Thug Matrimony

by Wahida Clark

  “I want these muthafuckas found and I want them done just the way they did my husband. What do I have to pay?”

  “Ma, you killin’ me. How you gonna insult me like that?” Omar wanted to know.

  “I’m not trying to insult you. I just want these niggas taken care of before Trae gets well.” Her voice cracked. “I know he’s coming out of this, Omar. I know he is.”

  “Ma, we got you, yo. It’s just taking a little more time than we anticipated,” Bo assured her. “But things are moving. It’s all gravy.”

  Angel continued to listen as they explained that they finally got their hands on both of the surveillance tapes at the hotel. The one of Trae on the elevators, Kaylin firing on Snake, and all of them filing into the ballroom. Their people were going over them. The tapes were twenty-five grand a piece and Omar told Tasha they would keep her posted.

  There’s a price for everything, Angel thought to herself.

  When the nurse entered, Omar and Bo left. Angel remained balled up as Tasha and the nurse made small talk. She figured that she was checking all of the equipment that was hooked up to Trae.

  As soon as the nurse left, Tasha began talking to Trae. She made sure that every time she would be alone with him she would have a conversation with him. Angel peeked from under the covers and saw Tasha planting a kiss on his forehead.

  “Hey, baby. I’m sure you just heard the nurse say that your vitals are fine and your wounds are healing. I miss you sooo much. Your sons miss you even more. Please come home to us real soon. Nana and Pop-pop are trying not to go crazy and they are doing such a good job with the boys.

  “The apartment is ready. Who would ever have thought we would have needed it under these circumstances? We only lived in it together as a family for what, two, three days?” She giggled. “Now it looks like we’ll be there for at least a month. The doctor said you won’t be able to travel back to Cali for at least that long. You have to get good and strong. Glad you didn’t sell it after all.

  “Damn, baby, remember the first time I came over there? I remember it just like it was yesterday. You had hoes calling, putting them on speakerphone while trying to get me to spend the night?” She giggled at the memory. “Remember how I broke your blender making millions of strawberry shakes? What about the time that I was your patient and was supposed to be on bed rest? You also got your first shot of head right there in that apartment. Now a wife and two kids, one on the way, your bachelor/freak pad is now a family pad. Toys, cribs, bottles, the whole nine yards. Who would have thunk it?” She chuckled.

  “Oh, your boy Jacob the Jeweler? He just got arrested in connection with a multistate drug and money-laundering ring. He’s out on bond. But the feds hemmed him up at the Midtown Manhattan spot. You think I should give him my butterfly necklace back?” Psych!

  “But for real, they seized five mil in cash, thirty pieces of jewelry, thirteen houses, thirty-five vehicles, and 270 million in numerous bank accounts. Is that crazy or what? Now, I’m not sure if it is all his, but the article said that his affiliation was with some gang called the Black Mafia Family. I bet some broke-ass government agents’ wives will be rockin’ some serious jewelry.

  “On another note your Miami Squad won the championship last night. Your boy D-Wade got MVP, of course. The Glove finally got a ring. Big Daddy, Shaq Diesel came through. Zo, you know that’s my nigga. Haslem, White Chocolate, Posey. They all came through. Riley pulled it off, just like you said he would. You would have been really proud.

  “Your girl Angel is still here. I’ma make her ass go home today. You gotta hurry up and get well so you can talk some sense to Kaylin, or I’ma have to kick his ass. To walk out and not marry my girl? He got the game twisted. It’s not like she’s some fucking jump-off! You feel me? That was totally disrespectful and it wasn’t her fault. On top of that she’s carrying his seed. Yeah. You didn’t know that, did you? He choked her and everything. It wasn’t her fault that Snake’s ass showed up. Anyways, you need to put your man in check. That shit was foul.”

  Angel watched as Tasha took his hand and placed it on her stomach. As the tears rolled down her cheeks she was whispering in his ear.

  Yeah. It’s time for me to go home and face the music, Angel told herself.

  Angel was livid as she dialed Kaylin’s sister Tamara’s number. She left the hospital with Tasha two nights ago and Kaylin still had not been home.

