He squeezed the TV remote in his hand, jaw tightening as he looked to the floor, pondering on the old days. That news hitdifferent. Hearing her name was one thing. But knowing she was smiling in another nigga face while he was gone? A nigga like Kenji? It stung. No lie.
“Kenji, huh?” he whispered under his breath, tasting the name like something bitter.
Mar scratched the back of his head. “She definitely looked better witchu. Y’all niggas were made for each other.”
That comment made Juelz feel worse. Not because he hated her being happy. But because she was really out there dating and forgetting all about him.
Juelz leaned back, his face unreadable. “I gotta get my peace back.”
Mar glanced at him. “That’s what the fuck I’m ‘talmbout, boy. Go getcha bitch back, my nigga.”
He threw the remote at Mar, laughing. “Watch ya mouth, nigga, for I show you a bitch.”
They stood up as if they were about to fight, but started throwing fake jabs at one another, ducking from left to right. Sintonio spoke up. “Aye… aye! Real shit? You should try to talk to her ass again and lay all that shit out for her.” He tilted his head toward Juelz. “Shit, her sister throwing her a surprise birthday and remission party on Saturday. You need to fall thru.”
Juelz looked at him with hope in his eyes. “That’s a bet! I want her to know… I ain’t the same nigga. Not no more.”
Kane clapped him on the shoulder. “Then show her. Don’t just be better. Stay better. Maybe she’ll see it. Maybe not. But at leastyou’llknow you real about it. My nigga cut his dreads off and all that shit. He ready!”
Juelz nodded, swallowing that lump in his throat. That old Juelz, the one that used to run from shit, hide behind blunts and bottles, he would've let pride talk.
Sintonio stood up, shaking his head as he remembered how Juelz was on his ass when he was down and low. “Now who on bended knee now, nigga.”
“Fuck you, man,” said Juelz as he grinned, pushing Sintonio back.
It took Juelz damn near a week to work up the nerve. He’d been sitting on it. Overthinking. Rewriting shit in his head a thousand times. But no matter how he sliced it, one fact remained: Tasha wasn’t his anymore. And the only nigga probably standing in the space where he used to be?
Kenji Riggs. So he scrolled to the text he had received one day from a PI while trying to get the dirt on Kenji, and copied his phone number and pasted it into the dial-out area.
It rang twice before a smooth, steady voice picked up. Hello?”
Juelz cleared his throat, already pacing the large living area. “Yo…it’s Juelz. I know I might be the last nigga you wanna hear from. But I had to hit you up.”
A pause.
Then, “How the hell did you get this number, and why you calling me?”
“Fuck all that! I’m not callin’ on no rah-rah shit,” Juelz said. “Ain’t no beef. I just… need to speak on somethin’. About Tasha.MyTasha.”
Kenji didn’t say much. Just silence that made the air heavy.
“I did her wrong,” Juelz said, voice lower now. “Lied. Drank too much. Cheated on her. I broke that girl down. And she ain’t deserve none of it.”
Still no response.
“But I’ve been getting’ my shit in line. Tryna fix the parts of me I let rot. And the truth is, I still love her, bruh. I know you wit’ her now or close to it, but I had to say this shit man-to-man. I ain’t tryna cause drama. I just needed you to know that if sheeverlook your way and start second-guessing where her heart at…”
He took a deep breath, vision of Tasha flashing in his mind. “…don’t stand in the way.”
Kenji finally spoke. Calm, even. “You done?”
Juelz stopped pacing. “Yeah. I said what I had to.”
Another pause, then Kenji replied, “I respect it.”
Juelz blinked, looking at his crew, who were trying to hear what was going on. “That’s all I ask, man.”
“Yeah. I’ve been where you are. Wanting back something you didn’t appreciate until it slipped through,” Kenji said. “Truth is, Tasha is a grown woman. Got her own mind. She isn’t anybody's to own or pass around. If she chooses you again? That’s her call. And I won’t stand in the way of that.”
