I'll Die For You, Homie

e l e v e n

May 10, 2000

Delontae

"...so you gon' come over so we could talk?" Arique says to me on the phone while I'm sitting in my car.

"No. I told you I'd go over to talk if you told me what you wanted to talk about, and I felt the conversation needs to be had." I haven't seen him since Kappa weekend. I been keeping my distance so I get my affairs in order.

"I told you what I wanted to talk about though," he says sounding confused about my response.

"I know. But I don't think that's a conversation that needs to be had." I let him know. I'm tired of this nigga stringing me along like I'm some puppet.

"Baby, that's not fair." He says sounding sad. "I think we need to sit down and talk about it."

"Don't call me baby because I'm not your nigga." I tell him off the muscle because he made that very clear for me. "How come it ain't fair, Arique? I said let's talk about it over the phone, but you so adamant abut me coming over there. The purpose of the phone is to talk. Let's utilize it's purpose."

"But it isn't a conversation that should be had over the phone, Delontae."

"And why is that?" I ask annoyed.

"Because it's personal," he mumbles to himself.

I have to laugh. "If you wanted to fuck that's all you had to say, Arique. I don't know why you tried to get me over there under the guise of a conversation, but that was unnecessary." I say and chuckle a little. "I'a be over there in about two hours."

"Wait!" He says knowing I was about to hang up.

"What's up?" I ask.

"I wasn't tryna fuck."

"Ohhhhh," I say finally realizing what this is about. "We can't fuck no more? Got it. I'a see you around."

"What?! Why would you say all that? I don't want to stop fuckin'."

"Well, I thought you wanted to talk about us not fuckin' no more since you said you wanted to talk about us. I say I'm finna come fuck, you say you not tryna fuck. So if you wanna talk about us, plus you don't wanna fuck, I concluded that our previous engagement is over." I shrug my shoulders. "That's cool wit' me, bro. No hard feelings. Bye man." I hung up the phone.

I don't know what be going on in his mind, but we not on the same wavelength. He continues to call me back-to-back two or three times. I don't answer though. I got shit to do. Psych let me drop the kids with him. Nigga talking about he need to "practice" for when his kids come, because he is certain he got Janie pregnant this time around. I just shook my head and didn't comment before kissing my sons and pulling off.

I had to round up the few good men I had on my team before all that fuck shit went down. I told them to pull up and meet me at this spot where ear hustling proves to be difficult. I'm ducked off watching as these nigga's start to pull up. I have to watch and see how these nigga's act. See if they do anything out of the ordinary.

I don't see anything suspect as I'm watching these nigga's, but I still make sure to stay on my p's and q's. I finally decided to let my presence be known. I drive to where they all parked their cars and hop out.

"What's up," I say to the eight nigga's here. There's Dub, Knox, Reese, AJ and four others. They all reply with a greeting. The nigga's that are here are the ones that I have never had problem with, or out of, in general. Every man here has been trustworthy and loyal.

Even though I don't trust nobody, these nigga's here I could rely on for certain intents and purposes.

"What go dahn, Smutt?" Knox is the one to ask as I clap him up in a bro hug.