For Essence

POV Sheik

The streets were quiet as I rode through the city checking on my blocks. I didn't expect too many people to be on the streets tonight trying to cop from my boys, but I wasn't expecting it to be this dead. I decided to pull up to my brother since it wasn't shit popping off on the streets. I pulled into his driveway and cut my car off. I sat there for a minute before getting out and walking up to the door. There were about 20 cars parked outside, and I could hear the music as I approached the door. I walked right in, knowing the door would be open, and immediately looked for my brother. I eventually spotted him and made my way over. He was talking to some females when I approached him, two of whom were all over him, the other unimpressed. She was stunning. I had never seen a woman so bad in my life, and I've been around some bad bitches. My eyes were on her the entire time as her face never lifted from her phone.

"Jabarri, why the hell you ain't you tell me you were having a party? This is why my streets are empty as fuck?"

"Calm down, bro, you ain't missing out on no money. Look around, not a sober body in this bitch, we're all high on something. Well, everybody except her."

He pointed over to the black beauty who was still scrolling on her phone.

"Don't do my friend, she doesn't like to be under the influence outside of her home."

I looked over at her, and she was now looking up at her friends with a stank face. I could tell she did not want to be here, and if she could, she would leave right now. She looked back at her phone, and I leaned up against the counter next to her. She didn't even budge.

"Wassup shorty, you don't like to have a good time?"

Without even looking at me, she responded, still scrolling on her phone.

"First off, my name is Essence, not Shorty. Second, there is nothing fun about being intoxicated in a place full of people who don't care about their lives for a couple of hours. Having to constantly look over your shoulder to make sure nobody is trying to do anything to you."

Damn, she was fine as fuck, but she was clearly stuck up. Every bitch I ever found interest in was a ratchet hood bitch, I never came across a female any different.

"Damn ma, I mean Essence, I was just trying to make small talk."

"Small talk? Ha, please, I'm sure I won't be interested in anything you have to say."

"And why is that? I'm a cool mother fucker."

"Cool? So being a drug dealer slash kingpin is cool?"

I tilted my head at her. Obviously, everyone knows who I am, but I wasn't expecting her to read me like a book.

"Look, I appreciate you trying to make small talk, but I'm good. I didn't want to be here, so the last thing I want right now is small talk from some drug-dealing, smooth-talking player. Dime, I'll be waiting in the car whenever you guys are ready."

She walked off without looking back. I watched her until she was out of my sight. I shook my head at the thought I was having. I never struck out. Normally, I was the one brushing bitches off, not the other way around. I wasn't one to chase, but something in me wanted to know her, and I was damn sure this wasn't the last time I would see her.

"Damn, bro, you lost your touch, huh?"

"Nigga fuck you, she clearly not like all the other chicken heads in the A, but that ain't gonna stop me."

Her friends looked at me and smirked before telling my brother they were leaving. They took one more look at me before walking away.

POV Essence

I was so irritated at that party, I never wanted to leave the house tonight, but I'm a good friend. My girls needed a designated driver, and I was fine with that, until they tricked me into staying. I was trying to stay to myself, hoping no one would say a word to me, but that only lasted so long. After a while of watching my friends drool over this man, who I was sure they were gonna share by the end of the night, a tall, dark-skinned man with tattoos everywhere and a low cut with waves came looking for his brother. I pretended not to listen to them as they talked, but he was so fine I had to listen in. I was interested until I heard them talk about making money selling drugs. I love a black man, but not a drug-dealing black man. He tried speaking, but I was so turned off that I didn't bother to entertain. I could tell he wasn't used to getting the cold shoulder from a female, but there was a first time for everything. I ended up walking out of the party to wait for my home girls in the car. I didn't expect them to leave right away. Shortly after going to the car, my friends came out and got in the car.

"Essence, what was that girl?"

"Right, that man clearly was trying to talk to you."

I rolled my eyes and started the car. I wasn't worried about that man or anything he was trying to do.

"Please, y'all know I don't fuck with street niggas. He probably got hoes anyway, it's too nasty in the A to be sharing a nigga."

We shared a laugh and pulled off. I was about to drop Dime and Sady off at home, but they stopped me before I could turn down their street.

"Woah woah woah are you trying to get rid of us?"

"Right bitch you didn't drink all night, we're going to your place to have some fun."

"Y'all know we could've done that from the jump, right?"

I kept straight, making my way to my place a few blocks over. I pulled into my parking garage and parked in my parking spot. As we got out of the car, I noticed a woman leading a man to the elevator.

"Look what we have here, is that Mr. drug-dealing smooth talker?"

"Damn that quick, huh?"

