Carl Weber's Kingpins

by Brandi Johnson

  “I know. But I can’t stand lookin’ at my baby. Every time I do, all I can see is Ja’Rel,” Nadia said.

  Ke’yoko’s cell phone began to ring. She checked the caller ID, saw Ka’yah’s name, and pressed the IGNORE button. “Nadia, you can’t take what Ja’Rel done to you out on A’Niyah. It’s not her fault.”

  “I know it’s not,” Nadia said as tears filled her eyelids. “It’s just that every time I look at her I’m reminded of what I think happened. Ke’yoko, ain’t no tellin’ what that nigga done to me while I was passed out.” The thought alone made Nadia hate Ja’Rel even more. “And don’t act like you don’t blame me a little bit or feel some typa way toward me for what happened,” Nadia said.

  “Bitch, don’t play me! If I was mad or feelin’ some typa way toward you I wouldn’t be over here right now tryin’a make sure you good. It’s not like you asked that nigga to drug or rape you. And it’s not like you enticed him. He did this shit on his own, and he’s the only one I blame!” Ke’yoko replied.

  Nadia felt a little relief. She had been so embarrassed ever since she’d found out the test results, she was too afraid and ashamed to face Ke’yoko; that’s why she had been avoiding her. Even though she hadn’t asked for what had happened to her, let alone to have a baby by her best friend’s husband, Nadia felt horrible and felt like she had betrayed Ke’yoko too. She felt like she should have been more aware that night and should have never left her drink unattended. That was one of the oldest rules when in the club; but, hell, she had been in the safety of her own home, she thought. “Are you sure?” Nadia asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure, Nadia. I’m not mad at you at all. I actually feel bad for you,” Ke’yoko said as her cell phone began to ring. She looked at the screen and hit the IGNORE button again. If Ka’yah knew what was good for her, she would stop calling her.

  “What am I gon’ tell Twan? Shit, how am I gon’ tell A’Niyah that Uncle Ja’Rel is really her daddy?”

  “Shit, if I was you, I wouldn’t say nothin’ to neither one. Ain’t no need to stir the pot if the shit ain’t boilin’,” Ke’yoko said.

  “I don’t know, man. You don’t think they deserve to know the truth?” Nadia asked.

  “I look at it like this: A’Niyah don’t know Twan and probably won’t ever get to know him as her daddy. Pretty soon, Ja’Rel will be history, too, so ain’t no need of fuckin’ the baby’s head up. Introducin’ this nigga as her daddy only to have him get snatched away like Twan is too much for that baby to handle.”

  “What you got brewin’?” Nadia inquired.

  “You know I don’t talk. Just sit back and watch. Ja’Rel and Ka’yah time is almost up.” Ke’yoko smirked.

  “Say no more.” Nadia smiled, glad that Ke’yoko was finally about to take a stand against her conniving-ass sister and husband, and feeling relieved knowing her best friend really didn’t blame her for what Ja’Rel had done to her.

  “Oh, you know I won’t. Get yo’ ass up and get dressed. Let’s go get somethin’ to eat. I’m starvin’,” Ke’yoko said.

  “Gimme five minutes,” Nadia said, getting up from the sofa.

  “Naw, the way you got this living room smellin’, I’ma give you at least fifteen,” Ke’yoko joked.

  “Fuck you.” Nadia laughed as she headed into the bathroom to take a quick shower so she could go grab a bite to eat with her best friend.

  Ke’yoko laughed too before taking a seat on the sofa. Her cell phone began to ring again.

  “This better not be this bitch, Ka’yah! If it is I’ma let this bitch have it,” she said, checking her caller ID again. She smiled when she saw Saks’ name come across the screen. That was Ross’s code name to throw Ja’Rel off just in case he decided to go through her phone.

  “Hello?” she answered with a huge smile.

  “Wassup? What you doin’?” Ross asked.

  “Nothin’ much. Just sittin’ over here choppin’ it up wit’ Nadia, and ’bouta go get somethin’ to eat,” Ke’yoko replied.

  “Oh, okay, that’s wassup.”

  “You good?” Ke’yoko asked, concerned.

  “Yeah, I’m cool. I was just callin’ to hear your voice, that’s all. I haven’t talked to you all day.”

