“See what I mean? This bitch got my head fucked up. Nancy, you the reason my life fucked up. My bitch don’t want to talk to me ‘cause that shit you pulled!” Clive yelled, spit flying from his mouth as he stepped from his spot in the doorway onto the porch.
“Nigga, watch where the fuck you spittin’ at. Nasty mutha fucka.” I glared at that nigga in disgust. All I knew was if that nigga got spit on me, I was laying that nigga out. I ain’t give a fuck who was around.
“My bad, Faheem. Nancy ass always gets under my damn skin.”
“Nigga, I don’t give a fuck about shit you talking about.” Nancy shoved her way past Clive and I. “Better not be no bitch in here, or it’s gon’ take The National Guard to keep me off ya trifling ass,” Nancy aggressively said, almost tearing the door all the way off the hinges as she made her way into their house.
“Yeah, bitch, take yo’ ass in that house and clean up that dirty mutha fuckin’ house, ho!” Clive yelled behind Nancy’s disappearing figure.
“Daddy, I don’t have time to keep coming over here ‘cause y’all fightin’,” the broad said with annoyance on her pretty face.
The other day at the doctor’s, my hand was hurting too damn bad for me to really give a fuck what shorty looked like, and I had Mixie with me. I wasn’t tryna hear her fucking mouth all day. The meds my doctor gave me after he put this cast on my hand made me feel good, and Mixie’s ass not being here naggin’ in my ear gave me the clear mind to really take her pretty ass in. Shorty was average height like 5’5 or 5’6 with flawless brown sugar colored skin, her oval shaped head was kind of big, but the shit was sexy. She had dark brown cat-shaped eyes, a dainty, pointed nose, with full heartshaped lips. I wasn’t sure if her hair was real or what, but the shit looked real hanging down the middle of her back. Shorty was curvy, her breasts were a c-cup, maybe a small d-cup with sharp hips, thick thighs. She was definitely the type of broad I would duck off with. I wasn’t gon’ leave my bitch, but I didn’t mind fucking off when my interest was piqued.
“Juniper, nobody told you to bring ya ass over here. Stay out me and ya mama’s business. We grown. We yo’ parents, not the other way around," Clive drunkenly snapped, and Juniper frowned her pretty lips up, shooting Clive a deadly glare.
“Act like it then. The fuck.” Juniper snapped right back at Clive. “And why is he here?” she asked, cutting her eyes at me then quickly looking back at Clive.
“He just here to catch up with me.” The expression on Clive’s face told me he didn’t want his daughter knowing what was going on. “Me and his daddy go way back, but he finna leave in a few seconds, baby girl.” Clive thought he was outsmarting a nigga by saying I was leaving to his daughter.
In real life, that shit didn’t mean shit to me. If I wanted to, I would kill him, his wife, and their fine ass daughter without a second thought. But Clive had shown me a weakness that would be more beneficial to us.
“I’ll see you, big dog,” I mockingly said to Clive as I made my way off the porch, catching a glimpse of Juniper's fat ass on my way down. Yup, Clive fucked up, and he was gon’ pay us back one way or another.
Chapter 3
Juniper Weaver
A Week Later
For once in my life I was going to do what I was told and mind my damn business. I’d been keeping my distance from both my parents. Their toxic ass relationship wasn’t my problem, and like my daddy said, they were my parents, not the other way around. For so many years, I’d been in the middle of my parents’ relationship, I started to believe the toxic shit they were doing was normal. To the point I found myself in a relationship just like theirs. Reflecting on my relationship with Troy, I saw all the similarities of my parents' relationship. Back then, you couldn’t tell me I wasn’t finna be with that nigga for the rest of my life. He stood on business when it came to me, or that was what I told myself because for real, our entire relationship was hell. The more I did soul searching, the more I started to see how I was becoming the one thing I didn’t want to be, my parents.
Despite how they were now, my mom–before me–used to be on her shit. She was a nurse, had all her own, then she met my dad. All hell broke loose after that. Daddy wasn’t the type of nigga to be a one-woman man. Clive was a ladies’ man with the looks to match. He could charm the panties off any female. My daddy left a trail of broken hearts in his path. Even now when my daddy wanted to, he could look ten years younger. I remember in high school, all the girls would tell me how fine my daddy was. I would shake my head at their young, dumb asses. If they only knew that past the good looks was a slick-talking alcoholic.
