Carl Weber's Kingpins
Page 1
Carl Weber’s Kingpins:
Cleveland
Brandi Johnson
www.urbanbooks.net
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Epilogue
Copyright Page
Acknowledgments
Six books later and all I can say is . . . BUT GOD!
* * *
First and foremost, I gotta give a shout out to the woman I get my strength from, my mommy, Maggie Johnson. I love you, lady!
And as always, Nikki Ajian, we did it again!!!! I don’t know where you find the time to do what you do. All I know is that you show up and get the job done with NO hesitation and NO complaints. Thank you for NOT telling me what I wanted to hear, but what I needed to hear with each novel, attitude or not. That’s what “REAL” friends do. Thank you for always being here for me.
To my three sons—Montias, Brei’yonte, and Amir’aki—everything I do is for you. I don’t know how y’all put up wit’ ya momma when I’m facing a deadline, but y’all do. Y’all have to be three of the strongest young men that I’ve ever met. All I can do is pray that y’all will continue to grow stronger by the day.
To my future, Harvey Barnes, thank you for being so patient with me. I know I can be difficult at times, but you continue to hang in there with me. You make sure that I know I am special and that I feel like the queen you always tell me I am. You go above and beyond to keep a smile on my face, and for that and many other reasons, I LOVE YOU to life! Thank you for loving me so completely and unconditionally.
To my agent, Joylynn Jossel-Ross, thank you for always thinking of me. After every book, I always say this will be my last one, and you are the ONLY one that can talk me into giving it one more try. Thanks for everything.
Shout out to my big brother, Capone. You wear so many names and play so many roles in my life. People don’t know how big your heart really is! Thank you for ALWAYS havin’ your baby sister’s back without questions and with no limitations. I love you, big bruh!
To my homie, Tarkington Johnson, thank you for always being there to give me that extra push. I appreciate all that you do.
Candra Carter, my homie for life (thirty plus years to be exact) you already know that I love you and thank you for being the gentle soul that you are, the voice of reason (Sometimes lol).
To Carl Weber, thank you for continuously taking a chance on me. I appreciate ya!
Shout out to everyone else that I didn’t mention by name. You know what it is. Just know I love and appreciate y’all too.
Last but not least, I gotta give my fans a BIG UP. My goodness, y’all been hangin’ in there with me and supportin’ me to the fullest. I know y’all been patiently waitin’ on my next joint to drop, and I never wanna disappoint ya. Without y’all there would be no Author Brandi Johnson! Thanks so much!
Chapter One
“You guys are goin’ to miss the bus,” Ke’yoko’s mother hollered from the bottom of the stairs.
“Here we come,” Ka’yah and Ke’yoko hollered simultaneously. Ke’yoko and Ka’yah rushed down the stairs, giggling the whole way down.
“How come you’re not wearin’ the outfit that I put out for you?” Ke’yoko’s mother looked over at her and asked.
“Mom, I’m almost eighteen years old. Don’t you think I’m too old to still be dressin’ like my twin sister?” Ke’yoko asked.
“Go back upstairs and put on the clothes that your mother laid out for you,” Ke’yoko’s father said sternly as he walked out of the kitchen smoking on a pipe.
“It’s okay, Emi; they are a little too old to still be dressing alike,” Ke’yoko’s mother said letting out a nervous chuckle, and hoping things weren’t about to get ugly inside of the Cho household as usual.
“Do what I said,” her father repeated.
“I don’t wanna dress like Ka’yah,” Ke’yoko stated.
Ke’yoko’s father walked toward her with a frown and raised his hand. Ke’yoko didn’t flinch. She stared into her father’s cold, dark eyes and waited for his hand to connect with the side of her face.
“The bus is here,” Ka’yah yelled, relieved, before her father’s hand could connect with her sister’s face. Both girls ran to the front door.
“You girls have a good day at school,” their mother called out as the girls were running out the front door, leaving it wide open.
Neither Ka’yah nor Ke’yoko responded. They were already out the door and off the porch. Their mother had to walk over and close the door.
“Man, that was close,” Ka’yah said, out of breath from running.
“It is what it is. I ain’t thinkin’ about that nigga,” Ke’yoko said as they boarded the school bus.
“Where did you learn that language from?” Ka’yah inquired as she and her sister took their seats. “You’ve been talking a lot differently here lately.”
“I got it off an episode of Money & Violence,” Ke’yoko said and laughed.
“Money & Violence?” Ka’yah asked, confused.
“Yeah, Money & Violence,” Ke’yoko said and laughed again. “It’s a show that comes on YouTube.”
“And just where are you watching television at? Because we sure don’t own one,” Ka’yah asked, looking at her sister and waiting for her to answer.
“I be watchin’ it on my cell phone,” Ke’yoko replied as she opened up her book bag and pulled out her Mark Cross Grace purse and dug through it, pulling out a new iPhone 6.
