Feels So Right, It Must Be Wrong

by Charmanie Saquea

  She had to spend four years of her life being bounced around from foster home to foster home because nobody stepped up to help her out or take her in. He and Crystal made a vow that day that they walked into that foster home that Asia would never want for need nor would she need for anything, which is why he made sure that she and Symare had whatever they wanted.

  "Alright, let's start," he finally spoke. "As you know..." he started, but was cut off by Cordae.

  "Hold up, everybody ain't here," Cordae said as he looked around.

  Symir looked at like he was crazy. "Did you really just interrupt me?"

  "I'm saying though," Cordae shrugged. "You said these meeting were not to be missed under any condition, but it seems like Asia is missing."

  "Why the fuck you always jockin her?" Mickey, one of Symir's lieutenants, asked.

  "How the fuck is me asking a simple question jockin her?" Cordae retorted.

  Knowledge just sat back waiting to hear what Symir was about to say because he himself was wondering where Asia was. He was tempted to text her and ask here where she was. After all, she was the one that had hit him up last night telling him to be on time.

  "Y'all niggas done?" Symir asked calmly. Both men nodded their heads yes and said nothing else. "First off Cordae, don't fucking cut me off while I'm talking. That shit is disrespectful and you know I don't play that shit. Secondly, Asia isn't here because my nephew is sick with a fever. Asia is a mother before anything, so her son will always come first."

  Symir wasn't a mean nigga and was pretty fair. Everybody in his family ate and he made sure of that,but one thing he didn't tolerate was disrespect. He earned his respect when he was just sixteen years old when he called his father’s connect and told him he was picking up where Syrus left off. "Now, as I was saying, everything seems to be looking good, especially our numbers," he said as he looked over at his accountant for confirmation.

  "Everything is looking more than great," Devry Marshall confirmed.

  Symir nodded his head and continued. "So you know I'm watching even when I'm not around and I know when muthafuckas is starting to slack on they job." He cut his eyes at Cordae. "I need everybody to be on point no matter what. Cordae, care to explain what the fuck been going on?"

  "I can't do my job if you're allowing other people to get in my way," Cordae said.

  "Elaborate," Symir instructed.

  "You hired me to be the enforcer, right? I'm the nigga you send in when shit needs to be handled, right? Well,I can't go in and get shit done if I have to make sure Asia don't get into no shit at the same time. I like to get in, get‘er done and get out. I can't do that with her tagging along playing the set up role," explained Cordae.

  "When I first brought Asia in on this shit, I said since she was the only female I was letting in that she was to be protected at all cost. So what you're saying is you're tired of making sure she straight, so you're allowing that to get in the way of you doing ya job?"

  "I never had a problem doing my job until you brought that bitch in to play a set up bitch! I was doing good on my own," Cordae yelled. He didn't like the fact that Symir felt the need to call him out over some shit that wasn’t his fault. He told him from jump not to let Asia in because she would be in the way.

  Symir slowly walked from his place at the head of the table and over to Cordae. Without warning, he hauled off and hit in in his jaw. Everyone within their immediate proximity heard when Symir's fist connected to Cordae's jaw. Symir didn't stop there though. He kept raining blow after blow to Cordae's face, who was too slow to block them.

  Knowledge was itching to jump in on the action. He didn't take too kindly to his cousin calling Asia out of her name. Their granny taught them better than to ever disrespect a female, no matter the situation. Finally, Symir stopped swinging on Cordae and backed up. "Get the fuck out and clean yourself up," Symir said as he went back to his position at the head of the table.

  Cordae looked over at his cousin wondering why the hell he didn't help him out, or at least try to get Symir to stop. Cordae spit out a wad of blood and proceeded to walk out of the door with his head held high. There was no bad blood between him and Symir because he knew he crossed the line by disrespecting Asia.

  "Anyone else feel the same as Cordae?" Symir asked looking at everyone in the eye. They all shook their heads no. He turned his attention towards Knowledge. "You agreeing with ya cousin?"

