Page 17 of Fire & Roses: Harli

“Are you fuckin’ serious?” I fumed as I turned to face them. “She’s no good for me? No, you’re no good for me, Ma! I can’t believe you were not only disrespectful to someone who showed you nothin’ but respect, you lied about me dating one of yo’ friend’s daughter. That was foul as fuck.”

“Travis,” my dad stepped in.

“Don’t say shit to me when you don’t check her when she behaves like that,” I barked. “I’ve respected y’all and stayed quiet when I shouldn’t, but that ends today. She was important to me, and y’all just fucked that up in less than five fuckin’ minutes, man. You thought I was a long lost son early, I’m ‘bout to disappear like Houdini from y’all lives.”

“No, Travis, I’m sorry,” my mom apologized.

“I’ll be movin’ out by the end of the month,” I announced before I made my way towards my car.

The next few weeks, I did everything I could to get Harli to talk to me. I called and texted until she blocked my number. When I popped up to her spot, nobody ever came to the door. She blocked me on all social media the night my mom showed her ass. Hell, I was even sending handwritten notes like a school kid by way of ‘Scoe. The reality of her being done with a nigga was a hard one to face, but eventually I had to.

As I packed the last box of my room, I was flooded with so many memories I shared here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about growing up with money, but once I realized it couldn’t buy happiness, that’s when it became useless. I was never happy despite getting everything I wanted and needed. It wasn’t until I started kicking it with Harli, that I experienced true happiness. That was a true feeling I was trying to hold on to for longer than a few months.

Staying in this room the past few days as I finalized everything with my condo reminded me of that. I’d been giving my parents the cold shoulder at the house and at the sneaker store. A nigga was going through it on all fronts, and the only time I felt peace was on my bike. At first I was going to the races with the hope of seeing Harli but came up empty there too. So, I made a bag off my pain by dusting every person I raced.

“Travis, again I’m sorry,” my mom apologized for the millionth time as I came downstairs with my box. “I promise I’ll stop being so overbearing and controlling if you just tell me where you’re going.”

It hurt me to treat her this way, but I had to really stand on business. I’d let her control enough of my life and not say nothing to the point where it has cost me my happiness. She had her life and lived it as she saw fit, and now it was time for me to do the same. As I made my way back towards the house, I was removing their house key from my keychain.

“Here,” I finally spoke to her after days of silence.

“Travis, you don’t have to go,” she pleaded. “I’m so sorry. I’ll apologize to the young lady too.”

“Her name is Harli. She doesn’t want to hear from me, and I know she ain’t gonna wanna hear nothing you gotta say. As a parent, all I’d want my child to be is happy, ya know. And I was happy with her, ma. And you took that away from me. So, I do have to go because it’s time. I’ll still work my shift at the store, but treat me like a regular employee because once I find another job I’ll be quittin’. This is something I need to do because I can’t keep livin’ the life you want me to. I still love you, but you gotta do better, ma.”

“I love you too, son.”

I kissed her forehead before stepping back as my eyes shifted to my dad standing behind her. He gave me a head nod before I returned the gesture and left. I’d used all my winnings from racing on the condo I now own and returned every family credit card I had. As I headed to Magnolia Towers, I was excited for this next chapter because this go around I was doing it all on my own. The first person I wanted to tell about moving out was Harli, but I couldn’t, and that fucked with me the most.

The pain I felt to go from hearing her voice almost every day to not hearing it at all was the hardest part. It had me feeling like Ghost in Power when Angela got shot right in front of him. I felt like I’d lost the love of my life at the hands of family, and that’s not a pain I’d wish on my worst enemy. After I’d unloaded all of my boxes, I stepped into my fully furnished condo proud of the achievement I’d accomplished. My mind drifted to Harli because when I’d pictured this moment in my head she was standing next to me.

“Damn,” I cursed as I shook my head. “I guess I really gotta let her go.”

Chapter 11

Harli

“You know you wouldn’t be mopin’ around if you just take that man back,” Ryda stated the obvious as she peeked her head in to check on me.

“Rydddaaaa,” I dragged as she got into my bed. “I’m good.”

“A lie doesn’t care who tell it. You ain’t good because you been neglectin’ yo’ leader duties. We hit the store, it ain’t no leads with the case, and we each got a twenty-five thousand dollars waiting for us to spend it. I’m sick of sleepin’ on yo’ couch, bitch. I want my own room and bed hell. We’re getting closer to our condo in Magnolia Towers. You haven’t even reached out to Dice to give her the thumb drive and tell her we got a third.”

“You may have a point.”

“Ain’t no may. You really done with Trench?”

“I can’t be with nobody who mama thinks I’m not good enough for their son. You know I grew up feelin’ like that my whole life due to my parents being drug addicts. So, to get that from somebody who hadn’t even gotten to know me was a blow to the fuckin’ chest.”

“I still say you should’ve slapped that bitch.”

“Nawl, then I would’ve been provin’ her right. Her ass wasn’t worth me takin’ it to hell when she hit blow the belt. Plus, Trench apparently is datin’ a CEO’s daughter, so he ain’t really checkin’ for a hood bitch like me.”

“I mean, he was at first, then you gave him a shoulder colder than Antarctica, and he got the fuck on.”

“Girl, that was just a façade. Just like the Trench character he created. Now he can just focus on being their good boy Travis.”

“Damn bitch you really fucked with that nigga ‘cause that was some cold shit.”