Carl Weber's Kingpins

by Brandi Johnson

  “Nothin’ fancy. Just a li’l chicken penne, and some asparagus with some garlic bread,” Ross said, adding some seasoning to the asparagus. “You hungry?”

  “I stay hungry,” Ke’yoko replied.

  “Oh, yeah, you are eatin’ for two.” Ross turned the food off and walked over to Ke’yoko, holding his hand out. “Come on, let’s go sit on the couch.”

  Ke’yoko grabbed Ross’s hand and followed him into the living room and took a seat on the nice, big horseshoe-shaped sofa.

  “Okay, now what was so urgent that I had to wrap up my business to come see you?” Ross asked with a smile.

  Ross made Ke’yoko feel so comfortable and secure every time she was around him that she’d almost forgotten about what her real intentions were for coming over to his condo. “I don’t even know where to begin,” Ke’yoko said as she fought back her tears.

  “Talk to me,” Ross said, concerned.

  Ke’yoko grabbed both sets of test results out of her purse and handed them to Ross.

  “What’s this?” he asked, taking the papers and beginning to read them.

  After Ross finished reading the test results, Ke’yoko ran the entire demo down to him. He was in complete shock by the end of her story. He knew Ja’Rel was a grimy-ass nigga, but to have a baby by his wife’s sister and her best friend was on a whole notha level.

  “Wow,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “You can say that again.” Ke’yoko laughed as she cried.

  “Sis, you know I’ma keep it all the way real wit’ you. All three of ’em is foul as fuck, but Ka’yah takes the cake. She’s not your husband, she’s not your best friend; that’s your twin sister, man.”

  “I know. I know,” Ke’yoko said.

  “What you gon’ do? You can’t sit around and keep cryin’ about it. You’re carryin’ a baby; you don’t need all that stress. I know you hurt right now, but you gotta make this your last time cryin’ over this bullshit. It’s time to take action,” Ross said sternly.

  “What can I do?” Ke’yoko asked.

  “That’s for you to figure out. You’re a smart woman. I got faith that whatever you do, it’ll be worth it.” Ross winked at Ke’yoko.

  “I hope so.” Ke’yoko continued to cry.

  It hurt Ross to his heart to see Ke’yoko crying. He wished he could take all her pain away. He always had a warm spot in his heart for her and wished like hell that he’d met her first. He would have definitely treated her like the queen she was. Ross leaned over and gently wiped her tears away.

  Ross couldn’t take seeing Ke’yoko cry any longer so he stood up from the sofa. “Come on, let’s go eat,” he said, holding out his hand for her to grab.

  “Sounds like a plan to me.” Ke’yoko wiped the remaining tears away, took Ross’s hand, and got up from the sofa.

  “We gon’ sit out on the balcony and enjoy this beautiful weather,” Ross said as they walked into the kitchen. He then grabbed two plates out of the cabinet.

  “That sounds nice,” Ke’yoko replied, taking a seat on the stool.

  Ke’yoko watched as Ross fixed two plates and grabbed a bottle of wine, some napkins, and two wine glasses.

  “You need some help?” she asked.

  “Please. Just grab the bottle of wine and the glasses.” Ross placed two forks on their plates and headed toward the door with Ke’yoko following.

  Ke’yoko grabbed the wine and the glasses, walked in front of Ross, pulled the balcony door open, and waited for Ross to walk out before walking out behind him. She set the bottle and glasses down on the table and took a seat. She set her purse on the ground beside her. Ross set their plates down before taking a seat across from Ke’yoko.

  “This is a beautiful view,” Ke’yoko said, looking out at city skyline.

  “I thought so too. That’s one of the main reasons why I moved here.” Ross looked out at the beautiful view as if this was his very first time ever seeing it.

  “I could wake up to this view every mornin’,” Ke’yoko said and began eating.

  “Well, I would let you move in wit’ me but I don’t know how Ja’Rel would feel about that,” Ross joked.

  Ke’yoko shook her head and laughed.

  After laughing, talking, and drinking the entire bottle of wine, Ross was starting to feel a little tired. He stood up, stretched out his arms, and let out a loud yawn.

  “You tired?” Ke’yoko asked.

  “A little,” he replied.

  “You ready for me to go?” she asked, hoping he would say no.

  “Nope, not yet. Come on and let me give you a tour of my condo,” he said.

  “Okay.” Ke’yoko stood up without hesitation and followed Ross as he led her back into the house.

