The line was super long, so Sym used the free time to go through her phone and return text messages she had ignored for various reasons. She was the type of person who mentality replied to text messages only to realize days late that she never actually typed the message and pressed send.
She was in the process of responding to a text message that had just come through when she got an incoming call from Kory.
“Yo, what’s up sis?”
“Hello? Yo, where you at? It’s mad loud.”
“I bought Kenzie, to this Coney Island thing. It’s packed out here.”
“Nigga, why you didn’t hit Nadj and me. We about to pull up,” Kory insisted.
Sym quickly shut her down. “Just wanted a little mommy, kid time with my girl,” Sym replied.
“Oh, okay. I see. Nadj and I not cool enough to hang with you cool kids. Whatever, though. I was just calling to see what you were up to, have fun. I’ll see you tomorrow at the office?”
Sym laughed at her sister’s cool kid line before replying, “Most definitely. Tomorrow is back to business as usual.”
They shared a few more words before saying their goodbyes. By the time Sym looked up from her phone, Mitch and Kenzie had made it to the front of the line. She was excited to see how her baby would react to being on the ride and at the same time a little salty that she wasn’t sharing McKenzie’s first ride experience with her. However, the look on her baby's face made her heart smile.
“Ahh, Kenz!” Sym called out as the ride rolled passed her. She couldn’t fight the urge any longer. She pulled her phone out and waited for their car to come around again, before snapping a picture of them. It was truly a Kodak moment.
The ride had come to an end, and Mitch and Kenzie had joined Sym.
“She was smiling so hard on that thing,” Sym stated while going through her phone to the picture she took. “Look, I got a picture.” She moved her phone closer to him to see. He stared at the picture for a moment. And there it was again, Michelle’s features all over McKenzie’s face. He brushed it off by laughing.
“I knew she would like it. Send me that picture,” he instructed, and Sym didn’t hesitate to do so.
After strapping McKenzie back into her stroller, they walked around in search of another ride to get on with her. Ten rides later, McKenzie was over it and slumped in her stroller as if she had just got home from work. Sym and Mitch weren’t ready to leave yet so they walked the boardwalk until they found a secluded area on the beach and took a seat in the sand.
“So, tell me Ms. Symphony, what’s your plans for the future?” Mitch picked her brain.
Sym shrugged. No one has ever asked her that question before.
“Life is short, Mitch. I’m really just here living until my time expires. The only plan I have is to be the best mother to my baby, that I possibly can.”
“No wedding plans, plans for more kids, none of that?”
“Nah. I don’t think any of that is in the cards for me,” she admitted.
“Give yourself more credit, Sym. You deserve all that and more, why sell yourself short?”
She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m not the relationship type. I can’t even maintain a friendship with you, what makes you think I’m fit to be a wife?”
She had a point there.
“And why is that?”
“Why is what?”
“Why can’t you maintain a friendship with me?”
“I don’t know how. I’ve never really had to do this. I mean I did, but not in my adult life. It’s all new to me.” She had said more than wanted to.
“Give it a shot. Not even it, give me a shot.”
“Isn’t that, what I’m doing?” She smirked.
Mitch moved swiftly, lying Sym on her back and climbing on top of her. He stared deep into her eyes before leaning down and kissing her lips.
“This is you giving me a shot?”
Sym nodded while silently inviting him to give her more. His kisses were electrifying. He read between her silence and went it to give her another kiss. This time, he titled his head to the side and planted a kiss on her neck. He trailed down toward her breast that was a little exposed in the crop to she wore. He stopped abruptly and sat up, leaving Sym panting and yearning for more.
“Come on; it ’s getting a little chilly and I definitely don’t want Kenz out late and shit.”
Sym shook her head but remained silent. She waited for Mitch stand up before reaching out her hand so that he could pull her up. When he did, he spun her around to dust of her shirt and get the sand out of her curly mane. He slid his hands down to her booty and dusted the sand off but not without giving her a quick booty massage.
“You’re not slick,” Sym grinned while turning around to face him.
He pulled her into him and aggressively shoved his tongue into her mouth. She welcomed it and wrapped her arms around his neck while leaning deeper into his kiss.
He pulled away and held her in place. “Give us a shot.”
Symphony turned her head to the side. Knowing she should have said no, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. “I don’t want titles. I like this, the way we are. I’m good with this,” stated.
“I can do this, for now.” Mitch agreed before giving her left butt cheek a squeeze and slapping it. “Let’s get up out of here.”
Chapter Thirteen
“What the hell has had you so tied up? Nigga’s don’t see you or hear from you unless it’s here,” Kory, scolded her sister, as she walked into the bunker where they were scheduled to meet with Carter about the new information he came up with in regards to Omere’s situation.
“Just spending time with McKenzie. I told ya’ll I felt like I been neglecting my baby and pushing her off on Laverne. I don’t want to be one of those mothers,” Sym state, telling only half of the story.
Yes, she had spent the last two weeks with McKenzie but left out the fact that they were accompanied by Mitch. The mystery man Nadja and Kory had yet to learn about. It would remain that way for as long as Sym could keep them separate. She had already let down her guard enough with Mitch. Introducing him to Kory and Nadj was like asking him to marry her, in Sym’s mind.
