Don't Hate The Player

by Brandie

Genres: African American Urban; African American Women's Fiction

Synopsis

Indulge yourself in a world of drama, sex, lies, and betrayal as Brandie invites you into the lives of Luvly, Money, Chocolate, and Taeko - four friends who take each other to a higher level. Money and Luvly are playing a dangerous game. He's a pro football player, and she's a drug dealer's girlfriend. Their steamy and often volatile love affair intertwines girl fights, outside lovers, and bedsheets, and it could add up to a deadly equation. Male supermodel Chocolate is every woman's fantasy of the perfect man. He's intelligent, very sexy, and he's looking for a woman to satisfy his wildest sexual desires, even if it means sacrificing his morals and his self-respect. Taeko is developing an infamous reputation, and not for his skills as an NBA superstar. He's become notorious for his sexual appetite and violent temper, which are making him a loser in the game of life. Don't Hate the Player is a nonstop, drama-driven story of friends, lovers, secrets, and ecstasy that will leave you wanting more.

Release date: February 23, 2016

Publisher: Urban Audiobooks

Print pages: 304

Sample

“FUCK me, Daddy! Mmmmm . . . yeah—just like that,” she moaned as she licked her full red lips. “YEAH!! HIT IT! Sssss . . . deeper . . . harder. Yeah, like that.” Her rotund brown ass bounced up and down as she moved her wide hips round and round on the hungry dick.

“Dat’s it, girl.” He smacked her ass and watched it jiggle as he continued to poke her big backside even harder. “Work this got damn dick!”

“It’s yoursssssss, ooh, Daddy! Anything . . . you want...

“Get on yo’ knees, bitch, and take me in yo’ mouth.”

The young, sable beauty did as she was told. Her full red lips, took a mouth full, almost choking on the large penis.

“Like this, Daddy?” She pecked and licked carefully, scared to jab too much in her mouth at one time.

He pushed her head down and forced his dick down her throat, making her choke. “Daddy . . .” She tried to pull away from the clog in her throat. “I can’t breathe. I can’t—”

“Ain’t no can’t in my world,” he said in a harsh tone, while pushing his dick deeper in her throat. “And if you throw up, bitch, I’ma stump yo’ ass out.”

Her big eyes swelled with tears as she tried to hold his swollen dick in her throat, and at the same time, not throw up.

After he tortured the young cutie for a few minutes longer, he pushed her back on her knees and rammed his enormous penis into her doggie style.

“Ahhhh, Daddy . . . ooh!” she yelled out in pain, not pleasure. The look on her face and the way she kept scooting away told the story.

He slammed her backside continuously, making her ass cheeks jiggle uncontrollably to his hard rhythm.

“Mannn, that broad is fine as hell,” young Chocolate commented as he sucked back the spit on his bottom lip.

“I feel ya, Chocolate.” Money nodded in agreement, not able to take his eyes off the 32-inch TV screen.

“I jus’ wan’ a girl wit’ a big ol’ ass and some big titties.” Taeko slurped up the drool from the corner of his mouth and outlined an imaginary figure of a big-booty girl.

Chocolate and Money looked at each other, then back at Taeko. Tormenting him was Chocolate’s duty. “Nigga, you betta wish fo’ a girl, period. Then, if you get that far, you betta hope she come wit’ teeth and hair.” They all laughed and continued to focus on the TV.

“Mmmmm . . . yeah, Daddy, fuck dis pussy. Sssss . . . Mmmmm. Make this pussy cum, Daddy!”

Chocolate focused his eyes on the natural, long-haired, sweet-lookin’ sista on the TV. At the tender age of thirteen, Chocolate was mesmerized by her long, thick legs. And her caramel complexion had him on edge. “I jus’ don’t understand why a woman so beautiful would get caught up wit’ Taeko’s greasy, jherri-curl-head uncle.”

Before Taeko could defend his uncle, Money offered his lame excuse. “Nigga, dat’s called the power of the tongue.”

