Chapter 29
From what she told me, that nigga was a clown, an average street nigga that still has the mud on his shoes cause he ain’t out of it yet.
I didn’t like that my girl didn’t feel safe; watching her toss and turn in her sleep, screaming for that nigga to leave her alone, did something to me.
We left the house that night with whatever she needed and went back to my house, where the guns are at.
The next day, after I dropped her off at work, I called some of my staff to her house with a moving truck, had them pack up everything she needed and take it to my house, and gave the rest to charity.
After all that was handled, I went to work. My store manager, Keith, was talking to a few customers. I nodded at him, let them handle business, and walked into my office, looking at some sketches I was working on, and checked on Islah at the same time.
Once I knew she was straight and put in her lunch order, I got to work on some new jewelry.
Not only was I a cold ass nigga, but I was also a cold ass jewelry designer.
I turned on some music, lit a blunt, and started to work on things I could sell in the store when Islah sent me a picture of her at work, and my focus shifted to her—her soft eyes, her slight smile, her hand, and her finger that was gonna get an upgrade sooner than she knew.
I put what I was working on to the side and started to draw up something I wanted to see on her finger when Keith knocked on my door before walking in and taking a seat in the chair in front of me.
Keith was not only my store manager, but he’s been my nigga since we used to run the blocks together, getting in trouble. The difference between us was that jail one time was enough for me to find a different route to make money, and he didn’t stop going to jail until I gave him a job.
I’m glad we had both calmed down, but we both knew how to get back to the action like it was nothing and move smarter.
“Wussup, nigga? You sounded stressed this morning when you asked me to open.”
I nodded, dropping my pencil on the desk.
“Not stressed, annoyed. My girl got an issue that’s fuckin’ with her mental.”
Keith raised an eyebrow. “What the hell is going on?”
I paused for a second, thinking about how I wanted to go about solving my issue.
“I need you to take it back—way back, and find a nigga for me.”
Keith smirked, nodding his head slowly.
“Tell me more nigga, you know I’m always with it.”
I chuckled. “My girl’s ex, she moved here to get away from the nigga. Her mama called her the other night, telling her he knows that she’s in the A.”
“What information do you want?” Keith asked.
“Everything,” I said quick. “His name is Gio, Gio Cannon. I need to know everything about this nigga.”
Keith nodded as he stood up. “I’ll get on it.”
He walked out, and I got back to work.
Or at least tried to.
My pencil was moving, but my mind wasn’t on any designs. Every line I put down kept turning into something else.
I leaned back in my chair, relit my blunt, watching the smoke curl up to the ceiling slow while I stared at my sketch. When I got a text from Islah.
Islah: Today is going by so slow, and my feet hurt.
I hopped up, grabbed the things I needed, and walked out of my office.
“Aye,” I said, shouting for Keith. He peeked his head out of his office and gave me a slight nod. “You can hold shit down today?”
“Hell yeah, we got employees coming in a few, handle your business, and I’ma hit your line.”
I nodded and walked out as I walked to my car; my head was on a swivel more than usual.
Not because I was worried, but because I was ready.
I hopped in my car and pulled off. It was a silent ride; I was deep in my thoughts about so many things. I had so many plans for me and Islah, and a punk ass Cali nigga was trying to fuck it up.
I wasn’t gonna let that happen.
I pulled up to the hospital at the same time her food was getting dropped off. I stopped the man at the elevator, tipped him, and sent him on his way. When the doors opened on her floor, all eyes was on me.
As I stepped out, nurses smiled in passing. An old lady in a wheelchair looked like she was gonna pass out.
“You have pretty eyes,” she said softly as she rolled by.
I made it to the nurse’s station, and Kenya was sitting there typing on the computer. I sat the food down and waited for her to acknowledge me.
“Hold on,” she said, looking over at her notes. “I’ll be with you in just a…” She looked up. “Love, What are you doing here?”
“Call her for me.”
Kenya nodded and paged Islah, telling her to come to the desk. We stood there for a lil’ bit, not talking ‘bout nothing special, when I could see Islah in the distance.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as she got closer.
I waited until she was in arm’s reach and pulled her into me.
“You said the day was moving slow, and your feet hurt. I’m here to get you. I don’t want you to be hurting.”
“Chile… must be nice,” Kenya said under her breath.
