by Nikki Brown
He liked to use money and his name to make you do exactly what he wanted you to do. She refused to live like that, so when she met Kal they started hanging out. The day that she realized that she didn’t want to be with her ex anymore was the day that he walked in on them and tried to kill the both of them. He went to jail after that and she had just heard that he was back out and doing well for himself.
Charlotte was a huge city and she did her best to stay out of his path which she had planned to do. The last thing she needed was for him to question who Kane’s father was. Just thinking about it caused her stomach to turn.
“Damn bitch what you thinking about?” Cami said from beside her. She turned to look at her not realizing that she had a sour look on her face.
“My bad girl just thinking about the past, you know,” Key shrugged and turned her attention back to the field.
“Man look, Akiya done been through some shit.” Vinny said from just a few feet away from the girls. “And that’s my sister nigga.”
“Says the nigga that’s sleeping with his boy’s sister behind his back. At least I’m telling you in your face I’m about to murder the pussy.” Cassidy smirked and Vinny pushed him as the two walked towards the women.
“Real talk nigga, if you ain’t serious. Leave her the fuck alone.” Vinny threw out one last warning and Cassidy just nodded his head. He didn’t take Vinny’s words as disrespect; he knew that if he had a sister, he would feel the same exact way.
Cassidy casually made his way over to where Key was standing, positioning himself directly behind her. Key could feel his presence behind her and tried her best not to become nervous. The palms of her hands became sweaty as she wiped them on the sides of her distressed jeans. Noticing the gesture Cassidy took a step closer.
“Do I make you nervous?” he whispered over her shoulder.
“No but you’re crowding my personal space Cassidy, or should I say Mr. I’ma call you back and never did.” She couldn’t hide her disappointment. The two were in a deep conversation last night and all of a sudden, he said he had to go and said that he would call her back. Key stayed up for hours waiting for a call that never came.
Ever since her ex, she refused to give her heart away to another man. Yes, she had men that she dealt with here and there but that’s all it was, sex. She wasn’t trying to let anyone near her heart until she knew for sure they were worth it.
Cassidy gave her butterflies and her pussy reacted to him whenever they were in each other’s spaces or even when she heard his voice, but he had to bring more than that. She wanted someone that was attentive and that would bring her into their world and allow her to bring them into hers.
She refused to ever be controlled or judged, she had been through some things and had to do things that she’s not proud of but they made her who she was today so she didn’t regret one thing. Looking over her shoulder, she took in Cassidy’s handsome chocolate face and imagined herself sitting on it.
“Your space is my space, so I’m just obtaining the space that belongs to me.”
“That line may work on other girls Mr. Maler,” Key turned around and faced the chocolate God that invaded her dreams more times than not. “But you gone have to come a little harder than that with me.” Key tucked her bottom lip in between her teeth and smirked. “And don’t try and dodge what I said about you not calling me back. I thought you were a man of your word.” She turned back around and focused back on the field; she didn’t want him to see that she was really in her feelings about him not calling back.
Cassidy stepped a little closer so that his dick was on the small of her back due to her being almost a whole foot shorter than him. He wrapped his hands around her waist and surprisingly she fell into his embrace.
“I can definitely come harder.” He said following her stare out on to the field. He purposely ignored her statement again because he wasn’t going to lie to her. If she pressed him about it, he would have to tell her that he had company and he really didn’t want to do that. He was actually looking forward to getting to know her and telling her he was with another female wasn’t the right way to go about that.
“Y’all cut that bullshit out, we at a little league game, ain’t no one want to see that shit,” Vinny voiced gaining a few laughs from those that were close to the group.
“Hating ass,” Cassidy threw his way and Vinny flipped him off. They looked at him like a little brother and treated him as such. “Damn the kid is nice.” Cassidy said as he watched a kid bust a spin move to get away from a tackle.
He remembered his days on the field. He was damn good, even got scholarships to play ball for college but he wanted to run his family business instead. That’s where his heart was at.
“Yeah he’s good, now if I could just get his little bad ass to keep his hands to himself and do right in school, we’d be okay,” Key fussed.
Raising Kanaan, or Kane as she liked to call him was tough on her, especially by herself. She did the best she could, and for the most part she had done a good job. Kane was just an aggressive kid, he didn’t take shit from no one, just like her and her brother. His temper was quick and his hands were quicker. At five years old, he had been kicked out of two schools already. His new charter school was his last straw.
“Damn that’s the kid.” Cassidy moved from behind Key and moved closer to the field so he could watch him. He played the running back position himself so he saw little things that he could probably teach him. “What’s his name? Kane, right?”
“Yeah, Kanaan but Kane for short.”
“Yo Kane!” Cassidy yelled out and Kane stopped stretching. It was almost time for the game to start and the coach had the team stretching and cooling down.
Kane frowned at the stranger that was too close to his mama for his comfort but when he saw the smile on his mother’s face it eased his tension a little. Plus, his uncle Vinny was close by so he knew that it was okay.
“Sup?”
