Page 14

CHAPTER 11

A Heart For Kids Homeless Shelter

“I really think we should get paid for this.” One of the kids I learned to be Deontae grunted with an eye roll.

I was so close to putting this nigga in a head lock because by the time I started planning this lil’ surprise for Akira he was complaining and shit about every fucking thing. The more I observed him, the more the thought lingered in the back of my head that he might have a thing for my girl. It seemed like every time I talked the lil’ nigga said some hating ass shit. Jalisa didn’t prepare me for this.

“Deontae,” a woman spoke up. She had to be related to him or a guardian of some sort because every time he said some shit out of line, she checked him for it and threatened to beat his bad ass. “You got one more time to say something disrespectful and I’m whopping your ass.”

Jalisa chuckled from behind me. “Deontae, you don’t need to get paid.”

“Yes, I do,” he argued. “Whenever Akira bring her little boyfriends by they never give us anything. The last nigga—” The woman slapped him upside the head before he could finish his sentence.

“Ow Auntie,” he yelped, causing the other kids to snicker.

“Stop it,” she mouthed. “Show some respect.”

“What was I saying wrong? All I was gonna say was the last dude,” he put emphasis on the word, dude, and looked back at his auntie before continuing to speak. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I shook my head and put it down to conceal my laughter.

“He’d promise us tickets to his basketball game and never did. One thing about me, I kind of speak for all of us when I say, we hate liars.” He looked at the long line of kids, turning his head right then left. In sync they all agreed.

“Right!”

“So, I speak for all of us when I say we deserve money, right? Some of us had to ditch homework and other things to be here, right? We have better things to do!”

“Right!”

“Period!” One girl uttered with a snap of her finger.

Having heard enough, I knew I wasn’t going to win this argument, and I needed their participation to pull this off. The things we do for love I swear. I reached in my pocket and pulled out a wad cash, and all the kids bum rushed me. Their shoes stomped on the concrete.. One at a time, I peeled off hundred dollars for each of them and shook my head at their satisfied smirks.

Looking back at Jalisa, she put her hands up in surrender, as I put my money back in the pocket of my Amiri jeans. “You ain’t tell me Akira had some no limit soldiers on her hands.”

“Now you see where they get it from,” she snickered.

“Did you get the bags?”

“I did,” she nodded and pointed back to her car with her thumb. “They’re in the car. You have to come out there and get them for me. I’m too clumsy for shit like that. I don’t want to drop them and get the bags wet from the sprinklers, but Drill, you’re supposed to give her the bags on Valentine’s Day, not today,” she giggled

“It’s cool, I got more shit coming in tonight, for tomorrow. This’ll just be a pre-Valentine’s Day gift,” I grinned feeling myself looking goofy ass shit in the face making her laugh. “But no for real, niggas don’t get they’re girl nothing for Valentine’s Day eve?”

“Valentine’s Day eve, nigga, be so fucking for real. Did Akira tell you to say that?”

I shrugged. “She rubbing off on me already huh?”

“Yes,” she continued to laugh, “In a good way though, just wait ‘till she starts sending you Tik-Toks then calls you to hear your reaction. That shit pisses me off.”

“Mane,” I grinned. “She done already started. I was getting out the shower when she sent me some shit one day, balls were shriveled up and shit when she FaceTimed me,” I chuckled. “That’s my baby though.” My tone grew serious, and the smile slowly faded. “I love the fuck outta that girl,” I sighed.

