by Natavia
“Nigga, fuck you! I don’t know what you talking about!” he said to me. I took my switchblade out then jabbed it into his side, turning it. He howled out in pain as I jabbed it into his side again.
“What does that nigga, Shaw, want from me?” I asked him.
“He wants to take your spot that he feels belongs to him! Yager is his father and he wants what you took from Yager!” he said holding his side.
“Which one of y’all took my Rollie?” I asked, wiping the blood from my knife on his hoodie.
“Tuchie!” he said.
I pulled my silencer out then he started crying. “Please, man, don’t do it! Latavia would be heartbroken! I’m her fucking cousin!” he said.
“Nigga, I don’t give a fuck about that! I will let her cry on my shoulder at your funeral! I will even make a donation to your family! How is that?” I asked smirking.
“You sick, man!” he said crying. I pointed the gun to his head, pulling the trigger. It just clicked and I started laughing because I took all the bullets out except for one.
“You are lucky, nigga! Sameer or Jameer will be collecting five thousand dollars from you every Sunday! I checked you out and you making a pretty decent amount on your corners! So, I know I’m good for it!” I told him.
“Nigga, that’s extortion!” he said to me. I kicked him in the mouth with my Tims.
“Nigga, do I give a fuck? These are my streets! I’m taking over! I want my money, and if I don’t have it, I will fucking kill you! I know where your family stays and your baby mama! That sexy-ass bitch you got can get dealt with, too! It’s your choice!” I told him.
“All right, nigga, damn!” he said. I looked down both ends of the alley to see who was coming. As Dizzy was sitting up against the wall holding his side, I cut the corners of his mouth making his smile look wider. He grabbed his face.
“Now you’re a real joker! Fucking clown-ass nigga! I bet you learn not to fuck with a nigga like me!” I said to him, walking off.
I’d been catching cabs because Latavia’s crazy ass fucked my whips up. The situation with her was hectic! A part of me knew she wouldn’t set me up, but in the life that I lived people, could not be trusted. I had seen niggas’ mamas turn on them for money! Until I knew I could trust her again, she had to deal with how shit was with me and her. I wanted to do what I wanted and when I wanted. Her bipolar disorder was getting out of hand. One minute she was cool and happy then she started getting depressed, crying and all of that. She tore the house up yesterday breaking shit because she couldn’t remember where she put her cellphone. When she had those episodes, she became forgetful.
She had to cancel her appointments for a week because she’d been seeing a shrink and they were trying to see if her new medicine was improving the situation. That shit with Carla sent her into another stage of depression and her old medicine wasn’t doing anything for her. The house was childproof now. No knives, guns, nothing that she could hurt herself with. When I left out, she needed someone to watch her to make sure she didn’t kill herself. We had to do all of this until her new medicine improved her behavior.
I went to O’Shea’s crib because that was the only nigga that could keep me from going crazy.
I buzzed the intercom then the door unlocked. Shia ran to me.
“Uncle Kenjayyyyyyy!” she said hugging me.
“What’s up baby girl?” I asked, roughing her hair up.
“Nothing, watching videos with Tookie!” she said and I shook my head.
“Didn’t your mama tell you not to have that bird watching videos?” I asked, walking into the living room. Tookie was on her post cleaning her feathers.
“Fake nigga, fake nigga!” Tookie said when she saw me.
O’Shea walked into the living room.
“Baby girl, turn that off!” O’Shea said to Shia.
“Come on, daddy! This is my song!” she said bopping her head to Chris Brown’s “Loyal.”
“Hoes ain’t loyal! Hoes’ ain’t loyal!” Tookie repeated. O’Shea turned the TV off.
“Go upstairs with your mama!” he told her. Shia picked Tookie up, walking out of the room. “Crackheads ain’t loyal!” Tookie squawked.
“That’s what happens when black folks own exotic animals! That’s a straight up hood parrot!” O’Shea said sitting down on the couch.
“So, what’s up with you? Nigga, you look crazy! You got hair growing around your face and shit!” he said to me.
“I’m going crazy! I have a shorty who is married to a nigga that is trying to cause my downfall. Then I’m dealing with her mental illness! I put my hands on her twice! Twice I had to smack her dumb ass and that shit is eating me up! I love that fuck out of that girl but I will kill her ass if I find out she is on some sneaky shit! Shit just not adding up! She had a hickey, she didn’t want me to know she was married! Then she act like she didn’t know the nigga! Niggas is out here on some sucker shit and I’m ready to start dropping bodies! It’s about to be killa season out here!” I said.
“That girl loves you, nigga!” he said
“But she isn’t mine! She belongs to that nigga! This is a fucking slap in the face! I’m fucking a nigga’s wife who was working for me scheming, and her dumb ass didn’t tell me shit!” I said getting mad all over again.
“It’s your temper, man! She was probably scared of you!” he said.
