Mesmerized By A Street King

by Belleza

  I allowed her to get whatever it was that she had inside out. It was needed by the way her body was shaking even after the tears stopped.

  “Remember when I told you my parents died? Well, I lied… I kinda lied. My mother is dead, but as you see, Alexander is still alive. We don’t get along because I feel like he betrayed my mom and me.” With her head to my chest, she told me the story lowly. I paid close attention and didn’t say anything so she could get it all out. “My mom died when I was thirteen. We buried her and then out of the woodworks Rachel, and her daughter comes into our lives. I think my father was cheating on my mother the entire relationship.”

  “How you figure that? You were young.”

  “But I’m not dumb. I wasn’t back then, and now that I think of it every day it hits me that it’s true. He doesn’t know that I know, but he had an affair with Rachel. Allison is really his daughter. She looks like a mixed version of him. I hate to even look at the spoiled bitch knowing she's my sister.”

  “Damn, did you ever talk to him?”

  “Why should I? What’s done is done. I was scared to even face the fact that he fucked my mom over like that. She loved him with all her heart. We were all happy, at least I thought we were. I think if I let him know that I know the truth I would hate him more. Things are best the way they are.”

  I ran my hands up and down her back empathizing with the way she felt. I would be fucked up to knowing my pop did some grimy shit to my mom, but shit, I didn’t know much about family life. Yeah, Unc and Shirley gave us a family, but it wasn't like having a mother or father figure.

  “I’m sure your pop feels guilty, and from all the begging he was doing, I believe he’s trying to make things right with you. He can’t really ask your mom for forgiveness, but he wants it from you. I’m speaking on the fact of knowing how I feel losing my mom. Sometimes I feel guilty that I wasn’t old enough to help her get off that shit she was on. At the moment when I was hungry, dirty and cold all I felt was anger. Now, it's different.”

  “You were eight years old, Zayne. There was nothing you could’ve done,” she spoke.

  “You right, but I’m just telling you now, years later when you may not have your dad in your life I don’t want you beating yourself up about the what if’s. We can’t change the past, but we can work on what we have presently to somewhat alter our future.”

  Keira looked up at me with her red bloodshot eyes and grilled me.

  There go her mean ass again.

  “You just want to go to the dinner.”

  “Shit, I ain’t missing no meals. I just don’t want you to be crying and shit on me later on down the line about the same shit I tried to warn you about. Look at my shirt,” I said pointing at it. “I got tears, snot, and slobber all on this shit.”

  Keira giggled and hit me. I cupped her face and kissed her nose and lips despite the fact I was coming at her cry baby ass. Even if she didn’t want to take my advice, I would still make sure I was around to console her whenever she needed me.

  “Come on, I gotta go get Naa from my aunt. My baby girl probably thinks I abandoned her.”

  Keira gave me a skeptical look, and I chortled. Yeah, I was letting her meet Za’naa finally. In this case, it was only right.

  “You sure this is what you want to do?” she asked.

  “Yeah, man. Now can you go wipe your face and let’s be out.”

  After eyeing me again as if I was going to change my mind or say I was joking she got herself together and then we were on our way. Pulling up to my Aunt and Uncle’s crib was when she went into panic mode because she ain’t realize I was inviting her inside.

  “So I’m meeting your family too?” she questioned me for the third time as I stood on her passenger side of the door waiting for her to get out.

  “If you don’t get your ass out this car,” I told her. She got out, and I shut the door behind her and pressed the lock button. I took her hand in mine and led her to the door. I had keys to the house, so I let us both in.

  It was like Za’naa smelled me because she came barreling into my legs before I made my way inside.

  This was the greatest feeling ever, and it had me questioning why my pops skipped out on this opportunity with my brothers and me. After a long day at work, nothing compared to coming home to your child. Their love was unconditional. I wasn’t the best parent, but for my Naa, I tried to be, and she always made it known I was number one in her book.

  “Hey, daddy! Auntie did my hair do you like it?” she cheesed. I stooped down to her level and checked out her new do. She had them little ball things and barrettes all over her head with braids.

  “It looks nice, but I thought you liked my slap backs?” I asked her referring to the low ponytail I gave her most days.

  She giggled every time I called them slapbacks. “I love my ponytail daddy, but I think it was time for a change. When it’s time to take this out, you can give me another ponytail. Do you think I look pretty?”

  “You look beautiful all the time Naa,” I responded giving her a kiss on her cheek and her smiled deepened. Naa looked nothing like me. She had her mother's dark caramel complexion and curly hair I learned to wrestle to get into a slapback. It took a lot of youtube videos for me to get the hang of it. Her hair was too wild to just wear out, so I had no choice but to learn how to use a brush and gel.

  “Hi!” Za’naa said looking up at Keira.

  “Hi, Za’naa.”

  “You know my name?” she gushed.

  Keira laughed, and I stood up watching the both of them interact. I knew it wasn’t going to be a hard introduction because Za’naa was an outgoing kid with the kindest spirit.

  “I’m your dad’s friend.”

  “Friend?” Za’naa fixed her gaze on me. “I didn’t know you had friends daddy.”

