Page 5

K inga

I kept my eyes on the road the entire way back to my garage for Harlem to pick up her truck. I had to do that, because had I not, I wouldn’t have kept my hands to myself. I ain’t never talked to a chick as much as I talked to Harlem tonight. I didn’t even talk to people, but with her I did. Not only that but I listened to her. Every word from those thick ass lips of hers had me entranced. Harlem was a beautiful caramel complexion, with the thickest two-toned lips and chocolate freckles to match. Tonight her hair was wild and curly, spilling down her back and all over her face. Harlem was fucking beautiful and my type, even though she acted like she didn’t know that shit over dinner.

My phone ringing stole my attention. When I glanced down I saw I had an incoming FaceTime from my niece’s iPad.

I glanced over at Harlem before I answered. “Yeah, lil mama?”

“My daddy isn’t answering the phone, Uncle King, and my mommy isn’t either. Are you coming to get me tonight? I wanna stay at your house.”

“Okay. I’ll be there in a few.” Her saying she called her mother sank my fucking heart. That also reminded me I needed to be calling my brother because I hadn’t heard from him since.

“Okayyy. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Once she hung up, my attention went back to the road.

“Cute,” Harlem murmured, head against the window while she stared down at her phone.

“Ain’t shit ’bout me cute. I’m grown as fuck.”

“That you are, but that didn’t take away from that moment being cute,” she replied smartly, bringing a smirk to my face.

“You got it, mama.” I pulled into the lot of my garage and pressed the button above my head to open the door where her car was. Then I climbed out and went to open her door. I walked her to the car and opened the driver’s door for her. I wouldn’t lie like I didn’t want to feel her soft ass skin.

“I guess I should say thank you.” She stood her fine ass in front of me peering up at me.

“You could, but damn yeen gonna give me a hug or nothing?”

She giggled, then stepped further into my space, throwing her arms around me. “Thank you for fixing my car from your mechanic’s fuck-up. Also, thank you for dinner. It was good.”

All I remember thinking was how piss poor her hug was before my hand found the side of her face and I dropped my head, placing a kiss on her lips. I didn’t even kiss women, but I had been wanting to do that shit all night. I usually told a bitch to keep her lips to herself, but I didn’t know how long I used my lips to keep Harlem’s ass right where I wanted her… in my arms.

“Well. That was definitely a thank you.” She smiled, trying to pull out of my embrace, but I wasn’t having that. Not just yet.

“It was. I fuck with it. I want you to call me and let me know you made it safe.”

“I can do that.”

Something compelled me to kiss her again and I did just that before watching her get in her car. I watched her until she pulled out of the lot. Then I closed the garage and hopped into my own shit. I was ready to be home, but I had already told Aja I was coming to get her. Had I not, I promise I would’ve been sped home.

By the time I reached the house I was exhausted and seconds from staying over at Sora’s crib, but instead I called him and told him that I was out front. I wanted to lay in my own shit.

About fifteen minutes later I was pulling off and she was in the back seat going on and on about some shit I was paying no mind to. One thing about kids, no matter how old they were, they babbled their asses off about the most unimportant shit.

“Uncle, do you hear me?” Aja asked from the back seat.

“Naw, what did you say?”

“I said I don’t have anything to wear tomorrow or to sleep tonight. We have to stop at a store.”

I sucked my teeth because I damn sure didn’t think about none of that. Then I looked at the time console in the middle of my truck. “It’s late as fuck so yeen going to school tomorrow. I’m sure you got a shirt and some shorts or something from the last time you spent the night at my house. If need be, I'll take you to a store tomorrow before we go to the shop.”

“To the shop? I’m going to the shop with you?”

“Yeah, for a little bit,” I said, hoping that was the case.

“Uncle King, where is my mommy and daddy?”

I was quiet for a minute, not too keen on lying to her. “They had to go take care of something. You ’ont wanna kick it with me for a while?”

“I do bu?—”

“Ain’t no but, shrimp. What did you eat at your aunt and uncle’s house?”

“Vegetables. And nasty pizza.”

I laughed. “What is nasty pizza, Aja?”

“Vegetables on the pizza. That’s nasty.”

I laughed. I ended up taking her by a McDonalds before we took it in for the night. Aja was eight, so I didn’t have to do much for her as she knew her way around my house and didn’t need me for much.

My phone vibrated with a message from Harlem.

Harlem: Made it in.

Me: Good. Hit me in the morning.

She didn’t respond and I wasn’t bothered about it. Well I was but I wasn’t. I had too much going on to be thinking about a woman I didn’t know. The thing was, I was attracted to her, not just physically that much I could tell from the fact that I actually listened to her talk rather than trying to fuck. Maybe not trying to fuck because what I set out to fuck always got fucked regardless of the motion. Harlem was different though. She gave less than a fuck about all that extra and she didn’t try too hard. My lips on hers at the shop was all me, shorty was fully prepared to pull back from my embrace and not try anything, but not me. I craved just a taste of her, even if it was only her lips I had been watching the whole fucking night.

