Down With the King of the South 4

by Diamond Johnson

  It wasn’t until I started removing my jewelry and laying it down on the dresser that I felt her eyes on me. I knew Shae hated for a nigga to get on top of the comforter in my outside clothes, but I did the shit anyway. I lay before her with my head resting in her lap and both of my hands on her small stomach. She was a little over sixteen weeks pregnant and was finally starting to get a little pudge. I kissed her on her stomach a couple of times while she ran her fingernails through my hair.

  “What you in here stressing about? I see that shit all over your face, shorty,” I said with my eyes closed.

  I heard her release a sigh, and that’s when I opened my eyes because I felt like she was getting ready to be on some good bullshit.

  “After I took a shower and everything tonight, I went to check on Maya. Miami, she had my purse and was taking money out of my wallet. I swear I wanted to pretend like I didn’t see it, but I did. She was holding two fifties in her hand, and when I walked in, she tried to hide the shit behind her back. She lied so easily, talking about she thought her headphones were in my purse. Meanwhile, her headphones were sitting right on her dresser.

  “She tried to lie about it until the very end. Eventually, she broke down crying and said that she was taking the money so that she could give it to her mommy. Maya doesn’t even talk to Krystal. Krystal doesn’t call my phone to speak to Maya, and I been stopped having Maya call her. I don’t know, Miami. That shit just made me so mad because we give that little girl everything,” Shae said, followed by a lone tear falling from her eyes.

  I could tell how hurt she was behind that shit. Shae did any and everything for that little girl. I swear you would never even believe that Shae didn’t birth her because she treated her in a way that a mother would treat a child that she’d birthed. On top of that, she’d placed Maya in one of the best private schools in Miami, she had her attending speech courses three days out of the week and was just all-around a good ass mom.

  “You ain’t see no calls in your phone history of the two of them talking? You know Maya knows both of our codes, and she knows how to work our phones. Maybe she has been talking to her like that. Text messages? Anything, shorty?” I asked, and she shook her head.

  “No, I looked,” she let me know.

  “You checked her iPad? You know they can text and shit on there,” I suggested, and this time, she shook her head no.

  “Hold on. Let me go and get it,” I said and hopped off the bed.

  I walked out of the room and down the hall to Maya’s bedroom. I found her iPad after damn near five minutes of looking for it. It wasn’t on the dresser where it would usually be. This time, it was in bed with her, damn near buried under the sheets. I’d bought her the iPad a few weeks ago. Once I had it in my hands, I walked out of the room and carried it with me into the bedroom with Shae. I knew that Maya’s password was her birthday, so I keyed that in. Instantly, her photo galley popped up since that was the last thing she was doing. I clicked out of it and went to her messages.

  “I thought it had to be a phone in sync with the iPad in order to text,” I mumbled after seeing that she had a contact in her messages under Mommy.

  It was a one-sided conversation taking place. Maya knew how to work the emojis and shit real well, but her little ass didn’t know how to text, so she was sending a lot of heart emojis and the rest of her messages, she was speaking them out.

  “I love you, Mommy.”

  “Call me, okay?”

  “You okay, Ma?”

  “I want to see you mm… Mommyy. I love you.”

  Those were the audio messages that Maya had sent to her mom last night and tonight, and her bird brain ass mama didn’t even have the decency to text her back.

  “Grab your phone. Look and see if she’s been texting the same number that you have saved in your phone for Krystal,” I told Jashae.

  She picked up her phone from the dresser, and I watched as she went to the contacts. Sure enough, the contacts matched.

  “I don’t get it then. Krystal wasn’t writing back, so why did she say she was getting the money for her mom? It’s not like she asked her for it. Damn, Miami. I swear I wanted to just pop her little ass. Vonte was bad as hell at that age, but my son knew not to take my damn purse and steal from me. I don’t know what to do,” Shae said and threw the phone down.

  “Why it sounds like you giving up or some shit? Like you ready to drop her off to her grandma or some shit. What’s up, shorty? Talk to me,” I said and tugged on her thigh.

