Chapter 16 Titan
Ipulled into my parent’s driveway and shut off my truck. I’d finally gotten it back and fully restored from the shootout. It wasn’t too bad, but I did have the dings from the bullets fixed and got a fresh paint job. It felt good to have it back on the road. While I loved my cars, this was my baby.
I noticed my aunt and cousins were here, which wasn’t out of the ordinary.
She and my mom were close, and my cousins and I hung out regularly.
Stepping out of the truck, I closed the door and headed up to the front door.
Before I could reach for the knob, the door opened, and my father stood there with a smile on his face and a Pitbull puppy in his arms.
“Hey, son.”
“What up, Pop? Who’s this lil’ nigga?” I asked, scratching the dog’s head.
“This is Bleu. Found her sniffing around the front yard a few weeks ago, no tag or anything. Poor thing looked all emaciated and shit. We’ve been feeding and taking care of her.”
“Not y’all adopting a stray.”
“Look at her,” he said, holding Bleu up. “How could we say no to that face?”
The puppy was cute as shit and friendly. She’d been laying comfortably in Pops arms, but the minute she saw me, she’d been trying to get to me. I picked her up and held her against my chest where she tried to lick my face.
“None of that shit,” I said. “Niggas don’t do all that face licking shit.”
Pops chuckled as he pulled me in for a hug and a slap on the back.
“You look good.”
“I’m a handsome muhfucka. I always look good.”
He grinned and mushed my head. “Cocky bastard. For real though, you look better than you have since I’ve seen you.”
“I’m holding up, Pop.”
He nodded and allowed me to come in. My mother was seated on the couch in the living room, knitting and chatting with my aunt. When she saw me, she smiled.
“Hey, baby,” she said as I leaned in to kiss her cheek.
“’Sup, Ma?” I moved to my aunt Michelle. “’Sup, auntie?”
“Hey honey. It’s good to see you.”
“Good to be seen.”
“I’m happy to see your face,” my mother said. “I see you met Bleu Baby.”
“You attached to this dog too?”
“Not attached, but she’s adorable, aren’t you Bleu Bleu.” She reached out and scratched behind Bleu’s ears. “I thought I was going to have to pull up on you. You know I don’t play about not hearing from you, Titan Ahmad.”
“I know, Ma,” I said as I took a seat on the loveseat with Bleu in my lap.
“How’s my daughter-in-law?”
“Speaking of!” my aunt said. “I was waiting to bring it up, but how the hell did you get married and not tell us! I wish my boys would.”
My cousins appeared in the entryway of the kitchen, smacking on one of my mama’s famous eggrolls. She made a mean oxtail eggroll and the way they were fucking it up, I knew that’s what it was.
“You ain’t ever gotta worry about that, Ma,” Emmon said. “Nobody is about to lock me down like that. The only one you might have to side eye is East’s ol lover boy ass.”
East glared at him. “Shut up, nigga. Not everybody wants to be a ho their whole life.”
Elum chuckled. “It ain’t so bad.”
My auntie glared at them. “All of you need to find nice, respectable women to bring home to me. I want grandbabies and some daughters.”
Emmon and Elum waved her off, but East blew her a kiss. “I got you, Ma.”
“Kiss ass,” Emmon mumbled. “Anyway. How is Mia, for real? That shit in Paris fucked me up seeing her like that.”
“She’s better,” I said. “ We uh. . . we did a therapy session. It was heated at first, but once things calmed down, we talked about some real shit.”
My mother smiled. “Therapy, huh? You know your grandmother used to say that shit was for white people. I’m glad to see you’re breaking the cycle, baby. You do what you need to do to be good with yourself and your wife. Back to what Michelle was saying…”
She put the needles down and sat up, leaning forward on her elbows. Whenever she got to sitting like a nigga, she was ready to pop the fuck off.
“Tara,” my father warned.
“Fuck that, David. We haven’t spoken about it because of what’s going on, but we’re gonna talk about it now.”
My father knew how to pick his battles. He was a reformed street nigga who practiced patience daily dealing with me and my mama. He knew the woman he married and the child he helped create. We were always gonna say exactly what was on our minds.
He raised his hands in surrender before pulling out a blunt and lighting it. Sitting back, he motioned for my mother to have the floor.
“Why the fuck would you get married and not tell us?” My mother questioned, smacking me with a throw pillow. “You don’t think enough of your parents to have them witness one of the most special days in your life?”
“I do, Ma—”
“And then! Then you got married in a goddamn chapel!”
“I mean, it was a nice chapel, Ma.”
