Mesmerized By A Street King 2 Page 3
“But what if I want to be with her and not him.”
“That would be so damn stupid because what kind of life Easy can give you behind bars?”
“She still has money if that’s what you’re referring to. Shit, I have money as well, but that’s not what this is about.”
“Wake up and smell the roses, Tabitha. What do you think I’ve been warning your ass about all these years? You made Johan your life because of him you never worked. You don’t know how it feels to earn anything because it was given to you. It sounds good, but you don’t have no money sweetie. Johan does.”
“You’re not making me feel any better,” I groaned even though I had thousands of dollars in my luggage when that was gone what did I really have? At this point, there was no turning back. Sadly, the trust I gave to my husband I was now giving Easy full reign with it. Hopefully, she didn’t let me down because Taleena was irking me but she was right; I literally had nothing.
ZAYNE
Now that I’ve gotten Naa back, Qwinae had the courage to actually use my number. She was blowing my shit up back to back with phone calls and messages that I was ignoring. I understood at the end of the day we were both parents, and we had to eventually co-parent, but she was dead ass wrong for even thinking she had any right to take Za’naa from school. Things didn’t work that way and if she wanted my attention that was the worst way to get it.
Aunt Shirley kept reminding me that I had to be the bigger person since legally she had the upper hand. If I regretted anything, I regret not getting custody of Za’naa. She really had one up on me because I didn’t think she would disappear and would want to come back as if she was parent of the year.
Me personally, I ain’t give a fuck about no paperwork or having anyone tell me when, where and how often I can see my child. Especially since the system was so fucked up, the fathers always got the short end of the stick. I didn’t know what her mother was up to, but she was not staking any claim to her. What did she have for the past years that proved she was a parent? Regardless of what leverage she had, it didn’t outweigh my rights as a father. I’ve basically taken care of Za’naa since birth.
After everyone calmed down, I had a talk with Za’naa, and she just didn’t understand why her mom was back and trying to steal her from me. That was something I didn’t understand myself, but after quality time and reassurance that I wasn’t going to allow anyone to take her from me, we were good.
“Hey daddy,” Za’naa skipped up to me once she saw me standing at her classroom door. She craned her neck and tiny creases formed on her little face. “Where’s KeKe?”
“Dang, Naa. Daddy don’t get no love?” I frowned playfully stooping down to kiss her forehead, and she held my face in her hands and kissed me on mine.
“I said hey daddy, but I just want to know where KeKe is?” I laughed and took her bag from her.
“KeKe had a few things to do, but she should be at our house later today. How was school?”
“School was great. I reminded my teacher only you, aunty and my uncles are allowed to get me.”
“I told you I handled that Naa. They know better,” I assured her.
“Yeah, I know. I just don’t really want her to come get me again and take me to that stinky room with them other kids.”
“She won’t,” I replied. “Other than that, what you do today?”
It angered me a little that my daughter felt she needed to worry about adult situations. Part of me felt like I failed and her saying things like that ate away at me. Sadly, everything wasn’t in my control, and all I can do was correct what was wrong. I was going to see Qwinae and let her know what was up.
Za’naa went on and on about her day in school, and it seemed like she had fun. She couldn’t wait to get home to show me her homework because they learned something new in class.
“Daddy, I have to tell you something, but I really don’t want to tell you because I don’t want you to get upset,” she spoke up after falling quiet from her story about school.
“I told you, you can tell me anything Naa. It doesn’t matter if I will be angry or not.”
“Well… when my mom took me, she told uncle Sahdy I wasn’t your daughter. Is that even true?”
I snapped my head in her direction, and she was staring at me intently waiting for a response.
“Uncle Sahdy said she was just angry,” she added in.
“No that’s not true, Za’naa,” I sighed shaking my head. So much for me calming down and wanting to talk it out as adults, because she done crossed the line with that shit.
Instead of going home as planned, I got on the expressway and headed to West where Unc and Auntie lived. I was on 100 and Za’naa didn’t mutter a word. My aunt and uncle knowing me kept asking me what was wrong, but I told them I needed to make a quick run, and I wasn’t going to be long.
I sent Qwinae a message letting her know we could talk and she responded quickly letting me know she was now back at her parents’ house. It took me no time to get to their home in the Northwest area. I parked my car and jumped out seeing red even though I kept trying to calm myself down. When I got to the door, I banged on it, and as soon as I spotted Qwinae my hands went straight to her neck, and I slammed her into the wall.
“The fuck you tell my daughter!” I said through gritted teeth adding pressure with each word. She started to speak but her words were choppy as I continued to squeeze the life outta her.
I could kill this bitch with my bare hands, and get rid of her with no problem and my life would be so much easier. No courts, no legal paperwork, no stress. Za’naa couldn’t miss something she never had so my baby girl wasn’t the reason why she was living. The ease of her being far away was what gave her a pass, but now she was becoming a fucking nuisance disturbing me and my child’s peace.
When her eyes started to get bloodshot and glossy, I released my grip, and she held her neck sucking in as much air as she possibly can.
