Page 26 of Suleem and Yahzi (D-Ville Projects #1)

Suleem

“Run that shit, Riq. Run that muthafuckin shit,” I yelled right after Kove inbounded the ball to Smalls who pushed past half court then did a behind the back pass to Tariq.

He caught it with one hand, dribbled to the free throw line, and was in the air on some Jordan shit.

The rim snapped when his hand grabbed it after the ball passed through the net with a nasty ass dunk that had the crowd going crazy.

“Oh shit that was sweet.” Yoel grinned, bringing his fist to his mouth before he shook his head, displaying his top and bottom grills. “Them niggas gonna cry themselves to sleep tonight.”

Bedford was down by ten but it wasn’t just losing the game. Our guys were embarrassing the shit out of them. Nuts in faces each time they gripped the rim plus dropping threes from half court. Their expressions were tight as hell.

“Ralph needs to find some ballers or stop signing up for this shit,” Yoel said as he pulled a blunt from behind his ear and fired up.

“Give that nigga some credit. They made it to the final round.” I smirked and dropped my eyes to the bleachers below me where Yahzi was chilling with Niecy.

I kept her up under me for the first two games but then Rebel and her girl pulled her away.

When Rebel dipped with her girl, heading to where the food trucks were set up, Niecy sat down next to her and they had been talking shit for the past twenty minutes, being D-Ville cheerleaders.

“Fuck that shit. Only reason ol’ boy hit that last minute three that got them to the final round was so they could get their asses handed to them by us,” Yoel said through a cloud of smoke, grinning lazily.

He had been smoking since he pulled up right before the first game.

I was surprised he was still conscious and upright.

“I mean, shit, they made it though,” I said just before Yoel jumped up and almost dropped his blunt yelling when Kove dropped one that was all net from the three point line at the opposite end of the court.

“That’s my muthafucking blood. Do that shit, Big Kove.”

When several of Bedford’s people glared our way, he kept talking shit. “The fuck y’all looking at?”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “Sit your high ass down before we have to break this peace treaty because you got them in their feelings.”

He leaned back, dropping his elbows on the row behind us. “Them bitches ain’t gonna do shit.”

Even though all the gangs mutually agreed that the end of summer games were neutral zones, our entire team was strapped with the understanding that egos flared when muthafuckers pride was challenged.

In the past seven years we had been hosting the Ball is Lyfe seasonal streetball tournaments, the worst conflict we ever had to deal with were a few arguments and fist fights.

Bedford was for sure bitchmade niggas but they weren’t crossing lines with kids.

Families were out here thick because we had kids 3V3 games happening on the courts near the playground.

I glanced at the clock on the scorer’s table realizing the last game was about to wrap.

The final thirty seconds were counting down.

My gaze found Yahzi hugging Niecy before she started making her way back to me.

That thick ass body had my dick bricked as she climbed the bleachers and stepped between my legs but I pulled her down into my lap to catch the last play.

Smalls inbounded the ball to Kove who dribbled to half court and tossed one up to Tariq who slammed that shit two seconds before the buzzer.

“Game, nigga,” Yoel yelled and pointed across the court to where Bedford was posted up. Kove turned at the sound of his brother’s voice and chuckled before tossing his chin. Yoel extended a closed fist toward me. “I’m out, fam. Let me go get my money before that line gets out of control.”

I tapped Yahzi’s thigh for her to get up and we made our way down the bleachers.

I dropped my arm around her shoulders, tucking her at my side while we walked to the tent set up to take bets.

Mr. Dave was an OG who handled all the bets for the game and pretty much everything in the hood.

His pops used to run numbers back in the day so it was naturally his thing.

He worked the tent with his two daughters taking the money and doing payouts.

Our people stood guard to make sure they didn’t have any issues.

When I walked up, Mr. Dave pointed to the duffle at his feet and motioned to his youngest daughter. “That’s his.”

