“Come on! We’re gon’get caught watchin’Mrs. Hansen fuckin’ again!”
“Better us than her husband,” Kidd said with a grin and peeked back inside the window just as Mrs. Hansen arched her back.
Mrs. Hansen was the prettiest woman on their block. She had chocolate skin, long hair, a pretty face, and a fat, old behind. Everybody said that Mr. Hansen was a lucky man to have such a nice-looking wife, but Mr. Hansen didn’t know that while he was at work, different men were in and out of his house. Kidd felt himself get hard when Mrs. Hansen buried her head in her pillow and parted her butt cheeks so the young fellow behind her could penetrate her. Right when Mrs. Hansen’s hand began to clench the sheets, Kidd was snatched away from the window.
“Hey, man, what the fuck is your problem?”
“My problem is my mom is gon’kill us if we’re late again.”
“Oh, shit, what time is it?”
“Ten fifteen!”
“Shit, let’s go,” Kidd said, forgetting all about Mrs. Hansen getting her back blown out.
He hopped down, and the boys took off running down the street toward their home. When the Feds had come and taken Kidd’s mom away the prior year for money laundering, Ollie’s mom, Sherell, took him in. She’d been Kidd’s neighbor for years and refused to let him get lost in the system, especially since he had been her son’s best friend since the two were in diapers. What she hadn’t counted on was having such a big load on her shoulders raising two teenagers. At 16, both Ollie and Kidd often had their noses in mischief. It had gotten to the point where Sherell had to give them a ten thirty curfew. If they ever missed it, that meant no video games for a week, and their games were life for them in the summertime.
“Yeah, get y’all bad asses home!” a voice shouted at them as they pushed their legs as fast as they would go.
“Fuck you, Rodney!” Ollie shouted back at the old man smoking a blunt on his porch.
Kidd flicked him off as they passed his house, and he heard Rodney laughing behind them. It was dark out, but the boys could find their way home with their eyes closed. They knew the neighborhood like the back of their hands. It took them five minutes to reach the small one-story house, and they saw that the kitchen light was on. That meant one thing, and one thing only. Sherell was in there watching the clock on the oven like a hawk mentally daring them to miss curfew. They were laughing when they burst through the back door to see Sherell exactly where they knew she would be: sitting at the high-top wooden table, facing the oven.
“Look at you! Ready to raise hell!” Ollie joked and wrapped his arms around her.
“Yeah, you couldn’t wait to yell at us,” Kidd said and grinned at her.
She pushed Ollie away from her and didn’t say anything. The look on her face was just flat-out indifferent, which was strange for her. Normally her lips spread from ear to ear when she saw them, but that night she didn’t smile. In fact, she looked sad.
“Ma, what’s wrong?” Ollie asked, taking notice of her lack of energy.
She ignored him and looked straight at Kidd. Just looking into his eyes caused tears to form into her own, and he didn’t understand why she was so sad.
“What’s wrong?” Kidd asked and touched her arm.
“I’m sorry, Kidd. I tried,” she said and sniffled. “I tried.”
“What do you mean you tried? Tried what?”
“To keep you,” she answered. “The courts are terminating my guardianship.”
“But w . . . why?”
“Your next of kin has stepped up and said that they want you.”
“Who?”
“Your uncle Gene.”
“Uncle Gene?” Kidd scoffed. “I don’t know that nigga.”
“Hey! Watch your mouth in this house, young man!” Sherell snapped. “Sometimes the cards the Lord deals us aren’t the ones that we see fitting. He will be here to get you in the morning, so you’ll need to pack your things tonight. But, Kidd, you know you’re always welcome to come—”
“This is bullshit!” Kidd cut her off and knocked the salt shaker off the table.
He stormed from the kitchen and went to the room that he shared with Ollie. He fell on the bed that Sherell had bought for him, the one that he figured would be his until he graduated high school. Life had been good, given the circumstances. Sherell was good to him, and he had known her since his earliest memories. Why did his Uncle Gene all of a sudden want him? His mom had been away for a year, and he hadn’t heard a word from her family.
All he knew about his uncle Gene was that he was his mother Annette’s older, rich brother who lived across town, the same rich brother who never helped them out. Annette had been working two jobs, and still she’d not been able to make ends meet. She ended up having to do some unethical things to pay some bills and got caught up in the long run. If Gene had just lent a hand to help his baby sister out, then maybe she wouldn’t have been sent to jail.
Kidd hit his head back on the pillow and thought about running away. He quickly put that thought in the back of his head. They would just find him, because where would he go? He had no people and no money.
“Hey, man,” Ollie said, entering the room and sitting on the edge of his own bed. “Kidd?”
“What’s up?” Kidd finally answered, staring at the ceiling.
“Regardless of whatever, you’re still my brother.”
“This is still bullshit,” Kidd said.
“I know, but it is what it is. Moms said dude is rich as hell.”
“Somethin’like that.”
“So that means you’ll be straight,” Ollie said, trying to look on the brighter side of things.
“My mom woulda been straight too if he had just helped us out. Why the nigga want me now?”
