“It’s a surprise my darling.”
“Darling?” She wrinkled her nose at me. “I ain’t never heard you use that one before.”
“Well, sweet dumplings…”
She laughed. “That’s a Jamaican term of endearment. You must’ve heard my pops say that.”
“Yes, I heard him call you that. But, like I was sayin’, sweet dumplings…everyday wit’ me will reveal something exciting and new. I can’t promise you the world, the moon or the stars, but I promise you this life with me will be a fulfilling one full of love and adventure.” I smiled down at her and she smiled back at me with such radiance.
“I know you’ll make me happy Keys. There is no doubt in my mind about that. I just hope I’m here to enjoy that life.” Her eyes had a far-away look in them as she stared off in a daze.
“Have you talked to your mom?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Why don’t you call her?”
“I hate her Keys.”
“I know, but maybe she can give you some information on Will’s organization. That’ll help your pops have something when he gets back.”
“Did he tell you where he was going?” Sen asked looking worried.
“He didn’t tell me anything. I thought he told you. I figure he’s gonna go handle some business like he said.”
“Hmm.” Sen sighed. “I don’t know. He’s never made a decision to go out of town on business out of the blue. This trip is personal. I guess we’ll find out sooner or later.”
“I guess.”
“Have you heard anything else about Dame?”
I kissed her hand. “I called his mother. She said that it’s still the same. He’s not responding, but he’s still alive, so that’s a good sign. Right now it’s just a waiting game. They’re running tests, so we’ll see.”
She rested her head on my shoulder and then ran her finger along the scar on her wrist.
“I’m ready to tell you about this.”
“Okay.” I put my arms around her to let her know that I was there for her no matter what.
“It was my senior year in high school and I was just so stressed out. I had caught my boyfriend fucking my roommate, final exams had me under pressure and my parents were driving me crazy. What really sent me over the edge was when my mother called to tell me that she couldn’t make it to my graduation. That bitch claimed that she had to go to New York to handle some business. Being that the ceremony was in London, my father had already told me that he wasn’t going to be there. At that time he was facing an indictment and couldn’t travel. Eventually those charges were dropped. I felt so alone Keys. When I looked around me and saw that everybody else was surrounded by loved ones, I plunged into a deep depression. When I got to my flat I ran water in the tub and I got in with the razor blade in my hand. I only did one wrist, but I couldn’t do the other one. A voice told me that I didn’t want to die.” She looked at me. “It was you. I actually saw your face and heard your voice Keys. How come you always save me?”
Damn, even I couldn’t hold a tear back. That shit was deep as hell.
“Because you’re worth savin’ baby,” I whispered as I kissed her tears away.
Chapter 6
Mendosa
“Angie?” I said softly as I stared down at the frail woman who laid in the hospital bed.
Her once thick, long hair was now fine and her chestnut brown complexion was ashen. When her eyes fluttered open those old feelings came flooding in. I’d met Angela at a night club years ago and there was an instant attraction, but Boss had got to her first. Over the years the attraction was still there, but she was with my nigga. Then I met Melissa and they became instant best friends.
After that we both had problems with our significant others and found comfort in each other. I honestly had feelings for her, but they weren’t as strong as my love for my daughter. I just couldn’t be with her if it meant that I’d lose Jasenia. As much as I loved Angie, she just wasn’t worth it.
“Mendosa?” Her eyes were wide and her voice was a mere whisper.
I put my fingers to my lips. “Shhhh, don’t try to talk.”
It was a brain tumor that was causing her demise. After years of prescription drugs for schizophrenia and the use of recreational drugs when she was younger, she was paying for her sins. I knew that my time was coming too, but at the moment I had to make amends.
There was a serene smile on her face as she nodded. She had been removed from the mental institution that she had been in for the past three years and sent to a hospice. For some reason my name was on the visitation list. I’d been taking my chances by going there, but I felt the need to anyway. Something told me that even with her mental and physical illness, she yearned for me to visit her one last time.
“I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for how things turned out. If… I’d done things the right way, shit would be so different now.” Although I wasn’t really an affectionate man, I grabbed her bony hand and gently squeezed it.
Tears slid from her light brown eyes as she stared up at me. It was as if she’d been waiting an eternity for me to say those words.
“I know that Trell is my son. That’s why I’m here.”
I should’ve been a father to him. It would’ve been the standup thing to do, but I was a stupid ass nigga back then. Sen was the center of my universe and back then I was so deep in the streets that I didn’t have a choice but to take my wife’s bullshit just to be with my child. Boss’s threat had devastated and infuriated me. Although Trell was my son too, I had made a difficult choice. I had to choose Sen. She didn’t deserve to pay for my mistakes, but now that I thought about it, Trell didn’t either. Still, I couldn’t have any regrets about it. It was either that nigga, or me and my daughter.
“He’s dead Angie. I’m so sorry.” As much as I wanted to tell her the truth, I couldn’t.
She didn’t have enough energy to sob, but the tears continuously poured down her face. I wiped them away with my free hand.
“I can go in peace now,” she said in a weak voice. “He was so damn evil. Just like you.”