  At the same time, our door was pushed open. Little footsteps could be heard coming into the bedroom. We both looked up and saw that it was Maya. She was so fuckin’ adorable in her Trolls nightgown with her little scarf on her head to protect the braids that Shae had put her hair in last night. She rubbed her sleepy eyes as she walked further into the room.

  I wasn’t even sure what Shae had said to Maya, but Maya was too scared to even look at Shae. Her eyes were purposely avoiding Shae’s. She walked slowly over to the bed, and once she was close enough, I lifted her up under her arms and sat her in the middle of Shae and me. I didn’t even have to say anything because she just burst out crying.

  “I… iiii… Dddd… Didn’t mmmm… mean to. I… jjj… just www… Wanted her… tttt…. to respond to mmm… meee,” Maya cried with her face buried in her hands.

  Damn, at five years old, this little girl thought that she had to buy her mother’s love. I grabbed Maya by her arms, and I placed her in my lap as she continued to cry.

  “And how were you going to give her the money, Maya? You know your mommy doesn’t even stay in the same state as us. We talked about that,” Shae said. I could tell she wasn’t moved by Maya’s tears in the least.

  “I… ttt… took your phone yyy… Yesterday. I sss… saw her Instagram. Sh… she’s here. That’s www… whyyy I ttt… texted herrr,” Maya said, using the top of her shirt to wipe her face.

  Shae picked up her phone again, and I watched as she went onto the Instagram app. Again, sure enough, there Krystal was, right here in Miami. Her ass was just posting at Take One a couple of hours ago.

  “I www… was gg… going to ask you t… to ttt take me to my ggg… grandma’s house, and I was gggg… going to give mommy the mmm… money. I’m sorry, Shae. I didn’t mean to ssss… steal from you. I jjj… Just wanted to ggg… get her tt… to love me,” Maya stuttered.

  The tough act that Shae was putting on, Maya was slowly but surely breaking her down. Shae used the back of her hands to wipe Maya’s face, and then she kissed her a couple of times on her cheek.

  “Baby girl, if somebody is going to love you, then they have to love you for you. You shouldn’t have to pay anybody to love you, especially not your mommy. I believe she loves you. She’s just going through a hard time right now in life. Would you like for me to drop you off to your grandmother’s house tomorrow, so you can see them?” I asked her, and she nodded her head up and down that she did.

  “Okay, I will. First thing in the morning,” Shae let her know.

  “Thank you, Shae. I’m sss… sorry again,” she said one last time before she gave both of us kisses on our cheeks, and then she left out, closing the door behind her.

  “I swear I’m not even trying to be funny, but she is definitely Trip’s daughter. It’s like I’m mad, but I get it. I get it, then I don’t get it. I’m making sense?” she asked me.

  “Not really, shorty, but I get what you’re saying. I tell you one thing, she not gonna do that shit anymore. You scared the fuck out of her. She wouldn’t even look at you, man,” I let her know.

  “Yeah, while you sat there and did nothing. How you going to hold her, when her little butt did something bad. I bet if she was a boy, the situation would have been really different,” Shae said.

  “Hell yeah. I’ll have to punch my son in his chest for stealing from you. That’s why I don’t want no daughter. I’ll let her little ass walk all over me,” I said, pulling her into me and then down on the bed with
me.

  I had her lying on top of me while my hands rested on her ass.

  “You know I hate it when you come in the house and get in the bed wearing your clothes. Baby, you smell like weed, cigars, alcohol, and old people,” she said.

  I laughed while shaking my head.

  “You full of shit, shorty. You only saying that shit because you know where I went. You taking a shower with me? I could use a shower with my fiancée after the day that I had,” I let her know right before I leaned my head down and kissed her lips.

  “I’ll join you. Start the water, big daddy,” she cooed right before she rolled off me and started removing her clothes.

  I let out a loud whistle, and my dick jumped in my pants because I already knew what type of night it was going to be.

