Love is Blind (G Street Chronicles Presents)

by Nicole Jackson

“I don’t know. I guess that I’m not special to you because if I was, you’d find a way.”

  “You are special to me, girl.”

  “But not enough for you to be patient with me?”

  He shook his head knowing that Necole was just too young. He was a guy that liked having full access to his woman. The thing was that she wasn’t quite a woman yet, but she was one of the finest girls he’d ever been with. He loved fucking her and he enjoyed her company. Still, she just wasn’t enough.

  “I don’t know, Necole. Let’s just play this thing by ear.”

  * * * * *

  It had been two weeks since the incident with Carmelo’s baby mama. He had really kicked her out. She left their son behind for three days and then took him one day while Carmelo was gone. Necole was still seeing him, but she knew that there was no real commitment. She knew that she couldn’t be with him twenty-four seven, but she gave him every free minute she had. She’d leave school early, skip dance class and didn’t spend a minute with her friends. She was in school so little time that the days were a blur. Her relationship with her mother was still rocky. Two weekends in a row, Necole had gone against her mom’s orders and had slept at Carmelo’s.

  Ms. Dean was disgusted with Necole’s behavior. Never had she allowed a boy to influence her the way that this new guy had. She didn’t know what it was going to take to get her daughter’s mind right, but something had to give.

  Necole and Carmelo were both cruising around in his Cadillac. It was twelve a.m. and she was supposed to be home hours ago. She had been riding with him while he rescored. He took her to a very gritty area and she was scared out of her mind. She had never seen such run-down homes and homeless looking people. She sat in the car wide eyed as he went to handle his business. She was overjoyed when he came back to the car.

  Since then, Carmelo had sold cocaine to about four people and had served at least ten fiends. It was grind night for him and she rode along witnessing it all firsthand. After making a little over a thousand dollars that night, he decided to drop his work off at his house. Then once he did that, he headed to Necole’s car. She’d parked her car at Lil’ Daddy’s because that’s where they’d met earlier that day.

  Carmelo was putting one in the air while driving down the street. He was just about to pass the blunt to Necole when he saw red and blue lights flashing.

  “Fuck!” he spat as he quickly put out the blunt in the ashtray. “Here come the law. Baby, spray a little of that air freshener.”

  Necole grabbed the Febreze and sprayed; hoping that it would cover the weed odor. Carmelo pulled over and waited for the police to approach them. Finally, a white officer stepped to his window. He rolled the window down.

  “What’s the problem officer?”

  “Your back light is out. Let me see your license and registration please,” the officer said. “Wait, is that marijuana I smell?”

  “No, sir,” Carmelo smiled weakly.

  “Yeah, that’s exactly what I smell. Step out of the car for me and you too, ma’am,” he said as he flashed his light in Necole’s face. Her heart began racing as she got out of the car. “Come stand right here, ma’am,” the officer told her as he placed Melo in handcuffs before searching him.

  Necole did as she was told while the officer’s partner approached them and took Carmelo back to their patrol car. He shoved him in the back seat while the other officer questioned Necole. “Do you have any drugs on you?” he asked as he patted her down.

  “No,” she shook her head.

  The other officer walked back over and began searching the car. He found the blunt in the ashtray as soon as he started looking. Still he dug deeper. After twenty minutes of nothing, he gave up. “Okay, so we have a less than a gram of marijuana. Is this yours?” he asked Necole.

  “No,” she shook her head.

  “Is it your boyfriend’s?”

  “Sir, I don’t know who it belongs to,” she lied.

  “Really? Do you live around here?” the officer squinted and asked.

  “No, sir.”

  “I didn’t think so. What is a girl like you doing in this kind of neighborhood with a guy like him?”

  “I’m not following you,” Necole responded.

  “That guy in that car is a repeat offender. What could you possibly have in common with him?”

  “I don’t think that it’s any of your business,” she snapped.

