by Dante Tori
"I was coming from downtown. I just enrolled Heaven in Cass." Ciara announced while walking over.
"Our old playing grounds." I couldn't help smile thinking about the memories. I introduced Camille and Ciara, and they immediately hit it off.
"My younger brother Dakota just got accepted to Cass Tech." Camille responded.
"Good. I’ll tell my daughter to be on the lookout for him." Ciara told her.
"All you need to meet now is Lo, our lawyer friend who I was telling you about earlier."
"I’ll be honored," Camille retorted while smiling. It looked like we got a new girl in our clique.
Culprit
Two weeks had passed, and I was finally getting out of the damn hospital. I was waiting on Lo to come and get me. I would be staying with her, of course, and I didn’t have any complaints. We talked, and we were willing to work on us. I loved her to death and I wanted to marry her. She held me down while I was in the hospital, and every time I woke up, she was the first person I saw. She was my spine when I couldn’t stand up, and I needed that. My door opened, and I thought it was Lo. I was wrong.
"Officer Smith, or Kevin, how can I help you?" I asked Officer Pain-In-My-Ass.
''Culprit, you looking better." Kevin, didn’t sound like he meant that.
"I feel better."
"That’s good to hear. So, who shot you?" I looked at him. I knew who shot me, but I planned on handling that myself.
"I don’t know. They shot me in my back first, and when I did see the dude, he had on a ski-mask."
"So you don’t have any enemies that come to mind?" He leaned against the wall, looking at me like he knew I was lying.
"I mean, it is a coincidence that I get shot right after our little fight at the ball, don’t you think?" I said, smirking at him.
"What are you implying?"
"I’m not implying anything Officer Smith. I’m just stating facts."
"Facts?" Kevin repeated while standing straight.
"Yes, facts. Like, it’s a fact that I beat you in everything. I even got the woman that you proposed to, but yet I’m trash, I’m nothing. Funny, you shouldn't underestimate the underdog, wouldn’t you say?"
"Well if we are stating facts, then let’s get one thing clear, shall we? While you were in here dying, I was fucking the woman I proposed to; that me and you both know so well. What’s her name? Lo, right? Yea, Lo. While you were in here full of bullets, she was at my place, full of my dick. That is fact, and yes Culprit, you should not underestimate the fucking underdog." Officer Smith turned around and walked out. I was heated. He had to be lying. I sat there looking stupid as hell. I was in there dying, and that bitch was fucking Officer Smith. I heard the door open, and I looked up. It was Lo.
"Hey, you ready to go?" Lo asked me, smiling.
"Did you fuck Officer Smith?" I asked.
Lo looked startled. "Wh . . . what?" Lo whispered.
"While I was in here, did you fuck him?"
"Culprit, I . . ." Lo begin to stammer.
"It’s a yes or no answer," I said. She didn’t say anything. Tears started running down her face, and I shook my head.
"Man, get the fuck out, I’ll find my own way home."
"Culprit I’m sorry. It was a mistake."
"Man, get the fuck outta here with that bullshit Lorean. I don’t want to hear it." I barked at her, clencing my chest because the vibration hurt my wounds.
"After all the shit you put me through in the past, really?" Lo tried to reason.
"You wasn’t fucking dying doe. Nobody shot yo ass up. I was in here practically on my fucking deathbed, and you trying to justify what you did,"I felt tears coming down my face. She had hurt me for real this time, and I wasn’t going back.
"Lorean, I don’t want to see you, talk to you, and be around you; none of that shit. As of this moment, right now, you're dead to me, and that’s real fucking talk. Out of all the people that fucked me over, including my parents, I never thought you would be on the list too," I said.
Lo turned around and walked out of the hospital. Everything had just changed.