“I don’t know the answer to that. But, Kidd?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t make this harder on Ma than it already is,” Ollie said, and Kidd finally looked him in the eyes. “She’s really hurt out there. You know she’s always loved you like a son. Shit, sometimes I think she likes you more than she likes me.”
Kidd couldn’t help the grin that spread on his face. Ollie held his hand out, and Kidd sat up to shake it.
“Brothers,” Ollie said.
“Forever,” Kidd said back and gripped Ollie’s hand tight.
The next morning came faster than Kidd expected, but he’d done as Sherell asked and packed all of his things. When the doorbell rang, Kidd was sitting in the living room on the couch beside Ollie and Sherell with his suitcase next to him. Sherell got up and opened the door, and the way Gene walked through the doors was something Kidd would never forget. For one, the Gucci suit he had on had to cost a couple thousand dollars. Same with the Gucci frames on his face. He had a hairline so sharp that you would probably cut your finger if you tried to touch it. Two big men had entered the house as well and stood a few steps behind Gene with their hands at their sides. One of them was holding a suitcase in his hand. Kidd was so shocked at the scene that he and Ollie looked at each other with wide eyes.
“You must be Sherell,” Gene said, taking his shades off. He then took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. “I can’t thank you enough for looking after my nephew after all this time. I would have come to get him sooner, but I had too much going on in my life at the time.”
“Y . . . you’re welcome?” Sherell said, obviously as taken aback as the boys.
Gene made a motion with one of his hands, and instantly, the man holding the briefcase handed it to him. With a smile, Gene held it out for her to see. When he opened it, Sherell’s hand instantly went to her chest. The briefcase was packed neatly with nothing but hundred-dollar bills. She shook her head.
“I . . . I can’t,” she told him.
“I insist. For your troubles,” he told her and closed the briefcase. “In fact, I won’t take no for an answer. A beautiful woman like you deserves every penny inside. Now, where is that nephew of mine?”
He set t
he briefcase next to Sherell’s feet and moved around her as if he weren’t a guest in her house. His eyes went right over Ollie and straight to Kidd. Gene gave him a once-over before smiling big and opening his arms for a hug. Kidd just looked at him before he stood up and grabbed his suitcase.
“I’ll be in the car,” Kidd said. “What you pull up in, a limo?”
He turned to Ollie, who was grinning at his joke, and slapped hands with him.
“Be easy, boy,” Ollie told him. “You know where I’ll be at.”
“No doubt,” Kidd said, and the boys embraced briefly.
Next Kidd turned to face Sherell. He could tell that she was trying hard not to cry, but he thought back to what Ollie said the night before and put a fake smile on his face.
“You know I’ma visit, Mama Rell,” he said and gave her a big hug. “Fix that long face.”
“I’m going to miss you, boy,” Sherell said, holding him tight and rocking side to side. “You better not forget about us small folk.”
“Never,” he said, pulling away and planting a kiss on her forehead. “Plus I am small folk.”
With his suitcase in tow, he exited the house and walked toward an all-black Cadillac Escalade that was parked on the street. He heard the door shut behind him, and before he’d made it to the truck, he felt an arm on his shoulder.
“Andrew, I know this might be an awkward transition for you, but I assure you that you will like your new life. You’re sixteen now, right? We can go look at cars later today. How does that sound?”
“Kidd.”
“What?”
“My name is Kidd,” Kidd said and glared at his uncle. “And money can’t buy my love. You shoulda tried that with my mom.”
He snatched his shoulder away and continued down the concrete walkway to where Gene’s security already stood waiting with the back door open. They took his suitcase, and he hopped in the back seat, shutting the door before Gene could try to get in on his side. He knew he was acting like a child throwing a temper tantrum, but he didn’t care. He was mad, and hiding that was impossible. The ride to Gene’s luxury home in Miami Beach was just like the next two weeks of Kidd’s life: long.
Gene’s gigantic eight-bedroom, five-bathroom mansion took some getting used to, especially since Kidd was so accustomed to the tiny two-bedroom house he’d shared with Sherell and Ollie. Gene’s home came complete with a pool and a tennis court. But as much as he was blown away, he was disgusted. Gene tried connect to Kidd, he even tried to give him money to go shopping, but Kidd wouldn’t accept any of it. He just couldn’t get over the fact that Gene had been living like a king across town while he and his mother lived like peasants barely surviving. He would be 17 in less than a month, and that meant he’d only have to endure living with his uncle for a year before he could leave.
Besides the lavishness of the home, there were a few things about it that stood out to Kidd. One was that each entrance was guarded by a security guard. Another was that there was surveillance all over the place. It was a fact that Gene was a wealthy man, but the question arose of how exactly he got all his riches.
Gene had given Kidd access to the entire house, but the basement was off-limits. For a while, Kidd respected his wishes, but after months of seeing his uncle disappear down there with his minions, curiosity got the best of him. He took notice of the fact that whenever Gene was down there, Kidd couldn’t hear a thing no matter how quiet the house was.
The night that he decided to break the rule was the same night Gene walked through the door with a man Kidd had never seen before. Behind each of them was their own three-man entourage following closely behind. Both gentlemen were dressed in dapper attire as if they’d just left a fancy dinner, and they had big smiles on their faces. Kidd had been in the large living room, lying on the couch and half paying attention to the music videos playing on the television when he heard them walking past toward the basement door. When Kidd sat up, Gene motioned a hand toward him.
