by J Peach
“I believe him. King too straight forward for some sneaky shit like that. He’d probably take you somewhere deserted and let you know what’s up so only one of you will come back. And that’s only if he wanted to die.” Khyree stated, making everybody look at him. “What? It just fits his character. We been doing business for years, we talk. I mean that’s what I get from him.”
“Don’t be profiling me. What the fuck wrong with you?” King said to Khyree who shrugged.
“Wait! How come we don’t talk? Only time I hear from you is when some shit like this happens?” Khalil asked, making me roll my eyes.
“No reason. We just don’t talk,” King shrugged his shoulders, then looked back at Blaze who was in thought. “Khyree right, though. That’s some shit I’ll do,” he admitted. “But Sam been yo boy way before we even got cool. He wouldn’t do no shit like this.”
A snort sounded in the back of my throat at the mention of Sam not doing something.
“What’s that about? I thought y’all were cool.”
“It’s nothing worth repeating, but what happened didn’t go the way he said. So, I know he can lie.” King stared at me with a raised brow. I looked away from him to Blaze whose face was contorted into a mean glare. “Don’t look at me like that because it was your fault.”
“How the fuck that was my fault? I ain’t tell yo dumbass to do what the fuck you did, so kill that bullshit.” Blaze snapped at me.
My eyes rolled up in my head as a lie quickly popped into my head. “You didn’t have to make him follow me either, all I asked was for time but you couldn’t give me that. You had to put yo damn guard dog on me, right?” I lied to justify an action I didn’t feel guilty about. Why the hell was I lying if I didn’t regret it? Whatever happened, it’s was over and done with.
Blaze and I just made up so there was no need to draw new blood over healing wounds.
“What the hell is you talkin’ ‘bout? I didn’t put nobody on you. I left yo ass alone. Shid, I just came to you that day to talk. But yo ass had to overdo it with that damn Sean nigga.”
Where did that even come from? “Sean? Blaze he’s just someone I go to school with, that’s it. You know that, so you didn’t have to send Sam’s ass.”
Blaze eyes squinted and I could tell he was getting pissed. He had a sexy angry face.
I bit into my lower lip as I watched the muscles in his jaw tighten from the clenching of his teeth.
“Man, whatever. I ain’t have Sam follow you. I got a bug in yo phone. I could have found yo dumbass whenever I wanted. So, why the fuck would I send Sam?” Blaze asked not even realizing what he just said.
I let my bottom lip go. This nigga just took stalking to a whole other level. “You bugged my phone?” I stood up as my hands went to my hips.
“What the fuck is you talkin’ ‘bout? Somebody tryna kill me and you worried about a damn phone?” He quickly defended. King bust out laughing at Blaze.
No he wasn’t. Just a second ago he wasn’t worried about it now he is. I couldn’t stand his ass sometimes.
“Look, y’all don’t worry about this. I got some shit to do, so King I’ll get at you later. Peaches, I need you to ride with me.” Blaze took out his phone and began texting on it. “Aye, I’mma need yo keys and address to yo place out in St. Louis.” Blaze stopped talking to Jerron to answer his phone. “Where you at?”
I tuned Blaze out and walked over to Jerron. “Are you hurting?” I sat beside him.
He shook his head no.
“N’all, I’m good. So, you mad at me?”
Shrugging, I looked away from those sad hazel eyes, only to look right back. “Yeah, you should’ve told me. Just because I’m a woman don’t mean I can’t handle shit. Ron, given the life my dad lived — the same life King is still living — I’m far from judgmental.
“No, I don’t think killing people is cool but that’s you as long as you don’t bring it into what we have. I don’t need to know anything and it’ll always be like that. Of course I think you’re dumb as hell for doing something like this as a job. Jerron, I thought you were smarter than King’s ass. But I won’t judge what you’re doing as long as it doesn’t come in between us, okay?”
Jerron brought his fingers to my cheek with a groan from moving his arm. “You know I love you?” he asked.
My lips poked out as I hummed. “I don’t know—” My words were soon cut short.
“Peaches, get yo ass ready so we can go. Damn. Slow ass.” Blaze snapped at me.
