Hakeem & Tasia : A Brick City Love Story

by K. C. Mills

  “Fuck,” I yelled into my empty room.

  I reached over, grabbed my remote, and folded my arm behind my head. I was hoping that TV could get my mind off her. I needed something because as of right now, I had to figure out how to get her out of my head. If she wanted to play games, then she could play them bitches by herself. I didn’t have time for it and as much as I loved her, I would just have to figure out how to let her go.

  The next morning when I woke up, I was still mad as hell. I had two missed calls from Tay, but fuck her. I didn’t have time for that shit, and I wished I had never gone over there to see her in the first place. I grabbed my shit and left the house. I needed to get up with Jodie; right now, business was going to be my priority.

  “Yo, what the fuck you doing back so early? I thought for sure I wouldn’t see you until tonight,” Jodie said the second I walked into the barbershop we owned.

  He was in the back with stacks of money sitting on the desk, so I figured that he was in the middle of getting deposits ready. I fell back into the sofa that sat in the corner and let my head fall back.

  “The fuck wrong with you Keem?” Jodie asked as he put a stack of money through the counter. I could only hear it since I had my eyes closed.

  “I’m just tired as fuck,” I said, not really wanting to get into what happened with me and Tay. I knew Jodie was going to take her side no matter what.

  “Nah bruh, what the fuck is on your mind? Start talking.”

  “Long story,” I mumbled.

  “Then start telling that shit. I have to get this shit to the bank in a little while so hurry the fuck up.” I could hear the smile in Jodie’s voice, so I didn’t even bother looking at his dumb ass.

  “Brit was telling the truth.”

  “About what?”

  “I guess I wasn’t good enough and she found someone that was.”

  “Man fuck that,” Jodie all but yelled. “There’s no way that Tay would let anybody replace you. I don’t care who the fuck she’s over there playing house with.”

  “Yeah that’s what I thought too, but she caught feelings for him, so she can have that shit.”

  “Nah, fuck that. You need to go get your girl. I don’t care what she caught, well unless they don’t have a shot for that shit.” Jodie busted out laughing before he continued. “You and Tay got that kind of shit that nobody can come in-between. Shit, I know your ass was fucking on the regular, but I also know that second you saw Tay again all that shit was dead. She’s the same way, so quit being a fucking baby and go get her ass.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh–one, because Jodie and Tay both needed to chill with that baby shit, and two because he was hyped as hell. You’d think he was getting something out of this deal the way he had Tay’s back.

  “It’s not that easy, bruh. I’m not playing second to anybody, and I don’t have time to end up in jail for putting a bullet in old boy.”

  “Then, don’t get caught. No body, no case.” I glanced at Jodie, who now had a big ass grin on his face.

  “I just can’t deal with that shit right now, but we need to talk about Rasta.”

  “Whatever bruh, you just don’t want to deal with that shit. You took your ass over there, got your little feelings hurt, and now you wanna just sit here pouting and shit. You better man the fuck up because you think shit is bad now. If she really moves on and lets that old boy put a ring on it, then I know your going to jail because not only will your crazy ass body him, you’ll probably body her ass too. So don’t sit up here acting like you don’t give a fuck when I know you do. Don’t forget, I know you Keem.”

  I didn’t even bother to respond. I just let it go and filled Jodie in on Rasta’s operation. I knew Jodie was right, but for now I was gonna just let that shit go.

  Tasia

  I could feel Jacob watching me, but he hadn’t said a word. We were on set waiting for the next shoot to begin, and he kept his eyes on me instead of the shoot that I had just styled for.

  “What’s wrong, baby love? For the past two weeks you’ve been moping around here like your dog just died.” Jacob obviously couldn’t take it anymore.

  “I’m fine Jacob.” I flashed him a fake smile, hoping that it would calm his suspicions.

  “You, turtle dove, are anything but fine so spill. Let’s talk about it and get you back on track.”

  “I’m fine Jacob, there’s nothing to spill.”

