by Shan
“Wait—” I started, after cutting Khi off, but he held his hand up to stop me.
“But I know that’s not what you want. I know you want a big ass wedding and shit, and I’m cool with that. Whatever you want, but baby, I wanna do that shit in like the next couple of months. That’s the second thing I want you to do... plan our wedding and tell me what day and time I need to be there.”
I couldn’t help but smile and giggle like a little schoolgirl. I leaned across the middle console and kissed Khi on the side of his face. He gripped me by the back of my head and pulled me towards him. Sliding his tongue into my mouth, our tongues danced with one another.
“Go handle that. I got some shit I gotta go handle,” Khi told me, and I nodded. I kissed him once more before I got out of the car and headed inside of our home. As soon as I got inside, I squealed and pulled out my cell phone. I couldn’t wait to call Tangie so that she could help me. No matter what Khi and I went through, I was happy to become his wife— become Mrs. Prince.
Chapter 9
Dae
“Dadddyyy!” DJ said, causing me to look up from rolling my blunt.
He ran hard and fast towards me, and I had to hurry up and jump down from the stool I had been sitting in. Soon as he made it over to me, he wrapped his arms around my legs, and I could hear him crying. Damn, I felt fucked up seeing how much the kid had missed me. I should’ve never walked out of his life like that knowing that I was the only man he knew as his father. No matter how fucked up I was, the young one didn’t deserve the way I had treated him.
“What up youngin? You happy to see me, huh?” I asked, and he laughed a little before holding onto me even tighter.
“Are you home from jail now? Mama said you were in jail, and then you got sick, but that you weren’t coming back,” DJ said, and I nodded before I kneeled down so that I could be eye level with him.
I had been out the hospital for a few days, but I had to take some time to readjust. Laying on my muthafuckin’ back for three months had me feeling weird as fuck. It just made me realize how true the saying was when they said, time ain’t wait for nobody. Last I remember, it was like October or some shit, and all of a sudden, I wake up to it being a new year.
“Yea, I’m home, and I ain’t going nowhere,” I told DJ, as I looked the kid in his face before I began to tickle his little ass. “You act like you missed me or something.”
“I did!” he yelled out, as he tried to get away from me. I grabbed him up and hugged him tightly.
“How much you miss me? How much?” I asked him, as I continued to tickle him while hugging him at the same time.
“A lot! A whole lot!” he giggled. I put him down on the floor, and he caught me with a punch to the side before he stepped back in a fighter stance. “See, I’ve been practicing. I told mama you were coming back. She’s been—”
“DJ, who are you in here—”Amber said, and I took my eyes away from DJ just as she rounded the corner. She was in an electric wheelchair, but damn, shawty looked good as hell. I bit down on my lip noticing how long and healthy her hair had grown out as it fell down the sides of her face into some big curls. I don’t know… I had expected for her to look all worn down and shit, but damn, I was glad that she wasn’t. That shit would eat me up even more if I came here and saw that she was in bad shape, all because of me.
“What’s up?” I said to her, and she quickly looked away from me and at DJ.
“DJ, go get yourself together. You can’t be late for school, because you all are testing this week,” Amber said to him, and he ran over to me and hugged me again. I chuckled and ran my hand over his head while looking down at him.
“Go do what your mama said. I told you I ain’t going nowhere. That’s why I wanted to catch you before you went to school and let you know that we got some catching up to do. I was thinking about taking you out to Speedzone after school.”
“Yeaaaa! Can Chanel go, too?”
“Hell yea, she can go. Where my little niece at anyway?”
“She always takes forever to get dressed. She the reason I be late for school,” DJ said, and I laughed.
“She sounds like the typical woman, man. Go do what your mama said, and I’ll drop you and Chanel off at school,” I told him, and he nodded and took off running.
I took my seat back on the barstool and watched as Amber moved her way around the kitchen. When I saw her reaching for a cabinet above her head, I hurried up and hopped down and made my way over to where she was. I opened the cabinet for her and looked down at her. Her brown eyes glazed over me, and she nervously pulled a strand of her hair from her face.