My mama just so happened to fall hard and fast. Unlike the other women, she didn’t let go when my daddy got on his bullshit. She refused to be like the other women who warned her about my daddy’s ways. In the process, she lost Nancy, and I hated that she never found the power to find herself. Looking at some of her old pictures, my mama was fine as hell. It was easy to see how my mama had caught Clive’s attention. What should have been him chasing her, the roles were reversed. I think my dad was the one man that didn’t get stuck in my mama’s beauty, and it messed with her ego. Not being able to handle Clive’s rejection after he was over his infatuation, she became obsessed in trying to prove everyone wrong. She couldn’t see that she was the only one losing out.
That was what I feared more than anything. I didn’t want to become so caught up in my parents’ mess that I ended up in a situation just like theirs. It was best I put space between my parents and I. I ain’t gon’ lie, I was scared thinking my parents would meet their demise if I wasn’t there to protect them. It sounded crazy, but that was how I was feeling at first, especially having to ignore their drunken three a.m. calls because they didn’t want anything. As the days went on, I found myself enjoying my peace more than worrying about my parents. Now,I looked forward to getting to know who Juniper was and what she wanted for her future.
Even though it had only been a week, it felt like years. I never fully got how much of a toll my parents’ dramas were on my life until I didn’t have to deal with it. Tonight I had booked a little get away as a treat for myself since I was off for the next four days. I booked me a room in Greensville. It wasn’t far from me and was in a bigger, nicer city than Beaumont, with hella stuff to do, and I wanted to make the most of my weekend off. I was a loner, and it didn’t bother me that I didn’t have anyone to hang with me. More time to enjoy myself. I wasn’t against having friends; it was just after Troy ended up married to my used-to-be best friend, Lorainna, I was cool on letting anyone be close to me.
I was far from being a dummy. Them ending up together wasn’t a coincidence like they tried to make it seem. They’d fucked around while Troy and I were together. Lorainna tried to swear up and down they bumped into each other andhit it off. I looked at her like she was the slowest bitch on this planet. To add insult to injury, their treacherous asses hid their relationship until they were engaged. Then Lorainna thought the best way to tell me was asking me to be her bridesmaid. I let her ass have it, then cut her off, and I hadn’t looked back since. I learned my lesson in letting bitches play in my face.
With a smile on my face, I glided out my job to my car. The only thing I hated about my job was the walk to the parking garage. Once you were off the street, the parking garage barely had any lights, and you could barely see anything in front of you. Normally, I would walk with Jamie, but she left early today claiming she was sick, leaving me to walk alone. Regretting not waiting on another one of my co-workers, my heart dropped when I saw a long figure leaning on the hood of my Nissan Rogue. Gripping the mace in my purse, I put on a brave face.
“I don’t know who the fuck you are, but I have a gun in my purse, and I’m not afraid to useit,” I called out to the figure on my car, not walking any closer just in case I needed to run. I mean, my mace would only get me so far.
“Damn, why you tryna kill a nigga? I ain’t did shit to you… yet,” a familiar voice called to me, sounding amused.
“Faheem?” I asked, confused as his tall, skinny frame came into view with a sneaky grin on his handsome face.
“Let me find out you really wanna fuck with a nigga.” Faheem leisurely walked in my direction as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“No,” I smartly replied, releasing my grip on my mace and placing that hand on my hip. “Not even close.” I mean, I didn’t want to fuck with him like that.
Faheem’s entire aura screamed,I’ll fuck your world up if you let me.I didn’t have time for a nigga like that. That didn’t mean I couldn’t admire how fine he was and maybe do a little snooping on his IG page. So, of course, I recognized his voice from the many videos I watched with him in them. He didn’t post much, but that girlfriend of his did. If she wasn’t shaking her ass, she was posting videos of Faheem. I couldn’t see Faheem being with a girl like Mixie. She seemed like she was for the streets. I knew a ho when I saw a ho, but if the nigga liked hos, that ain’t have shit to do with me. It was just the confirmation I needed that he wasn’t my type of niggaIFI was looking.
“Why you lookin’ at a nigga like that then?” In the blink of an eye, Faheem had closed the distance between us. Invading my personal space, I tried to step back away from him. His hand on my lower back prevented me from moving. “I make you nervous, Juniper?” The way my name rolled off his tongue made me go weak at the knees. I fought tooth and nail to keep my composure together.
“Never… I’m tryna understand why you leaning on my car in this dark ass parking garage like you a deranged serial killer or some shit.” I attempted to mask my nervousness with my attitude.
