Jerome POV:
"You know you're gonna have to tell her right?" Mike asked me as he unlocked the doors to his Tahoe. I sighed as I opened the door and got in. I put on my seat belt as he pulled out of the parking space and headed towards the exit of the parking lot. I always hated conversations like this with Mike. He hates the fact that I'm in the streets, he says I have so much more potential doing other things, but yet he's out here doing the same exact shit I'm doing.
"Yeah I know. When the time is right I guess." I mumbled.
"There is no right time to tell ya girl you out here in these streets, is it?" Mike said looking at me. I rolled my eyes and looked away from him. I wanted to keep Armoni as far away from my street life as possible. She was innocent and pure and I wanted to keep it that way. Now that her and Aaliyah are in the picture I have to be more cautious about the way I work.
I've sold drugs to pregnant women, robbed innocent people, and killed people over petty shit. It's nothing I'm proud of but I'll do whatever means necessary to provide for my family and to insure their safety. I know there are people that want my head and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let something happen to Armoni or Aaliyah because of something I did.
"Let me just handle my business alright." I said eyeing him. I rolled my eyes at him, a bad ass habit that I've picked up from Armoni. Her ass rolls her eyes at least a hundred times a day. I smiled to myself at the thought of her before running my hand over my face.
"I'm just looking out for you alright, you of all people know what these niggas out here are capable of. You need to be safe out there in them streets man you got good things coming to you. You need to be focused on school, and basketball. Be something in life not just another drug dealer out here on these streets, man. You got other people to think about now that your daughter is living with you. I know you don't want anything happening to her or Armoni if you piss the wrong person off." He ranted. I was hearing what he was saying but then again I wasn't.
Mike, of all people knew why I did what I did, we came from damn near the same background. His Pops is in jail for life and his Mama was stuck raising four kids. We were both struggling teenagers trying to keep food on the table and the lights on. Shit, we didn't have a choice but to go out there and get it for ourselves and our families.
"I hear you man, park over here then after you drop me off and if-" I told him once we finally arrived at my destination.
"I know the deal man just hurry up." He said cutting me off. I gave him one last look before I got my gun from the glove compartment. I made sure the safety was on before tucking it into the waistband of my pants.
"Preciate it bruh." I said getting out his car. I jogged across the street and typed in the code. Once the gates opened, I walked up the long ass driveway and to the house. I was greeted by my business associates: Ant, Black, and Moe.
"Wassup King." They said greeting me. King was a typical name for a nigga out here on the streets but I was twelve when I gave myself the name. What can you expect from a twelve year old who thinks he's running shit.
"Aye y'all. Has Man gotten here yet?" I asked, giving each of them dap.
"Yeah he in the back, we was waiting on yo slow ass." Moe explained.
"Forget you man." I said laughing and walking to the back of the warehouse to Man's office. When I got to his door, I knocked before announcing myself and walking through the door. When I walked through the door I saw Man at his desk and some fine ass chick in his lap. When she turned around, I saw it was his girl Tasha. I didn't recognize her from behind, because of the red hair she had flowing down her back. She usually kept her hair short.
"Wassup King?" Man said letting go of Tasha to give me dap.
"Aye bro, how you been?" I asked nodding my head. "Hey Tasha." I smiled.
"Hey Jerome, how are you?" She asked grabbing me in a hug. Her titties felt so good against my chest. Tasha was fine as fuck and she had a big ass booty. I could smack her shit all day. After making small talk with her for a while she looked at the clock and excused herself to go pick up her and Man's kids from their grandmother's house.
"I'll see you later baby." She said turning around and kissing Man on his cheek before he smacked her butt and she walked out of the office.
"Damn Man, how many baby mama's you got?" I said laughing and sitting down on one of the chairs in front of his desk. I've seen Tasha, along with two other females with him but I know for a fact that he only fucks with Tasha. They're basically married. He needs to stop playing around and put a ring on that girl's finger. She's loyal as fuck to him and the whole team, it's not too many females out here like Tasha.
"Shut up nigga, as long as I take care of them and their kid's, everybody's happy." He shrugged, sitting at his desk and pulling out a blunt from his desk drawer. I shook my head as I watched him search for a lighter.
"You didn't answer my question." I said leaning back into the seat and passing him a lighter that I had in my pocket. Man doesn't talk much about his family at all. Which is why I didn't know him, Imani, and Armoni were siblings. He keeps his family out of his business life and he's protective as fuck over them. Which is understandable.
"I got three." He replied, making me shake my head. I could't deal with having three different women have my children. That's three different attitudes to deal with, three different households to take care of, and three times the drama. I'd just rather have Armoni carry all of my children. She can push out all ten of them too. "I thought you didn't smoke youngin'?" He asked raising his eyebrow before lighting his blunt and taking a long drag from it. He tossed me the lighter before relaxing back in his chair.
