Page 34

ONE MONTH LATER…

“What is this we’re going to again?” Kabrina asked as she lounged in the passenger seat of my ride.

“A fucking halfway baby shower for Shakur and Presley. Stupidest shit I’ve ever heard of but I’m gon’ support the bro.” I shook my head.

My family would find any reason to celebrate and party. I couldn’t be too mad because I enjoyed being able to kick it with all my brothers at the same time.

It was a nostalgic feeling, reminding me of the old days before everybody grew up, moved out, went pro, got famous, or went off to college. Life had always been pretty cool, but once Prime and Asif merged into the family and we then got Banks, shit was lit.

“Aww, I can’t wait,” Kabrina cooed.

“You know that shit is stupid. You just like Presley and wanna be with yo’ lil sisters-in-law, so you’ll take it.” I side-eyed Kabrina as she laughed loudly as fuck. The louder her laugh, the more facts I was speaking.

“Whatever. I just think it’s cute like I said.”

I pulled up into the big ass roundabout outside of the St. Thomas residence and parked along with the other several cars already out here. I made sure to leave some room so I could leave when the fuck I wanted to.

I grabbed the gift I had purchased from Gucci, even though I didn’t know what Shakur and Presley were having, then helped my lady out of the car.

Music was playing kind of lowly versus the usual volume, but I figured since it was for a child, they didn’t wanna have hardcore rap music blasting over the area. However, when I stepped back there, I saw no type of decorations, not even a gift table or cake or food.

“Did I get the date wrong or some shit?” I felt my forehead crease as I neared the area where my family was, under the cabana.

“Nah, you didn’t.” Asif shook his head, and I thought I saw a smirk on his face.

Confused, I could only open my mouth, but nothing came out because shit was weird right now.

“We heard you was looking to do a Dough Boyz movie.” Khari walked toward me, and I put my arm out to block whatever he was about to do, making everybody laugh.

“Don’t be trying to hug on me and shit in front of my wife,” I said, extending the laughter.

“Nigga, you the last brother I wanna hug. I told moms to abort yo’ ass, and she told me she’d think about it. Don’t forget it,” Khari shot back, making my mom slap his arm with her brows dipped.

“That is not true,” she said to me under all the laughter and comments.

“I know. I’m yo’ favorite,” I replied, making her tug on my shoulder so I could lean down and let her kiss my cheek.

As she hugged and kissed Kabrina, Lequay said, “Anyway, we thought we could help you out with that.”

He handed me an envelope, so I opened it to see it was a check for six million dollars.

“Nigga, where you get this kind of money and you ain’t got no job?” I asked, floored.

Everyone roared with laughter before Shakur said, “Nigga, we all pitched in. That’s not just from Lequay.”

“No job but being rich is the way to live,” Asif said, making Lequay slap his hand and nod.

I waved them off as Kabrina came to stand next to me, smiling knowingly.

“So you knew this was what we was about to get into the whole time, huh?” I looked down at her, and she bobbed her head to confirm as I pecked her.

“I sure did.”

“I appreciate this, on some real shit.” I nodded, putting the check back into the envelope. “But unless I get the rights, I can’t film. So keep it until I get it,” I said, outreaching the envelope, but no one stepped up to take it.

“We got that taken care of too.” Asif handed me a big wide envelope containing some paperwork. “Wasn’t that hard to do.” He gave me a knowing look as he put a red cup to his lips, his free hand intertwined with Anastazia’s. I could only wonder who’d had a visit to that damn haunted house he kept in the fucking boonies.

Tugging the papers out, I could see from my quick scanning that I’d been granted the rights to the name of the show, the storyline, and production rights. Shoving it back in, I went around, slapping hands and hugging each of my brothers before they all turned it into a group hug, knowing I didn’t like that weird shit.

I watched as the ladies plus our parents grinned widely while taking photos of the shit, which was my worst nightmare.

“This is so cute!” Banks shrieked, making me rush her, pick her up, and kiss her face as she squealed loudly.

“And Kabrina told us you thought we’d make fun of you for that Tamira shit,” Bashar said.

“Usually, we would’ve, but when I looked her ass up and saw she wasn’t even a fine older woman, I felt for you, my nigga,” Khari said, and everyone snickered, even my parents.

“Cool.” I nodded once my laughter ceased.

Kabrina winked up at me as she hooked her arm on mine.

“Okay, now we can bring the food out. I been hungry as fuck since I got here!” Cemone barked.

“Shut up!” My mama sucked her teeth as we all went into the house from the backyard where I saw the dining room was filled with food cooked by mainly Presley, but a few dishes were from Anastazia, Scotland, and Analicia.

Surprisingly, the banana cream pie cake we had for dessert was from Yolani, and the shit was actually fire. Cemone was pissed that we murdered both of the cakes, so he had none to take home with his greedy ass.

This was definitely one of the best nights, but that was how shit usually was when I got together with my family. Only this one hit a little different since I had my wife here. I definitely understood the marriage hype.

LATER THAT NIGHT…

I heard Kabrina’s phone buzzing, and from the way she sat up and answered, I knew I was about to pull up on a nigga. Only side niggas and side bitches called at two a.m. and only cheaters answered.

