by J Peach
“Hey, Peaches, Vanessa. I have a family emergency and I need the two of you to call and cancel my afternoon appointments as well as tomorrow’s. Once you’re done rescheduling them, you don’t have to come back after lunch, you can go home.” I was already pulling up the first client’s name and calling.
To go home was what I wanted.
****
“Hey, Nessa? I’m gone, I’ll see you Thursday,” I waved to her as I left from the back. The Doctor’s office was closed on Wednesday’s because she was at the Hospital on that day. And since we canceled all the appointments for the following day, the office was closed. Two days off was good for me, I’d been tired as hell, so I could use those days.
Starting up my car, I sat there for a second as I took out my phone to call King, knowing he was at my house eating up all my damn food. Ever since I’d moved into that house his ass was always there like he ain’t have a place to stay. I thought with me out of his shit I wouldn’t see his ass for at least a month, but that mothafucka was at mines the next day. He did buy beds and TV’s for the four extra rooms, one of which he occupied.
“Yo!” King answered, making me roll my eyes as I pulled off.
“Aye, you at the house or at home?” I asked while turning onto Broadway.
“At yours, why?”
Of course he was.
“When you going home, damn?” Using his words against him, I laughed into the phone with a shake of my head.
“I ain’t, it’s boring at my house. And Ebony getting on my damn nerves, so I ain’t goin’ back— Don’t be asking me no shit like that. What yo ass want?” He snapped, making me laugh.
“I’m telling her you said that, too. But I got off early and was on my way to Jimmy’s. I knew you were at the house so I was calling to see if you wanted something from there?” I heard movement in the back ground, then a horn. “Why yo ass lie? You is not at my damn house, boy bye.”
“N’all, hold up. Get me two beef sandwiches with mozzarella cheese, a coke, and a large fry.” King ordered.
Rolling my eyes, I hung up on him. He could get his own damn food.
As I was driving down US30 I kept hearing a horn blowing constantly. The mothafucka was really tryna get someone’s attention. Coming to a stop light, I looked on either side of me, but I didn’t see who was blowing like they were crazy. With all the cars I couldn’t tell.
Once the light turned green, I took off and the damn blaring horn followed. Checking my right mirror and not seeing which car was blowing, I looked into my left. Then I did a double take as I saw a bright red Chevy Malibu cutting lanes, then speeding up until they were right on the side of me.
Of course my first instinct was to grab my damn gun from under the seat, which I did as I came to another stop light. I looked over to the car that stopped on the side of me. I stared at the caramel skinned woman who was motioning for me to roll my window down. Okay. With a little doubt, I did as she asked.
The woman looked familiar, I just couldn’t place where the hell I’d seen her.
“Peaches, right?” She yelled over to me. That was the most ghetto thing that had ever happened to me in my life.
“Yeah, do I know you?” I asked her.
“Turn off up here, I need to talk to you.” That damn lady was crazy. Who the hell followed some damn body for at least five blocks blowing.
“Um, come to Jimmy’s—” I was cut off as she blew her horn at the cars behind her, then stuck her middle finger out of the window as they blew their horns for us to go.
“Jimmy’s? Okay, sweetie.” With that she pulled off. She sped up, then jumped in front of me.
What the fuck was she doing and who the hell gave that woman her damn license?
Once Jimmy’s entrance came into view, I thought about passing it, but decided against it. For some odd reason I felt the woman would bust a U-turn and follow my black ass.
Pulling into the lot, I found a spot and parked. I didn’t even get a change to turn off my car before there was a knock on my passenger side window.
Quickly, I cut the engine and got out. I had never been a disrespectful person when it came to people older than me. Even so, I didn’t mind getting down if they ass came at me wrong.
“Do I know you?” I asked the familiar looking woman again.
“You should. I’m sorry I had to flag you down like this, but I’ve been looking everywhere fah yo little ass,” she said, staring at me.
My brows went up to my hairline from the way she spoke to me.
