Page 14

When you’re a man like me who was deep in the streets with blood on his hands, I felt there was a certain amount of good that needed to be done to atone in a sense.

Yeah, I was a man that didn’t give a fuck, but in the same breath, I did when it mattered.

Like with that Carlos shit. Yeah, I made that bitch dive off a twentieth-floor balcony, but I spared his wife and kids.

It was about balance. His widow got the money out of the safe she referred to, packed up the house, and was gone by the end of the week.

I went back and forth on whether I should tell my Mama Bee about Reya’s situation. I knew if I didn’t, it wouldn’t end well for me.

“Ma, Reya is at my house.” The way her face contorted told me that I needed to speak fast. “Some shit popped off in the street that she was a witness to, so I had to make sure that she was straight.”

She jumped up from her seat. “You done got that girl tied up in some bullshit! Lo’ak, that damn girl is a good girl that don’t bother nobody. She works her jobs, raises her boy, and carries her ass home. She not out here hoing with these stupid head ass niggas or nothing!”

“Ma, I know! Why do you think I got her at my house? I’m making sure she straight until my team makes sure everything is safe for her.”

Since I had been around Reya, I knew she was a good girl who stayed to herself. She cared about the betterment of herself and her son’s life.

Ma looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “You talking about you got her at your house. What about that bitch Alexi? Ain’t that bitch at your house too? I know that closed nose, flat faced bitch can’t be alright with that.”

She raised a quizzical eyebrow. My head slanted and my eyes tightened.

“Closed nose, flat faced, Ma? Is that how you see her?” I burst into laughter because she was dead ass serious. “Ma, I broke up with Alexi a lil time ago. I found out she was cheating on me, so I cut her loose.”

Ma’s eyes bucked.

“Audacity is on a buy one, get one free sale because I know that heifer wasn’t cheating on you.

God should have cheated when he made her and just decided to chuck her ass in the trash,” she quipped as she shook her head.

She glanced at the wall on the clock. “Them babies should be on their way back. I’m gonna let the girl shut the center down, and I’m coming with you. I need to put eyes on her and Lucas.”

This was why I didn’t want to tell her that Reya was at my house. I stayed away for this purpose. Ma was nosy as fuck. I sat on the couch and listened to her mumble about me messing up Reya’s life plan. Apparently, she was saving to go back to school. Ma knows everybody’s damn business.

I turned the television on to settle in until the kids got home.

The parents had to pick their kids up by six in the evening and it was only four-thirty.

Shit, let me see if I can take a nap while I’m here.

The second I stepped foot into my house, if Jedi was awake, there would be no nap for me until it was time to go to bed.

That lil boy loved to talk in his broken sentences and was inquisitive as hell.

God, please don’t let Ma pack an overnight bag.

My main house was on the outskirts of Charlotte in the town of Davidson, North Carolina.

I preferred to live on the outskirts the same as Sully.

We lived in the same neighborhood. Joey recently moved his family out here to Davidson in a neighboring neighborhood.

That was a big accomplishment for him, and I was proud that he took me and Sully’s advice to separate his family from the street.

The only reason that Mama Bee still lived in the same neighborhood was because she refused to move.

She proclaimed that her purpose was to serve and support the community that she was raised in.

From Mama Bee’s house, my house was about forty-five minutes away. During the ride there, I allowed her to control the music. It was all Al, Otis, Teddy, and Marvin. When we pulled onto my street, I noticed a vehicle parked along the curb that shouldn’t have been there. Man, fuck!

The left side of my driveway was always left open so that I could pull into my four-car garage.

It didn’t matter if I had a house full, which would never happen.

The only people that knew where I laid my head full-time were Joey, Sully, Mama Bee, Alexi, and now, Ethan and Reya.

From the garage, I heard the ruckus in my house.

I rushed in through the garage door that opened to my mudroom then my kitchen.

“Alexi, I think you have a fuckin’ death wish.”

Alexi was in my kitchen with Ethan in front of her. Reya was also in the kitchen on the other side of the island. She looked completely unfazed by the erratic screaming and jumping of Alexi. Reya moved around the kitchen cooking as if nothing was afoot.

“Nigga, this is what you’re on! You have this bum bitch in the kitchen cooking like she belongs here!” Alexi shouted before she advanced toward me. “If you wanted a downgrade, that was all you had to say.”

When Alexi raised her hand to slap me, she was met with a foot in her side. My head dropped because my ma was on one for that shit. Mama Bee wasn’t your typical old ass grandmama at fifty-eight. Her ass worked out daily and, against my approval, had an active dating life.

“Flat-face Martian! I wish you would put your damn hands on my grandson.”

Alexi crumpled on the floor. This shit is embarrassing. At the sound of Mama Bee’s voice, Reya spun around.

“Mama Bee!”