by Saundra
“What’s up, babe?” Hood greeted me with a kiss. He had actually made it to Champs, the downtown restaurant where we would be having lunch, before me. Normally I beat him.
“Hey.” I set the Gucci bag that I was carrying in the booth and slid in beside it. “I see you got here before me.” I smiled. “That is definitely a first.”
“Yeah, I thought I would do something different like get here on time.” He grinned. I loved when we were smiling at each other. I missed it being this way all the time.
“Did you order yet?” I noticed there were no menus on the table.
“No doubt and I got your fave. Wings, fries, and steamed broccoli.”
He knew me like a book, another reason I loved him so much. “Thanks, babe, I’m hungry, too. I need a Coke like right now.” I had started to feel weak; a Coke would shoot my sugar levels back on point. Then I would be straight until the food came.
“I already ordered it. The waitress should be bringing it.” He winked at me with a grin.
Damn, my babe was on top of it. Had it not been for the uneasy feeling I was having knowing that Monica was upset with me, I would have been on cloud nine, but the incident with Monica was weighing on me. While I didn’t regret the way I felt about Anthony, I didn’t want to have my sister angry with me.
“Monica is upset with me,” I released. I didn’t want to spoil our lunch with the sad face, but I had to talk about it.
“Why? What happened?” The look on his face showed concern.
The waitress approached the table and handed me a Coke and Hood a glass of draft Bud Light.
“Thanks,” I said to the waitress as she turned and walked away. “About Anthony. I didn’t tell you the other night, but when I went to the bathroom at the club I saw him.” I sucked Coke through my straw.
“Why you ain’t tell me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, why Monica mad at you?”
“When she came into the salon today, I told her about it. I asked her a few more questions about him. You know I just wanted to clarify some things. But she got all defensive and shit. She stormed out. Even had the balls to tell me to mind my business.” I kinda chuckled at that one—my little sister was growing up for real. I remembered when she and Li’l Bo would fight. I would get in between their spats, but who would get in between ours, since we no longer had a brother?
“You musta really pissed her off. Monica never gets mad at you.” Hood lifted his mug and took a swallow of his beer.
“What have you been able to find out about Anthony?”
Hood looked at me and took another swallow of his beer. I knew right then that he didn’t have any good news.
“What?” I was impatient. I wanted him to tell it to me straight. No chaser.
“He slangin’.” I watched the words roll off his lips.
“I knew it.” I hit the table with the flat part of my hand.
“It ain’t nothing major, though. Just small-time hustlin’, but I ain’t found out who his connect is, though. But the li’l nigga hustlin’ for sho.”
I took another sip of my drink when really I wanted to jump up, go find Anthony, and tell his little skinny ass to stay away from my condo and my sister. Thankfully, I knew that was not a good idea. It would only drive a bigger wedge between Monica and me. Hood was paying close attention to my facial expressions. He knew I was upset.
“Look, I don’t want you to worry about him, a’ight. I got this. So far I ain’t get no bad dirt on li’l dude or nothin’, but I promise I’ma keep an eye out on him and shit. I’ll smoke his ass if he brings the wrong shit around the family. All I want you to do is chill out, though. You gotta let Monica make some of her own decisions and unfortunately, that includes picking who she mess wit’. I know you don’t wanna hear that but it’s true.” He was right. I was just being stubborn and did not want to hear it.
I did not want to hear the words that had just come out of his mouth. I looked at him like he had a third eye and a nut growing out of his lip.
“So what you sayin’, Hood? Let my sister end up dead like Li’l Bo? ’Cause if my memory serves me correctly, you told me to chill on him also. And we see firsthand what that got him.” I kicked myself as soon as I shut my mouth. But he had pushed a button. My family was my soft spot, he knew that. I felt like shit because the look on Hood’s face was pure hurt. He could not believe what I was implying.
“Damn, Mya, I didn’t know you blamed me for Li’l Bo’s death.”
Taking in a deep breath, I apologized as I looked him in the eyes. “I’m sorry, I did not mean that. I’m just sayin’ I have to be there for my sister. I have to be sure she is safe.”
