by Sephiri J
She looked a hot ass mess, and I raised an eyebrow. Folding her hands in front of her, she looked back at City then looked toward me.
“Say what you gotta say, Giselle. I ain’t got all day,” City barked.
I looked over at her, wondering what she had to say.
“I took the key to City’s house,” she mumbled under her breath, but I could barely hear what she said.
“Huh?”
“Speak up, bitch. You had a lot to say to my girl in her DMs. Tell her what the fuck you did before I lose patience, Giselle,” City yelled, and she jumped.
She looked back at him, and tears started to come down her cheeks.
“Okay! Okay,” she said, wiping her eyes and looking back at me. Rolling her eyes, she looked down at the floor then back up at me. “I took City’s spare house key and went inside when he wasn’t there. He didn’t know I was there.”
When she said that, it was like something snapped inside of me. Maybe it was the fact that I’d been an emotional wreck since this whole situation happened. Maybe it was because I was stressed about my father being broke. Shit, maybe it was because I was fucking broke too, and I didn’t know how to fix that in a short-term way. But hearing this shit on top of all that did something inside me.
This bitch had orchestrated a whole lie to get me to leave City, and I had fallen for the shit. I’d believed her over my man because I’d been angry, hurt, and jaded due to the shit from my past. I’d allowed Giselle and her scheming to come in the way of the relationship I had growing with City. If it wasn’t for him caring about me to the point where he dragged this bitch in my face, I would have never known and would have never spoken to him again because of it.
“You stupid ass bitch!” I yelled then dropped my camera to the floor and launched myself at her face. My first punch connected with her jaw, and she screamed. “Didn’t I tell you not to play with me when I saw you the first time? But you keep playin ho!”
I was landing punches on her face over and over again, and with every punch, she hollered. She wasn’t even trying to fight me back, weak ass bitch. For a minute, I wished she would so I could really drag her. I got on top of her and put my hands around her neck. She opened her eyes and looked at me, I could see her fear.
“Listen, hoe, keep the fuck away from me and my nigga. I’m sick of your shit. He don’t want your dry ass pussy. He’s not thinkin’ about you! Why you can’t get it through your head that he-don’t-want-your-ass?” I said, slapping her in the face with my other hand after every word.
She started choking as my grip got tighter around her neck, and I saw tears falling down her face. I just got angrier looking at her, but when she started clawing at my face so I would let her throat go, my anger got worse. I let go of her neck but started throwing punches again all over her face and upper body. She was crying like I was killing her ass, but I needed her to never forget this ass whooping.
“Okay, bae, she got it,” I heard City say behind me as Giselle’s tears turned to whimpers, and I felt his arms around me as he pulled me away from her.
As he picked me up, I started kicking my legs, and a few good ones connected.
“Every time you think about coming for him, think about today, bitch. I got more where that came from. You not ready for me!”
Giselle was curled up in a ball. Her face was bleeding, and she had red bruises all over her arms and stomach. I knew I had banged her up, and I felt a little bad, but then not really. City pulled me away from her and grabbed my face to force me to look at him.
“When I tell you I don’t want that bitch, I need you to listen to me and believe me. Don’t doubt me, Bo. I told you I’m not stepping out on you.”
His hands were rough on my chin, but I looked into his eyes, and all I saw was love for me. I started to cry, and he pulled me to him.
“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t take the idea of you doin’ some shit like that to me,” I cried.
“I get it, Bo. She had me questioning my sanity at one point. But you of all people know that there’s two sides to every fucking story.”
I nodded. He was right. I glanced back at Giselle, who had crawled toward the door, trying to get away from us without being seen.
“Get the fuck out, bitch. Don’t let me see your ass one hundred feet near me again,” I shouted after her.
She looked back at me then scurried out the door. Leaning into City, I couldn’t help smile. I was so relieved because I had missed him so badly. Looking down at my feet, I saw my camera from when I dropped it on the floor before I dragged Giselle. I picked it up, and to my dismay, the lens was cracked.
