Page 61 of His Four Leaf Clover

“Fuck it!” Iva turned the car off in the middle of the street and locked the doors. She sprinted over to the fight but she was too late.

As soon as Sade got closer, Clover grabbed her and started swinging on her next. Horns honked behind them and, as usual, the phones came out. People didn’t care about being killed or run over as long as they could get the footage.

“Chill out, Lucky.” Dash tried to pull Clover off of the other woman who was bleeding profusely.

“Nah, nigga, let her go. You wrong for that shit, Dash. I don’t respect that at all,” Iva said while blocking his path.

If nothing else, Clover knew her man. She kept telling Iva that Dash was moving funny but she didn’t think anything of it. His moods changed like the time, but she didn’t know what to make of it. Iva would have never thought it would be anything like what they’d just seen. And with Caprice’s cousin of all people.

“Did you respect your girl when she was outchea fucking with her cousin? And don’t even play me by saying you ain’t know. She was just with the nigga two weeks ago!”

“And you believed this silly bitch! You can’t be that dumb.”

Dash had a stupid look on his face after she said that. His intrusive thoughts were keeping him up at night, so he talked to his brothers about it. They both told him that it was probably something that happened in the past. They advised him to let it go, but he couldn’t.

He finally gave in to his insecurities and called Sade. Dash was heartbroken when he learned that Clover was fucking with her cousin. It made sense, especially when he learned that Trent’s mama was the lawyer who handled their divorce. He didn’t even know the bitch and he hated her and her son. Then, Sade dropped another bomb on him. She told him that Clover was with the other man a few weeks ago and that was the final nail in the coffin. Sade kept begging him to hook up, but he kept saying no.

His plan was to talk to Clover about it and that’s exactly what he should have done. Instead, he ended up seeing Sade when he stopped at the corner store for lunch and she hopped in the truck with him. She started pulling at his zipper before he even pulled off. It was crazy how he got busted and he had only been with her for ten minutes or so. She gave him head as he drove, and he was supposed to bring her right back to her car. As always, he let anger cloud his judgement and made shit worse.

Just then, he felt like a fool. Caprice backed up everything that her cousin said and he was enraged. Not once did he ever stop to think that they could have been lying. He saw with his own eyes how much they hated Clover. But the way the nigga watched her in the bar that night was proof enough in his eyes. Acting off of emotions always got him fucked up. Dash snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Clover speak.

“Fuck him and this hoe. I’m done. Me and my baby will be gone tonight. Do what the fuck you want with who you want.”

Sade picked herself up from the ground and staggered back to the truck, as Dash ran over to Clover.

“Lucky, wait, please. I’m sorry, I fucked up but let me explain.”

“Explain to your daughter why we’ll no longer be living up under the same roof. Let’s go, friend.”

Clover didn’t cry or say anything else. She looked straight ahead, as Iva got back into her car and drove away. Dash was in full panic mode and he had to get to her quick. Sade tried to get back in the truck, but he threw her purse out and left her standing at the busy intersection before he pulled off.

“Are you okay, friend? I’m so sorry, Clo.”

“I’m good but I’m pissed with that hoe for making me fight her. I don’t square up behind no nigga, but she came too close. I thought she was trying to get at me.”

“I did too. That’s why I got out of the car. We can go home and talk if you want to. It’s okay if you wanna cry, you know I’m here.” Iva looked over at her friend sadly.

“Bitch, I’m hungry. I’ll cry tomorrow.” Clover waved her off dismissively.

“Seriously, Clo? I need to take a page from your book. This bitch never cries.” Iva laughed but she was serious. Clover was one of the strongest young women that she knew and she admired her for that.

“After my daddy was murdered, I had to slowly watch my mama grieve and lose herself to the drugs that she got hooked on to numb the pain. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I slept in the house with her dead body, not wanting to face the reality that she too was gone as a result of those same drugs. Foaming at the mouth with a needle stuck in her arm is my last memory of my mother. And still, to this day, I can remember the sadness in her eyes that never went away after losing her husband. She couldn’t even be a mother to me, but Kardi will never know that feeling. I thank God every single day for Diva being the mother figure that I needed. Not many things can make me cry anymore, especially not a nigga. I’m hurt but it won’t last forever.”

“Damn, friend, I never even thought about that. Now, I feel like I wanna cry.”

“Well, do that shit later. I’m hungry as fuck and this stupid ass nigga is following us.”

“Wait, what?”

Iva looked out of her rearview mirror and, sure enough, Hank’s construction truck was a few cars behind them. She had never been right in the middle of Clover and Dash’s drama before and she didn’t want to be a part of it now. She was always there for the aftermath that never lasted very long.

“Why are you slowing down? That nigga is gonna hit your car! Pull over in that parking lot and let me drive.” Clover pointed to a store that they were approaching.

“Are you serious?” Iva looked at her like she was crazy. As soon as she asked, Dash pulled up on the side of them, honking his horn like a nut.

“Well, too late now. Act like you’re gonna pull over and hop on the bridge.”

“Bitch, I do hair. I don’t work for NASCAR. They got too many cars on the road for that. Now, you know I’ll help you square up in a heartbeat, but this is above my paygrade.”