by Kareem
“I’ll get it.”
“And I want you to get me the full name and address of this Tim fellow. Okay?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And, O, listen to me. You’re twenty-two years old. A grown woman. You can do whatever you wanna do. But, please, never take more than one drink of alcohol outside of the presence of the family, people who love you and have your best interests at heart. You hear me?”
“I hear you, Daddy,” Olivia said, nodding and looking him in the eyes almost in a trance-like state. But she was in deep thought over what Korey was really saying. He was transmitting to her that this world was cold and that no one in it but her family could be trusted to clothe her with the warmth of a real, true, trustworthy love. No boyfriend, no associate, no nothing, but family. And her family consisted of her father, mother, little brother, Uncle Hammer, Aunt Kolanda, Keisha, and her grandmother.
“When do you have to be back at your school?” Korey carried on.
“I’m leaving in a couple hours. Got class in the morning. I’ll be free for the weekend. I just needed you and Mom to know what had happened.”
After making that statement, her phone rang. She checked it. It was David. “This him right here, Dad.”
“Answer it, but don’t act mad or anything. Pretend all is well.”
She answered and began talking to him. Korey walked outside, but he was so upset over the thought that someone had dared to take advantage of his daughter that all he could seem to think of was doing something very, very devious and brutal to the parties involved.
Seeing a look of serious anger written all over Korey’s face, which he was trying his best to conceal, Shamika left KJ to continue watering the flowers while she walked over to Korey who was just standing on her porch, chewing on his bottom lip, nose flared and hitting his fist in his palm.
“So what you think about what happened to O?” Shamika asked softly, standing in front of Korey and placing her hand gently on his shoulder.
“I think somebody is in grave trouble. That’s what I think. And I don’t think you should have told her that she should have called the police.”
“Why not? It’s their job to handle criminal matters, Korey.”
“It’s our job to take care of our daughter. Don’t nobody love her like we love her. Not the cops. Nobody!”
“Taking care of her is one thing. Doing something stupid is another. The cops don’t have to love her to do what they have been hired to do, Korey. Protect and serve those who have been harmed and those in harm’s way. Are you serious right now?”
“Protect and serve? Yeah, right. Give me a break, Mika. Our daughter was violated, simply put, by two cats who, in their pursuit to get their rocks off, used her as sport. What father you know would allow guys to do that to his daughter and get away with it? Huh?”
“Getting the cops involved is not letting them get away with what they did, Korey. The cops will do something about it.”
“You keep talking about the cops, Mika. Okay, they’re gonna come ask a few questions, take a damn report, then they’re gonna maybe arrest the guys, and that’s a big damn maybe. Because where is the evidence of rape?”
“Olivia said there’s a video.”
“That will be the first thing those guys get rid of. Then what? Our daughter gon’ be made to look real stupid. I know the system, Mika. That’s why I told O a long time ago that if something ever happened to her to call you, me, or her uncle Hammer, no exceptions. Now, law enforcement has its place, but that’s my daughter in there who was violated. And she’s your daughter. She cried while telling me what happened to her. She’s hurt, and she wants justice. Besides, Mika, O’s mouth ain’t never been on a nigga’s dick. She’s still a virgin, for crying out loud! Them niggas in trouble! I swear on my mother’s grave, they’re in trouble!”
Shamika inhaled and exhaled hard with her hands locked together on top of her head. She knew this would be Korey’s mindset. “Fine,” Shamika said, “go. Go get yourself in trouble. Act like you don’t have a company to run and people depending on you and Hammer to help make their dreams come true.”
“So what should I do? Act like this shit never happened, Mika? You know me. You know I can’t do that. Not when it comes to my baby girl! Hell, I’ve checked cats for far less, put them in their place for merely looking at you wrong—”
“Then do what you feel,” she cut in, not really wanting to discuss it further. “But don’t call my house from jail; because, deep down inside, you know better, Korey, than to take matters like this into your hands at this stage in your life. You can think. You just too angry right now to think, but you can. You can come up with a better solution than to go and destroy some mother’s child. Yes, your daughter has been hurt, violated as you may call it; but, Korey, who in this life hasn’t been hurt? Things happen. Mistakes are made every day among young people. You know that.
“All I’m saying is that I know that’s your baby girl. I know you will do anything for her, but if you keep playing judge, jury, and executioner in her life and being at her every beck and call, you’re gonna be the one who hurts her the most because you’re gonna become a crutch she can’t do without. That would make her a cripple. Now is that what you want for your baby girl? For her to be handicapped?”
Without allowing him to respond, Shamika then looked over at KJ, who was still watering her flowers, and said, “KJ, that’s enough. Let’s wrap that hose up now.” She walked over to him to help him do just that, leaving Korey alone to think about her take on what happened to their daughter and what she felt should have been done as well as what she felt he shouldn’t go do. But she knew Korey. She knew he was hardheaded and stubborn when it came to being there for Olivia and any other family member he loved dearly. At this point, she just hoped that what she had to say didn’t go in one ear and out the other. She determined in her mind and heart that she would pray about it later.