“Fuck! Look, babe. My fucking camera broke because of that bitch.” I was frustrated all over again. With no camera, I couldn’t shoot pictures, which meant I wouldn’t make money.
“I got you,” City said as he turned the camera over in his hands. “You my girl, right? Ima always make sure you good.”
I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. I was so glad we made up. “How did you know where to find me?”
“I remember you told me a couple days ago that you had a shoot with Rafik today. I don’t forget shit.”
“Of course.” I giggled.
Grabbing my waist, he squeezed me and ran his hands down my ass. I was ready to get some dick and really make up. My phone started buzzing in my purse as City’s lips covered mine. If I wasn’t at this shoot right now, I would have bent over right there and pulled his dick out.
“Babe, let me tell Rafik. We have to reschedule so I can get a new camera, and then we can go home,” I said as I broke away from the kiss.
“Aight.”
My phone started buzzing again, and I pulled it out. I had three missed call from Sade.
“Hey,” I answered as I walked toward the door to find Rafik.
“Bo! You have to call City!” Sade screamed on the other end, and I stopped in my tracks.
“Why? What happened? I’m with him now,” I said then turned back and walked to City. I put the phone on speaker. “You’re on speakerphone, Sade. What happened?”
“It’s Guwop. He just got arrested. They took him in on some grand theft and assault charges. I don’t know what to do! You have to help.”
10
Lucas
The next day
Things were not good between me and Rigs, and I wasn’t happy. Ever since the day I gave him an ultimatum—either tell his mom about us or I would—things had been real icy between us. He hadn’t even come home last night, and I had started worrying that some horrible shit had happened. But this morning when I saw on his Instagram story that he was in Boca, thirty miles away at his friend Rondo’s tattoo shop, I was mad as fuck.
I’d been texting him all night wondering where he was, asking him to please just answer me and tell me he was okay, but he never even answered me. Now, to see him posted up in this nigga’s shop like everything was all good, like City wasn’t already out there looking for both of our asses, I wanted to wring his neck.
I’d hopped in my car that second to hightail it up to Boca. Rigs was going to look me in my face and tell me what was going on with him. It was one thing to be scared about coming out the closet, but it was a whole other thing to put me through this and treat me like shit when all I’d done was love him and put my neck on the line for him. All I asked was that he actually claim me for once. I just wanted him to tell the person who meant the most to him about me because he meant the most to me. But he couldn’t even give me that shit?
This morning, he had me reconsidering our entire relationship. Like, if he didn’t love me the way I loved him, what were we even doing?
I drove to the shop in Boca as a hundred thoughts raced through my head. When I pulled up, I saw Rigs’ car in the parking lot, so I knew he was still there. I hopped out the car and walked to the tattoo shop in the strip. As soon as I walked in the door, I saw him. He was posted up on the front desk puffing on a blunt, talking and laughing with three other niggas. Some random ass hoe w
as rubbing on his leg and standing beside him like she had some type of claim to him. I immediately got mad.
“What’s up, man? Can we help you?” one of the guys Rigs was talking to said as he turned to me, but I wasn’t here for the small talk.
I walked over to Rigs and folded my hands in front of my chest.
“We need to talk,” I said with a whole attitude.
Rigs slowly looked me up and down like he wasn’t even moved.
“You got the right shop, homie?” the second guy said to me.
I turned and glared at him. “I know where I am. Rigs, we need to talk,” I repeated.
At this point, I didn’t care who thought what about me. What mattered was that I had this conversation with this man.
“Baby, you know him?” the girl said and rubbed his leg.
It took a lot out of me not to reach over and smack her hand away from him.
“Yeah, hol’ up. Let me holla at him real quick,” Rigs answered as he exhaled a cloud of smoke and hopped down from the desk.
