All I could do was shake my head. I should have listened to those voices in my head that were telling me to leave her ass alone because now this shit just might cost me my life. Word traveled so fuckin’ fast around Miami that I knew Trip would find out about this shit. On top of that, Shae was going to tell that nigga on me.
Trip was the type of nigga that you should fear, not just because I knew him personally, and I knew what he would do to a person who fucked with people he loved. It was just the mere fact that this nigga was doing a life sentence, and he had nothing to lose.
Toddrick “Miami” King
I went to New York today on business. Like a thief in the night, I was in and out. With this fight coming up, I had been in and out doing a lot of press, and truth be told, if the shit wasn’t for a good cause, I would have been tapped out on this shit. It was hard enough that I already had to fight for the first time since my mom’s passing, then I had to deal with all this other shit.
I wanted Shae to go with me, but she explained that she had too much work at the job to take off, and I understood that shit. Shae had just got back to work a couple of weeks ago after missing months when Vonte died. Besides her beauty, her bomb ass personality, and everything else that she possessed, I swear I liked the way she got up and took her ass to work in the morning. I could take care of shorty for ten lifetimes, but she didn’t want me to.
I told her to transfer all the bills to me, so I could pay her mortgage and whatever else she had, but she wouldn’t let me. I loved that fuckin’ woman, man. I was on a private jet right now, maybe about thirty minutes away from landing, and all I could think about was picking up my daughter and going to see my girl.
Taniya damn near cried, begging me to let her spend the night with Shae, but my dad wanted her. He hadn’t gotten to see her as much because if I wasn’t working, I was up under my shorty, and Taniya would be right with us. I loved the fact that Taniya liked Shae. It was one thing for me to like Jashae, but I swear it was a whole other thing for my daughter to like her.
My daughter had been staying with me full time for two months, and Tahira was flying down next weekend to see her. I wanted to let Tahira meet Shae at that time. There were no ifs, ands, or buts that I was going to marry Shae, so I felt that it was only right that I allowed Tahira to see the woman who I had around our child.
I sat on the private jet by myself except for the two flight attendants who were on board along with the pilot. I held a glass of Hennessey in my hands. My phone started buzzing in my lap, and I looked down, just to see that it was Jabari calling. This nigga was going to stress me the fuck out. It was a domino effect with this pregnancy. Mahogany was stressing him out, then he came calling me, stressing me the fuck out.
I was proud that his ass was going to be a daddy, but I wouldn’t lie and say that he wasn’t working my fuckin’ nerves! Half the time he called; he was calling to vent. Right now, he was dealing with a woman and her pregnancy hormones. He had a little way to go, so there really wasn’t shit that I could do but keep him motivated. Although I wasn’t there to witness Tahira’s pregnancy, I was there after the fact, and I mean it when I say that those after pregnancy hormones and mood changes are just as bad.
I wanted to ignore the nigga, but for him to be calling me at two in the morning, the shit had to have been serious. I hoped his ass didn’t fuck around and kill Mahogany over there.
“Yo,” I answered the phone and set the cup down.
“Where you at, bruh?” he asked.
I could hear the seriousness in his voice. Only time I ever heard this nigga be serious was when my ole girl died and when he called me and told me that Mahogany was pregnant. Jabari was a jokey ass nigga, always feeling the need to play around and shit, so hearing him like this caused me to sit up in the chair. When the flight attendant walked and inquired if I needed anything, I put my finger up for her to give me a minute.
“You know where I’m at. I’m on the jet, on my way home. What’s good, nigga?” I aggressively asked him. I knew it was a problem. I could feel that shit.
My heart started beating like a motha fucka, and I could feel sweat beads starting to form on my forehead because I knew he was getting ready to tell me some bullshit.
“It’s Shae, she—”
“She what? What the fuck happened?” I asked, cutting him off.
It was the way he started the sentence off that I didn’t like. I knew it would be bad. Even though I had just talked to her before I boarded the flight and she told me she was going to sleep, I was smart enough to know that was well over two hours ago, and anything could happen in that amount of time.
“I don’t know all the details yet, but a nigga somehow got into the house, and he did her dirty, man. He left her face gruesome. I just got to the hospital with Mahogany, and I couldn’t even stand to see shorty looking like that, so I had to walk out and—”
“Put her on the phone,” I said.
By this time, I was pacing the aisle of the jet. Angry wasn’t even the right word to describe how I felt. A nigga was so fuckin’ mad that I could cry. I leave town for not even twenty-four hours, and my girl gets violated. Fucked up part about all of this is that Shae didn’t have beef with nobody, so whatever nigga had touched her was obviously looking for me.
I had literally just talked to shorty. She was on the phone telling me how she couldn’t wait for me to get back home. I had just made love to her ass early this morning before I left. I loved God deeply, but dammit, I was questioning his motives right now. Why was Shae all of a sudden his target? Shit was happening back to back to her, but for what? What was the purpose of all this shit? I would have thought that whatever negative shit could possibly happen in her life would be put on hold, especially after losing Vonte, but nah, fucked up shit was still happening.