Those words, although spoken low, hit me like a ton of bricks and I just stared down at her. What could I say? Shit, she was right.
With a sigh, I decided to just sit there in silence, what else could I do? Suddenly her fingers seemed to go limp around mine. When I looked down at her I noticed the stillness of her chest. I checked her pulse. She was gone.
* * *
10 years ago
I sat right there in the parking lot and watched my wife walk toward the entrance of the Courtyard Marriot Hotel on LaVista Rd. in Tucker, GA with some nigga. His arm was around her waist and there were huge smiles on their faces.
“Oh, so you can smile now bitch.” There was a scowl on my face as I fingered my Smith and Wesson’s trigger.
The urge to commit a double homicide was strong as hell, but I wasn’t that stupid. This chick I knew who worked at the hotel’s bar was fucking with one of my niggas. She had gave him a call and he called me to tell me that Melissa had been frequenting the hotel with some nigga. Their routine was to rendezvous there one weekend out of the month. I found out by listening to her phone calls and getting the scoop from my personal spy at the hotel.
I waited for hours in the parking lot and there they were. It was too late to run up on them though because they were already making their way inside. As I hit the steering wheel in frustration, I decided to just leave. There was nothing I could really do at the moment.
When Melissa got home the next day her shit was already packed up. I’d also had old girl at the hotel snap a picture of dude. She’d just sent it to me and I was ready to hunt him down and kill his ass.
“What the fuck’s going on?” She asked me with a confused look on her face.
“I know you cheatin’ on me Missy, so it’s no need to pretend like you don’t know what this is?” I took her bags outside one by one and placed them on the porch.
/>
“You must be crazy!” She screamed as she tried to stop me. “I ain’t cheatin’ on you!”
“Where the fuck were you all night then? I’ll wait.” I stood there with my eyes glued to hers.
“I was with Angie…”
“Wow, there you go lyin’…like always.” The rain was pouring down outside and I decided to take it a step further and throw her shit on the wet ground.
“What the fuck?” She grabbed my arm and tried to make me stop throwing her shit out. As if that bullshit would help.
I knew that she wasn’t with Angie, because I was with her. Sen had spent the night with one of her friends and she was still there. I made sure of it so that she wouldn’t be around when I kicked her mother out.
“That’s the same shit I want to know Melissa!” Why was I so mad though? It wasn’t like I wasn’t cheating on her with her best friend.
Yet and still, a man could know that he was doing foul shit, but still would want to blow some shit up when his woman did the same.
She looked at me as if she was hurt. “So, you’re callin’ me Melissa now?”
I hardly ever called her that. Most of the time I affectionately called her Missy.
“Hell yeah. Why would I call you anything else? Like I said, I’m done wit’ you and I want you to leave!”
“Where’s my daughter?”
“Like you give a fuck!”
“Where’s my fuckin’ child!”
I shook my head. “Leave…now…” She followed me back into the house.
“I wanna know where my fuckin’ daughter is!”
“You didn’t give a damn when you was fuckin’ that nigga last night! Who the fuck is he?” My hand was around her neck, squeezing as I pushed her against the wall.
She gasped for air. “Stop…Men…dosa…I can’t breathe.”
“I don’t give a fuck bitch! Who the fuck was that nigga I saw you goin’ in that mufuckin’ hotel wit’ so I can put some hot lead in his ass. Tell me now ‘fore I kill you bitch!”
Her face was beet red and her eyes were blood shot. At that moment I knew that I couldn’t kill her trifling ass for the sake of my daughter, but I damn sure wanted to. I let her go and she sank down to the floor in tears.
“I hate you,” she choked out as she coughed. “Damn right I cheated on yo’ triflin’ ass! How many times have you cheated on me you son of a bitch! You never have time for me and ever since…ever since…your daughter was born you don’t give a shit about me! She’s all the fuck you care about! She was supposed to bring us closer together, but instead that little bitch tore us apart!”
All I could do was shake my head at that pathetic ass bitch. Was she really jealous over her own child?
“My daughter? Wow. I can’t believe that you feel like that about your own child. She’s so…”
“Save the bullshit Mendosa! She’s your fuckin’ child. You’re the one who wanted her.”
“Well, in that case she can stay right here wit’ me.”
She laughed like I had told a joke. “Nigga please. Like hell she will. If you want her you won’t get her and I’ll make sure of that. I’ll tell the courts everything I know about your criminal behavior. You’ll never see her again. All I want is your money motherfucka. That’s all I ever wanted. Fuck you!”
That shit had pissed me off more than you could imagine, but I decided to not press the issue. Besides, she didn’t know where Sen was, but she had something for me when it came to that.
“Since you’re makin’ me leave I guess I’ll call the cops and get them over here. I bet you’ll tell me where my daughter is then.” There was a smirk on her face as if she had won.
I grabbed her by the arm and led her back out on the porch before I showed her the picture in my phone of her new boo. “And I’m gon’ kill yo’ lil’ boyfriend.”
“You gon’ have to find him first.” There was a venomous smile on her pretty face.
“I’on even know why the fuck I fell for you.” I shook my head.
