It is What it is: A Hood Love Story

by B. , Ivory

  “Fuck outta here! Soft? Ain’t shit soft here son! My muthafuckin murda game speaks for itself. What the fuck we look like poppin that nigga on a crowded highway in broad daylight? That shit ain’t gangsta, it’s stupid. Trust me when I say fam that nigga was a goner. He flew like 20ft in the fucking air and came down hitting his head on the guardrail. That nigga caught raggedy crazy! I don’t know how he survived. All I can say is dude must got 9 lives,” Bugsy said. “Yeah well that nigga down to 1 life now. He ain’t gonna be so lucky next time. I’m telling you we gonna pick these niggaz off one by one till Los ain’t got none of his team around him. Then we gonna dethrone this nigga and take over the whole drug game. These niggaz had they run, they gettin soft, they ain’t built for this shit no more. They about to experience a muthafuckin hostile takeover. Look at this shit you see how this nigga living. He got niggaz on his team and them lil wolf pack niggaz still living in raggedy ass row houses in Philly. While he living in a fucking McMansion. The nigga don’t play fair. He grimey,” Chilly growled.

  Bugsy and Killa only paid Chilly half attention as he went off on one of his usual coke rants. Both men looked on in awe at the house they were pulling up in front of. They looked on enviously and hungrily at the fleet of luxury cars that lined the long private road that lead to Los’s house. “Dayum!” Is all Killa was able to utter. “Yo I don’t give a fuck who this nigga is, he got it and we takin it. We straight eaten niggaz food, ain’t even leaving dishes. We gon eat them bitches too, this right here, is our come up,” Bugsy said. This nigga flossy ha? He Ray-J balling inside pool, outside pool,” Killa said enviously as they walked around the rare of the house.

  After all the drama had subsided Lucky found herself in the pool with Los. She had her breast pressed against his bare chest standing on her tippy toes as she tongued Los down in the pool. She felt him fiddling with her sarong and as soon as it was unfastened and hit the pool floor Lucky and Los were all over each other hot and heavy forgetting that they were outside in the pool with family and friends all around. That’s how it was with Carlos. He had the ability to make Lucky forget any and everyone but him. Carlos had her ass cupped in his hands, as he sucked and nibbled all over her neck. She moaned savoring every moment of it with her eyes closed. “Uhh, uhhh” Mika cleared her throat sarcastically “Keep it PG, keep it PG, its kids out here you two,” she said with a smile in her voice. Lucky opened her eyes coming to her senses then looked up at Los with embarrassed eyes as she noticed they had a little audience, including Mika’s preteen son who was grinning from ear to ear, like he just saw his first porno. Los chuckled and licked his lips sexily, giving her a look that said she was going to get the business tonight. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned his back up against the pool wall in the shallow end of the pool, while she leaned her back up against his chest letting her legs float in front of her.

  Cathy started banging on a champagne flute calling for everyone’s attention. “We have a little surprise for the host and hostess of this get together, come on Lucky and Carlos.” Lucky looked up at Los with inquisitive eyes. After looking into his eyes she realized he knew just about as much as she did, which was nothing. He looked down at her and shrugged his shoulders.

  They both got out of the pool and stood hand and hand. Everyone burst out in singing happy birthday as a large 5 tier cake was rolled out from the kitchen. Lucky’s smile was bright enough to light the night as Carlos looked down at her. “Uhh it’s not our birthday until about 3 weeks,’ Lucky finally spoke up. “You don’t think I know that. I know your birthdays are in a couple of weeks but I wanted to do this today while we had everyone together. Who knows the next time everyone will be together?” Cathy explained. “Since it’s the both of your birthdays, you both cut the first piece of cake.” Lucky took the cake cutter that was handed to her by Cathy and positioned herself to cut the first piece. Los held her hand giving her the extra muscle to cut through the huge cake. “Awe I can’t wait until that’s a wedding cake you two are cutting through,” Cathy said. Los looked up and gave his mother the don’t start look. Which got a laugh out of everyone. Lucky laughed as well. She didn’t know why Carlos always acted as if marriage equated to death. After cutting about 10 pieces of cake Lucky was tired so she passed the cake cutter on to Cathy.

