Married to the Game

by King Benjamin

  ****

  Gunner sat at home, with his wife Kelly, counting money in the bedroom. Kelly was in the kitchen making dinner but she came to the door to ask if he wanted Eckrich sausage in the spaghetti. As she watched Gunner for a minute she couldn’t help but think how his receding hairline was running a marathon towards the back of his head. He couldn’t help it. All the stress of the street life was finally catching up to him.

  “Bae, you need to just start wearing a bald head,” she decided.

  Gunner looked up at her appalled.

  “What?” he replied, reaching for his ball cap sitting on the bed next to him. “Leave my head alone, Kelly.”

  “I’m just saying. Anyway, you want the Eckrich sausage in there?”

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

  “Last time you said you didn’t want it,” she reminded him.

  “That’s ‘cause you put pork sausage in the shit, Kelly. You know I don’t eat that shit no more.”

  “Okay, Mustafa, I’m just making sure,” Kelly said walking away.

  “It’s beef right?” Gunner shouted out.

  “Yeah!” Kelly returned.

  Since the fall out with Hector, Gunner was expecting the Mexicans to strike back any day now, but he knew they’d never be able to locate his whereabouts. He was more concerned about some of his street soldiers getting hit. Meanwhile, he was stuck with the bad package he still had to move. It wasn’t bad coke it just had been played with so much it wasn’t coming back with weighing up the right amount, which meant his profit was burning up during the cook up. Nevertheless, he was getting it off and preparing to link up with the new connect he’d been keeping on ice for a long time. Gunner heard his baby wake up crying in the other room but he ignored the whining.

  “Gunner, I know you hear him,” Kelly shouted from the kitchen.

  Gunner finished up the stack he was counting and left the rest sprawled all over the bed as he went to the bedroom and picked his baby up out of the crib and gave him the bottle he’d been longing for. Keith Randall Jr. was only five months and Gunner was a proud father in every sense of the word. He tried to come home more now knowing that Kelly had her hands full with the baby and needed him there. As far as Kelly knew, Keith Jr. was the only offspring Gunner had but it was a well-kept secret that he’d had a daughter tucked away for over ten years now.

  Since Gunner and Kelly married so young the baby came from an extramarital affair, and Gunner didn’t see anything positive coming out of him revealing the truth. He took care of his daughter financially, but the time he spent led to chunks of time gaps and separation that gave Gunner a guilty conscious now more than ever. As he walked into the kitchen holding his son he kissed his baby on the cheek.

  “Greedy butt, that’s all he do is eat,” Kelly said.

  “Like his mama,” Gunner teased.

  Kelly’s face went cold and she slammed the cooking spoon down on the stove. She’d put on few pounds since the baby and was very self-conscious about her weight. In her early thirties now, the pounds weren’t shedding as she’d hope for.

  “That shit ain’t funny,” she replied.

  “I’m just talking shit baby, damn,” Gunner assured her as he kissed her lips.

  He didn’t care about the extra pounds. He still loved his wife the same as the day they married. “You know I loooove, you,” he smiled.

  Kelly rolled her eyes but he could tell her anger subsided.

  Chapter 3

  Jay had just picked up the keys to what would soon be his new studio before he hopped in the Benz and pulled off headed to look at some furniture for the lobby. He was excited but not the way he was expecting to be. He couldn’t put a finger on it but something was missing. He shook it off as his cell phone rang with a call from Gunner whom he hadn’t heard from in a few weeks.

  “What up doe?” Jay answered.

  “What’s popping my nigga?”

  “Everything good, I was gon’ call you today and tell you my good news,” Jay revealed.

  “What’s that?” Gunner asked.

  “Just got me a new studio down here, ya’ dig? I’m ‘bout to lay this bitch out too.”

  “Oh yeah? That’s what’s up my nigga. I’m glad to see you still making power moves with the music and shit.”

