Page 32 of The Prodigy 2: Rise of a Queen

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Jakari

Forthethirdtimein less than a year, I moved to a new place. At least I didn’t have to pack everything all over again; half my shit was still in boxes. Malika was cool enough to let me store some shit in the second bedroom—I’m being sarcastic about that shit, cuz I was still paying that expensive ass rent. If I wanted to store my shit, wasn’t nobody gon’ stop me.

She put my ass out, though. No getting around that. But I understood, and I was confident that she would let me come back after she processed everything.

There was never a choice to be made about where I was going. Wasn’t no way in hell I was going back to my mama’s, and Nay was out, too. I wasn’t in no kinda mood to be dealing with his kids. I love ‘em, but fuck no.

So that’s how I ended up with Eris. His spot was kinda out the way, a little ranch house in a little suburban neighborhood with white kids riding bikes and shit. It was quiet. Too quiet, honestly.

But I had no other options.

Well, there was Atlanta, but not yet. I had too much shit to settle before I left here for good.

“Make yourself at home, bruh.”

I nodded at Eris and set my bags on the floor. “I appreciate you, man.”

“Not a problem.” He paused to watch me grab the rest of my shit off the porch. “You wanna talk about it?”

“I fucked up, that’s all.”

“Cheated?”

“Nah. Just…really kinda ruined her life a little bit.”

“Ruined her life a little bit,” he repeated with a chuckle. “Now Ireallywanna know.”

“Marriage shit, man.”

“Yeah. Now you see why I’m single.”

I laughed at that. “Nigga, you’re twenty-six. You ain’t got no business bein’ nothin’butsingle.”

“You ain’t that much older than me, though.”

“Yeah, which is how I know. This shit ain’t easy.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I watched Mama and Daddy go through it sometimes. This was after you had got your first apartment.”

“Word? What kinda shit were they going through?”

He shrugged. “Hell if I know. I mean, sometimes I knew it was about other women, but it would also be about money sometimes. The business.”

“Meaning what, Mama wanted him to quit?”

“Nah. She wanted him to start back pushin’ weight. Said it was more money in it.”

“I never knew that.”

He nodded. “Cuz he said no, and that was the end of that.”

It was hard to wrap my head around that. It’s rare for anybody to get out the drug game without going to prison, snitching, or dying. I couldn’t see my mama pushing him back into that after he worked so hard to get out. Didn’t make sense.

But Eris wouldn’t lie about it, that much I knew for sure.

“Anyway, send her some flowers,” he said. “Or chocolates, or whatever. All that lovey-dovey shit females like.”

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