style="font-size:15px;"> “All day. I’ll holla at you later, though.”
Fame got ghost without saying another word. I never got in the mix between him and his baby momma Scooter whenever he was beating her ass, because I knew within the next minute he would be eating it. You can’t fight a couple, no matter how many muthafuckas you ride on in the streets together.
“I cannot believe you’ve got your hands on me, you bitch-ass nigga. You better go ahead and choke me out, because if I get free, I’m going to kill you,” she barked in my face. I smelled the Tito’s over the gum she was chewing, which made me loosen my grip. I knew my wife’s weaknesses more than she did.
“You ain’t gonna do shit but take your drunk ass upstairs, take a shower, and then brush the vodka you’ve been drinking off your breath. I thought you were going to ease up on that shit.”
“And I thought I asked you to ease up off my neck.” She peeled my fingers off of her and swung on me.
“Don’t make me collar you back up, Trinity. I let you get loose because I wanted to, not because of your strength. I suggest you leave me alone and get the hell on to wherever you are going with Porsha.”
“I swear to God and on my dead daddy that you better stop thinking you run shit around here, Calvin. And I dare you to put your hands back on me. You’ve already got to sleep with one eye open for that li’l fuck boy stunt you just pulled.” She swiped one of the bundles of cash I’d just collected from one of the workers and walked up the stairs.
I couldn’t do shit but laugh at my gangster boo. Her savage-ass ways were what made me check for her back in the day, and I was still madly attracted to her mentality. It did not matter what crazy shit we went through. Trinity was my soul mate. I would put a whole family on ice if she told me to. Watching her ass shake in the too-small shorts she was wearing, I grabbed at my bouncing dick and thought about going upstairs and fixing her attitude.
PORSHA
“I thought you said you were on your way over here. What’s taking you so long?” Imani answered my call while I was picking out something to wear to go out with Trinity in.
“Unfortunately, there’s been a change of plans. Trinity is up to her usual hating, so I’ve gotta go somewhere with her.”
“Aww, damn!” Imani was disappointed. “You can’t get your dad to get you out of it?”
“Nope, not this time. But I wish I could. Street hasn’t hit me up all day. Is he around there?” I was kinda hoping Imani would say no, but she didn’t.
“I think so, but he was on the porch with Pete Rock and Dantez when I walked past from school.”
“There weren’t any girls over there, were there?”
“Girl, bye! You know I was not looking that hard.” She was not lying. Of her, Nikola, and me, she was the shy and timid one. Nikola always joked and said Imani only kept us around so the neighborhood hoes did not tear off into her ass.
“Okay, well, hit me up if you see him up in a trick’s face.” I started rushing her off the phone so I could get dressed before my momma barged into my room on some more bullshit.
Even though Imani was nervous around boys, she did not mind dropping a dime on Street. If Street did something in her eyesight, Imani was telling it in detail. I had caught that nigga up in about ten lies this month alone based on her recall/retell of the situation. I had come to the conclusion that Street was going to be Street, and that simply meant he was going to do what he wanted to do.
It didn’t take me long to jump fresh. I kept it cute and simple in a pair of ripped jeans, a white tee, and boat shoes. My outfit matched the weather perfectly, plus it was fly enough to rock just in case I got back in time to go on the block. I could barely get dressed from Imani blowing my phone up over and over again with picture mail and messages. Super salty over how live it looked around her way, I temporarily sent all her calls to my block box to keep myself out of my feelings. Graduation and my birthday weren’t coming quickly enough.
Trinity swore she would only be five minutes, but of course, it had been double that by the time I was done getting dressed. I opened my Kindle application to pass the time. I’d been reading urban fiction ever since I saw a social media post on a blog site hyping up a few titles. After reading one story about chicks from the hood, I was hooked. If I went to school more often, not clowned while I was there, and grasped English, I’d have been a shoo-in to write a novel. Without a doubt, I was sure my story about how I grew up would sell millions. I’d been through just as much drama as many of the characters I had read about, if not more.
Even though the book was hella good, I couldn’t get into it because my mind was too wrapped up thinking about how I was going to spend the money my dad gave me. He’d filled my hand with bills to spend at the mall as a pre-gift for my birthday. I was happy to have the extra chicken, but he better be coming with more when the actual day arrived. I didn’t care that I was running around here, screaming grown. He and Trinity better have at least a parting gift for their only daughter.
After I got deep into a juicy chapter, Trinity stepped out the door, dressed to impress. Unlike a lot of the raggedy, no-style-having mammies around here who wore pajamas all day, mine was a true diva. Everyone on the outside looking in could tell she had money.
After putting her red cup of juice and alcohol into the cup holder, she tossed her oversized purse into the back seat. Calvin must have broken her off with way more money than me. I wasn’t hating, though. I was happy to have what I had. Plus, I knew Trinity wasn’t going to take me to the mall and not buy me something. I could say she was a lot of things, but selfish with her money was not one of them.
“I hope you’ve got your charger,” my mom said, plugging her phone in.
“Yup, it’s right here.” I dangled it, then buckled up in the passenger seat of her Ram truck. Trinity didn’t believe in tiny cars and even ran them off the road if they weren’t driving fast enough.
“All right, then let’s be out.” She threw the truck into reverse and backed out of the driveway with her favorite rap track bumping.
CHAPTER 3
TRINITY
Calvin and I weren’t your average married couple with a kid, not even for one that was rooted within one of the worst neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan. But what made us stand out was what made us stick together. Calvin was my soul mate, and I was certain that I was his Bonnie, his better half, and the voice in his head when it was time to murk a muthafucka. I made Calvin crazier. In spite of how much we bumped heads, we always bounced back together. I was glad he’d come and piped me down before I left the house so I could kick it with my daughter. Getting dick always had a way of calming me down.
My only daughter sat across from me, looking over the menu. She had not said much in the car, and neither had I, probably because of the events earlier. I wasn’t gonna apologize, though. It was my job to keep my foot on her neck. I was from the school of hard knocks. Granny Ruby whipped my mom with a switch. My mom welted me up with belts. So I was following in line and continuing the tradition by two-piecing Porsha up when she disrespected me or attempted to. Wasn’t no kid getting ready to square up with me or even get fooled by their imagination thinking they could fuck with me. Benzie would soon learn about me.
The waitress