  “Okay, well, when I’m done hangin’ wit’ Nadia I’ll give you a call.”

  “Say no more,” Ross said before hanging up.

  Ke’yoko was giddy as all get out. As she was about to put her cell phone back in her purse it rang again. She looked at the screen and chuckled. “This bitch just will not let up,” she said to herself. Ke’yoko pressed IGNORE only to have Ka’yah call right back. She shook her head, and turned her phone off before throwing it in her purse.

  “You ready?” Nadia walked back out into the living room and asked.

  “More than you’ll ever know.” Ke’yoko smirked and followed her best friend out the door.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Ke’yoko was lying in the bed relaxing while watching TV. She was thinking about what she was going to do while Ja’Rel was out of town for the weekend at the exterminator’s convention he was supposedly attending in Atlanta.

  “I thought you went down to the office last night and took the deposit to the bank and set the alarm?” Ja’Rel walked in the bedroom, looked over at Ke’yoko and asked.

  “I did go down there and set the alarm, but I forgot to grab the deposit. I thought about it when I got halfway home and I damn sure wasn’t about to turn around and go get it,” Ke’yoko replied.

  “Can you go get it and deposit it for me?” he asked as he began grabbing his socks and underwear out of his drawer. “You know I hate havin’ large amounts of money in the safe.”

  “Shiiiit, ain’t that what you hired Tamika’s lazy-ass for?” Ke’yoko asked.

  “Remember? I told you I had to fire her ass yesterday for comin’ to work late every day, taking two-hour lunch breaks, and forgettin’ to turn in the deposit for like three days in a row. Plus, she was lazy as hell!” Ja’Rel said as he pulled his weekender out of the closet and began packing it.

  Ke’yoko did briefly remember Ja’Rel coming home ranting and raving about having to fire Tamika, but she wasn’t paying him any attention while he was talking. “Oh, yeah, well, I’m tired. I don’t feel like leavin’ the house today. Can you have Ka’yah go drop it off at the bank?” Ke’yoko asked as she let out a fake yawn.

  “Man, you done got real lazy, too, since you done been pregnant,” Ja’Rel said.

  “I’m entitled. Plus, I can’t help that the baby is takin’ all of my energy,” Ke’yoko said.

  Ja’Rel grabbed his cell phone and called Ka’yah.

  “Wassup, daddy?” Ka’yah answered.

  Ja’Rel glanced over at Ke’yoko and prayed she didn’t hear her sister calling him daddy. “Can you do me a favor please?”

  “Anything for you,” Ka’yah replied.

  “Can you run down to the shop, grab the deposit out the safe, and drop it off at the bank?”

  “I can do that. But only if you do me a favor too.”

  “And what’s that?” Ja’Rel asked.

  “Come spend the night wit’ me.”

  “I would do it myself but I’m goin’ out of town.”

  “You can leave from my house in the mornin’,” Ka’yah said.

  “I can do that.” Ja’Rel nervously glanced back over at Ke’yoko, who was acting as if she was interested in the TV show she was watching.

  “Promise?” Ka’yah asked.

  “Yep. Yep. And thanks,” Ja’Rel said, before hanging up the phone.

  “Is she gon’ go?” Ke’yoko looked away from the TV and asked.

  “Yeah, she gon’ run down there,” he answered.

  “Good,” Ke’yoko said with a devilish grin.

  “I’m about to run and handle some business before I head to the airport. I’ll be back in a few.”

  “A’iiiight,” Ke’yoko said quickly before turning her attention back to her TV s
how.

  * * *

  Ka’yah walked into the shop and headed straight to the safe. She didn’t have no time to be messing around. She needed to get home and get dinner on before Ja’Rel got over there. She was already running behind because she was busy arguing with Daron about keeping Aiko for the night. She walked into Ja’Rel’s office, walked over to the safe, and put the combination in. She pulled it open and was surprised to see he had a gun in the safe with the deposits.

  “Now, why would this nigga have this in the safe? His dumbass know he’s a felon and can’t be around no firearms.” Ka’yah shook her head and grabbed the gun. She examined the gun, rubbing her hand across the cold steel with a silencer. “This a nice-ass gun,” she said pointing it at the wall, pretending like she was shooting at someone. Ka’yah then began posing like one of Charlie’s Angels, before blowing on the barrel of the gun. She began laughing at herself before placing the gun in her purse to take it back to her house to put it in a safe place.

