by Darrien Lee
She kept a portable CD player in the small opening so when the bullets started flying, she could drown out some of the noise with her favorite CD. Unfortunately, things got even more intense when the neighbors started shooting back at the perpetrators. That’s when she started praying extra hard. She prayed for the madness to stop, for her brothers, and lastly, she prayed to finally get away from it all. Keilah knew she wasn’t allowed to come out of the special room until one of the brothers came to get her, and if things ever went bad and no one came for her, they had a Plan B so she would know exactly what to do. Keilah prayed that she wouldn’t have to sneak out of the basement and run down the block to Mrs. Mattie’s house so she could call the police and their aunt in Virginia. Mrs. Mattie was a retired school teacher who had befriended the family after their mother passed away. She took a special liking to Keilah, which made her the obvious choice.
It was only minutes, but it seemed like hours before Roman came and pulled her from the small space under the stairs. Keilah hugged him tightly as a trail of tears ran down her face.
“Is it over, Roman?”
He inspected her small body to make sure she was not injured before picking her up in his arms.
“Yes, it’s over. Are you hurt?” he asked.
“No, just scared. Why does this keep happening?”
Roman pinched her cheek lovingly. “It’s just some stupid people who don’t have anything better to do than shoot up other people’s houses.”
She looked at him with her tear-streaked face. “But why?”
Roman quietly sat Keilah down on the stairs next to him.
He sighed and said, “Baby, there are some people in this world who would rather take what they want instead of working for it, and then there are others who try to intimidate people to make them afraid.”
“What does ‘intimidate’ mean?”
Roman smiled and said, “It’s like being a bully.”
“Oh,” Keilah replied.
Roman was the most serious out of all of the brothers. He rarely smiled, but he had a soft side that he revealed on certain occasions. Keilah was very good at putting a smile on her brother’s face, and she was thankful he shared her love for reading. They would go to the bookstore and library and spend hours reading mysteries and adventure novels. They inherited that trait from their mother, who never went to bed without reading a few pages from some type of book.
Roman stood nearly six foot three inches, and appeared to be all legs. He wore a short Afro and had a neatly trimmed goatee to match. His dark brown skin tone matched his dark brown eyes and he always smelled wonderful. One of his habits was to never leave the house without making sure he was neatly groomed and had applied one of the expensive colognes he owned.
Genesis opened the door to the basement and saw the two standing on the stairs.
“Keilah, are you okay?”
Smiling up at him, she answered, “I’m fine, but I’m hungry.”
“Come on up so I can fix you something to eat.”
“OK,” Keilah replied.
After Genesis closed the door, Roman looked down at her. “Things are a little hot around here right now, Keilah. Somebody’s shooting or robbing somebody almost every night. It might be a good idea if you go stay with Aunt Rosa in Virginia for a while.”
“No, Roman. I don’t want to leave. Momma wanted me to stay with you guys.”
Roman ran his hand over his head in frustration. “I know what Momma said, but she’s not here anymore, so it’s our decision, and I say it’s not safe for you to be here. You remember what happened to that four-year-old boy who lived down the street, don’t you?”
“Yes. He got shot and died,” Keilah said solemnly.
Roman leaned down closer to her. “I will not let that happen to you, and if I can prevent it, I will. Going to live with Aunt Rosa is the only option until we can get another house and move away from here.”
“I’ll be careful, Roman, I promise,” she pleaded. “Please don’t send me to live with Aunt Rosa. She lives too far away.”
He stood there staring at his sister. Yes, their Aunt Rosa lived across the country, but it was the only thing for them to do to keep her safe.
“Let’s get you upstairs because it’s past your bedtime. I’ll talk to our brothers and see what they think about it, but I believe they’re going to agree with me, Keilah.”
They climbed the stairs and joined the rest of the family in the kitchen. After Keilah received hugs all around from her brothers, Genesis handed her a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of milk. While she ate her sandwich, Malachi and Luke swept up broken glass and inspected damage to their house. Malachi looked over at Keilah and whispered to Luke.
“Man, that was close this time. We can’t stay here. We could’ve been killed.”
Luke scooped up the glass and dumped it inside the garbage can. “Yeah, and if Keilah had gotten so much as a scratch I would be out looking for their asses right now.”
Malachi stopped sweeping for a minute. “Things have gotten out of control. We need to look for another house.”
Luke thought for a second. “I guess you’re right, especially since we can’t watch Keilah twenty-four seven.”
They looked over at Keilah as she enjoyed her grilled cheese sandwich. Roman joined them and Genesis followed close behind, keeping within sight of their sister. Roman folded his arms and looked his brothers in the eyes.
“This thing is getting out of hand. This is about the fourth time in two weeks that somebody decided to be ignorant and start shooting around here. I think we need to send Keilah to live with Aunt Rosa for a while.
Malachi replied, “I’m all for it.”