I didn’t know when I finally fell asleep because I spent a good amount of time thinking too damn much last night. I only realized I had been asleep when my phone vibrated on the end table to the side of me. Another early ass call bound to have me cursing somebody the fuck out.

When I saw it was my brother, my irritation eased. I had more worry in me than anything right now.

“Yo,” I answered, rolling onto my back with my phone against my ear.

“Are you at home?” Oden’s voice filled my eardrum.

“Yeah. With ya daughter sleeping in the other room. What’s up?”

“Come outside.” Oden sounded suspicious, making my eyes pop open.

“The hell wrong with you? I know you have your key. What’s the prob?—”

“I can’t come in there, Kinga. You know I can’t. Not right now.”

I got what he was saying, even though I was mad and confused. I was on my feet in seconds, grabbing a pair of shorts from the dresser and moving toward the bathroom. When I had myself together and my slides on, I turned the lights out and moved toward the front of the house. I stopped and looked in on Aja. When I saw she was still asleep, I closed the door and went toward the front door. When I made it outside, Oden was standing in the driveway leaning against his truck.

He blew smoke from his lips as I approached. “When I married Ashley I thought we had forever in this shit. Thought everything was perfect, then time happened and we hated each other. Well shit, she hated me, but I still loved everything about that woman. Even the child she produced for me, the child that is the spitting image of her.” He glanced in the direction of my house. “I gotta get outta here for a while, Kinga. I can’t stay here and be reminded of a split second decision I made that will affect her for the rest of her life.”

His words hit me like bricks. “What does that mean?” I was dumbfounded as fuck while I asked.

“I need you to keep her for me, Kinga. I need to figure myself out without worrying about my daughter. I need you to st?—”

“I got you.” I didn’t know why I said that shit, but absolutely nothing in me knew anything about raising a fucking child. Then, to make matters worse, my auntie would be no help because her inconsiderate ass had long decided Chicago wasn’t her scene anymore. She went south and had no intention of coming back.

He nodded. “Just for a lil while.” His eyes went back to the house. Then he looked at me. A minute later he pulled an envelope from behind him and handed it to me.

“What’s this?’

“The legalities. Even though I have the letter you had ol’ boy draw up for me, I still don’t ever want Ashley’s folks anywhere near my child. I had it drawn up this afternoon.” He ashed the blunt and put it behind his ear.

I nodded. Every base was covered for it to look like Ashley picked up and ran off on him. As long as he didn’t allow his bleeding heart to drip, nobody would know I had B clean up, frame her running off, and dispose of anything incriminating. B’s folks owned a cemetery, so the one thing that would never be found was the bodies, even if they put Sherlock himself on the case.

“You don’t wanna say bye to her?”

“Nah, I can’t. I’ll call from time to time, but I gotta get out of here.”

I just looked at him, seeing the thunderous storm in his eyes. Of all of us, he felt everything, so I knew turmoil filled his veins, weighing him down with every motion. I wouldn’t push, shit I just hoped he'd come back soon because his departure would leave a lot of questions for the little girl in there. A lot of questions I didn’t have the right answer to give her.

“What am I supposed to tell her?”

“That I love her and it’s for the best. Shit ain’t forever, bu—” He had a tear in his eye, so I pulled him into a hug, rising above this for the both of us. That's all I could do at this moment.

“But nothing. Go take care of yourself, man. I got it.”

Shit, I think.

* * *

D ays past first. Then a week and before I knew it I had been uncle-daddy for almost a month. At first Aja asked a million questions, wondering where her parents were, but somehow I was able to distract her enough to which she just stopped asking questions all together. Maybe she realized I wasn’t gonna answer her questions, so she stopped asking. Either way I was attempting to settle into this for her and my sake, especially with the life I led. I wasn’t necessarily the kid-friendly type, meaning I had a lot going on in my world.

“Uncle King, where are we going?” Aja asked

“To check out this school. While you are with me, I can’t have you halfway out the city if it’s an emergency. I gotta be able to get to you, shorty.” I was probably talking to her like she was too old, but I didn’t know shit about having a kid with me full-time. I was learning while Sora and Blaze helped me out from time to time when they could.

“Oh. Am I going to be with you for a long time?”

“I don’t know, short fry. Why?”

“I just asked. If I am, can we decorate my room? It’s boring and I miss the toys and stuff I had at home.”

I felt bad…like shit because Oden still had yet to call and check in, so I didn’t know where he was. For all I knew, he was backpacking through the fucking mountains. “Yeah, we can get that together. After we get this school shit together.”

We pulled into the parking lot of a private catholic school close to my house. I was about to put her ass in public school, but Sora talked me out of that shit.

“This place is big.”

“It is. Better be a good school for how they tryna hit my pockets,” I mumbled, helping her out of the car.

“Your pockets, Uncle? They’re hitting you?”

