Loving the Real E

Erik POV continued (4.)

When we pulled up to the park it was packed with kids as I would expect on a mid summer day. Being that last weekend was July 4th, people were still on their BBQ high and were grilling at the park. Kids ran through sprinklers and shot water guns at each other while parents watched and blasted their Bluetooth speakers with classic BBQ hits. Steelo and I said hello to some of the families that we knew from around the block and accepted as they offered us Hot dogs, Burgers and BBQ chicken.

Soon enough, while walking through the park, we spotted one of Jonny's runners handing something off to a kid. He was about 15 or 16, hanging out on the basketball court. I knew that kid well. His mom and my mother go to the same Church. As soon as I saw him walk off I called him over.

"Yo Dame come here!" I shouted as he looked over at me, put his head down and came over.

"Hey E, whats up bro!" he said slyly. He knew he was about to get the shit from me, so he was trying to butter me up.

"What the fuck you doing over there?" I asked sternly

"Oh....you mean with Jonny?....Oh you know nothing just shooting the shits with him" he stated. I gave him a look so he knew, that I knew he was lying and put my hand out. He sucked his teeth and pulled a white powered substance out from his pocket and gave it to me.

"Yo come on E, I was just gonna try a little bit of it, not even the whole thing I swear" he said panicking.

"Yo bro, you know what this does to you, to your brain!?" Sterling asked.

"You know what this will do to your Momma if I told her you were out here buying this shit!" I added furiously.

"NOOO E! Please don't tell my Momma!...She will make me go to bible study all week if I get in trouble!" he begged. "And those old ladies in there breath stink all the time" he added.

I let out a little chuckle and looked over to Sterling.

"What you think bro, should we give him a pass this time?" I asked him.

"As long as he knows he only gets one, next time your ass will be in Bible study all SUMMER!" Steelo threatened as I pulled out my wallet.

I handed Damien $40, which was probably double of what he spent on the small bag .

"Go shoot the shits somewhere else lil man... If I see you out here with that nigga Jonny again, I'll beat your ass myself before I get your moms and let her have round two." I said as he nodded lowly. He thanked me and ran off to his friends. Steelo and I looked at each other disgusted, ready to lay this nigga Jonny out. As we started to head in his direction I saw Shaun head into the park's men's room a little further back. Steelo noticed as well.

"There go your boy." he said as he nodded in Shaun's direction.

"Yea I peeped"

"Yo let me handle Jonny.... I'll get this nigga outta here. Go head and handle that motherfucker" Steelo said.

We dapped each other and I headed towards the restroom. I ran into Ronnie on the way there and had him watch the door to make sure no one else came in. Once a few teens left, I waited until Shaun noticed me as he was washing his hands. He looked up in the mirror and saw me waiting behind him. His face automatically went pale.

"Hey what up man" he said nervously. He turned to grab a paper towel and head out of the bathroom but I stepped in front of him.

"Oh you know same shit different day" I said nonchalantly. "Whats up with you?, I saw you and Princess looking a little sketchy this morning, y'all good?" I pried.

"Oh yea nah we good, just had a little misunderstanding the other day , so I was just apologizing to her you know."

"Mmh....what kind of misunderstanding?" I asked as I stepped closer to him. He backed up some.

"You know, just regular couples shit. Nothing I cant make her to forgive me for" he said slickly.

"Oooh...And how you gonna MAKE her do that" I asked, stepping closer to him.

He continued to back up.

"My bad you know I ain't mean it like that man" he laughed nervously while looking behind me. I assumed he was checking to see how close he was to the door.

I stepped back into his eye view.

Looking closer at him, I noticed some scratches and cuts on his face.

"What happened to your face man? You look like you lost a fight with a pack of wolves." I asked him suspiciously. He began touching around his face as if he didn't realize he had anything on it.

"Oh my face?...oh nah nothing man....You know your girl Shonnie, we were uh...having some make up sex and you know....she gotta lil uh....you know how she is!" he smirked and I immediately wanted to knock his face in.

I laughed lightly and nodded, "Oh yea I!..." , I emphasized " I know how she is.... what you fuck up that time though?" I asked him as my right eyebrow raised. It usually did when I sensed bullshit. I took another step closer, this time pulling out my "Ace of Spades" switchblade Ace gave to me before he died. I looked at it, admiring it and remembered the last words Ace said to me before giving it to me. "Your like a son to me, like the one I never had, take care of my Princess." The words rang loudly in my head and before I knew it, I had Shaun against the bathroom wall with the blade at his throat.

"Hey man ..listen!,...Everything is all good bro!" Shaun stuttered bringing me back to reality. "

"Everything better be fucking good!" I shouted. "Cuz I definitely don't like liars, ...and what I hate even more than a LIAR.... is a bitch ass nigga who likes to put his hands on women!"

I started to feel my blade press against his neck even more and I slowly saw dark red liquid begin to seep through his skin.

He struggled to move as my grip on him grew tighter. The sight of him on this side of the house this morning made me want to squeeze his bones until they turned to dust but I needed to be smart before making any other moves. He begged out for me to let him go.

"I ain't do nothing bro, shit is good I swear!" he screamed. I can see the fear in his eyes and it made me smirk a little bit. I never really liked dude. He always came off as someone I thought was trying to take advantage of Ashante,...take her money,... whatever he wanted because she had it like that. But I was in no place to tell Ashante who to date and who not to date. I just kept a close eye on whoever she brought around and let them know, she wasn't to be fucked around on or they would have to answer to me.

I continued to stare him down letting him see the seriousness in my face.

"You better hope so, cuz if I talk to Princess, and find out ANYTHING different, ain't a place in this world where you can hide and I wont find you." I threatened. He nodded slowly and I let him go. As he looked in the mirror to check his neck, I wiped my blade with a paper towel, tossed it, and walked out, leaving him in the bathroom. I nodded to Ronnie and we both walked back over to Sterling.

"Shits good bro?" he asked while leaning on the front of my all black Mercedes C-300 Coupe.

"I don't know yet but Imma find out" I answered watching Shaun leave the bathroom while looking back at me. "What about that nigga?" I asked, pointing at Jonny. Steelo had managed to make him leave the park. We watched as his white Cadillac Escalade left the premises.

"That nigga don't want no smoke, he left without a problem" Steelo answered waving Jonny off.

That seemed like more of the real problem to me. Jonny never backs off easy. He must be up to something. Sure enough, though I'm going to figure out what it was.

The three of us left the park together and headed out to handle a couple of more errands. By the time it was 9:45 pm, I was sitting in the front of the hospital waiting for Princess.