URBAN: Chosen By A Kingpin (11 page)

***

I woke up the next morning with my phone going off. I could heard the loud vibrations in my little purse. I leaned over to get my phone and checked my messages. A few of them were from Amani and Kayla but the most recent one was from my mother. I opened the message and only saw the words GET HOME NOW written in all caps. The message kind of stunned me. Did Momma know that I had slept with a stranger last night? I don’t think Kayla and Amani would’ve told her that. Something else must be up. Either way I was scared out my damn mind. I didn’t want Momma to whoop me or something.

I looked over to my left to see Dante still sleeping. I tried to get out the bed as quietly as I could. I didn’t want to really leave him but staying wasn’t exactly an option either. It didn’t seem right and I ain’t want to seem like I was real clingy or something. Plus I had a good excuse to leave now that Momma had texted me. He moved a bit when I got out the bed and i tried to tiptoe my way to the bathroom to at least freshen up a bit.

I turned on the light and stepped up to the mirror. I looked like a hot mess. My makeup was all sweated off, it was smeared in some places, and don’t even get me started on my hair. I didn’t even have any brushes or anything to deal with it. The only thing I had was a hair-tie so i was at least able to get it up and out of my face. I took my time washing my face, trying to get all the makeup off. I had some mascara and my lipstick in my purse so I could at least slap that on and not look as scary. From the bedroom I could hear Dante moving in the bed. He probably heard the water running from the sink and knew I was up.

I used one of the hotel face towels to dry off and stuck my head out the bathroom door. Dante was rubbing his eyes and rolled over to check his phone. I took the opportunity to creep towards my clothes on the floor and grab them. I was hoping to go unnoticed but he turned around and saw me.
Damn.

“Hey,” He said. “Leaving so soon?”

I realized that I was still naked and even though I let him see me last night I was all shy now, I wanted to cover up. “Yeah, I’m sorry. My Momma texted me and it looked like an emergency. I have to get going.”

“You want me to walk you out or drop you off at your place?” Dante asked.

“Nah, it’s good. I’ll see myself out and catch the train. Um… but thank you. For the offer and for last night. I had a good time.”

Dante smiled at me. “Me too. I don’t usually do one night stands…and I don’t plan on making this one either. Would it be alright if I got your number?”

I was shocked and didn’t really know what to say. I wanted to see him again. He seemed like a nice stable guy to be with. It would be something new in my life anyway. But he did live far away and I wasn’t about that long distance relationship shit. I didn’t want to be his city chick either, only coming down here once in awhile to fuck. “How about you give me your number and I’ll call you?”

That seemed like the best outcome. I mean, it wouldn’t be
that
bad to fool around with him every once in awhile.

“You’ll call me? Would you really call me?”

“Yes!” I said. “It’s just you know, you live far and i don’t do that long distance stuff but I mean if you ever in town and want to hook up it would be cool.”

“Alright,” Dante said as he sat up. I tossed him my phone and made my way back to the bathroom to get dressed. The last thing I wanted to do was walk in these heels to the train station but I didn’t want to rely on him too. I wanted to break free from him before any feelings came up. I was not in the mood to be sprung over some dude I met at a club. Though it would probably happen anyway. When I came back out Dante had put his boxers on. He handed me my phone and kissed my forehead. “You sure you don’t want me to drive you anywhere?”

“Yes, I’m sure! It’s cool I promise. I will call you ok? I promise.”

He laughed and opened the door for me. “Ok, ok. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll see you around.”

I waved at him and made my way down to the elevator started my morning walk of shame.

***

I got off the train at my apartment first so I could shower and change into more comfortable clothes. I didn’t need Momma to see me in no club outfit. She kept messaging me though, rushing me to get over to her house. I didn’t know how fast she wanted me to fucking travel! I was going as fast as the damn train would take me. But i was getting worried too. She would never hound me like that if something wasn’t up. I was getting anxious. After about a half hour of traveling I finally got to her block. I ran upstairs and banged on her door which flung open in a few seconds.

“Get yo’ ass in here right now!” she yelled.

“Ma! What’s your problem!? What’s going on? Who died? Who got shot?!”

