The Protection Program

TPP : Chapter VII

"aye, y'all head out. I'll catch up later."

They all turned there head to see a car pulling up, they all knew to well what that meant. One of the boys, Rico, stood up and clapped Rashad on his back. Rico was Rashads boy, his best man, his best friend, always has and always will

"c'mon y'all, my boy bout to catch the cat."

They all laughed and taunted because they all knew he was a virgin, he was a virgin because he wanted to wait to lose it to Nina, but Nina wasn't ready and he wasn't gonna force anything on her. She meant to much to him. Nina got out of the car and started to walk up the pathway that led to the porch that they all sit and converse on, On hot summer days like this the whole block was lined up. Everybody sat on there front porch with there homeboys and homegirls and just talked, ate Popsicle's, listened to the boombox, just chilled. It was a hood thing i guess you could say.

"Hi Rico, hey y'all."

She knew there names, but she didn't say hi to them all personally, only Rico because him and Rashad were like brothers. Ever since birth, there mothers were best friends so they might as well be brothers. Rashad stood up and gave them all daps before they all left

"why is it that whenever i come around, they all disappear? do i stink or something?"

He smiled as she sat down next to him, the porch was warm under her butt from the sun but she liked that. He leaned over and planted a kiss to her lips, making her heart flutter and do little back flips, they have been together for two years now and even just the smallest kisses made her insides turn.

"I tell them to leave."

"why?"

"cause..i like alone time with my baby girl."

She looked down and blushed, she loved when he called her that. It was there thing, he called her baby girl and she blushed. Every time he said it. She didn't know why it effected her the way it did, he called her baby, boo, babe, anything. But as soon as a girl was added behind that baby, her cheeks went pink and her face grew hot, she felt his hand wrap around hers as he turned to face her. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear as she looked up at him, feeling nothing but love every time. She loved this man and there was no doubt about it, he was her whole world and all she had, they ran away together, they dropped out of school together and moved away. Nobody knew why though, they came from Beverly hills, rich white good neighborhoods and moved away to the hood part of Houston, but to each his own. A year after that Rico came looking for him, Rico's cousin was in a gang and said they could help them out, the gang paid for there house, there cars and clothes and shoes. As bad as it was, if they weren't in the gang they would be in a box on the corner, but in all honesty she didn't care. As long as she had him.

"I got you something special."

She pursed her lips together and arched an eyebrow, she expected him to say something sexual and inappropriate so she waited for it.

"what is it?"

"close your eyes."

Her eyes closed softly as he let go of her hand, she could hear the porch creek as he stood up. She didn't really know what to expect and she was a little nervous to find out but she trusted him. She trusted him with her life because she risked it every day. Trust was all she had pretty much because everything else was owned by the gang and they were just borrowing it all. The old porch creaked and shifted as he sat down once again

"open."

She opened her eyes to see him holding out a necklace, it was gold with a small gold heart hangin from it. She put her hand out causing the small gold heart to lay flat in her hands, her mouth was opened a little in shock as to why he was giving her this

"Whats this?"

"What does it look like?"

"well yeah but...why?"

She furrowed her brows before letting go off the small heart and looking up at him, he was staring straight ahead at the house across the street. That was Rico's house, all the gang members lived on this block, it was like there own little community

"im gonna marry you one day, Nina."

Her eyebrows shot up in shock, he told her off the wall things all the time. But he never said that, he said they should focus more on there safety from rival gangs.

"One day is the key word, i don't know when and i don't know how long that will be but One day...one day Nina."

He turned to face her, his eyes were full of lust and desire as he put his heart out on his sleeve for anybody to see. Her heart pounded as he cupped her cheek in his hand

"I love you Nina."

"I love you too Rashad."

He smiled before leaning in and placing his forehead against hers, he put his hands up and attached the necklace around her neck. He kissed her lips softly before pulling away and smiling at the necklace that gleamed under the sunlight

"As long as you wear that i will always be with you. Always."

always. always. always.

She sat up fast in bed, breathing heavy, near teary eyed. This was the second night in a row that a nightmare had come. If that was even considered a nightmare, it was more of a dream of a tough subject. It brought up memories that she hated thinking about because all those memories led to one thing. She ripped off the covers and swung her feet over the bed feeling a little dizzy when she stood up, she hurried over to her back pack that sat inanimate against the corner wall. She grabbed it and dumped it upside down, papers and pencils flying everywhere, it was 2 in the morning and she didn't even care if she was making noise. Not that Aubrey would care, he was busy having sex with someone once again. She dug through all the paper and rubbish that she was sentimental about until she found it, she picked it up and held it in her hands just staring at it for a good ten minutes before holding it to her chest. Her heart pounded profusely as she held the small necklace to her heart.

always.