by Nikki Brown
“Pack your shit we gotta get out of town for a little minute.” I told her.
“What’s going on Denari? Is everything okay?”
“Stop asking fucking questions, pack a bag and let’s go, or you can stay here and wait on that nigga Ortiz to find you.”
That shit put some pep in her step. She got up from the couch and within ten minutes she had a bag packed and was ready to go. I made sure that I turned off all the lights and shit, and we were out the door. Right as I was about to pull out I got a text from my uncle that said 911. A part of me knew I needed to go see what he wanted, but the other part of me knew I needed to get the fuck out of dodge.
“Denari, talk to me baby.” Heaven pleaded, as bad as I wanted to tell her the fucked-up shit I just did, I couldn’t.
“Nothing, some shit went down and Ortiz on some bullshit.” I gave her a half truth and she accepted it. That’s what I liked about her. I could tell her anything but when I didn’t feel like talking she would let the shit ride. She wasn’t a an aggy bitch.
I cranked up the car and headed to interstate 77N. I remembered that my uncle gotta little cabin up there in Cherokee for when he wanna go gamble and shit. I’ll just head there and hang out for a couple weeks until shit cooled down. I needed to call my uncle to tell him what was up. I didn’t want to hear his mouth, but I may need his connections to get out of this shit.
“Fuck!” I yelled and hit the steering wheel. I popped in some Old School 90’s R&B and hit the highway. I would holla at Unc when I got there.
“Oh my goodness, this is beautiful.” Heaven beamed as she stared out of the floor to ceiling windows that over looked the beautiful Smoky Mountains.
“You should see it in the winter time.” I said as I walked up behind her.
“Maybe I’ll get lucky enough to be able to come back out here with you sometime.”
“No doubt.” I kissed her on the cheek. “I gotta make a few calls, go ahead and make yourself comfortable. I’ma call in a pizza for tonight and we can go to the store tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.” She said sweetly and then headed back to the bedroom where I could hear her ooh and aah some more. My Unc really had this place hooked up and it was ducked away, just perfect for what I needed right now. I walked outside on the porch to prepare for this conversation with my uncle. I dialed his number and held my breath.
“So, you don’t understand what the fuck 911 mean now?” His voice was so loud that I had to move the phone from my ear for a second.
“I had to get out of town.” Was all I said because I knew I couldn’t talk too much over the phone.
“You should’ve come here first Denari; you know what the fuck is up. I can’t handle your fuck ups no more.”
“Unc man, I just been going through some shit.” I tried to reason with him, but he wasn’t having it.
“No nigga, you just been on some rogue shit and you need to chill out for a minute.”
I know I been on some other shit but damn it wasn’t all that. Sounded like to me that he was firing me from the family organization. I wasn’t about to lie down and take that shit.
“So, you saying I’m out?”
“Yeah for a minute until the shit calms down, they looking at you.” I knew that was code for I was on the police radar but that’s what the fuck we had police in our pocket for right? To handle shit like that. “Heat too high, so just chill.”
“I’m gambling, but I’ll be back in a couple weeks.”
“Longer.”
“How fucking long?” I was starting to get pissed.
“I’ll come visit in a few days, just sit tight. Shit ain’t good.” He said that last part aggressive and that let me know that he was pissed and no matter what I said or did, this is what it was gonna be .
“So, I just gotta wait?”
“That’s what the fuck I said.” Was all he said before he hung up the phone. I laid my head back on the chair that I was sitting in. Shit was just crumbling around me and I needed to get a hold of it fast. I was fucking up royally and I knew it, but I couldn’t help it. I would think of some shit to tell my uncle when he came down.
I really wanted to holla at my brother, but I knew that he wasn’t fucking with me right now. I just needed to know how the shit with Krista looked. I didn’t mean to flip out like I did but she just wouldn’t shut up, it wasn’t my fault. I just needed her to be quiet. I dialed my brother and waited on him to answer.
“WHAT?” He gritted on the first ring.
“Man, chill.”
He laughed sarcastically. “You are a real piece of fucking work Denari; I’m over your bullshit.” He stopped and said something to someone else. “You didn’t even have to do that shit, bruh.” I could hear the disappointment in his voice.
“It wasn’t my fault, she just—”
“It’s never your fault D, you can never own up to your shit. That’s your fucking problem.” He yelled. Omari had never talked to me like that before. “I don’t have time for this shit, what do you want?”
“I wanted to know if she was pressing charges.”
“We don’t know, we here now, she lost the fucking baby, but I guess you happy about that right?”
“Fuck yeah! I told that bitch to get rid of that fucking baby!” I yelled, now getting upset.
“That could have been ya seed or your niece or nephew you fucking dumb ass. It don’t matter how the baby was made, it was innocent. You need to get your shit together, real talk.”
Damn, I knew shit was fucked up if O was pissed the fuck off. He was talking to me like I wasn’t shit. If that bitch pressed charges, I would make sure that she didn’t live to make it to the court date. Fuck her. Shit if she would have just kept her mouth shut then she wouldn’t be in this situation and I didn’t care what anyone said about it.
