8. Clover
8
Clover
H umming along to Drake’s Find Your Love , my hand glided across the canvas I was currently working on. Since DaVinci and I agreed to name our daughter Lucky, I was doing a painting as an ode to her. DaVinci fucked me so good this morning that I saw stars and got a stroke of inspiration. I had been inside of the art studio he created for me ever since.
The most genius thing I could’ve done was reach out to Bonnie and use her to help get my man’s mojo back. I might’ve been young, but I wasn’t stupid, and it was clear that it was going to take more than just me to get DaVinci back on track. Being The Ruler was a big part of Vinny’s personality when we first met. I’d be a fool not to use that to my advantage to help him out. Plus, Bonnie was no threat to me, so I didn’t mind using her, too. In my mind, she was just like the rose toy - to be used for my sexual gratification. Nothing more, nothing less.
It worked like a charm because for the last few days, Vinny had been insatiable. I didn’t mind it though. Actually, I welcomed it. It finally felt like we were re-connecting. I was living in complete bliss, and I hoped that nothing ruined that shit.
“Hey, my lil’ toaster strudel,” DaVinci walked in the room with an extra pep in his step.
My nostrils flared as I bust out laughing, turning the volume down on the surround sound system. He called me that earlier after he coated my face in his thick semen. Essentially, I did look like a damn toaster strudel, but that didn’t mean he had to keep calling me that.
“Baby, you are not gonna start calling me that!”
“Yes the hell I am,” he stood behind me, gripped my throat, and pushed my chin up in his direction. “What you working on?” He deeply kissed me and then allowed my head to fall forward.
“Something for Lucky. You like it?” I smiled at my painting.
“It’s beautiful, Toastie,” he stroked my throat with the palm of his hand.
“Vin Vin, stop,” I laughed some more, shaking my head at his goofy ass.
“Sorry,” he chuckled and kissed the top of my head. “Clover, I need to talk to you about something.”
My body tensed up the moment he called me by my birth name. The nigga rarely ever called me Clover. It was always Clo Baby, bae, mama, love, something sweet and affectionate. Sometimes it was Clo, but my full name didn’t really cross his lips.
“What happened?” I placed the paint brush in my hand down.
“Nothing,” he walked around the stool and stopped in front of me. “ Yet. ”
“Okay…” I dragged, my eyes slowly trekking up his body to meet his gaze. I was nervous as hell from his tone alone.
“You’re so pretty,” he thumbed my face.
I blushed no matter how many times I heard those words from him. “Thank you.”
“Do you remember when you told me that you felt like Tonya had something to do with us getting shot?” He asked me and I nodded. “She did.”
My eyebrows hiked in shock. “What?”
“I found out a few days ago. I wanted to tell you now because I gotta handle some shit, and I didn’t want you worrying or wondering. I’ll be safe, but I’ll probably be out late some nights until everything is wrapped up,” he vaguely stated.
“DaVinci,” I rose from my seat, purposely bumping him hard in the process. My fear always came out as anger. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means what I just said,” he plainly stated.
“Are you going to kill her?”
He shrugged casually. “You think Ima let her live? After she tried to kill me not once but twice?”
“She’s your mom.”
“She ain’t shit to me,” he kissed my nose and then my lips. “I love you, and I don’t want you to worry.”
Flapping my eyelids repeatedly, I was stunned. This nigga couldn’t have been serious. “Don’t worry? You just told me you’re going to kill your mother , and you don’t want me to worry?”
“I killed Dan for less,” his jaw muscles tensed, indicating that he was getting irritated.
“That was different! You have no connection to him!”
“What connection do I have to her besides the fact she birthed me? I don’t even understand why this is a conversation right now, Clo.”
“You know what?” I threw my hands up and shrugged. “You’re right. Do whatever the fuck you want.”
He pulled me back as soon as I tried to get away. “What’s the problem? You don’t even like her, so it’s not like you gon’ miss her.”
“I don’t but I also don’t want you to regret this later.”
“Would you rather be burying me later?” His eyes pierced into my soul as his words really hit me in the chest. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. If she did it once, she’ll do it again.”
“Have you talked to Lake about this?”
“Not yet. He’s on the way here now so that I can.”
Right on cue, the doorbell sounded, alerting us of Lake’s arrival. Vinny winked at me and walked out of the room. I don’t know why he thought I wasn’t about to listen in on this conversation. I needed to be right there in the event Lake tried to kill his ass. Following him down the stairs, he turned and made a face, and I made one back at him. He laughed, shook his head, and proceeded to open the front door.
“What’s good, bro?” Lake greeted, dapping him up before his eyes landed on me with a smile. “Sis! You painting today?”
