The Wrong Side Of Love 2: A Hood Love Story

by Charmanie Saquea

  “Okay, mom,” Quaid laughed as he grabbed Tanae’s hand and led her outside.

  When they were gone, Jayliah turned to Tariq who was still standing there mugging Quadir who was sitting there looking unbothered.

  “Can you come have a seat, please?” she asked.

  “I need for you to tell me what the fuck is going on and why he’s here and not six feet under,” Tariq spat.

  “Mmkay, if you come have a seat I can do just that,” she said as Quadir let out a snicker.

  Sitting on the love seat, opposite from where Quadir was sitting, Tariq sat down so Jayliah could say whatever it was that she had to say. Jayliah stood in the middle of the two of them, looking from one to the other.

  “I brought the two of you together today for one simple reason; peace. Tariq, if Shanae, the mother of your child and I were able to put our differences aside and call a truce after all the bullshit we put each other through, then I don’t see why you and Quadir, the father of my child can’t do the same after not having any real run ins with each other,” she said.

  “So let me get this straight. You want me to be buddy-buddy with the nigga that left you high and dry when you were pregnant with his child, the same nigga that came back eight years later and kidnapped his own son? Fuck out of here, Jay! Fuck you been smoking?” Tariq said.

  “Whatever the fuck me and Jay go through ain’t go shit to do with you,” Quadir told Tariq.

  “Fuck you mean, nigga? It got everything to do with me when I’m left to pick up the pieces that a fuck boy caused in the first place. I was the one wiping her tears when you took her son—”

  “Tariq, chill!” Jayliah yelled. “Both of y’all just calm down right now because this shit ain’t getting neither one of us nowhere. Tariq, you bringing up the past was so unnecessary because Quadir and I have already talked and worked out our issues, as well as my gun did a little talking. I did not bring you here for that. I didn’t give you these problems when you wanted me and Shanae to get along, so why you tripping?”

  “Because this is some bullshit and you know it! This nigga kidnapped your son and led you to believe that he was dead, Jayliah. Think about that shit,” Tariq said as if she were stupid.

  “And? He’s going to be around whether you like it or not, Tariq, because Quaid wants him around. He wants his father in his life and I’m not going to keep him from him and if you can’t accept that, then maybe you don’t need to be in my life. Nothing I do in life is ever for me anymore, it’s for my son. If it wasn’t for Quaid, do you think his black ass would be chilling on my couch? Now you think about that shit, Tariq,” Jayliah threw back at him. “Now are you two going to act like grown men or am I going to have to cut one of you out of my life for good?”

  “I’m good as long as he’s good. You already know what I’m on, Jay. I just wanna be a father to my son,” Quadir said.

  Jayliah stood there with her arms folded as she looked at Tariq for his answer.

  “I mean, me and the nigga ain’t gon be best friends or shit like that but as long as he good, I’m good,” Tariq answered.

  “Shake on it so I know it’s real,” she said.

  Both men groaned but shook on it to seal the deal. Jayliah let out a sly smile because she didn’t think either of them were going to go for it, especially Tariq’s bullheaded self, but she was happy that they did.

  ___

  Coco stood outside the airport fighting back the tears. This was it, her last official moments in Detroit. Everyone was at the airport to bid her farewell, from her dad to Marco, nobody could believe that she was leaving.

  “Call me as soon as you land. I mean as soon as you land, Jacole. I’m not playing with you,” Jayliah said as she hugged her sister. “Eat something so you can feed the baby,” she whispered in her ear.

  Coco was still keeping her pregnancy a secret out of fear that someone might slip up and tell Zeek. She didn’t care about them telling him she was moving because there was nothing he could do about it, plus she was moving where his mother and sisters were so it wasn’t that bad.

  “I definitely will, Jay, stop worrying,” Coco said, playing it off.

  “Come on, Jay. Leave the girl alone. You act like the girl going to another continent or something,” Tariq joked.

  “That’s exactly what it feels like. California is so far away. What am I going to do without my baby sister?” she pouted.

  “Oh Lord, she about to start crying. Tariq, get her, please. I can’t deal with this; she’s going to end up making me stay,” Coco said as she got teary eyed.

