Chapter 2
WATCHING HER… ONE MONTH LATER…
Liza walked the aisles of the local grocery store in California, finally feeling refreshed.
After living in a hotel for the first half of their stay, she and Dexz had been in their new Los Angeles home for two weeks.
She finally felt like she could at least go shopping alone.
Everywhere she went, Dexz was with her, with a gun.
Over the last two weeks, she realized her fifteen-year-old son wasn’t the little boy she used to cradle in her arms and breastfeed.
He was a man now, and he was her protector, but that day she wanted a day without him, just to prove to herself she was safe.
As she walked around the store, she noticed a woman gazing at her.
She was brown-skinned with a scarf over her head and wearing sunglasses.
Liza sped up as she walked down the cereal aisle to get out of the woman’s vision.
Liza kept shopping, and then she saw the woman again.
This time, she got a good look at her features.
She had seen the woman before, but not in California.
They found me, she thought.
The woman realized Liza had noticed her staring, so she rushed off, and so did Liza.
Liza paid for her groceries and rushed out to her little car Dexz had gotten her.
She looked in her rearview mirror all the way home and called Dexz to meet her outside.
When she got home, she looked around and didn’t see anyone.
Dexz walked out of the house and over to the trunk, but she didn’t want to lay the news on him just yet.
She needed to get her thoughts together before she let her son know what she had seen.
$$$$$
One Day Later…
“Chile, I got enough kids running around here. I don’t know if I can take in another one, Liza,” Rhonda said as she sat at her kitchen table smoking a cigarette.
Liza knew she was probably living out her last days, so she had to find a provider for Dexten if something happened to her.
After catching a woman spying on her in the grocery store, she knew she wasn’t safe anymore.
She didn’t know her neighbor Rhonda too well, but she knew she ran a foster home, and her son would be safe there.
Ever since the day they moved into her home, Rhonda was at their door welcoming them with open arms, smoking cigarettes and drinking wine with her, so she felt like she could trust Rhonda at least enough to be her son’s caretaker.
“Please, Rhonda, just say yes. He’s not a child either and can take care of himself. It’s not even guaranteed he would have to eventually live with you, but I need to know my son will be taken care of until he’s at least eighteen since he’s already fifteen,” she begged.
“Well, bitch, I can’t do it for free because I need money. I have seven kids living in here, and these checks the state gives me don’t last long. So I’ma need at least twenty grand, or I can’t do it.”
“If something happens to me, Dexten will give you the money. He’s not going to want to be in the system unless somebody is caring for him that he’s familiar with, so please don’t let them lock him up in some group home.
I know he will run away and be homeless.
He knows everything about survival, so I know what he will do in the streets,” she begged.
Rhonda lit and puffed her cigarette and then handed it to Liza. She looked like she needed it more than her, with the bags under her eyes and the pale complexion of her brown skin.
“Okay, Liza, even though I think you’re tripping.
I don’t think nobody is after you. I think Dexten is a cool kid, so I’ll agree.
If something happens to your crazy ass, I got you, but I’m going to bed.
I have a meeting in the morning downtown to see if I can open a halfway house.
I’ll get with you tomorrow.” Rhonda stood and walked Liza to the door.
When Liza got outside, she took a deep breath.
She really was hoping she was seeing things when she went to the store.
She was paranoid everywhere she went. She thought her paranoia was fading away, but she knew for sure she had seen the woman before and wasn’t taking any chances.
Liza was going to let Dexz know what she had seen and hoped he had some words to calm her down.
Liza walked into her house and locked the door behind her.
When she walked into the back of the house, she spotted Dexz sitting at the edge of his bed, reading a book.
She glanced at the book in his hands and saw he was reading The 48 Laws of Power.
Dexz was nothing like his father. He was more like the men on Liza’s side of the family.
He was bold, strong, and showed little emotion.
However, she knew he was hurting inside and wished she could take it all away.
“So, are you happy for your first day of school tomorrow?” Liza asked, breaking him out of his reading.
“Yeah, a lil’ bit. Where were you? It’s late,” Dexz asked, looking up from his book.
