Page 4 of Dima
The crowd in front of the clubhouse was thick, but the bikes were parked in one gold, chrome, and black line. I stopped in front of the crowd and killed my engine. I didn’t park my bike with the rest, because I wasn’t one of them, not yet anyway.
Gravel crunched underneath my boots as I walked toward them; their eyes watched every step I made. It might have been easy to get through the gate, but I knew I wouldn’t have the same luck getting into the clubhouse. There were at least thirty bodies between me and the door.
They stood in groups like there were cliques inside of the clique, but they all wore the same cuts on their backs.
“Guard around? I heard y’all need someone to fix your bikes and shit.”
“Who the fuck told you that?”
It was Magazine, the sergeant at arms. Drill told me he would always be the first to speak and the first to shoot too. I didn’t give him time to think about doing the latter before I answered.
“Drill. He told me he was moving to give his boy a better shot at the league. Said y’all might need a replacement.”
“You look too fucking young to replace Drill. I got bikes older than you.”
Guard, the vice president and the man I was here to see, stepped from the porch. He threw his cigarette to the ground before putting it out with the heel of his boot. He was a lot bigger in person, but the mug on his face was the same mug he wore in every picture on the field office wall. This nigga was not to be fucked with. I knew that.
“Everybody says that until you see what I can do.”
“Humph.” He looked me up and down before he continued. “I got a Dyna that’s been giving me hell since Drill disappeared. You fix that and I may let yo’ young ass come back tomorrow. Fuck out the way.”
Guard pushed past me, hitting my shoulder with his. I didn’t even flinch. Flinching could have cost me the trust I would build once I fixed that Dyna. The rest of the crew followed Guard, and I headed to the garage to get to work. I had a point to prove.
1 month later
“Maeve.”
My best friend, Liyah, sang my name as she walked closer and pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back. I had just walked onto campus, and she was the first person I ran into. Liyah had been my best friend since high school. We even planned to room together at Jackson State University, but that dream was put to bed when my dad told me I would not be staying on campus.
Although Jackson State was one of the most famous HBCUs in the country, it wasn’t the safest. That was mostly due to the school being smack dab in the middle of Jackson. I honestly felt like campus was a haven, but no one could convince my father ofthat, so I was stuck staying at home and only seeing my friends in between classes.
I was thankful Liyah still wanted to be my friend, since I’d lost so many over the years. I wouldn’t say it was hard for me to make friends, but due to the lifestyle I grew up around, I could read people easily, and I never wanted a girl to get too close to me whom I couldn’t trust. Liyah was the only girl my age who had proven that I could trust her.
“Hey, Li.”
“What you doing after class, my girl?”
She went right into her normal, trying to get me out of the house before I had to decline. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to get out with my best friend, but going out for me came with way too many extras. I usually had to have a guard at all times, and all of them made me sick. They would snitch and tell my father every little thing I did. Staying home was always the safest option for my blood pressure.
“I need to figure out what’s going on with my Jeep. It’s been making some weird noises, so I want to get it looked at before it starts running bad. You know how my dad is, and if he knew that I’d been riding around like this, I would never hear the end of it.”
“For sure, and I’m sorry, sis, but I don’t blame him. You have all these fine niggas over there ready to work on your Jeep, at any time you need, and you just running it raggedy.”
“Yeah, but you know I don’t like being around them. I hate going to that compound.”
“Well, give me the keys, and I’ll do it for you. I’m sure I’ll find my first husband over there.”
We both laughed at Liyah’s running joke. She always said she would have to get married twice because everyone’s first marriage was practice for the real thing. I knew her crazy ass was serious too.
“Seriously, Maeve,” she continued. “You’ll only have to be there for a little while, and you’ll leave with a Jeep running the way it’s supposed to. Stop being stubborn like your daddy.”
“You’re right.”
“I know I am. I would go with you to ease the tension, but me and my boo thang got a few things to do today.”
“It’s okay, girl. Like you said, I should be in and out.”
“Okay, but hit me up later so we can meet up.”
