by Nikki Brown
“I hate you! I hate you! How could you do something like this?”
“We are your family too Meka, you can’t even listen to what I have to say? That’s the got damn problem, you always loved them more than us.” She stopped and took a step back hearing him say that hurt her beyond words because she often went against her family for them.
Her chest rose and fell with every breath she took, she was standing there like a bull and the red flag was over Senior’s head. The anger that she felt was unmatched to anything she ever felt before. She felt like a fool but deep down she could also still feel the love that she had for them and that pissed her off even more.
“How dare you? I almost lost my family because of you!” She pointed in the direction of Senior. “I turned my back on my brother and my family business for you.”
Her thoughts traveled back to when her brother made her choose, a life with them or the family business. She chose them, so Mega bought her out.
“I never asked you to.”
“You ungrateful bastard.” She shook her head. “My brother is the reason that you eat, my nephew is the reason that he eats and you think it’s okay to just try and kill him? You think that shit gone fly?” she chuckled. “You know I’m the only reason that the two of you are still breathing?” She raised a brow.
If it was possible you would be able to see the steam coming off of Seniors bald head. “I am a fucking man. I make my own way.” He hated when she insinuated that he needed the Maler’s to survive, even though it was true, he still hated to hear it. “I never needed your family.”
“Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. Without me and my family, you would be just another nobody trying to work his way to nowhere.” Meka let a few more tears fall. She knew that after she told her brother what happened that it would more than likely be the last time that she saw either of them. Her heart was conflicted, she loved them but she was a Maler first. They crossed the line; she would never be able to live with them knowing that. “I hate to see what happens when my brother catches wind of this.”
She turned to walk off but Senior caught up with her and pulled her back. She turned around and swung on him and he slapped her across the face. She held her cheek where he had hit her, he had never hit her before, so stunned was an understatement. She grabbed the ashtray on the table and began swinging at him connecting with the ashtray a few times.
“I said stop!” Senior yelled and pushed Meka with so much force that she flew across the room and hit the brick fireplace, her head bounced off of it the minute she landed. Senior rushed over and he knew right then that his life was over.
“Dad what did you do?” Menz kneeled where Meka lay and ran his hand through her hair. She was out cold and when he brought his hand up it was full of blood. “Oh my god!”
“Fuck! Why did you do that Meka? Why would you do that?” Senior began pacing the basement. “We got to get out of here, let’s go.” He grabbed Menz’s hand but he didn’t move. Meka was the only mother that he ever knew and he loved her as such. Seeing her laying there like that hurt his heart. “Let’s go, Menzell. Go upstairs and get your shit. Now!”
Menz snapped out of his daze and ran upstairs. He collected everything that he could quickly. His conscious wouldn’t let him just leave her down there like that so he called 911 and told them that someone assaulted his mother. He threw the phone down in hopes that they would be able to get the address from his GPS.
He ran outside and met his father at the car. Neither of them looked back as they tore down the long road. They were so eager to get away that they didn’t even see the car that was following them.
What do you want from me?
Looking around the restaurant, AD didn’t really know why he was here. While he was at his parents’ house talking to his dad about how he was feeling, he got a text from Ziva asking him to meet her here. He wasn’t sure what she wanted but something pulled him here.
The nervousness that filled his body gave him an uneasy feeling and he couldn’t shake it. He looked down at his watch and she was ten minutes late already. Right when he was about to get up and walk away, the same beautiful woman from the restaurant walked in and stood where he sat.
Ziva looked down at him and waited for him to greet her, when she didn’t get that, jealousy immediately filled her veins. All she could think about was that if it was Siya he would have been all over her right now.
“It’s nice to see you Legend.”
“Adoreé.”
“Excuse me?” Ziva’s attitude was evident, she didn’t know what she expected but she didn’t expect him to be so cold. She thought that because she exposed the Maler’s that he would come to her with open arms, and she would be right there to mend the broken pieces.
“My name is Adoreé Maler.” AD leaned up in his seat and said through clenched teeth. The vibe this woman was bringing to the table had him on the defense. He didn’t know what it was about her, but he had a feeling that something wasn’t right with her. “What the fuck do you want from me?”
“That is no way to speak to your mother.”
“You are not my mother.” AD slammed his hands down on the table and hovered over her. He looked her in the eyes and the connection that he had been looking for since she walked in wasn’t there. “Siya Maler is my mother and there is nothing that you or anyone else can say that could ever tell me any different.”
“Ha, she couldn’t carry a baby if her life depended on it. I carried you,” Ziva laughed. “She even went as far as to go to that fertility clinic, she had all those eggs, fertilized them with your daddy’s good sperm and still couldn’t get pregnant,” she laughed again. “Thank God for a solid uterus, right?”
AD’s eyes furrowed at what she was saying. She sounded like she was a little crazy. Her thick Jamaican accent was noticeable but she still spoke perfect English. She turned to the waiter and ordered an iced tea with lemon and then ordered AD the same.
“I don’t drink that shit. Just bring me a water,” AD said to the waiter.
