Page 83 of His Four Leaf Clover

They all sat around eating and talking for most of the day. Hank came over to get his wife but he ended up staying over there for hours instead. They discussed everything from Trudy to Caprice, but Fonzo didn’t care nothing about them. He wanted Trent, and he and his brothers weren’t gonna rest until they got him. Aside from where he lived, they didn’t know much about him. His car was parked at his house but he hadn’t been there once since they’d been going around there. One thing he did know was that he couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to hide forever.

Trent was furious as he packed his belongings and prepared to leave the extended-stay hotel that he’d been calling home for over a month. He’d gone to the front desk to extend his stay, only for the debit card to decline. He tried going to the bank to get some cash and learned that he was no longer able to access the account. His time was up and he didn’t have any more money to stay. Even the rental car company had been calling him for payment, and he had no choice but to return his temporary transportation.

He knew that it was nobody but his father who restricted his access to the money because his mother would never. Trent knew that his father hated him and the feelings were mutual. The voices in his head never led him wrong and he knew that Melvin was out to get him. But he was no fool. He wasn’t gonna let his father catch him slippin’ and he planned to get him first. His mother was being pressured to what she was doing but he could tell that she really didn’t want to. Once his father was out of the way, he knew that everything would be better. She would have never taken his car, but it was cool. He would have it back sooner than later.

“Thanks, Mr. Latimer, we hope you come back to stay with us again,” the receptionist replied nicely when Trent gave her his room card.

He was pissed, so he didn’t bother responding. He walked out to the parking lot and threw his bags in the truck. He prepared to head to his parents’ house but decided to make a detour first. He passed in front of the bar where Clover and her people hung out at, but it was still early. He saw a few people sitting out front but it appeared to be a bunch of older men.

The voices in his head wouldn’t be silent but he shook his head rapidly, hoping to make them go away. Lately, they had been getting louder and it was getting harder to make them shut up. He was being consumed and, at times, frightened by what they were telling him to do.

Next, he decided to pass by Clover’s house. He couldn’t get through the gates so he didn’t even know which house belonged to her. Her street was private and armed guards were present at every entrance and exit. As much as he wanted his father to go away, he wanted Clover to disappear even sooner. In his mind, she was the cause of everything bad that had happened to him lately.

It all started with that restraining order and things went downhill from there. He learned that his ex-girlfriend, Amina, was married to Dash’s other brother. It was almost as if their entire family had a vendetta against him and there was no escape. Clover played with his heart and ruined his life with lies.

Once he drove away from Clover’s house, he decided to see if Caprice was home. He only had about one hundred dollars left, but maybe she would take it and allow him to stay with her for a few days. She told him all about her snitching ass neighbors, but he would be sure to keep a low profile if she agreed to help him.

When he pulled up to the complex, he parked his car and jogged up the stairs that led to her apartment. He was surprised to see her mother and one of her brothers there because they never visited. Caprice talked to her mother sometimes, but he never remembered her ever visiting. The front door was open, so he just walked straight in.

“Hey. Where is Caprice?” Trent asked when he saw her brother. He hadn’t seen his cousin in a while and he looked surprised to see him.

“Boy, where the hell you been hiding? Caprice is in jail.” Her brother looked at him as if he should have already known.

“Jail!” Trent screeched in shock. “For what?”

“You must not watch the news.” Her brother chuckled.

“Shut up and finish bringing this shit to the car,” his mother fussed.

Caprice’s mother hadn’t seen Trent since he was a little boy and she had no desire to see him now. Sadly, he had the same mental illness that her husband had and his eyes looked exactly like his uncle’s did when he was off of his meds. She couldn’t explain it but it looked like they were present physically but, mentally, they were in another world. That look haunted her dreams for years, and Trent made her feel uneasy. There was no telling what the voices in his head were telling him, but she didn’t want to find out either.

She was pissed when Caprice told her that he was temporarily living with her and she begged her daughter to put him out. Just like always, money, mess and men were her daughter’s downfall and her incarceration was proof of that. Now, she was in the process of clearing out an apartment that Caprice would never return to. She planned to sell all of her furniture just to put some money on her books. There was no need to waste time or money on an attorney. Caprice was guilty as sin and the evidence was too much to ignore. The nigga that she risked it all for told everything and would probably get a slap on the wrist.

“What’s going on with Caprice?” Trent asked.

“She got herself into a little trouble but she’ll be okay. I’ll tell her that you came by to check on her. Nice to see you again, Trent. Tell your parents that I said hello.” She was trying to be nice and get rid of him at the same time. She knew that any little thing could and would set him off, so she had to be careful. She’d spent years doing the same thing with his uncle.

“Okay, I will. Tell her to call me whenever she can,” Trent replied before he walked away. He felt even worse than he already did and, now, he really had no other option but to go back home. Besides his mother, he felt like Caprice was the only other person who really cared about him. She gave him a place to stay and, unlike Sade, she didn’t look at him like he was crazy. His family listened to his father’s lies, so they all thought that something was wrong with him.

Trent got back into his car and sped away. He had to return the rental car but, thankfully, they would drop him off to his destination. He barely had any money and he didn’t want to waste any on an Uber.

Once he returned the car, one of the reps dropped him off at home. He was both happy and disappointed when he didn’t see his father’s car. He was done backing down and he was ready to square up with him like the grown man he was. He and his father had it out more times than he could count but Melvin was taller and stronger.

But, this time, Trenton wasn’t gonna fight fair. He flipped open the knife that he had found in the bathroom drawer at the hotel and smiled. He couldn’t wait for his father to come at him again. He was gonna make his mother a widow and that was a promise.

Trent put the knife back in his front pocket and headed to his apartment in the rear of the house. He frowned when he turned the knob and saw that the door was locked. He didn’t have any keys so he had to go into the main house to be let it. He wasn’t about to ask for permission; he was gonna find his keys and take them.

“Who is it?” Trudy asked when he knocked on the kitchen door.

“It’s me, Trent,” he replied in an annoyed tone.

When the door was opened, he expected his mother to open the door with a smile, excited to see him. Instead, she seemed to be just as annoyed as he was. She scowled and stood there like she didn’t want to let him in.

“Where have you been, Trenton? No, the better question is what do you want?” Trudy had her hand on her hip as she looked at him and awaited an answer.

Since her husband left, she had time to think. Aside from berating herself for never getting her son the help he needed, she realized that just about every bad thing that happened in their family was because of him. Trenton was spoiled being that he was the youngest and only boy, but that wasn’t his only issue. Granted, he did have mental issues that she was finally ready to accept, but he was also selfish. Even when he did take his meds and was in his right mind, he made everything about him. He never wanted to compromise and it had been that way since he was a kid.

If she were being honest, she was upset that he even came back home. Maybe her life would have been much better without him in it. Now that Melvin was gone, she didn’t even feel comfortable having him so close without backup.