by Nikki Brown
“I know nigga I had to pay a hefty amount to make that shit go away.” Mega shook his head and then stood to hug his son. “I hate you had to deal with that shit on your own, makes me feel like I was less than a man because I couldn’t protect my son.”
“Don’t do that, I didn’t tell you and that was my choice. I should have and I see that now but what’s done is done.” He shrugged his shoulders.
Mega nodded his head and then took a seat back in his chair. He was not only frustrated by the news that his son had just revealed but he had been having a hard time finding Ziva. When Marlin came, he told him that Ziva tried to get him to help her kill Siya, but he refused.
“What’s up Pops?” Kahleno said noticing the change in Mega’s demeanor. Mega smirked at his son and straightened himself up in his seat.
“When I first brought your mom here, Marlin showed up.” Cassidy bit down on his back teeth and Kahleno sat up in his chair to wait for his father to continue. “He let me know that he was there to warn me. Ziva asked him to help her kill your mother but he declined because of his respect and business relationship with me.”
“I find it funny that he waits until some bullshit happens to come and warn you.” Cassidy was skeptical of Marlin, but he didn’t trust anyone so Mega knew that was coming.
“At the end of the day that’s still his family, I think he was more so trying to stay out of it but when she fucked with him it became a different story. I respect that.”
“What you mean, fucked with him?” Kahleno asked.
“She burned the cocoa farm, over one hundred fifty million dollars gone.” Mega swiped his hand across his throat emphasizing what he was saying. “I don’t know what that means for us, right now you’re good right?” He looked at AD because he was closer to the street dealings than the other two were.
“I need to check with Spiff, I don’t know for sure, but shit been moving since we got rid of the weak links. So we might be looking soon.”
They only got a shipment once a month, they got so much at one time that that’s all that they needed. With the pills and weed they had a steady flow with the drug side of the Maler empire.
“Do that and let me know, I’m supposed to meet with Marlin later to see where he’s at with finding this bitch.” Mega growled.
“Got damn what is she a ghost?” Cassidy said truly confused. It was like this woman kept getting close to them and now no one could find her.
“Nah but she’s good at disappearing, when you’ve been in the game long as we have you learn certain skills and disappearing is one of them.” Mega sat back in his seat. Shaking his head he needed to get a handle on Ziva if he ever wanted to live comfortably.
They talked a little while longer and then they all got up to leave. Mega told Siya that he was going to walk them out. She fussed about giving them two days to get her out of here or she was breaking out herself.
“Cassidy hang back for a second,” Siya said as they all filed out the door. Cassidy sighed and rolled his eyes because he knew what she wanted to talk about. “Roll em again and I’ma knock em out Cassidy Maler.”
“What’s up ma?” he said with a smirk on his face.
Siya took in the smug look on her son’s face and couldn’t help but to shake her head. Cassidy had always been the most straightforward out of her three boys. He didn’t hold back what he thought or how he felt. So the way he was treating Key was confusing to her.
“Don’t what’s up me, I talked to Akiya the other day when she came up here with Sutton and Icelynn.”
“Why she even come up here, we don’t rock like that no more.” He said smoothly.
“And why not? Did you even have a conversation with her?” Siya fussed.
That morning when Cassidy woke up, he was home alone, thank goodness. He was so drunk the night before that he feared that he’d done something that he would later regret. Even though he had a soft spot for Piper, he knew that she wasn’t someone that he would settle down with.
She was too immature for him. He also knew that she had been through enough of men using her and even if she didn’t respect herself, he respected her enough for the both of them.
“Ma I just don’t like how she moving. I don’t need that shit in my life. If I have to second guess everything you tell me then I don’t want nothing to do with you to be honest.” He shrugged his shoulders.
“You think she’s perfect and she’s not. That’s why you’ve never settled down because you’ve been looking for the perfect woman and you are never gonna find her. She doesn’t exist son.” Siya reached for her son’s hand.
“I never said my girl had to be perfect, but I want her to have some got damn morals. She kept that boy from that man on purpose. I know he took her through hell, but that man still deserved to know he had a kid out there.” Cassidy hated that Key wasn’t who he thought she was because he could have really saw himself with her in the long run.
“Do you know the story?”
“She told me that he tried to kill her and how he stopped her money flow when he got locked up. I get that, but not telling that man he had a kid was selfish as fuck.” Cassidy looked at his mother for validation for what he was feeling. “Say she got pregnant with my kid and I pissed her off. Who says that she won’t run off and keep some shit like that from me? That shit is hard to trust.”
“She only did what she thought was best for herself and her son. Yeah not telling him may have held some selfish intentions but that was her decision and she’s learned from it.” Siya squeezed Cassidy’s hand. “You can’t judge her situation if you didn’t live it.”
“I’m not judging her I just—”
“You’re just judging her. She may have been scared for her life or her child’s life. You don’t know that because you’re stubborn ass didn’t have a conversation with her.” She slapped his hand. “You need to have a conversation with her if it’s not too late.”
“What you mean if it ain’t too late?”
“Oh Piper didn’t tell you?” Siya lowered her eyes at her son.