“Oh, nonsense. You love sweet tea.” She smiled and waved the waiter off.
“The fuck is wrong with you?” AD asked with confusion written on his face. “You don’t know shit about me. I don’t even fucking know you,” he said through gritted teeth.
“No, who you don’t know is that bitch that you call your mother.” It was Ziva’s turn to slam her hands down. This was not the welcome that she was expecting from him. She thought that he would be more receptive to meeting her and getting to know her.
His loyalty to Siya was sickening, she didn’t know what it was about that woman but she wished like hell that she would have killed her all those years ago. That was the worst mistake that she could have ever made, not getting the job done.
“If I were you, I would watch your mouth. You don’t know me, clearly. I’ll put you up on a little bit of game, I don’t fucking play when it comes to the people who raised me. The people that sacrificed to give me the life that I have now.”
“I didn’t come here to go back and forth with you, I just wanted to get to know my son. But I see that whore has turned you against the thought of getting to know me.”
“That whore as you called her, encouraged me to meet you.” AD stood up and towered over Ziva. “I should have gone with my first mind though and stayed the fuck away from you.” He shrugged his shoulders. He was torn between punching her in the face and strangling her with his bare hands. She didn’t have too many more times to disrespect Siya and he was going to act out on his fantasies.
“Good for her,” she scoffed.
“I don’t know why you’re here or what you thought you were going to get out of this but my life ain’t something to be fucking toyed with. You don’t give a fuck about me; I can see it in your eyes. You just want to get back at mom and pops for some dumb ass reason and you thought using me was the perfect way to do it.” AD moved the chair from behind him. “What you didn’t count o
n was the fact I can see through your bullshit, I’m good at reading people. Something my mother taught me.”
“No, I want to know you Legend.”
“My fucking name is Adoreé Maler!” He got so close that he could smell the fear radiating from her breath. He went to say something else but his phone rang, he looked and saw that it was his mother calling. He looked around the restaurant because he felt like someone was watching him. When he didn’t recognize anyone, he picked up the phone. “Ma, you following me?”
“What? What are you talking about son? Are you high?” Siya asked but AD could hear the concern in her voice even though she tried to play it off.
“What’s wrong? I can hear it in your voice.”
Ziva looked on in pure disgust, the way they all fell over her made her sick to her stomach. Everything in this world revolved around Siya Maler and she didn’t understand why. It was like no matter what she did, no one saw any wrong in her. Her façade of perfection blocked out the evilness that lived within and she hated it.
“It’s Aunt Meka,” Siya said and went through everything that happened from the minute he left. He was kicking himself for leaving when he did. AD still felt a little out of place and he knew that he would have to work through that.
His anger was still there but the love he had for his family over ruled all of that, but when he felt like it was too much, he had to leave just like he did today. He still felt like he needed to sort through a few things and he thought that coming here would help him do that but he was wrong.
“What the fuck? Is she okay?” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a wad of money. He threw a couple bills on the table and turned to walk away, but Ziva grabbed his arm. When he looked at her, she remembered the warning that the gave last time and released him. “I’m on my way,” he said as he hung up the phone and looked to Ziva.
“This is not over, she can wait.”
“Oh, it’s over, don’t contact me again. You did what you came to do. You put a black hole in the center of my family and its hell trying to repair it. Congratulations.” With that AD took off in a quick jog so he could get to the hospital to check on his aunt.
Ziva slammed her hands on the table. She was pissed that he treated her that way after everything that she had been through. How dare he treat her like she wasn’t anything and she was the one that birthed him? He would pay for that, they all would.
Woman to Woman
“Daddy what you doing here?” Sutton asked the minute she walked in the shop.
She had just left the hospital from being with Kahleno while he checked on his aunt Meka. He was so pissed that Menz and Senior would do something like that. From what Sutton heard, Meka took them in and made a life for them despite what Mega and the rest of the family had to say about it.
The way Mega moved around the hospital had Sutton worried about what they may get into. All the men decided they needed to leave all of a sudden. She went to ask questions but was met with a kiss as an answer.
Siya decided to stay with Meka until they figured out what they were going to do. When she got to the hospital, they did a CAT scan and determined that she had an intracranial hemorrhage. They needed to go in and find out where the bleeding was coming from but there was too much swelling.
Everything surrounding the Maler family was starting to be exhausting. Sutton wanted to go back to the times where things were simple. Though it was draining, she had to admit that all of the turmoil was bringing them closer together. Even her dad had been over to check on Kahleno, things were falling into place and she couldn’t be happier.
“I came by to see you,” he said nervously.
“I just saw you earlier,” Sutton challenged causing her dad to slip his hands in his pockets and stare at his baby girl.
“Well I wanted to see you again, but I gotta go. You took too long; I have to go meet up with your man.”
“Meet up with him for what?”
“That my dear is none of your business.” Hudson kissed his daughter on the cheek and headed for the door. The one thing that he didn’t want was for her to question him about what he was doing there. The conversation that him and Pebbles just had was enough for one day, he couldn’t handle his daughter too.
