Chapter 16: SHAMEEK - A Street King's Widow

The front door closed behind me, but I couldn’t make my damn feet move. I just stood there on the porch looking out into the darkness.

“What the fuck?” I whispered to myself.

I should’ve never gone in the house. But if I hadn’t gone in, she would’ve been a drunk fucking coma. My brother would have haunted my ass for leaving his wife in there. I walked down the steps and climbed into my truck. All I could do was sit there. I replayed the kiss over in my head and then the look on her face right after. Kyenna looked like she wanted to disappear. I shook my head before starting the truck and finally pulling away from her house and out the gate. Living on the compound had never bothered me until tonight. My house sat only a few football fields away from Kyenna’s. Normally that gave me peace. Tonight, that shit felt too damn close. I pulled into my driveway and headed into my dark house. I tossed my keys and phone on the kitchen island and walked straight to the refrigerator. Grabbing the first thing, cold to cool me off. I took the bottled water down until I got brain freeze. That shit didn’t help either. My phone went off on the island. It was Nikki calling, and I ignored it. It buzzed again.

Nikki: You make it home yet?

Me: Yeah

As soon as I hit the send button, she called again. I answered on the third ring.

“Hello.”

“You sound tired. You okay?”

“I’m a lil’ tired.”

“You want me to come over? I’ll fix you something to eat and rub your back.”

“Nah, I’m just gonna shower and lay it down.”

“You sure?”

“I’m straight.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I hung up before the conversation could go further. I wasn’t lying to Nikki. I was tired. Just not the kind that sleep could fix. The hot water beat against my shoulders and back while I stood under the shower. Usually this was where I cleared my head. That shit wasn’t working tonight. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Kyenna crying on my shoulder. That woman had cried harder tonight than she did the day he died. That was why my head was fucked up. Kyenna was drowning and hiding it. I leaned both my hands against the shower wall.

“Damn, Rah.” My voice echoed. “I got her, bruh. I got all of all ‘em,” I said because the shit sounded better.

It was now four in the morning, and I still hadn’t fallen asleep. Since I couldn’t fall asleep, I decided to get up and get to the money. I got up, threw some clothes on, and headed to one of my warehouses. The bitch was already booming when I got there. My forklift drivers were already moving weight from the containers and trucks. I found a few trucks that hadn’t been opened and climbed in them to count the pallets that were wrapped tightly with serial numbers attached to them. After I cleared a few trucks, I walked the dock. My pops had this shit set up so smooth that people thought we were a legit transport business. The invoices and everything matched up just in case any boats had to show paperwork. Our truck drivers were so good at their job that they rarely got stopped and searched.

The sun had cracked through the sky, and my phone hadn’t stopped going off. I didn’t have the time right now to stop doing what I was doing to answer anyone. One wrong number and the whole shipment had to be recounted. Staying busy is what kept my mind off last night. By the time I got done with the day, I would be able to go home, shower, and finally get some rest. It was now close to one in the afternoon, and everything had been accounted for and was ready for distribution. That was a whole other operation that would have to wait until tomorrow. Before I got ready to leave, I made sure each box truck was heading in the right direction. My phone went off as I walked to my truck. It was Kyenna. I stared at her name for a second before I answered.

“Yeah.”

“You busy?”

“A lil’,” I lied.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I’ll get it done.”

“What is it?”

“I came to Rah’s storage unit.”

“For what?”

“I’ve been going through some of his old paperwork. I wanted to see if maybe I missed something.”

“And why do I need to come?”

“The lock was busted, and when I walked in, the unit was trashed with papers everywhere. It looks like someone went through his things.”

“Did you touch anything?”

“No.”

“I’m on the way. Give me twenty minutes,” I said, ending the call.

The warehouse was on the opposite side of town from the storage unit, but I made it in record time. Kyenna’s Maybach was backed into the unit with both driver side doors open. She was standing with her arms folded.

“Where is your security?” I asked her as I got out.

“I don’t need them all the time, Shameek.”

There were boxes flipped over and file cabinets dumped over. Whoever came through this bitch wasn’t looking for money. As I walked up to the filing cabinets, I noticed they were yanked open. Someone had gotten frustrated trying to search for a key. There was a broken picture frame on the ground. I bent over to pick it up, and my heart skipped when I noticed it was a picture of me, Rah, Jah, and Pops. The shit was over fifteen years old.

“What do you think they were looking for?” Kyenna asked, bringing my thoughts back.

“I don’t kno’.”

That was a lie. I knew what they were looking for. I just hoped they didn’t find it. In the corner ducked off, was a box with Kyenna’s name on it. As far as I knew, Rah only used this for paperwork. Whoever was here wasn’t looking for Kyenna because they overlooked this box.

“You got boxes here?” I asked her.

“No,” she said, confused.

“Looks like you got a box with your name on it.”