He must have heard Sady because he turned around and stopped in his tracks. He told the girl he was with something and made his way over to us.

"Ladies, Essence."

He nodded his head at my girls and then smiled down at me. What could he possibly want?

"Sir, what is it that you want right now?"

"To talk to you."

I looked at Dime, then at Sady, then back at this man. I thought I had made it clear that I didn't want to speak to him.

"Why don't you go talk to the woman you were probably about to dick down?"

"Fuck that hoe, she just wanted to suck it anyway. I'm trying to see what's up with you, though."

"Mr."

"Sheikor, but you can call me Sheik."

"Mr Sheikor, Sheik, or whatever your name is, maybe you should take your chances with thickums over there, because you're not getting anywhere with me. Now, if you would excuse us."

He bit his lip as I walked past him. I had to admit he was fine indeed, but I could not waste my time on someone like him. The girl who was on his arm mugged me as I passed her, but I just brushed it off. We got on the elevator to go up to my floor, and my girls instantly started grilling me.

"Girl, you know that man can have anyone he wants, right?"

"He and his brother are the most powerful niggas in the A."

I rolled my eyes and folded my arms. I appreciated Dime and Sady for always trying to get me a man, but that's the problem; they are always trying.

"If he can have anyone he wants, why is he pressing me? He literally is on his way to get his dick sucked right now."

"It's shocking to me too because he never chases, his brother, on the other hand, we'll just call him a track star."

We laughed as the elevator stopped on the 4th floor, we went right to my door, and I opened it up. The heat on the inside instantly hit us like a 16-wheeler.

"Damn girl, it's the middle of July in Georgia, you don't run your air while you're gone?"

I closed the door behind us and walked over to the AC unit. I hit the power button a few times, and nothing happened.

"Well, shit, I was sure I had it on. It must've gone out again."

"AGAIN?" Bitch, this shit happens often?"

"Why do you still live here?"

Dime and Sady complained as they sat on the couch, grabbing magazines to fan themselves with. I walked to my room, unhooked my portable AC from the window, and moved it to the living room.

"Because this is what I can afford, sorry, not everyone has a roommate."

"Well, we told you to move in with us; we lived together in college."

"That was college, and y'all were a pain to live with then. I love you to death, but not enough to live with you hoes."

I finished installing the AC in the living room window and turned it on. I walked over to my kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Tequila from the bar rack and some juice out of the fridge. I walked back into the living room, and Dime was already rolling her second blunt.

"This is how you know you're a fucking pot head, because there is no way you just rolled that quick."

We laughed, and I set the liquor, juice, and cups on the table. We drank and smoked for a while, talking about anything and everything while music played softly in the background. This was my kind of "party", I loved just sitting with my homegirls sharing a vibe. I was starting to feel my dink, and I could tell my friends were too.

"So Essence, are you really not feeling Sheik?"

"Absolutely not, men like him bring nothing but drama, danger, and dirty dick because I'm sure he fucked more pussy than Hugh Hefner."

"So you're saying he's not fine at all, friend? The waves, the tattoos on that chocolate skin?"

"I never said he wasn't fine, my eyes do work, and I can see perfectly why he's not for me."

POV Sheik

"Now, if you would excuse us."

I couldn't help but bite my lip at her as she walked past me. This girl was playing hard to get, and that made me want to chase her. I had never chased a female before, but something about her was making me wonder. I had completely forgotten about the bitch I came here with the minute I saw Essence; she mugged her as she walked past, and I just shook my head.

"Damn, Sheik, maybe that bitch should suck your dick."

"Aye, watch your fucking mouth when you talk about her, matter of fact bitch, don't talk about her at all! If I ever find out you did, I'm sending bitches at your shit, so go play with your pussy and not your fucking life."

I hopped in my blacked-out trackhawk and sped out of that parking garage, leaving that bitch with her mouth on the ground. I had never stuck up for a female before, but Essence wasn't one of these typical Atlanta bitches, goldigging fake body hoes; she was a woman, a real woman, body, face, hair, all of it, a woman that I would stop at nothing to get. I lit my blunt as I drove back to my brother's spot. All I could think about was Essence. I had to find out more about this girl, and I had to see her again. I made it back to my brothers, and everyone had gone home. I walked in and sat next to my brother on the couch.

"Wassup, big bro?"

"Shit, man, how long have you known those girls? The ones you were with in the kitchen earlier?"

"Oh, Dime and Sady? A month or two, those are the best friends that don't mind sharing if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, what about the other one, Essence?"

"Um, she doesn't really come out with them that much; they are all best friends, but she's nothing like those girls."

"Yeah, I can tell, she's not like any girl in the A, and I have to have that."