by T'Anne Marie
LOYALTY OVER ROYALTY
WRITTEN BY:
T’ANNE MARIE
Copyright © 2016 T’Anne Marie
Published by Tiece Mickens Presents
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written consent of the publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locals are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents are entirely coincidental.
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I want to thank The Man himself “GOD”. Without him I wouldn’t be this far! I prayed and prayed for him to help me find another career, ever since I became disable back in 2009. Who would have ever thought it would be writing? He helped me overcome my struggles and deep depression and look at me now. I promise ya’ll don’t know the half. For those of you who know me personally, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I can’t thank him enough.
Auntie Brenda: I dedicate this first book to you baby! I know you smiling down saying “My Pretty Tete did it!” while doing yo two step. I miss you soooo much and I wish you were here to experience this journey with me. I promise I will make you proud of me. You were so devastated when I became disabled and couldn’t do hair no more. Well you can be happy now, I’ve found my new passion. Rest Easy My Love.
Malcolm: My better half, my baby, my back bone, and my daddy when I’m not doing right. Lol I love you soooo much words can’t express. You have been with me the past 5 and a half years. You have seen me at my worst, you have helped through all my flaws and struggles and I will always love you for that. Even when I wanted to give up you pushed me to keep going! You are the true definition of a significant other!
Lil Lindy: My cousin and number one supporter. You have been with the shit since I started writing my first chapter. You test read, encouraged, and praised me the whole way! I love you to the moon and back cuz!
Cody: My oldest big cuz or as you would say “My Granny’s first grandchild”. Lol Thank you so much for being that extra push. For preaching to me about being successful and always looking out for me. I love you big cuz!
My siblings: Shaunessi, Lil Lawrence, and Rahji. I love yawl soooo much! Thank you for always believing in me and being my test readers. I couldn’t ask for better siblings, yawl my heart I swear to God!
Laura & Lawrence: My mommy and daddy! I thank yawl so much for being the best parents a girl could have. Yawl erk sometimes but I promise I wouldn’t trade yawl for the world. Thanks for always believing in me and being there for me. I love yawl.
My Boo Boo Kyttie: I love you and my Charles Lee Ray til the death of me. Thank you for always listening to me brainstorm and being the best best friend ever. Mile high Ent. Lol we all we got!
Author Tyesha: My friend since South Tech. I love you so much. You are a beautiful person inside and out! Thank you for being my inspiration. Thank you for checking in on me all the time to make sure I never gave up! I wish you the best of success in your writing as well.
Thank you to all my test readers. I love yawl unconditionally. My niece Breonna Applewhite, my sis Teria Howard, my friend Brittany Brown-Wells, and My Uncle Lyndon. To anyone I forgot, charge it to my mind not my heart! I love yawl!
Last but definitely not least Tiece thank you soooo much for believing in me enough to offer me this opportunity! I promise to put on for my team and make you proud! It’s only the beginning boo!
Oh and to my haters, cuz I know yawl gone read just to lurk! Thanks for doubting me, I see you looking. Keep lurking cuz I’m about to apply ALL PRESSURE!!!!
PROLOGUE
“Giiiirls!” Kyra called up to her daughters’ room from the bottom of the stairs of their two-bedroom townhouse.
“Coming mom,” said Kayla, one of her twin girls. “Hurry yo slow ass up Keyla,” Kayla told her twin sister. “You know how momma get when we be late for school, and you know she bout ain’t had her damn meds this morning.” Kayla was referring to the weed their mother smoked on a daily basis.
“I’m coming bitch, damn; can I finish my damn makeup?” Keyla spat back. “We ain’t gon be late chill out.”
“Okay, now when I hear momma ass coming up them damn steps, I’m out bitch and you on yo own,” said Kayla.
“Well, take yo scary ass on MOMMA’S GIRL!” Keyla laughed and taunted her sister as she was still putting the finishing touches on her makeup. Kayla and Keyla were twins but they were as different as night and day. They even looked different.
Kayla took after her dad. She was 5'7" with light brown skin. She had big round hazel brown eyes that would make you melt. Her hair was dark sandy brown and curly, and she had a nice petite frame. People always told her she looked a lot like Jurnee Smollett-Bell, the chick from the movie Roll Bounce. Kayla was stunning, and all the boys at her high school reminded her every chance they got. Keyla was a chocolate beauty with dark smooth skin like the back of a Hershey bar. She stood about 5'5" and had big curly hair like her twin but it was black. Her eyes were big, brown, and almond shaped accented with long full eyelashes. She had big juicy full lips and, unlike her sister, she was thicker than a king sized snickers. All her friends at school called her Teyanna Taylor with ass shots. There was not one boy at her high school that didn’t want her. She even had the handful of white boys that attended checking for her. After Keyla was done getting ready, the girls made their way down to the kitchen where their mother and breakfast awaited them.
