Chapter 12
“Damn, Daughter, long time no see. Nice to meet you, I’m Ace, your father.”
Farrah and Pooh laughed as they walked inside of Ace’s house and kicked their shoes off at the door. She couldn’t lie, she was glad to be back in luxury; she loved her mother, but she loved her dad more.
“Mannnn, if you missed me just say that,” she joked before running into his awaiting arms.
She, too, was a daddy’s girl, but she more so loved what her Daddy did for her.
He created a monster, a monster that craved attention and the finer things in life.
She was quickly learning that a guy that wanted to date her had to do more than her father and that was a very big shoe to fill.
Meanwhile, Harlem was taking the place of Cam at a rapid pace.
She had no idea where the Shika girl stood but that was none of her business.
The fact that Harlem thought her name was really Diamond always made her laugh.
She pulled that stunt just in case Shika went through his phone, and if she was as crazy as Pooh claimed she was, she wouldn’t come looking for her.
“Aw shit, double trouble,” he said as Pooh came over to hug him. Farrah loved that he treated her siblings like his own when they were in his presence.
“What’s up, Pops?” Pooh spoke before hugging Ace.
They stayed in the house for an hour before they hit the streets, Farrah didn’t even want Pooh to whoop Diamond because she didn’t give two fucks about Cam anymore.
Harlem had her undivided attention and some.
She stopped calling and texting Cam; she wasn’t even checking for him when her and Pooh went outside.
“I’m about to park so we can walk, I need these hoes to see the princess is back,” Farrah boasted, pulling into a park on 16th and Homan where everyone hung out.
The first person she spotted when she got out was Cam and his guys.
She felt absolutely nothing when she saw him; before, there were butterflies and some more shit.
She and Pooh walked in their direction because that was where the corner store sat, and she wanted sunflower seeds.
Her and her sister walked and talked, she glanced at Cam but didn’t part her mouth and neither did her sister until she came out the store.
She tried to ignore him and that alone was wild because normally, she tracked his every move like he was her job. But that day? He was damn near invisible, that was until he called her name.
“Damn, Farrah, you good?”
“I’m straight,” she replied with her face buried in her phone as Harlem texted her, a smile crept upon her face that made Cam frown.
“You sure?”
“Mmhm.”
There was no “Hey Cammm,” no strained conversation, no forced hugs, no lingering stare, nothing.
“So you wasn’t gon’ speak?”
Farrah finally looked at him, barely, “Oh…hey.”
She looked right back down at her phone and smiled like he didn’t exist, he really didn’t.
“Man, what’s up with you?”
“I’m good, why you say that?”
“You acting weird.”
“Nah, I’m acting accordingly. We good.”
“Who got you smiling?”
Farrah paused and looked at him with a smirk, “None of your business.”
Cam stared at her like she was crazy and she was, but not about him anymore and he was feeling it. That shit was all in his face, she was curving him in front of the niggas he used to play her in front of. Farrah never talked to him that way, ever.
“What’s his name?”
“Once again, that’s not your business. I was getting on your nerves, remember? Forcing some shit that you didn’t want. Go find you a bitch like I found me a nigga, Cam.”
“So just forget everything our families planned?”
Farrah looked at him uninterested, “I didn’t forget, I just don’t care.”
She walked off and left him standing right there and she couldn’t lie, the shit felt so good.
Cam was so used to her running behind him like a puppy, that shit died the day Harlem made love to her and snatched her young soul.
She had no plans on having sex with him, but he talked her right out of her panties and into her heart.
She wholeheartedly understood why the Shika girl was crazy because he was something to be crazy over.
Though she wanted no smoke with his girl, she was ready for whatever came her way when it came to Harlem.
She wasn’t coming off of him, she smiled whenever he crossed her mind and that was every minute.
“Oh bitch, Harlem got you by the collar, huh?” Pooh said as soon as they got out of ears’ reach of Cam.
“I like him, Pooh, a lot.”
She shook her head and looked at Farrah, “You gotta let that nigga go before he gets you hurt, Farrah. I’m telling you, Shika isn’t wrapped tight; I saw her and her people gut a bitch like a fish. She died and no one would talk because they fear Shika and her family.”
“You must not know who my daddy is, them hoes will die.”
“This shit is going to get bad, I feel it, but I’m gon’ ride with you till the end against whoever.”
“Anybody?”
“Hell yeah, you know how I’m coming!”
“Go whoop that bitch right there,” Farrah said as Diamond walked toward the store they had just left from.
Diamond was by herself. When Farrah saw Cam follow her into the store, jealousy kicked in full throttle.
“Wait for her to come out the store and beat that bitch!”
“That’s her?” Pooh asked, pulling her hair into a ponytail.
Farrah knew that Diamond could fight, but Pooh had been dragging hoes through the hood for years. They waited near the corner and watched as Diamond walked out of the store chewing on a straw, minding her business.
Pooh had a mug plastered on her face when Diamond finally looked in their direction.
Pooh was confident, she stood broad and ready for the girl her sister put a hit on.
That was how her mother’s side got down, they handled business and that day, Diamond was the business.
