“You think I’m going to just let you walk away from me, Blossom?” he stated after a long bout of silence between us. “You’re going to be my wife, and we’re going to start a family. I’m wrong here, and I know I’m the one who’s been fucking up. But breaking up isn’t an option. I’m going to be better, I promise. Just know we’re in this for betteror worse. You understand?”
Staring at him, I continued to eat my food as his words settled in my core. To me, that was all they were—words. Until he was able to get his shit together and show me otherwise, I stood on everything I’d said. TJ had better get himself together before he watched me ride off with another man. Little did heknow, his replacement could’ve already presented himself. With the way things had been going between us lately, I was about ready to sub him in and let him play.
“I just don’t understandwhy those fuckers are still walking around here free after what happened to your father! I know Jaseon had something to do with Tyreek going missing all those years ago! No one is going to tell me any different! Your father loved me, and he would have never left me!”
Listening to my mama bitch for the thousandth time, I sipped my beer as I sifted through photos of the McKnights from over the years. From the time I was able to comprehend what had happened to my birth father, I had made it my life’s mission to make those responsible for his demise suffer the same fate.
I was off from police duty today, and while I should’ve been somewhere with my fiancée, I was at my mama’s house, planning my next move when it came to my estranged family.Sharing the same blood as them meant nothing to me since it was obvious it meant nothing to them. My cousins had known about me and who I was since middle school, and they never took the time to get to know me, so fuck them.
“I’ve told you time and time again, Mama, that these things take time.”
I looked over the photos scattered all over the kitchen table until I picked up a picture of Breonna. She was as beautiful at Prime and Platter as she was in the photo, time being more than kind to her. However, her blowing me off at the bar struck a nerve, and if I had any mercy to spare her, it died after being humiliated by her. She was now on the list of those who had to die.
Looking up as my mama scanned the photos with a mix of rage, yearning, and envy, I tapped the table to get her attention. “Just be patient with me, Mama. I’m going to make sure they all pay for what they did to my father.”
From the stories my mama had told me, my dad was next up in the streets, and Uncle Jay didn’t know how to take it. When my father wanted to do his own thing, his brother started a fake beef and took his girl. For my entire life, I’d wanted to avenge my father’s death, but taking down Uncle Jay had been harder than I thought. Jaseon McKnight Sr. was well-respected from Willow Springs to Milly Grove, so I did something drastic. I joined the police force in my hometown in hopes that I could find evidence of what happened to my father. Since joining, I hadn’t learned much, coming to a dead end with every minor lead. I’d even gone as far as speaking to niggas my mama said ran with my dad, but they were no help. Either they didn’t know anything, were too scared to say anything, or didn’t fuck with me because of my uniform. I thought robbing Uncle Jay’s stash house and killing his men would have set off a chain reaction. Yet, so far, nothinghad occurred. It made me wonder if he was the man my mama said he was.
“Damn, your mama hates them niggas as much as I do,” Chris chimed in as he took a sip of his beer. He and Rowan came over today to help come up with the next phase of our plan, but the latter was high off his ass and snoring on my mama’s couch. “I say we find them niggas and light their asses up. I just bought a brand-new AK, and I’m ready to let my bitch out to play.”
“You want to stay a free man or end up a dead one?” I asked him as I picked up another picture of Breonna. “With niggas like them, you have to move smarter. Think…” I tapped the side of his head, causing him to swat my hand and frown. “Don’t get a hot head and get us all caught up.”
“Whatever.” He mugged me, standing from his seat. “I ain’t with sitting around and waiting to see how a nigga is going to respond before I get some get-back. Them niggas killed my brother, and I won’t stop until they’re dead.” Snatching his jacket from the back of his seat, he walked into the living room and kicked Rowan’s feet to wake him. “Get your ass up and take me home, nigga! I got other shit to do.”
Since killing Uncle Jay’s men and robbing his house, I decided to keep navigating the streets like I usually do. There was no reason for any of them to expect Rowan or me being responsible because no one knew about the ties we had to each other and we didn’t have any ties to the people we’d murdered. As I eyed a groggy Rowan as he stumbled out of the house, I frowned in disgust. Row had been blowing my phone up to borrow my portion of the cash we took, but I refused to give it to him. He’d come over to my mama’s house with an attitude because I’d said no, but I didn’t give a fuck. My plan was to take my girl on vacation with that money once everything calmed down. If he had snorted or gambled away all his dope and money, that was on him.
