent a kiss up to the sky. “Thank you Pops,”
I whispered.
My brother deciding to go up top made me happy yet nervous because I knew he still had some growing up to do. I hoped when he got there, they took care of him because if not I would hate to get there and air the entire place out over my brother. I couldn’t babysit Dio forever, so I was letting him go. I crept over to Freckles, wrapping my arms around her waist and placing my lips to her ears, “I’m coming to Toussaint.”
She turned around smiling, “Are you serious?”
“Serious as I am about you.”
The sound of someone tapping a glass made me and Freckles look.
“Everyone come over here,”
Chevy said.
We both strolled over, stepping inside the space with everyone else. He stood next to the tree with a champagne glass in his hand. He cleared his throat as he glanced at all of us. As I stood there watching him, it was almost as if he was dressed for his own funeral. Like he was holding one while he was alive. I knew Chev he had always been a well-thought -out person.
“I want to do this before Zaria gets here. As you all know other than the new woman and Dio I,”
he cleared his throat then paused as he held his head down for a few seconds. “I have cancer. Before you all start with the tears don’t. These last few months have been one hell of a ride, but I wouldn’t change anything about it because it has made us not only grow closer together as brothers,”
he said as he looked at us, “But also allowed us to meet people who changed our lives forever. I-I,” he choked up. “I am a man of a few words but today on Christmas I want to show my appreciation for all of you as this will more than likely be the last one, I will have with you guys. So, I wanted it to be special.”
The sound of Preach’s sniffles made me look and I could also hear Diamond’s light sobs. I glanced at Foe, who tried catching every tear that slid down his face. Harvey was done as she held the napkin to her lips, crying in it. I turned my attention back to Chevy as he turned to me. We held a long stare at each other. All the years we’d spent together flashed in my mind. From our first race to the race, he decided to walk away from. His bottom lip disappeared into his mouth as it was taking him a lot to even get the words out. Harvey was breaking by the second as her sobs had gotten louder and it was fucking me up because I was trying to keep myself together, I glance back at Chevy who had now swiveled his tie and began talking.
“Zeus, nigga I’m proud of you, so muhfuckin proud. You are big Zu, big brother and a nigga’s right fucking hand. Diamond I’m proud of you for standing on business for Ms. Gloria finding love and soon welcoming a Zoo baby. Preach, man,”
he paused as he sniffed. “I fucking admire you so much, dawg. You have not changed since knowing you. You have remained steadfast in what you believe and still finding time for the Zoo. Foe my knuckle head who grew to be the man I knew you were all along. You cherish my best fucking friend who’s been with me since we were young. Harvey, I love you and I want you to know you’re stronger than you think. You hear me?”
Harvey’s sobs got louder. The other girls were crying as well. I quickly wiped my tears that rolled down my cheek as I held my head up because when you’re a part of the Zoo we don’t put our heads down. You look a man in his fucking eyes. My best friend was really giving up. He bent down handing a gift to each one of us, “I got you all something and before you open it just know that each of you will have a part of me and last, I made a video for you guys.”
I open the black box to see a chain that held two things on it. One a gold key and the other an orange diamond with something in it.
“Each one of you have a key to a safety box. I’ve been saving money, and each box has a million dollars in it. I know it can’t change what will happen and I know you guys are set but with this token, I give to you guys I want to make sure you don’t have to worry about a muhfuckin thing. That has always been my goal for all of you. The diamond I had curated and inside is a little of my blood because all of you are my family and I want you to know we may not be brothers and sister on paper, but we are in blood,”
he winked. “After today I will be leaving and before I go, I need to be sure each and every one of you know that I,”
he paused blowing out a sharp breath. “That I love you all.”
He grabbed the remote and pressed play. Footage of us riding random times together, hanging in the orange village, Diamond’s birthday party and even Zoo-giving we didn’t know he had appeared on the wall size projection screen. As the pictures went into rotation I lost my shit. My knees buckled and I broke down. I cried for everything that had happen over the months, my fucks up, Dio, Freckles and my nigga. I could hear Freckles in my ear try to soothe me, but nothing was working. The thought of him giving up was eating me up. We all walked up to Chevy and embraced him in a hug, “Chevy nigga you can’t just give up,”
Preach sobbed.
“I’ll be straight. Y’all chill,”
he said as he pinched between his eyes. “Zoo over everything!”
We all said in unison, “Zoo over everything!”
He stepped back and cleared his throat. “Last thing,”
he said to everyone. “Let me tell Zaria, please.”
He glanced at her sisters.
He pulled out his phone to check it, then put his phone back in his pocket. He was waiting on her. I didn’t know if she would give him a reason to fight but I prayed she did. He needed love and something was telling me she would be the one to give it to him.
“Can we eat? I am pregnant!”
Yana snapped.
“Not until your sister gets here,”
Chevy said to her.
After a few minutes, I noticed Chevy’s face turned into concern, like he had an epiphany or some shit. He glanced at Dio, “You give her the necklace?”
Dio turned to him, “Yes, nigga I did. She did say she was leaving town.”
Everybody glanced at Dio, “Nigga why you didn’t start off with that!”
Diamond yelled.
Chevy stood there for a minute. “I can feel it, something isn’t right. Something is wrong.”
Navi jumped up, “I tried calling but she didn’t answer,”
she said looking and Yana.
“Cortez!”
they said together.
“Who the fuck is that?”
Chevy asked.
Navi pulled her phone back out, I guess to try to call her sister again. “Her crazy ex nigga,”
she mumbled.
She held the phone to her ear then quickly pulled it away, looking at all of us. It was like a mere second of silence as everybody began running toward the door with Chevy running out first. My nigga liked her a lot and his ass was moving like the speed of light as he hopped in his caprice, speeding out of the driveway. We all hopped in our cars, following behind him. Here we were on Christmas, going to rescue Zaria, yet again.
To be continued...