Falling For A Hood King

by Shvonne Latrice

  “Damn, shawty, I apologize,” he said with a shrug as he observed her.

  Her thick hair blew in the wind. She wiped a lock of hair from her forehead as she expelled a deep breath. For some reason she didn’t look at him as sunlight glistened off her eyes. Unsure of how to handle the awkward moment, Trigga swiveled on his feet to walk away.

  “I was just trying to look out for you…from the moment you walked into the restaurant I couldn’t help thinking you look like…like…somebody I used to know,” she said quietly as is if heavy in her thoughts.

  “Things did get out of hand. I apologize. But naw, you don’t know me,” he said. He continued to walk away but he heard her steps behind him.

  “Well, what’s your name?” she asked.

  Trigga groaned inwardly and closed his eyes. He didn’t have time for any of this shit. It seemed like the more he tried to get away from women, the more they showed up and wouldn’t go away. Although he felt something for Keisha, part of him wished that she hadn’t followed him that night at the club. Then he wouldn’t be worried about her in addition to whatever was going on with Mase.

  “You can call me…Kevin,” he answered as he turned around. He wasn’t comfortable with giving her his real name or his nickname because, no matter how beautiful and innocent she seemed, she was someone he didn’t know.

  She stared at him without saying anything, which intensified the awkward feeling he was already feeling. He extended his hand to her, which seemed unnatural to him but he did it anyways in an effort to appear kind.

  “NeTasha. But you can call me Tasha,” she responded. She grabbed his hand and held it a second too long. Trigga noted it, but waited until she pulled away.

  “Well, it was nice meeting you,” Trigga said and began to walk away again.

  “Ohhh, you running now?” Tasha chided him.

  “Running?” he quipped making a face as he stopped in his tracks and turned to her. Something about his behavior made her smile.

  “Yes, we are just getting acquainted and all I know about you is that your name is Kevin and that you have a sexy accent. Then you try to run off,” she said while placing her hand on her hip. For some reason the small gesture made him smile, it also aroused his manhood.

  He couldn’t help it and gave her body a quick once over. She caught him looking and blushed. Remembering that he had enough shit already on his plate to deal with, he tore his eyes away from her. More determine then before to keep it moving.

  For a nigga who is normally focused on business, you seem to have issues gettin’ rid of these chicks who keep popping up, he thought to himself.

  “I have a lot going on. Today has been one of them days. You don’t have a clue.”

  “Oh, yes I do,” Tasha told him. “You almost got shot by that Smurf looking security guard.”

  They both laughed. Then Trigga glanced at his watch and frowned. She read his demeanor.

  “At least walk me to the bus stop. Then you can leave, I promise,” she asked sweetly as she beamed with a smile. It took everything in his power not to offer her a ride. But, remembering what happened the last time he offered a fine ass female a ride, he nodded and they took off walking.

  “Where you headed?” he asked while guiding her across the street by her elbow in all the heavy traffic and crowd around them.

  “Gotta get to the Marta station. I go to Clark Atlanta. I’m studying criminal justice. I want to be a lawyer,” she answered looking up at him.

  “Oh, your ass is a brainiac. You probably been studying me the whole time like Gideon law.”

  Tasha nearly stumbled as she walked looking up at him. Bemused she asked, “What you know about Gideon Law?

  “It’s a landmark case. The right to counsel.” He made an expression like that was something everyone should know.

  “You’re smart, too,” Tasha said looking at him in admiration.

  “I went to college on a basketball scholarship.”

  “What happened?” she inquired and stopped walking as if she expected a long explanation.

  “What you mean what happened?” He was slightly offended like she was implying there was something wrong with him. He continued, “I’m good Ma, ain’t hurtin’for nothin’. I just decided to take a different route.”

  She frowned making a face like she wasn’t buying it.

  “Okay, I had a sports injury and couldn’t play ball, then my mama was having financial problems so I had to get it from the muscle.”

  “So basically you dropped out of college and started hustling?” she summarized his statement.

