“You better get comfortable because I’m not going anywhere,” Steve told his wife.
After Coco said what she had to say, she was done speaking on the matter. Her mother really had no reason to be mad at Jayliah and everyone knew it but her. Just like Jayliah had called it, their mother was miserable. She continued to sit in the corner of the room with her arms folded as she watched everyone interact. Jayliah and her dad were able to repair their relationship and forgive each other. She honestly couldn’t care less about fixing her relationship with her mother. She wasn’t about to put her energy into fixing a relationship with someone who didn’t want it to be fixed. In Jayliah’s eyes, that was a dead situation. Her main focused was finding Quadir and getting her son back.
Chapter Eighteen
“What’s wrong? You don’t like their food?”
“Huh? Oh yea, it’s good. I just have a lot on my mind, I’m sorry,” Coco apologized to Elias.
This was Elias and Coco’s fourth official date. They were at Benihana’s but unfortunately, this time around, she couldn’t even enjoy herself. She thought maybe going on a date with someone other than Zeek would help take her mind off of things but that obviously didn’t work. Here it was two weeks later and there was still no word on Quaid or Quadir’s whereabouts and it was stressing everybody out. It was as if Quadir once again disappeared off the face of the earth, only this time, he’d decided to take his son with him.
Another reason Coco couldn’t really focus on this date is because Zeek was meeting up with this Bane character. Apparently, he and Zeek’s mentor were two of the biggest drug dealers back in the day but they never had any issues because they respected each other and each other’s territory. So Zeek was going to speak with him in hopes that he didn’t have or do anything to Quaid on some get back type shit.
“Okay, Coco, what’s wrong? Seriously? I’ve been over here pouring my heart out and you haven’t heard a word I said,” Elias joked.
“I’m sorry,” she groaned.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
“What’s not on my mind is more of the question.”
“Does it have something to do with Zeek?” Elias questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Just like any female, whenever Coco felt the need to vent, she did just that. She figured Zeek and Elias would never cross paths and even if they did, they wouldn’t know who each other were anyways. They were on two completely opposite sides of the spectrum, so the odds of them knowing each other were very slim in her book. Zeek was a street nigga whereas Elias was a corporate man that worked a nine to five.
She had no problems sharing her crazy relationship problems that she was having with Zeek with Elias because, for one, she and Zeek were not technically in a relationship. She could see what she was doing being classified as being a no-no or wrong if they were together, but they weren’t so there were no rules to what she could or couldn’t do.
“No, it’s not Zeek this time,” she said with a chuckle.
“Then what’s up?” he asked.
Coco just shook her head. “It just a personal family issue.” The subject was too sensitive for Coco to be sharing with just any and everybody. “Do you mind if we cut this date short? My head is not in the right place right now and I don’t want to continue to be a bore.”
“Sure, I understand.”
As they were leaving, Elias got a text message from one of his coworkers saying that they were about to make a move on one of Zeek’s trap houses. He wanted to leap for joy just then. Since Coco rode with him, he couldn’t react the way he wanted to. Since it was his day off, he wouldn’t be a part of this raid but that was okay because there would be many more to come.
As Elias was driving her back to her house, that she was no longer staying at, Coco kept checking her phone anticipating for a text message or something to pop up. She was wondering how Zeek’s meeting with Bane went and what did he find out. She so badly wanted to call him but he specifically told her he would call her if when he had some information for her.
I guess no news is better than bad news, she thought.
___
Zeek and Tariq had just crossed back into Michigan from Canada when their phones started going off like crazy. After Bane’s retirement from the game, he’d moved to Toronto. The news they got from Bane wasn’t really any news at all except Quaid’s life really could be in danger right now. According to Bane, only one portion of Quadir’s story was true and that was the part about him stealing from Bane. Quadir never worked for him but he did flat out rob one of his workers, which meant he robbed him, and went missing after that. He did put word out that he wanted to know Quadir’s whereabouts and had no idea he was even back in Detroit.
So that story he gave Jayliah was a bunch of bullshit, just like they already figured it was. The only question running through Zeek and Tariq’s brain now was where was he and what was his purpose of taking Quaid?
“Aye, call them nigga back and see what the code red is,” Zeek instructed his cousin.
“Already on it,” Tariq said as he pulled out his phone.
Zeek was about to pull out his phone and call Coco but he hurried and changed his mind. He knew that she would more than likely ask a million and one questions that he currently didn’t have a million and one answers to right now, so he would just wait to talk to her until he got home.
“Fuck out of here!” Tariq yelled, snapping Zeek out of his thoughts.
Zeek knew whatever had happened was bad because rarely did Tariq raise his voice or get riled up; that was his job. Looking from the road to him, he waited for him to get off the phone so he could get some answers.
“Round everybody up and tell them to get to the spot, now,” Tariq said before hanging up. “Cops just raided one of our houses,” he sighed.
