by Nikki Brown
“My nigga.” I dapped him up. To me the nigga was cool as fuck. He kept it 100, we kept tabs on the nigga for a good three months and we didn’t see shit out of the ordinary. He kept his word, if he said he was gonna do something or be somewhere he was there. I had no reason not to trust the nigga. Omari’s ass just didn’t like no one. I laughed to myself.
“What’s up, O?” Perry smirked. He knew Omari didn’t like his ass and they even came to blows a time or two. I warned Perry not to fuck with O, he was a silly muthafucka, but his hands were a beast.
O hit him with a head nod and went back to what he was doing on his computer. He had since got the smoke shop off the ground and was thinking of opening a few more so that we could clean our money that way. Jaako’s ass had been talking about opening a restaurant, but I heard that shit was too time consuming. I was gonna think of some shit to do, because I wasn’t trying to be doing this shit all my life. At least not on the forefront, if you catch my drift, I would rather be behind the scenes just cashing in on a check.
“Alright, I need to double up.” Perry smiled, and I returned it.
“Got damn we are doing it like that out in South Carolina?”
“Hell yeah I told y’all I don’t play no fucking games. Niggas coming from Georgia to get served, what you mean?”
“Fuck yeah, keep doing what you doing and you get a spot on the fucking team.” I said, and I heard O stop typing. I turned to look at him and he had a yeah fucking right look on his face. I laughed and so did Perry.
We collected his money and told him to be looking out for the next drop. We didn’t give shit from the warehouse, hell our shit wasn’t even here. We learned from the last time; never keep yo’ shit where you do business. When Unc’s car blew up we could’ve got in a shit load of trouble if the police got there before the clean up crew. So, we had two places. One, where we conducted business and one where we kept our shit.
“Hello! Jen you good?” I yelled into the phone on the first ring. I was always on edge when I see her name pop up on the screen.
“Son it’s time, we’re headed to CMC hospital, get here and quick.” Mama said and hung up the phone.
“Fuck yeah!” I yelled and took off running.
“Bruh.” Omari yelled out.
“Jenacia is in labor.” I smiled. Most muthafuckas would be scared but I was happy as hell.
“Shit, I’ll call Zemia and we on the way.”
I didn’t bother responding, I hit my truck and was one way to meet my twins.
“Push baby push.” I coached Jenacia. By the time I got here she was fully dilated and they didn’t have a chance to give her any medicine. She said that she took a bath and she guess her water broke while she was in the tub, she didn’t even know she was in labor until a contraction hit her so hard it knocked her down.
“Shut the fuck up, Kayson,” she gave me the evilest look. “I’m never fucking you again.” She cried.
“Alright I see baby number one’s head I need one good push.” She lifted up and pushed as hard as she could, and I looked down and all I saw was a head full of hair. “One more time and we’ll be half way done.”
“I fucking hate you, Kayson.” She screamed as she pushed one more good time and Kayson Jr. lit the room up with vocals. I smiled as the doctor told me to come and cut the cord. “Oh shit.” Jenacia yelled as I was cutting the cord.
“Okay, they not trying to give you a break.” The doctor laughed.
“And fuck you too.” Jenacia said to the doctor. I swear I had never heard her curse that much.
“Okay, big push.” The doctor coached because I was scared to say anything else. Every chance she got she gave me the look of death. “Here we go again, Jenacia you’re doing great.”
“Come on, baby.” I kissed her forehead. My baby looked exhausted. I felt so bad for her, but this is making me love her that much more and it’s making the surprise I had for her that much better. I had been thinking about this for a while and this just solidified it all.
Jenacia pushed a few more times and Kyndon Barnes came into the world three minutes after his brother. I kissed her all over her face until she pushed me away. The doctor said she had to birth the after birth and he needed to clean her up so while he did that I went to check on my boys. I knew the moment she told me that she was pregnant that she was gonna be giving me a junior; I was even more blessed to find out that she was giving me two boys.
Kayson Jr. was a little bigger than his brother at 7lbs 4oz and Kyndon was 6lbs 10oz but they both were healthy, and they looked just like me, down to the eye color.
CMC did this thing called parent bonding, so it was just me, Jenacia and the twins. We both took turns holding the boys on our bare skin. It was funny seeing Kayson Jr. trying to get to Jenacia nipple during his bonding time with her. His little ass was gonna be greedy. I could already tell. This was the best feeling that I think I ever felt, and now was the best time to do what I should have done years ago.
I had Kyndon and I laid him down in his bassinet and I picked KJ up off Jenacia and she looked like she wanted to protest until I held up my hand to tell her to chill for a minute. I placed him in the bassinet with his brother. It was almost time for them to let visitors in and I wanted to do this before they all came in.
“I need to talk to you.” I went and sat down on the chair that was right beside her. “From the moment I saw you all those years ago, I knew that you were gonna be the one for me, I just wasn’t ready and when I got another chance I knew it was fate. I had to do what I needed to do to make sure that you were in my life forever.” I looked in her eyes and they were glossy. “I can’t imagine living this life without you, you make me better. So, with that being said, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
She put her hands over her mouth and nodded her head and I looked at her like she was crazy, I had said all that and all I got was a head nod.
