Ethan Whitmore
Ididn’t know what the fuck possessed these crazy bitches to team up and pull this stunt.
Never had I ever called Zenobia out of her name because I respected her as the mother of my child.
But this bitch been on one lately, I was over the bullshit.
The last time I checked, she and Carla didn’t even get along.
Yet they were in my bed fuckin’ on each other like we were on some polygamy type shit.
Hearing my front door slam brought me back to my senses.
“Fuck!” I turned around to chase after Ava.
When I stepped outside, she was walking down the street with her phone in hand.
“Ava!”
I called out to her, but she ignored me. I had to do a slight jog to catch up with her. She was walking so damn fast.
“Wait a minute.” I caught her elbow. “I don’t know what the fuck they got going on back there.”
“It’s cool, Ethan. No need to chase after me.” She shrugged and continued walking.
“Ava, baby, listen to me.” I stopped her again. “I’ma handle that shit, but I don’t want you thinking that I’m still fuckin’ on either one of them.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m good, you’re good, we’re good.” She shrugged again.
We stood staring at each other for several seconds.
“Alright, well, let me make sure these bitches are out of my house, so we can continue on with our night.” I studied her face.
From a distance, I saw both Zenobia and Carla come outside just as a car pulled up, which they hopped into. As soon as I got the chance, I planned to pay both of them a visit. I should’ve been changed my fuckin locks, so that was a fuck up on my end.
“I’m fine, actually.”
Another car pulled up at the end of my driveway, and she turned to head in that direction.
“Amore.”
As expected, she stopped dead in her tracks. But what I didn’t expect was the words that came out of her mouth.
“I’m done, Ethan.”
Shit, I had no words for that. I watched her walk to the car and get in the back seat. As the car drove past me, I felt my heart rate increase the further it got away.
Flying like a bat out of hell, my first stop was to my baby momma’s house. As far as Carla was concerned, I was going to handle her ass, but the shit that she pulled was expected of her. That was some shit she did every once in a while. But Zenobia? That wasn’t like her.
The lights were on in her house, which told me she was already home. I threw my car in park, stormed up to the front door, and used my key to let myself in. I wasn’t worried about Zoie being around because I knew Big Momma was keeping her this weekend.
“Zenobia!” I yelled.
I didn’t get an answer as I stalked through her house.
As soon as I walked into her bedroom, she was coming out of the bathroom, wrapping a towel around her body.
Without warning, I snatched her up by the neck and banged her against the door frame.
She had me all out of character because I’d never had to jack her ass up like that.
“Are you out here smoking crack now? What the fuck was that shit? Huh?” I seethed.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she held onto my wrists.
“I… I… I don’t know. I just wanted to get your attention. Do something I thought you’d like.”
“Bullshit! You and Carla hoe ass don’t even get along. So, how the fuck did y’all end up in my bed together?”
“It’s not a secret that we both want you.
It’s obvious that we have a common issue, and we felt that if we just sorted out our differences, maybe you’d be interested in making it work with us.
Since you don’t have feelings for Carla, I’m willing to share a piece of you.
I can’t lose you, EJ. I can’t bring myself to accept that you confessed to having feelings for someone outside of me. ”
“Do you hear yourself? You on some other shit, Ze, and I’ma tell you right now.
” I squeezed her throat tighter. “If I can’t fix this shit with Ava, you’re dead to me.
I mean that shit with all my heart. You knew exactly what the fuck you were doing after I told you I was good on you. So, if I lose her, you’re done.”
I didn’t want to believe Ava was done with what we had going on. I wasn’t about to let her walk away that easily, and I didn’t even do shit. Zenobia stood in front of me, crying her eyes out, but I couldn’t care less.
Once I let go of her neck, she slowly slid to the floor and pulled her knees up to her chest.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I just want us—”
“There is no us, and after that shit you pulled, there will never be.”
I turned and walked out the same way I came. In my car, I tried calling Ava, but she kept sending me straight to voicemail. I called Ace, and he picked up on the second ring.
“Yo.”
“Aye, have you talked to Ava?” I quizzed.
