PPP Box Set

by Charmanie Saquea

  That night was turning out to be no different than my past few nights. There I was, sitting on my living room floor, surrounded by books, in a pair of boy shorts and a baggy off the shoulder t-shirt. I don’t care how it sounded, I was comfortable. I kept looking back and forth between my legal writing text book, and contracts text book. Those classes were going to be the death of me. How did my mother do this? Shit, not only did she finish law school with honors, she did it while raising a baby. I was like four when she graduated.

  I flipped back and forth continuously, becoming more restless as the minutes seemed to get away from me. I was at the point where I was ready to toss my text books aside and hit the bed, when my bell started ringing. I definitely wasn’t expecting anyone, so it startled me a bit. I figured that maybe it was Ariana stopping by. Other than my parents, she was the only one with permission to come over whenever she wanted. I got up from the floor and walked to the front door. I opened the door, and was in for the shock of my life when I saw Cameron standing there with orange roses. I honestly don’t like roses because they stink to me, but orange is my favorite color. How did he know that?

  I stood there looking at him for a minute before he spoke breaking the silence.

  “You going to let me in or not?”

  I didn’t answer, just moved to the side, giving him space to come in. Once he was inside, I closed the door and turned to him. Cameron handed me the flowers and went to kiss my forehead, but I moved.

  “Thanks!” I said as I headed to the kitchen to put the flowers in some water.

  I didn’t expect him to follow me since he didn’t the last time he was there, but surprise, surprise, he did.

  “You don’t want to be bothered?”

  Did he really just ask me that?

  As if we didn’t have class together for three weeks, and he chose not to speak one word to me.

  “I never said that, but wassup though. What brings you by?”

  I sat on the stool and he sat across from me, staring into my eyes. I felt myself blush, so I turned my head.

  “I just wanted to see you. I know I should of reached out or spoke to you when I saw you in class and shit, but it’s just that…”

  I cut him off. “You don’t really need to explain yourself to me. It’s cool.”

  I could care less why he didn’t speak to me, because to me regardless of what his reasoning was, it was petty as hell.

  We sat in silence for a few more minutes until he decided to speak again.

  “I just want you to keep it trill with me all the times. I’m not a regular nigga, Skye. Don’t tell me shit because you think it’s what I want to hear, or because you afraid of my reaction.”

  Whoa… afraid of his reaction? This nigga got the game fucked up.

  “First off Cameron, it wasn’t even like that. I wasn’t telling you what I thought you wanted to hear, nor was I afraid of your reaction. I just didn’t deem it necessary for me to tell you that I wanted you to stay. You knew that! I guess you just wanted to hear me say it, but that’s neither here nor there. Not speaking to me over that was petty.”

  By the time I finished my rant, Cameron was behind me, and spun the stool around. Now we’re face to face.

  “You’re right, Skye. My apologies, I handled it wrong.” He kissed me softly on my lips. “You forgive me?”

  I was unable to answer. The kiss left me feeling some type of way. His lips were so soft and moist. Not moist where u think he walks around with slob all over his mouth, but just right; which was good because I would never tolerate dry lips. He lifted my chin with his finger, and looked me in my eyes. I looked back feeling like our souls were speaking to each other.

  I finally was able to speak. “Yes, I forgive you, Cameron.”

  He smiled and stepped away from me. “What were you doing? In bed?”

  I stood up and headed toward the living room, and he followed me.

  I stood next to my textbooks and pointed. “This! Story of my life.”

  Cameron chuckled. I wanted to know what was funny. This school crap was stressing me out.

  “You look stressed. Take a break lets kick it before I have to run. We can finally talk, get to know each other and shit.”

  I sat Indian style on the floor and picked up a text book. A break wasn't going to help me pass those classes, but I could multitask.

  “What do you want to know?”

  I watched as he sat down on the sectional and got comfortable.

  “How old are you? How you know Harvey?”

  I had to stop his interrogation. “Damn, are you interrogating me? I’m 21, and he’s my father.

  Cameron gave me the same reaction everyone else gives when I say Harvey is my dad, but I don’t get it; he’s an ex NBA player, not the president of the United States.

  “Yea, so tell me Mr. Cameron, What are you about?” I shifted my focus to him, so he could see my interest in really knowing who he was.

  “I mean what you see is basically what you get. I’m twenty-three, last year at Columbia, I’m from Harlem, regular shit.”

  I gave a face that must have told him that the little information that he volunteered wasn’t going to cut it, so he went on. Cameron told me everything, at least I felt like it was everything. He grew up no different than me; his dad was a business man, and his mom was a stay at home wife and mother. I mean my mother didn’t stay home, but in terms of coming from a good home and being well provided for, we had that in common. Cameron spoke about his little sister, and I could tell that she meant the world to him; a family man, that was a plus. He had a soft side to him, and I liked that. Yeah having a tough exterior was cool and all, but what female wanted a guy who she couldn’t connect with on an emotional level. He didn’t really dabble too much into the lives of his parents, which was fine. My intent was never to pry; I just want to know who I’m dealing with. You can’t learn everything about a person in one night, and I didn’t expect to. However, what I did learn helped me make the decision to keep seeing him.

