Chapter 2: SHAMEEK KING - A Street King's Widow

My brother had been in the ground for a few days now and business for me hadn’t stopped. Unlike my brother, I liked to get my hands a little dirty. He was more of the cleaner image for the King Estate. I didn’t want to be clean. I liked to be the one to look a nigga in their eyes when they couldn’t keep their end of a deal. My Pops flooded the city with drugs back in the seventies and early eighties. When I was young, I was always infatuated with his jewelry and money. When he would go out of town and my mama was busy shopping, I would sneak in their room and put his jewelry around my neck. My brother, Rahmelo, would make me take it off and put it back where I found it.

Rah wasn’t perfect, but the nigga came damn close. I was proud to say I was his little brother. When we got older and my Pops started putting us in his business, Rah immediately wanted nothing to do with the drug game. I jumped in headfirst. Rah came around a little later. Even then, I knew his ass wasn’t in for the long haul. Our pops seen it, too. One thing Rah was good at was money. He had this head bob thing he would do when Pops was counting his money. He knew when he had miscounted. Now that I was thinking of it, Rah may have been a little genius. He knew when money was short as soon as the rubber band hit it. He said it made a certain sound.

“Nigga, I miss you. You left me here to clean up all yo’ muthfuckin’ mess,” I told him as I sat his shot out. “I took Kaiden to get his hair cut yesterday. I got them kids, bruh.”

The dirt was still fresh, and we were waiting for his custom slab and headstone. On Fridays, we hung out together to catch up on the business side of things. We would pour a shot and I would let that nigga vent about anything he wanted to. His life was a little more complicated than mine. I didn’t have any kids, and I wasn’t connected to no bitches. They may have claimed me, but I never claimed them.

“Boy, you would’ve flipped yo’ shit had you seen how baby mama number two acted. I told yo’ ass when you started fuckin’ her she wasn’t right in the head. Wifey held her own though. And Jah got baby mama number two together, too. I don’t want them jumping on that girl. Maybe yo’ ass can go visit the bitch as a ghost and scare the fuck outta of her.” I laughed.

“You kno’ what fucked me up the most? I be ‘bouta to pick the phone up and tell you some funny shit and realize yo’ stubborn ass can’t answer no more.”

My phone started ringing before I could go on.

“Yeah?” I answered.

“Where you at?” Pops asked.

“Talkin’ to Rah. What’s good?”

“We need to talk business. Too many folks whispering ‘bout the Flush.”

“Aight, give me an hour.”

I ended the call and said my goodbyes to my brother. Honestly, I wasn’t ready to have the talk about who would sit on the throne at Royal Flush. At the same time, I knew the city was watching and waiting to see how we would move on the situation. An hour later, I pulled up to my parents’ estate. My first stop was to see where my mama was. My siblings called me a mama’s boy. It didn’t matter because one thing about Lorraine, she was going to let you know she loved all her children the same. We knew that was a damn lie.

“Hey mama.” I greeted her and kissed her cheek.

“Hey, son. You must be here to talk about Rah’s business.”

“You already know,” I said.

“He’s in his office,” she said.

I could smell his cigar before I even made it to the big oak door. He smoked the finest cigars. Even had me puffing them.

“I know it’s too soon to be even thinking ‘bout this. But…football is about to kick off. You know that’s Rah’s biggest money maker. He still has employees that need to feed their families.”

“I know, but it’s only been a week. Rah paid them muthafuckas good. Nobody should be hurtin’ for no money.”

“I hear all that. But the longer we wait, the longer a nigga thinks they could take over and start their own shit.”

“What you need me to do?”

“I need you to get it back up and running. Let Kyenna go with you so she can show you everything. She taught him how to do it the proper way. Boy, they were a money-makin’ team.” My Pops sat back in his chair. “That nigga thought he knew numbers until Kyenna walked in and tripled that nigga money.”

“Has anyone checked on her?”

“Yo’ mama and Jaharee went down there a few days ago.”

“How is she?”

He pulled from his cigar and blew out circles.

“She needs to get out of the house and be back ‘round the shit that connects her to Rah. That’s where you come in. Get her to Royal Flush and show her she can live again.”

“I’m ‘bouta go check on her. I kinda been avoidin’ her ass. I hate seein’ her like that.”

