That Bona Fide Hood Love

by Shvonne Latrice

  Contents

  Kasslyn

  1. Kasslyn Collins

  Kaseem Banks

  Kasslyn

  Kaseem

  2. Kasslyn

  Kaseem

  Kasslyn

  Kaseem

  3. Jamal Banks

  Kasslyn

  Kaseem

  Jamal

  4. Kasslyn

  Kaseem

  Kasslyn

  Jamal

  5. Kaseem

  Kasslyn

  Rhea Yates

  Jamal

  6. Kaseem

  Kasslyn

  Everly Jones

  Jamal

  7. Kaseem

  Kasslyn

  Rhea

  Jamal

  8. Kaseem

  Kasslyn

  Everly

  Jamal

  9. Kaseem

  Kasslyn

  Everly

  Kaseem

  10. Jamal

  Kasslyn

  Epilogue

  Kasslyn

  What One Won’t Do For Love…

  “Baby, open up!” I shouted, banging harder on my boyfriend, Elliot’s, door, excitedly. I’d just been chosen to participate in an art show, and he was the first person I wanted to share it with.

  “Damn. They need to hire you to work for the police department.” A pretty girl with a caramel complexion and hair down to her hips answered the door.

  “I’m sorry.” I stepped back some to look at the numbers on the door of the apartment beside this one. When I realized I had in fact knocked on the right door, I quizzed, “Wh-who are you?”

  “Leah. Is there something I can help you with?” She smiled brightly. She was a very pretty girl, and I had seen her somewhere.

  “I’m looking for Elliot.”

  “Elliot? Why?” She cocked her head just as he appeared behind her, before slipping around to be outside with me.

  “Baby, let me handle this. It’s some work shit.” He pecked her cheek, but I could’ve sworn he’d punched me in the stomach instead. Hesitantly, she moved back so he could close the door. “Kasslyn, you gotta go, and don’t come back over here.”

  “Why? Who is that? And what do you mean work stuff?”

  “Look, Leah is my girlfriend.”

  “I’m your girlfriend!” I shouted, feeling angrier than I’d ever felt in my life.

  “She was away at college, and I got caught up with you. But she’s back now, and you gotta go.”

  “Elliot, we’ve been together—”

  “For a few months, yeah, while she was over in New York. Maybe we can hook up when she goes back for her junior year in September.”

  “No, are you crazy!” I felt hot tears trail my cheeks. I’d stupidly given this boy my virginity, and our relationship meant nothing to him. I felt like I was about to have a heart attack. “You said you loved me,” I whimpered.

  “I did. I do. But Leah and I got history. Plus, you’re too young and ain’t got shit going on for you like her. She’s at an Ivy League college and gonna be a doctor. She even models on the side.” That was where I had seen her. “I would be a fool to give her up for you, and you know it.”

  Elliot didn’t give me a chance to respond before he slipped back into his place. Not like I had a rebuttal anyway. He was right. I was a broke seventeen-year-old who’d just graduated high school and did computer design in my free time for barely any compensation. Why would he choose me? Plus, she was a beautiful, intelligent model.

  I quickly left, not wanting to feel any more ashamed and foolish than I already had, going straight home on my bike.

  I hadn’t been home for twenty minutes before I heard keys jingling in the door. I’d been relaxing on the couch, watching Netflix, trying to make myself forget about what had happened earlier.

  The sound of my mother’s boyfriend, Allen, clearing his throat loudly told me it was him returning home after being gone for days. The entire time, my mama had been confined to her room, and the sound of her crying all day long had damn near broken my heart into tiny pieces. It made me hate Allen occasionally, because this wasn’t the first occasion where he’d disappeared for long periods of time.

  I wanted to call my mama stupid and pathetic, but I didn’t have it in me. Plus, I loved her too much to insult her in a time where she was in pain, even though this was nothing new.

  Every time Allen abandoned her, likely to be with another woman, she would sob until he returned. She wouldn’t go anywhere, and barely ate.

  My mother was a woman who needed to be in love and was co-dependent on relationships. If she was in one, she was all in, putting everything else second, including me.

  “Hey.” Allen entered, giving me a strange look. Usually he would be holding a bouquet of flowers for my mother, while trying to butter me up and make sure I wasn’t mad at him. I was still waiting on a fifty-dollar bill or something to be pressed into my palm.

  “Hi. Everything okay?” I inquired.

  I wanted to curse his ass out for treating my mother like she was nothing, but I didn’t have the balls and wanted my money. Also, Allen was the breadwinner, so my mama made sure to let me know I’d better show him respect or we might not have a place to live. I’d also lose my allowance that I used to take myself to the movies, get pedicures, pay for my Netflix subscription, or treat myself to a fancy smoothie here and there.

  “Yeah, uh.” He ran his hand over his balding head. Brother did not want to let his fade go. “You know I have love for you, right?”

  “Yeah, sure.” I frowned, sitting all the way up on the couch and muting the television. This was all the way different, and where was my damn cash?

  “Okay.” Allen gave me a closed-mouth smile and said nothing else as he went to the back where my mama was.