“Good morning my chocolate and vanilla divas,” the girls’ mother said as the girls sat down to eat.
“Good morning ma,” they both said in unison. Kyra made her girls breakfast every morning, but this particular morning, breakfast was a little short.
“Dang Ma, this all we eatin’?” Keyla asked, as she was staring at the two pieces of bacon and small portion of eggs on their plates.
“I’m sorry yawl,” their mother replied. “I’ve just been so busy; I haven’t really had time to go grocery shopping.” Keyla accepted the answer their mom gave and didn’t ask any more questions. She knew that her mother stayed on point. They never went without. Anything they wanted, they got. The girls finished their breakfast, kissed their mother, and headed out the door to their bus stop. Kyra sat at the table in deep thought after her girls had left. She had just lied to them and it hurt her to the core. How was she supposed to tell them that she was broke? How could she say that all the money she had stashed before their dad got killed was just about gone? Tears began to fall as she thought deeper about her next move. She and her girls really didn’t have anyone; her mother died of cancer when she was eight and a half months pregnant. The girls never even had a chance to experience how great their grandmother was. All they had were boxes of her old pictures and the stories their mother shared with them. Kyra began to sob harder as she thought of her mother, mainly because she knew she was about to break the promise she made her… which was to always remain lady like, and never get in a man’s business. Kyra needed money, and she needed it fast. It was either the streets or the strip club, and she wasn’t down with dancing naked for chump change. Kyra had a lifestyle to maintain. She had twin girls that depended on her and she damn sure wasn’t letting them down. Kyra picked up her IPHONE 6S Plus and dialed a familiar number. After about three rings, a familiar voice picked up.
“Wassup Kyra baby? I been waiting on yo call,” the man said.
She then replied, “Put me back in the game coach.”
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“Now, I know you don’t believe that bullshit ass lie momma just told us about not having time to go to the grocery store, Keyla. How could she not have time? She ain’t got no damn job. I just believe she scared to tell us that her ass broke,” Kayla spat.
“BROKE? Ha girl, you funny. When have you ever known our mother, Za’Kyra Zatrice Baker, to be broke? How the hell could she possibly be broke and she just spent over $6,000 on our school shit? Come on now, Kayla; I know you smarter than that.”
Little did Keyla know, her sister was right. Their mother was down to just about her last. The only reason she spent so much on their school clothes was because this was their senior year of high school and she knew they had an image to uphold. Kyra kept her girls fly ever since they were babies and it wasn’t going to stop now. “Yeah Keyla, you right. I’m smarter than you think, but you, on the other hand,” Kayla shook her head at her twin sister.
“What the fuck that supposed to mean?” Keyla snapped back.
“It means pay attention to the signs big dummy. Why you think we had to move into that small ass shack?” Kayla was referring to the small, cozy two-bedroom townhouse they lived in. It was far from a shack, but it was nowhere near what they were used to. The disgust came mainly because they had to share a room and a bathroom. They had always had their own. Unfortunately, they had to down size in order to maintain the bills. Za’Kyra sold most of their furniture when she sold the 1.3-million-dollar mansion she and her late husband had owned. Kyra was in so much debt that mostly all the money she made off the house and furniture went to the IRS for back taxes. It was either pay Uncle Sam or jail time. Kyra wasn’t having that; she was the only guardian her girls had left.
After the girls’ father “Notorious” got killed, all the money stopped coming. He was the bread winner and he had lots of it. Kyra had her own money stashed but it was nowhere near as much as what she knew her husband had stashed around some place. Notorious had several stash spots, but no one knew where they were. The twins didn’t even know that the custom made rose gold lock and key necklaces that they wore every day were keys to safe deposit boxes with large sums of cash in them. On the back of the lock, the safe deposit box numbers were engraved. Kyra had no clue about the money her husband had put away; she had no way of finding out either. All she could do was what she was able to for her girls now. With the money she had saved and the little bit left from selling the house and furniture, she played her cards right. She found a small town house property in the city for dirt cheap. The place was perfect for what she had in mind. She knew that with the price of the townhouse and the minor damages, she could afford to make it a nice place for her and her girls to live. She knew a couple of talented geeks she and her husband use to serve. Kyra had used them before to make a few changes to their mansion, so she trusted them to slay the place to her liking. Only this time, she couldn’t pay them in dope, so she had to use her stash. Luckily, the geeks didn’t charge her much.