“Oh my gosh! Are you serious?” she said into the phone, and I could no longer play sleep while I was listening.

“What’s up?” I sat up just as she said ‘okay’ and hung up.

“Um, that was my aunt Bell.” She turned to look at me, and the sight of her face looking the way it did made my fucking stomach drop.

“Aight, and what’s going on? She aight?”

“Yeah, she is but Devante isn’t. He umm… he put a bullet in his head,” she said, and for some reason, it felt like my fucking lung collapsed.

“What? When? Why?”

“I think tonight. She didn’t give me many details, but I could hear Sharon in the back and… she just told me he shot himself in the head.”

I didn’t know what to say, because I wasn’t sure how I truly felt or why I felt the way a nigga did. A part of me actually cared, and I didn’t know why. Wasn’t like I wanted a relationship with his ass.

“This is… crazy. I don’t even get why he would do that shit. That don’t even sound like him.” I finally found some words.

Devante was too big of a coward and cared too much about himself to pull some shit like this, so it had to be a hell of a reason behind it. It was more likely that the nigga had faked his death.

“Not sure, but did you want to go over there? Or wait until tomorrow to get more information?” She touched my arm.

“Tomorrow. I… I’m too fucking speechless right now.” I pecked her lightly and lay back down.

Kabrina nodded then put her phone on the nightstand before cuddling up to me.

“Are you sad, baby?” she queried softly.

“I am, but I don’t know why.”

* * *

My brothers and I entered the large church where Devante’s funeral was being held. Asif came as well, more for moral support than anything, just like my moms and Prime. The ladies were here, too, simply for the same reason.

Half of us were here to pay respects, and the other half were here to find out what truly happened to Devante and why he did what he did.

I hadn’t wanted to bother Sharon or even Aunt Bell for the details because I could tell they were going through it. Kabrina left them alone as well.

I felt bad as fuck as I witnessed his kids Deacon, Adriel, and Faith in the front row, crying loudly.

To see other people love and miss him as their father was weird for a nigga. Because even when he lived with us, he was always so distant and even a bit standoffish.

He kept conversation with us a to a minimum and always had a reason why he couldn’t be in the house for long, especially during summer break. He never wanted to throw a ball with us or play ball with Cemone because he always had work to do. Strangely enough, I couldn’t be sure if I would’ve missed him as much as Deacon, Adriel, and Faith had he not abandoned me.

I remembered my brothers and I thinking Prime was a hawk, annoying, or weird because of how involved with us he was when, really, we just weren’t used to it.

We weren’t used to a man or father figure caring about how late we stayed out or what we were up to. We weren’t used to a father figure sitting us down and explaining how a man needed to map his life out because no woman wanted a husband who didn’t know what he planned to do. All that shit we used to talk shit about him in secret on, I was beyond thankful for.

And it was a large part of the reason why I was so happy my niece Sophie would experience that shit as well my nephew Mikail. Because they would understand that sometimes a replacement was better than the real thing.

We got a few looks and stares as we walked in, our paternal grandparents telling us to come sit down with them. They hadn’t been able to make up with Devante, and that was because, according to my grandpa, he didn’t want to. I thought he was scared to face his own pops and therefore made no effort to rekindle with them. Still, they were here as they should be.

“Glad you all came,” my grandmother said, kissing Lequay who was right beside her.

“Of course,” Bashar said.

The service started, and a few people got up to speak who clearly knew Devante well. I’d never heard of them obviously. The only people who spoke that I did somewhat know was my grandmother, Sharon, and Adriel. Deacon clearly didn’t want to go up there.

After the services were over, we migrated to the room behind the church for the repast. It was filled with catered food, but it didn’t look too hot, so my brothers and I refrained. We’d been spoiled, having too many good cooking women in our family.

I spotted Sharon leave to the outside on her lonesome.

“I’ll be right back.” I kissed Kabrina’s face and rose, excusing myself from sitting with my family to find Sharon.

“Oh, I meant to thank you for coming,” she said as soon as my foot hit the pebbled ground outside.

“No need. This was nice,” I said.

She was leaning against the wall as if she were in deep thought.

“Yeah… I tried to make it so.” She stared off.

“You mind if I ask you how all this shit happened? I thought he was good and happy y’all rekindled.” I leaned up against the wall in the space next to her.

“We were until I saw he was conversing with a man via email. He left his computer open on the bed while I was asleep, and I don’t know what it was, maybe God, but I’d woken up and saw the computer open. So, I looked at the screen and read the messages.”

“Messages like, on some flirting shit?” I looked at her side profile since she was staring off still.

She nodded, saying, “Yep. More than flirting. They were speaking sexually, and I just exploded when Kyle came from the bathroom.” It was weird hearing her call him that name. “I went crazy, and he explained to me once I had calmed down that he was struggling. He claimed when he was stressed, that was when it was the most difficult to bottle up his desires.

