by Edwina Fort
I had to take the phone away from my ear when she screamed, YESSSSS!!!
Chapter 7
Allow Me to Introduce Myself…
I’m a Kind Person, I’m Kind to Everyone, but if You Are Unkind to Me, Then Kindness is Not What You’ll Remember Me For…
--Al Capone
Angel
Jessie must have been watching for us because as soon as the truck came to a stop outside of her apartment, she came bustling through the door.
I smiled. My baby was so precious; I don’t know why her parents couldn’t see that. The little hat that I bought her sat lopsided on her head. It looked as if she’d tried to tie the matching scarf the way that I’d shown her but had only managed to tie it in a knot. She wore one glove and was trying to shove her hand in the second one as she hurried to the truck as if she feared we were going to leave her.
On her back was her overnight bag that I knew was horribly lacking. Every time she came to my house, I had to buy her new underwear and clothing items. I don’t know what Trina was doing with all the stuff that I got her.
Two weeks ago, I’d gotten her new gym shoes, but I have yet to see them again. When I asked Jessie where they were, she said her mama put them up somewhere but now she thinks they’re lost. Peaches told me Trina was selling the stuff for dope, but I refused to believe that. Even Trina wouldn’t stoop that low.
Before Hitta could get the truck in park, my wild child had reached my door and was climbing up it. He made a surprised sound in his throat that made me giggle as I pushed the button to lower the window.
That was Jessie for you. She was my little tomboy. There wasn’t a tree she couldn’t climb or a fight she felt that she could walk away from. She was only six years old and I’d already been up to her school seven times because she’d beaten up one of the children for making fun of the way Trina sent her to school looking. The only reason the school had not suspended her any of the times is because each time had been a case of one of the other kids trying to bully Jess…
Big mistake…My little wild child doesn’t take kindly to bullies. That’s one of the things I love about her. She is fearless.
“Jessie, get down so—”
“Man, this a nice car!” she cried interrupting me. “This yo’ car, Mr.?”
Hitta chuckled as he killed the engine. “Yep…”
I tried to tell her to get down again because it wasn’t safe, this truck sat way up in the air, but I never got a chance.
“Hey, Tee-Tee!” she yelled in true Jessie fashion, just now remembering that she hadn’t even spoken to me.
“Hey, baby…”
Leaning on her arms she hiked herself up even higher so that she could kiss my cheek, no doubt she was using her little feet to literally climb up the door.
“Damn!” Hitta hissed from beside me, clearly impressed with Jessie’s strength. I shook my head. He would be impressed with her uncivilized behavior, something I have been trying to work on with this child.
“Jessie, get down so that I can open my door.”
“Okay…but I got to tell you something real quick.”
I already knew what she had to say. The fact that she came to the passenger door rather than trying to get in the back meant her mom was home and had sent her out here to ask me for money, which is why I had Hitta take me to the bank before we came.
“My mama said she need two-hundred and fifty dollas fo’ the phone bill, two hundred dollas fo’ the lights and a hundred dollas fo’ some food.”
I felt my face heating up in embarrassment. I really wish Trina wouldn't have sent her out here to ask me for money in front of Hitta.
“Dang it, Jessie, that’s five hundred and fifty dollars," I muttered to her, trying to talk low enough so that Hitta couldn’t hear me.
Jessie nodded before her excited gaze went back to Hitta. She didn’t understand the value of money. She didn’t know five-hundred and fifty dollars from fifty cents. She had no idea how outrageous her mama’s request was.
“I remember you,” she cried pointing to Hitta. I didn’t even know how she was holding herself up on the truck with just one hand. The girl was strong.
“You the man that gave me them tickets at the carnival.”
Hitta chuckled again before he nodded. “I am.”
I turned to look at him just to see what he thought about all that was going on and exhaled when I saw that he was relaxed back in his seat looking fondly at my little wild child, which meant he was not upset that she was climbing his truck like a freaking monkey.
