by Natavia
“Oh wow, I can’t believe how mature you just sounded,” I said, and she threw a plastic cup at me.
“I seem to only think about you and Tinka stayin’ on the right track. When it comes to myself, I lack a lot of shit. I’ll figure it out though,” she said.
While Kitty cooked spaghetti, I thought about knocking on Rochelle’s door to ask if she had something from Governor, but that was beneath me. Once dinner was finished, Kitty brought me a plate, but I didn’t have much of an appetite. She, on the other hand, finished her dinner in less than five minutes.
“This baby keeps me hungry,” she said, rubbing her bloated stomach.
I cleaned up the kitchen while Kitty went to sleep in Ke’Ari’s room. Someone knocked on the door and I looked at the time. It was ten thirty at night. Governor told me he’d be by in two hours. I went to the door and looked out the peephole, it was him. When I opened the door, he tried to give me a kiss, but I moved my face away.
“Oh, word?” he asked, closing the door.
“Yes, word!”
He went into the living room, pulled a gun from the back of his pants and placed it on the table before sitting down. Governor was dressed in black jeans, a hoodie with black Timbs. I wanted to ask him what he was up to but decided against it.
This fool looks like he just killed somebody.
“Sorry about that. I don’t like sittin’ down wit’ it in my pants. So, what’s up, Essa? You got an attitude wit’ me about sumthin?” he asked.
“Sinna knocked on my door and told me she’s pregnant by you and you gave her an STD. She also said you gave Rochelle one, too. Would you like to tell me what the fuck is goin’ on?”
“Mannnn, that bitch lyin’. You believe Sinna? I have never fucked that girl or even looked at her in that way. As far as Rochelle, I wore condoms. The last time I hit her was over three months ago. Yo, Essa, I was in the middle of sumthin and came over here to entertain this bullshit?” he asked.
“How is that bullshit? You know what, let’s go knock on that bitch’s door. Let her tell you what she told me.”
“She already told me. She was callin’ and textin’ me all day, but I blocked her. Shorty is delusional if she thinks I smashed her,” he said. Governor was pissing me off, his attitude about the whole situation was nonchalant.
“You’re gonna sit in my face and lie to me?”
“Believe what you want to, Essa. My dick is clean. If that’s all you wanted, we can dead the conversation,” he said.
“That’s it, huh?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Y’all can keep on wit’ that childish bullshit if y’all want to. Who in the fuck goes around fuckin’ multiple females in the same building? How in the fuck do I even have the time? I’m always inside you. You are always at my crib. You sound dumb as shit, shorty. But anyway, goodnight,” he said. Governor grabbed his gun off the table and tucked it inside his pants. I had a feeling he was lying about something. Sinna said she was trying to call him, and he admitted to that. Why would she lie about sleeping with him?
“I think we should just keep it mutual from now on,” I called out to him when he was ready to leave out.
“Yeah; me, too,” he said then walked out.
I was expecting Governor to admit to whatever it was Sinna was talking about or even apologize to me for putting my health at risk. I’d concluded that Governor was a low-down dirty-dick-ass nigga.
I can’t believe I have to make a trip to the fuckin’ clinic tomorrow! He better pray he didn’t give me anything or else I’m gonna turn this building upside fuckin’ down!
Governor
“E verything straight?” Leray asked when I got inside my whip. I was out taking care of business and Essa hit me up saying she needed to talk. I’m thinking she wanted to vent about her son. I’d drop anything I’m doing for shorty, but she blew me with that bullshit she was spitting. I almost laughed in her face when she asked me about Sinna, but she looked hurt and I wasn’t trying to make myself look like a fuck-boy. But shorty was really tripping when she asked me that with a straight face. Sinna was hitting me up for weeks talking about I was dodging her. I blocked her when she hit my phone up talking about the doctor just gave her results and I knocked her up and gave her an STD. Why did I have to tell Essa that stupid shit if it wasn’t true? I know I didn’t smash Sinna and thought shorty was just starting stuff because she was jealous, but it ended up backfiring because she got to Essa the way she wanted to. Essa believing her over me kinda turned me off. I thought Essa was one of those headstrong-type females, but shorty was like any other female out in the streets I had smashed—she was gullible.
“Yo, you won’t believe this shit. Essa just asked me if I smashed this hoe that lives in the building. Shorty told Essa I gave her an STD and I knocked her up. My nigga, Sinna is a busted-ass joint, bruh. I’ll never stick my dick in a dirty-ass broad. I ain’t gonna lie, I helped shorty out a few times and gave her passes on her rent when she couldn’t pay it, but I never came on to that girl.”
“Damn, she wildin’ like that?” Leray asked as I pulled off from in front the building.
“I’m gonna talk to her but not right now. I might fuck around and knock shorty teeth down her throat. Yo, I can’t believe my sweet baby girl is beefin’ wit’ me.”
“She’ll come around once she realizes the truth. They always do,” he replied.
“No doubt.”