Me and Islah laughed.
“Baby, we are short-staffed—”
“So,” I said, cutting her off. “My only concern in this hospital is you.”
Islah looked over at Kenya.
“Girl, go ahead. The new girl is starting today, we can have her run your patients,” Kenya said to her.
Kenya and Islah hugged, and I slid Kenya the food.
“Lunch on me.”
Kenya grabbed the food up quick. “You know what, brah, you are always alright with me.”
I grabbed Islah’s hand, and we headed to the elevator. Once the door closed and we were alone, she wrapped her arms around my waist and stood on her tiptoes for a kiss.
“Why do you treat me so good?” she asked me.
I gripped her ass as I kissed her back.
“Because you are the one.”
She smiled, “I’m so lucky.”
I shook my head. “Nah, mamas, I’m the lucky one; let’s go.”
We left the hospital, and I picked us up some food and went back home. We ate, smoked, and then we took a shower so I could wash her, giving her a nice hot oil massage after.
My girl took a nap on the couch, while I tried to work on some sketches, but my eyes kept drifting to her. The sun was setting and hitting her ass while she tossed and turned in my shirt. It wasn’t like the night in her loft. This time, she had a soft smile on her face. My lil’ mamas was relaxed.
I turned some jazz on low, rolled me up a couple of blunts, and got back to work. Sketching till it was dark, mostly for the store, and finished the special ring for her.
I took a break, ordered us some dinner, poured us some wine, and then went and rubbed her feet until she woke up with a smile on her face. She yawned and smirked at me.
“Ooou, if I knew I was gonna be treated like this, we could have been did this,” she said, laughing.
I laughed with her. “Not miss let’s take it slow.”
Islah rolled her eyes playfully. “I was scared, but I’m glad I took this chance.”
Islah sat up and kissed me when we heard a knock at the door. I hopped up, grabbed the food, brought it over to the living room, then grabbed our wine as I laid out the Chinese food, while she looked for a movie.
“I needed this day,” she said as she took a bite outta her food.
I nodded. “That’s what I’m here for.” That made her pause in eating and look up at me. “To take the weight off you.”
She blushed.
I liked that. I could tell that she was healing a lil’ bit faster cause of me.
After dinner, we lit some candles, turned off the lights, and I held her in my arms. I showed her what I was working on for the store; she added her lil’ tweaks, I fucked with them and kept them in.
“Let me find out you gonna create a jewelry line for our store.”
She looked back at me.
“Our store?”
I laughed and grabbed her hand, moving her ring from side to side.
“How many times do I have to tell you that you are going to be my wife?”
“Why do you want me?” she asked.
I was about to answer her, but my phone rang, and I looked at the table to see that it was Keith.
“Hold on, boo,” I said as I got up and walked away from here to answer the call.
“Wussup?” I said, walking around the corner.
“You home?” he asked.
“Yeah, wussup?”
Keith paused for a second. “I’ma slide through and holla at you.”
We hung up, and I went back to the living room and sat beside Islah.
“My nigga Keith is about to come through; I asked him to look up Gio for me.”
She looked at me, a lil’ shocked.
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I need to know the type of nigga I’m up against.”
Islah shook her head.
“Gio is just a street nigga, nothing more, nothing less. He just feels like he owns me because of the time that we’ve been together.”
I nodded. I kind of believed her.
“Iight, baby girl, we will see.”
We went back to watching TV till we heard another knock at the door. She looked at me as I hopped up.
I opened it, and Keith looked at me, shaking his head. I moved to the side, knowing that whatever he was gonna say was not gonna be anywhere close to what Islah had said.
I closed the door and followed him down the hall to the living room.
“What is it?” I asked, walking over to my bar to pour myself something harder.
“I didn’t find much on him. He was locked, got out on bond, charges got dropped.”
“You sayin’ that’s it?” I asked.
Keith nodded. “Yeah, that shit is throwing me off; that nigga paperwork clean.”
I nodded and took a sip of my drink while looking over at Islah. She was sittin’ on the couch; she looked like she was thinking, but was nervous.
“Mamas,” I said, getting her attention. “What are you over there thinking about?”
She stood up. “I can make a call?”
Me and Keith both looked at her.
“A call to who?” I asked.
“Somebody I know that would know what he’s on.”