“Aye I liked how you spun out of that tackle out there but you came out of it too slow, if you were in the game the next level would have been able to get you. So, check it, when they got you like that and you spin out, drive that right leg into the ground and use it to push forward. You’ll accelerate faster.” Cassidy slipped his hands in his pockets and looked down at the youngin. For some reason he saw himself in the young man.
“I know what I’m doing,” Kane said and then jogged back on the field.
“Kane you better watch your damn mouth!” Key yelled after him and Cassidy chuckled.
“Leave him alone, he heard what I said. He was just trying to throw around his authority. He’s cool but I bet you he does exactly what the hell I said.”
The group walked up in the stands to wait for the game to start. Cassidy took a place right beside Key and pulled her close. She wanted to object but she would be a fool too, not that she was into his money or anything, but you would be crazy to turn down a man like Cassidy Maler.
About ten minutes later the game started and Kane did exactly what Cassidy instructed him to do and ran it in for a touchdown. After the team went in for a two-point conversion, Kane ran over to the side line to get a drink. He looked up at Cassidy and threw him a head nod and then a smirk.
“My nigga.” Cassidy held his fist up and Kane laughed.
Key looked back and forth between the two, Kane didn’t like anyone she dealt with. He hadn’t been around many but the couple he did meet, he cursed them out and tried to fight them so the fact that he was even showing interest in what Cassidy had to say warmed her heart.
“Aye, Kahleno said come see him at the house.”
“Shit I had planned on stopping through to holla at him today anyway. Let me check on shit around the way and go holla at Spiff bitch ass and then I’ll be that way.”
“Aight bet, I’ma go holla at ya sister and then go check on my brother. Some shit went down with AD and that nigga ain’t in the best mind frame.” Cassidy slipped his hands in his poc
kets trying not to think about everything that had gone on.
“Man take that nigga to the strip club and get him some pussy and he’ll be just fucking fine,” Vinny said checking his phone and then looking back making sure that Cami wasn’t close.
“Aight nigga, don’t fuck up.” Cassidy nodded towards Cami.
“I got me; you don’t fuck up.” He pointed at his sister whose attention they had gained.
“Nigga I ain’t fucking up nothing but her guts.” Cassidy jumped back when Vinny tried to swing and then he doubled over laughing. Vinny shook his head and walked away. If one thing he knew for sure, that was that his sister was safe with Cassidy and that was all that mattered to him at the moment. He just prayed that he had good intentions, he didn’t want to fall out with his boy.
Death Before Dishonor
“Tell them, tell them what you told me Menzell.” Meka stood in the middle of the living room of the farm house with Senior and Menz by her side. After her conversation with Mega, she was on her heels to prove that her son had nothing to do with what happened to Kahleno and Sutton.
She turned her head and looked at Sutton, the look she gave was one of pure disgust. Siya placed her hand on Sutton’s shoulder and shook her head. She didn’t want her to get upset and harm her grandchild, she would handle Meka if need be.
“Man look cuz, you know we cool and shit. I would never do any shit to harm you, or any of you. Trouble my nigga and all but when it comes to family, I ride for mine.” Kahleno could be heard grinding his teeth across the room. He wanted so badly to shoot Menzell in the head and if it wasn’t for his aunt, he would have.
Meka loved Menzell like he was her own. When she was younger, she had an accident that left her infertile so he was the closest thing to a child that she would ever know. Kahleno and Mega knew that, which was why they gave them so much slack but that was over. When he shot Kahleno that granted him a death sentence. They were just gonna be smart about it for Meka’s sake.
“So, Trouble shot me?” Kahleno asked and Menz nodded his head. “How you know this?”
“I heard him bragging about it.” Shrugging his shoulders, he could feel the palms of his hands began to get sweaty and there was a slight tremor in his lips as he spoke.
“Oh yeah, so what you do when you heard that?” Cassidy asked walking in the living room from the kitchen with an unpeeled orange. He heard when they came in but he had to talk himself off the ledge from just shooting them both in the middle of the forehead and dealing with Aunt Meka later. “He sure was comfortable enough to say some shit like that about your family right in ya face cuz, I know you amped on him.” Cassidy smiled big and crossed his arms across his chest and stood with his feet shoulder width apart.
“I—I just wanted to come tell y’all first and see what y’all wanted me to do. You know y’all mo—ve sm—smart and shit and I didn’t want t—to over-overstep, you know?” Menz looked back and forth between Kahleno, Cassidy, and Mega. The look in all of their eyes let him know that his days were numbered. They weren’t dumb, he tried to tell his father that they would find out about this but he wouldn’t listen.
“Nah,” the Maler men said at the same time.
“Don’t question him, it wasn’t his job to get in the middle of your drama with your little whore’s ex-boyfriend!” Meka yelled staring right at Sutton.
“Now you wait a damn minute! If you want the smoke, I’m giving shot guns all damn day!” Sutton said causing Cassidy to look at her like she was crazy.
“You ain’t gangsta sis, it’s okay though, we got you.” He laughed. Sutton tried her best to hold a straight face, Cassidy was just so stupid that she couldn’t do it, so she ended up folded over laughing.
“I’m glad you think this is funny.”
