by Lucinda John
“So you protecting that nigga now? He put his hands on you and you protecting him? I bet you want to still marry this bum ass nigga!” Maleek screamed.
“You’re going to kill him,” I cried.
“Who gives a fuck? You should have known better than to bring this nigga on my side of town. Got this fool putting his hands on you in front of my son. Is this his first time hitting you?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I can’t believe this shit. Get your shit and let’s go!” he screamed at me, causing me to jump.
Stepping over Dre’s brutally beaten body, I grabbed the duffel bag and slowly followed behind Maleek.
“Drop this nigga off in the middle of nowhere,” Maleek said to one of the park rangers before slipping him some money.
“Take yo’ ass home right now!” Maleek yelled at me.
“Do you need a ride back?” I asked, noticing that his car wasn’t in sight.
“Shut the fuck up, iight?” he spat before walking up the street.
I looked over and saw the park ranger dragging Dre’s body to the back and I instantly felt bad. Since I came back, a whole bunch of bad shit started to happen, pushing me to the top of Maleek’s shit list. I knew he was only tolerating me because of MJ, which was why I decided to leave first thing in the morning.
When I arrived at the house, Maleek wasn’t there. I went to the bathroom to clean off all the dried up blood that was on my face. Good thing my nose was just swollen and wasn’t broken or out of place. Once I was done tending to my nose, I undressed and got in the shower. What was supposed to be a fun, family picnic, ended up a disaster.
Once I was done with my shower, I washed and conditioned my hair. I still haven’t found my way to a salon, so I decided to do something with this mess myself. Grabbing my blow dryer, I blew out my hair until I was bone straight. I picked up a pack of braiding hair the other day and decided to braid my hair in eight gold Ghana braids. Once I was done, I clipped the gold hair accessory beads on them and applied some edge control to slick my edges back. With my hair done, I felt a little better.
Grabbing my suitcases, I pulled them to the middle of the floor and began packing my things. I planned on devoting tomorrow to MJ, just to explain to him the importance of me going back home. I would tell him that I had to work, which was partially true. I was in the middle of packing my things when Maleek walked in.
“You’re not taking my son anywhere,” he said, as he stood in the doorway.
“I’m leaving. He can stay with you until we can figure out an arrangement,” I replied.
“You really going back to that nigga?” Maleek asked with a disgusted look plastered on his handsome face.
“No. I’ve been fucking shit up for you since I got here. I know I’m skating on thin ice with you so I’d rather remove myself from this situation before I fuck up more.”
“Shut up and unpack them damn bags. You ain’t going anywhere.”
“Why should I?” I asked.
“Why the fuck would you leave your damn son?”
“He’s fine with his father.”
“Nah, he needs his mother and father so unpack your shit and take your happy ass in the room and sit down,” Maleek said, sucking his teeth.
****
“Aye, get dressed, we about to be out,” Maleek said, shaking me out of my sleep.
“What time is it?” I asked, blocking my eyes from the sunlight.
“It’s eight in the morning. Wake yo’ ass up and put this on,” Maleek replied, handing me a white dashiki dress that matched the one he had on. “Put those shoes on too,” he said, pointing to the red thigh-high gladiator sandals that were at the foot of the bed.
Getting out of bed, I went to the bathroom to handle my hygiene before getting dressed. Once I was done, I went downstairs to a matching Maleek and MJ. They were both wearing a white dashiki shirt, jean shorts with a pair of red Giuseppe’s on their feet.
“Mama, look, we’re matching,” MJ beamed.
“I see, baby. You look so handsome,” I replied, running my fingers through his braids.
“Daddy said we’re going to take family pictures today.”
“Are we really?” I asked.
“Yes, then we’re going to the fair,” he excitedly replied.
“Sounds fun,” I smiled.
“MJ, let your mama eat. I’ll call you down when we’re ready,” Maleek said.
“You never cease to amaze me. How do you go from cursing me out to putting together a family day?” I asked.
“Shut up and eat.” he sucked his teeth.
“I’m so sick of this back and forth with you, man, for real.”
“Listen, I’m just trying to create memories with my son. Memories I was robbed of. He just had a birthday and I wasn’t there, so I’m making up for lost time. Shut your damn mouth and go along with my plan. I ain’t have to include you in shit, but because you birthed my first born, my son, I owe you enough respect to be there for you. Even though you get on my damn nerves.”
“Do you regret what we did the other night?”
“Nah, did you?” he smirked.
“No.”
“If you want to get dicked down, you can always walk down the hall and knock on my door,” he replied.
