Still Hood

by K'wan

  “BLACK ICE, WHAT IT IS?” Don B walked up on the car followed by True and Jah. “I didn’t expect to see you, where’s Wendy?”

  “Change of plans,” Black Ice said, giving Don B a pound. “Young True, what it do?” he nodded at the young rapper. “You got a new member of the group?” He looked at Jah.

  “Nah, he ain’t no rapper. This is my man, Jah,” True told him. Jah nodded in greeting, then went back to watching the block.

  “So, that the squad?” Black Ice motioned towards the eight young men running around the diamond.

  “Yeah, those is my young pups. Eight of the meanest young niggaz from the hood that are gonna bring the glory back to Harlem,” Don B boasted. “Matter of fact, let me introduce you to my secret weapon. Yo, Lazy!” Don B called over to the diamond.

  Dena couldn’t believe how rotten her luck was. Of all the places Black Ice could’ve brought her, they had to come to the same park where the Dawgz practiced. Watching Lazy jog across the park, she felt her heart sink a little more, the closer he got. Dena wished she was Barbara Eden so she could blink and disappear, but it was the real world, not television, so she had to face the music.

  “What’s good, D?” Lazy said, sounding a little winded. He saw Black Ice behind the wheel, but couldn’t make out the face of the passenger because she was leaning too far back in her seat.

  “Lazy, this my nigga Ice,” Don introduced him.

  “Sup man?” Lazy reached into the car to give Ice a pound, but stopped midreach when he saw Dena in the passenger’s side. “What the fuck are you dong in here, Dena?” Lazy asked heatedly.

  “Hello to you, too,” Dena said, trying to keep her cool.

  “Oh, now I see why you ain’t return my phone calls, cause you running around with a damn pimp!”

  Black Ice leaned over and stared Lazy down. “Little nigga, you better watch ya mouth around grown folks,” Ice warned.

  Ignoring the threat, Lazy focused on Dena. “Get yo ass out of the truck!” he barked, trying to yank the door open.

  “Man, you better un-ass my fucking door,” Black Ice said angrily.

  “Mind ya fucking business before you get knocked out!” Lazy shouted. “Dena, I said get out of the car now!”

  “I see you one of those hardheaded niggaz,” Black Ice said. He grabbed his .45 from the holster that was hitched to the driver’s side door and made to step out, when Dena’s hand on his arm stopped him.

  “Don’t,” she said softly. Black Ice’s face was still a mask of anger, but he sat back in the seat.

  “Don, you better check this little nigga before I let him hold something,” Black Ice said, placing the gun on his lap.

  “My fault, Ice,” Don B apologized, which was rare for him, but he needed that twenty-five thousand and wasn’t about to let Lazy fuck it up. “Yo, what’s wrong with you kid?” he asked Lazy.

  “Dena, I ain’t gonna ask you again,” Lazy said, ignoring Don B.

  “Hold the fuck on, I’m coming,” she said, opening the car door. Before her feet hit the ground completely, Lazy had her by the arm and was dragging her back towards the park. “What the fuck is ya problem?” Dena snapped, trying to keep her balance.

  “Do you know how long I’ve been trying to get hold of you?”

  “I’ve been busy,” she said in a very uninterested tone.

  “So I see,” he glanced over at Ice, who was speaking with Don B but watching them closely. “My best friend is dead and gone and you’re too busy running with your new clique to even return my phone calls.”

  “Oh, my God, Chiba?!” Dena knew the man and was actually quite fond of him, when he wasn’t off doing dirty with Lazy.

  “Don’t act all concerned now. I left you a message, but I guess you and your new boyfriend were having to much fun to check it,” Lazy said.

  “Lazy, Ice is not my boyfriend. We’re just cool,” Dena said, trying to downplay it.

  “You sure got a lot of high-profile friends lately. I don’t even wanna know where the sudden popularity came from,” Lazy said scornfully.

  Dena snaked her neck. “And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  “Dena, I ain’t new to this. Yesterday it was Stacks, today it’s the nigga in the fly ride. What the fuck is really good with you?”

  “Lazy, this is the second time in the last two days that you’ve all but called me a whore,” Dena said, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice.

