Rozalyn 5

by Shan

  You go tell that nigga Rico to come home to you bitch since you was all up in that nigga's face. Y'all muthafuckas probably was plotting this shit while I was down. I don't believe as long as you've been around me that you think a bird will go for some got damned chump change. You think I would be where I am today selling my shit for that?"

  "Tamar—"

  "Shut the fuck up, I'm talking! That's how I know you did this shit on purpose. I know you not that muthafuckin' dumb, and since you wanna play me, I'm a make you see how it fuckin' feel to be my enemy."

  "Tamar, you're going too far—" I tried to argue, but he just wasn't trying to hear me. How did all this shit get turned on me like this? No, I'm not that dumb, but I honestly did not know.

  I wouldn't dare do anything to intentionally hurt Tamar—ever. Not in this way. Fuck all the cheating I had done in the past. Yea it was payback for all the bullshit he'd ever done to me, but that was only to hurt his heart the same way he'd hurt mine. This here was different. I would never do anything to bring Tamar down and as long as he'd known me; he should know that.

  "Going too far my ass. You went too muthafuckin' far. I'll get at you when I'm ready to see my kids. Other than that; don't hit me up for shit. Trust the bills gonna be paid like always."

  With that, Tamar hung up the phone not giving me a chance to say shit. I took my cell phone and toss it across the sunroom, watching as it hit the ground and shattered into pieces.

  Chapter 13

  Taron

  Big Brother

  My big brother was B.I.G.'s brother

  Used to be Dame and Biggs' brother

  Who was hip hop brother, who was no I.D. friend

  No I.D. my mentor, now let the story begin

  ~Kanye~

  "Damn bruh, I almost didn't recognize you," I said as I joined Tamar at the table he was sitting at. Nigga was skinny as hell, and it almost reminded me of the days were kids when he was chasing behind me, and Tavon always hollering about how he was tryna get his weight up.

  "Yea, my ass been eating like six times a day trying to get my weight up. Walking around here looking sick and shit," Tamar said as he took a swig from his beer bottle. I laughed and looked him over, thankful that he'd made it through once again. A part of me died when Toya gave me the news that Tamar had been hurt again and that they didn't really know whether or not he was dead or alive. The last thing I wanted was to lose my little brother. He was the only thing I had left that resembled anything of my family besides my mom and Taylana. Not only that, I didn't want Tamar dying thinking that I had betrayed him like everyone else.

  This morning had to be one of the happiest moments of my life. Getting the call from Tamar for me to meet him here at Cheddars gave me all the life I needed to get through this difficult time I was going through. I knew then that I had a chance to fix things with him. Hearing from him meant that he hadn't completely given up on me. Although I had gone about things the wrong way, I truly cherished my relationship with Tamar. I always looked up to him ever since we had been kids. Even though I was five years older than he was, the nigga had so much more wisdom and knowledge on me that it impossible not to respect him and what he stood for.

  "Man, Toya told me everything when I got out and a nigga been going crazy wondering if you were good or not. I don't know what I would've done if I would've lost you lil bruh. We gotta do shit differently if we be around to see our kids grow up man."

  "Facts. I definitely ain't arguing with that one." Tamar took a sip of his drink. "I guess now is the time for me to do something differently though. Rico handed everything over to Imran and that fat bitch Dom…the new nigga Jamir that I put on out in Dallas; I found out this morning that he has disappeared with over half of my work and ain't nobody heard from him or his brother. Not only that, his bitch ass baby mama has been moved out of Lew Sterret and don't nobody know where that bitch is at."

  "Damn, all this shit happened within the last few months?" I asked confused as to what the fuck was going on. Tamar's operation had never been this sloppy before.

  "Yea, all while I was in that fuckin' hospital Black had me in. If anything, I expected for that nigga to stay on top of shit for me and instead he fuckin' left Rozalyn in control and she fucked shit all the way up. I feel like she and Rico fucking around, and I swear this time—I'm done with her."

  "What? You talking crazy now. I know Rozalyn done did some fucked up shit, but I think she way past shit like that now."

