Page 20 of Terrez and Shalene (D-Ville Projects #4)

Terrez

“Congratulations Mr. Blakewood. I think this purchase was a great investment. Buying land will always be the quickest way to gaining generational wealth. If you keep it, you can keep passing it down,” the realtor, Tim, stated.

Tim had been helping me find land and he also knew about property sales.

He’d schooled me a lot on what to look for while purchasing either.

I was stuck between what I wanted to use the property for.

A part of me wanted to use it for an all-boys community center, but the other part of me wanted to build a few houses and rent them out.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to decide right this moment.

The land now belonged to me and I was proud of that.

“Thank you, Tim. I’ll definitely keep in touch with you. I have a friend that’ll be looking to purchase property, so I’ll give him your number,” I stated, referring to Little.

“I appreciate that. Give me a call if you need anything before that.”

The two of us shook hands one last time before he turned to leave.

Digging in my pockets for my keys, I walked to my truck in excitement.

I couldn’t wait to get home to tell Shalene the news.

Before I could go home, there was one last piece of business I had to take care of.

It had been weeks since we had to take Chaos’ bitch ass out.

Shit had been running smoothly at the Roosevelt house and there hadn’t been any moves made by those Bedford niggas.

None that were relevant anyway. It was time for me to move forward with my life.

I had no interest in doing this shit until I died, but Shalene coming along sped up my clock.

Pulling up to the block, Simba and Kwan were posted up in their usual spots. They both spoke when I was out of my truck and headed to the front door. Twisting the knob, I saw Big Lou sitting on the couch packing more product while Little ran a stack of money through the counter.

“What’s good, bruh? I ain’t know you was stoppin’ by today,” Little said as he slapped hands with me.

“Yeah, let me holla at you real quick. I won’t keep you long.”

“Aight. Lou, you got this shit for a second?”

“I got you, bruh.”

Once we got to the backyard, I took a blunt from my pocket and sparked it. This was a celebratory smoke and Little would soon come to know it.

“Shit been smooth?” I questioned, already knowing the answer.

“Shit been smooth. You heard otherwise or something?”

“Even if I did, I’d never take another man’s word over my brother’s.

That night we had to ride out, we had them words.

I thought on the shit and I just wanted to apologize for making you feel like I was testin’ your manhood when it came to this shit.

I had a bad feelin’ about that nigga the moment you brought him in.

I just couldn’t say shit because he hadn’t done shit.

But shit became obvious to me when he started movin’ funny. ”

“That’s the thing. When I first met Chaos, none of that funny shit was even happening. The nigga was solid until he wasn’t. I just had to make sure I was on the money before I took his ass out, but I would’ve moved like that with anyone.”

“I respect it. But my point in bringin’ it up is for me to tell you that I trust your judgment. I don’t ever wanna see you behind bars again, man.”

After passing him the blunt, I took a set of keys out of my pocket and handed them to him. With confusion written all over his face, Little held the keys in the air and waited for me to explain.

“Those keys are to the other three spots. As of right now, they officially belong to you.”

“Yoooo. You fuckin’ with me right now?”

“Not at all. I been ready to give you this shit the last couple months. Just needed to make sure that mess was cleaned up before I put more on your plate,” I admitted.

“Damn. Man. I thought you were gon’ give the other three to D-Man’s ass.”

“Nah. D-Man is good at what he does, but I don’t think he’s ready for the big dog responsibilities. There’s potential, but he still needs some training. Maybe he’ll be ready by the time you ready to step away from the shit.”

“That’s what I’m thinkin’ too. I’ll make sure he’s ready by then. Lil nigga ain’t gon’ know how to act with all this shit,” I joked.

“He will. He just got some maturing to do. All your people okay with the new management?”

“Everybody cool. Once I assured them that the money wouldn’t slow up, they were good. Plus, D-Man is a face they’re all familiar with. If they see him still in charge over there, it gives another sense of stability. Everyone fucks with you though, man. This life chose us, remember?”

I took a few more minutes to give him a brief rundown of how I handled my other spots, but I didn’t go into too much detail.

He’d be running them the way he saw fit from now on.

I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he started seeing the money come in from the other spots.

