Page 28 of Saved By A Small Town Country Boy

Khalif

The following afternoon

M y mind has been stuck on when Remedi discovered my cocaine farm. That’s something I never thought she’d stumble across. To know that someone outside the family knows what I’ve been up to doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t know her like that to know that she’d keep my secret.

I thought ’bout telling Creed and Dallas ’bout what happened, but they were just gon’ get in over their heads. I’ll be able to handle this shit on my own.

My phone chimed, and I grabbed it off the coffee table. Remedi: I want to talk to you about yesterday. Meet later?

Me: Front Porch Kitchen 6:00.

I slid the phone onto the coffee table. A knock at my front door grasped my attention. Getting up, I went over to see who it was. When I opened the door, Creed rushed inside.

“Cash is missing,” he said and paced the floor behind the couch.

“How? What happened?”

“He was stolen out of my yard. Some chicks egged my cars and stole my damn dog.”

“Who the hell you done pissed off?”

“I didn’t piss anyone—” His eyes expanded as if he realized just who had done it.

“I’m gonna fucking kill her,” he said and removed his phone from his pocket.

He dialed a number and placed the phone to his ear.

“Where’s Cash?” The pacing started again.

“I know you got my fucking dog. Bring my damn dog back.” I don’t know what woman he was messing with to steal his damn dog.

Removing the phone from his ear, he placed it back into his pocket. “Who took him?”

“Reese’s ass.” A laugh tickled my throat. I didn’t even bother to laugh at him. “Come with me to get him back.”

“What I’m supposed to do?”

“She likes you. Maybe you can talk her into giving me my damn dog back.”

This wasn’t how I expected to spend my day. If we were going over there, I could talk to Remedi as well.

“A’ight, but I don’t know how much help I’ll be.”

Grabbing my phone and keys, we left out the door. “You couldn’t wash yo’ truck before coming over here?” I questioned him when we got outside and I saw his shit was still full of egg yolk.

“I ain’t have the time. I been worried ’bout Cash.”

“I’m not riding ’round in that shit.”

“You’re more than welcome to wash it yourself since you wanna talk.”

“Let’s just go get Cash and get this shit over with.”

“That’s what I thought.”

We climbed into his truck and he drove over to Reese’s house.

I thought ’bout asking him what he did for her to steal his dog in the first place.

He and Reese didn’t fuck with each other like that.

He hadn’t come clean to her ’bout how he felt.

Maybe if he just told her that he was in love with her, all of this would go away.

Shit, maybe she was in love with him as well.

That’s probably why they were playing with each other in the first place—it sounds like love licks to me.

Creed pulled into Reese’s driveway. She was already standing outside. Remedi’s truck wasn’t in the driveway. There’s no telling where she was. I guess I’ll just have to wait ’til later to talk to her like we originally planned.

Creed hopped out the truck and rushed up onto the porch with Reese. “I know you took Cash. Where the fuck is my dog?” I lingered back to see what was gon’ happen next.

“Maybe if you hadn’t eaten my damn chicken salad, you’d still have your dog.”

“Chicken salad!” Creed yelled. Yeah, I was just ’bout as lost as him. “You kidnapped my fucking dog over some got damn chicken salad! Have you lost yo’ mind!”

Creed loves the fuck out of that dog. He’s like family to him.

It’s the only thing he has outside of us and his parents.

He’s raised that dog ever since it was a puppy.

I’ve watched him treat Cash better than he’s treated humans on a good day.

Reese knew exactly what she was doing when she took him.

It was the only way she was gon’ get the best reaction out of him.

The corner of her mouth quirked. At this point, I just wanted to go back to the house. I no longer wanted to be a part of whatever type of game this was they were playing.

“Aww, you miss your dog, Creed?”

His jaw muscles clenched, and he shoved her out of the way before storming into her house. “Cash! Cash!” he called out the dog’s name. She rushed in behind him while I waited outside. A few moments later, he came out the door with the dog in his hand.

“Stay off my fucking property, Reese. The next time you come out there stealing shit, I’m gon’ shoot yo’ ass.”

“The next time you steal my food, I’m gon’ shoot you! You’re not the only one around here with a gun, Creed!” She stormed into the house and slammed the door behind her.

Creed placed Cash into the back of the truck and climbed into the driver’s seat. He took him back to the house. As I sat outside, waiting for him to come out, my phone chimed.

Ma: It’s some guy here at the restaurant asking questions about you. I’ve never seen him before. I thought you wanted to know.

No mufucka had a reason to be at Ma’s restaurant asking questions ’bout me. We normally kept tabs on whoever was in and out of the city for particular reasons, especially to keep us out of trouble.

Me: I’m on the way.

It irritated me for someone to be down there harassing my mama.

She didn’t have anything to do with what I did.

In fact, she didn’t even know that I was selling drugs.

That part of my life, I kept her away from.

If Ma knew I was slanging dope, she’d kill me and then try to talk me out of it.

It’s nothing that I planned on doing forever.