  "Man Rico said to my face that Rozalyn tried to get him to spend a week with her in Jamaica. Why would he make up some shit like that? I'm not stupid Ron. Rozalyn took my shit and sold it for 10 stacks a brick…come on now. I know she not that fuckin' stupid. Fuckin' Google tells you how much a brick is worth. How the fuck you just tell me you didn't know when it's plenty of people around you that could've gave you the bidness. Man I ain't fuckin' believing that shit. Rozayln is trifling. Always have been and always will be. Somehow I fucked the game up and turned a housewife into a hoe."

  I shook my head and nodded my head at the waitress as she sat a glass of water down in front of me. I told her to open up a tab and to keep the beers coming until I closed it out. Tamar and I both ordered something to eat and waited until she left before continuing our conversation.

  "Man, I don't know what to say about that. Kevin was telling me a little about the situation just yesterday, but damn I didn't know all of that. Baby sis still ain't got her act together huh? Damn, I was really rooting that y'all made it work this time."

  "Yea, well some shit just ain't meant to be. Fuck her. I'm about to do me, and I don't give fuck how nobody feels about it."

  "I hear that baby bruh, but I'm a be the voice of reason and say don't make no move too fast. Y'all got too much time and a whole lot of damn kids. Fix it if it's fixable. Don't walk away from that because if I don't know nothing else, I know that you love Rozalyn."

  "Once again, fuck her. What's going on with this case you got pending? Fill me in on that," Tamar said as he sat back in his seat and folded his arms across his chest. He stared at me intently, and I felt a rush of nervousness wash over me. I knew that this moment would come when I was forced to explain how I'd gotten myself in this situation. I even went over the story in my head hundreds of times to make sure I would say the right things, but now that I was here; I couldn't fucking think clearly.

  I sighed. Nobody knew the situation and the truth but me and Donald, and according to the feds, that muthafucka was doing a whole lot of lying. Sad thing is because I was refusing to be a snitch like his ass; I was getting the short end of the stick.

  "So, when I first got out of prison and started working at the club for you, Dmitri came to me about some counterfeit cash that he wanted me to try and get rid of for him. At first I was skeptical, but I ended up finding somebody to get it off to and the shit just became nothing. I was moving about a million dollar's worth of counterfeit bills a week. Me and Dmitri would split the money up and shit it was business as usual at the club," I exhaled and shook my head when the waitress came and sat our plates in front of us. I grabbed a bottle of ketchup, squirted some on my burger and fries and then looked up at Tamar. His face was as cold as ice, and I couldn't really tell what was going through his head.

  "Anyway, shit when Kevin asked about pushing some pills through the club, and you told him no and that you didn't want anything illegal running in and up out of there, I told Dmitri that we had to stop, and he was cool on it," I sighed. "But, Donald came to me and said he needed me to do one last run for him and that it was big and had a big payout, so I agreed. In the end, the shipment of bills was hit by the Feds, my money was tied up in it and I lost a lot. Donald started talking about I had to pay him back for the loss. I kept running the bills for him trying to pay him back and get my money back right. That was why I took your money to try and pay him so I could stop the shit. I started this whole thing with him way before Dmitri's death and before Donald started coming at you. I was a
lready caught up."

  "Hmm," Tamar nodded his head. He picked up his fork and began to eat his food. It wasn't much said between the two of us for the next few moments. I had no idea if he was upset with me about everything, but I gave him the truth although it was the watered down version of the truth.

  "So, you out the game for good bruh?" I asked trying to get a sense of where his head was at.

  "I need a new connect. I said that after Rico told me he put Imran on that I was gonna sit down and be a family man, but after I found out about him and Rozalyn, I wanna shut his ass down again. He barely making it and competing with Dmitri for some shine—when I came to him he was on the come up so fuck that nigga and fuck Rozalyn. Soon as I get up on a new plug, I'm a fuck his world up and have him going for broke."

  "Kevin was telling me that niggas was saying that it's a new plug out in Atlanta that popped out of nowhere. Said that since you been down, they came through and made it snow with some shit that ain't never seen the streets before. Said it was more potent than anything you ever had."

