It seemed as if Carmelo always had one up on him. The fact that the child he raised, loved, and cared for for sixteen years wasn’t even his was crazy. But to find out that the child was in fact his brother’s was some bullshit. Just like he always had, he came second to Carmelo once again.
“Sum!” he yelled as he got out of his truck.
Summer looked up in the direction she’d heard her name and had to do a double take. The man she grew up thinking was her father looked horrible. His hair had grown out and was uncombed, his facial hair was nappy, and his eyes were bloodshot; to sum it all up, he looked bad. Real bad.
“What’s up, Uncle Cai?” she asked.
“Uncle Cai?” he asked with a disgusted look on his face. “I’m your father.”
Summer just nodded her head in understanding. She knew it probably wasn’t easy for him to deal with her being his niece instead of his daughter. Plus, he smelled like a liquor store and she didn’t want him spazzing out on her in a drunken rage.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
“I miss you, Summer. You should come home,” Caiden said.
“I miss you, too. I really do. I know we may have had our moments and everything, but what family doesn’t? Even with all that, I have a home now, with my dad,” Summer said.
She was trying to make this go as smoothly as possible. She saw a look flash in his eyes that she couldn’t decipher before he abruptly turned around and briskly walked back to his car. Summer was left standing there confused because she had no idea what had just happened. She knew she had to tell her dad about this one because something was truly wrong with her uncle.
<><><><>
“Hello, father!” Summer yelled. She purposely was being loud to make her presence known.
It annoyed her that she knew Carmelo heard her come in the house but he was so busy stuck in his thoughts, which were more than likely about Dream, that he didn’t acknowledge her.
“Why you yelling, Summer?”
“Because you weren’t even going to say anything to me. You sitting here, dazed out, looking like you lost your best friend.” Summer was never one to pull punches, so her words didn’t shock Carmelo.
She took a few steps forward before sitting on the edge of the coffee table. Carmelo was really out of it because he didn’t get on her for sitting on the table. He sat back and sighed before rubbing his temples.
“I miss her, too,” Summer said.
“This has nothing to do with Dream,” Melo nearly barked. “I’m sorry, Sum. I didn’t mean to yell, but… Anyway, how was school?” Carmelo asked. He needed to switch the subject. Even though he didn’t want to admit it, discussing anything that had to do with Dream pained him. He wanted her back home under the same roof as him and Summer, with CJ, but she was too stubborn to come back and he was too stubborn to beg her.
Summer swallowed her initial sentence and took a different route. She could see the pain in her father’s eyes and didn’t want to add to it.
“School was school. Uncle Cai was there when I got out.”
Carmelo raised an eyebrow before sitting up. “What happened?”
Summer gave him the brief version of their conversation.
“He really looks bad, dad. I felt a little bad for him. I mean, he don’t have anyone. Maybe I should spend every other weekend with him or something, to ease the transition. I don’t know. I just know that I wasn’t feeling the vibe I got from him.”
“If you weren’t feeling the vibe you got from him, why would you want to spend weekends with him?” That was Carmelo’s way of telling Summer that that weekend shit was out. It wasn’t going to happen. At least not until Caiden got a grip on life and his attitude.
“Never mind, dad. Let’s not even talk about this anymore,” she said before getting up from her seat.
“Let’s not. Actually, I’m about to step out. If Dream comes over here, tell her to leave CJ,” Melo said, before grabbing his keys off the coffee table and making his exit.
Summer looked on and thought about asking him where he was going. She decided against it because, one, it wasn’t her place to ask, and two, part of her already knew the answer.
<><><><>
Melo pulled up to Caiden’s house in record-breaking time. Something about Caiden popping up to Summer’s school didn’t sit right with Carmelo and rather than discuss it with a teenager, he felt it was way past due for him and Caiden to have a much needed conversation.
Boom, boom, boom
Carmelo assaulted Caiden’s door with his fist. He didn’t care if neighbors heard or how Caiden would feel about it. He was pissed and when he was pissed, nothing else really mattered to him.
