by Belleza
I looked down at my wardrobe and back at him. “Looking like this?”
“We can stop at Dynasty, and you can get your shit, but hurry the fuck up because I’m starving.”
Shaking my head, I followed him out of his bedroom wondering what I’ve gotten myself into.
JOHAN
Tabitha’s phone kept going to voicemail and now that it was five hours later and I was back in Philadelphia the phone was ringing again, but I have yet to hear from her. I was never the one to let my emotions to show. Being the oldest, I always had to remain strong which is why I adopted a nonchalant attitude. My brothers always joked that nothing got to me and until I met Tabitha nothing did. She was my weakness, and I was damn near driving myself crazy inwardly trying to figure out her whole situation.
I grabbed the four pack of Coronas out of my fridge and brought them back to the island where Zayne and Asahd sat. I had beer and liquor on hand to entertain guest, but right now I needed one. I pulled one out and opened up the top and turned it up.
“So y’all spoke to Unc?”
“Yeah, one of his pep talks,” Asahd waved off in his phone. He then looked up and grabbed a beer out of the pack and opened it up as well.
“Y’all need it,” I assured them. “Pretty soon this will be all yours. The deals in California went by smoothly. As we speak the building is getting demolished, and I have an architect drawing up my vision. This will be the biggest club in the nation.”
“Damn, that’s what’s up bro. You keep it up, Asahd and I won’t be able to keep up with you,” Zayne laughed.
“It ain’t about keeping up. You already know we in this together no matter what. What’s mine is yours.”
“That was touching,”Asahd added in and I plucked a grape out the fruit bowl and chucked it at him. “You got Unc preaching to us about settling down. That’s the kind of stress I don’t need. Who told you to go get married?”
“No one,” I chuckled at his crybaby ass. You talk about relationships, and he goes crying like a child on punishment. “It’s what I wanted to do, and trust me when you have the right one it won’t feel like a lifelong punishment.”
“Yeah, tell me anything,” he shot back.
“You keep chasing after that girl wedding bells gonna be in your near future.”
That caused Asahd to direct his attention to Zayne who just laughed. No, Zayne ain’t tell me nothing about Asahd. Word got around though, and I noticed his attraction to her on his birthday.
“I ain’t say shit,” Zayne protested.
“Yeah, aight you pillow talking nigga. Y’all gonna go get y’all nails and shit done next?”
“Damn, bro,” I laughed. “It ain’t that deep. Zayne ain’t tell me shit about you.”
“I don’t care. Whoever it is tell them to keep my dick out their mouth.”
“Shit, you that fucking mad over the truth?” Zayne quizzed.
“Nah, it just ain’t their business what I do.”
Zayne grabbed a beer from the pack. He was smart enough to realize when to ignore Asahd’s rants. “You drinking? Trouble in paradise?
“Nah,” I responded with a head shake. “Just need to unwind after that long ass flight.”
“Check this out bro, I need you to give Camille another position at the club. I happened to go there the other night and the nigga Ben was trying to rape her. I wanted to kill his ass, but she ain’t let me,” Asahd spoke up after trying to convince me he ain’t like the girl, clearly he did.
“Cumberland Crew Ben?”
“Yup, give her something where it ain’t a bunch of niggas around, and she don’t gotta walk around in no little shit.”
I eyed him, and he had a serious expression on his face. “Sounds personal.”
“It is personal. He likes that girl,” Zayne added in and shockingly Asahd ignored him this time.
“I’m just looking out.”
Knowing it was more to the story, as usual, I nodded my head and got my phone out to let my manager know we needed to give Camille another position. I suggested Inventory was cool since it was done twice a week.
“Done,” I told him. “She’ll be doing inventory with Kurt Mondays and Thursdays.”
“Good looking.”
We continued to talk while the both of them finished off the beer. I got through half of mine before I poured mine out. Having my brothers around was the distraction I needed to get Tabitha off my mind for the time being.
I got the cards, and we started to play a few rounds of spades placing bets I would give to my sons to splurge on games or sneakers they didn’t need. A few hours passed before Tabitha came inside the house and she jumped when she saw me as if she saw a ghost. I played it cool, eyeing her briefly and finished off the game with my brothers. She placed her overnight bag down and came and greeted me with a kiss and I clenched my jaw.
“Hey Zayne, Hey Asahd” she greeted them, and they both responded.
Another fifteen minutes went by, and my brothers were ready to go. I came up $300 off them and was going to give the boys a hundred dollars each. Funny, Tabitha ain’t bother to show back up downstairs. I ordered out Chinese food and ate with my sons while we sat around in front of the TV. I listened to them tell me about their day. My oldest wasn’t too vocal about school, but my two youngest always had a lot to say especially now they were older and into girls they were constantly asking for advice. I was glad they were even open to telling me these things.
This bond was what I lacked big time with my mom. I was too busy playing the father figure to my brothers that I often forgot about myself and my needs. Ern coming into our life was a big deal, and it worked out for us.
Once the boys got tired of talking, I let them do their own thing and made my way to my bedroom. Tabitha was busy pecking away at the screen on her phone she didn’t notice I came up to her.