"I don't, especially not during basketball season. I be slow as hell, wheezing and shit." I laughed. I have really bad asthma and it likes to act up when I smoke so I try to stay away from weed during basketball season.
"Why the hell you got a lighter then, fool?" He asked blowing smoke out of his nose.
"Our nephew's birthday is next week but we won't be here for the party so we did a little something for him today. I had to light his candles on his birthday cake but then yo bitch ass called." I joked.
"Word?" He asked raising his eyebrow before inhaling. "My nephew's birthday is next week too."
"We got the same nephew dummy." I reminded him.
"Oh yeah. I be forgetting my sister with your long head ass brother." He laughed. My brother Jeremy, Emanuel, and I are all real close. We do a lot of business together but we don't see each other or do shit together outside of business.
"Looks like the Jackson brothers love the Jones girls." I chuckled.
"What you mean?" He asked giving me a strange look.
"Me and Armoni are kinda talking. She moved in with me about a month ago." I told him.
"Mookie?" He asked raising his eyebrow. "Nah, not my baby girl. She's too innocent for you." He said shaking his head. He wasn't lying, Armoni was such a damn prude sometimes. She blushes at everything and she's always nervous around me but she's slowly opening up to me.
"That's what you think." I joked.
"What the fuck, you fucking my sister?" He asked sitting up in his chair. Man looked like he was about to beat my ass. I'm glad I was playing and not actually fucking Armoni.
"No we're not fucking and we're not even in a relationship yet, we just cooling it." I laughed. I saw Man relax back in his chair and take a sigh of relief.
"What you mean cooling it?" He asked giving me a look.
"She not ready for a relationship and I respect that so ima be waiting til she is." I replied simply. "But when she finally gives me a chance and we get togeth-"
"Wait! You think I'm actually about to let you date my sister? My baby? Armoni? Nigga you got life fucked up if you think I'll let you date her. You be dogging the hell out of these females. You think my sister dumb enough to fuck with you? I warn her all the time about niggas like you." He chuckled.
"I wouldn't do her like that. I care about her too much to dog her out like I do these bitches. When we-"
"I'm not letting you date my sister, period." He said cutting me off. "Fuck you thought? Nigga you're hilarious." He said as he bent over in his chair laughing. He was gasping for air and grabbing stomach as he hit his hand on the desk. His laughter finally settled down and he sat up in his chair as he wiped the tears from his eyes. He watched me with a straight face before busting out laughing again. I smacked my lips before getting up from my seat, I was not about to sit up here while he laughed in my damn face.
"Fuck this." I said about to leave his office.
"Wait bruh, my bad." He chuckled as he called me back.
"What nigga?" I huffed.
"Sit down, I ain't mean to laugh at you." He chuckled as he gestured to the chair that I was previously sitting in. I mugged him as I sat back down. He took a hit of the blunt and blew the smoke out before laughing loudly again.
"I don't believe you and my sister talk. She's too smart to fuck with a nigga like you." He said shaking his head.
"Believe it." I smirked as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I pressed the home button and slid my phone across his desk. He eyed me before picking it up and staring at the screen. It was a picture of Aaliyah and Armoni together, I had walked in on Armoni painting Aaliyah's nails. It was late one Friday night and I had came in from doing a job and I caught them up having a spa night and eating junk food. Armoni looked so perfect and seeing her with my Princess made my heart melt so I took an off guard picture of them and made it my lock screen.
"That don't mean shit. She likes kids, so what?" He scoffed before sliding my phone back across his desk. I nodded my head with a smirk on my face before picking up my phone and unlocking it. I was really about to fuck him up.
"It gets better." I told him as I slid the phone back. The look on Man's face when he saw that picture lowkey made me regret even showing him. Aaliyah loves stealing my phone to take random ass pictures and videos. While I was going through my camera roll deleting her random ass pictures, I came across one of Armoni and I that she took. Armoni and I were cuddled up in the bed, laughing at something that was on TV. Half of her body was laying across my chest and my arm was wrapped around her lower waist. I was damn near grabbing her ass.
"I'm trying my hardest not to jump across this muthafuckin desk on you." He said after taking a deep breath through his nose. Maybe showing him that picture wasn't such a good idea. I'm not scared of Man but his ass is trigger happy and I'm not trying to leave my daughter fatherless.
"We're just friends right now, she won't even let a nigga come in her room after ten at night." I laughed, telling the truth. Sometimes I try to fall asleep in her room on purpose, just so I can sleep next to her or be in her room after ten. Sad thing is, her ass will leave and go sleep on the couch or with Tatiyana. I can't win for losing with her sometimes.
"Fuck you in her room for? How the fuck do you even know where she stays?" He asked, raising his voice a little.
"We're roommates dumb ass." I told him.
