Page 283 of Kentrell

Truth be told… I wasn’t even mad at Pokie. Not really. She did what she could. Made sure my mama didn’t end up somewhere worse. My anger… was with me.

“All these years… I thought she left me hangin’,” Ma said, soft, with this little half-smile to herself.

My eyes went straight to her face.

Her color was back. Her eyes… them slanted eyes I got from her… brighter than I’d seen ‘em in years. Her skin, same deep chocolate as mine… smooth… barely a blemish. She made forty-one look thirty easy. Even touched up them grays I saw coming in at her roots the last time I visited.

“She said she owed me,” she added, her voice lower now… almost like she was talking to herself. “But that ain’t why I called you.”

“Whatchu call me down here for?” I asked, leaning forward.

“You…” Her whole expression shifted—hardened—the same way mine does when I’m letting a nigga know I ain’t the one to play with. “…came after her daughter.”

I blinked, slow, letting that sink in.

She watched me… let it marinate… then shook her head, eyes widening like she just had an epiphany.

“Oh, my God—Kentrell! How did I not see this before?” She blinked. “She’s the one?”

I clenched my fists… and my jaw… because I already knew where she was going with this.

“She the one you fuckin’ lost. That’s why you came in here asking about her mama?—”

“Ma.” I cut her off, turning away, staring at the wall like it had better answers than I did. I wasn’t trying to go there with her. Hell… I wasn’t trying to go there with anybody. “I was never gon’ do that shit.”

“Kentrell… look at me.”

Before I could react, she grabbed my face—both hands, firm as hell—and turned me toward her. I could feel the tears burning behind my eyes, blurring my view of her.

“I believe you,” she said, soft but strong, as I blinked a few out.

“I believe you, baby… I heard it in your voice when I called.”

She swiped her thumb across my cheek, her tone dropping low and deep—just like she used to when she’d crawl in bed with me after one of them loud-ass fights with my daddy. Laying right beside me, holding my chin just like this… rocking me to sleep with her voice.

“This shit wasn’t supposed to go down like this,” I finally said, the weight of it all pushing the words out of me.

“I know, baby. I told her.”

She rubbed her thumb across my face one more time before letting me go.

“She’s scared. She wanted to blame you… but Pokie knows this shit been brewing long before you ever knew that girl.”

“Zoe.”

“I know her name—I told you.” She rolled her eyes, trying to hide the smile pulling at her mouth. “Ooh, my God… I thought I’d never live to see you in your feelings over a somebody.”

Her soft laugh pulled one outta me too. A half-smirk lifting the corner of my mouth.

“She look like Pokie?” she asked.

Her question sent my mind straight to Zoe. Smooth, deep brown skin. Full lips. Pretty white teeth. And them slanted, hazel-brown eyes that stayed in my head.

“Yeah…” I said it long and slow, nodding. “Just younger.”

“Then I know she bad… how y’all say it now?Baddie?”

That pulled a chuckle outta me for real.

---