I turned around to glare at him only to find him not even looking at me but once again mugging Ron.
“Gon’ ‘head, I’ll be here when you get back,” Ron said but I waved him off.
“He can wait a minute. Question, you said you’ve been doing this for a while. So, you leaving to go to school, the whole story you told me, was it true or…” I trailed off as Ron head nodded yes.
“Everything I told you was true about leaving to go to school. I didn’t lie about that. I never really lied to you about anything, except for what I do on the side. Leaving was hard, but I wanted to go to school. I needed to if I was going to start the business with Leon. That was the plan once I finished this job. Shid, coming back here seeing you again. I lost sight of the job which I’ve never done. It should never ever happen in my line of work. For this mistake, it’s an easy death sentence if whoever hired me to kill him finds out I hadn’t. I’m still gon’ have to make that trip to St. Louis whether it be tomorrow or the day after. I still gotda find out who hired me. Whoever it is might find another hitta and the both of our asses gon’ be on his list. But we’ll talk about this later. Go do what you have to with dude. Don’t worry about me, Peaches. I’ll be good, i’ight?” Ron nodded toward the bathroom.
“With your line of work, worrying is all I can do. Why you couldn’t be normal? I’m not judging, Jerron, believe me I’m not. It’s just crazy to think you do something like this.” It was hard to believe.
Jerron was five years older than me, so he could’ve been doing this way before we got together. I wanted to ask more questions about it but the look Ron was giving me had me stop in my tracks. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Peaches, if you don’t get yo ass ready, I’mma drag yo ass out by yo damn hair to my truck.” Blaze snapped, which caused me to look at him.
“For real?” Ron cut me off by responding to Blaze.
“Nigga, go sit yo ass in the fuckin’ corner ‘til we done or wait yo ass outside. We talkin’.” King started laughing, which didn’t help much. Of course, Blaze’s bipolar ass was ready to fight like usual.
“Don’t start. Damn. Blaze, calm yo ass down. B, when we finish talking I’ll get ready, so chill. Damn. Jerron the same goes fah your ass. I get it. But Blaze don’t know how to talk to people, so chill the fuck out. Damn, y’all two gon’ get on my damn nerves and I’mma be forced to shoot the both of you.” Looking away from Blaze, I turned back to Ron glaring at him. “Would you stop talking shit? If you don’t say nothing to him, he ain’t gon’ say anything to you, okay?”
“Don’t think every time you bat them damn eyelashes I’mma do what the fuck you say ‘cause I ain’t.”
Smacking my lips, I laughed at him. “Whatever you say Jerron. Let me go get ready before the fuming beast in the corner have a conniption.” Glancing at a pissed off Blaze, I smiled at him. I got up to get my bag from the side of the bed then went into the bathroom to change.
Once in the bathroom, I took a quick whore’s bath even though I showered that morning. I wanted to freshen up a bit. I had just pulled on my panties when the bathroom door opened.
On instinct I covered myself getting ready to snap but Blaze beat me to it as he started talking.
“Fuck you doing all that for? I done seen yo ass naked a million fuckin times.”
Rolling my eyes at him, I turned away from him, picking up my bra from off of the counter. “King just let you come in here?” I asked, making him laugh.
“W
hat was he gon’ tell me? Not to come in here?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I gave Blaze a duh look while nodding my head yes. “Eh, yeah he was.” Coming up behind me, Blaze grabbed my hooks snapping them together before leaning against the counter so he was facing me. “What’s wrong?” I knew it was something because his hands weren’t rubbing on me. Not answering me, Blaze reached in his back pocket and pulled out a white envelope. He handed it to me. “What’s this?” Again nothing. I let out a sigh and grabbed it from him. I opened it. “You got the DNA results already?” I asked while reading the paper.
“Yeah, Tuesday morning I went and got it done. I ain’t wanna be wasting our time if it wasn’t necessary. This dude I went to MSU with work at Strand’s. He did the test for me.” Blaze explain.
