Against the Grain

by Freeze

  Everyone started getting out of their cars right away. “Uncle Mike,” ‘C’ yelled as he ran over and started play fighting with Mike before walking around and giving everybody some dap, even security. They all knew and loved Lil ‘C’. Kay was pleased. He knew that his friends had looked out for his son while he was gone. He still hadn’t said a word. He was shocked by how big and handsome his son was now. You could clearly see both Kay’s and Sonia’s features in him. After Lil ‘C’ greeted all of the crew, he glanced at Kay real quick then back at Mike. Mike nodded as if he was giving Lil ‘C’ the okay. Lil ‘C’ walked over to Kay. “What’s up?”

  “What’s up, little man,” Kay said with a smile.

  “Are you my fahvuh?”

  “Why did you ask me that?”

  “ ’Cause you look like my fahvuh in the pictures at my grand-muhvuh’s house.” Just as Lil ‘C’ finished talking a woman yelled from the third-floor window. “ ‘C’, get up here and take out this gar—” She stopped mid-sentence when her eyes focused on Kay. Kay couldn’t believe that after all these years Sonia was still as beautiful as the day he met her.

  “OH-MY-GOD, Kay, don’t move! I’ll be right down! Just give me one minute,” Sonia yelled down, before ducking back into the window.

  Kay was still looking up at the window when Lil ‘C’ grabbed and hugged him around the waist. Kay knelt down to look into his son’s face then he kissed him. “Did you miss me, man?” ‘C’ nodded his head yeah and hugged his father’s neck. “I love you, ‘C’, and I’m never gonna leave you again,” Kay told his son. “Do you want to go with me?”

  “Yeah!” ‘C’ said.

  “C’mon then,” Kay told him, pointing to the open car door.

  When Lil ‘C’ got in the backseat, he said, “Hold on, Dad. Yo, Poochie,” he yelled to one of his friends, “take my bike to my mom’s, aiight! I’ll see you later.” Kay got in and shut the door. Everybody loaded up and security got back in the Suburban. They drove away as Sonia came out of the building.

  “Hold up, Kay! Hold up. I need to talk to you! I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Kay,” Sonia yelled but it was no use. They were gone. She stood there for a few minutes with tears in her eyes. Her first love. The father of her only child was home from prison. She had done him wrong by turning her back on him when he needed her the most. She knew she had fucked up with him. All these years that he was gone, she looked for a man that was just like Kay, never finding one. All she got were empty promises and different men running in and out of her bed. None of them really loved her or tried to be a father figure to her son. And if every now and then one of them did love her, she would push him away for not being enough like Kay. Now after almost nine years, at the first sight of him, she melted on the inside. She still loved him. But she knew that she had violated him in the worst way. She had kept his son away from him. She knew that things would never be the same between them, but that would not stop her from at least trying.

  Ten minutes later the convoy stopped on Kay’s family’s block. Everyone got out, and Kay looked around. Things had changed so much. ‘C’ ran inside the house.

  Mike was making a phone call on his cell phone. “Yeah, everything is everything. I’ma need fifty of them things by tomorrow. Since you was still waiting on your thing to come through yesterday, I sent up top to Manny and got a little something. But all of that is getting vialed up as we speak. That’s for my different blocks. I got my weight custies on hold. Have someone check on shorty at the hotel in South Beach. She’s been there since this morning. She’s got a baby with her. Yeah it’s the same girl from last time.” Mike told whomever he was talking to to hold on. He put one hand over the phone and told Kay, “Yo, go holla at your family. I know that they miss you. We’ll wait out here for you. Hurry up, nigga, I’m hungry as shit.” Then he gave Kay a pound and smiled. By the time Kay got to the door, Mama Frost was snatching it open with a look of excitement on her face. She saw her oldest child—a free man again. They hugged each other, then she kissed him. She couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

  “Boy, why didn’t you tell us you were coming home?”

  “I wanted to surprise my favorite lady, that’s why.”

  “Well get yo tail in here so that I can look at you. Are you hungry? I’ll fix you something to eat.”

  “Nah, I’m aiight, Mama.” Kay looked around. “I see you’ve changed it around in here, Mama.”

