Page 59 of Anything Necessary for Her (Crenshaw Kings #9)

THE NEXT EVENING . . .

The storm from yesterday had finally calmed the fuck down, and I was thankful. My mama had stopped all that fucking police and assault charges shit, Waverley was no longer looking traumatized, and I was now able to think somewhat clearly.

Lying back in my bed, the weed and a warm shower causing me to feel a bit somnolent, I started to think of Banks. As if I’d conjured her ass up, my phone started ringing.

“Yeah.” I picked up.

“Yeah? That’s how you pick up for me now?” she inquired. When I didn’t give her an answer, she asked, “Why haven’t you called or texted me back?”

“Been busy.” When she inhaled like she was about to speak, I said, “I ain’t in the mood to talk right now, Banks.”

“Stop calling me that,” she whined. “I’m sorry for what I did yesterday. I shouldn’t have gotten involved and especially in that way. I just?—”

“Thank you. I’ll holla at you tomorrow, aight?” I hung up, shutting my eyes so I could process my thoughts.

My pondering turned into me dozing off.

I woke up a couple hours later to see Banks had dialed me back right after I’d hung up. As soon as I picked up my phone, I saw the homie Taye was calling. Frowning since this was my personal device, I put the phone to my ear.

“What’s good?”

“Aye, why you not at the club with ya girl?”

“The club?” I sat up, lightheaded from that impromptu ass nap. My life consisted of naps because I was too on edge to ever go to sleep for more than two hours unless with Banks.

“Yeah, nigga!” Taye shouted, his background loud. “Banks in this muthafucka swatting niggas away like flies.”

Pressing my free palm into my eyes as I sat on the edge of the bed, I tried to remain collected, but I was furious.

“Send me the address, my nigga.” I ended the call and went to freshen up, piss, then slip into a hoodie, joggers, socks, and slides before checking my piece then grabbing my keys, knot of cash, and my phone.

I checked my texts to see Taye had sent me the address. So after plugging it in, I sped off and hopped on the freeway toward Hollywood, shaking my head in the process.

I pulled up an hour later due to all the traffic of muthafuckas heading this way to party. Pulling up front, I told the valet outside to leave my shit against the curb before pressing a G into his palm.

“Sup, Low.” The bouncer nodded his head at me before pulling on the rope to allow me inside.

I tuned out the bitches in the line calling for me and did the same to the ones inside the club as I scoped the scene, looking for Banks. I spotted her in a section with a couple of her homegirls and a few niggas. I didn’t know who them muthafuckas were, but I also didn’t care.

I retrieved my phone.

Me: Where you at?

I watched her pull out her phone, roll her eyes, and then text away.

Peep: With Kailey.

Not liking her shady ass response, I barged through the club goers, making it up to her section. When the guard put his hand up to stop me, I gripped the shit, twisted it, then clocked his ass with my gun. I was on one and not in the mood to talk, argue, or warn a nigga of what it was or would be.

As he howled and dropped, Banks and her friends stood, eyes wide as saucers.

“Let’s go!” I waved her ass on.

“No. I tried talking to you, so now you gotta wait until I wanna talk.” Banks folded her arms.

Chuckling mirthlessly, I said, “Banks, if you don’t come with me right now, I swear to God I’m gon’ shoot this muthafucka up.” I took the safety off.

“Bitch, go!” Kailey shoved her, looking afraid.

Stumbling forward some, Banks swatted her best friend before taking the rest of her drink to the head, snatching her purse up, and then switching toward me.

She was wearing some tiny ass jean shorts, heels with her pretty toes out, and some sheer ass long-sleeved top with printed artwork all over it that cost a nigga eight hundred dollars.

“Wearing shit I bought you while trying to get fucked!” I spat, trailing her, hand at the small of her back.

“I don’t have to try to get fucked, nigga! If I wanted some dick, I’d have it!” she shot back.

Hooking my finger through the back belt loop of her jean shorts, I tugged her back into my chest, halting both our steps before speaking against her ear. “I double dare you.”

After I let her go, she didn’t say another fucking word for the rest of our route out of the club and into my car.

Once I helped her into my whip, I rounded the vehicle to get in on my side, shaking my head.

“Think you about to be partying and shit while I’m mad.”

“I just went out with my friends! You wouldn’t talk to me, so what the fuck am I supposed to do!”

“Sit yo’ ass down and look stupid until I feel like addressing yo’ ass, just like I do when you cop a fucking attitude every two days!”