I folded up the paper and put it back, I rubbed my neck. “So, what was the kid like?” Blaze shrugged. “How you don’t know Blaze, you had to see—”
“N’all, this old chick that knows my moms swabbed his cheek then gave it to me and I sent ours to dude.” It was so strange to see Blaze like this. In the last two sentences, I don’t even think he cussed. He seemed unsure for the first time since I'd known him. Blaze just looked stuck and I felt bad for him.
“So, what you’re going to do?” I asked while grabbing the lotion.
“Shid, your guess is as good as mine because I don’t know. Roslyn, my moms’ friend, gon’ meet us at this park in about two hours with him. But a kid ain’t fit for my life. You heard that shit dude talkin’ in there. Somebody paid his ass to kill me. That ain’t shit new to me. That’s every day that some nigga plotting. Now if a mothafucka find out about this kid, yo, they gon’ be at him to get to me.” His worries were understandable.
I have the same when it comes to my brother but I had to come to terms with that’s the life he chose and all I could do was constantly pray nothing bad happened to him. Just like with Blaze, he chose this life, too.
Grabbing the lotion off the counter, Blaze came to stand behind me and started rubbing some on my back.
“Blaze, you’ll deal with it, just like you have with keeping your momma and Britt away from your way of living. You can do the same with this kid. I’m not telling you what to do but I’m saying this—you can’t leave that baby to the state now that you know he’s yours. Whether you listen to me, is your choice. Just remember you’re not alone in this.”
Blaze hands came to my sides, his finger moving along my skin. “I hear you, but I don’t know. We’ll see how this goes. But what if he doesn’t like me?”
Laughing at his seriousness, I shrugged. “Bae, I’m sorry but you’re not a likable person. I can’t help you with that. Sorry.” Again I laughed while grabbing my plain white fitted shirt. “I hope this is okay. I don’t have anything fancy to put on.”
“You ain’t gotda be fancy. What you got is cool.” Blaze stated while fixing the back of my shirt. “Yo booty getting big,” he said as his fingers slid through the sides of my panties moving up then down like he was fixing them.
“Blaze, get yo mannish ass on somewhere. We were talking about something serious.” After hitting him, I slipped on my dark blue ripped skinny jeans.
“You right, I couldn’t help myself, though. So, you gon’ do this with me?” Smacking my lips, I rolled my eyes. My actions had Blaze muffing me. “Yo ass ain’t even gotda be doing all that shit.”
Snapping my flat irons at him, I rolled my eyes again. “Blaze, you know I got you so don’t worry about that. You just go sit down and start thinking of something nice to say besides what’s up, little nigga and no cussing, period.”
Blaze blew out a breath. “Man, this shit hard.” Blaze mumbled as he rubbed his face like he was stressed, which he probably was but that’s not what had me laughing.
“You haven’t done shit yet so how you know it’s hard?”
Mugging, Blaze muffed me again. “Shut the fuck up and hurry yo ass up,” Blaze continued to chuckle while his head shook. “Yo ass stupid man. I ain’t have to do shit. Just the thought of doing it is tiring my ass out.” My brows rose at that as I stared at him through the mirror. “Fuck you, Peaches, man.”
Smiling at him, I finally finished my hair. I unplugged the flat irons, leaving then on the counter after fixing my part and running the comb through my hair that rested over my shoulders and against my back.
I was ready to go.
“Come on, I’m ready.” Putting my dirty clothes in my bag, we left out the bathroom. Walking out, the first thing I did was slapped King on the back of his head. “Nuh uh nigga, don’t be offering him no damn jobs. Jerron don’t need to be associated with you. Talk to Leon. Don’t try to bring him into yo little circle.” I told King while going over to my side of the room and putting my stuff down then stepping into my white flats. “Ron, don’t be letting him influence you either. Leon, if he gets influenced, I’m beating yo ass.” I threatened while going to Ron.
“That’s a grown ass man. What he does is his business, not mines.” Leon replied.
“Your brother’s a dick but don’t be letting King get to you. He’s bad to be around and stay away from the twins. Don’t even talk to them especially not Khalil. He’s weird.” Whispering the last bit caused him to laugh.
“That nigga kill people but I’m a bad influence, though.” King said and I stuck my finger up at him, all the while still looking at Ron.
