Page 8 of Not A Homie, Lover Or Friend
I glanced over her shoulders as my eyes squinted, trying to spot who I was looking for. She swiveled her head to catch my eyes, “You’re looking for my brother?” she asked.
Brother?My eyes landed back on her as I smiled. “He’s your brother?”
She nodded slowly. “Yes, but I wanted to ask you something.”
I honestly wanted her out of my fucking way so that I could move around, but if the dude I was looking for was, in fact, her brother, I would suck it up. I placed a fake grin on my face. “Sure, ask.”
“Have you heard of the Zoo Boyz?” she asked.
“No.”
Her head flew back as if I were lying. For the most part, I tried to stay out of the streets, but that became difficult at times, especially when dealing with Scooter. I glanced back over her shoulder, then back at her. “Was that your question?”
She gave me a short smile. “We’re trying to throw Foe, I mean my brother, a surprise party, and I wanted to know if you would dance. He’s a part of the Zoo Boyz, the biker niggas, vroom, vroom.”
This shit was too easy.“Sure.”
She handed me her phone, and I entered my information. Before I could move away from her, I saw him approaching. I ran my hand through my braids as my nerves took over. They were so bad, you would never guess I was the girl stripping naked for men I didn’t even know, just a few minutes ago. He didn’t look at me as he started talking to his sister. “You ready to head out?”
My head swung to catch his eyes. “Why are you leaving so early? The party is just starting,” I jumped in.
He cut his eyes at me. “I don’t need to be here.”
“Well, you’re here now, so why leave?”
His eyes narrowed in on me as he ran his hand down his face, “Look, not that I have to explain to you because you work for me. I was talking to my sister and not you. Before a nigga becomes disrespectful, I need you to step away.”
So, he was the owner.He was the nigga all the dancers had been talking about. He was the man in charge, and that only turned me on more. My phone vibrated in my bag. I knew it could only be Scooter, as bad as I didn’t want to walk away, I did. I knew I would see Foe again soon, if not here, definitely at his party, and a bitch couldn’t wait.
MONFUA
“I see you light skin,” I said as the dancer peeked over her shoulder while she shook her ass in my face.
When I called Mali to tell him about Kareem, he asked me to come out with him tonight because it had been a while since I’ve hung out with the guys. It was him deflecting from what I asked, and that irritated me. However, I knew I had been pretty distant lately. With more business coming in at the bar, I’ve spent most of my time there. The business wasn’t just my mother’s, it was both of ours. After Chevy gave us that money, I used most of it to help my mother pay off some loans and to renovate the bar, in which she made me a part owner. If it were the old me, I would have blown that shit on everything but responsibilities, but I was trying to do better.
While trying to improve, I have also been participating in a training program to become a firefighter. The last step was getting accepted into the fireman academy, and between the bar and the excessive training, I was exhausted. I hadn’t told the guys I was training to become a firefighter because if I failed to accomplish this, it would be something only I knew.
The night was going cool until I spotted Sukalati coming into the club. It was hard to ignore her pretty ass, but I did my best. I would have much rather been laid up with my wife sucking on her pretty toes than to be up in here, but she didn’t want me, and I wasn’t going to beg her.
I glanced over at Beans, who was into his phone, and Mali was drunk off his ass. I didn’t even get a chance to drill him about Kareem because every time I tried to bring it up, he blew me off. The dancer tried to walk away when Mali gripped herarm, pulling her back. He whispered something in her ear that made her shove the shit out of him. “Ayo, Mali nigga lay off the drinks,” Beans told him.
Mali waved him off, “Fuck you square ass nigga I’m having fun,” he slurred.
Mali was older than all of us, but his ass had a problem with drinking. The only time the shit wasn’t bad was when we were around Chevy. He knew that if Chevy found out, he would be put out of the crew. Since meeting Mali, he had been heavy on the liquor, and I knew it was nothing but a generational curse he refused to break. I stood up and gripped his arm, “Chill before we get put the fuck out,” I gritted in his ear.
He threw both of his hands up as his glassy eyes said that he was juiced. When I glanced up, I saw the dancer talking to Foe, and I knew this nigga was about to be on straight crashout mode. The OGs were already trying to adapt to new members, and I didn’t want Mali fucking it up for all of us. Shit, Quinton was on the verge of destroying everybody, but thanks to Sash, he didn’t.
I saw the girl’s hand move around as if she were trying to demonstrate what happened. When Foe looked our way, his eyes locked with mine. She stepped to the side, and he strolled over. He flicked his nose as he came toward me. “Fuck is going on over here. Party ain’t a party unless a nigga gets his ass beat, huh?”
“Won’t be any ass beating this way,” I started.
I pointed to the stripper who disappeared into the back, “Shorty was straight.”
Foe stepped closer. I knew that little incident was nothing more than leverage for him to try to make a move. However, I wasn’t the nigga that would back down. Foe heckled. “I don’t know y’all niggas like that, and frankly, I don’t give an orange fuck about y’all. Tread lightly nigga because what I want to do is pistol whip yo ass. I think you need to get you and yo niggas out of here.”
Beans didn’t waste time before coming over, “I don’t know what your problem is, little nigga, but back the fuck up. You don’t want any smoke in our city.”
His jaw tightened. “Fuck you say to me?” Foe spat.
