Page 8 of Love Sanctioned

He laughed. “Damn it’s like that, Grams? I got somebody but she ain’t fuc—messing with me like that right now.”

I chortled. He knew why shorty wasn’t messing with him like that.

“Yo, you laughing? Didn’t Kars say she was done with you?” he asked, walking over and kissing my mother’s cheek.

“And what did I tell her when she said that dumb shit?”

“Posydiann Murphy. Language.”

“My bad, but he knows what I’m saying.” I accepted the chicken from my mama, grilling Killah.

He waved me off. He knew like I knew that Karsyn wasn’t going nowhere and that was on me.

“While I go sit in the car, tell them about Jordyn.” I hightailed right out the front door. He had just entered as soon as I said that shit.

“Who is Jordyn?” I heard my mama ask right before the door closed.

When I stepped off the porch I was immediately slapped with the strong aroma of the purest weed. Leave it to my Uncle Leo to be sitting on the porch blowing trees with his piece right next to him, ol’ crazy ass.

“I thought I heard yo’ voice.” He sat on the stairs, pulling from the blunt, staring ahead.

“Yeah, what’s up old school?” I descended a couple stairs to stand in front of him.

“Can’t call it. Out here tryna find my peace of mind.”

I nodded. I knew both my grandmother and mother ran him ragged when he was home. He often spent days at his girlfriend’s spot in Marshall Row.

I spent a minute outside talking to him before Killah came out. He was grilling my ass, but that was his fault, because he damn sure started it. Unlike me, he lived in a condo in Uptown while I lived right next door to our nosy ass Grams and my mama. So I couldn’t keep shit to myself.

We pulled up to a local Waterboy hangout, me unaware of why we were here, but knowing Killah, it was something which was why any time I got in the car with this fool I was strapped. It was an unspoken rule with us.

“What are we here for?”

“You've been looking for that young bull who put hands on his moms, right?”

I nodded, mentally picturing the older woman who stayed up the block from me. Her bright skin had been blue and purple the last few weeks. She told my mother that her son Shaun had done it and it was just my luck that he hung his stupid ass around Waterboy territory. Men who put their hands on women should’ve been put down like rabid dogs, especially anybody who put hands on his mama. That right there was the cardinal sin in my eyes. That, to me, was punishable by death, but then it would cause more pain to the mother. So in my eyes he’d only live for her peace of mind.

“I had somebody on the lookout. He’s up here and unsuspecting as fuck, probably thinking he’s kicking it.”

I nodded, rubbing my hands together.

I got out of the car and followed Killah into the lil hole in the wall. Firecrackers on the corner of Hollis and Fifty-third had seen better days. From what I knew, it had been around since way before I was born. For as long as I could remember, this had been a hole in the wall with multiple purposes, but too much loitering. To make matters worse, it was extremely humid inside and always funky. It was borderline annoying, because how the hell were they passing inspections like this?

I leaned back against the dingy counter, eyes locked on the crowd of hustlers talking loud as fuck. They were so caught up in conversation that they didn’t know we were here. The only person who did was the man by the door who I assumed was unofficial security.

“Yo, which one of y’all’s name is Shaun?” Killah asked, his voice heavy and authoritative.

Everybody stopped talking, immediately focusing their attention on Killah.

A stocky brownskin youngin’ in a dirty white T-shirt stood up quickly. “Me, what’s up?”

I nodded, then pushed off the counter, moving toward him. When I was in front of him, he didn’t even see my fist coming. By the time he realized what was happening, it had already connected with the side of his face.

“Don’t fight back. You're gonna make that shit harder on yourself,” Killah said, standing off to the side when Shaun decided to square up with me instead of taking the ass whooping I’d saved for him.

I pulled my piece from my side and handed it to Killah, squaring up right back with him. I was way too old to be out here squaring up with youngins, but a lesson had to be taught.

He threw a sloppy jab in my direction, not landing, leaving his face open. Biggest mistake.