“I do not get mad every two days!”

“Shiiiit! Every time I look up, yo’ ass is mad ’bout some shit! I bet if I went to kick the shit with some bitches while you called yourself pissed instead of pulling up on you to apologize for some shit I didn’t even know I did, yo’ ass would be hot!”

“I wasn’t kicking it with no niggas!”

“You was! It was niggas in that fucking section! You giving pussy away, Banks?” I asked menacingly. “Let me find out another nigga been in that!”

“No! I was just finding something to do, Willow!”

“Yeah, I bet!”

“Take me home!”

“I am, and I’m coming too! You ’bout to be in that room dealing with the silent treatment until a nigga want some food, just like I do when you mad!”

“I ain’t making you shit, nigga! You must be crazy!”

“You are! I want a burger, so let me know if I need to stop. Ralph’s is still open.”

Pouting, she conceded, “I have stuff for burgers.” I nodded, mashing the gas even more toward her crib. “I’m not fucking you, so don’t even think about that.”

“I don’t want none anyway,” I lied, tampering down my smirk because I knew that comment would fuck with her.

I was right, feeling her stare a hole through my peripheral as I dipped through the freeway.

“Oh,” she finally said. “That’s new.”

“I’m good for the nigh—” Before I could finish, her crazy ass tilted the steering wheel, making me swerve a bit as I exited the freeway. “You do too fucking much.” I shook my head, trying not to laugh at her crazy ass antics.

“I should be good for the night in just a minute.” She stared down at her phone until it unlocked, making me snatch it and shove the shit into my pocket.

“Don’t get a nigga’s life taken ’cause you playing.”

“Playing? I’m not playing. If you got some, I should get some too.”

“You know damn well I haven’t fucked some random bitch.” I frowned, glancing her way briefly before focusing back on the road ahead.

“Thought so. You better quit playing, nigga. This isn’t the one-sided hurting game like what you’re used to,” she said, speaking real shit.

Banks was the first woman that ever had the power to hurt or bother me. If another nigga fucked any of my old bitches, I would’ve wondered why the muthafucka was even telling me. That was how much of a fuck I didn’t give.

The rest of the ride to Banks’s crib was quiet, and that silence lingered as we filed out of the car and into the house.

I kicked it in the living room while she cooked for me, and moments later, she sauntered into the living room with a plate piled with two burgers, fries, and then a small plate of salad I had no interest in. I didn’t fuck with salad—not unless it was the one from the dinner with the St. Thomases.

“I don’t want that.” I pointed to it when she returned with her own plate and some drinks.

“Eat it, Willow. You need vegetables.” She shook her head with a roll of her eyes like I was getting on her fucking nerves.

I scarfed it down quickly to get it over with, then started to devour the main event which was the burgers and crispy fries.

“You better be glad this shit is good,” I jokingly threatened, making her suck her teeth and smirk.

“Or what?” Her brow lifted in amusement.

“Just be glad it’s good.”

Silence crept into the room yet again, before she said, “I’m sorry I hit your mom.

” She put the quarter piece of her burger down on the plate and wiped her hands with the napkin.

“I just got so mad when she hit you, and that coupled with seeing her slap Waverley just made me black out. I’m not even like that.

I usually always keep it respectful with older people.

Not so much when I was a teenager, but as a grown woman, I don’t conduct myself like that usually. ”

I washed the last bite of my second burger down with the soda she’d given me before wiping my mouth with my napkin.

“While I appreciate that, Peep, I’m used to it. It’s the normal between Whitney and me. Plus, that shit don’t even hurt.”

“Maybe not physically, but mentally it does. I could see how your whole demeanor altered when you walked in and saw her. Then again when she hit you.”

The embarrassment I felt seeing Banks witness my mama’s violence, and also seeing she’d met her without me, made its return.

“I didn’t want you meeting her ass without me because I know how she is.

I wanted to be there and make sure shit went a certain way, but her release day had slipped my mind.

To keep shit real, the whole thing was embarrassing as fuck.

That’s why I wanted you to dip and why I ain’t wanna see or talk to you,” I confessed.

Moving closer to me, her soft hand landed on the back of my neck soothingly.

“You don’t need to be embarrassed about that, Low. How she is has no bearing on what I think about you.” She stared at the side of my face as I kept my eyes on our empty plates sitting on the coffee table. “Have you ever met your father?”