I quickly took the five hundred I’d gotten from the bank out of my purse and handed it to her.
“Tell your mother I only have five-hundred. I’ll bring the other fifty when I drop you back off Sunday.”
Jessie nodded and then I kid y’all not, she turned, still holding on to the truck with one hand, used her feet to shove off the door and leap to the ground, where she quickly ran to the door. Hitta sat up in his seat to watch her go.
“Damn, we need to get her in the gym.”
I chuckled as I sat back in my seat. “Please don’t encourage her barbaric behavior. I’ve been trying to teach her to be more ladylike.”
He grunted. “To hell with that…that kid’s got natural talent. No need to wash it away with all that ladylike trash.”
With my mouth opened in shock, I turned to face him in my seat. “What do you mean ladylike trash? I’m ladylike.”
What the world? That didn’t even make sense to me.
He chuckled as he took my hand and brought it to his lips where he gently kissed the back of it, instantly causing my inside to come alive, remembering the way he’d made my world shatter earlier.
“And baby, that ladylike sh*t looks good on you, but it ain’t for everybody. Jessie got a different kind of energy that can only be worked out with physical activity. Trust me, I know the look well.”
I exhaled, maybe he was right. She loved to run, climb, jump, climb, fight, climb…oh and did I mention climb?
“So…why do you give her mom money?”
Dang it! I’d hoped he would have done the gentlemanly thing and ignored that, but I should have known not to expect the gentlemanly thing from him.
I sat back in my seat. “Some time Trina need help with her bills. My brother is not able to do it all the time, so I step in and help out when I can.”
That was the understatement of the year. My brother doesn’t do it any of the time and neither does Trina. I do it so that Jessie will always have a phone to call me, lights to see, and food to eat. If I didn’t, my baby would be in a really bad spot. I know what it’s like to not have these things and I didn’t want Jessie to have to go through that.
Blessedly, Hitta let it drop.
Hitta
Let it drop my a**! I know a con when I see one. Baby girl just told Angel this morning that she was hungry, which meant her mammy wasn’t using the money to buy food. And I doubt real seriously her f***ing phone bill is two-hundred and fifty f***ing dollars.
This b**** been running one on Angel. I wanted to ask how long it’s been going on, but I can already guess it’s been a while because she knew just how much to take out the bank.
Angel couldn’t afford this sh*t! This is why her f***ing rent on her store and her apartment was late. This is why the f*** she had to steal money from me…because she had a group of vampires that had attached themselves to her and was draining her for all she was f***ing worth.
Lucky for her, I was in the vampire disposal business. Everybody doesn't have the heart to do what I do. I can assist a mutha f***a to their final rest without blinking an eye or losing a wink of sleep. In fact, I slept better knowing I’ve rid the world of another parasite, especially when one of them mutha f***as has attached themselves to one of mine.
I waited till baby girl came running out the building and got out to help her in.
“Go ahead and put your seatbelt on for me," I told her before walking to Angel's window. "
I’ll be right back. I know somebody that’s looking for a secretary. I’m going to see if baby girl’s mom is interested in the position.”
The fact that I was lying to Angel to spare her feelings was foreign to me. I never did that. I said what needed to be said and I could give a f*** whose feelings got hurt, but the thing is…
She had a purity about her that I didn’t want to dirty up with my reality. I could see in her face that she actually thought this trick was taking the money she was giving her and spending it on her child. She actually thought she was helping rather than hindering. Angel was one of those Care Bear kind of people that needed to help folks in order to feel whole.
I found myself not wanting to destroy that in her. I didn’t want to dirty up the way she saw the world with reality. The reality was that she was feeding money to a mutha f***en lazy a** crackhead, who had no problem taking advantage of Angel’s kindness.
Me on the other hand…
Well, I am the kind of mutha f***a that needed to extinguish. And I know that sounds cold, but it’s the truth…I feel the most alive when I’m between a thick pair of thighs or when I’m beating a mutha f***a down in the ring.