“This ugly bitch!” Mama came back into the kitchen and seethed as she snatched the picture of Breonna from my hand. The hate she had for that woman ran deep. “From the day she found out about me, she was jealous. She couldn’t be me on her worst day. Tyreek was going to be a family with us, and she is the reason he is gone.”
Side-eyeing her, I kept the words I wanted to say buried deep. I would never speak aloud of how delusional my mama was at times, but she was. Granted, I believed my mama when she said my Uncle Jay had something to do with my father’s death, but the one thing I would bet my life on was that Breonna was never jealous of her. I loved my mama with my entire heart, but nothing about her was attractive. It wasn’t her weight, because I’d crossed plenty of plus-sized beauties in my day. It was because my mama never kept herself up. She thrived off receiving government assistance, and she was ghetto. If anything, my father slipped up with her, and Breonna let them have the drama.
“I know, Mama.” I sighed as there was a knock at her door. I knew it was one of her ghetto-ass friends, and that was my cue to bounce. Hurriedly, I gathered my things to leave, not wanting any part of what they were about to do. “I’m going to head out of here.”
Standing from the table, I caught a glimpse of the lady who entered my mama’s small duplex: Aerial McKnight. She was Uncle Jay and Uncle Amir’s mother. She and I had spoken a few times, and she hated her sons as much as I did.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Aerial.” I gave her a quick nod as I entered the living room. “How are you doing today?”
“I could be better.” She sassed as she placed her hand on her hip. “The last time I was over here, I could have sworn you told me you were going to see to it that those boys pay for what they did to my Josiah. He wasn’t just my husband, but he wasyour grandfather too. You know…” She stepped closer to me, and the smell of White Diamonds made me gag. “You’re just as handsome as he was back in the day. How about you come keep an old lady company sometime?”
Eyeing me as if she hadn’t eaten in days and I was a medium-cooked steak, I gave her a tight smile before easing out of the front door. I knew I was a handsome nigga, so I was used to women throwing themselves at me. I wasn’t the best man to Blossom, but I’d never stick my dick anywhere near this old broad. Speaking of my fiancée, I decided to call her since I hadn’t heard from her all day.
“Hello…” Her sultry voice flowed through my receiver as I stepped out of my mama’s apartment. I hated coming over here to the damn projects. “You must have the wrong number because I know this isn’t my man calling me for the first time today when he promised to do better.”
“Blossom…” I sighed heavily as I walked toward my car. I used the folder holding the files to shield the bright sun from my eyes. “I told you I’ve been working on an important case, baby. How do you expect me to provide for my wife without getting this promotion?”
I loved my girl, but she didn’t understand how work had to come first sometimes. Granted, I wasn’t working on anything major that was police related at the moment, but that wasn’t the point. When I told her I was working and trying to make something happen for us, I needed her not to ride me about it.
She simpered lowly. “Do you hear yourself right now? It’s never been and never will be about the money, Tyreek. I’m not with you because of what you can do for me. I want something I can’t provide for myself: companionship. I’m tired of talking about the same thing every day.”
Sliding into my Charger, I started the ignition and frowned as if she could see me. “You ask me if I’m committed to thisrelationship when the woman who claims to love me won’t even sleep with me? You think you’re the only one making sacrifices? You won’t even sleep in the same bed as me, and you think I want to jump at the chance to come over there? I’m stressed enough from the shit I have going on with my job, and I can’t even depend on my girl to help relieve?—”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Glancing down at my phone, I noticed that Blossom had disconnected the call. Beating the steering wheel repeatedly, I cursed in frustration. Blossom being a virgin was the biggest strain on our relationship, and I was growing tired of it. I loved her, but sometimes I wondered if it was enough. The longer I sat in the car, the more I realized that I had overreacted. Calling Blossom back, I shook my head at the calls going unanswered.
“I’m fucking up,” I spoke to myself as I pulled away from my mama’s complex. My intentions were to go and talk some sense into Rowan, but the plans had changed. “Let me take my ass over there with this girl.”
As I made my way over to Blossom’s, I thought about my uncles, his son and his siblings, and how badly I wanted them all locked up, or even better, dead. From the women to the men, I wanted to wipe them all off the map like they did my father and his father. Today, I would put them to the back of my mind and focus on Blossom but tomorrow was a new day to ruin them all.
Buzz. Buzz.