  “Oh, I see. I guess we’re not as close as I thought. Forgive me for feeling like I was important in your life,” Jacob whined, pretending to be hurt.

  “Oh my God, you’re so dramatic,” I said, and then laughed.

  “Yeah, well just make sure I’m looking fierce in my casket. I’m about to go kill myself since my one and only friend doesn’t love me enough to share her deep, innermost feelings with me.”

  “Jacob, you’re doing the most right now.” I looked at him and rolled my eyes. “It’s Hakeem. We had a big argument the night of the Essence party and I haven’t talked to him since. It’s been two weeks and he won’t answer my calls or return my texts.”

  “I knew it. What did tall, dark, and edible do?” Jacob had now turned and positioned his chair so that he was facing me.

  “He didn’t really do anything; I guess you can kind of say I did.”

  “Then undo what you did, Tasia. That man is too fine to be walking the city alone without a title attached to him.”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “So what happened?” Jacob asked, looking concerned.

  “Jace happened,” I said truthfully.

  When Hakeem asked if I cared about Jace, I should have just lied but Hakeem knew me and he would have immediately known, so I just didn’t answer–or rather he didn’t really give me a chance to. I cared about Jace, but honestly it wasn’t anything compared to the way I felt about Hakeem, but he just couldn’t get over the fact that I let another man in. The part I couldn’t get was that he acted like it was all my fault. We both played a role in our relationship falling apart, but since I was the one that moved on, Hakeem acted like it was all on me.

  “Please tell me that you didn’t let Jace come between you and tall, dark, and edible. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Jace could be my baby daddy any day, but your mystery guy obviously means a hell of a lot more to you than Jace.”

  I glanced on set at Jace, who was standing off to the side waiting his turn. I could occasionally feel him watching me, but I refused to let our eyes meet.

  “You do realize that you’re a man and you can’t have a baby, right?” I said with a grin.

  “Yes, honey. I was speaking hypothetically, but back to tall, dark, and edible.”

  I cut Jacob off, “Would you stop calling him that? His name is Hakeem.”

  “Okay, well back to tall, dark, and, edible–aka Hakeem.” Jacob flashed me a devious smile. “You love that man. I could see it all over your face and as depressing as it is, he loves you right back so I don’t care what you think you had with Jace, you better push that to the side and get your man back.”

  “Why is it depressing that he loves me back?”

  “Because I don’t stand a chance and umm, umm, umm. The things I could do with that man.” Jacob licked his lips before a smirk spread across his face.

  “Oh my God, you’re too much. Don’t ever let him hear you say anything remotely close to that or I swear, he would probably shoot you,” I said, shaking my head and making Justine just laugh.

  “Well in order for my life to be at risk, then I’d have to be around him and the only way that’s going to happen is if you fix things, so go get your man back so that we can both fantasize about him and swap stories,” Jacob said with a grin.

  I closed my eyes and shook my head. “I really don’t need that visual in my head, so please don’t ever say that again.” I looked at Jacob with a frown. He was right though. Looks like I was making a trip home today.

  *****

  When I pulled up on the block, it
felt like it had been years since I had been there instead of months. It was just after seven and I saw Jodie’s bike, Hakeem’s truck, and a few other cars I recognized but I didn’t see anybody, so I parked and got out. The second I was on out of my car, I could hear a bunch of yelling coming from the schoolyard and figured the guys must have been balling. When I got to the courts, there was a game in session and I immediately spotted Hakeem. He wasn't hard to miss, shirt off while his perfect body dominated the game. I was so caught up in watching him that I didn’t even realize that all the neighborhood girls were lined up on the fence, just as caught up as I was.

  “What are you doing home?” Brit’s voice caught me off guard as she threw her arms around me, stealing a hug.

  “No reason,” I said as I checked my sister out. She looked different, and I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. I mean, she was dressed nice but she was always on point with her clothes, so it wasn’t that it. She kind of had a sense of calm about her.

  “Yeah I bet,” she said with a grin before her eyes fell on Hakeem.