"Ain't this bout a bitch." He mumbled to himself with a smirk on his face. He shook his head before sighing and putting his head in his heads. "She told me she moved with a gay ass nigga named Rome and her friend Tatiyana." He said making me bust out laughing. "She ain't never lied to me before." He said in disbelief.
"Man, calm down nigga. It's not that serious." I said noticing he got out another already rolled blunt from his desk. He looked like he was stressing hard as fuck. "She probably just didn't want you to worry about her." I explained.
"Fuck that. I'm moving her into another spot first thing in the morning. I don't even know why she agreed to move in with your ass anyway. She doesn't even like niggas like that." He mumbled to himself.
"She didn't really have a choice. My apartment was the only one on campus that was available for rent." I told him. I knew how he felt, I was protective over Justycee, just like Man was protective over Armoni.
"Why didn't she call me then? She knows I could've gotten her a place." He said lighting up his second blunt.
"She's grown. She probably doesn't like depending on you for stuff. You know she likes to be independent and shit." I chuckled.
"I can't believe this shit." He mumbled, lifting his blunt to his lips again.
"She's in good hands bruh, stop tripping. You know I'm not gonna let anything happen to her. I got her." I told him sincerely. I care way too much about Armoni to fuck her over, she's been through too much already as it is.
"The way you talking, it sounds like you know what happened." He said putting out the butt of his blunt. I nodded my head before taking a deep breath and blowing it out. Even thinking about everything put her Uncle through, made my fucking blood boil.
"Yeah, she told me about it, fucked up, ain't it? Her own family doing some messed up shit like that to her." I said immediately becoming angry all over again, at the thought of what her uncle did to her. He nodded his head slowly before getting out another blunt. I watched as he fired up another one.
"I sent some niggas on the inside to handle his bitch ass though. It still ain't enough. Fucking with my baby sister, that girl is my fucking heart." He said shaking his head. "I just wish I could've protected her better. That's why I'm so protective of her now, I don't want to see her hurt ever again."
"I know bruh." I agreed, taking a deep breath. "I understand."
"He's getting out at the end of next month on parole." He mumbled.
"What the hell, he only got six years?" I asked in disgust.
"His ass is getting out on good behavior." He said shaking his head.
"Good behavior my ass. I hope they raped the shit out that nigga in there." I scoffed, shaking my head.
"Yeah me too, but I got something for his bitch ass when he gets out." Man chuckled evilly. He blew smoke out of his mouth and smirked.
"Does Armoni know he's getting out soon?" I asked him.
"No, she don't know and she won't find out." He said leaning into his seat.
"So, what you gon' tell her when she comes home for Christmas and see's that nigga sitting across from her at the dinner table?" I said getting heated. This nigga really wasn't about to tell his sister, that the man who raped and abused, her was getting out of prison in a month. He was just gonna let her ass find out herself.
"Trust, he won't live to see another Christmas." He smirked. "I guess I'll let him live through Thanksgiving though, I do have a little heart." He said blowing out more smoke from his mouth. The whole room was started to get a little foggy and I knew my clothes smelled just like weed. Normally I wouldn't care but I didn't want to go home to Armoni and Aaliyah like this.
"So, you just gon' kill him?" I asked.
"Yeah, what else would I do?" He asked standing up.
"Torture his ass." I chuckled. Man stood up from his seat and gave me dap before putting out the rest of his blunt.
"C'mon, let's go do this drop." He said tucking his gun into the waistband of his jeans. "Oh and King, I'm not giving you permission to be with my sister but I'll consider allowing you to be her friend." He told me, making me laugh.
"Nigga, we're grown. I'll date her if I want to. Fuck you mean?" I scoffed.
"Don't fucking test me, King. I'll bust a cap in you and you know it." He said drawing his gun and cocking it. I rolled my eyes at him and just left the room. I knew he wasn't pissed enough to shoot me so I took my chance. He was hot on my heels as we walked down the long hallway.
"Like I said." I shrugged.
"Like I said, my sister ain't stupid enough to fall for your dog ass anyway. You might as well not even try it. She don't need no nigga, I'm her boyfriend." He said making me bust out laughing. The fact that he was dead ass serious is what made it even funnier to me.
"Nigga." I laughed.
"Stop fucking laughing, I'm serious." He said smacking his lips.
"Trust me, I know." I laughed.
"Look, I'll give you a month. You fuck up with my sister and that's your life. I'll fuck you up and you know it. I don't play about family, especially Armoni. No hard feelings even if I do have to kill you, though." He said setting the security system and locking up the house.
"Man, I ain't gon' fuck up." I told him. I understood where he was coming from, I felt the same exact way about my sister and my cousin. If a nigga even thought about fucking them over, there would be hell to pay.
"Welcome to the family nigga." He smirked before patting my back. "Sike, you wish." He said just as I was about to dap him up, he moved his fist making me smack my lips.
