Page 40 of Cove City: Vol. I

“Yeah, well, he just left Chevy’s shop, and we all know Chevy.”

I laughed because I can only imagine what smart shit Chevy had to say. “I hope he checked his bitch ass,” I gritted.

“Zeus, promise me you will behave.”

“The motion moves with action, Freckles,” I said, kissing her.

I saw Diamond waving his hand. “What?”

“Zeus get yo big gorilla looking ass over here and help. I’ve been spinning cotton candy for an hour.”

I planted a kiss on Freckles’ lips before walking off. Since being in the Cove, her fucked up nerves were making mine bad. I needed her to trust me at some point, trust that I would make the right decision, and move only when I needed to. Everything that had gone down with Pierre and his fucked up friends was because they saw us as a threat when we were here to make a life just as they have been doing.

My eyes scanned the thick crowd as I began to notice that those Cove niggas was all around. I wasn’t sure what they were up to, but if needed, we were ready. I spotted Pierre’s goofy ass standing near a building watching someone. My eyes tried to land on what he was looking at and that’s when I noticed Naheem talking to a woman. I felt like they were up to something. I waved my hand at Preach to come over. He threw his hand up and quickly jogged over. “What nigga? I’m trying to get these young niggas to join the church.”

I waved him off. “Keep your head on the swivel. I feel like these Cove niggas is up to something.”

“Let me go give them a flyer, they may need to be saved,” he joked.

I smacked my lip, “Nigga for real.”

“I got you.”

“Can I get some cotton candy, dang!” a little girl hissed at me.

I could hear Yana’s pregnant ass laughing in the back. “You need to worry less about those Cove niggas and more about the children,” she teased me.

“You need to worry less about me and more about your ADHD nigga.”

I didn’t care what any of them were talking about; my eyes were glued, and my trigger finger was ready.

When I arrived at the block party, I expected people, but the turnout was insane. I was surprised I managed to spot Pierre. I found it odd that he wanted me to interview someone, but with the little information I had, I was ready to talk to anyone. I went further into the street toward Naheem, as Pierre mentioned his name was.

I approached him from behind and lightly tapped his shoulder. When he spun around and looked at me, I was struck by how much he resembled Bishop. His demeanor, stature, and smile all reminded me of him. I smiled widely and said, “Hi, I’m Tuesday Morning and you are?”

He ran his pinky over his brows like he had won a prize. Naheem was very handsome, but I wasn’t interested. I wasn’t a sugar daddy type woman. “You’re telling me you came all the way over here out of all these people to me, and you don’t know my name?”

I cleared my throat. “Maybe I do, but the courteous thing to do would be to ask, correct? They say when you make assumptions you make an ass out of yourself,” I winked.

He nodded slowly. “Clever and beautiful, what do I owe the pleasure, Tuesday, is it?”

“It is.”

Naheem seemed like a man with integrity and a hint of sneakiness. At first, I wondered why Pierre sent me over, but that had now turned into curiosity. I didn’t know where this would lead me, but I could tell Naheem had substance. “Walk with me?” he asked.

“Sure.”

I slightly turned to glance at Pierre, who looked worried. Pierre's and my distance increased as I continued to stroll with Naheem. The smell of Naheem’s cologne lingered in the air as he moved his arm around, pointing to different things. “This city used to be so much more.”

“Oh, so you are a Toussaint native?”

“The heart of the Cove runs through my blood,” he said passionately. “There was a time when people knew their place. Those who lived on the other side of the hill stayed on their side, and we from the Cove stayed in ours.”

He said the same thing as Bishop, and now I wanted to dig deeper. Naheem stopped at the cotton candy stand. “One for the lady,” he said to the guy standing before him.

I realized it was one of the Zoo guys. The one who was with Sasha. Naheem reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of money to hand to the guy.

“Nigga it’s free. We don’t need your money,” the man gritted.

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