Page 5 of For the Love of City
Her eyes shifted around and it was like God told me to brace myself for whatever she was about to say. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I could feel how she was going to ruin whatever plans I had for tonight. We were already in the thick of the Great Pollening of Georgia so everything was covered in that neon green plant jizz that tore up Trav’s nose until the rain washed it away. I didn’t have space for shit else today. Let alone this broad and her confessions.
She bit her lip before looking around with her nose slightly turned up. “I’ve seen the way the girls around here get by. My daughter is pretty as hell—”
I scoffed and shook my head because I was about to load her in my Tahoe and drop her ass off at rehab. She had to be on that shit to say something so easily about her blood. “I know you not about to say you want me to do some pimp shit with your daughter.”
“No, but nobody gets a free lunch. I don’t have the money to take care of her—”
“Your man ain’t have life insurance?” One thing about King was that he wanted us to always have an insurance plan. Thattraining had saved the niggas who’d listened families from having to sell plates to get them buried. There was no way that she was just out here without money. Dae was a smart man. Besides dealing with King, he had put his money into a rim shop that was popular. Folks were lined up to get custom work from him so there was no way that in less than ten years it was all gone.
The way Reina rolled her eyes I knew she’d blown through every dime he’d left her. “That’s besides the point!”
My chuckle was low, a way to keep control of myself because putting my hands on women in anger was some shit I just didn’t do. Reina was about to test that rule I’d had all my life.
“That is the point. The fuck you think I’mma do with a…how old is she, anyway?” ‘Cause she might have to join King if she was trying to hand me off some lil ass baby on some Chester shit.
“She’s almost fifteen.”
“Fif—! I had to catch myself because my big ass arguing with her was surely going to draw attention. We’d been on this fucking porch for too long as it was. Having the boys come this way wasn’t how I wanted the day to end.
“Look, we’ve helped you out before and I know you’re a decent enough person. Whatever you got going on I’m sure you’ll make sure she aight.” She waved her hand dismissively, like somehow my looking out for her kid irritated her.
“You don’t even sound like you really give a fuck.” I waited for her to refute my statement but she just shrugged like she really didn’t care.
“I gotta chance to do something for me and I can’t with her latched on to me. She got a lil’ hot in the ass friend that she keep hanging around and on top of that she’s so fucking needy. Do you understand what that’s like?” Reina still looked like she was trying to reason with me and I couldn’t believe it.
“How could I when you’re about to put your responsibilities on me? You want sympathy but yet you steady complaining.”
“There’s plenty of other men that would be happy to take her. You ain’t got to do shit.”
I leaned down causing her to back up but I needed her to understand I wasn’t playing that game with her. “Don’t even start that shit. Your husband would lose his shit seeing how you acting right now.”
“Well, this shit is his fault anyway, because he’s the one who died and left me to fend for myself. He can’t get mad at how I’m going about doing it.” Reina wiped at a tear and I started to think this kid ain’t need to be with her ass at all.
“That’s cold as fuck. What you gone tell her about all of this?”
She looked shocked at the thought of having to explain any of this to her daughter. “Nothing. Why would I?”
My chuckle was back and I took the white towel that was around my neck and wiped my face. This broad was about to have me catch a case if I stayed out here too long so I needed to get low.
“Bet. If I do this shit, it’s going to be done the right way. Notarized statement from you giving me guardianship. I need all her paperwork and shit too. You not about to be getting benefits off her and not contributing shit to her. I know that game all too well and you not about to get me caught up in your shit.”
“I could just tell the laws what you really be doing.”
“Yeah and then where you gone drop your kid off at? That phone call can go two ways and unlike you I got friends in high ass places who don’t want their names caught up in shit. They’d make you a faded memory before they allowed you to fuck up their enterprise.”
“I wouldn’t even be over here fucking with you if King would’ve done what he said he would do.” She muttered thatshit like she had a right to be mad but now I needed all that information.
“The fuck that mean?”
“He’s had a thing for Lyric for a minute and told me he would be good with looking out for her while I got myself together. She getting in fights at school with her lil friend and I’m tired of this shit. If her daddy was still around I wouldn’t have to deal with her ass.” She said that shit like it was common knowledge and completely normal. King had to be every bit of forty if not older. And if this girl was fourteen he ain’t have no fucking business even looking at her.
I was hotter than fish grease and even happier that we’d laid that nigga down without a second thought. He was really out here about to buy this young ass girl from her dumb ass mama like shit was good. All kids went through shit but it wasn’t a reason for her to drop her off to a random nigga and keep on with her life like she ain’t have responsibilities.
“Why that nigga back out?”
I wasn’t going to tell her that his ass was worm food and I was about to help dig the hole to bury his ass in with some mob niggas like it was a corporate team building exercise. I wondered if Xavier knew what was good when it came to this dude and he had more than one reason to put his ass down. If so, it was even more reason for me to respect the Millers besides them giving me the path for us to run this shit for real, since we did all the work.
“I don’t even know, I’ve been trying to find him for a minute but he ain’t picking up. This shit is getting on my nerves.” Reina threw up her hands like having to work through this and actually behave like an adult was too much for her.
