by Kareem
“Right.”
“You don’t have to call me Killa Korey. Just Korey, that’s fine.”
“Oh, okay, my husband didn’t tell me that.” She smiled. “Well, Kooooorey,” she said, stretching my name, “you know my sister is downstairs waiting on you, right?”
“She is?”
“Mm-hmm.” She nodded. “She’s taking you to the mall.”
“Ay, Korey, c’mere,” Hammer yelled, interrupting his wife talking to me.
I walked into his bedroom with his wife not too far behind me. “What’s up?”
“C’mere a minute. I got something for you.” Hammer motioned with his hand for me to come over to the bar. As I walked over, I saw him retrieve something from the same drawer he’d handed me the twenty Gs from. “I forgot to give you this. This is your phone. Please, man, whatever you do, don’t go anywhere in this city without it. I gotta be able to keep contact with you, you feel me? At all times.”
“I gotcha.”
“Only my wife, KeKe, and I have your number. Speaking of KeKe—”
“I know,” I cut him off. “She’s downstairs waiting on me. Your wife told me already.”
“Precisely, my nigga. She’s gonna take you shopping, which I know you can’t wait to do.”
“Hell yeah. I gotta get out of these prison threads and boots.”
“Well, you got enough loot to buy whatever you want. You heard me? So do you, yo. My wife and I will be taking care of some biz while y’all doing that.”
“Cool. But peep this, Ham, we got to have a serious talk.”
“’Bout what, K?”
“What you’re into. Man, it’s too much, too fast. I don’t like it.”
“Man, K. Forget about that for now. We’ll talk about it later. Just go have yourself a ball shopping, my nig. And look, yo, I love you, man. Nothing means more to me right now than you being home and us being together, living like we supposed to. Like kings! I don’t see nothing else right now. Nothing, my nigga!”
“I hear you. But, like I said, I ain’t ever going back to the joint. I hate that fucking place. So I plan to snail pace every move I make.”
“Nothing wrong with taking it slow. You know I feel you, K. Now, fuck what I’m into right now and go have yourself a ball at the mall! And I’ll see you and Ke when y’all return.”
Chapter 5
Shopping
Keisha drove me to South Park Mall. She talked to Kolanda damn near the whole way there while I listened to my man Stevie Wonder.
I must’ve blown at least five stacks while shopping. I bought all type of Jordan sneaks and matching Jordan Retro II herringbone jackets with the Jordan Retro II pants. I bought Timberland boots, the latest jeans and white tees, and a black leather quarter-length coat that tied at the waist.
“Now that really looks good on you, Korey,” Keisha complimented me when she saw me try on that black leather coat and pop the collar.
“What about this?” I tried on an all-black nylon Adidas sweat suit with the black old-school shell-toe Adidas, Run-D.M.C. style.
“Hell yeah!” Keisha said, nodding her head. “Try the money green one on with the white stripes and the matching green Adidas. Not the money green leather shell-toe ones. The suede green Adidas with the white stripes,” she said. Keisha had an eye for style.
“You like this money green one, Keisha?” I tried it on for her to see me in it as she recommended. When she saw me in that money green, her facial expression changed. Her eyes squinted, and she bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head slowly like she was thinking something freaky. “Let’s go before all the girls who work here be throwing their panties at you!” She reached for my arm to lead me out like I was her man.
“You crazy, Ke,” I told her, smiling. “Keisha, peep this,” I said, gently placing my arm around her neck. Keisha is a shorty, like five feet five inches. I’m six feet two inches. “If you had a li’l girl, what would you get her for Christmas?” I asked, thinking of my daughter, Olivia, and seeing that it was near that time of the year. Christmas regalia was being displayed and hanging everywhere inside this mall. And Christmas carols were being played in every department store we entered.
“What do you mean by li’l girl? I mean, how old is she?”
“Thirteen.”
“Thirteen? I don’t know, Korey. Some money. Just give her some money.”
“Some money?”
“Yeah, that way you won’t be disappointed if you brought her something that she could do without! Girls are different these days than they were prior to you getting locked up. You never know what they want, Korey.”
