Page 10 of All The Smoke
“You ask all of the dental assistants these questions?”
“Naw, just the fine ones.” I smirked and she blushed.
Clearing her throat, she tore her eyes away from me and got back to working on my son, but she did tell me this was her first time working in an office setting. She was still in school and shit, so she was only there part-time. I thought it was dope to be real. She was a really pretty woman and had a nice ass body. Most bitches I knew like that were trying to be social media influencers or porn stars or some shit, like my baby mama.
The dentist joined us a little after to take a look at Solo’s mouth and let me know they were going to extract the tooth since it was broken. How his little ass had split his tooth was a mystery to me but if pulling it was gon’ keep my boy happy and healthy then I was with it.
They moved us back to an actual examination room to do the procedure and I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Kaori. I hadn’t ever been so fucking mesmerized by a woman’s looks and voice. Shit legit had me in a trance. I loved Bri back in the day and definitely thought she was the best thing smoking when I was a lil nigga, but Kaori was different. She had this beautiful aura to her that instantly attracted me and has me wanting to get to know who the fuck she was. Shit was scary honestly because I hadn’t ever experienced that before.
As my eyes ran amuck, trying to etch every fucking thing about her into my head, they landed on a spot on her neck. Shit was very vague, damn near nonexistent, but I still saw it.
A bruise?
I found myself frowning, damn near about to tweak the fuck out wondering where it came from and if a nigga was putting hands on her. I didn’t play that shit. Although I talked shit and threatened Bri’s stupid ass all the time, I never put hands on her and never would. I would just pay some hoes to do my dirty work for me if it ever came down to that, which I doubted.
I didn’t even realize how long I had been in a trance, locked in on shorty, until the dentist’s voice tore me away, letting me know they were done and I could grab my little man and jet.
“Daddy, I’m still hungry,” he said and yawned. “And do I have to go to school?”
“Naw, lil man, you gon’ kick it with your old man today,” I answered as I helped him into the car. By the time I got in his ass was fading, so instead of going to Morningside like he’d asked, I just got on the Munchies app and ordered him some oatmeal that he’d eat when he got up and me a traditional breakfast platter which consisted of bacon, grits, eggs, sausage, and toast. I wasn’t even hungry, but I knew I was gon’ be ready to punish some shit when I got done smoking.
After putting my order in, we pulled into traffic and headed to the crib. I was gon’ take the day off to chill with Solo and let him stay the night with me again so I could keep an eye on his tooth and shit for the day. His mama would be busy running off at the mouth on the fucking phone or shaking her ass somewhere so she wouldn’t be paying him any attention. I was still vexed about her allowing him to eat all that bullshit to the point he was breaking his teeth anyways. I knew he was a kid and liked to eat a bunch of bullshit, but I monitored his intake.
I took Solo inside and put him in his bed just as a call from my brother came through. Pulling the door up behind me as I exited my son’s room, I swiped the screen to answer him. I clicked through the prompts and shit and waited for the call to connect.
“Baby bro.”
I smiled hearing his voice come through. He normally called me every morning and night but wasn’t able to this morning because he had to go and take a new picture. They made him update his shit every few years.
“What’s the word, bro?”
“I can’t call it, man. Just got back in from taking my shower.”
“You got your mail yet?”
“Yeah, man.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “You sure Solo didn’t trace this?”
“Hell yeah, I’m sure.” I chuckled. “My boy good as fuck. He remind me of you with that drawing shit.”
My son had drawn his uncle some pictures and we mailed them off to him a few days ago. Solo loved to draw and he got that shit from Noah. That was all he did when we were younger. I had an ass of his sketchbooks put up that I had shown to my son before and since then he had wanted to draw just like his uncle. I loved that shit.
Noah was a solid ass nigga and deserved to have someone look up to him. I always had and my son did too. If I had to choose between the two of us who I wanted Solo to be more like, it would definitely be my brother. He’d gotten caught up on some bogus ass charges, but I knew it was bullshit. My brother would never get caught up in no armed robbery shit. That was more my speed than anything. It was cool though because a nigga was hustling overtime to get him out and searching high and low for the niggas that had gotten him hemmed up. They had been ghost since testifying against him.
“I’m gon’ have to send him some of the stuff I’ve been working on.”
“I’m sure he will love that.” Solo kept all of his uncle’s drawings in a folder, claiming he was going to be able to sell them one day for a lot of money. I didn’t know how much bread he thought he was gon’ get off drawings of his favorite cartoons and shit, but I wasn’t gon’ fuck his lil dreams up. “You got that bread that I sent you?”
“Yeah, I saw it in my account. We go to the store tomorrow,” he answered.
“That’s gon’ be enough?”
“More than enough.” He laughed. “I still have money left over from last week.”
I nodded like he could see me. I sent him more money than he could spend, to overcompensate sometimes, because I hated that everybody stopped fucking with him when he went inside. I needed him to know and see that I had him no matter what.
“Word, what about that lawyer nigga? He been up there?”
“Yeah, he has and he was scared as a mug sitting across from me, Smoke. What you do to him?”