“I see dat,” Chocolate acknowledged, watching the man circle his tongue on the woman’s clit, “but—”

“Naw,” Money interrupted, trying to sound like a professional in the field of women. “It’s all about game! Taeko’s uncle pull hoes left and right, cuz. He a pimp—a real pimp. Make dem hoes fuck him and sell they ass for cash. He smooth, know how to talk to ’em. And dat’s jus’ how I’ma be in a about four years when my grandparents set me straight wit’ all dat dough.”

“Yeah,” Taeko said as he jumped up to grab a bag of Doritos and stuffed a handful of chips in his mouth. “My uncle be havin’ women, all shapes, sizes, and colors. I wouldn’t have stole the tape if I didn’t think she was bad.” Taeko flashed a big smile across his greasy lips.

“If all you wanna get is hoes, then you right. Another year or so is all it’s gon’ take. I want the real deal though—a beautiful sista that respects herself, and will use my brand new dick like it means mo’ to her than it does to me. So it can take a lifetime if it has to, fah me.”

Money sucked his teeth. “Man, you gots to stop hangin’ ’round yo’ mama.”

“Hangin’ around a woman is the best way to know one,” Chocolate pointed out and snatched the almost empty bag of Doritos from Taeko. “I mean they all look different, but they just want you to pay attention to ’em. Their basic happiness is a good man.”

“Yeah, one wit’ some good pipe.” Taeko let go a goofy laugh and grabbed his crotch.

“Taeko, you gotta lot to learn.”

Them niggas took pussy, women, and life for granted. I loved ’em like my brothers, but they had a lot to learn. I’m sorry they didn’t get a chance to meet my uncle Bee. He was my mother’s brother—the coolest cat ever. He was the one that schooled me about women and the adventures of “the panty hunts.”

Bee used to show me nudy magazines and porno tapes. He even let me hide in the closet to see him and some of his “freaks” as he called them, do their thang. But, he also let me see his dick when it got a big raw sore on it. And that’s when he told me that he wished he had stuck to being with just Nia, the love of his life. He said she was sweet, took care of him, cooked for him, would wipe his ass if he was sick, and that she had the best piece a pussy in the world. Said he wanted to bottle it up and put it on the shelf to make millions.

Bee said that if he could do it all over again, she would have been his first and only one. She was the gold package. He said that all men longed to have that one special girl with all the right qualities, and that she would be worth the wait. I took that to heart, and knew that if uncle Bee said it, then that’s what it was.

A year after Bee finally got Nia to marry him, he got real sick and died of AIDS. That’s why I told them niggas, pussy ain’t worth dying for.

But I’m gon’ make sure that all three of us—me, Money and Taeko—gon’ leave our mark in this world, being superstars, staying best friends, and defying all the odds until the day we die.

That pretty nigga, Chocolate, always tried to preach to somebody. If he wasn’t my boy, I’d swear he was gon’ be gay. Always talkin’ that love shit. Fuck dem hoes! Man, I was born to ball till I fall. The pros already talked to my coaches and I was only fourteen years old. Tae gon’ be right wit’ me playing pro basketball. He better be, ’cause he ain’t the smartest person in the world. And Chocolate gon’ be our lawyer, taking care of all our loot.

I will use my money for the good of others—buy houses for poor families, help people off drugs, and build community centers for kids to have a place to be all they can be. All of us gon’ be great, make a difference in this world. Grow up and be pros, fathers, and best friends to the day we die.

My boyz think I’m slow, don’t know what’s going on around me, but I pay attention to what I need to know. I know I’m gon’ leave dem niggas in the dust when I go straight to the pros and skip college. Pro teams are already trying to set me straight. Just ’cause I can’t identify my own daddy don’t mean I can’t be a man in my own right. My mama and the streets raised me well. While Money gon’ be ranked number one in football and Chocolate is gon’ be one of the tightest lawyers ever, I am gon’ be the greatest basketball player to ever touch the ROC, ranking right up there, neck and neck, with Jordan. No matter how hard my boyz is on me, we gon’ ball till the day we die.