Korey walked inside the house. “O,” he called. She was in the bathroom, freshening up. When she came out, he said, “You talked to that clown?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, you make sure you get all the information that I asked you to get. You hear me?”
“I will.”
“And you coming home for the weekend, right?”
“Yep.”
“Good, because me, you, Uncle Hammer, Kolanda, and Keisha having a meeting Saturday about this incident. We’ll decide then what action will be taken. Until then, hold on to this. Follow me.”
She followed Korey into Shamika’s bedroom. Korey stepped inside her walk-in closet and retrieved a shoebox he had stashed in a safe location. Inside was small weaponry, from .25 automatics to .380s. He handed Olivia a chrome .25 automatic with a shiny pearl handle, a weapon small enough to have on her without anyone knowing. It was fully loaded.
“That’s for your protection. Here’s how you put one in the chamber.” He cocked it back, showing her how to ready it to fire. “Now, put this away,” he said low, looking back and forth for any sign of Shamika coming. Shamika would chew him out severely if she knew he was putting a gun in Olivia’s hand. “Keep it secured inside your purse. You got me?”
“I got you, Dad.” She took it and placed it inside her pocket until she could place it in her purse, which she left inside her car. Korey put his shoebox of guns back in the secured spot he got it from. Right when he did so, Shamika walked in.
“So, O,” Korey said, “don’t cry over what happened to you. Your mother and I talked about it, and we concluded that people make mistakes.” He winked his eye at her without Shamika seeing him do so, to throw her off from what he and Olivia were really doing in her bedroom. He wanted to make it seem like they were just talking about what happened to her. “But I do want you to cut ties with your boyfriend and just strictly focus on finishing up your bachelor’s so you can go straight on to law school. Nothing else matters. You hear me?”
“I got you, Dad.”
“Give m
e a hug and I’ll see you tomorrow when you come home for the weekend.”
She embraced her father with a tender hug, but as her arms were wrapped around him, Shamika caught a glimpse of the butt of the pearl-handle .25 automatic she placed in her front pocket. “Olivia, do me a favor,” Shamika said, interrupting her and her father’s loving embrace. “Excuse yourself to the living room where KJ is for a moment. I need to speak to your father in private.”
Olivia left them alone, shutting Shamika’s bedroom door behind her.
“Are you kidding me, Korey?” she looked at him and said, hands on her hips.
“What’s up, Mika? What’s on your mind?”
“You gave our daughter a gun? Are you losing your mind?”
“A gun?” Korey played senile, but his theatrics were fruitless, not enough to fool Shamika. She saw the burner with her own eyes.
“Yes, a gun! The one in her pocket,” she shot back, pointing her index finger in Korey’s face. “Do you want our daughter going to jail? She’s not a street-thug-oriented person, Korey.”
“Does she have to be to be able to protect herself, Mika? Yeah, I gave her a piece to protect herself. She shoulda long ago had one for protection!”
“She need a license to carry a weapon, Korey! You know that.”
“She’s going back to Chapel Hill alone. I just don’t want her feeling unprotected. It’s just until she gets a permit to carry one legally, that’s all. Why you having a fit party over it?”
“No, Korey. Uh-uh. No.” Shamika shook her head. “If she gets caught with that thing and it’s not registered to her, she’s going to jail. Not to mention, what if she goes and does something stupid with it, like shoot the two guys who took advantage of her? So call her in here right now before you leave and get that gun from her.”
“Get it from her?” Korey looked at her like she done lost her mind.
She didn’t say anything, just gave him a look like, “Play with me if you want to. I’ll call the police.”
Korey knew not to chance her doing something crazy like that, so he reluctantly called Olivia. “Let me get that gun back, O,” he said to her the moment she stepped into her mother’s room.
“Huh?” She looked at him, then at her mother, then back at him.
“Give it to him, O. You don’t need that in your life,” Shamika said before Olivia could say anything. “I know Korey wants you to be protected, but carrying that gun without a license is illegal. Give it back to him right now.”
Korey rolled his eyes behind Shamika’s back, a gesture to indicate she was tripping. He held his hand out. “It’s okay, O. Hand it over,” he said.
She reached in her pocket, retrieved it, and handed it to him.
“But let me say this,” Korey held up his hand and said. “You will register for a firearm as soon as possible. That way, you’ll be legit. And if someone fucks with you—”
“Watch your mouth!” Shamika cut in, hitting him over his shoulder with her palm.
“If somebody disrespects you, you’ll be in the right to protect yourself.” When Korey said that, Shamika sucked her teeth and shook her head.
“Girl, take your problems to God,” she said. “Guns will only get a person but so far. And, Korey, you should know that by now. Oh, I forgot. The hardheaded never learn.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
Chapter 32
“KJ, call your mother,” Korey told his son as they pulled up in her driveway at her condo. He parked next to her car. Seeing her car let him know that she was inside. “Tell her we’re outside in the parking lot and are on our way inside.”
KJ did as his father instructed him, then disconnected. “She said okay, Dad,” he said, putting his phone away. Seconds later they were inside Keisha’s condo. The smell of fried pork chops immediately arrested Korey’s and KJ’s nostrils. “Mmm, Mommy. That smells good,” KJ said, rubbing his belly then giving her a kiss.