"It'll be a while before I get in the family. Armoni's trust is fucked all up and she ain't trying to let nobody in, no time soon." I admitted.
"To be honest, I'm surprised that she even agreed to move in with you. She's not usually comfortable around niggas she doesn't really know." He told me. I agreed, when Armoni first moved in, sometimes she acted like she was scared to be left alone with me. Don't let me try to grab her or something like that, her ass will literally have a panic attack. I hate what that fuck ass nigga did to my baby.
"That nigga fucked her up for real." I sighed.
"Yeah, he did." He nodded. "Sometimes ... sometimes she has dreams about what he did to her." He admitted making me clench my jaw. "She used to have them a lot after everything first happened. It used to fuck me up everytime she would have one. I couldn't do nothing but hold her until she woke up or it was over. That shit was the worst."
"How did you know what she was dreaming about?" I asked. Since Armoni and I have been living together, I don't think she's had a dream.
"She'll start fighting in her sleep or she'll yell his name. She used to just cry and beg for him to leave her alone and that shit tore me up inside." He said shaking his head. I didn't have any words, I was so disgusted in the fuck ass nigga that did that to her. His bitch ass messed up her whole mentality.
"What yall niggas talking about?" Black asked us, once we walked outside to the porch where they were passing the blunt around. Man didn't respond, he walked by them to the side of the house, where we kept our vehicles locked up.
"Grown folks business." I replied, unlocking the doors to the black Suburban with the key ring. Man and I got in the front seat while Moe, Black, and Ant got in the back. Man barely let us get in the car before driving off in the direction of our first drop of the night. After three drops and having to body somebody, Man was dropping me off to meet Mike so we could go home.
"Have you told my sister you work for me yet?" Man asked looking over at me.
"Nah and I don't plan on it." I told him honestly.
"Don't be fucking lying to my sister, King." He said eyeing me.
"Nigga shut up, I didn't even mean it like that. I don't know how much longer Imma be in this shit." I admitted to him. At the time when I first started working for Man, I was desperate for money to provide for my family, now I have things going for me, I have money saved up so I'm no longer struggling financially. I like fast money but at this point I don't need to be in the streets every day.
"What you mean?" He asked looking at me sideways.
"I've got too bright of a future and a lot going for me to end up dead on the streets or in jail. I got my daughter to think about now and I'm trying to focus on school and basketball so I can get into the league." I explained. "Imma just fallback a little."
"Bitch! What are you talking about, a daughter to think about, now? Ain't she like thirteen?" You know it's not that easy to get out. But I respect your reasoning just make sure you got my baby sister taken care of." He said pulling into the driveway of the house I was supposed to meet Mike at. "I'll kill you over my blood. Remember that."
"She's turning eight in March nigga and she's staying with me now. Her mama ain't shit so I had to step up I didn't want my little girl to grow up in that environment and turn out like her mama did." I said unbuckling my seat belt and getting ready to get out of the car.
"What kinda hoes you fucking with mane, see niggas like you ain't got no business fucking, yall asses get caught up every time. You don't need to have sex if that's the type of female you fucking with." He said laughing.
"That's the same thing Armoni said." I laughed. "I did use protection, I guess it broke. That latex couldn't handle me." I said getting out of the car and laughing when Man gave me a nigga please look.
"Alright nigga, be safe. I'll call you if I need you." He called through the open window. "Take care of my fucking sister King, I'm serious about this. I don't want to kill you cause we boys or whatever, but I will."
"Word." I nodded. "Don't be calling me at all hours of the night anymore, I'm a family man now." I said getting ready to get in the car with Mike.
"Bitch please! I'd call you if I wanted you to rub my left ass cheek." He said before burning off. His ugly ass is always playing. He didn't have to call me a bitch though. I got in the car with Mike and he looked mad as fuck.
"What's wrong with you bruh?" I asked him. He probably had an attitude that I took so long. I told him I only needed an hour or two and that was five hours ago. Oops.
"What you mean, what's wrong with me?" He asked looking at me like I was stupid. "You smell like weed, your damn mouth is bloody and so are your clothes, and you got a fucking gash across your face, and it's passed fucking midnight when your ass said, gimme an hour. You got me fucked up Jerome." He said mugging me and then starting the car. "Getting blood all over my fucking seats." He grumbled.
"I'm sorry bruh, I got carried away and didn't look at the time. I should have called but we just got into on this one bad deal, it was nothing, we handled it." I said pulling my phone out to see that I had four missed calls, three from Mike and one from Armoni with six text messages, all from Armoni.
"You been smoking?" He asked sniffing the air.
"No, you know I don't smoke during the season. Man smoked like five blunts while we were together." I explained to him. If he thought I was smoking I wouldn't hear the end of it. Mike, being older than me by a few months made him think he was the big brother. Hell he was, he was always looking out for me and trying to steer me into the right direction. I'm closer to him than my actual blood brother, but I love them the same.
