Rozalyn 4

by Shan

  “Oh shit!” I yelled out.

  12 TAMAR

  “Oh shit!” I heard Taron yell out as I jammed the knife further into J.B.’s stomach.

  I stepped back a few feet and watched as he fell hard to the ground. I took the pistol out of my pants and fired two shots into his back before backing away and going back to get into the car. Taron had a horrified look on his face and sat parked in front of J.B.’s spot for a few seconds longer than what was needed.

  “Go, nigga!” I yelled, breaking him from his trance.

  Finally, he put the car in drive and sped off down the street, hitting the corner damn near on two wheels. I placed the knife back inside the bag, along with the pistol and hoodie. I hated to have to do that to J.B.; and knew more than likely, I was going to be the first suspect in his case. I didn’t even care.

  I felt disrespected by the nigga and had to prove to him that the amount of zeros my bank account held hadn’t softened me any. He and Rozalyn may have thought I wasn’t aware of the little visit he made to the hotel the other day, but I had eyes and ears all over the place. The moment my informant informed me that J.B. had stopped by the hotel right before I did, I was determined to handle him.

  Unfortunately, the night I planned to take care of him was the same night the Atlanta P.D. decided to serve me with that little warrant.

  “Man I know you did not just commit a fuckin’ murder while I’m with you! What the fuck, Tae? You trying to send me back to jail?” Taron yelled like the little bitch that he was.

  I don’t know what the fuck happened to my bruh, but ever since he came home from jail, he was a little wuss. Acting like he’d never been a street nigga and that bothered the hell out of me. You put a gun in his face and he grimaced, tell him to move a few bricks just to help a nigga out, and he act like he works for the damn police department.

  He and Kevin were supposed to be taking over when I so called retired, but of course, it didn’t work out because he was always so damn paranoid.

  “Shut the fuck up Ron! You know if it came down to it, I would never allow you to take the fall for something I did. Just find somewhere for me to dump this shit and get us to the airport in time.” I sighed. I fired up another square and thought about the time I’d just spent with the detectives at the police department.

  The entire forty-eight hours that I’d been there was hell. Frankly, I’d never been through no shit like this. Normally, when I yell for my lawyer and refuse to answer their muthafuckin’ questions, they let me go and that was the end of the story. This time, I had all my rights stripped away from me; denied a phone call, denied food, water, and even denied bathroom privileges.

  I had to literally threaten to piss on one of the muthafuckas in order to be allowed to go to the fuckin’ restroom. At this point, all I can think about was getting revenge on the two pussy, pork detectives for torturing the hell out of me and holding me in there all that time.

  J.B. had fucked with me at the wrong fuckin’ time. Had I not been faced with Donald’s snitching, niggas in Dallas getting out of hand because I was the new face, and trying to make sure that everything went smoothly with Rico and I, then maybe he would’ve still been breathing. Stressing because there’s so much on my plate, I need a way to relieve some steam. What better way than to dome the fool that thought he was gonna play daddy to my kids and still get pussy from my wife on the side.

  “Damn, I hadn’t done that shit in a long time and it felt good as hell,” I chuckled and took another puff from the cancer stick. I looked over at Taron and could see he was sweating profusely; looking as if he was about to shit a brick. I smirked a little at his weariness and continued to let the high I was on stimulate my mind and body.

  Lately, I’ve been letting the crew put in the work but now it’s time to start getting my hands dirty again. Niggas somehow confuse me being a boss, with me being a pussy, and that will never be the case. I have this new team in Dallas that was full of a bunch of new cats I didn’t know, and they need to know firsthand that I’m not playing around.

  All I care about is my family, my money, and my respect. Once that was threatened, the beast in me comes out.

  Taron drove me by an alley that was rarely frequented and waited while I burned the bag that held all the evidence of J.B.’s murder. Once I was satisfied there was nothing that could be recovered from my lil’ ol’ goodie bag, we headed to the airport and made our trip to Miami.

  ****

  Honk! Honk!

  I pulled into Kevin's driveway and blew the horn waiting on Rozalyn to come out. The minute we touched down in Miami, I jumped into Taron's truck and came straight for my wife. Coming here had not been a part of my plans but seeing as how I had a disobedient wife on the loose, I had no choice.

  I lit up a blunt and watched as Rozalyn kissed her brother on the cheek and headed in my direction. I pushed the passenger side door open, waited for her to get in, then backed out of the driveway. Purposely, I allowed the silence to linger between us.

  Mainly, because I wanted to see if a nigga would get an apology, an explanation, or something that would make me feel better about her choice to come here after I said Miami was done.

  Taking a long toke from the blunt, I peeped out the corner of my eye. She was consistently tapping her fingers against her thighs. Something had her nervous.

  "What's up? You ain't gonna say shit?" I finally spoke seeing as how she wasn't going to say a damn thing.

  "I'm sorry for coming here but damn I needed the help. You drop a baby on me and then the twins, and-Marion already be driving me crazy. I needed a break with all that's going on and all my help is here," she sighed and began to tap her fingers against the door.

  "Here," I said passing the Kush to her to get her to calm down. "So pretty much, you need help being a mother?"

