Southern Kings: A Gangster Love Story (4 page)

“Fuck was that about?” Hayes asked the second I checked my phone after Reelle hung up on me. I couldn't believe that she had actually done that shit and then had the nerve to turn her phone off. What the fuck? She had no idea who she was dealing with, but I had a trick for her little ass. I knew her name, had her phone number, and knew where she went to school. My team had tracked down people with less. I planned on showing up at her crib tonight and we were going to have a little chat about how shit worked in my world.

“Nothing, so what’s up? Tell me what went down last night with Rahjah?”

“I fucked up, Yetti. I really fucked up! And when I woke up this morning she was gone. She took Zora and went to her sister’s house. I went by there to try and talk to her and she wouldn't even come out the house. She let Zora come to the door, and I tried to break that bitch down to get in to see Rah, but her sister called the got damn cops. Trifling ass bitch!”

“Fuck you do to make her leave you, Hayes? Didn't I tell you not to take your ass home showing the fuck out?”

Hayes stood up and started pacing in front of my sofa before he began rambling about everything that went down last night. When he was done, the only thing I really picked up on was that Rahjah was pregnant, and that he put his hands on her, showing his ass with that damn hot head of his. I jumped up and rushed his ass, sending him into the wall. With my forearm pressed against his neck, I started going in on him.

“Fuck wrong with you, Hayes? You know better than that, and of all people, Rahjah? I told your paranoid ass that she wasn't cheating on you. Where the hell was my niece when all this shit was going on?”

Before Hayes could answer me, I felt someone yanking me away from him. I knew it had to be Keys, because no one else had access to my home.

“What the hell, Yetti? Why you on him like that?”

“Cause this nigga think he a man. He running ’round putting his hands on women and shit, so I wanted him to be a man and put his hands on me.”

“Fuck you, Yetti! It wasn't that serious!” Hayes yelled, pulling his body from the wall.

“What the hell is he talking about, Hayes? You better not be doing no fuck shit like that.”

“I’m not, damn! I know better than that. It wasn't even that serious.”

“Fuck you mean it wasn't that serious, nigga? Didn't you just tell me you choked Rah?”

“Did you forget, Hayes? Cause I didn't. I remember every fucking time he put his hands on her, Hayes. I remember, nigga, and you should too,” I yelled and then walked away. I could hear my brothers behind me, but I kept going down the hall toward my bedroom.

“Yetti, hold up!” Hayes yelled after me.

“Let him go! Just give him a minute, but he’s right, Hayes. You know better than that.”

When I reached my room, I walked in and slammed the door. I punched the wall and my fist went through it, I pulled it out and punched it again.

I hated that I couldn't control my emotions about that shit, but my mother dying in front of me, at the hands of some weak ass fuck nigga that I couldn't defend her from had me fucked up in ways that I couldn't even explain. I was only eight years old, but I still felt like I should have been able to protect her. I had to watch that shit though, unable to do anything about it, and to this day, I carried it heavy on my heart.

A man that beats a woman doesn't deserve to live, and for my brother to admit to some fuck shit like that had me fucking heated. He wasn't there when Lewis wrapped his hands around my mother’s neck until she could no longer breathe, but he had been there more than enough times to see him beat her until she was unconscious, so he knew better. Fuck was Hayes thinking?

I sat down on the foot of my bed and lowered my head into my hands, trying to get a grip. I knew how Hayes was, and I knew his temper. Hell, we all had one, we were all toeing a very thin line between being insane and maintaining our sanity, but I needed my baby brother to do better. He should have just walked away.

“Yo, you good, Yetti?”

I dug my fingers into my hair and gripped it before I let go and looked up at Keys. He was the oldest, at twenty-nine, which put him five years older than me, and seven years older than Hayes. But at some point, we all took the role as the older sibling, depending on the situation, and this time it was Keys’ turn.

He walked in and sat down next to me, letting his hand move down his face before he rubbed his beard. “He fucked up, Yetti. Don't be too hard on him. He had a weak moment and he regrets that shit. He’s feeling it now more than you know, so cut him some slack aight?”

I just looked at Keys before I leaned back on my bed and covered my face with my folded arms. “I just need him to know better. He can't do shit like that.”

“He knows that, and he’s dealing with it.”

