“Just as I thought.” She laughed. “You have no idea what it’s like to be a parent, Trey. How in the hell can you even call yourself a dad?”

  “He can go with me.”

  Jessica called T. J. and he ran into the living room. He took hold of his mother’s arm and stared at Trey and asked, “Are you being mean to my mom again?”

  “Of course not, champ.” Trey laughed.

  “He acts just like you. That’s the scary part,” Jessica said

  Trey made his way over to T. J. and said, “I’m going to take you to Cirque de Soleil.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s like the circus but a hundred times better,” Trey said.

  T. J smiled but then remembered that he was supposed to be mad at his dad. He held his mother tight.”

  Jessica turned to T. J. and said, “Don’t you want to go with your father?”

  “No.”

  Trey said, “Why not?”

  “Because you always lie to me!”

  Trey said, “Give daddy a chance to make it up to you. I want to take you to see Cirque de Soleil and I’m going to take you to grandma’s house. Grandma has been asking about you.”

  T. J.‘s face lit up and said, “She called me yesterday.”

  Trey looked confused and Jessica said, “Yes, your mother keeps in touch, and I’m glad she does.”

  Trey had no idea that his mother kept in touch with them. He was barely in touch with his mom himself nowadays. He would have to do better with his priorities.

  Jessica said, “Let’s go to your room to pack some clothes.” They disappeared into the bedroom.

  Trey texted Starr.

  Trey: Hey.

  Starr: Hey!

  Trey: I really need my money. I had some bad luck.

  Starr: Sorry to hear that.

  Trey: Do you think you can meet me to give my money back?

  Starr: Yes, I can meet you on Wed. Anytime after 7.

  Trey: Cool. I’ll meet you on Wed.

  Starr: K.

  Jessica and T. J. entered the room carrying his backpack. T. J. said to Trey, “Can we go to grandma’s first?”

  “Of course.”

  Trey brushed T. J.‘s hair as T. J. grinned.

  Trey and T. J. had made their way to the door when Jessica said, “Trey, let me talk to you for a second alone. Take T. J. to the car and come back in.”

  “Leave him in the car alone?”

  “Not with the keys, silly, and this is a nice neighborhood. He’ll be okay,” Jessica said. “Trey, just think how much it would mean to T. J. if I could come with you guys?”

  “Huh?”

  Jessica smiled and said, “We can be one big happy family. T. J. is always asking me why aren’t we together.”

  “Yeah, I know every kid wants their parents to be together.”

  “T. J.‘s no different.”

  “Bad idea. We don’t get along.”

  Jessica said, “Look, Trey, I’m not trying to marry you. I just want a couple of days where T. J. can be with his parents. Is that too much to ask for?”

  “I’m not with it.”

  “It’s your new girlfriend, isn’t it?”

  “It’s because you’re going to be thinking that we’re something that we’re not.”

  She laughed. “I don’t want to be with you.”

  “Okay, well let me spend time with my son.”

  There were tears rolling down Jessica’s face. “You ruined my life!”

  “How?”

  “You got me pregnant and just left.”

  “You knew I had a woman, from day one.”

  “Now you’re not with that woman, so why can’t we be together? T. J. needs a family!”

  “I knew that was what this is about.”

  “So what if I do want to be with you? What’s wrong with me wanting to have a family for my son?”

  “Leave T. J. the fuck out of it because you not going to get no sympathy from me, bitch!”

  She lowered her voice. “Oh, I’ll leave T. J. out of it. I love you, Trey.”

  “You tried to ruin my life. You ruined my relationship with the only woman that I ever loved.”

  “You never loved her. If you loved her, you wouldn’t have fucked me and you damn sure wouldn’t have fucked Shantelle.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I said you wouldn’t have fucked me or Shantelle.”

  “How do you know Shantelle’s name?”

  “I sent the pictures to Starr, remember?”

  “I swear, you’re the biggest stalker ever. I could never be with you.”

  Trey headed to the door and she took hold of his shirt and said, “Please! Don’t leave! I wanna be one big happy family.”

  Trey shoved her and she stumbled to the floor. She took hold of his leg. He struggled to make it to the front door and she said, “Trey! Please don’t go! Why can’t we be one big happy family? I want a family, Trey.”

  When Trey made his way to the door, she was still locked on to his leg like a pit bull. Trey pried her fingers off his leg and slammed the door shut.

  Jessica was still on the floor screaming, “All I want is a big happy family! All I want is my family to be together!”

  Chapter 4

  Black stared at the screen of the cell phone at a picture of a Blue pit bull that his daughter Tierany had sent him. He’d promised that he would get her and Man-Man a dog, but he didn’t know if he wanted them to have a pit bull since they were so temperamental. He was quite surprised that Tierany wanted a pit bull since she was a girly-girl. He thought she would have wanted a Yorkie. Black was about to text her back when he noticed someone he didn’t recognize creeping up his driveway. Black grabbed the Taurus nine millimeter from his waist, cocked it, and opened his front door.

  “What’s up, Partna!?” Black yelled out to the stranger.

  “You can give me all your motherfucking money.” The man smiled, but Black wasn’t smiling.

