Addicted to a Dirty South Thug 2

by Shan

  I couldn’t even shed a tear if I wanted to, because I didn’t even know who the hell I was shedding a tear for. Detective Henson had laid a lot of information on me that had further turned my world upside down. I was barely hanging onto the edge, but I was sure now that I was damn near to the point of just falling off. Finding out that Deonna was pregnant with another man’s kid was one thing, but that hadn’t even been the half of it. I no longer wanted to fight this battle for her and was down to let Tyrin win.

  I pushed Amber in her wheelchair over to the family’s car, and Khi and Cassidy helped me get her inside. Chanel climbed in after her and I closed the door behind her. Leaning up against the car, I crossed my arms and stared at my brothers as they stood before me. I was a complete mess. Dae had appeared in court yesterday morning and had plead not guilty to all charges against him. The DA had offered him a plea of five years for the murder of Alaska and Bryson and also for the assault against the police officer that he attacked in Colorado when they had come to arrest him, but he declined. Now, I had to prepare for a case that I wasn’t even in my right mind to battle, but truthfully, the prosecution’s case was only being upheld by the phone call that was made to them and the only two surviving witnesses from that night; Cuba and Rue.

  I really didn’t know shit about this cat Rue besides the fact that he had a couple of run-ins with Khi over Cuba. He was well known in the streets for ganking niggas for their shit, so I was pretty sure he would be down to snitch. Cuba on the other hand, I was sure was all in Khi’s hands.

  “You still never got in contact with Deonna’s parents? I mean, I never seen a homegoing service so empty before. Shit was depressing,” Cassidy commented, and I sighed.

  “I never found her fuckin’ parents, because I don’t even know who this bitch is,” I ranted and stepped away from the car. I didn’t want my daughter to hear me. That was about the only thing that I was for sure of. Chanel was Deonna’s, and Chanel was mine. The rest of this shit was just a pure fuckin’ mystery.

  “What the hell is you talking about?” Khi asked, as he kicked at the dirt. He held his hands into the pockets of his Brooks Brothers slacks and stared idly at the ground.

  “Porsha Parks, Stephanie Clark, Tiffany Shelton, all Deonna’s muthafuckin’ aliases. I don’t know who she is and only know that she had just became Deonna Fortson a few months prior to running into Tyson. Her record goes back as early as 1996 of her being connected to bank robberies, identity theft of course, other money laundering, government and tax fraud. Possibly on the run from the mafia. Just a bunch of damn shit. They don’t even know who the fuck she really is, but thinks that she may really be 36-year-old Porsha Parks from Memphis, Tennessee. Porsha Parks supposedly died in a car accident where the car was ignited into flames, but who the fuck knows man? I don’t know this lady. I don’t know the woman that I buried. I don’t even know if that was Deonna I buried and not some damn body that she replaced with her body. Shit…this shit is crazy,” I said and sighed while Khi, Cassidy, and Tramell all stared at me in disbelief.

  “Damn,” was all Cassidy said as he sighed.

  “They say the only reason she stayed Deonna for so long was most likely because she ran into me and had Chanel. She had finally found a life that she was comfortable with. But this shit with Tyrin and the Feds coming after her made them realize that she really wasn’t no muthafuckin’ Deonna. After that money laundering case, they were coming for her again. Tyrin just got in the way.”

  “And Tyrin gotta muthafuckin’ die for that shit. I don’t give a fuck who Deonna wasn’t… I know that she was my sister-in-law and that while she was here, she was genuine. She took care of Chanel. We spent Christmases, Thanksgivings, birthdays and shit like that together. Deonna was family. She might’ve been stuck between whatever world she used to live in and who she was trying to be, but I know that lady was muthafuckin’ genuine, KaeDee. Tyrin cannot get away with killing Deonna. No matter how you feel about her, she was still Chanel’s mother.”

  “That baby she was carrying wasn’t even mine!” I yelled, feeling the pain radiate through my chest.

