Chapter 6
Trigga
The night was winding down, and I could feel the tension starting to fade just a little.
Maliah kept laughing at the story I told about when we met.
Eternity thought that it was the cutest thing, which I thought she would, and that’s exactly why I was geeked when she asked how we met.
After I shared the moment, Maylee started chattering about school.
She was saying that she had a bully, and that news seemed to be a shock to her parents.
“Hey, don’t let nobody play with you. You have to show her that you ain’t scared of her. You gotta put belt to ass, little mama, excuse my language,” I quickly cleaned up the end of my statement for the parents sitting at the table.
The Brownes had me so damn loosened in their presence that I was swearing and shit.
“Don’t let no one play in your face, you hear me?” MJ jumped in.
She nodded at both of our pieces of advice.
Both her parents chimed in on how she should deal with this bully, and I was sitting back comfortably just listening.
This shit felt normal. It felt like I had been attending these dinners frequently.
I couldn’t even believe how relaxed I was.
But I knew I needed to make my exit before I got too comfortable.
The conversation started to die down, and that was the perfect opportunity.
When I noticed that everyone had finished their dessert, it was time to jet.
“Thanks again for dinner,” I said, standing. “Everything was amazing.”
Eternity smiled and then started to stand from her seat, but Mr. Browne rushed to the other end of the table to pull her chair out.
That was some real gentleman shit, and now I knew why Mali would stand in front of a door until I opened it.
She had a front row seat to how a woman should be treated, so I shouldn’t have expected anything else from her.
Mrs. Browne gave Mr. Browne a nod to thank him before walking over to me. I wasn’t expecting the hug she had given me.
“You’re welcome, Tahari. You’re welcome in this house anytime.”
“Sometimes,” Mr. Browne added.
“Cool,” I said with a smirk.
He was playing tough, but I could tell that he was fucking with a nigga at least a little.
If he felt otherwise, I’m sure he would have tossed me out of the crib like how Uncle Phil did Jazz on the opening of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
I looked in Maliah’s direction, and I badly wanted to give my girl a kiss, but this wasn’t the time for that.
“Be safe,” she said sweetly.
I was nodding my head to the door so that she could show me out, but her ass wasn’t getting my hint, and before she could, her father spoke.
“I’ll walk you out,” he said before walking past me and out of the dining room.
I followed him out the front door. Once out there, the night’s air hit my face.
This is why I opted for the cardigan, because I knew how sometimes, although it was damn near summer during the night, the temperature dropped.
My Impala gleamed under the porch lights.
The black paint shined like glass. Mr. Browne’s eyes immediately went to it, and I could tell he was curious.
He stood on the top step while I headed toward my car.
“Nice ride,” he said.
I smiled while brushing off the compliment.
“Thanks, it’s been in my family for three generations. My dad passed it down to me when he left.”
His gaze sharpened.
“Left?”
I nodded as my hands gripped the roof of the car lightly.
“He died about three years ago in a robbery. They tried to jack this same car, but he wouldn’t give it up.
” My chest tensed up just thinking about it.
“When it first happened, I used to be mad about it because it’s just a car, you know?
I thought he was crazy. But now I get it.
It wasn’t just about a car. It was about pride and respect.
Growing up, he always showed me how to be a man.
Even in death, he did too. I learned quickly that no one was ever gonna take anything from me.
Not my family, not my life, not anything. ”
Mr. Browne was quiet for a moment. He was watching me and studying me like he had been doing all night.
I knew he was measuring my respect, my instincts, and my ability to protect Maliah.
I felt my heart race, and I realized he wasn’t just looking at a young man in a cardigan.
He was seeing the kid his daughter loved.
And right then, I silently promised myself that nothing was ever going to take her heart from me.
“Let her know when you make it home. She’s a lot like her mother… she will worry,” he said before going back in the house and closing the door behind him.
Once the door closed, I smiled because the night was a success.
The Impala hummed under me as I eased it down the driveway, and the glow from the porch lights faded behind me.
Maliah’s smile was still fresh in my mind, even her voice when she whispered, “Be safe.” I pressed my lips together and nodded.
I will, I thought to myself. I had to be because I had to always make it back to her.
As I waited at a stoplight a few blocks away, the engine idled lowly.
My hands gripped the wheel tighter than necessary.
It was time to switch gears and time to switch worlds.
I grabbed my phone and hit Ghost’s contact.
“Yo,” I said when he picked up.
“Yo, what’s good?” Ghost’s voice crackled through the speaker.
“I’m about to change my clothes. You scoped the spot already?”
“Been here since the white dude with red curly hair turned off the on sign and left.”
“Aight, I’ll be there in a bit,” I said as I pressed the gas pedal once the light turned green.
“Aight.”
I hung up and stared at my reflection in the rearview mirror. The cardigan I’d worn for dinner now felt like a costume from another life. A life that couldn’t be mixed with the one waiting at MB’s Auto.
When I stopped at another light, I reached into the back seat, grabbed the black hoodie, matching sweats, and a pair of sneakers that fit the streets better.
Tonight, I’m two men in one body. I had to master this switch to navigate between both worlds if Maliah and I were truly going to work.
I pulled over to change and then continued my travels to my destination.
By the time I stepped out of my car and was dressed for the streets, I had already felt the shift in my energy.
The careful respect I’d shown Maliah’s family all night was now replaced by the alertness, calculation, and instincts that had kept me alive this long.
The alley behind the shop smelled like gasoline and damp concrete.
Ghost was already there, leaning against his car.
He was hooded up, tossing a small flashlight from hand to hand.
He looked up as I stepped out of the car.
I was zipping my hoodie up as my sneakers fell silent on the asphalt.
I pulled my Nike ski mask down as I walked over to him.
“’Bout damn time,” he said with a smirk as he pulled his mask down over his face.
I dropped my bag on the ground and pulled out the blueprint of the shop. Ghost leaned over and took a last look at the layout before we made our play.
“Where the fuck is everyone else?” I asked as I looked around at the empty alley.
Earlier, he kept putting heavy emphasis on how he would go in the spot with other niggas if I was late.
“Man, it’s just us, bro. Them niggas backed out with their scary asses.”
All I could do was shake my damn head because, over the years, I never liked the company that Ghost decided to keep.
Those niggas were not cut from the same cloth that he and I were.
We were going to get to it by any means necessary, while niggas he decided to keep around were scary as hell.
I’d prefer just us anyway, because then that meant we didn’t have to cut anything with anybody.
“Alright, let’s run it again,” I said as I traced my finger over the main entrance, side entrance, and the garage. “Did that nigga give you the code to the alarm system, or are we working on a timer once we’re in?”
“He did, but he doesn’t know if they changed it or not.”
“Mmm,” I grumbled, “aight bet, we gonna figure it out.”
He glanced at me, and I could tell that his eyebrow was raised by the way his mask lifted a bit around the brows.
“You ready for this? Ain’t no turning back once we step in.”
This was by far the biggest lick we had done. I was more than ready. I laughed slowly while shaking my head.
“I’m ready. Just remember, we have to be smooth in and smooth out with no mistakes. And Ghost?”
“Yeah?”
“No talking once we get in there. We have to move efficiently.”
He grinned before pulling his hood tighter over his face.
“Let’s make it count,” he said eagerly.
I slung my bag over my shoulder and checked my watch.
My mind kept flicking back to Maliah. That damn smile of hers was stuck in my brain.
I shoved the thought down. I had to focus.
I had to push her to the back of my mind.
It was time to lock in, and honestly, I was making moves like this for her.
I wanted to get my shit together just for her, and I needed money for that. And a lot of it.
BLEEK