My head flew back. “That shop is my pride and joy, you know that. I didn’t ask for your fucking help. That was your choice. Now you want to throw it in my face, and it’s fucked up. You want to talk about half of my time when you spend all of your time with them fuck niggas you call a bike crew, Quinton included. You act like those niggas are more important than me. So, you tell me Sash what’s really the problem because I smell bullshit.”
She wiped the tears falling from her eyes. “I want to be loved. I want to be in love. I want a family and marriage. This is not what I imagined, and I deserve more.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose because what she was asking for was something I wasn’t willing to give, at least not yet. She walked out of the room with me on her heels.
“If you walk yo ass out that door Sash I—”
She spun quickly, “You what? Huh? Pierre, you don’t want me and I’d rather you be honest and say we’re just fuck buddies then to continue with this dumb shit. I need something more than this.”
“So, you’re about to go fuck on one of those bike niggas? You want me to kill somebody, huh? You want a nigga to love you so bad my ass would end up like Bishop! That’s what the fuck love does and I ain’t that nigga Sash, I’m not.”
She said nothing more. She turned away and walked out the door. I dropped my head and shook it. Her period had to be coming because all that hormonal shit was beyond me. I knew Sasha like the back of my hand. She came from a family that gave her no attention, and she needed it. She craved it. I knew that after she sat back and thought about it. She would be back, or at least I hoped.
Ipulled up toSeven To Da Cove. This was the reopening since all that shit went down with Bishop and Bleek. My niggas were fighting not only for their lives but their relationships. It felt good to have both my niggas back in action. However, my brother, Leek, had been arrested. The nigga had gotten caught on some fuck shit and is now serving a bid. Bishop and I kept money on his books. We were hoping they would let my nigga out soon, but every time he thought he was getting out, the nigga got into a fight. He was now at the mercy of the law.
With all the smoke cleared, it was easy to focus on my business and getting to the one thing I craved the most, Sasha. Since walking away a few months ago, I had been trying to figure out how she could turn her back on me and not give me another chance. I didn’t understand why she was trying to force a nigga to love her. I cared about her a lot. It wasn’t that I didn’t love her,I was afraid to, or maybe I didn’t know how to. Sasha had trauma that would take more than a man to help recover from.
I had gotten word she was seeing a Cali nigga and that shit stung. I didn’t know if she had been talking to the nigga all along and that’s why she took her happy go lucky ass out there in the first place.Had she been playing me all this time?
The sound of Bishop pulled me from my thoughts. “P! Sup my nigga?” he called out.
I stepped closer to him and dapped him up. Bishop and I had been friends since elementary school. The times his moms would put his ass out he showed up to my front door and my mother took him in like he was her own. Other times when his mom had him doing wild shit, I was right there going to war with him. Shit was a crazy ass bond. In my eyes, we were brothers just as he and Bleek were.
As we prepared to enter the packed club, the echo of someone’s voice called out to us. “Aye, Bishop! Prince of the Cove,” Quinton called out.
Bishop turned to dap him up as well. He wasn’t too fond of Quinton, but he dealt with him.
“My nigga Pierre!” he then said to me.
I gave him a quick head nod. Quinton is my cousin. He was the connection between Sasha and me. I remembered when he’d first told me he was riding with a group of friends. The nigga swore they were the shit. I attended the first group meeting as a support to Quinton. When I saw her thick ass, immediately, I knew I had to have her. For a while my cousin was cock blocking, but after some time my nigga eased up.
He and I were close, so close we opened Gutta Kutz together. I tried doing it with Leek, but the nigga was on his own type of time. Leek and I were close, but not as close as Quinton and I. Our barbershop was in the heart of the Cove. I took pride in my spot. I made sure every nigga that walked in left feelingconfident. I sometimes gave free cuts to the youth. I knew what it was like not to feel handsome or confident. I had always been considered the ugly nigga because I was dark, tall, and lanky.
I grew up always trying to impress someone until I realized I was truly that nigga. I’ve done wild things to fit in, and it backfired on me each time. Bishop had always been there to try to talk me out of shit. Sometimes I listened and sometimes I didn’t. I got locked up once, and that was enough for me. I was too cool and chill of a nigga to be in some fucking cage.
We waited outside until Bleek pulled up. When he got out, I could immediately tell he was stressed. “Sup nigga you cool?” I asked.
He shrugged. “As cool as I’m going to be. Tania man, her ass won’t let up.”
Bishop dropped his head and shook it. “That’s your baby momma. Can’t take that shit back. I’m sure it will get better.”
“Shitting me. She swears she cool with Synai but every other day it’s a fucking problem.”
Hearing him talk about a woman he swore he loved was another reason my heart was on ice. I sparked up my blunt and took a few puffs. I went to hand the blunt to Quinton, but his eyes were fixated on something across the street. When I turned to look, a car sped off.
“Who the fuck was that?” I asked.
My cousin turned to me with a serious face. “Yo ex bitch new nigga.”
The one thing about Quinton, the nigga couldn’t hold water. He gave me the word on the nigga and his crew. I turned to look again as the car whipped around the corner and disappeared. I slowly nodded my head. I knew about Sasha’s nigga Zeus, but I wondered if the nigga knew about me.
If Quinton did what he did best which was run his fucking mouth, that nigga knew about me. I just hoped Sasha put the warning out. It was about to be tax time.
Chevy stopping me from hopping out the car and stomping a mud hole in them niggas had me hot. The fact that my shorty was nervous and scared of this nigga pissed me off. Chevy rode through the Cove like he owned the city. I watched him as his mind had drifted out the window. It had been a few months since he returned, and he was starting to look like his old self.
“How are you feeling, man?” I asked him.
He slowly turned his head and glanced at me. “I’m straight. Thankful.”