The LyricsTo His Song

by Krystal Armstead

  “You’re not taking my girls, Apollo!” McKaylah pushed him, her light skin turning red.

  “Man, what do you care about my girls? My mans and them told me you had my kids knocking on the neighbor’s door for food and shit! Man, what happened to the girl I used to know? The girl who cared more about her kids than how she looked? You’re over here looking like a got-damn movie star, and your house looks like the inside of that got-damn dumpster outside! If my kids ain’t lookin’ like you, hair done, nails done, everything did, I swear, I’m beating all that makeup and weave off your muthafuckin’ ass!” Apollo warned her.

  And then, two of the most adorable little girls came running into the living room, racing through the junk. Apollo crotched down as they ran into his arms. They were laughing and crying all at once, happy to see him, like they hadn’t seen him in ages. Apollo hugged his girls, looking them over as if he was checking for bruises or marks of any kind that weren’t there the last time that he saw them.

  Apollo smiled, looking his giggly girls eye to eye. “How have my main misses been?”

  “Fine!” They giggled, playing in their father’s dreads.

  “Are you taking us with you, Daddy?” The older of the two girls asked, her big, brown, hopeful eyes searching her father’s face.

  Apollo looked her over, eying the holes in her clothes, the fact that her pants were high water as hell, and the fact that her hair was up in a knotty ponytail that hadn’t been combed in what looked like a week or two. Apollo’s temples twitched, “Yeah, Nika, Daddy’s taking you with me.

  “The hell you are!” McKaylah scoffed, folding her arms.

  “Daddy?” Lil’ Tia’s laughter faded as she tugged on her daddy’s dreads a little. “Uncle Wale gave me a whippin’ last night.”

  Apollo looked at Antwan and then back at his kids. “Uncle Wale?”

  Tia nodded. “We hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, and I snuck into the refrigerator last night to get some Cheetos. Uncle Wale whipped me with that.” Tia pointed to the extension cord that the big screen T.V. and DVD player were plugged into.

  Apollo stood up from the floor, looking at McKaylah like he wanted to beat her with the got-damn extension cord. “You let this nigga beat my daughter with that shit, yo?”

  “She’s not telling you the entire story, Apollo.” McKaylah rolled her eyes, giving him attitude, but you could hear her voice shaking. She was scared. Shit, I was scared. I had heard about Apollo. He didn’t play when it came to family. And to hear that some other nigga—a family member who it sounded as if he didn’t like all too much, was whipping his kids had to sting.

  “I don’t give a fuck what the entire story is. Why the fuck is this nigga putting his muthafuckin’ hands on my daughter?” Apollo growled.

  “He wasn’t whipping your daughter; he was whipping his daughter!” McKaylah yelled.

  My heart pounded in my chest. “Oh shit…” I muttered.

  Apollo was stunned for a few seconds, not knowing what to do at that moment but look down at the two little girls who looked just like him.

  Nika and Tia looked up at Apollo, not realizing what was going on.

  “Uncle Wale is here, Daddy,” Tia told Apollo. “He spent the night last night.”

  Apollo looked at McKaylah, who was already backing up, scared out of her mind after the news she’d just given Apollo. “Oh for real? Where’s this nigga at?”

  Moments later, this tall brown-skinned dude came strolling down the hallway, out of what looked like McKaylah’s bedroom. He looked like the brown-skinned version of Antwan. Maybe a few years older than Antwan.

  Both Apollo and Antwan looked at McKaylah before looking back at the guy.

  “The fuck you doin’ here at my girl’s crib, nigga?” Apollo was ready to flex, but his little girls were grabbing onto him.

  Wale grinned. “Nah, nigga, what are you doin’ at my girl’s crib? And you ain’t going no got-damn where with my daughter.”

  Apollo pulled his 9-millimeter from his jeans. The little girls he believed to both be his were holding onto him like they weren’t the least bit fazed that their father was holding a gun and ready to use that muthafucka.

  “Come on, Apollo. Let’s roll. Let’s do what you came to do. Get’cha girls and bounce, nigga. As far as we’re concerned, they’re both your kids. Fuck him; shit, fuck this bitch, too!” Antwan tried to warn his brother. “I told you I wasn’t getting into no shit withcha ass today, bruh. Come on; let’s bounce!”

  “Get my girls out of here, Lyric. Will you do that for me?” Apollo looked at me.

