Addicted to a Dirty South Thug

by Shan

  Me: Man, when all this shit over and done with, I’ma need a fat-ass nut.

  Send

  Me: I know I don’t really talk to you much about what’s going on out here, but it’s real, man. I’m stressed out, baby. These niggas trying to kill my brother, and I need to find him, and I’m out here just trying to save him. Somewhere along the lines, we fucked up when bringing him up. Don’t nobody else wanna look out for that nigga ’cause he always messing up, but I feel like I have to. Who else gonna do it? That’s my brother, you know . . .

  Send

  Me: I need to be able to come home to you and Skylarr at night. Get them thoughts about being done with me out your head

  Send.

  After I sent Cuba a few text messages, I pulled up into the parking lot of the North Park Mall and got out of the car. I knew that I was being followed after I seen three of the same cars that was just parked out front at my house pull in and park as well. I had sent Dae a text message, letting him know to meet me in one of the dressing rooms at Neiman Marcus. I had also told Tramell to drop his keys off to the lost and found and let them know that Dae was going to be picking them up.

  Heading inside of Neiman Marcus, I looked around at the suits and ties, checking out a few of my favorites before I decided on a three-piece set that was a light blue color. I found an associate and had her point me in the direction of the dressing room. I thanked the lady, and once she left, I made sure I wasn’t being watched before I searched the stalls for Dae. I found him with his head resting against the mirror and his eyes closed. He was rocking a hood that hid his dreadlocks and damn near covered his face.

  “What’s up? You good?” I asked him as I locked the door and stood over him.

  “How is Amber and Little Dae?” Daelan asked me, and I nodded.

  “They’re good. Amber is gonna pull through. Fucked up you left her hanging like that.”

  “My bad,” was all he said, and I shook my head.

  I pulled a few bands of money from the inside of my jacket and dropped them in Dae’s lap. I then took my pistol and handed it over to him.

  “’Preciate it.”

  “Them niggas is around. Tamar just left my house looking for your ass, and they followed me here. I need you to do your best, though, to get the fuck out of dodge.”

  “Where’s Cuba?”

  “She’s at Tangie’s. Why?” I frowned.

  “You trust her?”

  “I’m still getting to know her, but I’m hoping that I will be able to grow to trust her.”

  “I think I have a son. My son.”

  “What the fuck is you talking about?”

  “I’m tired, bro. My mind has been going nonstop since I’ve been six years old, and I just can’t seem to slow it down. I’m so fucking tired,” Dae said, and I sighed.

  “I wish you had talked to me and told me what’s going on with you. I know something is up.”

  “Something has been up since forever, but niggas just now trying to take the time to notice, so I’m good now.”

  Dae stood up and was face-to-face with me. I pulled him in for a hug, and he let out a deep sigh. Part of me wished that I could take on his struggles and live that shit out for him so he didn’t have to. My brothers meant the world to me, and seeing any of them in fucked-up situations did something to a nigga.

  “I love you, bro,” I told him, and he nodded.

  “I know. I’m sorry,” he said as he broke down crying.

  Chapter 26

  Daelan

  I waited and waited in the dressing room after Khi left, until I knew the sun had gone down, before trying to get out and leave. I had gotten jammed up earlier that day after trying to take a piss at a gas station. My dumb ass was so fuckin’ tired and out of it that I left my money and my pistol, thinking because I wasn’t gonna be gone long that everything would be good. I came out to find a few of the goonies that be rocking with Tamar sniffing around my car like some damn animals. I ended up hopping over a gate that was behind the gas station and running until I was blocks away. It took me to walk a few more blocks before I was able to find a bus stop that took me to the mall.

