Page 2 of All The Smoke
“But he?—”
I cut her off, not wanting to hear it. “Go get ’em.”
“He needs them for school,” she argued. “I don’t want him to mess them up before then.”
“Then buy him more because he gon’ wear the ones I bought for him today to this fucking game. Fuck you mean?”
“But…”
“From now on I’m gon’ keep the shit I buy and you get ya own shit for him,” I cut in again. “I ain’t ’bout to be doing all this shit over some stuff that I paid for, bro.”
“Fine,” she snapped and stomped down the hall to get his sneakers after handing him to me.
I woke him up once I took a seat on the couch and made sure he was good. It was the weekend and his mother was so fuckin’ quick to get rid of them that she would half ass some shit and I would have to tweak the fuck out. He looked straight though; face was clean, had on lotion and shit. Things I typically had to talk shit to her ass about.
“Are we still going to the game tonight, Daddy?” he asked sleepily as he fucked with my chain that looked just like his, only mine said Smoke while his said Solo.
“Yeah, that’s where we going as soon as we leave here.”
“Is Bishop going?” he asked. My pops was the one that got us the tickets to the Royals game. I wanted to decline the shits because I had no desire to be anywhere with him or my mother, but my son loved them and looked forward to spending time with all of us. He was actually going with them after the game and I’d get him back in the morning because I had some business to handle later.
“Yeah, he rocking with us,” I answered just as his mother entered the room again with his shoes.
“And Gigi?”
I smiled. “And Gigi too.”
I changed his shoes then stood, standing him up so he could walk on his own. I babied him because he was my baby, but he was still a little boy and I wasn’t going to be carrying his ass around and shit.
As we headed out Bri asked if I would give her some bread because she was taking Nini out, but I kept it moving on her ass. I wasn’t giving her shit simply because I’d already given baby girl some money and because I wasn’t doing shit for her.
At first I was still breaking Bri off and taking care of her personal bills shit, but when I found out she was fucking niggas for breadliterally,selling content on the internet, I fell back. I wasn’t with that hoe ass shit and she wasn’t using none of my money to do the shit. I still paid her bills though, bought shit for my son, paid his tuition at school, and looked out for her daughter from time to time but that was it. Her ass was on her own as far as her personal needs.
I paid the landlord personally as well as paid her lights and water in person. She was free to do what she wanted as long as my son wasn’t present. She also knew no niggas could stay at her crib while I paid her shit. If she wanted to get a boyfriend, cool. If she wanted to move him in, that was fine too. She just knew his ass was gon’ be the one paying the bills. I was doing her a favor by paying the bills and she’d better thank my brother for that shit.
I got Solo in his seat then climbed in the driver seat of my Challenger and took off into traffic with Loco and Sire’s album on full blast. Solo’s little ass was in the back bobbing his head to the music as he looked out the window. I smiled at the sight because my son was my lil road dog. Besides my brother and two homeboys, he was all I had.My fucking heart. I didn’t do a lot of shit right and I wasn’t living right, but I was gon’ do everythingin my power to make sure he was good. He would never want for shit, him or Noah, my older brother.
As I weaved through traffic, a call from my boy Scoot came through. Me, Scoot, and Bino went way back. I met them in elementary school when they called themselves being bullies, but they met they mothafuckin’ match when they pushed up on me. Niggas mistook me being a church boy, a preacher’s kid, for me being pussy so they got the shock of their lives when I dusted both of their asses up in the bathroom at school, leaving ’em both in there leaking.
They came to me days later apologizing, begging a nigga to be their friend. Because I didn’t have any, I agreed, but made them cut all that bully shit out. I wasn’t trying to intimidate mothafuckas and shit like that. I just wanted to chill and be me. If a nigga got out of line I would beat his ass and put him in his place, but I didn’t want to be known for issuing ass whoopings unsolicited.
“What’s good?” I answered on the dash of my car.
“Not shit. Fuck you at?”
“Traffic with the lil one,” I answered, glancing in my rearview to look at my son who was all in my shit.
“Sup, Uncle Scoot!” he shouted.
He spoke to Solo. “What’s good, lil man! Fuck y’all going, Smoke?”
“Bishop got tickets to the Royals game tonight.”
“Word, I forgot you told me that. We still doing that tonight?” he asked, referring to our reup with Rock.
“Yeah, we are. I’ll hit you after I get Solo to my parents’ crib and shit.”
“Bet.”