Once we reached our destination, Roy walked out of a hotel with a duffel bag. He got in the back seat of my Tahoe with a cigarette.
“Bruh, put that out.”
“This nigga smoke weed all day but cry about a little cigarette smoke,” Roy joked.
“You gonna have it smellin’ like a house card game in here.”
“I’m forty years old, youngin’. I have every right to light up a Port,” he replied.
I drove off and made the next exit. In my rearview mirror, a police officer was following me. For the past few days, I’d been wearing flashy jewelry and driving expensive whips. I was also hanging around in the hoods and chilling with people I knew was hot. The thing is, I wanted those crooked-ass cops to rob me. They thought I didn’t catch on, but they had been following me for a while now—a white and black dude, but the white dude was now by himself.
“You think this is a good idea?” Leray asked, looking in the rearview mirror.
“You’ll see,” I replied.
I took another exit and drove on a back road. The cop was still behind us while I drove ten miles between the country corn fields. He followed us for fifteen minutes until he sped off and went around me. I took another exit and pulled up in front of a pool hall.
“That was wild, bro. The same cop followin’ you around,” Leray said.
“I’m tellin’ you, those were street niggas. They knew my name, but we have to figure this out because my supply is runnin’ out,” Roy said.
“Your gas station is called, Roy’s QuickMart. Nigga, you think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out who the fuck you are?” I asked, and he shrugged his shoulders.
“How long you think it’s gonna take them to make a move on us?” Leray asked.
“Not long.”
“What if we get busted behind this shit?” Roy asked.
“Busted wit’ what? Everyone in this truck is legit. They’ll have to prove we’re dirty.”
“This nigga just paranoid,” Leray said.
We got out of the truck and got into a cab which was part of Roy’s cab company. The driver was one of Roy’s workers. He was a young dude, probably around twenty years old. We chilled for a while, waiting for the cop to find my truck since I parked on a main road in front of the pool house.
“You think he’s comin’ back?” Roy asked while taking a miniature shot of Patrón followed by a Percocet.
“Yeah, he’ll come back. He probably circled around,” I replied.
My phone rang, and it was Rochelle, so I ignored it. She was begging me to take her back but,
hell, I didn’t want her hoe ass neither. While we were waiting, I was thinking about texting Essa, but I had too much pride. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t catch deep feelings for her. Maybe she was trippin’ because she saw me as a nigga that just wanted to fuck but it was deeper than that. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for a serious relationship because of the type of things I was getting caught up in, but shorty had me. I cut off a lot of females I used to bust down on the regular because of Essa.
I let her see too much. What if she rats on a nigga because of Sinna’s dumb ass? Naw, Essa ain’t the type. Well, shid, she might be. I didn’t think she was the type to believe dumb shit, but she did anyway. Fuck! I’ll have to kill her ass if she get me back on some snake shit. She knows enough about me to put me away for years. I didn’t have to worry about Rochelle because she got dirty wit’ me a few times. Mannn, I must’ve fell in love wit’ Essa’s dumb ass. Naw, bruh. Don’t use that word too soon. You just pussy-whipped over that gushy…
I was mentally going back and forth with myself about the situation. My mind was telling me she put the curse of good pussy on me, but my heart was telling me she was solid. But knocking on Sinna’s door was lame-nigga shit to me. I’d rather go about it my own way. Something happened with Sinna for her to think I really had sex with her and I had to get to the bottom of it.
“Yo, look!” Leray tapped me on the shoulder.
We saw the same white cop pull up behind my truck and turn his sirens off. He used his flashlight to look inside the truck. The duffel bag Roy purposely tried to hide was on the floor behind the passenger’s seat.
“This muthafucka stupid and bold,” Roy said.
A van pulled up behind the police car and about six dudes dressed in all black got out and surrounded my truck with AK-47’s. One of them deactivated my alarm but I had cameras inside my truck. I went to the car security app on my phone to listen to them.
“Hurry up, Ryan! They might be comin’ back out! Check everything and make sure you put the tracking device underneath the seat. Grab the duffel bag!” the white officer said. Someone grabbed the bag and opened it. Leray and Roy cracked up when the masked man opened the bag and saw water guns.
“Jesus Christ. What in the fuck is this, Joshua? You said you had a lick, and this is what the hell you led us to? Have you lost your fuckin’ mind? Damn you! I left dinner with my wife’s family for a bunch of water guns?” he asked.
“From now on, you let me handle it. I told you what to look for! Thugs wit’ nice shit!” another masked man said.
I exited out of the app when they split up. The white officer walked to his car and I could tell by his body language he was pissed off. The rest of the masked men got back into the van. The cab driver waited a few seconds to pull out after the van drove off. Luckily, a few cars were in front of us, so it wouldn’t look obvious. We drove for twenty-five minutes; I wanted to get out shooting when the van pulled up to my downtown apartment building.
“Yo, Governor. Ain’t this your building?” Roy asked.
“Hell, yeah it is.”