  “It don’t matter; she was Chanel’s mother. The kid gonna grow up and wanna know what happened to the man that killed her mother, and what the fuck you gonna tell her? Chanel don’t know all them other people, and she never will. She knows Deonna just like we do,” Khi yelled, while Cassidy nodded in agreement. “Handle your business nigga. Make that nigga come to regret his decisions. Murder that nigga.”

  “A’ight. For sure,” I said, as Khi started to walk away with Tramell following behind him.

  “Dae’s trial will be starting soon, Khi. What about Cuba?” I called after him, and he waved me off and continued on to Tramell’s car.

  “He’s not gonna let Cuba testify,” Cassidy said, and I wished I felt the same way. Nowadays, I wasn’t too sure of anything anymore. I had spent the last few years of my life laying next to and waking up with a woman that I didn’t even know. Deonna Fortson Prince was supposed to be a 20-year-old woman when I met her back in college, and now I was finding that she was maybe really ten years my senior. I wasn’t sure about nothing anymore, and I damn sure didn’t trust anything.

  “All I know is that our brother doesn’t deserve to be there. If Tamar wants to go to war behind his sister, then we go to war with him behind our brother. He don’t deserve to be locked up, Cass. You just came home, you know what it’s like,” I said to Cassidy, and he only sighed.

  “I don’t know, KaeDee. I just want what’s best for everyone. I want shit to go back to the way it used to be before I went down. It’s so much adversity between us man, and it’s sad. We’ve all done some fucked up shit, and we need to turn it all around and get back to being brothers. That’s what I want.”

  “How if Dae is locked up? How can we get back to being brothers if Dae is locked up?”

  “Then get him the fuck out, KaeDee. Make sure he beats the case.”

  “And Cuba and Rue must die for that to happen.”

  “Look, just give me some time to straighten things out. I think I know how to fix this. Give me a few days,” Cassidy told me, and I sighed and nodded. We slapped hands, and Cassidy walked over and got inside of the family car. Just as I was about to get inside myself, I spotted Detective Destiny Henson as she stood in front of a tombstone. I closed the door to the family car and made my way over to her. She was dressed in an all-black pants suit with some black Rossi heels on her feet. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her smooth and soft skin was serene and beautiful.

  “What’s up? How long have you been here?” I asked her, as I looked down at the tombstone.

  “I came towards the end. Wanted to pay my respects. I left before the casket was lowered and stopped by here for a few. How are you holding up?” Destiny asked me, and I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “As well as I can be after those bombs you dropped on me. Then, I wake up in the middle of the night, and you’re gone.”

  “Yea, I’m sorry about that. I knew that you had things to do the following day, and I had got a call about another homicide.”

  “It’s cool. I just felt used,” I said, and Destiny chuckled.

  “Never that, Mr. Prince. I’ve waited for you for years, and I’m okay with waiting a little while longer while you get yourself together.”

  “You keep saying that and even what you’ve done for me, but you’ve yet to tell me what,” I told Destiny, and she smiled.

  “You’ll find out soon. I think if I told you now, you wouldn’t be as receptive. Plus, if you just open up your eyes and see past everything, you’ll figure it out on your own, and I suspect that when your mind is free and clear of all the drama and problems, you’ll see exactly what you’ve been missing all the years,” Destiny said, as she stepped in front of me, and for the first time since I’ve been seeing her, I stared into her eyes. They were familiar and like I had been staring into them for a lifetime.

  “I don’t lik
e the mystery,” I told Destiny, and she tapped on the tombstone and walked away.

  I looked down at the tombstone once more and this time paying attention to the name that was written across it: Deitric Aubrey Henson. Sunrise February 12, 1989- Sunset March 23, 2012.

  What the fuck? I thought to myself as my mind began to reel.

  Chapter 22

  Cassidy

  2 days later…

  “I wonder why this nigga needed to talk to us on today of all days,” Khi said, as he rubbed his hands together.

  “I don’t know, but I got shit to do,” KaeDee said. “Dae goes to a pre-trial hearing at the end of next week, and I haven’t had time to prepare for it.”

  “Fuck Dae,” Khi said, and I frowned and shook my head.

  “Fuck you, nigga,” KaeDee said to him, and the two of them stood up and got into each other’s faces.