“The cops and shit in the room with her. It’s a gang of people in there, including the doctor and all those fuckin’ nurses and detectives, so—”
“Bari, I sound like I give a fuck about all that shit right now, nigga? For my fuckin’ sanity, put my shorty on the phone, so I can hear her voice, yo!” I barked.
I heard him release a sigh, and then I heard some shuffling on his side of the line. I swear it felt like ten minutes had gone by before I heard…
“Hello?”
I could hear that she was still shaken up. Her voice was raspy, and she sounded weak.
“Choc, I’m sorry. I swear to God, I’m sorry. I should have never left you there by yourself,” was the only thing that I could think of to say.
Although there was more, I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that someone had the fuckin’ balls to touch her. That wasn’t Trip’s shorty no more, she was mine, and I had made that clear too.
“Miami, where are you? I need you.”
Hearing her say that shit, I swear my heart broke. She needed me when this shit happened, and I was in a whole other fuckin’ city. As a man, when it was your job to be your shorty’s rock, and some shit happened like this, you couldn’t help but feel worthless. I felt like I had failed her.
“This plane should be landing in less than twenty minutes. Who did this shit to you? Do you know?” I asked her.
“It was Dino. The officers checked the front door, and they told me that he was able to get in by picking the lock. I’m so dumb. I should have put the alarm on, and none of this would have happened. This is all my fault,” she said and then burst out crying.
Her tears tugged at my heart.
“Fuck you mean this is your fault, Shae? Ain’t none of this shit your fault, yo. We don’t even have to say the shit, but we both know who put the battery in his fuckin’ back to do the shit. I tried to be nice to that nigga over the phone because had I lost you, I know I would have been feeling fucked up too, so I was trying to take his feelings into consideration. At the same time, I’m not about to let that nigga think that I’m some fuckin’ easy target and he can pull shit like this. I want him to call you becaus
e I want him to add me on his visitation list. I need to put a birdie in his ear. Fuck, man!” I yelled and swung my arm, but didn’t hit shit.
I can’t explain to you what I was feeling. I had Shae’s heart, so I was naturally hurt by this shit along with her.
At the hospital
I ran toward the elevator doors and hoping on like I was seconds away from Shae having my baby, and I didn’t want to miss the arrival of our child. If I could have flown the fuckin’ plane myself, I would have done that because that’s just how badly I wanted to get to this hospital, especially since I’d already missed out on so much.
The security at the hospital front desk quickly checked me in, and before he could fully let me know which room Shae was in, I took off. When the elevator doors opened, about three detectives were walking my way. I gave them a head nod, and I kept on walking. Jabari was the first face that I saw. Just like he’d told me over the phone, he was standing outside with a weary ass look on his face.
When I was close enough to him, nothing needed to be said. We gave each other a pound, and I walked inside. Everybody was inside Shae’s room; her grandmother, her ole boy, and Mahogany. For the longest, I purposely tried to look everywhere but in her direction, because I was actually scared to see her face. I didn’t want to see that nigga’s handiwork. It was only so much stalling that I would be able to do because this room wasn’t that big. The room was quiet as hell. Only sound was from the machine inside the room. I walked over to Shae, and her eyes were closed. She was in a deep sleep.
Looking down at her, I wouldn’t even lie and say that my eyes didn’t become misty. Her upper lip was busted, and I could see the dried blood. I wasn’t even sure what happened on the right side of her forehead, but there was a big bandage covering the wound. Her entire face was swollen, and black and blue bruises took up just about every spot on her face. I looked down at her hands, which had scratches, and that alone showed me that she was in there fighting for her life.
“She has rib damage, and when her eyes open, you’ll notice that they both are swollen. They gave her pain medication, which is what put her to sleep. Miami, I like you. I really like you, but at the same time, I love my granddaughter to death. This has been my baby since she came on this Earth. I know why they did this to her. I may be old, but I’m no fool. I want to see Shae happy. I actually like her with you, but I will not lose my baby to this shit, you hear me?” she asked, and her voice cracked when she said it. Even a tear fell from her eyes that she didn’t even bother to wipe. “You better finish it before it’s too late. I just lost my great grandbaby. I won’t lose Shae too,” and with that, Shae’s grandmother walked away.
She had every reason to be mad. Hell, she could even be mad at me if she wanted to. Out of respect for Shae, I didn’t say shit. Shae’s father gave me a head nod, and then he walked out of the room. Mahogany placed her hand on my shoulder for a few seconds and then left when Jabari called her. Now, it just left Shae and me in the cold hospital room.
I took a seat on the side of the bed that they had her lying in, and I picked up her hand then kissed the back of it. Her body didn’t even stir, so I was sure that whatever they’d given to her had to have been strong. She was knocked out. I sat there for maybe two hours, just trying to picture the details of how her night could have possibly gone. I thought about how scared she had to have been. I knew Dino, and I knew how big that silly looking, ugly ass nigga was. No woman would want to wake up and see that type of nigga looking down at them.
