by Niecy P
She told him that Rose was looking for them and that they weren’t supposed to leave her sight. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the aisle that was closest to us. The boy looked at her and then back at me. It was the black-eyed one. He smirked at me and followed the little girl to Rose. I grabbed an apple, and some mandarins from the fruit section then went to look for my mom. She was standing by the cooler watching the reaction. Mom asked if I was okay and I told her that I was fine. We walked to the check-out line to pay for our items.
A woman stepped up behind us with a basket full of groceries. I looked back, and it was the weird children I saw in the produce section. I didn’t feel comfortable with having my back to them, so I stood to the side, where I could keep my eyes on them. Mom reached back for my items. When she didn’t get it, she turned and saw the woman behind me. She called out the woman’s name, and the woman’s head popped up from the magazine she was reading. Rose looked at my mother and rolled her eyes at her. Mom tried to explain to her that she didn’t know that she had reached out to her and Rose told Momma that she was a liar.
I mean, they got into it hot and heavy in the grocery store. Momma called Rose stupid and a bad mother for staying in a toxic relationship, which caused the boy to step forward. I stepped forward with my fist closed. Mom pulled me away from him and behind her. She told Rose that she needed to get her children some help. Rose told Momma to mind her fucking business and to stay away from her and the children. Momma was so upset that we left the grocery store without the fruit or her soda. The first call she made was to her friend, telling her that she had an emergency and needed to get home. The second was to my dead grandmother.
Momma told her that she saw her sister Rose and that the kids didn’t look good. Grandma told Momma the truth about what was going on and told Momma to leave it alone. Momma disagreed with her and hung up the phone. She somehow got Rose’s information and went to her house to reconcile. Rose came out, and they started talking on the porch. I asked Momma if I can use the bathroom and Rose gave me the direction to the bathroom. On my way there, I ran into Rose’s husband.
He smiled at me and licked his lips. He asked me who I was, and I ignored him. He looked around and asked me again. I shook my head and tried to walk around him. He reached out and grabbed my arm. I tried to pull back, but he had a firm grip on it. He started dragging me to one of the bedrooms. I fell to the ground, which caused him to bend down to pick me up. With my free hand, I punched him in his throat and then the nose. He dropped my arm, and I got up on my feet. I kicked the inside part of his knee and pushed his head into the wall. My mother heard the commotion and ran into the house after me.
Momma was pissed at Rose because she told Momma that her husband wasn’t home. Momma slapped the hell out of Rose before walking out the house. What fucked me up was that the children were sitting on the stairs the whole time. Momma brought me to the hospital to check on me and told me that was why she was the only child.” Mom said.
I saw in my uncles and Papa’s eyes that they were pissed. Of course, Rose’s husband would have got the business.
“What was wrong with the children, though?” Truth asked.
“They have been enduring all that shit with their father for years. It messed them up to a point whereas they created different personalities to deal with that shit. Grandma and the rest of the family knew about it, but they couldn’t get Rose to leave her husband. Grandma gave her an ultimatum. Aunt Rose chose her child molesting ass husband over her children and family.” Momma answered him.
“That is fucked up, El. You could have told us that shit.” Uncle Kymel told her.
“I know, but I didn’t. Momma never talked about it again and neither did I.” She said and looked at Papa. He was fuming.
“Is that nigga still alive?” He asked her. She shrugged her shoulders and leaned back into Dad.
“I don’t know.”
“I have a question.” Truth was sitting next to Madison. They were over there looking all cozy and shit. “What is the difference between your cousins and your guys other halves. I saw Madison and Mason in action a couple of weeks ago, and they looked different from their real selves.”
“We are still there in the midst of everything that happens. It’s like putting on a Halloween costume and pretending to be someone else.” Madison answered him like she told him that shit before but didn’t believe her.
“So, you aren’t really Smoke. Your mother is not Gage, nor Mason is Ghost. They are people that you guys pretend to be, for what. Scares. Thrills.” He asked her. Madison closed her eyes and opened them up with a death stare. Momma shook and tilted her head at Truth. I gave it to him. He was trying to understand Madison’ state of mind to deal with her.
“We don’t put on the mask to become Gage, Smoke, Ghost, Shadow, or Reap,” Momma said and stood from Dad’s lap. She retrieved his empty cup from the table and turned back at Truth. “We take them off.” She said, to him and walked out of the room. Truth grunted and sat back in his seat as if he understood.
“You know that I am going to the New Orleans area to see what the hell is going on down there.” Uncle Kymani brought us back to the subject of Mom’s family.
“I have Dexter running some names through his database. He will contact me when he finds something out.” Dad said to him.
“Keep us posted,” Papa told him.
“Keep us all posted,” I told Dad. I was pissed that he didn’t tell me anything about what was going on at the office. I hated being the last to know about anything that involved my family. Mother and Madison were my priority.
“I will,” he said and got up to go after my mother.
“It will be like pulling teeth, trying to get them two apart up there,” Uncle Kymani pointing towards the ceiling and said. “I am going to my house. If he wants to sleep here tell him that it is fine. I will talk to you guys tomorrow.”