“You hungry?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, by the time you take your bath, dinner will be ready.”
“Okay.” KJ began walking to his bedroom to get ready to bathe.
“Afterward we’ll go over your homework. You hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied from a short distance, then disappeared into his bedroom. Keisha continued frying her pork chops.
“What’s up, babe?” Korey eased up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed the back of her neck. She tensed up a little.
“Had that business meeting, sold two properties, then Kolanda and me had to make a couple of court appearances. Went by the studio, Kolanda and I. Hammer told me that something came up with O,” she said, having turned to face him.
“It did. Not something I wanted to hear, either.”
“She okay?”
“Something happened. Baby girl ran into a little problem.”
“Little problem?” she repeated him. “Korey, I don’t think Olivia would have driven home from UNC to talk to you if her problem were little. She would have called.” Keisha then turned from facing him to transfer her pork chops, which were now well done, onto a big plate where the rest of her well done pork chops were. “So what was the problem?” she asked, facing him once again while wiping her hands of pork chop grease residue with a towel.
“Baby girl’ll tell you.”
“Why you can’t tell me? What is it? She pregnant?”
“When she comes back home for the weekend, me, you, her, Hammer, and Kolanda gon’ meet up at the house and discuss what her problem is. Then we’ll come up with what should be done about it.”
“Okay, then, if you say so. You hungry?”
“I am, but I gotta get back over to the studio. She’Cute and Mad Loot supposed to be laying a track down that I need to oversee and approve. You feel me? So I got to get back over there. We got a deadline to meet.”
“I believe they were about to record something before I left. I know I saw Mad Loot recording. He’s pretty good.”
“Yeah, he is. She’Cute gon’ kill ’em too.”
“How old is she again, Korey?”
“Just turned twenty.”
“She’s real pretty and very talented! I think if she can keep the boys away and stay focused on her craft, she can go far.”
“Well, I been working closely with her as Hammer has been with Mad Loot. They know that their ability to become successful artists, for the most part, is in their hands. Hammer and I and the crew over at the studio are gonna push them as far as we can, but they’re the ones, at the end of the day, who are gonna have to put in the work. Feel me?”
“Yeah, they gotta come up with the hits,” Keisha cut in.
“Precisely. Other than that, babe, I’ll be back later, okay?” Korey said, having eased up to her and placed his hands at her waist.
“I’ll probably be asleep,” she said, seeing Korey’s lips coming in for a kiss.
“So I’ll wake you up.” They began tonguing. He caressed one of her tits through her blouse while their lips and tongues made brief love.
Keisha couldn’t believe that almost ten years after picking Korey up from the bus station his first day home from the joint, he would become the one she would come to love and have the mad hots for. She couldn’t believe she’d become the mother of his six-year-old son, Korey Jr. She loved the fact that Korey had always been her best friend. He allowed her to be herself and do her thing as a woman of substance, who was career-oriented and a loving and caring woman. One who understood her position next to a G who had nothing but real love for her.
“Why you gotta wake me from my beauty rest, babe, when you can take me in my bedroom right now and introduce me to that bulging cobra in your pants? I know it’s awake and looking for a desirable target to strike,” Keisha said softly in between them tonguing.
“You right.” Korey lifted her in his arms and carried her into her bedroom. He kicked the door shut behind them and laid her down with their tongues still
greeting each other hungrily. Keisha was wearing a short skirt. When Korey laid her down on the bed, she just opened her legs, and there was the target for his now fully awakened cobra to strike hidden behind the crotch of her candy apple red G-string panties. Seeing it, Korey dropped his shorts and underwear in one single motion, freeing his cobra.
“Come up out of them panties right now, Ke. I’m ’bout to beat this pussy up.”
“You take them off of me,” Keisha said, legs open wide and unbuttoning her blouse to fully free and expose her lovely set of double-D twins. Korey reached and eased her panties down while simultaneously taking one of her nipples into his warm, moist mouth. He sucked on her tits and fingered her with two of his fingers until Keisha was so wet and hot all over that she begged him to let his erect cobra strike her most sacred love target.
“Put it inside me, babe. Do it now.”
“Say please,” Korey teased, gently pinching her nipple and rubbing the head of his cobra around and around the lips of her loveliness.
“Please,” she softly begged.
Seconds later, she felt Korey’s big, juicy, long, warm cobra entering and growing inside her. “Ahhh.” She slightly opened her mouth and closed her eyes, legs up in missionary position. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight as Korey manipulated his hips in a circular motion and forward and back, hitting her off at a medium pace, deep and hard. He wasn’t En Vogue, but he was giving her something she could feel.
Chapter 33
Having hit Keisha off real nice between her legs, making her feel extremely good after a long, busy day, Korey got in his Benz to make his way over to the studio. A helluva lot was going through his head as he mobilized to his old-school Smokey Robinson’s Greatest Hits CD. He was at the moment listening to “The Tracks Of My Tears.” He was thinking about how his day started early this morning. Keisha had phoned him around five o’clock, informing him of a very important business meeting she had to attend and, as a result, she needed him to pick KJ up and take him to school and pick him up when school was over.