Chapter Sixteen
Reaching over to grab her ringing phone, Coco noted that it was four forty-five in the morning and she had just gotten in the house two hours ago.
“He…Hello?” she answered.
“HE’S GONE! MY BABY’S GONE!”
Coco had to pull the phone away from her ear because her sister was screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Wait, slow down, Jay. Who’s gone?” Coco asked.
“Quaid,” Jayliah cried. “He’s gone, Coco!”
“Hold on, wait…wait. What do you mean, gone? Gone where, Jayliah? Where the fuck is my nephew?” Coco asked, now on alert.
“I swear to God I don’t know, Jacole! Quadir left a voicemail on my phone saying he’s his son and he has the right to take him. I swear I can’t live without my baby, Coco. He has to bring him back,” Jayliah broke down.
“Hello?” Marco’s voice came over the phone.
“Oh thank God,” Coco sighed in relief that somebody was there with her sister. “I’m on my way, Marco.”
“Okay, I called my brother and Zeek, they’re on their way, too,” Marco informed her.
“Thank you.”
After hanging up with Marco, Coco took a minute to process what her sister had just told her. Quadir had basically just kidnapped their son. True, Quaid was his son, but out of the eight years he had been on this earth, he’d only known him and been in his life for the past month. Tariq had been more of a father than Quadir could have ever been and even when Tariq and Jayliah broken up, Tariq still had an active role in Quaid’s life.
Snapping out of it and getting herself together, Coco got out of the bed in search of her shoes. She wasn’t even going to bother with changing her clothes, her nephew was missing right now and fashion was the last thing on her mind.
“Okay, Jacole. Get your shit together. Quaid is fine, you all are overreacting. He will be back in the morning, safe and sound,” Coco said, giving herself a little pep talk before she left the house.
She knew she had to be strong for her sister at a time like this because Quaid was her world and Jayliah lost all understanding when it came to her son. When Coco got to the house, Zeek and Tariq were already there. Coco still wasn’t pleased with Tariq about how he handled her sister earlier in the night but now wasn’t the time to light into him. Her nephew could possibly be in danger so she was going to put her pettiness to the side.
“Jacole, what happened to your eye?” Jayliah asked through swollen and bloodshot eyes.
“Fuck my eye, I’m good. Now what happened?” Coco asked as she rushed over to her sister’s side.
“Oh man,” Jayliah sighed as she ran her hands down her face as she tried together her thoughts. “After the little fiasco at the club, Marco got me a drink, we went for a ride and I came home. I checked on Quaid and went to sleep. The next thing I know, I woke up to go to the bathroom and Quadir wasn’t in the bed, I didn’t think anything of it but something told me to check on my baby and I did. When I did, he…”
“Okay, shh. I got it,” Coco said as her sister broke down in her arms.
“No, it’s not okay, this is all my fault. I should have known better. I allowed him to stay here even with that bullshit ass story he gave me. He used the excuse of wanting to be in Quaid’s life and like a dumb ass, I fell for it,” Jayliah sighed.
“What story?” Zeek asked.
Jayliah stared off into space as she shared with them the conversation she’d had with Quadir after Tariq walked out on her.
“I wish the fuck you would run after another nigga while I’m standing right here.”
“What do you mean run after another nigga, Quadir? That’s my nigga,” Jayliah yelled.
“Nah, baby, that shit is dead. Just like I told my son, I’m home now so anything you thought you had going on with that nigga is over,” Quadir demanded.
“Yea, it’s over because you just popped up out of nowhere. You’ve been gone for eight years, Quadir; how the hell did you know where I live? Where the hell have you been? What makes you think I want to be with you?” Jayliah fired off question after question.
“Come on now, Jay, niggas talk. Did you really think it would be that hard for me to get a location on you? No matter what you do or where you go, I will always find you, so stop acting brand new. As for where I been, just know I had to leave for you and my son’s safety but all that shit is over and I’m home now.”
Jayliah stood there looking at Quadir like he was stupid. She didn’t know who he thought he was talking to.