“I could get you arrested!” she shouted once she sucked up enough courage to say some dumb as shit like that to me.
I snatched her up by her shirt and brought her closer to me.
“Go ahead and try…you’ll be missing before my paperwork is processed. Think I’m fucking playing with you,” I spat clenching her shirt in my hand.
“So you rather me lie, Zayne? It is time for you to know the truth. Za’naa isn’t your daughter.”
Qwinae was looking me dead in my eyes, and she held nothing but confidence in them as she said those words. I released her shirt and stared at her. The rage I felt was washed away and immediately replaced with sadness. I wanted to believe she was lying, but she either was telling the truth or had a real good poker face.
“You serious?”
“Zayne I’m sorry, but at the time I got caught in my feelings, and I went and slept with other people—”
“Wait, other people?”
She released a deep breath and moved her head up and down letting me know what I heard was correct. She had the nerve to have tears streaming down her face when she crushed my entire world off her stupid ass actions. I balled my fist up and sent it straight through the wall past her head.
“I’m so sorry. I just didn’t know how to tell you!” she wailed.
“Which is why you ain’t want to have her!” I yelled. “You thought an abortion would’ve fixed the fact that you opened your legs like a fucking whore!”
She covered her ears with her hands and continued to cry as I peered down at her menacingly. I couldn’t remember no rough patches between Qwinae and me. She was just an only child that felt entitled to what she wanted and we but heads a few times, but those petty arguments weren’t anything to go run off and fuck multiple men.
I was confused and hurt and wasn’t sure if I wanted to kill her or get the honest to God truth out of her. Instead, I stormed out of her parents’ house and got back in my car to get my daughter. This had to be a fucking joke, and if it was the truth, I wasn’t going t
o accept it.
***
Za’naa was fast asleep in the bed that used to be mine years ago. She was perfect. Qwinae had to get an emergency C-section after having her, and I remember hearing her whining after they gotten her out. I rushed the nurses to give me my child, and when I held her tiny body in her arms right then, I realized what unconditional love was.
The more I thought about what Qwinae said vivid memories flashed in my head. No amount of liquor or weed could erase the words and her uncertainty of the paternity of the baby I cared for years.
“Zayne…” I heard my aunt’s voice from downstairs where the master bedroom was.
I glanced at Za’naa one last time and moved from the door frame making my way to her. When I got downstairs, she was in the kitchen pulling a cup of coffee from her Keurig.
“It’s too late for coffee. How are you going to go to sleep?”
“I’ve been drinking coffee for so long the caffeine doesn’t bother me,” she responded pulling the chair out next to her.
I took a seat and rested my elbows on the table, pulling on my hair as I cradled my head in my hands.
“Are you and KeKe ok?”
“Yeah, we straight,” I replied.
“So it’s you and Qwinae. What happened?”
“How you figure?”
My aunt finally took her seat next to me and let off a little laugh. “I’m not your mother, but I practically raised you like one Zayne. I know my boys like the back of my hand. Nothing bothered you too much because you found a way to fix everything. I see it in your face; I feel your energy and something is wrong.”
I lifted my head and saw my aunt staring directly at me as if she was reading my mind, but just wanted my words to confirm what she knew. No, she wasn’t my mother, but she played the role to a T.
“Qwinae is saying Za’naa might not be my daughter. She admitted to having sex with a bunch of niggas around the time she was conceived.”
She shook her head and brought her cup to her lips. For the most part, the kitchen was dark besides the little light that shined over the stove.
“How does that make you feel?”
“I want to kill her ass. Before I got to her house, that’s what was on my mind for even saying that shit in front of Za’naa. You know how she doesn’t let anything go. My baby too young to be worried about stupid shit and we’ve been fine until this bitch come back stirring up all this mess.”
“You can’t kill her Zayne,” my aunt said firmly, and I sighed knowing I could get away with it easily, but my aunt was my Queen and basically what she said was law. She never steered me in the wrong direction. “Do you want to take a test and find out?”
I got silent, and I thought about what if Za’naa wasn’t my daughter, but then the memories flooded my mind pushing that thought out.
“I don’t need a test to figure that out. She’s been mine for the past six years, and that’s not going to change,” I responded lowly, and my aunt leaned over and kissed my cheek.
“Exactly. There’s no reason to get worked up over anything she says when we know she belongs to us. What I will say is that you and your uncle get them lawyers busy so we can make sure our baby girl is here to stay.”
I sucked in a deep breath and released it soaking up my aunt's advice. Going through the courts wasn’t something I wanted to do, but in this instance, I had to fight fire with fire.
JOHAN
Tabitha has been gone for hours. The boys said they didn’t know where she went and I already figured she was going to pack up and leave. Checking out the closet only confirmed my thoughts when I saw the shoes and clothes strewn all over and the open safe that was missing a good amount of money. I wasn’t sweating her disappearance or the money, she had something to hide, and she thought she could run.
I had our guy Spence pulling her phone history and tracking where she went every weekend. He told me he only needed a few hours to get everything I wanted to know and I was impressed that he could get what I wanted quickly.