  “I plead the fifth,” he retorted smartly throwing up the palms of his hand. Tasha couldn’t help noticing the iced out Rolex watch glimmering in his wrist.

  Then it happened out of the blue as they passed a soulfood restaurant, two homeless people stood outside begging for money. They were both filthy dirty and disheveled. The stench of their bodies you could smell a mile away.

  “Boy, how you doing?” the homeless man asked then scratched at his privates like something down there was biting him with razor teeth.

  Trigga damn near vomited and, to make matters worse, the hot humid breeze was pushing the funk right in his face. He glanced over at Tasha and she was wrinkling up her nose with a look as if she was holding her breath but didn’t want to be obvious about it. She tried to play it off by smiling.

  The homeless man scratched again, then called over to his companion. She was deep into a heavy argument with herself. She ambled over to him as Trigga started to walk away.

  “Don’t you remember him?” he asked her.

  “Yea, sure do,” she replied. Then added. “What ever happened to that girl? Did she make it? Is she still alive?” the homeless woman asked with sincere compassion.

  Then it hit Trigga like a ton of bricks and he stopped dead in his tracks. It was the homeless couple that helped them find the hospital on the dark and dreary night Keisha and he had been ambushed, badly bleeding and shot multiple times. If it had not been for them, Trigga and Keisha could have very well died.

  “Yea, she good. Thank y’all so much,” Trigga said instantly overwhelmed with guilt as people walked by giving the homeless couple disgusting looks of disdain. He reached into his pocket to give them some money and realized Tasha had already beaten him to it. She passed each one of them a few crumpled one-dollar bills.

  Trigga pulled out a large wad of money and peeled off a few hundred-dollar bills to add to hers. Tasha’s eyes got big as saucers as she watched him give the homeless people the money. Tacitly, she smiled and nodded her approval.

  “Thank you! Thank you!” Both of the homeless people erupted in chorus and began to do some type of happy dance in the middle of the sidewalk as people scurried by them.

  “I want you all to take that money, get a room and buy some clothes and food.”

  Suddenly the homeless man stopped dancing and furrowed his brow.

  “How I’mma get a room for me and my wife? We homeless, we don’t have no identification…no nothing,” he said with grim expression.

  Trigga glanced over at Tasha and she gave him a quizzical shrug, like ‘what do we do next?’ Trigga had a remedy for that. He truly intended to bless the homeless people for saving him and Keisha’s life. He wanted to give them a night they would never forget. He pulled them to the side and passed them a key then gave them instructions. The looks on their faces were as if they had won the lottery.

  Then as the homeless couple rushed off Trigga shouted, “Don’t forget to take full advantage of the showers and bathtub.”

  Tasha swatted his arm, “Don’t be so cruel!” She laughed as he shrugged at her.

  “Never that, but you have to admit they both was a little musky,” Trigga joked with a grind.

  “No, what I have to admit is that was generous of you giving them all that money. Where do you know them from?”

  He glanced at his wrist again and lied with a straight face. “Me and a friend we
re in a car accident and those two homeless people just happened stumble up on us. They save our lives. We needed directions to get to the hospital and they went out of their way to get us there or else my friend could have died.”

  “Oh… a friend? By any chance does your friend happen to be your girlfriend?”

  He stopped for a second and looked squarely at Tasha. “No.”

  Just then his iPhone chimed. He checked the caller I.D. and it was Keisha. Trigga felt a strange feeling wash over him. It was almost like she knew he was thinking about her. He threw up a finger as if to say ‘wait a sec’ to Tasha and stepped away.

  “Yo, what’s good?” he spoke into the phone.

  “You. I was just checking on you. Is everything okay? I … I do want to see you again…soon,” she said in a timid voice.

  A small smile crept up in the corner of Trigga’s face as he listened to her. It wasn’t every day that Keisha used this kind of tone that made her sound vulnerable. Her texts were always short and whenever he called to check in with her in the past, she tried to act like she was holding everything down with ease, although he knew she was faking it.