Glancing down at my overalls that had some paint splatter on them, I chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, I was.”
“Awh, that’s wassup,” his gaze returned to Vinny. “What you need?”
“Why are you dressed like this?” DaVinci gestured to the dark blue hooded tunic he was wearing.
It looked like a damn dress, but I wasn’t gon’ say anything about it. He even had a skinny belt cinched around his waist. Maybe Lake was feeling like a baddie today, I don’t know.
“Oh, this?” Lake grabbed at the fabric as if he didn’t know what he was wearing. “Me and the confreres have a meeting today.”
“You and the who ?” Vin asked in a confused manner.
“Me and the monks. We have a meeting down at the Dhamma Hall in about an hour and a half, so can we speed this up?”
I leaned my head to the side slightly. “Monks? Lake, you’re a monk ?”
“Why you sound so surprised? I can be a monk,” he defended his religion or whatever it was to him.
“You sure can. You can be anything you want,” I giggled, coming the rest of the way downstairs.
Shaking his head, DaVinci ran his hand over his face and closed the front door. “Let’s talk in the kitchen.”
The three of us walked into the kitchen, and I could tell DaVinci really didn’t want me there, but I didn’t care. It was for his safety.
“Wassup?” Lake repeated with his eyes drifting between the two of us.
“Lake, you know I wouldn’t bring this to you if I wasn’t 100% sure,” DaVinci started, visibly uncomfortable.
“Bring what to me?”
“Tonya hired someone to kill me and River. The funeral was shot up because of her.”
“Shut up,” he laughed and playfully pushed Vin’s shoulder. “Fa real, nigga, what the fuck you want? I can’t be late to this meeting.”
“He’s serious,” I added with a straight face. “Remember when they were in comas, Lake? By the time you called her to tell her not to change shit about those POA’s, she had already done it. Then she went to the hospital and had them pulled off life support. It wasn’t because she knew they would survive. She wasn’t expecting them to start breathing on their own.”
“Hold up. Hold the fuck up,” he raised his hands as an array of emotions flooded his face. “What? This shit ain’t making sense.”
“I know it sounds crazy and that’s because it is crazy, but it’s the truth. I wouldn’t lie or joke about something serious like this,” DaVinci expressed evenly.
Staring at us in complete silence, Lake chuckled and then turned to walk out.
“You know what I have to do,” Vinny’s voice held a weight that left no room for rebuttals.
Lake spun around with an urgency that I felt deep in my gut. “The fuck, DaVinci! You brought me here to tell me you’re gonna kill our fuckin’ momma?!”
“I thought I’d at least give you a heads up,” he callously stated with a shrug that was just as indifferent as his tone.
“A heads…” Lake pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a maniacal laugh. “You think I want a heads up that I’m about to be parentless? Fuck you!”
“Did you want to be blindsided?”
I noticed that Lake wasn’t even trying to beg his brother for their mother’s life. It was obvious he knew what Tonya had done was unforgivable. He might’ve been a momma’s boy, but that street code was ingrained in him. Lake released a slow hiss as silence consumed the room for a while.
“She made her bed,” he finally filled the silence. “I know the rules, and I know they don’t get bent for anyone, not even blood. If someone tries to kill you, then their right to any mercy is automatically forfeited. Mother or not,” his voice was laced with a certain coldness but hints of sadness, too. “She made a decision, now she has to deal with those consequences.”
DaVinci lowered his head in a slight nod. “I knew you’d understand.”
“To be clear, I don’t want any parts of this bullshit. That beef shit is between y’all two muthafuckas. Really, y’all three since she tried to kill my twin, too,” his nostrils flared as he shook his head in disbelief at the situation. “I want an open casket, DaVinci.”
“You got that.”
Lake peeped at me, and I didn’t miss the deep sorrow that was already piling up in his eyes. He had just given the green light on his last living parent’s life. That couldn’t be easy. Yet, Tonya played a stupid game, so she was about to win a deadly prize. After one last glance at DaVinci, Lake walked out without another word. Once I heard the door close, I let out a silent sigh of relief that I didn’t have to break up a fight between them.
“You better be fuckin’ careful,” I sternly warned him with my index finger raised in his direction.
“Always,” he winked.
I knew my husband could handle himself, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t worry about his safety. Since he had been home from rehab, he had relieved Monty, Jason, and D of their full-time security jobs. He agreed to continue paying them because they were like family to him, but they were to only come out with him if he was going anywhere where there was a bigger crowd. His mother was a personal matter, so I knew he was gonna handle it alone. I just hoped she didn’t try to kill him again in the process.