“You got a point.”
“However, some jewelry wouldn’t hurt. Girls love jewelry. And, guess what?”
“What’s that?”
“There’s a Kay Jewelers store right there.” She pointed ahead of us. We walked toward that store. While on our way, I took notice of a Victoria’s Secret store. I saw European and chocolate mannequins in the window dressed in some sexy lingerie, which I loved seeing a woman in.
“Hold up a minute, Keisha. Let’s step inside VS a minute. I need to grab something for someone special.”
“Really, Korey?” Keisha suddenly gave me this jealous look.
“Yeah. Watch my bags a minute while I holla at VS personal.”
“Wow, she that special?”
“I think she is.” I kept it real. I went and made my purchase and we bounced. But Keisha put on like she didn’t want to move all of a sudden, seeing that I made a purchase for a woman.
“Yo, c’mere with your pretty self.” I pulled her close to me like we’d been intimately involved for years. “Why you curling your eyes all up at me and frowning like you mad at me? You a’ight? I just had to get a present for someone. It’s all good, ma. Don’t be making that pretty face of yours frown like that.”
“I hear you. She must be really special for you to have it packaged with a nice red bow on top of the box!”
“She is.”
She pushed me when I said that and she rolled her eyes at me. I put my arm back around her neck, and we walked into the jewelry store like girlfriend and boyfriend.
Keisha picked out a nice sky blue tennis bracelet for my daughter. Sky blue was her favorite color. I dropped $788 on that bracelet for her.
“I hope she likes it, Keisha,” I said to her as we wrapped our shopping up and stepped out of Kay.
“Oh, I’m sure she will. Told you, girls love jewelry.”
“Excuse me but, if you’re wrong, Korey gon’ spank you.”
“Oooo, boy, don’t say that. Hell, I might like it.” She looked at me all sexy-like, biting her bottom lip.
“I bet you would,” I shot back. I then smacked her on the booty, but not too hard. It was soft and wiggled in my hand.
* * *
“Dayum, K. You and Ke back already, my nig?” Hammer looked up and saw Keisha and me entering his bedroom, where he and his wife were at the bar counting more money than I’d ever seen.
“Yep. And I can finally get out of them prison clothes. Never to put them on again!”
“I know that’s right, Korey,” Hammer’s wife said, smiling and counting money.
Then Hammer looked at Keisha and said, “Ke, count the rest of this money for me with Kolanda while I holla at Korey about something important, will you?”
“You gon’ pay me?” Keisha put one hand on her hip and held out the other hand, palm up.
Hammer sucked his teeth and playfully pushed Keisha at her shoulder. “Stop tripping before I body slam you up in here in front of Korey.”
“Yeah, right. Whateva.”
I laughed along with Hammer’s wife. “I know, Korey. They a trip. They stay at it,” Hammer’s wife said, shaking her head while counting mad loot.
Hammer wrapped his arms around Keisha quickly in a bear hug fashion.
“Kolanda, will you get your husband!” she said, while Hammer had her up in the air, squeezing her.
“Ham, please leave her alone so we can get this done.”
Hammer put her down. He stuck his chest out and spread his arms. “I’m the man up in here!”
“Whateva! You ain’t nothing but a big kid!” Keisha said, then went to help her sister finish counting the money.
“Peep this, though, Korey.” Hammer placed his arm over my shoulder and walked me into the same room he had walked me into earlier, the room with the safe in the closet. “You can shower and dress after this, because you, me, my wife, and Keisha going out to eat later. Shit, it only a quarter after ten,” Hammer said, looking at his watch. “We got plenty of time. Check this out. Guess what just happened, my nig?”
“What’s that?” I gave Hammer my undivided attention.
“Just had to put a nigga in serious check.”
“’Bout what, yo?”
“Looking at Kolanda all sideways.”
“Word?”
“On my solid. Pulled my burner and everything!”
“What happened?”