  Ka’yah grabbed the money out of the safe, walked out of Ja’Rel’s office, locked the office back up, and headed to the bank to drop the deposits off before hurrying home.

  Ka’yah rushed through the door, put her purse on the sofa, and headed straight to the bathroom to take a quick shower. After showering, she threw on a pair of the shortest shorts she could find in her drawer, and a wife beater, and slid her feet into her Coach flip-flops before heading into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

  Ka’yah had the music blaring while sipping on some Bartenura. She grabbed her vibrating cell phone and began smiling when she noticed a text from Ja’Rel telling her that he was on his way. She turned her dinner down to a simmer, poured herself another glass of wine, and went and took a seat on the sofa and waited for Ja’Rel’s arrival. Ten minutes later, she heard a knock on the door. She smiled and finished off her last little bit of wine before walking toward the door.

  “How come you didn’t use your key,” Ka’yah said with a smile as she answered the door.

  Her smile quickly faded when she noticed two detectives and some uniformed officers standing at her front door.

  “Ka’yah Cho?” one detective asked, flipping his badge out.

  “Yes,” she replied nervously. Ka’yah tried her best to quickly think about what she had done for the detectives to be at her door. The only thing she could think of was all the bad checks she’d been writing.

  “You’re under arrest,” he said, stepping in with his entourage behind him.

  “Under arrest for what? Writin’ bad checks?” she asked, unfazed because she knew that Ja’Rel would surely get her out on bond.

  “No, for the murder of Brian ‘Bo’ Thompson,” the other detective interjected.

  “What?” Ka’yah asked, confused. “I ain’t killed nobody!”

  “Save it for the judge,” one of the cops said, turning her around and placing handcuffs on her.

  “This has to be a mistake! Bo was like a brother to me,” she pleaded.

  One of the detectives instructed the officers to look for any evidence. One of the officers went straight to Ka’yah’s purse and pulled out the gun she had gotten out of the safe.

  “Well, well, well, look at what we have here,” he said, holding the gun up, showing Ka’yah.

  “That’s not mine,” she said quickly.

  “Well, who’s is it?”

  “It’s not mine,” Ka’yah said and left it at that.

  “It was in your purse so that makes it yours,” the officer said with a smirk.

  “I swear the gun is not mine,” Ka’yah said as tears began to cloud her vision.

  “Take her down to the station,” one of the detectives said.

  All the neighbors were outside as they brought Ka’yah out of the house in cuffs and put her in the back of a cruiser. She was so embarrassed she couldn’t even hold her head up. She quickly glanced up as she sat in the back of the police car and watched as Ja’Rel drove by real slow. She called out his name, but he couldn’t hear her. All kinds of thoughts went through Ka’yah’s head as they hauled her down to the police station. For the life of her she couldn’t figure out why of all people to accuse of killing Bo they had chosen her. With no evidence, no eyewitness, no nothing. Ka’yah shook her head, sat back, and couldn’t wait to get to the station so she could make her one phone call.

  Chapter Thirty

  Ja’Rel didn’t know what was going on as he slowly drove by. He looked over at Ka’yah, who sat in the back of the police cruiser, and quickly turned his head. He heard her call his name, but he kept it moving. The police being there alone was enough to make him mind his own business. He wasn’t about to stop to see what was going on. He loved Ka’yah but he loved his freedom even more. He wasn’t about to chance the police questioning him about stuff he had nothing to do with. Besides, he was on probation and out past his curfew. Whatever Ka’yah had done couldn’t have been that bad. Ja’Rel thought about rushing home to tell Ke’yoko but decided to go see his son and other side chick first.

  Ka’yah was sitting in the police station trying to call everybody she knew, but no one answered their phone. She was thankful that the CO was nice enough to let her use the phone until she reached somebody. Her flirting with him helped a lot. After trying to reach Ja’Rel, Ke’yoko, Daron, and even Kailo, Ka’yah had no choice but to call the one person she never thought she would ever have to reach out to.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello, Mother?” Ka’yah said slowly.

  “Ka’yah?” her mother asked, surprised.

