He looked at her like he wanted to say too much, “You don’t know him like you think you do. That nigga ruins things, people, and lives.”
“Sounds like the typical nigga to me, y’all ruin everything, reputations and all.”
“What you mean?”
“Word on the streets is we fuckin’.”
Cam frowned his face, “That shit didn’t come from me.”
“It came from Farrah, she’s a reflection of you.”
“She ain’t shit to me and how you know it was her?”
“Because I smacked the shit out of Jatara until she told me. I’m hitting Farrah in the mouth when I see her.”
“That’s female shit, anyway, stay away from that nigga.”
She looked at him and folded her arms across her chest.
“Cam…you not my daddy.”
“I ain’t tryna be,” Cam shot back before a deep baritone came from behind.
“Damn right you ain’t… Diamond, get in the house!” her father scolded, dismissing Cam with his eyes.
That nigga had been mean since Cam could remember, it was like he was always having a bad day. Cameron didn’t give a fuck, he was gon’ look after Diamond no matter what her Pop said.
8
Diamond woke up to Kayla and Mia sitting at the foot of her bed looking sad as hell.
“What’s wrong with y’all? Our dog died?”
“We don’t have a dog, stupid,” Mia shot back, but Kayla didn’t budge, so Diamond sat up.
“Momma high,” Kayla said in a low tone.
Diamond showed no emotion because she wasn’t surprised, she was used to Sherry’s brief self-rehabilitation acts. What she didn’t like was the hurt she had to look at in her sisters’ eyes every time their mother ran back to that pipe. She was breaking them and didn’t even know it, or maybe she did know it, but the drugs were more important. Either way, she had her sisters, and she would protect them from anyone, even their mother if she had to.
“That’s nothing new sister, why you sad about it?”
“Because I want her to quit and never go back. I’m tired of getting talked about because of her.” Kayla said before sighing.
“People would talk about you if Momma wasn’t on drugs. Tune that shit out.”
“I try to but at what point does she think about us? I’m starting to hate her ass for real.”
Diamond knew her sister’s feelings were valid, but she wanted her to understand that their mother had an addiction that she couldn’t control.
“Kayla, I understand how you feel, but Momma loves us. She don’t need us to hate her, she already hates herself.”
“She should!” Kayla got up and stormed out of the room.
“Let me guess, you hate her, too?” Diamond looked over at Mia, who slowly shook her head no.
“I don’t. I don’t understand why she wants to be on drugs, but I love her. We used to be so happy, what happened? How did she get like this?”
Diamond shook her head, “Product of the environment, peer pressure, a mask for pain, I don’t know, but one day she’s going to be who we remember.”