  “Yeah, Mike helps me out whenever I need something.”

  “Where is everybody?” Kay asked.

  “Lyniece is at work. She owns her own shop now. She’s got three of them. Tramaine lives around the corner with his girlfriend and their little girl. She’s beautiful, too. Looks just like me,” Mama said with a little grin. “The only one that stays here with me is Caleek with his lazy ass. That reminds me, I’ve got to fix up your old room for you.”

  “Where’s Caleek now, Mama?”

  “That chile is upstairs asleep. He works at Mike’s club. He DJs all night then comes here and sleeps all day. He’s up there in Lyniece’s old room with the AC on. Wake his ass up anyway,” Mama said to Kay’s back.

  Kay was already walking up the steps. He noticed that the walls had been freshly painted. He was proud of his best friend for looking out for his family while he was gone. Once Kay reached the top of the stairs, he tiptoed to the door of his sister’s old bedroom. He wanted to surprise his little brother while he was sleeping. Kay eased the door open and stepped inside the room, shutting the door behind him. He couldn’t see Caleek because of the thick comforter that was over his head. Kay dove on top of him and disguised his voice to make it deeper. “I’m gonna kill you, nigga!” Caleek jumped and tried to fight back. “Hold on, nigga, it’s just me,” Kay said in his normal voice.

  Caleek jumped up butt-ass naked, trying to get his vision together. When he recognized his big brother he tried to hug him. Kay stopped him. “You ain’t touching me with all that hangin’.”

  Caleek froze and looked down at himself. He had forgotten that he was naked. “Oh, my bad.” Caleek reached down and grabbed his boxers from the floor and put them on.

  Caleek hugged his brother. “How long you been home, Kay?”

  “I just got in town about two hours ago.”

  “So you just got out today then?”

  “Yeah.”

  Caleek smiled, “I’ve got something for you, Big Bro.”

  “What?”

  Caleek grabbed the comforter on the bed and slowly pulled it to the floor. Kay’s eyes lit up. It had been years since he had the pleasure of seeing a naked woman in the flesh. She was beautiful. His eyes started taking her in from her toes and slowly traveled up her naked body. She had a short Halle Berry haircut and beautiful brown skin without a mark or blemish on her body. Kay could tell she was short but she had a nice phat ass that had him mesmerized. He could feel his dick getting hard. Caleek put his hand on his brother’s shoulder bringing him out of his gaze.

  “I told you I was the man. I worked her so hard she fell asleep in the wet spot. She was supposed to be home hours ago. Look at her. She ain’t even woke up yet with all the noise we’re making,” Caleek said and they both laughed.

  “Yo, Bernette! Bernette!” Caleek yelled. She turned over on her back and looked up at Caleek and Kay staring down at her. She was more beautiful than he first thought, and she wasn’t ashamed of her naked body.

  Bernette looked at her Rolex and smiled at them. “What’s up?”

  “This is my oldest brother, Kay. He just came home from prison today. The nigga ain’t had no pussy in like eight or nine years, so I want you to show him a good time while I go get me a bowl of cereal.”

  Bernette looked at Kay, who had a glow about him. She could see that he was in shape and he was fine as shit. “Aiiight, I’m wit it,” she said.

  “Damn baby, as good as it looks, I’m gonna have to take a rain check. I’ve got something to do,” Kay told her with a smile.

  “You
sure?” she asked Kay as she lifted her legs in the air to show him her hairless pussy.

  Kay’s mouth got watery. He swallowed, licked his lips, and said, “I’ll find you later, shorty.”

  Caleek looked at Kay, “Ah, nigga, you scared of pussy now?” He walked over to the bed. “You know what daddy wants, don’t you?”

  “Yes, daddy,” Bernette responded as she sat up on the edge of the bed with her feet on the floor, directly in front of Caleek. All Kay could see was Caleek’s naked ass and her pretty manicured hands holding it as his boxers dropped to his ankles. Kay saw Caleek thrusting his hips back and forth and he knew shorty was pleasing him well. “Yo, you sure you don’t want none of this?” Caleek asked.

  “Nah, man, I’m gone. Handle your biz.”