“I want to spend some time with my niece,” Kory added.
“Cut it out, Kory. You know all you have to do is call me and say you’re coming to pick her up, and she’s all yours. Stop it.”
Kory agreed, “Well that’s true.”
“What’s up with this Carter dude?” Nadja added. She sensed that it was something Sym wasn’t tell her but kept quiet. She knew her best friend like she knew herself. Eventually, Sym would turn to Nadja and tell her about whatever was really going on. That’s the way it always happened.
“He contacted me and said he had exactly what I needed. So, let’s see if he comes through. I’m over this back and forth with him. If he doesn’t have anything valuable today, I’m putting that nigga to sleep. Waste of fucking air,” Sym spat.
“I’m surprised you didn’t end that nigga after the shit that went down back home,” Kory offered her piece.
“If I would have, who would be helping us right now?” Sym retorted.
There was a method to everything she did. Kory, for one, should have known that by then.
There was a double tap on the steel door. It was Cree and Jah’s way of letting them know that their guest had arrived. All of them focused their attention on the door, just as it opened and Carter walked into the room.
“Hello,” he greeted them all. Sym held her hand up, halting whatever he planned on saying next.
“What do you have for us?” She got right to it.
Carter pulled a chair out and took a seat although he wasn’t instructed to do so. He placed a thick manila envelope on the table before speaking.
“Okay, Kyle reached out to one of his old buddies at the Bureau. He needs him to look into some guy named…” Carter paused before pulling papers out of
the envelope and scanning the contents. “Omere, he needed him to look into a guy named Omere. Apparently a young lady had been arrested in connection with Kyle’s disappearance, so his friend was inquisitive and rightfully so. Kyle ended up giving his location and pieces of his plan. He’s staying in Cabo’s, at a beach home owned by his parents. Their names are listed here. He’s with a young lady, by the name of Semaj. He plans to come back to the states, but he needed the woman, uhh Chasity, out of the way while he took care of the Omere guy.”
Carter had actually come through, and Symphony was every bit of impressed. She was more so happy that she could get Omere off her back. He was applying pressure for results because he girlfriend was sitting in jail behind something she had absolutely nothing to do with. They now had all the information they needed to get her out and take care of Omere’s, Kyle problems. He could consider the case closed.
“Thank you,” Nadja stated after realizing Sym wasn’t going to thank him for his services. What Symphony did do instead, shocked them. She pulled an envelope out from her purse and slid it across the table in Carters direction.
“What’s this?” He questioned,
“It’s the least I could do. Have a good day. Also, go see your boy,” Sym instructed.
Carter made an exit without sharing any more words with the ladies. He left behind the envelope and it’s contents. Sym grabbed the envelope and rose to her feet.
“I’ll be right back,” she stated before leaving the room with the envelope tucked underneath her arm. She made her way to the armory, and after punching in the code on the keypad, she was granted entry. She felt around on the shelf on the left side of the door, for the burner phone she had stashed there. Once her hand come in contact with it, she took it down and scrolled to Omere’s number.
“What’s good?” He answered.
Sym quickly relayed every bit of details Carter gave her to Omere.
“Good, fucking look! You don’t know how good it is to hear this news man. I gotta get my girl outta the pound, man.”
“We’ll have him to you within a week. Just gotta put together a quick plan to get him back here.”
“Nah, ya’ll did enough. Ya’ll really came through for me, man. I got it from here. I’ll hit N up and schedule a time to drop off the rest of the money and to pick up the info you have.”
Sym was shocked, “You sure?”
“Hell yea. I told you the hard part was catching up with him. I could definitely handle the rest. And yo, S you definitely did earn that title niggas calling you in the streets.”
Sym chuckled, “Nice doing business with you, O.”
They said their goodbyes and she ended the call before placing the phone back on the shelf and headed back to the other room to fill Kory and Nadja in on the conversation she had with Omere.
__
Mitch had just ended a call that added to the stress he was under that day. It was one of the toughest days of the year for him; Mike’s birthday. His mood was shot. Not only did he have a little spat he had with Keisha earlier that day on his mind, the conversation he had with one of his brother’s old workers was weighing heavy on him. Mitch hated to be reminded that too much time had passed for him to now have the head of the person who killed his brother. He knew how much time had lapsed. Every day, he thought about avenging his brother’s death. Shit just wasn’t panning out to be as easy as he expected it to be.
That day all he wanted to do was face a bottle of Henny and smoke a few blunts in remembrance of the life his brother lived. He thought he had done a good job of preparing himself not the mourn. He had done enough of that. He wanted to celebrate Mike’s life and continue his pursuit in finding his killer. It didn’t matter to Mitch how long it took, all that mattered was that he caught the person and he knew eventually he would.
The knock on his door caught his attention. He knew it had to be Niem or Nino because the desk wouldn’t allow anyone else up without his knowledge. He pulled himself up from the couch and made his way to the door. He opened it and was pleasantly surprised to see Symphony and the shock showed on his face.
“Oh, surprised to see me, huh?”
