Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
SUGAR BABY
I was so upset I didn’t want to hear anything Tyreek had to say.
This wasn’t the first time I had to clean his wounds because he’d been in a fight, but it was the first time the man I was with and developing deep feelings for was responsible for it.
For some reason, I thought Cash would never put his hands on me or anyone I knew and loved, and now, I wasn’t sure why I even thought that.
The man was known for punishing and killing people with his fists.
Why did I ignore what he was truly capable of?
“Sugar Baby, will you let me explain?” Tyreek asked as I put the cream on his busted lip. “It’s really not what it looks like.”
“Did you lie to me? You told me you robbed Sko. Was that not the truth?”
“Yes! If you will just calm down and let me explain, everything will make sense.”
Since he hardly ever raised his voice at me, I realized he was serious.
I told him I’d hear him out after I got him together and calmed down.
He stayed over so much my guest room was basically his room and he had clothes here too, so he took a shower while I smoked and baked the quickest thing I could throw together to try and calm down, which was peanut butter cookies.
By the time they were done, I was on my second blunt, and Tyreek was coming out of the bathroom looking refreshed.
“You ready to talk now?” he asked, reaching for my blunt.
“Boy, you know I don’t let you smoke with me.”
He sucked his teeth as he sat on the island. “I don’t know why. You know I do it anyway.”
“So? It’s bad enough I can’t get you to stop cursing around me. You act like I’m not your elder.”
He chuckled. “Baby, please. You ain’t my elder. Not like Granny. You my big sister. Plus I’m eighteen. You the one who took me to get my first box of condoms.”
“Oh God. Please don’t remind me. I’m starting to feel like the worst big cousin ever. Uncle Tony is going to keep you away from me, especially after he finds out my boyfriend did this to you.”
“Except he didn’t.” Tyreek patted the stool next to him. “Come sit down.”
I put the cookies on a serving tray, set them on the island, then sat next to him.
“Alright. Let me have it.”
I listened intently as he told me the exact same story from three days ago.
He added to it that they weren’t robbing Sko; they were robbing Cash.
Well, actually, they were robbing both. When Cash’s men found out, they picked the boys up and roughed them up.
Tyreek was quick to assure me that Cash had nothing to do with that and had even punished the men for it.
“He was really mad about it, big cuz,” he continued, wiping the cookie crumbs from his mouth. “He sent bullets into their asses with the quickness, and you know that’s not his style.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, starting to feel horrible for jumping to the worst case scenario. I might not have known everything about Cash, but I knew enough to give him the benefit of the doubt and hear him out instead of assuming he’d hurt Tyreek.
“And you wanna know what else?”
“What?” I asked quietly as my mind raced.
“I was honest with Cash about why I’ve been trying to get so much money. Truth is, it’s because I do want to go to school and knew we wouldn’t be able to afford it.”
I gasped and clutched my heart. “Tyreek, you know . . .”
“I don’t want to hear it, Baby. You do enough for us. I didn’t want you stressing over how you were going to help me pay for school too. It doesn’t matter anyway because Cash said he’s going to pay for me to go as long as I stop being their friends and stay out of trouble.”
That made my tears fall. “He did?”
Tyreek nodded as he chewed. “He did. So I’on know what you gon’ have to do, but you need to fix things between the two of y’all.
He’s really a good dude, and he cares about me.
I ain’t never had no man care about me except Pops, so I’ma do right and make all y’all proud.
And I’m sorry I’ve been giving you so much hell lately.
You’re not a bad influence. You’re the best big cousin and sister I could ever have. I love you, Sugar Baby.”
Blinking away my tears only made them fall harder.
I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close.
“I love you too, little cuz. You’re the best little brother a girl can have.
And I’m so proud of you. You may have gone down a rocky path, but I’m proud of you for committing yourself to making it straight. And you know I got you.”
“Are you going to fix things with him?” he asked, releasing me. “You slapped the shit outta him, cuz. You better be glad his reflexes didn’t have him hitting you back. He was gonna have you flying across the yard like Debo did Red when he asked him about his bike.”
I cackled until my eyes watered. “Boy, what you know about that movie? It’s older than you.”
“So? It’s a classic. But I’m for real, Baby. That man vein popped out the middle of his head. God was definitely looking out for you.”
“If you don’t leave me alone,” I warned through my laughter.
Now that I knew the whole story, I did feel bad about that shit.
I’d fix things between us later. Right now, my priority was my cousin and making sure his parents knew what was going on.
I appreciated Tyreek affirming me and assuring I knew he loved me, but I just hoped his parents felt the same way.
It would have been a stretch for them to try and blame me for this, but I knew they’d want to spread the blame as much as they could.
Even if all I did was withhold the truth after the robbery, that was enough to get on their bad side, and I hoped that wouldn’t be the case.
They were literally all I had in this world, and if I lost them because of this, I wouldn’t be no more good.