  “Hell no, you don’t. You have to go, Co. We’ll all be out there to visit you when you get settled in. Plus, you’ll be back for our engagement party,” Tariq smirked.

  “Your who?” everybody asked.

  “I’s getting married!” Jayliah yelled as she flashed her finger.

  “Bitch, I should choke you. Why didn’t you say something?” Coco asked as she almost snatched her sister’s arm off to examine her ring.

  “He just asked this morning, boo. You know I can’t hold water,” Jayliah laughed.

  “Congrats, bro. It’s about time.” Marco smiled as he hugged his brother.

  “I know, I had to get the blessing first,” Tariq said as he patted his soon-to-be father-in-law on the back.

  “Of course, one marriage is ending and another is beginning,” Steven said.

  “Have you talked to that b—”

  “Jay,” Coco cut her off.

  “She’s at her sister’s house, she refuses to sign the papers. She thinks she’s going to get half of everything but she has another thing coming,” he answered.

  “That’s just sad, she can’t even let this divorce be peaceful.” Coco shook her head. “But let me get on in here so I can go through TSA and everything. I love you guys and you two better call me with that engagement party plans because I will definitely be back,” Coco said to Tariq and Jayliah and she hugged everybody.

  Coco caught a giddy feeling in her stomach as she walked through the doors of the airport. She couldn’t wait to start her life over in California with new possibilities. Even though she would miss everyone and her old life and Detroit, it was nothing there for her anymore but drama. She was tired of waiting on Zeek when he obviously wasn’t thinking about her. In her mind, she knew if it was meant for them to be together, they would find their way back to each other. Plus, she had to eventually tell him about the baby. Until then, she was going to see what California had to offer her.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Four months later

  Tariq walked into the empty warehouse on alert. He was supposed to be at the house in ten minutes for his and Jayliah’s engagement party but yet he was receiving mysterious text messages.

  “Damn, nigga. You slow as hell,” he heard from behind him.

  “Zeek?” he asked as he turned around.

  When he turned around, Zeek was standing there with some exotic looking bitch he had never seen before. He wasn’t trying to stare but something about her was so hypnotizing.

  “Come back to planet earth, nigga, before Jay kill ya ass,” Zeek joked.

  “Nigga, fuck is you doing here?” Tariq asked, coming back to his senses.

  “What you mean? I’m home.”

  “Home, for good?” Tariq asked skeptically.

  “Well, after I handle some shit.”

  “Like what?”

  With a sigh, Zeek told his cousin exactly what he had to do to get the police off his back and keep them off their organization for good. As he was telling the story, Tariq looked at his cousin with squinted eyes because he didn’t know if that shit would work out.

  “Nigga, are you sure about this?” he asked.

  “I’m here, ain’t I?” Zeek retorted.

  “Okay, and who is this?” Tariq asked.

  Tariq damn near blew a gasket when Zeek told him who she was. He just knew he had fell and bumped his head.

  “And you broug
ht her here?” Tariq questioned.

  “Mhm,” Zeek said, not believing it himself.

  Nina just rolled her eyes. She was over the way these two were acting. She didn’t see what the big deal was. She had been dying to get to the United States for a while and thanks to Zeek, she had finally made it.

  “So when do you plan on turning yourself in?” Tariq asked, ignoring Nina’s attitude.

  “I’m on my way there now.

  “Shit, how you getting there? Where she going? Where she staying until you get out?” Tariq fired off question after question.

  “She going with you as of right now and where you think she gon be staying? Don’t worry. I got a driver to take me to the station,” Zeek said.

  “Nigga, what? Hold the fuck up. Let me talk to you real quick,” Tariq said as he pulled Zeek to the side by his arm. “Dumb ass, do you know that Coco is back in town?” he whispered.

  “Shit! For what?” Zeek asked.

  “For what, nigga my…Ah nah, nigga, hell nah!” Tariq said.

  Just that quick he had forgotten that he was supposed to be at his own engagement party. He just knew that Jayliah was about to kill his ass. Now if he walked up in there with Nina, she definitely was going to kill him, all because of Zeek and he wasn’t about to have that.