“I told him he had to get help immediately and that he couldn’t keep stringing me and the kids along. That he’d ruined one family, and he couldn’t do it again. I asked him to be honest and tell me if this was what he wanted and he said he did.” She sniffled, a tear trickling down her face. “All was well. I should’ve known something was up when he sent me to the mall the following week with his credit card to shop for myself and the kids. Kyle was always a provider, but he was never that generous. I just thought he did it to make up for what I’d found.” She paused, wiping the tears that had now tripled. “When we got home, I found him in the bedroom, and he had put a bullet in his head.” She broke down, and my only thought was to hug her frail body.

I felt terrible as fuck for her.

“Damn, Sharon,” was all I could think to say.

“I wish I hadn’t have confronted him. I should’ve ignored it, because he was trying,” she sobbed.

“It’s not ya fault, Sharon,” I said. “You gotta understand that Devante or Kyle or whatever could never live a life with you knowing how he was deep down. No matter if you forgave him, the fact that you knew his struggles is something he couldn’t deal with. He gotta be able to put up a facade, and when he can’t do that, he runs. He knew he couldn’t reinvent himself again like before, so he did the only thing he could.”

I felt her nod as she laid against my chest.

Finally, she said, “Thank you, Unique. I don’t know why Kyle left you guys, but he severely missed out.” She hugged me tighter.

I did the same, appreciating her words more than she knew.

* * *

MONTH AND A HALF LATER…

“This house is insane,” Deacon said as we entered Cemone’s crib.

All my brothers were in the backyard on the basketball court, ready to play with Deacon and Adriel.

“It’s aight,” I joked.

“You think I can get some autographs?” Adriel asked, holding his basketball on one side and his football on the other.

“I think so.” I winked as Yolani came down the stairs with Yailey and Harmony, hugging Kabrina once she got to us.

“Yolani.” Deacon and Adriel stated in unison, eyes widening like only a little ass boy would at the sight of a woman.

“Nice to meet you.” Yolani beamed.

“I’m Deacon.”

“Adriel.” He bumped his brother to the side.

She’d been at the funeral, but I think they were too broken up at the time to recognize her.

“You can’t play with my wife,” Cemone announced, walking in the foyer with my brothers on his tail.

“Cemone!” Deacon and Adriel shouted in unison, rushing over to him.

“And what’s your name?” Yolani stared down at Faith.

“Faith.” She smiled shyly. I doubt she knew who she was talking to.

“Faith, this is my baby sister Yailey and my niece Harmony. Did you want to go make snow cones with them?”

She was right around their age, so the shit was perfect.

“Go ahead, sweetie.” Kabrina tapped her back after Faith looked to her to see if all was good. Faith had grown attached to Kabrina now that Sharon’s ass came over to Aunt Bell’s hella fucking often.

“Okay.” Faith finally nodded and followed Yailey, Harmony, and Yolani toward the backyard. Yailey and Harmony were already talking that poor sheltered ass girl’s ear off.

“Y’all have fun.” Kabrina kissed me then followed after the girls.

I walked outside and over to my brothers, and once Deacon and Adriel were done going wild over Khari, Shakur, and Cemone, plus asking Bashar, Asif, and Lequay too many questions, we went to play ball.

Per usual, Cemone was extra competitive, but I think the boys liked that shit. After playing for way too fucking long, we went inside to eat the pizza they’d requested along with some wings. The ladies had joined us by this point, and we just kicked it for a bit until it was time to go.

As I pulled up to Sharon’s home, Adriel and Faith climbed out just before Deacon said, “This was fun, Unique. I hope it’s not the last time.”

“Nah. First of many. Just remember what I said.” I gave him a look.

“Take care of my mom and siblings.”

“There you go.” I put my fist out to dap him, and he smirked before obliging and hugging Kabrina.

“Only church hugs for my wife, young nigga! You should know better!” I shouted as he ran off laughing but nodding to say he understood.

I pulled off and felt Kabrina watching me as I whipped through the city, streetlights on.

“You’re gonna be a great father, you know.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged, smirking. “You think so?”

“I know so.”

For a minute, I pondered then said, “You know if I hadn’t gotten closer with you, accidentally married you and shit, I don’t think I would’ve gotten close to them like I have.”

“You would’ve since it was God’s will but maybe not as soon.”

“I’m glad I tripped and fell into this shit though. I think the universe knew what was for me, even when I didn’t.” I grabbed her hand to press the palm to my mouth, holding it there and inhaling her sweet perfume. “I wouldn’t have wanted any other woman to be locked down with, love.”

“I wouldn’t want anyone else either.” She simpered, leaning over to kiss me at the red light.

“I love you, girl.” I grinned. “Make me feel like prancing ’round through the streets like I’m Devante or some shit!”

“Unique!” She exclaimed, mouth agape so she wouldn’t laugh. She failed though. “I love you too though. I think I’ve loved you ever since we woke up in that hotel. You’ve been taking care of me ever since.”

“Just know I always got you, baby. And I’m gon’ always make sure you good.”

She blushed at my words before peering out of the window.

When I followed Kabrina out of the network party that night, I had no idea about the shit that was going to transpire, but I guess a nigga like me had to be forced into doing what the fuck I needed to. God clearly didn’t approve of my player lifestyle and saw to it that the shit came to an end.

I wouldn’t change shit though.