  "Tae that's not what I'm saying and you know it. I missed my brother, the boys missed him and Ron too. They missed their auntie and grandmother. And…I needed a break. I'm stressing really bad right now and shit, you getting locked up for murder only made it worse."

  Rozalyn took a puff from the weed and handed it back to me. She shook her head and suddenly burst into tears. She brought her hands up to her face and drowned her palms with the moisture that leaked from her eyes.

  "J.B.-he isn't the twins father Tae...they called me with the results and they’re not his."

  "Well who else could they belong to Rozalyn? You fucked that many niggas that you have no idea who fathered Zyir and Zavier!" I yelled and pulled the truck into the parking lot of the Hilton Hotel.

  "I don't know! I don't know what happened…I just think everybody needs to be tested again because there aren’t any more possibilities!"

  "That's your word? I mean it’s gotta be somebody else. B isn't the father, J.B. ain't the father…"

  "You need to get retested. Hell, if they gotta dig B up and retest him, then so be it. Something isn’t right. There was…"

  "Who else have you been with Rozalyn? Get that shit out on the table right now. Let me know the truth so we can move past this." I cut her off and then killed the engine on the truck.

  "There’s nobody else; I promise to God that there isn't anyone else. I don't know…I don't know what went wrong," she cried out again.

  I nodded my head and continued to puff on the weed listening to Rozalyn as she wailed on and on about how there was no other man. I wanted to believe her but seeing how it was so easy for her to fuck around with niggas that were once close to me, made me wonder how easy it would be for a stranger to get it.

  She had no loyalty when it came to my boys and as hard as I tried, it was hard to believe she wouldn't fuck around on me with the next nigga.

  "I'm sorry to put our family through this Tae and I promise you this will never happen again. But you have to believe me when I say there was no
one else. I cheated with B and I cheated with J.B.; and that was it. No one else. I put that on my life," she pleaded with me to believe her. "Tamar more than anything I want this to work with us and I know being honest about everything is the only way. I'm not lying to you. I'm not."

  "How the fuck you think I'ma believe you after the shit you've done. You slept with one of my closest friends-my brother and then I find out you giving it up to one of my business partners. Fucked him after I begged you for it! Fucked him after you acted like you was disgusted with me touching you! Fucked him and then turned around and pretended as though you were terrified to have sex with me!" I yelled, remembering how hurt I was when I found out the truth about Rozalyn and J.B.'s sexual encounter.

  She had lied and said he came down on a couple of occasions after she found out about her sister and me, and after I caught her with Brandon, but that was a lie.

  When Rozalyn was rescued from Beijing, she came back sexually brutalized and practically broken down. Every time I touched her, she would cringe and shy away from me. Because of what P.J. had done to her, she made it seem as if she would never have sex again. Then I find out she fucked J.B. pretty much for a can of damn milk when she couldn’t reach me.

  After doing everything I possibly could to console her and help her get over the shit she faced out there, all she did was push me away. Only to turn around and fuck my boy for a can of fuckin' milk.

  Just thinking about the details I was given, I started to get disgusted all over again. I put the blunt out in the ashtray and got out of the vehicle heading to the front desk of the hotel. I booked the room, grabbed the set of keys, and sent Rozalyn a text letting her know what room we were in once she got herself together.

  Through all the turmoil, I was gonna put my all into making this work. I loved Rozalyn too much to let her go. Anyway, I had to always remind myself that I've done my fair share of dirt too.

  After making it to the room, I took a hot shower, laid down, and prepared to get some sleep for the first time in days. Rozalyn finally decided to join me after what seemed like forever. Once she did, I thought it would be a good time for me to make a confession, but first I had to be sure all her shit was out in the open.

  "Baby, you promise there was no one else or is no one else?" I asked stuffing my head into the pillows and closing my eyes. My eyes remained open but the exhaustion I suddenly felt was quickly taking over.

  "Yes, I promise. No more lies; and by the way, I wanted to tell you the night you came to Atlanta but we got carried away; and then you were arrested the next day--" she said with so much hesitation in her voice.

  "What's up?"

  "The night you came to the room in Atlanta-right before you came, J.B. was there. He tried to have sex with me but nothing happened."

  A slight smirk appeared across my face, glad to see some of the promised changes were coming to the surface. Ordinarily, I would have to beat some shit like that out of her, or threaten to beat it out of her.

  "Oh yeah, nothing happened?" I asked and closed my eyes.

  "Nothing happened," she reiterated.

  "Cool. Well I'ma just say this and let it be a warning to you. Don't let me find out they’re some other niggas out there you haven't told me about. This shit has been embarrassing enough. If I find out you've done more shady shit…Rozalyn, it's lights out and that's on my young’ns. Ya’ feel me?"

  "No one else or nothing else. I promise."

  "Cool. I snuck off and gave blood back when Zavier was in the hospital. When they told me I was a match, I retook the DNA test. I never mentioned it to anyone because I didn't want anyone fuckin’ with my shit. I've known for a good while now that they’re mine. I just didn't say anything because I had a feeling some of your shit would come out and I’ll be damn if it didn't."

