Mesmerized By A Street King 2

by Belleza

  “See you later daddy,” Za’naa said giving him a quick hug and kiss and rushing to the door.

  “You heard me, Asahd.”

  “Yeah, man. Chill out,” I replied taking Za’naa’s hand and heading out the door. “That’s messed up you ain’t have my back in there. What if your dad would’ve whooped my tail?” I asked her, and she just laughed.

  “You and my daddy don’t fight.”

  “Not anymore. He wouldn’t tell you, but I use to knock him out back in the day,” I informed her, and she just laughed. It wasn’t exactly the truth, but I wasn’t about to let my niece know I took any L’s.

  Our first stop was the movies, and I purchased us a bunch of snacks and the largest cup of slushies. We were early, so we were messing around and snapping pictures of the candy and I sent it to Zayne just to fuck with him. I was going to get little mama high off sugar and send her right back to her pops.

  After the movie, Za’naa talked me into getting her some new toy that I was sure she got last month for Christmas. I took her to the Toys R Us across from the mall which was why I was sure she came up with the idea of getting this damn toy.

  She grabbed a cart and began to rack up on everything but the toy she told me about. When she finally found what she was looking for, I lifted it out of the cart and examined the toy.

  “What you gonna do with a toy egg?” I questioned her.

  “It’s called a Hatchimal. You have to rub it, and then an animal comes out.”

  I glanced at the price, and the egg was $60. Whoever came up with the idea was racking up for some shit that broke and had a stuffed animal inside.

  Za’naa then told me she needed two instead of one just in case they were different ones inside. She picked up a few other toys, and we went to go pay for a cart load of toys. The girl at the register kept cheesing at us, and Za’naa made it just that awkward staring right back at her. This was the norm every time we went out. Females loved to see a man with a child even if it wasn’t their kid.

  “She’s so pretty, she looks just like you.”

  “Thanks, I get that a lot.”

  “Where’s your mommy?” the cashier asked her as sliding her toys across the scanner.

  “I don’t have one,” Za’naa responded.

  “Oh man… well, you’re doing a great job raising her.”

  “I appreciate it. This single daddy life ain’t easy,” I replied.

  “Maybe you can get you a good woman to help you with that.” I broke my gaze from my phone and saw shawty batting her long eyelashes at me. All I could do was laugh, and Za’naa came in for the kill.

  “I don’t think Milly Rock would like that.”

  The woman looked confused, and I bust out laughing not saying anything else before Za’naa blew my entire cover. I wasn’t interested, but it was funny as fuck how these women threw themselves at me when I had my niece and nephews.

  After paying for her toys, we went to Ruby Tuesdays to get some real food. We were seated right away and placed our orders. I always got the same thing, and I knew what Za’naa ate.

  “Stay here while I go use the bathroom. Don’t talk to strangers,” I reminded her, and she gave me a thumbs up and continued doing her word search on the kid's menu.

  I relieved my bladder and washed my hands. As soon as I stepped out of the bathroom, I was face to face with Nina. She was looking good as shit in a low cut shirt and fitted jeans. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen her.

  “We need to talk.”

  “About?”

  “You get new pussy and forget all about me? That’s fucked up Asahd. Are you here with her?”

  “No, my girl ain’t here, but what you expect. I wasn’t going to be with her and still fuck with you.”

  She reared her head back. “She’s your girlfriend?! You gotta be kidding. Please tell me you’re joking.”

  “I’m not. I actually have my niece waiting for me. Is there anything you want to say so I can go eat my food?”

  Nina ass didn’t say shit, so I walked back off to my table where our drinks were sitting. A few minutes later, the waitress returned with our food, and I ignored Nina glaring at me from the bar. The more I ignored her, got her angry, so she kept sending text messages to my phone which made me put her ass on block.

  “Don’t tell me she’s one of the ladies that likes you because they think you’re my daddy,” Za’naa whined noticing that Nina didn’t break her gaze from us.