  “Yo you lazy as hell,” Los teased then scooped up a finger full of frosting and plopped it on the tip of her nose. Lucky tried to avoid his hand but it was too late. He had moved too fast. “Baby noo!” Lucky shrieked. Lucky looked up at Los as people around them burst out into laughter at Lucky standing there with her lip poked out and arms folded across her chest, along with frosting on the tip of her nose. “Aww baby girl you mad at me?” Los said while enveloping Lucky into his arms. Lucky giggled at the sensation of Los’s warm mouth covering her nose as he tried to remove the frosting with his mouth. Then he grabbed a napkin and wiped up the left over frosting he didn’t get with his tongue. Just as he finished wiping her nose sealing his completed job with a kiss on her forehead, something caught his eyes over her shoulder.

  Lucky didn’t know what it was but Los’s entire body stiffened and his eyes turned a darker color. His breathing became fast and labored as he stared at something intensely. He had basically turned into a whole different person right before her eyes. Los let Lucky go and went storming off towards whatever he was glaring at. As soon as Lucky spun around to find out what was going on she spotted the issue right away. Chilly was standing there with two men she had never seen before in her life. He had leisurely helped himself to one of the multitude of champagne bottles and was taking it to the head, right out of the bottle. One short stocky cat had a plate full of food eating as if he were right at home, while the other dude who was much taller stood there with his eyes roaming everywhere suspiciously. Lucky and anyone else who knew Los knew exactly what had set him off. It didn’t take a genius to know that shit was about to pop off. Lucky’s heart started to beat so hard her chest hurt.

  “Ayo, I’m just not used to riding this shit cause it’s not mine. That’s the only reason you beat me,” Buju said trying to explain away his poor performance on the trail in back of Los’s house. His house sat on nearly four acres. In the far back away from the recreational area there was a trail that was used for four wheeling and dirt bikes. Los had a fleet of them bad boys in one of the garages and the men usually gasolined them up and took full advantage of the trails. Real and Buju had just come from 4 wheeling on the trail when something caught Real’s eye. From afar he could see Los approaching his cousin Chilly and two other niggaz he didn’t know. Real took off towards Los’s direction without saying a word. It didn’t take long for Buju to realize what was going on and he took off behind Real. As Real crossed the full basketball court he stopped and told his lil Jawn Nikki who was playing double dutch with a bunch of the kids to bring them in the house. Real didn’t have to tell her twice. She was from the hood, and knew that look niggaz got when they were about to act up.

  Back in the house Nice had just cornered Ty in the great room and was about to check her about her sudden attitude when a swarm of kids came running and screaming into the house. Both Ty and Nice looked towards the door to see Nikki standing there. “Some shit about to pop off outside! I was told to bring the kids in.” On that note Nice was out of the house so fast Ty didn’t see him run out. She took off right after him.

  “Chilly nigga is you fuckin stupid?” Los gritted. “What? I thought I was fam, I’m not welcomed?” Chilly hissed unable to keep his saltiness hidden. “Nah these muthafucka’s ain’t welcomed.” Los hissed looking from that corny nigga Killa he didn’t fuck with, to the little dark skinned diesel dude that was eating like he just got out of jail. "You should know better than to bring random niggaz to my crib. Fuck is wrong wit you?!” Los answered his own question just by looking at his cousin, He was utterly disgusted. Chilly was higher than a kite. “Nah, Nah, Nah, they cool these ma niggaz from New York. They gucci.” Los was losing his patienc
e with his cousin for sure. “I don’t give a fuck where these niggaz from. I don’t fuck wit them…” “What you ain’t got no love for New York niggaz?” Bugsy interjected with his face screwed up sizing Los up. Los never answered his question. It happened so fast no one really saw it coming including Bugsy. Los snatched the Ace of Spades bottle out of Chilly’s hand and smashed it down on Bugsy’s head opening up a gash from the crown of his head to his forehead. Bugsy went down like a ton of bricks. By that time all three men were surrounded by dudes who had their hammers out, cocked, loaded and ready to let hollow tips go at Los’s say so. Cathy saw this whole thing getting crazy but for the life of her she couldn’t find her feet, or voice to try and stop what was going on. Carlos was a lot like his father when they got upset there was just no stopping what they could and would do.