She looked up at me and smiled, all starry eyed before she reached for the bag and brought it over. “Here you go.”

“’Preciate that.”

I turned to Mr. Dave who was double checking a payout for the person standing in front of him. “Kassir got his or you need me to take it?”

“He got it right before the game ended.”

“Aight.” I tossed my chin. Each coach handled the payout for their players so we were good on that.

They got ten stacks per game and an extra ten for whoever took home the trophy.

Jay-Roc had been our coach since the team was formed seven years ago and was a solid dude so he would be handling the payout for the Ballerz.

He did a short run with the Royals before getting injured and ended up coaching at the high school.

It bothered him that he wasn’t in a jersey anymore but his talent and skills were respected in the community and very necessary.

“You ready?” I dropped my arm around Yahzi’s shoulder and kissed her temple.

“Yeah, I’m tired. This was fun but it’s hot as hell and loud.”

When we made it to my car, I laughed arrogantly under my breath when I noticed Jessica parked next to me.

She was leaned against the side of her car, mugging the fuck out of Yahzi as we approached.

She wanted my attention so gotdamn bad it was laughable.

After I tossed the duffle in the trunk, I rounded the car to the driver’s side and pulled Yahzi into me so I had space to open her door.

Before I released her to get inside, I tongued her ass down.

When I let her go, she brushed her thumb over my lips, removing the gloss she left behind then turned to Jessica.

“Damn, girl. You’re all up in our grills.

Maybe stop chasing dicks that aren’t attached to your husband and he might show you some love.

” She smiled smugly at Jessica before she eased into the passenger seat.

I wasn’t surprised that Yahzi knew who she was.

When I got in and started the car, I turned to her. “You cool?”

“You fucked her since I been back?”

I chuckled and shook my head, not even entertaining that dumb ass question with a response.

“You know who that is?” I asked instead.

“Yep. She’s Niecy’s cousin. There’s a whole group chat about me.”

I knew they were family, and was hoping it didn’t come out, but also didn’t care. I fucked Jessica twice at my shop and she gave me head once in the parking lot of my building when she pulled up thinking she was about to chill at my crib. That was a no fucking go…

“Fuck you mean by group chat?”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Niecy was talking shit about you?”

“No, she pretty much told your little friend to find something safe to do and you didn’t answer my question.”

“Do I need to? I’m pretty sure it was understood that after I put my dick in you again that nobody else was gonna hold my attention. There’s no point in wasting my time or theirs.”

The corner of her mouth curved when she removed her phone from her purse and unlocked the screen.

“Yeah I know but I just needed you to speak the words out loud so you could hear them in real time. Sometimes, when you think shit or say it in your head, it’s not as profound and doesn’t hold as much weight. ”

I chuckled and shook my head but left the conversation there.

We pulled up at Pancake House to get some food before heading to the crib.

After we showered and ate, we sat on the floor in the living room.

Yahzi was between my legs with hers crossed at the ankle.

I unzipped the duffle from the tournament and dumped the money on the floor in front of us to separate and count.

Twenty percent off the top and the four to one odds I bet on with the Ballerz meant a nice ass payout. This was that vibe I would never have with anyone else. I would never trust another woman with my money like this and I damn sure would never let one be all up in my personal space.

“This is a lot of money. We have to count all of it?”

“I know you’re not complaining about putting in a little work.” I kissed her neck and she threw her head back against my shoulder, handing me a narrowed glare before she leaned forward and began organizing the bills.

“I’m not complaining, because the rule is I get half of what I count, and this looks like about fifty grand.”

When I was heavy in the streets, pushing weed and pills a couple years ago, Yahzi spent late nights getting me right when I wasn’t getting money. I always let her keep what she wanted. She could get that though, with no complaints on my part.

I smirked and pushed my hand under her shirt, placing my palm flat against her stomach. “Aight, you can have that.”

Back in the day, that was our deal. Whenever she helped me count and band my stacks, Yahzi kept half of what she worked through.