Today was the day and my heart was beating fast as fuck. Derrick was right when I ratted out the way I planned on asking Akira to be my Valentine. I could’ve done some simple shit, ordered some roses, and put some cute shit in a card, but that was too plain and Akira ain’t a simple bitch. Going all out for her is me doing my due diligence and making her brag about this day to her home girls in the group chat, brag about this shit to her sisters and always smile remembering this day, imprinting it in her mind. Fear cost me my life. Those days we spent apart did me dirty. It was moments, I’d catch myself about to text or call her, only to remember her petty ass blocked me. Though I sent most of text messages as SMS, she wasn’t responding. I’m too player to be sprung like this but Akira makes it worth it. There ain’t a bitch out there alive fucking with her on no level. She’s always on her boss shit, making major fucking moves, cashing out on herself without a fucking cosign. It’s shit like that makes my dick and she ain’t complaining about going 50/50 with a nigga or around here acting sad or depressed. I’ve always admired her go-getter lifestyle, and I’d watch from afar. Now, with a big dog stepping into her life, I get to take the load off, make dinner plans, pay for her oil changes, pay for new tires, pay her mortgage, and pay to get her nails and feet done and all the elite shit she likes to do. It’s funny all the buster ass niggas that clowned her, probably in her inbox begging for a second chance now. I haven’t been through her phone, but I’m a nigga with a dick and I know how niggas think. We’ll take a bitch through the mud and watch like a creep in a van, watching her go through different phases of the break up stage, then when she’s happy and has found herself we’ll send her the eye emoji, heart a few pictures here and there, send a lil’ sum to her cash app and hit her with the, ‘so damn you don’t fuck with a nigga no more?’ It’s just something about the way a woman glows after a breakup makes a nigga realize how good shit be until it’s gone. I didn’t want to be that poo butt ass nigga. Showing my love for her right here, right now, had me feeling good because she deserves everything good coming to her.

The set up at her homeless shelter was nice as fuck and I’d gone all out. This wasn’t the ordinary homeless shelter, it was a mini mansion, companied and cozy for the women and their families for comfort. It was lit as fuck and very creative. Access to the gated community was controlled by security personnel at the entrance booth, who enforced a strict policy regarding visitor registration. I had no reason to be on the visitor’s list yet, so I had Jalisa vouch for me as I trailed her in. When I approached Jalisa with the idea, I had her promise me she’d keep her fucking mouth shut, but besides Derrick telling me I was doing too much, she found the idea cute. What Akira’s hardheaded ass didn’t know was that I was planning this for a while, I just didn’t know the right way to ask her. I should’ve asked her on the beach in Lover’s Island, but I was nervous and I’m nervous as hell now, for no fucking reason. She got a player breaking up a sweat! Though the set up would’ve gone beautifully inside, the backyard suited the occasion better. She wouldn’t be Akira if she didn’t go all out so she had a huge backyard beautifully decorated on some landscape type shit. The favorite part about the set up was the inflatable projector I purchased. The walkway featured a decorative display of roses and candles housed in ribbed glass. Red heart shaped balloons were placed along the walkway too. I also hired a photographer to capture this moment, so we can embrace the beautiful memory to give our kids something to see. There ain’t no half stepping when it comes to her.

“How you think we should pull this shit off?”

“She’s already pissed off at me for having her run and get her shit for my mama. You know I like you if I lie for you.” Jalisa playfully hit me on the arm. “But don’t take advantage nigga, I’ll fill a pillowcase up with a bar of soap and beat your ass with it over my sister. It’s hell or jail over her, so you better tread lightly. Don’t get fucked up,” she warned me, pointing her dainty finger at me.

“Maneeee.” Holding up my arms in surrender, I backed up a little bit. “I don’t want no smoke. Lucky already told me how you get down.”

“That nigga done spent too many nights in the hospital fuckin’ ‘round with me. I don’t beat niggas but don’t push me.”

“I done heard the stories,” I nodded.

“But I think we should scare her,” she mentioned, shifting back to the subject at hand.

My brows creased in confusion. “Scare her, it ain’t Halloween fool,” I snickered. “Fuck you talkin’ ‘bout?”

“No Drill,” she snickered with me. “One of them has to call her and tell her the homeless shelter is on fire.”

“I ain’t trying to die today.”

“I think it’ll be a great idea.” One of the women behind us said. Smiling, Deontae's aunt approached.