Uncle Kymel woke up Kyson from the other living area. He fell asleep on the phone with his mother. Uncle Kymel picked up the phone and saw that his wife was also asleep. “They act like they can’t be apart.” He said and hung up the phone.
Before he placed it in his pocket, the phone rang again. “Story go yo ass to sleep.” He answered while walking out the house with his son. I got up and rearranged the chairs back to the way they were. JoJo was on the phone with Fallon making plans, and I was next to do the same with Beauty. I knew she said that she had studying to do but I wanted to see my girl. My girl. Was I really ready to open her eyes up to the world that I lived in? JoJo was doing it with Fallon, and my uncles had a regular woman. The only way that I was going to find out was if I asked her, and tonight needed to be the night. I grabbed my keys after telling my parents goodbye and left the house. I ran into Truth and Madison standing outside his truck.
“I heard that there is someone that I need to meet,” Madison told me.
“Really,” I replied to her and glared at Truth. “Tell me, do I need to meet this nigga again?” I pointed at Truth. He smirked at me but didn’t answer.
“Nothing is official,” Madison said quickly.
“If y’all fucking, then it’s official.” I didn’t bother holding my tongue.
“Nigga, it ain’t none of your muthafucking business what we do behind closed doors. You forget yourself sometimes.” Truth spat.
“I forget myself? You are parading around this bitch with my sister on your arm and didn’t bother to ask my Pops or me for permission. You out here foul, bruh.” I put my keys in my pocket, readying myself to go blow to blow with his ass.
“Get the fuck outta here. Did you ask Juice for his permission to be in his sister's face? No. And like she told you before ain’t nothing official, yet.” I looked to Madison, and she nodded her head. I believed her. I wanted to see how Truth was going to react. He did well.
“Fuck you, bruh,” he caught on to what I was doing and walked Madison to the passenger seat.
“Bring her straight home,” I t
old him and got in my car. He was right, though. I needed to let Juice know that I was serious about his sister. However he took it, I was ready to deal with it. I pulled my phone out and called Juice up. The phone rung three times before he answered.
“What’s up Mace?”
“Are you busy?” I asked and started my car.
“Not at this moment. I was about to get into something a lil later.” He replied to me.
“Does your plans have anything to do with Jeremiah?” I wanted to know.
“No. It’s pussy.” He answered. I heard a girl’s voice in the background with some music.
“Aight, check it. I wanted to meet up and talk to you about your sister.” I pulled off and out of the suburbs. My uncle’s light was on at the house letting everyone who entered know that they were home.
“I already know, and I am cool with that. I know that you wouldn’t hurt her in any way.” The nigga casually said. I hoped that fool understands that his sister wasn’t any fucking cattle or no shit like that. He was too giving for me.
“Just like that. You don’t want to sit down and talk about things before we go any further.” I tried.
“No, Mace. Like I said. I trust you. I know that Madison would fuck you up herself if you messed over a girl like Beauty.” I heard him fumbling around with the phone before he came back. “Speaking of Madison, I was wondering if you can hook us up. You know, you could put in a good word for me.” I knew this muthafucker didn’t.
“This ain’t a trade-off nigga. The fuck are you talking about. Madison doesn’t want yo ass, bruh. Let it go,” I told him and hung up the phone. I didn’t want to hear anything else that came out that fool’s mouth. I drove to Beauty’s home with every intention of making her mine. I was going to deal with whatever and whoever fucked with her later down the road.
Seven
Madison
Truth ass was getting on my damn nerves. He was always in my face and on my back about whatever I was doing. He told me that he didn’t trust the decision I was making and wanted to make sure that I didn’t get myself killed. When Mason said that Truth was parading me around, he was far from the truth.
I was eating at one of my favorite restaurants talking about the latest fashion. Drea pulled out a magazine to show us a dress that she wanted to be made when Truth plopped his ass down in one of the opened seats. Of course, Drea and Aja were eyeballing him, which pissed me off on the slick. He was wearing those joggers and a white t-shirt. He had that fresh from the barber smell and was sitting next to me smiling.
“Hi, ladies,” he spoke to them. The got all jittered and waved.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. Truth shrugged and pulled my plate of fries in front of him.
“Checking on you. How are you doing? You need something more to eat or drink. It looks like you in need of a refill,” he said and picked my cup up and placed his lips on my straw. I was a big germaphobe. I didn’t understand why I didn’t find that disgusting.
“I didn’t need a refill before you put them big ass lips on my shit,” I reached for my drink, and he pushed my hand away.
“I did you a favor. The last part of the drink is always watery,” he said and stood up. “Do you girls need anything?” he asked them.
“No, we are fine., I’m sorry; we didn’t get your name,” Aja asked.
“Okay,” Truth ignorant ass asked.
“So, do you think that in order for us to have a conversation, we need to know each other names,” Drea told him. Truth shook his head and frowned at me.
“I spoke and offered you guys something to drink. That’s as opened as I am going to be,” Truth said and walked off. The girls’ mouth were opened and shocked at his behavior. They looked at me for an explanation.