“Come on now, Q, you gotta do me one better than that. That was some straight up bullshit you just kicked me right there. You left me when I was six months pregnant with your son at sixteen years old, Quadir. Come on now!”
She stood there with her hands on her hips as she watched Quadir pace back and forth.
“Alright, you want the truth? You got it. You know I was hustling for this nigga name Bane. Well, I did some foul shit and took his stuff, trying to make my own come up. Well, word got around that he found out and was threatening to come after me and anyone that was associated with me. That included you and my baby, I couldn’t have that shit so I left. But that shit is over and I’m here now. I’m ready to be in my son’s life. It’s all about us, the three of us.”
“Wait, hold up,” Zeek said, snapping Jayliah out of her thoughts. “You said he told you a nigga named Bane?”
“Yea, that’s what he said.” Jayliah nodded her head rapidly.
Zeek and Tariq shared a look as he came back in the room with a glass of water and a pill for Jayliah.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Xanax, take it and go get some sleep. You need to calm down,” Tariq told her.
“Oh no, I can’t sleep. No,” Jayliah protested.
“Sitting up here and worrying is not going to help him, Jay. You’re driving yourself crazy and that shit ain’t good. Take the pill and go get some sleep,” Tariq told her with more authority in his voice.
Taking the Xanax and water from him, Jayliah took it and got off the couch to go to her room. Coco sat on the couch with all eyes on her.
“What?” she asked.
“You need to get some sleep too, Co,” Marco told her.
“I’m good. Ain’t no way in hell I’m going all the way back home,” she told him.
“Then take your ass up to that guest bedroom and lay the hell down. I’ll be up there in a minute,” Zeek told her.
Coco opened her mouth to say something but before she could even get a word out, Zeek shut her up.
“Don’t open your mouth to say shit, just do as I say.”
Mumbling under her breath Coco marched her way up the stairs while leaving the men to talk. As she was headed to the guest bedroom, she stopped by her sister’s room to check on her but stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed Jayliah on her knees praying. Backing out of the room and closing the door quietly, Coco went back to the guest room.
Ten minutes later, Zeek came into the guest bedroom and tried to get in the bed with Coco but she kicked him.
“Get out.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Zeek asked as he grabbed her by her foot, pulling her to the edge of the bed.
“Move, Ezekiel, I’m not playing with you!” Coco yelled as she tried to kick him in his chest.
“Shut up, it’s other people in this house and I’m pretty sure they don’t want to hear all that shit,” he said as he grabbed both of her feet and spread her legs apart before climbing between them and laying down.
“Zeek…”
“What?” he asked.
“I can’t keep doing this with you.”
As if he didn’t hear anything that had just came out of her mouth, Zeek kissed and licked Coco’s neck while grabbing at the hem of her pajama shorts.
“Stop…Zeek, stop!”
Stopping, Zeek looked up at her. “I’m a firm believer in stopping when a woman tells me no, especially when sh
e’s been raped before but if you can look me in my eyes and tell me you don’t want it, I’ll walk out that door and you won’t hear from me again,” he told her.
“I…but you were just fucking her earlier, Zeek. What type of shit is that?”
“Man, fuck that bitch, Coco! I already told you what it is with her. Just shut up, sit back and let daddy do his thing,” he said as he snatched her shorts and panties off.
Zeek had to remind himself that the last time that a nigga was inside her, it was by force, so he needed to take his time with her and not be so rough with her. Foreplay really wasn’t his thing so he just placed his dick at her opening and took his time sliding in her.
“Fuck,” Zeek had to bite his lip to keep from moaning out like a bitch.
She was wet and tighter than he thought she would be. Coco had to dig her nails into his back and bury her face into his chest to keep from crying out. There had been plenty of times where she had grabbed Zeek’s dick in a playful manner but that still didn’t prepare her for how big he actually was. Trae wasn’t a slacker in the size department but he damn sure wasn’t seeing Zeek. Messing around with him, it felt as if she was losing her virginity all over again.
“Damn, girl, get them nails out my back.”
“I…I can’t,” Coco moaned.
A part of Coco felt ashamed of herself; her nephew was out there missing and her she was getting some dope dick.