  I didn’t know where I was going to end up, but there was something that I had to do before I figured it out. I couldn’t get that little boy that I had seen with Cuba out of my mind. I had thought about him all night and had even followed Rue and Cuba out to a nice little neighborhood in Oak Cliff, where they dropped him off. I didn’t know what the fuck Rue was doing with that little boy, but I knew I wasn’t crazy. I knew what I felt in my heart for him, and I had never even met him. It was what I tried for years to feel with Little Daelan, but I could never get that type of connection with him. I knew I would never be able to move on and leave without figuring this shit out. I had to see if that little boy belonged to me.

  I tapped on the door where I had seen Rue take Cuba to, and I placed my hand over the peephole. I could hear light footsteps from the inside, and then, I heard the blinds moving in the window. I kept my head down, knowing that if she knew it was me, she wasn’t going to open the door.

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  “Ma’am, was this your ID sitting out here on the ground? It was sitting in front of your door,” I said, doing my best to disguise my voice. “It says Cuba.... It’s so dark out here I can’t even see the last name.”

  It took a few long-ass seconds, and I was thinking I was just gonna have to kick this bitch down to get the answers I needed, but the locks unlatched, and the door cracked open. Soon as Cuba looked me in the face, she tried to close the door, but I pushed it back and maneuvered my way inside. She backed away from me as I closed and locked the door behind me.

  “You can’t tell me that it’s a coincidence that you just start talking to my brother. What, you come thinking you was gonna use him to get back at me or something?” I asked her.

  She stared up at me before her eyes began to wander around the room. “I don’t know what the fuck you talking about, Dae. You need to leave. Tangie will be here any minute. She just went out to get food.”

  “I don’t give a damn about no Tangie, and you know what the fuck I’m talking about. You was there that night! Don’t fuckin’ lie to me! You using my brother to get to me! You trying to pay me back for killing your trifling-ass sister that night, huh? What the fuck was you gonna do, rat me out to the police, kill me? What the fuck was you gonna do? What, you and that nigga Rue plotting on some payback-type shit or something? Everything that happened to Alaska that night, that bitch deserved it. I knew I should’ve killed your ass too,” I yelled.

  Cuba’s eyes bucked as tears began to fall down her face. “You did that to her?” she asked as she broke down.

  I was beginning to wonder if she really didn’t know who the fuck I was. The shock that displayed on her face was evident, and I didn’t give a damn; there wasn’t an actor alive that could act out the way she was reacting to what I’d just said. That shit was real. Shorty had real live tears. I scratched my head and sighed. I leaned back against the front door and pulled a blunt from behind my ear and lit it up.

  Alaska, Alaska, I thought.

  “Is the kid mine?”

  “What?” Cuba’s head popped up, and she looked at me as if it was the first time seeing me. She shook her head and covered her mouth. “You was the one she kept trying to tell me about. It was your baby?”

  “How? She told me she was pregnant the same day I killed that bitch. How the fuck was she able to give birth to my seed?”

  “How could you do that shit to her if you knew she was carrying your baby? Why would you take my sister away from me? Alaska didn’t die that night! She didn’t die until months later, after she gave birth to Bryson Jr. Why would you do that to her?”

  “The fuck you mean Bryson Jr.? She named my kid after that fuck nigga? After the nigga she told me was beating her ass and that she needed my help to get away from him? Had me really believing that she loved a nigga when the whole time, t
hat bitch was setting me up to be robbed. I was gonna let her make it that night, too. I figured she was a rider for her nigga, and I couldn’t do shit but respect that shit. I had a bitch at home and couldn’t even be mad that I got played by that ho, but it really fucked me up to see that ho crying over that nigga like that, ’cause that manipulating-ass ho really had me thinking that she was in love with me. Told my goonies that I couldn’t leave without putting them hollow points in her head. I wanted her to feel my pain.” I chuckled.

  “Something is really wrong with you,” Cuba said as she took off running to the back of the apartment. I chased after her, but she was able to close the door to the bedroom and lock it before I could get to her. I pushed on the door a little before taking my shoulder and popping it open.

  “Your brother is here—” she was able to get out before I snatched the phone from her.

  I punched her in the face and sent her flying across the bed.