“Fuck wrong with me, Keys? I can't let that shit go?”

“Ain't shit wrong with you Yetti. You witnessed some foul shit and you deserve the right to have feelings about it.”

“Yeah, but that was years ago, and I still feel like it happened yesterday.”

“It was our mother, Yetti. That ain’t some shit you just get over. You gon’ be aight, and so is Hayes. Now go hug that nigga or something. He’s all in his feelings ’bout this shit and then he dealing with the fact that Rah left his ignorant ass.”

Keys chuckled and I so did I. I inhaled and let it out slow before I sat up and looked at Keys. “We need help, Keys. Professional help, shit ain't neither one of us right in the got damn head.”

“Yeah, I know, but if I can't get what I need from you or Hayes, then I’m just gon’ have to be fucked up. I ain't trusting no one else with my secrets and neither are you. We taking this shit to the grave, Yetti. To the mufuckin’ grave.”

I nodded and so did he. Keys pulled me into a hug and held it for a minute. “I love you, bruh, now go fix that shit.”

I shook my head and went to go find Hayes. He was in my kitchen sitting on the counter working on his second beer, which I knew because the first empty bottle was next to him.

“Fuck you drinking my shit for?”

Hayes laughed. “Shit, I need it. I’ll buy you some more though.”

“You know I didn't mean shit by what I did. I just lost it for a minute.”

“Yeah, I know, and I fucked up by taking it there with Rah. I was just so pissed, bruh, I wasn't thinking. I won't ever do that shit again. I miss her, Yetti. It's only been a few hours, but I miss her like crazy, man. I can't believe she don't want to have my baby. That she's even considering killing my kid, fuck is that about?”

“She ain't gon’ do that shit, Hayes. She’s just dealing with something. You'll figure it out. Just listen to her and give her what she needs. Y'all been in this shit too got damn long to let it fall apart. Fuck am I gon’ aspire to be if you don't hold it together. You know Keys hoe ass ain't gon’ never be shit.”

Hayes chuckled and then looked up at Keys, who entered the kitchen. “I’m gon’ do me until I’m ready for something real. That just ain't right now, so get the fuck off me with that shit! But Yetti, your hoe ass ain't no better, so shut the fuck up!”

“See, this what you leaving me with. Get your shit together, Hayes. Real shit.”

I held my hand out and he caught it. I pulled him off the counter and then hugged him. Keys dumb ass joined in and then said some off the wall shit as usual.

“Damn, we all in our feelings today. Let me go find some pussy to slide up in to fix that shit. I need some balance in my life.”

“Fuck off me with that shit. Your dumb ass!”

Keys and Hayes both laughed, and then it was over. I kicked it with my brothers for a few hours before I left to hit my people up about tracking down Reelle. Hopefully they would have that shit to me tonight so that I could run up on her. She was about to have a crash course in all things Yetti.

I had been working on my paper for the past few hours and I was pretty much done with it and ready to crash. I pressed the home key on my phone to check the time, and for some reason I thought about Yetti’s rude ass.

It was almost a little after one in the morning and I hadn't heard from him. Honestly, I was a little surprised that when I turned my phone back on I didn't have any messages from him, but it was cool though. I guess he got the message and decided to go be a pain in the ass to someone else. As long as he wasn't annoying me, I was good.

After running through spelling and grammar check one last time, I saved my paper and sent it to my printer before closing my laptop and placing it on my night stand. I made my way to my kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water, checked my front door to make sure it was locked and then headed back to my room. I hit the lights and climbed under my covers, exhausted and ready to crash. That thought didn't last long because I heard noise at my front door, and then what sounded like someone unlocking it.

Panic rushed through me because it wasn't like I lived in the best neighborhood, but it was all I could afford, along with my parent’s help. Well, really all they could afford, since they had basically agreed to pay for everything while I was in school. I never really had any issues, even though there were some pretty suspect people that were always hanging around, but I kept to myself so no one really bothered me.

I slid off the side of my bed and tip toed to my closet where I kept the metal bat that my dad had given me for protection. He refused to let me have a gun, and I didn't want one anyway, but he wanted me to have protection, so it was just me and Slugger. Once I had it in my hands, I lifted it enough to hold it in the air like I was preparing to swing, and with my heart damn near jumping out of my chest I crept to my bedroom door.