  Real was the closest to Los so he grabbed Real’s gun out of his hand and put it in Chilly’s face. “Awwww! Carlos nooooo!” V screamed. She knew her son was a fuck up but that was still her son, her only boy and first born. V was a veteran of the streets. She used to run numbers for some of the hustlers back in the day as a teen. That’s how she met Chilly’s father who was a older hustler she fell head over hills for. Despite both parents being products of the streets Chilly never quite got the concept and he was very slow to the game. Hell, Vera knew that from early on, along with other things about her son she didn’t like nor understand. Despite all his faults and shortcomings he was still her son.

  Lucky who was standing beside Cathy took off running and before anyone had time to grab her she had wrapped her arms around Los’s waist, placing herself purposely in between Los and the three men. “Carlos stop it. Carlos please baby stop it.” By now tears were streaming down Lucky’s face and you could hear the panic in her voice. She cupped both sides of his face forcing him to look at her. He gripped the gun and looked wildly back and forth between Lucky and the three men in front of him. Lucky knew Carlos hated to see her cry. And by now Lucky was downright hysterical, not knowing what Carlos would do. She didn’t know this side of him; his actions weren’t predictable at all. “Y’all niggaz got 2 minutes to get the fuck up off my property, or I swear on everything y’all muthafuckas will never leave this bitch,” Los gritted. Both Killa and Chilly quickly grabbed up Bugsy who was temporarily knocked out for a few on the ground. It was apparent that he would need either stitches or stables in his head but that could wait. The first issue at hand was to get the hell off this crazy nigga property, before they got wet up, then buried on the land somewhere. All three men were escorted right off the property with hammers pointed in their faces.

  Los stood there for a second then glared down at Lucky angrily, snatching her arms from around his waist and walking off. Lucky stood there for a second shocked before attempting to run after him, but was cut off by Cathy grabbing her from behind and holding her. “Carlos! Carlos! CJ!” Lucky called after him then busted into tears. “Lucky right now you need to be seen and not heard. Let him go Hun, let him clear his head.”

  Los couldn’t believe it; he felt because of Lucky he had violated one of the golden rules in the streets. A rule he lived by ever since his father instilled it in his and Nice’s mind at the same time. Never ever pull out on a nigga and don’t let it bang. It will be that same nigga you hesitated on that will come back and not hesitate to kill you.

  This was all Lucky’s fault. She had his head so messed up it was crazy. He was feeling like he wasn’t built for this love shit, it was making him make bad decisions in the game that might come back to bite him. She was making him soft, clouding his better judgment. It was survival of the fittest in this game and love and emotions had better take a back seat when you in them streets or your enemy could use it against you at the drop of a dime. He was torn and even considered for a fleeting moment about letting her go. And it was killing him to even entertain a thought like that because he loved her so much. Lucky was his everything, the air in his lungs, his strength, but at the same time he was feeling as if she was making him weak in some ways. To make matters worse something inside Los told him this was far from over. He could feel it, he knew deep down he had made one of the biggest mistakes in his life by letting them niggaz breathe.

  “Yo what the fuck is you niggaz serious?! Y’all let a nigga lay hands on my fam and ain’t pop off?” Zoo growled as he looked at his cousin Bugsy who required both stitches and stables to his head and forehead. “Yo son, it wasn’t shit we could do them niggaz had about 100 hammers in our faces. We wouldn’t have even gotten a chance to bust off, it would’ve been straight suicidal,” Killa tried to reason but Zoo wasn’t hearing that.

  Zoo was a straight animal, hence the name. His murder game was official, and his name rang bells throughout the 5 boroughs of NY. He was 35 years old and still thuggin. He had been in and out of prison his whole life. So much so when he was out of jail he looked at it as only a vacation. He had come to terms a long time ago that he would either die in these streets or in prison. He had been shot and stabbed before. His body bore the marks of his many beefs and battles and the fact that he was still breathing was testament that he hadn’t met a nigga yet that could see him. His look on life was he just didn’t give a fuck and any nigga could get it. Zoo thrived off of gunplay and beef. That’s why they brought him down to Philly. For extra muscle, they knew they would need his help with this plan.