“Percy, let me introduce you to my nephew. This is Kidd. My dear sister got herself locked up, and he will be staying with me for a while. Kidd, say hello to Percy.”
“What’s up,” Kidd said and gave the man a nod.
He couldn’t quite get the guy’s angle. Percy was the same height as his uncle. Although in a suit, the man had a roughness about him. His skin was the color of honey, and his facial hair was neatly trimmed, as was the low-cut hair on his head. He rocked a diamond chain on his neck that spelled out the word “God” on it. Kidd’s eyes went to the man’s hands and saw that his knuckles were scarred over like his fists had seen quite a few fights in their day.
“Kidd? What kind of name is that?” Percy asked with a tinge of humor in his voice.
“What kind of name is Percy?” Kidd shot back.
“Touché, young man, touché,” Percy said with a smile. It was coy, and the way his lips spread reminded Kidd of a snake. “I once asked my mother that question, and you know what she told me, boy?”
“What?”
“She told me that when I was born, she knew I would be a savage. That I wouldn’t take anything from anybody, just like her. For that, she named me Perseus, after the powerful demigod.” Percy’s chest bumped out slightly, and Gene smirked beside him. “And she was right. These hands have seen more street battles than the number of your age, here where I was raised and in other territories. They have never seen a loss. Only victory. I assume that’s why your uncle has invited me here today.”
“Where is your mother now?” Kidd asked.
“Unlike your mother, she was graced with death before lockup,” Percy answered and flashed his teeth again. “No offense.”
“None taken.” Kidd shrugged. “In fact, in that whole speech, all I heard you say was that Perseus is your real name. With a name and face like that, you probably never get any pussy.”
The men standing behind Gene chuckled a little bit, but the ones behind Percy kept stony faces. The corner of Percy’s lip twitched along with his hands, but he did not make a move. Instead, he smoothed out his suit and turned to Gene.
“It would do you some good to teach your nephew some manners while he is here.”
“Duly noted,” Gene said and motioned toward the basement door. “Now to attend to business.”
Percy shot Kidd a glare before he went to the basement door. Gene followed him, but before he did, he glanced back at Kidd and gave Kidd a look. Not knowing what it meant, Kidd watched all of the men disappear until he heard the basement door shut behind them. He tried to go back to watching music videos, but he was no longer interested in watching women shake their rear ends in swimsuits. Something that Percy said had made its way back into his mind.
“I’m assuming that’s why your uncle invited me here today.”
What had Percy meant by that? And what use did Gene have for a street soldier anyways? Those questions were what led Kidd to open the door to the basement. He stood at the top, staring at the wide, carpeted stairs, debating if he wanted to take the risk of being caught. Curiosity got the best of him when he heard nothing. The lights were on, but he didn’t hear one voice or foot shuffle. Where had they gone?
He took one step down. Then another, and then another, until he was completely in the basement. At the sight of what was down there, instantly, his breath caught. He didn’t know what he expected to see. Maybe some furniture and a huge television on the wall. Some rooms and even a kitchen, but none of that was here. To the right of him, there was nothing but dry wall painted a nice cocaine white. To the left and about ten feet away from him were double doors leading to what looked to be a large room. A little ways in front of him was a gun range, an actual gun range inside of the house, which explained why Kidd never heard any sounds coming from the basement. The walls and windows must have been soundproof. The area Kidd was standing in looked to be a lobby, complete with a glass table and two nice, cushioned chairs. He found himself wondering if the magazines on the table were current.
As it turned out, the room was an office. Gene’s office. Kidd now knew why his uncle would be down there for so long. He couldn’t see the entire room, but from the looks of it, the office was as luxurious as the rest of the house. On each end of his long desk, there were two tall vases that reminded Kidd of the ones he’d seen in the movie Rush Hour 2. Gene sat at his desk with his elbows atop it and his hands gently clasped together as he stared at Percy. Gene’s men stood beside him, while Percy’s stood beside him on the opposite side of the desk. Kidd couldn’t tell which one of them had laughed, but he strained his ears to hear what was being said without accidently nudging the door open more.
“My offer amuses you?” Gene asked.
“Man, you just asked me to be security for a titty bar,” Percy said and shook his head. “Your name holds weight in the streets. You have power out here, and you mean you want to give that up to become some kind of pimp?”
“The Bliss Lounge will not be your typical titty bar,” Gene replied calmly. “In fact, it will be far from that.”
“You’re talking some elite shit. And I’ll be the first to tell you that niggas don’t spend that kind of cash on pussy when they can get it for free.”
“I didn’t ask you here for you to scrutinize my revolutionary idea. I put an offer on the table, and now I am waiting for your answer. The success of the club isn’t your concern as long as I am paying you.”
“How you gon’ pay me if ain’t no money rolling in? And if you ain’t selling dope no more, where you gon’ get the kind of cash that’s on this paper? See, you’re asking me to leave guaranteed paper to hop on board for this little trial run you have up your sleeve.”
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