That Bona Fide Hood Love

by Shvonne Latrice

  Driving down her street, I felt like I was going crazy. Catharine was right about me changing, and I didn’t like it either. I hadn’t been the same since I first slept with Rhea years ago, but things seemed to only worsen once I proposed to Kasslyn. I didn’t care what Kaseem said; my life was in shambles because of her. And if I didn’t think he’d kill me, I would surely strangle her.

  I ended up at Catharine’s condo, so I parked and went right to her door. I had a key, so I used it.

  “Jamal?” Catharine came from the kitchen. She could cook like crazy, and it was one of the reasons I wanted to marry her.

  “Hey.” I locked the door. “You were right about me not being close to God anymore.” I shook my head. “But I need you to help me.”

  “What happened to your face?”

  “I went to see Rhea, tried to maybe get back with her because I was angry with you. And when I didn’t say what she liked, she scratched me up,” I replied somberly.

  “She is horrible!”

  “Which is how I know she will ruin our marriage, Cat.” I stared down into her eyes as she caressed my cheek gently. “I need your help; our marriage needs your help.”

  “Okay. Just promise me you will quit backsliding once all of this is over.”

  “I promise.” I pecked her. “Now what did you cook, woman?”

  Giggling, Catharine led me to the kitchen to show me.

  I loved this woman, and I did want to marry her, but I needed her to handle Rhea for me since Kaseem was keeping me from doing so.

  9

  Kaseem

  A few days later…

  I’d tried calling Kasslyn for the hundredth time, but her ass would never answer. I even texted, but of course got no response. My next move would be to pop up on her, but I didn’t wanna seem too damn thirsty, so I had yet to do that. However, desperate times called for desperate measures.

  After she told me she was pregnant and I responded the way I had, I’d been feeling like shit. Here I was, forcing Jamal’s ass to stand up and be a man, but wasn’t doing the shit myself. Yeah, I was pissed that her ass had lied and probably did fuck that nigga Elliot, but something deep down told me that was my kid. And if I found out that it wasn’t, I just might shoot Kasslyn’s ass.

  But at this moment, I was about to get at Elliot my damn self.

  “Says make a left right here.” The homie Warren pointed.

  I’d asked for him to get one of his street tech homies named Cory to find out who the fuck Elliot was. I had nothing but his first name, but when he came back with a list, I was able to narrow the shit down. This nigga that I was pulling up on right now matched the right age and location that Kasslyn’s Elliot should’ve been at.

  Parking a little ways down, I told Warren to chill because I ain’t need no damn backup. Only reason his ass was even with me was because the tech muthafucka hit him up while I was driving, and I didn’t wanna waste time dropping him off at home.

  I spotted who was supposed to be Elliot, chilling on the porch smoking what looked like a cigarette. He wore a strange look when he saw me, like I was coming here to fuck him up for something. Noted.

  “Aye, you Elliot… Henshaw?” I inquired, remembering what was supposed to be his last name according to Cory.

  “Why?”

  I chuckled, going closer until I was right at his porch steps.

  “It’s a yes or no question. Ain’t ya mama teach you not to answer a question with a question?”

  “Yeah, I’m Elliot. Fuck you need to know for?” He tossed the cigarette and stepped on it while rising up.

  “You been fucking Kasslyn?”

  He smirked, rubbing his hands together, and next thing I knew, I was on his porch, hemming him up against the wall while pressing against his neck with my forearm.

  “No! No, aight! I ain’t touched that girl for a long ass time!”

  “What’s a long time, muthafucka?” I gritted my teeth.

  “Like seven years.” He glanced at his front door, like he was making sure someone wasn’t listening.

  I frowned, knowing that was a lie due to Kasslyn’s age. I was about to inquire on the time length again until a woman emerged from the home, holding a baby on her hip.

  “Let him go!”

  “Bitch, get yo’ ass back in the house ’fore I make you swallow yo’ fucking tongue!” I hissed, and she did as she was told with her big head ass.