“She and I had to handle some business over on the west side, Burger King off Freedom Drive, you feel me? While inside handling my biz and shit, a nigga looks at my babe and shit, seeing me with her, and was like, ‘Dayum, that bitch got a fat ass!’ That’s when I looked at this cat and was like, ‘Nigga, what the fuck you say about my wife’s ass?’”
“Word up, Ham? I know you blanked on that cat,” I said. Like me back in the day, Hammer had a quick temper and would pull his burner and shoot someone for trying to play him for a sucka. I saw his temper hadn’t changed.
“Before I knew it, my burner was at this cat’s head! ‘Bitch-ass nigga, I will split your fuckin’ coconut for disrespecting my wife!’ I told him. He cowered down and apologized. I was so close to shooting that nigga, though, bruh.”
“Man, these cats out here bold like that now, yo?”
“This one was. Until I fuckin’ put the fear of God in his bitch ass!”
“Man, I gotta be seriously careful. Especially if I’m out with Keisha. Cats was checking her out tonight at the mall, though. Can’t blame ’em, either. Hell, she stack like that! Long as cats don’t say or do something out the way.”
“Yo, dawg, them girls got onions!” Hammer exclaimed, referring to Keisha’s and his wife’s bodies.
“And bell peppers!” We both laughed. “Check this, though, Hammer. What’s with Keisha?” I whispered.
“What’chu mean?” He shrugged his shoulders and looked toward the door.
“Man, she started tripping on me in the mall!”
“About what, dawg?”
“I went and bought something out of Victoria’s Secret. And she put on like she was jealous.”
“She’s that type, K. Real sensitive, my nig. She been hurt. Told you that already, though.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t elaborate.”
“I’ma get around to telling you about it. But Keisha was fuckin’ with a white cat. An attorney like her. He probably was the first to suck her pussy and fuck her. Had her head spinning and shit, feel me? She busted his ass in his office kissing and making out with his secretary and shit.”
“What?” I responded in disbelief and shock. As fine and sweet as Keisha is, how could any man mistreat her?
“She’s still scared behind that shit, man. You gotta be real easygoing and shit with her. She good people, though, K.”
“I can see that. Check this, though, Ham. This cat you pulled your burner on, you think we’ll see him again?” I began to slightly worry. “You know Charlotte ain’t but so big. I would hate for us to be in the city and run into somebody we got beef with.” I told Hammer that because I was the type who liked to handle my business right where it started, so that I wouldn’t have to be confronted with it again. I knew Hammer was the same way.
“He had an out-of-town license plate. We won’t see him again. The nigga was so shook, he couldn’t wait to get on about his business. If we do happen to see this cat again, he better not even look my way. I’ll drop his ass on the spot!”
“Yo, it’s crazy out here.” I shook my head, feeling where Hammer was coming from. “I’ma take my shower and get out of these prison clothes, Hammer,” I told him.
“A’ight, K. Do that. Holla when you get yourself together.” We heard someone coming up the stairs. Hammer peeped out, then said in nearly a whisper, “Here comes Keisha. I’ll holla at’cha.”
“Oh, hey, Ke. What’s up?”
“You left your bags downstairs. So I decided to bring them up for you.”
“Thanks, Ke. Got caught up talking to my brother.” I took the bags from her hand.
“No problem,” she said, then turned to leave.
“Wait. This is for you.” I handed her the gift I bought from Victoria’s Secret.
“The Victoria’s Secret box? It’s mine? Are you serious?” She grabbed it, smiling. “You bought this for me?”
“Of course I did. Open it.”
She opened her gift: a hot pink upper-thigh-length nightie with SEXY written in white in big cursive letters across the breast area.
“Ohhh,” she said softly, holding it up for viewing. “Thank you, Korey. You didn’t have to do this.” She gave me a hug.
“You’re welcome. You got another one in there.”
“I seeeee.” This one was royal purple with pink cursive letters that read SPECIAL. “I really appreciate this, Korey. Thank you.” She hugged me again with watery eyes.
“I know that I don’t know you like that personally, Keisha. But I do know enough to know that you’re special. And I would be a cold-blooded liar if I didn’t tell you that you’re sexy. You got that one hands down!”