  I opened up to him, which was shocking. I normally kept my life story under wraps, but I felt comfortable with him. Just as he did, I shared with him a bit about my life growing up and a little about my family. Cameron was clearly as interested as I was. I was definitely looking forward to seeing where this relationship would go, if anywhere.

  Chapter Two

  Ty

  Every year, Cam’s parents have this nice ass Thanksgiving dinner party at their crib in Long Island, and this year was no different. My pops was coming through, and Ariana and her parents were too. I had to admit, I was really digging shorty. I was at the point where I wanted to let her in completely, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to fuck up what my nigga had going on with Skye because he wasn’t ready to tell her about his other life. As his boy, it was my job to protect his secrets at whatever cost. I didn’t understand though, Cam and Sky been seeing each other as long as I been fucking with Ariana; like three months and shit. Everything seemed cool; they were always together between school, date nights, all night phone calls, and they were damn near inseparable. Whenever they weren’t together, it was because Cam was in the street with me grinding. It seemed serious enough, so why not just be one hundred with shorty? It wasn’t really my place to speak on though.

  I snapped out my thoughts when I heard Mama Mariah calling me.

  “Tyquan. Hello, Ty!”

  She had to almost shout to get my attention.

  “Yes, sorry, Mama. Wassup?” I answered, looking in her direction.

  “Your guest Ariana and her parents are here.”

  I stood up to head to the door, and saw the look on Cam’s face. He was trynna hide the fact that he was wondering where Skye was, but I know him.

  “Okay, I’m coming now thanks, ma.”

  I walked toward the foyer and approached Ariana and her parents as they waited patiently by the door. Ariana’s face lit up when she saw me, and even her mother smiled. She never met me before, but I
figured anyone who could make her daughter happy deserved at least a smile from her.

  “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan. Hey, Ari, you look beautiful.”

  I shook her father’s hand, hugged her mother, and gave her a hug as well. They were cool; her pops spoke to me as if he already knew me. I guess Ari had been talking about me. I took them to the den where Cam’s parents were, and introduced them. They seemed to hit it off and began to engage in conversation. Ariana and I dipped off back into the living room to join Cam. As we were walking through the foyer, the doorbell rang. I was already right there so I went to answer it. I opened the door and saw that it was Skye and her parents. Damn, her mom looked like she could be her twin. I thought Skye was bad, but her moms could get it if I wasn’t feeling Ari and if she wasn’t married… nah, even if she was married.

  “Hey, Ty.” Skye smiled at me as I moved to the side so they could come in.

  Cam’s parents were approaching the door just in time.

  “Wassup, Skye. Hi Mr. and Miss Lewis. Let me get Cameron for y’all.”

  I took Ariana’s hand in mine, and we walked off to get Cam. He must have been listening with his bionic ass ears, because that nigga was already walking toward us. I nodded my head at him as he walked past us. Once Ariana and I were seated in the family room, I texted my pops to see where he was at. I slid my phone back in my suit pants pocket and focused my attention on Ari.

  “Yo sis.” I called Cam’s little sister Victoria, and took her attention away from whatever she was doing on her phone; probably texting.

  “Yes, bro. Wassup?” She said, lifting her head.

  “This Ariana. Ari that’s Vic, Cam’s little sister.”

  As the girls were exchanging hellos, Cam came into the living room and signaled for me to come here.

  I kissed Ariana on the cheek. “I’ll be right back ma.”

  I got up and followed him. We walked to the west wing of the house and took the elevator down to the bunker. I knew it was serious because we never went down there. Once inside the bunker, Cam walked over to the floor to ceiling safe that was built into the wall. I knew to stand back until he opened it. He did a few steps that I couldn’t see, before punching in a code and opening the safe.

  He looked over his shoulder and called out to me. “Come on, bro.”

  As I got closer, I could see that the safe was full of artillery; different types of guns, grenades, knives, you name it.

  “What happened?” I almost regret asking the moment the words fell from my lips.

  “They hit the warehouse in red hook and bodied Rick.”

  Cam’s words hit me like a ton of bricks. Rick was like an uncle to us since we were little niggas. Whoever did this was about to feel the wrath of a lot of hurt people.

  “Who the fuck is they? And what was there?” I paced the floor as I waited for answers.

  Niggas like me didn’t cry, but losing Rick was a hard pill to swallow. Even thugs cry, right? Fuck it though; I didn’t have time to shed tears.

  “Man and those niggas from Cypress. Crazy shit is that nobody knows about that warehouse except a very limited amount of people. So, somebody close is on some snake shit. As far as the loss we took…ten keys, and a half a mil.”

  Did I hear that nigga correctly? Ten fucking keys a half a mil? Nah, shit was about to be ugly for them East New York niggas.

  “How we know who was behind it?”

  Cam stood up holding a Mac 11; the machine gun happened to be his weapon of choice.