“Where did you get that purse and phone from? They look expensive!” Ka’yah asked, taking the phone from her sister’s hand and examining the device.
“They are expensive. Ja’Rel said I deserve all the finer things in life,” Ke’yoko said, smiling at the thought of her newfound friend.
“Who is Ja’Rel?” Ka’yah pried while handing her sister’s phone back.
“You know, the guy I be sneakin’ off to see when we supposed to be at the library,” she replied as she put her phone and purse back into her book bag.
“The tall one with the green eyes?” Ka’yah asked.
“Nope,” Ke’yoko replied.
“The short, fat one with the chipped front tooth?” Ka’yah guessed again.
“Nope.”
“Well, which one is he? Dang!” Ka’yah laughed.
“The one wh
o drives the silver Lincoln MKC,” Ke’yoko stated.
“Oooooh, okay, he’s cute,” Ka’yah said and smiled.
“He sho’ll is,” Ke’yoko said.
“Sho’ll?” Ka’yah asked.
“Oh, sorry. He sure is,” Ke’yoko said jokingly.
“All I can say is you better be careful, Ke, ’cause if Father finds out that you’re sneaking off with some boy, he’s going to kill you!” Ka’yah said, worried about her twin sister.
“So? I don’t care if he does find out! That nigga ain’t none of my real daddy, so he can’t tell me what to do!”
“Why do you always say that?” Ka’yah inquired.
“My poor naïve sister,” Ke’yoko replied while shaking her head.
“I guess,” Ka’yah responded, not really wanting to hear why all of a sudden Ke’yoko had been running her mouth, saying their father was not really their biological one.
All Ka’yah could do was shake her head. She didn’t know what had gotten into her sister the past couple of weeks. She’d been sneaking off school property with her best friend, Nadia, to meet up with these dudes, and lying to their parents about being at the library and sneaking out of their bedroom window when she thought everyone was asleep. Ka’yah didn’t know what her father was going to do once he found out Ke’yoko’s grades were going downhill, too; all she knew was it wasn’t going to be pretty. All Ka’yah could do was hope and pray Ke’yoko would get it together before it was too late. Ke’yoko didn’t seem to care about all the drama she caused with her actions and the backlash Ka’yah took because of it.
“I’m nervous about the test we gotta take in English class,” Ka’yah said, shaking her head as the bus pulled up in front of Laurel, the all-girls school that she and her sister were forced to attend.
“You’ll do okay,” Ke’yoko said while grabbing her things and standing up.
“I sure hope so,” Ka’yah replied as she followed her sister off the bus. “You don’t seem too worried. How do you think you gon’ do? Did you even study for it?”
“Nope,” Ke’yoko said, stepping off the bus and onto the pavement, and waving over to Nadia, who stood across the street.
“Girl, you better get it together,” Ka’yah warned as she started up the walkway.
“Whatever! I’ll see you after school, though,” Ke’yoko said, turning to walk in a different direction.
“Wait, where you going?” Ka’yah asked, confused.
“I got somethin’ to do. I’ll be back in time to catch the bus home,” Ke’yoko turned back around and replied.
“So, what am I supposed to tell Miss Dennis?”
“Shit, tell her anything you want,” Ke’yoko said uncaringly.
Ka’yah watched as her sister crossed the street to join her friend, and a few seconds later, the silver Lincoln MKC pulled up.
Ke’yoko smiled, waved at her sister, and got in the front seat of the car while Nadia joined some light-skinned cat in the back seat.
Ka’yah shook her head in disbelief all the way into the school building.
* * *
“What do you mean you don’t know where your sister is?” Ka’yah’s father yelled at the top of his lungs, intimidating her. “You left this house together this morning!”
“I don’t know where she at,” Ka’yah cried, trying her best to convince her father.
“Was she at school today?” her father yelled.
“Yes, she was there,” Ka’yah lied.
“Don’t think I’m not going to call the school in the morning to find out if she was really there! And if they just happen to tell me she wasn’t, you’re going to get exactly what she’s going to get when she gets home! Now get out of my face and go to your room!”
Ka’yah looked over at her timid mother and little brother, Kailo, before heading up the stairs with her brother following close behind. She knew when her father found out the truth about Ke’yoko not being at school, he was going to kill her too! Once again she was caught up in Ke’yoko’s mess.
Twenty minutes had passed when Ka’yah finally heard the front door open, and within seconds it sounded like World War III was taking place down in their living room.
“Where the hell have you been?” their father snapped.
Neither Ka’yah nor Ke’yoko had ever heard their father use that word before.
“I missed the bus so I had to walk home,” Ke’yoko said nonchalantly.
“So do you really expect me to believe that?” her father asked angrily.
“Believe what you wanna believe,” Ke’yoko said smartly and started walking toward the stairs.
Her father snatched her by her book bag, making it fall to the floor. Ke’yoko watched as all the contents spilled out.
