“The insurance paid for a whole new one, babe, and if they wouldn’t have, I was gone build you a whole new one. I got the customizations done. What you think? Almost as good as the last one?” Rowdy asked.
When I got inside, the seats were pink leather, my name was in the driver’s headrest, and Cadence’s name was in the backseat. He placed a pink sticker on the back that said,Baby on board. This was really my dream car.
I hugged my man’s neck so tight before I got in my car to leave. I still wasn’t comfortable having sex again, but I made a mental note to give him some fya ass head tonight once we put our baby to sleep.
The whole drive, I thought about how lucky I was to have my man. Especially after all the hell I went through before his ass came and saved me. I made it to the post office, and there were six packages and one letter in my box. The letter was from Jakari, and I instantly wanted to know what it was about. He had no reason at all to be reaching out to me.
When I made it to my Jeep, I threw the packages in the passenger seat, then I ripped the letter open. In the letter, Jakari apologized for ever hurting me. He told me that he had been set up and he was trying to get out. Jakari also said that Diamond, her sister, nor her cousin had been heard from. He said they set him up and skipped town. Also, his son was not allowed to visit him, and Diamond’s mom was keeping him away. He congratulated me on my baby and asked if I could send him a picture. I knew then that he still wanted to see if there was a possibility that my baby was his. He said he prayed that I found it in my heart to come and visit him. Jakari stated that he wanted to make amends and that he would never give up on us.
As soon as I finished the letter, I balled it up and threw it in the nearest trash as I left the post office. There was nothing worse than a delusional ass nigga. In my heart I felt like Diamond was really his soul mate. They had too many similarities to ignore. My prayer for him was that he finds peace with the situation and lets it go. After all those years I thought he knew me, and he didn’t know me at all. If he did, he wouldhave known that I wasn’t the type of woman to be stepped on or embarrassed by a man. He should have known that I would never be a stepmom to his son when I could have my own family with a man who could be faithful. To me, there’s no such thing as a mistake. He knew the consequences and still carried on with the act. Now, it had cost him everything. Freedom included.
As I rode home, I did some breathing exercises that my therapist had been showing me for my anxiety, and I played the calming music my man had introduced me to. I was still trying to find myself again, but with my support system, I knew it wouldn’t be hard. I just had to remind myself to take things one day at a time.
When I made it home, Rowdy was asleep on the couch with Cadence on his chest. Grimy was sleeping in the chair beside them. I took a picture of all three of them, then I took my baby off his daddy’s chest and took him to his bed. They were so adorable, but Rowdy knew not to go to sleep like that with the baby. No matter how much I fussed, he just kept doing it.
I ran myself a hot bubble bath. As I sat in my garden tub and let the hot water soothe my body, I reflected on my life. Although I had been through some shit, I now had a heathy and handsome baby boy, and the best man that any girl could ask for. Life was never supposed to be easy, but when you had someone who genuinely had your back, it made all the bullshit seem small. As I soaked in the tub and got lost in my thoughts, Rowdy woke up and yelled down the hall, telling me that he had to run to his shop. His silent alarm had been set off, and he had to check it out. He had advised Drew, his shop manager, to close down early, so they could have the day off, then he set the other alarm on his phone. I told Rowdy to wait because I needed to grab some things from my salon and speak to the girls.
Once I was dressed and ready to ride, we took Cadence with us, so I could show him off. I knew that there wasn’t a realemergency at the shop because the main cameras were enabled on his app, and no motion was detected. Whatever was going on had to be in the back office. Rowdy had a safe there, so I could understand him wanting to check it out. He called Drew and got no answer. I called Carmen to see if she had seen anything suspicious, but she didn’t answer either. After that, I called my shop, and they let me know that she had just stepped out for a few minutes.
Once we pulled up to the shop and parked, I got Cadence out of his seat and strapped him inside his carrier on my chest. We walked into the shop and heard notices and heavy breathing coming from Rowdy’s office. Making sure that I walked behind him, he walked to the office door, and pushed it open. He motioned for me to step back and not to keep walking forward before he turned fast. It was too damn late, I had already seen the shit and now, I couldn’t unsee it. I had a partial view and my damn mouth was on the floor.
“Drew! Get yourself together and let me holla at cha!” Rowdy demanded in a stern tone as he made a U-turn and headed back to the front of the shop.
Drew had Carmen bent over the desk, pulling her hair and giving her back shots. Carmen’s ass was giggling like Jell-O and when Drew took his dick out of her, it was thick and had a curve to it. I wasn’t even mad at Carmen. Trying not to show that I had been looking, I turned around and went to the front to stand beside my man. Once they were dressed and came into the front, I told Carmen to follow me outside, and we gave the men some privacy.
“How are you running the salon but over here with your ass in the air? This is not like you, Carmen. What’s good?” I asked as I rubbed Cadence’s back, trying to keep him from waking up.
