by Shan
“Yes, this is Cuba Lance, I need to speak with Mrs. Annette Parker,” Cuba said the moment someone answered the line. They placed her on hold and music played in the background.
“Don’t tell her where you at or nothing. Just ask what she want with you, and tell her you’ll turn yourself in with your attorney.”
“I don’t have an attorney, Khi,” Cuba said.
“Didn’t you just hear me say that I’mma call around and get somebody on the shit. What? You think I’m not gonna look out for you or something? There you go thinking I’m that nigga again.”
“Hello, Cuba, this is Annette. I need to talk to you sweetheart. I need you to come in,” Cuba’s probation officer said through the speaker.
“What did I do?” Cuba asked, her voice shaky as she spoke.
“We got a call from an Attorney by the name of KaeDee Prince. He called in to make us aware of some pretty serious accusations. Your drug involvement, your affiliation with several felons, and not living at the address that you reported to me,” her probation officer said, and I literally felt my whole body shake with anger. I was so fucking mad that I slammed on the breaks in the middle of the street causing cars to have to swerve around me. I couldn’t even look at Cuba. This shit was beyond fucked up, and KaeDee knew I had no qualms about killing his ass behind some shit like this.
“Cuba, where are you so I can come and get you,” her probation officer asked again, and I could feel Cuba’s eyes burning holes in me.
“Tell her your attorney will bring you in,” I told her when I finally looked her way. The tears that fell down her eyes broke my heart. She didn’t have shit to do with this beef going on between my brothers and I, and the fact that they kept pulling her in was really just making everything worse between us. Them niggas was really gonna fuck around and see what it really felt like to be without me with the exception of Cass.
“I’m going…going to come in with my attorney,” Cuba told her, and the woman cleared he throat.
“Fine, I need you hear no later than 5 pm this afternoon.”
Cuba ended the call and broke down crying all over again. I went to rub her back when she snapped on my ass and started hitting all over me. I took that shit cause I knew that this was all my fault. Cuba’s biggest fear was going back to jail, and I had always told her to stop worrying and that she never would. Now, here she was about to be locked up behind my shit. Now, it was fuck everything else. Now, I had to stop everything I was doing to take care of this shit. KaeDee thought he was making a fuckin’ point when all he was doing was further hindering us from figuring out what the fuck these Arabs wanted and getting Tamar to plug us back in.
“Just take me back to Tangie’s please. I just wanna get the fuck away from you. As far as I can get!” Cuba screamed, and I sighed and sat back in my seat. We were still at a standstill in the middle of the road.
“I told you I’m a fix this shit, Cuba,” I reassured her, but what she said to me next had feeling dizzy and stunned me into silence.
“I’m pregnant, Khi. How the fuck you gonna fix that?”
***
“Mr. Prince, Mr. Prince is in a meeting,” KaeDee’s secretary called out, and I waved her off as I continued towards this nigga’s office. “Mr. Prince!”
I could see KaeDee talking to that detective bitch through the glass of his office, and I didn’t even care. I barged in and walked right past her and over to KaeDee’s desk. He had this cocky ass smirk on his face, and I knocked that shit right the fuck off. He tried to get up from his seat and grab me, but I punched him causing blood to squirt from his nose.
“Fellas stop it! Break it up now!” I heard the officer yell, but I ignored her. Once a nigga like me snapped out, it was hard for me to come back. KaeDee was on some real live bullshit with that hoe ass shit he’d done.
KaeDee finally got up from his seat and got a hold of me. He grabbed my ass, punched me, and tossed me back like I was a fuckin’ feather. I hit the glass window causing it to rumble and the ground beneath us to shake. I was ready to go back for more, when this hoe stepped in front of KaeDee and pointed her pistol at me. I cocked my neck to the side and sucked my teeth at this bitch.
“I said break it up!” she yelled, and I spit blood on the floor.
“Bitch move,” I seethed with anger. My chest rose and collapsed hard over and over again as I stared at KaeDee. He’d snatched up some Kleenex from his desk and was holding it to his nose. I had hoped that I broke that muthafucka.