“And what, you think I don’t care about her being safe?”
I hung my head for a few seconds, but looked back up to meet his gaze. “I know you care. I’m sorry, babe.” I stood up, reached across the table, and kissed Hood full on the lips.
The waitress approached us with the food in her hands. After setting it on the table, she asked if we needed anything and left. Hood grabbed the ketchup and started putting it on the fries. As soon as he was done, we both reached for some and devoured them. They were bomb.
“I gotta make a run,” he spilled as he bit into a hot wing. I was still going in on the fries but I paused. I hated when Hood went on these drug runs. I always felt he would not come back. Since Li’l Bo’s death I didn’t trust shit with the game. And these trips were one of the things I did not trust.
“When?” I was angry, but tried to conceal it.
“Tonight. I need to be there by tomorrow morning so I’ma catch a late flight. I’ll be back in about two days.”
Clearing my throat, I closed my eyes for one brief second. “Umm.” I dropped the fry that I was holding back into the basket. Ketchup was on the tips of the two fingers that held the French fry. I grabbed a napkin to wipe my hands. “So where to this time?”
He knew I was mad. The look on his face told me he was reluctant to tell me. But what choice did he have? “New York.”
“You know what, Hood? You love this dope game so much. You travel for it, you stay out late for it, shit, you even kill niggas for it. At some point I have to wonder do you love it more than me. Does it make good love to you? ’Cause if it does, you certainly are fucking the shit out of it.” My voice rose a bit with the last statement. A few people turned around and looked, including our waitress, who was delivering some food at a table across from us. But at that moment I didn’t give a fuck. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my Gucci bag and walked out. I had to get out of his presence before I said something that I could not take back. Hood tried to call my name, but I kept stepping. I had better shit to do. I was out. New York . . . the moon . . . forget about it.
Chapter 9
After dropping Hood off at the airport the night before, I decided I needed some time to rest away from the salon. Since I had no scheduled appointments I decided to take the day off officially. After a good breakfast first thing in the morning, I did some laundry and hit the gym. I had stress I needed to release. The workout turned out to be just what I needed. I left the gym feeling like I had dropped ten pounds of stress. It reminded me that I needed to get back to it regularly. Staying in good health was a priority of mine and I wanted everything to stay tight and firm. There would be no plastic surgery for me. At home I had a room that was turned into a gym. It had an elliptical and a few other workout machines, but when I worked out at home alone I wasn’t motivated. Instead of working out, I would find a good movie and a bucket of ice cream with Oreo cookies. So sad Rochelle and I would attempt to work out at my house, but we ended up talking more than working out. Just another reason why we both keep our gym memberships.
Think of the devil! Rochelle’s number was lighting up on my cell phone. “Hello.” I was still driving. I was on my way home from the gym. A hot shower would do me good. My muscles were on fire and I could really feel it when I reached for my phone. But it felt good.
“Bitch, where you been at? I been blowing you up since like one o’clock.” Rochelle was being dramatic.
“I was at the gym. What’s up?” I switched the phone to the speaker in my car so I wouldn’t have to hold the phone while I balled down the interstate, as usual ignoring all speed signs.
“Well, since you played hooky at the salon today, you missed gossip.”
I knew this was about to be juicy. Rochelle always had the hot topic. It could be as bad as somebody getting shot or as simple as somebody’s baby daddy creeping. Whatever she was about to tell me, I knew it was off the chain ’cause her voice was hyped. I could not wait to hear it.
“So last night I decided to roll over to Go Comedy with Dontae. You know Hood’s friend?” She asked me as if I had forgotten who Dontae was. Now that was a topic we could discuss, but I knew she did not wanna hear it.
“Yeah, I remember Dontae. So you going on official dates with this nigga now?” I got sarcastic.
“Mya, don’t start that shit.” She sighed. I also knew she was rolling her eyes because that was one of her favorite things to do. “I mean, he asked so I went. Anyways, he straight and I’m glad he called. I wanted to get out. All work and no play ain’t no good in this chick’s life.”
