10. Riot St. James
Riot St. James
I pulled out the fit that made the most sense, which was a gray track suit from Nike. I pulled it out, tossed it on the bed, and I scanned the shoes that I had laid out perfectly on my closet floor, trying to see which shoes I wanted to pair with the outfit tonight. I was a sneaker head.
I loved anything Nike, Jordan, Asics, and even converse.
The day I was able to get my own crib; I wanted a room that would be just for my sneakers.
I had small feet for my age. Wearing a four in kids, so with that, it’s always been easy to find shoes in my size.
Most women would prefer to have a nice designer bag, but for me, I loved to have a nice sneaker collection.
I loved the style that I had. It was very tomboyish, but I knew how to dress it up sometimes, and make it look sexy.
I didn’t do dresses like that though. I really can’t tell you the last time that I wore a dress, or a skirt.
The most I would do was wear a crop top, maybe some little booty shorts, or some skintight jeans, but dresses, heels, and skirts has never been my thing.
I went ahead and removed the towel that I had wrapped around my body.
There was lotion that I had sitting on the nightstand, so I used it to rub it over my body, and I slipped into a pair of boy short underwear, a bra, and I went for the Nike track bottoms that had a loose fit.
I put the jacket on next, and as I was going through my top drawer to pull out a pair of socks, there was a knock on my bedroom door.
I knew that it was Ari knocking because she was the only one home.
Amir was with his dad. She probably was coming in, letting me know that she was getting ready to head out for work.
“It’s open,” I called out, letting her know.
She walked in moments later, and she was dressed up. She looked pretty, just as she always did. Her make-up was perfectly done, her outfit was cute, and her hair looked nice.
“What’s up? I’m about to head out. Where you getting ready to go?” she asked me, posted up on the wall, with her arms crossed, waiting for me to answer her question.
“Out,” I said, keeping my answer short with her. When I did that, she laughed, while rolling her eyes at me.
“I’m the last one that you have to be so fuckin secretive with Riot, and you know that. I’ll take your secrets to the grave. Where you going? Just for me to have some kind of peace of mind, knowing that your safe while I’m at work tonight,” she explained.
I pulled the socks out of my drawer, and I turned to look at her, trying to see if I should tell her my whereabouts tonight.
I just didn’t want to tell her that I was going out with Dolo because she was going to make the shit bigger than what it was.
The last time I brought him up to her, asking her about him, she accused me of liking him, so I was trying to avoid that.
At the same time, I knew that I had Ari, and other members of our family worried about me because I’ve been so secretive, and I haven’t been in the best of moods, keeping everything to myself, not letting them know what was bothering me.
I walked over to the bed, taking a seat, and I ran my hand down my face, going to tell her what’s been going on with me these past few days.
“When I was released from jail, I hit up Gold, trying to see when I could come back, and start working. He told me that he was out of town, and that he would hit me back when he was back in town. I could feel that he was trying to dodge me though. I was texting this nigga, and he wasn’t responding.
Eventually, someone told me that he was back in town, so I pulled up on him.
He basically fired me, told me that I was too much of a liability right now, and that he couldn’t take the risk with me.
I feel like that was some bullshit because I know that I’m not the first one up under him to get arrested and had to serve some time.
Let me would have been a man, I’m sure that I would have come home to my spot still secured,” I started, and she was still posted up on the wall, eyes on me, hanging onto my every word.
“That’s the reason I’ve been in a fucked up mood these past few days.
I was worried about what I was going to do to get money.
I went to the beach last night to clear my mind, and Dolo approached me.
We talked for a little bit, and out of nowhere, he questioned me about what I had going on with Gold.
You know how I am about people being in my business, and how paranoid I am, so I started looking at him sideways, and I even reached my hands out to touch him, just to see if he was wearing a wire,” I went on, and that part of the story made her laugh, while shaking her head.
“Oh bitch, I know he wanted to kill your ass. All the illegal shit him, and his friends out here doing. I think that’s the last person that you need to be worried about that’s wearing a wire,” she went on to say.
“Yeah, but at the end of the day, I don’t know that nigga.
He coming up to me, questioning me about my shit with Gold, so it raised a red flag.
Once he assured me that he didn’t have shit on him, I was comfortable enough to tell him what happened.
He offered me a position with him, and his crew.
I turned it down at first. You know how I am about taking favors from people.
I feel like they’ll hang that shit over your head, and most times, it’s always a motive.
He made it clear to me that he wasn’t looking for anything from me.
He spoke highly of his organization, convinced me by telling me that everyone in his camp is eating good, so I gave in.
I start working for him tonight. I’m happy that I’m about to start making money again, but there’s still this piece of me that’s hesitant, you know?
I keep questioning what this nigga’s motive is.
It gotta be something because I just know that a street nigga like him not doing this shit for me out of the kindness of his heart.
He don’t even know me,” I clarified, and Ari stood there with this goofy smile on her face.
“That’s because he’s checking for you, Bean!
I hate that when it comes to niggas, your ass is so green, and you can’t tell when a nigga is sniffing up behind you.
I mean, look at how the two of you met. He didn’t know shit about you, but he still tackled your ass to the ground when those bullets were flying in the house, and all because he wanted to protect you, he wouldn’t let you get up and come in the house, so you could check on me, and our cousins.
I forgot to tell you this because I got in super late from the club the other night, but I was working his section at the club.
He was there with the whole MBM. He asked me about you.
Don’t bring it up tonight when you see him because he told me not to say shit about it.
Now, he trying to put you in a position to eat with him, and his crew.
He likes your ass, Riot. A blind man can tell,” she went on to say.
I wasn’t going to even tell her what else happened at the beach because she would really get delusional and think that the two of us were going to run off and have a bunch of babies.
After I agreed to the offer that he put on the table for me to work for his crew, he convinced me to go to one of the restaurants that were out there on the beach.
He ordered a drink, wings, and pizza for us.
I ate a little, and we talked a little. I didn’t fully engage because my guard was up.
I was inexperienced as hell when it came to men, so for the first time in my life, I felt like I was being a little awkward.
“Well, I already told him not to expect any pussy from me in the end because it’s not happening.
If I get out there today, and I don’t like the vibes, or the way that he’s running his shit, I’m leaving.
I know I need the money, but I’m not desperate for the shit,” I voiced, lifting one foot onto the bed, so that I could slide my sock on.
“Dolo the kind of nigga that can get pussy from anywhere. I doubt he doing this shit for you, expecting you to drop your panties for him. Just from the little bit that I know about him, I know that he isn’t that kind of person.
Please be safe tonight. You know that if I had it my way, I would want you to work a legal job that wasn’t so dangerous, but I’ve done my fair share of trying to convince you to live right.
Just do what you gotta do to make it home safely.
It’s going to be busy at the club tonight.
It’s the owners birthday, so damn near the whole city is coming out.
I probably won’t be back home until sometime tomorrow morning.
I’ll check on you when I get back to see how it went,” she let me know, and I nodded my head, letting her know that that was cool.
She came over to me, hugged me, told me that she loved me, and then she was out of the room. About two minutes later, she hollered from the front that she was leaving, and that’s when I heard the front door open, and close.
I was dressed by this point, but I needed to figure out what I was going to do with my hair.
I couldn’t do hair to save my life, but because my hair was back in its curly state, all I had to do was add water, and moose, comb through it, and I placed a middle part.
It looked nice this way. I applied Vaseline cocoa butter to my lips, sprayed a few pumps of perfume, and as I was standing in front of the mirror, fluffing out my hair, I could hear my phone vibrating on the bed.