by Desirée
I busted into Rodney’s room as the other two went upstairs to hold a crazy Taylor off. Shit, I didn’t even know what Cassie ended up doing. That wasn’t my problem. I immediately went for the window just as Rodney shot up from his bed, scared out of his mind.
“Nigga what the fuck—”
“Shhh!” I let out, trying to unlock his window that led to the backyard. Kicking the screen out, I could still hear Taylor yelling from around the front as I took off, hopping over the fence into another yard. I felt like I could hear her coming around the back, so I didn’t stop running. I pulled out my phone as I tried calling Elijah, praying he would answer.
“Yeah, bruh?” he answered as I nearly tripped over a fucking big-ass rock. “Nigga, why you huffing and puffing in the phone like you—”
“Yo, if Taylor comes by, don’t open that shit! Don’t let her in!” I yelled, looking back at the house as I cut the corner onto the next street, thinking I was in the clear. I could hear Elijah saying something to Jordyn just as a big-ass pit bull came running out from behind the house, coming hard after me as I tried to run in those soft-ass house shoes.
“Shit! Yo! Unlock the door, E! Unlock the door when I—”
“What the fuck is yo’ problem, Trent?” he yelled. “What’s going—”
Headlights from a car came close up behind me, casting a shadow as I looked back, eyes wide in horror. I didn’t know if it was Taylor, and I didn’t take that chance as I dipped back into people’s yards. The dog was no longer after me. I guess he went as far as he was willing to go. Running through another backyard, I felt myself slip, nearly busting my ass on some dog shit before getting up, feeling the chunk of it on the bottom of my house shoes. Fuck! I kept moving, though, because at this point, I didn’t know what Taylor was capable of, and I wasn’t trying to find out.
As soon as I spotted Jordyn’s house, I ran up the short porch steps. Seeing the main door was open, I pulled back the screen door and nearly fell face first into the warm living room. The smell of fresh food being cooked from the kitchen hit me.
“Bruh?” Elijah laughed as I turned over on my back, chest heaving hard, looking at them. There they sat, simple as fuck, with her on the couch, glasses on, sipping something out of her mug. He sat on the floor in between her legs, shirtless, with his chains around his neck as she began to retwist his locs. “You smell like shit. Get the fuck on out this house smelling like that, nigga. Don’t have my crib smelling like that! Go!” he yelled, kicking me as I sat up and tossed the shoes outside. They were ruined anyway.
Lying back down on the carpet, I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. I hadn’t run that fast for that long in years. Hearing a phone go off, I looked at Elijah, who glanced at his phone, smiling hard at me.
“Taylor?” I breathed. He nodded. I shook my head frantically, pleading with my eyes, hoping he wouldn’t rat me out. “Bruh, come on. Don’t do that shit. I’m not ready to handle her crazy ass right now.”
“So, what you want me to say?” He laughed, phone still ringing.
“Just tell her I’m somewhere else! Shit!” I started thinking. “I’m not in Atlanta right—”
“Hold up. I know what I’m going to say,” he said, answering the phone. “Hello?”
I could hear her go off as he tried to keep himself from laughing. Jordyn just continued to twist his locs, occasionally pushing her glasses up like none of this even bothered her. “Yeah, Trent? He’s over at Shiloh’s crib right now. Just made his way over there. You know his girl be cooking them big-ass meals. Yeah,” he said, nodding his head as he looked at me. “Oh, shit. Maybe he caught a ride with a girl. I’on know, Taylor, but you acting crazy.... I’m not calling you crazy, shawty, I’m saying you—”
Elijah looked at the phone before bursting into laughter. “Yo, she hung up. She not stupid enough to go over to Shiloh’s place acting stupid. What the fuck did you do, bruh?”
“I don’t know, man.” I sighed, looking at my feet. I had one sock on, barely any clothes on, and I was still trying to catch my breath.
I looked around and noticed it was deadly quiet, with the exception of them two occasionally talking. Elijah made it seem like when he was with her, they be having these wild-ass nights, sleeping with different girls at the same time, drinking, and coming and going as he pleased. Yet, here I was with them on a Saturday night for the first time, and this was what he was doing. His eyes were closed as he took a pull on his blunt. She had a book laid out, reading as she twisted his hair. They were boring as fuck! No TV, no music, no nothing.