“Tell me what?”
“Akiya came to see you the morning after all of that happened at the hair show and Ms. Piper opened the door for her.” Siya smirked.
“That’s why I ain’t heard from her, I thought she was staying away because she was guilty as fuck but…” Cassidy threw himself back in the chair as he let everything that his mother said roll through his mind. “Fuck!”
Cassidy was so wrapped up in wanting a woman with no flaws that he forgot to embrace the good in her. He let his perception of what he thought a woman should be cloud his judgment and push away the woman that was meant for him. He could admit it to himself that he had fucked up, he just hoped it wasn’t too late to fix it.
“I take it you’re going to apologize and talk to her?” he nodded his head. “Listen when she talks if she’ll even talk to you. You may not agree with what she’s saying, you may not even like it, but she did what was best for her and her kid. You always told me that you wanted a woman that was head strong and made her own way. Well that’s Akiya and she’s not about to let you or anyone else let her feel bad about her decisions. And I don’t blame her.” Siya closed her eyes and laid her head back on the pillow.
“Yes ma’am.” Cassidy laughed because he knew when his mother closed her eyes that she was done with the conversation. He stood up prepared to go and talk to Key.
Conversations
“I can’t believe that you still ain’t talk to him,” Sutton said placing a fry in her mouth.
Key told her all about what went down with them at the hair show, even about Piper’s man Saque being her ex. When she divulged that information the argument that him and Sutton had become more clear.
“Hey y’all, chill out.” Icelynn looked at the table across from them where the kids were sitting. They were throwing fries at each other and getting riled up.
“Nope and honestly I don’t want to. Like he literally played me to
the left for that bitch. Never even gave me a chance to explain. I swore to myself that I would never let a man do that to me again.” Key took a deep breath; she could feel herself getting worked up.
“I can’t believe Piper even got the chance to be in the same room with Cassidy. When we met them, she was fucking with his cousin Menz. Cassidy had to break up a fight between him and her. Cassidy ain’t the type of nigga that go for girls like that.” Sutton attempted to play devil’s advocate.
“Well clearly he’s a lot of things he says he’s not.” Key grabbed her chicken sandwich and took a bite out of it. “I’m good though.”
“No you ain’t you miss him, I can see it on your face,” Icelynn said knowing that look oh too well. She felt the same way when AD up and dipped on her. It was something about those Maler men that just drew you in and held you.
“I miss him like crazy but he ain’t about to play me and I put that on my son.”
“Speaking of, have you heard from Saque? I’m surprised he ain’t tried to reach out.” Sutton asked.
“He saw my brother on the block and tried to approach him and Vinny crazy ass tried to shoot him,” Key laughed. “I don’t know why he would even try and approach my brother knowing he didn’t like him like that. Vinny hated Saque because he was controlling, and he used money to try and control people. He buys you anything you want; even helps you build your dreams but the minute you do something he don’t like then he snatches it from up under you.”
“I bet that’s how Piper got that beauty bar,” Icelynn interjected.
“I guarantee it,” Key said raising her eyebrows. “Man, I couldn’t even go to the gym without him calling me at least four times, then when I would get back home it was a fight because he wondered who I was talking to while I was there.”
“Oh hell no, I would have cheated too,” Sutton said causing them all to laugh.
“Girl the minute I got an out I jumped on it. Literally.” They all laughed again. “I feel bad about getting ol’ boy involved though he didn’t deserve that.”
“Girl that wasn’t on you that was on that crazy—” Sutton’s words trailed off as the man of the hour walked right into a conversation about him.
Saque glared at Sutton. He was pissed at her because Piper was still pissed at him. She had finally come home but she wasn’t talking to him and it was all because of her. When his attention diverted to the kids’ table he began to walk in their direction.
Key hurriedly jumped up and stopped him from approaching her son. They were not about to do things like this. She knew that she was going to have to have a conversation with him, but he was not about to approach her son like they knew each other.
Kane was not dumb, he knew that something was going on with the strange man that looked like him and his mother, he was just waiting on his mother to talk to him about it. He also knew that the strange man that looked like him was also the reason that Cassidy hadn’t been back around.
“He’s my son, I got a right to see him.”
“No the fuck you don’t.” Key stood in front of him. Her demeanor was definitely confrontational because she wanted him to know that he didn’t run anything when it came to her or Kane, so he could either play by her rules or don’t play at all.
“How the fuck could keep some shit like that to yourself? That’s bullshit Akiya and you know it.” Saque was fuming, the little boy looked to be about five or six and he didn’t know a thing about him. Not even his name.
“You tried to fucking kill me Saque. Like you shot at me and if wasn’t for ol’ boy jumping in front of the bullet, me or Kanaan would be here right now.” She fussed with tears in her eyes.
“I gave you the world and you cheated on me.” He stepped in her face and the emotions that he felt the day he caught her came rushing back. All he could see was the look on his father’s face when he caught their mother, his father cried and went in the living room until she finished. His father was weak, he never wanted that to be him and he proved that it would never be.