I thought about it for a second. I actually didn’t want her to have to speak to any nigga associated with her ex, but without a paper trail, that was the next option.
“Are you sure you want to?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said with a soft nod. “He went to my momma’s house and pulled a gun on her. I need to know where his head at.”
I nodded. “Okay, put it on speaker.”
She went to the room and grabbed her phone. I could see in the distance that her hands were shaking. I placed my cup on the counter and walked over to her. Before she could respond, I wrapped my arms around her.
“I got you, baby, you are not alone.”
She nodded, and we took a seat while Keith stayed by in case I needed him.
She dialed the number, and while the phone rang, her hands shook. I watched her breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth.
“Islah?” he said low.
Islah looked at me.
“Yeah, Bully…” she responded. “What’s going on?”
The nigga on the phone went silent for a lil’ bit. We could hear him moving around, a TV, and two other niggas talking. She looked at me, eyes wide.
“Is that Gio?” I asked her.
She nodded.
We waited a bit longer, and Bully made an excuse to go outside.
“Hello? Islah, you still there?”
“Yeah, Bully, what is going on with Gio?”
Bully sucked his teeth. “Mannn, you, the issue with that man is you.”
“Me?” she repeated. “How?”
“The nigga is like obsessed with you. He will not get over the fact that you left his ass.”
I looked at Keith, and he gave me a slight nod.
“Bully, I told Gio a few times that we were done,” Islah stated, her hands shaking again. I placed my hands on top of hers to ground her as she continued talking.
“Islah, that nigga don’t want to hear that shit. I told him that, Kronic told him that, yo mama even told him that, and if you’re callin’ me, I know you know how that went. The nigga is going crazy, and to be honest, I’m scared for you.”
Islah looked at me before she responded to him.
“You’re scared for me?”
“Yeah,” Bully responded quick. “This nigga is not listening to anybody. He’s telling everybody you not leaving him. He said you going to come back to Cali with us, he—”
“Wait,” Islah said, cutting Bully off. All three of us stared at the phone, hearing two words that stuck out.
“You said come back to Cali with us. What do you mean?”
The line went silent for a few seconds.
“We in Atlanta with him, me and Kronic. He was gonna come either way. We thought if we came with him, we could change his mind, or make sure he didn’t end up dead.”
Islah stood up, dropping the phone. She was shaking her head.
I picked up the phone; the nigga was still talking.
“Aye,” I said low, making him be quiet. “You need to get your mans together, let him know this is not what he wants.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
I smirked. “I’m Islah’s nigga—”
“OH SHIT!” he said, cutting me off.
“Listen, I’ma keep it G with you. I don’t know how niggas do shit in Cali, but here, we are not with this shit.”
Bully tried to talk and plead his nigga’s case, how they been down for years, how she left him while he was in jail, and I had to let him know that I didn’t give a fuck.
“I don’t know what you are going to have to do, but I’m not playin’ ‘bout my girl. Y’all will be leaving here with your nigga in a body bag. I’m not the one to fuck with.”
He exhaled hard on the phone. “Iight, I’ma try to talk the nigga into going back home. Tell Islah I’ma talk to Kronic and try my best.”
I hung up the phone, and Keith stood up.
“This sounds like it’s ‘bout to be some shit,” he said, stretching.
I nodded. “It will be for them, not me.”
I walked Keith to the door and dapped him up.
“You need anything else on him?” he asked.
“Nah, I’ma wait to see what he gonna do first.”
Keith left, and I headed back to the living room. Islah was standing by the window. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her waist. I kissed her neck softly.
“You have nothing to worry about,” I said softly.
Islah shook her head. “This don’t even sound like the nigga I was with for seven years. I don’t want this to go too far. I don’t want to lose you… I shouldn’t have brought you into this.”
I chuckled. “Baby girl… that nigga don’t know who he’s fuckin’ with. And you didn’t bring me into shit, I wanted you.”
She exhaled with a lil’ smirk like she liked that shit.
“You sure this is not too much?” she asked.
I held her tighter in my arms. “Listen, this nigga is not gonna hold us back. You gonna get back to how you were before we knew he was out, and hopefully his niggas can talk some sense into him.”
Islah nodded. “You’re right, I moved from him for a reason.”
“And if I need to show him I was your right decision, I will.”