  She was amazed at how beautiful and contemporary his place was. It was actually more spacious than what she thought it was. He had floor-to-ceiling windows with a breathtaking panoramic view that overlooked the lake and the city. The Aspen maple hardwood floors were shining like new money throughout the entire condo. And whoever he hired to decorate knew exactly what they were doing. All the different colors throughout accentuated one another. The eighty-inch TV that hung neatly over the fireplace like a portrait was to die for.

  Ross ended the tour in his large master suite. Ke’yoko walked in and looked around. Ross picked the remote up off the end table and pointed it at the huge TV on the wall, and Maxwell’s “This Woman’s Work” came on. He put the remote in his back pocket and looked over at Ke’yoko and smiled.

  How convenient, Ke’yoko thought as she stood in the middle of the room, waiting for Ross to make the next move.

  Ross grabbed Ke’yoko’s hand again and led her over to his Cosmopolis platform bed. It was so low to the floor, Ke’yoko hoped she could get back up. Ross noticed the hesitation and helped her down. He removed Ke’yoko’s shoes, walked over to the other side of the bed, kicked off his house shoes, and climbed in. He took the remote out of his back pocket and dimmed the lights, not too dark but just enough to set the mood, before laying the remote on the nightstand.

  Ke’yoko was nervous and didn’t know what was about to go down; all she knew was everything was happening so fast. She knew that whatever was about to happen, it was long overdue and she was ready. Her heart beat quickly as Ross scooted up right behind her. He was so close she could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. Ross wrapped his arm around Ke’yoko’s waist and kissed the back of her neck, sending electricity through her entire body. That was a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time. He then began rubbing her belly, hoping to sooth Ke’yoko and the baby before drifting off to sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Ke’yoko drove home from Ross’s house at six o’clock the next morning prepared for a fight that she was more than ready for. She had taken Ross’s words to heart. She wasn’t about to shed another tear about her situation. Ke’yoko also wasn’t about to explain shit to Ja’Rel. She was about to do him just like he’d been doing her for years. She was going to go in the house and climb in the bed and go to sleep, without saying a word to him.

  Ke’yoko pulled up in the driveway and wasn’t surprised that Ja’Rel wasn’t home. She grabbed her purse and got out of the car. The birds were chirping loudly as she unlocked the door. She threw her purse down on the foyer table, kicked her shoes off, and headed upstairs. She walked into her bedroom and looked at the bed. It was still neatly made from yesterday morning, letting her know that Ja’Rel hadn’t been home all night. Ke’yoko removed her pants and climbed in bed. She could still smell Ross’s cologne on her shirt.

  Ke’yoko already had mad respect for Ross but after spending the evening with him and him not touching her, her respect for him literally went through the roof. She was happy and sad at the same time that he hadn’t tried to sleep with her. Ke’yoko yearned to have Ross in between her legs, but understood why he didn’t try to make a move on her. Either way, she had mad love for him. She let her mind run wild on wh
at she wished would have happened between her and Ross until she drifted off to sleep.

  Ke’yoko woke up three hours later feeling new and refreshed. She sat up and stretched before getting out of bed. She walked into the bathroom, turned the shower on, and began getting undressed. She put her shirt up to her nose to see if she could still smell Ross’s cologne. “Ummmm,” she said, smiling as she laid it on the sink before stepping in the shower.

  After a quick shower, Ke’yoko got out, brushed her teeth, and got dressed in a pair of blue Under Armour yoga pants, an all-white T-shirt, and her blue and white Saucony tennis shoes. She walked back into the bathroom and pulled her growing hair back into a little ponytail. Ke’yoko then walked downstairs to grab herself some quick breakfast before getting her day started.

  She walked into the kitchen and frowned at Ja’Rel, who was sitting at the kitchen table counting money. Ke’yoko wanted to ask him where he’d been, but he’d never told the truth in the past so she knew he wasn’t about to start now, so she just left it alone.

  Ja’Rel looked up from his money over at Ke’yoko. “You look like you ’bouta go fight.”

  “I might be,” she said, turning to walk back out of the kitchen. The sight of Ja’Rel spoiled her appetite. Ke’yoko grabbed her purse and headed out the door.

  She got in the car, pulled out her dying cell phone, and plugged it into the charger before pulling off. Ke’yoko drove like she was on a straight mission. She was about to go to Nadia’s house. Normally she would have called first, but today she was just popping in. She needed answers and wasn’t going to leave until she got them.