“His name is Truth, and he is a friend of the family,” was all that I told them. They didn’t need to know his background information. I didn’t want them to criticize him and get slapped the piss out of them for saying the wrong thing. Truth came back at the table making everyone in the restaurant nervous. He was already behind the people shit refilling our drinks. Drea and Aja made up an excuse to leave me at the table with him. I didn’t want to be bothered with his ass either. I got up and went to my house.
Later on that week, I found myself in the mall shopping for Lottie’s and Marquel’s baby girl Elle. She was turning eight and wanted a pretty pink outfit for her birthday party. I was in Kid City going through the racks and Truth popped up again. I was frustrated completely. He called my phone to see where I was at and I didn’t answer it. I pulled out my phone and took the case off to look at it. Does his ass have a tracking device on my shit? I thought.
“No device. Your ass was easy to follow,” Truth said and picked a loud green shirt. “I think that Elle would love this.”
I walked to the register with the items I planned to purchase. I felt him standing behind me, looking over my shoulder. “Truth move,” I said without looking at him.
“What are you doing with all that pink?” he said. I pulled my card out, and it was snatched from my hand. Truth inserted his credit card into the machine. “You can tell her that it is from her favorite cousins.”
I didn’t wait for the card to go through. I took the bag and left out of the store. Truth came running behind me and pulled me to the food court. “I’m not hungry,” I told him and tried to pull away. I let him lead me to the seating area in the food court. Truth sat across from me after he pulled my chair out and waited for me to relax. At first, we stared at each other and didn’t say a word. It looked like he had a lot to say but didn’t know how to say it. Men were like that.
“Why are you following me?” I asked him, knowing that he was going to give me a bullshit answer.
“I was checking on you,” he leaned in and said.
“Oh, please. Stop with the bullshit, alright. Is it too hard for you to tell me that you care about me?” I wondered. He shook his head and smacked his teeth.
“I was checking on you. You make fucked up decisions, and you need a nigga to watch your back. You are around here being nice and open to people that you don’t know. That shit is going to get you fucked up one day,” he told me. I sat back and glared at him.
“I can take care of myself, Truth,” I told him.
“You suck at it,” he said. We sat there quietly before I spoke again.
“So, I should close myself off and not let anyone in. Is that what you are saying?” I asked. He nodded his head like he was finally getting through to me.
“Mmm. Well, I guess I can’t let you in,” I said quickly. That caught him off guard. Truth’s eyes got low, and he began to rub his hand together.
“I didn’t say that,” his gravel voice said. I smirked, knowing that I was getting somewhere.
“Oh, that is exactly what you and the rest of my family are saying. Shit, you are more liable to hurt me than some random on the street.” I told him. He was pissing me off.
“That’s a fucking lie. I would never hurt you intentionally, Madison. Never,” his voice rose a bit with that answer.
“Then why are you here,” I asked the first question again. Truth saw what direction I was going in and didn’t like it. But he knew me all too well. He knew that I wasn’t going to let the subject drop after he showed me his hand. His look softened up, and he blew out the deep breath that he had been holding in.
“I care about you and with that comes a whole lot of other feelings that I'm not used to. Worry is one of them. You got me out here stalking you and shit,” he admitted.
“Whoa! You stalking me, T?” I laughed out. He brushed his hands down his face, not knowing how to explain what he said.
“Don’t do that Maddie. You knew what I meant to say,” he said.
“Yeah, you obsessed with yo girl,” I threw my hands and swayed in my seat. Truth was done with me teasing him and stood from the table. He took my hand and pulled me out my chair.
“Yo silly ass goes too far, bruh.” he said
and walked me to the exit.
“Not far enough, apparently.” I popped his wrist, which caused him to drop my hand. I wasn’t going to move until he gave me what I wanted. Truth stood in front of me and frowned. A crowd of people walked past him, and he shook his head.
“I’m not talking about this shit out here. We can go to another place where you can ask your questions, and I can think about answering them,” he said and gestured for me to walk in front of him. I moved forward and followed him in my car back to the apartments. He didn’t hold back there. We talked about his days in the Navy and some of the missions that almost took his life.
“What was so crazy was that I was supposed to get promoted after the last mission,” he admitted.
“You don’t think that you were set up? The shit sounds fishy to me,” I told him. Truth didn’t disagree with what I said.
“I thought about it, but I wouldn’t know who would want to set me up,” he said. We were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace in my home. My apartment was like my true self, dark. My wall colors were coated with dark shaded colors. I didn’t like lights bouncing off my walls to create the natural lighting. I wanted it dark. When Mason visited, he would sit in the room that I had for him and fall asleep without any issues.
My living room was cobalt with black furniture that sat around a Chantilly dark mix rug. I didn’t have any pictures hanging up of my family as I did the other house that I own in the suburbs area. The apartment was for me, and I was sharing that piece with Truth. He noticed the colors and was more relaxed here than he was at his own apartment. We were staring at the fire and taking sips of our drink. There was one other thing that I wanted to ask him and hoped that he was ready to talk about it.