“You don’t work at the clinic no more,” she said, and I was even more confused.
“No, I don’t. You were a patient?” I asked her and she laughed.
“No, my daughter Brittany—”
Once the name left her mouth mine dropped. “You gotda be fuckin’ kidding me,” I whispered, I was about to get the fuck away from that lady. “You flagged me down. Why?” I was literally stunned now.
“To find out what the hell goin’ on with you and Boon. What you think, it’s okay to whoop his ass then dump him?” She fussed at me.
My mouth opened then closed. What the hell was I supposed to say?
“Now, yo little ass speechless. I know my son is rough around the edges, but that don’t give yo ass a right to dog him.” Her eyes had turned into slits and her finger waved in my face.
“Wait. What? I never dogged him. His roughness had nothing to do with me leaving him. His disrespectfulness is why I called it quits. I love Blaze, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not gon’ let him disrespect me and think it’s cool. I don’t know what type of chicks he’s used to, but I’m not them.” I explained to her.
“You love Blaze?” She suddenly asked, the glare on her face contorted, softened, and I could see the resemblance.
“Did he send you to me?”
She waved me off with a laugh. “No, he told me to stay away from you, but I can’t stand that my son ain’t happy. Since my Boon got out, he’s been hooked on yo little abusive ass, blushing and all. So what happened that you dumped him? Did he cheat or something?”
I felt so uncomfortable. “Um, no. I don’t think I should be the one telling you, he should,” I stated slowly, still in a shocked state, not wanting to believe that was his mom.
“Why the hell not? Boon don’t run nothing but his gotdamn mouth. Plus he ain’t gon’ tell me shit. Why you think I’ve been looking for you? My Booney doesn’t have that ‘ump’ like he usually do when he comes to see me. Plus, he hasn’t brought you up like he usually does,” she blurted, seeming heated.
A laugh left my mouth as she said that. “Blaze got ‘ump’? What is that?” I asked and she shrugged.
“Spunk, you know. Don’t ever tell him I said that. So what his hard headed ass done did?” She asked me and I let out a sigh. “That bad. I told his ass he couldn’t be hard with you, especially since he likes you.”
“Blaze likes me?” I rolled my eyes at that. “Could’ve fool me. But I’m over it, it was fun while it lasted.”
“You sound dumb as hell,” she told me, and I looked at her ass like she was crazy.
“Excuse me?” I asked her.
Her hip popped to the side and her hands went to her waist. “Yo ass is not excused. How the hell you go from I love him to I’m over it? You sound dumb.” Well at least I know where he gets his fuckin’ mouth from. “If you love him you can’t be over it. Maybe the situation, yes, but not him. So are you going to tell me what he said or did?” Her matter of fact tone had me rolling my eyes into my head.
I don’t like her.
“I don’t think I should be the one telling you. Blaze should,” I told her truthfully. I didn’t think it was my place to tell her. Plus, it wasn’t something I wanted to repeat.
“Come on, let’s go eat and talk.” She didn’t even give me a chance to deny the offer as she took hold of my wrist and started pulling me into Jimmy’s.
God, I hope this goes good.
Chapter 9
&nbs
p; Peaches
We had just gotten our food and sat at a booth. Neither of us said a thing for a while until I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to quiet my nagging mind.
“So, how is he?” My voice was low as the words softly left my mouth.
Her eyes snapped to mine as she laughed. “You’re over it, so does it really matter?” She asked with a knowing look. I wanted to stab her with my spoon.
“I guess not,” I muttered with a sigh.
Again she laughed at me. “Who you tryna convince, me or yourself? If you really didn’t care, the moment you figured out who I was you would’ve blew me off and told me what Blaze did. Messy, careless ass bitches do that, but you’re sitting here. What obligation do you have to sit here and talk to me? I mean, you don’t care about Blaze any more, right?”
Now she tells me this. If I knew I didn’t have to sit here with her, I would’ve been walked away.
Realizing what I just thought, she had a point. I didn’t have to sit there and talk to her.