  Fifteen minutes later, Ke’yoko pulled up in front of Nadia’s house, grabbed her cell phone, and checked her messages. She smiled when she read a message from Ross telling her he enjoyed her company last night and they needed to do it again soon.

  Ke’yoko got out of the car and headed up to the porch. She slowed her breathing and before ringing the doorbell she remembered the promise she had made to Ross.

  “Who is it?” she heard Nadia yell.

  “It’s me, Ke’yoko.”

  “Hey, pretty lady,” Nadia said, smiling as she opened the door for her bestie.

  “We need to talk,” Ke’yoko said, walking straight in, getting right to the point.

  “What’s wrong?” Nadia asked, concerned. “Is everything okay?”

  “Heeeeey, Auntie Ke’yoko,” A’Niyah ran over to Ke’yoko and said, wrapping her arms around her waist.

  “Hey, baby.” Ke’yoko leaned down, giving her stepchild a kiss on the forehead.

  “My tooth fell out and the Tooth Fairy gave me five dollars,” A’Niyah said, showing off her missing link.

  Ke’yoko studied A’Niyah’s face to see if she could see Ja’Rel in her but couldn’t. She’d always been the spitting image of Nadia. “Good.” Ke’yoko smiled.

  “Go to your room and play, ’Niyah; me and Auntie Ke’yoko are about to talk grown folks’ business,” Nadia looked at her daughter and said.

  “Okay.”

  Ke’yoko and Nadia watched as A’Niyah skipped out of the living room.

  “Let’s go sit down.” Nadia headed over to the sofa with Ke’yoko on her heels.

  Ke’yoko sat down next to Nadia and looked at her for a brief second and wanted to haul off and slap the fever out of her body.

  “What’s goin’ on, sis?” Nadia asked anxiously.

  Ke’yoko pulled Aiko’s DNA test results out of her purse and handed it to Nadia. Nadia skimmed through the mumbo jumbo before reading the second page. Her eyes grew real big as she read the results out loud.

  “That dirty bitch! Wow, Ke. This is some foul shit, baby girl,” Nadia said, astonished by the results. “I don’t even know what to say. Are you okay?”

  “I’m copin’,” Ke’yoko said, one wording her.

  “I know that Ka’yah is your sister, Ke, but that bitch is grimy as fuck!” Nadia snapped.

  “She ain’t the only one.” Ke’yoko frowned.

  “Yeah, you right; Ja’Rel foul as fuck too!”

  The longer Nadia acted innocent, the madder Ke’yoko got. How in the fuck did this bitch have any room to call Ja’Rel or Ka’yah foul? Ke’yoko was furious at how calm Nadia was acting knowing damn well she had a baby by her husband too.

  “Don’t worry, sis. Like I’ve been tellin’ you from the beginnin’, whatever you decide to do, I got’cha back. And I know you pregnant right now, but if I were you I would stomp a mud hole in Ka’yah after I have the baby.” Nadia was still shaking her head in disbelief.

  Ke’yoko couldn’t stand it anymore. She was not about to let Nadia keep talking about what her sister had done and not own up to her own bullshit.

  “I got A’Niyah’s test results, too. You wanna see ’em?” Ke’yoko said, pulling them out her purse.

  “Yeah, why not? I know who my baby daddy is and it sure the hell ain’t Ja’Rel.” Nadia smiled as she took the papers from Ke’yoko’s hand and turned to the back page to the results.

  “You wanna bet?” Ke’yoko grimaced, wanting to spit on her for sitting there lying to her face.

  Nadia’s smile quickly faded as she read and reread the results. Nadia finally looked up at Ke’yoko with tears in her eyes. “Oh my God,” Nadia said as tears escaped her eyelids.

  Nadia appeared to be dazed or she was a damn good actor; Ke’yoko was unsure of which one. “How could you of all people do me like that?” Ke’yoko asked Nadia. Ke’yoko had promised Ross that she wouldn’t shed another tear but she couldn’t help it. She was hurt. It was bad enough that she had suspicions about Ka’yah and Ja’Rel, but Nadia sleeping with her husband behind her back never once crossed her mind.

  Nadia reached out for Ke’yoko.

  Ke’yoko scooted over. “How could you?” Ke’yoko asked again. “Me though, Nadia?”

  “It’s not what you think, Ke,” Nadia cried.