“Where did you get this purse from?” her father asked, bending down and quickly picking it up.
Ke’yoko didn’t open her mouth. She didn’t really know what to say.
“Oh, you don’t hear me talking to you?” her father asked as he unzipped her purse and began going through it.
“Gimme my stuff,” Ke’yoko screamed, attempting to snatch her purse out of her father’s hand.
“Where did you get all this money and this cell phone from?” her father asked. “I’m sure you didn’t buy it, did you, Anda?” he asked, looking over at his wife. When she didn’t answer he continued fussing. “Now, I’m not going to ask you again, young lady; where did you get this stuff from?”
Ke’yoko still refused to answer. She stood and stared at her father as if he’d said nothing to her.
“Oh, so you going to stand here and play deaf with me? Okay. You won’t be talking on this,” he said before slamming the cell phone down on the hardwood floor.
Ke’yoko watched as her phone shattered. “What you do that for?” she snapped.
“I do what I want to do around here. This is my house,” her father said smartly while emptying the rest of the contents onto the floor.
“May I be excused?” Ke’yoko asked with an attitude. Before her father could answer she turned to walk away, only to be grabbed by the back of her long, silky hair, and thrown to the floor.
“So you’re not going to tell me where you got the money and cell phone from?” her father yelled as he climbed on top of her and pinned her down.
“Emi, stop it!” their mother yelled. “Get off of her.”
Ke’yoko’s father slapped her across the face, busting her lip in the process.
Ka’yah flew down the stairs with Kailo in tow to see what was going on. Ka’yah watched in disbelief as her four foot five inch mother tried her best to get her husband off of her sister.
“Get the fuck offa me!” Ke’yoko screamed as she struggled to get up.
Ka’yah and Kailo couldn’t believe what was transpiring. Ka’yah wanted to run over to her sister’s aid, but she knew their father would do the same to her if she tried to help Ke’yoko.
“Oh, so now you hood?” he asked before slapping her again. “What are you going to do if I don’t get up?”
“Get the fuck up offa me,” Ke’yoko yelled again.
“You come up in my house two hours after school let out, smelling like weed and alcohol and think it’s supposed to be okay?”
“I’m grown,” Ke’yoko yelled as she struggled to get her father off of her.
“Grown?” Her father grimaced before smacking her again.
“Emi, please stop!” their mother cried frantically.
“Fuck that! She thinks she grown, well, grown people pay their own bills, have their own car, buy their own clothes and, better yet, have their own house!”
“I don’t need you to do shit else for me!” Ke’yoko screamed.
“Oh, you don’t? Anda, pick that shit up off the floor,” their father yelled.
Ka’yah watched in disgust as her mother did as she was told.
“Well, since you’re grown, I’m going to treat you as such. When I let you up off the floor, get your shit and get out m
y damn house!” her father said as he slowly rose up off her.
Ke’yoko got up off the floor and wiped her tears away. “Give me my shit,” she yelled at her mother.
“No. You won’t get any of that back,” her father said, taking the stuff from his wife’s hand.
“I don’t give a fuck! Ja’Rel will replace everything you took and then some,” Ke’yoko snapped.
“Who’s Ja’Rel, the nigger you’ve been sneaking around with?”
“Don’t worry about who he is! Just know he takes good care of me,” Ke’yoko said, rolling her eyes.
“Well, stop wasting time and go pack your shit and move in with Ja’Rel!”
“Emi, we can’t let her go! She’s too young,” Anda said, frightened for her daughter.
“Oh, so now you wanna speak up for me?” Ke’yoko looked over at her mother and asked as tears steadily flowed. “Where were you at all these years when I needed you to protect me from this muthafucka?”
“Ke’yoko,” her mother called out and tried to reach for her daughter’s shoulder.
“Don’t ‘Ke’yoko’ me,” she said and quickly turned her shoulder so her mother couldn’t touch it.
“This is your father you’re talking about in that language!” her mother said, hurt.
“This corny-talkin’ nigga ain’t none of my father! Hell, he not even black. How the hell did you think you were going to keep passing that lie off? You let his punk ass adopt us after you were raped by our real father. You didn’t think I knew that, did you? Yeah, I knew. Na Na made sure she told me before she died because she knew you never would. I always knew that me and Ka’yah wasn’t fully Japanese; I just never knew what we were mixed wit’. That explains why we’re so much darker than Kailo,” Ke’yoko said, wiping her tears away.
Ka’yah eyes grew big like saucers, wanting her mother to tell Ke’yoko to stop with all the lies, but she never did.
“Ke’yoko, I’m sorry,” her mother said as she tried to catch her breath. The drastic pain she felt, remembering the night she’d been raped by a black man while walking home, hit Anda like a ton of bricks. Having her daughters know the truth, a truth that she had sworn she would take to her grave, hit her even harder.
Ka’yah and Kailo both stood on the stairs in shock from the news that they’d just heard.