“I have no idea what that is.”

“Open it,” I told her.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Why?”

“Because if someone came in here looking for something. I want to know exactly what they touched first.”

I pulled my phone out and sent a text.

“I got someone comin’ to dust the whole unit. I feel like whoever it was will be back if they didn’t find what they needed the first time.”

Kyenna’s hand brushed mine, and we both froze.

“My bad.”

“You straight?”

Neither one of us looked at the other. Not after last night.

“Come on,” I told her.

“We’re just going to leave?” Kyenna asked.

“I got my people comin’. Shit, there’s nothin’ else we can do here.”

I took one last look at the unit before pulling the rolling door down, and I put a new lock on it that I stopped to grab before pulling up here.

“Don’t move anymore by yourself, Kyenna. We didn’t hire them niggas for you to just be movin’ how you want to.”

“Okay,” she said with an attitude.

I walked her to her car, and she stopped before she got in.

“Meek.”

“Yeah.”

“You still mad?”

“’Bout what?”

Kyenna looked down at the pavement. The shame was eating her ass up, and I was trying to move on like the shit never happened.

“Last night,” she said.

“I ain’t mad, Kyenna.”

“If you are, you have every right to be. I embarrassed myself.”

“Ky-”

“I did, but it was just hurt and alcohol. I crossed a line, Meek.”

“It’s not that serious.”

“I needed to say it, and I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” she said.

She climbed in her car before I could say another word. I watched her pull off first. Since we were headed in the same destination, I followed behind her. As she turned into her gate, I kept driving to my parents’ house.

“Hey, son,” my mama greeted me when I walked in.

“What you about to do?”

“Getting ready to go and meet up with a few of the girls.”

“Have fun.”

“Hey.” She stopped me. “How did it go last night with Kyenna? Were you able to get through to her?”

I swallowed hard and thought about my words careful as fuck. My mama wasn’t a damn fool.

“Yeah, I got in. She was having a hard time, but she’s fine now.”

“Okay,” she dragged. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Because as the middle child, you never had a problem with your words.”

“What?” I laughed.

“Nothing, son.” She waved me off and walked out.

Pops was rolling a blunt when I walked into his office.

“What you got goin’ on?”

“I just left one of Rah’s storage units.”

“Fuck you doin’ over there?”

“Kyenna found it broken into. They tossed that bitch.”

“Did they take anything?”

“It’s hard to tell ‘cause all he had in there was paperwork.”

He lit the blunt and took a big ass pull.

“You think this shit connected?”

He took another pull before passing it.

“I’m good.” I waved the blunt off.

“You sick or somethin’.”

“No, I just need my head clear right now.”

“So, what the fuck did they want in the storage?”

“Rah didn’t keep money or jewelry there. They were lookin’ for paperwork.”

Pops nodded. “Rah kept the books at the unit.”

My stomach dropped.

“He got my books there from the eighties. Those books got every shipment, every dollar, and every fuckin’ body.”

We hadn’t seen them books in years. It was because my Pops entrusted Rah with them. I thought his ass had burned them books by now.

“I thought they were gone,” I said.

“That’s what I wanted everyone to think. If somebody finds them, the King name won’t survive it.”

Once I got the confirmation that there were no fingerprints on anything at the storage unit, I went back and grabbed the box that had Kyenna’s name on it. She didn’t want to open it until we found out if anyone touched it. Going to her place probably wasn’t the best thing, but I think she needed to see what was inside. I pulled up, grabbed the box, and walked up to her door.

“Hey,” Kyenna said, looking down at the box.

“There were no fingerprints at the unit. I went and grabbed the box wit’ yo’ name on it.”

“Thank you. I really didn’t want to know what was in it.”

“You sure? There’s no tellin’ what’s in there.”

She grabbed the box, making our fingers brush against each other.

“Thank you.”

“Do you want me to stay just in case?” I asked.

“I…Umm, if you want to.”

“Yeah, it’s cool.” Kyenna stepped aside to let me in before closing the door behind her.

I followed her to the den. When she sat the box down, she just looked at it. I went to the kitchen to grab a knife and cut the tape off the box.

“Wait…what if it’s something I don’t want to see?”

“That’s why I’m here, Kyenna. To support you.”

She pulled the box closer to her and opened it.

“What is it?”

She reached in and grabbed a burner phone. Kyenna tried to turn it on, but it wouldn’t come on.

“I need a charger. Where the fuck am I going to find a charger for this old ass phone?” she asked.

“Let me see it,” I told her, holding my hand out.

The phone was well over ten years old. I needed to know why it had Kyenna’s name on it. I was starting to think this was part of the shit Pops was saying could fuck up my family name.

“I’ll look for what I can find.”

“What do you think is on it?”

“Shit, I don’t kno’. Hopefully I can find a cord, and you’ll find out.”