It is what it is…
She grabbed my hand. “That is perfect! I’m sure Trina would love the job…but—” Her beautiful eyes glanced toward the backseat before she leaned closer to me.
“Be careful,” she whispered so that baby girl couldn’t hear, “Trina is a bit rough around the edges…and I don’t want her to take advantage of your kindness.”
I smiled at her naiveté. Bless her little heart. She thought she had to warn me about Trina instead of the other way around. You see what I mean?
She saw the world through a loving lens that I will protect at all costs. There weren’t many people left on earth like her and I don’t know why she’s fallen into my hands of all people, but I know that it was now my job to protect her. I knew that sh*t like I knew how to knock a mutha f***a on his a**.
“What floor does she stay on, sweetheart?”
“The second,” she answered, but she still wore that worried look. “You’ll be careful, right?”
“Sure, Teacup, I’ll be careful…” I assured her, doing my best to keep my expression even.
However, by the time I turned to face the building, my smile was gone…and the rage I felt at this moment had settled on my face.
No way in hell somebody like her should have to deal with the jackals…That’s what God put me here to do. Angel didn’t belong in this world. This was an evil place…a place too filthy for Angels. But now that she had me, I would do whatever it takes to make sure she keeps her wings…even if that meant burying every mutha f***a that had it in their hearts to hurt her.
In baby girl’s excitement, she’d left her front door ajar. When I opened it to walk in, I was hit with a foul smell. The apartment was filthy. Stepping over old food containers and dirty clothes, I made my way down the hallway. The first bedroom I came to I was amazed to see the door wide open and some bustdown was on her knees giving a nigga brain right in the f***ing open.
Baby girl had just left, had she seen this sh*t?
Because neither of them noticed me standing there, I took the time to take in the room. Whereas the rest of the apartment was trashed, this room was surprisingly very clean. There was even a lingering scent of Pine-Sol in the air as if the floors had not too long ago been mopped.
The man’s eyes fluttered open. When he saw me standing there frowning down at him, he nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Oh sh*t! That’s a big mutha f***a!” he squeaked like a f***ing female.
The bustdown jumped to her feet wiping her mouth as her eyes took me in. Her greedy gaze went from my shoes to my watch, my chest, and then finally settled on my face with an inviting smile. She wasn’t a bad looking girl, just looked like she was doing some hard living.
“Do I know you?” she asked as she strutted my way, licking her nasty lips.
I lifted an eyebrow. “You Trina?”
“For you baby, I can be…”
The poor buster on the couch held up his hands… “Peaches?! What the f***?! You can’t blow us both at the same time.”
I shook my head…This sh*t was pathetic.
She turned and rolled her eyes at him before turning back to me her smile back in place, but I was already headed the other way. I’d heard enough…She wasn’t Trina.
My steps slowed in front of a closed door that had to be the one I was looking for. I could hear voices coming from the other side.
“Damn, she just give you cash like that?”
A female laughed. “Yep, her goofy a** drop that dough every week. She think she be feeding that lil mutha f***a. I told you, Jessie a** a goldmine. I ain’t got to do sh*t but call Angel and tell her Jessie need this or Jessie need that…and her dumb a**get on the bus and come running every time. Sh*t, she even clean my damn house when she drop her off on Sundays!”
I balled up my fist and hit the door so hard that mutha f***a flew off the hinges. “All that sh*t done with!” I growled, squeezing my fists tighter so that I didn’t knock the b**** out.
An older more broke down version of Peaches and an even more broke down nigga was laid out on the bed with a base kit between them. She jumped up but wisely didn't take a step toward me. She was smart because although I’ve never hit a woman, I would not see a problem in choking the sh*t out of this one.
“What the f*** is wrong with you, knocking down my mutha f***en door like that?!” She yelled pointing her crusty a** finger at me.
I looked around this room, not only was it filthy, it stank so badly it caused the frown to grow on my face.
