Page 43 of Made to Love Ya

“Oh, is that what time you’re on?”

“Yeah. You got a man?” he asked when he reached out and gripped my chin.

“Yeah, she does. And that nigga don’t like nobody fucking with his possession.”

Drexel looked up and held his hands up to block out the sun. I looked forward and refused to meet Izael’s angry gaze. I could tell by the tone of his voice he was angry, but I had to keep up appearances for now just like he was doing by flirting with Ms. Big Ass.

“Word? I don’t see that nigga around, Zae, so I’ma get my holler on while I can.”

“I don’t think you wanna do that shit,” Izael replied.

“Why you cock-blocking, nigga?” Drexel asked and stood up.

“Like I said, I don’t fucking play ’bout mine. That woman ya ass is pushing up on is mine all day, homie.”

“Word? Why didn’t you say that shit from the start, G? You know I respect the code. I didn’t know y’all was rolling like that.”

“Oooh, girl! Why you didn’t say anything?” Kedra whispered.

“Shush, Kedra,” I whispered back fiercely as another voice spoke up.

“Yeah, I didn’t know y’all was rolling like that,” Tahj said from behind Izael.

I hadn’t seen my brother approach. I jerked my head back and looked at my brother, who mugged the shit out of Izael. His face was a deep shade of red, and his fists were clenched at his side.

“You got some shit you tryna tell me, big homie?” Tahj asked.

I could see the fury written all over Tahj’s face, but I also saw the way Izael shut down emotionally. He respected and loved my brother as much as he did his brother, but he had never been that guy to back down in the face of confrontation. Izael feared no man, and that was just one of the things that Tahj and I both loved and respected about him, but it was also the same thing that worried me now.

I hopped up from my seat on the edge of the pool just as Izael turned around and faced Tahj.

“Tahj, you know you my homie, and I don’t usually explain myself to nann nigga, but I didn’t want you to find out this way. Chè and I were gonna tell y’all when everyone else left for the evening.”

“How long this shit been going on, chief?” Tahj asked.

“A few weeks,” I answered.

Tahj wouldn’t even look at me. He kept mugging Izael with his nostrils flared, and he clenched his fists.

“I was just over there, and neither one of y’all saw fit to tell me that shit? When was the right time gonna be? You know how the fuck I feel about my sister, yo. You knew that shit was off limits. I’m coming over here to dead Drex’s ass, and all the while, the homie creeping with my sister behind my back?”

I could hear the hurt and pain in my brother’s voice, and I reached out to him.

“Tahj, it wasn’t like that. I?—”

“Man, shut the fuck up talking to me!” Tahj shouted and shrugged my hand off him.

I felt like someone carved my heart out at that moment. My brother had never rejected my touch before or yelled at me.

“Aye, nigga. You can come at me any way you want and be mad as hell at me. You got that. But don’t muthafuckin’ disrespect her. She ain’t did shit to you. That’s still your sister at the end of the day, nigga!”

“Nigga, I?—”

I saw Tahj get ready to throw the punch, but before he could, my daddy was right there. He grabbed my brother’s arms and held them tightly behind his back.

“Son, some shit you can’t come back from. You got every reason to be upset right now or feel how you feel, but this ain’t the answer.”

I looked at my daddy, who stared between Izael and Tahj, and I felt ashamed. I had brought this beef between two men who were like brothers. Neither of them deserved this.

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