“Oh shit,” she said as she threw her head back.
Now Coco completely understood why Chanel acted the way she did. Zeek fucks all the commons sense out of you. He has that type of dick that will make you kill a bitch. Coco had a mind to tell him to stop, that she wasn’t ready for him and his dick to fuck up her life but she had come too far now. She was completely trapped in Zeek’s web with no way out.
___
Elias sat in the car in the vacant lot smoking a cigarette as he waited for informant or lack thereof to arrive. Noticing a car pulling up behind him, he hit the locks to unlock the car.
“Why the change of heart?” he asked.
“Everyone is not as loyal to you as you are to them,” Chanel said through a busted lip.
“He did that?” he asked, referring to her lip.
“No his bitch did, but no worries she’s going to get hers but anyways. Since he thinks so highly of her ass, I want to use her ass a pawn,” Chanel spoke.
“Jacole,” Elias spoke.
“You know her?”
“Took her out on a date last week, that’s how I found out she was somehow connected to Zeek. Since you weren’t cooperating, I was going to use her to get next to him,” he explained.
“That’s good shit, Red. You can still use her. I’ll supply all of the information but make it seem as if it was her, but I need you to help me.”
“I told you about that Red shit, nobody calls me that anymore,” Elias scolded her.
“That’s because your ass went into hiding and then sits behind a desk for a living. Anyways, here’s the plan,” Chanel told him.
For the next few minutes, the duo went over the plan to help bring Zeek and his empire down. Chanel was tired of being Zeek’s doormat and being treated any kind of way by him. She had let him hurt her long enough, but it was time out for all that shit.
Chapter Seventeen
Zeek was riding with Coco to her parent’s house. At a time like this, she believed it was time for her parents to put the bullshit aside and be there for their daughter, especially since Quaid was their grandson. There was still no word from Quadir or his location and it was driving Jayliah crazy.
As Coco was driving, she glanced over at Zeek and couldn’t help but to shake her head. He had his feet up on the dash and his seat all the way back. She had no idea where this thing with the two of them was going to go but all she knew was that he was comfortable with how they were.
“What you want?” Zeek asked, answering his phone.
“Where’s Coco?” his sister Payton asked.
“Do I look like I walk around with Coco hanging off my nut sack?” Zeek questioned rudely.
“I just thought I would ask since she can’t do shit without you hanging off her left titty,” Payton threw back at him. Payton was the only one who came at Zeek just as hard as he came at her.
“Have I ever told you how proud you make me?” Zeek chuckled. “Here,” he told Coco.
“Hello?”
“Cocooo! Are we still on for our girls’ trip today?”
“Oh shoot, I’m so sorry, Payton. My nephew went missing last night and we’re trying to find him so I’m going to have to make a rain check. How about I do you one better and make plans to come out to LA so we can have a whole weekend to fuck up and do whatever?” Coco suggested.
“It’s cool, family first. I hope everything works out. Just call me when you want to plan that getaway,” Payton told her.
“I definitely will.”
As Coco hung up and tried to give Zeek his phone back, she noticed he had a funny look on his face.
“What?” she asked.
“Who the hell said you could go to Cali?”
“Boy, stop and take this phone. I only have one daddy in this world and I don’t even ask his permission to do nothing. If I want to go to California, trust me, I’ll be there,” Coco told him, matter-of-factly.
“You only have one daddy, huh? I could have sworn differently because I know it wasn’t his old ass you were calling on last night. Talking about some ‘Ohh, daddy, yes, right there, daddy, don’t stop’ moaning all in my ear and shit,” Zeek cracked.
“You know what? I’m so done with you. Fuck you, Zeek,” Coco said, embarrassed as they pulled up to her parent’s house.
“You did, and very well might, I add.”
“Shut the hell up, you asshole.”
Zeek took his feet down and sat up straight as he prepared to get out but he noticed that Coco made no effort to move or acted like she wanted to get out.
“What’s up, why you ain’t moving?” he asked.