  I stared at his back for a second, until he went into the bedroom he and my mother shared, closing the door behind himself. I waited for a few moments before turning the TV’s volume back up.

  About fifteen minutes of me enjoying an extra funny episode of Young & Hungry had passed, before Allen came storming out of the bedroom with my mother on his heels.

  “Just tell me how I can fix this!” she screamed at his back, prompting me to cut the TV off completely.

  “Erica, stop it. Don’t do this in front of Kass.”

  “No, you don’t do this in front of her! You have no reason to leave! Just le… How about I make some dinner and—”

  “I don’t want dinner. I am leaving. Now I will pay the rent for two more months, and then after that, you’re going to have to handle it yourself or move out,” Allen explained to my mother as she cried hysterically and pleaded for him to change his tune.

  “What is going on?” I rose up, twiddling my thumbs.

  This had never happened. Usually, by now, I would be headed to the nail shop, giving them time to enjoy makeup sex. Then I’d most likely go hang out with my now ex-boyfriend Elliot. Today had been a strange turn of events.

  “Baby girl.” Allen turned to me, gripping my shoulders. “Ya mama and I are breaking up, but for good this time. I’ll be staying with a friend until I find my own place.”

  My jaw dropped a few times because I was confused as hell. I didn’t understand what was happening and didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t quite pinpoint my feelings either. I was upset yet relieved.

  “I thought you loved my mama.” I chuckled nervously. Maybe he was joking.

  “I do, but—”

  “Allen, don’t do this to her, please!” My mother interjected, dropping down and hugging his leg.

  Visibly frustrated, Allen exhaled, letting my shoulders go to peel my mama’s fingers from him.

  “Kasslyn, I have
to go. Take care of your mother, okay?” He grabbed for the doorknob.

  I didn’t want him to leave, mainly because he put a roof over our heads and food in the fridge, but I was happy because of how badly he treated my mother. She deserved better, and maybe now our relationship would be like it used to be.

  My mother had always been obsessed with men, but only once she got into a relationship. When she was single, she was the greatest mom ever. It was like she couldn’t be both at once, so if Allen needed to leave her for me to have the mama I loved back, then good riddance. However, I was worried about our financial stability. I didn’t mind working, but whatever job I got wouldn’t be enough to keep us afloat.

  “Mama, it’s okay.” I got down onto the floor to pull her into me for a hug.

  She was balled up, with her face buried into her hands as her body shook and trembled. She felt frail and weak, making tears pool in my eyes as well. I’d seen my mother get sad over a breakup, but never like this. It wasn’t a good feeling seeing her so broken.

  We stayed on the floor hugging for about an hour until she passed out. She was too big for me to carry, so I grabbed a blanket from the linen closet and laid it over her, before placing one of the couch pillows under her head. I kissed her supple cheek, before smoothing her soft hair back as I watched her for a moment.

  I knew she loved homemade cupcakes, so I slipped my Air Forces on and then grabbed my coin purse and keys, before leaving out to the store. The only car we had was Allen’s, so I hopped onto my bike and pedaled as fast as I could to Ralphs. I wanted to have the cupcakes ready by the time my mama woke up. I knew she’d still be feeling sad, so the cupcakes would make her feel better.

  Once at the store, I quickly grabbed two different types of cake mixes because I planned to mix them together for my cupcakes. I smiled widely, carrying the boxes up to the registers to pay for them. I knew it was wrong, but I felt excited knowing it would be just me and my mama again. We could help one another heal from dealing with heartbreak.

  I didn’t hate Allen; in fact, if he didn’t break my mother’s heart constantly, I would say he was the best boyfriend she’d had. He was nice to me, bought me things, and seemed to genuinely care about me, even though I wasn’t his. He and my mom had been together three years, meeting when I was fourteen years old.

  “This it, Kasslyn?” the cashier Rob asked me as he placed the two boxes off to the side after scanning them. I came here a lot, always getting things my mom needed to cook dinner and such, so people knew me.

  “Yep. Thanks.” I nodded happily.

  “Have a good one.”

  I didn’t want to spend the extra money to get a bag, so I grabbed the boxes after Rob handed me my receipt, then rushed to my bike to head back home.

  When I walked in, I saw my mother was no longer on the living room floor, so I went to put the cake mix boxes in the kitchen before going toward her room.

  “Hey Ma—” My breath got caught in my throat seeing my mother laid across the bottom portion of her bed with a hole in her temple. The gun had fallen out of her hands and onto the floor, as blood soaked her comforter.

  I stood there, gripping the gold doorknob tightly as I stared in disbelief. I wanted to scream, but my voice box was gone. I could feel the tears drip down my face although my facial expression was stale. I was waiting to wake up from this nightmare because there was no way I could go on living without my mommy. The thought had never even crossed my mind.

  Yes, she had her moments of weakness and sometimes put a man before me, but she was mine, my only one, and I loved her.

  Finally getting the strength to move, I neared her body only to realize that this was too much for me. Running out of the apartment, I banged on the door belonging to our neighbors, until the wife answered, face scrunched up in confusion.