“I walked over and talked to Rhonda. I needed to ask her something important. I think I saw one of the Dominicans at the store today. I don’t think I have much time here.
There were some parts of the situation I left out that I might as well tell you.
” She sighed and walked over to Dexz, sitting on the other end of his bed.
“And what is that?” He asked with his eyebrow raised as he closed his book.
“When your father got those loans, I promised them I would help him pay the money off. They said they would kill me too if he didn’t pay the money.
I didn’t take it seriously because I thought we would have it paid off by now.
Now I think they’re looking for me and found me. ” Tears fell from her eyes.
Dexz didn’t say a word. He didn’t know how to feel about the situation anymore, but he did feel one emotion: betrayal.
“So, that means they’re going to try and kill me too?” He frowned.
“I don’t know, Dexten. I could be wrong, though. There’s no way they followed us to California.”
“You don’t know what they did. You and my pops are fuckin’ weird for this shit. Get the gun I got for you and keep it by your side. I’m going down the street to talk to my homeboys. Don’t go outside.”
Liza watched her son walk out of his room without even looking at her.
She knew he had to be annoyed with her and all her problems. She was even starting to feel like he didn’t love her anymore.
It broke her heart that she couldn’t give him the normal life he deserved, but she knew she had to do what she had to do to survive by hiding in the house.
Liza went into her room and did as Dexz said.
She put her gun in her waistband and grabbed her bottle of vodka so she could wash her pain away.
$$$$
After Dexz talked to his mother, he stood outside his house, smoking a blunt.
He was only fifteen years old, but the stress he went through daily drove him to smoke.
He had known about his father’s dealings for a long time, but he never knew it would go as far as having his mother involved.
Seeing himself standing in his father’s pool of blood haunted him every night.
He knew his mother didn’t have much time left, no matter how much he tried to protect her.
Now he also knew he could die too. Dexz was hardcore, but he didn’t want to die.
He felt like he was too young, and as selfish as it sounded, he didn’t want to be killed over his father’s stupidity.
Dexz was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard someone walking on the side of the house.
He went for his gun, but when the shadow appeared, it was a little girl.
He took his lighter from his pocket and shined it so he could see who was walking towards him.
He saw that it was a girl he had seen leaving in and out of Rhonda’s house, so he let her continue walking towards him.
“What you doin’ back here by yourself in the dark?” The girl asked as she approached him. Her voice was small and low, like a kid's.
“Smoking a blunt and thinking about life. What you doin’ back here?” he asked.
“I smell your weed every night, so I finally worked up the nerve to sneak out and hit it.” She smiled.
Dexz smirked as he checked her out. She looked way younger than him, but she had a pretty face and small frame.
Dexz was already 5’10 and one hundred and eighty pounds, so he knew she had to be at least 4’9, the way he was towering over her.
He thought that was cute, but her face was too innocent for him.
“How old are you, and what’s ya’ name, ma?” he asked, checking her out.
“I’m fifteen, and my name is Pretti. My birthday is October 17th, so I’ll be sixteen soon. I already know your name is Dexten. I hear your mother talking to Rhonda all the time about you.” She smiled.
“You can just call me Dexz. I don’t like my name; it's corny. Your real name ain’t Pretti tho’, and October 17th is my birthday too.” He hit his blunt and then passed it to Pretti. He didn’t know if she smoked, but he did it anyway.
“It is? That’s so cool. That means you’re a Libra like me, and my name really is Pretti. My mama and daddy thought I was the cutest baby, so they named me that.” She put the blunt between her lips and took a puff.
“That’s what’s up, sweetheart. Let’s walk to the back and talk. I got another blunt too, since you smoke.” He was bored and alone, so he didn’t mind smoking with her and having a conversation.
Dexz and Pretti walked to the back of his house and went into the shed.
It was dark, but Dexz kept a flashlight in there as a lamp.
He turned it on, and they sat on a blanket he’d laid on the floor, and Dexz relit the blunt.
Pretti pulled her phone out of her pocket and played her R&B mix.
She knew Dexz probably wouldn’t like her taste in music, but she didn’t listen to rap, and she hated awkward silence, so music was a must while they smoked.