He pulled her into him and buried his head in her neck. He inhaled her scent before kissing her neck and pulling her inside.
“You all on me but I had to pop up to get your attention? Haven’t heard from you all day.” Sym caught herself sounding like a nagging girlfriend. She hated that, but she did want to know why she didn’t hear from him all day when he clearly was at home doing nothing.
“I know, I was going hit you, Sym. A nigga just having a fucked up day.”
She could see in his eyes that something was bothering him. She didn’t want to add to whatever it was, so she switched the direction the conversation was headed in.
“You want to talk about it?”
He shook his head, “Not really.”
“Okay, we don’t have to.”
“How much free time you have?” He questioned as they walked to the living room.
“How long you want me here? I got out of work early, and Kory is picking Kenz up from my house and keeping her for the night.”
“Stay the night then.”
Sym knew that was out. She didn’t mind sticking around until he went to bed, though.
“You ate?”
“Nah, I don’t really have an appetite right now.”
“Mitch, you have to eat something. Later, you going to be complaining about a headache. Let me go see what you have in here to cook.” She got up and stalked to the kitchen before he could protest.
Sym wasn’t the domestic type at all but could chef up a basic meal or two. She had no choice but to learn to feed her and Kory on the nights where her parents didn’t communicate who was making dinner for the girls; she had to step up and handle it.
Luckily, Mitch had the basic necessities. He had a pack of drumsticks that she figured she could throw in the oven. She wasn’t big on fried food, so he had to settle for baked chicken. Like every household, he had a canister of rice and tons of canned vegetables. Baked chicken, rice, and corn had to do. It may have been a basic meal, but it was going to be tasty. She washed her hands before prepping everything and cleaning the chicken. She searched each cabinet until she found where he kept his seasoning. After seasoning the chicken and throwing it in the oven, she looked for something she could put together as a dessert. Baking was something she was much better at and enjoyed more than cooking a regular meal. Mitch had a box of red velvet cake which was her fav, so she pulled it down and prepped that to make it.
Two hours later, Sym emerged from the kitchen with a plate stacked with food and a bottle of Henny in her other hand. She knew that was his drink of choice and with the way he was feeling, it was probably needed.
“Walah,” she stated as she walked to where he sat on the couch. She placed the plate and the bottle on the table in front of him. “At you not even coming in the kitchen to keep me company,” she playfully slapped him before sitting down beside him.
“Yo, good lucking, Sym.” Mitch leaned forward and picked up his plate.
“You wan…” She fell silent once he started blessing his food.
He lifted his head up and opened his eyes, “Amen. What were you about to say?”
“I was going to ask you if you wanted me to roll a blunt for you.”
He bust out laughing before shoving a forkful of food into his mouth.
“You know how to roll?”
“Don’t talk with food in your mouth. And nah, but I’ll try. I just want you to cheer up,” she admitted.
“You don’t gotta roll for me, beloved. This is good enough for me. Thank you, again.”
“No problem.” She reached for the remote and went straight to the menu. He had a smart TV in his living room, so she was looking for the Netflix app.
“How you knew I had Netflix?” He questioned.
She shrugged, “All real niggas have Netflix, Mitch.”
“
That’s a new one.”
“So, you telling me you don’t be inviting bitches over for Netflix and chill.”
“Nah, I don’t have time for that. If I’m fucking, I’m fucking and you the only female besides my sister and my moms, that’s been to my crib. Ain’t no Netflix and chill in my spot with these hoes.”
Sym smiled on the inside at the revelation that she was the chosen one who was welcomed in his humble abode. She couldn’t settle on something to watch and decided on a documentary that was about the life of Pablo Escobar.
“Why you just didn’t put on Narcos?” Mitch inquired.
“I saw the whole thing already. Wanted to catch something new.”
“Oh, aight.”
Mitch went back to devouring his food while Sym kicked off her heels, pulled her legs into her chest and got comfortable on the couch beside him. She was all into the show and didn’t realize how Mitch stared at her every few minutes.
“Oh, yea, I made red velvet cake too. It’s on the counter,” she spoke with her eyes still glued to the screen.
Sym had never sold any type of drug a day in her life, but the lifestyle intrigued her. She had got a taste for it when she was with Derrick, but he was nowhere near the level Pablo Escobar was on. Maybe he could have gotten there if his life wasn’t cut down so soon.
“That shit was hitting, Sym.”
She looked over at him, “You want me to get you a piece of cake?”
“Yea, but not that Red Velvet shit.”
He stood up and pulled her up to him.
“Meet me in the room,” He instructed.
Sym spun on her heels and ran to his room. Mitch powered the TV, pick up his dish, and carried it to the kitchen. He grew up not being able to leave a dish in the sink. His moms would spazz if she came in and it was even a fork in there, so, he automatically was programmed to wash his dish. Sym had already cleaned all the dishware she used to cook, so once he was done with his plate and fork, he was able to meet her in the bedroom.
“Oh, we had the same thing on our brain?” Mitch questioned after walking in on Sym on his bed butt ass naked with her ass in the air.
Street Symphony: A Tainted Love Story Page 11