Page 8 of Suleem and Yahzi (D-Ville Projects #1)

I chuckled and locked the door when we left my crib. “I have never in my life had a girlfriend, Yah.”

“Then what was I?” I gripped her hips and brought her body to mine.

“My everything.”

Her pretty ass blushed and smiled so damn big I almost fucking laughed.

We took the elevator down to the third floor and I let us into my aunt’s apartment with the understanding that she would have cursed me out knowing Yahzi was back and she wasn’t the first stop we made. My aunt had been my only saving grace.

With two irresponsible parents who didn’t give a damn that they had a son, I was pretty much a lost cause from the first breath I took. My pops went to prison on a murder charge while my mother was six months pregnant. He killed three people during a home invasion and got life without parole.

A few months after I was born, my mother showed up at my aunt’s house and asked if she could keep me for a few hours.

Her ass never came back. Last I heard she was married to a doctor out West. The only time I’d ever seen her face was in the photo albums my aunt kept.

That woman didn’t mean shit to me, never would, but my Aunt Mae, I cherished that lady with everything I was. I gave her hell; she gave me love.

“Ma, where you at?” I yelled out and two seconds later she was fussing.

“Why you yelling in my house, Suleem?” She stuck her head out of the entrance to the kitchen, paused, then smiled big as shit.

“Now I know that’s not my Yahzi. Girl you better come on over here and let me hug you.”

Yahzi damn near skipped her ass to my Aunt Mae and fell into her arms. They hugged for so long I thought I was gonna have to break them apart.

“Oh baby, I missed you so much. Let me see you.” Aunt Mae stepped back and took both of Yahzi’s hands, inspecting every inch of her from head to toe. “You look good.”

“You do too. Okay, hair.” Yahzi reached out and touched my aunt’s braids. She called herself trying something new and came home with some shit she called goddess locs. Shit didn’t make no sense to me but she thought she was doing something.

It made her happy so I let her live, but the minute I caught one of them shady ass deacons sniffing around her, I would shut that shit down. She was spending too much time at church, talking about she needed to get her life right. Fuck all that. She could stay prayed up from her living room.

“You like?” Aunt Mae turned her head from side to side before raking her fingers through her hair and cutting her eyes at me because she knew how I felt.

“I do, got you looking like a hot young thang.”

“The fuck? Don’t do that shit. She’s already doing too much on her own. She doesn’t need you hyping her ass up.”

Yahzi cut her eyes at me and grinned. “You look good.”

“Chile, I know. Ain’t nobody worried about him. He’s a hater.” She rolled her eyes.

“The fuck you even know about a hater, Ma. Act your age.”

She narrowed her gaze my way then focused on Yahzi. “I’m glad you’re home so he can mind your business instead of mine.” She paused then frowned. “You are home for good, right?”

“We’ll see.”

I snorted at that shit because yes the fuck she was home for good. Even if it meant I had to lock her ass in my apartment to keep her here.

“Either way, you’re here now. Come sit down and let me feed you. I was about to make myself some lunch before my next session.”

Aunt Mae was a retired SPED teacher so she spent her summers and evenings tutoring all of the neighborhood kids.

She took that role seriously because, in her words, we had to uplift and look out for our own.

The kids loved her because she understood their struggles and never made them feel less than.

The parents loved her because she helped them navigate school systems that counted their children out instead of giving them different ways to learn or express themselves.

I smirked, shaking my head. This woman loved feeding people but I swore it was only because a full stomach would keep me in her presence. Unfortunately today that wasn’t going to work. I had somewhere to be and wasn’t about to leave Yahzi with her.

“Another time, Ma. I have to run by the shop.”

The hateful look she delivered almost had me willing to change my mind. “I can come by later,” Yahzi offered as a compromise.

“I’m going to be at church until nine but come have breakfast with me tomorrow morning. Without him, so we can talk.” Aunt Mae narrowed her gaze on me and I chuckled, thankful that I didn’t have any secrets or she would be handing them shits to Yahzi over her famous hash browns and thick cut bacon.

“Breakfast is perfect.”

“Okay, baby, I’ll see you in the morning.” She hugged Yahzi so tightly you would have thought she was her blood and not me.

We left and as soon as we were in my Jeep, Yahzi grinned at me. “You know your aunt has a man right?”