“No one got shot, Tamina. Someone is here to see you.”

“You makin’ a big deal because someone’s here to see me? Ma, it better be Obama with the way you actin’.” I followed her into the small living room and what I saw stunned me. I wasn’t sure how exactly to react. I wasn’t even sure if I was seeing things correctly. My heart was pounding in my chest. After a few moments I was finally able to choke out his name.

“M-Markus?”

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HOOD LOVE 2

A Thug’s Redemption

Shantel Johnson

© 2015 Sensual Ink Publishing

“Girl, we need to know what happened last night! Who was the guy? Was he fine? Tell us!” Amani said as soon as I got to the restaurant we were having lunch at. I was going crazy. My mind was about to explode with everything that was going on. I couldn’t sleep, I could barely think straight. Not since Markus had come back into my life.

“You don’t look so good,” Kayla commented. “What’s wrong?”

I sat down in the extra seat at the table and sighed. “You don’t even know the half of it.”

***

When I walked into Momma’s apartment and saw him I didn’t know what to do or say. My body was frozen and all I could really do was stare. Here he was, like five years later, sitting in front of me with the biggest smile on his face. He didn’t even look like the Markus I knew as a kid. He was much taller, and bigger with muscles popping out everywhere. He didn’t have no jacked up afro anymore either. His hair was a nice fade close to his head. But i recognized his eyes. Those eyes remained the same, kind, full of warmth and protectiveness. He might have not looked like the little boy I knew five years ago but I knew he was deep down inside.

“What are you doing here?” I managed to say at last.

“What you mean what am I doin’ here? I came looking for you. Your Mom’s address is the only one I could remember so I came here first. She told me you moved out tho’.” Markus stood up and walked towards me giving me a tight hug. He smelled so good and a part of me just wanted him to hold me forever but another part of me wanted answers. I didn’t want him to come back into my life so easily. He had already left once when I thought he would never leave. I wasn’t sure if my heart was ready to take it.

I pulled away from him and stared in disbelief. “Look, I’m happy you’re out an all but don’t just expect me to be your best friend again after all these years. You lied to me, made me look like a fool, and then you left without so much as an explanation!”

“Ey, I’m sorry that I did you wrong but there was a lot more going on than just me and you. Things you ain’t even know about.”

“And why didn’t I know about them, Markus?! I thought we were friends. I thought we were….” I looked at Momma, afraid to say those words in front of her. She probably knew what was up but I didn’t want to say anything. she was already giving Markus the evil eye.

“Look, I’ll explain everything I promise. Let’s go get something to eat and I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

I waved him off, still unsure if I was really ready for this. I told him to leave Momma’s house and that I’d maybe see him later. I had to talk to Kayla and Amani first. Maybe they could help me.

***

“Wait a minute. You tellin’ me Markus’ Trifflin’ ass is back?” Amani said so loud I was sure the entire restaurant could hear her.

“Wait, who’s Markus??? I don’t get what’s happening.” Kayla said.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Look, Markus is…was my best friend growing up. I thought he wasn’t like the other dudes around the block, you know. I thought he had a good head on his shoulders but i was wrong. When we were in high school he got arrested and he’s been gone for five years.”

“So what exactly is the problem here? Did you guys used to be together or…?”

“Girl, you really don’t know nothin’!” Amani scoffed and tossed her long braids over her shoulder. “Lemme give you the low down, ok Barbie? Markus and Tamina were together, inseparable! But after he left…”

“After he left I wasn’t really the same. I moped around for a long time and it wasn’t until I got to college that I kind of broke free from it all. I don’t really know how I feel now. It’s like a rush of emotions, ya know? What am I supposed to do?” I asked, seeking any advice that I could get.

Kayla looked at us both. “OK, ok…so how do you feel about him? Do you think it’s worth it to be with him? Well how do you even know that he still wants to be with you? Maybe He just wants to give you some closure and let you move on with your life.”

“I doubt it.” Amani interrupted. “Markus and Tamina were attached at the hip. There’s no way he gon’ be like ‘Oh sorry I went to jail. Here’s why. Peace.’ It’s just not really something’ you do. But I do think Kayla’s right. Maybe you should go talk to him and figure out why he went to jail and what not and get some closure. After that, maybe you can start figuring out what you really want from him.”