  "I'm my own man. He don't speak for me," answered Knowledge.

  "Then this meeting is over. Y’all get the fuck up out of here." He waved them off.

  7

  Asia hadn't been out of the house that much in the past week because Symare had caught a real bad stomach bug. It had gotten so bad that she had to take him to the emergency room because he couldn't keep anything down, not even liquids. He had gotten so dehydrated that they had to put an IV in him just so he could get some fluids in his body. His fever was so high that the doctors said he was close to having a seizure.

  She was so nervous and scared. Her baby had never been that sick before but she didn't go through it alone. Of course, Crystal came by every day to check on her grandson and help Asia out. He was getting better now but Asia wouldn't let him get too active because she didn't want him to work himself up.

  She stood in the doorway of her patio and watched as Symare and Sasha played on the patio and ate popsicles. "Girl, leave them babies alone. They are fine," Crystal joked. She knew Asia was doing what any parent would do, and that's worry about their child.

  "I'm sorry, I just want to make sure he was eating his Popsicle. I don't want him to get dehydrated again. You don't think it's too hot for them to be out there?" Asia asked as she glanced at them one more time before helping Crystal out in the kitchen.

  "You don't have to apologize. You have the right to be worried. If you want them to come in then that's up to you," said Crystal. She wasn't the type to dictate how her kids raised their children. She raised the ones she was supposed to. Now all she needed to do was be there to support and give advice when it was asked for and even when it wasn't.

  "I just want him to be able to play outside a little. He hadn't really seen outside in the past week unless it was going to and from the hospital." Asia shrugged. She heard her phone ringing from the living room so she ran to answer it thinking it was Khyree calling. She was shocked when she saw Knowledge's name.

  "Hello?"

  "What you doing?" he asked.

  For some unknown reason she caught butterflies in her stomach and a shiver down her spine at the sound of his voice. "Helping my mom cook."

  "What we eating?" Knowledge asked as he sat in the car waiting for Chelsea to come out of the beauty salon.

  "Fried tilapia, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese with a salad," answered Asia.

  "Definitely save me a plate," he said as his stomach started to growl.

  "How you gon get it?" Asia asked.

  "You gon bring it to me, duh," he said like she should have already known that.

  "Whatever you say," she smiled.

  "How lil man doing?" He genuinely wanted to know how her son was doing but he also used that as an excuse to call her. He looked up as Chelsea walked out of the salon.

  "He's doing good, real good."

  "That's good but let me call you back in a minute," he said.

  "Okay," Asia said before hanging up. She turned around to see Crystal standing there with a sneaky grin on her face. "What?" Asia asked.

  "Who is he?"

  "Oh that was just Knowledge calling to see how Symare was doing. Nothing personal." She shrugged like it was nothing; honestly, it wasn't anything to her.

  "Yea, I'll let you tell it," Crystal said before walking back to the kitchen.

  Asia just shook her head as she followed behind Crystal. She would be lying if she said that Knowledge wasn't fine as hell, but that's all she would do; look. She wouldn't dare touch knowing her brother wouldn't approve of it.

  ~ ~ ~

&n
bsp; "You like my hair?" Chelsea asked as she got in the car. For some reason, lately she had been feeling like Knowledge was losing interest in her. She had never felt like that before so she tried to shrug it off but she couldn't shake the feeling.

  "Yea, that looks good on you," he said before throwing the car into drive. His mind wandered back to Asia. He knew it shouldn't have but he just couldn't keep her off his mind. Something about her really had piqued his interest and he wanted to know more about her.

  He knew he shouldn't, seeing as he had a whole family already, but he just couldn't help it. Asia may have been rough around the edges but she also had an innocence about her.

  "Did you hear me Knowledge?" Chelsea asked, breaking his train of thought.

  "No, what you say?" he asked.

  "I said you don't have to pick us up anything to eat because I'm cooking tonight," Chelsea repeated. She was wondering what was on his mind so tough. She was about to ask him but she decided to just keep her mouth shut.