  “I’ll be downstairs in a minute. She’s the best at what she does so this won’t take long. Don’t tell Mommy that she’s up here.”

  “Aiight, I’ll be downstairs.” Before Kay shut the door, he looked back at Caleek and heard him moaning in pure delight. Kay just closed the door and went back downstairs.

  Mama was talking on the phone when Kay walked in the kitchen. “I told you my dad was here, T-Kie,” Lil ‘C’ said to the little girl sitting next to him at the kitchen table. Kay looked at his pretty little niece.

  “T-Kie, is that you?”

  “Yeeessss.”

  “Girl, come over here and give me a kiss. I haven’t seen you since you were a baby.”

  She got up and gave her uncle a big hug and kiss. “You a pretty little woman, ain’t you. It’s a good thing you don’t look like your mom,” Kay said with a smile. Mama hung up the phone.

  “That was Sonia, she wants ‘C’ to stay here tonight. Said she was going out,” Mama said.

  Kay didn’t say a word. Lil ‘C’ jumped up and yelled, “Yeah!”

  “Boy, if you don’t stop all that yelling in my house, I’m going to whup yo ass!”

  T-Kie laughed at him.

  “Shut up, girl,” ‘C’ snapped at her.

  “Come here, ‘C’,” Mama said. Lil ‘C’ got up and walked over to his grandmother. “Don’t try to show off just cause your daddy is here,” she warned. “I’ll still put my belt on your mannish behind. Do you hear me?”

  Kay stood there, remembering those days.

  “Now tell her you’re sorry, and I better not hear you tell nobody else to shut up. If anything, you just say, ‘Be quiet.’ And T-Kie, what do you find so funny?”

  “Nothing,” the little girl whined.

  “Now go put your shoes on so that we can go for a walk.” T-Kie ran upstairs and Kay walked over and kissed his mama on the cheek.

  “I’m about to go get something to eat, Mama. My friends are waiting for me outside but I promise we’ll spend the whole day together tomorrow,” Kay told his mother.

  “Alright, son. Have fun and don’t get into any trouble, you hear me?” she said as she put her arm around his waist and walked him to the door. “C’mon, ‘C’,” Kay told his son. Lil ‘C’ jumped down the steps and caught up with his dad.

  Mama looked at everyone outside standing around and said, “The next time ya’ll come by my house and don’t come in to speak to me, I’m going to beat all ya’ll asses!” They all knew that she meant it.

  “Aiight, Mama Frost. You got that. We’re sorry. We don’t want no trouble. We love you, too,” they all said simultaneously while getting back in their cars. Mama watched as they drove off, then shook her head and smiled as she went in the house. They were all still her babies.

  10

  The crew took Kay to the Mondawmin Mall and treated him to a massive shopping spree. The first thing they did was to buy him an outfit to wear out the store. Mike and his crew were regulars in the mall but today all the attention was on Kay. A few of the young women that worked in the mall had already heard about the welcome-home party that night. Quchelle was good. The way the buzz was going around, the women knew Kay had to be somebody important and were dying to see what he looked like. Every store that they went into, the women flirted with Kay. It seemed like they had been in the mall all day. Kay had so many bags that he just said, “Fuck it, I’m through.” When Kay left the mall he had to make multiple trips to the car, and this was with the help from the entire crew. This was his first day out and he already had bundles of the flyest gear that the city of Baltimore had to offer. He also bought a pair of half-carat diamond studs, a thirty-five-inch fourteen-carat solid gold figaro link chain with a fourteen-carat solid gold four-inch-wide medallion with the Virgin Mary that had a red ruby in it, a matching figaro link bracelet, and a two-carat diamond pinkie ring, as well as a nice Cartier watch. Then he spent about a grand on Lil ‘C’. Kay felt the need to do something for his son since he had been gone so long.

  About twenty-five minutes later, everyone was seated inside Phillips Seafood Restaurant downtown at the Harbor having drinks and talking while they waited for the food. They asked Kay a million and one questions about his time in prison. Lil ‘C’ sat next to Kay.

  Kay asked, “So what happened after I got bagged?”

  There was a brief moment of silence, then Gee spoke up in his Jamaican accent, “Tings get ott fi us, mi bredren.”