  “Keira is a different kind of friend. She’s my girlfriend, and I wanted you to meet her. I’ve been telling her about you for years now.”

  Za’naa smiled and turned back towards Keira. “So you knew about me when I was two years old?”

  “Uh… I’ve heard stories. Your dad and I have only known each other for about two years.”

  “So you knew about me when I was four?”

  Keira nodded her head. “Yup. You’re a smart girl I see. You did that math really fast.”

  “I’m good at math. My daddy taught me how to add and subtract in my head.”

  I knew from there Za’naa wasn’t going to stop talking and just as I expected she ended up taking Keria to my aunt in the kitchen. I followed them, and my uncle was seated at the island with a plate of food and his glass of whiskey.

  I didn’t have to introduce my aunt to Keira because Za’naa talked about her as if Keira was one of her friends. It gave me a warm feeling inside watching the three of them interact. When Keira wasn’t busy trying to act fake tough, I had her smiling and happy but at this moment it looked like the corner of her lips were almost glued to the side of her head. Maybe a family environment was what she’s been missing all along?

  “She must be a special girl,” Unc spoke up. “You don’t bring anyone around.”

  I smirked and nodded my head. “She’s a’ight. It’s not as bad as I expected.”

  “I told you,” he boasted pridefully, and I focused in on him, and he was cleaning off one of my aunts fall off the bone BBQ wings. “Did auntie tell you about, Qwinae?”

  “No, she didn’t have to. I was here when she stopped by.”

  “What?”

  “Not when Za’naa was with us,” he cleared it up quickly. “About a week ago she came by and told us that she wanted to speak to you and Za’naa. She was begging for us to help her get to you. You know how Shirley is…” he said picking up the napkin and wiping off his hands. “She sees the good in everyone. I told her to stay out of it though. That woman knows where to find you if she really wanted to be a part of you and Za’naa’s life. Your number hasn’t changed. She’s looking for an easy way back in, and I’
m not the one to give out handouts, not when you dropped the ball.”

  Hearing Qwinae’s name got me tight. Fuck she thought she was trying to do? My uncle was right, she was looking for the easiest way back in our lives. I knew for a fact I washed my hands with her, and if she wanted to get to Za’naa she had to work for it, but by her actions she wanted this shit to come with ease.

  “You ok?” Keira’s voice snapped me out of my trance and she massaged my neck relaxing my tense muscles. I told her ‘yeah,’ and she leaned over and placed a kiss on my cheek after she sat the plate of food in front of me.

  “Sorry my nephew is rude, but I’m uncle Ern,” Unc said reaching out for Keira.

  “He is rude,” she joked, and I mushed her in her head. Her and my unc exchanged a brief hug, and he told her welcome to the family.

  JOHAN

  “Let’s go, Jace!” I called out to my son watching him fall behind the group of boys at his basketball practice.

  He looked at me and picked up his pace following along with the group as they did suicides in the gym. To be young, the group of males were passionate about the sport. I watched their coach push them past their limit multiple times, and they took it on the chin. Jarod and Jace both loved basketball and played on the same team. I was the proud father of two sons that were part of the starting line up. Joey was into his books and video games, but the two younger ones were ambidextrous and couldn’t stay still. They would rather go outside and be active than stay indoors.

  I made sure we found a balance because there wasn’t going to be no sports if they couldn’t keep up their academics. I wasn’t expecting straight A’s because not every child was going to be a wiz. I just needed them to do their best and know I wasn’t going to accept no athletic dummy. Luckily for all of us, they got pretty good grades. Mostly A’s and B’s. A ‘C’ or two slipped in once in a blue, but they always got it back up to what I knew they were able to produce.

  After the two hour practice, I handed out Gatorade to the team and gave them all their props for their hard work. Regardless if they were starting or not they all played a major role in the undefeated title their school had for the past five years.

  “Y’all ready for the game next week?” I asked them once I slid into the passenger seat of my 7 Series.

  Jace, the youngest beat Jarod to the passenger seat and fastened his seatbelt. “Yeah, we’re playing the Hornets, and they only lost one game this year. The coach said they’re good competition.”

  “We ain’t worried about it though,” Jarod added in. “We got this.”

  Jace turned around towards his brother, and they dapped each other up. They definitely had that Moseley gene in them. They were confident as hell.

  My boys reminded me of my brothers and me. Joey was the oldest and most responsible. Jarod and Jace were like best friends since they were damn near twins only being months apart and of course, Jace was the hot head like Asahd.

  I prayed for a close-knit family, and I feared I wouldn't be able to live up to the changes I wanted in my life, but here I was exceeding my own expectations.

  During the ride home, we cracked jokes and listened to music. Their school wasn’t far, so we made it home in no time. They got out the car and raced up the stairs to get cleaned up once they realized their mother cooked.

  Sadly, it’s been a while since Tabitha graced us with a home-cooked meal. She’s gotten lazy and was popping frozen Lasagna in the oven or ordering out. I was doing most of the cooking if we did have a cooked meal. The crazy thing is she complained I was never home. I couldn’t cook a meal if I wasn’t home though.