“I need a minute to get myself together and prepare myself for whatever the hell may fly out of my mom’s mouth. That woman is something else so you have to take a minute and gather yourself before you just step in her presence,” Coco explained.
“She can’t be that bad.”
Coco gave him the side eye. “Yea, right, anytime Jay hasn’t talked to her own mother in eight and a half years and Quaid doesn’t even know who his own grandparents is, that should tell you something.”
“Damn, that’s cold.” Zeek shook his head.
“Exactly, but all that shit is coming to an end today. Let’s go.”
As she got out of the car, Coco had to rub her temples. Something told her this wasn’t going to be an easy process but at the end of the day, the only thing that mattered to her was her nephew and she needed her parents and sister to put all the bullshit behind them and come together to be a huge support system.
Since she didn’t come by that often, Coco had to ring the doorbell as opposed to using a key. She was removing a piece of lint from Zeek’s shirt when the front door opened.
“Oh, look, it’s Jacole. Nice of you to stop by. I haven’t seen or heard from you in what, a month or two?” her mother said as she looked Zeek from head to toe.
“Mhm, cell phones do work both ways, Sharon.” Coco smirked. “Can we come in or…”
“I guess.”
Coco rolled her eyes as she and Zeek followed behind her into the house. She knew she would have better luck talking to her dad than she would her hellion of a so-called mother so she went straight for him.
“Daddy!” She yelled for him.
It took everything in Zeek to answer her and it was like Coco knew something slick was about to come out of his mouth because she shot him a look that told him not to say shit and he just smirked at her and threw his hands up in surrender.
“Yes, Coco, love?” her dad said as he walked in the room.
�
�I need you to get your wife and the both of you to take a ride with me and this gentleman. Don’t ask any questions, just know it’s important. You know if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have even bothered coming over here wasting my time but I need for y’all to hurry up because we’re on a race against the clock.”
“Sharon! Get your shoes on, grab your purse and let’s go.”
____
Both Zeek and Coco sighed and relief when they pulled up to Jayliah’s house. Her mother had drove the both of them crazy nagging and asking questions the whole way there with her nasty attitude. Zeek wanted so bad just to reach back and knock her old ass out but he wasn’t the type to lay hands on women. If this wasn’t such an important family matter for Coco and her day off, she would have went to work just to get away from her own mother.
“Who lives here?”
“Sharon, shut up, you will find out when you get in.”
“Thank you, daddy, damn,” Coco sighed.
“Yes, thank you,” Zeek cosigned.
“Well, excuse me if I don’t like being blindly led into things,” Sharon said sarcastically.
It was as if Coco couldn’t put the key in the lock fast enough. When she walked in, Jayliah was just coming out of the kitchen with Tariq. Even though they weren’t on the best of terms before, Tariq put his pride aside to be there for her when he knew she needed him the most.
“Why are they here?” Jayliah sneered.
“That’s exactly what I want to know,” Sharon spat back.
“Look, now is not the time for that shit!” Coco yelled. “My nephew, Jayliah’s son, your fucking grandson has been kidnapped and his life could possibly be in danger.”
“And? What do you want me to do?” Sharon asked.
Jayliah damn near knocked her sister and Tariq down as she tried to get at and swing on her mother. Here she was going through something no mother ever wants to go through, and this simple bitch was acting nonchalant and careless.
“Stop, Jay! Stop!” Coco yelled as Tariq held her back.
“Fuck that bitch, send her miserable ass back home.”
“You know what? Take that stick out of your ass and be a mother! Be there for your daughter! So what Jayliah had a baby when she was sixteen? So the fuck what, mom! She still graduated from high school, she still has her own house, a job, a man that loves her despite the bullshit they go through, look where he is; right by her side. She does a hell of a good job raising my nephew on her own and he’s a blessing that you two are missing out on and God forbid, if something happens to him, you are going to be the ones to regret that you never got a chance to be in his lives. If you two don’t want to be here for your daughter when she needs you the most then you better prepare your feet to start hitting the fucking pavement if you don’t have bus fare because we’re in to stay and that goes for both of you,” Coco told them.
The Wrong Side Of Love: A Hood Love Story Page 8