He pulled his pants up, which were slightly sagging, and looked me up and down. It was crazy how he was a whole different person when he was around the outside world. Like the person he was when we were behind closed doors didn’t exist. I walked with him out of the shop and a few doors down. He kept walking, though, so I reached forward and pulled back on his arm.
“What the fuck was that about? And why you didn’t come home last night?”
“Not out here. Come on,” he snapped at me.
“No, I’m not doing this shit with you. It’s bad enough we had to leave that shop and go talk away from your friends’ eyes. I need answers from you right now. This is bullshit.”
He squinted at me then buried his hands in his pocket.
“Why are you acting like this? Ever since I told you that you need to tell your mother about us, you’ve been real distant and cold to me. I don’t know what I did.”
“You always want shit on your time. Look at you running up here and coming into my nigga’s shop. We in Boca, and you drove your ass all the way from Miami to do what? To ask me something you could’ve asked me when I came home later? You too emotional, man. That’s another reason why I don’t want my mother to know about you. You don’t know how to control your emotions,” he said.
“Bullshit. Quit it. The reason you don’t want her to know about me is that you don’t want her to know that her precious son is in love with another man. Quit trying to make this something it’s not. When are you going to tell her?”
“Can you lower your fucking voice, Lucas? Goddamn, what the fuck is wrong with you?” he said while frantically looking around him.
“That’s exactly my fucking point!” I said louder. “You so caught up with what everybody else is gonna say that you don’t even care how that shit makes me feel. But you supposed to love me?”
He stepped right up to my face and pointed his finger. “I ain’t gon’ say this shit again. Lower your fucking voice. You not about to make me say nothin’ to nobody until I’m ready to do that shit. If you got a problem with that, you need to check that shit or leave me the fuck alone. Cuz I said what the fuck I said.”
“Rigs, bye. I told you how much time I was giving you to get this done because I don’t want to be in this city past Friday, but I got half a mind to dead that shit and go tell your mom right now my damn self.”
I turned to walk away, but a hard tug on my arm jerked me back, and I almost stumbled. Rigs threw me against the wall and pushed his finger in my face.
“I told you to chill on that shit, but you wanna sit here and talk like you don’t remember what I said? Don’t fucking approach my mama, Lucas. I swear to God I will fuck you up over that shit. You walking a thin line right now, and I’m not tryna to start no shit with you. So, don’t push me. This ain’t your shit to tell.”
I couldn’t believe the animosity that was coming from Rigs. He was still not ready to tell his mother, and part of me knew he wouldn’t be ready by Friday. This whole situation was fucked up, and I felt angry all over again. I pushed him back, and he stumbled but quickly regained his composure.
“And I told you I’m not chillin’ on this. I’m not going to just sit here and have you hiding me like I’m not a fucking human being. So, don’t forget that, Rigs. I’m not backing off of this. I don’t give a fuck what you say to me.”
I rushed back to my car and started backing out the parking lot. Glancing back at Rigs I saw that he’d pulled out his phone and called someone. Good, I hoped he was talking to his mother to set up a dinner conversation tonight. It was well fucking overdue. Rigs and I had a lot of shit we needed to get resolved, but this was the first big hurdle. He needed to jump over it already because the money I had from Guwop was waiting so we could get our happily ever after. I was determined to get that with him even if I had to help the process along. And even if he was mad about it at first, he would get over it.
11
City
I was on the way to county jail with Bo again to get G. Thank God my nigga made bail this morning. Yesterday when Sade called us and told us what happened, I fucking snapped. I was beyond pissed. I knew I should have gone with my gut on this one and convinced G not to do this lick because everything was falling apart right now. If Guwop was implicated in this shit, it would only be a matter of time before I was too. I didn’t know who snitched, but if they snitched on G, they had no reason not to snitch on me too. It was only a matter of time. A jail cell was the last place I needed to end up, so I had to do whatever necessary to get to the bottom of this sooner rather than later.