  Knowledge’s phone started ringing and he glanced down to see that it was Symir calling him. "Yo," he answered.

  "You busy?" Symir asked.

  "Nope, what's up?"

  "Kasim called and he needs our services. He said he ran out already," Symir said, trying not to say too much over the phone knowing that Knowledge would catch on.

  "Cool, when?" Knowledge asked.

  "This weekend. I don't know if A can go because she still worried about Symare, so I might have her sit this one out."

  "Alright, just hit me with the rest of the details," Knowledge said trying to hide the fact that he wasn't too enthused about Asia not going.

  "Iight, I'll figure out who's going then I'll get back with you," Symir said before hanging up.

  Knowledge could feel Chelsea staring a hole in the side of his face but he chose to ignore it. She folded her arms over her chest and they rested on her round stomach. She let out a deep sigh to let him know that she wasn't pleased.

  "Later for that shit, Chelsea," he said.

  "Of course. Like always, huh?" She pouted.

  Knowledge reached over and turned the music up. He wasn't about to deal with her attitude right now because he had other shit to deal with besides her throwing a damn temper tantrum.

  8

  Knowledge pulled up to Symir's house and threw the car in park. He laid his head back on the headrest and wiped his hand over his face. Apparently, Mickey was supposed to be rolling with him on this trip so he had to mentally prepare himself. Mickey was cool and all but he wasn't who he wanted to ride with for eighteen hours.

  Tap, tap

  Knowledge lifted his head up to find Asia standing there with her hands on her hips. He smiled and rolled the window down. "What you doing here?" he asked.

  Asia tilted her head."Last time I checked, this was my brother’s house and I thought we had business to take care of."

  "I thought Mickey was going. What happened?"

  "What? You don't want me to go, because I'll call him up and tell him to come," Asia said before turning around and walking towards the front door.

  Knowledge jumped out the car and followed behind her, he grabbed her wrist lightly and Asia turned to look at him. She called herself trying to step in his face but their difference in their heights defeated that. "What?" She looked him in the eye and asked, trying to avoid that spark she felt when he touched her.

  "Why you gotta play?" he asked, fingering the necklace he bought her for her birthday.

  Symir stood in the doorway watching them, he cleared his throat to get their attention. Asia rolled her eyes before turning around. "What, creep?"

  "I'm just wondering if y'all gon handle business or make googly eyes at each other all day?" he asked, looking from his sister to Knowledge.

  "We're ready, Major Pain in the ass," Asia said as she ran over and took the keys to the car out of his hands. She kissed his cheek before going in the house to get her bags.

  Symir walked over to Knowledge with his hands in his pocket. "Strictly business, right?" he asked.

  Knowledge knew he was referring to his and Asia's relationship. "Of course, strictly business," Knowledge reassured him. For now at least. The garage came up and Asia backed out of it in the car, waiting for Knowledge to put his bags in the trunk and hop in. She rolled her window down to say some last minute words to her brother.

  "Okay, baby boy. I love you and don't miss me too much. Please make sure my baby doesn't over work himself, I don't want him going outside if it's too hot--"

  "Bye Asia, I got this," Symir cut her off. "You just get the hell out of here so you can get back. Love you, big head."

  "Love you back," she blew him a kiss before pulling out. She did her normal routine of finding a song to ride to. "You want something to eat before we hit the highway?" she asked Knowledge.

  "You paying?" he asked.

  "Hell no. You tried it," Asia laughed.

  Knowledge just shook his head and smiled. At first he thought Asia was stuck up and a bitch, plus that's what Cordae told him,but the more time he spent around her, the more he dug her vibe. Asia pushed play on her phone and“Can't Raise aMan” by K. Michelle came on. "Yess, this is my shit," Asia said before turning it all the way up.

  Knowledge laid his head back and closed his eyes. Asia started dancing in her seat before she started singing. "He got older but never grew, for his life he can't tell the truth. How to love he ain't gotta clue, playing games like he'll never lose you." Knowledge shook his head and turned the music down.

  Asia looked at him like he was crazy before returning her attention to the road. "What you do that for?" she asked.