  “Yeah man, I gotta make it happen. If I don’t, you know I’ll be back in the city with that bag like what up? Get at me,” Jay replied with a chuckle.

  “Naw man, you gon’ make it happen, I already know. When you put your mind to something it always gets done.”

  Yeah, I’m gonna open up another record store soon too. It’s gonna pick up sooner or later but I hate I had to close the ones in the D thanks to Bones’s bitch ass.”

  “That hoe ass nigga still out here on the run?” Gunner asked.

  “Your guess is good as mines dog.”

  Since Bones was at the top of the wanted list by most law enforcement agencies, he was the last thing on anybody else’s mind. The way they saw it, he’d be living his days on the streets in hiding until the police killed him or he went back to jail. Either way, he wasn’t their problem anymore.

  “Yeah, fuck that nigga though. I called because I got some fucked up news to tell you.”

  “What’s that?” Jay questioned, preparing to hear someone was dead or in jail.

  It was the worst timing in the world by Gunner, but that kind of news was never welcomed at any time so Jay just listened.

  “Shit went sour with your manz,” Gunner explained.

  “Who dat?”

  “Yo’ manz you plugged me with.”

  “Southwest?”

  “Yeah,” Gunner replied.

  He hated to have to break the news. Jay had done him a big favor in birthing the relationship between him and Hector, but the bottom line was bad business couldn’t be tolerated.

  “How sour did it get?” Jay asked.

  “Shiiiid, I’m calling you to give you the bad news so you already know.”

  “Damn…you alright though? Everybody good on our end?”

  “Yeah, everybody good man. I hope to keep it that way, you know?”

  “Right. I hate shit went sour, but I’m sure you had your reasons.”

  “You know it’s two things I don’t play about Jay, and that’s family and money.”

  “Fasho. Just be careful my dog. Don’t get caught slipping,” Jay reminded him.

  It was constantly on Jay’s mind that he’d left his surviving friends back in the D to fend for themselves and sometimes a little guilt resonated with that fact.

  “You know I can’t let these pussy ass niggas take my form. I just had a son,” Gunner said.

  “How is my little nigga? I can’t wait to see his ass.”

  “Nigga good man, he don’t do shit but sleep and eat. What’s up, you pumped wifey up yet? You getting old nigga. You better pump wifey up and quit playing,” Gunner said.

  He’d been telling Jay to get Michelle pregnant since before they moved to North Carolina.

  “Nigga shut the fuck up. It took you ten, twelve years to buss one good nut off in Kelly,” Jay shot back.

  “But my gun always buss nigga, I just wasn’t ready. Don’t forget I got a ten-year-old daughter out here in these streets.”

  “Damn, how is ole Butter Scotch?” Jay said, calling Gunner’s daughter by her nickname.

  “I gotta go check on my daughter man,” Gunner said as a wave of guilt came over him.

  “Yeah man, check on Butter dog. I know you try to do the best you can but a little girl needs her dad nigga. Don’t forget what you grinding for,” Jay reminded him.

  “You right my nigga,” Gunner agreed nodding his head.

  He made a mental note to go visit his daughter as soon as possible.

  “Keep me posted on everything on your end.”

  “Okay, you do the same Jay.”

  “Bet.”

  ****

  Oshiwa was finally getting a chance to go and c
heck on her cousins Rell and Frank. This was only the third time she’d been to her aunt’s house since she’d been in town. Knowing that police would be looking for her because of the number of visits she’d made to see Bones, Oshiwa made sure to never contact her family in Detroit and she kept her distance from her family in Huntington as much as humanly possible. The plan was never to stay long in Huntington, just long enough to map out something better. But with Bones’s escape being so high profile, it made the whole country feel like a fishbowl.

  The good thing about her aunt Reda was that she wasn’t actually blood. She was her uncle’s widow but they’d been married over twenty years before he passed away. She still had fond memories of visiting her uncle and aunt as a kid.

  “Rell, you at the house?” Oshiwa spoke into the phone as she pulled up in a rented, low-key Malibu.