“Fuck are you banging on my door for?” Caiden snapped once he finally opened it.
The smell of alcohol assaulted Carmelo’s nostrils, and caused him to take a step back.
“What up with you? You going to drink yourself into oblivion?” Melo asked. He had never seen his brother in that shape. Summer was right, he looked bad.
“It ain’t your fucking concern, Carmelo. Don’t come over here on some bullshit.”
“You right. Drink yourself into a coma, Cai. That’s on you. I came over here to talk about you popping up on Summer.”
“That’s where you can stop. I don’t gotta discuss shit about my daughter with you. You and Alex better produce a fucking DNA test or something. I’m not rolling over to play dead for nobody. That’s my…”
“That’s your what? Nigga, miss me with that shit. Whatever you about to say is straight up bullshit. It ain’t like you raised her. Even before I got a DNA test done on Sum, I was more of a father than you ever were. Get the fuck out your feelings, Caiden. Shit happens. I fucked your bitch… Well, actually, you fucked my bitch, nigga. Too bad she was already pregnant. If you want to be mad at somebody, be mad at Alex. Do not pop back up at Summer school, or anywhere else she be. When she ready to see you, she will see you,” Melo stated.
He sensed that Caiden was going to jump bad, so he stared intensely, calculating each and every move Caiden would make before he made it. Just as Caiden threw a left jab, Melo ducked and countered with a jab of his own that connected with Caiden’s jaw.
“Nigga, are you crazy?” Melo barked as he took steps backwards.
He wasn’t there to go toe-to-toe with his brother, but Cai was asking for it.
“Fuck you! You think you going to come to my crib and tell me what to do? Tell me when I can see my fucking daughter? Fuck out of here. You and that bitch can go make a baby, but Summer is mine!” Caiden barked.
Carmelo rushed him and knocked him on the ground. From there, they tussled, each delivering blow after blow. It wasn’t until Caiden mumbled something about Dream that Carmelo stopped raining punches down on his body.
“Fuck did you say?” Melo asked.
All he could make out were the words ‘Dream’ and ‘dead.’ He needed Caiden to repeat himself. Caiden didn’t look like he was going to budge, so Carmelo did the unthinkable. He reached behind his back and pulled his nine from his waistband. He leaned forward and placed the gun to his brother’s temple.
“Repeat what you said, bitch.”
Caiden was silent. Carmelo was too blinded by anger to see that he was handling the situation all wrong. He couldn’t help it, though. The stress of Dream leaving and taking CJ on top of him feeling as if Cai was coming at him crazy had him seeing red.
“Stop! Stop it!” Carmelo heard from behind him.
He glanced behind him to find Summer, standing outside of her car with a horrified expression on her face. He slowly slid his gun back into his waistband and got off of Caiden.
“This is too much. So much damage has been done to this family and this is how ya’ll want to continue to handle stuff,” Summer exclaimed.
“What are you even doing here?” Melo asked.
“I knew you were coming here as soon as you left out. I didn’t want this to happen. Look at ya’ll, dad. Ya’ll br
others. Come on now.”
Melo looked from Summer to Caiden and back to Summer. He shook his slowly before taking a few steps away from them.
“Cai, I know you heard what I said. Aye, Summer get in your car and go home.”
Summer looked down at her uncle who was by then sitting on his lawn in an upright position. She mouthed the words I’m sorry to him before making her way back to her car. She was sorry with how things were unfolding, but Carmelo was her dad, she had to respect that. Carmelo stood by his car and watched Summer pull off before jumping in his and pulling off too. His mind was racing and he needed something to calm him down. Deciding that the only other person besides Summer who could calm him was CJ, he headed to Dream’s house to see his son.
Carmelo pulled up to Dream’s house to do a pop up visit. She may have been on that wacky backy stuff about not wanting to be with him, but he didn’t give a damn. They shared a child and Summer considered her to be her mother, so in his eyes, Dream would always be his.
