by A'zayler
He stopped by the office first to get a visitor’s pass before heading to Izzy’s class. After walking fast as he could to get there, he peeked through the slit of glass on the door to make sure he wasn’t disturbing anything before he went in. The class was still empty, and it was dimly lit. When he opened the door he saw Holly, but he didn’t see Izzy.
“Where’s Izzy?”
Holly motioned for him to come to her. He walked through the small rows of tables until he was in front of her desk. When he was directly in front of her she nodded her head downwards. Jacko’s eyes went to the body sized mint green pillow on the floor. Izzy was sprawled across it asleep. Her mouth was slightly opened and her hair was everywhere. There was a light pink blanket thrown over her so he couldn’t see anything but her head.
“I told her to come lay here because it’s almost time for me to go get the rest of her class from the chapel. She seemed so tired, and she’s such a bright little girl, I didn’t see the harm in her missing a few lessons.”
Jacko nodded his appreciation and went around the desk. He kneeled next to Izzy just as they heard the door open again.
“Hello, has Jackson been here yet?” Kia’s voice carried across the classroom.
“I’m right here, baby.” Jacko didn’t move, he just waited for her to come to him.
“Why is she sleep? Is she okay?” Kia had just stopped behind him.
“How are you today, Kia?” Holly stood to hug her.
After they exchanged pleasantries, and filled Kia in on Izzy’s situation, Jacko stood from the floor.
“I’m just going to go ahead and take her home with me.”
“That’s quite alright. I’ll put together her work from today so that she won’t be behind.”
“Thank you.” Kia followed her to the front of the classroom while Jacko stood in the back holding Izzy over his shoulder.
“Holly, who brought her to school today?”
Holly twisted her mouth to the side and rolled her eyes to the sky. “I want to say it was Kerry, because it was her car, but I’m not sure because I didn’t see her face. When they pulled up I was already helping another student out.”
Jacko nodded. “A’ight. I appreciate you for calling.”
“Thank you for coming.”
“Oh that’s always. No matter what. Just call us,” Kia told her before following Jacko out of the room.
They walked down the hall in silence for a minute, both of them probably thinking the same thing. Jacko grabbed Kia’s hand as they made their way to their cars. When they got back outside he noticed her car was parked next to his.
“This is some bullshit. I’ma fuck Kerry up.”
Kia looked at him. “I told you it was some foul mess going on.”
“You about to ride over there with me?”
Kia looked at him surprised for a minute. “You’re going over there?”
“Yeah. I need to. This shit don’t make no damn sense. Izzy’s hair ain’t combed. These fucking shoes don’t match, and her damn face is dirty.”
“You think you can handle going over there right now?” Kia gave him a questioning look.
Jacko knew she was only trying to be sure because he hadn’t been over Kerry’s house in months. Ever since she’d started dealing with that new nigga, he just couldn’t make himself do it. He hated that nigga, and he hated the way Kerry let him handle her and Izzy. His temper wasn’t set up for that type of shit. That nigga would be lying on the floor leaking if he said the wrong shit in Jacko’s presence.
That was the reason he’d chosen to just stay away from him. He was Kerry’s nigga, and her choice, so he tried to keep his distance. She was grown, and he wasn’t her daddy, so he had no real say so in who she chose to deal with. Today was a new day though. The shit with Izzy had him fire hot, so he was about to straighten her ass. Cooper’s too if he got in his way.
“What other choice do I have?”
Kia walked up on him and kissed his lips. “Just try to behave.”
“I might not be able to. Come with me just in case.” Jacko was smiling at her.
“Oh, I was doing that anyway. You think I was about to send you over there by yourself? You got me all kinds of fucked up. You must have forgot who my daddy is.”
Jacko laughed even though he didn’t wasn’t really in the mood to. “Girl ain’t nobody scared of you or Buck old ass.”
“Nigga please. If I remember correctly, you used to be.”
Jacko scrunched his face up. “In what life? I’ve always been on some kiss my ass shit when it came to Buck. I had your lil hot ass lying just to spend the night and get this dick. A scared nigga wouldn’t have did no shit like that.”