  “My pops set up security cameras at all the spots, but only ones who know about the cameras is him, your pops, me, and now you. Max made it out and he called my pops a little while ago, then he sent your pops to the other spot out there to check the cameras.”

  That was probably why he didn’t text me back yet. It was fucking Thanksgiving. Who does this this shit on Thanksgiving? I thought about what was to come next while Cam kept talking.

  “No cops showed up, as expected. The warehouse is so out of the way, so no one could pin point where the shots were coming from. The cleanup crew should be there now handling Rick’s body, and whatever mess is left.”

  I didn’t need to hear anything else. I stepped into the safe and grabbed two .45’s.

  “What’s the plan?” I looked to Cam for answers.

  “Max on his way to pick us up. We gonna ride through Cypress and send a little message. That nigga picked the wrong team to fuck with. I know he not gonna be out and about, but the good thing is that I know where his parents stay.”

  I knew it was on, and I was ready. Somebody had to pay for us losing a family member. If we had to put everybody in Cypress in the ground before we got to Man, so be it.

  ****

  The ride to Cypress Hills was silent. Occasionally, Cam cursed because Skye was blowing up his phone. I understood he was in a different place, but he could have told shorty he had to run out. He just left her in the dark completely. Ariana wasn’t blowing up my phone because I texted her a bullshit story about my pops’ car not starting, and him needing a ride.

  “You ready son?” Cam said, taking me out of my thoughts.

  I looked out the window and noticed that we were in Cypress. Max pulled the car into a parking spot, and we all hopped out with hoods and ski masks on. We followed Cam into a building, then up to the third floor. We lined up on both sides of the hallway behind Cam as he knocked twice on the apartment door, with his hand covering the peephole. Seconds later, an elderly lady opened the door. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she watched five masked men rush into her apartment. We now had everyone’s attention.

  “If anyone moves or says a word, granny right here dies.” I heard Max say.

  I hoped they believed him. Max was a straight killer, and he would kill his own mother if she crossed him. We weren’t in the business of murdering old ladies or kids, so I really did hope they played by our rules. Cam came rushing from the back of the apartment with a look of disappointment on his face.

  “Where the fuck is Man?” Cam barked, flipping over the coffee table.

  I looked over at the three frantic kids. Cam saw what I saw, then looked at JR and barked orders

  “Yo, take them in one of them rooms in the back.”

  JR quickly gathered the kids and walked them toward the back of the apartment. Cam walked over to the couch and grabbed the boy who was sitting there by his shirt.

  “Yo, when my brother catches y’all niggas, it’s going to be a wrap.” The boy yelled, trying to sound tough.

  Cam turned his head and looked at the boy sideways. He made the wrong move by declaring he was Man’s brother. That only meant one thing; collateral damage. Cam stepped away from the boy and looked at Max, who then raised his .45 and put a bullet in the middle of the boy’s forehead. The elderly lady and another girl broke down and started screaming and hollering. We didn’t pay that shit no mind. He took the life of one of ours, and that was the price.

  We had to get low fast, because the neighbors definitely heard the shot, and we wasn’t in any predicament to be dealing with the boys tonight. We had enough shit that needed to be handled.

  “Yo bro, let’s get low.” I said as I walked to the back of the apartment to get JR.

  As we stepped back into the living room, Cam had the chick by her throat.

  “Tell that nigga Man that he’s next!”

  We back peddled out the apartment and down the stairs. We concealed our weapons as we weaved through the housing project, back to the car. We headed to one of our spots in Brownsville, and ended up staying there till the sun started to rise.

  Skye

  I squinted as my eyes tried to adjust to the sunlight that was beaming through my windows. I thought about last night, and reached over and took my phone off the nightstand. I was disappointed that I didn’t have a call or text from Cameron. He just up and left the dinner last night without a word. I knew he was okay because his dad said he went to help Ty’s dad, but he still could have
called or texted me. Whatever though, I was not about to dwell on that. Aside from his little disappearing act last night, my parents had a good time. They clicked really well with his parents, which was a good thing.

  I sat up in bed and looked around the room; I had decided to stay the night at my parent’s house since I rode with them to Cameron’s house. They didn’t want me going home alone. As I looked around, memories flooded my thoughts. I missed home; I missed this room. I lost my virginity in here, and dealt with my first heart break in here. This was my sanctuary. I don’t really know why I opted to move out last year, because I didn’t have to. If it was up to my parents, they would have me living under their roof forever, but I wasn’t with that.

  I fell back onto the bed. I didn’t have anything to do so I was going to take advantage of my opportunity to stay in bed. As I got comfortable, my phone started to vibrate, thinking it was Cameron, I answered without looking.

  “Hello!” I yelled into the phone.

  “Hey chica.”

  It was nice to hear from Ariana, but I wanted it to be Cameron so bad.

  I masked my disappointment. “Hey girly, what you doing up this early?”

  “Ty came over at like eight something this morning. He’s in the shower now, though.”

  I was going to ask about Cameron, but the beeping on my other line interrupted me. I looked at the phone and saw his name flashing on my screen.