  “Tamara, it’s me. You still haven’t heard from Kay?” Anguish was evident in her voice.

  “Yeah. He didn’t call you?”

  “Tamara, no. If he had I wouldn’t be asking you what was up.”

  “He’s over at Malik’s mom’s house.”

  “He’s what?” Angel had to make sure she heard right.

  “He’s over at Bianca’s,” Tamara stated matter-of-factly.

  “It is almost one o’clock in the morning, Tamara. What the fuck is he doing over there? I’ve been looking high and low for this nigga and he’s holed up at his baby mama’s house? He hasn’t even been answering his cell.” She was acting as if it was Tamara’s fault.

  Sensing that, Tamara said, “I thought you knew!” Now Tamara felt guilty for telling her where he was.

  “Thank you, girl.” Angel tossed the phone onto the sofa. “Ain’t this some shit!” She stood with her hands on both hips, deep in thought, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. Getting angrier by the minute, she tried to control the negative thoughts that were causing her imagination to run rampant. As she paced back and forth, the visual of Kaylin wrapped around his baby mama caused her to move even faster. Before she knew it she was jumping into some jeans, a sweatshirt, and sneakers. She picked up the phone and dialed the number for a taxi. She went to Kaylin’s safe and grabbed his .22. She tucked it into her waistband. Taking fifty dollars out of her purse along with her driver’s license, which she stuffed into her back pocket, she snatched up her keys and was out the front door where she waited on the porch until the cab came.

  At 2:20 a.m. she was getting out in front of Bianca’s home. She had a nice little house in Astoria, Queens. She paid the driver, jumped out, and walked briskly up the driveway. Kaylin’s Mercedes station wagon was parked big as day. This nigga ain’t even trying to be discreet. She patted where the .22 was. “Be easy, Angel. Be easy.” Lifting her finger to ring the bell, she was startled when the door flung open.

  Kaylin stood there behind the screen door wearing a black hoodie, the hood hanging loosely over his face. His eyes darted over the surrounding area. She noticed that his eyes were bloodshot and that he was obviously tired.

  “What are you doing here, Red?” he snapped as he pushed open the screen door to let her in.

  “What the fuck you mean what I’m doing here? It’s three o’clock in the damn morning. I’m asking you the same damn thing! I came to take you home. Why the fuck do you think I’m here? My husband doesn’t come home or call me in five days and then I hear through the grapevine that he’s camping out at his baby’s mama. Get your shit, Kaylin. You’re coming home right now. We gotta straighten some shit out.” Her voice rose.

  “Red, it’s after two in the morning. Folks are asleep.” He closed the front door, walked right past her, and went to sit on the living room couch.

  “So the fuck what? You fuckin’ your baby’s mama now?”

  “Lower your voice, Red.”

  Bianca came running down the stairs, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Angel.

  “No, that nigga ain’t here yet. What you do? Call him and tell him I was here waiting on his ass?” Kaylin fired off at Bianca. Bianca mumbled something under her breath and rolled her eyes. “I ain’t got nothing but time, so I hope you told him to come on and get this ass whipping and to pack his shit.”

  “Why you always tripping, Kay? This ain’t our shit. Why you gotta be such a bully, Kay?” Bianca looked over at Angel as if to say please help!

  “What the fuck is going on, Bianca?” Angel snapped.
>
  “Let me holla at you for a minute, please.” She turned around and went back up the stairs.

  Angel shot Kaylin a skeptical glance before following Bianca upstairs. Her head was poked out of her bedroom door as she motioned for Angel to come in.

  “What the fuck is really going on, Bianca?”

  “Girl, please talk to Kay. He is trippin’ … hard. My man Vic spanked Malik, Malik told Kay, and now he’s threatening to take Malik from me and threatening to beat Vic’s ass. “Get that nigga out of my house. Angel, I swear to you, he only tapped his ass twice, with a freakin’ oven mit. Malik didn’t even cry, his bad ass just jumped on the phone, hit speed dial, and told his father. Now he won’t leave. Please talk to him. You know how bad Malik’s spoiled ass is. Between his father and grandmother the boy is rotten.” She was obviously upset.