“You gonna leave a nigga hanging?”
“Yes baby, yes.” She barely got out between cries. I pulled the ring out of my pocket and opened the box and she cried harder. I gave her a 3.5 carat princess cut diamond, her favorite according to Zemia.
We kissed, and I went back and got the boys, so they could join in on our family celebration. Not that they knew what was going on but just having them there made the situation complete.
“Aye, aye, cut that out and give me one of my babies.” Mama said wheeling Chelley in with her.
“And give me the other one.” Chelley said and we laughed. I picked KJ up and gave him to Mama and Kyndon to Chelley and they oohed and aahed over them. We were gonna have trouble out of them two, I already knew it.
“Congrats bruh, I can’t wait to teach them a bunch of bad shit.” Omari said standing over Mama looking at KJ. Mama reached back and slapped him in the face.
“You will do no such a thing.” We all laughed. The door came open and it was Denari, I wasn’t expecting him to come but he did, and I was happy about that. He walked over to Chelley to check out Kyndon and he turned to look at me and for the first time in six months he smiled.
“Why they look like yo’ ugly ass though?” He joked, and I saw a glimpse of my baby brother coming back.
Jaako and Yameka were the last ones to come and we all just sat around, and they lapped the twins. The girls pined over Jenacia’s ring and my brothers gave me shit about it because they knew that sooner or later they were gonna have to step up too. We all chilled until visiting hours were over. Once everyone was gone and it was just us again, I looked at Jenacia who was half asleep laying in my arms in this little ass hospital bed.
“I love you so much, Mr. Barnes,” she mumbled.
“I love you more, Mrs. Barnes.” I pulled her close and we both closed our eyes to get some much needed rest, well until the boys woke up for their two-hour feeding.
This was my life and I was in love with it already. I really needed to find a way out of the game because this was way more important, and I’d be da
mned if I lost it to anybody.
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Perry
I was chilling at the house counting up, just thinking about how bad shit was. A nigga was starting to feel bad as fuck about all this. Come to find out them niggas was cool as fuck. I wished shit was different because we could have been good ass partners. I mean them niggas was talking about bringing a nigga in. I would have been a rich son of a bitch fucking with them. I hate I fucked all that up all behind a bitch like Krista. I needed to get out of this house before I ran myself fucking crazy.
As soon as I backed out of the driveway the phone rang through the speakers of my car, I looked, and it was Special Agent Milgram.
“How’d it go?”
“I’m sure you heard how it went, Milgram.” I was getting pissed because they had me wearing a fucking wire. That shit was dangerous as hell when it came to them. When the shit first started they tried to say that I wasn’t moving fast enough, and they thought that I was trying to run, so they made me start wearing a wire.
Once I got in good with them and showed them what I could do, they started to trust me a little more and invited me into their warehouse. I attended meetings and shit, which were all caught on tape. I felt like a snake ass nigga, if they ever found out what I did they were going to do some damage, that’s why after this, I was leaving and ain’t nobody hearing from me again.
“You right we did, we got enough from the tapes and pictures from the drop off with Denari. Next drop, this will all be over.”
“Good, I’m over this shit. They don’t even deserve this.” I didn’t mean to say that out loud, but I did.
“Are we having second thoughts again?”
“Nah I’m good, so after I do this I’m good right?”
“Yeah after you testify against them you will be fine.”
“TESTIFY!”
“Yeah we got all of this evidence and we have to have a way to prove how we got it.”
“I can’t testify, you don’t know them and the reach they got, my whole family would be in danger if I testify.”
“You don’t have a choice. We will protect you.”
“What about my family you asshole, this wasn’t part of the fucking deal.”
“Yes it was, and you will testify or go to jail. I need you and Krista to testify.”
“What the fuck does she know?”
“She was in a relationship with one of them before, so we will bring her on as a character witness. You don’t worry about that, just get ready.”
With that he hung up the phone and I needed to talk to Krista to see if she knew about this shit. I wasn’t gonna call her; I needed to be face to face with the bitch. This shit wasn’t looking good at all. I sped to her house.
When I pulled up, she was ushering a nigga out of her house, I had never seen him before. He was square ass nigga and I don’t know why it pissed me off, because I didn’t fuck with her since she dimed a nigga out and got me in all this bullshit. I had feelings for this bitch, from the minute I saw her, but now look. I parked my car down the street so she couldn’t see me, and no one would see my car in her driveway. I was taking a risk coming here, but I needed to holla at her about all this shit.
“So, this is what you do while I’m out here trying to make sure yo’ hoe ass doesn’t go to jail?” I said as soon as I walked up.
“What in the hell are you doing here, Perry?” She said looking around. “I thought you said it wasn’t a good idea for you to be here?”
“That ain’t what the fuck I’m talking about, you talking all this shit everyday about me not getting at that nigga Denari because he killed my baby. Was that even my fucking baby, I mean you were fucking a few of us.” I glared at her and I didn’t even know why all this was coming up all a sudden but seeing that nigga coming out of her house had me pissed and I forgot everything that I came here for.