“Nigga, I’m not hearing that shit! She knows that the only shit gets me out of character is when someone is being disloyal! This bitch knows everything about me! She knows where all the bitches I was fucking lives! She knows how I roll my money! She knows EVERYTHING! I let her into my life that much and she couldn’t even be woman enough to tell me that she was fucking married! Yo, every time I think about that shit, I feel like killing her!” I said.
“You probably need to leave her alone for a while then!” he suggested.
I ran my fingers through my new growth. “Real nigga shit, I can’t let her go! I will kill that bitch before I do! This shit is dangerous! I don’t like the hold she got on me! She got me out here going crazy!” I told him.
“So, what are you going to do? Nigga, I know you! Deep down you know that she is not fucking with that nigga anymore. You only mad because that nigga is married to her. Jealousy is all that it is! You don’t like the fact that another man had her heart at one point in time and it’s making you feel insecure! All you have to do is murk the nigga!” he said.
“That nigga is your brother!” I told him.
“WHAT?” he asked.
“Dizzy told me the reason why Shaw joined my team. He was trying to wiggle his way in to take my spot! He feels like it is entitled to him because Yager is his pops. Shaw knows we robbed Yager years back!” I told him.
“That’s wild! How old is that nigga?” he asked.
“Like twenty-seven,” I said.
“So, he must’ve had him when he first hooked up with my mother. Damn, that nigga foul but I don’t care about them fuck niggas! If you want to murk him, go ahead! I only got one brother and that’s you! So, don’t hold that shit off because of me!” he said.
“Let me ask you something. Out of all the niggas that your pops was locked up with, what was so special about Shaw?” O’Shea asked.
“Fuck you trying to say?” I asked him.
“Nigga, let’s be honest. There is always a seed that’s planted somewhere! Your pops is foul to me!” he said.
“Nigga, fuck you!” I said standing up.
“You been doing your research and I been doing mines!” O’Shea said.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked.
“When was the last time you talked to your pops?” he asked me.
“He hasn’t called me in a few months,” I said.
“Why hasn’t he told you he came home?” O’Shea asked.
“WHAT?” I asked not believing this.
“Your pops, nigga! The nigga got released a month ago! Why don’t you know about it? I don’t trust that nigg
a!” he said to me.
“Yo, if you know something, tell me!” I said.
“Before you got here, I was on the phone with my lawyer. Remember your pops told you when you was a little nigga that Yager snitched on him and the whole Cartel he was working for? Well, nigga, that shit is a lie! Don’t you think that a Cartel has connections no matter if they are locked up or not? Yager would’ve been dead. Yager is a bitch nigga but a snitch he never was! Your pops brainwashed you into taking over my father’s territory! He was using that nigga Shaw to take it from you! All this shit is a fucking scam! Your pops is the real snake, nigga!” O’Shea said to me. My head started pounding.
“I had my lawyer go over your pops’ case because some shit wasn’t right! Your pops is not even all the way Panamanian! That nigga is half Cuban! That’s what I been busy doing while you handle this other shit you got going on! Your pops plotting on you and now you have to figure out why!” O’Shea said.
“My pops is Cuban?” I asked. My pops hated Cubans and now I wondered why because he was half Cuban.
“According to his records that my lawyer was able to dig up, the lawyers you had in your pockets were bogus! They wasn’t doing shit and that’s why you didn’t know much about his case!” O’Shea said.
“What was that nigga locked up for?” I asked.
“Killing a man at a bar. Your pops is a fraud nigga!” O’Shea said.
“I’ll get up with you!” I said walking to the door.
“You can take one of my whips until yours is fixed. All that money you got, nigga, you can buy a new one!” he said trying to make light of the situation.
“Too much shit is going on! I feel low key in a cab. That way nobody is tracking me!” I told him. I texted the cab driver letting him know I was ready.
I pulled up in front of my paternal grandmother’s house. They had too much shit going on for me. I hadn’t been over there in years. My grandmother used to always come and get me when I was younger but then one day she just stopped.
I knocked on the door. She opened it and, although she had aged, she was still beautiful. She had olive-colored skin with pretty blue eyes and long, white silky hair. She had crowfeet in the corner of her eyes and a slightly wrinkled face. She looked good to be seventy years old.
“What’s the matter? Surprised to see your own grandson? I haven’t heard from you since I was thirteen! I said pushing my way in.
I noticed a pair of men’s shoes by the door. “Where’s my pops at, abuela?” I asked. I always called her abuela, which is grandmother in Spanish.
“He in jail, Kenjay!” she said in her broken English.
“Why are you lying to me, abuela? I know that nigga is home! Why are you doing this, huh?” I asked, hurt.
“Me don’t know what you talkin’ about!” she said, walking away from me.
“I know he is home! I want to know why he didn’t contact his only son! What are y’all hiding from me?” I asked her.
