Chapter 34: AVERIE - A Street King's Widow
By Jenica J.
For the first time in a long time, my Saturday did not start with me having somewhere to be. I didn’t even wake up to an alarm. I woke up because somebody downstairs was laughing too damn loud. I rolled over and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. It was a little after nine, which was late for me. Usually, my body had me up before seven, whether I had somewhere to be or not. I sat on the edge of the bed for a minute, trying to figure out who the hell was in my house making all that noise. Then I remembered that Q stayed over. I slid into my robe and headed downstairs. The closer I got to the kitchen, the louder Kaiden got.
“I’m telling you, Coach is only doing that because Malik’s daddy donated money to the team,” Kaiden said.
“Boy, everything ain't a conspiracy,” Q told him, laughing.
“It is when Malik is trash.”
“Damn, that’s your teammate.”
“He’s still trash.”
I stopped near the kitchen entrance. Q was standing at my stove in basketball shorts and a T-shirt. I don’t know how Kaiden got him to cook, but he was turning bacon while Kaiden was watching football highlights on his phone. Khari was on the other end, coloring with markers she was absolutely not supposed to have on my white countertops.
“When did my house become a barbershop where you gossip about sports?” I asked.
“Ma, Q said Malik wasn’t trash,” Kaiden said.
“I said the boy probably got something Coach sees in practice that you don’t,” Q said.
“He ain’t got nothing,” Kaiden said, looking up from his phone.
“Anyway, good morning,” Q said.
“Good morning. Why are you feeding them like you live here?”
“Q is making me some pancakes,” Khari said.
There she goes with those pancakes. At least she wasn’t begging for Kyenna’s pancakes. I grabbed my coffee and leaned against the counter. This was the shit I had been scared of. A man fitting into my house too easily. Kaiden had gone from interviewing Q every time he walked through the door to arguing about football with him like they’d known each other for years. Khari didn’t even ask if Q was coming over anymore. If he wasn’t there, she asked where he was.
At first, I worried that meant everything was moving too fast. Then I realized my kids weren’t stupid. They knew Q wasn’t their daddy. They just liked him. That didn’t have to be a bad thing. I had to find a way to get out of my head. Right now, I needed to enjoy the moment because, just like Rah, this could all fade away at any moment. I took a sip of my coffee as Q fixed the kids’ plates. I sat at the table with them and just took in how all three of them interacted with one another.
Kaiden had practice at noon, and Q had volunteered to take him before I could open my mouth. I wasn’t mad about it. I had been driving to practices, games, camps, and workouts for a while now. Shameek would take it off my hands too, but it still was a lot because he wasn’t obligated to do anything for us. Sitting home for a few hours while somebody else handled one ride wasn’t going to kill me. Still, I gave him instructions while they ate.
“Make sure he has both water bottles because he’ll drink one and act like hydration is optional. His cleats are in the mudroom. He needs the black compression shirt under his pads, not the white one, because apparently the white one is uncomfortable now.”
“Ma,” Kaiden groaned.
“What?”
“I know what I need.”
“Last week you forgot your mouthpiece.”
“One time.”
“I got him, Averie,” Q said.
“I know. I’m just telling you what he needs.”
“And I’m just taking him to football practice. Not across the country.”
“Thank you,” Kaiden whispered.
The doorbell rang before I could respond. I looked towards the door.
“Who is that?” I asked.
Kaiden shrugged, so I looked at Q.
“I ordered something.”
“What did you order to my house?”
“Relax, please.”
He got up and headed towards the door. I followed because I didn’t trust him when he said relax. A man was standing outside with a large box. Q signed for it, thanked him, and dragged it inside.
“What is that?”
“For Kaiden.”
“I told you not to buy my kids expensive gifts.”
“It ain’t expensive.”
Q opened the box as Kaiden was coming around the corner. Inside was one of those training rebounders football players used to work on hand placement and reaction time. Kaiden’s eye lit up.
“Yo!” Kaiden said excitedly.
I looked at Q.
“You just said not expensive, Averie.”
Kaiden took the box and started dragging it through the kitchen to head out back.
“I appreciate you doing things for them. I really do. I just don’t want them thinking every man I date is supposed to come in here and spend money.”
Q leaned against the wall.
“Averie, I bought that boy something for football because the boy is serious about it, and I saw him looking at one online. That’s it. I ain’t trying to buy his love.”
“I know.”
“And I’m not trying to buy yours either. Stop looking for something wrong every time shit feels good.”
