by Andrea Sad'e
I cleared my throat, “You mean can you get US some drinks?”
“Yea, that’s what I meant.”
“Well speak that shit then.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Oh hell nah, go get your manager please.” She walked off in the direction of the back; soon after, a tall black man walked to our table, and I explained to him everything that had transpired between the two of us since she walked to our table.
“We’ve had this same problem with her for the longest, and I told her that next time something like this occurred she would be terminated.”
“You don’t have to go that far.”
“No ma’am, it’s unacceptable.”
I watched him call the girl to the table.
“Krystal, I told you what would happen if this occurred again, didn’t I?” She put her head down.
“Mr. Brown, I have two kids whose father is dead. I can’t lose my job.”
“Well you should have thought about that. Please give me your name tag and apron, and leave the premises.”
I instantly felt bad watching the girl walk out. I grabbed my purse and walked out, finding her on a bench crying her eyes out. I bent down next to her.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would go that far.” I dug in my purse and pulled out a napkin, which she gladly took. I pulled out my checkbook and wrote on a check, tearing it off.
“What do you like to do?”
“I want to go to cosmetology school.”
“Why don’t you?” I asked.
“Because although I can get financial benefits to pay for my schooling, I still have to work long hours to provide for my kids.”
“Here,” I said, handing her a check. She looked at it, her eyes getting huge.
“One-hundred thousand dollars? This must be a joke.”
“No, it’s not. I want you to enroll in school and provide your kids with a better life without having to worry about working. Sometimes people just need a chance and some help. I’m giving you that. Don’t you dare let your kids down. Take my number and call me when you finish school.”
“Can I hug you?” she asked, and I nodded my head. “I’m so sorry I was rude to you.”
“It’s okay, you just learn a lesson from this. You can be blessed by the same people who you have wronged, but it won’t always happen that way. You’re a little less stressed now, so you need to take a more positive attitude in whatever you do.”
“Thank you so much,” she said before I turned and walked back into the restaurant. I know one hundred thousand dollars seems like a lot of money to give a stranger, but there is much more where that came from. I looked at Kay.
“I already know what you just did. How much?”
“One hundred thousand.”
“Oh okay, I’ll replace it when I go by the bank in the morning.”
“Well if you insist. Who am I to say no?” I said, smirking.
“I can’t deal with you, Gena,” he said laughing. “I ordered you some steak, lobster, and shrimp with a side salad if that’s okay. I was hungry, and I was not about to wait for your generous ass to come back to order.”
“Shut up.”
After dinner, we headed back to Kay’s. We walked in the door, and I collapsed onto the couch.
“I’m so full and sleepyyyy.”
I heard Kay chuckling. He walked up the stairs, and I decided to follow him. He walked into his room. I had never been in there before. It was beautiful; it had a brown and tan theme with a couple different colors thrown in here and there. I sat down on his bed and instantly fell in love. His California King sized bed felt like it was made out of clouds. I slowly laid down.
“Yea, it has that effect on me too,” he said, looking at me smiling.
“Bruh, I’m finna fall out,” I said yawning.
“Well, I don’t want you driving feeling like that, so I think you should just sleep it off,” he said, taking off his shirt and laying down next to me. Just as I was about to fall asleep, my phone started to ring. I saw Slick’s name and I wasn’t gonna answer, but he has my baby so I had to.
“Hello”, I said sighing.
“So you staying the night with that nigga?” I rolled my eyes.
“Boy, what do yo annoying ass want?”
“Watch yo mouth, Gena. I done let you have yo lil’ fun, but you better not give my pussy away or I swear, I’m gon’ fuck you and that nigga up.” Kay grabbed the phone.
“Nigga, what the fuck do you want?” I heard Slick start going off; Kay hung up on him and laid down next to me.
“Imma have to kill that nigga,” he said sighing. “I don’t want it to go that far, Kenyah is always going to need her father,” I told him.
