Page 38 of Kassir and Rebel
“Forever? Did she say forever or you? Mijo, no woman wants a man that will hurt her heart. Rebel is a good girl. She has a life in Miami. If you can’t love her the right way, let her go back there.”
“Ma, I told you I had to do what I did back then.”
“Will you have to do that again?”
“No and, real shit, I should have made a different choice then.”
“I’m glad you understand that now,” she says, then stands. “Eat. I’m going to fry more carimañolas for my girl. You take them to her and tell her to come see me.”
As she walks to her stove, my mom looks over her shoulder then shakes her head at me. She really is team Rebel. Two hours later, I left with a plate full of her fritters for Rebel and Miss Chandra.
As soon asI open the door, Kassan rushes over to Rebel and hugs her. The same spell her fine ass cast over me, she must have cast on him too. The entire ride back to the crib, he asked if she was going to be with us today. I think his lil ass has a crush on her.
“Ohh. You smell good. Is that cologne?” she asks.
“Yes, ma’am. I got my own bottle,” he says.
“Well, I like it.”
“Thank you. You ready to go?” he asks.
“I am but where are we going?” she asks, even though she knows the plan.
The streetball tournament is Saturday and there’s a lot of bread on the games. Not only do Leem and I take twenty percent of the pot, but I also bet another twenty stacks on the Ballerz to take it all. If they do just that, I’m walking away with over a hundred grand. So, it’s a must that I pull up on practice today at the park.
“To watch Riq and them practice,” he says.
“Are you going to ball with them?”
“If they let me,” he says.
“Okay. Let me get my stuff so we can go. I can’t wait to see you on the court,” she says, then stands.
“I can get your stuff,” he volunteers.
“Yo, man, she got it,” I tell him. When Rebel heads back to my room, I step over to him and place my hand on his shoulder. “You know that’s my girl, right?”
“She likes me too,” he says and I shake my damn head.
“Fall back. She’s mine,” I tell him and he laughs. “We got to find somebody yo’ age,” I tease.
“Daddy, I don’t want to go home tonight,” he says.
Linnea wants him back home later because they are leaving for South Carolina in the morning. It’s their bi-annual family reunion and their flight is in the morning. He’s going to miss the tournament so I scooped him up so he can see Riq today.
“You gotta get on the plane real early in the AM so you can go see your cousins. When you come back, you can stay with me as long as you want.”
“But Rebel gon’ be gone then.”
“Nah. She’ll be here,” I assure him.
I’m doing all I can to make sure she doesn’t leave. Last night, for our date, I was on some real grown ass nigga shit. Rebel and I used to do shit all the time before when she was here, but not like last night. I finally took her to The Metropolitan Hotel in Crescent Falls and we had dinner on their rooftop. Her pretty ass smile remained on her face the entire time.
“I’m ready,” she announces when she walks back into the living room. The dress she had on is off and she’s wearing some black cut up jean shorts and a small white shirt.
“You sporting DP colors today?” I ask.
“I hadn’t realized.” She smirks as she walks to the door.
