by Nique Luarks
Once I stepped inside, it didn’t take me long to spot Chance. She was sitting at the bar with Ava and Erin. They were talking loud and laughing. Erin saw me and whispered something to her as I stalked towards the trio. When Chance spun around, I stopped in my tracks.
The fuck?
She had a black eye, a busted lip, and scratches on her neck and face. She quickly tossed a shot of dark liquor back before getting down from her seat. As she approached me, I took in her fit. My eyes then shot back and forth between Erin and Ava who were dressed similarly. Once she was only inches away from me, I grabbed her chin.
“Fuck happened to your face?!” I barked. “Who did this?!”
“Morgan and Drew,” she mumbled before rolling her eyes.
“Morgan?”
She nodded.
“Yeah. They jumped me. So, we went to her shop.” Chance shrugged like she didn’t care. But I could see right through her glossy eyes.
“What? Why?” The marks on her face were making me madder by the second.
“Some silly shit involving Silas. I’m not sure what all he told her, but she found out about one of Ava’s friends.”
“And they jumped on you?” I went into my pocket for my phone.
“Yeah.”
“A’ight.” I called my cousin, Damaris.
“Wassup, cousin?” her loud ass spoke.
“I got some work for you.”
Chance crossed her arms.
“Say less.” Damaris hung up the phone and I knew she was on her way to Granny Ann’s.
“What happened with Quindelle?”
“I slapped the spit out of that bitch’s mouth. She doesn’t know when to shut up, so I helped her.”
My eyebrow rose in surprise. My jelly was usually the level-headed one out of my baby mamas.
“I’m getting ready to drop E and Ava back off. I’ll see you at the hospital.” Chance stated.
“Nah.” I started for my office. “Toss them your keys. You leaving with me.”
“I don’t want Granny to see my face like this.” Chance reclined her seat back further.
Nodding, I honked the horn and waited for Damaris to come out. A few seconds later, she exited the house with Delaney and Love bopping behind her. Damaris made her way to my side while Love and Laney made their way to Chance’s. I let both windows down and then lit the blunt in my hand. I opened my door and turned sideways in my seat.
“What the hell happened to your face, Channy?!” Love screeched.
“Right?” Delaney jumped in.
Chance huffed. “It’s a long story.”
Damaris leaned against the back door on my side and I passed her the blunt. “Who is it?” she asked nonchalantly.
“You remember Chance’s friend, Morgan?”
“Yeah. She owns that nail shop where I get my nails done.”
“Empty that muthafucka out.” I stared down on her.
“Damn, it’s like that?” she chuckled. “I got you. I’ma hit up Piru and them,” she said, referring to her baby daddy and his family. They were jack boys always looking for a lick.
“After they handle that, hit me up. You know I got you.”
Damaris nodded, blowing smoke from her nostrils. “Bet.” She tried handing me the blunt, and I shook my head no.
“You good.”
“True what’s goin’ on?” Love’s nosey ass rounded the front of my Hummer. “Why Channy’s face look like that?”
“Did you go to school today?” I faced forward.
She smacked her lips. “Yes.”
I nodded. “Damaris, hit me up.”
“I will.” She took off towards the house with Delaney.
“Can I go wit’ y’all?” Love pouted. “I wanna see Carlee.”
“Tomorrow.” I motioned for her to move so I could shut my door. “Take Granny to the store for me.”
“Okay.” Love stepped back. “Bye, Chance.”
“See you later, my Love.” Chance yawned, rolling her window back up.
I backed out of the driveway and sped down the street. I grabbed my double Styrofoam cup and took a sip.
“I can’t believe Morgan jumped me.” Chance stared out of her window. “Like...” she sighed sadly. “Fuck her. You know she told Haze I was at the hospital? That’s why he came up there.”
“And she did that because of Silas?”
“Whatever he said to her. Yeah...” Chance covered her eyes with her arm.
“I’m still murking that nigga. Rel too.” I coasted through traffic. The only reason that nigga walked out the hospital alive was because I had Chasity in my arms.
“I know.” Chance licked her lips. “And at this point, I don’t care.”
6
Everybody makes mistakes
Chance
Three weeks later...
After a month-long stay in the hospital, Carlee Brielle was finally coming home. I was so excited that I didn’t even get any sleep the night before she was discharged. True refused to let us go to my house so we were staying at his. The nursery was already done because she and Carter shared a room. And even though I hated to admit it, I loved it.
The room was sectioned off diagonally. It was half red, grey, and black and the other half was yellow, silver, and white. A changing station was on each side along with a swing, a rocking chair, and an assortment of toys for each baby. The 72-inch flat screen always played something soothing. The room was probably the second biggest space in the house after the master suite. And thanks to Chasity and Chase, there were colorful pictures on the walls.
“You got everything?” True asked, picking up Carlee’s Fendi diaper bag.
I grabbed my water bottle. “Yes.”
He nodded swiftly, picking up her car seat.
“Oooh, goodbye, Carlee,” the NICU nurse cooed. “I’m sad to see you go, but I’m happy you get to go home.” She cheesed, fixing the blanket. “You guys need anything before you go?”
