by Deja King
"I understand if you don't want to say anything and simply listen."
"Do I really have a choice?"
"If you don't want to hear what I have to say then I'll end it right here."
I couldn't front, I was somewhat curious to how this clown planned on coming at me. "Go `head."
"I never wanted to admit this, because if I did, I would have to own up to being a rapist. I've murdered, stolen, cheated, committed numerous crimes, but never did I believe I would find rapist on that list."
"Well it is."
"I know, and I'm ashamed. For so long after it happened I kept telling myself that I didn't rape you, that you wanted to have sex with me."
I put my head down because Mike and I both knew that at a point before I believed he killed Supreme, I did want to have sex with him. On one occasion I practically begged for the dick, but none of that changed what happened the night he did rape me.
"But you didn't. You gave every indication that the last thing you wanted was for me to touch you, but instead I took it. I'll never forgive myself for that."
"Where did this big epiphany come from?"
"In my heart I knew the truth, but my mind wouldn't allow me to recognize it. I was angry for being locked up like an animal. I wanted to blame somebody and it was easy to make you the target. If I came clean and said you did nothing wrong then the only person I could blame for my demise would be me. I wasn't man enough to do that."
"But you man enough now. Forgive me if I'm not..." Mike turned around to see what had caused me to stop mid sentence.
"Isn't this cozy! My dear brother with my worse enemy!" Maya spit. "Maybe I should just kill you both right now." There was a long pregnant pause before Maya smirked. "I'm joking," she teased, placing what appeared to be a brand new designer bag on the dresser.
"What the fuck did you do to yourself?" Mike walked over to Maya with his mouth opened in confusion.
"Mike, I told you she was crazy. Maya sweetie, I hate to fracture your frame but you'll never be me. I don't care what color the hair or how long the extensions. There is only one Precious Cummings AKA Mills."
"Let's let Supreme be the judge of that."
"Maya, what are you doing? The hair, these clothes you're wearing, this ain't you."
"It's the me I've always wanted to be."
"Trick, please! Admit you want to be me. Your brother and I were just having a conversation about admitting shit, maybe you need to be a part of this."
"Damn, Mike, Precious must toss one hell of a salad because I'm assuming that's how she got you to lose your fuckin' mind. First, you move her upstairs from the basement, and now this bitch handcuff free, eating pancakes like she staying at a five star hotel instead of being a prisoner."
"I see you tryna ignore what I said, but that's cool," I commented, taking the last bite of my pancakes.
"Maya, I'm concerned about you. I know you want to win Supreme over, but turning into his missing wife might not be the move."
"Mike, fuck being concerned about me! I think you need to be concerned about yourself. Precious is playing you like she's done every other man in her life. Do you know that when she thought Supreme was dead she slept with Nico? Can't you see what type of skank she is? Her supposedly dead husband wasn't even cold in the ground and this ho was spreading her legs for the man who tried to take her out this world. And you call me the crazy one," Maya said, pointing her finger directly at me.
"Maya, that's on her. You may not agree with the choices Precious made, and I'm sure she doesn't agree with yours."
"I can't believe you're defending this tramp. She's responsible for putting you in jail, Mike."
"No, I'm responsible for that all on my own."
I watched as the color drained from Maya's face. "What the fuck is going on? The next thing you're gonna tell me is that you want to free this bitch and let her go home to her family." Mike remained silent which aggravated Maya further. "Fuckin' say something! Don't stand there on mute!" she screamed, raising up her hands and pushing her brother in the chest.
"Calm down," Mike said, holding Maya's arms still.
"Mike, I can't believe you're letting her do this to us. We're family! First, you set me up with that gun bullshit and now you're siding with the woman who has ruined both of our lives. What happened to us being a team?"
"Maya, how did I ruin your life? I treated you like we were blood," I interjected.
"Shut up! I don't want to hear a word out of you. This is between me and my brother."
"Maya, let's go out there and talk."
"Fuck that! Don't try that blah, blah, blah shit with me. You say what the fuck is going on right here, right now."
"Fine. In a few days I'll have that money I've been waiting for and you already know after that I'm leaving. But the thing is, I'm bringing Precious with me."
"I never thought I would think this about you, but you're a fuckin' fool. But with you holding that bullshit gun situation over my head, there isn't too much I can do about the decisions you make. Remember, when Precious leaves your dumb ass high and dry on whatever island you chillin' on to come back for her husband and daughter, don't be mad at me when I put a bullet straight through her eyes."
"She won't be coming back."
"And you're so sure because what, she's confessed her undying love for you?" Maya said sarcastically.
"Not her undying love for me, but for Aaliyah. We're bringing her with us."
"Mike, didn't you hear what I said? Precious slept with Nico too. That means he also could be the father. More than likely Aaliyah isn't even your child."
"All that is true, but what we do know is that she's Precious' child and they deserve to be together."
"I have to give it to you, Precious, you must have some unbelievable pussy. It's been how long now since my brother raped you, and he is jumping through hoops to get back between your legs, or has it already happened?"
"That's enough, Maya!"
"No, Mike, this is enough. Not only do you want to take Precious with you, but you're trying to take Aaliyah too. It doesn't matter anyway, Aaliyah's not even here."
