Page 10 of Vaughn & Cori (D-Ville Projects #7)
Vaughn
I’ve had sex with more than a few women since Toya passed and I ain’t ever dove face first in the pussy the way I did last night.
I haven’t gone over two rounds in one night, still wanted more either, and I sure as hell haven’t found myself laying on my side, talking face to face in the bed on some pillow talk shit, yet here I am.
“What are you thinking about over there?” I ask as my leg intertwines with hers under the covers and she smiles.
“About how good that was. It’s a shame you’d rather be out exacting your revenge if we only had one more night left.”
I chuckle at her reference to our earlier conversation, even though I can tell by the look in her eyes that’s not actually the truth. So I try again to coax it out of her.
“Maybe I’ll let them niggas slide for this.” I reach over, putting a hand on her waist, trailing it slowly along her hip before cupping her ass. “But you’re going to have to keep it real with me. What are you really thinking about?”
She shrugs, mindlessly tracing the lines of a tattoo on my chest that’s fascinated her all night.
“Not that it really matters, but I was wondering about the status of your gang affiliation.”
“If it doesn’t matter, then why are you asking?
” I reply with a smile. It’s meant to tease her, but when I hear the words out of my mouth and see her reaction, I pull her closer before she gets in her feelings and tries to move away from my touch.
But she quickly stops me with a stiff arm as her head rears back.
“You just said keep it real, and that’s what I was thinking. Excuse me for wondering if the man I’m fucking has gang affiliation,” she says, creating so much space between us that we’re no longer touching. I let her have it as long as she doesn’t completely leave the bed.
“I’ve been cool with Saleem, Kassir, and them for most of my life, but my mom didn’t play that gang shit, so I was always forced to stay on the sidelines.
Then there was basketball that took up a lot of my time…
and Toya.” I stop for a moment and keep my eyes on her as I resist the urge to reach over and bring her closer to me before continuing.
“When I met Toya, she was my ride or die… my rock. Shit, when we finally got together, she was my gang. So, to answer your question, no, I’m not a member of DP, but don’t doubt that I won’t get active if needed. We’re all from the same place, baby.”
She’s lost in thought and nods to herself as I reach over to pull the lower lip she’s been nibbling from her mouth.
When she doesn’t pull away, I move to close the distance between us when my phone rings, stopping me dead in my tracks.
If it were any other ringtone, I’d ignore the shit, but it’s the one I have specifically set up for my mom and Jay, who wouldn’t be calling this time of night unless the shit’s important.
“Fuck. I gotta get this,” I say, reaching for my phone before lying back on the bed. I forgo my normal greeting and get right to the point.
“What’s up?”
“Vaughn?!” my mom says into the phone like there would be someone else on the other end.
“Yeah, Ma. What’s going on?” I ask again, preparing myself for what she has to say.
“Jay got picked up.”
As soon as the words are out of her mouth, I’m sitting up.
“Picked up as in?”
“Arrested… He said he tried to call you,” she clarifies when I don’t immediately react.
“Alright, I’ll handle it,” I say, saving the rest of my questions for Jay’s ass when I see him.
“Don’t have my grandbaby sitting in lockup all morning, Vaughn,” my mom says, knowing good and well she would’ve let my ass sit for a good while before making a move to come get me. I don’t even acknowledge her request with an answer.
“Bye, Ma.”
I hang up the phone and see two missed calls. One is a random government number, and the other is from Keyoni, a DP resident who works K9 for Diamond Falls PD. I fall back on the bed and look at the clock before turning to Cori, who’s silently watching me.
“I gotta go. I can take you home or you can stay here and sleep. I’ll be back once I handle this.”
I expect her to have me take her home, but she moves in to kiss me on the lips instead.
“I’ll see you when you get back,” she says, then slides back under the covers.
It takes me less than thirty minutes to get dressed and drive to the Diamond Falls PD, where I find out Jay and Petey were stopped and brought in on possession charges.
Then it takes another thirty minutes to get him released.
When I see him coming from the back holding area looking way too comfortable, I’m relieved that he’s safe and unharmed but pissed as hell.
The only reason I don’t go the fuck off in this lobby is because as I wait for him, I find myself wondering what Toya would do in this situation and act accordingly.
I’ll be quiet for now until we get in the truck.
“What happened, Jay?” I ask before he’s even able to shut the door.
And even though I’d already gotten a quick rundown of what happened from Keyoni, I need to hear it from Jay himself.
If he’s trying to be about that life, he’s going to have to own that shit to me and anybody else he crosses paths with.
But it’s obvious he’s not ready for that shit when he gives me the same played out response.
“Nothing,” he says, shrugging it off, and I’m not prepared for how much that one word pisses me off at the moment.
“Shit, something did happen. Did I not just have to come bail you out in the middle of the night?” I try to keep my eyes on the road and him at the same time, waiting for him to own his shit.
This time when he speaks, nothing turns into an explanation of how Petey’s drunk ass had Jay drive him home only to get stopped by police with a whole QP in the car.
“So you’re selling now and playing ball?” I ask, throwing the question out there the same way my mom confronted me when I was his age.
“That wasn’t my shit,” he says and I don’t miss his obvious word choice that’s not a denial of selling himself.
As someone who was in his position before, I can’t do shit but accept his answer…
for now. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s definitely detrimental to his basketball aspirations if he moves sloppily and riding around with that amount of bud for no reason is sloppy as shit.
“Did you tell the officer it wasn’t yours?” I ask, already knowing the answer but using the question as a way to move to the next issue.
“No.”
“What did Petey say?”
“He ain’t say shit either.”
I nod, mostly for dramatics, because I already know how Petey gets down and so do most of the officers at DFPD. That’s why they released Jay into my custody with just a slap on the wrist. I just have to get my son to understand it won’t always be that easy or safe to get caught out there like that.
“So not only were you driving around for kicks while P was holding, but you’re taking the L for it too.”
“I didn’t know there were drugs in the car,” he says, clapping his hands to emphasize his point until I give him a look that has him toning that shit down.
“You expect me to believe you ain’t get a whiff of nothing?
This is Petey we’re talking about, Jay.” It’s all I can do to keep a somber expression and not laugh to keep from crying because ain’t no way.
“I know P family and all, but you gotta learn how to fall back from that nigga sometimes. You’ve got to realize he ain’t for you.
He’s for himself and that’s it. If anything, he should’ve been taking ownership and protecting you.
Not the other way around by y’all both staying silent. ”
“I hear what you’re saying, Pop, but I ain’t no snitch,” Jay says, hitting me with those famous last words of anyone who’s ever had something to lose. I just hope he’s the exception.
“Yeah well, you keep fucking around with P and that list of things you’re not will just get longer.”
This time Jay doesn’t come back with commentary, he just stares out the window, quiet as hell, and I focus on the rain soaked road that makes me think of his mom again.
She would’ve been angry and in tears right now but would’ve managed to pull her shit together to handle this situation so much better than I’m doing.
When we pass Highland Park he exhales hard and I know he’s thinking about her too, each block between here and home triggering a core memory.
She’d sit in that park for hours with me as a teen, then with Jay when he was younger, watching him play and never complaining once.
Always saying if Jay was good, then so was she.
It’s for that reason alone that I end up spending the rest of my morning with Jay instead of leaving to have Cori for breakfast.