I needed to find a way to get Omari to handle that shit with Perry. He was supposed to call me in a week to set some shit up. It was already gonna be a task getting that much work and I only fuck with the house on the Ford. Now that I’m “out” how in the hell was I gonna get what the fuck I promised him. Lucky for me, O was always about a dollar.
“Fuck that bitch and all that shit, look I had set up some shit and I need you to run that for me.”
“What shit, Denari? How you setting up shit without talking to us? That ain’t how we roll, and you know it! That’s how shit goes bad nigga.”
“Here you go with all that, look this shit could bring in a lot of fucking money and I need you to stop being a fucking bitch and handle that.”
“I got yo’ bitch, ignorant ass muthafucka. You can fuck your life up all you want but I’ll be got damned if I let you take me down with you. I was gonna try and talk Unc into rethinking shit, but now I see he made the right fucking decision.”
This conversation wasn’t going how I needed it to go. Omari could be a stubborn son of a bitch when he wanted to be. I took a deep breath and looked to the sky.
“Look I need ya bruh, real talk. This shit could expand our shit. It could be just what I need to make Unc see that I can do this shit. If I can make a deal like this, I’ll be back on top.” I laid it out there in hopes that he would understand where the hell I was coming from, but to my surprise O didn’t bite.
“No can do.” He said dryly.
“The fuck you mean?”
“Exactly what the fuck I said, can’t do it. You out man.”
“O, man come on! This could be the fucking break I need.”
“What’s this nigga’s name? Did you do the proper fucking research on this nigga?”
“Man, I know what the fuck I’m doing, that nigga’s name Perry.”
“Perry what?”
“I don’t fucking know!” I was getting frustrated because he was acting like I was a fucking idiot or something. I didn’t get the vibe that this nigga was on no fuck shit and who in their right mind would want to come against the fucking Barnes Brothers? So, what the fuck?
“Soun
ds like you ain’t did what the fuck you were supposed to do.” He said with disappointment.
“Nigga just trust me.” He got quiet, like he was thinking about what I just said, I had his ass. There was no way that O would tell me no for some shit like this.
“Nah nigga, you need to take that shit up with Unc, because I want no parts of it. It ain’t how I work.”
“IS THAT HIM?” I could hear Jaako yelling in the background. “I’MA FUCK HIM UP, WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?” Next thing I know the phone went dead.
Fuck! What the fuck was I gonna do now? How in the hell was I gonna do this fucking deal? If I backed out, I will be the laughing fucking stock of the drug game and I wasn’t trying to have that. Niggas would lose all respect for me and what the fuck did you have in this game if you didn’t have respect? Nothing!
A nigga was stressed the fuck out and in need of some pussy, a drink and a line of that good shit. I needed to think of a way to get the shit that I needed to hook up with that nigga Perry.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Krista
I sat up in the bed and just let the tears fall from my eyes. When the doctor told me that they couldn’t save my baby I didn’t know how to take it, so I just broke all the way down. How could someone be so damn cruel? That baby was innocent, and he just didn’t give a fuck. If it wasn’t for my mother coming when she did I may have died too.
“Who did this to you Krista? Was it Jaako?” My mother yelled. She had been asking me that since she got here. I was not about to tell her who did this to me because I had so much more in store for him. He was gonna pay for this shit and in my opinion, jail was too fucking good for him. I wanted him dead and I was gonna do whatever I could do to make that happen.
“No Ma, Jaako was mad but he would never do anything like this to me.”
“What was he mad about? That you’re pregnant? How dare he treat you like that, just wait ‘til I see him, I will make sure to give him a piece of my mind.”
“No Ma,” I rolled my eyes. “I did something stupid.” I put my hand over my face and prepared myself for the lecture that I know was sure to come.
“What is it, Krista?!” she asked with more authority than I was prepared for.
“He caught me and Denari.”
“What?!?”
“I didn’t know that he was coming home because he had been making it his business to stay away. I messed up.”
“What have I told you, Krista?” she damn near yelled.
“Never to get caught when I’m playing the field.”
“So how in the hell did this happen Krista, I taught you better than that.”
“I know.” I put my head down while she lectured me on how to use and handle men. Unlike my mother, I did want to be happy one day with the man of my dreams, but until I found that man I wanted to be happy with Jaako’s status and money. She went on and on until we heard a knock on the door. We looked at each other and my mom walked over to open the door.
“What are you doing here?” she scoffed.
“You fucking called me.” I heard Jaako’s voice and smiled inwardly. Just the notion that he came to see me made me feel like there was still a chance to get back on his good side. I needed to be close to him until I figured out exactly what I wanted to do with Denari’s coward ass.
“Mom, chill.” I said, and she smacked her lips and returned to her spot beside my bed.
Jaako mugged her all the way to her seat and then the look he gave me was mixed with hatred and sympathy. I turned on the water works as soon as he started to walk in my direction. I was genuinely hurt, I wanted my baby, but I needed to put on one hell of a show for him, if he was gonna forgive me for what he walked in on.
