by Nique Luarks
“I don’t want tacos.” True sat next to me. “I want a burger from Five Guys.”
“Then your ass should have gone before you came,” I mumbled, staring down at my phone.
Rel: Promise? I wanna do something special for you.
I smiled.
“You still fuckin’ wit’ that square?” True sucked his teeth.
Rolling my eyes, I pushed off the bed. “What do you want on your burger? I’ll go get Chasity while I’m out.”
When True grabbed my arm and stood up, I took a step back. “You goin’ to see that nigga?”
“Why?” True never questioned me when it came to the men I dealt with. Just like I turned a blind eye to him and all of his hoochies.
“What you mean why?” He licked his lips. “You my Jelly. I know when a nigga ain’t right for you.”
“Rel is cool. And he’s a gentleman. The other night he had too much to drink.”
“So, that’s where you goin’?”
Sighing, I started back out of my room. “No, True. I’m going to Five Guys and to get Chasity.”
True caught me by surprise when he wrapped his arms around my waist and held me as we walked. “You need some money?” he spoke into my ear and I shuddered a little bit.
“No.”
“You sure?” He released me. “Here.”
I spun around to him digging in his pockets. He handed me a few bills and then turned back around to finish setting up his game.
“I’ll be back...”
True
There were two knocks at the door.
“True?”
Taking a toke of the weed, I continued playing Grand Theft Auto. When the door opened slowly, I shook my head in irritation.
“True?” Drew stepped in wearing nothing but a tight white tee and panties. “I was trying to take a shower, but I can’t find the soap.”
“Call Chance and ask her.” I stared at her frame. Drew was on the skinny side, but her titties were big and that ass was phatter than a muthafucka. She was pretty as fuck too.
“I called her and Morgan. They didn’t answer.”
Shrugging, I hit the blunt again.
“What you playin’?” She inched further into the room. “Oh shit! I love Grand Theft Auto. I used to play all the time with my brother.”
I faced the TV.
“Why are you acting funny with me, True?” Drew stood in front of me and crossed her arms. “Did I do something to you?”
“Yo, Drew you know wassup, shorty.”
“No, I don’t. I don’t understand why you fuck me when you feel like it, but whenever Chance is around, you act like I don’t exist.” Her voice softened. “What did I do?”
Drew hadn’t done shit to me. She was a cool lil’ chick with a good head on her shoulders. But showing her any type of affection in front of Chance was a no-no. I didn’t need Drew hanging on to me too long, or Morgan’s nosy ass putting two and two together. Her ghetto ass was worse than a blood hound when it came to catching a nigga up in some shit.
“Are you spending the night?” She eased closer. “’Cause if so when everybody goes to sleep we can—"
“Nah, I’m sleeping in here.” I cut her ass off. I would never disrespect my Jelly like that. Fuck I look like smashing a broad in Chance’s shit while she was a sleep.
“You know Chance sleeps hard.” Drew laughed. When she tried to climb into my lap, I stiff armed her. “Chill.”
“Are you serious?”
“Dead ass.”
Drew stared at me for a minute and then she dropped down on her knees.
“Aye, shorty...”
“True...” she moved my hands to the side. “Chance and Morgan are gone. I just talked to them and Morg said they have one more stop to make.” Drew reached into my gym shorts and pulled my dick out. “Let me take care of this for you,” she mumbled right before she put my dick in her mouth.
Sitting the controller next to me, I stood up and grabbed the back of Drew’s head. I looked down at her as she bobbed back and forth, and then up on down. When she spit on the head of my dick, I closed my eyes and hung my head back. Drew was a good girl, but the bitch could suck a mean dick. Still holding on to her head, I fucked the back of her throat, making her gag a little.
The fuck is you doin’ nigga?
I pushed her back. “Get up.”
“What?” Drew stared up at me confused.
Roughly gripping her forearm, I lifted her up off the floor and onto her feet.
“Damn, True! Do you have to be so rough?” She snatched away from me.
“Get out.” I sat back down.
“You for real right now?”
“Bounce, shorty.” I shooed her clingy ass away.
Drew pushed me. When I didn’t budge, she pushed me again. “Fuck you, True!”
I let her have her moment. I was smart enough to know Drew was emotional because of how she felt about a nigga. I wasn’t fuckin’ shorty on the regular, but whenever she was in town, we linked. Drew had expressed her feelings to me on several different occasions, but I couldn’t even fuck with her like that, though. She was too close to Chance.
“You’ve been stringing me along for two years.” Drew stepped away from me. “What is it?”
I shrugged. “I ain’t tryna settle down. You a cool chick, Drew, but you making shit more than what it really is,” I told her bird-ass. So what we fucked from time to time. Other than that, shorty knew what time it was.
“Whatever, True.” Drew spun around. “You keep playing games. I got too many niggas to just be chasing one.”
9
Afraid to fall in love
Chance
Four days later...
All the tossing and turning all night was making it difficult for me to take on the day. I wasn’t sure why, but sleep would not come. And when it finally did, my alarm was set to go off in less than an hour. When I got out of my car, the contractors were already outside of the shop waiting on me. I wasn’t surprised. They’d been coming earlier than me since True had hired them.