"Whatever, and you might wanna call Armoni." He said looking at me with a small smirk on his face.
"Yeah, she blew up my phone." I chuckled, looking down at my phone.
"She's worried about you and she knows something's up, she aint stupid so you might as well tell her Jerome. You know her trust is already fucked up. You're not helping yall's relationship any better by lying to her so early in whatever yall got going on. Just be honest with her." He preached.
"I know but I don't want her to think of me differently because of what I do." I admitted. I was lowkey scared to tell her that I worked for her brother, she's so innocent and pure, despite what happened to her. I just know that she wouldn't approve.
"So you think lying to her is the best answer?" He asked making me blow out a breath of frustration.
"To be honest I don't know, I'm going to tell her eventually but I'm not ready to get out the game just yet and I know she'll want me to. Did you know Man was her brother?" I said changing the subject, hoping he would get off my ass about the situation.
"You need to make a choice and fast she's a smart girl and soon she's gonna catch on. Yeah I knew that was her brother." Mike said looking at me, obviously my plan didn't work.
"I guess I should call her, what should I say happened?" I asked, I needed to think of a lie.
"The truth." He scoffed.
"Hell no, I need a good lie." I said shaking my head, there was no way in hell I was telling her the truth.
"I'm not helping you lie to that girl." He laughed.
"Well what am I supposed to do?" I asked desperate.
"I don't know! That ain't my business." He said doing the Kanye shrug.
"You are no help, ima remember this for when you need to lie to Drea one day, and I'm not gon' having your back so don't even look at me." I told him.
"We'll see, now call your woman and put it on speaker phone; I wanna hear her cuss your ass out." He chuckled. Armoni can be the sweetest person but when you piss her off, her little ass is evil as hell. She'll cuss a nigga out in a minute but then turn around and apologize.
"Fuck you nigga." I said going through my contacts and finding her, I clicked her name and put my phone on speaker. I started to get a little nervous when the phone starting ringing. Shit, what do I say. Armoni is not one to fuck with and not because of her brother, that girl hits like a fucking dude. I'm not trying to get beat on tonight. I already got in one fight tonight, I don't feel like being abused by her.
My thoughts were cut short when the phone stopped ringing and she finally answered the phone.
"What?" she said with an attitude. Oh hell. Here we go.
"Hey baby." I said trying to lighten the mood.
"Don't call me that, what do you want Jerome?" She asked making me throw my head back against the head rest. I knew this conversation would be hell.
"You called me earlier, I was just calling you back to see what you wanted." I responded, trying to play it off like everything was okay.
"I was just calling to see what the fuck happened at your mama's house, that you were gone for over five damn hours. Your mom isn't even in town right now. Your daughter has been asking for you for the past hour, hell Zyonn is even sad and he's not that close to you and Yana's damn near about to walk a hole in the fucking carpet cause you don't know how to pick up a fucking phone. So you can feel free to explain if you'd like but don't tell me no bullshit cause I don't have time for it." She spat at me. Well damn.
"Baby, it's not even like that." I said at a loss for words and feeling like the biggest ass in the world. I looked to Mike for help but he just shrugged his shoulders.
"Then what is it like?" She said cutting me off with an attitude.
"Umm I- never mind." I mumbled, I was about to lie to her but then I thought better of it. There was no point in lying to her, she'd know that I was before I even opened my mouth to lie.
"Exactly, but I do applaud you for not giving me bullshit lies, you know what I don't even want to know where you were anymore. It's not my business it's yours but I do apologize for giving a fuck about your well-being. Selfish ass muthafucka." She huffed before hanging up the phone.
"Damn homie." Mike chuckled.
"Shut up." I mumbled, throwing my phone onto my lap.
"Aye man I would've helped you out but I honestly didn't have anything to say." He said, still laughing.
"You good homie, it's my problem not yours." I told him, I was lowkey mad but it was my fault so what was there for me to be mad about. I huffed before picking up my phone again. I dialed Armoni's number again to try and call to apologize.
"You know she's not gonna answer." Mike said shaking his head.
"Yeah, I know she's the most stubborn female I've ever meet, but then she's so loving and nice but then she be so ready to cuss somebody out, then she'll be like aww I'm sorry and all lovey dovey again. I swear she's bipolar, real shit." I laughed
"Oh! So now I'm bipolar? Fuck you Jerome!" I heard Armoni say. I quickly picked up my phone and realized that Armoni did answer the phone when I called her back. Not only did she answer the phone, but she had heard everything I just said. Oh hell. I was in deep shit now.
"Baby, I'm sorry I-" I tried to say before she cut me off.
"Save it Jerome! You're such an asshole." She said smacking her lips. "I thought you actually cared about me. Inconsiderate ass bitch."