“Got you, didn’t I?” She pointed at me, smiling.
I rolled my eyes, making her laugh. “I care a little. So how did you know where I was?” I asked her.
“I didn’t. I was on my way home, saw that purple car and knew it was you.”
“My car is how you spotted me out of all the cars on the road?”
This shit is crazy. I need to paint my shit black or something.
“Yep, so have you talked to Blaze?” She asked as I took a bite out of my sandwich.
Swallowing, I wiped my mouth then shook my head no and she let out a sigh.
“You’re the only girl he’s ever talked to me about. Blaze don’t date, hell, the nigga don’t like nobody. So when he came to see me, beat up, and told me a girl did it, I saw a change in my son. It may not seem like it, but he really do care for you. He just have his own way of showing it,” she told me.
I wanted to believe her, but I didn’t know because I couldn’t tell. “He has his own way of doing everything. I’ve never met anyone like him. You know he’s a complete psycho, right?” I asked her and again she laughed before giving me a glare.
“That’s my Boon you’re talkin’ about. I agree he’s a little out there, but he had to be, especially with us staying out in Delaney. Living out there wasn’t pretty. But with his father coming and going and my mom putting me out, Delaney was the only place I could move us. It wasn’t the best living, but it was somewhere. And Blaze saw a lot. He was never a dumb kid, growing up out there you couldn’t be. You had to be smart, quick about everything. Blaze picked up on that.” She slid her food to the side and stared at me for a long minute before she started talking again.
“See, folks out there was careless, especially about single mothers. Beating, killing, raping in front of their kids, they didn’t care,” she told me.
I knew it was bad, I was actually surprised she was telling me about living out there. Most people tried to forget it if they made it out.
“At ten, Blaze thought it was his job to become man of the house, to protect us. It wasn’t his job, but you couldn’t tell him that. The seed was already planted into his head and he took that job seriously.” She laughed before her face took on a more serious look. “My baby caught his first body when he was eleven, scared the shit out of me,” she stated.
To say I was speechless was an understatement. I honestly didn’t know what to say, to think. Grabbing a napkin from the table, she wiped at the corner of her eyes. You could tell by the look in her eyes that the memory pained her, which I couldn’t imagine feeling anything less. I’d never lived in Delaney, but I’d heard stories. It wasn’t the nicest place, especially inside that circle. Police hardly ever went there, so I knew it was rough. But I didn’t know Blaze had lived out there.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“My son is thirty and not once have I ever heard him talk about a woman, let alone marriage. It may not seem like it, but he cares. And in order for you to get that, you have to understand my son,” she explained and I said nothing to stop her.
Did I really want to understand him? I hadn’t seen him in over two and a half months and I was doing okay without thinking about him. Even though I didn’t want to go back, I wanted to know him. And now that someone was willing to explain Blaze to me, I was open.
“It had to be two in the morning when I felt the hand cutting off my airway to the point where I couldn’t scream. Blaze had just turned eleven and as ‘man’ of the house he got into the habit of waking up in the middle of the night checking the house. I had caught him doing it a few times before. He would just walk around, going from one room to the other checking the windows and doors. He did it every night. That was my little man,” she smiled with a sad laugh. She cleared her throat and continued.
“I was pregnant with Brittany at the time it happened. The man’s hand was at my throat, his gun pressed at my forehead. He’d made his threats about killing me and my baby if I made a sound. So I said nothing. The man sat his gun down, tightened his hand around my neck and start pulling my shorts down. I heard Blaze before I actually saw him, but when I did, I had never seen as much hatred on a kids face as I had that day. I didn’t even know my son had a gun, let alone knew how to use one.
The man was too busy trying to take my shorts off, he didn’t even hear him. Blaze walked right up to him and shot with no hesitation. Shot him right in the head. Then looked at me. With not an ounce of remorse, he asked, ‘You straight?’ I wasn’t straight. My eleven year old had just killed somebody. I blamed myself for so long because I couldn’t give him a safe place, a better living environment. Whatever innocence Blaze had left once we moved out there, but we had nowhere else to go. My mom wouldn’t let us move back with her and with the little job I had, we were barely getting by.