  “Who knows,” I replied glad she wasn’t stupid enough to make her way over to us.

  We were halfway into our meal before she stormed out and a text message came through to my phone.

  Mill: I need you. Can you come to my parent's house? Quick.

  I waved down the waitress and asked for a to-go box and handed her my card so she could take care of my bill. Majority of the day I didn’t hear from Camille, so to get an urgent text from her had me on go.

  I asked her for the address and told Zayne to meet me at the address so he can get Za’naa. I didn’t have time to drop her off knowing that Camille needed me right away, but I also didn’t want her in whatever was going on.

  MILL

  What started off as a relaxing day had me scared for my life as my parents and I were held at gunpoint.

  “Old head! Where’s my bread? You’ve been giving me the fucking run around about this shit for days. I’m either leaving out of here with a body or my money! You decide.”

  “Oh my God!” my mother wailed. “Please, we just need some more time.”

  I didn’t know what to say or what to think. This guy was obviously a drug dealer. I saw him before the couple nights I worked as a bottle girl at Dynasty, but my parents owed him money. It just wasn’t making sense, or I just didn’t want it to because if they owed him money, it was for the crack he sold.

  “This is my family, Richie. How are you going to come up in here and do this to us? I watched you grow up.”

  “I don’t give a fuck. I’m a grown ass fucking man, and I need my bread.”

  “How much!” I asked tired of having a gun pointed my way.

  “Stay out of it,” my father tried to tell me as if he had control of the situation which he didn’t. If he had the money, the little ass boy wouldn’t be in our house with a loaded gun. It made me angry as fuck because they were treating me like a little ass kid.

  “How much?” I asked again.

  “Two Stacks.”

  “Can I get my phone? I can have someone bring it to you.”

  Richie stared at me hard before he gave me a warning not to try no slick shit. I got my phone and sent Asahd a message letting him know I needed him here. I had the money in my bank account but the way this little nigga was big and bad I wanted Asahd to deal with him. He told me he was going to be there and I sent him the address. Now, all we had to do was wait.

  “I’ma get my money or what?” he asked, and I cut my eyes at him.

  “You want me to pull it out my ass?” I asked him even though I was sitting in front of my parents. He had me livid because he was too tough with the damn gun. This was the 21-year-old boy I heard was getting fucked up on the regular. He had to have had his picks since he had all this heart all of a sudden.

  “Keep getting fucking smart, and I can find something to stuff in that fucking mouth of yours,” he said grabbing what little package he had in between his legs. I curled my lip up at him, and my mother was still crying.

  “Aye… that’s my fucking daughter you’re talking to. Leave her out of this shit,” my father said.

  “Well tell her to shut the fuck up old head!” he spat.

  Time seemed as if it was moving slow and the little boy was waiting impatiently asking who was bringing the money and when they were coming. He was paranoid as hell which showed he was new to this damn hustling thing.

  When there was a knock on the door. He waved me over to answer it and had his gun pointed for whatever reason. I unlocked it and pulled it open.


  “Oh shit!” Richie exclaimed when he saw Asahd. He dropped the gun, and it went off.

  Pow!

  I jumped, and the bullet shot through the wall.

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  “Asahd, man… these crackheads owe me some fucking bread. It’s been two weeks, and you know how it is—”

  He was cut off when Asahd grabbed him by his neck and slammed him into the wall.

  “Who you work for?”

  “Nyzie…”

  “Well tell Nyzie to deal with you because you ain’t getting that fucking money. Come around here again with that gun I’ma use the shit on you.”

  Asahd had his finger in Richie's face. He was shaking like a wet leaf in the wind. Once he let him go, he ran out of the house so fast he forgot the damn gun.

  “Who is he to you?” my father asked getting up from where he was seated and pointing at Asahd.

  “He’s my boyfriend. I was going to ask him to pay whatever you owed Richie. I didn’t know they knew of each other,” I explained.

