Chapter 17
Kayla didn’t slow down after her blow up with Diamond, if anything, she sped up. It started with shoes and clothes, new shit every other day. Designer logos that she didn’t have the money to buy. Her nails and hair were fresh, Diamond noticed a cash flow that didn’t come from her and their father.
Diamond always paid close attention to her sisters, she noticed small changes and Kayla was changing right in front of her eyes. Kayla would come home laughing, tossing bags in the closet like trophies. Her energy was sharp and nasty, especially with Diamond.
Like clockwork, Kayla walked in loud, but not alone. Diamond’s eyes shot toward the door as she walked in with her “friends” behind her.
“Come on, y’all, my room back here,” Kayla said as they followed behind her.
Diamond was stuck for a minute because she really didn’t know who the fuck Kayla was anymore.
She had been trying her best to fix shit between them, but she could feel herself on the verge of spazzing out.
Kayla knew better than to bring those hoes in the house, they never had company mainly because they were embarrassed of their mother’s addiction.
“You not gon’ say nothing?” Mia asked.
“Nah,” Diamond shot back and sat there and tuned back in to the tv.
She tried her best to stick to her word, but every time she heard one of them laugh or talk loudly, she got irritated.
It wasn’t until she heard the music start blasting did she get up.
She walked to Kayla’s room and opened the door without knocking.
What she saw made her freeze and her eyes widened.
It looked like Nordstroms had moved to their house, piles of designer clothes, bags, and shoes were on the bed.
“Y’all need to leave,” she demanded as they all fell silent and looked at one another then Kayla.
“Diamond, get out my room. Go find you some friends and get off my dick.”
She couldn’t believe the way Kayla was slick talking like she wouldn’t punch her in the fucking mouth.
“Kayla, you ain’t never been a follower, you let these hoes talk you into stealing.”
“Hoes? Man, Kayla, you better get this bitch,” one girl stood up.
“You get me, hoe! Matter of fact, get the fuck out, now!”
They all moved to the sound of Diamond’s voice, but at their own pace. As soon as she and Kayla were alone, she looked her sister in the face. She didn’t want to punch her, she wanted to hug her, but if she swung, she was hitting her back, again.
“So since when you start stealing?”
Kayla challenged her with her eyes, “Since I got tired of waiting on handouts from you and your daddy.”
Diamond gave her a stale face, “My daddy? Man, you trippin’. You can play with me, but don’t play with him.”
“I ain’t playing. That man love you the most and you know it, but I ain’t trippin’ and I ain’t waiting on no handout from y’all no more.”
“This shit gon’ lead you straight to jail. Sister, listen to me.”
“Diamond, you sell drugs. Y’all crossed me out y’all’s little operation, yeah I noticed. So please don’t try to lecture me when your hands are just as dirty as mine. What, you jealous I’m getting money without walking in your shadow?”
Diamond blinked, “Jealous?”
“Yeah.”
“This ain’t no competition, this is survival.”
Kayla giggled and stepped close to Diamond’s face while popping the gum in her mouth, “Well, I’m surviving and you still hating. I ain’t scared and I ain’t stopping.”
She snatched the bags up and tossed them in her closet before grabbing her purse.
“Kayla.”
“Diamond, don’t hate me because I figured it out without you. I found my niche and I’m good at it. Stay in your lane and I’ll stay in mine,” she replied before walking out, slamming the door behind her.
Diamond stood alone with her heart pounding, her stomach was in knots, not because she was hungry, but because she was scared. She knew that tone in Kayla’s voice, it was the tone people used right before everything fell apart.
Her chest tightened as she walked out the room, her instinct never lied, she had to save her sister even if she didn’t want to be saved.
She followed the sound of laughter that came from the front porch, those bitches were still there.
Kayla stood with her girls, designer bag on her arm, fresh gym shoes, and a bad attitude that made the wind stink.
Diamond paused in the hallway when she heard her name.
“Man, my sister think she run shit. Always preaching, I don’t want to hear that shit. She just mad I’m getting money.”
“Better chill before she beat you up again.”
“Yeah ok. I bet I put her on her back pockets next time she touch me.”
The girls laughed with her, that shit hit different. Diamond stepped outside the door, and everyone looked at Kayla who didn’t give a single fuck about her presence. Diamond was tired of her mouth.
“Come on, get in the gloves,” Diamond suggested, walking down to the yard.
The laughter died instantly, and silence filled the chilled air.
Kayla looked at her, “Girl, you not my momma.”
“No, I’m your sister. Glove up, baby.”
“Girl, no. I’m not getting my shoes dirty or breaking a nail, go get some money and spar with me on that.”
Once again the girls started laughing. Diamond gave a head nod, still placing the gloves over her hands. She walked back up the stairs and punched every bitch in her path until she reach Kayla, who immediately backed up until she hit the door.