“We can work this all out baby. All you have to do is spend more time with me. You could spend a little bit more money too. I mean…” She tried to put her arms around me.
I pushed her away and she almost fell down the steps.
“I’on want yo’ sorry hoe ass. I should’ve known you wasn’t worth shit. I should’ve left you where I found yo’ funky ass!”
“Fuck you!” She shot back. “That’s why that nigga can fuck me better than you.”
I backhanded her disrespectful ass and she grabbed her cheek.
“You should be used to that you sorry ass hoe!”
“If I’m such a hoe why the fuck did you marry me?”
“I’m still tryna figure that shit out too.”
Melissa shrugged her shoulders and then turned to grab what she could salvage of her things. “Kiss my ass nigga and good luck on findin’ him! I’ll be back to get my daughter tomorrow and I’ll have the cops wit’ me!” She threw her shit in her silver BMW and got behind the wheel.
* * *
True to her word she returned the next day with a police escort to take my daughter away from me. The evil smile on her face made me want to bash her fucking face in, but I kept my cool knowing that a cop was outside.
“I should whoop your ass,” I whispered as she led Sen to the door.
“You’ll never see her again nigga. Now how do you feel?” She shot back.
My baby girl had no clue what was going on. Tears shined in her eyes as she asked me why she had to leave with her mother.
“But daddy, I want to stay here with you,” she cried as Melissa literally drug her out of the front door.
“Don’t worry sweetie, I’ll see you soon. Be a big girl Okay?”
She nodded, but I knew that being exposed to her mother was not a good thing. I was sure that Melissa would exploit my child and make her become the exact opposite of what she could potentially be. Still, at that point there was nothing that I could do. The system wasn’t going to allow her to live with me. I had a record, but her mother didn’t. I had to let it go before it caused more drama.
Some time had passed before Melissa let me see Sen again. She had ended up leaving her with me for a couple months while she did her thing. Of course, when she was done, she came to get her to get back at me. After that our visits were far and few between. Her mother made it a point to keep her away from me. The only way I did get her to agree to let me see my baby girl was to bribe her with money. I hated that my daughter had to go through the bullshit she endured with her mother, but I couldn’t change the past. All I could do was try to make things right once and for all.
* * *
I had just dropped off my rental car and was at the airport about to catch a flight to St. Louis, Missouri. Before I did I had to make a call.
“Hello,” the familiar voice said groggily.
“You sleep man?” I asked knowing that he wasn’t expecting to hear from me.
“Nah, I’m up. What’s goin’ on? You back already? I thought you said two days.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow. I’m in Savannah.”
There was silence on the other line and then he asked, “You went to see Trell’s mom?”
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, she’s dead.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“I’m about to board a flight to St. Louis.”
“What’s in St. Louis?”
“I can’t tell you too much right now. My daughter knows me too well. She could tell that I knew the man on the license you gave me.”
“Hmm, I could too,” Keys admitted.
“Last time I checked he lived in St. Louis. Well, that’s where he was when I shot him ten years ago. I thought I had killed that nigga, but I guess not.”
“Damn, was the hit over that? You tellin’ me that shit had nothin’ to do wit’ what happened to Will?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I didn’t say shit. Look. I’ll talk to you when I get back to
morrow night. For now just know that I’m okay. I know how Sen is and I don’t want her worryin’ ‘bout me, so don’t tell her. Got it?”
“Yeah, but what will going to St. Louis solve if he’s dead now? Shouldn’t you be tryna find out who hired him?”
“I’m workin’ on that. Gotta go. I’ll hit you later.”
“Ok.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m workin’ on gettin’ that bodyguard for Sen. Gimme a day or two.”
“A’ight man. Be careful.”
I ended the call just as the female voice on the intercom called for my flight to board. Without a second thought, or a moment of hesitation I was ready to find out who was threatening the life of the most important person to me.
* * *
Keenyn
“You ready babe!” I called out as I looked at my watch. “We do have to be there at a certain time.”
Of course Sen was still in the bathroom beautifying herself. In my opinion it didn’t take that long to perfect perfection, but obviously she didn’t feel the same.
“I’m coming baby!” She said a few seconds before opening the door.
When she did step out I was smitten of course. She looked amazing in a sexy, short, low cut, black dress. All I could do was stare at those legs and that damn cleavage. When I finally looked up her face was flawlessly made up. Like always her makeup wasn’t overdone. Seven inch stiletto heeled pumps were on her feet making her calves stand at attention. My God.
“Well, damn.” I shook my head. “I ain’t even mad about you takin’ forever now.”
She looped her arm around mine. “You’re lookin’ hot too babes.”
I was sporting a pair of light brown khaki shorts, a dark brown button down and some casual dark brown Gucci shoes.
“Yeah, but next to you a nigga looks under dressed.”
She laughed. “I’m supposed to be the hottest one between us two.”
“And you are.”
“Your flyy matches my flyy baby. Where are we going?” She grabbed her handbag from the end table in the living room.
“You’ll see when we get there.”
The Plug's Daughter 2: It's Love and War Page 7