“I could’ve gotten it myself,” Amber said.
“What you need?” I asked her anyway.
“A bowl for Chanel and a plate for DJ.”
I grabbed a plate and a bowl and handed it to Amber. She sat the dishes in her lap and rolled away to the table. I walked back to where I was sitting and grabbed the blunt from the cabinet.
“I hope you cool with me taking DJ them out later. I’ll probably be staying here for a while too since KaeDee left out of town. Wanted to make sure I kept an eye on y’all.”
“We’ll be fine,” Amber commented, and I sucked my teeth. I placed the blunt behind my ear, pulled my dreads from my face, and placed my hands into my pockets.
“Well, I’m gonna be here, and I’m spending time with my son, if that’s cool with you.”
“Your son, huh?”
“Hope you didn’t tell him anything different,” I said feeling myself getting angry.
Shit, I knew I had fucked up, but damn, a nigga was trying like a muthafucka, and it was pissing me off that Amber wanted to act like it didn’t matter to her. I saw the look in her eyes when she first saw me, and I knew there was still love there for the kid. She was low-key excited to see a nigga, but I wasn’t gonna call her on it right now. She just needed to get rid of that damn attitude before I turned into the Dae she was used to.
That Dae was gonna always be in me, and as a matter of fact, waking up out that coma didn’t change shit about it. It only changed the way I had viewed my peoples and my life. I no longer wanted to walk around being mad at the fam and treating them like shit because of what happened to me in the past.
I wanted to have another chance at my relationship with Amber, and be the man that DJ needed from the jump. I wanted to build a relationship with the son I had with that bitch Alaska and be there for the kid I was having with Taylana too. I ain’t wanna be that nigga that was out here planting them seeds, but not staying around to watch them grow. Let’s just say that I had woke up a little more mature than I was when I had gone down.
I guess I really couldn’t be mad being that all Amber knew was the beast in me, and even though that part of me would never change, I was just learning when and where to let it out.
“Nope, of course not. I would never tell him that. But I did tell him that you wasn’t coming back, because I got tired of him waiting and hoping. I really hope you’re not here to fuck with his mind, Daelan.”
“Have I ever fucked with his mind, Amber?” I said a little more aggressively than I had intended to.
“Don’t do that, Dae. Don’t act like you’ve been nothing but good to that little boy or that you’ve been the perfect father. It took me months to get him to where he’s at now, to even smile, and not get scared every time he heard a loud noise. He finally stopped peeing in the bed from being so scared from nightmares he was having. He’s come a long damn way, and I don’t need you messing up his progress.”
“That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m a drop them off at school, and we’ll talk later. You need something?” I asked, and Amber shook her head.
“They need to eat their breakfast.”
“I’ll get them something on the way.”
“Yea, whatever,” Amber said before she directed her wheelchair out of the kitchen.
A few moments later, Chanel’s itty bitty self came out dressed in a tutu and sandals,
and I held my laughter in as I picked her up and kissed her on the cheek. She looked just like her hoe ass mama. At least I knew for sure this wasn’t something that was a lie, being that the rest of her life was.
“Hey, Pooh,” I said to her, and she giggled. “Let’s go, DJ.”
“Daddy, I’m so happy you home,” DJ said and hugged my leg.
“Me too, young one. Me too,” I told him, before I kissed Chanel’s cheek again and headed to the door.
***
About an hour later, I stepped inside of IHOP and looked around for my brothers. I assumed this was Cass’ idea for us to meet here being that that nigga loved them sweet ass pancakes. Every time we got a chance to talk to his ass, when he was locked up, if he wasn’t asking about his shawty Tangie, then he was talking about how he couldn’t wait to get him a stack of pancakes.
I had called them to meet up after I came across a bit of information last night when me and the goonie Tramell was out chilling at the strip club. That was another part of my readjusting that needed to happen. I loved me some muthafuckin’ scrippas, and it seemed like last night was as good of time as any to see some fat asses.
“What up fam?” I said to Khi and Cassidy.
Khi stood up, and we slapped hands and hugged while that nigga Cassidy was stuffing his face just like I thought. I shook my head and slid inside of the booth next to Cass. “Should’ve known this was your idea.”