When he pulled up to her house, there was a car in the driveway that he didn’t recognize. Thinking that her mom had stopped by to see her and CJ, he pushed it to the back of his mind as he walked up to her front door. He knocked on the door and waited for her to answer. This some bullshit. I need a damn key, he thought to himself.
Irritated that he was still standing out there, he knocked again. Just as he was about to pull his phone out and call her, the door came open and Dream stood there like she had seen a ghost.
“The hell you standing there looking like that for? Let me in,” Carmelo fussed as he walked up on her, pushing her back in the process. It was the damn winter time and she wanted his ass to freeze.
“Uhh, Melo, what are you doing here?” Dream asked.
“What, I can’t come to see my…”
Carmelo let his sentence trail off when he saw a nigga walking down the stairs shirtless and shit like he lived here. This wasn’t just any nigga, though. This was the same nigga that he had to check Dream about in her shop before they broke up because the nigga was being a little too touchy for him.
Dream stood there feeling as if the walls were caving in as she watched Carmelo’s trigger finger twitch. If looks could kill, she would have dropped dead on the spot. When she had invited Chauncey over, she never would have thought that Carmelo would pick today to unexpectedly pop up at her house. If she could snap her finger and disappear right now, she definitely would.
“Melo—”
“Save that shit, Dream. I don’t think this is the game you want to play with me when you know damn well what I’m capable of,” Carmelo told her.
“What game, Carmelo?” Dream asked with an attitude. She had been dealing with Carmelo’s mood swings since they broke up and she was tired of it. One minute he didn’t want anything to do with her, then the next minute he acted as if he wanted to be a happy family once again.
“Get rid of this nigga,” Carmelo said through gritted teeth.
Chauncey chuckled as he sat on the couch while shaking his head. He had heard the stories about Carmelo and who he was. He wasn’t the least bit impressed. He may have put fear in other niggas’ hearts but Chauncey didn’t scare easily. He had no problems going toe-to-toe with a nigga that bled just like he did.
By the way Chauncey was laughing and Carmelo’s vein was protruding out the side of his neck, Dream knew this situation wouldn’t turn out too nicely.
“Chauncey, can you give us a minute, please?” Dream asked.
“No, fuck a minute. Raise the fuck up out of here, yo!” Carmelo yelled.
“And if I don’t?” Chauncey asked as he got up.
Before Dream even knew what happened, Carmelo hauled off and punched the shit out of Chauncey. She stood there in shock as Chauncey tried to counter with a blow of his own that connected with Carmelo’s ribs.
“Melo, stop!” Dream yelled frantically.
These two crazy ass niggas were tearing up her living room like they didn’t have any sense. She was happy that Mama Love had called and asked for CJ or she would be highly pissed off at the moment. She closed her eyes for two seconds when she heard a gunshot go off.
POW!
She opened her eyes to see Carmelo pointing his gun at Chauncey’s head with a bullet hole in her wall.
“That was just a warning shot, next time I promise not to miss. Dream, tell this nigga he’s dismissed before I paint this room a crimson color,” Carmelo threatened.
“Chauncey, I’ll call you later. Please, just go,” Dream pleaded.
No words were exchanged between Dream and Carmelo as Chauncey went upstairs to retrieve his things. Dream was mad and scared at the same time. She tried to move to the other side of the room put Carmelo axed that idea immediately.
“Stay the fuck right there.” He barked as Chauncey came back down the stairs.
Without another word, he walked out the door and Dream wished she could leave with him, knowing Carmelo was about to light into her ass. As soon as the door shut, Carmelo lunged at Dream and grabbed her by her hair.
“You fucking that nigga?” he asked.
“What difference does it make? We’re not together,” she told him.
Carmelo tightened his grip to let her know he wasn’t playing with her.
“No, Melo! I’m not fucking him. We’re just friends, you know, like you and Monica,” Dream spat as she yanked away from him.