  I jumped to my feet as well and ran and stood between the two of them. I put a hand on each one of them to push them back. They stared each other down for the longest until a guard and our pops stepped into the room.

  “I know muthafuckin’ well this not what the hell I’m seeing,” our pops, Antron Prince, said as he rubbed his hands together and approached our table. “What the fuck you little niggas doing here?”

  “I thought you said come see you,” Khi said and sucked his teeth.

  “I ain’t say shit. I told you retarded muthafuckas not to come see me again after the last time. Where the hell is Daelan at?” our pops asked, and KaeDee’s ass stared at Khi.

  “Dae is in county,” KaeDee told him, and I sat down in my seat.

  “Why? Why the fuck can’t you niggas stay out of jail? Damn, y’all didn’t learn anything from me? Cass you just came home, Emon is still gone, and now Dae. Who’s next?”

  “Nobody man,” I said, as KaeDee and Khi finally took their seats.

  “I can’t tell. Y’all can’t seem to understand that these walls is a not a place for a black man. This is just another form of muthufuckin’ slavery. A way to transform the black man into an animal so that, if and when he is released, the police have the right to kill him.”

  We all nodded with understanding. Whenever my pops spoke, it was a time to listen. I had lied to KaeDee and Khi and had told them that our father had really needed to see us about something important, because I knew that if anybody could get us right, he could.

  He had been absent since my teenage years, but his words of wisdom and the things that he taught me, I still lived by to this day. And although he hadn’t been around in many years, not one of us in our right mind would ever disrespect this man. He didn’t have to do or say much to garner our attention and respect; it was just automatic. He was about 6’5 in height and weighed over two hundred pounds. Back in the day, he was a true ruler of the streets and had taught us what it meant to look out for one another. His main goal was to keep us Prince brothers close and to never let another brother fall. Somehow, we had gotten away from all that. Somewhere along the lines, everything that we had valued growing up no longer seemed to be important.

  “I… I lied for y’all to come here because shit is just fucked up man,” I said, and Khi and KaeDee stared at me with angry eyes.

  “What’s fucked up?” our pops asked.

  “Everything. We beefing. We fighting each other and allowing bullshit to tear us apart. Dae is out of control. Khi… man Khi is just filled with hate, and KaeDee is looking for somebody to blame for all his fuck ups. And yea, I’mma own my shit. I lied for years and wouldn’t man up to my mistakes. But at the end of the day, I never expected to come home and be beefing with my own fuckin’ blood. We supposed to be family man, and I feel like the only somebody I got in my corner right now is my chick.”

  “And I feel the same muthafuckin’ way,” Khi countered, and KaeDee sucked his teeth.

  “This what I’m talking about. Cuba ain’t got shit to do with the choices that Dae made. Let that man own his shit!” I said to KaeDee, as I slammed my fist into the table. He was really pissing me off with this Cuba gotta go shit. Cuba ain’t did nothing to Dae to make that man do what the fuck he did. Dae needed to be held accountable for his actions, and we had to stop bailing that nigga out every time he fucked up. He had been doing fucked up shit since before I went away, and all I heard about while I was gone was more fucked up shit that he did. KaeDee and I both was done with the kid after so long, but as I said, KaeDee was trying to find someone to blame. He felt bad about what happened to Dae, but that wasn’t nobody’s fault but Uncle LeeRoy’s.

  “Tell me what’s going on and start from the beginning,” our pops said, and hesitantly, Khi began to talk.

  We sat at the visiting table for hours talking, eating snacks, and tossing back sodas as we filled our pops in on everything that had been going on from even before I got locked up. Khi had finally admitted out of his own mouth what he had done to get Dae locked up and everything that he was dealing with with his baby mamas and his new chick Cuba.

  KaeDee told our pops everything from his issues with Deonna and Tyrin and to him meeting the cop and picking a whole new set of problems. He admitted to wanting to have Cuba killed due to his guilt for not protecting Dae and wanting to redeem himself. I told our pops everything that happened with Fariq and Tress in the past, with Tangie, including all the beef and the war that I had caused.