  "I don't wanna hear that man bashing shit plus yo singing ain't too hot, mami," he laughed.

  "No the hell you didn't! Don't come for me unless I send for you, Omari."

  "I’m saying, though. I would never lie to you. But what I tell you about calling me Omari?" he said.

  "What did I tell you about me calling you Omari?" she retorted.

  "Why you gotta be so difficult? I don't even like that name," he spat

  "Well, I do so you might as well get used to me calling you that. But can I ask you a question without you getting offended?" Asia asked.

  "Shoot."

  Asia bit her bottom lip, before she asked him what she had been wondering. "What are you mixed with?"

  "What makes you think I'm mixed with something?" he asked.

  She shrugged. "I guess I'm assuming. Never mind, forget I asked," she said, turning her music back up. He reached over and turned it back down. "Knowledge," she wined.

  "How you gon ask me a question then not let me answer it?"

  "I said never mind. I was probably wrong anyways," she said.

  "Naw, you were right. My mom is Mexican and black."

  "And your dad is what?" Asia asked, glancing at him for a minute. Damn he is sexy as hell, she thought to herself.

  "A bitch nigga. That’s what he is," Knowledge said with disdain.

  "Sorry I asked," Asia said.

  "You don't have to apologize for that nigga’s shortcomings. Fuck him."

  "Why are you so hostile? What did he do to you? If you don't mind me asking?" Asia probed.

  Knowledge sighed. "He got his side bitch pregnant and hid it from my mom. Then when she found out and confronted him about it, he beat the shit out of her for threatening to leave him. In the middle of the night, she threw me and my older sister in the back of the car and drove straight to North Carolina where her sister lived and never looked back," he explained.

  He hated his sperm donor with a passion. Any nigga that would put their hands on a woman for wanting to leave him is a bitch in his eyes. He was happy his mom left before he got a chance to do it again. When she moved to North Carolina, she fell in love again with a dude named Andre and he became the only dad that Knowledge and his sister Patience really knew. Asia was the only person he had told that story to; not even Chelsea knew that history. She thought
Andre was Knowledge's real dad.

  "Sorry to hear that. So did you ever met up with you brother or do you know where he is?" she asked.

  "Yea, you know him too," Knowledge said.

  "Who?" she asked, confused.

  "Cordae."

  Asia almost swerved off the road when she heard that. She never would have guessed that Knowledge and Cordae were brothers. Not only did they act nothing alike, but they looked nothing alike. "I thought y'all were cousins?"

  "That's the story we were told as kids until we found out at the nigga funeral. But we just stuck to the cousin story since that's what we were used to." He shrugged.

  "Cordae never said anything about his dad being dead. So, he's your little brother, huh? I'm so sorry to hear that." Asia patted his shoulder.

  Knowledge chuckled. He knew the two didn't like each other but still hadn't figured out why yet. He made a mental note to find out why there was so much bad blood between them.

  ~ ~ ~

  After dropping off the bricks and picking up the money, they went back to the hotel to chill. Asia was taking a nap when she smelled weed. She thought she was tripping because she knew she didn't smoke and wasn't nobody else in the room. She turned on her right side and there was Knowledge, sitting in the chair across the room watching her sleep.

  "How you sneak in here?" she asked as she stretched.

  "I used your spare key," he said while he exhaled the smoke.

  She sat up in the bed then looked at him. They stared at each other for a minute before Asia climbed out of the bed and walked over to him. "Let me get a hit?" she asked with her hand out, reaching for the blunt.

  "Nah," he said as he hit her hand.

  "Why not?" she asked.

  "Because you don't smoke and you don't need to start now," he said as he took another pull. Asia rolled her eyes and got closer to him. She straddled his lap and looked him in his low eyes.

  "Give me a shotgun then," she said. Without hesitation, Knowledge put his mouth to hers and released the smoke in her mouth. Asia closed her mouth before tilting her head back and releasing it. Knowledge ran his fingers along the rose vine tattoo she had on her waist.