“Is this what y’all do?” I pressed, sitting up as they both looked at me.
Elijah smiled, blowing smoke out through his nose.
“Just sit in silence?”
“What? You want us to be running through backyards, rolling in dog shit, and having crazy bitches after us like you?” Elijah joked.
“Nah, but y’all just sitting here, looking bored.”
Elijah shook his head. “I’m at peace, bruh,” he stated simply, eyes closing slowly as she started on another loc.
Eyeing them once more, I smiled, feeling myself get envious at his content state. “Can I spend the night, Jordyn?” I asked, getting up to sit on the couch. I was tired as fuck, and I just wanted to have this night be over already. I was too old to be running from a crazy female, and too old to be fighting with my older brother. Everything would get squashed tomorrow.
“That’s fine,” she said softly. “There is some turkey meat left if you want to make a burger, and a bowl of salad already tossed.” She pointed to the kitchen.
“Thank you, sis,” I said, lying back on the couch, closing my eyes. I was enjoying the peace, hearing Elijah singing softly to himself. It reminded me of when we were little and you could faintly catch him singing on the low to himself. I needed to rethink a lot of shit, and this was the only place I could find the peace to do it. Closing my eyes as I leaned back, I let out a contented sigh, thinking this shit was over and done with—not even realizing this was just the beginning.
“Hey, um . . .” Jordyn let out, looking at her phone with an intense stare. “Taylor is on her way over here. She just texted me, asking if she can she talk to me.”
“Whaat?” Elijah and I shrieked as I quickly got up.
“Yeah, she should be pulling up any second now.” Jordyn shrugged. “To be honest, you put yourself in this situation, Trent, so you need to face reality and just deal with it. Talk to her. She’ll respect honesty before anything else.”
We both looked at her as Elijah shook his head, jumping up to close and lock the door. “Fuck that. You should have never messed with a damn virgin!” Elijah quipped as I looked around, trying to find a place to hide. “And why the fuck you got that crazy bitch’s number in the first place, Jordyn?”
As soon as I caught a sight of headlights flashing in her window, I ran to the first room I knew of and closed the door. I tried to squeeze in the closet, but she had shit stuffed in there, along with Elijah’s belongings. So, when that didn’t work, I slipped underneath her bed with my back pressed against the springs. I laid my head down on the carpet, waiting, listening. I could hear the door open and see Elijah’s bright red bandana socks as he stepped in the room.
You good, Haze?” he called out in a low voice, using the nickname Shiloh gave me when we were kids trying to hide from our parents. All four of us had nicknames. Mine was Haze, for the eyes.
“Yeah,” I whispered back.
“Nigga, this is some stupid-ass shit,” Elijah muttered with a laugh before walking back out, leaving the door open.
“Ah, what’s the matter, Big Tay?” Elijah cooed, hearing her cry. “What did my brother do now? I thought you were past this shit.”
“You know how long I’ve been feeling yo’ brother?” she cried.
I closed my eyes. Nobody told yo’ stupid fat ass to like me in the first place! I wanted to shout it, but I kept quiet and listened.
“I always told
Olivia I wanted to be a part of y’all family so bad. I wanted to be a Carter, and the only person I wanted to be with was Trent. Been in love with him since I could remember,” she mumbled. “So, to hear him tell me all this shit like we’re going to get married and have kids, we’re meant for each other, and he was always feeling me but just was too scared to say anything at the time . . . Like, nigga, why the fuck would you tell me all of that, break up with yo’ girlfriend, tell me we’re together, fuck me, and then the next fucking day, I don’t hear from you? Ever! Like, who does that shit? I’m too old to be chasing behind niggas like that! I shouldn’t have to—”
“Whoa, whoa, hold up,” Elijah said, getting ready to come to my defense. “Taylor, listen to what you just said, baby. Niggas say shit. We always say shit to females just so we can get the pussy. That’s it. We tell y’all what y’all wanna hear, how you wanna hear, when you wanna hear it, so we can get what we want, how we want, and when we want it. You feel me? You fell for the ol’ okey-doke, shawty.”
