Page 43 of Finessed By A Hood White Boy

I was a crazy son of a bitch, but Ace? Nah, my boy was a different breed.

“Handled?” He chuckled bitterly. “Nigga, that’s my sister.” Spit flew from his mouth.

“I know and I get it. That’s my shorty and best believe I’ma make sure that muthafucka gets what he deserves.”

Duke and I watched him pace as he tried his best to get his anger under control. The bruise on Ava’s face flashed through my mind. Apparently, she’d been convincing everyone she was okay.

“Aight,” Duke finally sighed.

Both me and Ace looked at him.

“What?”

“This conversation is making me want to kill somebody.”

“Nigga, just get in line.” Ace muttered.

I thought it was best to go ahead and change the topic of conversation. They had no specific reason for popping up, so there wasn’t much more to discuss. I had to get back inside to my shorty because I knew she was in the house bored as fuck. We chopped it up for a few more minutes before Duke decided to slide out. Ace let him know he was right behind him but had to holla at me in private first. Once we were standing alone, the silence was heavy as fuck. We both knew the previous conversation wasn’t finished. Ace stared out at the distance, then finally turned his attention to me.

“You serious about my sister?”

I studied him for a moment, trying to determine how honest I wanted to be.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“Yeah? Nigga, I’ve been knowing you for years. You’ve never been serious about a bitch.”

“Ava might be your sister, but don’t call her a bitch again.” I got serious.

He smacked his lips with his face twisted up.

“I’m not callin her a bitch. Even if I was, nigga, that’s my fuckin sister. I’ll call her whatever the fuck I want. I better not hear anybody else call her out her name though.” He sparked a blunt.

“So, you care about her? Is that what you're telling me?” he pulled then blew smoke.

“Man, you askin’ a lot of questions.”

“I’m her brother, that’s what I’m supposed to do.” He said, passing me the blunt.

I took a few pulls while thinking about Ava. I thought about her smile, and the way she looked at my mother while talking to her. I’d never brought a female around my mom except my baby momma. That meant something. Shit, it meant a lot actually.

“Yeah, I care about her.” I admitted.

I watched the tension in his shoulders ease. Not completely but enough.

“Aight, cool.”

“That’s it?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Nah, nigga. If you hurt her and I find out, you know I’ma have to kick yo ass.” He pointed at me.

I laughed, Ace was a funny dude.

“Yeah, you got it.” I nodded, still laughing as we dapped each other up.

“I ain’t gon say nothin to her, but eventually we’re having that conversation.”

“As y'all should.” I agreed.