“Hmmm,” was my reply.
“Yo, look, let me tell you about what happened . . .” Rochelle paused like she was waiting on my confirmation.
“A’ight, go ’head.” I decided to chill. Monica was already hot with me about Anthony. I didn’t wanna piss Rochelle off, too.
“So I’m out last night chillin’ with Dontae at Go Comedy. And you will never guess who walks in.” The sound in Rochelle’s voice let me know that I would never guess this person they saw. But shit, who? I racked my brain quickly, fishing for an answer. Nothing came to mind.
“Felicia!” Rochelle yelled on the other end. My mind felt like it jumped time. Out of all the people she could run into and she runs into Felicia, The Hoe of Detroit. I had not seen her in a long time. Felicia used to be Charlene’s best friend. Charlene had been cool with Rochelle and me at first ever since we were young. Then she started bringing Felicia around. That’s how we all started being in each other’s company for so long. But after Rochelle kicked her ass and I busted her upside the head with a bottle, she had kept her distance. Let’s face it, the bitch was smart.
“You ran into that tramp,” I replied with a smirk on my face. I glanced in my rearview mirror.
“Hell yes, and can you believe this bitch was with Silk, Hood’s other new acquaintance. And apparently Dontae invited them. Well, at least he says he invited Silk and his new girl, but he claimed not to know who the chick was.”
“Wait a minute, you didn’t tell Dontae about the fight and all that, did you?”
“Girl, hell no. But it did come up that we knew each other. Besides, I was too busy watching that hoe. Because I do not trust her.” Rochelle popped her lips.
“I know that’s real,” I agreed. That hoe was thirsty and slick. She all but wore a sign that said, “Don’t trust me, I’m a slut.”
“Mya, she come up there acting like we best friends. At first I was just staring at this bitch like really. I know she can’t be cool with me like that. ’Cause if someone had put the ass whupping on me that I put on her, I would be fighting they ass every time they come around.”
“I know, right.” I laughed, remembering how Rochelle had punched Felicia in the face. And I didn’t feel sorry for her one bit. Being a hoe always got bitches in trouble. That night she should have kept her wandering eyes off Li’l Lo, simple as that.
“Girl, she got Silk nose wide open. He spending crazy money on that hoe, too. I’m telling you this is another Charlene and Pig type situation. And get this, she finally got some real tracks in her head. The hoe was rockin’ Michael Kors like a motherfucker. You know she can’t afford shit like that.”
“I guess she think she the shit now.” I chuckled.
“Girl, that bitch think she somebody the way she was swinging them tracks from left to right. Easy giveaway that her ass ain’t use to shit. ’Cause I ain’t forgot when her ass was busted. It ain’t been that long ago. Remember when her ass got caught stealing clothes outa Target?” Damn, Rochelle had a good memory. I was screaming laughing.
“Rochelle, your ass is crazy.” I couldn’t stop laughing. “Well, at least you didn’t have to whup her ass.” I looked at it from the bright side.
“I know, right.” Rochelle chuckled. “Hoes, I tell ya,” Rochelle commented, referring to Felicia and then with a sigh dismissed the conversation.
I pulled into my driveway and parked behind one of my closed car garages.
“So what you about to get into?” Rochelle asked.
“Nothin’ really, about to go in the house, take me a shower, and pop open a bag of this P.F. Chang’s shrimp stir-fry.”
“Damn, that sounds good. I ain’t ate nothing since breakfast.”
“Trust me, it will be. I’m exhausted and hungry.” My stomach growled just thinkin’ about it. That workout had burned my energy and all my breakfast. “What about you? You doing anything later?”
“Nah, me and Tiny just gone chill out and watch Sponge Bob. Tonight is her night.”
“A’ight bet. Call me later.” I turned off my ignition.