  The officer’s face turned beet red. “It isn’t my business, right? Well, let’s see what your parents will say when they have to bond you out of jail,” he said as he pulled out his cuffs. “You’re under arrest.”

  Necole was silent as her heart raced. What was her mom going to think now?

  When Carmelo saw that they were placing Necole in the back of the patrol car with him he became angry. “What ya’ll arresting her for? That was my weed.”

  “Hey, be quiet,” one of the officers told him as he closed the door on them.

  Necole had her head down. “Baby, I am so sorry,” he apologized.

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not. I know your mama will be pissed. As soon as we get to the jail I’m going to call my mama so that she can bond us out.”

  “Okay.”

  Chapter 6

  “I cannot fucking believe you,” Ms. Dean mumbled as she and Necole walked into their home.

  “Mom, I told you that it was a misunderstanding,” Necole said as she flopped down on the couch. She hated that she broke down after only being in a holding tank for two hours. She didn’t even give Carmelo a chance to live up to his words before calling her mom. Then what really made her regret calling her mom was that the judge ended up releasing her on her own recognizance. So she called her mom for nothing.

  They’d just come from picking Necole’s car from Lil’ Daddy’s house. Ms. Dean got to witness what kind of environment her daughter had been sneaking off to. “Just shut the hell up! I can’t believe that you’re leaving this nice home that I work hard to provide for you to go hang in the damn ghetto!”

  “That area is not that bad.”

  “Not that bad? Since when is Fifth Ward not that bad, Necole?”

  “Mom, I’m telling you…”

  “You’re not telling me shit, Necole! All this bullshit you’re doing stops today. No more skipping class and staying out all night. Give me your car keys.”

  “My keys?”

  “Yes, your keys.”

  Necole reluctantly handed her mother her keys.

  “From now on, you will ride the school bus to and from school. There will be no weekends outside of this house. Is that understood?”

  “Mom, I think that you’re being a little unreasonable. I will be eighteen in three weeks, so how can I be grounded? I mean…you have to let me learn things on my own.”

  “What? Do you hear yourself? Eighteen doesn’t make you grown. You don’t know the meaning of responsibility. I take care of you and you turn around and disrespect me? You want to talk about being reasonable. What’s reasonable is me keeping your car until you graduate.”

  “That’s not fair!” Necole cried.

  “No, what’s not fair is you taking me through these changes. What’s not fair is you taking for granted what others would kill for. What’s not fair is that I haven’t put my foot up your ass yet!”

  “Mom…” Necole said before her phone rung. She glanced at the screen. It was Carmelo so she answered.

  “When did you get out?” he asked.

  “About two hours ago. You?”

  “About ten minutes ago. My sister just told me that they had already released you.”

  “Necole, if you don’t hang up that damn phone!” Janet shouted.

  “Mom, just let me talk to him for a minute,” Necole said, placing her hand up to halt her mom.

  “No, give me that phone!” Janet snapped as she tried to take her cell.

  “Move mom,” Necole said as she backed away with the phone.

&nb
sp; “Give me that fuckin phone!” Janet roared. “Tell that low life that you’ll call him back!”

  “What the fuck is going on over there?” Carmelo questioned.

  “My mom is going crazy. Let me call you back,” she said as she hung up the phone.

  “Give me this fucking phone!” Janet snapped as she snatched the phone out of her hand. “I don’t want you talking to that fucking loser again!”

  “Mom, that’s one thing that you can’t stop. I can talk to him whenever I want!” Necole fumed as her chest heaved and down.

  “Well, it won’t be under my roof.”

  “So…what are you saying, mom?”

  “I just made myself crystal clear. You will not call that ghetto hoodlum or see him while you’re living under my roof.”

  “Well, maybe I won’t be here,” Necole said as she snatched her phone out of her mom’s hand. She turned her back and called Carmelo. “Baby, can you come get me?” she cried.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “My mom is kicking me out.”

  “No, shit? I’m on my way. Just give me about forty minutes. I’m picking my car up from the pound right now.”