“How the f*** you living like this with a six-year-old kid?"
“That ain’t none of yo’ mutha f***en business! You need to get the f*** out—” The guy grabbed her arm as his eyes widened in recognition.
“Yo, you Hard Hitta!”
“I know who the f*** I am, nigga,” I growled at him, begging him to give me an excuse to knock him on his a**. I won’t hit a woman, but I will mop the floor with this mutha f***a.
He held up his hands. “Naw, man, I don't want no trouble with you." He chuckled, "I ain’t got a death wish. Plus, you my favorite boxer of all time. I won three hundred dollars on that fight between you and Panko. I bet that you would knock his a** out within the first twenty seconds of the first round. And that just what you di--”
“Shut yo’ ho’ a** up!” Trina snapped, glaring down at him before her gaze came back to mine. “I don’t give a f*** who he is—”
I frowned. Her voice was giving me a headache. “Shut that b**** up.”
My mans didn’t hesitate. “Yeah…Shut up, b****!” And for good measure, he grabbed her arm and yanked her down on the bed next to him.
She went ham on him, screeching and swinging like crazy, but he muffed her up and kept her a** occupied as I headed for the purse I spotted on the dresser. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight they made fighting each other on the bed.
F***ing crackheads…
I was relieved to see that Angel’s money was right on top, who knows what all the hell could be found in this purse? I grabbed it out and counted it, all five hundred were there.
“Put my money down—” she began, but that pissed me the f*** off.
I whipped around. “This ain’t yo f***ing money, ho’! Yo’ days of leeching off Angel over.”
She snatched away from ol’ boy and came back to her feet. “And who the f*** are you? You must be trying to squeeze yo’ way through that b**** stiff a** thighs. Good luck with that, she ain’t f***ing. The b**** probably gay!”
She was on a roll now. She was so mad that I had this money in my hand that I think she might try and take it away from me. I wish she would come within my grasp so I could snap her f***ing neck.
“I got news for you,” she continued as spittle formed around her mouth, “If anything happen to Jessie, yo’ ho’ gon’
be broke the f*** up and good luck getting close to her then. So, I suggest you leave my money where you found it.”
I clenched down on my teeth. “Is that a threat?”
Standing there I realized that like Angel, I viewed baby girl as one of my own. And if this b**** was standing here threatening to hurt her, her f***ing breaths were numbered.
“Nigga, that is a mutha f***ing promise! You got me f***ed up! I’ll rob yo’ b****! I’m gon’ get mine one way or the other…even if I got to put that lil ho’ Jessie on the stroll. You should have asked somebody about me…Trina gon’ get hers!”
One of the things I’ve learned over my lifespan is that there are some people in this world that are cancers. They’re evil and rotten down to the core and everybody that they touch, they start to slowly kill. You can’t reason with a cancer; you can’t ask it to kindly go away…
Naw…
You see a cancer has to be physically removed…It’s the only way.
Angel had been saving baby girl by paying this trick. Trina wasn’t lying, she would do whatever it is she needed to do to get her fix, including selling Jessie to the highest bidder. So, like any cancer, she needed to be removed.
I slowly approached her, wisely, she retreated and slid back across the bed with ol’ boy.
I lifted one side of my mouth in a grin. “Naw, shorty…you should have asked somebody about me.”
She put her hand on her skinny a** hip. “Is that a threat?!”
I shook my head. “Naw…that’s a mutha f***en promise.” And then I turned, stepped over the busted door and left out of the stinking a** room.
“B****, you dumb! Do you know who and the f*** that is?” I heard ol’ boy say as I exited the apartment.
I took my phone out of my pocket and pressed nine.
“Aye, boss?” Maddox answered with his heavy Scottish accent.
Let me pause for a moment and tell y’all a little bit about Maddox. The night I won the WBC title, I’d been approached by this janky a** promoter who tried to pay me to throw the fight. I sent his a** packing out of that training room with a busted eye and a fat lip.
