“What the fuck Sabrina done did?”
“My name is Solanaaaaaa,” I sang out before huffing and throwing my body back into the seat.
I could feel myself bounce a bit before settling from the force. Shio cut his eyes at me, making me clamp my mouth shut. He turned back to look at the road as the car continued its speed down the road.
“Just do that for me,” he said into the phone. “And make sure yo’ hard-headed-ass brother handles what I told him to as well.”
I could hear the man suck his teeth and mumble before saying, “Shio?”
“Yeah?”
“You’ll call us if shit gets too crazy… Right? Cuz you know how we coming behind you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Vello—he’s Nel’s brother, so that’s who’s on the phone, I said to myself as my brain was working overtime to function.
“These fucking women gone be the death of us,” Vello said.
“Wrong. They gone be the death ofy’all. I’ll hit you.”
Shio switched lanes and placed another call after sending out what appeared to be text messages. I wanted to see what he was saying and if any of them were about me. When the third call connected, I looked over and saw a bright face with colored eyes.
Ezio, I think…
The extra line had sent me beyond my limits, and I giggled when I thought about what might have happened if I’d done the fifth. Shio had saved me again.
“Who the fuck we gotta kill?”
“I’m about to be out of pocket for a bit,” was Shio’s reply.
I found it interesting that Shio had said very little to his family members, but they automatically knew something was wrong with him. My father and brothers were not like that with me, and I could feel my emotions taking over. Thecocaína(cocaine) was too strong. I tuned back into the music in my head to fight off the tears. I let my body sway as if I were back in the club with the American mob wives in the quiet car, nothing but silence from the phone.
Ezio was quiet, just as the other men, until he finally said, “What happened?”
His tone was rougher than I expected. He seemed nice when we met.
“Solana’s bitch-made fiancé got Bahati.”
“And? If it’s the Bahati we used to cop from, what the fuck that shit got to do with you? You ain’t checking for that hoe… Unless…”
“I slipped up. And I ain’t allowed to slip up, Ezio. I think shit through.” He pressed a finger into his temple. “I sit back, and I aces shit. I never get into a blind situation. Before shit goes down, I already have sixteen different solutions to get us out of it. Having shit figured out is what makes me rise every fucking morning. A nigga ain’t never had one up on us, one up on me. Because I’m always fifty steps ahead. But, this time, I fucked up.”
“Bruh. It don’t matter how much you meditate, how much you train, how much you study—you are fucking human. I know… I know sometimes we put weight on you that I’m supposed to carry but you allowed to slip up, G. As long as we rectify that shit, that’s all that matters.”
“I got a daughter… With Bahati. She gotta be ’bout two, Ezio. Solana’s nigga done snatched them both up.”
I grinned and choked on giggles.
“You think that shit funny?” Shio’s eyes glossed over as his gaze shifted to me.
Instead of responding, I kept dancing. My brain would not let me accept what he was saying. There was nohija(daughter).
“You talking to Solana? What’s happening right now? Where y’all headed? I’ll meet you there?—”
“They won’t answer the fucking phone, Ezio. I don’t fuckin’ know. But I do know, I should never have let them put this girl on me. From the jump, it didn’t feel right. Fuck her pops wants to give his precious daughter to a savage-ass nigga like me? Shit was flaw from the beginning. And if Don in on this shit, your wife may as well pick out her good-fucking dress because I’m murking his bitch ass too! You think I give a fuck about this mob shit? Nigga, I despise the fucking mob! The mob changed my fucking daddy—” Shio stopped his sentence and took a deep breath. His voice cracked when he said, “She on that shit, Ezee.”
It was then that my upturned lips fell, and my face started to burn. The cloud that was underneath my feet was starting to descend, and my heart rate began to slow. The colors faded, the music went mute again, and my hands that were once rubbing all over my body were now shaking.
