You need to stay out of trouble, Shaddy,she signs to us, making me grin.
“I will. I’ll even take Reem with me so I have a chaperone.”
Reem shakes his head before kissing Angel on hers and setting her on the floor. Her busybody self gets up and waddles to her grandmother, who scoops her up and kisses her.
“C’mon nigga. You can take me to Ty after.”
We dip out and make our way to an office building down the block from Brina’s. That’s probably how my Ace met this clown.
She swears I’m a disrespectful dog. And maybe I am a dog, but disrespectful? I’m not. Getting in women’s faces? Calling them out their names? Not if they don’t deserve it.
And my sweet girl don’t deserve that shit.
“Yo bitch know you out here defending other females?” Reem asks as I park illegally on the curb.
“One: I don’t have a bitch, and a bitch don’t have me. And two: she’s no regular female, and I’ll be damned if a nigga even breathes at her or Sadé wrong. Are you waiting in the car?”
He waves me off. “Yeah. Don’t kill the nigga, Shaddy.”
It’s my turn to wave him off as I bounce out.
I enter the lobby and smirk. The receptionist is young, Black, and attractive, and when we lock eyes, I know she knows who I am.
She squeals as I lean on the desk and lick my lips. “Good morning, beautiful.”
“Oh. My. GOD. Shotta! Can I take a picture with you?”
“Of course. Before you do, can you call a Brandon Farlane here?”
“Hell yea!” She dials an extension and relays the message before getting her cell phone and leaning close to me. We flick up, and I even wrap my arm around her neck like I know her and let her record a video. But I stop at singing. I don’t do that shit for free for nobody.
Brandon’s bitch ass gets off the elevator, looking every bit a Poindexter.
“Mona, you called for me?”
“Nah, I called for you,” I say as I stand straight. His eyes expand, and he grins nervously.
“Uh, how–”
I forget to pull my punch as my knuckles meet the side of his face, and poor lil Brandon drops like a sack of shit.
The entire lobby freezes as I chuckle. This nigga doesn’t even deserve to live on the same planet as my Ace.
I grab the half-empty bottle of water on the receptionist’s desk and pour it on Brandon’s face, startling him back awake. When I crouch down, I try to look away from the blood leaking from his nose. Twenty-six and I’m still queasy around blood, but whatever. I’m still a real nigga.
“This is a preview of the rest of your short, miserable life,” I say so only he can hear. “For every tear that rolled down baby girl’s cheeks, something in your life will go wrong, until you wish I ended you today instead of just knocking yo weak ass out, pussy ass nigga.”
I stand straight, looking dead at the camera nestled between the wall and ceiling. When I walk away, I wink at the receptionist, and her freak ass simpers.
When I get back in the car, I check my program on my phone to make sure the cameras in their lobby and outside have been erased for the last thirty minutes. When I’m satisfied, I pull off toward Storyville, where I know for sure Ty is.
“Feel better?” Reem asks, sparking up.
“Meh,” I shrug. My phone pings and I check it at a red light.
Mace
Can we watch Sparkle tonight? I'll get you Soul Food Spot ;)