“Talk to her ‘bout it and come up with a way to get those doors back open.”

“Aight, but I’m not gonna rush her. This shit fresh and I don’t need her ass breakin’ down in front them folks in the Flush.”

“Kyenna’s stronger than you makin’ her out to be.”

I threw my hands up and left him there. Kyenna and Rah’s estate was up the road. We all stayed on the same compound just football fields away from each other. The gate was guarded by security. He put the code in and let me in. One thing Kyenna did was have all the curtains open in the house. All of them were closed.

“Has she come out at all?” I asked the one security guard who was inside the gate.

“Not during my shift. She has a few packages that I’ve sat on the porch.”

“’Preciate it, bruh.”

He said a few packages, but she had flowers and all kinds of shit on the porch that I could barely get to the door. I hit the doorbell and waited for her to answer. After waiting a few minutes, I hit the bell repeatedly. The house was big, but I knew her ass heard the shit. Finally, she snatched the door open with dark circles around her eyes.

“Sis, what the fuck?”

She rolled her eyes and walked away, leaving the door wide open for me to walk in. She was wearing a robe, bonnet, and bedroom slippers. The house was dark besides the light coming through the top window in the foyer. I started grabbing all the packages and flowers and brought them in the house. I walked around until I found her in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal.

“How you holdin’ up, Sis?”

She stared at me as she stuffed her mouth. “How do you think, Meek?”

“I know it’s hard. You know I’m here if you need me.”

“You know this is my first meal since the funeral. All I could do is drink water to stay alive. I’ve had my phone off since. I don’t know who’s more aggravating, my daddy or y’all.”

“We care ‘boutcha. That’s what the fuck family do.”

“I ain’t trying to be pissy, Meek. I’m really not. I’ve been in this big ass house by myself. Every fucking corner has some type of presence of your brother. His fucking hairbrush and durag still in the same spot he left it that morning.”

I pulled the bar stool out and sat across from her. Seemed to me she needed someone to listen to her.

“Then I hadn't seen the fucking kids and it’s killing me. I want to know how Ryleigh is doing with her numbers. Is Khari needing her nails done? Does Kaiden need a man to take him to get his hair cut? Like, all this shit is going through my head. I don’t know the last time I’ve had a full night’s rest.”

I knew this wasn’t the time to bring up Royal Flush with her. Kyenna would probably cuss my ass out. With what Rah put her through with Raya, Kyenna never punished the kids.

“I’ve already gotten Kaiden’s hair cut yesterday. Khari does need her nails done, and I’ll get with Averie to see if she would let you go on a girls’ date with her. If that will make you take that fuckin’ bonnet off. Rah would have a fuckin’ fit seein’ you like this.”

“Well, the nigga ain’t here. He’s resting peacefully while I suffer.”

I swallowed hard. She went from sad to angry real quick.

“But if you could get Averie to let me see Khari, that would make me feel better. I want to take her and Ryleigh out and do the things we used to do. Maybe I could feel better being next to the little people that came from the nigga’s nut sack,” she said, making us share a laugh.

“Do you think goin’ to Royal Flush?”

“Hell no! I blame that place for killing my man. He spent so much time there, and that night. I had told him to get his ass home because it was late. He was coming home to me. From that damn place. It can burn the fuck down all I care.”

“Kyenna, you kno’ that was my brother’s happy place besides you and the kids. We gotta get that bitch back runnin’.”

“Meek, I can’t right now. Why can’t you do it?”

“’Cause I don’t kno’ how that nigga had that shit goin’. You do tho’.”

“Can I ask you something?” she asked.

Settle in with a love story.

Head to Lokepub for more romance novels.

“Shoot.”

“Do you think he suffered long or do you think the shots took him out quick?”

“Nah, that nigga fought. I could tell how he was outside that truck. He was still tryin’ to make it home to yo’ ass.”

“I can’t believe I found him like that.”

“Yeah, I hate you found him. That’s why you can’t shake this shit.”

“Grief doesn’t have a timeframe,” she told me.

“True. I’ll give you a few days to think about the Flush. We gotta have some answers for all those employees.” I got up and headed towards the door. “And the next time one of us stops by, can you please reveal the old Kyenna that kept her hair and shit done? This one is scaring me a lil’.”