“I don’t know, Kenjay! Get out of my house! You are cursed! You are the son of Satan!” she said throwing shit at me. I picked up the candle she threw at me, hurling it back at her.
“Fuck is wrong with you? You got Alzheimer’s?” I asked her. Then she started crying, dropped to her knees and started praying in Spanish.
I called Sameer.
“How far are you from Severna Park?” I asked.
“Ten minutes! Why what’s up?” he asked.
“I need you to help me carry my grandmother out of the house!” I told him, reading off the address. I think she had gone crazy or something. I was ready to take her to the hospital.
“Are you sure you are not going to tell me where my pops is at?” I asked, reaching out to her. She grabbed her chest then fell on the floor.
“Abuela! Abuela!” I called out, grabbing her. I turned around and came face-to-face with a tall Spanish-looking man with blue eyes.
“Who the fuck are you?” I asked him. My grandmother was scared shitless. I pulled my gun out.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you!” he said in his strong accent. “Come and take a ride with me!”
“Nigga, what type of drug are you on? Fuck I look like riding with your cop ass? Motherfucker, you are crazy! Shoot me now because the only way you getting me to come with you is if you drag me out!” I said to him.
“You have an attitude just like your mother!” he said.
I cocked my gun, “Who the fuck are you?” I asked him.
“My name is Leodonis!” he said smirking.
Carla
“Surprise, shorty!” Shine said to me as he uncovered my eyes.
“This is beautiful!” I said admiring the picnic we had on the beach. For the past week he had been nice to me. He apologized over and over for hitting me and putting those spiders on the bed.
He kissed my lips. “I love you! Please, forgive me! I love you so much, I don’t know what to do! I keep knocking your dumb ass out for dumb shit! But then again, if you love me you would take some of the blame! You already know a nigga be getting jealous over you!” he said to me.
“Jealous how, baby? You don’t let me go anywhere!” I told him.
“I’m jealous of those people you talk to in your head, shorty! They take all of your time and you leave me feeling neglected and shit!” he said.
“I promise I will get them away from us! What do you want me to do?” I asked, surrendering my love to him.
He pulled out a small black box. “Will you marry me?” he asked opening the box. My face dropped because it was one of those costume jewelry rings that you can buy from K-Mart!
“You like it? I spent all of my money on this!” he said proudly.
“It’s not real!” I said.
WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!
He slapped me three times, splitting my lip.
“Bitch, I spent my last ten dollars on you and you going to diss me to my fucking face? Bitch, you should be happy I’m willing to marry your crazy ass! I’m the only nigga out here that wants to be with you!” he yelled, slapping my face again.
“Bitch, get your ass up and go stand in the water!” he said to me.
“I can’t swim!” I cried as he dragged me down the beach to the water by my shirt.
Everything he knew about me he used against me. He knew I was scared of spiders and he knew I couldn’t swim. This man knew everything about me and yet, I knew nothing about him.
He picked me up then walked into the water. I tried fighting him then I started screaming but he was way stronger than me. He hurled me into the water.
I heard a gun cock. “Bitch, you got twenty seconds to bring your ass back on land! If you drown, I will kill your ass! Now, hurry up, bitch! You better start swimming or I’m going to turn into Jaws!” he said laughing as I doggy paddled.
“Ay, yo, you need help?” he asked me. His mood changed then all of a sudden he grabbed me, standing me up. The water came to my knees. Then he started laughing. “You really are a simple bitch, you know that? I should beat your ass for that shit!” he said, dragging me onto the sand.
We went back to the blanket then I sat down shivering.
He opened the picnic basket then started tearing through his food. He didn’t offer me anything. “What am I going to eat?” I asked him.
“Not a damn thing! I spent your portion on that ring I just bought you!” he said grilling me. A tear fell from my eye.
“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!” a voice said into my head.
“I CAN’T!” I screamed, hitting my head.
“See, what I mean! Every time we spend time together, you always talking to that nigga!” he said.
“What nigga?” I asked.
“That nigga you was just talking to! If he getting some of my pussy, I will kill you! You are saving that for me until we get married. So until then, I have to fuck other bitches!” he said to me. I rolled my eyes then he slapped my face.
“Is that a problem? Shorty, roll your eyes again! Keep on fucking w
ith me! You got me out here confessing my love to you and you are talking to other niggas like I’m not sitting here!” he said to me then I burst into tears.
He rushed to me, grabbing my face, kissing me. “Baby, I’m sorry, okay! I just be getting mad at the thought of you fucking with another nigga!” he said, holding me. His handsome face stared at me then I just lay my head on his lap.
Latavia
Britain’s mother Geraldine was supposed to be watching me since my father was out on the road working. Kenjay must have paid her a decent amount of money for her to be willing to look after me.
She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “I hope your crazy ass ain’t over there trying to strangle me! What the hell are you so quiet for? Those demons are not telling you to kill me, are they?” she asked, smoking her cigarette.