“You see that, these hoes are weak! It’s four of them and one of me, the same way they running out of this gate is the same way they going to leave you when shit gets real! Use your fuckin’ head, stupid!” she jumped at Kayla, causing her to flinch.
“Hey, hey, what is this?” Sherry’s voice came from behind, soft and calm like it always was.
“Your daughter is stupid!” Diamond shouted in Kayla’s face as Sherry got between her girls.
“Oh no, that’s not how we carry on. Both of you in the house!”
Sherry may have been an addict, but she was always a mother first and she didn’t play, high or sober. The girls stormed inside; Diamond didn’t want to look at Kayla.
“What is going on?”
“Diamond wants to be you! She’s not my mother!”
“Kayla, please. At this point, I don’t even want to be your sister.”
Those words stung her tongue coming out, but she was mad as hell.
“Good! Stand on that, when you see me in the streets, keep walking!”
“You got my word,” Diamond said before storming off to her room and slamming the door.
As soon as she got inside of her space, she broke down.
No one had ever hurt her feelings like Kayla had.
Her sisters were her babies, especially Kayla, they had always been attached at the hip.
Two minutes into her bawling, she heard a knock on the door, she wished it was her sister coming to apologize, but Sherry walked in.
“Diamond,” her mother whispered softly.
“Yeah?”
“You ok?” her mother’s hand grazed her shoulder.
“I’m good.”
Sherry stood there, frail, but still beautiful underneath her addiction. Her eyes and words were clearer than Diamond had seen in a long time. Something was different about her, she wasn’t fixed or healed, but she was present.
“You’re not good. You’ve been carrying this family on your back.”
Diamond shrugged, “Somebody gotta do it.”
Sherry shook her head, “No. It’s not fair to you, you shouldn’t have to and I’m sorry.”
Diamond looked away.
“I know I haven’t been the mama you deserve and remember.
You may not see me, but I’m here. I see you.
I see how you protect your sisters, how you take care of them even when you’re tired.
You’re so tough, I wish I had your fight and strength.
I promise there are special blessings for people like you, don’t change,” Sherry continued with tears in her eyes.
Diamond loved her mother so much, she believed in Sherry, she knew that woman loved her, it was in her words.
“You are strong, Mama, you just have an addiction.”
Sherry forced a smile, “I don’t have an addiction, the addiction has me.”
Her words hit Diamond in the heart, she wished she could save Sherry herself.
Diamond tilted her head to the side because she wanted to ask a question that she had never asked her mother.
“Mama, what happened? How did you get on drugs?”
Sherry fell silent for a moment and looked down at her lap as if she was ashamed, but Diamond lifted her head.
“I was laced. Smoking with people I trusted. The blunt was laced with cocaine.”
Diamond instantly thought about Kayla and the girls she was running with. The thought alone brought tears to her eyes, that and the hurt in her mother’s voice. To know that she was tricked into addiction made Diamond want to kill everyone involved.
“Who gave it to you?”
Sherry looked away and shook her head, “That’s not important. I never even told your father the answer to that question.”
“Why are you protecting someone that hurt you?”
Silence once again filled the room, “I’m not, I’m protecting my family.”
Diamond was speechless in that moment, something wasn’t right.
“Anyway, enough about me, Duke huh?”
Her heart dropped at the sound of his name, the last thing she needed was her mother telling her something bad about him.
“Daddy told you, didn’t he?”
Sherry giggled, “You know my bestie is going to tell me everything.”
She loved how her parents still loved on one another through the storm.
“I know he’s a bad guy, but I like him,” she admitted.
“Duke is a good boy, he comes from very good people. He saved me from doing something stupid today.”
After listening to how Duke helped her mother out, she wasn’t even sure if her dad could keep her away from him.
Later that night she found herself walking toward Duke’s house. She didn’t call or text, she just needed to thank him face to face for protecting her mother. She noticed Cam standing with his father and their people. She spotted Ace and wanted to spit in his face, but she looked away instead.
“What’s up, Dime?” Cam called out as she got closer, Ace’s eyes burned a hole in her head.
“Hey, Cam,” she spoke back as he made his way over to her.
She had nothing to say to him, his people wanted her hurt, so in her eyes, they were all dirty.
“Damn, you been acting funny as hell.”
“Nah…I just been to myself. I’m going through a lot.”
“What’s up? Somebody hurt you?”
She could see Ace damn near about to fall over while trying to listen to their conversation, so she spoke up and jumped right into character. She looked away with forced tears in her eyes, she deserved a fucking Oscar.
“You was right, Duke is a piece of shit.”
“He put his hands on you?” Cam asked as Stone’s eyes landed dead on her like he was awaiting an answer too.
She quickly shook her head, “No, but he broke my fuckin’ heart.”
Cam shook his head and pulled her in for a hug as she smiled in his arms. Her father was going to beat Ace’s ass again and she couldn’t wait.