“Most of them did go. I just didn’t go. What the fuck I look like flying all the way to another country to celebrate the next man’s birthday? That’s some sucka shit. That nigga called at the last-minute telling Dolo about that party, and them niggas went flying down there, taking orders from another grown man,” he spat, sounding salty as hell.
I didn’t understand Mook right now. There was anger in his voice, as if he had some kind of insides with his crew. What happened between MBM really didn’t have shit to do with me, so I wasn’t going to stand here, and ask him to run it down for me.
“I feel you. I’m about to head out. Be safe in there,” was all I said to him.
He thanked me for that, and he walked me to the car, saying that he just wanted to make sure that I was safe, since I was walking with a duffle bag of money on me. I thanked him for walking me, and once inside, I sat my bags in the passenger seat, started the car up, and I pulled off.
That shit with Mook was weird. For as long as I’ve been working here, you never really see just one member of MBMcome out to the club. Them niggas were beefing with too many people to walk into an establishment like this solo. Plus, dem 9 boyz often ran in here, so when you got crews in here together, it was only right that they traveled in packs. Then, the distain as he talked about Mexico. I really didn’t know what the hell Mook had going on, but I wasn’t going to give myself a headache trying to figure it out.
I drove in silence on the way home. No music, no phone call telling anyone how my night went, none of those things. I simply drove without any noise, and before I knew it, I was pulling up to my townhouse. I backed my car into the driveway, shut the car off, and I reached inside the glove compartment, where my gun was, pulling it out, so that I could carry it in my hands.
Coming home late at night from the club, plus having all this cash on me, I had no choice but to get out with a strap on me. I’ve heard way too many stories about women getting robbed and killed that were a part of the nightlife. My first week working at the club, one of the strippers arrived at her house a little after five in the morning, and she was robbed at gunpoint.
I was able to quickly make it inside of the house, and I stepped out of the shoes that I was wearing, leaving them by the door. I put the alarm back on, made sure that the front door was locked, and I made my way up the stairs. Before heading to my room, I would have to pass by Riot’s room, and my son’s room. Riot’s door was opened, but when I peeked in, she wasn’t inside. I crept over to Amir’s room, knowing that it was a possibility that she might have been in there with him, since the two of them were obsessed with each other, and he would often sleep in the bed with her, or she would sleep in the bed with him. Riot has been gone, having fun in Mexico, so Amir was happy to have her back home.
I creeped in his room, and just like I knew, she was in bed with him. The TV was on, showing the credits to a spider manmovie that they had been watching. It’s no telling how long the two of them had been knocked out. Riot was usually a light sleeper and would have heard me the second I pulled my car into the driveway. She was knocked out, lying on her back, while Amir laid with his head on her chest, and like he was a grown man that footed all the bills here, he had the nerve to be snoring. The way they slept, it was clear how much they loved each other. He had a protective arm around Riot, even in his sleep, and she had a protective arm wrapped around him too.
I smiled, seeing the two of them. I was at peace, knowing that my cousin was in the house, and she was safe. I worried about Riot just like anyone else did in the family. I had fears that she was going to get caught up in this drug shit and get taken away from us by the system for much longer than the year that she just went in for. If I could have it my way, I would keep her ass in the house, away from any danger, but I knew that I couldn’t do that, so I just had to accept the lifestyle that she was living.
I must have been standing here watching the two of them for too long because Riot suddenly opened her eyes, glared at me for a little bit, shocked to see me standing here, and she sucked her teeth.
“Why the fuck you standing over me, watching me sleep like a creep?” she snapped, gently lifting Amir, so that she could scoot him over in the bed.
“Girl, I just got in the room,” I let her know.
She looked over at Amir, made sure that he was fine, pulled the covers up over him, and then she kissed him on his cheek. She slowly stood up from the bed, and she stretched.
Even though the room was dark, with just the light from the TV, I could perfectly see my cousin, and I still couldn’t get over this tan that she had. You know, Riot’s complexion was already like a golden color anyways, so to see her with that on top of the tan, it really had her standing out.