“Thank you, Shunta,” Jalisa reached her hand out and high fived her.

“Only because Akira wouldn’t come for any random phone call. I mean she would, but it has to sound like an emergency if you want to get her over here quick. I don’t mean to speak out of turn or eaves drop on y’all’s conversation but scaring her would be a great idea. The security guard can cut the cameras off from the security booth, so she can’t access them from her phone and then call her. If the camera’s turned off, she’d believe it, those camera work through anything,” she suggested.

“Y’all women are pure hell.”

“I can’t wait to see how she reacts from all of this Akira is so deserving and she’s literally an angel.” Shunta’s voice broke, and she became teary eyed, making me reach over and rub her back to console her for whatever battle she was fighting. “I’m so sorry to get emotional, but when our house caught on fire, it was all over the news and it was so sudden. It was later investigated that it was due to a space heater connected to an extension cord. She was the first person to reach out. We got many donations, but it was hard for us to find shelter around that time and Deontae and I don’t have much family down here, besides my mama, but she’s battling cancer right now—but I’m rambling on and on. Akira is such an angel, and she has such a good heart. I always tell her when she walks there’s this light glowing around her.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I stated with a head nod. “I often tell her myself that’s she’s heaven sent.”

“Are y’all ready to do this,” Jalisa spoke, doing the Bird Man hand rub. This was all too fun for her mean ass.

Meanwhile, at the Valentine’s Day brunch

Akira Moore

“Nuh uh,” I called out. “Sit me at the kiddie table. I’m not grown enough to play Spades. I’ll draw four, skip you, reverse and draw two all day.” I giggled at my uncle Earnest, everybody calls him uncle e because he hates his name, but I don’t. He lets me get a pass because I’m his favorite niece. He was good, full and tipsy, trying to get me to be his Spades partner knowing damn well I don’t know shit about Spades, and I wasn’t trying to learn. Whenever him and my daddy are on opposing teams, they forget they came from the same ball sack.

“You need to spend some of that hard earned money at the casino with ya unc,” he slurred.

“No,” I grinned. “I’ll be ready to knock all that shit over if I lost. I’ll leave you to that. I hate using my money to buy scratch offs for my daddy.”

My daddy’s head shot up. “And you’d be the first person asking for your cut, with your lip poked out and your hand out. God knew what he was doing when he gave me three expensive ass daughters,” he joked.

“Nope,” Akiya spoke up beside me. “Blame ya wife. I had no business wearing Coach, Juicy Couture, Prada and Versace.”

“To my defense,” my mama called out. “Y’all daddy used to dress y’all up like little boys. If I put him in charge of buying y’all clothes and getting y’all dressed all the time, the clothes would be baggy, hair would be nappy and I was stressed out by all of that,” she stressed.

She was cute, dressed down in a champagne-colored pants set coordinated by red Tory Burch signature sandals. Her knotless braids flowed midway down her back and minimal make up graced her face. Pretty much everyone in attendance wore some form of red, nude or black. Those instructions were specific in the invitation, and from experience we knew not to show up in any other color. Like me, the black tube dress hugged my curves and the red signature Tory Burch sandals gave my outfit a pop of color. She’s the reason why when it comes to major events everything must be perfect. Instead of her slaving over the stove, she hired a black-owned catering company, and the food was so good. Though she wasn’t the host, she was still going around asking people if they needed or wanted anything, until my daddy yelled for her to sit her ass down.

“She ain’t lying,” Akea outburst. “My fifth-grade pictures are horrible!”

“This the reason I been shooting her club up aiming for a boy. The shit I go through is terrible with them,” he muttered to Uncle E, loud enough for us to hear, causing my mama to playfully hit him on the shoulder.

“Aww daddy,” I cooed and walked over to him so I could smother him in kisses. “You love us. You wouldn’t know what to do with a boy. Akiya is your tomboy.” With a giggle I glanced over at her and dodged the balled up paper towel she threw at me. When I ducked, it hit Uncle E on the head, causing him to throw it back at her and miss.