“I went to help him close up like I’ve been doing, and one thing led to another. I’m so sorry that y’all had to see that,and you know I’ve always been professional. I don’t know what happened. I just messed up.” Carmen dropped her head.
“Please don’t let anything like this happen again, Carmen. I’m trusting you with my livelihood, so I expect you to do the right thing. I saw what that nigga was packing, so I’m not even mad at you, but as a woman and a professional, you have to know it’s a time and place for everything. Next time get a room or take that nigga home,” I told her.
I decided not to take my baby into the salon. I knew my man was upset, so I got into the car and waited for him. After talking to Drew for a while, Rowdy got into the car with a frown on his face, but as soon as he drove off, he fell out laughing. He told me that he had to be tough on Drew so he would know not to pull anything like that again.
Drew and Ciara were our go-tos, and we wanted to be able to depend on them. The last thing we needed was for them to mess around, and it didn’t work out. Then we could possibly lose both of our best employees. We had to keep that from happening.
Icalled Eva for the hundredth time in the past two weeks. I hadn’t heard anything from her in a while. She wouldn’t take my calls, nor would she bring my son to see me. Shit was all fucked up, and I could only blame myself. My lawyer was coming to see me today because he had some news for me. All I could do was hope it was good news. The last time I spoke to him, Diamond and Journei’s funky asses had disappeared into thin air, and I was told that was making the case they had against us weak.
The first thing I would do when I got free was get my son back. This was the longest I had gone without him, and I didn’t know how much more I could take. Since I had been locked up, I had no contact with Jashawn or Keith, but I knew they would keep it solid. As bad as I had handled my brother, he could haveeasily said that I was the one in charge of the whole operation and gotten himself a lighter sentence. We weren’t built like that, though. Diamond had caused so much havoc in my life, and now I wished that bullet had actually killed her ass.
I went above and beyond for Diamond. All I did was make sure that her and my son were straight, and she did all this shit to me because I didn’t want her ass. The even more fucked up part was that right when I was finally ready to move on from Harmoni, the bitch I had fallen for was setting me up from jump. Journei just didn’t know who she had fucked with. One thing I didn’t play about was my feelings. I had really started letting her in, and it was all a set up. I never imagined being a tender ass nigga, but the more I replayed the events that got me there, I realized that I was really a sucka.
While I was on the yard, getting some air, the guards called me in to see my lawyer. Once they led me into the room and uncuffed me. I sat down across from my lawyer and jumped straight into it.
“What’s going on? You said you got some news for me. Please tell me you can get me out of here,” I blurted.
“That’s what I want to talk to you about. Diamond and her cousin won’t be testifying against you. It seems that they’ve skipped town and are nowhere to be found. No other witnesses have come forward to say that they know anything. Now, this is where it gets sticky. You all were caught red handed with drugs and money, so someone will have to eat the charges. Keith spoke to me and told me that he wanted to take the fall. He is willing to say that you all knew nothing about what was in the boxes, and he just asked you all to help him move some things. Jashawn agreed to let him use his storage, thinking he was moving out of his house and needed somewhere to store his personal items. Now, if he does that, you guys will get a conspiracy charge, butI’m sure that I can get it dropped or have you doing as little as just probation,” Davidson said.
“I can’t let Keith do that. Hell nah! Man, I need to talk to him. You gotta send a kite for me. I need to tell him to just sit still and let this shit play out,” I retorted.
“That’s not smart. If you do that, you will be facing up to twenty-five years if found guilty. I’m telling you that with this plan, you are only looking at probation, and that’s not even guaranteed. You’ll be a fool not to take it. What I can do for you is this, call my cell phone in twenty minutes. I’m going to head to the other side to visit Keith, and I will let him speak to you briefly.”
I wrapped up my visit with Davidson and went back to the dorms to wait until it was time to call and speak to Keith. I was pacing the floor, trying to understand why Keith wanted to do some shit like that. I was a man before anything, and I would take my charge on the head before I let him do it for me. When I finally called Davison, he answered and gave Keith the phone.
“Don’t do no stupid shit, Keith. I’m gon’ get us out this shit. You just gotta be patient. Diamond and Journei done ran, so shit ain’t looking too bad. Just chill and wait it out,” I told Keith.
“Look, bruh, I didn’t want to tell you this cause I don’t want you worried. I’ve been sick as fuck since I been in here, and I found out it’s cancer, and it’s progressing. It doesn’t matter if I’m in here or out there, I don’t have long. Let me do this one solid to make up for all the shit you’ve done for me. Just let me handle this,” Keith said.
I was lost for words and couldn’t form a complete sentence. It felt like a ton of bricks had just fallen on me. My best friend in the world was telling me that he was about to leave here, and it wasn’t shit that I could do about it. I promised Keith that I would look out for him and make sure he was good no matter what. When I ended that call, I went back into my cell and laydown. Mentally drained and stressed out was all that I could use to describe what I felt.