Spence was our guy we went to when we needed information we couldn’t necessarily get ourselves. He was a white guy that had an apartment in northern Liberties. You wouldn’t think he was a nerd and into computer shit because he looked like money. It could be that we paid him very well for his services.
After I dropped the boys off at school, he called me and let me know he had everything I needed and to come to his apartment. I got there in almost an hour due to the morning traffic of commuters trying to get to work. When I got there, he buzzed me in, and I made my way up to his apartment. This man must’ve had cameras setup in and around the building because I didn’t get a chance to let him know I was at the front door before I heard the door unlock.
“Either you gotta a tracking device on my phone or there’s cameras that belong to you around the building.”
Spence chortled and extended his hand for a shake. “There’s no tracking device on your phone,” he responded letting me know the latter was correct. I laughed and shook my head because this man was fucking mysterious as fuck to me, but it worked for him, so I wasn’t going to judge.
I followed him to his back room he had set up like an office. It was very neat compared to what I thought it would’ve been. I expected a bunch of computers, paper works, and books cluttering the space, but he simply had a desk and an old-fashioned desktop which blew my fucking mind. I didn’t question him though. If he liked it, I loved it.
I took a seat at the chair next to the desk, and he turned the computer screen around so I could see.
“It didn’t take me long to find any of this, but those weekends your wife has been gone, she wasn’t far. Riverside correctional facility; does that sound familiar to you?”
I nodded my head knowing it was one woman I knew that was locked up and should be coming home soon but also thought back to her claiming she was visiting her family.
“This was the tricky part,” Spence handed me a piece of paper, and I scanned the words. Tabitha was on Unc’s sister’s visitor list. This shit threw me for a loop because they were never close. They met at family functions and shared a few words when she was in our presence, but that was it.
It was no secret that Ernestine didn’t care for my brothers and I and the feeling was mutual. She was Unc’s right hand until she proved she was unfit for the position because she was sloppy and careless, two things Unc didn’t play about. When she got caught up with some petty drug charges, he washed his hands clean of her.
Spence studied my face as I eyed the paperwork he drew up. I stood to my feet and passed him the stack of cash I was prepared to give him for his work although he was already on our payroll.
“Is there anything else you need me to do?” he questioned and I shook my head.
“Nah, thanks for your work though.”
I left out of his apartment building and went straight to my Uncle's house. My aunt’s car was gone, so I assumed she was at her daycare centers checking up on them which gave me a little privacy to have this talk with him.
As usual, he was in the basement of the house sitting behind his desk with an open book and a glass of his favorite drink. When he saw me at the bottom of the stairs, he closed the book and gave me his full attention. I passed him the pictures, the phone records, and Ernestine’s file from the prison.
I knew he saw Tabitha’s name listed on her visiting log because he eyed me suspiciously.
“I don’t even go up there to go see her, and she’s the only person listed outside of her friend and the woman I knew to be her wife,” he said placing the sheet of paper back down. I leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest and I took a seat.
“She’s gone now. She packed up and left with some money. Her cell phone is going straight to voicemail. Her truck is parked somewhere in the city.”
“Did you track it?”
“Tabitha knows me well. She more than likely gotten rid of it.”
“So what are you thinking?”
“She’s definitely hiding something, but I’m not sure what it is,” I replied. Unc passed me the bottle of cognac and I took it to the head knowing it was exactly what I needed.
“Ernestine isn’t to be trusted and now that we know Tabitha is involved with her in any way it now makes her questionable. I got word that Ernestine will be out pretty soon. I say we fall back and see how she moves. I can get Tabitha found and have someone watching her as well.”
“I’ll handle Tabitha.”
“You sure?”
Unc gave me a concerned look, and I nodded my head. Regardless of the circumstances, she was my wife and the mother of my kids. For right now our issues were ours. If his sister proved to be a problem towards any of us, she would be something I would handle as well.
“Nyzie, is her best friend that runs the trap in South Philadelphia. She never gave me no real issues, but I will tell your brothers to keep an eye on her and their crew. Nyzie loves money, but her loyalty to Ernestine is unmatched.”
I spent an hour talking to Unc Ern, and he broke down the history between him and Ernestine. It didn’t take long for me to realize she was a snake and it was a shame the both of them were born together. They were like night and fucking day. I left out of his house with a ton of information and was making my way back to Spence so he could piece most of the work together for me. The only question I needed answered was how my wife was linked to Ernestine.
MILL
Asahd: I’m home and you’re not here. That’s a problem.
I smiled wide as I struggled to balance my textbooks and purse and read the text from Asahd. What we were doing had no title, but it felt pretty much like a relationship, something I said I didn’t want but the pace we were going had it feeling as such. It scared me to be honest, to be dealing with the wild nigga that was deemed the king of the streets. Little ol’ me?
I didn’t care about what stigma he had and how many people bowed down to him or feared him, Asahd shown me a side of him that pulled me in even though I constantly told myself he was bad news.