“What?” Cass said, as he looked over at me with a mouthful of food. “I seen a commercial that said they had all you can eat pancakes, so shit, why not?”
“Aye, check it, though. I was sitting in VIP with the lil’ goonie last night at Onyx and shit, and these dread head niggas come through popping bottles, and I ain’t even think nothing of it. I had that tool on my side and was leaning a little, so I was straight. I hear one of them bring up the bro-in-law Tamar’s name and shit…”
Cassidy laughed, before he took a sip of his soda, and I couldn’t help but laugh too. Crazy how, after that nigga Tamar had tried to kill me several damn times, and even with the fight at the hospital, he reached out to me to talk about Taylana. I had to man up and apologize for what I had did to her, and he accepted, even though I knew he really didn’t want to. We talked briefly about my plans for her and the kid that was on the way, and I told him the truth. I was gonna do right by my son, but as far as his sister went, I felt like she needed to concentrate on being a mother and finishing school or some shit.
I told Tamar’s ass straight up that I was good on his youngin’, and he claimed that he respected it and understood. I wished that he could put that same understanding in Taylana, cause that broad stayed hitting me up and begging me to come see her. I’ve done a lot of shit in my life, and I hardly ever regretted shit, but fucking with her was one thing that I wish I could take back. I had my fun with her, and the time that I was away from her made me realize a couple of things; I was only fucking with her, cause she reminded of that hoe Alaska, and because I knew that she was off limits, and that shit excited me. Now that I had my fun with her, I was good on her ass. I wished her the best of fuckin’ luck with her next nigga. As long as she didn’t give me problems about the kid, we were straight.
“We supposed to be meeting with that nigga tomorrow,” Cassidy said and rubbed his hands together. “You better stay the fuck away from that bitch, bruh.”
“Oh yea…why that hoe ain’t call me to meet with him, too?” I asked, and Khi shrugged and sucked his teeth.
“Nigga probably still salty. But back to what you was talking about though.”
“Yea…so, I heard that nigga bring up Tamar’s name and shit, talking about getting a squad together and taking him down. Just talking real reckless about that cat mane. I really ain’t give a fuck about all that. It was just funny to me, cause them niggas was just running off at the mouth. That liquor had them lips loose as fuck. I was getting ready to tell Tramell let’s move around until they brought up the kid’s name. Our young one,” I said, looking from Khi to Cass.
“What young one?” Khi said, finally finding interest in what I was saying.
“Emon…one of the niggas was talking about how his patna was locked up with Emon and how the kid was up in there running his mouth to everybody. Talking about how he a Prince and how we out here wrecking shit. Then, this nigga brought up your name Khi and said that Emon told his patna that you the one that killed his pops. That muthafuckin’ cop, whose gun Emon had on him that night,” I said, and Khi sucked his teeth and sat back in his seat.
“Who the fuck is these niggas, and how they feel so comfortable talking with you and Tramell around? Sounds like to me they wanted you to hear that shit. Wasn’t no loose lips.”
“For real,” Cassidy cosigned, and I balled up a napkin and chunked it at his pussy ass.
“I figured them niggas thought I was part of the crew or something. Shit, we all looked alike. They was some straight up dread wearing, bomboclat ass niggas.”
“And Tramell?” Khi asked, and I frowned at him.
“What about him?”
“What’s the names? Give me a muthafuckin’ name?” Khi yelled out, causing everybody in this bitch to look our way. I shook my head knowing he was guilty, and it wasn’t that I gave a fuck about him killing that hoe ass cop, it was the fact that I do recall questioning him about it, and that nigga straight up lied to me. Hoe ass nigga.
“Nigga, lower your damn voice. Why the hell you lie about that shit when I asked you?” I asked, and Khi scoffed before he stood to his feet.
“Do you tell me all your business hoe ass nigga? What’s these cats name, Dae?”
“Yo, I asked you the other day if we had beef with some Jamaicans and you walked all over that shit. So all this time you been knowing who hit that spot and you was just gonna be ignorant to the shit,” Cassidy said, as he mugged Khi and stepped out of the booth. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared Khi down.
