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WILDE

Absentmindedly scratching my scalp, I trekked into my favorite jewelry store. The owner, Hassan was helping a customer, but he looked up with a smile recognizing me instantly. He knew I rarely ever came in just to window shop. If I came in, I was spending.

“Wilde, my man! I’ll be right with you.” Hassan glanced over at one of his sales associates, Imani. “Get Wilde a glass of champagne.”

The young guy that Hassan was helping peeked over his shoulder at me. I wasn’t the same ignorant nigga I was a few years back, and I’d never want to turn up in Hassan’s place of business, but I wanted to know what the fuck he was staring at. Quickly, he turned back toward Hassan.

“You didn’t offer me champagne.”

Hassan didn’t bat an eye. “Wilde is a VIP customer. He’s never come in and spent less than $10,000. I appreciate all of my customers, but I can’t pass out champagne to people just for coming in and looking around.”

With a smirk, I strolled over to the case that held what I was looking for. It didn’t take Imani long to return with the glass of champagne and when she passed it to me, she spoke in a tonethat only I could hear. “Looking at engagement rings? Guess you’re really going to be off the market, huh?”

The first piece I purchased from Hassan was eight years old. I hit Imani a few times over the course of two years. I stopped having sex with her before I met Wonder, but any time I came into the store, she tried her hand with me no matter how much time had passed. When I began using the fact that I had a girlfriend as the reason I couldn’t fuck with her, she was stunned. Most people were stunned when they found out someone like me was faithful. Maybe I had been a dog ass nigga in the past, but anybody could change.

“I’ve been off the market, G.”

The flicker in her eyes was nothing short of jealousy. The way her face slightly contorted, I couldn’t tell if she was pissed or disgusted. How she felt was of no concern to me though. I was still stumped my damn self about what it was that made Wonder different from any other woman I’d dealt with. I didn’t fall for her based solely off looks or sex. Whatever she did, it made me feel a way that no other woman had, and for that, she deserved all of me. I could be doing something as simple as watching Wonder with our son, Wylder, and a nigga would be cheesing looking goofy as shit.

Everything she did from how she nurtured him to how she ran the house and her shop and kept me satisfied was top tier. She was it for me, and that was the reason I was in the jewelry store looking at rings.

“Engagement rings?” I could hear the excitement in Hassan’s tone. The lil’ bullshitter had left the store without purchasing anything. Nigga made a big deal about not being offered champagne, and he didn’t even spend shit.

“Yeah, it’s about that time.” I never took my eyes off the diamonds sparkling in the case. Immediately, I was drawn to the larger diamonds. My shorty represented me when she steppedoutside, and I wanted people to look at her rock and know her nigga didn’t play about her.

I also didn’t want to have to lay a nigga down for trying to take what was on her finger. Hassan spoke again interrupting my deep concentration.

“I have Darry rings in which I’m sure your lady will love.”

Lifting my head to meet Hassan’s gaze, I could feel Imani staring me down. “Darry ring? What’s that?”

Hassan placed a key inside the lock on the case to open it. “In order to purchase Darry engagement rings, you have to show ID. Your information is logged into a system, so you can never purchase another one. When you purchase it, you’re making a vow ensuring that you’ll never again purchase an engagement ring for anyone else.”

Hiking my brow, I stared at Hassan for a few seconds. “I mean, if I was really pressed to get one, I’d just let someone else buy it for me.” Maybe that logic seemed romantic to some but to me, it was kind of stupid. In any case, I didn’t stop him from showing me the ring he plucked from the case.

“This is a gorgeous heart-shaped double halo.”

The ring was nice and all but on some real shit, it looked like something I would get a woman if I was borderline broke. I wanted to ball out on my shorty’s ring. Checking the tag, I looked up at Hassan. “This joint is $3,200 G. I’m not trying to act like I’m Bill Gates or some shit, but I wanted to blow a check on my lady.”

That comment made Imani’s staring ass pivot and walk away. I wanted the same exact reaction when women saw Wonder’s rock. I wanted their asses to be sick with envy. It was always my goal to make sure my lady was what every chick respected, envied, or admired, but she’d never be a joke. Embarrassing and disrespecting her would never happen. Thebirds in our city were sitting back waiting for that shit to occur. And it wouldn’t.

“You still have to buy a wedding band,” Hassan stated matter of factly. We can make sure that one is real icy. But you know your woman better than me. Is she the type that would prefer big and flashy, or is she the type that wants something symbolic? Like a Darry ring?”

I didn’t even have to think on that one. Wonder for sure didn’t care about the size of the rock. She knew that I wasn’t the type to be out here getting married multiple times. In my opinion that was some shit that was understood and didn’t have to be explained. Being in a relationship was teaching me that women thought differently, however. She would care more about the sentiment of the ring than the price.

“Not even gon’ hold you, she’ll want that Darry joint for sure.”

Hassan helped me to pick out an icy ass band for the ring once we were married, and I copped Wylder a chain along with earrings for my daughter, Willow. After spending $15,500 with Hassan, I left the jewelry store. There wasn’t anything that I wanted or needed, but I was going to get a few outfits and a few pairs of sneakers for Pierre. My nigga had been locked up for fifteen months, and he was coming home. Nina had moved on and was in a relationship. I felt like Pierre had finally gotten the point, and he was going to come home and be on his best behavior.

Pierre was my cousin, and I loved him to death. But I would never lie to anyone about the fact that he fumbled the fuck out of Nina. When she finally decided to be done for good, he crashed out and tricked himself off the street. I hoped he had finally learned his lesson because she had moved on, and I didn’t see her ever taking him back.

Inside my car, I placed all the items on the passenger seat and headed to my office. Pierre and I had started a business together doing handyman services. Once he got locked up, I had to hire someone to take his place. There were plenty of jobs that I could do alone, but there were people that hired us to help them move, and that was a two-man job at minimum. In my opinion, there was no money like dope money, but my business had been doing pretty good. Not only that, I was an author with six books under my belt and two audio books. For a nigga that came from doing illegal shit, I was thriving making legal money, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t still get nervous at times.

When I was in the streets, there were days I could make $15,000 in a day. I went from that to hopefully making $15,000 in a month. Wonder still wrapped cars. Her shop was so successful that she had a waiting list and was completely booked for the next four months. People came from all over to get their cars wrapped by her because shorty was like that. Her money was hers though. I didn’t want her paying household bills, and I didn’t want her to put any of her money toward our wedding.

I stressed to her almost daily that it was important for her to save. I wasn’t going anywhere by choice but reformed or not, I was a hood nigga at heart. And if I didn’t know anything else, I knew that things didn’t always go how we wanted them to go.

Three days later, I was parked outside the prison that Pierre was being housed in. He had never seen the Audi that Wonder had wrapped a dope purple color for me, so I was standing outside of the car leaning against it. When I saw him bopping toward the gate with the same swagger he’d possessed since we were kids allI could do was grin. As soon as he was close enough for me to touch, I stretched my open palm out and slapped his.