  “Okay,” she said as she hung up the phone.

  “So, you’re leaving?” her mom asked her while she stared at her back.

  “Yeah,” Necole said as she headed to her bedroom without looking at her mom.

  Janet didn’t know what to do as she watched her daughter pack up all her belongings. She wanted to stop her, but she didn’t want to bend on her demands. She did too much for her daughter for her to turn around and show no respect. No, she was going to go out into the real world and find out how cruel things could really be.

  An hour later, Necole had packed all of her clothes and Carmelo was outside waiting. She dragged her luggage and trash bags filled with clothes out the door. He saw her struggling and hopped out his car to help. He grabbed her bags and loaded them into his trunk.

  Janet walked to the door to get a good look at the boy responsible for her daughter breaking her heart. Immediately, she understood Necole’s attraction to him. He was very handsome; but judging by all the tattoos and the gold in his mouth, he was a thug. He was the very thing that parents hated to see their child with. He was definitely bad news and was about to take her daughter down with him.

  Once Necole’s last bag was in his car, she walked back into the house to see if she’d forgotten anything. “Necole, you don’t have to do this. Just tell him that you need some time to reevaluate your life, baby. He’s not for you, Necole.”

  “Mom, how would you know that? You don’t even know him. All you see is a dude from the wrong side of the tracks and you turn your nose up at him. You grew up in the hood, so how can you look down on people that haven’t gotten out yet?”

  “Baby, that’s how I know that that boy is nothing but trouble. All that glitters ain’t gold.”

  “And the pot can’t call the kettle black!” Necole spat as she stormed out of the house. Ms. Dean stood feeling helpless as she watched her daughter ride off with that young social misfit.

  “Hey, stop looking like that,” Carmelo told her as he stroked her face. They were riding to his house and Necole was looking like she’d lost her best friend.

  She sighed heavily. “How am I supposed to look, Melo? Me and my mom will never be the same after this.”

  “You don’t know that. She just needs time to cool down.”

  “Yes, I do know. We have never fought like this. If she can’t accept you, then she can’t accept me.”

  “Ya’ll were fighting because of me?”

  “Yeah. She wanted me to stop seeing you.”

  “And you refused?”

  “Duh, Carmelo.”

  “Okay, smart ass,” he smiled as he playfully nicked her jaw with his fist.

  “Stop,” she whined before he placed his hand on her thigh and squeezed it.

  “It’s gon be alright, baby. I got you,” he said sincerely.

  Carmelo made it home and told his mom that Necole was put out of her home. Ms. Brenda welcomed her in with open arms. He then unloaded all of her clothes. His closet wasn’t big enough for all of her things, so he had to pile most of it along his walls.

  By the time everything was done, the sun was coming up and neither had been to sleep so they both took a shower together. After that, they fucked twice then finally fell asleep in his bed.

  * * * * *

  Necole missed two days before returning back to school. All of her friends were happy to see her when she walked into the cafeteria that morning.

  “There she is!” Amber shouted excitedly as she walked over to them.

  “What’s up, ya’ll?” she asked with a smile.

  “Where the hell have you been? I went by your mom’s and she said that you moved out,” Cali said.

  “I did.”

  “Why?” Corrine asked.

  “It’s a long story. We had a huge fight after I went to jail with Melo.”

  “You went to jail? For what?” Amber asked.

  “He had some weed in his car.”

  “Just to smoke, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh, that’s nothing.”

  “I know, but my mom flipped out. She took my car and tried to tell me that I couldn’t see Carmelo anymore.”

  “Damn, I can’t imagine Janet flipping out. I always thought that you had the nicest mom out all of us,” Cali said.

  “She does. Her mom just feels that Carmelo is corrupting her.,” Amber spoke up.

  “And how do you know?” Necole asked.

  “Because your mom has very high standards for you. She probably thinks that a nigga like Carmelo is beneath you; especially if she’s seen him. You know he has that purse snatcher look about him,” she laughed.