  I didn’t even hesitate. I wasn’t about to get in the middle of the shit that I knew was about to go down. I went over and grabbed the little girls by their hands and took them outside of the apartment, hurrying to get them in the car and strapped in. I should have known something was up when the two were traveling without bodyguards, something Antwan wasn’t known to do. They didn’t want the bodyguards being witness to anything. I wished they would have thought the same about me. For whatever reason, they trusted me. I wasn’t ready for any of the secrets that they were about to force me to keep.

  Tia and Nika cried beside me in the backseat of the Tahoe, holding onto each other, crying in each other’s arms. Two beautiful little girls caught in the crossfire of a woman who was sleeping with two men who were related. I wasn’t sure if Wale was the twins’ uncle or if he was their brother. Perhaps, one of A.J. Miller’s children.

  The next thing I heard was gunshots. The three of us screamed. Moments later, Apollo and Antwan come racing out of the apartment building. My heart was doing a high speed chase in my chest as the twins made their way to the truck. I knew Apollo shot Wale, or McKaylah, or both. There was no telling. I saw the blood splattered on his sky blue shirt as he jumped in the driver’s seat, and Antwan jumped in the passenger seat. In seconds, Apollo was balling off down the road.

  Antwan shoved his brother. “Muthafucka, I told you that I wasn’t getting into any shit with your muthafuckin’ ass today! I told you to quit fuckin’ with this bitch years ago! That this bitch was no got-damn good! You should have been left this bitch alone! You didn’t have to put the bitch’s lights completely out, nigga!”

  “Look how she had my got-damn kids living! I did everything for that muthafucka, and she was fuckin’ around with Wale? Him, of all muthafuckas? Damn right I made it so that bitch won’t play me or any other muthafucka!” Apollo yelled back.

  “Nigga, crazy! You can’t leave them in there like that! You gotta get rid of—”

  Apollo cut his brother off. “Look, let me handle it. Let me get y’all out of here and do what I need to do. Just chill, nigga.”

  “Nah, nigga, your crazy muthafuckin’ ass needs to chill! Fuck!” Antwan yelled out. “You stay in some shit! You already know Pop’s niggas are gonna find out you were over this bitch’s house! Her neighbors are nosy as a muthafucka!”

  Little Tia already knew something wasn’t right. “Where is Mommy?” Tia cried.

  “In hell.” Apollo told the little girl, who couldn’t have been older than four. Apollo glanced back at me, watching my chest heave in and out. “Can you call you girl, Mariah, and see if I can drop you and the girls off at her crib? There’s no telling who saw you coming out of McKaylah’s crib. The first place they’re gonna look is your crib, shawty. It’ll take ’em a minute to look over your home girl’s crib.”

  I remembered what Mariah said about having sex with her roommate all day. “She lives with a roommate. They have plans today, hun. It’s Valentine’s.”

  “Please.” Apollo begged. “Shit is about to get hectic. I know it is. Please, just do this one thing for me. Keep my girls out of this shit.”

  Antwan looked back at me, his eyes apologizing for getting me involved.

  I sighed as Antwan handed me all three electronics that I’d left on Karen’s desk the day before. I called Mariah and then gave Antwan Mariah’s address so he could call his bodyguards to tell
them where to meet him. When we got to Mariah’s condo, Mariah was standing outside in sweats, as if she’d just finished jogging. She took her ear buds out of her ear as she watched me get out of the truck with the little girls.

  Antwan got out too. And we watched as Apollo sped out of the parking lot in his brother’s car.

  “The fuck is going on?” Mariah watched Apollo balling down the street. Mariah looked down at the girls and then at Antwan.

  “Apollo found out his girl was fuckin’ around with our brother.” Antwan shook his head.

  I knew it.

  “So,” she stared down at Apollo’s kids. “What is this nigga about to do?”

  “Shit, he’s already done it, no hesitation, no questions.” Antwan exhaled deeply. “Wale told him he wasn’t going anywhere with his daughter. Apollo said which daughter. Wale said Tia. And you already know what happened next. I didn’t even have a chance to react. Apollo has been there for these girls through everything. He straight flipped on them muthafuckas. He shot Wale and turned and shot.” Antwan looked down at his nieces, who were crying their pretty eyes out. “My brother doesn’t play. Shit is about to get real deep, real quick.”

  Mariah looked at me, running my hands through my curls anxiously. She saw my ring and instantly grabbed my hands. “Wow, that is some birthday present! I hope that’s what this shit is! I know this isn’t an engagement ring, Audrey!”