Hell, all they wanted was a quick dollar so they could support their high. Plus, they knew that with Notorious being gone, it was only a matter of time before Kyra would be back out on the streets hustling, and they needed to keep their relationship solid with her. Kyra had the geeks pull up all the old carpet and floor tile throughout the whole townhouse. She then had them knock most of the walls down on the upper and lower level. Then she had them redo the upstairs. Instead of having a master bedroom and a regular sized bedroom, Kyra had two nice sized rooms equally measured on each end of the long hallway. In between the rooms was a large double sided bathroom with a door in the middle to separate the sides. One side was for the twins and the other side for Kyra. The bathroom had heated marble floors. On the girls’ side they had a regular nice tub with a dial speed massager on their shower head. The tub walls were the same marble as the floors. Their sink was a double sided sink with a big mirror on the wall above it, and the toilet was in between the sink and the tub. On Kyra’s side, she had a stand up shower. The walls were also marble, and she had shower heads coming from every angle. She had a single sink with a big mirror over hers also, it just had gold trimming. Both of the bedrooms had huge walk in closets. They had to be that way because she and her girls had so many clothes, shoes, and bags.
On the lower level of the townhouse, Kyra didn’t have them rebuild any of the walls; she wanted a loft style look. Her kitchen was open. She replaced the kitchen floors with black and white granite marble. She had them build an island in the middle of the kitchen floor. The island top and counter tops were also black and white granite marble and the cabinets were white. The sink was stainless steel and double sided. The refrigerator and stove were also stainless steel, made by Frigidaire. The living room and dining room were connected, but they were a nice size. She had them lay white plush carpet all over the floors of the rest of the townhouse. When the geeks were finished, the place was slayed.
“We don’t live in no damn shack bitch, fuck wrong wit you?” Keyla said with a little attitude in her tone. She was irritated by the things her sister was saying. “Mufuckas would love to live in a townhouse like ours.”
“Yeah, broke mufuckas,” Kayla mumbled under her breath. She saw that Keyla would never agree with her on none of the shit she was insinuating, so she just dropped the conversation altogether. She didn’t even bother to mention the pink disconnection notice their mother received from Ameren yesterday.
“While you trippin’ on other shit, did you remember to grab the blunt?” Keyla asked.
“Now, you know I brought the weed. If I don’t remember shit else, you know I’ma remember the weed,” Kayla replied with a chuckle.
“Well, fire that shit up then biiihhh,” Keyla said, imitating the rapper Plies. Kayla put the blunt to her lips and flicked her pink BIC. She took three big pulls off of the blunt then passed it to her sister. As she was passing the blunt, she began to choke on all the smoke she had just inhaled. (cough, cough, cough, cough, cough) Kayla was choking so hard, tears started to roll from her eyes. “Stay up Kane, don’t die,” Keyla laughed and joked with her sister.
“Shut the fuck up wanch, that shit strong as fuck. I bet you won’t hit it like I just did,” Kayla said, still coughing up a lung.
“Shiiiiid, I bet u I will, I does this smoking shit biiihhh.” She laughed and took three big pulls a lil bigger than the ones her twin took. (Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough) Keyla was choking harder than her sister.
“Ahhh, ha, I told yo ass that shit was strong.” Kayla was bugging the fuck up and Keyla was still choking. Kayla started to pat her sister on her back to help her stop coughing.
“Nah bitch, you does this shit remember,” she said, still laughing hard as hell.
(Cough, cough, cough) “Shut up bitch, I do. it just went down the wrong throat,” Keyla said. Kayla looked at her twin and they both fell out laughing.
The girls had picked up their smoking habit from their mother. They had been smoking since they were 13. The twins had loved the aroma of weed since they were little. They used to sit by their mom’s bedroom door when she smoked, just so they could smell it. Keyla promised her sister that they would get them some when they were older, and that they did. When the twins turned 13, they snuck in their mother’s room and took a blunt she had rolled up in her ashtray. The blunt was filled with strong white widow. They didn’t know what that was; all they knew was it smelled delicious and they wanted to try it. The girls’ mom and dad were out collecting their money from their workers, so they had plenty of time to smoke it and act as if they didn’t. The twins then went into Keyla’s bathroom and turned on the hot shower so that the steam would kill the loud smoke. After that, Kayla stuffed a big damp towel under the closed door so the aroma wouldn’t seep out into the house. The girls stayed in the bathroom for about 15 minutes before they came out. They were so high, they felt as if they were walking on air. The weed was so potent; the girls couldn’t even finish the whole blunt so they put it out for
later.