“Don’t get cursed out.”

“Why are you mad that she’s living her life?”

“Because the last thing I want to think about is one of them old ass muthafuckers trying to push up. It’s bad enough she’s running around here wearing clothes I don’t even want yo ass in and now she got them damn island braids, trying to look young and shit. Nah, I’m not fucking with that.”

“Island braids? How do you even know what those are?”

“Because that’s what one of her students said the day after she got them shits. Talking about Ms. Mae, you going on vacation? You got island braids like my mama had when she went on her cruise.”

Yahzi laughed a little too hard and had me glaring at her ass which had that beautiful smile on her face.

“Ain’t shit funny about a damn thing I said.”

“Yes it is. Your aunt is only sixty, that’s literally nothing, and she looks good. Better than good, hell, I’m a little jealous of her body.”

“Yah, please don’t say shit like that to me.”

“Why? She’s a young, beautiful woman who deserves to live her best life. She spent enough time suffering through you being her headache.”

I grinned and cut my eyes at Yahzi before I hit a left on 8 th street.

My shop was on Cambridge which was considered neutral territory.

Honestly, I didn’t give a damn about the location because if any of Bedford’s people tried me, I was dropping bodies.

When I was looking for a building, an OG was selling his.

It was already suited with everything I needed so it was pretty much turn key.

I had to make a few upgrades but that was about it.

Being in neutral territory also helped me get business from all over Diamond Falls.

Everyone knew about the issues between us and Bedford but things had calmed down enough for them to mind their business while we minded ours.

There had been a mutual understanding between us for years after shit went south when we found out they were snatching young girls and putting price tags on them.

Things were ugly for a while and a lot of damage was done.

Banging or not, there had to be rules that protected the innocent.

DP functioned by codes that kept peace with a separation of church and state.

Bedford did not. Their leader Riz was a bitch made muthafucker, but that was to be expected since his mama named him Ralph.

That’s what the fuck we called him because he needed to be reminded that banging was in our blood while he was playing dress up because Ralph was indeed a simp ass nigga.

“You getting work done on your Jeep?”

“Nah.”

Yahzi frowned. “Then why are we here?”

She swung her head to the building when I parked in front then narrowed her eyes before they landed on me. They dropped to my chest and she grinned.

“You have a job.”

I burst out laughing, “Nigga, no. I provide jobs. This is my shit.”

“You own that?” She pointed to the building. I shook my head and got out, rounding the front to get to her side. When I opened her door, I placed my hand on the roof and dropped down so our eyes were level.

“I had to give you something to come home to other than this dick.” My hand moved to the thickness against my thigh before I dropped a kiss on her cheek and eased back so she could step down.

I was late as hell so I wasn’t surprised when all eyes were on me. Nobody was crazy enough to say anything though. Well, almost nobody…

“I been calling you all morning, fam. Since when are you late?” Bowie had a goofy ass smile in place as soon as he saw who was next to me.

He didn’t know Yahzi but he knew of her.

Everyone in DP did. There was to be no mistake about who she belonged to, even while she was temporarily out of my care.

“You have hoes to give your time to, Bowie. The fuck you worried about my location for?” I grabbed Yahzi’s hand and headed to the back with his aggravating ass behind me.

He grinned wider. “I’m worried about business. You have a job scheduled for pick up at five. I was about to get in there and wrap that shit myself.”

I keyed the code to unlock my office and stepped inside. “I wish the fuck you would. The only rapping you do is that weak ass game you’re always kicking to clients only trying to get a discount. Touch one of my jobs and I’m firing your ass.”

Bowie chuckled, unbothered because he was the best mechanic I had so he knew his job was secure. “You not gon’ introduce me to your guest? I didn’t know it was ‘bring a baddie to work’ day.”

“Nigga…” I pushed Yahzi behind me and grilled the fuck outta him.

“My bad.” He threw his hands up. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Yahzi. Maybe you being here will calm this muthafucker down. He is a very disgruntled boss.”

I chuckled, shaking my head while Bowie left my office. I made my way to the cabinet in the corner and removed two pairs of black coveralls. I handed one to Yahzi and she looked down at them while I shook mine out and stepped into the bottom.

“What’s this for?”

“You, put them on.”

“Why?” Her pretty face twisted and I slipped my arms through the sleeves of mine.