“Don’t go there with me, Dream. What me and Monica have going on don’t have anything to do with you. You—”
“Just like what me and Chauncey have going on doesn’t have shit to do with you!” Dream yelled, shocking the hell out of Carmelo. “You’re in my house, Carmelo. I pay the bills around here, not you. We’re not together so therefore you have no say so in what I do. The only thing you need to be worried about is your son.”
Carmelo stood there trying to figure out who this woman was standing in front of him, because it wasn’t his Dream. The Dream he knew and loved was nice, loving, and caring, but now she was the complete opposite. This Dream just didn’t give a fuck.
“Alright, Dream. You got that. From here on out, it’s fuck you. Do you, but please don’t trip when you see me doing me. I’ll have my mama call you so you can bring CJ over and I’ll get him from there,” Carmelo said before turning to leave without even giving Dream room to respond.
Chapter Eighteen
Dream sat parked outside of Carmelo’s house trying to get her thoughts together. After the night before and the showdown she had with Carmelo, she knew she probably shouldn’t have showed up at his house. He wanted them to pass CJ off through his mother and that plan worked fine with Dream. If it wasn’t for Summer calling her and telling her to pick her up so that they would hang out, she would have stuck to that.
“The quicker you go in there, drop CJ off, and get Summer, the quicker you can be away from Carmelo and his house,” Dream said, giving herself a quick pep talk.
After blowing out air, she climbed out her truck. She opened the back door to get CJ and his car seat out and headed up the walkway.
“Ma!” Summer screamed as she opened the door.
“Dang, girl. I didn’t even get to ring the bell,” Dream joked.
“I know. I saw you sitting in the car from the window. I was letting you get your life. Come in.” Summer stepped aside so that Dream could enter.
Dream shook her head no and handed CJ over to Summer.
“I love you, baby boy. Take him to ya’ll father and meet me in the car.”
Dream backpedaled to her car before Summer could object. She knew Summer would mention it when she got in the car, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to see Carmelo’s face after he’d said fuck her. She definitely didn’t want to see Monica or smell the cheap perfume she wore.
“You do know that as long as me and CJ live in that house, you are welcomed whenever, right?” Summer said as she got in the car and buckled her seat belt.
“I’m aware. I’m
just not with the drama today. Especially after your father popped up at my house last night with some words. He needs his space.”
“He loves you, Ma,” Summer said. She didn’t know what words Carmelo had for Dream, but she knew that he loved her.
“Yea? I used to believe that, Summer. I don’t anymore. That isn’t the Carmelo I fell in love with. He wouldn’t treat me like this, especially after what I been through, but it’s all good. What’s up with you?”
Summer wanted to respond to what she’d said but after seeing the hurt in Dream’s eyes, she decided against it. Instead, she spent the rest of the ride telling Dream about school and what happened with Caiden and Carmelo. Just the mention of Caiden’s name made Dream uncomfortable but she didn’t say a word. She just nodded her head and listened, silently hoping and praying that they made it to the mall quickly.
Dream and Summer were having some much needed girls’ time at Kings Plaza doing some retail therapy. It had been a while since the two ladies had hung out together, so this was long overdue.
"I honestly miss this," Dream said as they went from one store to the next.
"You? Don't get me wrong. I love my dad and all, but there's nothing like girl time," Summer laughed.
"I hear you, girl. I wish things weren’t so blah between your dad and me. If it wasn’t, we would have many more girls’ days."
"Aw, Ma, he was just hurt. You know how he is. He was just coping the only way he knew how. He doesn't do too well with showing his emotions and when he does, they're the wrong ones sometimes," Summer explained.
Dream knew Summer was right. She shouldn't have expected anything less than what Carmelo gave her.
"You're right, Sum."
“I heard about you’re friend, Chauncey, I think that’s the name.”
Dream wasn’t surprised. Carmelo and Summer had a wide range where communication was involved. They rarely kept things from each other, because aside from Sheila, they were all each other had.
“Just a friend, little girl,” Dream said, stopping her before she could pry any further.
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