“Yea, well he better learn what the fuck boundaries are.”
“Yeah, you got something I can put on so I can shower?” I asked.
“Yeah, go out my door and down the hallway to the second door on the right; when my little sister visits, that’s her room. Ya’ll bout the same size,” Kay answered.
“Alright,” I said, getting up and going to get the clothes. I was hoping that Kay didn’t try anything tonight because I didn’t think I was ready to move on with anybody yet. I laid down next to him, but I realized I couldn’t do it.
“Kay, I gotta go,” I said before I ran out of his room.
Rayna
“Ahleya, leave mommy’s face alone,” I said, looking at her chunky little giggly self. “Ace, I’m almost done planning her first birthday party.”
“Yeah, my baby will be one in three months. Time really flies. I don’t want her to grow up,” he said, playing with her feet and making her chuckle.
“Well me either, but I knew this day would come sooner or later. We just have to do everything in our power to make sure she’s safe. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to her.”
“I feel the same way.”
“Ace, I’m ready to see Candice.”
“You sure?”
“Nigga, didn’t I just say…”
“Don’t get the fuck smart,” he said, getting out of the bed. I got out of the bed and got Ahleya dressed to go to Mrs. Camila’s house. After Ahleya was dressed, I went into my closet and put on some black yoga pants, a grey sleeveless shirt, and some black Timbs. I put my hair in a bun at the top of my head and decided not to put any jewelry on. I put the ring Ace gave me in my jewelry box.
“You ready?” Ace asked me.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
After dropping Ahleya off with Mrs. Camila, Ace drove for about 30 minutes before we arrived at a warehouse. It was dark and rundown looking on the outside, but the three street lights surrounding it made it a little brighter. We walked inside, and it looked totally different than how the outside looked. It was bright with fresh paint and nice tiled floors, a couple couches, but that’s about it.
“Where is she?”
“In the basement, I think. Eric and Dro been checking in on her. Actually, they should be down there now.” He gave me a mask to put over my nose, and he put one on too and opened the door. We started walking down the stairs.
“It’s so fuckin stank,” I said.
“I know.” I saw his boy Dro giving Candice a glass of water while Eric looked at something on his phone.
“Wassup ya’ll boys,” he said, dapping them up.
“Nothing much, just checking in on her. Making sure she stays alive,” Dro said nonchalantly.
“Preciate it.”
“it’s nothing,” Eric replied to him.
“We got it from here. I’ll hit ya’ll boys up when we leave,” he said to them.
“Cool,” they both said before turning to leave.
“If you want an apology, you ain’t getting one from me, little bitch,” Candice said, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
“I don’t want shit from you, Candice.” I got closer to her and covered my nose “You fuckin stink,” I said, looking at her with a smile on my face. “Get up.”
She got up and I pushed her up the stairs. We walked into the garage portion of the warehouse where they keep old cars. I grabbed the high pressure hose and started spraying her. She was slipping and sliding everywhere. I know getting revenge is not the right thing to do, but after letting this woman torture me for so long I can’t help myself. After 10 minutes of wetting that ass up, I decided I was bored so I stopped.
“Here,” I gave her some beat up clothes with holes in them for her to put on. After she changed into them, I directed her back down to the basement. “Sit down. Gain your strength cause you’re gonna need it. I’ll be back.” I went back up the stairs and walked in the direction of Ace’s voice.
“What the fuck do you mean he’s my baby? I was strapped when we fucked, and now you trying to pin a baby on me two years later, Karen? You really got me fucked up to the point where I’m not even finna stress this bullshit,” I heard him end the call. I waited a couple seconds before I walked in.
“Wassup baby?” he asked, looking up.
“Nothing, just hosed her off. Letting her rest.”
“So what are you gonna do?” he asked me.
“I don’t know, Ace. I hate the things that she did, and the things that she allowed happen to me, but that’s still my mom. I feel kinda bad.”