A black dude stepped out, but he was wearing regular clothes. I told the cab driver to drive around the side of the building, so I could use the side emergency door. I hurriedly got out after the cab driver parked on the side. I wanted to hurry up and catch the dude, so I could see his apartment number. The side door brought me to the lobby, but he was getting on the elevator. The outside of the elevator showed the floor number he was going to, so I took the maintenance elevator. Once I got to the floor, he was entering an apartment—Rochelle’s mother’s apartment. I remember Rochelle said her mother had a young boyfriend who lived in Baltimore, but I never met the dude. But something was iffy about the situation. He was living on my property, dating my ex-shorty’s mother and he tried to rob me. Something was telling me it was personal, and he knew me and the people in my circle.
Rochelle probably set this up. Him and his partners robbed Nucci’s club; she knows Nucci. They tried to get at Roy; Rochelle used to pick up the money he owed me. They hit off Mayor’s dudes and Rochelle knows about them, too. Everything circled around that broad.
I went back downstairs to the cab. Leray and Roy asked me about the police officer, but I told them I lost him. If Leray found out Rochelle knew the cop, he would’ve told Mayor, so he could merk her. I wanted her alive until I got down to the bottom of it. Roy’s cab driver took me back to my truck and I headed home. Despite all the bullshit that was happening in my circle, I couldn’t get my mind off of Essa. I wanted to call her and tell her to walk outside so we could go to my crib and talk about whatever she wanted to but the pride in me wouldn’t allow me to call her.
The next day…
It was around noon when I walked into the Law Offices of Benjamin Mitchell Jr. I wasn’t lying when I told Essa I was going to help her out with her son. But I had to get everything straight before I talked with her baby father’s bitch-ass father.
“Hello, how can I help you today?” the secretary asked.
“I’m here to speak with Benjamin Mitchell,” I replied.
“Can I have your name?” she asked, picking up the phone.
“Governor.”
While she was on the phone calling him, I observed the office. In the corner of the ceiling were cameras. The secretary hung up the phone with a displeased look on her face.
“He said you need to leave,” the secretary said.
“Tell him Tinashe Simmons’ rent is past due and she told me to come here to collect it. I’m not leavin’ until he comes out to talk to me and I don’t think he wants to call the cops. So, pick that phone up and tell that nigga to bring his bitch-ass out here and hurry up.”
The secretary hurriedly got on the phone to call Benjamin back. When I ran into Benjamin at the comedy show, he seemed familiar. I knew I had seen him somewhere before but couldn’t put my finger on it. Then it came to me when I stopped by Tinashe’s crib to collect her rent money. He must’ve forgotten I was her landlord. I was going to hire a lawyer for Essa, but I didn’t need to. Why spend money when I could get the job done for free?
Benjamin stormed down the hallway with sweat beads on his forehead. I gave him the head nod and he grilled me.
“You can come on back,” he said, adjusting his tie.
I followed him to the office at the end of the hallway. Benjamin grabbed a bottle of whiskey from his drawer and took a shot.
“Have a seat. I almost didn’t recognize you with a suit. You clean up nicely,” he said after he placed the bottle on the desk. I wasn’t wearing a suit, but I did have on casual tan pants, a navy-blue blazer with a pair of brown loafers.
I undid a few buttons on my blazer before I sat across from him. He had a lot to say the night I saw him at the comedy show and I still wanted to knock his old ass out.
“What do you want from me?” he asked.
“I want you to clear that shit up wit’ Essa. Come on, bruh. You gotta feel a pussy between your legs if you out here sabotaging shorty for no reason. Hopefully, that ends today.”
“I thought street dudes don’t snitch,” he said.
“Who said anything about snitchin'? You think I’m gonna tell your wife you had dealin’s wit’ someone who is HIV positive? Everybody knows Tinashe. She was a prostitute, but you knew that. See, I know every fuckin’ thing in this city. Your wife did look a little sick when I saw her. Matter of fact, Tinashe is right outside waitin’ for me to call her in, so she can let the office know what’s up and embarrass you, the same way you did Essa. I don’t call that snitchin', my nigga, I call it business. Is it safe for Essa’s son to be around your contaminated ass anyway?” I chuckled. Benjamin was sweating harder than a dope fiend.
“You’ll destroy everything I worked for if you open your mouth! My wife can take everything from me! I haven’t been with Tinashe since I found out she was positive. I just wanted my son with a decent wholesome woman because I didn’t want him to experience the same thing I did with Tinas
he. A woman that didn’t come from the hood. Is that too much for a father to ask?” he replied.
“I’on know, bruh, but what those broads did to you didn’t have shit to do wit’ Essa. You tried to ruin a perfectly good shorty and make her out to be a bad mother because of sumthin you were goin’ through. I have an issue wit’ that and if you wasn’t behind that desk, I’d pistol-whip you. You raised your son to be a bitch, too. But I’ll tell you what. I’m gonna act like this was never discussed, and you have my word on that, but Essa better have her son this week! Don’t play wit’ me, bruh.”
“I’ll make a few calls right now,” he said.
“Okay, bet.”