  Tamar took his glare away from his food and brought it up to me. I could see that he didn't believe anything I was telling him since nobody had been able to get their hands on anything that was worth anything since Dmitri and Donald went down. Over the past five months, the south had been flooded with some of the weakest coke and heroin ever. Rico didn't have that drop like Donald and Dmitri had, but it was better than the shit that most of these niggas was working with. Now supposedly, this new plug that moved into the A had the shit that would bring a nigga to his knees.

  "Who is he?" Tamar asked with his brow raised.

  "I don't know. I didn't even ask all that. I'm like you and didn't believe that shit when he told me, so I left the subject alone as soon as he started talking about," I said and took a sip of my beer.

  "Where that nigga at?"

  "He at the house. He on house arrest for the next three months and can't go past the front porch without alerting the police."

  "What he do?"

  "Tried to kill some nigga that was messing with KiKi at her job. They charged him with attempted murder and his lawyer was able to get him house arrest until his trial."

  "How the fuck he attempt to kill a nigga? Man that fool Kevin need to man the fuck up and stop playing around," Tamar said and shook his head. "Anyway, let's go by there. I need to see what's up on that plug."

  "A'ight, let's go."

  ***

  "Speak of the muthafuckin' dead," Kevin said once he opened the door for Tae and I. "What's up kinfolk, my sis was just here not long ago talking about she thought you were dead."

  "Just a little misunderstanding, but I'm good. Where KiKi at?" Tamar questioned.

  "She at work. Just me and Jr. up in here playing video games and shit."

  "Damn, that's what life done came to you for you Kevin. You stop fucking with me and now you on house arrest and sitting around playing video games," Tamar told him as he walked and sat on the sofa.

  "Blame KiKi for that shit. She complained so much about me being in the streets that we was on the verge of breaking up. She gave me and ultimatum, and I chose her and now this is the result of it. Now all she do is complain about money. It's all good though 'cause soon as I beat this trial, I'll be back on it. I'm sure she wishes she would have never said anything although I know she'll never admit it."

  "I guess man. You better stop letting my cousin run shit. Bitches gonna always complain; don't mean you gotta oblige that shit. Fuck I look like getting off the money train cause a bitch wanna lay up. I'll be just another broke nigga if I did that," Tamar sighed and shook his head. "Anyway, Ron was telling me you heard there was a new plug out in Atlanta that got some drop like what I used to have my hands on."

  "From what I heard, it's better than what you used to have."

  "Who is he and how do I get in contact with him?"

  "Her name is Keysha, and I don't know how to get in contact with her, but my homey Trae-D do. I got his number if you wanna hit him up."

  "Keysha? A bitch? Now, I know this some bullshit," Tamar frowned.

  "That's what I thought too, but they saying her pops used to run things in Detroit back in the late eighties and early nineties until he got locked up. I heard he just got out and put his daughter in position," Kevin said and shrugged.

  "Who is her pops?" I asked and pulled a cigar from my pocket."

  "Jessan Moncriefe…Jam—"

  "That Jamaican cat…aye, I heard about him through my pops before," Tamar said cutting Kevin off. "I still can't believe the part about no bitch having a plug, but get me a number. I'm pretty sure it's just a front for that nigga since he just got released."

  "Probably is, I didn't even think about that," Kevin grabbed his phone and scrolled through it. After a few moments of looking, he gave Tamar the number to his homey Trae-D. Tamar immediately jumped on the phone with Trae-D and had the number he needed to this so-called plug Keysha.

  Chapter 14

  Tamar

  Keysha

  36 O's so I'm riding 'round with that nina. (I'm ridin' 'round with that nina)

  Ridin' with a hoe named Keisha, smokin' on Keisha (You know we smokin' on Keisha)

  My diamonds talk for me, they say "Hi, can I meet you hoe?" (Hey can I meet you hoe?)

