Feels So Right, It Must Be Wrong

by Charmanie Saquea

  "You do too much." Knowledge shook his head before getting up.

  Symir snatched Cordae's car door open and grabbed Asia out the seat. "Get the fuck off me!" she yelled.

  "I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you but you better get ya fucking mind right and I mean now. This little attitude you got, you need to lose it and I'm not playing with you. If I tell you to fall the fuck back then that's what you need to do instead of throwing a damn temper tantrum," he said through gritted teeth. He loved his sister to death but every once in a while, he had to get her together just like a big brother was supposed to.

  Asia snatched away from him and walked to her car. She didn't need this shit right now. She would let him think she was going home, but in actuality she was heading to Demarco's house on her own. She wasn't new to this shit and she wished her brother would stop acting like it.

  Asia killed the engine and grabbed her gun. She checked the clip to make sure it was full and climbed out of the car. She walked to the back of Demarco's house and, oddly, the back door was cracked open. She cocked her gun and pointed it straight ahead before slowly walking in.

  She had made it to the kitchen that was pitch black before she heard a noise behind her. She turned around and was met with the barrel of a gun pointed right at her head. "C'mon baby girl, you gotta be smarter than that. Put the gun down and nobody will get hurt," Demarco said.

  "I wish the fuck I would. It would be in your best interest for you to drop your gun," Asia sneered.

  She saw a shadow moving out of the corner of her eye so she turned to see what it was. That was a mistake on her end because Demarco slapped the gun out of her hand and charged her. Quick on her feet, Asia kicked him in his stomach before he could do anything. She searched around in the dark for her gun that fell on the floor. At the exact time that she reached it, Demarco pulled her back by her legs. She pointed the gun at his head, but she was too late.

  POW!

  The gun went off and Asia cried out. She couldn't tell where she had gotten shot because her whole body felt like it was on fire. Demarco ran out the back door before someone could call the police and report the gunshot. Asia's eyes started getting heavy and it was getting harder for her to breath. Slowly, her eyelids started closing until everything went black.

  12

  Symir sat in the chair with his mind racing. He was feeling like this shit was his fault. Had he never introduced Asia to this shit none of this would have gone down. Walking in the house to see his sister lying in a pool of her own blood was an image he would never get out of his mind. He knew his dad was probably rolling over in his grave right now for him even letting this shit go down.

  "Stop thinking so loud. I can hear you all the way over here. It's not your fault, Mir. This is what I get for being hardheaded," Asia said in a low tone. She was feeling like shit.

  "If you wasn't already fucked up, I would fuck you up," he said seriously as he walked over to her. "How you feeling?"

  "Like I got shot." She pouted.

  "Well, you did. In your side. Of course you know I couldn't take you to a real hospital but Doctor McMillam was able to stitch you up in your own bed," Symir explained.

  "So I'm not dead? I thought I had died," Asia said.

  Symir laughed at his sister. “No silly. You are not dead but yo punk ass did faint from the pain. You lost a good amount of blood but you'll be straight."

  "I never thought I would say this but I'm so happy to see yo ugly ass." Asia smiled.

  "Ugly? I look just like Syrus." He laughed.

  Asia gasped. "Liar, my daddy was a hottie. You're just alright," She joked. "Where is my baby?" she asked, referring to Symare.

  "He's with Mom and Nika. They took him and Sasha to do some kid shit."

  There was a knock on the bedroom door and they turned to find Knowledge standing there with a teddy bear. Symir walked over to the door to leave so that they could have some privacy. Knowledge gave Symir a head nod before walking over to Asia's bed and climbing in with her. "What's up, mami? You feeling better?" he asked as he ran his fingers through her hair. Chelsea had just left with her sister to head back to North Carolina. As soon as she left, he rushed right over to see her.

  "Now that you're here, I am." She smiled. She couldn't deny it anymore. She was starting to fall for Knowledge and she was falling hard without a parachute.

  "You had everybody scared for a minute. When we walked in that house and seen you laid out like that, that shit really fucked a nigga up. I thought you was gone for a minute."