“You so crazy!” She showed all her pearly whites and playfully backhanded my shoulder.
“I’m serious, ma. You really are.”
“You gon’ make me cry, boy.”
“And you gon’ make me take a cold shower.” I looked her up and down as if searching for a flaw on this perfectly fashioned body of a goddess of a woman. From her cute face to her voluptuous breasts, small waist, curvy hips on down, she was a gift for sore eyes to behold. She was flawless.
“Well, I’ll let you shower now. Bye.” She waved her hand at me, then turned to leave. My eyes went straight to that soft, luscious booty of hers. She looked back and caught me checking it out. She cracked a smile and shook her head.
Chapter 6
You Fly
Having showered and gotten dressed, I felt so much better and free now that I was out of those prison-issued clothes. I was rocking a money green satin Adidas suit with the white stripes and matching green shell-toe Adidas sneaks with white stripes. I was smelling like the manly aroma of Eternity for Men.
“Yeah, nigga, you fly,” Hammer said, stepping in unannounced as I was getting myself together.
“What up, bruh?” I turned from checking myself out in the mirror to acknowledge his presence.
“Chillin’,” Hammer replied. “A nigga see you still love that old-school shit,” he said, referring to my outfit and sneaks.
“For sho you know me.”
“Like the back of my hand.” Hammer bent over and, with his finger, wiped his white Air Force Ones, which complemented his saggin’ dark blue jeans and button-down shirt, which was white with blue and light gray stripes.
“Speaking of me being fly tonight, you shinning yourself!” I told him. Hammer resembled comedian and actor Chris Rock! He had brown skin and was six feet two inches. He was slim and rocking a low cut with a sharp edge up. We both had our hair cut short. Mine just had waves all in it.
“Well, you know, li’l some-somethin’,” Hammer popped his collar and walked directly over to me with thug swag. “Peep this before you get ready to bounce.”
“What’s up?” I leaned my ear toward his mouth as if he was about to tell a secret.
“My nigga, you done fucked Keisha’s head all up!”
“What make you say that, dawg?”
“The gift you brought her. She’s in my bedroom now, showing it to my wife, cheesing from ear to ear! Her ass love surprises! The good ones.”
“Word, yo?” I smiled, glad that I had made her day with the gift I purchased for her.
“Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talking about, Korey! Man, listen, since Keisha’s ex-boyfriend broke her heart, she hasn’t been herself. So to see her smiling makes me feel good.”
“What do you mean by she hasn’t been the same? Dude messed her up like that, yo?”
“She just be doing a lot of crazy stuff with me when her and my wife aren’t working on cases and shit.”
“Like what?”
“Drinking and even blowing blunts with a nigga. She’s not really the drinking and smoking type.”
“Shorty probably depressed, that’s all. She’ll snap out of it.”
“It’s crazy because every time she gets drunk, she get into her feelings and start crying over what that cracka did to her! And between you and me, my nigga . . .” Hammer paused and got real close to me. He lowered his voice and said, “She wants me to fuck this cat up, K.”
“Damn, her heart ain’t nothing to play with,” I said in response, shaking my head.
“Nah, it isn’t.”
“So you’re gonna see this cat?”
“In due time I will. Besides that, Keisha is just like her sister. One of the best chicks you’ll ever meet. That’s why, Korey, I couldn’t wait for you to come home so that the two of you could click up! I mean, that’s if you’re not planning on getting back with your daughter’s mom. I know that was your heart and shit before we left the streets. You were crazy in love with her. You two still in love, K?”
I shook my head. “Man, believe it or not, I haven’t heard from Shamika in a while.”
“You kidding.” Hammer looked at me, surprised. He knew the love Shamika and I had was strong. She and I were together every single day and night when I wasn’t in the streets hustling. She and I grew up in the same neighborhood and were dating way before I thought about putting drugs in my hands and getting all into the streets. She was the one person who always told me she didn’t like what I was doing, but I continued hustling anyway.