“You mad nigga?” KaeDee said, and I tried to walk around this pig bitch, but the hoe looked like she was really going to shoot a nigga. Is he fucking this police bitch; I thought, as I spat more blood onto the floor.
“Fuck you mean am I mad? That was a hoe ass move, KaeDee. Call them and fix this shit nigga. Don’t fuck with me, KaeDee.”
“I’ll call them and fix it after you fix this shit with Dae! You snitched on our brother behind a bitch! You letting your little girlfriend break up this fuckin’ family.”
“This ain’t got shit to do with her, and you know that! You asked me to sit Dae’s ass down, you begged me to do that shit and when I finally did, you wanna come at me like I’m wrong. You asked for this shit, so you fix it, but you make sure you handle Cuba first. Don’t play with me, KaeDee. You know how I get nigga when I feel like my back is against the wall.”
“Yea, well I was wrong about Dae and how to handle it. I should’ve never asked you to do no shit like that. We all was frustrated with him, and he really did need our help. He needs us Khi, and this…”
“I don’t give a fuck about, Dae! I…do…not…give…a…fuck! Fuck him! Fuck that bitch ass nigga!” I yelled and pushed KaeDee’s file cabinet over to the floor. “Get that fuckin’ gun out my face!”
“Khi!” KaeDee yelled after me, as I headed to leave his office. Cass walked in, and I stopped in my tracks and turned to KaeDee.
“Cuba…handle that situation before you come to regret your decisions nigga. Don’t make me put that pressure on you. Y’all ‘bout done pushed me into a nigga that really don’t give a fuck about none you.”
“What the hell is going on?” Cass asked, as I tried to walk past him, but he blocked me from leaving.
“Cass, move!”
“Nah, I need to talk to the both of you,” Cass told me, as he placed his hand on my chest.
“Get the fuck out my way,” I yelled at him.
“Dae was molested as a child, Khi. Uncle LeeRoy did some fucked up shit to him when he was a child; he had even raped Amber and got her pregnant. DJ belongs to LeeRoy and not Dae. Think about what our youngin’ gotta go through now that he’s behind them walls.”
I swallowed back hard and then pushed Cassidy’s hand off of me as I stormed out of KaeDee’s office. I don’t know how many times I had to say that Dae was no longer my problem. I didn’t give a fuck what happened to him as a kid. I had begged that nigga to let me in so I can fix him, and he chose not to and continue to cause hell. Now that I was causing hell, everybody had a problem with it. KaeDee just had better make sure he fixed this mess he had caused with Cuba, or he was gonna end up in a far worse position that his baby brother, and I wasn’t playing about that.
Chapter 12
KaeDee
“Dae was molested as a child, Khi. Uncle LeeRoy did some fucked up shit to him when he was a child; he had even raped Amber and got her pregnant. DJ belongs to LeeRoy and not Dae. Think about what our youngin’ gotta go through now that he’s behind them walls,” I called out to Khi as he tried to leave my office.
I noticed how his body froze and knew that what I had just revealed had affected him the same as it did when I’d first heard it. He could act as if he didn’t care or that it didn’t faze him, but I knew better. We Prince brothers were stubborn as a muthafucka, and it took a lot for us to budge and admit when we were wrong. At the end of the day, the way we all went about handling Dae was all wrong. Hell yea, I wanted Khi to sit Dae’s ass down and keep hi
m off the scene, but I was frustrated, and I was tired of babying his ass. I would never want anything to happen to that little nigga. He and Emon were like my fuckin’ sons. Shit was all bad. Wrong moves were made and I was doing my part to fix it, so Khi needed to do his.
“What the hell was that?” Detective Henson asked me, as she holstered her gun. I snapped out of my thoughts and sucked my teeth as I ran my eyes over her.
“Family rivalry. Nothing you should’ve gotten into. He hates when people pull guns on him and don’t use them,” I told her, and she frowned.
“Excuse me,” she asked me, and I fell back into my chair and looked at Cass.