“Well it’s up to you; she can stay alive, but all I know is she ain’t getting the fuck back into society. She saw us murder Kenneth,” he said, looking at me.
“Let’s go back down,” I stated.
Ace
I walked back down the stairs with Rayna where her mother was sitting on the floor.
“Candice.”
“Rayna.”
“Tell me why.”
“Why what, Rayna?”
“Tell me why you beat me and allowed Kenneth to rape me. Tell me why.”
“No thank you,” Candice answered. Rayna back handed her and when I looked up, Candice’s mouth was bleeding.
“When I get back, you need to be ready to answer that. I’ll give you some time to get your words together. Let's go,” she said, walking up the stairs. I followed, and we left the warehouse.
We walked back into our house and sat down in the kitchen.
“I don’t know where to go from here, baby,” Rayna said, looking at me with sad eyes.
“I know that’s your mom Rayna, but she gotta go, she has seen way too much.” She shook her head before the doorbell rang. “Hold up,” I said before walking to the door, grabbing my gun in the process. I opened the door, but nobody was there. I noticed a piece of paper on the doormat, and it read “you thought you had me.” This shit had Mark written all over it.
“Rayna, let's go. I gotta go meet Slick and I ain’t leaving you here.”
We drove to Slick’s house, and I knocked on the door. He came to the door and let us in.
“Wassup man,” he said, dapping me up.
“Look at this shit,” I said, handing him the paper.
“What the fuck?” he said, looking at me crazy.
“This shit has to be Mark. That nigga still out there.” The door opened, and in walked Gena.
“What the fuck I done told you about walking in my shit like that?”
“Boy shut the fuck up, where my baby? Hey ya’ll, what ya’ll doing here?” she asked once she realized we were in the room.
“They think Mark sent them a threat, girl,” Rayna said, waving her hand.
“What?! How ya’ll supposed to be some fucking gangsters but ya’ll can’t simply kill a fuck nigga? Where my baby? I’m finna fucking go,” she said, walking towards the stairs.
Slick
“What?! How ya’ll supposed to be some fucking gangsters but ya’ll can’t simply kill a fuck nigga? Where my baby? I’m finna fucking go,” Gena said before walking away. I snatched her by her arm, making her turn back facing me. I walked up the stairs and pushed her into my room.
“Keep your fuckin hands off of me, Kendrick.”
“Girl, shut the fuck up,” I said before making her sit down on my sofa in my room. “First off, you not finna come disturb Kenyah while she’s sleeping. Second, you ain’t finna leave yo little boyfriend’s house doing God knows what, and come up in here acting like you runnin’ shit, calm ya ass down before you make me fucking mad. Ya’ll have got to stay close to me until we get our hands on Mark.”
“I’m not staying around you,” she said, looking at me with a mug on her face.
“Well take ya ass out there and get smoked then. I’m not finna keep arguing with you about simple ass dumb shit, Gena. If you want to leave, leave, but Kenyah will be staying.” I sat down next to her. “Look Gena, I know what I did was beyond fucked up, but I can’t change the past. All I can do is make sure I’m smarter. It could have been much worse, but good thing it wasn’t. I know I’m sorry isn’t gonna keep cutting it, but I’m trying to be a better man. Spending all this time with Kenyah is really making me grow up. I wouldn’t want anybody doing her the way I’ve done you. I honestly love you, Gena.”
I looked at her and she had tears coming down her face, so I wiped them with my thumb. I pulled her up from where she was sitting and wrapped my arms around her. She put her head into my chest and started sobbing. I held her tighter. She lifted her head up and pressed her lips against mine. Things started to get heated, but I stopped them.
“When we decide to take this step again, I want you to do it because you really want to. Take some time to think about it.”
“And me and Kay haven’t even kissed, so shut the fuck up,” she said, looking me in the eyes.
“Bipolar ass,” I said, laughing and hugging her from behind, towering over her short frame.