I soon became blind to everything he did. His name was all through those projects, but I paid it no mind. What parent wanted to hear, to think, their son was out on those streets robbing folks and slanging? My baby was eleven with his first body.
Blaze said he did what he needed to in order to protect what was his. He was gon’ make sure every nigga in Delaney knew who he was and that he wasn’t to be fuck’d with. Blaze was eleven saying this, by the time he turned fourteen he had only gotten worse. But we never had another break in.
“Blaze became extremely protective, a rough kid. He had changed so much and… And it became easy to live out there, which was never a good thing. My baby had grown up after that. He got with some older kids around the way and got sucked into that life. He didn’t take shit from no one, was quick to fight no matter how old they were. Wherever there was a fight, Blaze was in the middle. Wherever you heard shots, his ass wasn’t far from it. They hated him out there, but at the same time respected him. They knew not to fuck with him or us.” She took a deep breath and shook her head at the memory.
I was beyond shocked with what she was saying. I knew Blaze was rough, but I didn’t know his background. He’d never talked about growing up. Now I understood why.
“Blaze was smart and sneaky, he knew how to do shit and make it seem like it was nothing at all. It wasn’t long after that I would start finding money around the house. Twenty, thirty, a hundred dollars here and there. His favorite words were, ‘It ain’t mines.’ I would ask him how it got there. His response was always, ‘How the hell am I supposed to know?’
“Delaney took my baby and turned him into that. I couldn’t take him from there or send him anywhere else. I tried everything to keep him from that life. Boys and Girls club for boxing wasn’t no better when the boys from our hood was there. So no matter how hard I tried to keep him from that life, I couldn’t. His innocence was already gone. You have to understand, Blaze is Delaney,” she explained.
And sadly, it made so much sense. I’d never befriended anyone from that part of town, but I knew it was bad, everyone knew that. It explained his personality, his quick to shoot somebody or knock they ass out mentality
. Now I wished I would’ve stopped her from telling me.
“Peaches, if you’re looking for a sensitive person, then you did right by leaving Blaze. His ass don’t even know the meaning of sensitive or gentle. But if you love him like I think you do, then be patient with my son. He’s going to say and do shit that will piss you off, that’s not gon’ change. But if anyone can semi-tame that Delaney in him, I think it will be you.
“I mean, you had Booney talkin’ about marriage after a month of knowing you. He was even asking me for advice because you claimed you didn’t like him. Dumbass talkin’ about, ‘I like sleeping with her.’ Don’t tell him I said that, it’s one of the reasons he didn’t want me to meet you. He says I’m crazy, can you believe that?” She looked so shocked that he would say that.
“I mean, you kind of did chase me down the road blowing your horn,” I laughed as I wiped the lone tear that escaped my right eye.
“Oh, so outda what I just said about him, you’re agreeing that I’m crazy?” I laughed as I shook my head no. “That’s what I thought. Peaches, give him a chance. He’s not the nicest and he’s not the emotional type, but he really likes you. So don’t expect too much from him emotional wise, he has his own way of showing it.” Her hand covered mine, giving it a slight squeeze.
I knew that he had his own way of doing stuff, but now, knowing his background, I understood him a little more.
“I’m glad we finally met,” she said, and I laughed.
“Me too. I was kind of nervous about it at first,” I admitted to her.
“Why?” Her brow furrowed as she looked genuinely confused.
“Because Blaze told me you were going to try to fight me. Then he said, ‘Moms don’t fight, she shoot, so you better watch out.’ I did not want to meet you, like at all,” I told her truthfully.
“Oh, Lord. That boy gon’ make me hurt him, don’t believe shit his ass say. I can’t wait until I see his black ass,” she said, making me laugh.
“King said the same thing. He told Blaze to keep me away from you.”