Page 19 of Stand on That

“Oh my God, Vani. This is good,” Hailey groaned as she chewed a piece of steak.

“I told you,” Darius looked over at her with eyes that resembled slits. “My baby be doing her thing.”

“Y’all making me want some,” Azarius stated.

“Get you some,” Darius twisted the cap off a bottle of water.

“You gon’ fix me a plate, Hailey?”

“And ain’t,” she stabbed a potato with her fork, and I snickered.

“See what I mean,” he shook his head, and Hailey shrugged.

We all laughed, smoked, drank, and ate until it grew dark out, and Hailey and Azarius left. I told Azarius he didn’t have to pay me, but he paid and gave me a twenty-dollar tip. When our company left, I cleaned the kitchen. Darius walked in with his keys in his hand.

“I need to run and pick this money up. I’ll be right back.”

Turning around, I peered into his eyes. “You think you need to be driving? You went a little hard with the Hennessey.”

“I got $6,500 waiting for me. You trying to take me to get it?”

“I can.”

“You can,” he inched closer to me and rubbed on my ass as he leaned down and kissed on my neck.

“If we’re going to leave, we need to do that while you trying to start something,” I giggled.

“Aight come on.” He smacked me on the booty before straightening his body and dragging his eyes down the length of my body in a lustful manner.

I put some slides on my feet and took the keys from him. Inside the car, Darius reclined in the passenger seat as I adjusted the driver’s seat since I was much shorter than him. He unlocked his phone and went to Apple music. As I pulled out of the parking space, the sounds of Guy poured through the speakers. Darius put the address we were going to in the GPS before sitting back. He reached over and held onto my thigh while I drove. I was in heaven. Everything about Darius had my mind blown. I never wanted what we were building to end.

I sat in my car with the driver’s door open with one foot resting outside the car on the pavement. Intensely, I listened as a young guy by the name of Travis explained to me that his mother stole all the dope he’d copped from me the day before, and he was begging me to front him some more.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I replied truthfully when he was done talking.

“Why not, man?” I could tell Travis was not only pissed off, but he was also devastated. I felt for him, but there wasn’t much I could do.

“Because you’re only seventeen, and I’d hate to have to kill you. But that could very well happen if you get some dope from me and let your moms steal it.”

“Man, if she steals something else from me, I’m gon’ kill her ass. Bitch been a junkie my whole life. She doesn’t do shit for me. I sell dope to take care of myself and keep a roof over our head, and she stole that shit from me? I’m not even going back in the house until the dope is gone and the money is back in your hand.”

I stared at Travis while trying to figure out if I’d be fucking up by fronting him dope. I saw him around the way almost every day. It was easy to tell that he grew up fast and had a lot going on at home. Travis started hustling at fifteen. When his friends were playing ball at the park and going to girls’ houses, he would be posted up on the block looking serious as hell. He was way too serious and uptight to be so young, but I could understand why he was that way.

His mother was the type that didn’t care about anything except drugs. That was it. That was all. He didn’t have to make good grades. She didn’t take him to the dentist. Travis was that ten-year-old that could be outside at midnight riding his bike because his mother was so damn high, she forgot he existed most times. Travis maintained eye contact with me.

“Don’t make me regret this shit, Travis.”

“You won’t. I promise.” I could practically see the relief oozing off him.

I was going to do him a favor, but I wasn’t going to play with him either. He knew how his mom was, and he knew she couldn’t be trusted. He’d better learn to move accordingly. A part of me didn’t think he’d actually kill her, but a furious man with nothing to lose would do things that seemed unbelievable.

“Get in.” I jerked my head toward the passenger seat.

I sold ounces for $1,400. There were thirty-six ounces in a brick, so I could make $50,400 off each brick. I moved around ten bricks a month. You do the math. If I moved ten, Purpose probably moved hundreds. I couldn’t wait to get on that level.

“One ounce. That’s what I’m fronting you,” I told him once he got in the car and closed the door. “I want $1,400 in five days. That’s the exact amount I want. I don’t give a fuck if it’s $2.00. I don’t want short money.”

“I got you, and it won’t even take five days. I’m not even going to sleep until I make at least $500. Thank you, man.”