“Aunt Meka, I love you but make that the last time you disrespect my girl. She ain’t did nothing to no one so leave her out of this or it will be an issue, and I mean that with the utmost respect,” Kahleno’s voice was calm and calculated. “You say Trouble did it, okay cool. Thank you.”
Kahleno stood up and approached Menz, sticking his hand out for him to shake. Menz looked at his hand, hesitantly he stuck his hand out and shook it. He knew this wasn’t over and he knew that it was Kahleno’s way of letting him know that he was coming. Whether he said it or not.
“It’s clear that we are not wanted here,” Meka scoffed. The love that Meka had for Senior and Menz had her vision blurred to the truth. They both looked guilty as hell and she couldn’t even see it. “Let’s go!”
Meka turned on her heels and marched out of the house. She couldn’t understand why her family was all of a sudden treating them that way. It wasn’t until Sutton came around that they started acting that way.
“I told you it was a mistake to go there,” Senior fussed in the driver’s seat of the car. “They’ve never accepted me or my son.”
“Senior, Mega allowed you to work for the family business. Which allotted us the money to live like we do. If he didn’t care for you, then he wouldn’t have done it.”
“He did that for you, I was nothing but his little worker. I should have been a partner just like Menz should have been a partner,” Senior fussed. He hated the way the Maler family threw their power around. They thought that they could do anything to anyone and they were just going to accept it. “Then you see what they did to my son? They fucked his face up not once but twice for no reason,” Senior continued.
Meka’s thoughts were back in the house, she didn’t see it when she was there but now that she was thinking back on it, she now felt that the story Menz told was a little off. She looked in the rearview mirror and Menz was in the backseat chewing on his bottom lip, something he did when he was nervous.
The confidence that she once had in her husband and son was slowly diminishing. Actions speak louder than words was something instilled in her from a very young age, and their actions were starting to look a little shady.
“If you knew something about my nephew you would tell me, wouldn’t you?” Meka asked looking from Senior to Menz. She gazed at Menz for an explanation. She wanted to see the truth in his eyes, but it wasn’t there.
“How dare you go against your own family? We’ve been together almost twenty years and just because your brother thinks some crazy shit then you believe it. I never took you for that kind of bitch. If I had, I would have never married you,” Senior boasted.
“I don’t know who the fuck you think you talking to, but you got the right one, don’t play with me Senior.” Meka pointed in his face, tears filled the brim of her eyes as she thought about the possibility of what they were saying being right.
“I need a fucking drink.” Senior peeled himself out of the car and headed in the house with Menz right on his tail. Once they were out the car, he realized that Meka didn’t follow. He figured that she was going back to the farm house. “Let’s go to the basement,” Senior said knowing that his basement was the most secure place for him and Menz to talk.
When he reached the basement, he went straight to the bar and poured a shot of aged brandy. The burning sensation traveling down his throat gave him a bit of solace, even if only for a second.
“They know! They know! They know!” Menz paced the floor, scared was an understatement. He tried to tell his father that it wasn’t a good idea to go against them. His father tended to think that he could outsmart anyone. The only thing is the Maler’s were always two steps ahead of them.
“Shut the hell up with all that fucking crying. The fucking Maler’s bleed just like we do! There is nothing special about them. Now if you would have shot him and killed the both of them it, wouldn’t have been an issue. But no, your ass was scared. I don’t even know how we’re related.”
“Pops I grew up with them niggas, they family.”
“Family that go up side you head whenever they want. The same family that demoted you down to a fucking runner. That same family that would put a bullet in your head in a second.” Senior
slammed down his empty glass. “You think they give a fuck about you?”
“So, what we gone do?”
“We bout to go hit that warehouse and get the hell out of here. We’ll go build our own shit somewhere else and when we get our shit together, we’ll come back to handle them, all of them,” Senior said pouring himself another shot.
“When we leaving, and what about ma?”
“She’s one of them and we can’t trust her,” Senior said with a scowl on his face, he was about to say something else, but he heard the door open.
Meka took the stairs two at a time, she couldn’t believe what she had just heard. The man that she loved, cherished, and went to bat for had just talked openly about trying to kill her family. The tears forced their way down her face.
“Really Senior?” She walked right up on him as he stood there like a deer caught in head lights. “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s my fucking nephew!” She slapped him across his face. The deadly look that was now plastered on his face didn’t move her one way or another. Listening to them had her feeling like she had betrayed her family.
“I don’t know what you think you heard but you’re wrong,” Menz tried a hand at resolving the situation.
“Shut the fuck up, I see why AD beat yo ass!” Meka said. It hurt her because she truly loved these men and had done everything in her power to make them feel like they were part of the family. Even after her brother told her that he didn’t trust Senior, that he wasn’t who he said he was, she still begged him to let him work for him.
Just the thought that she’s had her family in danger all this time and didn’t even know. She was thankful that it didn’t go any further than it did. Dropping her head, she began to slowly cry.
“What did I do?” she cried.
“Baby listen, it was all a misunderstanding.” Senior grabbed Meka’s shoulders and it was like something snapped in her and she began to wail on him. She was swinging with all her might. When she got close enough to the lamp, she picked it up off the table and tried to hit him with it but he caught her wrist. “Chill got damn it!”