Kia was trying her hardest to hold her smile in. “So you bad?”
“Nah, baby, I’m just a real nigga. I’ll meet the realist OG in the city and fuck the shit out his daughter and have her wanting to marry my thug ass. Give her this long dick and make her call me daddy.”
Kia turned her nose up at Jacko. “I better be the only OG’s daughter you fucking.”
Jacko sucked his teeth and looked off to the side. “Why you always got to do that shit? You know damn well this dick belongs to you. I think your lil nasty ass just likes to hear me say it.” Jacko walked over to her and leaned Izzy away from him so that he could get in Kia’s face. “You like when I tell you I belong to you, don’t you?”
Kia crossed her arms. “Get out my face, Jack.”
“Give me a kiss.”
“Nope.” Kia turned around was headed to her car when Jacko stopped her.
He walked up behind her and grabbed the front of her throat. Kia’s head fell backward against his shoulder. “What I tell you about disobeying me?”
Kia stood quietly smiling.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but I’ll handle your lil disobedient ass later.”
Jacko released her neck and walked to the other side of her car to place Izzy inside. He strapped her in her booster seat and closed the door before going to his own car. After he was in and made sure Kia was ready to pull out, they left the school.
The whole ride over to Kerry’s house, he prayed for the best. He really wasn’t into cussing her out because she had been holding things down for her and his niece for years and had done an exceptional job at it. In the back of his mind, he already knew the root of all these problems were on that punk ass nigga, Cooper. He just needed definite proof before he took matters into his own hands.
His heart began to beat faster as he pulled his car along the curb in front of Kerry’s apartment. Her car was in the yard, and she worked the night shift, so he knew she was home. Once Kia’s car came to a stop behind his he cut his engine and hopped out. He grabbed Izzy, who was still asleep, and headed for the door with Kia in tow.
“Don’t say nothing to that nigga, lil rowdy ass girl.”
“I won’t, as long as he don’t say nothing to me.”
Jacko wanted to argue with her but he knew it would be pointless. Kia wasn’t going to sit idly by while a nigga got slick at the mouth with her. Nor was she going to let anything he said to Jacko slide. Jacko sighed and walked to the door. He knocked on it and waited for someone to answer. When no one answered, he began to beat on it harder.
It took a few minutes, but he heard the locks turning. When the door opened, Cooper was standing there in his underwear. He was in desperate need of a shave and his skin looked ashy. His face was dirty, and he looked like he could barely open his eyes.
“Damn, nigga. The fuck took y’all so long to open up the fucking door?” Jacko pushed past him and walked into the house.
Kia followed right behind him, purposely ignoring Cooper’s presence. They both stopped in the living room and just looked around. The house was a mess. Clothes and trash everywhere.
“All these fucking clothes lying around and neither one of y’all couldn’t put my niece on some clean clothes for school today?” Jacko looked at Cooper.
Cooper
stood in the middle of the floor still rubbing his eyes. He looked as if he was still sleeping and hadn’t heard a word that Jacko had just said. Kia and Jacko both looked at him before looking at each other.
“Muthafucka you hear me talking to you? Where’s Kerry?” Jacko yelled.
Cooper grabbed his ears. “Stop yelling, man, damn.”
Kia sucked her teeth and walked past Jacko and up the stairs. He watched her go up the stairs while keeping an eye on Cooper. He didn’t trust the nigga enough to turn his back on him. He stood still until he heard Kia yelling his name. He took the stairs two at a time to get where she was. When he rounded the corner to Kerry’s room, he stopped in his tracks.
Kerry was naked and lying face down on the bed with a pair of panties hanging around one of her ankles. The man lying next to her in nothing but his underwear made Jacko’s blood boil. To an ordinary person he would look like he was sleeping, but Jacko knew better. The way his eyes were rolled back into his head and the trail of slob dripping from his mouth gave the conclusion that he was high.