“What the lawyer say?” Bo asked, bringing my mind back to the present.
“He got it. He can’t tell me much, you know lawyer-client confidentiality or whatever, but he said they got a weak case.”
The lawyer was supposed to meet with G to talk about the case, so I knew I’d get the run down when I got there. That shit yesterday about what Lucas claimed I said went out the window. That was my nigga, and I knew he knew I didn’t say that shit, but we would figure out what really happened with that after this got squared away. No matter what, I was always gon’ be there for my dog.
Bo put her hand over mine as we drove. I was glad she was with me, real talk. With all the shit I had going on, from my pops, Rigs, and his bitch ass moms. Now Lucas was trying to set me up, and Guwop was locked up. My head felt like it was swimming. I was just glad I had my girl back and this Giselle shit didn’t tear us apart because it had all the potential to tear us up. Even though it took some work on my end, I was glad we were able to work that shit out. After that ass whooping that Giselle got, I was fucking sure she wouldn’t crawl back out of whatever hole she crawled into anytime soon.
“Lucas tryin’ to set me up,” I said to Bo.
“What you mean?”
“He came through to talk to me about some shit with Rigs and recorded me then edited that shit to make it sound like I was talkin’ shit about Guwop. I think he stole the money from this job the three of us did and is tryna pin that shit on me. That’s the job G is locked up for right now. G was startin’ to believe it too.”
“That’s crazy, babe. For real? Why would he do some shit like that to you? I thought you said you all used to be cool?”
“We were, but he started movin’ different, so I eased off him. I don’t ever beg a nigga to be cool with me. I don’t know what his problem is, real talk. It don’t even make sense,” I said, shaking my head.
I was interrupted by my phone vibrating. When I saw who was calling me, I almost swerved off the damn road.
“The fuck Rigs calling me for?” I said aloud.
I’d been looking high and low for this nigga since I found out a couple days ago that his mom was the one behind Pops getting injured. I’d gone to the nigga’s house, but it was like a ghost town. He hadn’t even fixed the busted window from when my boy threw the brick in. He hadn’t been to his shop in days, and I didn’t know where else
to fucking look. I had people with their eyes open, ready to tell me if they saw him, so for him to be calling me right now was a whole ass surprise.
I picked up the phone. “I been lookin’ for you, nigga. You been hidin’? Tell me where you at, so I can come find you. We got a lot to talk about.”
“Listen, I know we got problems and shit we need to square away, but I got some information that you need to know,” he answered.
“The fuck I need from you, nigga? Unless it’s an address for your bitch mother, I don’t want to hear shit! Where the fuck you at?” I was pissed that this nigga was on my line talking like he was an informant.
“Call my mother a bitch again,” he had the nerve to say.
I clenched my fingers around the steering wheel. If this motherfucker was in front of my face, I would have killed him.
“Run me the address of your BITCH mother, cuz ain’t nothin else I’m interested in coming out your mouth, nigga!” I yelled into the phone. I was heated.
“Ain’t nothin’ else you want, bruh? Even if it’s about Lucas setting your ass up and stealin’ all your money?”
I shook my head because there was no way I heard that right.
“The fuck you say to me?” I managed to ask.
“Yeah, nigga, I thought so. Meet me in Lincoln Park at three o’clock,” he said and hung up.
“Wooooow,” Bo said from beside me when the Bluetooth clicked off.
“How the fuck that nigga know the shit that’s been going on with Lucas and me?” I asked and glanced at Bo.
“Sounds like you gotta go meet up with him and find out, babe.”
This was some crazy shit. I hadn’t expected to hear that at all. Ten minutes later, I pulled up outside the jail. As I hopped out, the doors opened, and Guwop walked out. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw him on this side of freedom. Even though he was only in there overnight, that shit wasn’t somewhere he needed to be. I’d been taken in a couple times over dumb shit back in the day, so I knew how he felt walking out them doors.