“Raided, since when the fuck do we get raided?” Zeek yelled.
“Exactly what the fuck I’m saying! Something about this shit ain’t right, we been doing this shit for how long without error? Now all of a sudden we just get raided without so much as a warning? Shit ain’t adding up.” Tariq shook his head.
Zeek got quiet because his cousin just sad everything he was thinking. Something wasn’t adding up. Never in the six years since he’d reigned supreme had he had to worry about any damn cops snooping behind him. Now, all of a sudden, his traps were being raided. Where the hell was this shit coming from? Why now? Tariq was right, something wasn’t adding up.
When they pulled up to their meeting stop, everybody who didn’t get picked up in the raid was in attendance. Before Zeek could even get through the door good, one of his workers was rushing over to him.
“Boss, I got something I need to tell you,” he told Zeek.
“What’s up?”
“I was out today and I seen the missus with another nigga. Well, he really wasn’t much of a nigga but I’ll let you see for yourself,” he said as he pulled his phone from his pocket.
Even though Zeek and Coco weren’t together, in everyone else’s eyes as well as Zeek’s, they were. So if somebody that worked for Zeek just so happened to see something that ain’t right or something that was off, they have no problem running back and telling Zeek.
Taking the phone, Zeek examined the pictures but he couldn’t really see the face of the dude Coco called herself being with. He had to chuckle at how slick she thought she was being, not knowing he had eyes everywhere. He was going to have to do a little research to see who this nigga was she called herself entertaining.
Chapter Nineteen
Coco walked into her patient’s room and caught a funny feeling. She tried to shake it off but for some reason, the feeling just wouldn’t leave. Trying her best not to show that something was wrong with her, she put a smile on her face.
“Here goes your Sprite, sweetie, and remember to take slow sips, okay?”
“Yes, Miss Coco,”
“And you know that if you need anything else, just press the button.”
“I will.”
“Okay.”
As she was walking back to her station, her supervisor was walking towards her. She was silently praying that he wasn’t coming for her but it was short lived when he stopped in front of her with a solemn look on his face. Clearing his throat, he spoke.
“Jacole, your father called and said you need to get to your sister’s house as soon as possible.”
Hearing those words immediately made Coco’s heart drop down to her stomach and tears well up in her eyes. She had to grab on the nurse’s desk to keep from falling back.
“Are you okay?”
“I…I’m not sure yet. Probably not,” she whispered. “I gotta go.”
Coco wasn’t by any means trying to be pessimistic but she knew something had to be wrong if her dad was calling up to the job and it had her supervisor looking like he was ready to cry. Trying her best to remain positive, Coco sped all the way to her sister’s house. When she got there, she threw her car in park and jumped out, running to the front door. As she was trying to get her keys out, she could hear Jayliah’s cries from inside that rocked her soul.
With shaky hands, Coco unlocked the door and slowly walked into the house. She followed her sister’s screams all the way to the living room where she was laying on the couch crying, rocking back and forth in their daddy’s arms while Tariq stood in the corner of the room, letting his tears silently fall.
“Wha…What happened?” Coco asked, even though she was scared to know.
“They put my baby’s arm in box!” Jayliah screamed. “They didn’t even have the decency to send me the rest of his body, though! A fucking cardboard box.”
It felt as if all the wind had been knocked from Coco’s body as she fell to her knees. She didn’t want to believe what her sister was saying was true but she knew she wouldn’t lie about a thing like that. She didn’t know what kind of cold hearted bastard would do such a thing to a child. Even more so, what type of man would allow someone to do harm to their own child?
Coco was feeling like her heart had just been torn into shreds. She had been in Quaid’s life since day one. Every doctor’s appointment, there for his first step, his first step, his first word, his first tooth, his first day of school, every sporting event, she was right there front and center with Jayliah. And now he was gone. The pain she was feeling was unbearable so she couldn’t imagine how her sister was feeling right now. All she knew was they were going to get through this together, she was going to be with her every step of the way.
“This is my fault, this is all my fault. Sharon was right, I should’ve never had him. If only I would have stayed home that night instead of going out, then maybe he would still be alive,” Jayliah cried.
“Jay, Sharon is the last person you need to be listening to right now, okay? None of this is your fault. You can’t blame the one night you decided to go out and have fun, you didn’t know this was going to happen,” her dad told her.
“Not only did I allow Quadir to take my son from me but he made me lose the only other person in this world that truly makes me happy,” Jayliah laughed until her laughter ended up turning into her breaking down.
Tariq left his corner of the room and walked over to her. Kneeling down in front of her, he placed his forehead against hers.
“Aye, I’m right here. I ain’t went nowhere, baby. That shit we went through wasn’t nothing and I told you to stop sweating. I’m over it and you should be, too. Alright?”
