Page 43 of Keyoni & Sage
“My bad.”Yeah, it is.The guy looked past me into the open apartment door, throwing his arms up. “Cauvey…you ready? We gotta go.”
The urgency in his voice had Cauvey digging into the side crevice of the couch cushion. My eyes widened when he pulled out a gun, tucking it in his waistband as he hurried toward us.
“Tell Lanique I’ll be back,” he instructed before the duo raced down the hall toward the stairs.
I stood in awe for a few seconds, wondering what the hell was going on. Then I thought about Keyoni and what he told me about Cauvey’s affiliation with DP. Putting two and two together, I concluded it had to do with some gang shit.
Which didn’t have anything to do with me.
It stayed in the back of my mind though. To think, I was sharing close quarters with someone heavily into gang life, and ironically, I wasn’t scared.
But I should’ve been. That world was something I knew nothing about after being sheltered by a father who took his role seriously. He wasn’t having that shit. His kids were in the house, not in the streets. If he caught wind of something that didn’t seem right, he would shut the shit down before it got out of hand.
My father was the reason I took my academics so seriously. I didn’t have time to play around because he taught me I could do anything I put my mind to. And I wanted to be great. Since we didn’t have much, I used that as my motivation, wanting more than what my circumstances provided. So I stayed busy without having much time for anything else.
Definitely not hanging out in the streets. That was what I thought of gang members. Gun toting street dudes with too much testosterone and too much time on their hands.
Cauvey showed me a different side though. We weren’t the best of friends or anything, but I could tell he cared about my cousin yet still handled his business. He was fun to be aroundand kept me laughing with the things he said. It really made me think about the biases I had. Because when I thought of gang members, Cauvey’s face wasn’t one that came to mind.
Hewasa gang member though.
And based on what I witnessed, he was loyal.Thattrait was hard to find, even for people who weren’t about that gang life.
I locked the apartment door without speaking to Lanique. Cara started whining and I needed to get her outside. She squatted as soon as her paws touched the grass, staying in that position for an extended amount of time.
“Damn, girl.”
She was still going and kept going for what seemed like forever. By the time she was done, I was ready to go back inside. I stayed out for a while though, letting Cara sniff around and explore. Her leash was long enough for me to sit down on a concrete post with ample room for her to move around. I started people watching, glancing at Cara every so often.
I saw a woman walking my way. I smiled, thinking she would do the same as she passed. I got a smile, but she stopped right in front of me.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” I repeated.
“Mind if I sit down?” She didn’t wait for an answer.
“Go ahead.”
“Do you live in the building?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I do.”
“I’ve never seen you before. What floor?”
“Fourth.”
“Oh, that’s probably why.” Smiling, she stuck out her hand. “I’m Dorinda.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Sage.”
“You have a very unique name, Sage. One I would remember if it was on a lease for one of the rental units.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I turned to her with an attitude.
“I don’t think you live here.” She crossed her legs. “Or if you do, you’re not supposed to.”
“Are you the building police?” I asked sarcastically.