  “Why would you let the next nigga hit on him anyway? You know he’s gonna run and tell Kaylin. But I’ll talk to him.”

  Angel was relieved that she didn’t have to use the .22. “Girl, I thought you was fuckin’ him. I was ready to fuck both of y’all up.”

  Bianca sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Girl, please. Angel, just get him out of my house.”

  “Where is Malik?”

  “At his grandmother’s.”

  “Well, you know he is pissed off at me but I will see if I can talk to him.”

  Angel left Bianca in her bedroom and went back downstairs.

  “What did she tell you?” Kaylin snapped.

  “That you are blowing shit out of proportion. And I agree with her. You know Bianca is a good mother and you know how rotten Malik is. He needs a spanking sometimes. I spank him.”

  “You are his stepmother.”

  “And Vic is what? Isn’t she getting ready to marry him? You just don’t like him.”

  “That’s different, Angel. You ain’t supposed to be smacking on the next nigga’s seed. Let’s see if I wasn’t a part of his life. This nigga got me fucked up. Damn right, I don’t like his punk ass.”

  “Please, Kaylin. She wants you to leave. This is her house.”

  “She what? I paid for it.”

  “Let’s go, Kaylin. Malik hasn’t been abused. You been on some real crazy shit since the wedding and Trae and you’re taking it out on everybody. Frankly, I’m sick of it. So let’s go. Vic is not coming over here.”

  Kaylin jumped up off the couch and, taking three steps at a time, was up the stairs and banging on Bianca’s bedroom door.

  “Bianca. Call that nigga and tell him I’m waiting on him and if I gotta come looking for him he’s gonna wish he was dead. Tell him he has until daybreak.”

  As he came down the stairs, Angel cringed when she saw that he had on his special steel-toe stomp-you-to-the-ground boots. When he flopped back down on the couch he grabbed the remote and said, “Angel, go home. I can’t deal with you right now.”

  “Well, when do you plan on dealing with us, Kaylin? It ain’t just me. It’s us. I don’t care how mad you are, we are going to deal with us right now!”

  “Damn, Angel. What the fuck do you want from me? I told you I’m not ready to deal with you yet.”

  “I want you to come home, nigga. To straighten this shit out. I’m tired of negotiating with you, Kaylin.”

  “Ma, I ain’t going home until I’m ready. Now take yo’ ass home.”

  “I am going home but it’s best to believe you’ll be right with me. You can believe that. You gonna let that nigga fuck up our shit? I am not gonna have a bastard child. No. No. No. I did not come all this way with you to be treated like a fuckin’ jump-off.”

  “I’m not going home, Red,” he interjected.

  “Your ass is coming home until after the baby is born. Your ass will be in the delivery room and your ass will be there to sign the birth certificate. After that, it’s on you. If you wanna be a fuckin’ sperm donor, cool. Do you, nigga? Because me and mines, we gonna be aiight. But for now we gonna do this shit my way. It’s your turn to be there for me, like I’ve always been there for you. For now it’s all about family. Our family. I’m not your baby’s mama. I’m not wifey. Nigga, I’m the wife! And you know that there is nothing … nothing I won’t do for you. However, I am officially tired. The old Angel is gone. And I refuse to allow you to fuck up my happiness. I’m tired of begging and pleading with you to do right by me. But you are going to do right by this baby. You are going to come home, we are going to continue to run our business, and you are gonna support me throughout this pregnancy, up to the signing of the birth certificate.”

  “Are you done delivering your sermon now?” Kaylin asked dryly. Angel shot him a fuck with me if you want to look. “Good. He ignored it; now take your ass home.”

  “Nigga, you heard loud and clear what I just said. I told you we are leaving together.” She sat down on the couch next to him and folded her arms across her chest.

  Kaylin sighed as he turned his attention to the muted TV screen.

  Angel had dozed off but was awakened when she heard Bianca yelling for Kaylin to please stop as he dragged Vic down the basement stairs. Bianca closed the basement door and stood there crying. Angel jumped up, ran over to her, and walked her toward the kitchen, as far away from the noise as possible.