  “I can’t fuckin’ tell! You got the test results in your hand, so what the fuck do you want me to think? That I’m crazy?” Ke’yoko yelled while standing up.

  “Let me explain,” Nadia said as she collected her thoughts, standing up as well.

  “I’m waitin’,” Ke’yoko said impatiently.

  “Look, Ja’Rel came over to the house one night to bring Twan some work, but Twan wasn’t home yet and he asked me if he could wait for him. Me not thinkin’ nothin’ of it, I told him yes. So I was sittin’ on the couch drinkin’ some wine and asked him if he wanted some. He told me yes, so I got up and went to the kitchen to get him a glass. And all I can really remember is us sitting on the couch, laughing and talking, and I started feeling dizzy and next thing you know I woke up the next mornin’ on the couch wit’ my pants off, sore, with an incredible headache.” Nadia cried as she had flashbacks of that very night.

  “So you’re tellin’ me that Ja’Rel drugged you?” Ke’yoko asked, making sure, not knowing if she believed Nadia’s story.

  “He had to have,” Nadia said, wiping her tears away, still trying to piece together the events of that night so many years later. “Ke’yoko, you know I would have never slept wit’ Ja’Rel willingly. I would never cross you like that. You my best friend.”

  Ke’yoko studied Nadia’s face to see if she could sense if she was lying. Something told her deep down that Nadia was telling her the truth.

  “How come you never told me this before now?” Ke’yoko asked slowly.

  “I didn’t have any real proof so I couldn’t confront him. I wanted to say somethin’ to you, but I couldn’t because I had no evidence,” Nadia continued. “Who wants to believe let alone admit their best friend’s dude is capable of that? That’s some Lifetime shit!” Nadia was devastated. Why would Ja’Rel do that to her?

  “Well, we have all the evidence we need now,” Ke’yoko said, referring to the test results.

  “Yeah, we do,” Nadia agreed, still in awe. Here she was thinking the entire time that Twan was A’Niyah’s father, and come to find
out she belonged to her best friend’s husband. Nadia couldn’t get over the fact that Ja’Rel would take what wasn’t his. And why her? She’d never done anything to this nigga but be cordial to him because he was married to her best friend. She searched her memory hard and for the life of her she could not remember ever leading Ja’Rel to believe she wanted him. Ja’Rel had never shown any signs of wanting anything to do with her! Again, all she could think was why would he do this to her?

  She had been able to wipe the memory and thoughts from her mind for so many years, convincing herself she’d been tripping; but now with her best friend hitting her with this hard proof, so many feelings were rushing at her. She realized how easy it was to take away someone’s sense of security, and that hers had been a false sense of security for so many years. It was scary and sickening. Ja’Rel had treated her like the ho everyone had called her back in the day, making her feel dirty and unclean all over again. Her hate for him at that moment was scary.

  “Ja’Rel has been known to do some foul shit, but to drug and rape somebody . . . That dirty bastard,” Ke’yoko said, trying to wrap her head around the news.

  “I’m so sorry, Ke.” Nadia began crying all over again.

  “It’s not your fault.” Ke’yoko walked over and wrapped her arms around her friend to let her know that everything would be okay.

  “I should have told you what I thought,” Nadia bawled angrily. “How can I face or even look at A’Niyah? Do this nigga understand or even care what he has done to us? To me?” Nadia knew these questions were hypothetical questions that she would never have an answer to, and very obviously Ja’Rel didn’t care because he had looked her and her daughter in the face all these years after knowing what he had done to her with no remorse.

  “It’s okay, Nadia,” Ke’yoko said. It was all she could think to say as she watched her friend’s anguish and turmoil.

  Ja’Rel was pure evil and was carelessly touching lives with no regard for the outcome. Ke’yoko was ashamed at how blinded she had been by Ja’Rel and felt partly responsible. Once again, she thought maybe she was more like her mother in ways she didn’t want to be. All these years of calling her mom a weak, sniveling woman behind her father. Well, she had closed her eyes to all of her own husband’s ways and the infidelity out of a twisted sense of need and wanting to be the “The Mrs. Barnes.” Wanting to show these bitches in the streets she had something and someone special at home, and in reality she didn’t have anything all these other hoes didn’t have or couldn’t have access to anytime they wanted. No wonder these bitches looked at her and laughed. Ja’Rel had made it possible with blatant disrespect by allowing it.