  “What, nigga? Talk to me,” Zeek said.

  “See, right now, at this exact moment, I’m supposed to be at my engagement party but instead, I’m here with you. Now do you know what the hell is going to happen to me when I walk in that bitch late, especially with her trailing behind me and have to explain exactly who she is?” Tariq explained.

  “Engagement party? Nigga, you didn’t tell me you was getting married. Why am I always the last person to find out some shit?”

  Due to Zeek getting rid of his phone right after he found out that Coco was moving, he hadn’t really spoken to anyone in about three and a half months. The first time he had contacted anyone was earlier today when he sent Tariq a text from his new number telling him when and where to meet him so he had no idea about Jayliah and Tariq’s engagement.

  “In case you didn’t notice, you have been living in another country lately but that’s beside the point. Out of everything I just said, you pick that to comment on?” Tariq shook his head.

  “I’m just saying though, Riq; it is what it is. You tell them now and I’ll elaborate later. I’ll make sure your funeral is laid out. You know I’m sending you out in style, baby, no worries,” Zeek joked as he patted him on the shoulder.

  “I’m happy that you think this is a joke,” Tariq said.

  “No but seriously, just keep it real with them and tell them I’ll explain everything when I get home. Especially Coco,” Zeek said.

  As Zeek walked out of the warehouse, he hopped in his waiting car and headed to the station to the turn himself in. It had been a long time coming and honestly, he was tired of hiding out. It was never really his thing to begin with. He was confident that things would work out in his favor.

  Elias was finishing up some paperwork when he heard a voice he hadn’t heard in months.

  “I heard you were looking for me.”

  He looked up to see Zeek standing there with a smirk on his face. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  “Look no further, here I am,” Zeek said.

  ___

  “Just don’t say anything when we get in here. Let me do all the talking,” Tariq said as opened the door to his house.

  When he walked in, he heard laughter coming from the kitchen so he headed that way. Before he could even make it, his brother and Quadir stopped him.

  “I wouldn’t do it if I were you,” Quadir said as he eyed Nina up and down.

  “Nigga, you will never believe…” Marco stopped when he noticed Nina.

  “What happened?”

  “Talk about surprises. Everybody is just full of them today, huh, Q?” Marco smirked.

  “What you…oh shit!” Tariq yelled when he noticed Coco coming towards him. “The fuck happened to you?”

  “I had sex and I got pregnant,” Coco laughed.

  “Tariq, you got me so fucked…who the fuck is that?” Jayliah asked.

  “Zeek’s…friend.”

  “Zeek?” everybody asked in unison.

  “Zeek don’t have no friends,” Coco said boldly as she eyed the girl.

  “He damn sure don’t; plus, he’s not even here,” Jayliah cosigned. “Now I’m going to ask you again, who is she?”

  “Zeek is here, baby—”

  “Where he at then?” Jayliah cut him off.

  “He had some business to take care off,” Nina spoke up.

  “I don’t think I asked you, sweetheart, but since you know so much, how would you know?” Jayliah asked her.

  “Because that’s his friend, I just told you that, baby. Damn. Now where the food. I’m hungry as hell,” Tariq said, trying to defuse the situation.

  “Nobody’s going to eat until you stop bullshitting me. Now you, Ms. Thing, where are you from and what’s your name?” Jayliah asked.

  “I’m from Cuba and my name is Nina.”

  “Aw shit,” Marco said.

  Nina kept eyeing Coco up and down and stopping at her baby bump. For some reason, she couldn’t keep her eyes off of her.

  “See, I know it’s some shit now. What the fuck is Zeek doing bringing a bitch back from Cuba?” Coco asked.

  “Co, Jay, let me holla at y’all real quick,” Tariq said.

  “May I ask who are you to Ezekiel?” Nina asked Coco, before they could make a move.

  “The mother of his child.” Coco smirked as she rubbed her seven month, protruding belly. “And you are?” she threw back are her.

  “Oh, I’m Mrs. Ezekiel Clay.” Nina smiled as she flashed her big wedding ring, wiping the smirk right off of Coco’s face.

  To be continued…

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