  “All he did was tap Malik on his behind a couple of times. It wasn’t even hard, Angel. Vic didn’t mean any harm. Why does Kay have to take everything to the extreme? How is he going to tell me who I can and cannot see?”

  “Girl, you know how Kaylin is about Malik.” They both stood still as they heard the rumbling in the basement. Bianca looked like she was getting sick.

  Finally, Kaylin came bursting through the basement door huffing and puffing. “Bianca, I want that nigga out of here, away from my son.”

  “He is not going anywhere!” she screamed. “You are not my guardian. I’m not going to continue to allow you to dictate who I can and cannot see. I was right there, Kay. He only tapped Malik and with an oven mit, Kay. I would never allow anyone to hurt my son, and you know that. You just don’t like Vic.”

  “Aiight, then. Do you. But you won’t do you around my son.”

  “He’s my son too, Kay.”

  “Do you. But I bet you won’t see Malik again until that nigga is out of my house.”

  Kaylin was on the way out the front door. Angel took off behind him.

  Bianca ran down the basement stairs to check on her fiancé.

  “Punk-ass nigga,” Kaylin mumbled.

  Chapter 5

  The ride home from Bianca’s house was very keyed up. But their first night together at home they seemed very detached, neither one acknowledging the other, acting as if they were strangers.

  Angel indulged in a nice long, hot bubble bath and went straight to bed. She didn’t care what he did as long as he was there.

  The following morning she opened her eyes, looked at the alarm clock, and yawned. “Oh my God.” It read 11:32 a.m. She yawned again, stretched her arms above her head, and sensed that she was once again alone in her bed. Reaching over and picking up the phone, she dialed Tasha.

  “Hey,” Angel said when she heard Tasha say hello.

  “Hey back. Someone sounds as if they just woke up.”

  “I did. I haven’t slept this late in a long time. I’ve been so stressed, I didn’t realize how tired I was. How’s my boy?”

  “The same. No change … It could be worse.” Tasha sighed as she tried to remain positive.

  “Yeah, you’re right about that. I’ll be up there before the day is out. Do you need anything?”

  “Yeah, I need for this nigga to wake up.”

  “He will, just hang tight.” When Tasha didn’t respond Angel said, “Trust me. He’ll be up and about. Right?”

  “Right.”

  “If you need anything just call me. But I will hit you up when I’m on my way up there.”

  “Okay. Here comes his doctor. Love you.”

  “Love you more.” Angel ended the call an
d hit the speed-dial button.

  “Game Over Records. Bobbi speaking. How may I direct your call?”

  “Hey, girl. It’s me.”

  “Miss Angel,” Bobbi squealed. “Congratulations! Mr. Santos told everyone that you are expecting.”

  “Oh, did he?” She tried not to sound surprised.

  “Yes. He is so proud. He even gave me a cigar. I asked him why can’t I get a blunt? He told me to chill out.” She giggled like a little schoolgirl.

  Angel looked at the phone as if to say, She can’t be talking about the same nigga who walked out on my wedding and who’s been acting like an asshole for the last five days. That nigga! Angel was glad that she didn’t have to do any explaining about the canceled wedding. I’ma have to stick a pin in that larger-than-life ego and deflate that muthafucka. Bobbi and the rest of the Game Over Records office crew were all at the wedding … the canceled wedding.

  “Miss Angel, are you there?” Bobbi interrupted her thoughts.

  “Yeah, girl, I’m here. What’s happening around there?”

  “The usual hustle and bustle. You want me to put you through to Mr. Santos?”

  “Yes, please. I’ll see you later on.”

  “Okay. Once again congratulations, Miss Angel.”

  Later on! Coming into the office later on. Ain’t that some shit? I’m supposed to be in beautiful Hawaii, on the beach, butt naked, ridin’ my husband’s dick. Just thinking about it made her want to choke Kaylin.

  “What’s up?” the man she wanted to choke asked her.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were going in? I would have come with you. Business is business.”

  “You were tired. You need the rest. We’ll start fresh on Monday. I just came through to sneak up on these niggas.”

  “What’s going on around there?” Angel loved being in the mix.