“. . . And today is the beginning of your life as adults. Always be responsible for what you say, and always think before you react. Congratulations to Benjamin E. Banneker High, class of ’94. Let’s give a big hand to Taeko Devoe for being drafted to the Atlanta Hawks. That is a very big responsibility straight out of high school. And to Money Loane . . . congratulations on the signing to Florida State University. Make us proud you men. I am very proud of each and every one of you!” Mr. Wilkerson, the principal of our school, raised his hand and motioned us to stand. In response, we threw our hats into in the air, yelling and screaming, happy to be considered grown-ups.

Afterwards, in the front schoolyard, which was filled with happy families and graduates milling about, my mother gathered our little group together for a picture. “Stand still, Chocolate. Money and Taeko, both of you need to move in closer. Joi, get your butt over here in this picture.” Joi has been Taeko’s girlfriend since ninth grade, and now, she was his baby’s mama of two years, with one due any day.

“Ma, come on now. We got parties to go to . . . and dis suit is hot.” I threw my hands up in an exaggerated protest. Inside, though, I was really proud.

My mother smiled, tears rolling down her face. “This is the least you guys can give me—a picture of all my boys in their graduation cap and gowns. After all, I’ve been waffle house, tutor, chauffeur, nurse, ATM, babysitter and mother.” She pouted for a second then realized she could get what she wanted if she put some bass in her voice. “Y’all better get it together and smile ’til I tell you to stop. Now come on.”

“Vegas, come on over here and get in dis picture, boy. You gon’ be wearin’ this hat next year,” I yelled to my youngest homeboy.

Our mothers were best friends; they grew up in Columbus, Georgia, and moved to Atlanta at the same time. His aunt lived next door to me, so he was always around like family.

Vegas was a true solider. He kept it gangsta in the streets and was as smart as hell in school. He went to Tri-Cities High School, our rival. But I’d known him since I can remember. He was a year younger than me, but wise beyond his years. We tried to keep him focused, keep his little head off the girls, and the big head on the books. He was going to become the doctor of the group—nothing but a 4.0 since the first day of school. I told him that the star birthmark on his left cheek drove chic’s crazy, but the true meaning of it was that he was destined to be great.

After taking a thousand pictures with everyone—including people I didn’t even know—we were free to go. Vegas dapped out because he had to go check on his little sister, probably some broad.

Me, Money, and Taeko rode out. Money had us rolling in style in his ’95 Ford Explorer, a graduation gift from his grandparents. Money was my dawg for life. We grew up running thangs in College Park, after moving from Columbus, Ohio in the fifth grade. Now, we’re men.

“Man, I know these broads gon’ be wearin’ that ‘come-get-me shit,’” Money said, rubbing his hands together.

“Skeet call you?” I inquired as he scanned a stack of CDs.

“Naw. What up?”

“He talkin’ ’bout he might need you to come scoop ’im up if Vegas don’t come through.”

Money nodded his head and turned up the music.

Skeet, a stuttering, cool li’l nigga from the neighborhood that went to school wit’ us until tenth grade, said the streets were calling ’im. What more could we expect with a prostitutin’, crackhead mother, and a robbin’, baby-makin’ daddy?

Money turned into Shannon Lake Apartments with Above the Rim’s sound track, “Pimping in My Bone,” blasting. We pulled up to the pool party already in progress, and all heads gave us their attention.

“Aye, dere go Skeet an’ ’em,” Taeko yelled like a groupie.

“Nigga, damn, they suckin’ yo’ dick or sump’n?” I playfully teased him.

Money laughed out loud, making sucking noises with his mouth, and Takeo waved us off.

We got out the truck hyped, and greeted our boys. “Whoooooo!”

“What up, folk?”

“Chillin’, home boy.”

We all gave each other dap. “’S’up?”

“What’s happenin’, ghetto superstars?” Lan joked.