  Tank continued, “We all had to split up. Once we divided the money, Gee went to New York, I went to North Carolina, Dre went to New Orleans, and Mike went to Miami. While Mike was in Miami, his peoples put him onto the coke game.” Everyone’s eyes went to Lil ‘C’.

  “It’s aiight,” Kay said to them.

  Mike spoke up, “I got a sick connect with these Colombians willing to front me whatever I wanted as long as I came back to Baltimore with it. After being gone about two years, I said ‘fuck it,’ and came back. You had already been sentenced, so I figured shit had died down. I knew that I was going to need a crew to help me get rid of all this coke, so I reached out to the only niggaz that I could ever trust. Dre was already back. I just tracked the rest of them down and it was on. Now everyone is rich.”

  “So what happened to my and Apache’s cut?” Kay asked.

  “I gave Apache’s cut to his girl, Kahdijah. And we gave her dough for the funeral before we left town. I heard she let her crackhead sister get up under her and she started getting high. She fucked up all the money. I kept your cut to invest it for you,” Mike said with a smile on his face, obviously pleased with himself. For a second that didn’t register too well with Kay. Why didn’t he give his cut to his girl, Sonia? Then he thought about how she did him and he was glad that Mike didn’t give her any money. “I bought the club and I own a few other businesses. We all own different shit around here. Plus, niggaz got houses out in the country, and I even got a pool in my backyard. Can you believe that? A fucking swimming pool. No more Druid Hill Park,” Mike said, referring to the neighborhood where they grew up. They all laughed. “I tried to move your mom to the country but you know how stubborn she can be. She loves it around the old neighborhood.” Mike was proud of his accomplishments. “I’ve got a Land Cruiser at the house—it’s yours. Anything else you need, I got you. What did you do with all the money we were giving Mama to send to you? I know you should still have a couple grand left.”

  Kay reached into his pocket and pulled out a check that the prison had given him before he left. “Yeah, I’ve got a little left. I sent a few grand to help pay for Mrs. Collier’s funeral.”

  “Don’t worry about that. You’re back home now where you belong. Back with your family,” Mike said as he raised his drink in the air. Everyone else raised their drinks and said, “Family!”

  After going shopping and having a huge seafood feast, Kay was ready for the world now. It was getting late and everyone had to go home to get dressed for Kay’s big party tonight, so Kay got Mike to drop him off at his mom’s house.

  “Yo, it’s nine thirty. Go ahead and get dressed and spend time with your family. I’ll scoop you around midnight,” Mike said as they were unloading all of Kay’s bags.

 
“Why so late, Mike?” Kay asked.

  “ ’Cause we want to make a grand entrance. You’re a star tonight. Everyone in town wants to see you. Especially the bitches. I hope you’re ready, cause all them bitches is gonna want to give you some pussy tonight. They know you just came home and they want to get chose. It gives them prestige over other bitches to be fucking one of us cause our crew is the shit. Simple as that. So if I was you, I wouldn’t choose right away. I would just fuck everything that I could, then when you get tired of fucking so much, pick one to make wifey. That’s what I did. Either way it’s your call. You the man, nigga.”

  “I’m the man. I like the sound of that,” Kay said. “Aiight, I’ll see you later.” They gave each other pounds and he shut the door.

  Kay was used to doing things fast in prison so it only took him twenty minutes to take a shower, put on a mixture of cocoa butter and baby oil all over his body, and get dressed.

  As he stood in his room looking at himself in the mirror, he felt like a new man. Kay looked at his watch. It was 10:00 p.m. He thought to himself that back in prison he would be going to bed right now. He still had a few hours to kill so he went to talk to his moms. When he got to her room she was sitting in her recliner looking at TV while talking on the phone. T-Kie and ‘C’ were already asleep in her bed. “Peaches, let me go, girl. My big baby just walked in looking just like his daddy. Chile, you should see him. My phone has been ringing all day. Yeah, girl, I had to take the phone off the hook so that I could fix me and the kids something to eat,” his mama laughed. “Bye.” She hung up the phone. Then she looked at it and took it off the hook. “Hi, baby,” she smiled at her son.