  “Kasslyn, what is going on?” Fern looked me up and down, tightening her robe around her thick frame.

  “My mom,” was all I could say as tears continued to stream my face. I was barely able to make out her husband, who’d walked up behind her, due to the tears clouding my vision.

  “Honey, what’s wrong with your mother?”

  It finally hit me that I was alone, my mama was dead, and she was never coming back, so I dropped down to the floor and sobbed loudly. I didn’t have the strength to give Fern nor her husband a response.

  I felt Fern squat down to hug me, while telling her husband to go into the apartment I shared with my mother.

  He did, but returned moments later to simply say, “Fern, call the police.”

  That was the last thing I remembered before I blacked out.

  Almost three months later…

  I snatched the eviction notice off the door of the apartment, before tossing it inside and closing the door behind me. I was tired of seeing it and didn’t know what I was going to do about putting a roof over my head. I had no one.

  When Allen found out about my mama killing herself, he paid for the funeral and two months’ rent, but I never saw him again. That was more than I expected from him, so I couldn’t be angry. Hell, he wasn’t my father, and he wasn’t my mama’s husband, so he wasn’t obligated to do either of the things he had.

  As for my neighbor Fern, she and her husband moved away a month ago. She told me she didn’t like living in this building because my mother’s suicide gave her an eerie feeling. Such kind and unselfish words coming from someone I thought somewhat cared about me.

  I’d invited Elliot to the funeral, just out of a moment of weakness and loneliness, but he didn’t even respond or show up. It was painfully obvious he never gave a damn about me.

  Tossing my hood onto my head, I rushed down the stairs and hopped onto my bike. I wanted to go see if I could get a job at this cafe because I heard the pay was competitive and the tips were great, especially if you worked on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

  I made it there in fifteen minutes due to my fast pedaling.

  Locking my bike up, I entered the shop and walked right to the counter.

  “Hi, my name is Kasslyn, and I was wondering if you were hiring?” I smiled, smoothing the edges of my hair down.

  “Uh…” The boy steaming milk looked over his shoulder briefly. “Give me a second, and I will get the manager.”

  “Okay, thanks!” I turned to go sit down, and as I waited, I noticed a woman across the room watching me.

  She was light skinned with a short haircut that stopped right under her chin. Judging by her arms, she appeared to be fairly skinny, reminding me of the actress Paula Patton. I looked away and out of the window, but just a few seconds later, she was at my table, sliding into the seat across from me, and setting her mug down.

  “Hi, Kasslyn.” She gave me a smirk. “You are a very pretty girl.”

  “Thanks. How do you know my name?”

  “I heard you tell Adrian over there that you needed a job, so I also heard you introduce yourself by name.”

  “Oh.” I nodded, eyeing her nice Chanel necklace. I could tell she had a lot of money; even her perfume was telling.

  “I’m Jane Carlisle.” She reached across to shake my hand, so I obliged. “I know you’re looking for a job, and I think I have the perfect one for someone like you.”

  “Oh, I don’t have any experience in anything. I can’t work in a—”

  “The only experience you need to work for me is being pretty, and you have that. How old are you?”

  “I will be eighteen next month.”

  She nodded, sipping her coffee. Her eyes cascaded down me, as she sat back, squinting as if she were thinking.

  “I want you to come work for me. I need pretty girls. You will have a place to live, pretty much free of charge since I will simply take a percentage of your pay. We’ll get you a new wardrobe as well. I think you could make about $10,000 a month minimum.” Her skinny fingers hugged the coffee mug tightly.

  I sat up, interest piqued like hell.

  “Is it drugs? I can’t do
anything like that.”

  “Honey, no!” Jane threw her head back in laughter before setting her mug back down. The rim was stained with her rouge colored lipstick. “All you have to do is go places with rich men.”

  “Places like…?”

  “Events, balls, simple dates; just wherever they want company. In the end, you get paid a nice hefty fee.”

  “No, I don’t think so, but thanks.”

  “So you’d rather work here, making $10.50 an hour, and bringing home about $800 a month versus 10 grand? You seem like a smart girl, Kasslyn, so I know you wouldn’t prefer the former.” She drank more coffee. “And you’ll be staying in a mansion with a nice large room until you make enough money to move out if you want.”

  I sat there pondering. The rent for the apartment I stayed in was $1,000, despite being in the hood, and shabby as fuck.

  “Just going places with rich men?”

  “Just going places with rich men.” She grinned, showing off her extremely white smile.

  How bad could that be?

  1

  Kasslyn Collins

  Three and a half years later…

  Cocking my head, I checked myself out to be sure everything was in place for my date tonight. I was going out with this man named Jamal, and he was a really sweet guy. He was one of the few I didn’t mind spending my time with, and I didn’t have to fake like I was enjoying his company or conversation. Plus, him being pretty well off helped too.

  Because his bank account was healthy, he took me out a lot, and didn’t flinch at having to pay a nice fee to do so, on top of the dinners or whatever we did.