Though Farrah was far from a fighter, she stood ten toes down as her sister approached Diamond.
Pooh crossed the street heavy, trying to make her presence bigger than it was. Diamond saw her walking up and stopped, placing her back to the wall behind her. Pooh stepped right in front of her.
“What’s up? I heard you have a problem with my sister,” she said briefly, looking over at a smirking Farrah.
Diamond raised a brow as a crowd quickly formed and Cam came and stood front and center. That was where Farrah wanted him and everybody else in the hood so that they could see what Pooh was about to do to her.
“Girl, I don’t give a fuck about your sister and you either for that matter.” Diamond tried to let it go and even attempted to walk off, but a shove to the back made her turn around.
“Man, Farrah, get this bitch, y’all not about to touch her,” Cam demanded as Farrah’s head snapped in his direction. Was he really taking up for that bitch in her face?
“It’s cool,” Diamond replied, placing her plastic bag on the ground.
“I know it’s cool, matter of fact, fuck that, I wanna fight,” Pooh backed up to the street as the crowd followed.
As soon as Diamond stepped into the street, Pooh swung fast and connected to Diamond’s jaw.
The crowd was shocked and in an uproar while Farrah cheered from the sideline.
She swung a second time, but Diamond was fast, too fast. One duck, followed by a jab and a hook, Pooh hit the pavement so hard, it felt like the ground shook.
“Damnnnnn!” some boy yelled from the crowd while jumping up and down.
Never had anyone seen a girl get put to sleep, but Pooh was snoring and Farrah was running.
Her heart was beating out of her chest as she ran to her car and hopped inside.
Diamond didn’t chase her, but the crowd did, they laughed and banged on her car.
Embarrassed was an understatement, Farrah was humiliated.
Word traveled fast, by the time Farrah blinked, Stone’s Jeep turned the corner, right behind it was a steel-gray Charger, her father’s Charger. It wasn’t until she saw Ace and Stone exit their cars did she get out of hers. Pooh sat on the curb with her mouth leaking blood.
“Why you over there and your sister is over here?” Ace asked as Farrah stood there on the verge of tears.
“Because she ran,” Cam spoke up as she cut her eyes at him.
Diamond stood right there by herself, “What’s up, Farrah?” she finally spoke, not caring that Ace was right there. Most people feared her father, but Diamond didn’t, and it showed.
“Girl, I’m not fighting you!”
“Yes, the fuck you is,” Ace spoke to his daughter as fear once again covered Farrah’s face.
Diamond was ready, but Farrah backed away; she didn’t want to fight and lose in front of everybody, but she knew it was the only way to halfway redeem herself for running off and leaving her sister.
Pooh finally stood up, her once white shirt was covered in drips of blood like it was part of the shirt’s design.
“Run it back!” Pooh demanded, getting her second wind. Farrah was glad she stepped up, but when she saw Kayla and Diamond’s father turning the corner, she knew shit was about to get real.
“Bet.” Diamond stepped back into the street.
“What’s up? What we doing?” Kayla asked, stepping into the street with Diamond.
“Farrah and her sister wanted to fight, so we fighting.”
“Cool, let’s do it,” Kayla got in her stance and was ready.
Their father didn’t say a word, he kept his eyes on his daughters.
Pooh had the heart of a lion because win, lose, or draw, she was ready to do it again while Farrah wanted to call the police on everybody. She was from the hood, but she wasn’t with the fighting shit.
Farrah stood there watching Diamond work her sister out for the second time until she felt stinging in her jaw.
“Don’t just stand there, get in the field,” Kayla demanded before slapping her again with an open hand.
Farrah grabbed her face and tried to dodge the next swing, but she couldn’t, she had no choice but to fight.
She started swinging in a windmill motion and hit nothing but air as Kayla caught every opening that led to her face.
“Man, break that shit up, these girls ain’t got no win,” Stone said as Ace went to pull them apart.
“Don’t touch my daughters, they wanted to fight, right?” Rich finally spoke as Ace gave him a stale look.
“Bro, call yo daughters off,” Ace shot back in a threatening tone.
“Or what, nigga?”
Once they heard their fathers’ voices, all the girls stopped, especially when Ace walked toward Rich. Farrah’s face was hurting, and her heart was in her ass.
“You better call them bitches off!” Ace yelled as the crowd fell silent, too silent, it felt unsafe.
Rich moved before anyone even registered it.
Farrah’s heart broke in half when she saw her father, her hero, the toughest man she knew, face hit the ground.
She screamed when he didn’t move, Stone’s face twisted with fury as he made the crowd move.
She ran over to her father as Rich stepped over him like he wasn’t there and his girls followed.
“Just like that, Rich?” Stone finally spoke as Cam stood next to his father.
“I warned that nigga years ago, don’t get in my face unless you wanna feel it. Take it how you want to, I’m right here.”
Stone nodded at him, “You looking for a war or something?”
The two men locked eyes, years of bad blood, betrayal, unfinished business, and even some emotions vibrated between them.
“I’m not looking for anything, but I ain’t running either. Tell that nigga to watch his mouth when he wakes up.”