  “You better get the fuck away from here before I blast yo ass.” Black brought up his gun.

  “It’s me. Mari.”

  “What?”

  “It’s Shamari.”

  Black looked closely and finally he recognized him. “What the fuck have you done to your face, man?”

  “Changed my look, man.”

  “What the fuck?”

  “Yeah, had to get some work done if I’m going to be on the run.”

  “Damn. I swear I didn’t recognize you. Only a slight resemblance. I was ‘bout to kill yo ass, asking for money.”

  Shamari laughed and Black asked, “Who did it?”

  “Plastic surgeon that Jada knows.”

  “How much did it cost?”

  “I ain’t pay him shit.”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  Black led Shamari inside the home and once they were sitting at the bar, Shamari asked, “Where’s Kyrie?”

  “I don’t know? Why?”

  “What ever happened with that case of his son taking the dope to school?”

  “Nothing yet.” Black eyed Shamari suspiciously, wondering why Shamari was asking all the goddamned questions about Kyrie. Black said, “Do you want something to drink?”

  “What you got?”

  “Henny, water or soda.”

  “Give me a soda. Got the taste for sugar.”

  Black came back with a can of Mountain Dew then he poured himself some Hennessey.

  “Why all the questions about Kyrie?”

  “When I was recovering from my surgery, I saw on the news that a few people had OD’d onheroin.”

  “What does that got to do with us? You know how many heroin dealers in Atlanta?”

  “How many of them have the name Obamacare?”

  Black sipped his liquor said, “We stole that name, remember?”

  “I know, but now don’t you think it’s time that we give it back?”

  “Maybe.”

  Black stared at Shamari’s face and said, “I’m going to have to get used to this face, man. It’s tripping me out.”

  “Freaked Jada out too.”

  “I bet.”

  “We need a new name.”

  “We need more product first.”

  “I can find us some.”

  “Where?”

  “L.A.”

  “Look, I ain’t into trafficking shit all the way across the country, but you get it back, I’ll help you.”

  “I have no choice. If I’m going to be running, I gotta make some money.”

  “You’re going to chance it going through airports and shit when you’re on the run.”

  “I’m driving. I got a new license.” Shamari flashed a license Hunch’s cousin had made for him. His new alias was Ricky Stevenson.

  “Driving it back is a big risk.”

  “I ain’t got shit to lose.”

  Black said, “You got a point.” He then downed his liquor.

  ******

  Lani had been watching Breaking Bad on Netflix when someone rang her doorbell. She figured that it had to be someone at the wrong house because nobody had used the building keypad to notify her. She looked through the peephole and saw that it was Black. Lani opened the door but blocked the entrance into her home.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call before I came, but I figured you didn’t want to see me,” Black said.

  “You’re smarter than I thought you were.”

  “Can we talk?

  “About?”

  “Can I come in? I’ll be quick.”

  “I don’t have time for this bullshit.”

  She stepped aside and let him inside. He followed her to the kitchen. They sat side by side at her bar. She offered him a drink but he declined.

  “What do you want?”

  “I wanna say I’m sorry. I swear to god, I didn’t want to get you involved.”

  His eyes were sincere and she wanted to believe him, but there was no way she could believe him. She always wanted to believe what he said, and that is what has gotten her into trouble before.

  “Tyrann, cut the bullshit. You know there was no way that I wasn’t going to be involved. No fucking way. I’m the common denominator between you and Chris. You’ve been in trouble with the law before. You knew that once you killed Chris, the police were going to come see me.”

  “Shh. Quit saying that.”

  “Saying what?”

  “I killed Chris because I ain’t killed nobody.”

  “Who pulled the trigger?”

  Black attempted to frisk her. Why was she asking him all these goddamned questions?

  “Get your goddamned hands off me. You know I ain’t wearing no wire.”

  “Twan pulled the trigger if you must know.”

  “How did Twan know Chris?”

  “He didn’t.”

  Lani and Black locked eyes. “Chris’s blood is on your hands, not Twan’s.”

  “Says who?”

  It was now clear to Lani that Black was delusional as hell. In his mind, he was innocent of murder since he didn’t actually pull the trigger.

  Black rubbed her back. He wanted to comfort her. He knew she’d been through a lot.

  “You get your motherfucking hands off me!”

  Black laughed and said, “All that I’ve done for you, this is how you treat me?”

  Lani made her way to the fridge to get some Greek yogurt. As she stood at the fridge, Black examined her body. Her ass was poking out nicely. He wished she would remove that robe but didn’t think that would happen.

  Lani sat at the bar and ate a spoonful of yogurt. “Look, Tyrann, you’ve done a lot for me and I appreciate the hell out of you, but there is no way I can be with someone like you. You showed me a different side of you.”

  “Like what?”

  “Motherfucker, have you forgot that you murdered Chris?”

  He placed his finger over his lips. “Shh.”

  “You got me in the middle of a bunch of bullshit.”

  “You have an excellent lawyer. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I know nothing can happen to you because you didn’t know about it.”

  “I do now.”

  “But I’m the only person that knows for sure that you know about it.”

  “Mike kidnapped Man-Man for nothing, right?”

  “Mike thinks he knows.”