  I rolled my eyes, slipping my hands from hers.

  Antwan scoffed. “Man, whatever. I came by your parents’ place to take you out for your birthday, shawty. I could give a fuck about that fake ass proposal. I wanted to swing by my place for a while, show you a little of Twan’s World before we went to rehearse your hook for this song I wrote about you.”

  I just looked at Antwan, heart skipping.

  “It’s called Your Lips.” Antwan grinned through his pain.

  “Uh-oh. A song based on true life experiences, huh?” Mariah looked at my lack of ability to look into his face when he mentioned the name of the song.

  “Queen wrote the hook for me this morning. I know you said you didn’t wanna be in the spotlight, but I’m not trying to hire another background singer. You and my cousin are all I need. I gotta go catch up with my brother. I already know where he’s headed, yo. I still gotta stay on schedule. Still gotta do my thang. I’m not getting caught up in my brother’s shit this time around, shawty. We have some people coming to the club tonight. Might go into business with Chopper Lewis, you know, the CEO of Beat the Block Records. He’s got some heavy hitters on his label. I’m thinking about joining forces with him. Meet me at my brother’s club at around seven, so we can rehearse. The show starts at nine. I think we have enough time to rehearse. Tell your boy he can roll through, too.”

  Antwan reached for a hug from his nieces and received hugs and kisses from both. “Take care of my nieces, a’ight? I gotta call my aunts from Tallahassee. I’m sure they’ll come up to get the girls until shit is settled. I’ll catch y’all later.”

  We watched Antwan jump in his Navigator, and his bodyguards get him down the road, on his way to clean up whatever mess his brother made. I was nervous as hell and really couldn’t handle anymore drama that day, but there I was, immersed in it. Mariah wasn’t letting me go to the club alone, knowing shit was about to pop off. Apollo killed A.J. Miller’s son. Though Apollo was A.J.’s son too, everyone knew they couldn’t have been further than family. Blood meant nothing to the two of them.

  Mariah’s roommate/playmate, Breazy, agreed to watch the girls while we went out that night to Rhymes. I really was in no mood to rehearse for a show that I wasn’t planning on being in. Why was shit happening so fast? Just two days earlier, I was stacking shoes at Foot Locker. All of a sudden, I was signing a contract with a superstar who everyone was dying to get to know. I was a songwriter, who could sing a note or two. Nothing special to me, but everyone around me wanted me to showcase my talents. I was a behind-the-scenes type of person who hated the spotlight. But Antwan wanted me right next to him. True, I recited poetry on stage every now and then, but I wasn’t ready to travel the world. And I damn sure wasn’t ready to be a witness to a murder. Antwan and Apollo were about to go about their business like nothing happened. Like Apollo didn’t just kill his baby’s mama and his own brother. I wasn’t ready. I should have listened to Sean’s jealousy that day.

  I didn’t invite Sean, but damn it if he wasn’t there at the club, waiting on me. The place was packed, but there was no avoiding Sean. He was standing alongside the wall, in the hallway entrance to the club. He grabbed me as soon as I tried to get past him. He’d changed from the attire he wore to my parent’s house, and he was back in his street attire. Rocking all that purple from head to toe. Sean held my hand in his, looking down at his ring like he was making sure I hadn’t taken it off.

  “She has to get to rehearsal, Sean,” Mariah hissed, locking her arm around my arm, pulling me from Sean.

  Sean looked her over and then clicked his teeth before looking at me. “I thought you already rehearsed earlier?”

  I swallowed hard.

  “She did, nigga, over at my crib with Queen.” Mariah rolled her eyes.

  “Was I talkin’ to your ass, Mariah? I was talkin’ to my fiancée.” Sean snapped at Mariah.

  “You need to get some business, shawty, so you can stay the fuck out of Audrey’s. Damn. Get the fuck on, yo.”

  Mariah was about to pop off at the mouth as usual.

  I cut her off before she caused a scene. “Boo, let me talk to Sean. I’ll see you backstage.”

  Mariah shook her head. “Nah, bruh, I’m staying right here with you.” She rolled her neck from me to Sean, looking him over before looking into his face, her lips pursed.

  Sean shook his head at her before looking back at me. “Nah, yo. You went over Apollo’s baby mama’s crib, didn’t you?”

  I hesitated.

