“That’s the one!” Ms. G laughed. “I was a big slut too.” She clapped her hands. “It was free my baby daddy while his homeboy was eating my a-
“Aight aight,” Logic frowned.
“I’m just saying. I wasn’t always the wholesome church going lady you’re looking at. I have some big demons in my closet.”
“Who don’t? If a nigga tells you he don’t got demons, run. He already lying to you.”
“True. See, I like talking to your young ass. I’ll mess around and give you my pills, check, and a lil gum action,” Ms. G flirted.
“Yea, I’mma head out,” Logic chortled, backing off the stoop.
Ms. G was a pretty, brown skin woman who reminded him of Macy Gray. He could tell she used to be a piece of work back in her younger days. Not only was she a major flirt, but she wasalso a hustler and fast talker. Ms. G was the type of woman who would spoil you with home-cooked meals, massages, nightly oral treatments, and then dump you when the next youngin caught her attention. There were plenty who fell victim, and because they were cool, she told Logic all the tea.
If Ms. G wasn’t cooking Logic and his siblings home-cooked meals, she was picking them up free food from the church. She had become such a staple in Logic’s life that he looked to her for motherly advice, and Ms. G never steered him wrong. Logic was her baby and she didn’t play about him… even if she flirted with him on the low.
“I’m cooking tonight. Send the kids over to get a plate,” Ms. G called after him.
“Will do. Good looking on the pill tip.”
“Anything for you, Lo baby.” She winked.
“You’re too much for me, lady.”
“Shitttt, I’m too much for everybody if I do say so myself.”
???
It only took Logic a couple of hours to flip the pills he bought from Ms. G. When he first started hustling, he used to pay her after he sold the pills, but nowadays, he paid her on pick up. He bought the pills for $900 and flipped them for a cool three grand. Like always, he divided the money between his envelopes and then rounded the troops up for a quick trip to Walmart, which ended with them going to Chili’s and then to the basketball court.
“Come on, Gramps.” Sage teased, effortlessly dribbling the ball between his legs. “Don’t tell me you’re tired.”
Logic used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Only his little brother could have him outside playing basketball while Detroit was experiencing a heat wave. Off to the side, the twins sat in folding chairs with umbrellas hovering over them. Shugg had convinced Logic to buy them when they were at Walmart. She said her skin was already the perfect shade of brown, and if he wanted her to go outside, she needed the umbrella. The chair was Spice's idea because she said she wasn’t about to sit on a hot bench. Dressed in matching white tennis skirts and Nikes, the twins sipped their ice water while cheering their brothers on. It didn’t matter who scored, Shugg and Spice cheered for them both.
“Let’s go, big bro!” Shugg clapped, taking a sip of water from her Stanley. “Don’t let him show you up like that.”
“He can’t fu-” Sage started talking shit, but clamped his mouth closed when Logic snatched the ball from him.
“Nah,” Logic taunted, stepping back and shooting a three. “You can’t fuck with me.” He mushed Sage. “And watch your mouth.”
“Why you gotta show me up in front of the honeys?” Sage tilted his head to the side, where a group of schoolgirls were watching them. Sage swore they were there for him, but it was his big brother who had their attention. Sweat dripped from Logic’s face onto his tatted chest, and the basketball shorts he rocked clung to him, showing off the bulge in his shorts.
“Lil nigga, you talking shit and dunking on me for a girl?”
“Basically.”
“Then earn that shit. Don’t be a boasting ass nigga and you can’t back it up,” Logic said, dribbling the ball between his legs. “If you don’t remember shit else I tell you, remember that realniggas don’t need to show out. Never be the loudest man in the room, you feel me.”
“Yea man,” Sage huffed. “But we not in a room and this is basketball. Let me get the next point and I’ll mop the floor for a week.”
“I’mma hold you to it.” Logic smirked, bouncing the ball on the pavement. He slowed down and allowed Sage to take the ball from him.
Logic didn’t bother running after him. He allowed Sage to shine for his lil friends. Once he made it to the end of the court, Sage's lanky frame leaped forward and dunked the ball, causing the girls to scream out and clap their hands. All the girls on the bleachers ran to him, chanting his name. Instead of sticking around watching his brother gloat, Logic strolled over to his sister’s and picked up Spice’s cup.
“Aht aht. Don’t put your mouth on my straw,” she whined.
“I bought this dumb ass cup.” He handed it back to her. “And these dumb ass umbrellas. Yall look slow as fuck anyway. This not a beach.”
“Well, take us to the beach… and not Belle Isle,” Shugg smartly suggested. “I’m due for a new bathing suit, too.”