“Good morning, Miss Robins.” Emmit, the owner of the company, tipped his hat.
“Hey, Emmit. Hey, you guys.” I waved to the rest of his team.
Emmit’s entire crew consisted of polite, respectable, hardworking, sexy black men. They were all very professional, and so far, they’d done a way better job than Manuel’s team. The shop was painted, the floor in my office was finished, and all of the appliances had been installed. Emmit would bounce back and forth from this shop and my new one, so one minute I could hear him calling shots, and the next he’d vanish for a few hours. It was such a relief not to have to chase after workers or wonder why nothing was being accomplished.
I let us in and headed right to my office. Since I hadn’t gotten any sleep, I didn’t even bother putting on mascara or doing my eyebrows. My hair was in a messy bun and dark shades covered my eyes from the unwelcomed sunlight. A white Dolce & Gabbana blouse was tucked into my skin-tight, white jeans. The beige leather jacket on my back, meshed well with the beige Louis Vuitton pumps on my feet.
Dressing business casual at work was a must. My daddy told me people, especially men, took you more serious in a professional setting when you dressed the part. So, five days out of the week, I wore a professional uniform.
“Miss Robins, did you decide on what you wanted to do with those old tables?” I didn’t even realize Emmit was following me.
As I unlocked my office door, I shrugged. “Not yet, but I’m sure I can find somewhere to send them.” Pushing the door open, I stepped into my office. Manuel and his crew had already expanded the space, but Emmit and his men had put the finishing touches on it. All I had to do now was decorate.
“A friend of mine might be able to use them.” He stood in the doorway as I removed my jacket. “He can actually pick them up for you and make some room for us to get the new ones in earlier.”
Nodding, I smiled. “That’ll be great, Emmit.�
��
“Cool. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it, Miss Robins.”
I removed my glasses. “Emmit, please call me Chance.” We looked to be around the same age. It didn’t feel right letting him call me Miss Robins.
He grinned. “A’ight. If you need anything just give me a call. I’m going to go ahead and head to the new shop.”
“Okay. Drive safely.” I spun back around and headed for my desk.
“What’s up, True, man?” I heard Emmit say once he left the room.
“Wassup Em? Everything straight?”
“Yeah. I just told Miss Robins I was about to head to the city to check on the new building.”
“A’ight.”
I sat down and waited for True to make his entrance. When he did, he was on the phone.
“Let me call you back, Love. Tell Granny to get ready.” When he hung up, his eyes washed over me and then he licked his lips.
“Hey, True.”
“Sup, Jelly?” I stood up as he approached me. When I fell into his embrace, he gave me a firm squeeze. “Where you been?”
Shrugging, I pulled away. “Around.”
I hadn’t seen True since the morning after he invited himself to spend the night. We’d talked on the phone here and there, but for the most, part I’d kept my distance. I wasn’t sure how True could walk around and act like what we’d done hadn’t happened. It was hard to look him in the face without weird sexual desires surging through my body. Not to mention my emotional state.
“Why do I feel like you’re avoiding me?” He eyed me suspiciously when I took a step back.
“I don’t know.” Again, I shrugged and tried to move around him, but he grabbed me.
“Talk to me.” He stroked the side of my hairline. “What’s wrong?”
I’m not sure where the tears came from, but they lingered in my eye beds and then slipped out when I blinked.
“Jelly.” He sighed. “What is it?”
I sniffled, wiping my cheeks.
True’s face hardened. His eyes went wicked and his jaw clenched. “Who did it?”
Taking a deep breath, I looked away from him momentarily. “You.”
He frowned. “Me?”
I nodded.
“What I do?” The confused expression on his face caused my tears to drop rapidly.
How could he not know? How could True know me my whole life, and not know how much I was affected by what we’d done?
When I tried to step away from him again, he grabbed my forearm.
“Chance. What I do?”
“True, I think we need time away from one another.”
“What?” He pushed me away gently. “The fuck you talkin’ ‘bout?”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I licked my lips. “I...I think we need to put some space between us.” More tears galloped down my cheeks. I didn’t want to be away from True, but I couldn’t be around him right now. I was in love with True, and because he only loved me, it was best if we put a pause on our friendship.
Shaking his head, he chuckled. “You for real?” Hurt eyes glared down at me, burned a whole right through my soul, made me regret even saying anything. I hadn’t seen sadness like this from True since his mom died.
Silence lingered between us as our gazes danced. I quickly found myself wanting to back out. When I reached out to touch him, he brushed my hand away.
“True—"
“Nah, it’s cool. I’ma get up wit’ you later, shorty.” He turned around.
“True...”
Ignoring me, he walked out of my office and temporarily out my life.
True
“What you sitting in here with an attitude for?” Love took a seat on the couch.
I shrugged.
“You sick?”
Sick? Nah. Confused? As fuck.
“You talk to Chance lately? She’s been acting weird.”
“Earlier.”
“And?”
I shrugged.
“What did you do, True?” Love turned sideways. “I know you did something. She never stays away this long.”
“I ain’t do shit.” Chance was being extra. All of sudden, she didn’t wanna be my best friend no more. That nigga, Rel, was probably the reason why.