  “Yea, I want to see you too. But I got to handle some situations,” he said thinking about the difficult task at hand with his brother. As much as he wanted to pretend that the issue with his brother didn’t exist, he couldn’t.

  The whole while as he talked, Tasha was looking at him closely like she was reading his lips.

  “I know and I’m scared,” Keisha pouted over the phone. The sound of her voice tugged at his heartstrings. He glanced at Tasha and noticed her examining his face but didn’t think much of it as he continued speaking to Keisha.

  “Don’t be. You’re good. I left you with some heat and I even showed you how to use it. Okay?” he reminded her, trying to instill confidence in her.

  “But the last time I had a gun…I’m just…I’m scared,” she complained and he sighed. He had too much going on and this additional shit wasn’t helping it.

  Trigga mopped at his forehead in frustration. He looked up and saw that Tasha had an expression on her face like she had bit into a sour lemon as she watched him intensely.

  “Okay, let me think,” he muttered, flustered, into the phone.

  Something panged deep in his chest. He wondered if he was catching too many feelings for her. They had been through so much in a short span of time. As much as he hated to admit it, it had all been partially his fault. They both were emotionally and physically bonded to each other because of their experiences.

  But still in the dark crevice of his mind, in that place that was often sacred and sheltered when it came to family and love ones, there was a dualism as he tried to figure out whether to be logical or emotional. He prayed his logic was telling him right about his brother and even more so that he making the right decision with Keisha by allowing himself to catch feelings for her.

  As much as he hated to admit it, she was trampling all over his ‘Money Over Bitches’ rule. In fact, she had become his emotional soft spot, if a gangsta ever had one. He was in violation of his thug’s code of ethics.

  “Okay…I’m going to pick you later on tonight and take you away from there so you can get your mind off everything. Stop worrying.”

  “Can we finish off where we left off with our date?” Keisha asked him. For the first time since the call, she was started to sound hopeful and excited.

  There was something so titillating and captivating about the sound of her voice, causing him to smirk with a pixilated grin. He completely forgot Tasha was there as he focused his attention on Keisha.

  Trigga just stared out in space as he thought about the soft contours of her thighs, her sensuous hips and her luscious conical breasts, which were the size of ripe cantaloupe. He could see himself tearing her clothes off and then throwing her panties and bra along with the rest of their clothes throughout the residence.

  “Humph! Really?” An intrusive voice interrupted his thoughts, throwing him out of his reverie.

  “Oh, yea …my bad, ma,” he replied with a shrug and frown as he scrutinized Tasha standing in front of him with attitude all over her face. He wanted to ask her what the fuck she was mad about. She wasn’t his chick.

  “Was that a female voice I heard. Are you with a girl?” Keisha tested in his ear.

  “Uhhh, no. I mean yeah, sort of. It ain’t nobody.”

  NeTasha gave him an icy look and scribbled her number on a piece of paper, shoved it in his pocket and took off into a trot for the bus. He couldn’t help but admire her round backside as it bounced from side-to-side.

  “Who is she?” Keisha continued.

  “Nobody just some chick asking directions. She gone and on the bus now.” Trigga tactfully changed the subject.

  He watched NeTasha board her bus. She frowned and gestured, pointing at his phone, and mouthed, “That’s your girlfriend.” Trigga caught her message and smiled to himself as the bus passed him by.

  “I’ll come get you later on and we’ll finish our date.”

  “What about your brother?” Keisha asked tersely, not bothering to hide her apprehension.

  “Don’t worry yo’ lil’ ass bout that. When I say I got it, I got it,” Trigga said assumingly and possibly underestimating the situation. “Let me hit you back later.”

  Trigga hung up the phone before she could respond. He had a job to do and not long to do it.

  ***

  Keisha hung up the phone and sat it on her nightstand as she wiped the tears from her eyes and sat down on her bed. She pulled out her Physics book and tried to concentrate on the lesson for the day. She wasn’t in class because, to be honest, she couldn’t stomach a lecture that day. Her mind was on Trigga, Lloyd, Mase and the gun sitting in the drawer of her nightstand.