“Get the fuck out,” Kyenna said.

“Aight, Sis. Call me if you need me.”

I pulled into Averie’s subdivision. It wasn’t anything like the King Estates, but it was modest, being that she didn’t want any handouts from my brother. He offered to buy her whatever house she wanted. All she wanted was for him to take care of his kids. Averie had her own money. She worked as a registered nurse at a plastic surgeon’s office.

Averie wasn’t impressed with my brother’s money. She was with him when he only had what he made from our Pops. I pulled into the driveway and before I could knock, the front door swung open.

“Uncle Meek!” Khari jumped in my arms.

She was dressed in a cute pink dress. Kaiden came down the steps in a pair of khakis and a button-down shirt. I dapped him up.

“I tried to tie it myself. My mama can’t do it either.”

I laughed because it was crooked as fuck. Shit, I wouldn’t know how to tie one if it wasn’t for my brother. He liked to dress the fuck up and told me I wasn’t a real nigga until I learned how to do my own tie without our mama.

“I wish my dad was here to go to my honors program.”

His ass hit a soft spot. I had business to handle, but for them, I would stop what I had going on.

“Yo’ dad would’ve been so proud of you. Tell you what. I’m gonna go and stand in for yo’ dad. How’s that?” I asked as I finished his tie.

Averie was coming down the stairs dressed in a nice pair of pants and a shirt. Averie was thick. As much as she tried to hide it, she couldn’t.

“Hey, Shameek.”

“What’s up?”

“I heard you tell Kaiden you were coming to his honors program.”

“I did.”

“Look, I don’t need you being inconsistent. I know you got your own thing going on and this is not your responsibility. I can handle it just fine.”

“When it comes to the kids, I got them. Will I be able to show up to everything? Probably not. But they will know I’m here. If I’m not able to, my sister can. If she can’t, my parents will. Y’all are family.”

“They’ve been through enough. Khari is still asking about that man. She wants details on what happened to him.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?” Her expression changed.

“Kyenna…”

“What about her?”

“She misses the kids.”

“Kaiden doesn’t even like her like that.”

“She was askin’ ‘bout Khari…Ryleigh and even Kaiden.”

“All these years and now she wants to play stepmama? That shit stopped the day your brother stopped breathing.”

“That’s fucked up, Averie.”

“I don’t think that girl ready to see my face.”

“I ain’t ask if she was ready to see yo’ face.”

Averie paused.

“I’m askin’ if you’ll let Khari spend a lil’ time with her.”

Averie leaned against the counter.

“Shameek, you know why that’s hard for me.”

“I do.”

“I watched that woman get the version of Rah I prayed for.”

“I know.”

“I watched him marry her.”

“I know.”

“I watched my babies ask why Daddy don’t live here with us,” she said as her eyes filled with tears.

I couldn’t believe Rah’s ass put me in the middle of this shit.

“But…” she said, looking at Khari. “I also know that girl loves Kyenna. It irks my fucking nerves when she comes home and talks about her.”

“And Kyenna loves her,” I told her.

“Khari used to come every Sunday with them damn pink nails.” Averie laughed through the tears.

“So, why take those moments from her?”

“I never hated Kyenna. I hated what she represented. She got the finished version of Rah.”

“But she didn’t tho’. She went through her shit, too.”

“That was just karma.”

“Karma for what? Kyenna didn’t take Rah from you. Y’all both were single.”

“You always taking her side.”

“No, I’m speakin’ truth.”

“Khari can go next weekend.”

“Thank you, Averie.”

“But…”

“Aw fuck.”

“I don’t want Ray around my daughter.”

“Now we both kno’ damn well Kyenna can’t stand Raya.”

“You’re right.” We both laughed.

Kaiden overheard our conversation and entered the kitchen.

“You think I can go too, Mama?”

Shameek looked at me.

“Kaiden, I thought you didn’t like Kyenna.”

“I kind of miss her. I miss my room over there, too. Plus, I want to see if she’ll give me some of those pictures of my dad.”

“I tell you what. You can go if yo’ mama says you can. We can get some pictures off yo’ phone and blow them up to put them in a frame.”

“Bet.”

“Alright, we got to get out of here before we’re late,” Averie said.

“I’ll follow behind y’all.”