Kayla had the munchies like crazy and her mouth was extremely dry. She headed to the kitchen and grabbed her favorite cookies, Chips Ahoy. She then turned on the kitchen faucet and put the cookie under the running water.
“What the hell is yo high ass doing fool?” Keyla asked when she walked in the kitchen and seen what her high ass sister was doing.
Kayla looked up at her sister, her eyes were as red as the Devils dick. “What? They dry, so I put some water on em,” Kayla replied in a serious tone. Her facial expression was priceless. Keyla couldn’t help but to burst out laughing at her twin.
“The drugs ain’t for you, sis,” she said, still laughing hysterically. She was laughing so hard that Kayla couldn’t do anything but to burst out laughing with her. The girls enjoyed being high so much, it became a regular hobby for them.
The twins were about done with the blunt when they looked up and noticed their school bus turning the corner of their street. Kayla took the last pull from the roach and threw it in the grass. “I’m dodifried,” Keyla said with a small chuckle.
“Hell yeah, me too,” Kayla replied. “DODIFRIED” was a word the girls made up one day while they were smoking, it meant “high”. When the bus pulled up, the girls were spraying body spray to cover the loud smell. The doors of the bus opened and the girls proceeded to board. They were so high; they didn’t even notice the man in the blacked out SRT8 JEEP watching them.
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Kyra wrapped up her conversation. The man told her to meet him at the spot no later than noon. Kyra knew exactly where the spot was, she had done business there numerous times before. It was only 7:30, so Kyra had plenty of time to get herself together and ease her mind. She got up from the island in her kitchen and headed upstairs to her bedroom. She then grabbed the RAW box and tray from her night stand. She opened the box and took out a gram of OG Grand Daddy Purp and a pack of Wild Rush swisher sweets. She busted the swisher down and dumped the guts in the small trashcan on the side of her nightstand. She then broke the gram of weed down and packed it all in the cigar. After pearling her spliff, Kyra sat it on the nightstand and headed to the double bathroom. She wanted to take a bath so she went to the girl’s side where the tub was. The girl’s side was spotless. She was happy because she really wasn’t in the mood to clean up their bathroom just so she could bathe. Kyra turned on the hot water. After it got hot, she added just enough cold water to where it wouldn’t burn her skin. She then stopped the tub up and poured in her Mad About You bubble bath from Bath & Body Works. While she waited on the tub to fill up, she started to undress herself. Kyra stood in the mirror and admired her beauty. She had to give it to herself, she was bad as fuck for a 34-year-old with a set of 17-year-old twins. She was 5’6 and mocha chocolate. Her eyes were a pretty dark brown. Her lips were full and soft looking. She had the prettiest set of white teeth with a smile to kill for. She had perfect round supple C cup breast, and her nipples looked like smooth chocolate milk duds. Kyra’s stomach was flat and she had a diamond bellybutton ring. She turned to the side to admire her back side. Big was an understatement for her butt. Kyra had an ass fatter than a swamp possum with the mumps. She kind of favored the rapper Lil Wayne’s baby momma Toya Carter. The more she looked at herself, the more she turned herself on. She was so busy complementing herself she almost ran the tub over. Shit, she thought to herself as she reached over to turn off the water. She walked in the bedroom and grabbed her blunt, phone, and Bluetooth speaker from off of her nightstand. She reached in her RAW box and got her lighter to fire up her blunt before heading back to the bathroom. While puffing her spliff, Kyra turned on her speaker and sat it on the sink. She connected her phone to it and turned on her favorite Pandora station, “Xscape Radio”. She sat the phone on top of the speaker and proceeded to the tub. When she stepped in the hot water, it sent a soothing tingling sensation through her body. She sat down and instantly her body felt relaxed. There were so many bubbles that they covered her up to her neck. She laid back and soaked until she finished her blunt. For some odd reason Kyra was extremely horny. She didn’t know if it was the way the hot water made her body feel, or the bubbles tickling her nipples. On top of that, the music coming through the speaker didn’t make it any better.