  “The police are backstage questioning your nigga. They wanna question your ass too, Audrey.” Sean shook his head. “You wanted in this life, so now you’re in, shawty. I told you fuckin’ with them niggas were bad news. Go handle your business, Miss Know-it-all. Let’s see how much you know when you’re behind bars with these niggas.” Sean shook his head at me.

  I looked into Sean’s face, my heart pounding.

  “McKaylah’s sister found blood all over McKaylah’s living room this afternoon.” Sean tried to read my nervous facial expression.

  I kept quiet. Apollo went back and got rid of the bodies that afternoon, but apparently he didn’t clean the apartment good enough.

  “Neighbors say they saw Antwan, Apollo, his little girls, and a brown-skinned girl with curly hair and a tight polka-dot dress get into a white Chevy Tahoe.” Sean looked at me. “Were you with them niggas in Meade Village apartments this afternoon? Because if you were, they’re gonna put your dumb ass in this bullshit, Audrey!”

  I didn’t know what to say except, “Sean, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “A’ight, when the police question you, you make sure you tell them muthafuckas the same thing.” Sean shook his head at me.

  “Nigga, bye.” Mariah smacked her lips, pulling me away by my arm. “Keep calm, boo, and let’s go see what this muthafucka is talking about.”

  “Man, Detective Ramos, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” We heard Antwan’s voice as we entered backstage that night. Antwan, Drizzle, Rhandy, Queen, and the rest of Antwan’s band were backstage that night, being questioned by a few detectives. They glanced at us as we entered the room.

  “McKaylah Carmichael and Wale Miller are both missing! Their blood is all over that apartment! Witnesses say that they saw you go into that house with your brother.” The detective glanced at me and then looked back at Antwan. “We have witnesses who know the exact outfit that you both had on, so don’t even try to lie, Antwan.”

  Antwan clicked his teeth. “Yeah, I took my brother over shawty’s crib to get
his kids.”

  “What time was that?” another female detective asked.

  “Around 1:30 this afternoon, Detective Creech.” Antwan exhaled deeply.

  “And then where did you go?” Detective Creech looked at me and Mariah as we strolled into the room, standing alongside the wall.

  “He was with me.” I spoke up. “We went by my girl’s place to write a few songs.” I held up my lyrical journal.

  Antwan looked at me, shaking his head. He didn’t want me involving myself, but I was already involved. I hated to leave Antwan when he needed me. Getting caught up in his brother’s drama was the last thing Antwan needed. His career was taking off; he was about to start a company, and he was going on yet another tour after already being on the road non-stop for damn near seven months. He didn’t know I accepted Sean’s proposal just so I could help him. Before that kiss Antwan gave me, I actually thought I could save Sean by marrying him. But after Antwan’s lips touched mine, I wasn’t so sure it was Sean who needed saving.

  “Mr. Jared, we will be back. Your brother has gotten you into enough trouble. Don’t take the wrap for this one.” Detective Ramos sighed before leaving backstage with the other detectives.

  I walked up to Antwan, watching him watch the detectives leave.

  Antwan looked down into my face. “Why did you tell them muthafuckas that you were with me?”

  I shrugged. “Sean says some people already saw me today.”

  “Yeah, but they didn’t know your name, shawty. Your name wasn’t put in this shit. I’m the one caught up in my brother’s shit, Lyric. You should’ve just stayed out of it.” Antwan leaned back against the wall that he was standing in front of.

  I shook my head. “Nah, Antwan, you’re not alone.”

  Antwan looked down at the ring on my finger and then back into my face, shaking his head at me. “Whateva, Mrs. Lee. A’ight, y’all. Time to rehearse.” He turned from me, facing his crew.

  I couldn’t lie. I was really feeling the hook to the song, but I wasn’t feeling singing the verse that Antwan was trying to make me sing in front of Sean. It pretty much gave away what happened the night before. Antwan wasn’t playing any games. His agent showed up backstage that night, along with his publicist who was Beat The Block Records’ publicist as well. They were loving my look, said it was the look that the company needed. That if Antwan wanted to appeal to a broader audience, he had to soften up his look a little. They told him that they watched my performance on YouTube and were looking forward to working with me but that I had to lose the nervousness and step my game up if I expected to perform with someone as big as Antwan Jared. They thought I was good but needed a vocal coach and a lot of work on my stage presence. That I needed to loosen up and relax. How the fuck could I loosen up and relax when I had so much going on? Too much going on, too fast.