“Walk that nigga around the block like Jill Scott,” Courtney agreed.
“After dark, around the clock, or whatever her poetic ass said,” Shy added on.
The duo burst out into song, singing the classic lyrics, and Ellie fell into a fit of laughter. This is what her soul missed. The presence of good girlfriends made life bearable. Even through the chaos men caused, good friends pulled you out of the darkness.
“Thanks, y’all. I guess I’llcall y’all tomorrow,” Ellie stated.
Courtney and Shy slid out of the booth and headed out the door.“Let me know when y’all make it home.”
“We will! Love you!” both girls chanted in unison.
Loyal re-entered the building as the girls made their exit, and Ellie didn’t miss the fact that he grabbed baby Christian’s car seat from Courtney and followed her to her car. She went to stand in the doorway and watched as he walked both her friends to their respective cars before he turned back toward the building.
They stood in between the space that separated the inside from the outside.
“Wegon’head back in?” he asked.
“Not yet,” she said, lowering her head in disgrace.
She suddenly leaned her head back and lifted her eyes to the ceiling.“Shit can’t ever just be easy, can it?” she asked.“What am I going to do?”
“Explain this to your daughters. That’s all you can do. You can’t take accountability for another person’s actions. You can prepare them, though,” Loyal said.
“That’s what my friends said, too,” she admitted.
“Smart friends.”
“I can’t figure you out,” she said.
“It’s just day one. You’re not supposed to yet,” he replied.“You ready for the game?” he asked. She nodded, and he took her hand to lead her back inside to grab her children. The Pistons game would be a good distraction for them all before having to deal with heartbreak in the morning.
“You want to talk about it?” Cassidy asked.
“Not with you.” Sloan’s words were like a sledgehammer to his chest. He could decipher the disappointment in her tone. She was a beautiful woman. Her West Indian and Creole features fused into a masterpiece. Her skin was a shade of cinnamon that made him feel like she was blushing all the time, and those eyes could break a man. On the rare instance she found the courage to look at him, he felt like she was begging him to man up, begging him to be better. Her stature and station in life were so elevated that even when she lent him her time, he felt like he had to earn it. She was so beautiful that she was intimidating, and Cassidy wasn’t a man who rattled easily, nor did he have a problem attracting women. He sat next to her on the bench, removing his coat so that he could put it over her arms. They were silent as he leaned forward onto his knees, rubbing his hands together to generate some heat. Her long, curly hair blew in the sharp winter winds. He smelled whatever perfume she had sprayed in it. He had never smelled it before, but it was the loveliest fragrance he had ever encountered, and it fit her perfectly.
“You want me to be a better man than I am,” Cassidy admitted.“There’s always been a consequence behind disrespecting people I love. Especially, E.”
“And do you even think about the consequence behind that? You’re on parole, Cass. Even if you don’t kill Cairo. Let’s just say you rough him up a bit, and he hits you with charges. Then what?”
“Why do you care?” Cassidy asked.
“I don’t,” she said.
“You storming out says otherwise,” Cassidy said.
Sloan sighed.“Maybe, I do, shit, I don’t know. Black men just be wasting their lives. Like, it’s already a shortage of you niggas who actually like Black women,cuz let’s be real, most of y’all live to humble us. Then,there is you. You have all the potential to be great, all the potential to love a woman right. You were raised right. You were shown love. You saw a Black man loving a Black woman growing up. You went to church, and I know you did, cuz your mama used to make me wake my Black ass up every Sunday I spent the night at y’all’s house, and you were right there with me and Ellie, sleepy but present. You come out of prison, after over twenty years, and you jump into the community, and you’re getting money with ease, but you’re ready to self-sabotage already. You could be a king, Cassidy, but you’d rather be a stereotype.”
“Asking me to let a nigga play in my sister’s face…”
“She chose that man,” Sloan shouted.“She saw Cairo and saw the little red nose, saw the big-ass red shoes, hell, even saw the balloon he was carrying, and she joined that nigga’s circus, willingly. We all warned her about him. He was a womanizer dressed up as a good guy, disguising his bullshit with money, and Ellie still chose him. She’s grown. She knows how to handle her situation, and you have to let her handle it. I’m not saying let him whoop her ass because, at that point, you’llbe defending us all because I would be right there with her fighting that man, but risking your freedom over some machismo bullshit is stupid. The one thing Ellie wants more than being defended by you is for you to be free.”
“Yeah, I hear you,” Cassidy grumbled. He knew she was right, but it was hard to accept the realization that his baby sister was a grown woman and that she didn’t need him anymore.“I’ma fall back, within reason. You might have saved a nigga life tonight.”
“I did,” she shot back.“Yours.”
The crunch of snow announced Ellie’s presence as she emerged from the back door.“Hey! Is everything okay out here?” she asked.
“Yeah, we’re good, E,” Cassidy stated.