  “What the fuck you go and do that shit for? I wasn’t even gonna hurt you! All I wanted to know is if that was my kid, and you gotta go call my brother and put him in this shit!”

  “Get away from me, Dae,” Cuba cried as blood shot from her nose. “I don’t know whose baby it is. Alaska never got the chance to tell me, because you killed her! I didn’t see my nephew until three years later when I got out of jail because of the mess you all created. I don’t know shit about what my sister was doing and who she was doing it with. All I know is that she didn’t have to die. . . . You didn’t have to do her like that. And what if he is your son? You could’ve killed him too!”

  “Take me to see my son,” I told her and reached over and grabbed her by the hair. I turned around, ready to walk out of the room when I was punched in the face. I pointed my gun and tried to pull the trigger, but it was knocked out of my hand right before a bullet went smashing into the wall. I backed up and noticed that it was Khian. He wrapped his hands around my throat and squeezed.

  Looking into his eyes, I could see that he was really fed up with me. I should’ve just left, but damn.

  Alaska, Alaska, I thought as I felt myself slipping out of consciousness.

  She was a vulture for real. I had just turned eighteen years old when I’d met her, and I finally thought I’d met the one that could make me leave Amber. Alaska had me doing any and everything she asked. I was wrapped around her finger, always taking her shopping and buying her expensive-ass gifts, knowing damn well my pockets wasn’t sitting like that just yet.

  We were always laid up in some hotel, sucking and fucking on each other until we would just pass out. It was too many times when I would sit up on the phone with this chick for hours at a fuckin’ time, man, just talking about our future together. I knew she had her little situation with a nigga, but I just didn’t know who he was. She also knew I had a little situation with Amber, but the love and chemistry between us was undeniable. We always talked about making shit official and leaving what we had at home to be together.

  So many times, Alaska claimed to be getting her ass beat and needing a place to run to, and I would always be there. I had seen the bruises on various parts of her body and had never had a reason not to believe her, until Bryson and Rue kicked in the door to the Telly, stuck a gun in my face, and Alaska handed them the keychain to my car that held two keys I was supposed to have dropped off hours earlier.

  I was sick as fuck, knowing my brother was gonna have a fit about that loss. I called up the goonies, Tramell and a nigga named Anston, and we bled every block, looking for them niggas. Word was they had the nerve to stop by the fair like they hadn’t just been on no jackboy shit and riding around with them birds. We waited for their asses, rode them all the way through the South, until we felt like it was the perfect time to pop them. Shit went crazy so fast that I didn’t even get a chance to get my shit back, and I still took an L that night. Me and Amber suffered for three months straight after I had to take every bit of what I saved to replace them bricks.

  Alaska, Alaska, I thought again. She was love, even if it hadn’t been real. She’d given me a son, and it was fucked up that I would never even get a chance to meet him. When I looked back up at my brother, I didn’t see shit. I knew, then, that I was past the point of no return.

  Chapter 27

  Cuba

  Six Weeks Later . . .

  “Hmmm,” I yawned as I rolled over onto my side. I looked at the digital clock next to the bed to see that it was only three in the morning. I had been asleep since around eight o’clock p.m. the previous day. I threw the blanket from my body when Khian grabbed me from behind and pulled me close to him. He kissed on my ear and then rubbed his hand between my legs.

  “Where you think you going?” he asked as he turned me over onto my back and climbed on top of me.

  “Khi, no. I don’t think I can take anymore. Shit, we been going at it since four o’clock yesterday afternoon.”

  “So, who’s keeping up with the time and shit?” Khian joked as he slid himself inside of me.

  “I am, nigga, since I’m the one with the sore pussy. Damn, let a bitch breathe,” I said as Khian slowly stroked in and out of me. I felt myself about to come already, and I threw my head back. “Shit.”

  “Why you about to come if you so tired?” Khian asked, and I closed my eyes and held my breath. “You should have never tried to take my pussy away, and now I can’t get enough of it.”