  “My name is Asahd sir,” Asahd said extending his hand and my father looked him up and down and focused back on me.

  “Boyfriend? You go from one fuck up to the next Camille? I didn’t put you through college to be with some thug that’ll be buried six feet underground or behind bars. How can you waste your life dealing with men like this?”

  I looked over at my mother to help me out, and all she did was shake her head. Was I missing something here? I brought Asahd over to get them out of the hole they were in, and they were talking about him as if he was gum on the bottom of their shoe.

  “With all due respect… you don’t know me,” Asahd said calmly even though he had his face balled up.

  “I don’t gotta know you to know that you’re a goddamn kingpin. What the fuck you doing with my daughter huh?! I don’t want her with no fucking drug dealer.”

  “But it’s ok for her to have smoker parents?” he snapped back, and I covered my face with my hands because this was spiraling out of control.

  I pulled on Asahd’s arm so we can step outside because things weren’t going as planned. We got the first issue handled but now another one done transpired. Once I was able to break him out of the stare down between him and my father. I got him out of the house, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know if I should be upset with him or my father for the things he said.

  “I don’t know what’s going on, but give me some time to speak to them,” I asked.

  Asahd just glared at me and stormed off. His Porsche was double parked in the street, and he pulled off like a bat out of hell. I went back inside of my house, and my father shook his head at me with disgust written all over his face.

  “How could you Camille?”

  “I didn’t do anything wrong. I asked him to come over to help us. What you rather have let me sit and watch one of you get killed because you owed money?!”

  “I would’ve handled it!” he yelled at me and my mother touched his arm so he could calm down.

  “Honey, we need to talk about this like adults.”

  My father grunted and left out of the house slamming the door behind him. My mom returned to the couch and picked up the box of Newports and lit the end. I stared in disbelief. She was ashamed and couldn’t even look me in my face.

  “How long?” I asked lowly.

  “Camille…” she sighed. “At this point, it doesn’t matter. Your father and I have everything under control. You just came in at a bad time.”

  “You’re lying!”

  “It’s none of your business Camille. Your father and I are grown, and we don’t want you in the middle of our mess.”

  “I was sitting with y’all with a gun pointed my way. Regardless if y’all wanted me in it or not I am very much a part of it now.”

  My mother didn’t say anything but continued to pull on the cigarette. I snatched up my bag and left out of the house. I was so enraged. The people I thought I knew in and out I really didn’t know at all.

  ***

  “I can’t believe it,” Keira said as I laid across my bed back at our apartment. I didn't feel like being bothered with anyone, but I had to get it off my chest, and the only person that would understand was Keira. She practically lived with us most of my life. Even she saw no signs of my parents smoking crack. Were there really signs? I had no clue, but it was very odd.

  “Now my father is mad at me because Asahd’s my boyfriend. My mom is siding with him, and I think Asahd is pissed off because of what my father said. I can’t win for fucking losing!” I popped my head up from pillow frowning. “All I was trying to do was help.”

  Keira sighed and rubbed my arm. “I think your dad was just ashamed because their secret came to light and another man came to the rescue. You know how men are, their egos are huge.”

  “So you call him a drug dealer and make him feel like he’s beneath me.”

  “We both know Asahd is way more than the drug dealer. Richie is a drug dealer. Joshua is a drug dealer. The Moseley’s are the muhfuckin bosses.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Keira, and she giggled. “Sorry I was trying to brighten up your day. Pop is tripping, but give it some time, and he has no choice but to get over it. At the end of the day, it’s your life, and you can be with who you want to be with. As long as the man you choose makes you happy and fucks you good.”

  “Really? You had to add that extra part.”

  “Hell yeah! The dick game is just as important,” she responded, and I actually cracked a smile because I was very pleased in all aspects of being with Asahd Moseley.

  It just hurt to feel like the ones that I was the closest to me were all upset with me besides Keira, but she didn’t count because most of the time she acted like an annoying ass girlfriend that wouldn’t go anywhere.

