Page 154

SHAMEEK KING

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.”