“I’m working on it.”
By eleven-thirty, Q and Kaiden were leaving for practice. I watched them load the football bag into Q’s truck while Khari stood beside me complaining that she wanted to go, too.
“You need anything while I’m out?” Q asked.
“No, I’m good.”
“I’ll bring him straight back. I promise.”
He kissed me before heading towards the driver’s side. I watched them pull off before going back inside. For the next two hours, I enjoyed the quiet. Khari eventually disappeared upstairs with her dolls, and I got through two loads of laundry without anybody asking me for anything. I even took a nap on the couch for twenty minutes. My phone woke me up when Jaharee called.
“Hey.”
“Hey, have you talked to Meek today?”
“No. Why?”
“I was just asking. Mama was trying to get in touch with him earlier.”
“No, I haven’t talked to him. Do you want me to try and call to see if he would answer for me?”
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“No, I know how to get his ass to answer. Thank you anyway. How are the kids?”
“Ain’t nothing changed since they were with y’all last weekend. They’re both still the same spoiled behind kids.”
We shared a laugh before we ended the call. Before I could put the phone down, Q was calling.
“Hey,” I answered.
“Practice is over. I just wanted to call you and let you know we’re at District 12 for a minute.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Kaiden is eating me out of a house and home.”
“You said I could order whatever,” Kaiden said in the background.
“You ordered wings, fries, mozzarella sticks, and a burger,” Q said, laughing.
“Practice got me starving,” Kaiden said.
“Can you put my child on the phone?”
“Hey, ma.”
“How was practice?”
“It was good. I ran routes with the older group today.”
“That’s good. Did you drink both bottles of water?”
“Yes, I drank both.”
“Okay.”
“Are you done interrogating the boy?” Q asked.
“Yes, I’m done for now.”
I heard a male voice in the background say something.
“Nah, tell West I’ll call him back. I got little man with me,” Q said.
“What did you say?”
“What?”
“Who did you say you’ll call back?”
“West. Why?”
“Who is West?”
“Weston Reed. You should be familiar with the name since the man got his money invested in everything in the city.”
“Everything like what?”
The only reason I was asking is that he had my child with him, and that name had come up years ago.
“Shit…everything from real estate, transportation, to private investments. Old nigga been moving money since before we were grown.”
“And you know him how?”
“Averie, I just said the man invests. I know him through business. What, you auditing a nigga or something? We bring deals to each other that can make us more money.”
“Oh, okay,” I said.
“You probably heard Rah mention him before if that’s what you're wondering.”
“He knew Rah?”
“I’m sure at some point they did business together. West had money tied into a lot of things back then. Shit, Rah ran the most lucrative business in the city; I’m sure West wanted to be a part of something with his name on it.”
There was noise in the background before Q spoke to somebody else. I tried my best to listen to what he was saying, but he had put the phone down.
“Hold up, baby. I gotta handle this. We’ll be home in about thirty.”
“Okay.”
We hung up, and all I could do was stare at my phone. Rah talked about enough business around me that some names probably stuck without me remembering where they came from. I wasn’t about to sit here investigating my boyfriend because he knew another rich black man in the same city. I tossed the phone aside, letting it leave my mind. Half an hour later, Q and Kaiden walked through the door arguing again. Kaiden dropped his football bag by the door.
“Coach said I did good,” Kaiden told him.
“I said you did good, too. Good don’t mean perfect.”
“Go shower,” I told him.
Q walked over and wrapped his arms around me.
“Did you miss me?”
“You were only gone for a few hours,” I told him.
“Well, I missed you. Do you and the kids want to come to my place tonight?”
“I told you I’m not bringing my kids over there. We both agreed on that.”
“I was just trying. Are you okay?” Q asked.
“I’m fine.” I walked away to sit on the sofa.
“Is this about earlier? If so, business is business. Every time something suspicious comes up to you, you bring Rah’s name in it. Did our money cross a few times? Yes.”
“How?”
“Investments that I eventually pulled from.”
“Before Rah died?”
His eyes stayed on mine. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“The money stopped making sense. The King’s side was changing. Rah wanted out of certain shit. Shameek was restructuring other parts. Too many people started disagreeing about direction. Whenever too many powerful niggas start arguing about money, I remove myself.”
It was crazy how all this was coming out now. When I asked him earlier how well he knew Rah, he acted like they barely knew each other, but now their money crossed. I was going to leave it alone for now because Q didn’t mind answering questions when I asked. He just better make sure he remembered what he told me.