Knocking on my mother's door, i was nervous. I haven't came here in a while so much that the front porch had cobwebs in the creeks. I saw her car out in the parking lot so I didn't know what was taking her so long to answer the door. Finally she opened up and said, "hey stranger."

"Hey mom",i said putting accent on the mom part. She opened her arms up for a hug and let me in.

"What's all these boxes for?",i asked her while the boxes were sitting out in the living room floor.

"If you'd call or come by more often you'd know that I'm moving."

"I mean obviously but where?"

"I got myself a loft downtown. I have to relocate because of my job."

"Oh. Some things never change",I said looking at her fold her clothes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You always went to where the money was at that's all. Except this time I'm not here to tie you down."

"You never tied me down Khia stop that."

"So you know the phone works both ways right?",I said taking a seat.

"Last time I checked I was the mother."

"True. But ever since tiago got out, you just haven't been talking to me anymore."

"How could you be with someone who killed your father?"

"Mom he was about to rape and kill me if Tiago wasn't there. How could you say that?"

"But he's your father Khia. And he showed no regrets in killing him. How do you know he won't do the same with you?"

"Because tiago isn't a killer",I said regretting why I came here in the first place. I pulled my phone out and texted Santiago to come get me cause this rekindling with my mom thing ain't working. Santiago forced me into it.

"Oh so let's wait til your dead to know if he a killer or not."

"He's the one that wanted me to come here in the first place. Idk why I let him drag me into doing this with you. Because truth is, you haven't been in my life for so long that I'm immune to you not existing",I yelled at her.

"Oh really? I don't exist to you anymore? You ungrateful little ?"

"Little what? Bitch?"

"Get out of my house."

"Gladly. Nice we had this talk",I told her and walked out slamming the door shut.

Santiago just pulled up in the driveway and thank God he did.

"Get me out of here",I told him. He didn't ask any questions and did just that. When we got midway to the house we had to take a detour to the nearest Walmart for groceries. "So what happened?",he asked opening the door for me.

"Absolutely nothing."

"Something happened. That's why I stuck around for a bit."

"Her perception of you is all wrong."

"Why is that? Is it cause I went to jail?"

"Yea and killed my dad. She said you'll someday kill me too."

Santiago busted out laughing and grabbed us a cart.

"Your moms is radical man."

"Yeah that's what she was on."

"Did she say she miss you or anything?"

"Nah cause we didn't get that far. And truth is I don't miss her",I said crossing my arms.

"Don't do that bae. You know you do miss her."

"You know you forced me into doing that right?"

"Yeah I know. Family is important to me babe. It's important that they get along. Ain't nothing like having your mom on your side when things get tough. You'll always have someone to talk to."

"That's why I got ebony for."

"Eb ain't family",he said bitterly.

"Why you gotta say it like that?"

"Cause it's true. She'll never be in my circle",he said grabbing a bag of hot Cheetos and putting it in the cart.

"Well you forced her to be so now she is",I said heading to the meat department.

"There's a lot of things I do I regret."

"Like what?",I asked placing pork chops in the cart.

"Killing your father. Going to jail cause now everybody lookin at me like I'm a bad person."

"Your not a bad person."

"I feel like one sometimes."

"Certain situations force your hand that's all."

"That's all?",he said hugging me from behind.

"You make me wanna be a good man",he said.

"Your already a good man babe why are you being so hard on yourself?",I turned around and asked him.

"Cause your the perfect woman for me."

"Your the perfect man for me. So what exactly are you saying?"

"I'm not all that perfect",he said walking to get us some orange juice. I didn't care what he said, he was perfect for me.

Just then I seen trey at the dairy aisle and acted like I didn't see him. He was by himself and looked fine in his three piece suit. Santiago's back was turned so he didn't see him until trey said hi to me from a distance. He smiled at tiago and approached him. I walked up to Santiago and held his hand just in case something goes down. This was a public place and we didn't need a fight to break out.

"Sup",trey said to him.

Santiago didn't answer.

"I just wanted to apologize about our lil argument that happened at eb house. Ain't nobody was callin you out or nothin. I ain't got no beef with you, I'm just jealous of what you got",he confessed.

Santiago

This dude trey stepped to me and apologized so I just wanted to talk to him one on one real quick while Khia was around the corner deciding on which eggs to pick.

"You jealous of what exactly?",I asked trey.

"You got her man."

"Khia? The girl you treated like trash? Hell yea I got her",I smirked.

"Ight I only wished her the best so I guess your the best."

"Don't wish her nothin. Don't talk to her don't smile at her don't look at her don't text her. Don't send her no flowers don't try to make her feel all that she was supposed to feel when she was with you and we good."

"Ight you got it. I'm moving on."

"I suggest you do cause clearly she has."

"Just remember. The same way you get em is the same way you lose em. The moment you slip up, I'll be the first to take her off your hands. I already know Khia like the back of hands, I know what she wants & likes. You still tryna discover her."

"I ain't you. There won't be a slip up when I wife her. I'll send you an invite to the wedding to have front row seats",I told him calmly. It took everything in me not to punch this buster in the mouth for talkin reckless to me.

"Since you hoeing out here in the streets, check on ya girl eb and make sure that baby ain't yours",I said. His face scrunched up like he ain't know what I was talkin about.