Page 34 of Cove City: Volume II
“Bet I did.”
Samara shied away. Dio grabbed her hand and brought her over toward me. “Samara, this is my pops, Zeus. Zeus, this is my girlfriend, Samara.”
She looked at Dio curiously. “Wait, I thought he was your brother.”
Dio shrugged. “Yeah, but more like my pops. It doesn’t matter; just know it’s a nigga I will die for.”
She smiled. “You’re the guy who dates Sasha?”
That shit stung because I didn’t want to think about her; I had already lost hours of sleep trying to figure out how to rectify our situation.
“Something like that. Y’all hungry or some shit?” I asked.
Dio ran his hand over his head. I was still shocked he cut his locs, but my little nigga was fly without them, though. I was proud he was coming into his own. I knew he still had his ways, but Dio was trying, and that’s all I could ask for. “I’m going to take her to breakfast. Oh shit, Zeus. I meant to tell you. She pointed some nigga out that she said fried Chevy’s shit.”
Wrinkles formed in my forehead. “You know his name?” I asked her.
“No.”
Dio began moving his hand over his face, describing the man, “He’s some dark nigga, grills and shit.”
Was Dio talking about Pierre?“All I know is he knows Keith and Bishop, but it wasn’t Bishop,” she said.
“Who are all these niggas Zeus. Look, I was going to run his ass over last night, but I’m trying to be a changed person. I know you’ll handle it. Oh, and I applied for TSU,” he finished.
Samara tugged at his arm, “You applied for college?” she said, surprised.
“Yeah, yeah, I did.”
“I’m proud of you, kid. You’re a smart man. Pops wasn’t a professor for nothing. I think college is fitting. Let me get with Chev, y’all enjoy your day, and I hope you’re moving smart,” I said, looking at him, then her.
Dio didn’t say anything. He walked her to the door, and as soon as he opened it, Chevy was standing right there. He eyed Dio, then her. “Sup Chevy,” Dio said to him.
All I could do was laugh because Chevy had truly taken on a father role. He glanced at me, and I shrugged. “Zaria is looking for you,” he said to Samara.
She turned, kissed Dio, and left. As soon as she stepped out the door, Chevy stepped in. Dio started waving his hand as he walked up the steps. “Nah, Chev, don’t want to hear it. That’s my girl, not yours. Get over it,” Dio said to him as he disappeared beyond the steps.
Chevy pointed at me. “You letting them fuck over here, Zu, nigga what you on?” Chevy gritted.
“Welcome to fatherhood. They grown. Chill nigga, we got bigger fish to fry.”
Chevy came over and sat on the couch. “Yeah, like what?”
“Like Dio and Samara seeing the nigga that burnt your shit down. She said it wasn’t Bishop.”
I could see the concerned glare in his face. Chevy knew when he went on that rampage, shooting shit up, he had made shit worse. He nodded slowly. “Ok, then we need to find the nigga.”
“What about Bishop?”
“What about him? I don’t give a fuck about the nigga. It’s too late to take anything back. I’m ready for whatever. In the meantime, I wanted to talk to you about something,” he said.
He pulled an envelope from his pocket. It was orange with a gold emblem on it. “Fuck is it?”
“Some secret society shit. I know this has everything to do with Bishop. I don’t know what the future days will look like for the Zoo, but if they think they’re about to run us off, they better do their homework. I need y’all niggas to stay on your square. Protect your businesses and assets. This shit isn’t just because we have come into their world, this shit is about power. I need you to be on your grown man shit, Zeus. For real.”
I nodded. “I got you.”
“No, Zeus, I need more thanI got you. I don’t need Zu anymore, I need Zeus Jackson,” he finished and stood up. “Z is throwing a Zoo-Cue tomorrow, be there.”
