Chapter 7: KYENNA - A Street King's Widow

It was Sunday morning, and today was my last day with the kids. Since I cooked yesterday morning, I had the chef cook whatever they wanted. Yesterday after Khari and I came back from getting our nails and toes done, we picked Kaiden up from Shameek and enjoyed the rest of the day at the house. I didn’t really bother them that much until it was time to eat. It was important for me not to force anything. Usually when they were here, they did their own thing, and I didn’t want to change their routine because Rah wasn’t here.

Khari was sitting in the middle of her bed with her television on one of her shows as she braided her baby doll’s hair and added beads to it. I smiled because she looked at peace. I wanted kids of my own, but being able to love on Rah’s kids was good enough. The only one I was missing was Ryleigh. Raya was refusing to take the test even though she said she would when she left the reading of the will. It was court-ordered, and she still hadn’t taken Ryleigh. I guess when the bills start piling up, she’ll run her dramafied ass up to the clinic.

I walked down the hall to check on Kaiden. Since he had gotten here, he hadn’t said much to me. We had a lot of work to do, but I was willing to give him the space he needed to grieve. When he was ready to talk to me, I would stop whatever I was doing to give him my attention. His door was closed, but I could hear his television. I knocked, but he didn’t answer. Slowly, I opened his door, and he was sitting on the floor. Kaiden had pictures spread out on the floor. Rah kept a photo album in Kaiden’s room from when he was younger and still with Averie.

There was a picture of Kaiden, Rah, and Averie after she birthed him, him learning how to ride his bike without training wheels, his first football game. Then my eyes stopped on a picture of me, Rah, Kaiden, Khari and Ryleigh a few Christmases ago. I had forgotten we took that picture because Kaiden had given his daddy such a hard time that morning. I eased down beside him. He just kept putting the pictures in a stack, not acknowledging my presence. This was his moment; I just wanted him to know I was here for him.

“He looks so happy,” Kaiden said.

“He was.”

“Do you think he knew he was gonna die?” Kaiden asked, looking at me.

It took me a minute to process his question. Kaiden was only twelve and how was I supposed to tell him that being a King man came with a lot of enemies without stepping over my boundaries? I always said if I was to become a parent, I was going to be honest with my kids. The same way my daddy was with me. He wasn’t my biological child, though and I had to be careful how I approached his answer.

“No,” I told him.

“How you know?”

“Because your daddy had too many plans. He was planning our anniversary, your football season, Khari’s birthday. Shoot, he even bought me a gift three months early.”

Kaiden looked down at the picture in his hand.

“Your daddy loved you with everything in him. The last thing he would’ve wanted was for his son to spend the rest of his life wondering.”

Kaiden immediately started crying. I opened my arms and Kaiden hesitated for a minute before he fell into them. I was trying to hold myself together, but the tears started falling out of my eyes.

“Kaiden, you don’t have to be the man of this family. I want you to just be a kid.”

“Why?” he asked, as I wiped off his tears. “That’s what my daddy would’ve wanted.”

“No, he would’ve wanted you to be a child. That is what your Uncle Meek is for.”

“You still got your dad.”

“But guess what?”

“What?” He leaned up.

“I never had my mama. So, I understand how you feel.”

“Really?”

“Yep, I’ve only had my daddy. I never had a woman teach me how to be a woman. But you still got your uncle to teach you everything from here on out.”

“Thank you, Ms. Kyenna.”

“Why are you thanking me?”

“Because you’re still letting us come over here like our daddy will walk through the door at any minute.”

“This is still your home. Whenever you need to feel close to him you let me know, and I’ll come and get you. Deal?”

“Deal,” he said.

“You can take as many pictures as you want back home with you. When you’re ready, come downstairs and get some breakfast.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Hours later, Khari had her swim cap on so she wouldn’t mess up her hair as she jumped into the pool. One thing Rah did was teach all three of the kids to swim. Even though they knew how, I still wouldn’t allow them back there without supervision. Kaiden finally appeared out of the house with his swim trunks on and jumped right in with her. This was the first time I had seen him laugh and Rah not be around. My heart was still grieving but this gave me peace. I sat there soaking in the sun, my phone buzzed.

“Mrs. King,” Grif said.

“Please call me Kyenna, Grif.”

“I’m sorry to bother you, Kyenna. The liquor shipment just came, and Monday’s schedule is packed.”

“Whatever it is, I’ll deal with it tomorrow. I only have a few more hours with the kids.”

“Yes ma’am. Have a good rest of your evening.”

As the sun was setting, I was pulling up to Averie’s house to drop the kids off. This was my first time seeing where she laid her head. It really wasn’t my business before. Now that we shared the kids, it was. I helped Khari out and walked them to the door where Averie was waiting. Surprisingly, Kaiden gave me a hug. Even his mama was shocked. I hugged him back and then hugged Khari.

“They’ve eaten and had their baths. I really appreciate you for doing this for me.”

“No problem. I see you and Kaiden had a breakthrough,” she said, putting her hand on her hip.

I wasn’t sure if it was shade or if she was genuine. This shit was new and I was trying to read her. I thought we had gotten somewhere yesterday. Today, she was giving me something else.

“Yes, we had a conversation.”

“You have a way with the King men. I’ll call you if they ask to come over.”

“Yeah, okay,” I said, backing up.

What the fuck did she mean I had a way with King men? Rah put dick in some of the most delusional ass bitches.

By seven-thirty, I was already sitting behind my husband’s desk with a legal pad full of notes, my laptop open, and a cup of coffee that had gotten cold. A knock on my door made me look up from my laptop.

“Come in.”

Toni stepped inside, holding a tablet and two folders.

“Morning, Kyenna.”

“Morning.”