  The next morning

  True to her word last night, Jashae and I were pulling up to the raggedy, run-down apartments that Maya’s grandmother stayed in. Truthfully, we didn’t even know if Krystal was there or not. We just assumed that she was.

  It was so fuckin’ crazy to me because I remember when Jashae talked to Krystal a few months back, around the time Krystal was getting ready to sign over her rights to Maya. Jashae had basically left Krystal a promise, telling her that once she signed on that bottom line, she would never be allowed to see Maya again. I was sure my shorty wanted to make good on that promise, but Maya still asked about her mother. No matter how good of a life that she was now living with us, that little girl still wanted to see her ole girl. Neither Jashae nor I wanted to tell Maya that she couldn’t see Krystal. At the end of the day, although she was a walking fuck up, she was still the woman who had birthed Maya, and that reason alone is why Maya loved her so much.

  If it were up to me, and I didn’t care what Maya thought about me, I would have told her little ass no. That’s because every time I saw Maya, I was forced to think about her being left in the parking garage at Shae’s job. So, although this was a trip that I wasn’t too fond of, I was doing it for Maya.

  “I’m not going to be hunting her stupid ass down all fuckin’ morning, Miami. If she’s not here, then oh well. I already texted her twice, letting her know that we were on our way to her mother’s house, and she didn’t respond to any of the text messages. I can’t believe that we’re even doing this. What type of parent gets to say that she doesn’t want to be a parent anymore, but we turn around and give her the luxury of even getting to see Maya? I swear this shit is stupid,” Jashae fussed as we walked down the walkway to get to Maya’s grandmother’s apartment.

  Maya was walking ahead of us, damn near running to get to the apartment. She knew the way like the back of her hand, so we were following her lead. I looked down at Shae and grabbed her by her waist, placing her close to me. She had on a tank top today with some jeans, so her baby bump was live and in effect this morning. I had my hand on her stomach the whole drive over here. I was indeed a happy man to be having a baby with this fine ass woman right here. There was no doubt in my mind that the son she was having for me was going to be fuckin’ beautiful, handsome, all of that.

  “And if she ain’t here, shorty, we going to leave. I told you that this morning already. Chill out,” I told her then kissed her on her forehead.

  Just like me, I could tell that this was the last thing Shae wanted to be doing, but we were doing this shit for Maya. We’d finally made it to the front door, and Maya’s little fist went up. She started pounding on the door. I pulled her back a little bit after she finished banging on the door. I knew if somebody had fucked around and banged on my door the way she just did this early in the fuckin’ morning, I would have swung my front door open and cursed everybody out, which is why I’d pulled her back.

  It took a few moments for us to hear movement, and then suddenly, the front door swung open. It was Maya’s grandmother coming to the door. I turned my head quicker than a motha fucka when I saw that the robe she was wearing had untied at the waist, so all her old womanly goodies were on full display.

  “Nigga, please! Don’t insult me!” she said to me, right before she rolled her eyes.

  I couldn’t do shit but laugh. This was an old ass woman, and whatever I said in response to her would be disrespectful as fuck, so I just laughed her comment off. Plus, from the way Jashae was squeezing my arm, that was code for me to leave it alone, so I did. When I didn’t say anything, she pulled Maya in for a hug since it had been months since she’d last seen her. Shit, the last time she saw her was when we came down there looking for Krystal’s trifling ass.

  “You must be looking for your mama? She got here yesterday afternoon. Go on inside. She’s sleeping right there on that couch, with her sorry ass,” she said to Maya as if she was grown ass woman and needed to be hearing that type of shit.

  Maya went inside while her grandmother pushed the door back some so that Shae and I could come inside. But before we could make that move, she said something first.