  “See nigga that’s what the fuck you get. I told you don’t fuck with this flashy soft nigga from Harlem. They don’t pop shit but bottles and gums. They definitely ain’t poppin guns. If ya ass woulda stayed in BK and fucked wit niggaz out there they wouldn’t have hesitated to bust shots when that nigga split yo shit, trust. Yo who is this nigga and where he lay his head? We can get this shit popped off tonight. Run up in his spot kill that nigga while he hugging up wit his pillow, nah mean?!” Zoo growled. Chilly shook his head and finally spoke up. “We can’t get in there. That nigga got that shit locked down like Fort Knox. Trust me we ain’t gettin in there.” “Yeah I noticed all them surveillance cameras,” Killa agreed.

  “See I realized we’ve been goin at this all wrong. I know just how to bring Los to his knees. And it ain’t by picking off them groupie niggaz he roll wit neither. It’s that green eyed bitch he loving so tough. Yo did y’all niggaz peep how this nigga fell back when she begged him not to bust off?” They all shook their heads. “I came up with a plan that will put us in the position to fuck this nigga bitch, take over his spot in the drug game and body him.” “Fuck his bitch! How you figure we gon be able to hit that? That bitch look as faithful as a nun on a Sunday morning,” Killa said not convinced of this so called plan. “Damn duke, what you more concerned about fuckin his bitch or gettin this paper? Trust me if everything goes as planned we gonna all have a turn with his bitch,” Chilly assured. Bugsy laughed devilishly “Man all I know is I’m itching to let the clip go in this niggaz face. As a matter of fact, I might just fuck his bitch then body her in front of him. Then empty the clip in that niggaz face. He gonna pay for this shit right here,” He growled referring to the 7 inch ugly cut running down his forehead. “Now that’s that gangsta shit I’m talkin bout. Any nigga can get it!” Zoo shouted “I agree, but there’s a lot of money at stake here. Killing this nigga without a plug to his connect is brainless, trying to start a war with this nigga is stupid too, we ain’t got the man power and this nigga got a whole team of shooters. So we gotta play this right. Let me run this plan down for y’all right quick,” Chilly said with a sinister look plastered on his face.

  Lucky watched as Los prepared to leave the house. She lay in bed with sad eyes; things had been so strained between them. Lucky wanted to clear the air, talk to him, have him hold her like he used to. But there was one problem, this wasn’t her Carlos. Nope, it sure wasn’t. The best and simplest way to describe this would be like invasion of the body snatchers. He looked the same, dressed the same, and smelled the same but he wasn’t the same man that was so attentive, thoughtful, and pass
ionate; most importantly loving towards her. He had changed the day of the cookout and Lucky didn’t know if she was to blame, she just really wanted her baby back. Carlos wasn’t as talkative, he seemed to always be in deep thought, and most alarming his actions came off to her as him being controlling as hell. He had put tabs on Lucky, which he had never ever done in the past. Lucky who was used to coming and going as she pleased, was now required to call him when she was going to leave the house to let him know where she was going. Lucky was annoyed and going to argue against it but the look on his face told her she had better not open that can of worms.

  Initially, she couldn’t understand what she had done so wrong for Carlos to act as if he were mad with her. Cathy had explained to her afterwards that she had spoke out of turn. That when it came to matters of the streets be seen and never heard. Supposedly, according to Cathy, it wasn’t her place to convince Carlos not to hurt, possibly kill, three men that day. Lucky didn’t care, she loved Carlos too much to stand by and let him make a mistake that would’ve possibly taken him away from her. In her mind she did the right thing. And she would do it again if she had to. Cathy had been married to a man who was at the top of the game for years. She had adapted to the game, she was only hoping and praying that Lucky would too. Lucky was too green to the in and outs of the streets, but if she wanted a future with Carlos she would have to get a clue and real quick.