Boan
I was with Avery, and we were meeting with this building contractor about a place that I wanted for my restaurant. We pulled up, and the door to the building was already opened. Av said that he had worked with the contractor before, and said they were about business. I got out and walked into the building. I was expecting a man, but she was far from that. The chick was bad. She had a peanut butter complexion with some long-ass hair. Her body was fit and right, and that ass was glorious. I wanted to yell out, “Goddamn!” She looked me up and down, and I did the same to her.
"Hello, you must be Barren," she said, while extending her hand. I took her soft, delicate hand in mine and noticed that she didn’t have a ring on.
"Yes. You can call me Boan. And you are?"
"Ashley Jamison." She licked her lips and gave me a quick once over.
"The oh-so-great building contractor," Av said, while walking in. Av walked over to her and hugged her.
"How you been?" Av asked her.
"Good, I’m happy you called. I’ve been looking forward to this," Ashley said. We chatted about what I wanted, and she said that she had great ideas for the construction. I couldn’t stop looking at her. Ashley looked at my left hand and saw my wedding ring. We exchanged numbers and parted ways.
"Yo Av, you use to mess with her?" I asked him.
"No, but trust me, it cross my mind, but I don’t mix business with pleasure. But she is bad."
"Hell yea." I agreed remembering her body.
"Don’t forget you married my dude," Av said. I only nodded my head, because Ashley made me want to forget. Av dropped me off at my crib. I walked up to the driveway and saw Heaven sitting on the porch with some young nigga.
"Aye," I said. I walked up to them and he stood up.
"Who are you?" I asked, while looking at him. He had a basketball in his hand and his arms and chest were covered in tatts.
"Umm," he stumbled in speech, while looking back and forth between me and Heaven.
"How old are you and where you live at?" I asked. He looked at Heaven.
I snapped my fingers at him. "Up here, little nigga,"
"Boan," Heaven groaned.
"Heaven, go in the house and tell your mom to get ready for the festival. I’m going to walk our new friend home." I put my arm over the young boy’s shoulders and we began to walk.
"You gone answer any of my questions?"
"Yes sir. My name is King, and I live two houses down, where that basketball rim is." He rushed out.
"Age?"
"Fifteen."
"School?"
"Cass Tech."
"Let me walk you home. Don't want you to get hurt out here." I turned him away from my house and gave him a little shove. I walked him to his house. I knocked on his door, and his dad answered. To my surprise, I recognized his father.
"Luke?" I asked.
"Boan, my mans, what’s up. I didn’t know you were the new neighbors. How is your wife?"
"Wait, you’re Boan? As in Boan and Culprit, and your wife is Ciara?" King asked.
"Yea, anyway, your son here was trying to flirt with my step daughter." I gave his son a hard tap on the back.
"That little rumor about Ciara having a hidden kid is true." Luke commented. Luke was the first man I ever worked for and he was my only father figure. I had mad respect for him. He was a drug-dealing legend, and he had shown me and Culprit the ropes.
"Yea, I’m happy you stay over here. We got to catch up,"
He nodded his head, and we exchanged numbers. I walked back to my house and went in. I looked at Heaven and smiled at her. She just shook her head at me. I walked upstairs, and Ciara was looking in the mirror. Her ass and breast were filling out, but you couldn’t tell she was pregnant yet. The doctor had given her some prenatal vitamins to take. Ciara had on a purple sun dress. I walked up behind her and looked at her in the mirr
or.
"Don’t rush me Boan, I’m getting ready," Ciara snapped. She stood straight up. I pulled her against me and wrapped my arms around her waist. I placed my hands on her stomach and rubbed my growing baby.
"I love you," I whispered in her ear and kissed her neck.
"I love you more babes," She turned around and kissed me on my lips. She wiped my lips because she had left lip gloss on them.
"Boan, if something ever happened to me, I want you to take care of Heaven," Ciara said, looking at me.
"Stop talking like that. Ain’t shit going to happen to you. Come on let’s go." I grabbed her hand, and we walked downstairs. Heaven was filling Ciara in on the scene I made, and I just laughed. We were going to the African Festival in downtown Detroit at the Hart Plaza. It was evening, so it wouldn’t be too hot, but I knew there would be a lot of people there. I looked at Ciara, who was looking like an angel, sitting in the front seat.