“Nah, what’s up?”
“Mannn, I’m fucked. That’s what’s up.” I sighed.
“What you talkin’ about?” His voice got serious.
“Carla pulled that hoe shit again. I came home, and she was in my bed type shit. This time, you are not gonna believe this shit.” I sighed again. “Zenobia was in bed with her, letting Carla eat her pussy.”
“Nigga, what? So, what my sister got to do with this?”
“I had her with me.” I ran my hand down my face.
“Um, damn, nigga. You should’ve been had a toe tag on Carla hoe ass. And yo’ dumb ass should’ve been changed those damn locks. As far as Ava, I don’t know what to tell you dawg. Better be glad she ain’t go upside yo’ head with a metal baseball bat.” He laughed.
It wasn’t shit funny about the situation and before I could hang up a muthfucka rear ended me.
“What the fuck!” I shouted, checking my rearview.
“Man, calm down. Her googly eyed, jungle fever having ass will get over that shit in no time. Just give her some space.”
As soon as I opened my mouth to respond, the stupid fuck behind me rear ended me again. Apparently, what they were doing was intentional.
“Aye, somebody tryin’ to run me off the fuckin road.” I switched lanes and they followed.
“Nigga what? Where you at?”
By his tone I could tell he became alert.
At that moment, I had no time to talk, but I kept him on the phone just in case.
My window was already down as I waited for the perfect time to slam on breaks.
The moment the car pulled up beside me, I let off shots into the passenger side.
Whoever was inside tried shooting back but they were no match for me and my bitch as I pulled her trigger.
The driver sped off and I followed right behind.
They tried to shake me but I was on their ass like flies on shit.
“Aye, nigga! What’s going on?” I could hear Ace yell.
My phone had fallen over into the passenger seat.
“Muthafuckas just tried to ambush me!” I raced behind them.
“I’m almost right behind you, nigga.”
I could hear his exhaust pipes rumbling loudly on the other side of the phone. Duke and Ace were the only two I shared my location with, for reasons just like this. Within minutes, bruh was right behind me as we raced behind the blacked out Dodge Charger.
“Aye, I’ma slide up beside them and you hit em’ in the back. Spin them muthafuckas out.” I said to Ace.
“I’m on it.”
Good thing the sun was going down and the area we were in, traffic had died down.
Thankfully, there were no police present either.
As soon as we put our plan into motion, the car spun off the road and ended up in a ditch.
Ace and I hopped out with our guns drawn as we approached the car.
The muthafuckas inside were trying to get out but we didn’t give them a chance to make any moves.
Two bullets to the head was all it took.
I didn’t recognize either one of the dudes but Ace did.
“This nigga right here is one of Rob’s potnas.” He pointed to the one that was in the driver seat.
I made a mental note as we hopped back in our rides and took off.
“You think that nigga put a hit out on you?” Ace asked.
“If he did, he had every reason to.” I chuckled.
Shit, I can’t be mad at him for trying. I took his woman, his family and his business. If I were him, I would wanna take me out too.
“How you wanna handle this?” Ace asked.
“Man, I have better shit to worry about then a muthafucka tryin’ to take me out on some revenge shit. I need to talk to Ava.” I sighed.
A run in with muthafuckas that couldn’t get their job done wasn’t about to throw me off track. I needed to check in on my lady. I had to make shit right with her first before I could worry about anything else.
“Good luck with that.”
“Aye, we keep this shit between us. Don’t mention anything to her.”
“I got you but I’m telling you now. We need to handle that nigga before he try to do some stupid shit. And for my sister's sake, I’ma have one of the homies keep a track on her just in case.”
“Sounds good.” I agreed before disconnecting the call.
Instead of running up on Carla, I went straight to Aja’s house. I had to at least try to clear my name. When I pulled up, I knocked on the door and waited patiently for Ava to answer. Instead, Aja came to the door with her lips tooted up.
“Yes?” She folded her arms.
“I need to talk to her.”
She glanced back over her shoulder, then looked back at me.
“You better be glad I like yo’ ass,” she whispered harshly.