“So, what you want me to sit around, and wait on you to get your head out your ass. You stopped talking to me on that level remember. Shit a girl got needs.”
“No, a hoe got needs, you know what, I don’t even need this shit. I’m gone; I don’t even give a fuck about you going to jail. Handle that shit on your own. I done put my whole got damn family in jeopardy for you and this is what the fuck I get.”
“Whoa calm down okay, what you mean you gone? You running?” Her eyes got big and she smirked.
“Yeah, they telling me that we gotta testify.”
“Duh Perry, what did you think, they were just gonna get all this evidence and then let you go on your merry little way? It doesn’t work that way.”
“Do you know what they will do to us if we do that?”
“They going to jail,” she laughed. “Probably for life, so they ain’t doing shit but trying not to drop the fucking soap.”
“You just don’t get it, they don’t have to be out to touch us, you fucking idiot. They got reach.” I ran my hands down my face. “Why in the fuck did I even get involved with you?”
“Because my pussy got a hold on yo’ ass.” She smiled, and my dick got hard instantly. “See.” She pointed at the bulge in my pants.
“That don’t mean nothing, that’s just a reaction. My dick doesn’t think, that’s how I got in the situation that I’m in right now.”
“Standing out here in the open ain’t smart, come in.” She said looking around.
I thought about it for a minute and the smart thing to do would have been to get the fuck away from there, but my dumb ass just had to follow her inside. Once we were inside she turned on her persuasion.
“Listen, you can’t run.” She slowly walked over to the sofa where I had sat down. I had a gun in my waistband that I took off and sat beside me in the seat. “I need you, because I can’t go to jail.”
“I don’t want to go to jail either, but you don’t understand that if we testify we’re dead and all our family is too.”
“They are not everything people talk them up to be. I know for a fact they don’t go after families because they don’t believe in that. So, all that is just hype. Just man up, let’s do this, and then we can live happily ever after.”
I licked my lips and grabbed her hips, then I thought about the nigga that just left, I pushed her back and she put her hands on her hips.
“I did not fuck him, we were just talking.”
Right as I was about to say something the door busted open and my fucking mouth dropped. “Don’t believe that shit homey.”
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Denari
A nigga ain’t been right since I saw Heaven hit that ground and never get up. What I wouldn’t do to just hold her in my arms again. I need to feel her just one more time. I never got to tell her I loved her, I always had this thing about never saying that, and now I hate I never did.
Heaven was the only person that knew me and loved me for who I was, whether I was being the ultimate fuck up or if I was just being the carefree, silly ass me. She loved every part of me, and to know that I won’t ever have that again hurt my heart to the core. All I wanted was to lay on her stomach and feel her hands through my dreads.
I hadn’t touched coke since that night because that was something that I associated with her. That was something that we did together. I guess that’s one good thing that came out of this but where I didn’t do coke, I damn sure drank in its place. I had my good days and my bad days, like today was a bad day for me. My brother just proposed to his girl and they just brought two handsome and healthy boys into the world. I never thought that was something that I wanted until I no longer had the option. Now I would give anything to have that in my life. You never miss ya water until your well runs dry; I used to think that was bullshit, but boy was I wrong.
My brothers had been hella supportive through all this shit. For two months straight, I didn’t leave the house, better yet my room. I didn’t want to see anybody or talk to anybody. Mama would come every day and bring me food and make me eat. When she couldn’t make it, she
would order food and threaten my life if I didn’t get it. If it wasn’t for her, I probably would have killed myself.
I still see her every now and then, especially when I’m sleep. I see her beautiful smile. Which is why I don’t get much sleep, knowing that it was all a dream was too much for me to bear. Today, I needed to get the hell out of the house, so I was headed to the warehouse to see my brother. Omari reached out every day and I just didn’t have the energy to talk to him, but that didn’t stop him from trying. The girls were supportive as shit too, they came down with Mama sometimes too.
I pulled up to the warehouse and noticed that Omari was there and Jaako too. He reached out a little, but our relationship was strained and it was my fault. After all the shit went down I had a little time to think and I reflected on all the bullshit I started, and I was sick to my stomach. I put my brothers through a lot of shit and I see why they cut me off. Instead of being there with the family after Unc died, I went off on my own doing dumb shit. I wish I could take back everything I ever put them through, but I couldn’t, so my thing now was to do whatever I could to be the best brother I could be to them. Even if I didn’t like the shit they had to say.
“Aye, what’s going on?” I greeted as I walked through the door.
“What up, D.” Jaako greeted seemingly happy to see me. If I were him I would never speak to me again, but I was grateful that he loved me enough to not think about that.
“Not shit, a nigga needed to get out of the house. What y’all up to?”
“Not shit, just trying to make sure shit is good on this end.”
“I feel that, y’all need me to do anything?” They both had shocked looked on their faces and I laughed because I knew what they were thinking, but I was trying to introduce them to the new and improved Denari. “Fuck y’all man, look I know I been on some shit but I’m trying to do better from this point on, if you let me.”