  The last time she’d held a gun, she’d almost ruined a life when she’d nearly killed Lloyd and his pregnant wife. It was a day that she didn’t want to remember so she’d tried to wipe it from her mind. Now she had the gun Trigga had given her which was a constant reminder not only of that day but also the dangerous situation that she’d found herself in.

  Grabbing the phone again, she dialed a number and held on the line while the phone rang. When the line answered, Keisha heard a lot of noise in the background before the person on the other line finally answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey girl, this Keesh. I was wondering if I could borrow your notes from class. I’m sorry to ask but I’m having the hardest time right now…”

  “Don’t mention it, Keesh. I’ll email it to you…er, let me call you back later, okay? I can barely hear you.”

  “Okay. Thank you so much!” Keisha hung up the phone and turned back towards the book on her bed. But less than two seconds later, she was back to daydreaming about other things. Mainly Trigga’s sexy ass.

  Pulling herself from out of her daydream, Keisha looked up when she heard three light taps on her door. It was Tish.

  “Hey,” Tish said. She had a worried expression on her face.

  “Hey,” Keisha responded. She wiped again at her face and tried to smile but from the look on Tish’s face, she could see that her forced smile did nothing to hide her mood.

  “I’m about to head out to the club and try to get some extra hours in. You gonna be alright here by yourself?”

  Keisha wanted to say no, but she nodded her head anyways. “Yeah, I’m hoping that Trigga will be here soon, anyways.”

  Tish gave her a look and then walked in the room and sat down on the bed. “You think that’s best? I mean…every since I’ve known you, you’ve been caught up in some shit with him. Maybe some distance is what you need.”

  Keisha gave her a look and snorted. “I’m surprised you would say that from the way your mouth was hanging wide open when he came over here.”

  Tish smiled and ran her hand through her hair. “Well, the nigga is fine but I heard the conversation you just had with him and I see how you’re looking right now. You
have a good future ahead of you and being pulled in some gangster shit that ain’t even bout you…that’s not a good look.”

  Keisha nodded her head. “I know.” She sighed and closed her eyes for a minute as she thought about what Tish was saying. Then she opened her eyes and looked into her friend’s caring eyes. “You’re right. I’ll talk to him about everything when he picks me up tonight. And I’ll give him back his gun.”

  Tish sighed and stood up. “Well, I’on know about all that. We can use some protection in here. We do live in the muthafuckin’ hood.” She laughed and Keisha joined in, despite her feelings.

  “We can keep that but I can look at you and tell that you ain’t no ride or die type bitch, Keesh. You’re more of a ‘ride and live comfy’ bitch. This thug shit ain’t in you.”

  Keisha sat quietly and thought about Tish’s words as she walked out of the room. She was right. The entire ordeal was stressing her the fuck out and it was taking everything in her power not to pull out a bag of the coke that she’d stole from Lloyd’s spot and snort her worries away.

  FIVE

  Trigga knew he was dead ass wrong but he couldn’t stop himself. At the same time, he reasoned that he wasn’t in the wrong. Keisha wasn’t his girlfriend so he didn’t have any loyalties to her. Although he felt in himself that he did, the fact of the matter was that she was just some chick he knew. She’d gotten herself mixed up in his shit and he felt bad about that so he also felt the need to protect her, but she wasn’t his girl. Therefore what he chose to do with his dick and the tight, sweet pussy in front of him was his business.

  “Kevin, I’ve never done this before,” Tasha whispered as she looked at him. Trigga frowned slightly then he remembered that Kevin was the name he had given her and relaxed.

  Tasha was butt-naked, like the day she was born. Trigga licked his lips and looked at her sexy ass, ignoring what she was saying. He didn’t care whether or not she’d done this before or not. He needed some pussy…no strings attached type pussy. He didn’t want to get up and have feelings.