  "Cut it out, Omari. You know you would've been alright without me." She rolled her eyes.

  "Stop it. You know I love you," he said before he could stop the words from coming out of his mouth. It was already too late for him to take them back; not that he would have anyway. He wasn't in denial any more. He could tell by how scared he was about this incident that he actually did love Asia. There was no use in fighting it any more.

  "You really shouldn't say things you don't mean. That's how deep feelings get involved, you know," Asia said.

  "I already told you before that I wouldn't lie to you girl," he said.

  Asia snuggled up to him and he wrapped his arms around her. Asia smiled as she let the effects of the pain medicine that she had taken take control of her body. While she was dozing off, Knowledge was thinking about the shit he had just gotten himself into. He had just admitted to himself and Asia that he loved her, but he wasn't even out of love with Chelsea. This shit was starting to get the best of him but he was in too deep now.

  ~ ~ ~

  Symir met back up with Nika, his mom and the kids back at his house. He had officially moved Nika in and she was working on building a better relationship with Sasha,which wasn't hard because she always wanted to be around her mom now. It was‘daddy who?’ whenever Nika walked into the room and Symir wasn't even mad. He loved how the two acted as if they were never separated.

  While Crystal headed out to go check on Asia, Nika started to cook dinner. She ran up the stairs to see what Symir had a taste for, but he was in the shower. She knocked on the bathroom door and waited for him to answer. "What's up?" he answered the door with just a towel wrapped around his waist.

  "I'm about to cook. What you wanna eat?" she asked.

  "Surprise me," he said before dropping his towel and walking over to his dresser to grab some boxers.

  "Really, Mir?" Nika shook her head.

  "What? Don't act like you ain't never seen it before. This thang been all up in you too many times for me to count," he laughed.

  "You shouldn't tease a girl who ain't had none in a while. I was tempted to throw yo ass on that bed and rape you," she half-joked.

  "It ain't rape if I'm willing to give it up," he said seriously. "Now can yo freaky ass go in the closet, look in my duffle bag and grab me some basketball shorts, please?"

  Nika playfully rolled her eyes before going to his walk in closet. She grabbed the first duffle bag she saw and opened it. What she saw made her step back and fall to the ground. It was full of kilos of pure cocaine that Symir had just bought from the connect. Her mouth started watering and she started to get that craving that she used to have. She was fighting with her inner demons. She had been doing so well and didn't want to have any setbacks, but, at the same time, temptation was calling her name.

  Symir was starting to wonder what was taking her so long to grab a pair of shorts when it hit him. He jumped off the bed and rushed to the closet. He saw her sitting in the floor with this far off look in her eyes. That’s he knew that she had come across the drugs. He picked her up off the floor as she started to cry and carried her to the bed.

  "I'm so fucking sorry, Nika. I should have known better than to bring that shit in the house," he said, beating himself up. He was feeling fucked up for having her see the drugs and, at the same time, he was praying that she didn't relapse.

  Symir held Nika until she stopped crying, which eventually led to them falling asleep. H
e woke up and went to check on Sasha. He opened her bedroom door and she was sleep herself so he walked back to the bedroom. When he got back, Nika was sitting up in the bed. She looked at him funny. "I lost the baby," she said.

  Symir looked at her, confused. He was wondering where that came from and what she was talking about. Knowing what that look meant, Nika went ahead and elaborated. "When we broke up, I didn't know I was pregnant at the time. I actually didn't find out until after the first time Linx beat me. I went to the hospital and they told me that I was suffering from a miscarriage. I was so distraught because I knew how bad you wanted another baby. Linx put the crack pipe up to my mouth and I didn't try to stop him because I was mad at myself for allowing him to take my baby away from us," she explained.

  Symir was taken aback by this revelation. He had no clue that Anika was pregnant again and obviously, she didn’t either. He knew it had to have been something for her to just suddenly go off the deep end like that. "Nika, you know you could have came and talked to me. We used to tell each other everything, no matter how mad we would get. You know I would have put a damn bullet in his head. I would have been hurt about you losing the baby but ain't no way in hell I would have blamed you. We would have worked through that and you know it."

