Page 3 of Still Yours

“What’s up, cuz? You lost or somethin’?” One of the men asked as he stepped out of the crew and approached Dexz.

“Aye, my nigga… Me and my mom’s in some shit. I’m from New York and was wonderin’ if y’all knew somebody I could buy a strap from?” Dexz asked, wasting no time telling the dudes what he wanted. He had dealt with gangsters in Harlem and had heard they were nothing like Cali thugs, but he was taking his chances; he had no choice.

The gangster squinted his eyes as he looked Dexz up and down.

“You the police or somethin’, lil’ nigga? You better get from around here before I blast you.” The gangster pulled his gun from his waist and pointed it at Dexz.

He eyed the gun that was pointed at his face. “Nah, I ain’t the police. I just need something like what you totin’. I’m serious, bro. I got cash.”

Dexz reached into his pocket and pulled out a few hundreds.

The gangster eyed the money. Seeing that he had cash, he put his gun down.

“What’s ya’ name, lil nigga, and what kind of trouble you in?” the gangster asked.

“My name is Dexz.”

“Yo’ name Dex like Dexter or Decks like some cards, my nigga?” The gangster chuckled.

“Decks like the cards, my nigga, but it’s spelled D.E.X.Z.” He didn’t want the gangster to know his birth name.

“Well, what’s ya story for this strap?”

“Me and my mom’s on the run from some Dominicans in New York. They smoked my pops in cold blood and took his body with them, so I need some shit to protect my moms, maybe two.”

“Damn,” a girl said who was standing in the crowd. “Sell that nigga a burner, cuz.”

“God must have sent you to me because they call me the burner man. I stay right here. Let’s go over there and talk business. Sorry about your pops, lil nigga,” the gangster said.

“Ain’t no thang, man. He brought that shit on himself.” He shrugged.

When Dexz came out of the gangster’s house, he had a .40 Glock and a 12-gauge rifle. He even bought a half kilo of cocaine to get on his feet. The last thing he was going to do was struggle. He knew all about getting money and how to sell dope. Before his dad became an alcoholic and gambler, he pushed big weight. Dexz watched him do everything and always remembered the dope game, just in case he had to get into it.

Gangsta, whose name turned out to be Burner, took Dexz back to his motel and gave him his phone number.

“Aye, if y’all are looking for a house, my mom’s is renting out a low-income spot around the corner from me. Call me. I can get y’all hooked up.” Burner wrote his number on a piece of paper and gave it to Dexz. He nodded, knowing him and his mother were going to need a house soon.

When he went back into their room, his mother was still asleep. So, he locked himself in the bathroom and started breaking down his cocaine while thinking of his next move…

Chapter 2

WATCHING HER… ONE MONTH LATER…

Liza walked the aisles of the local grocery store in California, finally feeling refreshed. After living in a hotel for the first half of their stay, she and Dexz had been in their new Los Angeles home for two weeks. She finally felt like she could at least go shopping alone. Everywhere she went, Dexz was with her, with a gun. Over the last two weeks, she realized her fifteen-year-old son wasn’t the little boy she used to cradle in her arms and breastfeed. He was a man now, and he was her protector, but that day she wanted a day without him, just to prove to herself she was safe.

As she walked around the store, she noticed a woman gazing at her. She was brown-skinned with a scarf over her head and wearing sunglasses. Liza sped up as she walked down the cereal aisle to get out of the woman’s vision. Liza kept shopping, and then she saw the woman again. This time, she got a good look at her features. She had seen the woman before, but not in California.

They found me, she thought.

The woman realized Liza had noticed her staring, so she rushed off, and so did Liza. Liza paid for her groceries and rushed out to her little car Dexz had gotten her. She looked in her rearview mirror all the way home and called Dexz to meet her outside. When she got home, she looked around and didn’t see anyone. Dexz walked out of the house and over to the trunk, but she didn’t want to lay the news on him just yet. She needed to get her thoughts together before she let her son know what she had seen.

$$$$$

One Day Later…

“Chile, I got enough kids running around here. I don’t know if I can take in another one, Liza,” Rhonda said as she sat at her kitchen table smoking a cigarette.

Liza knew she was probably living out her last days, so she had to find a provider for Dexten if something happened to her. After catching a woman spying on her in the grocery store, she knew she wasn’t safe anymore. She didn’t know her neighbor Rhonda too well, but she knew she ran a foster home, and her son would be safe there. Ever since the day they moved into her home, Rhonda was at their door welcoming them with open arms, smoking cigarettes and drinking wine with her, so she felt like she could trust Rhonda at least enough to be her son’s caretaker.