I'll Never Love A Dope Boy Again 2

by Twyla T.

  “I agree,” Kamora said barely above a whisper.

  “You gon lead the shit, I mean stuff,” Demetrius said.

  “Lord, we come to you asking you to please not let this be D’Mani, but we also want to pray for strength and comfort to whoever this child belongs to…” Kamora was able to say before she got choked up.

  “Please, grant us this prayer Lord. Amen.” Demetrius finished up the prayer and squeezed Kamora’s hand.

  They walked across the street and before walking inside, Kamora stopped. “I’m right here with you,” Demetrius stressed while rubbing her back. It took her a few minutes to gather herself. When Demetrius opened the door, Detective Johnson was standing there waiting. Kamora asked where the bathroom was. Detective Johnson’s partner walked up and told her that she would show her. When they walked off, Demetrius asked Detective Johnson if he had viewed the body and what he thought. The detective told Demetrius that he hadn’t looked yet, but he was told that it was very gruesome.

  “I really wish she wouldn’t do this, but I do understand how she feels. I’ve been working this case very hard because I was in a similar situation fifteen years ago. I’m praying for a different outcome for you guys,” Detective Johnson emphasized with a voice full of sorrow.

  “Damn! This shit is crazy. I hate you went through this shit… I hope-” Demetrius was saying, but cut his words short when he saw Kamora walking back towards them.

  “Y’all ready?” Detective Johnson asked. They nodded their heads and followed him towards the back.

  Chapter 14

  POW POW POW POW POW POW POW!!! Multiple shots rang out, and Peanut and a couple of others looked on as a black Crown Vic occupied with four bodies shot up their spot, which was where they were supposed to be meeting at that exact moment. Coco let Peanut know they had been studied for months and today was going to be the day someone hit them with a drive-by, and she was right. Had they been in there, someone was bound to get hit with the amount of ammunition that was fired into that particular location because it was one of the smaller spots.

  “Damn, that bitch was right!” Peanut affirmed to the guys. As hard as it was, they all agreed it was best to look on and not show their faces at the moment. All of them wanted to run out and retaliate, but they had to be smart in this battle. Peanut knew that Smoke had too much shit going on, and he knew he would approve so he rolled with his plan.

  “These muthafucka’s just signed their death certificates,” Peanut vowed while pacing the floor. He already had a plan, but it was going to take some time to execute the shit properly. “I been getting good information from this bitch, and it’s only a matter of time before we can end this shit,” Peanut stated.

  “I’m ready right muthafuckin now! Them bitch ass niggas don’t know who they fuckin’ wit,” one of the younger goons stated while standing up and beating on his chest.

  The crew was still sitting there talking when Peanut’s phone rang. It was Smoke calling, so he answered by saying what’s up.

  “What the fuck happened here?” Smoke asked. Peanut looked out of the window and saw Smoke standing outside of the trap house, looking at one of the broken windows. Instead of replying over the phone, he told him he would be right out. He ended the call and headed out of the door, with the team following closely behind. They all walked up and looked at all of the bullet holes everywhere.

  “I gotta fill you in all this bullshit man,” Peanut said as soon as he was close to Smoke. The stress was clear on his homie’s face, but Peanut had been taking care of shit, but he knew he needed to go ahead and fill his boy in on everything.

  “Man, this lil gutta chick approached me about a week or so ago on some shit. She knows who the hell been after us. She knows that nigga will kill her, so she only been dropping a little bit of info at a time. Anyway, she knew they was coming to blast on our asses today. Said them niggas been watching our every move and even know our routine on our meetings. I had the crew camp out across the street today and, sure enough, them soon to be dead bitch ass niggas came blasting. Ol girl ain’t gave me a name yet, but everything she done told me so far been head on. She even told me about locations them niggas meet, but said she will let me know the best time and place to get em later. We just gotta play this shit cool until I can get all the info we need,” Peanut told Smoke when they walked behind the trap house and were alone.

  “Who is this bitch??” Smoke demanded.

  “The hoe name is Coco,” Peanut replied. Smoke stood there in deep thought.