  “So what’s up with? You look good,” I said, ignoring the fact that she was hinting around to Keem being the reason for my visit.

  “I always look good, Tay,” Brit said with a cocky grin.

  “Well, maybe happy is more the word I was looking for,” I said, playfully rolling my eyes at Brit.

  She glanced at the court, but this time her eyes fell on a different guy and not Hakeem; one that I wasn't familiar with.

  “I am,” she said with the biggest grin.

  “Oh I get it. There’s a guy. Who is he?” I asked, checking out my sister’s new man.

  He was about 5’10 with a nice slim build, but I could tell he was cut since he was on Hakeem’s team and they were shirtless. He had toffee-colored skin and a head full of hair that looked like it hadn’t been combed in forever, but it had sort of a groomed chaotic look.

  “His name’s Jaysyn.” Brit couldn’t control her smile. If I didn’t know any better, I would say my baby sister was in love.

  “So I guess from the grin on your face that you two are pretty close.”

  “Yeah, we’ve been kicking it for a minute. He just moved here from Atlanta and he works for Keem. He’s sweet Tay, and I really like him. Keem said he’s good for me,” Brit said as she stared at her new man, and when he noticed her checking him out, he smiled and winked at her.

  I pulled Brit into a hug. “I’m happy for you, Brit. I hope things work out.”

  My sister hadn’t always made the best decisions about the men in her life, but if this Jaysyn got Hakeem’s approval, then he had to be okay.

  “Yeah me too. You know these hoes around here like to stay in your business, so he knows everything about me and he didn’t care. He said the past was the past and as long as I wasn’t that person anymore, then he was good with that.” Brit looked over at Tierra and her group and rolled her eyes. “You know I had to lay hands on a few of those bitches for minding my damn business.”

  I just looked at my sister and shook my head.

  I heard someone yell, “Yo we got next.”

  Brit and I turned to see her man moving towards us; when he was close, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his chest before he kissed her on the neck.

  “Hey baby, who’s this,” he asked, now focused on me but my eyes were on Hakeem, who was now standing with Tierra. She kept touching his arms and chest as she glanced at me.

  “Will you get off me? You’re all sweaty Jay, and this is my sister Tasia,” Brit said as she tried to pull away from him, but he held on tighter. My focus was now on Brit and Jaysyn, but I could still see Hakeem and Tierra in my peripheral view.

  “I should have known. You look just alike. What’s up, city girl?” Jay said as he flashed me a smile, exposing a set of perfect pearly whites.

  “City girl?” I questioned.

  He looked Brit, and then me confused. “You’re the one in New York, right?”

  I laughed now, understating why he called me city girl. “Yeah, sorry.”

  “It’s all good. I told Brit we need to come check you out. I’ve never been and I hear that shit is dope.”

  “I guess, but all I do is work so you might be on your own if you want to check out the city.”

  “That’s cool, but you’ll have to chill with us though.”

  “Yeah I can do that,” I said, and then smiled.

  Just as I looked up, I realized Hakeem was heading my way. Tierra and her crew had their eyes glued to him, likely trying to see if he was coming to talk to me and I was praying that he was, but of course he threw me a head nod, tossed out a simple “What’s up Tay,” and moved past me heading towards his truck.

  My heart sank, but I wasn’t giving up. I came home to fix whatever we had going on.

  “I’ll be back,” I said as I forced a smile and followed behind Hakeem.

  When I made it to Hakeem’s truck, he was standing with the door open scrolling through his phone. He knew I was there but didn’t acknowledge me, forcing me to speak first.

  “Hey.”

  He finished whatever he was doing on his phone, so it took him a minute before he actually looked at me, but when he did he looked irritated.

  “What’s up Tay, what do you need?”

  He was being so disconnected and cold that it made me feel uncomfortable. Hakeem had never been that way with me; even when we were fighting, I could still see the love he had for me, but now his eyes were uncaring.