“I’ll be good. I told you I’m retiring for a bit. But go handle your business. Leon, toss me those keys behind you.” Leon threw them and I caught them.
“Now you know he can’t catch right now, you ass.” These men weren’t gon’ work my damn nerves. I was not going to keep worrying about they stupid asses.
“He said throw ‘em, so snap at him not me.” Leon said.
“Here,” handing me his house key, he beckoned me toward him. Moving closer, he brought his mouth to my ear. “Now that I’m hurt you should really think about giving me that dance.” Pulling away, I laughed.
“I’ll think about that.” I stood up and leaned forward, kissing his cheek. “I’m glad you’re okay and I’ll really think about that, I promise.” Grabbing the container off the nightstand, I sat it in his lap. “Eat it because I know they not gon’ feed you. Alright I’m gone. I’ll call when I’m on my way back.” A loud yawn left my mouth as I stretched. Now knowing Jerron was okay, sleep decided to enter its way into my body and thoughts. “Excuse me,” again I yawned. “Let’s go, Blaze.” Wiping the sleepy tears from my eyes, I grabbed the phone King brought me a couple of days ago and my purse.
“Peaches, you sure? We can wait and do this? You look like you ‘bout to tip over.” Blaze commented but I waved him off.
“I’m cool, come on.” Waving at Ron once more, we left the room then house. Locking the door behind us, we made our way to his truck. Blaze opened my door, helping me in before going to the driver’s side and getting in.
“That nigga crazy, boss. If somebody offered me half a mil’, I would’ve offed his ass.” Blaze stated, making me roll my eyes.
“No you wouldn’t have. You’ll be in the same position he’s in.”
“No the fuck I wouldn’t,” Blaze said.
“Yeah you would’ve. Blaze, you don’t like Jerron, it’s obvious. But you didn’t kill him when you had chances to. In the room when you pulled yo gun and he put his down, you could’ve shot him but you didn’t. Because of me, you thought about me first. That was called being considerate and it’s a good look on you,” I said, turning to face him.
“Shut the fuck up! Considerate my ass. I won’t be next time if I gotda hear this shit.” Laughing at his attempt to be angry, I popped him on the arm. “Gon’ before you make me hit something.” Turning off the radio I continued to just stare at him. “What?”
I was trying to picture what he would be like with his kid but for the life of me I couldn’t. I just couldn’t picture Blaze being family oriented. It was literally hard trying to see it. I mean with his mom
and Britt he could easily come and go, which he did. But now that he actually has another living, breathing being depending on him, I just couldn’t see it.
How would he adapt to that life.
God I pray for this kid.
Chapter 6
Peaches
“Peaches, wake up, we’re here.” It felt like I had just closed my eyes. I didn’t want to get up. “Peaches—” Blaze called, shaking me harder.
“Stop, I’m up,” I moaned, not opening my eyes. I just laid there for a minute longer trying to wake my lazy body up. Even after hearing a door open and close, I still didn’t move not even when my own door opened. “Blaze, stop!” He leaned over my body and hovered over my cheek, Blaze bit me. “You slobbing on me. Stop, I’m woke.” I groaned as I started to get up but the big fool on top of me wouldn’t move. “Blaze, move!” Looking up at him, I laughed. “You play too much and you’re heavy, now move.”
“They here, what I’m ‘pose to say?” Blaze whispered.
Confusion set in my mind at what he said. “What?” I asked him dumbly.
Letting out a breath, Blaze sighed as he shook his head.
“Give me a kiss.” Blaze whispered, making me laugh while I pushed at his shoulders.
“Gon’ now, Blaze. What are you doing?” Blaze had now tucked his head in my neck not moving. “Blaze, would you move?” I laughed, finding this funny.
Lifting up, Blaze helped me sit upright, turning me so my legs were dangling outside the truck. It was then that I realized how nervous he looked.
“You’re cute—”
“Man, fuck you. I ain’t cute.”
Smacking my lips, I brought my hands to the sides of his face. “It’ll be fine. There’s no need to be worried. I mean he’s two. What harm can he really do?”
Blaze rubbed his head while glancing behind himself. “Shid, I don’t know. What the fuck I’m ‘pose to say?” he asked.