The Reason Why (14 page)

“Them Cleveland niggas is gon' be hating!” Infa said. “So is them Youngstown niggas, and them Cincinnati niggas.”

“And a whole bunch of Columbus niggas!” Rock confirmed, glancing toward Joe Bub.

“So, what you niggas doing?” Chino asked. “Y'all ain't balling?”

“I'm taking these young niggas' money in this crap game,” Joe Bub Baby declared. “You can get some too if you like.”

“You ain't said nothing, nigga,” Chino told him. “High made gets the baby teeth.”

“You can have the baby teeth first!” Joe Bub handed Chino the dice.

“You done fucked up now!” Chino shook the dice vigorously in his hand.

Joe Bub Baby shrugged. “Your luck ain't been too hot lately, so I ain't worried.”

“Wrong!” Chino rolled the dice. “I'm still here, nigga!”

The dice hit on a five and a two.

“Bust that ass!” Chino shouted.

Joe Bub tossed a hundred-dollar bill at Chino and threw another on the ground. Chino grabbed the dice and rolled again. This time a four and a three came up.

“Bust his ass, baby girl!” Chino shouted.

“Damn!” Joe Bub shouted. He threw down another C-note.

Chino picked up his winnings and rolled the dice again. “C'mon, baby girl!” This time he rolled a six and a one.

“Fuck!” Joe Bub yelled. He kicked the dice through the parking lot. “Old jinxy-ass monopoly dice!”

“That's Corey's jinxy-ass shit!” Ant said laughing. “Stop taking the dice out of your family's board games, nigga!”

“Nigga, you took them out the board games, ole Monopoly-playing muthafucka.” Everyone laughed. “Besides, you thought they was lucky when you was winning!”

Joe Bub pulled a different set of dice out of his pocket and handed them to Chino, who gave them a questioning look.

“What I'm gonna do with these red ass dice?”

“Nigga, these dice are like chum!” Joe Bub said, laughing.

“What the fuck is some chum, nigga?” Rock asked.

“Corey, explain to this nigga what chum is.”

“Chum is blood and fish parts,” Corey explained. “They bring sharks closer to the boat so muthafuckas can get 'em.”

“That's right!” Joe Bub wailed. “These red dice is like chum. They bring niggas like you who think they sharks right to Joe Baby, and that when I fuck you up!”

“Old Discovery Channel–watching ass nigga!” Rock joned. “Speak English, muthafucka!”

“Take yo ass back to high school!”

“Fuck you, nigga! The streets is my high school, and now I'm the teacher in this bitch!”

Joe Bub looked at Chino. “Roll the dice.”

Chino took one look at the dice and tossed them in the direction that Joe Bub had kicked the other dice.

“What the fuck you doing!” Joe Bub shouted. “Them is my lucky dice!”

“The other ones were my lucky dice!” Chino told him.

“Man, fuck this game!” Chris J said. “I'm broke now anyway.”

They all got up and started walking toward Chino's new ride.

“Let's ride!” Infa said, walking around the Benz to the passenger seat.

“Who said you got shotgun?” Chris J asked.

“Because I'm the best-looking nigga out here. Ugly muthafuckas ride in the back. You niggas scare the bitches off!”

“Old bucket-head-ass nigga!” Chris shouted.

Chino climbed into the driver's seat. Corey, Chris J, and Rock climbed into the back, while Infa hopped into the front passenger seat. Chino turned up the stereo, and the Triple Crown Posse hit the streets of Columbus to be seen in the new Benz.

“F
ace, nigga!” Chino said, swishing the basket in a jump shot over Rock.

“That ain't shit! We gon' win this muthafucking game. Y'all can't win again! C'mon, y'all!”

“If Chino quit fouling!”

“Aw, nigga, what the baby gon' do?” Chris J shouted at Joe Bub Baby.

Rock dribbled the ball down the court, Infa picked him up, and Rock passed the ball to Ant, who passed it to Corey. Young Mike stole the ball from Corey and ran down the court. He tossed it to Infa, who tossed it to Chris J, who tossed it back to Young Mike for an easy layup.

“Foul, nigga!”

“How in the hell you gonna call a foul way the hell back there?” Infa asked Joe Bub.

“Young Mike fouled when he stole the ball!”

“How in the hell you gonna call that?” Chino challenged.

“Corey didn't even call it!” Infa shouted.

“And that shit is late as hell!” Chris J added. “You gonna call a foul after a nigga done went down the court and made the basket and shit. Damn, you still gonna be calling fouls when a nigga at home eating dinner and shit?”

Chino, Rock, Infa, Young Mike, and Chris J laughed.

“Man, fuck you!” Joe Bub told him. “Y'all niggas be cheatin' and shit. Chino fouling every time he come down the court.”

“Man, ain't nobody fouled you!” Chino said, waving Joe Bub off.

“Man, are y'all gonna cry or are we gonna play ball?” Rock shouted, getting irritated at what the guys were doing.

“Let's play ball!” Infa shouted.

Ant took the ball out, and Rock dribbled it downcourt. He got caught on a back slash running toward the basket and rocketed the ball to him for a quick layup.

“Deuce, niggas!” Corey shouted.

Chino took the ball out, passing it to Infa. Infa passed it to Young Mike, who had the best handles on the court. He was even better than Rock when it came to handling the pill. Young Mike drove to the basket and kicked the ball back out to Chris J, who passed it to Chino, who was trailing. Chino pulled up for a quick three and swished the ball.

“That's a foul-ass screen!” Joe Bub Baby shouted. “That was some bullshit, Chris!”