I moved faster than she did which meant she only ever touched a third of what needed to be organized.

That really wasn’t shit back then because it was before we started selling in bulk.

That nickel and dime shit wasn’t anything compared to the keys we pushed now.

“This is more than fifty grand because you gave in too easily.”

“A little over a hundred.” She leaned forward and moved the bills closer. “I’m just gonna count out fifty then and band up the rest.”

“How the hell you just gonna count out what you’re keeping?”

She grinned and separated out rows for fives, tens, twenties, fifties, and hundreds.

“Why aren’t there any ones?

“They go to Dave’s daughters.”

“Wait, so you just give them away without even counting?”

“Yeah but they work for it.”

I watched her shuffling through the bills, unfolding them, turning them the right way, and placing them on their designated stack.

“Why haven’t you ever let me count the tournament payouts before? I could have been paid.” Her tone was laced with amusement which had my lips curved into a smirk.

I buried my face into her neck, pushed my other hand between her thighs, and cupped her pussy.

“My aunt usually counts it. She refused to fuck with the money I made on the blocks because it was drug money but she would count this. Shit was counterproductive as fuck too because this money comes from drug dealers.”

“Don’t talk shit about her logic.”

I grinned and dropped my chin on her shoulder. “I’m not.”

“And don’t think your hands on me is gonna distract me from counting out my half of this money. I’m focused.”

I chuckled and kissed the rose behind her ear, letting her do her thing. By the time she was done and had all the bills counted and organized, I had smoked two blunts and was half asleep.

I was stretched out on the floor with my head in her lap while Yahzi raked her fingers through my hair. The shit was soothing as hell.

“I still have a lease in Crescent Falls.”

“You telling me you want to go back?” Even if that were the case, it wasn’t happening.

“You brought all my stuff here,” she said dryly and I smiled.

The night Kassir and I went to handle Dex and I packed up all her things, I made my point clear.

She was staying. Yahzi was drunk as hell that night so she didn’t notice until the next day.

She’d never brought it up but she also hadn’t completely settled at my spot yet.

“You still haven’t unpacked that shit though.” This time I opened my eyes and hers were waiting. She leaned down and kissed me.

“We’ve been kinda busy.”

“Get it done or I’ll handle it then your ass will be complaining when you can’t find shit.”

She rolled her eyes and changed the subject. “They said my mom is good and doesn’t need surgery.”

I nodded and didn’t say anything but smiled when she did.

“You already knew that?”

“Yeah, I checked on her a couple times this week. I didn’t want you stressed and caught off guard if there was an issue.”

She was quiet again and her fingers paused in my head. “Stop fucking smiling, Yah.”

When she laughed, I turned my head to the side and kissed her thigh.

“Your eyes were closed. How do you know I was smiling?”

“Because you’re predictable as hell.”

“I’m not. I just think it’s sweet that you check on my mother.”

“Taking care of you means everything attached to you.”

“It’s still sweet. Thank you.”

“You don’t need to tell me thank you, just let me eat your pussy and we’re even.”

“Um, no, she needs a break. You just had your way with her in the shower when we got here.”

I did, devoured that shit then pounded that muthafucker until she was cumming back to back.

“You owe me three years, Yah. I gotta get that before I slow down.”

…and put a baby in you.

She sucked her teeth. “Well, we’re on pause for tonight. You can start back collecting tomorrow. Sis needs a break.”

“I’m not trying to fuck. I just want to bury my face between them thighs and suck on them lips.”

“Which will end with me sitting on your dick or my ass in the air.”

I chuckled. “Aight, you got that, and I still love your pretty ass though.”

“You better.”

“You know I do, without question.”

I lifted my arm and wrapped my fingers around the back of her neck, bringing her mouth to mine. When my tongue met hers, my entire soul felt at peace. She was me and I was her. Nothing would ever change that.

My beginning and my end, my Yah…