“So, you tell Jordyn what she wants to hear just to get—”
“Don’t bring her—”
“Answer the question, Elijah,” Jordyn said as I covered my mouth to keep from laughing. Now this nigga was getting caught up.
“Hold up! This ain’t even my issue! I was just trying to keep it real with you! And nah, our setup was different. We knew what it was from the beginning.”
“Jordyn, why must niggas be nothing but shit?” Taylor asked casually. I heard footsteps. “Come on. We need girls’ talk. I don’t have nothing to say to Elijah, because I’m about ready to swing on his ass. He’s looking too much like Trent right now, so . . .”
I spotted Taylor’s heels as she walked into the room. Shit! Jordyn followed behind, closing the door in Elijah’s face.
“Aye! What about my hair?” he screamed out from behind the door.
“I’ll finish in the morning, Elijah,” Jordyn said as she sat down on the bed, mattress sinking in, with Taylor following behind her. I almost couldn’t breathe, but I kept it together.
“Jordyn, I was so in love with that man.” She laughed to herself. “I remember every year, beginning of school, I made it my mission to memorize his class schedule, so I could purposely bump into him. Start some shit. Now, as adults, when we had sex for the first time, he made me feel like I was the sexiest woman alive.”
“The Carter boys seem to have a way of doing that,” Jordyn said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “Make you feel like you’re their everything, like they’ll protect and care for you as if you’re all that matters. Then, you find out it was all a front. I know. Believe me, I know what you mean. Elijah is no different.”
“So, what did you . . . how did you even deal with that? How do you still deal with that?”
“I honestly don’t know.” Jordyn laughed. “Our situation is a bit different from yours, so I can’t really compare. Let Trent be. If he is grown enough to come to you and be honest about everything, then you can’t be too mad at him for that. If he never says a thing to you, well, besides moving on, you don’t need to look back. Go find a pretty girl to mess with. I always kind of picked up a gay vibe with you anyway,” she teased, and Taylor laughed. “Girls are more fun in the bed anyway.”
If my dick didn’t get hard at that statement . . . boy, I was ready to slide up from underneath that bed and see what was up.
“Girl, stop!” she let out, and they laughed. “Can I spend the night here?”
“Of course,” Jordyn said, getting up.
Hearing the door open, I watched Taylor walk out of the room, with Jordyn following.
Elijah walked in, closing the door. “Bruh, get yo’ ass up,” he whispered. “They in the kitchen. You can’t stay underneath this shit all night. You need to talk to her.”
The door opened again, and I watched Jordyn’s feet walk in. She closed the door.
“Where is he?”
“Under yo’ bed like a bitch,” Elijah spat. “Just talk to her.”
“I don’t have shit to say,” I retorted, hearing them groan.
“Man, I’m not about to sleep on this bed with my girl with you underneath, nigga. That’s beyond gay as fuck to me.”
“Taylor can have my bedroom. Elijah and I will sleep in the living room.”
“Bitch, what?” Elijah flipped, and they started going at it. “I’m not sleeping on the fucking couch when I paid for—”
“Shut up, Elijah. Just shut the fuck up. We’re sleeping in the living room. Rita’s room has nothing in it, so would you rather sleep on the floor?”
“Man,” he said, smacking his teeth as he walked out.
I hated that I was the one causing all of this, but I wasn’t ready to face her. I felt nothing toward her. Did I lie to get inside the panties? Hell yeah, I did. It was too easy. She was too easy. But I didn’t realize her feelings for me were that strong. Had I known, I would have never said what I said to her.
So now, here I was in this pitch-black room, trying to keep myself awake as Taylor snored lightly above me. Glancing at my phone, I saw it was going on 3 a.m. Fuck that. I was tired, hungry, and my body was hurting from being in this position for so damn long. So, I slid from underneath the bed and slowly opened the creaky door.
It was dark in the house, with the only light coming from the phones charging. I peeped Elijah and Jordyn laying together with a thin blanket on them. His mouth was wide open, dreads wrapped in a scarf, with a protective arm over her as she lay closer to his lower body. I started to make my way to the door when his head popped up, looking hard at me before rubbing his eyes.