“Yo, you aight?” he asked right when there was another knock at the door, “it’s Kay and O.” He threw over his shoulder as he opened the door.
“Damn Krista, you good?” Kayson said as soon as he entered the room. Hell, that was more than Jaako did.
“So, you needed an entourage? Tuh!” my mother sneered.
“Look I don’t like you, and quite honestly I’m here out of the kindness of my heart because I doubt the fucking baby was mine anyway.” Jaako said in a calm tone and then he looked at me. “I can leave.” I shook my head before my mama opened her damn mouth again.
“No,” she stood up and pointed at Jaako. “This is your fault, who leaves a got damn woman alone with their psycho brother knowing that she’s carrying their baby. You are a sorry excuse for a man and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
Jaako laughed and I could tell it was one of those laughs that he did when he was trying to control his anger. I tried to interject but Jaako held his hands up.
“Number one, you too got damn old to be trying to live through your got damn daughter. Number two, I don’t know if that was my got damn baby or not. I see ya daughter didn’t tell you that she was spreading ‘em for the got damn family did she?” He yelled that last part. “And three, don’t worry about my got damn brother, I got that handled.”
“Umph, I bet you do.” My mother rolled her eyes. “So, I take it you’re paying for this little hospital stay, I mean it is your fault she’s here.”
“No, it’s her fault she’s here and if you’re gonna be in here I’m leaving.” Jaako started toward the door.
“NO!” I yelled to stop him. “Don’t go, Mom give us a minute.”
“Unless the conversation is about money, what do you have to talk about?”
“MOM!”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Omari blurted out with his face all screwed up. “Yo’ old cougar ass probably told her to fuck both, didn’t you? I bet if I threw a dollar at you, yo’ ancient ass would bend it over bust it open, wouldn’t you?” I was shocked that he was actually saying this to my mother. I looked at Jaako to try and get him to make him chill, but he had a stupid fucking smirk on his face. “I bet you don’t even know who her daddy is, do you? Yo’ ass was prolly throwing pussy to the highest bidder.” He shook his head and headed toward the door.
“Jaako are you going to stand there and let him talk to my mother like that?” I was appalled that no one was saying anything, just standing there with stupid smirks on their faces “Jaako!”
“What? What do you want me to say?” he shrugged his shoulders.
“Check it shorty, you need to stop listening to your mother. Her ass gonna have you somewhere floating.” Omari said and then headed out the door.
“Disrespectful hoodlums, all of you.” My mother said with a nasty look on her face. “Krista, I don’t think he has enough money for you to have to deal with all of this. Thank God you never fell in love with him. That would have been an epic fail for you.” I gave her a look that told her to stop while she was ahead, but she didn’t take heed to the warning and just kept going. “I’m glad you lost that bastard baby.”
“Mother!” that shit hurt, because regardless of the circumstances that was gonna be her grandkid.
“What? Hell, now you can make it official with that other fella you’ve been dealing with. It was probably his baby anyway.” She smirked and the look on Jaako’s face was indescribable.
If I could have disappeared right then and there I swear I would have. I had been dealing with this dude that I met on a shopping trip with my mother out in South Carolina. His name was Perry and he was the sweetest thing ever. I just kept him at bay because I didn’t know if he could take care of me like Jaako could, so I just dealt with him when Jaako was busy or I just needed to get away.
I did sleep with him around the time that I got pregnant, but this was gonna be Jaako’s baby, regardless of what anyone said. But Denari fucked all of that up for me and I was definitely gonna make sure that he paid for all of this.
“Damn girl, you an all-out hoe.” Jaako said with a laugh.
“Jaako, it’s not like that.” I reached out to him and he moved away.
“I almost felt sorry for you. Good looking out, Ma!” he nodded and t
urned to walk away. “Oh, and if yo’ nasty ass gave me anything that’s yo’ ass, and I promise you that.”
“Jaako, please I need you! I just lost our baby.”
Again, he laughed. “Bitch that was the neighborhood baby.”
He threw up the deuces and slammed the door on his way out. I was so furious at my mother. Why would she do that?
“Why would you do that?”
“He ain’t no good Krista, I don’t care how much money he got. He can’t even protect you.” She dug in her pocketbook and pulled out her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling that detective to tell him that we know who attacked you.”
“No you’re not; I got something better planned for him anyway.” I smiled, and she looked at me with a worried expression.
“Don’t get yourself hurt over this, let the police handle it and move on with your life.”
“No Mom, he destroyed my life and I plan to return the favor.”
I laid my head back on the pillow and thought about what it would have been like to be a mother, and how it was taken away from me. Jaako acted like he didn’t even care, and that shit hurt but I know he was just acting out about what happened. He would get over it eventually and come around. I was banking on it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jenacia
“Oh no, is she okay?” I asked Kayson, he had just got through telling me what happened to Krista. I can’t believe Denari would do something like that. He was a selfish prick, but to beat a baby out of someone was crazy. “Is Jaako okay?”
“Jaako's ass is all over the place, he doesn’t know whether to be mad or sad because from what her mama said, Denari wasn’t the only one that she was sleeping with.”