  He looked at her coldly and said, “If it walks like a duck …”

  The sound of her hand connecting with his face rang out through the quiet morning. Dena was about to curse Lazy out, but to her surprise, he slapped her right back. Though he hadn’t meant to hit her so hard, the blow knocked her on her ass. When he went to help her up, Dena was on him like a wild animal. She kicked, punched, and scratched at Lazy until Jah grabbed her about the waist and dragged her away.

  “Get the fuck off me!” Dena snarled.

  “Shorty, chill. I’m just trying to help,” Jah told her, just missing a backward kick she directed at his nuts.

  “Lazy, what the fuck is wrong with you? You can’t be beating on no bitch in the street!” Don B roared. A blur of motion whizzed passed him and before he had a chance to do anything, Black Ice had materialized in front of Lazy.

  The young man tried to take a fighting stance, but Black Ice was a much more skilled fighter. He caught Lazy with an overhand right and followed up with a left to the lip. Blood shot from Lazy’s mouth as he crashed to the ground. The other members of the Big Dawg basketball team rushed in to help Lazy, but Black Ice’s .45 stopped them short.

  “Is all you lil niggaz crazy?” Ice swept the crowd with the gun. “The next muthafucka to buck is gonna catch something hot!”

  “Ice, chill,” Don B tried to defuse the situation.

  “Don, I come up here to do business and this is how it goes down?” Ice wasn’t aiming the gun at him, but the look in his eyes wasn’t a friendly one.

  “Ice, that’s word to mine; you know I’d never let you get caught in a cross. The little nigga lost his friend and apparently his girl,” he glanced at Dena, “in less than twenty-four hours, so he ain’t thinking straight.”

  “I got something to straighten his ass out,” Black Ice said to Lazy, who was still sitting on the floor in a daze.

  “On everything I love, I’m gonna check son, but don’t pop the lil nigga over some words Ice, you a bigger man than that.” Don B tried to stroke his ego.

  “I am, ain’t I.” Ice’s face softened, but he didn’t put his gun away. “The bread is in the back seat, D.”

  “A’ight,” Don B nodded to True, who retrieved the case containing the twenty-five large. “Ice, I hope this doesn’t sour any future dealings?”

  “Don, you know the bullshit don’t matter where a dollar is concerned, but you better teach these young boys some fucking etiquette.” Ice looked over at Lazy.

  “Get off!” Dena broke loose from Jah and went to Lazy. “Are you okay?”

  “Bitch, get away from me.” Lazy kicked out at her angrily.

  “Lazy, I didn’t mean for this to happen,” she said, with tears filling her eyes. “I swear—”

  “Fuck you, ho bitch. You think ya whack-ass pussy is the only one out here. I got a hundred bitches waiting to take ya place.”

  “Lazy, why you talking to me like that?” she cried.

  “That’s how I talk to all sluts. Why don’t you and your new pimp boyfriend go downtown and see how many STDs y’all can pick up!”

  The words cut Dena to the core of her soul. In her seventeen and a half years on earth she had never had a man talk to her like that. It hurt even worse coming from someone who was supposed to love her. At that moment, a little piece of what she had felt for Lazy died, and there was no coming back from death. She knew he was speaking out of hurt and anger, but it was obvious that things would never be the same between them again.

  “You about done here?” Black Ice asked,
draping his arm around Dena, but keeping his eyes on Lazy in case the man still had some frog in him.

  She looked to Lazy to protest, but he remained silent, only staring at her murderously. “Yeah, I’m done,” she said sadly. Before she got into the truck she looked back at Lazy for signs that it all must’ve been a bad dream, but the hateful look in his eyes said it was very real.

  Chapter 31

  “SHORTY IS WILD FOR THE NIGHT,” JAH SAID, AS the Escalade pulled off.

  “On the real, I thought she was gonna stretch your lil ass out,” True teased Lazy.

  “Fuck you, man, that shit ain’t funny!” Lazy spat.

  “True, don’t make it worse,” Don B scolded the youngster. “Yo, that was some real chicken-head shit you pulled, Lazy. Ice could’ve smoked ya little stupid ass.”