“Everything ok, with your sister?” I asked standing over her, and she jumped instantly flipping her phone face down on the bed. A grimace painted my face noticing how secretive and shaky she’s been.
“Huh?”
“I asked was everything ok with your sister,” I reiterated.
She moved her head up and down and smiled. “Yes, you know she’s a drama queen. She’s pregnant now and saw blood when she went to use the bathroom.”
“So you rush from Philly all the way to New York for that?”
“You sound so insensitive.”
“I didn’t know she was pregnant. How far is she?”
“Seven weeks.”
“That sounds early. What could you have done?”
Tabitha sucked her teeth and stood to her feet. I stood my ground looking down at her not buying her story at all. Yeah, it sounded fucked up to say, but that wasn’t a reason to leave your kids and ride out almost three hours to another city.
“Move Johan,” she smacked her lips.
“You’re moving funny, Tabitha. Let me find out—”
“What you need to figure out is how to keep your wife happy!” she cut me off. “Did I say anything about you flying across the country? You keep opening up these damn clubs spending all these hours around these little hoes. How can I be secure as your wife knowing you’re exposed to that kind of shit?”
“Really? We’ve been married for ten years. There’s no way you should be insecure over any other female. It’s about the money and business.”
Tabitha rolled her eyes and pushed past me where she walked into the bathroom. “Yeah, you continue to worry about the money and the business while you slowly lose your family.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose in order to calm myself down. This was some fucking bullshit, and I wasn’t going to allow her to deflect and try to turn her shit around on me.
“Since when we started lying to each other?” I questioned her looking down at her phone that was going off on the bed. One thing I respected was her privacy, and it was some hoe shit to me to go through a someone’s phone.
“Am I lyin
g or you’re too busy to notice?” she retorted walking out of the bathroom and leaning against the frame. She crossed her hands under her breasts and tilted her head to the side.
“I never been too busy for my family.”
“That’s what you think. First, it was one club full of trifling bitches then it was two, then three, four, five! You expect me to believe being around naked woman all day you don’t fuck one of them?”
“I don’t,” I responded calmly. Inwardly I was trying to figure out where this was coming from. I never gave her reason to think I was out cheating. I came home at a decent time, I kept a perfect balance between business and family, and when I was with them it was just about them, no phones or social media.
“You keep believing that,” she sighed. “I swear this has taken over your life. When you were just running the drug business, it was better.”
Bingo!
“How so?”
“It just was. I wasn’t worried about no bitch slipping and falling on your dick.”
“I should’ve known that this was what it was about.”
“Exactly! That’s the issue. You know I’m not happy about this whole club shit, and you still continue to do it.”
“You’d rather me sell drugs?”
Tabitha sighed and shook her head.
“You just wasn’t a drug dealer, Johan. The picture was way bigger than what you’re describing it. You’re basically stepping down from a throne to own a bunch of clubs.”
“Fuck all that!” I shot back at her. “Where the fuck were you? I’m not buying that bullshit about your sister. Since you were gone, I have yet to speak to you, and here you are available to whoever is blowing your goddamn phone up.” I snatched up her vibrating phone up, and she rushed over and took it from my hand.
“I’m not repeating myself! I told you where I was already and if you don’t, believe me, that’s on you. Sounds like your guilt is fucking with your head.”
She went to walk away, but I grabbed her arm in my hand and stared at her intently.
“Don’t play with me, Tabitha. If you know what’s best for yourself cut that shit out now. I don’t know what’s going the fuck on with you and you can tell me this bullshit right now until you’re blue in the face, do what you gotta do.”
Tabitha’s face expression dropped from the hard glare I was casting her way. It was one thing to think something was up but to know something wasn’t right and see the signs was a hard pill to swallow.
MILL
“Dockery!” The CO called out staring right at me. I blew out a frustrated breath and stood to my feet tapping my back pockets to make sure I had my ID and the key to my locker in my pocket. The closer I got to the CO the snarl on her face deepened, and I couldn’t help to throw her back the same scowl. Who was this bitch? I didn’t know her from a can of paint, but every time I came up here, she was throwing shade or holding up my process of visiting Joshua.
Don’t get me wrong she was pretty as hell. She was Spanish looking, slim built and always kept her hair up high in a bun. I’m assuming they weren’t allowed to wear makeup or much of it, but she always had glossed lips and false eyelashes. Either she disliked Joshua and thought she can direct her anger towards me or she liked him and thought I was a threat, so she abused her power to prove a point. Something told me it was the latter because Joshua was a master manipulator. He can charm the panties off any woman. I think it was his hazel green eyes that everyone fell smitten for.
After placing my items in the basket and putting it on the conveyor belt to run through the x-ray, I stepped through the metal detectors, and the guy on the other side waved me through letting me know I can grab my items.
“Wait!” she called out to him. “She has to be checked.”
“Why?” he questioned her, but she simply rolled her eyes and walked up to me.
“Hold your arms up.”
Staring at her badge, I realized her name was Martinez. I would be sure to make a phone call to the warden once I left about her harassment. I didn’t alarm, yet she was checking me. This chick needed to get a grip on herself.