“Kira your phone is over there ringing off the chain. Why do you have it one silent?” my mama spoke.

“Oh,” I shrugged as I waved her off. “Did you see who it was?” My phone was placed on the granite kitchen countertop. I saw it flickering from here, but it couldn’t have been anybody important. Drill had dibs on my location and Jalisa knew I was busy.

“It’s Jalisa,” she glanced at my phone and told me.

Waving her off, I trotted down the hall to the guest bathroom, to pee. Jalisa ain’t want shit but to annoy me. Just like Drill, she knew where I was too. Knowing her greedy ass, she probably wanted me to fix her a plate. She didn’t stay far from my parents so if she wanted something to eat, she could either pull up or get it herself. After I peed, I grabbed some flushable wipes so I could wipe my pussy. Parting my legs open, I dabbed the cool napkin on my sore kitty and winced in pain. I didn’t have to look down there to see that my pussy was still swollen and when Drill woke up this morning, he noticed it too. He figured kissing my pussy would aid it, but it was so much kissing and licking he could do, that would make the pain subside. Which reminds me to make an appointment with my gynecologist because this ain’t normal at all… it can’t be. After taking care of my hygiene, I flushed the toilet and washed my hands, when I appeared back in the kitchen everybody was looking at me with these strange looks on their faces.

“What’s going on?” I mumbled, reading the room.

“Baby,” my mama walked over to me and with a concerned expression. “Jalisa said it’s important.”

“She don’t want nothing but a plate of what’s over here to eat. C’mon daddy scoot over so I can watch you take all of Uncle E’s money.”

“Baby girl,” he stressed.

“What,” I shrieked, slapping my thigh. They were starting to aggravate me, acting like somebody just died or on their way to death.

“She said something’s wrong at the homeless shelter,” she muttered a little bit too calm for my liking.

My face scrunched up in confusion as I grabbed my phone from her to see the many calls and unread texts from Jalisa. With a shaky thumb, it glided over my phone screen and went to the messages. I was on my way out the door with the phone to my ear, calling her back in a hurry. My daddy offered to go with me, but I told him I was fine for now. My heart was beating so damn fast, I didn’t know what the fuck to do. In panic mode, I got in my car attempting to back out the driveway and drive off only to realize I never cranked my damn car up.

“Jalisa, what’s going on?” I asked her in one breath as I cranked up my car to pull off. “Slow down, I don’t understand, what’s going on.” She was stumbling over her words making it hard for me to understand her.

“One of the kids mistakenly cooked something in the microwave and it was a fire,” she rambled.

“A FIRE! Who did it? Is everybody okay? Did you call the ambulance?”

“Yes, the ambulance is on its way, but the kitchen is messed up pretty bad,” she whined.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and went to my Vivient camera system, none of the cameras were working. I switched from every one of them and none of them had a signal. Fear struck through me like a lightning bolt hearing the word fire. The parents and I always practiced safety, but there were times when the kids would like to get too independent and make hot pockets or a bowl of noodles at their leisure without adult supervision sometimes. I knew something like this would happen.

Back To Drill

“She gon’ fuckin’ kill me for this shit,” I mumbled.

The tracking device app was open on my screen, so I was tracking her that way. The closer she got to the house, the more my heart felt like it was going to fall through my ass. This was too much like some simp nigga shit. Butterflies fluttered around in my stomach, making me feel queasy. I gulped, seeking to relieve any nervous tension I felt. The pre rolled blunt in my vanilla Dutch wrapper was calling my name, but I couldn’t smoke in front the kids and I don’t smoke immediately after gym sessions. Jalisa had me rushing to get over here, any thoughts of kicking my feet up to smoke was short coming.

“Put your phone on do not disturb so your phone can go to voicemail if she calls,” Jalisa mentioned.

“You taking shit too fuckin’ far now.”

“Just do it, chicken shit.”