“Why you got in so early?” she asked, following me out of the room, and we walked down the hall, going to my bedroom.
“Girl. Your shit that you got going on with Dolo somehow turned into being my shit,” I responded, turning the light on in the bedroom.
I tossed my purse on the nightstand, put my gun in the drawer, and then I put the duffle bag down on the floor. I never sat on my bed when I was coming in from the club because I would always feel so dirty, so instead, I took a seat down on the carpeted floor, throwing my head against the wall, and extending my legs out in front of me.
“What you mean? What happened?” she asked, and you could hear the confusion dripping from her voice, as she walked over to me, and instead of sitting down next to me, she chose to stand over me.
I looked up at Riot, and I really couldn’t take her ass serious right now with all those passion marks on her. Her neck was filled with them. They were even on her chest. With the tank top that she had on, you could see each one of them clear as day. Her ass was even limping a little bit when she walked over to me.
“Jazelle happened. She got mad at me because she felt like I should have told you not to fuck with Dolo since the two of them had been messing around at one point. Girl, she was in that locker room talking crazy. I beat the fuck out of that girl. I didn’t have it in me to stay at the club for the rest of the night, so that’s why I’m here early,” I voiced, picking my hand up, and putting it on my forehead. My head was banging. I needed a good shower, a pain killer, tea, and to take my ass to sleep.
“Damn. At this point, I’m questioning if the bitch might have felt like they were in a relationship, and that’s why she’s acting like this. Dolo already told me that it wasn’t serious with the two of them. I feel bad now. I hate that you had to get in the middle of my shit,” she said, and I waved her off, having to tell her that Ididn’t beat Jazelle’s ass over her. I beat her ass because the bitch was talking to me crazy, and she wouldn’t drop the situation.
Riot tried to squat down, and take a seat in front of me, joining me down on the floor, but she winced a little bit, as if that caused her too much pain to do that, so she stood her ass up. As someone that’s been fuckin for a while and loved to have fun with a good piece of dick, I knew that move far too well. I knew what that shit felt like to not be able to sit on your own ass after too much fuckin. Seeing that, I laughed, while looking up at her.
“Riot, my God! Did you fight back bitch?” I asked her, and she knew exactly what I was trying to say, and that’s why she didn’t laugh. She just walked over, and she stood on the side of me, while I continued sitting.
“That dick must not have been hitting on nothing because you won’t tell,” I said, fuckin with her, just trying to get some kind of reaction out of her.
“That dick was hitting on everything, Ariana. Don’t play with my man,” she snapped back at me, and she was finally able to ease her way down on the floor, sitting next to me.
She reached for the duffle bag that was right there, and she opened it, so that she could go through it. Riot was a hustler at heart, loving to count up money, so I knew that she was reaching for the bag, so that she could count all the money that I’d made tonight. Those mornings when I came home from the club, if she was up, she would often come in the room with me and help me count it.
“Oh, your man? That’s what he is to you now? Before you left to go to Mexico, you were downplaying it, saying that he was just your friend,” I continued to dig, wanting my cousin to get deeper with me, and tell me what it really was between her, and Dolo.
The thing is, Riot didn’t have to verbally come out and tell me that her and Dolo were a couple, or that she liked him for thatmatter because she was sitting next to me, and trying to fight back a smile, showing that he was making her happy.
She paused from counting the money, and then she turned her head, looked up at me, and she smiled. It wasn’t often that you would catch Riot smiling, so on those moments when she did do it, it made you want to pull out your phone and snap a picture of her. My cousin wasn’t one of those girls to talk about her looks like that, and to express out loud how beautiful she was, so I really wondered if she saw what we saw. Like, I hoped this girl knew the kind of beauty that she held. Even right now, it was the middle of the night, and she was awakened from her sleep, but if there was a camera crew here, they could snap pictures of her, and she would still kill it. Her beauty was natural, no matter how tough the exterior was.