Chapter 13
“Baby, are you gonna sit out here all night?”
I looked back to see my wife standing at the back patio door in her robe with her arms folded. I took a pull from the blunt and motioned her over to me. When she was within reach, I pulled her down onto my lap and rested my head against her chest.
“What’s wrong, Deucy?”
“My mama, man. She been M.I.A for four damn days. No calls, no texts, no nothing. Like where the fuck she at?”
“I’m sure she’s fine, Stanely. Sometimes we need a little mental break.”
“That’s cool and all, but she just went ghost. Since when do we do that?”
She wrapped her arms around me and kissed the top of my head.
“You are such a mama’s boy at times, Deucy.
I love the way you love her. It’s one of the things that made me fall for you.
When you tricked me into having breakfast with her, I watched you love on her that entire day with a smile on my face. ”
I chuckled lowly, thinking about that day.
It was the first time I really tasted my wife.
The day it further confirmed that she was mine and I would lose all common sense behind her.
While she was watching me with my mama, I was watching her with moms too.
She took to her and I couldn’t have ask for anything better.
These days, they had a relationship about as solid as our.
Moms told her shit before she told me sometimes. That’s why her ass wasn’t worried. She knew something.
“You spoke to her?” I asked.
“Not since before she left. Give her some space, Deuce. She’s in a different space in life right now.”
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just… she needs this, okay? Don’t be hard on her when she comes back, either. That might be your mother, but that lady is grown and she doesn’t have to answer to anybody.”
“You sound like Pops old ass… you think that nigga knows where she is? They were too damn friendly at dinner the other night and he’s been looking sad and shit all week long.”
I almost felt like I was interrupting something at the damn dinner table. They were laughing, smiling, and having side conversations and shit. It was too much like flirting and I had to shut that shit down. Senior had been doing good the last couple years. I didn’t need him getting any ideas.
Salima rolled her eyes and stood to her feet. “Leave that shit alone, Stanley. Finish that blunt and bring your ass to bed. I wanna cuddle and get booty rubs until I fall asleep.”
She leaned in, cupped my face and kissed my lips before heading back inside.
I sat back in the chair and took a long pull from the blunt.
Everything she said went in one ear and out the other.
I knew my father, especially when it came to my mama.
I felt like something happened between him and my mama before she left.
That’s why he was walking around here like he lost is best fucking friend.
Pulling out my phone, I went to his contact and initiated a call. I didn’t care if it was nearing midnight. After about four rings, he answered the phone.
“Deuce, somebody better be dying,” he said.
“You know where my mama is?”
The line was quiet.
“Pop.”
“Nigga, I know you didn’t call me to ask where your mama is.”
“Y’all been real friendly and shit lately. I thought I would ask. Did something happen between y’all? Is that why you’ve been moping all week?”
“You asking me questions like you already know the answer, Stanley.”
“I was just making an observation. Putting two and two together.”
“Junior, get the fuck off my phone and take your ass to bed. Your mama is grown and where ever the fuck she is, she’ grown over there too. Goodnight.”
“Stanley.”
“What!”
“Don’t be on that shit with my mama.”
He sighed heavily. “You know something son. My belt ain’t got no ass in a long time. “Good fucking night, Stanley.”
He hung up in my face. I tossed the phone next to me and went back to smoking my blunt. As my son would say, my Spidey senses were tingling. Some fuckery was a brew. He was too damn defensive.
I mean it was late, my common sense said.
“Fuck all that,” I found myself saying aloud.
I knew what I felt and I knew the signs.
My thoughts drifted back to the time before my mama married Aaron. Pops was in his feelings heavy the closer it got to the wedding. Nigga looked like he was depressed as hell.
It was about one in the morning when my alarm notified me that my back gate was open. The alert went off and I sat up to grab my phone.
I wasn’t worried about it being a stranger.
The compound was locked down tighter than Fort Knox.
If you didn’t belong here, you weren’t getting in.
I just wanted to know who the hell was in my back yard this time of morning.
Going to the camera app, I was surprised to see my father stumbling into the back yard, bottle in hand.
He made his way over to the lounge chairs by the pool and fell into one.
I shook my head as I eased out of bed, ensuring not to wake up my wife. Shoving my feet in my slippers, I left the bedroom and headed downstairs. After disarming the alarm, I unlocked the back door and stepped out. Pops was laid out on the lounge chair, bottle to his lips.
I ran a hand down my face as I walked over to him. Standing next to the chair, I looked down at him. This wasn’t the confident man I knew. This wasn’t the man that rarely, if ever let anything bother him to the point that he drank excessively.
“Senior, what the hell you got going on?” I asked, snatching the bottle from him.
He looked up at me with red eyes. “Hey son,” he slurred.
He tried to sit up, but was having a hard time. I sighed and extended my hand to help him. He ran his hands down his face.
“How long I been out here?” he asked looking around.
“A few minutes. Why are you out this late?”
He chuckled. “This is the safest place to be at night. Can’t nobody fuck with me.”
“What’s wrong with you, Senior?” I took a seat across from him.
“You really gon’ let your mama marry that nigga, Deuce?”
I frowned. “What?”
“You gon’ let her marry him? You love running a nigga off, but you let this one stay. Kinda shit is that?”
I chuckled in disbelief. “So you in your feelings because Ma is getting married.”
“I love her.”
“Well, you should have thought about that before you put everything over her, Pop.”
“I didn’t—”
“Whatchu’ mean you didn’t? The streets? The organization? Your other baby mamas.”
“I have never cheated on Stephanie,” he said, raising his voice.
“You better not wake my wife up. It doesn’t matter if you cheated or not Pops. You had too many damn women after her to have ever taken her serious.”
“You think she didn’t have niggas?” He laughed. “’Cause she did. Your mama ain’t a saint, Stanley. We were both single doing single shit.”
“My mama wasn’t out here popping out baby after baby, either.”
He nodded as he pulled a blunt from his front pocket. “That’s fair.”
I stared at him as he lit the blunt and took a pull from it.
“I been trying, Deuce. We just… we couldn’t get shit right at the right time. Now there ain’t anymore right times.” He cursed under his breath. “Fuck! I can’t let her marry that nigga.”
“You trippin’. Go sleep this shit off, Pop.”
I stood and pulled him to his feet. He grabbed my shoulders to steady himself as he looked me in the eyes.
“I’m ready this time,” he slurred. “I’m out the game and the organization. I’m single. I’m ready to give her my all, Deuce.”
“Senior—”
“No! Listen to me. I was ready a long time ago. She just didn’t trust me. That’s my fault. I fucked up, but I don’t wanna fuck up anymore. Just… get her to give me a chance.”
“Fuck no.”
“I need her! I tried to talk to her, but she wouldn’t listen to me. Maybe she’ll listen to--”
“Pop!” I grabbed the collar of his shirt in both hands and shook him.
“No! She’s happy, man. Let her have that.
I don’t even like that nigga like that, but he’s good to her, Senior.
She smiles more now than I’ve seen her smile in a long time.
I want that for her and you should too. She deserves it. ”
He’d looked at me with red, teary eyes and I could tell this shit really hurt him, but what the fuck was I supposed to do about that?
It was over at that point. Shit, it was long over and should have been over if you ask me.
The fact that I had a feeling he was up to his old games didn’t sit right with me.
I prayed my mama didn’t fall victim to his charming old ass.
History tended to repeat itself when it came to those two and I couldn’t have that. I could understand her being lonely. If that was the case, I would get her a damn dog.