  “What’s going on with you? I called your phone earlier and it went straight to voicemail,” Peanut said.

  “Bruh, it’s been so much shit; I can’t even remember what I done told you and what I haven’t. I know yo ass don’t watch the news, but the body of a little boy was found last night or some shit. Kamora caught the story this morning and you know how that went man. She wanted to view the body and shit. That shit was terrible. That’s where I been this morning,” Smoke replied.

  Peanut was silent before speaking. “It wasn’t Dee though, right?” he finally asked.

  Smoke sighed and shook his head before responding. “Man, I don’t think so, but that body was so fucked up; they really gotta determine it by dental records, just like they said on the news. I had to take Kamora to the emergency room, and they gave her a shot. They told me she should sleep for the next four to six hours, so I put her in the bed and decided to come check on everything,” Smoke replied.

  “This shit is fucked up! It couldn’t have been lil man,” Peanut contended.

  “I don’t feel like it was, but I feel sorry for whoever family it is. The image of that body been in my head ever since I looked at it,” Smoke said while shaking his head.

  “On some real shit. Once we get Dee back and take care of whoever these fuck boys are, you know this gon be all you, right?” Smoke declared to Peanut.

  “We gon handle this shit, but you ain’t going nowhere man,” Peanut retorted.

  “Real talk man… I know you got what it takes. You already proved yourself. A nigga only get so many chances and my time is bout up. If I go down again, it’ll be forever and I ain’t tryna let that happen. It’s time for me to do something different,” Smoke argued.

  “I can respect that,” Peanut replied.

  “But first things first, once Dee is back, it’s mu’fuckin on. You keep choppin’ it up with that bitch, so we can bust these fuck niggas asses. I ain’t goin’ no muthafuckin’ where before then… you feel me?” Smoke said.

  “I already know! I wouldn’t let ya ass even if ya tried,” Peanut said while laughing and dapping his boy up.

  Chapter 15

  When Ken made it back with KJ the next afternoon, Nikki was sitting in the living room, watching TV and eating junk food like she didn’t have a care in the world. He assumed she was going to act a fool since he stayed out all night, but she didn’t show any emotions whatsoever because she would never keep KJ away from his dad. KJ ran over to her and excitedly told her about how much fun he just had. She listened to him intently while smiling. She flipped the television to cartoons for him, then turned to Ken, who was standing there looking crazy. “It’s best if you would just get your shit and leave,” Nikki insisted to Ken as nicely as she possibly could.

  “We need to talk, Nikki,” he pleaded. She stood and handed him the letter she received earlier and just shook her head.

  “There’s really nothing else to talk about. I see now why you didn’t want any more kids… with me anyway,” Nikki said as Ken followed her into the kitchen. She went to the bar and poured herself a glass of Crown Royal Apple and dropped three ice cubes in it and began to drink it straight.

  “This wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” Ken stated, and Nikki looked at him with fire in her eyes.

  “I really don’t care to hear any more of your lies, Ken. I’m done. Yeah, this shit hurts, but you might as well move on with your white bitch. The damage has been done and there’s no fi
xing the shit. I’ve given you my all, only to get slapped in the face. You go live your life, and I’ll live mine,” Nikki fiercely stated.

  “But this is my house,” Ken snidely replied.

  “You REALLY wanna go there with me… I would advise you not to, but hey, do what you please,” Nikki said nonchalantly. Even though they weren’t married, Nikki was smart enough to add her name to the deed, as well as everything else Ken had. She was no fool by a long shot. Everything was pretty much set up just like they were already married, and he had no idea. He signed the papers without reading them. Ken argued with Nikki for a few more minutes and then finally said he was going to get some clothes to leave for the night, but he was not moving out.

  Nikki finished her drink and poured another one without ice, took it down, and began her countdown. Five… four… three… two…

  “Nikki!! WHAT THE FUCK!!” Ken screamed.

  “Damn, one second quicker than I thought,” Nikki said and smirked. Ken stormed back down the stairs and found Nikki sitting at the kitchen table, unbothered.

  “Nikki, what the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you fuck my shit up like that?” Ken fumed.