Lan stood six-foot five, a true-to-the-heart gangsta, hustla, lover, and mama’s boy. His daddy ran drugs on the streets of Atlanta and Ohio, wit’ his son right on the back of his heels. Lan’s only downfall was he hung tight wit’ two low-down, cold-hearted, scummy niggas, Stone and Sham. But unlike them, Lan had a conscience and love for life.

“Let’s go turn dis shindig out.” Vegas hopped down off his car, and flicked a cancer stick to the ground.

This girl I use to kick it wit’, Nikki, was hosting the pool party. We were tight until she started gettin’ too hot with her mouth—and not in a good way.

Eightball and MJG’s “Coming Out Hard” filled the air. Nikki had the party jumping with some fly-ass honeys, and the food was off the chain.

All of us walked in like superstars. Money and Lan grabbed beers for everybody while we scoped out the girls in the pool with the big ol’ titties in the itty-bitty bikinis.

“Tae, pick up your lip and wipe the slob off your chin.” Me, Money, and the honeys that were standing next to us, busted out laughing.

“Whatever, Chocolate. Fuck you, man!”

“Naw. Fuck one of them.” As I pointed to the girls in the pool, a soft tap on my shoulder distracted my attention away from an eyeful of ass and titties to a round, cinnamon face with gray, almond-shaped eyes.

“Chocolate, can I talk to you for a minute?” She looked good as hell with her thumbs resting in her back pockets, shifting her weight from side to side. . . but hell naw. This was the same girl that threw bleach on my Polo jumpsuit.

“Naw. ’Cause I don’t have no money to keep buyin’ clothes that turn white in an instant.”

Damn! She looked good, but not good enough to let her keep fucking up my mind and my shit.

“I swear,” she said, as she held her hand over her heart, “that I will be on my best behavior.”

“Yeah, man,” I sighed loudly, “but I ain’t wit’ no drama tonight. We just graduated, everybody chillin’, and I wanna—”

“Look, I don’t want to fight with you, either. I just want to get some kind of closure before I leave for Howard.”

She looked so innocent and fine; it was hard to resist.

Vegas, Skeet, and Lan started clownin’. “Yes, Nikki, I’ll be your baby daddy.”

“Jus’ put it in ya’ mouth,” they all sung in unison.

“Chocolate, she want chu to melt in her mouth, not in her hand. Ha, ha, ha!”

Annoyed by the three stooges, I said, “Let’s go outside. Money, let me get your keys, Dawg.” I needed to get her away from any witnesses in case she wanted to show her ass, and I had to show mine.

Money threw me the keys to his new truck without any hesitation and said with a serious look, “Aye, Chocolate, man, don’t be fuckin’ in my shit. I ain’t got my first piece in it yet.” He smiled a devilish grin.

“Man, fuck you!” I waved him off.

Cock-blocking Taeko ran up behind me. “Aye, let me get a ride to the sto’.”

I shot him an aggravated look. “Hell, naw. Stop blocking!”

Taeko turned around like a lost puppy. “A’ight, Dawg, but you ain’t gotta be frontin’ on a nigga.”

Taeko was a chump that happened to know how to carry his balls, in all sports.

Me and Nikki walked through the iron gates like we were walking into purgatory. As we walked out, she put her finger through my belt loop like she owned me, but I just kept walking, not wanting any of her drama.

I opened the passenger door and let her in. I had to admit she was as fine as hell; wearing a pink halter-top, with dark-blue jeans hugging low on her hips, and a pair of glitter sandals that matched the writing on her top. Nikki was a beautiful sister, but had the ugliest, nastiest attitude known to mankind.

The A/C blew her scent into my nostrils, getting me aroused. The aroma was breaking down my defenses.

As I started to pull off, Caymin, my girlfriend of eight months, stood at the gate with folded arms, a tapping foot, and tears in her eyes. I thought about pulling back in, so I slowed down because I cared a lot about her. But I had to handle the Nikki situation so that we could be together without any interruptions. I had to take Nikki away from the party so that she wouldn’t make a scene in front of everybody and make them think there was something between us when it wasn’t.

I broke eye contact with Caymin and continued to back out.