My father looked at me, warning me not to poke the bear.
“Play with me if you want to, boy,” my mother warned. “You ain’t too old for me to whip your ass. Don’t forget that.”
“Look. I’m sorry, okay? We were wrong and we own that. We were wrong about a lot of things that we’re trying to get right now. You can’t beat us over the head with our mistakes while we’re trying, though. I need your encouragement, Mama.”
She gave me an evil side eye before her face softened.
“You always have my encouragement, Titan. I’m just hurt. I love you and I would have wanted to be a part of your special moment. I feel like I was robbed of that.”
“If I ever get married again, you’ll have another opportunity.”
She threw another throw pillow at me. “Your ass got married once. You better work this shit out. I won’t have it said that my son is a serial groom.”
Everybody laughed.
“Why are you so dramatic, Ma?”
My father chuckled. “And you went and married a woman like your mother.”
My mother shot him a look. “You keep playing with me, David DeLuca. I’ll shoot both of you.”
My father chuckle. “Baby Love, don’t forget my roots. I may be retired, but that street shit is still in me. Don’t wake this beast up.”
My mother smirked and winked at him. “I thought you like when I woke the beast.”
“You know I do.” Pops licked his lips as he stared her down and I almost gagged.
“Stop that shit, man,” I said, covering my ears. “I don’t need to know what y’all freaky asses be doing in here.”
“How you think you got here?” Pops asked. “I remember the night you were conceived. Shit, that was a wild time.”
My mother laughed as she slid closer to him. “Yes, it was.”
My parents had been together since they were fifteen years old.
It used to be crazy to me to hear about couples being together since they were that young.
Once upon a time, I couldn’t fathom love being that real so soon.
David and Tara were a prime example of why it was.
Pop didn’t play about Mom and Mom didn’t play about Pop.
Neither played about me. Just like she was at my side beating a nigga mama’s ass, he was right there whipping on the daddy.
They were my hittas and everything I learned about being a savage, I learned from them.
The two of them started kissing, and I knew it was about time for me to get the fuck on.
“I’ma let y’all have this,” I said, standing with Bleu in my arms. “Nobody is trying to see all that. I’m taking the dog as a surprise for my wife.”
“I gonna head out too,” my aunt said standing. I don’t wanna see this shit either. Not when I have my own man at home.”
“Yeah,” Emmon said, pushing off from the wall. “It’s something about freaky old people that doesn’t sit right with me. I’m out.”
“Fuck you, Emmon,” my pops said, pausing briefly. “All of y’all can get the hell out. Bye.”
We all waved them off as we headed out the front door. I shook my head, but secretly hoped it was still like that for me when I was their age.
After making my rounds and heading to the pet store to buy shit for Bleu, I headed back to the compound.
Mia might curse me out because she sure as hell wasn’t expecting me to bring a fucking animal in this house.
I mean, technically, this wasn’t my residence.
I had shit over here. I paid the bills and had been doing so since before we got married.
She didn’t know that for the longest time.
Before me, she told me her father paid all of her bills.
When I knew I wanted shit to be serious with us, I went to Senior and asked him to have everything rerouted to my account and not to tell her.
I was a provider and didn’t have a problem taking care of Mia.
The woman was on my credit card account and had my black card.
She never had to spend her own money if she didn’t want to.
Bills, taken care of.
Car maintenance, done.
Shit needed fixing around the house? She knew to call me first because a nigga was a jack of all trades thanks to my father.
It didn’t matter if we were on good or bad terms, if she needed something, she could call me.
Of course, she gave me the stank eye the whole time, but daddy was gonna make sure she was good.
I pulled into the driveway and shut off the truck. Bleu was sleeping soundly in the passenger seat. I didn’t even know if this lil’ bitch was housebroken. Mia would kick my ass if she pissed or shitted on her floor. And if she fucked around and chewed up her shit… that was my ass.
I shot my mother a text, and she confirmed that Bleu was housebroken and while she was curious, she wasn’t destructive. With that relief, I got out of the truck. The front door opened, and Mia stepped out wearing a tank top and a tiny ass pair of lounge shorts. I licked my lips as I stared at her.
My wife was so fucking beautiful, whether it was with makeup or completely natural, she was flawless.
“Hey, baby,” I said, walking over to the steps.
She smiled softly. “Hey.”
I beckoned her to me, and she came into my arms, wrapping hers around my neck. A smile spread across her lips as I peppered her face with kisses while grabbing a handful of her ass.
“Titan!” she said, giggling.
“I missed you, mamas.”