  She hated being low-key. It irritated her soul every time she got in the rental car to start it up and drive.

  “Yeah I’m still here,” Rell responded.

  “Frank too?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, hurry up and open the door. I just pulled up,” she announced.

  “Okay.”

  Oshiwa got out and glanced around at the block as she quick-stepped to the white house that looked just like every other house on the block with aluminum siding and burnt grass out front. When she arrived at the front porch the door sprang open and she rushed inside. Only Rell and Frank knew about her situation. She never bothered to tell her aunt Reda, fearing she’d either pull up her welcome mat or panic one day and snitch her out.

  “Hey Auntie,” Oshiwa said, waving as she entered.

  “Hey baby, I didn’t even know you was coming,” Reda replied.

  “Yeah, I wanted to surprise you.”

  “I like your haircut,” Reda said as Oshiwa stood in the middle of the room glancing around.

  Oshiwa’s hair was short and blond. She always favored the model Eva, only Oshiwa was a couple shades darker.

  “Thank you kindly,” she replied.

  Oshiwa made small talk and filled the room with lies and cover-ups about how she was about to start looking for a job because her funds were getting low. Reda didn’t seem to mind. She went along with whatever her niece said, just glad to see her for a change. When they were done catching up, Oshiwa strolled into the back room where her cousins where locked in the room smoking weed and listening to Young Jeezy’s Recession album on PlayStation.

  “Turn that shit down,” she ordered, and Frank lowered the volume. “What’s going on with y’all?” she asked with her no nonsense face on.

  “To be honest with you cuz, the reason we ain’t been back over there to the trap is because of that nigga Jazzy Jeff,” Rell explained.

  They had southern accents but not the deep down south ones. They pronounced most words the same way people in Detroit would.

  “What Jazzy do?” Oshiwa asked.

  “That nigga be on some bullshit. He wanna get drunk every night then turn into a bully and shit. We supposed to be all on the same team, but the way he be trying to play it, it’s like fuck me and Frank.”

  “Whachu mean, like taking all the sales?”

  “Yeah, taking all the sales and talking crazy. Like for real, I came close to popping that nigga the other day,” Rell explained.

  Rell and Frank were smaller framed guys. They didn’t wanna get into a boxing match with Jazzy who was still penitentiary buff, a former boxer, and freely spoke of his murderous tendencies. Frank was actually afraid of Jazzy, but Rell on the other hand just wanted to avoid catching a case.

  “And then, the nigga be acting like he running shit in the projects when we the ones that turned him on to everything in the first place,” Frank added.

  “Oh wow! Why y’all ain’t spoke up about all this until now?”

  “Well, me personally, I was tryna make it work because I like that money that was coming in. I still wanna make it work, but I don’t know if we can work with Jazzy.”

  “I’ma have Bones talk to Jazzy and make sure he calm the fuck down,” Oshiwa assured him. “What about Doe? Everything cool with y’all?”

  “Yeah, Doe cool,” Rell said and Frank agreed.

  “Y’all got some money for me while I’m here?” Oshiwa asked.

  Both brothers went into their pockets started counting out cash. Rell was the oldest at nineteen and his brother was two years younger. They had already spent all the profit they would make from moving the package, yet the package was still only half sold. When they handed over the money Oshiwa flipped through it with a raised brow. “This it?”

  “We gotta get the rest of the shit off,” Rell said.

  Oshiwa sighed knowing Bones would be upset about the couple thousand dollars she’d just collected.

  “Alright, well I’m ‘bout to talk to Bones and get this shit together because we need y’all there to rotate with Doe and Jazzy. It’s enough money for everybody in the projects.”

  “You right, it is. Tell yo’ boy to calm the fuck down,” Rell said getting a little worked up thinking about Jazzy’s behavior.

  “I’ma call a little later. Rell, make sure you answer your phone.”

  “Yup,” Rell replied.