Younger brother Malachi had the quickest temper of the brothers. At twenty-five years old, he was also the only one who wasn’t in a relationship with anyone special. He wasn’t able to stay with a woman too long because he suffered with trust issues. He was very jealous of the women he dated, which usually ran them off after a few weeks. He was handsome and was the sibling who looked most like their father. With his light complexion and gray eyes, he favored Motown singer Smokey Robinson, which made him draw a lot of attention from the ladies. Brothers Roman and Genesis did their best to help Malachi overcome his insecurities with women, but they had been unsuccessful.
Genesis, on the other hand, was in a serious relationship with a college senior at a nearby college. His brothers hoped things would work out with the relationship, but tried to prepare him for the worst case scenario.
Genesis looked his brother square in the eyes as they continued to talk about Keilah’s well-being.
“I disagree. I don’t think Keilah should be shipped off across the country. She’s our responsibility and that should be the last resort.”
“You’re crazy, Genesis,” Malachi yelled.
Luke looked over at Keilah, who was watching her brothers have their little meeting. She figured they were discussing her and prayed they would let her stay with them.
Genesis shook his head. “I’m not crazy, and I seem to be the only one thinking sensibly. Do you have any idea what it will do to her if she’s that far from us?”
Luke raised his hands to calm the brothers. “Calm down you two. We’re all under a lot of stress, but fighting amongst each other is not going to help anything.”
Luke was the negotiator and peacemaker among the family. He should’ve made a career in the legal system, because he was just that good. Luke was serious about staying fit and worked out constantly, which gave him a set of six-pack abs that appeared to have been sculpted into his body. All of the Chance brothers were tall and stood only within an inch of each other, but Luke was the tallest at six feet five inches.
“Listen, we all agree that Keilah needs to be somewhere safe. Hell, we all do, because I’m not trying to catch a bullet in the head for nobody. We just need to calm down and think this thing through. We’re all Keilah has left since Momma and Daddy died, and we need to unde
rstand how sending her to Aunt Rosa will affect her emotionally.”
Malachi sighed and leaned against the wall. “I guess you’re right.”
Luke turned to his brothers and softly spoke. “Well, it’s past time for us to start looking for a house somewhere else anyway. We’ve outgrown this place and need to move somewhere safer where Keilah can play like a normal kid. Roman, are you going down to the library tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I have some books to return.”
“On your way, stop by that real estate office on Second Street. They usually have new listings in the window. See if they have anything in the Barclay community. Check it out. Momma always dreamed of living over there. We should have enough money in our reserves to buy a house. Genesis, see what you can come up with. If all goes as planned, hopefully we can move out of here by the end of the month, if not sooner.”
Malachi asked, “But what about the casino? We’re supposed to be saving our money for that.”
Luke replied, “That will have to hold for a minute until we get settled. It shouldn’t take long.”
Genesis looked over at Keilah and then whispered, “I’ll do whatever it takes to get out this neighborhood.”
“Then it’s agreed,” Luke announced. “Keilah will stay with us. We just have to work longer and harder to make things happen.”
The four brothers mumbled, “Agreed.”
Genesis walked over to Keilah and ran his hand over her hair lovingly.
“Looks like you’re staying put, kiddo.”
She smiled and said, “Thanks, Genesis.”
A few weeks later, the family moved from their childhood home and into a much nicer and safer neighborhood. The move was going to be bittersweet for all of them. Their house was still adorned with the décor their mother had chosen before she passed away of breast cancer. Changing it had never crossed any of their minds, and keeping it made them feel like a piece of her was still there. Now that they had decided to move, change was inevitable and wasn’t going to be easy. Their father had been murdered not far from their home. They police never found out who killed him, and the case was now in their cold case files.
Chapter Four
Present Day
Those were some of the unpleasant memories Keilah had of her childhood as she sat at her desk. It wasn’t until her telephone rang again that she snapped out of her trance. “Keilah Chance speaking. How may I help you?” she answered.
“Hey, Keilah Chance. What’s going on?” the male voice asked.
“Hey, Keytone, I haven’t heard from you in a while. Where have you been hiding?” Keilah asked.
“I’ve been staying busy as usual. How’s life treating you?”
She rubbed her tired eyes and said, “Hectic, of course. Have you seen my brothers lately?”
Keytone laughed. “Oh yeah, I see them all the time. They still hate me, but it’s cool. We go way back and they can’t seem to let the past stay in the past.”
“What happened between you and my brothers, Keytone?” Keilah asked.
He laughed and said, “I really don’t know. Why don’t you ask your brothers?” “I have, but they won’t tell me.”
Keilah remembered her brothers telling her that back in the day, after their father abandoned them, they made a lot of money working for Keytone. When their father returned, the money was too good for them to give up right away. The money they made allowed them the opportunity to help their mother, who was trying to make ends meet. Keytone was considered the neighborhood hoodlum, and all Keilah’s brothers would ever tell her about him growing up was that he was bad news and to never associate with him. Unfortunately, she was grown now and she knew something about Keytone they didn’t.
“Maybe one day you can hypnotize them and find out why they hate me so much, because honestly, I don’t have a clue,” Keytone revealed.
Keilah giggled and leaned back in her chair. “Now that’s funny. Hypnotize my brothers? That will be the day. I do know that would freak out if they knew I was talking to you and letting you come visit me.”