"Damn man." I said smacking my lips. I huffed before throwing my phone at the dashboard.
"Well at least we're going to church tomorrow, you can pray about it." Mike said rubbing my shoulder. I cut my eyes at him and he busted out laughing. I was in a serious situation and this nigga wanted to play. Armoni was already mad at me and now I hurt her feelings. This relationship shit is stressful as hell, maybe I need to stay single.
"Shut the fuck up. Ugly ass nigga." I mumbled, swatting his hand away from me and jerking my shoulder away from him. "Stop by McDonalds or something, I'm hungry." I told him. He nodded his head and there was silence for a while.
"Man, just tell her the truth. Be honest with her about everything. Girls love that honesty shit. I was honest with Drea and we've been together since." Mike said, breaking the silence between us. I sighed before resting my head against the head rest.
"We'll see." I shrugged. "How are you and Drea doing, by the way?" I asked him. Andrea is a cool ass female, I like her and Mike together. I can tell they make each other happy.
"We good man, she's a good girl. It's only been a month but I can really see myself marrying her and having a couple of babies. She smart, funny, sexy as fuck but she's such a fucking tease. She doesn't wanna have sex yet but her ass be kissing on my neck and shit. Who does that? Her ass is about to give me blue balls." He scoffed making me laugh.
"Aye, I got a serious question though. Is it wrong that I'm still fucking females while I'm trying to get with Armoni? I mean, technically I'm still single so it shouldn't be a problem, right?" I asked. I got a real problem when it comes to going without sex. I have to have it. Period.
"Well, if you're serious about getting with her, you need to show her that. By you still fucking other girls, that's telling her you're not serious." He explained as he pulled into the drive thru at McDonalds. There were two other cars in front of us and I hoped they would hurry the hell up because I was starving.
"But I'm single bro, it shouldn't matter." I said smacking my lips.
"So Armoni can go fuck somebody right now?" He asked.
"Hell naw!" I yelled, sitting up in my seat and looking at him like he was crazy. I'd fuck Armoni and that nigga up if I ever caught her even looking at another nigga.
"Why not? She's single." He smirked. I opened my mouth to protest but I couldn't think of anything logical to say so I just closed my mouth and sat back in my seat. "Exactly." Mike laughed.
"I hear you." I nodded as Mike pulled up to the window and ordered our usual for the whole house. When we ordered for everybody, we damn near spend fifty dollars at McDonalds. Once we got our food, we headed home. It only took us a few minutes to get home. We each grabbed a bag of food and two drinks before heading to our apartment.
"Hey Armoni." Mike said once I unlocked the door and allowed him to go in first. After Mike spoke to her, he turned around and smiled at me. He's such an ass kisser.
"Mike Mike! Wassup my nigga." She said hugging him and returning to the sandwich she was eating at the island. I peeped how she totally ignored me. Usually when I come home from being gone all day she's all over me, asking me how my day was and shit. She didn't even look at me this time. Damn.
"Where Drea?" He asked.
"Her, Yana, and Brandy went to the store to get drinks, pick up the pizza and pick up some movies." She said after taking a sip of her water. Clearly Mike and I forgot we were supposed to be having movie night without the kids.
"Then why are you eating a sandwich if they went to get pizza?" Mike asked smacking his lips.
"I'm hungry now." She shrugged.
"Fat ass." He mumbled under his breath.
"Don't judge me, I haven't eaten since breakfast." She said getting up to throw her plate in the trash and to clean up her mess.
"You need anything?" I asked from the living room, she turned around realizing it was me. She turned around ready to cuss me out with a harden look on her face, but her face softened when she saw me. Why the fuck is she looking at me like that? Like I'm a little wounded puppy?
"Jerome what happened to your face?" She asked walking toward me. "Why do you have blood all over your shirt? What happened to you? Are you okay?" She asked, bombarding me with questions. What the hell is she talking about?
"What are you talking-" Oh shit! I still had blood on my face and splattered all over my shirt. I was meaning to to sneak in without anyone noticing so I could shower and change clothes. After I killed someone, I always took a shower because I always felt so dirty. I flinched when she approached me, I thought she was about to slap me but instead, she and ran her hand across my cheek.
"C'mon." She said grabbing my hand and turning to walk toward her room. I followed behind trying to scrape the dried blood from the side of my face. There really was no use since she'd already seen it but that still didn't stop me. I didn't want her seeing this side of me. She went to the bathroom and I heard water running so I was assuming she was washing her hands.
"Sit on the bed." She instructed, once we were both in her room. She starting looking for something in her closet, I laughed to myself as I watch her struggle to get something off of her top shelf. She finally jumped high enough to be able to grab whatever she was reaching for. She came back over to the bed, with a small pink first aid kit.
