Page 1 of Without You I Have Nothing To Lose

Chapter One

Demetric

Iwokeuptothesound of my phone going off back to back. The sun blinding me let me know I wasn’t in my own shit. I looked over and saw Paris’s ass stretched out on the other side of the bed. “Fuck,” I mumbled under my breath. I looked at the phone again and saw it was my pops calling. Well, he wasn’t my real pops. I never knew who that nigga was. Zeus and his wife Isabella were my foster parents. Even though I was a grown ass man now, they were the closest thing I had to an actual family. I even gained an aggravating ass little sister when I moved in with them when I was thirteen. Noticing it was after ten, I knew this nigga was calling to talk shit. I didn’t want to hear that shit right now, so I sent his ass to voicemail and got my ass up. I don’t know how I slipped up and stayed over here in the first place. The last thing I needed was for Paris to think some shit would come from this. Cuffing a bitch was the last thing on my mind. My mama Juanita showed me at an early age what a woman was good for, and that shit stuck with me. Stretching, I got up to put my clothes on so I could dip. I didn’t want to be here when she got up. Quietly, I dressed and on the way out, I let a few bills on the dresser. When I got in my car, I called Zeus back.

“I know you see the fuckin’ time, Meech. The fuck you at?” he barked into the phone. I knew he would be pissed, but he’d get over that shit. It was too early for all that damn yelling.

“I overslept,” was my response. Shit, it was true. I got fucked up with my homie, Kev, and ended up balls deep inside Paris’ pussy. Shit in between was a fuckin’ blur.

“Beat me to the house.” He hung up in my face. He did that shit to piss me off. I needed to go home and shower, but I didn’t need to hear this nigga’s mouth any more than I had to. I’d shower there if I had to. I still had my room and shit there, so it wouldn’t be nothing for me to go to my old room and shower and change clothes.

Pulling up to the house, I punched in the code and drove through the gate. I was glad this nigga wasn’t here. After letting myself in, the smell of cinnamon hit my nose. I knew that meant Ma Izzy made quesitos. Following the smell into the kitchen, I found her at the sink, washing the utensils she just used. When she noticed me, a smile quickly formed on her face.

“Hey, hijo.” I kissed her on the top of her head since I still needed to handle my hygiene.

“Wassup, Ma. You got it smelling good in here. I know you got a few for your boy to take wit’ him?” I smirked at her reaction because she knew she couldn’t cook shit without me taking something to the crib wit’ me. Ma Izzy was Puerto Rican, so when I moved in I got introduced to a lot of Hispanic dishes. Shit went beyond tacos and was good as fuck.

“You know I got my baby boy,” she responded in her thick accent. Zeus did good because Isabella Parsons was fine as fuck. She reminded me of La La Anthony. If I had met her outside of her house and not see her as the woman that raised me. I would’ve tried her. I preferred older women anyway. Paris was ten years older than me at thirty-three, but you couldn’t tell by looking at her or the way she acted sometimes, though.

“Boy, ain’t nobody got nothing in here for you. None of your old hoes fed you?” My sister, Jaylen, came into the kitchen and started her shit. She was already with the Parson’s a few years before I got here. Her parents got killed in a home invasion. When they found her, she was asleep by her parents’ dead body. She was three at the time, but still remembered that shit. I remember her having nightmares when she was younger and would come into my room to sleep with me. I didn’t have siblings with Juanita, so it was kind of cool to have somebody that needed me to protect them. So, now I have an aggravating ass twenty-one-year-old sister that I’d lay the entire world down behind.

“Stay out my business.” I mushed her head.

“Keep your hands off of me and you still look like yesterday.” She had a mug on her face that pulled a laugh from the pit of my stomach.

“Watch out. I’m about to go handle that.” I took the stairs in the kitchen that led upstairs and headed straight to my room to shower. When I walked inside, Paris was calling. Huffing, I answered the phone as I ambled into the bathroom.

“Yeah?” I answered, setting the phone on the counter.

“Why didn’t you wake me before you left?” she whined. I hated that shit.

“Didn’t think I had to. I knew how to let myself out.”

“You don’t have to be so brash with me, Demetric. I’m not one of these lil’ young girls you call yourself messing with,” she sassed, and I laughed at her dumb ass.

“Yet, you’re on my phone whining like a fuckin’ baby. I left because you know I didn’t plan on staying the night. I had some shit to handle wit’ my people and because I overslept, I gotta hear his fuckin’ mouth.” The phone was silent, but I knew her ass was still on the line because I could hear her breathing. “Aye, I’m not in high school. I’m not about to sit here and listen to you breathe on the fuckin’ phone. I just told you I had shit to do, and it’s clear that you don’t have shit to say.” I was about to press the end button on her ass, but she spoke up.

“Am I going to see you later?” she asked.

“I doubt it.” I hung up the phone before she could start all that whining shit. After I brushed my teeth, I hopped in the shower and washed yesterday off of me. When I got out, I felt like a new nigga. I knew Zeus was here by now, so I quickly dressed and headed back downstairs to find him in the kitchen feeling up Ma Izzy like they were some horny ass teenagers. I didn’t see Jay, so that meant she got light before they started their shit.

“Wassup, Pops?” I smirked. I knew that shit was going to piss him off. He hated it when I was late to meetings or missed them altogether. This nigga was looking at me like he wanted to shoot the shit out of me, but knew he would have to answer to Ma Izzy if he did. I may not have come from her, but you couldn’t tell her that. I didn’t take this nigga serious for a long time. He favored the singer Tank, and I just knew he was a soft ass nigga. That was until he knocked the wind out of me when I was fourteen. I called myself bucking at him, and that shit went left…fast. Ma Izzy had to come and get him off of me because that nigga was really beating my ass.

“Don’t wassup Pops me, lil’ nigga. You forgot how to tell time or some shit?” He grimaced. I threw my head back and swiped my hand down my face.

“Nah, I didn’t. I just overslept, is all.” Zeus hated fuckin’ excuses, but shit. What did he expect me to say?

“Office,” was all he said before he walked off. Rolling my eyes to the top of my head, I followed this nigga out of the kitchen and down the hall until we were both sitting in his office. He sat behind his desk, just staring at me before he started with his bullshit.

“Look, I didn’t mean to miss the meeting and shit. I got too fucked up last night, and I overslept. I didn’t even stay home last night. I’m not trying to give you no bullshit ass excuse, but that’s what happened.” I started talking because I didn’t need one of his speeches right now. A nigga was twenty-three…not three.

“I don’t care how you dress it up. It still sounds like an excuse to me. How am I supposed to hand this shit over to you if you ain’t ready?”

“Who says I’m not ready?” I frowned.

“Nigga, you’re saying it by being reckless and irresponsible. Ain’t no pussy about to have me late for business. Especially one that I ain’t tied to. Tighten up, Demetric ’fore I do that shit for you.” I hated when this nigga started talking to me like I was a kid, but I wasn’t stupid either. I sat there with a mug on my face and took that shit.

“You done? I got shit to do.”

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