  Since our falling out we didn’t say much to each other. I did my usual, but she was the one with that was creating the distance by sleeping in the guest room. If space was what she needed, I was willing to give it to her.

  “It smells good in here,” I told her walking into the kitchen.

  My stomach was rumbling inhaling the aroma of the meal she had going. She was at the stove stirring something in a pot. I approached her and gave her a kiss on her cheek, and she turned her head for one on the lips. I met mine with hers, and she smiled.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked me.

  “Starving.”

  “Jo, go wash your hands, and I’ll bring the food to y’all. The table is already set in the dining room. You want juice or water?”

  I cocked my head back a little because this wasn’t the Tabitha I got for the past few weeks. She was always on the go or complaining, now she was actually waiting on me hand and foot.

  “I’ll take a bottle of water.” I left out the kitchen but stopped in my tracks trying to figure out if eating her food was a good idea. “You’re not trying to poison me.”

  “No,” she giggled. “I can’t cook a meal for my family?”

  “You can, but you’re being too nice. It’s been a while since you did all this and we weren’t communicating for the past week.”

  “Well things change, and I am a wife and mother you know… this is my job.”

  “You remember?” I shot back with a smirk playfully even though I was serious.

  “Don’t start Johan,” she sassed, and I chuckled leaving her be in the kitchen.

  After we ate, I made sure I spent another hour bonding with all three of my sons before I called it a night. I was getting old, and I couldn’t sit in front of a TV screen for too long. When it came to dealing with Jarod and Jace, I had to deal with them in doses. If they weren’t talking smack to Joey, they were going back and forth with each other. They were responsible, so they knew when it was time to go to bed because they had school in the morning.

  “I was wondering when you were going to have time for me,” Tabitha grinned when I walked inside of the bedroom. I was shocked to see her there after all these days. She had her hair pulled up on top of her head, and the only thing that covered her body was a bright red teddy that hugged her curves and sat her breast up.

  She kneeled on her knees, and I closed in the space between us. She circled her arms around my neck, and I snaked my arms around her waist. We shared a deep, fervent kiss. Once we broke away, she stared at me in my eyes, and I saw sadness despite the fact of the passion we felt seconds ago.

  “You ok?” I mumbled sweeping the tendril of hair that was at the side of her face. She moved her head up and down and pecked my lips again.

  “I miss you, Jo. I hate when we argue.”

  “It’s all about communication. Shit happens, we’re not going to be perfect, but as long as we’re open and honest with each other, we will always be good.”

  “I understand,” she responded.

  I trailed my hands down to her ass and squeeze her cheeks pushing her into my manhood. I missed my wife as well. It was no secret that even though she was physically with me, mentally or emotionally she was somewhere else.

  MILL

  “Is Asahd here?”

  “Nope…”

  “But I see his car.”

  “That’s because he’s not the one driving it.”

  Even though I had my back turned the two females, I knew they were talking about me and wanted to know they were. I felt staring hard, so I made sure I kept at my task. I exasperatedly rolled my eyes and continued to pick up the bottles one by one weighing them on the scale, so the computer can log the weight and then typing in how full it was by each tenth. The job was pretty easy and took about three hours to get done.

  I had no clue how much I got paid or when this trial was going to end, but I sucked it up to no time soon because the hours were short and I only worked two days. It almost had me wanting to go back to being a bottle girl so I can work my debt off quicker, but then I thought about the incident with Ben and shook the thought from my head. I enjoyed the tranquility and somewhat quietness of the establishment. My only issue was the cattiness from the women. They all were in some underlying fake competition. Things of that nature were inevitable, and I wanted no parts of it.

  “Hey girl!”<
br />
  I turned my head and saw Keira heading my way. She grabbed a bar stool from the other side of the bar and brought it around to me.

  “What you doing here?”

  “I was bored, so I figured I stop by.”

  “Zayne must not be home,” I responded.

  “He’s not, and Za’naa is at school. You were here at work, so I brought my ass here to keep you company.”

  “Y’all are like the perfect family,” I gushed, and unlike any other time, Keira just grinned instead of saying something smart. “I didn’t know you liked kids.”

  “I don’t, but when you love someone, you tend to open your heart and mind to what they love.”

  My eyes widen. “Did you say the L word?”

  “Oh please don’t start with me right now,” she joked. “I said what I said.”

  “Sure… anyway… your home girls are wondering who’s driving Asahd’s car.”

  Keira turned her head towards the two women I didn’t have to point out because they were still talking just lower this time. It was crazy when it was just me they had the balls to be so abrasive, either they thought I was a punk or they knew for a fact Keira wasn’t one. I wasn’t a fighter, but I didn’t take shit from anyone.

  “Let em talk… it comes with the territory.”

  “Well, I can do without that extra crap for real for real. It ain’t that deep.”

  “It is that deep. Asahd is a big fucking deal especially in here.”

  “Because he possibly gives out more dick than he do coke?” I retorted and she found that funny. I frowned my face up because I didn’t think being a womanizer was cute at all. Yes, Asahd was fine but when did men grow the fuck up?

  Why was I even thinking about him in that way?

  I snapped out of my thoughts and continued weighing my bottles and tracking the fullness. Keira was going on and on about Asahd.