  “That nigga a pimp, not a killer,” Lazy argued.

  “Don’t judge a book by its cover. I’ve known Black Ice for a long time, and he might not be the hardest nigga out, but if you back him into a corner you’ll find ya self short.”

  “Fuck that, he shouldn’t have been out here trying to sport my lady,” Lazy said. “You come between a man and his woman and you get what ya hand calls for.”

  “Not for nothing, I didn’t see him put a gun to her head to get her in the car,” Jah volunteered.

  “And who the fuck are you again?” Lazy flexed on Jah.

  “Easy, man,” Don B stepped in between them, knowing full well that, whereas Ice might’ve just given the youngster an ass whipping, Jah would murder him—and that would be bad for business. “Lazy, you’re a good dude, but you acting real out of order right now. I told you from the gate about playing cat and mouse with these hos. Now, if shorty would rather live in the fast lane with Ice, let her. In a minute you’re gonna be a national superstar, and you’ll have more hos than you know what to do with.”

  “I hear you talking, D. and I’m cool. I just need some time to get my head together behind this shit.”

  “You gotta get ya head right, son,” Don B broke his train of thought. “You’re gonna be my floor general, and I need you to be on point; so, I don’t know what you gotta do, but you gotta get shorty outta ya system and run my team.”

  “The Don is right, Lazy. Bitches come a dime a dozen,” True said.

  Lazy just glared at the men. It was easy for a man who had never known love to suggest that it be written off like a lost bet. Not one member of this so-called support system could’ve understood just what type of hell he was going through. Sure, Lazy was a class-A bastard and womanizer, but Dena was the one woman who managed to claim his heart. Those other girls were time fillers, but at the end of the day it was Dena with whom he saw himself enjoying his success.

  Though she had never come at him like a sack chaser, Lazy knew Dena was a high-maintenance chick, so he did what he could to make sure she felt appreciated. He didn’t have Stacks’s or Black Ice’s kind of cake just yet, but he was never stingy with the ends he did hustle up. He never thought that when it was all said and done it would come down to a dollar.

  Jah was about to get at Lazy about coming at his sideways, but his cell phone postponed the conversation. “Speak on it,” Jah answered.

  “Jah, it’s Billy,” she said on the other end.

  “What’s popping? How’s my girl?”

  “She’s a little shaken up, but she’s good. Listen, I’m bout to drop her off at the crib, but I can’t stay.”

  “That’s cool, tell her I’ll be by there in a few hours, cause I’m on the job right now.”

  “So you decided to take the gig with Stacks?”

  “Nah, I’m covering True,” he said.

  “True? What’s that all about?” Billy asked, guessing she already knew the answer. When Jah didn’t answer that confirmed it. “You’re going after those boys, aren’t you?”

  “Billy, they popped my boo,” he tried to justify it.

  “Boy, ain’t there been enough bloodshed already?”

  “Billy, just listen—”

  “No, you listen for a minute,” she cut him off. “Jah, I understand the nature of who you are, so it’s no surprise that you’re out there hunting, as you like to call it, but you’ve got a woman at home that needs you.”

  “I know Billy. I’m just trying to make sure that something like this never happens again.”

  “Jah, only God can dictate what will and won’t happen. For as long as there are ignorant niggaz running around with guns, there will always be innocent people getting shot. All you can really do about it is keep you and yours out of harm’s way and be there for each other. Tend to ya lady, Jah.”

  “What about True?” Jah asked, looking over at True, who was speaking with Lazy and Don B.

  “True will be fine for a few hours, Jah. Get home to ya lady before I come to wherever y’all are at and drag you back, and none of y’all want that!”

  “A’ight, you got that,” Jah laughed.

  “I thought I would. I left some Spanish food in the fridge for y’all, cause I know ya ass can’t cook, and I don’t want my girl overexerting herself.”

  “Bet. I’ll be there in a sec.” Jah ended the call. As usual, Billy was right. Jah had gotten caught up in the thrill of the hunt and almost lost sight of what was really important. Yoshi had almost been killed, and he had been so consumed with revenge that he hadn’t really been there for her. It was a mistake that he intended to rectify.