“You out, bruh?” he asked in a low voice, sniffing.
“I’m gone. Good looking out, though.” We slapped hands quietly then came in for a hug, careful not to wake Jordyn. “I owe you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled, drifting back into his sleep as I stepped out of the house.
Walking down the dark street, my mind just went through everything I’d been through these past few months with females. Tia, Jade, Jordyn, and Taylor: all have or had an issue with me. Only one I did any harm to was my ex, and I wished on everything I could take it back, because all that shit was starting to kick back in and catch up with me.
Pulling my phone out, on my last 3 percent of battery, I texted Jahiem, explaining the situation between Tia and me. I told him it was one time, and I knew it was no way the baby was mine, because I knew for a fact I didn’t nut in her. Even if I did, my pullout game is strong as fuck, so I wasn’t worried at all. I apologized and told him I was ready to move on from this.
I texted Taylor and apologized, and I told her that I wished I would have done things differently. I told her I would always have love for her, but I couldn’t be the man she wanted me to be. On my last percent of battery, I got on Facebook and called Jade out, telling her and the rest of the world I was sorry, I missed her, and asked her to please talk to me, call me. I learned my lesson. I was sick of being a selfish-ass nigga. I just wanted my girl back.
Looking up at the street signs as my phone shut down on me, I spotted a few people out walking around. They were drug addicts, most likely. I needed to hurry up and get back to the fucking house. It was too cold to be walking around in just shorts, a coat, and Elijah’s shoes that I couldn’t even fit.
Suddenly, I heard this car’s loud engine. I turned back, seeing no headlights, just a small-ass car zooming up to the side of me. The windows rolled down. A nigga who had on a ski mask stuck his head out, and I immediately tensed up.
“Aye, you know where—”
“That’s him!” I heard Cassie yell from the back seat of the car.
My mouth dropped. Shit!
“Oh, you the nigga that fucked my sister over, huh? Ain’t you related to Olivia? You one of them Carter boys, ain’t you?” the dude said with a laugh as the back window rolled down, showing another nigga with a ski mask on cough up a thing of spit, almost hitting my shoes.
“Tha
t’s her brother,” the one in the back seat said with a laugh. “Ahh, shit. We can kill two birds with one stone. You know yo’ coked-out sister owe me some money and pussy? She stole from me—”
“Watch what the fuck you say about her,” I warned, fists tightening up.
“Fuck you gon’ do, pretty boy?” he asked.
I was just about to go in when he aimed a gun directly at me, causing my hands to go up in the air almost instantly. My heart was racing as I took a deep swallow. I’d never been so scared in my life.
“Look at this bitch nigga. The weakest Carter.”
“Just handle his ass and come on!” Cassie snapped. “I got work in the morning!”
“Tell Olivia she got until next Friday to get right, or I’m knocking y’all down one by one.”
“I ain’t telling her—”
“Fuck it,” the one in the front seat said as he pulled out his gun, aimed, and let loose a series of shots at me. I could feel my body jerk with the hits. I slumped to the ground, pain feeling like intense burns, almost numbing me completely.
“Nigga, you weren’t supposed to really shoot him! Just scare him!” I heard a guy say.
The pain felt like it was on my legs, my arm, my chest. I couldn’t . . . Shit . . . Last thing I heard was the car pull off before everything went black.
Noelle
I sat up quickly, seeing Shiloh nearly jump out of his sleep, chest heaving like he had just woken up from a nightmare. It wasn’t even dawn yet, and we had literally just gone to sleep about an hour ago. Watching him stare blankly into space, I rolled my eyes and lay back down. I was too tired for a mood swing. I really was.
“Something isn’t right,” I heard him mumble as he got up from the bed to grab his phone. I glanced at the time on my nightstand. It was 3:52 a.m. I watched him start dialing numbers, but when no one answered, he just sighed to himself. I sat up and slowly went over to where he was, wrapping my arms around his neck, kissing the side of his face. He was so stiff, so tense. Physically, he was on alert.