  “Now, I’m almost certain he thinks that I told you where his mother lived.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “He doesn’t know that.”

  “Don’t worry about Mike. Fuck Mike! I can handle Mike!”

  “Now you see, this whole vigilante lifestyle is what I can’t deal with.”

  Black stood up from the bar and said, “Don’t say shit about my lifestyle. This same vigilante lifestyle got you living good.”

  “So what do I owe you? Some pussy? This is what you do, Tyrann. Ever since I’ve known you, it’s been the same thing. You made a lot of money and spoiled a lot of women and you think the money is going to allow you to do what you want to do. Can’t you see that way of thinking is fucked up?”

  “I might be fucked up in the head. Just a little. I’ll be the first to admit, but if I’m fucked up then that means that you’re fucked up too.”

  “Huh?”

  “You broke up with me. You went to Chris. You thought he was legitimate, but he turned out to be nothing but a dope boy too. A has-been basketball player that was no better than me.”

  Tear rolled down her face. Not because of what he said, but because of how he’d said it. He mentioned Chris in the past tense. He was gone.

  Black said, “I got issues, but you got issues too. You ain’t no better than me.”

  Lani took another spoonful of her yogurt and said, “You’re right. We’re both broken. It’s time to re-evaluate my life. I’m not a young girl anymore, and you’re not young anymore either.”

  Black grinned. “I know.”

  “What do you want from me? What do you want me to say? You want me to accept your apology then you’ll leave. Well, I accept your apology. Now leave.”

  “I want you to come live with me.”

  She laughed and said, “You’re sick.”

  “Look, nothing is going to happen to you. I know you’re worried, but I swear to you, ain’t a goddamned thing going to happen to us.”

  She finished her yogurt. It made no sense to go back and forth with the fool.

  Black made his way over to her. He started massaging her shoulders and she liked it. She liked the way he made her feel physically and she hadn’t been touched in a while. She needed sex. She wanted him inside of her. She sat the empty yogurt container on the bar and he leaned into her to kiss her.

  She stopped him and said, “Get the fuck out right now.”

  Black stood there with a silly-ass grin on his face. He said, “It’s like that?”

  “It’s like that, motherfucker.”

  He made his way to the door and she followed him. Before he left he said, “I love you, Lani.”

  She closed the door. She believed Black loved her—the only way he knew how to love, and at the moment, it wasn’t good enough to keep putting herself at risk with him.

  *****

  Lani needed a drink, so she called Starr and Jada to meet her at the W for cocktails. They sat at a table in the back of the lounge. All three ladies had strawberry margaritas. Starr paid back Jada the money that Jada had given her earlier. She told the ladies about her new showroom and business.

  Jada smiled, “I gotta check it out. I’m so proud of you.”

  “You need to send some of your rich friends to do business with me.”

  “I’ll send Big Papa to you.”

  “Who?”

  “My friend, Ty. I call him Big Papa because he’s a big guy, but he’s a teddy bear.”

  Lani said, “Teddy bear translation - he’ll spend his money on you.”

  Jada laughed and said, “Well, why wouldn’t he? Ain’t I worth it?”

  Starr wanted to say something to Jada about that kind of behavior but who was she to judge. Besides Jada was a grown woman.

  Jada said to Lani, “So, what about your love life?”

  “What love life? You know I’m not with anybody? Damn sure ain’t with Black.”

  “What’s wrong with Black?”

  “What’s not wrong with him? He’s a big juvenile.”

  Lani didn’t want to tell them about the kidnappings. She didn’t want to scare the girls because she hadn’t spoken to Mike and she was almost certain that he thought she was involved.

  Jada turned back to Starr. “I’ve always wanted to start a business, but I don’t know what I would do.”

  “Just think about whatever you’re good at and whatever there’s a need for.”

  Jada said, “I got a few ideas. I just gotta make sure I’m ready to put in the work.”

  Starr sipped her drink and said, “That’s important for sure. Sometimes I ask myself, do I really have the work ethic to make this thing work? Well, I’m going to have to put in the work. Trey is not supporting me anymore.”

  “So I’m assuming he gave you the money to start the business.” Lani said.

  “No, I took it.” She sipped her margarita.

  “You took it?” Lani asked. “What do you mean, you took it?”

  “I took what I felt was mine. I took the money for the showroom and I took some money for me to live off.”

  “I can’t believe you did that,” Lani said.

  “Why not?” Jada said, “She deserved it.”

  “I sure as hell did. I was damn near married to that man and he thinks he can just kick me out with nothing.”

  “You kicked him out, tho,” Lani said.

  “Same damn thing.” Jada sipped her drink and turned to Starr. “You did the right thing.”

  “I think so.”

  “What did Trey say?”

  “I haven’t seen Trey, but I’m going to give him back the money I didn’t spend.”

  “How much did you take?”

  “Five hundred thousand dollars.”

  “Black would kill me if I took his money,” Lani said. “That’s a fact.”

  “Does he know?” Jada asked.

  “Yes.” Starr sipped her drink and then said, “I thought he’d sent his brother over to try to talk me into giving it back, but can you believe Trey’s brother tried to hit on me?”