When Kahleno called and said that they were about to run down on the men that shot at him and Sutton, he used that as his out. When he got to the car, he looked back towards the window and Sutton was standing there looking at him like he was crazy. He should have known that he would have to explain himself sooner or later, today it was the latter.
“What was my dad doing here Pebbles?” Sutton asked as soon as Pebbles rounded the corner with tears in her eyes. She ran to her and hugged her, she looked at Pebbles like an Auntie and she hated when she was sad.
“He said he came to see you.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Just man problems, you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.” She giggled nervously. She knew that her and Hudson would have to tell Sutton the truth soon but today wasn’t a good day to go revealing secrets. She was emotional enough; she didn’t know how Sutton would take the news so for right now she was keeping it to herself.
“Let me find out you out here caught up.” Sutton smiled and wiped the tears that were rolling down Pebbles’ face.
“You have no idea.” She shook her head and backed away from Sutton, holding her arms out. “So, how’s my baby doing in there?” Pebbles decided to change the subject.
“Making me sick, I swear the morning sickness is real.” Rolling her eyes to the ceiling she laughed when Pebbles sucked her teeth. “For real but I can say that I’m happy and so is Kahleno.”
“Do you want a girl or boy?”
“I want a boy but oddly Kahleno wants a girl. He said that we already got Kahlil little crazy ass and they needed some softness in the family.”
“Softness to what family?” Pebbles placed her hands on her hips and leaned into Sutton waiting on an answer. “Soft and Maler don’t even go in the same sentence.” She laughed and Sutton joined in.
“You get in here an sit your ass down somewhere and I ain’t playing,” Key fussed as she drug Kane in the salon by his collar. “Sutton, do you mind if he sits back in the break room?”
“Why you got my man jacked up like that?” Pebbles grilled her and reached for Kane to come to where she was but Key pulled him back.
“No Pebbles, between you and my brother is the reason he acts like this.” She pointed at Pebbles who waved her off. “I’m serious, he knows how hard it is to find a sitter on the weekends. One of his team mates moms invited him over after the game. They were having a kids’ retreat at her church and he went in there acting a fool.”
“I’m sure he was just doing what the other kids were doing,” Pebbles cosigned for him.
“No! First, he told them that he didn’t believe in white Jesus. That he ain’t never seen a white man with nappy hair. Said that what the preacher was saying was a lie. Then when they tried to put holy oil on him, he spazzed out.”
“They shouldn’t have touched him.”
“He swung on a preacher!” Key screeched and then drug him to the back.
Sutton looked at Pebbles and they both folded over laughing. Pebbles and Key had become relatively close over the last couple of weeks that Sutton had been gone. She had expressed to her how hard it was for her to keep Kane on the straight and narrow.
She felt like he needed a male role model to look up to. When Pebbles asked about the father, she told him that she didn’t want to talk about him and that he was irrelevant. What Pebbles didn’t know was Kanaan’s father didn’t even know he existed.
The door of the salon swung open, “Welcome to Chamber of Beauty!” Sutton called out and when she heard little feet, she knew exactly who it was. “What are you doing here?” She leaned down and lifted Kahlil up into her arms and kissed his cheek, before sitting him in her chair.
“My mama gotta work a
nd daddy didn’t answer the phone.” When he said that Sutton looked up, she bit down so hard on her back teeth that she thought they would break. Her chest rose and fell quickly, as she thought about all the evil shit that she wanted to do to her.
She hated women like Karson, she caused all of that drama for a man that wanted nothing to do with her. She blamed Sutton for her short comings, when her energy should have been diverted elsewhere.
“I didn’t have a choice but to come here.” Karson swallowed what little pride that she did have.
After the scene in the hospital, Kahlil questioned her on why she was acting the way she was. When he told her that it made him sad when she said bad things about Sutton and Kahleno, it broke her heart. She never realized that her actions were affecting her son. At the end of the day, his happiness overruled hers any day.
“He’s good,” was all Sutton offered.
“Listen, I know I haven’t been the easiest person to get along with but-”
“Tuh!” Sutton hissed.
“Okay I get it but, we gotta get along if you’re going to be with Kahleno. Kahlil doesn’t want to see us at each other’s throat and if you are willing to call a truce so am I,” Karson said and Sutton laughed.
“That’s the thing Karson, I’ve never done anything to you to make you think anything other than that. Never called you out of your name nor did I disrespect you even when I felt like you deserved it. I didn’t want him to see me disrespecting his mother because then he would think that was okay. I let a lot of shit slide for that reason alone, because I love this little boy.” She pointed at Kahlil. “But I’m done taking your shit, you need to get it through your mind that I’m here to stay. I’m going to be a part of your lives; this baby will be his brother or sister.” Sutton’s confidence was front and center.
Every word that Sutton spoke made Karson feel that much smaller. All she ever wanted to do was to give Kahlil the family that she had growing up, she thought if she fought hard enough that Kahleno would see that she loved him. Now, in hindsight, she was just proving to be the woman that her actions painted her out to be.