I shook my head no. “I think we have everything. Thank you for all you’ve done.” We exchanged a quick side hug before True led the way out of the room.
“So, you’re staying with, True? You know you guys could’ve come home with us.” My mommy rocked Carlee as I put my clothes away in drawers.
I nodded. “I know, but I don’t want to be going back and forth with her just so her daddy can spend time with her. Gino is there, and I want to keep him and True as far away from one another as possible.”
My mom shook her head. “Gino don’t run nothing at my house.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Chance Breon—”
“Mommy, we’re okay here until I find a new place.”
Three weeks would have been enough time to rent out a new loft, but I’d spent almost every waking hour at the hospital, especially since I was suddenly dealing with a bunch of sneaky, shady people. Rel, Haze, and Morgan were not the people they’d presented themselves to be. And each person had blindsided me, I didn’t want Carlee out of my sight. I’d lose it if anything ever happened to my baby.
“I just...” My mom sat down on the bed. “I know how things are with you and True. And all those women in his life. You’ve already been having a really rough month or so, baby.”
Crossing my arms, I leaned against the dresser. “Mommy, I’m not worried about them.”
She scoffed. “Why not? Because you’ve been fighting and carrying on like you wasn’t raised right?” Her right eyebrow rose. “Just because we haven’t spoken about it since you told me, it doesn’t mean I’m over it.”
I sighed.
“You can huff and puff ‘til you turn blue in the face, but you’re better than that.”
“Mom, they jumped me.”
“You should’ve pressed charges and had their butts thrown in jail then because she could’ve done the same to you for going to her place of business acting like a fool.” She mumbled the last part.
I hadn’t seen or heard from Morgan since the
fight at her shop, and that was okay with me. We could never be cool again because what she had done was unforgivable. Being friends for so long meant our relationship had gone through rocky times, but nothing so extreme to where we had tried to hurt each other.
“Then you take that firecracker... What’s her name? Ava?”
I giggled.
“I’m not laughing, Chance Breon.” She said sternly. “You’ve always been drawn to the wrong crowd.”
I rolled my eyes. “Ava has a masters degree and three businesses.” I pushed off the dresser and held my arms out for Carlee.
Passing her to me, my mom gave me the side eye. “That girl is rough around the edges. And then she’s Roman’s woman? I know all about Roman Morris and his family.”
“And your sons are so much better?” I kissed the top of Carlee’s head. “’Cause I can’t count on two hands how many times you’ve either bailed one of them out of jail or paid for a lawyer.”
She waved me off.
“Truth hurts, huh?” I smiled.
“Ayo, Jelly.” True entered the room with his phone to his ear. “I’m ‘bout to go to Subway. You want something?”
“Umm...” I fixed Carlee’s sock. “No. I was going to cook actually.”
His eyes lit up. “Oh word? Cool. I’ma just wait then.” He walked back out of the room and continued his phone conversation.
My gaze shot to my mother. “Mommy, please don’t start.”
“Don’t start what? Telling you how he’s getting the upper hand in the arrangement?”
“No, Carlee is getting the upper hand.” Her safety was more important than whatever issues True and I had.
“Chance, first you’ll be cooking and next you’ll be screwing.”
“Mommy!” I faced the door and then spun back around. “Really?”
“Yes really? He doesn’t even have the decency to put on any clothes, walking around here with his chest all out.”
I laughed.
There wasn’t anything wrong with what True was wearing. He had on a pair of red basketball shorts, red Nike socks, and black slides. His bare chest was out revealing each one of his tattoos, and the only jewelry he had on were two gold Cuban-link chains around his neck and the bottom grill in his mouth. This was him on a chill day. It wasn’t True’s fault he dripped sex appeal.
“I’m not thinking about True sexually.” I chuckled.
“But he’s thinking about you sexually, little girl.”
I hated when she called me that.
“I don’t want another grandchild from you until this one can walk. You hear me?”
“Yes, Mommy.” I grabbed Carlee’s bottle. “Come on so you can help me cook before you go.”
She snickered. “Is that your way of cutting my visit short?” Grabbing her purse, she got up.
“Of course not.” I said, grinning over my shoulder.
True
“You ain’t staying to eat?” I rounded the corner to find Ms. Sonia putting her jacket on.
“No, honey, I need to get home and make sure it’s still in one piece.” She chuckled lightly. Once she was situated, Sonia extended her arms for a hug. “You be good to my babies, True Jones. You hear me?”
I smiled, letting her go. “They straight, Moms.”
“Mmhmm...” She put her purse on her shoulder. “Chance, I’ll call you later, baby. Don’t forget what I said.”
“Okay, Mommy!” Chance yelled back.
Once I showed her out and secured the locks, I headed for the kitchen. When I entered, Chance was sitting at the island blowing her fork full of broccoli. She looked up from her phone and then stared at me. I smirked when her eyes roamed over my chest. She tried to act like she wasn’t checking for me, but a nigga wasn’t stupid.
Yeah, you know what it is.
I licked my lips. “Where’s my plate at?”
Chance gave her attention back to her phone. “In the cabinet.”