“You got that right,” Keytone responded. “Keilah, I’m so glad you’re in my life. I’ve had so many bad things around me for so long, it’s nice to have someone good in it.”
She blushed and tapped on her desk with her ink pen. She looked at her watch and sat up in her chair and said, “That’s so sweet of you to say, Keytone. Oh! Look at the time. I have to go. I’ll call you this weekend.”
“All right, Keilah, be safe and take care of yourself and I hope to get out there to see you soon.”
She stood up and said, “Sounds good. Good-bye, Keytone.”
Keilah hung up the telephone just as Ramsey stepped inside her office. “Good afternoon, Miss Chance. I stopped by to see if you would be free for lunch.”
Seeing Ramsey put an instant smile on her face, welcome after reminiscing about her eventful childhood.
“Well, let me check my appointment book and see,” she joked. “How’s your day going so far?”
His baritone voice chuckled. “OK, but my eyes started getting crossed from going over all these reports.”
“Do you want me to do it for you?” she offered as she pulled her purse out of her desk.
He waved her off and said, “Nah, I just need a break to rest my eyes.”
Keilah walked over to him and straightened his tie. “I bet you do. And you’ll be happy to know that I’m free for lunch, Mr. Stone.”
He smiled and replied, “Good. I hope you’re hungry.”
“So, where are you taking me?” she asked seductively as he put his hand on the small of her back.
“You’ll see,” he answered mysteriously.
Keilah turned to Ramsey as they walked down the hallway, and whispered, “Guess who I just got off the phone with?”
“Who?” he asked curiously.
“Keytone,” Keilah revealed. “I haven’t heard from him in a few days. He said he’d been busy but hopes to fly out here to see me as soon as he can.”
Ramsey picked a piece of lint off her collar and laughed. “I bet he has been busy ... breaking kneecaps. Man, I would love to be there when you tell your brothers about Keytone.”
Keilah stepped inside the elevator ahead of Ramsey. She put her hand over her heart and said, “Ramsey, I know I’m going to have to eventually tell them about Keytone. I mean they deserve to know, but I’m afraid of how they’re going to react. They have a history.”
Ramsey buttoned his jacket and gave Keilah’s hand a squeeze. “Don’t stress over it, Keilah. When the moment’s right to tell them, you’ll know it.”
The elevator doors opened. The couple stepped out into the lobby, and Keilah softly said, “I hope you’re right, Stone.”
Lunch with Ramsey was quiet except for the occasional small talk about things going on in the news and at work. They hadn’t seen much of each other over the past week because of their work schedules. Their little arrangement was still working out between them, but Ramsey had run into a slight problem with Andria. She couldn’t understand why he didn’t have time for her anymore, but the truth was that he was trying to reduce the number of women he was dealing with anyway, including her. He actually looked forward to spending his evenings with Keilah and wasn’t missing the other players in the game at all. One reason was that Keilah wasn’t full of drama and didn’t nag him for attention like the others did. They got together after work when they could. Both of them had to spend long hours at the office because of new clients and new hires. Since their business was going through this transition, more of their time was needed at work to smooth things out
“Keilah, did you hear what I said?” Ramsey asked with a frown
Snapping out of her daydream she answered, “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I said it’s going to be nice managing the company more than being in the field once things settle down. I mean, I still want to do some of the jobs on occasion, but I like training the new guys,” he admitted.
“Well, you’re good at everything, so whatever makes you happy makes me happy,” she said before taking a bite of her salad. “Listen, Ramsey, Genesis called and said they needed me to come out there to take care of some family business.”
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know the details, but I think it has something to do with the opening of the second casino. Is this going to be a problem? If it is, I can tell them this is not a good time and they’ll just have to postpone everything until I can fly out there.”
He sighed. “It’s going to be a big problem. I won’t get to see you for a couple of days, but I guess I’ll live.”
She smiled. “That’s so sweet. Thanks, Ramsey. I don’t like leaving when we’re so busy, but I shouldn’t be gone but a couple of days. I’m just glad it’s after I go to that dinner with Arhmelia’s mother. I would hate to send a replacement after confirming with her.”
“You’re right. You’ve made quite an impression on the Randolph family, and we’ve gained five major new clients because of them. There’s no way you can cancel that detail,” he pointed out.
Keilah pushed her salad to the side. “They’re good people, and I’ve become very fond of Arhmelia. She’s calmed down a lot since the shooting. I noticed she was trying to get a little rebellious with her parents at one time, but not anymore.”
He took a sip of tea. “It’s sad it takes something like a near-death experience to wake up some of these teens. But back to you; I think I can handle things while you go out to Cali to see your brothers. Family first. Remember?”
“I remember,” she replied.
“With that settled, can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she answered.
“What would you do if I kissed you right now?”
This stunned Keilah. Ramsey was the one who wanted to keep their secret relationship on the down-low. Now for him to want to kiss her in public was out of the ordinary.
“What did you ask me?”
He leaned forward and licked his lips. This sent shivers over Keilah’s body, because she’d become quite familiar with his luscious lips.