“Shut up. Is that all you see me as, pussy?”
“Nah. I’m not hard up for pussy. Look at me,” he cockily said.
“What are we doing then?”
“We’re being cordial for the sake of our son. Co-parenting and shit.”
“That’s it?” I probed, hoping he would say he loved me enough to take things slow.
“What do you want me to say, ma? You still rocking that nigga’s ring. Don’t come at me if you ain’t ready for the shit I’m about to say. I just jumped out of some shit with Joie and found out about my son; I’m just chillin’ right now.”
“I hear you.” I nodded.
“Good, now finish eating so we can leave.”
When I finished my food, we headed down to the beach so we could take family pictures. The vibe was just right so I kept my mouth shut out of fear that I would say something to fuck shit up. The smile on MJ’s face was everything as I watched him and Maleek pose for a few pictures.
After the pictures, we got on the Jungle Queen boat cruise. Maleek had fun as we did a lot of sightseeing and ate a bunch of junk. When the boat ride was done, we stopped at the fair and MJ went crazy. He was like five kids in one as he ran with Maleek to every ride in sight.
“This lil nigga full of energy,” Maleek said, as he carried a sleeping MJ to the car.
“He barely got to do a lot of things due to him being sick,” I replied.
“I’m glad I could change that. I have nothing but good memories as a child and I want MJ to have the same.”
“You’re such an amazing father,” I said, giving Maleek his props.
“I try to be,” he replied, placing MJ in the car.
“We need to enroll him in school,” Maleek said, breaking the silence.
“I know. Do you have one in mind?” I asked.
“You not going to fight me on him living here?”
“No. I mean I have no choice.”
“You’re right, you don’t. I have the application for the school Jamie goes to. I’ll drop it off in the morning.”
“You already had this planned out?”
“Yup. I also had papers for full custody drawn in case you planned on being a pain in my ass about it.”
“Wow,” I sighed.
“Yup. I’m sorry, but I’m not the type of man to sit around in one state while his son is living in another.”
“I understand.”
When we arrived home, Maleek got out and placed MJ in bed. I walked to my room and sat on the bed in nothing but my bra and panties. I had a lot on my mind when it came to Dre and Maleek. After what Dre did to me, I knew there was no coming back from that, so I finally removed my ring. I placed it on the counter with p
lans to return it when I left to pick up my things. I would ask Maleek to have his lawyer draw up paperwork; I was interested in buying Dre out and running my company on my own.
“Finally took that sorry ring off,” Maleek chuckled.
“Yeah. It’s not going to work out.”
“How you figure?” he quizzed.
“Because I still love you,” I honestly replied.
“Damn. I came in here for some pussy and you on some ‘I love you’ shit. I love you too, but us being together right now isn’t the move to make,” he said.
“I understand.”
“Good. Now I gotta go jack my dick off,” he sighed.
“No, you don’t,” I replied, pulling my panties off.
“Meaningless sex.”
“Meaningless sex,” I replied.
Maleek
“Fuck,” I whispered to myself as I woke up in Stacy’s bed for the third night in a row.
I would hit it, then leave, but lately, I found myself cuddling up with her. The feelings were definitely there, but I wasn’t ready to act on them yet. I wanted to focus on my kids, get this money, and live this single life. I’ve always been in a relationship, so now was my chill time until I was ready.
“Pussy so good it knocked you out,” Stacy said, as I got out of her bed.
“Nah, a nigga was just tired, that’s all,” I spat as I got up.
My phone started to ring so I snatched it up from the dresser and answered it.
“What’s good, bro?”
“Diego came through, come to the spot,” was all Mayhem said before hanging up the phone.
“I gotta go,” I said to Stacy.
“I thought we were going school shopping together.”
“Some shit came up and I gotta head to the office. Here,” I replied, tossing a knot of money at her.
“This is a lot of money for school shopping,” she replied, examining it.
“Well, use some of it to do something with your hair. I’m not used to you looking this rough,” I replied.
“Shut up, Maleek. I have my own money. I just haven’t found the right stylist yet.”
“I’mma hit up Emma and Tiny and have them come pick you up.”
“I’m not about to be hanging with Joie’s old friends. On the real, if they try me, I’m not going to bite my tongue.”
“They didn’t too much fool with Joie like that because she was close to Macy. You’ll be fine,” I assured her before walking out of the room.
I took a quick shower, then headed to the spot.
“All up in Stacy’s pussy, nigga coming to work late and shit,” Ramsey smirked.