  “Come on, don’t talk to my wife like that, man.” Elliot complained like a bitch.

  Dropping him, I said, “How long you been with her?”

  “Like six years.”

  “Double dipping.” I shook my head. That’s why he gave me that fake ass time length. “Who told you Kasslyn was at the club that night?”

  “Nobody.” He rubbed his sore neck. “Shit was a coincidence, man, shit.”

  “Well let me tell you something in case you decide you want a muthafuckin recap of what you had with Kasslyn; that’s my woman.” I palmed my chest. “She got my baby in her, and if any muthafucka tries to push up on her, I’m rocking his shit and fucking his bitch. You get me?”

  “Of course, man, of course.” His punk ass threw his hands up in mock surrender.

  “Cool.” I gripped his shoulder extra tight, making him sink down and whimper in agony.

  Chuckling because the shit was funny, I let go and then bounced.

  Now that I had answers, I really needed to get my girl back.

  That night…

  “It’s all here.” I looked at Brandon, the head nigga of the specific trap I was at. I had about three more houses to hit before meeting up with Warren and maybe Roderick’s old trifling, stupid ass.

  “Told you. You know I wouldn’t play you, Seem.”

  “Smart man.”

  We slapped hands, and then I took the bag to my trunk before shutting it.

  I started down the street, listening to some music and thinking about Kasslyn’s ass like usual, when my whip started to swerve.

  “The fuck?” I frowned, realized my fucking tire had popped or been sliced. My mind immediately went to Rhea as I pulled over and shut the engine off.

  Hopping out, I slammed the door as I eyed the tire that was damn near shredded by this point.

  “Open the fucking trunk,” a voice called out, and when I looked over my shoulder, I saw two muthafuckas with guns and masks. One was significantly smaller than the other, letting me know it was a female, or a short nigga on female hormones.

  POP! POP!

  As soon as I reached for my gun, the bigger one let two off into my body, one in my leg and the other in my abdomen. The other gunman screamed in a high-pitched voice, confirming the fact that it was a bitch.

  The shot to my stomach paralyzed me for the moment, so I dropped down, unable to move as I watched the bigger one reach into the car to pop the trunk.

  “You said we wouldn’t hurt him!” the female called out.

  “Get the fucking bags!” the big one hissed, before I heard a lot of movement and then running. He was speaking funnily like he ain’t want me to know who he was.

  As I laid there on the ground bleeding, I told myself that if I lived, to remember that the voice of that female belonged to scheming ass Everly.

  Kasslyn

  “Good morning, beautiful.” Rod sat down next to me at the round table I was eating at.

  “Good morning.”

  “I was thinking maybe you could come over one night and we could chill, talk, and maybe brainstorm on design ideas.” He smiled widely.

  “Well… no, I don’t think so. I have a lot of work to do.”

  “Aww, come on, Kass.” He pushed my hair behind my shoulder. “You need to be able to take some time off.”

  “Yes, but I don’t want to.”

  “Please. It’s like I’m lonely as hell here.”

  I stared at his sad ass face and finally replied, “Okay. Email me your address, and I will see.”

  “Cool.”

&
nbsp; I waited until Rod got up and then pulled my iPhone from my purse. Kaseem had been blowing me up and sending ‘can we talk?’ texts for a while now. I planned to ignore him for life, but he was my baby’s father, so we did need to be cordial.

  I went into my recent calls and tapped his name, shoving a fry into my mouth as the line trilled.

  “Hello?” A woman answered the phone, catching me off guard.

  “Uh, umm, is this Kaseem’s phone?”

  “Yes it is.” Her voice sounded mature, relaxing me a little bit because I doubted this was some woman he was fucking. Then again, I put nothing past friendly dick Kaseem.

  “Hi, this is Kasslyn, could I speak to him please?”

  Why was she answering his cell phone anyway?

  “He’s sleeping right now, Kasslyn.”

