Page 28 of Stand on That

“You giving her the car back?” Kyle asked.

“Yeap. Bitch said she was going to call the police and report it stolen. I don’t even play those kinds of games.” My eyes darted around the vicinity, and Vani’s ass had gotten away from there quick.

“Darius, I don’t want the car back. I’m not going to report it stolen,” Bree called out behind my back, and I kept walking. I’d never call a bitch’s bluff that threatened me with the police. She wanted to play games, now we were all the way done. I was sure she could afford the $835 a month car payment and if she couldn’t, that was her dumb ass business. Acting like I didn’t hear her, I made my way through the crowd.

A nigga was past irritated. Downing the rest of the liquor in my cup, I tossed it in a trash can and told Azarius to roll another blunt. I needed to calm my nerves. The last time Vani and I had a pretty serious fight, we argued about some dumb shit, and an hour later, I was taking my anger out on her pussy while she cried and screamed my name. This shit was gon’ take more than an hour. I had to be mad if I didn’t even want any of the pussy. My love had grown tremendously for Vani, and I wasn’t above showing my ass ‘bout her either. But if I hadn’t touched Bree in a year, that should have told her everything that she needed to know. For some reason, she was intimidated by Bree no matter how many times I told her she didn’t have to be.

By the time the blunt was finished, I was in a better mood. I rode with Azarius to get something to eat, and then he dropped me off at home. By then, three hours had passed, and Vani’s car wasn’t in the driveway. I didn’t really give a damn because high or not, I was still pissed with her ass. Inside the house, I removed my sneakers at the door and walked into the bedroom, so I could take a shower in the ensuite bathroom. My eyes narrowed when I saw the door to the walk-in closet was open.

The moment I stepped inside the closet, I pushed out a laugh. It wasn’t because anything was funny. “This muhfucka really taking it there,” I spoke out loud as I noticed the huge gap in the space where Vani’s clothes were.

I had two bedrooms and between the two of us, we had so many clothes and pairs of shoes, the closets in both rooms were filled to capacity, and the second bedroom had two dressers. Every drawer was filled with clothes. Vani hadn’t taken everything but if I had to guess, I’d say she took enough clothes to last about a month, four or five purses, and maybe six pairs of shoes. My black ass had been smoking, drinking, and standing out in the heat for hours. I wasn’t in the mood to run Vani down. Her ass would be back when she got tired of playing games.

My stomach growled as I listened to my cousin, Jared, go off on somebody on the phone. I was twisting his locs, and I hated the space I was in. I hadn’t eaten in three days. Aside from a few protein shakes and a few bites of a burger, my ass was too lovesick to eat. My body was sick of being starved but even with a growling belly, I didn’t have an appetite for food. It had been three days since I left Darius and what I was pissed about the most was the fact that he hadn’t tried to call me or come looking for me. I didn’t go to my parents’ house or Hailey’s house because I didn’t want him to come looking for me, and the nigga hadn’t even tried to find me. That shit was embarrassing. And heartbreaking.

Hailey and Lo always tried to tell me that I was tripping for being leery of Bree. I knew I wasn’t paranoid. I couldn’t be for sure that Darius hadn’t stuck dick to her and if he hadn’t that was even worse. Because why wouldn’t the bitch go away? Seeing my man staring down at the old ass bitch and wiping her face with the same gentleness and care that he would mine, made my stomach churn. I wanted to vomit. I wanted to claw his eyes out. I wanted to run over her with a freakin’ car. I hated that hoe, and I hated that I allowed her to get underneath my skin.

“Man, I told you I can’t do it because I have to run to Golden Waters. How the fuck am I going to be in two places at once?!” Jared barked snapping me from my thoughts. “You a silly ass hoe man. On my mama, you don’t ever have to worry about me again. You a weird, petty ass bitch. Bye!” He ended the call, and I raised my eyebrows.