“Shut the fuck up, nigga,” I chuckled.
“Diego hoe ass finally came through; we have an address on that police ass nigga. We gotta work fast; rumor has it, he’s been behind the scene building the fuck out of the case against us.”
“Let’s move on his ass tonight,” I replied, ready to get this shit over with.
“It’s drop night,” Ramsey replied.
“I got it. I’ll just bring Diego with me,” I replied.
“Are you sure?” Mayhem asked me.
“Yeah, I ain’t kill a nigga in a min’,” I smirked.
With all the drama going on in my life, I’ve been feeling the need for a release. Chopping up Elias may just be that release I needed.
“Look at big bro getting down,” Ramsey laughed.
“No faces, no cases,” Mayhem added.
“No faces, no cases,” I replied.
“I’ll have Diego meet you at the warehouse around ten,” Mayhem said.
“Iight,” I replied.
“You sure you good?” Mayhem asked me.
“I’m straight, bro.”
“Yeah, that nigga good. You see how he walked in this bitch glowing and shit. Stacy giving him that good ass black woman pussy. He getting that Milani gushy gushy,” Ramsey laughed.
“Nigga, you a fool.” I waved him off.
“Let’s go handle this drop,” Mayhem said towards his car. Ramsey hopped on his bike behind him and they took off.
Since I was already at the office, I decided to get some work done before meeting with Diego. I didn’t want to go home and get comfortable, chilling with MJ and Jamie, forgetting about my plan. As I buried myself in some paperwork, my eyes fell on a picture of Joie and Jamie smiling. Shit was so good between us that I didn’t think she was capable of the shit she pulled. Placing the picture face down on my desk, I cleared my mind and got back to work.
When night fell, I went to the warehouse to meet up with Diego. He was already changed, so I walked in the back area to change out of my clothes as well. I was dressed in all black with a ski mask on my face, gloves on my hands, and boots on my feet.
“You ready?” Diego asked, as I came from the back.
“Yeah, what’s the plan?”
“I’ve been watching his house all day today. The kids left with their grandparents while him and his wife left for dinner, I’m assuming; they were both dressed nice,” he replied.
“Do you have eyes on the house now?”
“Yeah, they haven’t returned yet.”
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
“I was thinking about snatching him up out of his bed.”
“Nah, then we would have to kill his wife and I don’t feel like killing an innocent person,” I replied.
My beef wasn’t with his wife; plus, they had kids together so there was no reason for me to involve her in her husband’s bullshit.
“You got a burner?” I asked Diego.
“Yes.”
“Let’s ride.”
We got in Diego’s car, then headed to Elias’ house. Once we arrived, we parked across the street and waited.
“Hand me the phone,” I said to Diego.
I grabbed the phone from him and made a call to the number Elias had on the piece of paper that included all of Elias’ information.
“Hello?” I could hear a voice say over some chitter chatter.
“Hello, is this Detective Elias?” I asked, disguising my voice.
“Yes, this is he. Who is this?”
“I’m a concerned citizen. I have some information on the Godfrey brothers for you that would help your case,” I replied.
“I’m not understanding.”
“I play cards around the neighborhood with the little boys trying to teach them some structure. I overheard one of them talking about this big drop the brothers are supposed to be doing. I am not a fan of what these boys are doing to this neighborhood and I want them gone once and for all.”
“How did you know to contact me?” he asked.
“I’m down at the station and asked who was the lead detective on the case.”
“They gave you my name?” he questioned.
“Sure did. If you don’t believe me, you can come down to the station,” I offered.
“I’ll be there in a bit,” he replied before hanging up the phone.
“If that nigga comes, he is as dumb as I thought,” Diego said.
“This nigga determined to take our asses down. Trust me, he’s coming,” I replied.
We sat in the car, bumping Rick Ross while passing a blunt back and forth, when a car pulled into Elias’ driveway. I watched as he left his car running and walked his wife to the door, before getting back in. I waited until he got to the stop sign down the street before telling Diego to follow him.
“When we get to a secluded area, hit the back of his car,” I said to Diego.
“Iight,” Diego nodded.
We were headed in the direction of the highway when Diego rammed right into the back of Elias’ car. He came to a stop, then got out of the car to inspect the damages. I made sure the silencer was screwed at the tip of my gun before I got out of the car and walked over to him.
“Your ass wasn’t paying attention?” Elias asked, as I walked up to him.
“I heard you were looking for me,” I said, showing my
face. His eyes widened with fear as he reached for his gun, but I was faster than him.
Phew!
