Tears fell from his eyes, and he used his hands to wipe them away. He was such a handsome kid. All that hair he had was pulled back into a ponytail, and his white shirt, and black gym shorts were dirty from the work that he was putting in.
“I don’t hate you, man. I never did. We ain’t gotta talk about that though. That’s behind us. Don’t even bring it up. How you been doing?” I asked. He nodded eagerly, letting me know that he wouldn’t talk about it anymore.
“I been good, man. Football season starting next month. The man that’s training me, he got a crush on my mama, so he been letting me work with him for free. My mama got a new job now. We moved into a nice townhouse. Man, I got my own room, and everything. My grades been good in school too,” he shared, telling me all his business. His mama business too. She stood off to the side laughing, while shaking her head.
“If I’m in town next month, Ima get your schedule from your mama. I gotta watch you play. You say I’m your favorite football player. I gotta see if you can play like me,” I let him know.
“I’m nice, Rico. I know you probably gotta get back but come on the field with me. Watch my foot work. The NFL going to need me one day,” he had a cockiness to him that I fucked with.
I was the same way when I was his age. You couldn’t tell me shit! I knew I would go off one day and be in the NFL.
“Come on. I gotta see what you looking like,” I let him know, and he grabbed his water bottle that was on the grass, drank a lotof it, and he led the way onto the field, so that he could show me what all he had.
This was my life these days. I was out here just trying to be a better person. I wasn’t running with the wrong crowd, and I wasn’t apart of nothing that I didn’t have any business being a part of.
I took some tough hits this past year. Got caught up in the wrong shit with the wrong nigga, and I almost lost everything behind it. I never wanted to experience what it felt like again to let someone have one up on me and try to dictate my entire life. All that time, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
The biggest scare of my life was thinking that I was going to do down for Toby’s murder. Yeah, I did that shit, but I didn’t want to go down for it. I was blessed by an angel, and I wasn’t going to do anything to mess up the second chance that was given to me.
Toby was dead. Jax was dead. I didn’t have to worry about either one of them niggas. I loved Miami, but I was grateful for this move, and this new change. Of course, I would always come back to visit because my baby, and my family was here.
Me and Promise were still doing good. I don’t know what’s in the water, but lately, everyone has been trying to get me to get back with my baby mama, but that’s just not the time that either one of us were on right now. I liked the space that we were in. I didn’t want to complicate that, and neither did she. If something came later in the future for us, I would be willing, but right now, I had too much going on in my life to commit to a relationship.
When I signed my contract with the Patriots, and they gave me a few million, first thing I did was pay off my fine. That big ass $250,000 fine that was given to me at the disciplinary hearing. I was still completing the gambling courses, showing up for the youth outreach like they required, and everything else that was apart of my consequences. I did that shit with a smileon my face because I would rather this be the consequences. I can’t tell you where I would be if they had took football away from me.
When I was a kid, just like Bash, I made a promise to myself that the name Rico Briggs would someday ring bells, and look at it, ringing bells like a motha fucka.
There was still people out there that hated me because of the shit that happened this past here but fuck em’. They were going to hate my black ass even more next month when I got on that field, and I showed the world how them niggas from Dade County ball out.
Dionte Henry
“Come here. Why you went over by the railing? I thought we was laying up,” I said to Nette, as I was chilling on one of the lounge chairs on the main deck of the yacht that I’d rented for us for a few hours.
We’ve been on grandparent duty heavy, soaking up all these beautiful moments with lil Tank, so tonight, I’d planned a date night for us. I wanted to do something special. 37 years of my life was spent in prison, so there was so much that I never got the chance to experience. I’ve never been on a yacht before. This was Miami, and I knew that people loved to go out on yachts, be on the water, and have a good time, so that’s the vibes that we were on tonight.
Antoinette played crazy for the first few months of me coming home. No lie, she shocked me because I had confidence that she was going to be the first one breaking her neck to jump on this dick. She didn’t though. She had it made up in her mind that I was going to do her like some young nigga that didn’t knowwhat he wanted and was going to fuck around on her. That’s not even the kind of person that I was these days.
In prison, I had visions of what my life would look like on the outside. I pictured a life where I was the best father to my daughter, and a life where me, and Nette could get it right this time, since it was cut short the first time. Ever since that day I came over to her house to paint, and she fixed me that bomb dinner, followed by her telling me to get my sweaty ass in the shower, so that I could wash this dick off, I’ve been beating her walls in ever since, and we’ve been working on us.
I never thought that at my old age, I could be in love like this. Had me feeling like that seventeen-year-old all over again whenever I was with her. That part of me was taken, so in a sense, it’s like it had picked back up, and we were finishing it off.
“I want to be closer to the sunset,” she turned her head around to look at me.
From where I was lying, I had the perfect view of her, and nobody in the world had a better view than me right now. That body on her was perfect. Still couldn’t believe that it carried four children, either. She was proud of her body, which is why she could boldly stand there in a gold, two-piece swimsuit, that looked perfect on her chocolate skin. That pixie cut that I loved on her was styled perfectly. She didn’t have any sandals on because she left them over here by the lounge chairs.
I stood up, so that I could walk over to her, and when I did, I wrapped my arms around her waist and buried my head into the crook of her neck. The view of the sun setting was amazing, so I could see why she would have come closer, wanting to see it.
We were on a nice, 80-foot private yacht. I had the best son in law in the world because I didn’t know shit about who I had to get in contact with to rent this yacht, so I asked Tank, and he helped me out with it. The captain was slowly cruising along,and in this moment, it felt like I was living out all the shit that I would dream about when I was locked up.
“I’m glad that I’m able to do this kind of shit and use legal money to do it. I ain’t have to kill nobody or sell no drugs to get this. I worked hard for the money that I got to be able to have your fine ass on this big ass boat,” I let her know, taking a hand off her waist for a second, so that I could slap her on her ass.
Business was booming like a motha fucka. I was booked for the next two months. People could no longer call me and get put on the schedule in that same week. It wasn’t possible. I had too many jobs lined up. My entire team was booked.
“I’m glad that you found your calling immediately. I know people can come home from prison and get depressed when they see the whole world is moving, living in their dream jobs, making money, while you’re stuck trying to figure it out. You figured it out quickly,” she said, turning around in my arms, so that she could wrap her arms around me.
I put my hands on her ass, looking past her for a few, wanting to finish looking at the view, and then I put my eyes back on her.
“I gotta bring my grandson out here on the boat. He’ll like this. He loves being outside,” I told her, and she smiled.