"Where is she? Maya, so help me if you did anything to hurt my daughter..."
"Save it, Precious. Aaliyah went back to New Jersey with Supreme's parents for a couple of weeks."
"Then we'll wait for her to come back before we leave," I said, making it clear to Mike that I wasn't bouncing without my daughter.
"We can wait, that's not a problem."
"Mike, I never knew you could be so accommodating. But it doesn't matter, Aaliyah still can't leave with you."
"What's the excuse now, Maya?" Mike asked, becoming impatient.
"Aaliyah is my lifeline to Supreme. I need her here in order to win him over."
"You're never going to win him over anyway."
"Shut up, Precious. That's the last warning you'll get. You may have my brother's nose wide open but I have no problem taking you out."
"Maya, leave Precious out of this. I want Aaliyah to leave with us and that's not negotiable. You're going to have to find another way to win Supreme over."
"Here we go... once again you're deserting me like you did when I was a little girl, never protecting me, always choosing everyone and everything else over me. Neither you nor our trifling mother ever wanted to be bothered with me. For mother, she picked her pathetic boyfriends who were always itching to get a taste of my virgin pussy, and you picked your work. Always in those streets hustling not giving a damn what my life was like in that hell hole. Now I'm nineteen years old and you still don't give a damn about me. All you care about is what's best for you."
Mike and I both stayed quiet. It seemed crazy that yesterday the two of us was discussing this very topic, and here Maya was shoving it back down our throats, trying to gain sympathy votes from her brother.
"My dear brother can't be speechless. You always have some shit to pop."
"Growing up I did let you down and I carry a lot
of guilt around over that. I also know that you believe I'm letting you down now, but I'm not. A mother and her daughter deserve to be together. This has to be a give and take situation. I'm giving you the opportunity to have a life with Supreme, so I have to take the one thing that means the most to Precious. The same way I have to right a wrong with you, I'm trying to right my wrong with her."
"Okay, Mike. I'll do what you've asked, but like I said, Aaliyah won't be back for a couple of weeks. That will at least give us some time to figure out how I'll give Aaliyah to you without it leading back to me."
"True. I'll brainstorm on it. Maya, thank you for doing the right thing."
"You're not giving me a choice, Mike. This is your show, so I'll play my part. You two enjoy your evening," Maya said before leaving.
Mike laid his back flat across the bed and put his hands over his face. "What the fuck happened to us?"
"Are you asking me?"
"No, I'm asking myself."
"Yeah, `cause yah some fucked up motherfuckers. I thought I was damaged, but the Owens family got me beat."
"You don't have to rub it in, Precious."
"I mean am I really telling you something that you don't already know? The scary part is, as fucked up as your thinking is, I believe you're trying to make the best out of the horrible situation you created. Maya, on the other hand still ain't comprehending that this is some bullshit. She doesn't think she's doing anything wrong."
"I'm hoping that she'll get there."
"Nah, she ain't got no conscious. Even when I was out in them streets causing havoc I felt remorse for a few motherfuckers I had to take out. But at that moment I felt I didn't have a choice. It was like my life or theirs, so of course I chose mine. Maya don't even seem to have the capability to have remorse and that's frightening. And Mike, not too many things frighten me. Thank God Aaliyah is going to be with Supreme's parents. That will help me sleep a little bit better at night."
"I was glad to hear that too. Maya's obsession with winning Supreme over has her being erratic."
"Damn sure do, so you better be careful. Maya is determined not to let anything or anyone stop this fantasy life she's created in her mind with Supreme."
"True, but that's why I had to utilize my gun leverage."
"Would that have something to do with the cat named Terrell?"
Mike lifted his upper body off the bed and turned towards me.
"How did you know about Terrell?"
"I heard you and Maya arguing about him the other day. Who is he?" I could tell Mike didn't want to tell me which made me want to know even more. "Mike, you might as well tell me. I'm a prisoner for goodness sakes! Who am I gonna tell?"
He let out a deep sigh like fuck it. "Terrell was Nina's younger brother."
"Nina... the Nina that was engaged to Jamal and working for you?"
"Yep, that Nina."
"What is Maya's connection to him?"
"That was supposed to be her quote man unquote. Maya's young hot ass was in way over her head with that dude."
"What happened?"
"He was a lil' young hustling nigga from Queens makin' paper. He wasn't a major nigga in the drug game, but he fo' sho' was on a come-up makin' moves. Somehow him and Maya started dating. Again, me being so caught up in my own shit I had no idea she was dealing wit' cat, not until I got a phone call one night."
"From who?"
"Maya. She was crying being all hysterical. She told me to come get her from this townhouse in Jersey. When I got there she let me in and I see Terrell on the floor laying in a puddle of his own blood."
"What, did somebody run up in the crib and kill him?"
"Yeah, Maya's crazy ass."
"Wait a minute, Maya killed him?"
"I didn't stutter. She killed that nigga over some young girl bullshit. He was supposed to be her man and he was fuckin' around on her. The kid was only eighteen. What the fuck do you think an eighteen year old nigga, makin' money in the streets is gonna to be doing? But she was fifteen and out of her league."