“No you dangled the world in my face so I would do whatever you said. You suffocated me, I couldn’t breathe while I was in a relationship with you, can’t you see that? You so ready to blame everyone for your problems but you can’t see the part that you play in your drama!” Key yelled louder than she intended to. “You didn’t love me, you just wanted to control me, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I should have just left but you made it hard for me. I’m sorry for cheating but I needed to be free.”
“You think any of that changes the fact that you held my son from me?”
“It doesn’t have to change a thing Saque and I’m sure that you will never change either, which is another reason why I kept Kane a secret. Over my dead body will he ever act like you, ever!” she pointed in his face.
“I just want to meet my son.” He slapped her hand down and Kane jumped up and pushed him.
“Put yo hands on my mama again punk!” he boasted.
“Yeah make us whoop yo ass!” Kahlil joined in.
“We’ll fork you up!” Isis joined the crew twirling a fork in her hand with a sinister smile on her face.
“Alright kids, I’m okay, go back and sit down. We’re about to go in a minute,” Key tried to get the kids to move but they didn’t budge.
“Hey little man, my name is Saque and I’m your…”
“No!” Key yelled and pushed Saque back. “Go sit down right now Kane.” She pointed to the table.
She grabbed Saque by the arm and pulled him along with her outside. They had caused enough of a scene. She could see the waitress wanting to tell her that they had to leave but the sympathetic look in her eyes wouldn’t let her.
“Get yo fucking hands off of me Akiya.” He snatched away from her right as they hit the door. “You can’t keep me from him. I’ll go to court and get full custody if you fuck with me.”
“Oh yeah tell me what fucking court gone give full custody to a nigga that ain’t too long got out of jail from attempted murder!” she yelled in his face and he backed down because he knew it was true. There was no way that he would ever get custody of his son because of his past. He hated that he didn’t have control over this situation but right now he didn’t have any cards to play, he was at her mercy.
“I just want to get to know my son, all that shit in the past, it’s whatever. I just want to know Keem?” he asked her, and Key softened her expression.
As much as she hated him, she knew it was wrong to keep Kane from him all this time. For the sake of her son she would at least try to allow him to get to know him, but it would be up to Saque how long it lasted because the minute he tried to start his shit she was gone cut that shit short.
It was a big step for her to even be having this conversation with him. She knew that she couldn’t allow the hate that boiled in her heart for him to overshadow her son’s needs. Even after everything that he put her through after he was locked up, it made her who she was. They both did some messed up stuff and it took seeing his face for her to realize that.
“His name is Kanaan. Kanaan Lamar Delaney, I call him Kane for short.” She searched his eyes for some sort of reaction but there wasn’t one. “WE can set up a time for you to take a DNA test if you want to and then from there, we can figure out a way to introduce you to Kane.”
“DNA test? Got damn, how many niggas you cheat with?” he narrowed his eyes at her, and she rolled hers.
“Just one, but I’ve already had him tested and he’s not Kane’s father.”
“I bet you wish his was, don’t you?”
“Yep! I sure the hell did, but here we are.” Key shrugged, she wasn’t about to let him make her feel bad about for something she did years ago, and she had already apologized for. “WE gone do things my way or no way, I’ve raised him for the last five, six years. His birthday is next month.”
“That was by choice.”
“You were in jail, what were you gonna do? Throw the football with him through the glass
?” Key sassed and then threw her hands up, she didn’t want to argue with him. “Look I don’t want to argue, what’s done is done and we have a son. We’ve both made mistakes, so let’s correct them now.”
The solemn look in his eyes made Key regret keeping him away but there was nothing that she could do about it now. They could only move forward, her feelings towards him hadn’t changed but she couldn’t continue to be selfish when it came to Kane. He deserved to know who his father was, she just hoped she was making the right decision.
“Me being in jail doesn’t excuse you from keeping my son from me, that’s just wrong but I’m willing to put that behind me if you give me a chance to be in his life,” Saque said and Key nodded her head.
“Do you need a DNA?” she asked because she was willing to get one.
“Yeah, I don’t really trust you so I would just rather get one to be on the safe side.” Saque threw out there to try and keep the upper hand. Key shook her head and went to walk off. “So when can I see him?”
“After the DNA comes back.” She winked and threw up her deuces.
He wanted to be smart then she could too. There was no way that she was going to allow him to run her life. She may have had to be tied to him, now that he knew about Kane, but it was gonna be on her terms.
Walking back into the restaurant Key smiled at her growth, she was scared that it would backfire in her face, but she knew she had to do what was best for her son. When she sat back down the girls looked at her.
“Sooooo!”
“We had it out, but I told him that after the DNA test came back that we could talk about Kane.” She shrugged. “As bad as I don’t want anything to do with him, I know that Kane could benefit from having his father in his life.” She looked over a Kane. “I just hope I’m not making a huge mistake.”
***
Piper was in the spare bedroom folding clothes, that’s where she had been since she came home from Cassidy’s house. She didn’t tell him that Key stopped by, it slipped her mind and after she got herself together, she called an Uber and left and hadn’t talked to him since.