Going along with her antics as if lying like there was a house fire wasn’t enough, she had me doing this shit. I turned to face the kids telling them to hold up their mini poster boards. With giggles on their faces, we practiced this a million times, so I guess they deserved a little chump change for the hassle. Jalisa and I chuckled, along with the other moms watching them struggle to spell out Will You Be My Valentine?

“Deontae, you and Amir have to switch spots,” one of the moms called out. “The N comes before the E,” she clarified.

“This is so freaking cute,” Shunta gushed, fanning her eyes. “I think I’m gonna cry,” her voice croaked.

“Oh, shit I almost forgot the music.” Jalisa uttered in a hushed tone as she brushed past me to connect her phone to the HomePod. When Snooze by Sza crooned through the speakers, she started winding her body mumbling the lyrics in a low tone.

“Boy,” she pointed at me, “she better give you a baby after this shit,” she giggled. “Give her something to be crazy about.”

“I do that enough,” I boasted sticking my chin out.

Some headlights illuminated through the wooden fence catching our attention. Jalisa scrambled over to me, signaling the moms to join her on the side of the house. Like a magnetic force, I felt her coming closer and closer. I stood stoic with a cocky smirk on my face on the other end of the candles where they stopped. On the projector, our videos played—the PG-13 ones. Most of them were videos of me fucking with her at randoms times and hyping her up, talking shit. A while ago, she planted a bug in my ear to keep videos in my phone of random moments that’d last for a lifetime, so recording her during those times would last if shit ever turned sour, we’d embrace these moment when times were good between us. My eyes peered through the glass doors watching her frantically run around the kitchen in panic mode with the security guard heavy on her heels. When she approached the backyard, I noticed her cheeks were wet and the dewy foundation casted stained tear streams. A puzzled expression donned her pretty face, as she took in everything around her before her eyes fell in me.

“Drill w-” she stammered. “What!”

“Come to daddy baby,” I demanded.

She gaped her mouth open and guffawed at everything in astonishment. With each step, her hips swayed and her booty jiggled, giving me something to feel on when she reached me. I held out my hand and clasped them with hers. For once in my fucking life, I felt complete.

“What is all of this?” she muttered over the music. “How did you—Wait.” Looking over my shoulder her eyes fell on the kids, catching their attention. They couldn’t conceal their giggles for shit as they held their letter in front of them. Their small hands and adorable faces looked so cute. The photographer got the money shot catching jaw dropping moments of our love.

“Drill,” she gasped then turned around to punch me in the arm. “I should kill you, you had me thinking something was really wrong. I damn near had a heart attack.”

“Were y’all in on this too?”

Messing with the kids, she leaned down and tickled their chins, making them erupt into laughter, spreading their love to them, not singling them out.

“Deontae, how dare you let them do me like that. I thought I was your friend,” she pouted. “Did Drill bribe you with something?”

“Nope,” his lil’ sucker ass lied.

“Uncle Drill gave us some money.” One of the girls squealed in excitement and dropped the board to pull the money from her school pants pocket. She flagged the $100 bill in the air making the other kids do the same thing.

“Drill,” Akira giggled. “Are you serious!”

“Blame Deontae, he hustled me,” I nodded my head to him.

“I don’t put it past him,” she smiled. “Drill, I love this, so much, this is beautiful Daddy.”

Reaching out to her, I pulled her in for a hug and grabbed her ass, giving it a little squeeze before tonguing her down. In our own little world, nothing else really mattered but this moment and I wanted it to be memorable for her…for us. Our tongues danced and we traded saliva until somebody cleared their throat catching our attention. She paused momentarily and looked past my arm. Jalisa and the other moms came into view showering her with hugs.

“Oh bitch, you ain’t shit but a back stabber,” she joked with Jalisa, playfully hitting her. “I was on the phone with your skank ass earlier and you didn’t say shit.”

“I couldn’t spoil it.”

“I bet Lucky would’ve told me.”

