Chapter 7
“Bro, you choosing Diamond over Farrah?” Chris asked as they sat around Cam’s room tossing a football.
“I’m not choosing shit; Diamond just cool people and Farrah is a forced trophy.”
“A rich ass trophy!” Ryan chimed in.
“Farrah ain’t rich, her momma stay out south in the hood. Her pops got it, but money don’t make up for common sense, Farrah green as fuck,” Cam tossed the ball to Ryan.
“I heard lil Kayla got a crush on Ryan,” Chris teased as Cam laughed.
“That’s a little ass girl, she better get the fuck on. I’m looking for a college bitch.”
“Speaking of college, Cam, you ain’t said shit,” Chris added, looking at his boy.
Cam leaned back; he had already made up in his mind, he wasn’t going away to school.
He would take some courses in the city to make his mother happy, but Cam was ready for the big league.
He was ready to follow in his father’s footsteps, no degree in the world would bring in the money his father did.
“I’m staying in the city.”
“That’s crazy, you the only one out the crew that can afford college and yo ass ain’t going?” Chris asked with a stale face.
Cam knew his struggle was nothing compared to his homeboys, they came from nothing while he had everything.
“I’m just gon’ take classes in the city.”
“Niggas always say that, end up at Malcolm X for a school check, get one and never go back. Next you know, niggas working at the corner store,” Chris explained as they laughed.
“I ain’t never working in nobody’s store, I’ll own it.”
“Aye, y’all heard about Duke getting robbed?” Ryan shifted the conversation.
Hearing Duke’s name made Cam’s blood boil; he didn’t like that nigga, never had, and it was probably because their fathers were rivals before his got killed.
“Fuck Duke,” Cam quickly replied.
“I know you ain’t mad he talking to Diamond?” Ryan asked, telling Cam something he didn’t know.
“What you mean?”
“I saw her talking to him at the store the other night, nigga was so close to her face, I couldn’t tell if they were talking or kissing.”
Cam tried to play it cool, he had no reason to be upset, “That ain’t got shit to do with me.”
Diamond was tripping if that was the nigga she decided to jump off the porch with; he wasn’t a hater or nothing, but she could do better than that.
“Good because Farrah gon’ fuck you both up.”
“Dime will beat the fuck out of Farrah, and I will watch.”
“Dime? Nigga, you gave her a nickname?” Ryan yelled out before cracking up laughing.
Cam didn’t catch the joke; he wasn’t even in the mood to laugh. He didn’t want her getting mixed up with Duke, he had saw him go through some of the coldest females in the hood.
“Y’all niggas get the fuck out,” Cam kicked them out as they laughed all the way to the front door while teasing him as his mother looked at them and shook her head.
Stacy waited for her son to close the front door before speaking, “What’s up with you and this Diamond that they’re teasing you about?”
“Nothing at all, she just cool people.”
“Good because Farrah is a good girl, and she’ll know how to stand beside you when it’s your turn to run the business.”
“I don’t need nobody to stand with me.”
“Wrong. Every king needs a queen, can’t run this shit without her.”
“Damn right about that,” Stone joined them, kissing Stacy on the forehead before dapping Cam.
“So, if I wanted to be a single man for the rest of my life, I couldn’t run the business?”
“You could but it runs so much smoother when you have your queen by your side. You’ll understand one day when you and Farrah fall in love for real.”
Cam just shook his head, “Why do y’all think I’m gon’ be with Farrah?”
“We just be wishful thinking, damn. She’s the princess of Ace’s family and you’re the prince of ours, the shit just sounds right,” Stacy blurted, waving him off.
Ace was his father’s righthand man and Cam would prefer to call the nigga “unc” over “father-in-law” any day.
“Nah, son, that’s one thing you want to take your time with. Picking a wife is like wine tasting, you go through them until you get that perfect one, when you get it, you buy the bottle and keep it forever.”
“Well, Farrah is the kind I don’t like,” Cam shot back as his parents cracked up laughing.
He was blessed with the coolest people ever, his father the business while his mother ran the businesses.
She was always legal, but illegally if she had to be, Stacy was a hell of a woman and wife.
His mother was tougher than a lot of niggas, Stone was nothing without her and he made that very clear.
Stone shook his head still laughing.
“I mean she is a little rough around the edges like her mammy,” Stacy added before rolling her eyes.
“You know her OG?” Cam asked as Stone chuckled.
“Do she know her? Stacy used to beat her ass every chance she got; Farrah’s mother is ignorant as fuck.”
“Naw, that hoe is ghetto and dirty. She wants Farrah to be a hoe just like her.”
Cam laughed and shook his head before grabbing a bottle of water and his car keys. Stone followed his son out to the porch.
“So what’s the plan for the summer? Partying with your friends, the ladies?”
Cameron had been waiting on that question, he was ready to learn the other side of the game.
“I want to learn whatever you willing to teach me.”
Stone looked over at Cam, it wasn’t a fatherly look, but a boss, a stern look.
“You know college is cool too, Son.”
Cam had thought it over for months and that shit wasn’t for him, he knew what he wanted to be.
“I want to learn the business, Pop.”
“You ready for this shit? I know I’ve gotten you accustomed to reaping the benefits, but putting in the work is a different world.
You gon’ see shit, shit that might make you sick to your stomach.
I’m not gon’ ask you if you built for this shit because it’s in your blood. So again, are you ready for this shit?”
“I’m ready. I wanna run the city like you.”
“Nah, you gon’ run the city better than me. This side of the game is temporary, never make it permanent, it’ll only end one of two ways unless. That’s why I need you to be ready.”
“I’m ready.”
“Oh, you still getting that degree.”
“I already know.”
He dapped his father up before hopping in his car, heading to the block where his homies were, Diamond’s block to be exact. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her and Duke since he heard the shit. He told himself he didn’t care, she wasn’t his problem, but his mind and ego wouldn’t let it go.
No sooner than he stepped out of the car, he spotted Dime and her sisters talking and laughing in front of their house. Cam knew he should’ve walked toward his homies, but his feet took him to her. He didn’t care what she did, but he had to fair warn her about that nigga, Duke.
“Hey, Cam,” both Kayla and Mia spoke while Diamond gave a head nod like he had done something to her.
“What’s up, y’all? Dime, let me holla at you.”
She stood up as her sisters smiled and giggled like little kids.
“Why you pressing up on me? I know your shadow is nearby.”
“Why you talking to Duke?” he shot back.
The name landed between them like glass, the air became stiff.
Diamond crossed her arms slowly, “That’s not your business.”
“It kinda is.”
She sighed and looked away for a moment, “It was business, nothing personal, and what does it matter to you?”
He looked at her like he wanted to say too much, “You don’t know him like you think you do. That nigga ruins things, people, and lives.”
“Sounds like the typical nigga to me, y’all ruin everything, reputations and all.”
“What you mean?”
“Word on the streets is we fuckin’.”
Cam frowned his face, “That shit didn’t come from me.”
“It came from Farrah, she’s a reflection of you.”
“She ain’t shit to me and how you know it was her?”
“Because I smacked the shit out of Jatara until she told me. I’m hitting Farrah in the mouth when I see her.”
“That’s female shit, anyway, stay away from that nigga.”
She looked at him and folded her arms across her chest.
“Cam…you not my daddy.”
“I ain’t tryna be,” Cam shot back before a deep baritone came from behind.
“Damn right you ain’t… Diamond, get in the house!” her father scolded, dismissing Cam with his eyes.
That nigga had been mean since Cam could remember, it was like he was always having a bad day. Cameron didn’t give a fuck, he was gon’ look after Diamond no matter what her Pop said.