  The moment Trae-D gave me the info on Keysha, I hit her up and set up a day and time to meet up with her. I already knew that Jessan had to be using her as a front to crank back up on his operation. There was no way a bitch was running shit. That only happened in the movies and those little hood books Rozalyn is always reading, but that wasn't going down in the real world. I would humor Jessan and go through his daughter for now, but I knew once I presented those numbers to her, and it got back to him, he would want to meet me personally. That was the way it always worked. Money talks and I knew my name rung bells in the streets. Just as I had heard about Jessan, I'm sure that he's heard about me, as well.

  Before hopping on a plane to Atlanta, I thought about going back to Dallas and chilling with the kids for a few days, but I didn't want to see Rozalyn. I didn't know if I could take being around her without doing something to her ass. The best thing for the both of us was for me to stay away from her. I promised her and myself that I would never put my hands on her again, but the way she had me feeling right now made me want to murk her little ass.

  I hated to think that she was still up to that trifling shit and fucking niggas just 'cause she thought I was up to something. A nigga was down on his death bed and she too busy trying to get in bed with my connect. I hated to admit it, but my brother Tavon was right about her. Rozalyn tried to play innocent, but I clearly see that she ain't shit but a gold digger just as he said back in the day. Even then, my promise to always take care of her would never change. I would always make sure she was straight, but we were over and I meant it this time. I couldn't keep playing those type of games with Rozalyn no matter how much I loved her. She had to know a nigga wasn't joking around, and if she hadn't learned by now, she would soon find out. I was gonna make her feel my pain this time more than any other time I have. I used to beat the shit out of her when I was angry or hurt by what she'd done, but this time I had something new for that ass. She wanted to play with my heart then I would damn sure play with hers. I was gonna treat that ass like she didn’t exist in my world and as if she was nothing more than a mere responsibility. Treat her like a monthly bill.

  The elevator dinged loudly the moment it stopped on the seventh floor. I stepped out of the doors once they opened and then looked down at the address in my hand. I was looking for apartment number 6-11 for the noon meeting I had with Keysha. She sounded as eager to see me just as I had been to see her. She immediately set the meet up after I talked to her a couple of days ago at Kevin's crib.

  Once I made it to her apartment, I knocked on the door and stepped back and waited for her to answer. I caught the smell of weed and incense as it flowed through the cracks in the doo
r and the vents in the wall. The moment I heard the locks clicking, I quickly checked my back to see if my brand new nine millimeter was in place. I had been naked ever since I left the hospital and knew that I had to keep some heat on me the moment I touched down in Atlanta. I had too many muthafuckin' enemies out here.

  "Yea."

  I looked up to see a chick with a head full of rollers and a blunt hanging from the tip of her mouth peeking through the cracked door. I shook my head and knew that this meeting was about to be one that I walked up out of. This bitch looked like she just stepped out the projects this morning, so I knew she wasn't sitting on no muthafuckin' cash.

  "What's up?" I said and frowned when she looked me up and down and licked her dry ass lips.

  "Yep, what can I do for you?"

  "Tamar. We supposed to be meeting at 12, did you forget?"

  "Keysha! Some nigga named Tamar at the door! You want me to let him in?"

  "Yea, let him in. Damn girl you worse than Nino!"

  The chick that answered slammed the door and removed the chain that kept it from being opened all the way. She pulled the door back and open and stepped to the side to allow me entry. I walked in and looked ol' girl up and down. She had an average build and was rocking a pair of colorful spandex tights and a small as crop top. I quickly took my attention away from her, not wanting to give her the wrong idea and think that I was in any way attracted to her.

  "She'll be out in a minute. Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked.

  "Nah, I'm good," I told her refusing to look her way again.

  "Okay, well come on in and have a seat. I'm Dakota. Let me know if you need anything."

  I nodded and followed her to the living room that was filled with Italian Leather and a bunch of expensive looking time pieces. That got my attention and made my first impression slightly change. I took a seat into the expensive leather and sat back just as my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it and viewed the screen noticing that it was another message from Rozalyn. She had been blowing me up non-stop ever since I left Dallas, and I ain't really had shit to say to her besides the text stating that I was pretty much done.