There’s a limit to my madness. I just hadn’t reached it yet.

Creed jumped back into the truck. He stared over at me as if he already knew there was something wrong.

“Take me by Front Porch Kitchen,” I told him. “I think we have a problem.”

By the time we made it to the restaurant.

It was peak hours. The place was kinda busy with people everywhere.

I stood at the front of the restaurant, scanning the building in search of our unwanted guest. He’s sitting at the back of the building, talking to one of the waitresses, who most likely was the one who told Ma he was in here asking questions ’bout me.

Marching in his direction, I stopped at the table and took a seat in front of him. He looked up at me and beamed me a smile. Lil did he know, I wasn’t here on no friendly shit.

“Why the fuck are you in my city?” I questioned him as Creed hovered over my shoulder.

“What happened to y’all southern hospitality?”

“Nigga, you in here questioning people ’bout me. Why the fuck are you here?”

His smile grew wider. The corners of his lips touched his ears. “What’s the harm in asking ’bout you?”

I wasn’t dumb. He’d probably been doing more digging than he should. That’s the only explanation I could come up with, and it’s time for him to leave.

“Get the fuck outta my town.” I stood to my feet to leave.

“I ain’t going anywhere. It’s a free country, and you don’t own the place.” Nigga looked like trouble. He sat there at the table with a Snapback backwards on his head, rocking a plain white t-shirt.

My jaw muscles clenched, and I nodded. He wanted to pretend as if he was a tough guy.

My name may not be on the town sign, but this is my fucking city.

Everyone ’round here knows that. Gripping him by the forearm, I yanked him up from the table.

Creed snatched his gun from his waistline and planted it into his.

“You seem like trouble, and I’on like that.

” I pulled him out of the restaurant and took him over to Creed’s truck.

Opening the back door, I pushed him inside and got in alongside him.

Creed got into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the parking lot.

I kept my gun trained on him in case he wanted to try something stupid.

Creed drove ’til we made it to the Magnolia Falls city limit sign and pulled over to the side of the road. Staring at this nigga, I told him, “Get the fuck out and don’t bring yo’ ass back here. If I ever catch you in my town again, I’m gon’ send you to yo’ fucking maker.” His jaw muscle tensed.

“What the fuck are you waiting for, nigga?” Creed asked him, looking back into the back seat.

“You can either get out willingly, or I can shoot yo’ ass right here and toss ya body out there onto the side of the road. Either way, you not coming back into the city limits.”

“Can I at least have my gun back?”

“Hell no. Get the fuck out.”

Nodding, he opened the door and climbed out of the truck. Creed sped off, heading back into the city.

After handling everything I needed to for the day, I went back to Front Porch Kitchen to meet up with Remedi.

I just wanted to see what she had to say ’bout the day before.

I’on expect her to tell anyone what she saw, especially knowing that we were vibing the way we were.

I like her, but to protect myself, I’d place hot lead in her ass.

I sat there in the restaurant, waiting for her to arrive. It’s after six. I thought she would’ve been here by now. I’m giving her ass ten more minutes, and then I’m getting up to leave.

“You sure you don’t want to order something while you wait?” Karma asked when she stopped at my table.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Okay.” She bounced off, and soon as she left my table, the door opened and Remedi entered. Her eyes roamed the building ’til they landed on me. She approached the table and took a seat in the chair in front of me.

“Sorry I’m late. My last patient at the clinic ran over.” Sitting down, she picked up the menu. “How was your day?”

I wanted to tell her long as fuck, seeing how I had to start it off trying to get a dog out of Reese’s ass and ended it with threatening a mufucka, who I still don’t even know why he was snooping ’round.

I did alert Dallas to let her know that she needed to be extra cautious right now.

Something was telling me that I hadn’t seen the end of that nigga. He was here for a reason.

Instead of saying what I really wanted to, I opted for saying, “It was cool.”

“What do you suggest I get for dinner? I’m starving. I missed out on lunch earlier and just been snacking all day.”

“It depends on what you got a taste for. Today’s special is beef tips and rice.”

“Oh, that sounds good. I don’t remember the last time I had some beef tips and rice.” I lifted my hand in the air to call Karma back over so that she could take Remedi’s order.

“Yeah, Khalif?” she asked when she stopped at the table.

“Get her the beef tips and rice.”

“And can I have a glass of water? Please and thank you.”

“Sure.” Karma strolled off and headed toward the kitchen. Remedi placed the menu down on the table and turned all her attention to me.

“I did want to talk to you about yesterday. I’m sorry for roaming your property like that. I didn’t know I was going to find that. I promise you don’t have to worry about me saying anything to anyone. Believe it or not, I wouldn’t take you away from your daughter. Khali needs you.”

“I ain’t worried ’bout you talking.”

“Okay. I just didn’t want us to end up on bad terms. I really like spending time with you.”

The conversation shifted ’til Karma came back out with Remedi’s food. I sat back and watched her take a bite and savor it. I liked spending time with her too. We just have to see where shit goes from here.