They were right. I just had to take a few deep breaths and just let things fall into place. God would guide me in what I needed to do and my heart would follow afterwards. “You right, you right. I just need to chill. All this shit happened all at once and it just drove me crazy. I needed time with my girls to get my head back on my shoulders!”

“No, yo’ ass needs a drink. Waiter!!” Amani made a big deal of calling out the waiter and waving him over. “Hi, yes, can i get a really really big margarita puh-leez!”

I laughed and just let Amani order for me, assuming the margarita was for me anyway. That girl could put away a couple drinks by herself. As I was enjoying hanging with my girls I felt my phone vibrate in my purse. When I saw who texted me I knew this day was just going to get worse. It was Dante, looking to see how I was doing or whatever. I had texted him just to tell him I had gotten home safe after our night together but I really hadn’t had much contact with him since. It had only been a few days since we were last together but he was another problem I didn’t feel like dealing with right at this moment. I had too much to think about. I ignored the text for now, not even opening it and looked at the menu in front of me. Food was more comforting than any man right about now.

***

“So when are you actually going to let me talk to you about what went on? You’ve been avoiding me for like a week now. Do you not even wanna spend time with me?” Markus asked. He had called me just to ask me this. I knew I couldn’t escape it any longer so I decided to just agree to it.

“Fine, you can come over and we’ll talk But that’s it. I’m really not in the mood for all this. I’ve got a bunch of school work I gotta do and I can’t be caught up in all this drama.”

“Ain’t gonna be no drama, T. I figured it’s the least I owed you since I left. Calm down. When you want me over?”

“Come now If you can. I don’t want you staying too late.” I said.

I heard Markus suck his teeth. “Why yo’ ass gotta be so damn rude. I’ll be over in a bit then, damn.” He hung up after that not leaving me much more to say.

I flopped down on my bed and buried my face in the pillow. I didn’t mean to come out like that to him but I was tired. I couldn’t help it. It felt like everything was just wearing on my bones and making me just want to sleep it all off. After a few minutes of laying in bed I got my ass up and decided to make myself look presentable. Even if I was mad at him it had been five years since I last saw Markus and I wanted to make sure I looked damn good. I went to the bathroom and fixed my hair a bit and changed out of my house clothes, putting on some nice fitting jeans and a shirt. About half past three I heard a knock on my door, I opened it and found Markus all cleaned up like he was about the go somewhere.

“Nigga where the hell you just came from, church?! Why you wearing a button up and shit?!” I exclaimed. I couldn’t really believe what I had seen.

“Shut up. I just came from court that’s why.” Markus barged into my apartment and made his way to the living room where he sat down on the couch.

“Oh yeah? What did they say?” I asked, sitting next to him.

“Not really supposed to say but basically we were just wrapping up my case. What happened five years ago was a mistake.” he said.

“What you mean a mistake?”

“I mean it was a mistake. I got sentenced because I looked like some dude that had committed a crime. The police got the wrong guy and they didn’t care to fix their mistake. Ever since I got locked up I’ve been defending my case and trying to get out. It hasn’t been easy at all man. It was like I had been talking to a damn brick wall this whole time. No one wanted to believe me and they just thought I was another fucked up kid from the streets. I mean, once they found out who my dad was they pretty much said that my fate was sealed.”

“So…you were innocent this whole time?” I was in disbelief.

Markus nodded. “Hell yeah. I ain’t do anything wrong. You were like my rock, T. All that time I spent with you pretty much kept me out of trouble. I left all that gangsta shit to my pops and let his ass deal with it. If my Moms hadn’t been a crackhead and lived a better life I would be staying with her. But i got stuck with Pops. At least that turned out ok ‘cause I got to be with you.” He put his hand over mine and gave it a tight squeeze.

And just like that, with that one simple touch, I was hooked all over again. I was glad that I had been right all this time. Markus
was
different then most kids on my block and Momma had been wrong. She’ll never admit it but once I would tell her she’d know she’d been wrong about Markus. He was a good kid, good enough to be my best friend, even with her strict rules.