  “Look, I don’t know what type of shit Krystal done got her ass in while she was in Atlanta, but she came back yesterday, bags packed and everything. Krystal ain’t lived in my house for years. She always told me that she would rather sleep in a fuckin’ alley or under a bridge before she moved back in here with me. I was honestly shocked to see her ass come back because I just knew that once she took her ass down there to Atlanta, she wouldn’t be back. I say that to say, if she’s going to be back home, then Maya shouldn’t have to be the two of y’all’s burden. Let that woman take care of her own motha fuckin’ child. From the looks of things, the two of you have a child that y’all need to be taking care of,” she said with her finger pointed at Jashae’s stomach.

  “I get what you saying, but at the same time, Maya ain’t a burden. Besides, your daughter already signed them papers saying that she doesn’t want Maya anymore. If we give her back, fuck she going to sleep at? On the couch next to her mama? Aside from that, you got grown ass men staying in this house with you and—”

  “Grown ass men that are Maya’s uncles and cousins—”

  “And what the fuck is that supposed to mean, lady? How many little girls get raped by family members? Nah, Maya good where she at. She wanted to come over and see her mama because she saw on Instagram that she was in town. Let us let her do that, and then we’ll be out of your fuckin’ way,” I said then walked past her and into her shit like this was my fuckin’ house.

  I could tell that she couldn’t stand a nigga, which was fine because the feeling was mutual. I held Shae’s hand as we walked into the small, cluttered ass apartment. We were in fuckin’ March, yet they still had up a Christmas tree in the living room. All I could do was shake my head because some people were just trifling. As far as the apartment being small and shit, that wasn’t even my judgment because I lived just like this as a child. The only difference was, my parents and I did everything in our power to keep up with the shit. We were already struggling back then. Who wanted to be struggling and then living in filth on top of that?

  I’m not even going to get started on all the dirty ass dishes that were piled up in the sink, all ten garbage bags that were leaned against the wall, dying to be taken outside. I wished she would even offer us something to drink when I just saw that damn roach crawling up the wall. Swear I felt like I needed to jump my ass back in the shower, and I’d only been standing in this bitch for one minute.

  “Get up, Mommy. Get up,” Maya was saying, down on her knees, shaking Krystal.

  Her ass was slumped over on the couch, knocked out, and snoring like a fuckin’ bear. Only drugs and alcohol would make a person sleep like that, and because shorty was in the club last night, who knows what type of shit she’d indulged in. Like Maya’s grandmother said, all of Krystal’s bags were on the side of her like she planned to stay for good. There were like four suitcases, about two duffle bags, and some plastic bags were lying there as well.

  “Krystal, get your motha fuckin’ ass up! Your child is here to see you!” her mama yelled, coming into the
living area where we were and banging two pots together.

  That made Krystal jump up from her sleep, and she looked around the room at all the faces staring back at her. We all heard her suck her teeth. Maya stood up from the floor and wrapped her tiny arms around her mother, holding onto her for dear life. Krystal hugged her back, but not long enough.

  “Why y’all brought her over here? Especially so early in the damn morning. Can a bitch get herself together?” Krystal asked in a hoarse voice.

  I heard Shae laugh from the side of me, and I knew that laugh all too well. She was getting ready to start some shit.

  “Krystal, your shit ain’t been together in how fuckin’ long? Fuck you mean? You don’t think Maya knows what’s going on? You don’t think she knows the reason why she’s living with us? Don’t try to act like she views you as some fuckin’ angel. Any positive image that she had of your ass went out of the damn window when you left her in a damn garage. Talking about why we brought her here! Girl, if it were up to me, you would never see Maya again. It was Maya who cried and begged us to come and see you. You should be thanking me,” Shae said, trying to get closer to Krystal, but I pulled her back, putting her pregnant ass behind me.

  Just when Krystal was about to say something, there was loud banging on the front door.

  “I knew it was a bad idea to bring my ass down here,” I mumbled under my breath, feeling for my gun and making sure that I had it tucked because I didn’t have a clue as to who was on the other side of the door.

  Krystal’s mother went to the door, and before she could even have the door fully opened, a woman who I’ve never seen before came barging into the home, damn near knocking Krystal’s grandmother over to get inside.