Just as I stuck my head out to see if I could see anything, I heard my front door shut and then lock so I quickly stepped back. I moved as quickly as I could to my nightstand and grabbed my phone. I was about to dial when I noticed a shadow and felt a presence behind me. I screamed at the top of my lungs, dropped my phone and rushed whoever it was swinging Slugger, which he caught with one hand while the other held a gun that was aimed at me.

“The fuck you doing, shorty?” Yetti snatched to bat from my hands and tossed it onto my bed before he turned and moved his hand across the wall, flipping on my lights.

The second I laid eyes on him I felt enraged, ignored the gun in his hand and rushed him, shoving him as hard as I could in his chest.

“What am I doing? What the fuck are you doing? You're in my got damn apartment, uninvited in the middle of the night, pointing a gun at me! Are you fucking crazy? Never mind don't answer that, I know you are. How did you even get in here anyway? How do you even know here I live? Oh my God, you're insane!”

Yetti looked at me with a smug ass grin, and it took him a minute before he finally decided to speak, which pissed me off even more. “Damn, you mad as fuck, but you just threw like ten questions at me all at one time, Ree, which one of them bitches you want me to answer first?”

“You have got to be kidding me! Don't answer any of them, just get out! Get the hell out of my apartment!” I pointed to the door and he didn't move. His smile grew wider as he checked me out and I realized I was only wearing panties, a thin ass t-shirt that didn't even cover my ass, and no bra. My hair was in two French braids that were covered with a green and blue silk scarf, so I was sure I looked a hot mess. I mean my body was tight so I wasn't worried about that. But I damn sure didn't want him seeing it.

“Stop looking at me like that, you fucking pervert!”

I stomped over to my closet and grabbed a pair of joggers and a sweatshirt. Once I had them on, I snatched the scarf off my head and tossed it on the bed. I didn't know why I cared what I looked like, but for some reason I didn't want him to see me looking the way I was. I was still beyond pissed and wanted to choke the life out of him, but I needed to look half way decent while doing it.

“You didn't have to do all that. Ain't nobody worried about your little skinny ass, shorty. But seriously though, I’m here because you hung up on me and then turned your got damn phone off. I guess you must not know who I am or how shit works in my world, so I decided to come school you on that.”

“I don't care who you are and I don't care how things work in your world because I’m not in your world and never will be.”

He laughed and placed his gun on my dresser before he started walking around my room touching shit that didn't belong to him. He lifted one of my text books and then flipped through it before he put it down and then picked up one of my body sprays and held it to his nose.

“This is that shit you had on last night. I remember the smell.” He placed it down again and then sat down on my bed.

“Why are you sitting? I just asked you to leave? You must have a problem with simple instructions.”

“Nah, I don't. I just do what the fuck I want, and I wanted to sit down, so I did and stop fucking yelling at me before I jack your little ass up. You talk to got damn much. It's late as hell, and you're in here yelling like your neighbors not sleep and shit. Fuck is up with that?”

This fool looked at me like he was really mad about me raising my voice, like he cared about my neighbors and didn't give a damn about the fact that he had just broken into my apartment and wouldn't leave.

“Do you live alone?”

“No.”

He chuckled. “You a got damn lie, Reelle. Otherwise your ass wouldn't have that damn bat. You really shouldn't come at people with that shit either if you not gon’ knock a muthafucker out, real shit.”

I rolled my eyes. “You don't know what I’m capable of, so don't speak on it.”

He looked me right in my eyes with a straight face. “You ain't gon’ do shit! What about your man? I assume you got a man. I mean you cute and everything, so I know it's some pussy ass nigga out there claiming you.”

I scrunched up my face at his words. On one hand it was like he was complimenting me on my looks, and then insulted me in the same breath by insinuating that if I had a man, he was a so called pussy ass nigga.”

“I do have a man, and he’s damn sure not a pussy. I can call him over here if you want and then you can see for yourself.”

Yetti burst out laughing like I had just said the funniest thing in the world, and then leaned back onto his elbows. “Yeah, do that. I wanna meet this nigga.”

Again, I rolled my eyes. “No thanks, I don't need to prove anything to you, so just leave please.”