Coco’s heart smiled a little. She was happy that in the midst of the pain that her sister still had a reason to smile. She knew eventually she and Tariq would get back on track but she just hated that it took something like this to bring them back together.
___
A week later and the pain was no better. Since they didn’t have Quaid’s body, they couldn’t give him a proper burial, so Jayliah just had a private memorial service that consisted of her, Tariq, Coco, Zeek, Marco and his grandpa that he never got a chance to meet. Jayliah was so torn up over the loss of her son that she was trying to fight herself from slipping into depression but she felt as if she was slowly losing the battle. It seemed as if everything reminded her of Quaid, commercials that he loved, TV shows he loved to watch, songs he loved to sing, including the fact that she had to walk past his room every day.
“You need to eat,” Tariq told her.
“I’m not hungry, but Riq, do Zeek and Coco seem a little funny to you?” Jayliah asked.
“No, stop trying to change the subject and eat, Jay. If I have to sit here and feed you, I will,” he told her.
“I just told you I’m not hungry. Seriously though, look at them. They don’t look off to you?”
Even though Jayliah had been going through something, she had been very observant and she had noticed that Zeek and Coco hadn’t been all lovey dovey like they usually were. She had enough issues of her own to deal with so she wasn’t going to pry but she really wanted to know what was going on with them.
Coco walked over to Zeek to talk to him because she hadn’t talked to him all week. She had been staying at her house since Quaid’s death and had cut off all communication with the outside world until earlier today at the memorial service. She wasn’t trying to be rude or anything but she just needed this time to herself to grieve alone.
“Hey,” she said in a low voice.
“What’s up, stranger?” Zeek said.
Coco looked at him through squinted eyes. She didn’t know if it was her or the vibe he was giving off, but he was coming off kind of cold to her. She couldn’t think of anything she may have done to him because he could have easily came over to her house if her not speaking to him was an issue; it wasn’t like he didn’t have a key.
Softening his tone a little, Zeek went for a different approach. “How you feeling, you good?” he asked.
“Yea, I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
“Alright, I’m about to go over here and check and Jayliah,” he said before walking away.
Coco just nodded her head as she watched him walk away. Ever since their first encounter, that was the most awkward conversation she had ever had with Ezekiel Clay and she didn’t understand what the hell was wrong with him.
Chapter Twenty
Coco was at home doing some house cleaning. Since it had been a while since she had been in her house, she decided that she would switch things around a bit. It had been three weeks since Quaid’s death, two since his memorial and since she had last spoken to Zeek. She had no idea what happened to him. It was like he was here one minute, then he was gone the next. She could lie and say she didn’t miss him but her pride wouldn’t let her call or text him.
She was too stubborn to do so. She really wanted to go pick up her clothes from his house but she wasn’t about to do that either. She figured he probably did her just like he did Chanel; got bored with her and moved on to the next bitch. She wasn’t going to sweat it, though, it was definitely fun while it lasted.
As she was cleaning up her room, she ran across some of his clothes. She was going to pack them up and take them to Tariq or Marco so they could give their cousin his clothes since he was acting he didn’t want shit to do with her anymore. Coco almost burst into tears when she ran across a picture of her and Quaid.
It was so crazy to her how much she missed her nephew. It was like she never knew pain before until she lost him. She couldn’t believe that it was coming up on a month since he’s been gone. Time waits for no one, she thought as she put his picture on her dresser. As she was doing so, her phone started ringing. Seeing that it was Elias, she started to hit the ignore button, but she went ahead and answered anyways.
“Hello?”
“Guess who was riding through your neighborhood and said, ‘Hmm, I wonder what Coco is doing,’” he said.
“Who?” Coco asked. “Not you?”
“Open the door,” Elias said.
“Elias, seriously? I’m in here cleaning and rearranging. I look a mess,” Co
co stressed.
If it was one thing Coco hated, it was people dropping by unannounced, especially if she didn’t feel like being bothered and now was definitely one of those times.
“Okay, and?”
Coco sighed, “Give me a second. Here I come.”
Cussing under her breath, Coco slowly took her time walking to her front door. She cherished doing things like this because these were things she couldn’t get away with doing when it came to Zeek. He would have been kicked her front door in by now and told her she better not ever keep her waiting again. With Elias, she got away with doing whatever she wanted with him.
“Come on in,” she said once she opened the door. “Excuse the mess. Like I said, I’m cleaning up and changing things around,” she told him.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. Change is good,” Elias said.
“Yea, I guess you’re right.” She shrugged.
“Do you mind if I use your bathroom real quick?” he asked.
“Go straight back, it’s the second door on the right,” Coco instructed.
“Thank you.”
While he was in the bathroom, Coco decided she was going to change her couches around. Before she could even touch one, her front door was opening. In walked Zeek with a crazy look on his face. Oh shit, Coco thought. He would pick now to show his black ass up.
The Wrong Side Of Love: A Hood Love Story Page 9