“Whatever.” We heard yelling downstairs, so both of us headed to the door to find out what was going on.
“Bitch, you got some nerve coming here,” I heard Rayna say.
“Fuck you, hoe,” China said. After that, we heard rambling and I jumped down the stairs, seeing Ace holding Rayna against the wall.
“You better be glad you’re pregnant, weak ass bitch! You gon’ pay for that slap when you have that baby!”
“Why the fuck are you at my fucking house, China?”
“I just wanted to see how my baby daddy was doing,” she said, blowing a kiss at me and causing me to clench my jaw in anger.
“That is not my baby.”
“This is your baby, fuck nigga.”
“Okay, I’m gonna need you to get outta my house before I put one between ya eyes.” I heard Gena laughing in the background.
“What the fuck is so funny, bitch,” China said.
“You, hoe,” Gena said, clearly amused by the situation. “You won't be laughing when I have your nigga’s baby,” she said smirking.
“You proud? See, the thing is, no matter if you have ten of his babies, you will never be ME! He will never treat you the way he treats me! No matter how many kids he has from this point out, I will still be the woman who made him a father! You’re pathetic. I’m the first lady bitch, please. You’re welcome to take notes,” Gena said before flipping her hair over her shoulder and walking into the kitchen.
Everything was quiet until Rayna’s loud mouth busted out laughing; she walked over by China and started acting like she was picking up something.
“Here’s your face,” she said with a straight face. I kinda started to smirk and I looked over at Ace, who was making the same face. China let herself out, and the whole house erupted in laughter.
“Why you play so much, Rayna?” Ace said, playfully pushing her. “That girl finna go home and kill herself now,” Ace said.
“Nigga, I hope you don’t expect me to feel bad. Did you forget that you kill people for fun? Stop it. She’ll be alright,” Rayna said, waving the Idea off. “
Let’s go. I’m sleepy, it’s late, and you dragging me out of the house. We’ll pick up Ahleya in the morning. She doesn’t need to be out at this time,” Rayna said before her and Ace got up to walk out of the door. I walked back u
pstairs to my room and saw Gena under the covers completely knocked out. I walked to Kenyah’s room to check on her and she was still sleeping peacefully, so I went back to my room and got in the bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was knocked out.
Rayna
I walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower. I took off my shirt and looked at the small scar I had from the bullet that went into my stomach. I was so insecure about it, and I didn’t even like Ace seeing me naked. We haven’t had sex since before I got shot. I finished taking off my clothes as I stepped into the shower. I grabbed my bar of soap and started washing my body, making sure to pay close attention to my womanly parts. After I had washed about four times, I rinsed my rag out and put my
Coco Chanel body wash on it, washing my neck and my arms with it. I was rinsing off when I heard the shower door open. On instinct, I covered my body. Ace came in the shower.
“I wish you would stop doing that.” I didn’t say anything. I just turned around so that my scar wasn’t visible. “Rayna,” he said, aggravated.
“Yes, Anthony?”
“Come here,” he said, sitting on the bench at the back of the shower and tapping his leg. I went over and sat on his lap. “Could you stop acting like that, please?”
“Acting like what?” I said, acting like I didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Covering up every time you take off your clothes. Your scar is barely visible. You need to start being proud of everything you’ve gone through. Your scar tells your story, and you should take pride in it. Did I mention you can barely see it?” he said, repeating what he had said at the beginning of the conversation and chuckling a little bit.
“Awww, look at you, being all sweet and stuff.”
“Nigga, I’m always sweet to you.”
“You have your moments.”
“Whatever girl,” he said, playfully pushing me off of him and getting up and starting to wash himself. I sat there looking at him and all of his sexiness. When he finished washing his body, he started washing his curly hair. “I think I’m gonna let my hair grow out a little bit.”
“You have really pretty hair, so I don’t see why not.”
“I’m gon’ have a man bun. It’ll make me look like less of a kingpin,” he said laughing.