“What can I help you with, Detective?” I questioned feeling myself reeling inside.
“There are some things that I would like to discuss with you in private. If I need to come back, then I will.”
“Give me about five to chop it up with my brother, and then, we can discuss whatever you like,” I told her and rubbed the fuzz of my chin. I used one hand to straighten out my suit and sighed. My head was hurting like a muthafucka, and I moved my nose around checking to make sure that it wasn’t broken. Khi was a hoe for that one. My insides burned just thinking about the fact that he actually came in here and put his hands on me over that bitch. I didn’t get a chance to tell that nigga how I really felt about how he handled the Deonna situation either due to the Detective being here, but I couldn’t help but feel like he’d fucked that shit up on purpose. I had never known Khi to go after a nigga and miss, and then walk away and say the nigga was dead without making sure. Khi was serious when it came to his body work, so how did this happen? How was Tyrin alive and Deonna dead?
“I’m thinking that bitch Cuba should die for this shit,” I told Cass the minute the Detective walked out.
“Damn, I just wish y’all chill. It’s more important shit that we need to be handling right now. Y’all beefing over shit that’s irrelevant.”
“How the hell is Dae irrelevant?” I sighed doing my best to compose myself. Lately, that had been the hardest thing in the world. The usually cool, calm, and collected KaeDee no longer existed, and I really didn’t think he ever would again. I burned with too much anger and desire to act on it.
“You can’t try to fix how you handled Dae in the past by making matters worse. I don’t agree with how Khi handled the situation, but I can’t say that I blame him. Dae been causing problems for years. Every time I talked to y’all, it was always something that he did to the point that both you and I washed our hands with him. We begged Khi to do the same, and he chose to keep trying with the kid until he got just as exhausted as we did. Now, you wanna go after Khi’s chick and shit just so you can fix your fuckin’ conscience ‘cause you feel bad about some shit that happened to him as a kid. Fuck that. Dae was out here acting reckless and destroying the shit that we built around this bitch. How the fuck we gonna get plugged back in after what this nigga did?”
“This is family…”
“Did Dae give a fuck about the family when he lit everything we worked for on fire? You so far removed from the streets that you don’t even realize what’s going on out there. We got into a shootout just the other day in the parkin’ lot of IHOP over some beef with them Arabs. Khi and I just pulled a body out the trap on Illinois due to somebody moving in on territory that we can’t hold onto because we ain’t got shit to move out that bitch. We got niggas out here trying to decide if their loyalty to us is more important than feeding their family. You so muthafuckin’ blind to the shit that the bruh Khi gotta deal with you in here crying and whining over a nigga that put a lot of people in a fucked up situation. I feel bad about the shit that happened to Dae…I really do. I hate that he’s behind them walls. Especially, being I just left there, but truthfully, you should be happy that Khi didn’t kill him instead.”
I sighed and thought about everything that Cassidy said, and I heard him, but I wasn’t feeling him. Still didn’t explain why Khi fucked up the hit. For that, since he wanted to risk my bitch, I would do the same to his. Shit, Deonna was my wife, and I could almost guarantee this chick was just going to end up as just another one of his baby mamas. He loved to plant them seeds and not stick around to water them and watch them grow.
“What about Deonna, huh? Khi was supposed to handle that shit. He told me that he was going out there to handle that nigga that was causing ruckus in my marriage, but somehow, the nigga made it out alive and was able to come back and kill Deonna. Nah, not buying that this shit wasn’t done on purpose. Deonna died, Cuba dies in return.”
“Man, I had come to talk to you about some other shit that I needed to get off my chest, but you sound real crazy right now. I’m a just holla at you and Khi when y’all two muthafuckas calm down and stop acting like bitches. What’s going on with the funeral?”
I sucked my teeth and sighed as I looked down at the picture on my desk. It was a picture of me, Deonna, and Chanel when Chanel was just two years old. We all were happy. It was right after Deonna let the fact go that I had lied to her about my profession and before all this shit happened with Tyrin. That time frame was some of the happiest moments of my life. I would give anything to feel that again.