"What would I do without you?" I asked her.
"Hopefully you won’t have to find out."
Avery
I was at home, bored as hell. I wanted to smoke, but I didn't want to smoke by myself. I wanted to chill and call somebody over. I picked up my phone and scrolled down my contact list. I smiled and dialed the number.
"What you want?" Ava said picking up her phone.
"Damn, your big brother can't call and check up on you?"
"Av, you called me a couple of days ago. Ain't shit change." I laughed at my sixteen year old sister who was back in New York staying with my mom. I knew she wasn't at home, because she was never at home. She and my mom were like two bulls in a china shop: they just didn't get along.
"Just tell me what you doing?"
"On the subway with Shanti, heading to her house."
"Ok." I knew Shanti was my mother's friend’s daughter. Shanti and Ava were the same age and practically grew up together.
"Don't you have some hoes for you to call?"
"Not hoes, but I did meet someone." I thought about Tosh. I couldn't stop thinking about her.
"Call her." Ava said forcefully.
"I don't have her number."
"Well damn Av, call somebody that does. Talk to you later, love you." Then she hung up. I texted Boan and asked him to send me Tosh’s number. Within minutes he texted her number to me. I dialed it and waited for her to answer. I hoped she wasn't like those people that didn't pick up their phone because they didn't recognize the number.
"Hello?" she answered.
"It's Avery." There was a pause, and I wasn't sure if she had hung up the phone.
"How did you get my number?" I could hear the hesitancy in her voice.
"Tosh do it matter? I have it now."
"Obviously."
I smiled. "Come over."
"Excuse me?" she squeaked.
I laughed. "Come over here."
"And where is ‘here’?"
"My home." Another pause.
"Why?"
"I want your company, and you're asking a lot of questions. So I'm going to text you my address, and if you decide to come, just text back that you’re on your way. Don't worry about food, I got some food here I can whip up. Alright?"
"Yee . . ." I hung up and sent her the address. I sat the phone down and immediately started cleaning up. I was nervous; I was not going to lie about that. I needed something to distract me from checking my phone to see if she texted or not. I ran into the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher, then I looked in the ‘fridge and to see what I had. I saw steak and potatoes, a real nigga meal. I took that out. After I had the steaks on, I checked my phone. She texted back that she was on her way. I hurried up to my room and cleaned it up. I had on basketball shorts and a beater. Fuck it, we just chilling. I vacuumed my rug, and around my wrap-around couch. I grabbed my phone and went back into the kitchen. I started cutting up the potatoes. I heard my buzzer go off. I walked to the front door and touched the speaker button.
"It's me," Tosh said.
"Alright, I'm on the fifth floor. Left, and two doors down. I'll have my door cracked open. You'll see the lift as soon as you walk in."
"Ok." I buzzed her in and cracked my door open. I went back to the kitchen. I took the steaks out of the frying pan, then put them in the oven. I tossed the potatoes in the skillet. I heard my door open. I walked out of the kitchen to meet her. She was closing the door and didn't see me. When she turned around, she jumped, and I smiled at her.
"Scared you?"
"You think? I bought drinks," she said holding up the bag. She had on leggings and a flowing tank. The leggings showed how plump her ass was. I had to admire her long legs.
"Follow me into the kitchen," I turned around and I heard her shuffling behind me.
"It smells good in here." Tosh inhaled the air.
I started moving the potatoes around in the pan. I took the steaks out to let them cool down on the stove. I turned around to face her. "What you get?"
She opened up the bag and pulled out a bottle of Merlot and a bottle of Hennessey.
"Who is that Henny for?" I nodded towards the small bottle
"I like wine and I figured you would want something more manly," Tosh answered while smiling. I nodded my head and couldn’t help admire her smile.
"You figured right." I pulled a sack of weed out of my pockets and some backwoods to roll it up in.