His arm was stretched out in front of him with a torn piece of fabric that looked a lot like a stocking tied around his arm. He was shirtless, displaying his large round stomach. He looked to be in his fifties, maybe even his sixties. The room was a mess, and it smelled awful. The odor was putrid. Musk and fresh sex lingered in the air.
“Kerry!” Jacko yelled.
She didn’t move, so he called her name again. She shifted a little before dragging herself to turn over. She sat up slowly and rubbed her hand over her face.
“Girl, cover your ass up. Ain’t nobody about to stand here and talk to you while you’re naked.” Kia tossed the shirt that was hanging on the TV to her. “Put that shit on. My nigga ain’t about to look at you with your ass and titties all out.”
Jacko looked over at Kia. She shrugged her shoulders at him and looked back at Kerry. She was pulling the shirt over her head slowly so Kia stepped forward and helped her pull it the rest of the way. When she was fully covered, she rubbed her eyes and looked up at them. It took her a minute, but once she finally came to her senses she scrambled to her feet, nearly falling over.
If Jacko hadn’t been standing there to catch her she would have fallen and probably busted her head on the corner of the dresser.
“Hey y’all. What y’all doing with Izzy?”
“Man, Kerry, go get yourself together, shawty. You pissing me off and I don’t want to slap your ass.” Jacko walked out of the room and headed down the hall. He went into the bathroom to flip the shower on to give Izzy a bath. The water began running while he walked into her room to grab her something fresh to put on.
When he threw her closet door back, it disgusted him to see the amount of clothes hanging up with tags on them. All the shit he bought her, and Kerry had sent her to school with that dirty ass shit on. Jacko grabbed one of outfits that was hanging up. A box of shoes from the top of the closet and walked to her dresser. He checked three or four drawers before finding her a pair of panties.
With all of her things in hand, he went back to the bathroom. He set the clothes down on the sink before taking a seat on the lid of the toilet. He stood Izzy in front of him.
“Izzy, wake up, baby girl. Let’s take a bath.”
Izzy yawned and looked around for a minute, trying to see where she was. When she finally realized who she was with, she smiled.
“Hey, Uncle Jack.”
“Hey, Izzy. Take your stuff off so that you can take a bath.”
Izzy looked down at her clothes before running her hand over her clothes and hair. She looked back up at Jacko and frowned. “Don’t be mad at me, Uncle Jack.”
“Why would I be mad with you, Izzy? Uncle Jack loves you.”
“Because… I wore this already, but I wore it again today.” Her eyes started to water. “I was sleepy, and I didn’t feel like finding anything else. Mommy told me to put on my clothes, but I didn’t take a bath, so I didn’t want to put on my new stuff and make it dirty.”
Jacko held his head in his hand and took a deep breath. This shit was too stressful. “Why didn’t you take a bath, Izzy?”
“Umm, because I umm, well because my mommy had her friends over here and I didn’t want them to come in.”
“What friends?” Jacko stood up from the toilet and paced back and forth around the bathroom, trying to give himself time to calm down.
He took a few deep breaths before telling Izzy to take her clothes off and take a bath. After telling her he would send Kia in to help her, he left the bathroom and closed the door. Jacko knew how reckless he could get under pressure, so he walked slower than normal back to Kerry’s room. When he got there, he was glad he had. Cooper had found his way upstairs and was lying in the bed.
He didn’t see Kia or Kerry but he could hear the water running in the bathroom. “Nigga, why the fuck Izzy had to get herself dressed for school today?”
Cooper looked at Jacko and turned the TV up. The man in the corner stirred when the volume got louder. Jacko waited for an answer, but when one never came he started to get angry. This was the shit that made him want to kill niggas. He had been trying his hardest to change since getting older and marrying Kia, but niggas like Cooper tested too many of his old habits.
“Bitch nigga, I asked you a question.”
Cooper looked at Jacko again but said nothing. This time the other drugged up man in the corner moved. He scrambled to his feet, grabbing clothing that Jacko assumed belonged to him. He walked toward the door with his head down nervously. He stopped in front of Jacko still shaking and refusing to make eye contact.