  “Yes, it’s me.”

  “Is something wrong?” her mother asked, concerned, feeling there had to be being that her daughter was calling her after not hearing from her since her late husband’s funeral.

  “Mother, I’m in jail,” Ka’yah said as tears filled her eyes. The reality of her being locked up was finally starting to set in.

  “Jail? For what, Ka’yah?” Her mother panicked.

  “They tryin’a say I killed Bo,” she replied as the tears began falling.

  “Who?” her mother asked.

  “Bo, Mother. You don’t know him,” Ka’yah said, annoyed.

  “Well, did you kill him?” her mother inquired.

  “No, Mother,” she huffed.

  “Well, what do you want me to do?”

  “Get in touch wit’ Ke’yoko for me. She’ll know what to do,” Ka’yah said.

  “What’s her phone number?” her mother asked as she looked for something to write with.

  Ka’yah rambled off her sister’s phone number to her mother. “If she doesn’t answer, go by her house,” Ka’yah said.

  “Okay, but I don’t know where she live at,” her mother said.

  Ka’yah gave her mother Ke’yoko’s address.

  “Time’s up,” the CO said.

  “Look, Mother, I have to go. Do what I said and I’ll try to call you back later,” Ka’yah said.

  “Okay,” her mother said before hanging up and calling the number Ka’yah had given her for Ke’yoko.

  Ke’yoko was lying in the bed still watching TV when another unfamiliar number came across her cell phone screen. Someone had been blowing her up for the past twenty minutes, but she refused to answer.

  “Hello?” she answered reluctantly, thinking it might be important.

  “Rie?” her mother said.

  “Mother?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wassup?” Ke’yoko asked, confused while wondering how she got her number.

  “Your sister is in jail,” her mother said.

  “For what?” Ke’yoko asked.

  “For murder. She said they trying to accuse her of killing Bobby,” her mother said.

  Ke’yoko took the phone away from her mouth and chuckled because her mother got the entire name messed up. “Bo,” Ke’yoko corrected her.

  “Bo, Bobby, it’s all the same,” her mother said.

  “That’s crazy. Is there anything I can do to help?”
Ke’yoko asked, acting as if she was really concerned about her sister’s well-being.

  “Ka’yah asked me to call you because she said you’ll know what to do.”

  Yeah, leave her bitch-ass right where she at until she rots to death, Ke’yoko wanted to say but didn’t.

  “Rie, please get your sister out of jail. I don’t know what to do,” her mother said, frantic.

  “Calm down, Mother. I’ll handle it,” Ke’yoko said facetiously.

  “Good. Call me and let me know what’s going on. I have money if you need it.”

  “Okay, Mother. I’ll keep you posted.”

  “Okay, thank you,” her mother said before hanging up.

  Ke’yoko couldn’t believe Ka’yah had reached out to their mother. She wondered why she didn’t call Ja’Rel to bond her out. Ke’yoko laid her cell phone back down, turned back on her side to try to get comfortable, and continued watching the end of her TV show.

  * * *

  “Hey, baby, you awake?” Ja’Rel stumbled in a two a.m. and asked while tapping Ke’yoko on the shoulder.

  “What you think?” Ke’yoko snapped.

  “I don’t know that’s why I’m askin’,” Ja’Rel slurred.

  “It’s two in the fuckin’ mornin’,” she said, looking over at the clock on the wall. “So why wouldn’t I be asleep, Ja’Rel?”

  “Anyways, they said Ka’yah got locked up,” he said.

  Ke’yoko quickly sat up in the bed. “For what?” she asked, surprised, acting as if she didn’t already know.

  “I don’t know. They just said she got arrested. I don’t know no details,” Ja’Rel said as he removed his clothes.

  “Who is they?” Ke’yoko inquired.

  “I don’t know. I just overheard some niggas talkin’ about it at the club,” Ja’Rel lied as he climbed in the bed.

  “I’m confused.”

  “About what?”

  “About how my sister gets locked up and you don’t call and tell me!” she said, pretending like she was mad.

  “Baby, I didn’t know if you was asleep or not and I didn’t wanna call and wake you up if you were,” Ja’Rel said.

  “This is fucked up!” Ke’yoko grabbed her cell phone off the nightstand and began dialing numbers.