As usual, Rochelle had entertained me on the phone all the way home. There was never a dull moment when talking with her. After hanging up with her, I went in the house and jumped straight into a bubble bath. My muscles were already feeling the after-effects of my workout so I decided to let them soak. I felt like a new person climbing out of my Pearl bathtub. I dried off, then moisturized my body with some Cashmere lotion I had purchased at Bath & Body Works and headed toward the kitchen feeling like a million bucks.
Opening up my stainless steel freezer-refrigerator, I fished out a frozen bag of P.F. Chang’s stir-fry just like I had planned. I could not wait to get the taste in my mouth. While reaching for my stainless steel–clad stir-fry pan, the house phone started to ring. The sound of the phone ringing kind of unnerved me because my house phone never rang. This had better be important.
Setting the stir-fry pan down on my matching stainless steel stove, I reached for the telephone receiver. “Hello.” I sounded annoyed on purpose. Everyone that I conversed with knew if they wanted to talk with me that they had to call my cell.
“Mya!!” The familiar voice yelled at me. My heart instantly started to beat rapidly. Something was wrong.
“Hood.” I said his name then held my breath with instant worry.
“Yo, where you been? I been blowing your cell up for the past half hour.”
I had forgotten my phone was in the room on our bed. When I made it into the house, my main focus had been the bathtub. Nothing else mattered at that moment, so I had tossed the phone and forgot all about. “I been in the shower,” I answered him in an annoyed tone, hoping he would get to the point.
“Oh, well . . .” Hood paused. “Look I’ma be catching a flight back to the crib tonight. My flight gone arrive at ten. Be at the airport to pick me up.”
“Tonight?” I asked. I was shocked. Something was definitely wrong. When Hood went on a trip for business he never cut it short. “Are you okay?” I needed to know.
“Babe, I’m fine, just be there. I gotta go.” Before I could say anything else, he had hung up. I was left with a dial tone buzzing in my ear. He had mentioned he would be on the flight, but he never said anything about Rob. It was odd, but I knew that Rob left with him so they would return together. I decided not to contemplate it anymore. He would fill me in once he touched down. With the stir-fry pan sizzling, I opened the shrimp stir-fry bag and dumped all of its contents onto the heat.
Chapter 10
On my ride to the airport to pick up Hood, I had a lot of time to think about Monica. I realized that in spite of my growing concerns about her well-being she was becoming a woman. She was a mother and she took good ca
re of Imani. A smile crept across my face as I thought about how Rochelle used to always tell me that Monica would someday make a good mom because of how good she was with Tiny. I never would have imagined my baby sister getting pregnant at fifteen. Nevertheless, Monica was doing a good job at raising Imani and I knew she would not let anything jeopardize that. Maybe it was time I cut her a little slack and treated her like the young woman she had become.
All of a sudden the normal flow of traffic on the interstate started to slow down almost to a halt. Something was going on, but I couldn’t see what. The last thing I felt like doing was sitting on the interstate in backed-up traffic. “Damn.” I hit the steering wheel. If they didn’t hurry up, I would be late picking up Hood and Rob: Their plane would be landing in like fifteen minutes. I kept trying to veer just a little to the right of the cars in the front of me to see if I could tell what was going on. But so far no such luck; all I could see was red taillights and signal lights flashing from some cars who wanted to get over. Not that getting over would speed things up; all the lanes were at the same slow pace. I hated when impatient idiots tried to buck in traffic.
Thirty-five minutes later I pulled up to the curb at Detroit Metro Airport. I immediately saw Hood waiting. As soon as my white Ranger Rover completely stopped, Hood snatched the door open to the backseat.
“Damn, babe, why you late?” He threw his bags in.
“Traffic was backed up on the interstate.” Hood slid into the truck beside me. The look on his face told me his mind was busy. Something was wrong. He shut the door and rubbed his forehead.
“Let’s go,” he ordered without making eye contact with me. I was confused.
“Hood, where Rob at?” My eyes roamed the front portion of the airport, not seeing Rob anywhere in sight. Rob had gone with him on the trip. A minute passed as I scanned the oncoming hustle of people going and coming out of the airport. No Rob. Hood finally turned and looked at me.
“Rob got killed.”