  “But we been going at it . . . nonstop for two weeks, babe. I’m not going anywhere,” I moaned and wrapped my arms around Khi.

  I had done everything I could to fight this man off, but every minute of the day that I was without him, I found myself having a thought about him. That day at the shop where he hit me, and then finding out that his brother was responsible for killing Alaska, had really put me in a shell where I didn’t want to be bothered with anyone. I wanted to blame Khian as more of a reason to stay away from him. I kept telling myself that it was no way possible that he didn’t know about what Dae had done and that he was probably one of the ones that was in the car, but I knew that wasn’t true.

  Khian had been nonstop with flowers, gifts, showing up to the shop and Tangie’s all the time, and even dropping a set of keys to a new BMW in my lap just to get me to come back to him. I had held out for as long as I could, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. We had so much fun when we were together, whether it was just joking around and kicking back on some food and drinks, taking Skylarr out, or just on some Netflix-and-chill-type shit. I couldn’t quite deter what I felt for Khi just yet, but I knew that what I was feeling for him was something I had never experienced before, not even with Rue. It was like a part of me knew that he would one day be my husband and that we were gonna spend a lifetime together.

  I had really hoped so, too, because I found out that I was pregnant about a week ago with Khi’s baby, and I didn’t even know how to tell him. Every time I thought it was a good time, something would always pop up, making me have to hold off until the next time. His family life was still in an uproar, and Dae was still out there causing problems.

  The night Dae confessed to me that he had killed Alaska and that Bryson Jr. may be his, Khi had almost killed his brother, but he had only choked him long enough for him to pass out. He had Tramell and a few other guys come through, and they were able to get Dae out of town safely. But Dae could never leave well enough alone.

  After him being gone for three weeks, Khi found out that Tamar’s sister ended up leaving and that she was somewhere hiding out with Dae. Tamar was looking high and low for his sister, and Khi for his brother. Business was never the same for Khi, and I could tell that he had finally, finally reached his breaking point with Daelan. I heard him telling someone over the phone that as soon as he got a location on Daelan, he was going to put an end to everything once and for all, like he should’ve done a long time ago. I didn’t know what that meant, but I knew, whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good for Dae. I could tell that the shit was really stressing
Khi out, and I just didn’t want to be the one that added to it. For now, my news could wait until it was the right time.

  “Is there a time limit on when you can fall in love?” I asked Khian after we finished having another round of passion-filled sex. I was laid out on his chest, and he was lighting up a blunt as usual after sex. He said the high he felt after busting a nut, combined with some good hay, had him feeling like all life’s problems had been solved, even if only for a minute.

  “Shit, I don’t know. Why you ask that?” Khi asked, placing the blunt to the tip of his lips.

  “Just wondering if what I feel for you is what I believe it to be.”

  “What you saying? You love a nigga?” Khi asked.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “I feel like I’m living in one of those urban fiction books. Rich dope boy saves poor girl, they fall in love within two weeks, have a bunch of babies, baby mama drama, and a bunch of other shit I be reading about all the time.”

  Khi chuckled. “Yeah, your ass reads all the fuckin’ time, but ain’t shit wrong with that. And ain’t nothing wrong with falling in love quick. If you feel it, you feel it. It’s nothing that you can stop. Look how long you avoided me before you finally let a nigga in. Stop doing that shit and just live, babe. And as far as us having a bunch of babies, that’s gonna happen for sure. I want us to be married first, though. I don’t want what we got to be ruined because we rushed into anything. I know what I feel for you is real, but I’m just trying to learn from past mistakes. I just want us to take our time and let this shit flow. You know.”

  “Yeah . . . I understand,” I said and sighed.

  “You good?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay. Just got a lot on my mind, that’s all.”

  “You just need some rest. I guess I’ll leave you alone and let you sleep. Get you some rest,” Khi said and climbed out of bed. “I got something I want you to see in the morning.”