“Nothing, baby girl. Nothing you need to be worried about.” I patted her head, kicking myself in the ass because my auntie had already told me to stop saying certain shit around her. It was hard to filter how I talked out of nowhere, especially when I never had to before.

We entered the school, immediately greeted by an old ass woman sitting at the front. She looked mean as hell. I could tell by the hair on her chin she was giving somebody hell on a regular.

Old ho didn’t greet me either, just blinked those big ass eyes, waiting for me to speak. Instead of cursing her ass out, I nodded and simmered down because this wasn’t about me. I had to get baby girl enrolled.

“Here to see Headmaster Johnson about enrolling my niece.”

“Mhm. You are her legal guardian? Only legal guardians can enroll children into our school. We don’t do the antics of public schools.”

I screwed my face up, ready to curse her ass out again. “The fuc—yeah. Are you the headmaster or you about to take us to her? I ain’t come here to be stuck near the fucking door hound.”

Her mouth popped open. “Excuse me?”

“Yo, you excused. Can somebody in here show me to the main office?” I got loud, trying to get some help from anybody but her ass. That fast she had worked my fucking nerves.

Ol’ dude on the other side of the door spoke before the door hound could utter anything else. “Straight down the hall to your left.”

With my hand on Aja’s shoulder, we walked in the direction ol’ boy had given.

“You’re impatient, Uncle.”

“Yeah. I am. I don’t have time for bullshit.”

We entered the main office a second later. It was a spacious room, a bench for a waiting area and a counter separating the school personnel from those waiting. On the bench already was a little boy around Aja’s age staring at a phone and what looked like a pissed off security guard. While Aja took a seat, I approached the counter.

“I’m here to see Ms. Johnson to get my niece enrolled. We had a meeting at nine-thirty.”

The woman sitting behind the counter looked up from her computer with a welcoming smile, much more than the gargoyle at the door. “Good morning, Mr. West. We spoke on the phone yesterday morning. The headmaster will be with you in a few minutes. Feel free to help yourself to any refreshments on the table while you wait.”

I nodded and looked toward where the refreshments and shit was and shook my head. The table was lined with pastries and shit. I didn’t grab anything though, instead I went to take a seat next to Aja. With my phone in my hand, I went to text Harlem’s fine ass back. I was definitely trying to see her today because though we talked I still needed to lay eyes on her.

“Yo, you’re pretty. What’s your name?” I heard what sounded like a little boy macking, or trying to.

When I looked up from my phone, my eyes landed on lil homie sitting next to security. His little ass was now on his knees and looking over the chair at Aja. He was literally waiting for a response.

“Yo, you just gonna mack my niece in front of me, lil homie?”

He shrugged. “Just stating the obvious, old school.”

I threw my head back in confusion, not this lil private school ass child calling me old school. “Old school?”

“You wanna tell me why I’m back up at this school, Sabastian?” A male voice made lil man’s whole posture turn around.

“Joey said something about my mama, so I handled that. Then he yelled at me like I’m his son. Tell him I’m not his son, Pops.” Lil man pointed at the security guard like it wasn’t shit. As a matter of fact his whole damn demeanor was too fucking cool. I probably needed to rethink sending Aja here because if this was how lil boys acted she was getting her ass homeschooled.

“Mr. James, I assure you that is not what happ?—”

“You calling my son a liar, Greg?”

“Nah I’m jus?—”

“Hold on.” The father held his hand up to quiet security, then answered his phone. “Yeah Luck, I’m at the school. This yo’ fucking son. I don’t know why yeen came up here then. Aight… here.” He then handed the phone to his son. “It’s yo’ mama.”

Apparently being handed the phone to speak to his mama put some fear in his chest because his face immediately drew up.

“But Mama, I ain’t do nothing. He started it,” he tried to explain, but apparently she wasn’t trying to hear any of that.

I watched the whole scene play out before lil homie and his father were seated and also waiting on the headmaster.

“Ain’t never at the school for his sister, but him? I’m up here every fucking week,” ol’ boy gritted.

I chuckled. “He got heart.”

He shook his head. “Too fucking much with his spoiled ass. My daughter doesn't do any of this. She stays to herself and is about her dolls and shit. The moment she grows up, I just know I’ma do a sentence.”

“Damn. That’s why I don’t need any. I’m good. Stay my ass in the uncle lane.”

“I said the same shit. Married with three in and the fourth baking. Shit happens fast. Wouldn’t trade nothing in the world for it though,” he responded, eyes on his son.

“I hear you.”

“Sabastian James. Ms. Johnson will see you now,” the woman at the desk said.

Ol’ boy stood to leave with his son but quickly turned to me. “Primal James. It was cool talking with you.”

“Kinga West.” We shook hands, familiar eyes to one another. We didn’t run in the same circles, but we moved around in the same world.

We both nodded.

About thirty minutes later we got the ball rolling for Aja and school. Then we did some long ass tour of the school while the headmaster mostly spoke to Aja and I played the background. I was cool with that because I half listened anyway. I should have tricked Sora into this shit. Shit, it would be good practice since he was about to be a father.