“You can't lie worth shit Reelle, so you really don't need to do it. I can see it all over your face. I mean it's cute as hell that you’re lying, but you’re really bad at it.”

“Oh my God, will you please just leave! I promise I’ll meet you tomorrow and replace your phone. I would give you the money now, but I don't keep cash like that and I’m sure you won't take a check.”

“Hell no, I won't take a check! You be on some shit, and I don't trust your little ass, but check it, here what's about to go down. I’ll stay here with you tonight, and we can go in the morning. You don't have class until one. I’m…”

“Wait, how do you know my class schedule?” All of a sudden I felt violated. He was in my apartment and I never told him where I lived. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he used a key to get in, and now he’s telling me my class schedule.

“I told you, you don't know who I am and how shit works in my world, but you’ll learn soon enough. Now let me finish and don't cut me off again. Like I was saying, I’m about to go get my bag out the car, I’ll stay here tonight and we can go in the morning. Don't worry, I’m not gon’ try and fuck you. I’ll sleep on that shitty ass sofa you got out there and you can even lock your door if you don't trust me, but in the morning we’ll go handle business.”

His arrogant ass didn't even wait for me to respond. He just turned to leave my room and then I heard the front door open and shut. I stood there trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. I was confused as fuck, how did this fool just bust up in my spot and tell me what I was going to do?”

A few minutes later he was back, and I heard the front door shut and lock. I walked into my living room just in time to see him pull his shirt over his head and then toss it on the floor. I almost fainted at the sight of his body. Damn this nigga was fine, and not just regular fine. Like the type of fine that you had to blink a few times to make sure you were seeing it correctly type of fine. His body was cut in all the right places, and the muscles in his back and shoulders were nice and defined. Nothing over the top, but nicely done.

My eyes moved across the colorful artwork that graced his skin, admiring its beauty. He wore it well, and even though his body was covered in tattoos, it was tastefully done, not overwhelming or tacky like I had seen many times before. It's like each one had its place and stood out on its own, but blended together to create a masterpiece.

He turned to face me when he felt me behind him and then lifted his bag. “Can I get a towel and a washcloth? I need to hop in the shower real quick.” He moved past me with no expression, and I rolled my eyes and followed. I pointed to the closet in the hallway outside my bathroom.

“They’re in there. I’m going to bed.”

I turned on my heels and left him standing there, but his voice stopped me. “Damn, you rude as fuck. I’m your guest, and your ass can't even say good night. Type of shit is that?”

“You’re not my guest. I didn't invite you here, you just showed up!” I walked away, stepping into my room and slammed the door. I stood there for a minute, heard him laugh and then the bathroom door shut. I waited until I heard the water running and then grabbed my phone.

“What's wrong Ree.” Asha mumbled into the phone. It was late so she had to be sleep.

“I hate you, you jinxed me,” I whispered.

“Jinxed you how and why the hell are you… oh never mind. You have company, don't you? When did he get there?” I could hear the smile in her voice.

“A little while ago and he had a key, Asha. This fool just walked in my apartment like he owned it.”

“I tried to tell you, Ree, but you didn't want to listen. Where is he?”

“In the shower, he’s—”

“Damn, boo, you work fast. Tell me all about it tomorrow.”

“You're so damn nasty. I didn't have sex with him. He said he’s staying so that we can go in the morning to replace his phone. He’s sleeping on the couch.”

“Mmmhmm. You can tell me all about it tomorrow, boo. Now hang up before he catches your childish ass on the phone talking about him.”

“I hate you!”

“No you don't, you love me, you just hate that I was right. Bye Ree!”

I ended the call and then climbed into my bed. I considered locking the door, but didn't want him to think I was childish if he tried to come in, so I just left it alone.

I pulled the covers up over my head and closed my eyes, trying to relax enough to go to sleep, but my mind was racing. Shoot! Why did he have to be so damn sexy? Too bad I couldn't stand his attitude.

Not long after I was in the bed, I heard the bathroom door open and footsteps in the hall. That was followed by voices that I knew were coming from the TV.
Just make yourself at home, asshole.
I turned over onto my side and then closed my eyes. I needed sleep to come so that I could wake up and get this idiot out of my apartment and out of my life. Problem was, I couldn't get him out of my head. I was screwed and I knew it.