  “Can we please talk?” I asked, and then held my breath. If he said no, I didn’t know what I was going to do.

  “I don’t think I’m the one you need to be talking to.” Hakeem tossed his phone in his seat, shut the door, and then locked it. When he was done, he folded his arms across his chest and just stared at me.

  “Is that really what we are now? You can’t even have a conversation with me.”

  “The fuck you want me to say, Tasia? You made your choice, now deal with it. I don’t have time for this shit.” He leaned back against his truck, but kept his eyes on the court. He didn’t walk away though, so that was a good sign.

  “I want you to say that you miss me as much as I miss you, and that you want us to make this work.”

  Hakeem looked at me as a cocky laughed escaped him. “You miss me Tay? How is that when you’re playing house with another dude?” His eyes narrowed on mine, and I could see his jaw tighten.

  “I’m not perfect, Keem. I made a mistake, but yeah I miss you and no matter what you think, that never changed. I’m not playing house with anybody. I haven’t talked to Jace since the night of the party, other than about work stuff, and I don’t plan on it.”

  “But you still see old boy every day, and you still care about him, so that’s a problem for me.”

  I took a chance and moved closer to him, and thankfully he didn’t push me way. Our bodies were inches apart as I kept my eyes locked on his.

  “It shouldn’t be. You know you’re the only one that matters to me.”

  “Yo, Keem. We’re up!” Jodie yelled from inside the gate. “What’s up Tay. I see you brought your ass back across the bridge. It’s about damn time. I thought forget where you came from.”

  I turned in Jodie’s direction and shot him a bird. “I know who I am Jodie. Don’t play.”

  He just laughed and walked off. Hakeem stepped around me and began walking towards the courtyard entrance, but he stopped and looked at me.

  “You hanging around?” he asked still with no expression.

  “Should I?” I asked.

  He looked at me for a minute before he tossed me his keys, “Yeah.”

  He turned and entered the court. I could feel all eyes on me as Jodie handed Hakeem the ball and they took the court to get ready for their game. I found a spot near Brit, and we settled in to watch our men, but it only took a minute for the nonsense to begin. Tierra and her crew made their way over to us, and the bullshit began.

  �
�Every time you bring your ass around he comes running, but it’s funny to me how you only wanna be bothered with him when you feel like somebody else has him,” Tierra said, looking me up and down like she was disgusted.

  “I don’t control Hakeem’s actions, so if you feel that way then take that up with him, and as for somebody else having him--” I laughed as my eyes scanned her body “I hope you’re not referring to yourself because baby girl, Hakeem will never be yours. Even if he wasn’t mine, he would never be yours and I can promise you that.”

  Brit laughed, making matters worse.

  “Oh he’s mine and been mine. While you were out there doing your thing, whose bed do you think he was in? Mine sweetheart, so don’t get it twisted. I can have him anytime I want him. Hakeem loves my sweetness.”

  “You’re so damn simple it’s pathetic. Not only was he in your bed but hell, I’m sure there were plenty of others, but why wouldn’t he be when you open your legs so easily. See, the difference between you and me is that he respects me. So yeah, he screws you and that’s cool, but I have a part of him that you will never have, and that’s his heart. So trust me, baby, when I say that I’m not worried about you, Hakeem knows where home is and he ALWAYS comes back. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m trying to watch my man do his thing out there.”

  I guess I struck a nerve, because Tierra hauled off and hit me, causing me to go in on her and shortly after, I heard my sister yell. “I wish you would,” so I assumed that one of Tierra’s girls was about to jump in but, I was so caught up in whooping her ass that I didn't notice.

  I had control of the situation, but not long after I felt myself being snatched away as a strong arm went around my waist, and then I was shoved behind a hard body. When I calmed down, I realized it was Hakeem, and Talen had Tierra.

  “Let me go!” Tierra yelled, looking mad as fire as all eyes were on us.

  I just laughed as I tried to move around Hakeem, but he held his arm up to stop me and looked at me like he was ready to choke the life out of me, so I stopped.