“And that’s why I didn’t tell his pig ass,” I mentioned.

“Shunta,” she grinned. “I see who side you’re on now,” she then teased Shunta.

“I’m guilty like the rest of them.”

The sun was setting, and the moment couldn’t have felt any more perfect. Orange, reddish and yellow hues contrasted the sky behind the clouds, making the view perfect as I looked at my girl… my lady… with a heavy love, a love so fucking heavy I was willing to suffocate and die with it. That’s how addictive her shit was. I never took it for granted, and she was teaching me through various sessions beyond sex that having love for her and being in love with her are too different feelings and the two shouldn’t be imitated or duplicated for the same thing. She was beautiful as fuck, somebody I’d be proud to call the mother of kids, introduce my family to, with her graced on my arm, mimicking a trophy on the top shelf.

“Y’all c’mon in the house let’s give them some privacy,” Jalisa spoke.

I waited until everybody was out of ear sight before I talked my shit. Biting down on my lip, I grabbed her closer and made sure to grab another handful of ass. The soft and plump flesh felt like puddy in my hands.

“A house fire huh,” she questioned sarcastically followed by a questionable brow raise. “I still can’t get over that.”

“Jalisa and one of the mom’s made that shit up. I told them I’d be the one to take the fall.”

She smashed her head into my white Amiri shirt. “Drill,” she moaned. “I love this so much. You’re really trying to have me out here crying, fucking up my makeup,” she awed. “I mean this is just too much and the videos, this is beautiful.”

“The only time I want to make you cry is when I’m digging deep in that pussy and you’re begging daddy to slow down. You know I don’t fuck around.”

“The kids are in the house, so don’t start nothing.” With a dainty finger in the air, she pointed it at me.

“That’s the only thing saving you from another Drill session.”

“Plus,” she winced. “My pussy is still sore from last night. I wasn’t supposed to let you fuck me like that.”

“The kissing and sucking on it I did this morning didn’t help?” He asked again, like our phone from earlier.

“Only for a little while.”

“Shit,” I nodded towards the house. “We can go on the other side of the house and get a quickie in.”

“Boy,” she snapped. “Are you crazy.”

“Crazy over you and crazy about you.” My arms swindled around her body, cradling her in my arms like she was fragile, at least her heart was. “Is this everything you thought it would be? Boost me up, bae. Did I half step?”

“No daddy, not even a little bit,” she giggled. “I think I want to get you pregnant tonight.”

“You think we’d make some pretty babies.”

“My genes would take all the credit. You’re a lil’ medium ugly Drill.” Dramatically throwing her head back she cackled.

“That shit ain’t that funny, cause from what I know two ugly people make some pretty ass babies,” I retorted.

“Ugly! Who me?”

“You the only ugly one standing there.”

“Stop playing with my gangsta nigga. You be sucking and slurping all up on this ugly ass pussy.”

“Uh Uh, that pussy ain’t apart of this fraction. That lil’ pretty mothafucka don’t deserve the backlash.”

“So I’m an ugly girl with a pretty pussy?”

“Yup.” Biting down on my lip, I tried to conceal the grin that was creeping on my face, but I broke it when she punched me in the stomach.

“Put that on yo soul nigga.”

“You know a nigga just fuckin’ wit’ you, but for real though, you never said yes.”

Crooning, she gazed up at me and blushed. “Say yes to what?”

“Being my Valentine? A nigga already got cold feet.”

“I want to be your Valentine.” Standing on her tip toes she pecked me across the lips. “Then the mother of your child, then your wife.”

My brow rose inquisitively, before retorting, “In that order?”

“Or however it happens. Our love story is ours to tell, and it started with you in a hot ass Santa Claus suit.”

My tongue swiped across my bottom lip as I nodded my head, agreeing with her. “With me trapping you in the hallway, fingering that pussy, making you cum, cause the last nigga who had that pussy in his palm didn’t know what to do with it. Don’t forget that part, Princess,” I asserted.