CHAPTER
TWO
Missingin Action
Cars lined the streets. Bumper to bumper. Tops were dropped, and music was pumping. The sun hid behind the trees on this beautiful Wednesday evening. The clubs were closed, but the Boulevard was always open. Summer in Dooley didn’t require a dwelling.
Just people.
Good music.
Good drinks.
And a meeting place.
The Boulevard had become our destination on Wednesdays and Thursdays as the hood prepared to go into the weekend with unmatched energy.
I placed the sealed blunt between my lips. My thoughts ran a mile a minute as the lighter fired the tip of it. I inhaled deeply.
Good shit.
My chains brushed against each other as I pulled the blunt from my mouth and pushed the smoke through my lips. The street lights were on, and no one planned to go home. It didn’t matter that most had work in the morning. Tonight was the perfect way to get over their mid-week slump.
“Fuck you got going on over there, my nigga?” Sully asked, taking the blunt from my hand.
“Shit. Shit. Chilling on it.”
I slid onto the hood of my car. With my legs gapped, I immediately felt a void. Heaviness lured my thoughts in a different direction. There were a hundred hoes around, but there was only one woman I cared to see tonight.
Any night.
Any day.
Every day.
A firm knock on her door four days ago proved to be pointless. I didn’t see the inside of the five-star steakhouse I’d made reservations at. Neither did I enjoy alone time with the one I’d thought had gotten away.
Hyphen wasn’t new to the hood. However, her exclusivity made her presence rare and in high demand. Four years ago, she’d kissed Dooley goodbye. Yet, there wasn’t a week she didn’t cross my dome.
When word got around that she was back, every nigga on the block was ready to turn their pockets inside out to get her attention. Because we all knew that’s how you had to give it up for Hyph. I didn’t mind. Not because I was fond of breaking women off, but because I wanted to break her fine ass off.
That buttery skin, pretty face, long hair, and slim frame were mesmerizing. Standing at 5’6, Hyphen Stone was cold-blooded. Her thighs separated in the center. Her legs were bowed. Her asswas perfectly round. Her stomach hardly existed. Her breasts were small and perky.
I kissed the skin of my teeth at the mere thought of her. I prayed she understood my position because it would cause a lot of niggas pain if she chose to play. The quicker she understood she belonged to me, the quieter Dooley streets would be.
“There goes my baby–” Sully sang, pulling on the wood.
I turned toward him, eventually following his line of vision. Saga strolled up the Boulevard.
“You a dirty ass nigga,” I told him, laughing as I took the blunt.
“Ah– I told the nigga she was for me. He walked her down and then didn’t know what the fuck to do with all of that. Now, he got my baby apprehensive about fucking with a real nigga. I’m trying to be stepdaddy, baby daddy, forever daddy. I just know that pussy hitting.”
The realization that she was alone put a halt to my beating heart. I slid from the hood of my whip and watched as she mingled with the crowd.
Everyone knew Saga. Everyone loved Saga. Just like Hyphen, she was a diamond in the rough. A Dooley diamond. And, she put on for her hood every chance she got.
“Nigga, you’ll never get to feel it. She’ll always label you as her baby daddy’s homeboy.”
