Page 9 of Trading Places

Shit, push come to shove, I can take over and handle this. But, Von ain’t seeing that shit for me. I sip my beer.

“Then you should know Ion repeat myself,” Montrell says. He snaps his fingers.

The waitress shuffles over to the table with to-go boxes. She packs his shit up.

Montrell stands up, and the waitress puts on his fur coat. “Enjoy your food,” he says, with a smug-ass grin. He walks away from the table, and the waitress carries his food. Tank follows closely behind him.

Von shakes his head. “Don’t get too comfortable. You ain’t gonna be able to keep this shit going.”

“We’ll see about that.”

After leaving the jazz spot, I head home.

Three times a week is a lot on top of the other shit we have going on. But shit, I’m not backing down from the challenge. But hearing him talking about Zari marrying that lame ass nigga makes me tighten the wheel.

If she wants me to be her side nigga, I’m down with that as long as it doesn’t fuck up the business. I pull up to my crib and park. I head inside my townhouse, and the television is on.

Shaneice is on the couch, but as soon as I walk in she comes over to me. “Daddy!” She hugs me.

“Hey, baby. What you doing? Why you ain’t at your dorm?”

“My roommate gets on my damn nerves. She keeps bringing a different nigga every night. Like, I don’t want people to think I’m selling pussy.”

I laugh at her. “I know you not one to bite your tongue.”

“It’s just gonna turn into me whooping her ass.”

“Well, don’t get kicked out. You can stay a few nights, but you gotta go back because I pay for you to stay on campus. Even though your mama lives in Cherry Hill.”

She rolls her eyes. “Ion wanna stay in that little ass apartment.”

“You something else. Where your keys at?” I ask.

“I don’t know. Let me hit my tile on my phone. I lose those things like a million times a day.”

She pulls out her phone, and then it beeps.

I track it into the pantry and grab it. “I’ma check your oil and fill you up. Cause I know you probably on E.”

She laughs. “You know me, too well.”

I head out and hop into her black BMW. I busted my ass two years ago to get it for her sweet sixteen. I paid that shit in cash because she doesn’t need a car note. Her focus is on school, and I don’t want her to work until she graduates.

I’ve been grinding for years to make sure she has more than what she needs. She lived with me during high school. She’s a good kid.

Plus, she wanted to go to Thomas Jefferson High School because of their science and tech program. She wants to be a cosmetic chemist. She’s very smart and wants to create hair products for Black women that don’t have harmful chemicals.

She’s always telling me how it’s full of shit that makes Black women more likely to get cancer. Shaneice always tells me she thinks those relaxers made her grandma sick.

That’s why Shaneice stopped getting relaxers about five years ago, and she wears her natural hair.

I pop the hood and check all her oil and fluid levels. I pop her trunk and grab everything I need. I top her off and make sure she’s good. I’m really proud of her.

Her mama really wanted to get an abortion because we weren’t together. Just a one-night stand that turned into a week. But, I reassured her that I would be there.

Shaneice is my greatest creation. My baby is going places.

I need to figure out how I’m going to do these three days. Shit, me and Zari might have to work with Kye’s crazy ass.