“Y’all niggas act like y’all can whoop me or something? The fuck outta here,” Khi said, as he walked off. I followed closely behind him while Cass stayed back to pay for his hoe ass pancakes.
“Bruh, for real, what’s up, though?” I asked Khi, once we made it outside to his car. He leaned against the hood and slid his hands into his pocket.
“I was just looking out for the kid. I knew Emon was lying about what happened that night he got popped, and I knew that police nigga was gonna be a problem so I handled him. I never told Emon shit, though, so the fact that he running his mouth about that shit got me real muthafuckin’ hot. I really wanna drive the fuck down there and fuck him up for real for real.”
“So what you think about these niggas, though. They gotta be the ones that hit us the other muthafuckin’ day, huh?” I asked just as Cass walked up.
Khi sucked his teeth. “Gotta be, but that’s not my biggest concern though.”
“My concern is why you ain’t say shit the other day when I asked hoe ass nigga,” Cass asked ,and Khi stood up off the hood of his car and stepped into his face.
“If I didn’t say shit it was cause didn’t shit need to be said hoe ass nigga,” Khi told him, and I was about to agg that shit on for the hell of it until I saw Taylana walking up out the corner of my eye. I shook my head and cursed under my breath.
“Look, find out them niggas name, Dae, since you was all in that bitch cupcaking with them and shit, and you make sure you do it. Don’t get nobody else to do it for you,” Khi told me, and I nodded. “And I didn’t say shit the other day, because I didn’t think one had to do with the other. That shit with Clarke was old as hell. Now, if that nigga son wanna see me about his pops, then he should come holla at me and holla at me personally. Running up on the goonies and then sending them little boys at me is not the business, and that shit was too much like a copycat move to me. I’m not feeling none of this shit at all. I need some time to think, so I’ll get at y’all later.”
“Time to think about what? Shit, seems like they wanna c
ome back at you for that old ass shit,” I told Khi, and he waved me off and went to get inside of his car.
“Holla at yo shawty and get at the kid later,” Cassidy said, and we slapped hands and hugged before he walked off.
I sucked my teeth and turned around to look at Taylana standing off to the side of me in the parking lot. This was the shit that made me beat her ass and damn near kill her the last time. She was worrisome as hell when she didn’t get her damn way, and shit like that made my damn nerves bad. Hell, I was trying to be a new nigga and keep my damn hands to myself, but Taylana was the kind of broad that just didn’t quit.
“What the fuck you doing here, and how the hell did you know where I was?” I asked, as I walked over and stood in front of her.
“Cause you’re not answering your phone,” Taylana said, and I frowned.
“Answering my phone for what? You don’t look like you in labor. Damn, Lana, why you gotta act like you some crazy bitch or something? You be doing all this dumb ass shit, and then you got people thinking it’s me. You following me and shit? The fuck?”
“So what you want me to do? Just go back to Miami and act like we never happened?” Taylana said as she began to cry. I sighed all dramatic and shit and rolled my eyes. I pulled the loose dreads from my face and then slid my hands into my pockets.
“You don’t gotta go back to Miami, but if you keep following me and doing these pop-ups, you gonna have to do something. Maybe, I should call Tamar since we all cool and shit now and get his ass to make you go the fuck home. Look, I’m trying to be nice about this shit Lana, but you pushing it. I’m good on what we had, a’ight. I just wanna fuckin’ do the co-parenting thing as I said before. If I hurt your feelings, or you feel like I led you on, then I’m sorry,” I told Taylana, and she bit down on her lip and backed away from me.
She turned around and stormed off to her car, and all I could do was shake my hand at her looney ass. I ain’t have time for her shit. I took my cell phone out as I walked over to my car to get inside. Even though Khi told me he wanted me to find out who them niggas was last night, I had other shit to do. I wanted to get Amber and take her out to lunch before the kids got out of school, and I took them to Speedzone as promised. Besides, this was the shit we paid that nigga Tramell for. Fuck I look like doing it.