  “Oh. Uh, well when he wakes up, can you tell him to please give me a call? He’s been wanting to talk.”

  “Kasslyn, Kaseem was shot a little over twenty-four hours ago, and he’s resting right now. He doesn’t need any of your drama.”

  “Where is he—”

  Click.

  After she hung up, I recognized the voice to be Kaseem’s mother. Panicking, I grabbed my things and ordered an Uber on the way to the waiting area. Once it told me one was on the way, I called Jamal.

  “Yes?”

  “Hey, I know you hate me and have no reason to give me any information, but can you tell me where your brother is? Like which hospital?”

  “Hmmm.” He pretended to think. I swear I hated this man and couldn’t believe I ever agreed to be his wife. I was such a lost cause.

  “Jamal, please. We’re not even together; I’m just making sure he’s okay.”

  “Y’all aren’t?”

  “No, Jamal, it’s over. Now can you tell me?”

  “He’s at Statesman Memorial, floor 3, room 330. Hey, but we should meet up and talk—”

  I hung up on his ass, just as my Uber pulled up.

  “Can we change the destination?” I asked as soon as I’d gotten in. I put a different location initially just so it’d let me order it.

  “Sure.”

  After giving the driver the address to the hospital, I sat back, praying that Kaseem was okay. His mama, or who I believed to be his mother, didn’t really give me any information with her rude ass.

  “Thanks!” I smiled at the Uber driver faintly as I hopped out of the car and rushed inside, going to the floor and room Jamal had directed me to.

  When I got close, I saw the door was wide open, and for some reason, I got nervous. I guess I didn’t want to face his parents, knowing I was with one son one minute and the other the next.

  Thankfully, when I stepped in, Kaseem was alone, staring up at some woman talking on the small television set.

  “Kass,” was all he said, very lowly when he spotted me. Even laid up in this bed, he was as handsome as a fairytale prince.

  “Hey.” I moved closer. A chair was already next to his bed, I guess from his mother being here. “How are you feeling?”

  “Tired as fuck, but I got three more days in here before I get out and at the muthafuckas who got at me.”

  “Oh, who was it?” I sat down.

  Smirking, he replied, “You’ve always been nosy.”

  “Just a question.”

  “Nah, not really. That’s sensitive information.”

  “So you’re not going to tell me?”

  “You promise not to say shit? I don’t deal with police or none of that shit.”

  “Cross my heart and hope to die.” I nodded with my eyes closed, and he chuckled subtly.

  “Corny as fuck. It was my homie, well distant homie, Roderick, and then Everly.”

  “Everly? The one who is obsessed with you? I think the medicine has messed with your head.”

  “Nah, it hasn’t. It was her. I been fucking that bitch for a minute, I know her voice.”

  “Wow. Can’t trust anyone these days.”

  “Nope.” He turned to look at me as best as he could while lying down. “Except yo’ cute ass.”

  “I thought I was a liar?”

  “You are, well actually an omitter, which is just as bad in some cases, but not this one.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m sorry for the shit I said to you. I’ve just never been jealous, and I’ve never given a fuck about a female enough for some shit like that to matter to me.”

  “I accept your apology… or what sounds like an apology.”

  “So that means it’s me and you, right?” He nibbled on his lip, looking extremely sexy.

  “Uh, no. I forgive you for what you said, but I still didn’t like the way you talked to me. I don’t think I can be with someone who says such things to me.”

  “I won’t. Shit was a onetime thing with you, I swear, on some real shit.”

  “I don’t know, Kaseem.”

  “Kasslyn, we got a—”

  “I just came to see how you were doing and looks like you’re okay. So I will go now.” I rose up, putting my purse on my shoulder.

  “Kasslyn!” he yelled after me, but I ignored him as I exited the room.

  If he wanted to date me, he was going to have to do more than some thrown together, bullshit ass apology.

  As I got onto the elevator, I received an email from Rod. Kaseem mentioning that his friend Roderick had done this to him made me very suspicious of my schoolmate Rod randomly entering my life and being so nice.