  After convincing me of going out and running with her, I slipped on some my Nike tights and shirt before putting on my hoodie. From our apartment, we rode around to Temple track and found metered parking down the street.

  “It’s so cold,” I said once we made it from the car to the track.

  “You’ll warm up. We gonna do a light jog and then gradually sprint.”

  I stopped in my tracks looking at her in disbelief because I wasn’t sprinting anywhere. She was the athlete I wasn’t.

  The first few rounds we did a light jog and then Keira zoomed past me. I kept running at the speed I knew I could tolerate because I was not about to overdo it. Knowing me, I might mess around and trip.

  Keira was right though, it was therapeutic and my mind was void of the events that unfolded. In the midst of controlling my breathing and trying to run faster, a loud drop pulled me from my concentration, and I noticed Keira was on the ground. I quickly ran over to her and rolled her over to her back.

  “Keira! Keira!” I called out to her trying to shake her awake. I felt her chest, and her heart was still beating, and I could feel her still inhaling air, but she wouldn’t open up her eyes. It was a good sign, but I was terrified.

  I raced over to the benches where our phones were and called the 911. Today wasn’t my day. It was one situation after the other.

  KEKE

  I heard voices around me that I recognized as Zayne and Camille. I tried to open my eyes, but they felt so heavy.

  “How long will she be like this?” Camille asked.

  “It can be a few more minutes or even hours. It’s up to her and her body to wake up. Her vitals are stable. All we need for her to do is rest.”

  What the fuck!

  I listened closely and heard monitors, and I assumed I was in a hospital. As bad as I wanted to give in and just lay there I had to wake up. I had no clue what the fuck was going on and listening to people have conversations around me wasn’t making it any better.

  Open your eyes Keira, it ain’t that fucking hard, I told myself getting frustrated that the easiest thing I did for years was such a struggle.

  Just as soon as I was about
to say fuck it, I felt my eye twitch, and I pulled it open slowly only to shut it because the bright light that was shining down on me was blinding.

  “Go get the nurse! I think she’s waking up” Zayne said, and I felt someone’s hand in mine, so I lightly squeezed it to reassure him that I was coming to.

  I opened my eyes slowly and got myself adjusted to the lighting. When I fixed my gaze on Zayne, his eyes were filled with sadness, and my heart broke to see the strong man I knew looking so weak.

  “Wha…”

  I winced from the pain that shot through my body and cleared my dry throat which felt like sandpaper. Zayne passed me a bottle of water and helped me into a seated position. I chugged most of it down and looked around the room.

  “Why the hell am I here?” I asked. “Where’s Mill?”

  A smile finally broke out onto his handsome face which caused me to smirk. “I see you’re feeling better with that smart ass mouth.”

  “When you wake up to machines surrounding you and tubes running in and out your body you tell me how you feel.” I tried to tug at the IV in my arm, and he popped my hand.

  “Stop fucking with shit. That’s why you all fucked up now because you don’t listen.”

  “Bruh, I don’t even know why I’m in here.”

  Zayne was either about to give me an answer to my question or chastise me as if Za’naa wasn’t his only child, but Mill came into the room with a nurse and doctor.

  “Hey Ms. Perry, I’m glad to see you’re awake,” the doctor came in, and I read her name tag to see her name was Doctor Tolbert. “I’m Dr. Tolbert, and I’ve been keeping a close eye on you since you’ve been brought it.”

  I eyed the nurse who had yet to say anything to me but started checking my vitals and calling out numbers.

  “What’s going on? I have no idea why I’m here.”

  “Well according to your friend the two of you went for a run and you passed out. When the last time you had a menstrual?”

  “Umm…” I thought long and hard before I got frustrated because I just couldn’t remember. “I don’t even know.”

  “Hmph… if we’re able to get you out the bed can we get a urine sample?” she asked flipping through the pages on her clipboard. “If not the nurse can draw your blood for testing.