“Excuse me sir,” he spoke, even though he was clearly older than Jacko.
Jacko looked at him before stepping to the side so that he could pass. He had no beef with the man. Though he could kill him just for being there, ultimately his issue was with Kerry and the bitch she called her boyfriend. Who had yet to respond to Jacko. Jacko ran his hand over his face trying to mask his anger but that didn’t work.
Before he knew it he had lunged across the bed and was on top of Cooper. Delivering blow after blow. The commotion caused Kia to come running from the bathroom.
“Jacko, no! Stop it, Jacko!” Kerry yelled. She grabbed at Jacko’s swinging arm and barely missed an elbow to the mouth.
Kia snatched her back. “Chill. Jacko got it. That nigga needs his ass beat. Let Jacko get this shit.”
Kerry sucked her teeth and disregarded everything Kia had just said because she lunged at Jacko again. Jacko was in a totally different world as he beat on Cooper’s ass. He was in a zone punching wildly. Cooper was trying to swing, but wasn’t able to get much in. Jacko wasn’t the biggest man, in fact, he was a little smaller than average but he was beating Cooper’s ass.
Kerry looked to be on the verge of tears but Kia nor Jacko cared about that. She should have thought about that before sending Izzy to school looking the way she did. Jacko had his hand around Cooper’s throat when he heard Kia’s voice telling him to stop. He hadn’t paid enough attention before, but now that Cooper wasn’t putting up much of a fight he was able to focus a little more.
Jacko looked to the side and saw Kerry on the floor holding her head. Kia was standing next to her with her arms folded across her chest. She was looking at him with a serious face as she shook her head from side to side.
“That’s enough, Jack.”
He looked at her but kept his hand around Cooper’s neck.
“Get up.”
Jacko sniffed and removed himself from the bed. He stood on the side near Kia and Kerry as Cooper did the best he could to get up from the bed. His nose and the cut above his eye was bleeding. He wasn’t the darkest man, so bruises were already starting to show which only reminded Jacko of the black eye that Izzy was sporting.
“One of y’all need to get to talking. Izzy has a black eye, I picked her up in the same shit that she wore yesterday, and she just told me she didn’t take a bath last night.”
Kerry stood from the floor, pulling at the shirt she was now wearing. She looked nervous and scared as she looked from Cooper to Jacko. She fidgeted with the bottom of her shirt with one hand and wiped her nose with the other one. Jacko wondered for a moment if she was doing what he hoped she wasn’t, but the way she was fidgeting and wiping her nose, that was the only logical thing he could think of.
“I fell asleep this morning. I was so tired from last night that I could hardly move. I asked her to get herself dressed. I figured with her being five that she would be able to handle that. Cooper said he would take her to school while I got some rest.” Kerry looked away from Jacko and down to the floor. “I was really tired, Jacko. You know me. I take good care of my baby, I wouldn’t have purposely sent her looking crazy.”
Jacko wanted to believe her so bad because she really was a good mother and had been since he’d known her. The only thing that was giving him a bad feeling was the way they’d found her when they’d come in.
“Where did she get that black eye from?” Jacko looked at Cooper, who was wiping his face with the comforter from Kerry’s bed.
“I don’t have a clue. I didn’t know she even had one. I swear.”
“Where is she now, Jack?” Kia asked.
Jacko snapped his fingers. “Damn. I left her in the tub Kia. I told her you was about to come in there.”
Kia said nothing else as she exited the room in route to Izzy.
“So you expect me to believe that your five year old daughter has a black eye and you don’t know where it came from?”
Kerry nodded her head.
“Listen, Kerry, you grown shawty, so I’m not about to act like I’m your daddy. But as far as Izzy goes, technically I’m her fucking daddy so I have to look out for her. Even when it comes to you. I haven’t had to do this shit in the past and I really don’t like doing it now, but I will. Get your shit together. If this nigga bringing you down to the point where you can’t even be a mama to your child, then you need to move the fuck around.”