“So what’s up? I thought we nipped this situation in the bud two months ago.”

“We did, but I was just over your house two days ago sucking your dick . . . if that’s what you call nipping it in the bud.”

A smile crept across my face. She do got that fly head. She started rubbing my upper thigh. “I thought you weren’t goin’.” She started fondling me, catching me off guard, waking up the cat killer that lay beneath my jeans. “Stop, man. Gon’ now.”

She smiled as she stroked my manhood, thinking that she was winning me over. “You like that?” She continued to aggressively stroke my penis until I was full and ready. “I’m dripping wet—just for you.” She shoved my free hand down her pants, letting my fingers become drenched in her warm juices. “Ummmm! Yeah, I knew you wanted this.”

Her cocky words brought me back to the reality that I already had a girl, who could really be the one. Snatching my hand out of her pants, I snapped, “Cut that shit short, Nikki!”

She circled her warm, wet tongue in my ear, ignoring my helpless plea.

“Dammit, Nikki, I said stop!” I pushed my elbow into her chest, and she fell back into her seat.

“I know I look better than Caymin, finer than she’ll ever be,” she boasted as she huffed and puffed with her arms folded.

“Looks don’t mean shit.”

She almost jumped into the driver’s seat with me, trying to smother my lips with hers. Her hip bumped the steering wheel and caused me to swerve. “Man, sit cho monkey ass down before I wreck this truck or go to jail for your crazy ass!”

“Why did you leave me? Cheat on me with Caymin?”

My temples got tight, like they were going to burst if she said another word. “Nikki, look, we did not agree on a commitment; we had a companionship. You wanted what I couldn’t, or rather, wasn’t willing to give you.” I could see in her eyes that my words hurt, but it was the truth.

While I drove through the small town of Union City, I obeyed the speed limit, giving her time to get everything off her chest.

“Chinoe, I loved you. Still am in love with you,” she pleaded, and grabbed my hand like it was her last hope. She called me by my real name, so I knew she meant every word from her heart. “Chinoe, do you hear what I’m telling you? I want a future with you.”

Nikki slowly let the drama unfold; tears began to fall. “I love you and I don’t know how to change that. You treated me like a queen. You touched me in ways no one else has.” She let my hand go but kept the drama rolling. “Will you at least look at me? Tell me that we can try to work this out. I will stay here and not go to school. Chocolate, please—”

“Naw.” She went right over my head. I wasn’t the one. I didn’t love this girl; I only liked her appearance and how good her body felt next to mine. Shit! I wanted her to go to Howard. She was smart and deserved to succeed in life. I don’t understand why women are willing to give up their lives, ’cause a brother ain’t willing to give up nothing but dick.

I wanted to stop the car and shake some sense back into her. “You want something to eat or drink?” I asked her as I slowed down and pulled into McDonald’s parking lot to calm my nerves.

“Chinoe, I don’t want anything but you. Stop trying to change the subject. Tell me something I want to hear.”

“I ain’t, man—I mean ... I can’t do that, Nikki . . . give you something that I don’t have.” I turned the truck off, hoping to give myself, and her, a little time to get this over with.

I looked into her hopeful eyes ready to explain to her that I was a selfish man. I wanted to get my feel of different women; thick, slim, tall, short—hell, all girls for that matter!

Nikki swung her long hair to her back and folded her arms. She turned toward me as if we are about to play chess and she had already figured out how to checkmate. She placed her hand on my shoulder, looking like a damsel in distress. “Chocolate, please tell me that I’m beautiful and you want us to be together. You don’t have to promise me forever, just right now. We can make forever happen later in our future.”

“You don’t get it, do you?”

She crunched her eyebrows and pursed her lips. “What is it about Caymin?” Then she started acting like three different people in one. “Damn it, Chinoe, is she really that bad? I know I got her.” She rubbed her hands over her hair. “Okay, I’m really tripping about a bitch that live in the projects. You a stupid-ass nigga if you choose that bitch over me.”