  Anika just sat there and looked at Symir with loving eyes. She was wondering how she was so blessed to end up with him. Not too many people would have stuck by a fiend’s side, no matter how much they loved them. He was always there for her when she needed him and even when she didn't. One thing she knew for sure was that he had unconditional love for her.

  13

  Khyree signed his name on the dotted line as he collected his belongings with a huge smile on his face. Nobody knew he was being released from prison today except for Symir. The security guard that worked at the bank confirmed that Kyree wasn't the one who shot him and that the robber had a big tattoo of a dragon on his neck. That was the big breaking point that Khyree was looking for and everything worked out in his favor.

  He was just a victim of hanging with the wrong crowd. He only served a year and a half of a twelve year sentence for having an unregistered firearm on him, but he didn't give a damn. He was just happy to be a free man.

  "Bring yo daydreaming ass on!" Symir yelled as he waited for Khyree to put some pep in his step.

  "Shut yo ass up, nigga. I'm trying to enjoy my first whiff of fresh air in damn near two years." Khyree smiled as he climbed in the car.

  "Welcome back, baby boy," Symir said, giving him a brotherly hug.

  "Man, I really owe you one. That lawyer you hired really was the shit. He played no games in the courtroom," Khyree said.

  "Nigga, please. You don't owe me shit. We're brothers and brothers look out for one another. Now you just need to get to that bad ass son of yours," Symir laughed.

  Khyree laughed with him. "Is he really bad?"

  "Another you in the making."

  "Hell yea, let me go see his ass now then. I need to curb that shit before it gets too bad."

  Symir was about to tell him something that he knew Khyree wasn't going to like, but it was better that he heard it from him than someone else. "You know Asia got shot a little over three weeks ago."

  Khyree almost got whiplash from the way he jerked his neck to look at Symir. "Stop playing with me man. She alright?"

  "Yea, she cool. Her ass was being hard headed and did some shit I told her not to do. She good though. I haven't told nobody yet, but I honestly think she was set up. Well, not her, but the whole situation was a set up that led to her getting shot," Symir said. That thought had been haunting him since the night his sister got shot. There was no way in hell Demarco would have known someone was coming for him unless someone tipped him off.

  The way Asia explained it, it was like he was waiting for them to show up. The only people that knew what was about to go down were him, Cordae and Knowledge. He didn't know which one of them it was, so he had been distancing himself from both of them to figure the shit out.

  ~ ~ ~

  It had been three weeks since Asia had been shot and Knowledge had been by her side since day one, literally. He figured while Chelsea was away that he would spend the time that he wasn’t at work with Asia. He found himself falling for her more and more every day. He knew he would have to do something once Chelsea got back, but he wasn't worrying about it until then.

  While Asia was sitting in the backyard with Symare, Knowledge was in the kitchen fixing lunch. He picked up the phone to check on Chelsea and his daughter. "Hey baby," Chelsea answered on the second ring.

  "Hey, Ma. What you doing?" he asked.

  "At home waiting for you," she said through a smile. "Patience told me you were out taking care of business."

  Knowledge damn near choked on his spit when he heard that. "You mean you're at home, in Miami?" he asked for clarification.

  "I sure am. I came home about two hours ago. I wanted to surprise you."

  "Surprised I am! I'll be there in a few," he said while peeking at Asia and Symare, who looked like they were coming towards the house.

  "Alright, see you when you get here. Love you," Chelsea sang.

  "I love you too, Ma," he said before hanging up.

  "Yoo! Where y'all at?" he heard Symir yell as he came towards the kitchen. Knowledge looked up to see Symir and some nigga walking in the kitchen. "What's up nigga? What you doing here?" Symir asked.

  Before he could answer, Asia walked in the house behind Symir. "What's taking you so long? I'm hung--" She cut her sentence off when she noticed Khyree standing there. "KHYREEEE!"

