Her Last

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Fᴏᴜʀ

"Mommy?"

"Yeah baby?"

"Can we go by Ron please? I wanna check on him and I can't drive myself."

"Of course pumpkin. Lemme get dressed then we can leave."

"Thank you."

It was around 12 am and everybody had left. I was still sad but I knew I had to be there for my cousin.

As we were heading out, J pulled up. It wasn't uncommon for him to pull up the the trap at late hours of the night so I didn't think much of it.

"Goodnight Mrs. James. Wassup T. How you feelin?" he asked me. Momma waved at him the went inside the car.

"I feel a lil better. I still feel like shit but ay." I said, shrugging.

"Well shit. I'm glad you out the room at least. I was just comin by to check up on you."

"Thanks J I really appreciate it. How you been tho? You ain't been here since..." I couldn't finish my sentence and he could tell.

"I been goin through it to be honest, but I still got shit to do. And now I gotta run this shit by myself so I been real busy." He said rubbing the back of his head and looking around.

"I mean, I'm a mess right now but you know you can always talk to me."

"Preciate it T. Anyway I want you to hold onto this fa me." He handed me a money bag. I opened it up and saw 10 bands in it.

"Now J..." I said as I straight faced him. "You know I can't take this."

"Maneee take it... Please?" he softened his tone.

"J, you know I'm good on money. I jus-"

"I know you good. I know you got it. I just wanted to give you a lil somethin. And I'm not takin no fa an answer."

I sighed then rolled my eyes. "You so stubborn." I chuckled.

"Das why y'all love me." He laughed back.

We hugged for a while then went our separate ways.

On the ride to Ron's house I was playing music on Ken's phone. I was smiling thinking about the memories that went along with them. Then his favorite song started playing. "She Holding On" by Vybz Kartel. I was flooded with so many emotions. I started crying as soon as I heard the first few notes.

(Flashback)

Leron greeted Blacks and his boys as we walked in the house.

"Wassup beautiful?" He greeted me.

This was my first time at the trap so I was nervous as hell, but seeing him made me feel at ease.

"Heyy Blacks." I beamed trying not to blush too hard.

We hugged each other then he took me to the living room where he had everything set up. I was braiding his hair.

"Damn nigga did you buy the whole store?" I asked after seeing the array of hair products he had.

He laughed, "I just wanted to be prepared ma."

Everyone was smoking, drinking, and having a good time. Then this reggae song started playing.

"Watchu know bout dis?" I asked him. I did a slow whine to the song.

"A weh yuh mean?" He asked with a fake Jamaican accent.

I laughed at how bad it was.

"I grew up around a lot of Caribbean people and I picked up on the music." he said rocking to the music. "This right here tho, this my favorite song."

"How come?" I asked.

"Ion know if it's the riddim, the words, or just everything. It gives me hope that one day I can find someone to hold me down. Someone I can settle down with. Someone who not gon judge me fa what I'm doin or what I did. She gon hold me down, make me feel better when ian doin too good. Someone who gonna make me feel like I'm worth somethin. Shit, someone who care about me. Gon gimme a family and shit. A real ass woman, ya feel me?"

I felt so bad hearing him. He thought so lowly of himself.

"I feel ya. Don't worry Blacks, the right one gon find you soon enough."

He looked up at me. "Sooner than you think."