“Nikki,” I said slowly, “I don’t owe you shit.” I looked into her eyes and could tell that she was not getting the picture. “Fuck this! I’m taking you back to your party because you starting to bug the fuck out.”

Nikki reached for my hand and stopped me from starting the engine. She snatched the keys and threw them into the parking lot.

“Nikki, what the fuck is wrong wit’ chu, girl? This ain’t my shit!” She popped her lips, folded her arms, and sat back in the seat real hard.

I opened the door and got out the truck to look for the keys. My head started hurting so bad that I felt nauseous. I didn’t see the keys anywhere. “Nikki, where the keys?”

“When you talk to me straight, then I’ll worry about those damn keys.”

“Bitch, you betta help me find dem goddamn keys!”

“Bitch? Chinoe, who the hell—? What is wrong with you? Have you lost that much respect for me?”

I walked fast to the passenger side of the truck, and slammed my fist on the top of the truck. “Look, Nikki, I ain’t in love with you. Never have been, and I don’t see a future with you. You a beautiful girl. Sexy as hell. Smart and fun when you not buggin’. You got a lot to offer a man, but I am not that man.”

Nikki looked into my eyes and asked, “Can we hug and kiss one last time? I need this. Please.”

The only thing I could think about was Caymin. I liked her a lot and didn’t want to hurt her. “Naw, Nik, you know that I’m wit’ Caymin.”

“Fuck Caymin wannabe-me ass and Joslen young ass, too.”

“What?”

“Don’t what me, Chocolate! I know about that young-ass girl, Joslen, at Creekside. She’s a cheerleader. I met her at the cheerleading conference back in January. I sat there and listened to her dumb ass brag about this wonderful guy name Chinoe, but I never mentioned it because I wanted to stay with you and not be a nuisance.”

“Man, you sick. Girl, help me find this boy’s keys, and let’s go.”

Nikki was naïve and a little slow when it came to men. After I got involved with her, I heard that she used to let a dude use her car and money like it was water. Then she started stalking him, breaking out windows at his mother’s house, and going up to his job to get him fired.

By the time I found out about her obsessive nature, we had already started tittie-sucking and finger fucking. She flipped out when she found out I was a virgin and didn’t want her to be my first.

Yeah, I was still a virgin, probably the only one living besides children under the age of eight. I wasn’t no queer or nothing; I loved women more than the next man. But my uncle Bee’s words and the sight of him sitting on his death bed was enough for me to want my first time to be with the one woman who took my breath away, not my life.

“Chinoe, if you don’t want me I can understand. No, really I don’t, but I can’t make you love me. The keys are on top of that bush.” She licked her shiny lips. I saw tears fall from her face and it kind of got to me, but I had to be hard and protect myself. I needed to keep reminding myself that she was as crazy as hell.

As soon as we were about to ride out of the parking lot, my eyes bucked, and my heart dropped down to my balls. Caymin and two other girls pulled into Mickie D’s with drama written all over their faces. I stopped the car to face the monster I’d created.

“Chinoe, what the fuck are you doin’?” Caymin stared at me with crayon-red eyes.

“Caymin, look, I had to take care of an unresolved issue with Nikki.”

Before I could get another word out, Fee, one of Caymin’s friends, was at Nikki’s door banging on the window and screaming, “Bitch, open up the door!”

“I have feelings, too, Chinoe. And Nikki know we together. I thought you already took care of this so-called situation,” Caymin said, tears glazing her eyes. Talking to Nikki, she said, “You always on somebody else nigga, smiling an’ shit.”

Fee was hitting and kicking the passenger door of the truck, trying to get at Nikki. Nikki was licking her tongue at Fee, making her even madder.

“Aye, Caymin, call Fee off. This ain’t my shit for her to be fuckin’ up!”

Nikki pushed me back and leaned over me. “Look, Cay-men, we are just friends. It seems he prefers to be with trash over class. And anyway, bitch, you took him from me, so calm your fuckin’ nerves.”