  “Why would you fuck my life up like this? You low down dirty son of a bitch!” Nikki stated. KJ made his way over to where his parents were arguing and looked between the two.

  “If he wasn’t standing right there, I would fuck you up!” Ken threatened Nikki.

  “Is that right? Well, just pretend he isn’t here you low down motherfucker!” Nikki retorted.

  “Are you going back to Ms. Sabrina’s house dad?” KJ asked when his dad started walking off.

  “Aww hell naw!! You took KJ around that bitch? I fucking hate you!” Nikki said and threw the glass she was drinking out of and hit Ken right in the face. The glass broke and a knot, along with a cut, instantly appeared on his forehead. Ken balled his fists and headed towards Nikki, but KJ stepped between the two and grabbed his dad’s leg and caused him to stop.

  “I’m leaving, but I’ll be back and you paying for my shit,” Ken said and walked off and headed out the door.

  “I’m sorry mom!” KJ said in a trembling voice.

  “You didn’t do anything wrong baby. Everything will be OK. Go and watch TV,” Nikki told him and kissed him on the cheek and headed upstairs.

  After Nikki made it upstairs and was in the master bedroom, she grabbed her cellphone and decided to call and check on Kamora. She didn’t answer, so she sent her a text message, letting her know that she was just checking on her. After ending the message, she clicked on her photos icon and scrolled through pictures of wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, cakes, and decorations. She refused to let any more tears fall as she deleted all of the pictures. Nikki grabbed her remote and turned on the TV and caught the news story about the body that was found.

  “Oh my God! Please don’t let…” she didn’t finish her sentence before jumping and heading downstairs. She told KJ to come on after she grabbed her car keys. Waiting on Kamora to call back would be pure torture, so she decided she would head over to her house.

  When Nikki pulled into Kamora’s driveway, Demetrius was pulling in right behind her. Nikki took notice of how stressed Demetrius looked, but she could also tell that he was trying to hold it together. “I just saw the news and rushed over here. I called Kamora before I saw it, but she didn’t answer. I had to come after I saw that segment. What’s going on?” Nikki said without taking a breath.

  “It’s been a long ass day. Kamora should still be sleeping. They gave her a shot at the emergency room earlier. We went and viewed the body. I personally don’t think it’s Dee, but we have to wait and confirm after they get dental records,” Demetrius admonished. He was tired of repeating that story, but he knew it was only fair that Nikki knew because she was a great friend to Kamora.

  “Damn, I’ll be glad when D’Mani returns. I can’t even imagine… well, if you don’t mind, I just wanna see if she’s still asleep. If she is, I won’t bother her because she needs as much rest as possible. She got sick the last time we did lunch,” Nikki said.

  “Sick?” Demetrius asked.

  “Well… I probably shouldn’t have even brought it up but, yeah, she got sick. She ended up eating all of her food after she freshened up, which is probably why she didn’t mention it to you. You know how stubborn she is,” Nikki said while laughing. Demetrius couldn’t help but to laugh himself.

  They walked inside, and Nikki and KJ sat on the couch while Demetrius went to check on Kamora. As he was walking into the bedroom, Kamora was coming out of the door. “Hey girl! I just stopped by to check on you,” Nikki said as she got up to go hug her friend.

  “KJ, you wanna come play the game with me?” Demetrius asked, trying to give Nikki and Kamora some time alone.

  “Yeesss!” KJ squealed. “When is Dee coming back?” he asked Demetrius when he got close to him. All of the adults froze. Nikki had told KJ that D’Mani would be back soon. She never went into detail about the entire situation.

  “He’ll be back soon KJ! It won’t be much longer,” Demetrius finally broke the silence and answered. “Let’s go get you some practice, so you can be ready to beat him,” Demetrius adamantly said and KJ smiled and followed him.

  “I hate to even ask how you’re doing because it’s such an unfair question. Demetrius filled me in on everything. He pulled up right behind me,” Nikki said.

  “I just feel fucking numb. A part of me wishes I would have listened to the detective and not viewed that body, but I just had to. I can’t get that image out of my head for shit now,” Kamora spoke sadly while shaking her head.