"Turn your head." She said grabbing my face so she could see the cut better. I got pistol whipped tonight so there was a gash on my cheek. It wasn't too deep but that shit still hurt. She got an alcohol wipe and wiped the dried blood from my face before throwing it in her little pink waste basket.
"It might sting a little." She mumbled as she put alcohol on a cotton ball and began gently dabbing the corner of my mouth and my jaw line.
"Shit!" I yelled, jumping back. She laughed before trying to wipe the alcohol on my cut once again but I wasn't having it. That shit hurt. Everytime she would try and wipe it with the alcohol, I dodged her hand. She was getting frustrated with me but I didn't care. That shit stug and I was not about to let her do it again.
"Stop playing Jerome, it's gonna get infected if I don't clean it." She said grabbing my jaw and holding me still. At this moment, I didn't give a fuck about an infection, I was not trying to feel that alcohol on my cut again, that shit hurt so bad.
"I need a kiss first." I mumbled before poking my bottom lip out.
"Nigga, no." She scoffed before roughly grabbing my face again and wiping my face with the cotton ball. I bit my bottom lip as she cleaned my cut and around the area. "You're such a baby. Wimp." She mumbled as she dried my face with a paper towel.
"So, it hurt." I mumbled.
"These are the only type of band-aid's I have. She said peeling the covering off a pink hello kitty band-aid. I smacked my lips before rolling my eyes. Between her and Aaliyah, I'm getting sick of that damn cat or whatever it is. She threw away the trash before putting away her little fist aid kit.
"Thanks." I said grabbing her hand before she could leave.
"Mmmmm." She mumbled. "Where were you?" She asked raising her eyebrow at me as she folded her arms across her chest. When she shifted all of her weight over to one foot, I knew it was over for me.
"Do you really want to know where I was?" I asked, trying not to look me in her eyes. It was hard as fuck because I could literally feel her staring at me. I felt like she was looking into my soul and judging me already. I can't take this. Should I be honest or lie to her, like I've been doing?
"Honestly, I don't know." She sighed. I took a deep breath before pulling her into my lap. I had a plan. I was going to seduce her before telling her the truth so she'd be a little distracted. Hopefully, she wouldn't care too much. "Jerome, stop it." She said trying to stand up from my lap, but the grip that I had on her wouldn't allow it. My arm was tightly wrapped around her waist.
"I just want to be honest with you and talk to you." I said turning her body to face me. I brought my hand up to the side of her face and began rubbing my thumb against her smooth skin. I've never felt skin as smooth as Armoni's, every single part of her body is slick and smooth. Literally.
"Well then talk." She said turning her head away from me so I couldn't touch her.
"Are you still mad at me?" I sighed, before dropping my head to rest in the crook of her neck. This was her spot, her weakness. A few kisses right here and she'd let me put a baby in her if I wanted to.
"What do you think?" She asked, dryly. She had a serious attitude and it was lowkey turning me on to see her mad. Armoni had three different levels of mad. Level one was cute mad and I would laugh at her. Level two was bad attitude mad and it turned me on. Level three was leave me the fuck alone or I'm going to body you, mad. She was only at level two so I was safe. I smiled on the inside before softly kissing her neck.
"I think you are." I mumbled as I placed kisses on her neck. "But, the way that you just took care of me, told me otherwise. So I don't know what to think." I told her honestly.
"It's because I care about you, Jerome." She said smacking her lips. "I know you're lying to me and you know I hate being lied to. First you leave, telling me that you're going to handle something for your mom. I knew she was out of town but I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Then, when you wouldn't answer the phone, I got worried so I called her. Only to find out that y'all haven't talked at all this week. Now, you're coming home with blood all over your clothes and a messed up face. You're not obligated to tell me everything, but just don't lie to me Jerome." She said looking at me as a tear slipped down her face, she roughly wiped it away before taking a deep breath.
"Armo-"
"I don't even know why I care so much." She scoffed as more tears rolled down her face. When Armoni is so pissed to the point where she starts crying, that's when you know you fucked up. And at that moment, I knew I fucked up.
Armoni POV:
"Baby don't cry, you know I hate seeing you cry." He said as his face softened. He wiped away my tears with his fingertips before kissing my forehead. He's such an ass kisser, on one hand it melts my heart but then I hate because I fall for his ass kissing every time. "Don't cry."
"I don't even know why I'm crying. We're not together or anything like that, I shouldn't even care this much." I said wiping the rest of my tears with the back of my hand.
"Don't say that baby, you know I care about you just as much as you care about me." He told me as he placed a kiss on my nose. I tried to hide the smile that was forming on my face but my blush gave me away. "Talk to me, tell me why you're crying." He said wrapping his arms around me.
"I just don't like being lied to. Obviously I care about you ... I don't know." I mumbled quietly with my head lowered. I'm not going to lie at all, my trust in men is all fucked up. There are only two men on this Earth that I can honestly say that I trust. My daddy and Emanuel. I've tried to talk to guys but each failed relationship and friendship ended the same. Either I got cheated on, was lied to, or Emanuel scared them off.