“What?” Chris asked, turning up his palm. “I ain't moved.”

“Yeah, whatever!” Joe Bub said.

Ant took the ball out, and again Rock dribbled down the court. He pulled up at the three-point line and swished the ball.

“Face, niggas!” Rock said, beating his chest.

Young Mike took the ball out, passing it to Infa, who dribbled it downcourt. He passed the ball to Chino, who passed it to Young Mike. Young Mike caught Chris J and gave him an alley-oop. Chris J slammed the ball so hard the backboard shook.

“Yeah, niggas!” Chris J shouted. “Get with that!”

Corey took the ball out, and Rock dribbled it down the court. Beneath the net, Joe Bub Baby and Chino were fighting for position. Joe Bub grabbed Chino's arm and slung him to the ground.

“What the fuck is up with you?” Chino asked.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Rock asked Joe Bub Baby.

“Man, fuck that nigga!”

Chino got up off the ground and dusted himself off. “Fuck you, nigga!”

“Joe Baby, you on some bullshit today!” Ant said.

“For real!” Corey agreed.

“What's up, kinfolk?” Infa looked from one man to the other.

“Ain't nothing wrong with me!” Joe Baby shouted. “Ask that fouling-ass nigga right there!”

“I ain't fouled you!”

“Old punk-ass nigga wanna foul everybody but think can't nobody touch him! You ain't gold, nigga!”

“It's obvious you going through some things right now, so I ain't even trying to go there with you,” Chino told him. “But I ain't gonna be no more punks.”

“Man, let's bounce,” Ant told Joe Bub Baby.

Joe Bub pushed Ant's hand away. “Naw, this nigga thinks
he's God or somebody! Like everybody's suppose to bar him or something. Don't nobody bar your status, nigga! Hell, getting over on muthafuckas and shit!”

“What?” Chino asked. “What the fuck you talking about?”

“I'm talking about getting over on your homeboys and shit!” Joe Bub shouted. “We want to drive Benzes and shit too! Break us off! Show us a good ticket! Nigga ain't paying nothing and charging us an arm and a leg!”

Chino couldn't believe what he had just heard. All he had done for Joe Bub, and he had the nerve to complain. “I'll tell you what,” he looked at the man, “just pay me the rest of my money and get your shit from somewhere else!”

“Nigga, get it like Tyson got the belt!” Joe Bub challenged.

“What?” Within seconds, Chino charged Joe Bub, knocking him to the ground. The two of them wrestled on the ground. Chino got loose and swung, striking Joe Bub in his jaw. Joe Bub swung and struck Chino in the side of his face. Rock, Infa, Ant, Chris J, and Corey rushed over and pulled them apart. Chino charged at Joe Bub Baby again, tackling him. The two of them exchanged blows until they were once again pulled apart.

“That's it, nigga!” Joe Bub snarled, touching his bloody lip. “We through. We don't have shit to say to each other no more!”

“I want my money, nigga!”

“Yo, you can have that bullshit! I'll send that shit to you by Ant!”

“Bet!”

“Bet!”

“You niggas better get your own shit, and your own connects!”
Joe Bub shouted. “You can't come up with this nigga's foot on yo necks! He's winning all the way around and ain't sharing none of the love! We struggling to score two keys, and he's rolling in a hundred-thousand-dollar Benz and flossing and shit!”

Ant pulled Joe Bub away, leading him to his car.

“Get your own shit, my niggas!” Joe Bub continued.

The crew was left staring at one another in silence. Finally Infa broke the ice.

“Fuck that hating-ass, Gerald Levert wannabe-ass nigga!”

The crew burst into laughter, but inside, each of them felt different. Chino felt the most awkward. He wondered if Joe Bub had said what the others were thinking. Were his boys really jealous of him? Had they been discussing his money behind his back? Suddenly he felt that he had to leave. In the back of his mind, he wondered who he could still trust. Rock was loyal and so was Chris J and maybe Infa. He knew Corey was a follower, and Little Mike's loyalty was without question, and for sure, he could trust his Pooh. She was the one person in the world that he knew for a fact had his back. He needed to find her, lay his head in her lap, close his eyes, and rest. The only problem was that Pooh was still living on campus. She would be stuck in the dorm because of the curfew. Her living situation was bullshit, and it would have to change. He needed his Pooh. And when he needed to get to her, she would have to be able to be gotten to. He would change all that. Besides, he needed new digs anyway. That punk-ass nigga Joe Bub knew where he laid his head. He needed a new pad, in order to keep the wolves at bay.

“W
hat are you doing?” Pam asked.

Chino continued to lead the blindfolded Pam up the stairs, carefully guiding her so that she wouldn't hurt herself. “Just keep walking.”

Chino pulled out his keys and opened the door to his new apartment. “Step inside.”

Carefully doing as he asked, Pam spoke. “Can I look now?”

“Yeah.” Chino removed the blindfold.

Pam gasped as she gazed around the room. “This is beautiful!”

“This is our new place.”

Pam quickly turned toward him. “Our place?”

Chino nodded. “I want you to move in with me, Pooh. I got us this condo. It has amenities, and a view overlooking downtown. At night, you can see the lights in City Center, and they look beautiful.”

“You want to live together?”

“Yes, Pooh. I don't want you to have to worry about a curfew,
or about your roommate, or where you're going to sleep if her man comes over. I just want you with me. I want to wake up with you in my arms every day. I want to go to sleep feeling you next to me.”

Pam strolled to a massive wall of windows and looked out over the city. It was dusk outside, and the city's night lights were coming alive. “I don't know if I'm ready for this.”