  "Wait a minute, what? So you're telling me you had the boys tested and they are yours? And you knew they were yours all this time?" Rozalyn asked. "Tamar!"

  "What? Yo, leave me alone. I'm sleepy." I said and began to nod off again. Suddenly, I felt Rozalyn's hand slap me in the back of my head; I jerked up to look at her like she'd lost her damn mind.

  "Sleepy? Tae talk to me! You had me going through all this craziness for nothing. All the fighting we've been doing and it was for nothing? Arguing with this nigga and fighting with him for nothing?"

  "It was for everything. Your secrets came out didn't they? If I hadn’t have done it, would I have known about you and J.B.; or would you still be holding on to that shit?"

  Rozalyn became quiet and I nodded knowing I did the right thing. In the beginning, I only wanted things to remain anonymous because I didn't want people fuckin’ with my results. Eventually, my motives became-I guess selfish. I knew Rozalyn had been hiding something but I couldn’t have imagined what it was. Her and J.B. that is.

  “Exactly. Now leave me alone and let me get some rest so we can get back to the damn house tomorrow.”

  “I can’t believe this shit,” Rozalyn said before lying across the bed next to me. I wrapped my arm around her, pulled her close, and drifted off to sleep.

  13 ROZALYN

  I didn’t sleep all night from thinking about what Tamar said before he went into lala land. How the…wait, let me calm down because all night I’ve been thinking about taking the lamp from the nightstand and bashing his head in. I stressed so much at that damn hospital when Zavier was pretty much on his deathbed.

  I thought I was the worst mother ever because I couldn’t get my son the blood he needed. And all along, Tamar was holding onto this shit. He was the reason the hospital miraculously came up with some blood at the last minute. All this time, he knew he was Zavier and Zyir’s father.

  Yet, he let me go through hell and back just so he could see what I was hiding. What type of nigga does shit like this to his family and at the end-of-the-day claims he loves them?

  Pacing back and forth across the floor, I fired up my fourth cigarette in the last hour. I wasn’t a cigarette smoker but all night long I’d been going hard in the paint on Tamar’s squares. The pain and betrayal I felt was indescribable. This man, who I loved with every breath in my body had played a heartless game with me.

  It hurt me to the core to know he could do something like this; but then again why was I so surprised? Tamar was a heartless muthafucka’ who only cared about his own well-being.

  "What you doing? Why you sitting over there like that?" Tamar asked groggily.

  He grabbed his cell phone, glanced at it, then sat up in the bed. I continued to pace back and forth trying to block out the voice of, what felt like to me-the enemy. Who else could he be when he intentionally hurt me for his own gain? I took another tug at the square, blew out the smoke, followed by a strange laugh. It was so strange I didn’t even recognize it had come from me.

  “Me and my kids are staying in Miami. I want to open up my shop. To tell you the truth, after what you’ve done, I don’t know if I want to be with you anymore,” I said boldly.

  I nodded my head to let him know that what I’d just said was well thought out and I was very sincere about it. This nigga had fucked with me one too many times and all for personal gain. This shit was starting to become a habit for him. First, he took my kids from me and wouldn’t allow me to see them because of hurt feelings.

  Now this shit, nah-nah; I’m sick of playing games with Tamar. I am done.

  ​ “Rozalyn come on now. Do you really think I’m going to let you keep my kids? And you’re so-called leaving me because I held back on some information so I could find out just how big of a hoe you really are?” Tamar spoke calmly. A little too calmly for me.

  Normally, when he was this calm it meant the worst was yet to come. I put the cigarette out in the ashtray and focused all my attention on Tamar. I watched as he removed his shirt and tossed it to the side. The muscles in his jaw began to twitc
h and he brought his right hand up to massage his goatee.

  I felt something horrible was about to happen so I backed away and got as close to the exit as I possibly could. Tamar hadn’t hit me in a while but I knew if I pissed him off enough nothing could stop him from knocking the shit out of me. "Fuck it, if that's what you want then fine. See if I give a fuck!" he bellowed damn near scaring me out of my skin.

  Tamar snatched up the shirt he’d tossed to the side, snatched up his keys and phone, then headed toward the door. I could feel him standing at the door wanting to say something, but instead, he opened it and left. I felt I had made the right decision. He had no right to do me and my children like that and think it was okay. I’d made it on my own before and I can do it again.

  14 JAMIR

  One week later

  "I'm telling you that Adrian’s saying he saw the niggas who did this to my brother," Erica said as she followed me through the house. Since the funeral, she'd been real heavy on finding out who killed her brother like she was a private detective or some shit.

  Questioning people, following up on leads, and sticking her nose in places that could get her ass killed.

  This was not something I wanted my pregnant girlfriend doing but she seemed to think she couldn't be touched.

  "That's what's up Erica. I talked to Adrian and he didn't tell me that. How many times I gotta tell you to leave this shit alone and let me handle it?" I argued as I threw on my button up.

  Tamar had called a few days ago to let me know he was in town and ready to get shit all the way popping. I was glad to hear he was out and ready to get to work because my stash was getting low and a nigga needed to start buying baby shit.