Aja stepped to the side, allowing me to enter, then nodded toward Ava’s direction. Music played through the surround sound speakers, and just off the song alone, I knew she was deep in her feelings. In the kitchen, I saw her standing at the counter, pouring liquor into a glass.
“Amore.”
She ignored me, not even startled by my presence. She continued to move about as if I wasn’t standing there. With her back to me, I approached her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She tried to nudge me off, but I hugged her tighter.
“I apologize, but all of that shit was a misunderstanding.” I spoke low.
Instead of responding, she took a gulp of her drink. Again, she tried to get out of my grasp, but I held on to her.
“I’m only responsible for not changing my locks. Baby, I gave you my word. I’m not fuckin’ either of them. Neither one of them mean shit to me, I need you to understand that.”
I finally let her go, only to turn her around to face me. Her expression was nonchalant. Her eyes were glossy, but no tears were visible.
“It’s okay,” she said, then finished her glass.
“Nah, it’s not. I’m really trying to build something with you, Ava. I don’t need no bullshit getting in the way of that.” I told her.
All she did was stare into my eyes without blinking.
“I think we need to put a hold on what we have going on. I’m dealing with enough as it is, and I have no room—”
I cut her sentence off by pressing my lips against hers.
I wasn’t trying to hear any of that. At the same time, I was a smart man.
I knew that during fucked up times when a woman said she needed space, it was usually best to do just that, but I wasn’t going to give her too much space to slip through my fingers.
The way she kissed me back, I knew she didn’t want to put a hold on anything.
“I love you, Amore.” I stared into her eyes. “And because I love you and want us to work out, I’ma let you have it. When you’re ready to move forward, you know where to find me.” I kissed her lips once more.
When it rains, it muthafuckin pours. Two weeks had gone by and I hadn’t spoken to or seen Ava at all.
I thought it would be an easy task to keep my distance but it was a struggle.
When Zoie asked about her and Savannah, it made shit worse for me.
I had to explain to my daughter that we were just taking some time to focus on business.
I knew she understood but she wasn’t trying to hear that.
I had been keeping myself busy to keep my thoughts balanced.
Some days were harder than others but I got through it.
I thought my world stopped spinning after putting a pause on our relationship.
Nah, life wasn’t done fucking with me yet.
It was 4:15 in the morning when my phone rang.
My phone had been ringing so much lately, I had gotten used to it vibrating.
I was knocked out, sleeping good, I almost ignored it.
However, when I cracked my eyes open, something felt different.
I reached over and glanced at the screen, it was Big Momma.
“Ma, what’s up?” I answered, rubbing my eyes.
“EJ…”
Her tone of voice caused me to sit up immediately.
“What’s wrong?” I questioned.
“You need to get over here. Now.”
Her voice was low, shaky and filled with sadness.
I didn’t even bother to ask again what was wrong.
I hopped out of bed, threw on a shirt and shoes before darting out the door.
I pulled up to her house in fifteen minutes.
I didn’t even turn my car off as I hopped out.
The night nurse opened the door before I even made it to the porch. Her eyes were filled with sorrow.
“I’m so sorry.” She said as I walked past her.
“Sorry for what? Ma!” I called out.
Big Momma stepped out into the hallway. Immediately, I could tell she had been crying.
“She’s gone.” She wrapped her arms around me.
Everything in me went still. I couldn’t speak as I took in the silence that filled the house.
The tears came before I could stop them.
I hadn’t cried in years and the shit felt unusual.
The pain in my heart felt heavier than I thought it would be.
I knew the day would come that my momma would transition but I didn’t think it would come so soon.
Fuck! If only I would’ve brought her back home sooner.
That probably wouldn’t have changed anything but at least she would’ve had more time to spend with us outside of the facility.
I pulled away from Big Momma and continued on to my mother’s room.
It felt like I had weights tied to my ankles.
Everything was a blur, but the moment I stepped into her room my vision cleared.
She lay in bed as if she was sleeping peacefully.
I sat at the edge, and gently stroked her forehead with my thumb.
She was still warm. The little boy in me broke down as I laid in bed and hugged her tight.