I hadn’t asked the question yet because, truthfully, I was scared to know the answer. I mean, no one had said anything, but still, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I knew he’d touched her, but I wanted to know if he had touched her, touched her, if you know what I mean. When Shae and I finally decided that we wanted to give this relationship thing a try, I already knew what time it was. I knew there would be people who didn’t want us together, but never in a million years did I think that some shit like this would happen.
When she woke up, I would let her know upfront how much her life was getting ready to change. First things first, she was selling that fuckin’ house and moving in with me. Now that I knew how fuckin’ grimy niggas could be, I wanted my shorty at my home laying her head down with me for the rest of her life. I was putting security on her ass too. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something else happened to Shae, all because of her involvement with me.
Thirdly, I needed to talk to Trip over the phone and have that nigga add me to his visitation list because I had to look that man in his eyes and let him know that I would not play behind my girl. All that shot calling that he liked to do behind those walls was going to get those niggas killed. On everything I love, I wanted him to send a nigga to my doorstep. The way I was feeling right now, I could kill me a few niggas!
Jashae Johnson
A week had passed since the attack. Crazy how that was able to put me back into the dark place that I thought I’d escaped. Dino coming into my home and putting his hands on me was just a reminder that my son was no longer here because Vonte used to be my biggest protector. Vonte would be the one to walk the halls of our home at night just to make sure that everything was in place. Although my baby was just a kid, I always felt so protected with him at home with me. He was also the one who would make sure that the alarm was set at night because there were times that I would become so distracted that I would forget to set it. That’s what happened that night.
I was on the phone with Mahogany running my mouth, and I forgot to put the alarm on in the house. I couldn’t get that night out of my mind. It’s crazy because months ago when I lost Vonte, I was ready to die. God had put me in a situation where I’d come close to death, and it took that happening to me for me to realize that I wasn’t ready to leave this earth yet. That’s why the power of the tongue was so important and why we had to watch what came out of our mouths. Dino had to have been three times my body weight, but I fought like hell. I just remember him being on top of me, punching me and slapping me anywhere that his blows would land. Every time that I was able to get a lick in, he would get so angry and damn near try to kill my ass.
Luckily, I stayed in an area with good neighbors and security. My next door neighbor called the police after she saw someone coming inside my house who she’d never seen before. Mind you, when she gave her statement, she didn’t even tell the police that she saw Dino picking with the lock. She was just so nosey, and she’d never seen Dino before, which is why she called. I owed that lady my life because had the police never barged inside, I know for a fact that Dino would have killed me in that room.
Although it’s been a week since it happened, the pain in my body still felt like it happened yesterday. The swelling in my face hadn’t gone down much, but it didn’t look as bad as it did the night I was brought into the hospital. The swelling around my eyes was still there, and my lip was still healing. The pain in my ribs was something that I couldn’t even explain. It was so bad that I was walking with a limp. That came from Dino kicking me in my ribs after I’d kneed him in his dick again.
I hated Trip after this. In the past, there was really nothing that he could do to get me to hate him, but after this, I swear I wished nothing good on him. For him to send Dino’s ass to my house showed me that he could give two fucks about me or my wellbeing. On top of that, I was angry at myself. I felt stupid, betrayed, and numb to all this bullshit. This was a man who I held down for over ten years. I deprived myself of time, conversation, and sex from other men, all for a nigga who was so undeserving of any of that.
For ten years, almost every fuckin’ Saturday, I was back and forth to see him in Orlando, just so I could show his ass that I cared. I don’t care how mad Trip was with me, I will never be able to wrap my head around the fact that he could be so hateful. As much as I wanted to change my phone number, Miami told me to hold off on it because he wanted Trip to call again, so he could talk to him. So far, I hadn’t heard from him, and
I was happy about that. On the other hand, I wanted him to call, just to let him know that he’d lost me for good. I wanted him to know that he was going to rot in that fuckin’ prison, and he would never in his fuckin’ life have to worry about me answering another phone call, putting another dime on his books, making that ride to see him, none of that!
I had a good heart, so in the past, if Trip would fuck up, I would always forgive him because I didn’t want him to have to do that time alone. I knew that his mama didn’t make it her business to go and check up on him like I did. Because I didn’t want to just leave him high and dry, I would still forgive him, even though a lot of the shit he’s done over the years weren’t things that I needed to forgive him for. That and the fact that we had Vonte then, and I didn’t want my son to see his parents beefing with each other.
Vonte was no longer here, and I had to tell myself that I didn’t owe Trip shit! Not even my fuckin’ loyalty. He wasn’t even loyal to me because had he been, Dino would have never found his way to my damn house. Trip had to tell Dino my address. It showed when I would send him letters in the past or when he would send me letters. Dino wouldn’t know where to find me without the help of Trip.
I was angry at the world. I felt like no one could relate to what I was going through. No one could feel the type of pain that I was feeling. I was grateful for everybody that I had in my life who was trying to be there for me, but nothing that they could say or do would take away what happened to me. It’s been a whole fuckin’ week since the day that I came home from the hospital, and I won’t even use the bathroom without Miami standing outside the door, making sure no one is there to harm me. Just last night, I had Miami walk the halls of his house twice, just to make sure that we were fine.
Down With the King of the South 2 Page 11
