Page 3 of The Hood’s Finest: Jersey & Mylani

Jersey

I watched as shawty, and her sister walked out of the diner. I’d never seen her before, and that was odd because I knew damn near everybody in the hood. It was all good, though. I’d most definitely be checking for her cute ass.

“Bruh, she was fine as fuck. You about to smash, ain’t it?” my brother, Houston, questioned, sitting across from me.

Houston was the youngest of my brother Memphis and me.

We were raised in the heart of the hood, Decatur to be exact, by our parents, Charmaine and Kenneth.

We were some of the few in the hood that were blessed to have both of our parents in the household.

My mom was a middle school teacher, but she was only professional at work.

Charmaine Watson was as ghetto as they came.

Our pops, Kenneth, owned his own trucking company.

When he got his company where he wanted it to be, he took his family out the hood and moved us to Roswell.

I’d never knock my parents for doing what was best for their family, but I wasn’t giving the hood up.

That was my stomping ground, and I was forever gonna be a hood nigga.

“Depends on what I find out about her. She fasho looks smashable, but I need to check shawty’s resumé first.”

“I feel you. What you getting into tonight, though? I’m thinking about hitting up Gangsta Paradise. It’s been open for a minute and I ain’t been through there, yet. They said, the bitches in there bad as fuck.”

“Shit, I ain’t doing shit. I’m picking up Jerz lil’ bad ass later, but I can drop him off to Ma.”

“Aight, bet. I’ll hit up Memphis and see if he can get loose from Nisha’s looney ass.

” We both shared a laugh at our brother’s expense.

His girl was like a fucking warden. That nigga couldn’t take a shit without her crazy ass busting in the bathroom to make sure he was really shitting and not on the phone with another girl. The shit was comical as hell.

“Bet. I’ll get with y’all niggas later.” I dapped my brother up and went to handle a few things before I went to pick my son up.

I rode through the hood and stopped at one of my spots to check some shit out.

I wasn’t into micro-managing shit, but I didn’t play about my damn money.

I pulled up alongside the gate that surrounded the perimeter of the house.

I got out the car and walked through the gate’s opening and up the cracked driveway.

On my way, I passed a fiend walking out looking like they’d just hit the lottery.

Most would shake their heads in disgust or disbelief, but this was the type of shit I lived to see—muthafuckas making me money.

It wasn’t my fault they chose to get high.

I wasn’t forcing this shit on nobody, but I appreciated it all the same.

“Wassup, Jerz. What brings you to the hood? You fucking with the lil’ people today?” a young nigga named Ceez said as soon as I graced the living room.

“My money is what brings me here, nigga, and my shit better be right.”

“Bruh, don’t disrespect me like that. You know yo’ shit straight.”

“It better be. Y’all good in here, though?”

“Yeah, for now. I should be ready to hit Memphis up in a day or two so that I can re-up. Other than that, everything is cool.”

“Cool, cool. That’s the shit I like to hear. Y’all be easy and keep your eyes and ears open.” I dapped Ceez and the rest of his people up and set out to head to my baby mama’s house.

***

“Bruh, why the fuck every time I come ’round this bitch, you here?” I voiced when Tasha’s ass opened the door.

“What I’m doing here is none of your concern.”

“Man, where Shanna at?”

“She’s not here. She told me to let Jerz go with you when you came.”

“Let me? You can’t let me do shit when it comes down to my son. Matter of fact, go get him so I can go.” I didn’t know what the fuck Shanna had going on, but I wasn’t about to keep putting up with her sister’s snobby ass attitude.

“Dad!” my son yelled as soon as he saw me.

“What’s good, lil’ homie? You ready to go?”

“I been ready.” Laughing, I escorted my son to the car without saying a word to Tasha’s ass.

“Bye, Jerz,” Tasha said, getting my son’s attention.

“Bye, Aunt Tasha,” he mumbled.

I waited for my son to get fastened in his seat belt before I pulled off.

“Aye, why is yo’ Aunt Tasha always at the house?”

“She lives there now. She left her boyfriend, so Mom said she could stay with us.”

“Word?”

“Yeah. I can’t wait until she leaves, though. She’s too damn bossy.”

“Watch that shit. I done told you about yo’ grown ass mouth,” I fussed, hitting him upside his head.

“You just said like five curse words,” he said, frowning.

“I’on care if I said a hundred. I’m grown and you not, and fix your face unless you wanna fight.

” My son knew I didn’t play that shit with his lil’ ass.

I don’t care if he had my name or not; his lil’ ass wasn’t grown.

I pulled up to my parents’ house, and his lil’ ass didn’t let the car stop good before he bolted toward the house.

I couldn’t do nothing but laugh because I knew he was mad that I got on his ass.

He’d be alright though. I followed him inside, where I found him in the kitchen with my mom.

“Hey, old lady.” I kissed my mom on her cheek after greeting her.

“Boy, ain’t nothing old about me, so watch it. Where y’all coming from?”

“I just came from picking him up. Shanna wasn’t there, but Jerz told me that Tasha lives with them now.”

“Oh, yeah?” my mom inquired.

“Yeah, and apparently she’s been there for about a month. I don’t mind taking care of my son, but I’m not about to be paying all the bills and another grown adult benefits from it. Then she has the audacity to always have an attitude when I go over there.”

“Well, you need to talk to Shanna and see how long her sister plans on staying there. If it’s longer than three months, then she needs to help pay bills.

You’re right. She’s not your responsibility.

If she gives you a hard time, just call your mama, and I’ll be glad to put them both in their rightful places and then bring my grandbaby home with me.

” For their sakes, I hoped it didn’t come down to me sic’n my mama on their asses, but I would.

“Chill out. Don’t go over there and get jumped,” I joked.

“Boy, please. Anyway, is Jerz staying here tonight? If so, I’ll call Nisha to bring MJ over.” MJ was my brother Memphis’s son. He was a year older than Jerz, so my mom would have her hands full with the two of them. They were me and Memphis all over again.

“He’ll love that. Those two stayed getting into some devilment.” During the middle of our conversation, my pops walked in. He went straight to my mom and greeted her like he always did.

“Wassup, people?” he asked after kissing my mom on the lips and groping her like their son wasn’t sitting here.

“Wassup, Pops. How was work?”

“Running smoothly as always.”

See, what people didn’t know was that my brothers and I moved our drugs outta state through my pops’ trucking company.

He was against it at first, but once I presented him with a plan and he saw how the numbers would look, he couldn’t pass it up.

So, for the past five years, our dad has been somewhat of a silent partner.

“That’s always good to hear. I hate to drop Jerz off and run, but I’m meeting up with y’all other sons tonight, and I need to go and get myself together.”

“You just like your mama. I ain’t never seen a man get dressed at a woman’s pace before yo’ lil’ ass came along. I blame you for shit, Charm.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t listen to him, baby. It’s nothing wrong with a man taking pride in his appearance.” My mom sided with me as usual.

“I know, Ma. He’s just a hater like his sons. I’m up.” I left my parents in the kitchen and went to tell my son bye. I found him in his room they had set up for when he was here.

“Aye, man. I’m up. Don’t you and MJ show y’all’s asses too much, or I’ma fuck both y’all lil’ asses up tomorrow. You got that?”

“I hear you, Pops,” he replied, never taking his eyes off the game.

“You better. I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you too, Pops.”

I left my parents’ house and went home so that I could meet my brothers later at the club. It was always a movie when we decided to pop out, and tonight would be no exception.