Fee snuck around to my side of the truck, reached over me, and grabbed some of Nikki’s hair. “Uh huh, told you, stupid bitch, I was gon’ get that ass one way or another.” She was yanking hard as she could.

Caymin jumped out of the car. “Let’s see if you like dis bitch baldheaded.”

Nikki fumbled for the button to let up the window as she fought hard, fist to the face and elbows to the head.

She finally found the button and got it up, but caught a good bit of her own hair in the window.

“Leave, Chocolate!!! Pull off!” Nikki yelled, thinking that if I pulled off fast enough, Fee would have no choice but to let go.

“I can’t see with you in the way.”

While Fee stood guard, holding on to Nikki’s exposed hair, Caymin started ferreting around in her car.

“Man, let dat girl hair go, Fee,” I urged, with laughter in my voice.

When Caymin returned with something in her hand, she heard my plea and replied, “Oh, ain’t that sweet, muthafucka? You takin’ up for this stupid bitch. You full of shit—with no heart and no conscience.”

All of this shit was getting crazy. “Caymin, look, I’m going back to the party to drop her off and I suggest you take your ass home and calm down. I’ll be over there to get you.”

“No!” She shook her head side to side wildly. “Hell, naw. Make that bitch walk!”

Even though I didn’t like or really care about Nikki, it would have been murder to leave her out there with them.

“Naw. Fee, let her hair go and take y’all asses home and stop fucking around.” As Nikki moved around and tried to free her hair, I got a better view of what was in Caymin’s hands. A clear-pink lighter lay comfortably between her thumb and first finger.

“Fuck you! Don’t bother calling me; I’m through with your triflin’ ass!”

Before I could react, Nikki’s hair went up in flames. “Oh, shit!” I stepped on the gas, not knowing if oncoming traffic was heading my way.

“Aaaaaaah, my hair, my hair! Aaaaah, aaaah!”

Once we were away from Smokey and the bandits, I slammed on the brakes and let down the window. Me and Nikki, both, tried to smother the flames, but neither of us could smother her loud crying.

Caymin drove past us, smiling as Fee threw a milk shake out of the window. “Here, bitch. Cool your hot ass off. Ha! Ha! Ha!”

It had been a month since the night of graduation, and I felt like I’d graduated into a life of heartache and uncertainty. Even though me and Caymin were kicking it again, she was still making me pay for ‘playing games’ as she put it. Plus my mom had been bitching all week about me getting my stuff together for school, and I was still a playa wit’ out a ride.

“Your lazy butt is not going to lay around here doing nothing. I cannot believe you didn’t send those papers to Morehouse. Boy, what are you thinking?”

“Ma, I changed my mind. I want to go to a tech school until I’m ready to take on all that work of being a sports agent.”

“Just like your blockhead daddy—pretty, and think everything should come easy to you. But you have something your daddy didn’t have—brains.” Mentioning my dad’s name made her whole demeanor change. “Boy, you better wise up and listen to me. I have been around more times than two, and you know I am telling you the truth. I would never steer you wrong. Leave those fast-ass girls alone.

“I keep telling them to stop calling here at three in the morning. I know their pussies are on fire and just gotta have your hose to put it out, but I know they can wait until daylight to call.”

I was shocked at her choice of words. “Mama, please. I told you I’m not hitting nothing. I’m offended by your accusations.”

“All right. Be smart-mouthed. I know you in heat.”

I had a cool mom. She just bugged out sometimes when she talked about my dad. I tried to stay out of it because I wasn’t into taking sides. She wasn’t much older than I was when they had me. I guess that’s why I felt comfortable saying and telling her anything.

My dad was a true player. He owned a luxury car lot in Dunwoody and loved me more than life, maybe because I was his only child; my mom was a homebound teacher who thought she was a saint sent to earth to save all kids.

“So, Chocolate, what classes are you interested in taking at this technical school?” she asked in a smart-ass tone, saying technical like it was a disease.

“Computer information. I figured, once I have a year under my belt, I can transfer my credits to Morehouse.”

“Well, at least you do have a plan.