Page 9 of Kove and Xiah
I scheduled an iDrive only to be hit back with a message from the driver asking if I was legit trying to get to Diamond Falls because of the distance and price. I let him know I was cool with what the ninety-minute drive would cost and even requested his CashMe payment link to hit him with something extra for being out of pocket during the time it would take him to get me there and for him to get back.
By ten I pulled up on the block in front of my childhood home. Yoel currently lived there when he wasn’t in rotation with the women he fucked with. We lost our parents when I was young, but Yoel wanted to make sure I had consistency in mylife, something that gave me a piece of them, so he made sure to keep the house. I respected that he stepped up because D-Ville was all I knew and the alternative was being stuck in foster care.
We lost our mom when I was nine. An aneurysm at work. Our father was a long-haul truck driver and we lost him two years later from a heart attack. Yoel’s position in my life shifted. No one ever questioned him showing up as my guardian because he had been doing so for years.
Because of the time our father spent on the road, he never had a huge presence outside of our home when it came to us, but he kept the bills paid as a show of his love. Shit just worked. But at nineteen years old, when our pops passed, my brother had to take full responsibility for an eleven year old and I loved that nigga with everything I was. He did his dirt, made reckless decisions to keep the bills paid, but knowing I’d lost both of my parents, he made sure I didn’t lose him too.
After I stepped out of the car, I took in how thick the block was. Some of the vehicles I recognized, some I didn’t. A lot of shit had likely changed but the core of what made D-Ville home I could always count on.
Trees were burning, the music was loud, and almost every surface was filled with bottles when I pushed through the gate on the side of the house to enter the backyard. As if he felt me, my brother’s head turned and a big ass smile spread across his face.
“Y’all see this shit. Look at this muthafucker pulling up to his own celebration late.”
I chuckled and walked right to him. Yoel hugged me tightly and it took him a minute to release me. When he set me free, he cuffed the back of my head and brought mine to his.
“I missed you, Kove. You know that, right?”
The question was simple on the surface but weighted as hell.
He needed confirmation that I understood why he’d forced my hand about leaving three years ago.
“Yeah, nigga, I know.” I smiled, nodding because the affirmation was all that was required. No long, drawn out emotional conversations would happen. The past was the past. I handed over the two words required to set his heart at peace.
I know…
“Aren’t you supposed to come back looking like money?” Suleem was the first one to approach after Yoel. After his closed fist met mine, we shared a brotherly hug before he stepped back and locked his arms over his chest.
Suleem and his boy Kassir were the OGs of the DP gang. I got inked because I wanted to hit the court with the team they sponsored, D-Ville Ballerz. They cleared six figures every tournament and the players walked with ten stacks a game but being inked meant I was down with DP, not just on the court. East Street knew who we were.
Suleem’s girl had an issue with one of their members a couple months before me and Yoel crossed paths with them the night I got caught up. Suleem felt partially responsible, even if what went down between us the night I dropped a body didn’t have shit to do with him or Yahzi. Just a couple reckless ass niggas who thought we weren’t bout that life.
Suleem had always been a chosen brother for me, even before I was inked with DP, so I didn’t carry any remorse nor did I blame anyone for the choices I made. I was gang, and I knew how that shit worked, so nothing changed with us. I loved that nigga like we shared blood.
“Ain’t you supposed to be somewhere eating jello and pudding? When the hell did they start allowing evening passes from the nursing home and shit? Your old ass is out past your bedtime.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Don’t make me fuck you up at your own welcome home party, Kove. Mymuthafuckin’ hands are up to date and my trigger finger is always ready.”
I grinned and nodded, looking round. “Yah here with you?”
“Nah, she’s home with baby girl. I’m about to head out too. Just wanted to show my face for a minute. If I had known your ass was gon’ be this late, I would have pulled up on you another time. You good though?”
“Yeah, I’m straight. Damn sure glad to be home. Shit was cool over there but ain’t nothing like family.”
“I feel you. You know we’re gonna be courtside when the season starts.”
“How you know about that? I just signed the damn contract.”
He smiled. “There isn’t a damn thing about you that your brother doesn’t have his hands on. He wanted you home so he found a way to get you home.”
I cut my eyes toward my brother. He had a smile on his face with a woman in his lap. Suleem’s voice brought my attention back to him.
“He did the right thing back then, Kove. It wasn’t an easy decision for him to make but he loved you enough to carry that. Don’t be too hard on him.”
“I didn’t get it back then but I do now. It fucked me up, but I understand why he forced the issue.”
He nodded. “You’re home now though. You and Riq are about to wreck shit out there.”
“We’re gonna do a little something.”