"You're right. I did lie to you and I'm sorry, but trust me my intention was not to hurt you. I just didn't want you to judge me or end our potential relationship when you found out where I really was." He said making me raise my eyebrow. He was really scaring me. First he was missing for hours, then he comes home bruised and bloody, now he's talking like this. I can't take it.
"What is it Jerome? What is so bad that you can't tell me where you were?" I asked smacking my lips. "Cause if it's that bad, maybe it's best that I don't know."
"You have a right to know. I don't there to be any secrets between us, even if it means you thinking of me in a different way." He told me before he placed a soft kiss on my neck. My whole body began to tingle just from that one kiss and my body relaxed into him. "Are you sure you want to know?"
"You're a stripper aren't you! Jerome I know you're attractive and everything but you don't have to sell your body to make a couple quick dollars. That's degrading and you should respect yourself more than that! I can talk to my parents they can help you out cause I don't want-" I said touching his face and looking at him sympathetically. Poor baby, it hurts me to know that he feels like he has to sell his body for money.
"What?" He asked scrunching his face up in confusion. "No I-"
"You don't have to show yourself to the world for money Jerome. There are other ways to make money. I could talk to my dad about getting you a job at his sh-"
"Armoni! Shut up. I'm not a stripper, I'm a drug deal-" He said cutting me off. I didn't even let him finish his sentence before I was cutting him off again.
"You work for my brother don't you?!" I asked, jumping up from his lap.
"Yeah." He said running his hand over his face.
I didn't say anything for a long ass time. I just stood in front of him with my arms crossed across my chest and my eyes narrowed at him. While I stared at him he had his eyes trained on the floor and every so often he'd look up at me and then look back down at the floor.
"Why?" I asked, finally breaking the long pause of silence between us.
"Why what?" He questioned, looking up at me.
"Why do you do it? Why do you sell drugs?" I asked him, clarifying what I meant.
"I don't know." He shrugged.
"Jerome, don't play with me right now! I want an answer." I said looking him dead in his face.
"It's a long story." He sighed.
"Oh." I laughed. "Lucky for you, we have all night. Plenty of time, get to talking." I said sitting beside him on the bed and crossing my legs as I looked at him expectantly. He looked at me and I smirked. "Get to talking." I told him.
"On my 10th birthday my daddy told me he would never leave me no matter how hard things got and that he'd always be there for me. My father was shot and killed when I was 13, he was a police officer. He was on patrol when they got a radio of an abuse case. My dad responded to the call and he called for backup when he realized what neighborhood it was in. He went in without backup to try and save the woman; he shot my dad six times. When his backup finally came he was already dead." He said with tears in his eyes.
Seeing Jerome so vulnerable was shocking to me. He always had his guard up and he was always joking and laughing so seeing him like this was totally different for me. I didn't know how to react so I did the best I knew how. I looped my arm around his and held his hand before resting my head on his shoulder.
"That's not even the worst part; the guy that shot him even had the audacity to come to the fucking funeral, no one knew who he was at the time. The nerve of that nigga. Two days after I found out who he was, I meet your brother and my life hasn't been the same since. In a good and a bad way, I guess. You know, after my daddy died we had to move out of our big house and sell our cars just to make ends meet. My mama started drinking real heavy after we moved; she lost her business because she was always drunk. Gambled away all of our money and drank herself into a depression." He said shaking his head.
"I remember coming home from school, seeing an eviction notice on the front door, my Mama was nowhere to be found, my little sister was hungry and we had no food. Jeremy dropped out of school to get a job but it still wasn't enough. That day I vowed no one in my family would ever have to struggle again, so I got in the game and kept my promise, My brother and I bought my mama a house, my younger sister is taken care of and my daughter is going to have her father in her life. I can guarantee that." He said as he cleared his throat. I knew he was crying but I didn't want to look at him because I knew I would've cried right along with him.
"As long as I'm on this Earth, Aaliyah Janae Jackson isn't going to want for anything. No matter what it takes to get whatever she needs, I'll do it. My Mama won't have to struggle, my sister won't have to go to bed hungry ever again, and you can get the best of me. Whatever it is, you got it Armoni. I mean that shit. After my Pops died, I went through so much shit, shit you couldn't even imagine. I'm still hurting behind some of the choices my Mama made but it's life. You live and you learn. I could go all night about the shit I went through as a teenager but I'll save that for another time." He chuckled.
I finally looked up at him and although his face showed no signs of him crying, his eyes told me different. They held so much pain and sorrow, I just wanted to be the one to heal his heart and to ease his pain. I wanted to love him.
"I trust you, thank you for listening baby." He told me before lowering his head to kiss my lips.