“Her body is still evidence. As soon as they release her to the funeral home, I can get everything set up. I been trying everything to get in contact with her family, but haven’t had any success.”
“Let that be your focus my nigga. Mourn your fuckin’ wife, and then, take you a vacation or some shit. You might get some pussy or something, because this ain’t even you KaeDee. The fact that you wanna kill Khi’s girlfriend and you sitting here thinking that he actually allowed this shit to happen to Deonna on purpose is crazy. It sounds like some shit that Dae would say.”
“Maybe you right,” I admitted, as I sighed and ran my hand across my face. I got up to fix myself a drink and realized that my ass was tripping. I was taking all my anger, guilt, and problems out on Khi and failing to see that the nigga had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was always trying to fix something when it came to his family and those that he loved. That was his heart and just who he was. Sometimes, it didn’t always work out, and when it didn’t, he would take it to heart. I thought back to when Khi sat in my office the same day Tyrin came through here. Khi had practically begged me to see that Dae needed our help, and I was so fucked up behind Deonna that I couldn’t care less. Khi was hurting then. He was desperate, and I had ignored him. His back was against the wall, and he was right. I did know how he got when he was in that kind of position. He acted irrationally and didn’t give a fuck about anything. He also made mistakes when he was like that, and I was sure that the whole Tyrin situation was just one of those mistakes.
I grabbed my glass of Henny that I made and walked over to my desk. Picking up the phone, I made a call to undo the shit that I had caused. I should’ve never dragged Cuba into this shit. I could see that Khi really cared about that girl and part of me felt like I had to show them how I really got down in the courtroom when it came to my clients. No one was safe…but this situation wasn’t the same. This was my family, and like I had said before, it was family over everything.
“This is Annette Parker,” Cuba’s probation officer said, as she came to the line.
“Hey, Mrs. Parker, this is Attorney KaeDee Prince. That call I made to you the other day about Cuba Lance. It seems that my client pointed out the wrong person. How soon can we get that warrant dropped?” I asked and noticed as Cassidy shook his head and sighed. He pulled his hair from his face and looked at me like he was disappointed. I shrugged and tossed back my drink.
“Well, her and her boyfriend had just left my office about an hour ago. She was processed in and the judge is gone for the weekend. The earliest that I can get everything fixed is Monday morning.”
“There’s nothing you can do sooner than that. This was a huge mistake, and I would hate for the young lady to sit behind bars like that for nothing,” I told her and shook my head kn
owing that Khi was gonna hold this over my head forever.
“Sorry, Mr. Prince. Are you sure that they have the wrong person?”
“I’m positive, but thanks. I guess I’ll be calling you back early Monday, then.”
“Please do,” she said, and we disconnected the call.
“Fuck,” I said and sucked my teeth.
“Don’t worry about it, bruh. Long as you handle it,” Cass told me, and I nodded. I stood up and walked around my desk. We slapped hands and hugged for a long while before he turned around to leave my office. I grabbed my cell from my desk just as Detective Henson walked back in. She had two cups of coffee in her hand, and one she tried to hand me, but I declined and pointed to the alcohol on my desk.
“Give me a second,” I told her, as I texted Khi.
Me: I called to have the warrant dropped. They can’t fix it until Monday morning. I fucked up, and I apologize for that. We definitely need to sit down and talk Khi. Handle your business and get at me. Don’t make me wait forever. Love you nigga.
Send.
I slid the cell into my pocket knowing that Khi wasn’t going to respond to me. Turning around to face the Detective, I gave her all my attention. I leaned against my desk and folded my arms across my chest as I stared at the fatness between her legs. Maybe Cass was right, and I did need to get some pussy. Sitting back in my office drinking and reeling in my thoughts too much was gonna get a lot of people fucked up including myself. Deonna was gone and never coming back, and I was gonna have to just move on accept that. Not that I was going to let that nigga Tyrin get away with this shit, but sitting back and getting depressed about something I couldn’t change wasn’t the type of nigga that I was.