  ****

  Jay and Michelle lived in a beautiful community called North Hills, not far from Crabtree Valley Mall. At the moment, they lived in nice but simple three bedroom ranch style home with a fireplace, beautiful hardwood floors, one and a half baths, and half enclosed porch that blocked out ninety percent of the sun. That would surely change if and when they decided to buy a home in the area but for now, they were comfortable. Every time Jay pulled up to the house he thought about what his dream home would look like and how he couldn’t wait to live in a castle fit for a king. They’d been in North Carolina a year now and he was just starting to put some things in motion.

  When Jay came in he found Michelle in the living room on the phone with her best friend Leslie. He overheard Andrea Nelson’s name and wondered what the conversation was about. He remembered her mostly because Michelle had smacked the shit out of Andrea which was one of the reasons she was terminated from her job at the news station. Michelle and Leslie still talked weekly and they’d made plans to get together over the summer break. When the called ended Jay sat down next to Michelle.

  “How’s your girl?” he asked.

  “She’s good, she just told me some crazy stuff about Andrea Nelson,” Michelle said.

  “Oh yeah? What happened?”

  Nicole had a big smile on her face as if she was relishing the moment.

  “Okay, so, you remember me telling you that Andrea was sleeping with the president of Network News and how she was basically using him to climb up the ladder of success?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, apparently this week that ladder got snatched from under her ass when the president’s wife found out about their affair. She’s been fired and replaced already but the station isn’t disclosing any of the details to the public of course.”

  “So how did Leslie find out?” Jay said.

  “Because she’s friends with Kurt. Remember she’s the one that got me the job,” Michelle explained.

  “Stankin’ bitch, that’s what she get,” Jay replied.

  Michelle laughed out loud.

  “Right, I knew her reign would come to an end sooner or later. I hope they blackball her ass like she was trying to do me.”

  Michelle hated to be so vindictive but that was the one person that she would never allow herself to forgive and forget. Some things were just too personal to let go.

  “Anyway, I talked to Gunner today too,” Jay informed.

  “Really? How’s he doing?”

  “He good. Gunner said we need to have a baby and stop playing around,” Jay said.

  “Haha, did you tell Gunner what you have to do to get a baby out of me?” she said grinning and flashing her naked ring finger.

  Jay just smiled and shook his
head. Marriage had only come up a couple of times since they’d been back together. It was something they both wanted, but with their relationship being so unpredictable from the start, Jay was still trying to prove to her and himself that he was built for family life. The streets were always lingering in the back of his mind. He’d been in the streets his entire life and the way he was living now was so foreign. Right now he just wanted Michelle to see that she made the right decision by gambling on him not once, not twice, but three times.

  “When it’s all said and done, I’m gonna give you everything you want and more, ya dig?” Jay finally said.

  “I dig,” Michelle replied as she gazed at Jay with her head resting on her arm that was propped on the arm of the sofa.

  “You believe me?”

  She nodded.

  “You trust me?”

  She nodded again. The look in Michelle’s eyes spoke to her honesty. He promised himself he wouldn’t betray her trust.

  Chapter 4

  As the days went by Gunner found himself super busy with handling business in the streets and trying to be at home enough to help out with his son. Finally, he decided he would just have to put home on hold for a minute so he could take some time out to visit his daughter. He called her mom Chenille and told her he was stopping by. When he turned on Littlefield and Seven Mile he thought back to the last time he and Chenille had slept together. It was around a year ago, right before she’d decided to get married to her then boyfriend. He wondered did Chenille getting married subconsciously play a part in him spending less time with his daughter.

  He never wanted anything serious with Chenille. For one, he’d always been madly in love with his wife Kelly. Secondly, he knew too much about Chenille’s past to consider taking it to the next level with her. Still, the sexual chemistry was always there so they backtracked off and on throughout the years. Now all they had was co-parenting in common. As Gunner pulled up out front he spotted Chenille’s husband’s Cadillac truck parked in the backyard on the grass.