“The liquor vendor is downstairs. Payroll is waiting on your approval, one of the card suppliers sent over a new contract, and the seafood company said they need a decision before noon,” she rambled off.

“Damn!”

“I figured I’d hit you with everything at one time. That’s how Rah liked it on Mondays.”

“It’s cool. Can you send them to my email so I can prioritize everything I need to do today?”

Toni was hired by me to help my husband a few years ago. So far, she kept his ass in line. I expected she would do the same for me.

“Already done. And…”

“Toni, please. There’s an and?”

She laughed. “The boys got a bet going on downstairs on if you’ll cuss somebody out before lunch.”

Make your next read a love story.

Search Lokepub on Google for romance novels.

“Am I that bad? Today is the first day of reopening, and I want it right.”

“I don’t think you’re that bad, but the boys say you’re tougher than Rah.”

“Tell them to put their money on the vendors instead of the staff. They’ll get cussed out first.”

“Put Grif on the liquor vendor while I approve payroll and hop on a call with this seafood vendor.”

“Got it,” she said before exiting.

When she closed the door, I took a deep breath. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it. It was just a lot going on so fast. There was really no way for me to prepare for this shit. I opened the payroll and went over it, already catching some errors. I made a note to have a talk with our payroll specialist to see if she needed some help to catch errors. Rah was just signing off on shit, and I wasn’t going for it. Once that was completed, I got on a call with the seafood vendor.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. King. My name is Calvin with Coastal Premium Seafood. Sorry for your loss.”

I was getting sick of hearing that shit.

“Hello, Calvin. Have you sent the invoices that I asked for to my email? I didn’t see them.”

“They were just sent. Mrs. King, we’ve been supplying Royal Flush for almost six years.”

“I know,” I said as I opened the email.

“You know?”

“I also know the salmon has been coming in four ounces lighter than what you’re billing me for.”

The phone line went quiet. My husband was good at what he did, but he let a lot of shit slide.

“I…”

“You’ve been charging Rah for twelve-ounce portion, Calvin, and delivering eight.”

“Maybe there was a misunderstanding,” he said.

“Nah, there wasn’t. I’m looking at the contract between y’all. And I need my thirty-eight thousand, four hundred and sixty dollars in product.”

“Mrs. King…”

“Two options, Calvin. Product or terminate the contract.”

“If we made it right, would you still do business with us?”

“I’m a woman of second chances. I just don’t believe in third ones.”

“We’ll make it right.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” I said, ending the call.

By eleven, I had payroll corrected and signed, denied three dumb ass expense reports, reviewed football season security, signed off on kitchen inventory, and negotiated two new alcohol contracts. The long days and nights always made sense to me, but this was my first full day, and I still had shit to do before the door opened at three.

Another knock at my door.

“Come in!” I yelled.

Shameek walked in carrying two paper bags.

“Grif told on you,” he said.

“I’ve been busy.”

He opened the bag and slid the grilled chicken wrap across my desk.

“You got to remember to take care of yourself when workin’,” he said, grabbing his burger out of the bag.

“I appreciate it.”

“So,” he said, taking a bite of his burger. “They say you’re scarier than Rah.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m not trying to scare anyone. I just know how it is when a woman is running a business.”

“Well, they are scared of yo’ ass. Say you be comin’ wit’ receipts and shit.”

“I wasn’t around, but I knew a lot that was going on in this building. Every now and then I would mention something to him, and he would catch it and clean it up. I let Rah run his business how he wanted to. Now, it’s mine, and I’m not going for a lot of the shit that he let slide. Mostly with the vendors and payroll. The staff downstairs are great. But don’t tell them I said that.” I laughed.

“He’d be proud of you.”

“I don’t want to fully erase him from here.”

“This place will always have that nigga linger ‘round.”

Grif tapped on the door as I took another bite of my wrap.

“Atlanta alcohol vendor here.”

“I’ll be down in a minute,” I told him.

“Finish your food, Kyenna. You don’t hop as soon as someone comes.”

I got up and grabbed my blazer. “The sooner I can get them out of my face, the better.”

“Kyenna, sit down and eat your food. Them muthafuckas get paid by the hour.”

“You lucky I’m hungry.”

“And a nigga stood in that long ass line, you gon’ eat.”

“Do you think about him?” I asked Shameek.

“I think ‘bout his ass every day, man. Still can’t believe that nigga left us here like that.”

“If he would’ve just made it in the gate.”

“Yeah,” Shameek said, putting his burger down.

“My bad. I didn’t mean to ruin your appetite. Have y’all heard anything?”

“Nah, we got money out there and ain’t nobody talkin’. I’m startin’ to think it was someone close and they're right under our nose.”

“I was starting to think the same thing.”

“Really? What do you think happened?” he asked.

“I have my ideas. It happened too close to home. Which is why I’ve changed up so much shit. My codes at home have changed. I’ve changed the codes here as well. I can’t really trust anyone right now. I mean, Grif was supposed to be with him. It could be his ass.”

“I fuck wit’ you, Sis. You better believe I got my ear to the streets and I won’t let a fuck thing come yo’ way.”

“I appreciate you and Pops. Now can I go and handle my business?”

Shameek got up and grabbed our trash before walking with me to the door. He opened it and let me walk out first before closing the door behind us. It was good to have someone looking out for me. All my mind was on lately was getting the Flush back flowing with money.

At ten, Royal Flush was packed. I stood in the office and looked out at the floors. Every table was packed. When I looked at the cameras, all the sports rooms were filled. I walked to my husband’s chair and sat down. This shit felt good after the day I had. At the end, this was all worth it. The money was back flowing. I looked up at the picture of Rah.

“I did this shit for you, Baby. I’ll never let it die.”