  “I can understand why you did it, so don’t beat yourself up about it honey. We’re gonna have to send up some extra prayers for D’Mani to return right away. It’s been almost two weeks now,” Nikki declared.

  “I know. The basketball team and coaches have been helping with the search tremendously. I even made new flyers and bumped the reward up to two million dollars. Anyway, what’s going on with you?” Kamora asked her friend as a way of distracting herself.

  “Girl, we not even gonna get on my drama at the moment,” Nikki upheld.

  “Oh yes ma’am, we are. The way you fuss at me about talking, I’m gonna do you the same way,” Kamora chided.

  “If you insist, but I’m gonna give you the simplified version. Just know that I went to jail yesterday for beating the hell out of Sabrina and Ken at his office after receiving a certified letter from that bitch requesting back time child support. After I was released, I fucked up everything he owns that was in our closet. Oh and the wedding is off,” Nikki affirmed.

  “His white coworker Sabrina? Are you fucking kidding me? Kids?” Kamora asked.

  “Yes. No. Yes, two of them,” Nikki answered nonchalantly.

  “Okay, now you gonna have to give me the full story,” Kamora said while staring at her friend.

  Nikki sighed and told her if she insisted and broke the entire story down to her friend, as she listened attentively.

  Chapter 16

  “I am your mommy!! I am your mommy!! I am your mommy!!” Trish screamed over and over again before throwing the glass she was drinking out of at the wall after D’Mani asked for his mom for the millionth time. She didn’t know D’Mani had moved from the corner he was standing in until he screamed out after the glass hit him in the face. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry baby. I didn’t mean to hit you. I never meant to hurt you,” she admitted to him and tried to grab him, but he screamed louder and took off running. Trish reflected on how she got to this point.

  I never thought I would end up pregnant. I was in no shape to be anybody’s mama. I knew that I didn’t want this baby, but I wasn’t going to have an abortion either. My life was fucked up, true enough, but damn that bullshit. I did a lot of shit, but murdering wasn’t one of them. Hell, the way I saw it, I opened my legs, got caught up, and now a baby was coming. I couldn’t blame an innocent baby for my fuck up. So, when he was bor
n, I kept him for a little while, but the shit wasn’t working out for me. I did what I felt the baby needed. I dropped him off at Marquez’s doorstep and never looked back. My life from that point forward was shit. Smoking, snorting, drinking, and prostituting myself just to do it all over again the next day. I didn’t fucking care about shit, not even myself. After I heard about Marquez’s death, I wondered about my baby. I wanted to know who the fuck had him and what he looked like. I decided to go check it out one day for myself. I always kept in touch with people, so it wasn’t hard for me to find out Marquez’s last address after he moved outta the hood. As I walked near the house where I knew my baby was, I seen this bitch with my boy, as I stood like a deer caught in headlights across the street. I was a fucking mess, so no way I could have approached him like that. It cut me to my heart to hear him call another bitch mommy.

  “I’m your fucking mama,” I repeated to myself. Hell, it’s my fault that he don’t know who the fuck I am. But that muthafuckin shit changes right now. I’m going to get my shit together and take my fucking baby back.

  D’Mani’s constant crying and screaming snapped Trish out of her reverie.

  “Shut the fuck up! Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you like that,” Trish reprimanded to D’Mani. “Fuck! I can’t do shit right,” she scolded herself.

  “They gonna find me and take me to jail. Shit! This wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” Trish mumbled to herself while pacing the floor.

  Knock Knock.

  “Damn!” she swore.

  “Is anyone in there? We’ve been hearing a kid cry and wanted to make sure everything is OK,” someone said outside the door. Trish knew it would only be a matter of time before the cops came knocking, and she didn’t plan on sticking around. It was eight o’clock on a Saturday morning and the streets were filled. She knew getting D’Mani into her car without him screaming and causing a scene was going to be a difficult task. Damn, I don’t wanna hurt him, but I really don’t have a choice, Trish thought to herself as the knocking continued. Going to the door, she cracked it open with the chain still attached and told the couple that was standing there that everything was fine. They tried to speak again, but Trish quickly closed the door in their faces.