Page 32 of Heart of a Savage
“Okay. Bye, Mama.” He kissed her cheek.
“Bye, baby. Have fun at school.”
“Will do!”
We walked out of the house and got inside my matte red Porsche truck with the peanut butter interior. I didn’t want to be mean or harsh toward Jalea, but she wasn’t a saint. She thought I didn’t know that she was still texting Mo behind my back. He showed me the screenshots of her blowing up his DMs, flirting and shit every time she sent him a message.
If she had shown me that she had changed, I could have possibly overlooked her smashing my brothers. However, shewas still the same old ho out here doing ho shit, but wanted me to be nice and wife her ass.
Not in this lifetime.
Pulling into the drop-off line blasting “Wipe Me Down” by Boosie BadAzz, I could see the group of white kids standing in a huddle. Alongside them were MJ’s three friends that I’d let come over a few times. I turned the volume up even more on the sound system, not giving a damn about the security guards looking at me funny. I wanted them to say something to me so I could be the ignorant black guy.
Heads turned as I gave my son the nod to pop his shit. MJ smirked as he stepped out of the truck and started wiping his shoulders, chest, pants, and shoes in the coolest way, then grabbed his backpack before chucking me the deuces.
In no way was I teaching my son to be arrogant. However, I wanted him to exude confidence whenever he stepped out the doors of our home. He told me these white kids were always boasting and bragging about what their parents had, trying to make him feel small, not knowing that none of that shit belonged to them, and it was most likely on lease. They thought that because my son rode the school bus, he wasn’t on their level. I owned all our shit, no mortgage or loan in sight. Little did they know, MJ could play big bank take little bank and own all of their shit.
I turned the volume down some to listen for any bullshit.
“See you later, Pop!” MJ hollered back toward me.
I saluted him. “Be great, son. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Hey, Mr. Crawford!” MJ’s friends yelled out. I threw my hand up and pulled out of the line, heading to meet up with Harvey.
It was way too early, but the nigga claimed he wanted to kick it with me without my brothers. Thirty minutes later, I pulledinto the parking garage of the Renaissance Hotel, paid the high-ass parking fee, and then headed inside the building. I took the elevator up to the sixtieth floor, then went to the room number he sent to me. I knocked and waited for him to come to the door. It took this nigga almost five minutes to open it, wrapped in a damn towel, still dripping from his shower.
“Brother Messiah… Grand rising, my guy,” he greeted, slapping my palm twice and trying to pull me in a hug, but I backed up.
“Come on with that bullshit, Harv.”
He chuckled and opened the door wider to allow me inside. When I stepped in, my eyes went to the sandy brown beauty with sandy brown hair and light brown eyes who was thicker than cold grits. Her round face, slanted eyes, high cheekbones, and slightly thin lips let me know she was mixed with something. She was putting her earrings in her ears as she smiled at me.
Harvey stepped next to her, smiling like he’d won the lottery. If this were his fiancée, he was definitely winning.
“Baby, this is my brother, Messiah. Si, this is my fiancée, Paige Reyes.”
She walked over and wrapped her arms around me tightly. “It’s finally nice to meet you, Messiah.”
“You as well,” I replied as she released me.
She turned back to Harvey and tongued him down like I wasn’t even standing there. When they finally separated, she wiped his lips of the remnants she had left behind from her lip gloss and smiled at him.
“I’ll see you later, babe. I have to go meet up with the girls for breakfast.”
“What time is the reservation again?” he asked.
“Six-thirty.”
“You need me to pick y’all up?”
“No, we’ll meet you all at the restaurant.” She pecked his lips again. “It was nice meeting you again, Messiah. See you all later.”
“You too.”
She grabbed her bag and sauntered out of the room. I watched her ass bounce on the way out the door before I felt a punch to my left arm.