  “Y’all keep saying you couldn’t protect Dae. Protect him from what?” our pops asked, and I looked to KaeDee to answer the question while Khi looked away. KaeDee gave him the rundown on what was told to him by Deonna and that caused our pops to breakdown. I had never seen that man cry a day in my life, but hearing about what happened to Dae sent him into a serious fit of tears. I had even seen a tear slip from Khi’s eyes, but just as quickly as it had fell, he had wiped it away even quicker.

  “Look, let me tell y’all the reason I said never to come here to see me,” our pops said, as he cleaned his face.

  “I’m never coming home. I got life away from you boys, because I had trusted some of the wrong damn people. I was out there in them streets by myself, which is why I made sure to teach you little niggas to stick together. Ain’t nobody out there for you all, but you all. This dope shit is up and down and family is all y’all got. Fuck what you did Cassidy; all real men makes mistakes. KaeDee, you chose the wrong one, but you still have a daughter to look after, and it’s up to you to make sure you choose the right one the next time. Let me carry what happened to Dae.

  Let me carry that burden because that nigga LeeRoy was a weird muthafucka from the time I laid my eyes on him. I should’ve murdered that nigga my damn self so he would’ve never got a chance to lay hands on my boy. Now Khi, I don’t give a damn what Dae did. That’s your brother… and you know how that boy feels about you. You mean to tell me that this dope shit is more important than the little boy that used to follow you around the house everywhere you went, begging to come with you every time you left the house. The kid admired you. He wanted to be you Khian! I don’t give a fuck how long or what it took for you to get him right, but you never give up on your brother. That’s your brother, and he was crying out for your help. Fuck the plug. If the plug wanna go to war, then you go to muthafuckin’ war, you hear me. Look where this dope shit got me, away from you boys, away from my wife. It’s miserable in here. If your mother wasn’t still holding onto me, and refusing to leave my side, then I know I wouldn’t sit here for the rest of my life waiting to die in this bitch. That dope shit ain’t worth the family. The family is all y’all got. Fix the family and the rest will fall into place.”

  We all nodded with understanding and stood to our feet. Our father Antron pulled us in for a hug. We each wrapped our arms around one another with our heads touching.

  “Don’t come back here. It reminds me so much of what I lost out on, and that’s hard to get over. Every time y’all show up here, it takes me months and months to get over the fact that I’ll never be in you boys’ life again. Make this tr
ip as easy as possible on me man and try to convince your mom to let me go and find her a good man,” our pops said, and KaeDee chuckled.

  “Never gonna happen. She lives and breathes you pops. You stuck with that woman until death do you part,” KaeDee told him, and he chuckled before he pulled us away. Pops pulled Khi into him and wrapped his arms tightly around him. He kissed him on the forehead and whispered into his ear.

  Khi was pops’ favorite although he would never admit it. Khi was just like him and resembled him more than any of us. They had that same dark skin and had a birthmark in the same place on their left shoulder. The OGs around the way would always say that Khi was our pops reincarnated. Coming up, he would do just what he was doing now after he sat us all down for a talk. He would pull Khi off to the side, whisper in his ear, and Khi would never tell us what was said. All we knew was that whatever it was would spark a fire in Khi’s eyes.

  Once we left the jail and got outside to the car, we all stood in the parking lot just waiting on one of us to break the ice. Khi rubbed his hands together before he sighed and looked at KaeDee.

  “Like I told you before, Cuba was never going to testify against Dae. She didn’t even know what I had done, and I never brought her into that shit. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with what’s going on with Dae. I put him there to protect him. Maybe it was fucked up the way I did, but at the time, my mind was reeling and all over the place, and the youngin’ made me feel like I had no other choice. I was angry and I was hurt because I went hard for bruh. Dae walks out that jail, KaeDee, you know what that means,” Khi told KaeDee and he nodded.

  “And you heard what pops said. If the plug wanna go to war, then we go to war. You think Tamar can’t touch Dae while he locked up? At least if he’s out here, then we can have his back and look after him.”

  “You right, and if y’all ready then I’m ready. I’mma go to talk to Dae. I’ll get up with you niggas later.”