Jared was pissed. His left leg bounced anxiously, and he kept sucking his teeth. I just knew that when I didn’t go home, Darius would be everywhere looking for me, so I didn’t go to the suite I rented to do hair. I was going to my clients’ homes doing their hair. I might as well take my ass back to the shop because Darius wasn’t thinking about me.

“What’s wrong with you?” I finally asked reaching for the last loc.

“Man, I got niggas waiting on me. As soon as I leave here, I gotta jump on the highway to Golden Waters. I was supposed to be there an hour ago, and I know my people gon’ get tired of waiting. But I also have somebody thirty minutes away that wants to spend some major bread with me, and if I go get it, I’ll be even later. I was going to pay Keesha $5,000 just to run that to him real quick, and that petty bitch mad ‘bout some other shit, and she won’t go. I swear to God I can’t deal with a hoe that’s playing with my money.”

One thing I was proud of was the money I had in my savings account. I was up. Up enough that I could pay my rent up for a year if I got a nice place and still have money left to cover my car note for at least six months. As long as I kept doing hair, I’d be good. I didn’t even work as much as I could have because Darius gave me so much money but if I stayed consistent, I knew I could clear $1,500 a week easily.

I was pissed when I saw Darius and Bree on the strip but when he didn’t even come looking for me, that sealed the deal. I wasn’t going back to his house, and we were done. Bree could have his black ass. So, even though I was far from broke, I was about to be on my own, and Darius did have me used to living a certain kind of way. I’d have to get furniture. All that shit. Five bands just to run some drugs thirty minutes away seemed like a sweet deal. Shit, I rode around with Darius all the time while he made plays, and nothing had happened.

“You know the nigga real well? The one that’s thirty minutes away?”

“Hell yeah, that’s my people. I been serving him for three years. That’s why I hate to keep bullshiting him. I just been having too much going on today.” Jared sounded stressed for real.

“Shit, I’ll do it.” Since I was done with his hair, I stepped back, and Jared turned around super-fast.

“Word?”

“For five bands? Yeah.” I shrugged like it was no big deal.

“Got damn cuzzo, you just saved my life. Shit, I’ll throw in an extra $500 for you.” Jared’s shoulders and his facial muscles relaxed as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills.

I eyed the money hungrily as he counted it out.

“I need you to leave right now. I’ll call him and tell him that you’re going to meet him. Aye, you just saved my life fam.” Jared passed me the money, and I stuffed it in my purse while he went to retrieve the drugs that I was supposed to drop off.

I had been with Darius so many times while he rode with drugs, sold them, bagged them, whatever that it didn’t move me too much. Of course, I was a little nervous but more than anything, I wanted the five racks. Jared gave me the bag and the address, and I was on my way. In the car, what was on my mind more than anything was Darius. I had gone from one of the best years of my life to not even being able to eat.

I loved that man so much that I couldn’t even be for sure that it was healthy. The fact that he hadn’t even called. My heart was ripped to shreds. I never wanted to be in love ever again. It literally felt like somebody had died. If I ever went out in public and saw Darius with Bree, it would kill me. No one should have that kind of a hold over another person. No matter how bad it hurt, I was determined not to be as pathetic as Bree.

I’d never run in behind a man that chose someone else over me. Bree was a dumb bitch, and I didn’t want to be anything like her. One of my favorite songs by Mariah the Scientist began to play, and tears welled in my eyes. This was going to be a long road to healing, but I was determined to see it through.

I hated the fact that every time my phone rang, my heart lurched, and I wondered if it was Darius calling. Looking at the phone, I saw that Lo was calling. Still no Darius, and that made the tears in my eyes reach their full potential and stream down my cheeks. I didn’t want to look like a complete lame to my sister, so I sucked my feelings up and tried to answer the phone sounding as normal as possible.

“Hey.” I swiped the tears from my cheek while pretending to be happy to hear from her.

“Can you come get me?! This bitch ass nigga just hit me while I was holding Jaela.”

My brows furrowed and my broken heart became a distant memory. “Huh? Who hit you?”