Of course she couldn’t find anything, and her partner looked really annoyed. I took my items and continued to the waiting room. I spotted Joshua immediately, and when he locked eyes with mine, he looked shocked to see me.
“What’s wrong?” I questioned him sitting down.
He shook his head and leaned over placing a kiss on my cheek. “I just wasn’t expecting you.”
“Well, who were you expecting?” I asked back, and he shrugged.
“I don’t even know. Normally I call you and tell you to come down here.”
I narrowed my eyes at him knowing damn well he was lying. Whether he knew or not if I was the only one visiting him he should’ve known it was me.
“Sup with you?” he asked running his hand over the curly mass of hair he had on his head. Outside of jail he was always well groomed and kept it cut low, but he was dead set about not letting anyone touch his hair while he was locked up. He feared he was going to get his hairline pushed back or have bald spots.
“Your friend Ben tried to rape me,” I informed him staring him dead in his face. I was waiting for a sign of anger, and there wasn’t any.
“I told you not to be in that fucking club. You walking around naked and shit, you fucking asking for a nigga to take the pussy,” he shrugged.
“What?!” I shot back. “How I dress isn’t a welcome sign for someone to forcibly have sex with me.”
“Yes, the fuck it is. You act like a hoe, you get treated like a hoe.”
“I wasn’t acting like anything! Don’t you think it’s disrespectful that he knew we were together and he tried some shit like that? That’s your friend!”
“And you’re supposed to be my girl yet you’re running around a fucking club with Keira’s thot bopping ass. You get what you ask for. I bet you listen to me now.”
He had a smirk on his face, and I balled my hands up to prevent myself from slapping it off. This was all the confirmation I needed to know that I was officially over his weird ass. His loyalty was with a bunch of niggas that more than likely couldn’t write him a letter. Maybe jail was the place for him after all.
“After today, you don’t gotta worry about me.”
I got up from the hard plastic chair and left back out of the visiting room. Martinez smiled at me, and I rolled my eyes and pushed past the front door where a female with a protruding stomach was causing a scene.
“What do you mean he had a visit!” the female yelled. “I didn’t drive down here for nothing!”
“I’m sorry ma’am, but Dockery had a visit already for the day. You can try again tomorrow.”
I turned my head when I heard Joshua’s last name and realized it was Shayla, the girl that sent the picture of the ultrasound to my phone. When she saw me her grimace deepened, and she started towards me. Shayla was North Philly’s finest whore. She was passed around proudly like a used toy. She was eager for attention and the little bit of money they gave her. Funny, Joshua called Keira all kinds of hoes, yet he was fucking around on me with one.
I proceeded to my locker and got my belongings out and then returned the key to the CO that was behind the thick glass. The entire time I felt Shayla’s eyes glued on me along with the group of girls that came up with her.
“Camille!” Shayla called out to me.
I stopped at my car and turned around to see her and the two other girls coming my way.
“Yeah,” I responded.
“You came up here to see Joshua?”
“You know I did, Shayla. What do you want?”
She laughed and rubbed her stomach. “See all I wanted to do was talk but you want to be a smart ass. I thought you weren’t fucking with him anymore?”
“I wasn’t until he begged me to hold him down.”
“I didn’t believe him at first, but you gotta be just that fucking dumb to think you were the only one after all this time.
”
“I mean, I can’t be the only dumb one if someone else wanted to fuck around with him,” I retorted, and she reared her head back.
“What you trying to say?”
“I said what I said. There’s no hidden meaning.”
“Bitch!” Pregnant and all, Shayla balled her fist up and sent it flying my way, and I stepped to the side and countered back with a punch to her face. It wasn’t my thing to fight a pregnant woman, but she was asking for it. You can’t swing on someone and expect not to get hit back.
The only fucked up part about the situation was that her friends jumped me. I stopped hitting Shayla and focused on one girl as much as I could. I felt so many hands pounding on my back and head. I lost my footing and ended up on the ground, and I dragged the one girl down with me still throwing hits her way.
In no time we were being pulled apart, and I was handcuffed and placed in a back of a cop car along with the sidekick I was fighting. Shayla must’ve managed to stop hitting me and put on the show of her life holding her stomach shouting she thinks she was going to lose her baby and she wanted to press charges. They had the paramedics checking her out and as the police car rode past she had a smug grin on her face. By then my adrenaline decreased and it sunk into my mind that I was going to jail for fighting a pregnant woman.
ASAHD
It took six hours before my lawyer, Cohen was able to get a bond set for Camille’s release, but after negotiation and waiting for the bondsman we were able to get her out for a little over $2,000. When Zayne mentioned to me that Camille was locked up at CFCF, I made it my business to see to it that she was out.
I wasn’t worried because my man Cohen was my go to when it came to any cases. He was well known for beating all his cases, and I paid him well for his services.
Keira was a ball of nerves walking a hole through the floor of the musty ass district. As soon as she spotted Camille coming through the doors from the back, she rushed over to her and brought her into her arms. She looked okay besides her swollen black eye.