  Looking down at my phone, I decided to reply.

  The next night…

  “You know you grew up to look just like your mother.” Allen smiled as we rode in the back of the limo he’d picked me up in.

  Thankfully, the dinner part of the date was over, because I was ready to get home. This was our third time going out, and each time, it made me sicker to my stomach.

  “Thanks.” I stared out the window. “Oh, that was the exit he needed to take to get to Jane’s.” I pointed.

  “We’re not going to Jane’s just yet.” He touched my thigh. I felt like I’d lost my breath. “I asked Jane for a little more time with you.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. I think since this is our third date, we can go a little further. I’ve been moving slower with you due to our history, but…” He shrugged.

  “But what?”

  “It’s time we get on the good foot.” Good foot? He even talked old. This was too much. Unzipping his pants, he demanded, “Pull it out.”

  “Uh, Allen, I don’t think this is a good idea. It’s just too weird for me and—”

  “Fine. We can take you home, and I can let Jane know—”

  “Okay! Okay!” I cut him off, reaching over in his lap as if it were a mountain lion there, waiting.

  I turned away once my hand went through the slit of his boxers and then revealed his penis.

  “Start with a light massage, and then put it in your mouth.”

  Nope!

  “I’m sorry, Allen, I can’t.” I tried to pull my hand away, but he yanked me, forcing my fingers onto his dick again. “Let me go!”

  “Bitch, you better do what the fuck I said before you lose that damn job!” he growled, still trying to force me.

  WHAM!

  I slapped him with my right hand, then punched him twice, making him let my left wrist go.

  “You piece of shit!” I barked, crawling into his lap and fucking him up for what he did right now and to my mother.

  I found joy and solace in hearing him howl and cry as I rained punches down on his face like a madman.

  “Pull over, German!” he screamed, and when the limo swerved, I flew out of his lap. “Get out, you crazy bitch! You’re just as crazy as your Looney Toon ass mama!”

  WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

  I popped him in the nose and mouth three times, before he pulled the lever to the door and shoved me out. By the time I was to my feet, the limo had sped off, so I stayed on the shoulder of the freeway until I could exit it.
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br />   As I walked, I smiled at the thought of his face and mouth covered in blood, and how both of his eyes were already bruising.

  Everly

  The very next morning…

  Ever since Roderick and I had done that robbery, I’d been on edge. So far, nothing had come back to us, and as far as I knew, Kaseem had no idea who’d done this to him.

  As I pulled up to the Opulence headquarters, I decided to give Roderick’s ass a call because we hadn’t said too much to one another since all of this shit happened.

  “Sup?” he answered nonchalantly.

  “Hey, so what’s up with you and Kasslyn?”

  “I’m working on it.”

  “You’ve been working on it for the fucking longest! How hard is it to get a damn escort on a sextape!” I hissed.

  This nigga was pissing me off, and I was starting to feel like he’d played me. I actually assisted this nigga in shooting and robbing the man I loved.

  “Relax, boo.” He laughed, only infuriating me further. “She agreed to come over and see me again. Shit, actually, she’s the one who brought up her coming over this time. I ain’t even have to ask.”

  “Okay, that’s great. I heard Kaseem will be out of the hospital soon, so I want to have that tape to him as quickly as possible.”

  “Don’t trip; you will.”

  “Bye.” I hung up and took a deep breath.

  Looking into my back seat, I grabbed my jacket because I knew today’s workday would run long, and it would be cold as hell walking through this lot to my car when I got off.

  Once I had my briefcase and purse, I got out of the car only to see some woman standing near the trunk of my vehicle.

  She wore a short tube dress, and her hair was in those braids only ghetto women wore. She was a typical light-skinned hood rat; that was obvious.

  “I don’t have any cash on me.” I shut my car door, assuming she was about to tell me some sob story, only to ask if I had some change to spare so she could feed her hungry children.

  Chuckling, she moved closer, making me tense up slightly.