I made my way around the island. “Damn, it’s like that? You couldn’t hook me up?”
“I’m not your maid or your woman.” She shot back with an attitude.
“You right. You my best friend.” I opened the cabinet, grabbed a plate, and faced her stubborn ass.
“I used to be your best friend.” She said before taking a bite of steak and shrimp.
Sitting the plate down on the counter, I widened my stance before folding my arms. “So what? You ain’t my friend no more?”
“Actually, I’m not.” She kept her eyes on her phone.
“Since when?”
“Since you called me a crash dummy.”
I laughed and then turned around to make my plate.
“What’s funny?”
“You, shorty.” I took the lid off of a pot that had lobster macaroni and cheese in it. Nodding my head in approval, I started filling my plate up.
“How am I funny, True? ‘Cause it seems like you and everybody else takes me for a fuckin’ joke.”
Satisfied with the shrimp and steak, lobster mac and cheese, and broccoli, I removed a fork from the drawer. After setting my plate down on the island top next to Chance, I went to the fridge and grabbed a beer. After taking a seat, I said a quick prayer and then dug in. Chance stared at my profile as I mashed.
“My mom was right.” She took a sip from a wineglass. “We should’ve just gone home.”
I popped the top on my beer. “You are home.”
“This isn’t going to work.”
“’Cause you don’t want it to.” I took a gulp and then burped. I picked my fork up and started eating.
“Are you serious? I’m here. But what I’m not going to do is act like things with us are how they used to be!” When her voice rose, I faced her.
“Chill out.”
“You know what?” She moved like she was about to get down from her seat, so I stopped her cry-baby ass.
“Fuck you trippin’ wit’ me for?” When she didn’t answer me, I made her look at me. “Huh? What the fuck have I ever done to you, Jelly, besides keep it a stack?”
“You don’t know what you did?” She asked with an appalled expression. “We weren’t even on speaking terms for most of my pregnancy!”
“Lower yo voice.”
“No!”
“How we supposed to talk it out if you always screaming and snapping at a nigga?”
Her body deflated.
“That ain’t even you.”
“Well...” She blinked back tears. “I haven’t exactly been feeling like myself lately.”
I faced my food again and picked my fork up.
“True, in the past nine months I’ve lost two best friends, been kidnapped, embarrassed, and went into premature labor.” When her voice cracked, she grabbed her glass and took a sip.
“You don’t think I know shit been fucked up?”
“Then don’t ask me why I’m tripping!” She shouted in my ear.
I continued eating my food.
“True, I’m so mad at you. I still can’t believe Rel kidnapped me and Piper tried to end my life. Haze has nudes of me, and Morgan jumped me. I’m mad at myself for being so naïve.” Chance finished off the rest of her drink and poured another one. “It’s my own fault for believing in people despite their flaws.”
I wiped my mouth with her napkin.
“True, why do you take advantage of me? You say we’re friends, but friends...real friends don’t do that. Loyalty, trust, and honesty are supposed to be a two-way street when you love someone.” Her tone softened.
After taking another swig of my beer, I leaned back in my chair. “Chance, you’re just as guilty as me.”
“Elaborate.” She turned all the way around to face me.
“I didn’t ask you to be more of a friend to me or any other muthafucka. That was you.”
She drank from her glass.
“But that’s why I love yo ass. You care when other people don’t. Could I be a better friend? Yeah. But don’t act like I changed. The
only thing that changed was we caught deeper feelings for each other.” I paused to finish off my beer.
“You read them self-help books that supposedly make you a better person. Got you into all that feeling all your feelings and always seeing the good in people and shit.”
“And what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with me bettering myself? Wanting to be understanding? Patient? Empathetic?”
“Ain’t shit wrong wit’ that, baby. You’re feeling all your feelings, but that shit ain’t doin’ nothin’ but making you sensitive and vulnerable as fuck.” I swiped my tongue across my bottom lip.
“I allow myself to feel so I can grow from experiences.”
“And I’m not knocking you for that. But you know me better than anybody, Chance. I don’t feel all my feelings. And you can’t knock me for that. You mad at me for doing what you allowed. I wasn’t purposely trying to take advantage of you. I was just moving off how you treated our relationship. You friend zoned me.”
She chuckled condescendingly. “How?”
“You didn’t speak up when I was fucking with other chicks.”
I’d always loved Chance and always treated her different ‘cause since day one that’s what she’d been—different. But I wasn’t the type of nigga her parents wanted her with. While I ran with the block boys, she sat on the porch reading. I was gang affiliated and she had a business degree. Even when she was fucking with that hoe, Haze, he was on the same tip. He was going to school, getting degrees, and working a regular-ass job. That life was never for me. I’d always had a problem with authority, especially from white muthafuckas who couldn’t even relate to my upbringing.
“True, you know damn well even if I would’ve spoken up, you would’ve laughed in my face.” She grabbed the wine bottle.
Her ass is tipsy.
“And why is that?”
“Because I was fat.” She giggled, eyes low. “I saw the kind of girls who chased you.”
“They were all whores. You weren’t like them, Jelly.”
“You know the first time you called me that I cried?”