Love smacked her lips. “I’ma pop up on her at the shop.”
Again, I shrugged.
“I’ll take Chasity with me. Quindelle is dropping her off when she gets out of school.”
Frowning, I shook my head. “Nah. Chasity can’t go.”
“What?”
“She can’t go.” If Chance didn’t want nothing to do with me, that meant my seeds too.
“Since when can’t Chasity see her god mom?” Love’s nosey ass leaned forward.
“I ain’t fuckin’ wit’ Chance no more.”
Love burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that she stared snorting and shit. Her ass cackled, hitting my arm, shoving me a few times. “Boy, bye.”
I stared at her.
“You’re serious?”
“Yeah, man. I’m cool on, shorty.”
Her eyes searched mine. When she saw I wasn’t playing, her face dropped. “What happened, True?” She sighed. “You always fuckin’ up.” Love pushed off the couch.
“Man, get on.”
“No, True.” She glared at me. “What happened? Y’all get into an argument? Tell me something.”
“You goin’ to see her cry-baby ass, right? Ask her.”
“You made her cry?”
“She made herself cry.”
Love cut her eyes at me. “Why are you like this?”
I mugged her short ass back. “Like what? I ain’t do shit.”
“You’re lying.”
“A’ight.”
“Granny!” Love called out, still staring down at me.
“What, Love?”
“True made Chance cry and now she doesn’t wanna be his friend!”
“True Jones, come talk to me please.” I shook my head at Love’s snitching ass. She was supposed to be on my side, not Chance’s. Not only were we blood, but her little ass treated me like a personal ATM machine.
“True Jones...”
I got up and pushed Love out of my way playfully. She hit my arm and followed me. When we entered the kitchen, Granny Ann was standing in front of the stove as usual. She spun around, looked me up and down, and then shook her head. I smiled and approached her with my arms out. Scooping her up, I swayed side to side.
“Wassup, pretty lady?”
“True, let me go.” She patted my arm. “What is Love talking about?”
Shrugging, I released her.
“He made Chance cry.” Love hopped up on the counter. “She doesn’t want to be his friend anymore, and he won’t let me take Chasity to the shop to see her.”
Granny Ann frowned. “What? Why can’t Chasity go?”
“’Cause Chance ain’t fuckin’ wit’ me.”
She stared at me real hard. When she placed her hands on her hips, I glanced at Love. Granny Ann chuckled condescendingly. I faced her again and she smirked. “Love let me talk to True.” Granny faced the stove again.
“Why I gotta leave?”
“’Cause she said so.”
“Shut up, True.” Love shot back, but she jumped down from the counter.
Granny stirred the cabbage in the pot. “Love...”
“Oh my God.” She smacked her lips and started out of the kitchen.
“True…”
“Granny…”
“You slept with Chance. Didn’t you?”
“Huh?” I frowned.
“If you can huh, you can hear.” She chuckled, still stirring. “Sonia called and asked me to talk to you. She said Chance has been real emotional. That’s when I realized she hasn’t been over here in a long while.”
“She’s seeing this new cat.”
“No, True, honey, she’s avoiding you.” She chuckled some more.
“I don’t know what for.”
“I love her crazy ass too.” I frowned. If Chance was mad because she thought I didn’t love her no more, then she was just probably on her period, tripping. I’d give her a couple days and then hit her up.
Granny faced me. “True, you couldn’t even look me in my eyes just a minute ago. I know my grandson. Not to mention Chance is crying, her mama wants me to talk to you, and now, all of a sudden you don’t want Chasity around her?”
Chance and I hadn’t talked about us fucking and I didn’t plan to. We were good. I thought we had silently agreed to just to act like it’d never happened. She was still my nigga. After going back and forth about it, it was best if we didn’t even take it to the next level. And even though Chance’s pussy was the best I’d ever had, I wasn’t trying to risk our friendship.
“True, I’ve watched you and Chance for the last twenty years. She’s always been your biggest cheerleader and the first one you can call on when you need a genuine friend. Chance has been the calm yen to your wild yang, and she does it with so much love and admiration. That girl is in love with you, True.” Granny turned around and cut the eye on the stove off. “You’re going to lose a big piece of yourself if you let her get away.”
“Chance knows me, though.” I frowned. “She knowhs what type of nigga I am. What? I’m supposed to just change ‘cause she’s in her feelings all of a sudden?”
“You shouldn’t have let it happen, True.” She glared at me sternly. “If you knew you weren’t ready to be with her, you shouldn’t have done it.”
“So, what am I supposed to do?” My phone rang.
“It’s up to you, True. You know the right thing to do, but because you’re you, you’ll do the exact opposite.” She sighed. “Chase and Chasity love Chance. Our family loves her and you love her. Don’t be selfish this time, True.”
Ignoring Nisha’s call, I massaged my forehead. “I ain’t tryna settle down right now, Granny. I got too much shit goin’ on. Chance knows that. If she really rockin’ wit’ me, then she’s gon’ always be around.”
“Just dumb…” Love came from nowhere, opened the basement door, and started down the steps.