“Antoinette,” I responded, watching her face, trying to see if the name had rang a bell.
“I don’t remember an Antoinette, but I also can’t keep up with everyone that your daddy used to run around with,” she said, and I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. I was too busy processing all of this shit.
“So, what you going to do, kill him? Your daddy not worth that bullet, and he damn sure isn’t worth you spending the rest of your life behind bars. He’s hurt you enough. Even though you’re a grown man now, I know that it still bothers you that he wasn’t there, and he wasn’t consistent in your life. If you kill him,and you have to face the consequences for it, he will win in the end, and that’s not what I want for you. Your daddy went to the doctor the other day, and that doctor told him that his liver is failing. His ass is dying because of all that drinking that he does, and you would think that he would try to put the bottle down, but his stupid ass is still up every day, with a drink in his hand. Trust me, he’s getting his payback. You don’t have to be the one to do it to him because he’s facing the consequences right now,” she expressed.
This was news to me. I didn’t know anything about his liver failing. I chose to keep quiet though. I felt like I didn’t have anything positive to say, so I kept my mouth closed.
“What’s your girlfriend’s name?” she asked me, after about five minutes of silence. When she asked that question, I laughed for like one second, while shaking my head.
“You swear you know everybody, man. You don’t know her. She not even in your age bracket,” I shot, which had her sucking her teeth, and she reached her hand over, so that she could slap me in my chest.
“Yeah, but Miami is so small, so I might know her. What’s her name?” she asked me again, adamant about this.
“Her name Dionne,” I said.
“No. I don’t think I know a Dionne. You have a picture of her?” she wanted to know.
I knew I had the prettiest girl in the fuckin world, so I was quick to pull my phone out, and I went to my gallery. It was a video that I had of Dionne in my phone. A video that I’d just taken of her a few hours ago, while we were at my mama’s house. Her and my mom were sitting down at the island, talking, getting to know each other, and I took the video from across the room.
I played the video, and handed the phone to my grandma, so that she could see. The second she saw Dionne, she smiled, andshe put her hand on her chest, as if she was deeply shocked by her beauty.
“Oh my God! Tank, she is beautiful. How the hell did you get her?” she asked me, trying to be funny. I watched as she replayed the video, so that she could look at her again.
“Aight now. Stop acting like you ain’t standing in front of a whole snack yourself,” I joked, and she chuckled.
“I have never in my life seen you with a girlfriend. I’ve been telling you for years that you needed to find you a woman to settle down with because I want some more great grandchildren. How did you two meet?” she wanted to know, as she handed me back over my phone.
“You know my homeboy June, right? Dionne is June’s wife big sister. That’s how I met her. Shit wasn’t easy though. She made a nigga work to get her ass. I ain’t the typical guy that she’ll go for. She used to fuckin with older, wealthy niggas. She had this wall up for the longest, and I finally broke that shit down. I’m steady in her ear, telling her that I’m going to protect her, and how I’m not going to let anything happen to her. That’s why I came over here, and I spazzed on that nigga the way that I did. The love that I have for her, the feelings that I have, all that shit is genuine. I’m willing to put anyone, or anything down when it comes to her, even if it gotta be that nigga,” I said some real shit to her, and she nodded her head, as if she could agree with the things that I was saying.
“And coming over here and beating his ass proved enough. With his liver failing the way that it is, and with him continuing to drink like that, it’s only a matter of time. That’s my son, and even though I don’t agree with just about all his life choices, I have already accepted the fact that he wouldn’t be here much longer. I accepted that years ago. Please, allow life to deal with his ass,” she said, and I never responded because I wasn’t in a place right now where I knew what I was going to do.
The only reason why I was choosing to leave the nigga alone right now is simply because he was drunk and harming him right now wouldn’t prove anything. I didn’t know what my plan was going to be tomorrow, or the day after that.
I stayed out here, talking with my grandma for about fifteen more minutes. When she saw that I’d calmed down, that’s when she came over to hug me, telling me to get back to Dionne, so that I could be there for her. I also wasn’t surprised when she told me that she wanted to meet Dionne. I knew that was coming next. I let her know that I couldn’t promise her anything right now because I really didn’t know the kind of head space that Dionne was going to be in going forward.
We hugged it out, I let her know that I loved her, and how I would call to check in tomorrow.
I stood where I was, watching her as she walked the sidewalk, and she was eventually on her porch, going up the stairs, and inside of the house.
I got inside my whip, started it, and I pulled off. My heart was still heavy. Still so many unanswered questions. I didn’t know if I wanted life to take that nigga out, or if I wanted to be the one to ultimately do it. All I knew was that right now, I was about to head back over to Dionne’s crib, so that I could lay up with her, and be there for her in any kind of way that she needed me to be.
Chapter 3
Rico Briggs
Risking Everything
“What the fuck going on, Rico? I come out of the bathroom, and you rushing me, telling me that we need to leave, and shit. We been in this motha fuckin car for two hours already, and you not saying shit. What the fuck going on, nigga?” my dad roared from the passenger seat.
I was driving his truck, and for the past two hours, I had been pushing this shit like a bat out of hell. I didn’t have a clue where the cops were, but I know that I was on Florida’s turnpike, breaking every traffic violation that there was, but I hadn’t gotten pulled over yet.
I was on the turnpike racing, trying to get back to my daughter. The whole time, I was steady blowing up my baby mama’s phone, trying to get a hold of her, but my calls were going straight to voicemail. After that nigga Toby came on the phone, and he talked his shit, and hung up on me, I haven’t been able to get a hold of either one of them. The thought of that nigga doing some shit to my daughter, and my baby mama, even though she got on my fuckin nerves, enraged me.
I was scared. Scared out of my fuckin mind. There were voices in my head that was telling me to call Tank, so that hecould go over there, and handle it for me, just until I got there, but I knew that Tank rubbed Toby the wrong way the last time that they were around each other, and I didn’t want to send my cousin blindly into that situation, and Toby fucks around, and kills him.
It truly felt like my back was against the wall, and I hated this shit for me.
“I can’t speak on it,” was the answer that I gave my pops. It was the answer that I had been giving to him for the past two hours. I couldn’t share with him the deep shit that I was in. I knew he was going to be disappointed in me.