The shit was too lucrative to pass up. That’s why I didn’t think about passing them off until I got a chance to make equal or more money.

“You comin’ out to the block party?” he asked as I was walking to my truck.

“Yeah. I’m still DP for life. Just letting go of the street shit. Plus, I want Amayah and Shalene to see how we get down. I tell her all the time we do it big for the community, but I think she believes we’re just more gun totting goofies like these other gangs.”

“I think that’s true for Pat’s ass too. She stay actin’ like she ain’t fuckin’ with me, but she answer every time I call,” he revealed.

“You still hangin’ in there? I thought y’all asses were on some one-night stand type shit.”

“Nah, I fuck with Pat. She’s smart as fuck and got some good ass pussy. She’s givin’ me the runaround, but I know she fucks with a nigga.”

“What about the nigga she got the situation with?”

“Shit, if she got a situation, I can’t tell. She answers my calls and texts me back in a decent time. Bruh must not be fuckin’ shit up like I do.”

“Aight, bruh. I ain’t tryna think about that shit.”

“I’m just sayin’. As far as I’m concerned, I’m the only nigga she in a situation with.”

“Cool. I’ll see you at the party tomorrow, my nigga.”

“From the cradle to the casket.”

“From the cradle to the casket, my nigga.”

Now, I was heading home to tell Shalene the good news.

She’d been on my ass about stepping back from the streets, so I knew her little ass would be head over heels.

Since my mother was at work right now, I planned to tell her tomorrow when she came over for the block party.

Every year since I’d been part of DP, they requested that my mom make a few pans of her homemade peach cobbler and ice cream.

She enjoyed doing it and this year would be no different.

“Shalene, taste this and tell me if it’s missing anything,” my mother called out after pulling the cobbler from the oven.

“I’m sitting right here. Why you ain’t ask me?” I asked, acting slightly offended.

Since Shalene and my mother had that initial meeting, the two of them had grown close.

My mom would call just to check on Shalene and Amayah and they’d even gone out for girls’ day a few times.

I appreciated my mother for going above and beyond for my lady, but I was also happy Shalene was receptive.

I never wanted her to think my mother was trying to step in and be a mother figure to her, because it wasn’t that.

My mother was a kindhearted woman by nature and had been through her fair share of things.

She only wanted Shalene to feel comfortable and leave the lines of communication open.

“You always taste it. Shalene has never tasted my cobbler, so I feel like she’ll give me a more honest answer than your greedy ass.”

“That’s not true. If anything, I’m gon’ be the one to give you the real. Shalene may be scared to hurt your feelings,” I joked.

When Shalene stood from the couch, I smiled because my baby was really taking her fitness journey seriously.

She was in the gym with or without me at least four days out of the week.

She kept up with her meal prep during the week and made sure to not go overboard on her cheat days.

Outside of a glass of wine on Friday nights, she stuck with water only and the results were shining through.

She’d lost twenty pounds since we’d been together and I could tell she was happier.

She was more confident and that was what I loved most. Those little insecurities that showed when I first met her were no longer coming up as frequently.

Her hair was even thriving. She had long hair when I met her, but these days, it felt like those curls wouldn’t stop growing.

I didn’t think people realized that being healthy was the answer to a lot of their problems most of the time.

Last night, when I came home and told her all the news, she was more excited than I thought she’d be.

I didn’t eat a lot of sweets, but she’d gone out and gotten me a small cake.

She also gave me flowers, which I’d never received before.

I wasn’t sure how to take it at first, but my mother reassured me that men should be given their flowers as well.

“Tell me what you think,” my mother said to Shalene as she took the first bite.

“Oooh, this is good. The only thing I think it’s missing is a little more cinnamon. Everything else is perfect.”

“Thank you, baby.”

When Amayah pointed at the plate in her mother’s hand, my mom sat her on the bar stool next to me and gave her a small piece of her own.

“Lord. She’s about to be hyped up.”

“That’s okay. She’s about to be outside running and playing her little heart out. Gammy is gonna make sure of that,” my mom countered.

“Terrez keeps telling me that there’s a lot for the kids to do. So I’m hoping she has fun.”