"So she killed him?"
"She claimed it was an accident. That she was only tryna threaten him with the gun but it went off. I knew she was lying. I was looking in the eyes of a killer. I knew those eyes. I had them too."
"Wow, and I thought when she killed Nina it was her first time. No wonder it seemed so effortless."
"Maya killed Nina too?"
"You didn't know that? I thought for sure Maya would've told you."
"No. I always assumed you killed Nina."
"It was your sister. That was the incident that brought us so close together, because Nina was about to kill me and Maya shot her first. I had no idea that Maya even knew Nina before I introduced them."
"They didn't."
"But Maya was dating her brother."
"She was fuckin' her brother and she was just one of many. But when I saw him lying on the floor I recognized his face immediately. He used to get drugs from me and I knew he had an older sister that he was holding it down for."
"You're talking about Nina."
"Yeah, that's when I decided to recruit her. She could work for me and I would put money in her pocket now that her brother was dead because of my silly ass sister. So at the funeral I approached her and took it from there."
"Why did you hold onto the gun?"
"I know it's crazy, but I swear every time I was about to ditch that shit something kept holding me back and I'm glad I did. Trust me, if I didn't have that gun situation lingering over Maya's head there's no telling what she might do."
"So why do you fuck wit' her?"
"Unless you have your own brother or sister it's hard to explain the bond. You can be at each other's throats but you rise and fall together."
"I understand, but if you don't mind me asking, what did you do with the gun?"
Mike gave a slight laugh. "I feel like I shouldn't tell you."
"Why? It's not like IT ever have a chance to get it. After we leave LA we're off to another country. It doesn't really matter if you tell me. I'm just curious."
"You're right, what's the harm? After Donnell did that drive by shooting for me I had him take it back to New York."
"You had that nigga take that shit all the way back to New York? How?"
"All those details aren't necessary. The point is he got it there and back to its proper resting place."
"Its proper resting place ...I'm lost. Where would that be?"
"The apartment Nina lived in and Terrell paid the rent on until he was murdered. Call it twisted, but it was like my gift to Nina. When her brother died she was crushed. Me stashing it at the spot Terrell would hold down for her was like me putting the shit to rest."
"If you say so."
"But now it's even more ironic. I mean they both died at the hands of Maya. And the gun she used that could put her away for the rest of her life is stashed at a spot that both of them called home at one time."
"Who lives there now? Nina's been dead for a minute."
"I have somebody that checks up on it every now and then, but nobody. Nina always maintained that spot even after she moved in with Jamal, but it was mostly for me. The apartment was in a low key neighborhood in Queens so I would use it for some business purposes occasionally."
"So what, you keep paying the rent every month to maintain it?"
"Right before she died, Nina resigned the lease. I paid that shit up for the whole year in advance. To this day that landlord ain't neva asked no questions and don't even know that Nina is dead. When it's time to renew the lease, he puts it under the door and I get my people to pay that shit up front for the year. And you know how motherfuckers are. All they want is the loot and no tenants complaining about the noise. I'm two for two on that."
"Interesting. You better hope Maya doesn't ever find that spot."
"Nope, like I said it's a real low-key spot. She doesn't know anything about it. That's exactly the way it needs to be. Having some collateral is good be
cause you can never be too careful. But like I said, Maya and I share a bond. It won't ever come down to that."
I heard what Mike was saying, but that so called bond he shared with Maya appeared to be one-sided to me. I wanted to be wrong because with his help I would get my daughter back. But see, I was always taught that when a man was sleeping, a woman was thinking, and in this particular case I think that applied to brother and sister too. Maya wasn't going to let anybody-including Mike-get in the way of her being able to walk in my shoes.
"Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h-h!" was all I screamed for twenty minutes straight when I left from seeing my brother and Precious at the stash house. Those two motherfuckers were trying to ruin everything that I had worked so hard for. I couldn't fathom how Precious was able to turn my brother against me. Thepower ofpussy, kept flashing through my brain. It had to be that because what other reason would Mike develop a conscious? I thought back to when I first started seeing glimpses of it. It all came around to Aaliyah. He had a soft spot for that little girl and for her mother. I preferred for Precious to be dead, but I was willing to let Mike ride into the night with that manipulative tramp, but not with Aaliyah too. Supreme would be devastated and would spend the rest of his life searching for her and leaving no time for me and him to become a family. I had to figure out a way to work this shit out, and it started tonight.
When I got back to the house Supreme wasn't home and Aaliyah was gone. His parents must have been in and out. I wondered what Supreme was working on that had his full attention. I knew Precious was at the center of it but I wanted the specifics. I couldn't focus on any of that right now. I didn't know how much time I was working with before Supreme would be home and I had to try and work my magic. I ran upstairs and headed straight for the shower.
It was now or never so I had to go hard. I stepped out the shower and began the completion of my transformation. It would be the tiny details that would make all the difference and I wasn't missing one. Every ten minutes I would check out the security camera to see if Supreme was pulling up, and on the fourth look I peeped his Lamborghini zooming up the driveway. My hands were shaking because I was so nervous, but there was no backing out.