"You smoke?" I asked her.
"Yes."
"Would you do the honors and roll them up while I finish preparing the food?" I handed her the drugs and backwoods.
She nodded her head. I pulled out plates and steak sauce. The potatoes were almost done and she was almost done rolling up. I pulled out a cup for me and a wine glass for her. I poured both of our drinks. By the time she was done rolling, I was putting potatoes on her plate.
"That smells good. I didn't know you could cook," Tosh said.
"That’s because you don't ask me questions. I'm always asking you something."
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes but had a slight smile on her face.
"For real. You only asked me questions when we were just on the phone and that's about it."
"You talking to much Avery. Come on, let's eat," She placed the blunt between her lips and followed me into the living room. I sat the food on the wooden table and placed down coasters, and she sat down our drinks. We sat down on the couch and she placed the weed on the table. I turned on Netflix.
"What do you like watching on here?''
"It don't matter," Tosh replied. We settled in a comfortable silence while I put on a suspense movie. After we were done eating, we fired up the blunt and began to drink. I stopped paying attention to the movie and started watching her.
"Are you mixed?" I asked her.
She looked down at me. "No. I'm black. Are you?"
"I'm black. Black people make every color." I said. She burst out laughing, and I knew she was high.
"Why are you single?" I asked her. I took a drink of my liquor and felt the warmth spread in my stomach. I looked at her body while she took a sip of her wine.
"I don't rush into relationships." Tosh ran her fingers through her hair. I wondered if she was nervous.
"Have you ever been in a serious relationship?"
She started laughing. "Damn, why, Avery?"
"It's called getting to know each other. Have a man never tried to get to know you, or have you never found a real man?" I asked her, while sitting my drink down. I paused the movie and turned towards her, giving her my undivided attention. Her hazel eyes looked at me and there was a smirk on her face.
"Yes, I have had men try to get to know me."
"Then it's you." I pointed out.
"Meaning?" Her eyes narrowed at me.
"What's up with the wall Tosh?" I was curious.
She sat her wine down and cocked her head to the side and her hair moved with it. I reached out to touch it and felt how soft it was.
"Why do you care?" Tosh asked.
I lea
ned closer to her, looking at her soft lips. "Maybe I want to break it down. I like you."
"Avery . . ." Before she could finish her sentence, I captured her mouth, kissing her. She kissed me and pulled me closer to her. She leaned back on the couch, only my torso was over her. I broke the kiss and looked at her.
"Why didn't you want me to kiss you?"
"What?"
"The first time we had sex, you told me not to kiss you." I reminded her.
"Because . . . "
I leaned, and sucked on her bottom lip gently.
"It's too intimate," she whispered. She kissed me and stroked her tongue in my mouth. I groaned and pulled her closer. My erection had my basketball shorts looking like a tent.
"So be with me," I said, kissing her.
"Don't ruin it. Be quiet."
I pulled away from her. "How is that going to ruin it?"
Tosh huffed, and sat up. I leaned up, giving her room. "Because I don't want to."
"You seem to have commitment phobia," I said.
This look passed over Tosh’s face for a split second, then she just went blank. "I'm gonna go," Tosh said. She sat up so quickly our heads almost connected.
"Damn, for real, Shorty?"
"Yes, for real."
"The fuck happened that quick?" I asked looking at her face to see signs of anger.
"You don't know me, and you made a judgment based off what facts?"
"I don't know; maybe the fact you're storming out of here like a child."
"Because you're judgmental." Tosh threw out.
"Tosh, if you really feel that way then it must be true." That statement was bullshit and she knew it.
Instead of saying something, she stormed out of my apartment. Damn, she was going to be a challenge.
Ciara
I was tired of fucking walking. Boan and Heaven were a couple of booths down, looking at some books. I was standing off to the side, eating. Somebody sat down next to me and I froze.
"So that’s her huh?" Tez asked me. He moved, and I felt the barrel of a gun on my side.