  “Jah, everything good?” True asked, dribbling a basketball.

  Jah thought about it for a minute. “Nah, I gotta go check on Yoshi.”

  “Yo, first Lazy’s tweaking over his shorty, now you’re dipping off to tend yours? Is this the game, or an episode of Ricki Lake?” Don B huffed. Jah just glared at him.

  “It’s cool, D,” True spoke up. “Jah, do what you gotta do. Call me in a few hours so we can link up. I’ll be good until then.” Unlike Don B, True knew how it felt to lose someone you cared about. Though Rhonda wasn’t his girl, it still hurt like hell when she was killed. Jah had gotten a second and even third chance with Yoshi, and he wasn’t going to keep him from his heart’s desire.

  FOR A LONG TIME DENA and Black Ice sat in the car, both lost in their own thoughts. The fight with Lazy weighed heavy on her mind. They had had plenty of arguments, but they never got physical. She understood that he was grieving for his friend, but that still didn’t give him the right to put his hands on her.

  At first she had been angry with Ice for putting the beats on Lazy like that, but after the way he had carried it, he deserved it. She never took the pretty boy as one to come to the rescue of a damsel in distress, but Ice had surprised her yet again. She was used to Shannon coming to her defense, but never another guy. It both flattered and intrigued her.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” Ice offered.

  “Nothing, I’ll be okay,” she said flatly.

  “Look, if you want me to take you home, its cool?”

  “Did I ask you to take me home?” she snapped. She hadn’t meant to, but she was still feeling the rush from getting into it with Lazy.

  Black Ice slowed the truck and looked at Dena. “Baby girl, I know you’re uptight over what happened with ya peoples, but all that hostility you sending my way is uncalled for. Now, I ain’t been in the way of being talked down to by anybody, woman or man, so give me the same respect I give you.”

  His sternness surprised Dena because he had always been so laid back, but he was right. “I’m sorry, I guess I’m just running off emotions right now.”

  “You wanna talk about it?” he asked sincerely.

  Dena shrugged. “There’s really nothing to talk about. Lazy is my … well, was my boyfriend. We had a falling out.”

  “So I saw.”

  “Nah, this has been going on before we even met. He thinks that he can run around with anything sporting a pussy, and I’m supposed to sit back and take it.”

  “At that age a nigga’z hormones are in overdrive. You kn
ow how young guys are, Dena.”

  “I’m not concerned about young guys, Ice, I’m concerned about the guys that are supposed to be with me. If I’m with a dude and we have an open relationship that’s one thing, but if we’re supposed to be committed, then I expect him to act like it.”

  “So, you’ve never stepped out on Lazy?” Black Ice asked, catching her by surprise.

  “Well … yeah, but only after he did it to me.”

  “So you knew he was cheating, but stayed with him; now you’re leaving him for it?” Ice asked, pretending to be confused.

  “No, I mean … I don’t know what I mean.” She folded her arms and flopped back in the seat.

  “Dena,” Ice began, steering the truck north up Harlem River Drive. “Men are closer to animals than women. Whereas women use logic, we move off base instinct. It’s like, if you see a guy you like, you ain’t just gonna jump out the window and act on it; but a dude ain’t gonna rest until he gets that pussy. Men think with their dicks, not their heads.”

  “Does the same hold true for you, Black Ice?” Dena asked.

  “I ain’t no man, baby. I’m a freak of nature,” he said playfully.

  Dena was so wrapped up in the conversation that she hadn’t even noticed they were going to New Jersey until she saw the signs for the turnpike. “Why we going to Jersey?” she asked, now quite suspicious.

  “We ain’t going to New Jersey, we’re going to Philly,” he said, before falling in line with the southbound traffic.

  For a girl who had never been out of the city, the short ride down the turnpike was fascinating. Before taking the trip with Ice she’d never realized how big New Jersey was. They passed towns she’d never heard of and still hadn’t left the Garden State. Everything seemed so much fresher and greener outside the iron walls of her city. When they finally hit Philly, she found herself in awe of what looked like a miniature version of New York, with a more classic feel.