  “Girl, fuck you. Don’t talk about my man,” Necole giggled.

  “He does look like he’ll fuck somebody up, Necole,” Corrine teased.

  “Aw, fuck all ya’ll.”

  Necole’s day in school flew by and before she knew it, it was time to go home. She tried calling Carmelo’s cell, but he didn’t answer. He wasn’t outside to pick her up, so she went home with Amber.

  “So, how does it feel to live with your man?” Amber asked as she they sat on her bed.

  “It’s okay. His mom and sister are very cool.”

  “Oh, yeah? Have you been seeing Lil’ Daddy around?”

  “Here and there. You aren’t still fucking with him, are you?”

  “Not really. He lies too fucking much. I caught him with some bitch and he said that it was his sister.”

  “For real? When did this happen?”

  “A couple of weeks ago.”

  “What did he say when you asked him about the girl I seen him with at Carmelo’s house?”

  “He said that she was his ex.”

  “You believe him?”

  “Hell, naw, but I can’t push him completely out of the picture if I wanted to.”

  “Why not?”

  “I just found out that I’m pregnant.”

  “Pregnant?” Necole’s mouth dropped. “Wow. Does he know?”

  “Yeah.” Amber sighed.

  “So…what did he say?”

  “He claimed that he was happy.”

  “Are you?” Necole asked with a raised brow.

  “I would be if he could stop being a hoe. Do you know how many girls have called me over him?”

  “I can only imagine,” Necole shook her head.

  “And a lot of them have friends that claim that they’re with Carmelo.”

  “What?” Necole frowned up.

  “Yeah. I just recently had a fight with a chick a week ago. She was with some girl that was claiming that she was Carmelo’s woman. I told that bitch that my friend Necole is with him and she told me that he’s just fucking you.”

  “Really?” Necole asked as her stomach felt queasy.

  “Yep. Then I met this other chick at
Lil’ Daddy’s and she was pregnant. She said that Carmelo is her baby daddy.”

  “When was this?”

  “Right before I fought that chick. The pregnant girl came over there looking for Carmelo while I was there. I think that he was somewhere with you.”

  “Why didn’t you call and tell me?” Necole snapped.

  “For what? You ain’t gon leave his ass. Lil’ Daddy told me how you were fighting Carmelo’s baby’s mama. Besides, he told me to mind my business.”

  “So, that doesn’t mean anything. You could have told me. I told you the minute I saw Lil’ Daddy with that other girl.”

  “I know you did and I appreciate that. But I know how he is. He fucks around. I just didn’t expect to get knocked up. This changes everything for me. I never pictured myself having a baby with some nigga that ain’t even my man. Now I’m going to be a single parent.”

  “Maybe Lil’ Daddy will be there for you.”

  “What’s being there, Necole? Dropping off pampers? Buying the baby’s shoes? Because that’s what those niggas think being a father is all about. Lil’ Daddy has three kids and all he does is drop off money to their mothers. He don’t spend any time with those kids, and when he does get them, he tries to pawn them off on me or any broad around at the moment.”

  “That’s fucked up,” Necole shook her head.

  “Yeah, it is…and you know they say that birds of a feather flock together.”

  “I see what you’re saying,” she nodded as her cell rung.

  “Hello,” she answered.

  “Where you at?” Carmelo asked.

  “I’m at Amber’s.”

  “Where she live?”

  Necole gave him directions before hanging up. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” she told Amber.

  “Okay, girl. Call me.”

  “I will,” she said as she walked down stairs to the front door. By the time she stepped outside, Carmelo was pulling up.

  She walked over to the car and got in. “Hey,” she spoke dryly.

  “What’s up?” he nodded. She checked out his attire. He was dressed like he’d been at home all day. He was wearing a white tee over a thermal with grey Roca Wear sweats.

  “Where are you coming from?” she asked as he pulled out the driveway.

  “Home.”