Hood Love 2: JoJo's World

blank years later...

[Media: Raquel Moore x Nae Santana]
[Below: Liliana Davis x @smackthtass_ho]

Joseph Moore

I stood in the living room staring out the window of our 4 bedroom 4.5 bath condo safe house, my dad sent us to. It was a 7185 sqfr loft that I shared with my sister and cousin in New York, NY, forty-fifth walker street to be exact. The condo was spacious, which was needed when living with 2 spoiled ass females. Now I know what you thinking, how'd some drug dealing hoodlums afford a spot this luxurious? We can't that's the thing, but when you hold a reputation an a gun over somebody's head, you get what you want. Now nothing in life is free, pops still had to cough up some bands like everyone else, just not as much. Call it negotiations if you will.

"JoJo-" oh yeah that's Raquel. I know. The last time you seen her she had just had a birthday and laid in the backseat while I drove down the highway away from a life she'll never know. Well not at that age anyways. That age? Two to be exact. "-im ready to go Jojo-" what age is she now? You'll never believe it, in fact guess. Yeah go ahead and guess. Just press and hold the paragraph and leave a comment on how old you think she is now...

You done? So what you guess? I bet something young like 9 maybe 13 at the most, yeah? No. Little old Raquel is now 17 going on 18 In June and she's beyond aggy. While I was going on 32. Yeah that's right 15 years we've been away and 15 years I've been responsible for birthdays, Christmas, first day of school and all that other shit that comes with a kid. 15 years man. Ever met her father? No, mother? Nah, all her cousins? Aunties? Uncles? Who? Nun of them, all she got is me and Liliana.

I know you're thinking, how. How could her parents allow her to be away for so long? How could she not wonder? To answer both those I don't know how. When she was younger I use to leave her and go visit at least twice a month checking on the family but as she got older she noticed my absence and started to question. I stopped visiting because Raquel was smart like her mother and sly like her father, sometimes I couldn't keep up with her, but she always kept up with me. So if I kept visiting she would catch on eventually and everything would unfold. I didn't know when our parents would allow her back, I talk to them every once in a while but they just check in, send money and keep me updated, nothing about our return.

I thrived to make sure she lived a normal life. She went to school, she had friends, normal 16 year old. But in order to keep her from questioning her life she was a little spoiled. She got whatever she wanted and I give her her my trust, space and privacy and she returned it. I raised her pretty well if I do say so myself.

As for me, I took things one day at a time. Every since I stopped visiting I stopped talking to Ja'Nae, I had to cut regular ties so that Raquel wouldn't catch on to anything, it hurt me just as much as I can believe it hurt her. I wanted her to move out here but she refused so I left it alone.