  She jumped into his arms despite the little pain she was feeling in her side. "What the hell? When the hell did you get out?" she asked, while hugging him tightly.

  Knowledge was trying to figure out who dude was because he had never heard of a 'Khyree' and Asia seemed very excited to see him. "I got out today," he said, glancing at Knowledge.

  Asia looked behind her at Knowledge then at her brother. She was feeling pretty awkward with all three men staring at her. She didn't know that Symir was already aware of her relationship with Knowledge. "Knowledge, this is Khyree, Symare's dad," she introduced. The two just hit each other with a head nod. "Mare, come give your dad a hug," Asia said.

  Symare was hiding behind Knowledge's leg, peeking around it at his mom. She reached her arms out for him but he wouldn't come, he kept shaking his head no. "What's wrong?" she asked.

  "No!" he said, grabbing a hold to Knowledge's leg. Knowledge bent down and picked him up.

  "C'mon man, go say hi to your old man," he said, handing him to Khyree. Symare looked from Knowledge to his mom and then to his uncle. Symare finally looked at his dad before smiling a little. Asia stood there confused. She didn't know what had gotten into her son. As many times as she and Symir took him to see Khyree, he had never acted like that towards him.

  "Let me holla at you real quick," Knowledge whispered in Asia's ear.

  She followed him outside to the backyard. "What's up?" she asked.

  "I gotta make a run to my house real quick to check on Patience real quick. Hopefully I'll be back later, you good? You need something?" he asked.

  "No, I'm good," Asia said.

  "Alright." He bent down to kiss her. Asia gave him a little peck until he stuck his tongue in his mouth. They kissed for a minute until he pulled back. "Don’t be kissing me like that and you know I ain't been up in that in a minute," he said.

  "Whose fault is that?" she asked as she wiped his lips off.

  "Yours because yo hardheaded ass had to go get into a situation." He smiled.

  "Bye, asshole," Asia laughed as she walked back in the house.

  "Damn, I love to watch you leave," Knowledge laughed.

  Asia walked him to the front door where Khyree was playing with Symare and Symir was playing on his phone. "Don't miss me too much," he said before jumping into his car.

  "I'll try not to." Asia pouted. Right now she didn't care about the fa
ct that her brother was sitting a few feet away watching everything. She was going to do whatever made her happy and right now, Knowledge made her happy.

  She turned around from shutting and locking the door and of course all eyes were on her. She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders“What?”

  “You got that nigga in here trynna play daddy and shit?” Khyree asked.

  “You need to chill out. Hewasn’t trying to play shit,” Asia said, defending Knowledge.

  “I can’t tell.Symare was acting like he needed that nigga permission to talk to me. What the fuck is that all about?”

  “Watch yo mouth in front of my son. All that cussing is unnecessary and I’m pretty sure we can hold a conversation without it.”

  Symir just sat back and watched the two go at it. He could tell that his sister had got caught up in her feelings and he fucking hated it. He had nothing against Knowledge personally. He was cool and Symir actually wouldn’t have been bothered by the two hooking up had Knowledge not already had a girl at the crib. He wanted so badly to put his sister up on game but he knew that wasn’t his place. Either the shit was going to come back and bite Knowledge in the ass or he was going to man up and come clean, but either way, the truth was bound to come out. The only thing he could do was be there for his sister when the shit hit the fan.

  “I’m saying though Asia. Isit that serious between ya’ll that you got him all up in yo crib and around yo son? You only do shi--, stuff like that when you’re serious with someone,” Khyree said.

  Asia looked over at Symir who was already looking at her with questioning eyes.“Well, inquiring minds would like to know,” he said.

  “Alright, fine.” Asia threw her arms up.“Yes, I feel something serious for him. Since I’ve been dealing with him, I’ve been the happiest I have ever been since I gave birth to my son. He makes me smile, laugh and I feel loved when I’m with him. Is that so wrong? Do I not deserve to be happy? I’m not about to hide it no more and if don’t nobody like it, then fuck it; they can kiss my ass,” she said before heading up the stairs.