Victoria

Thirty four

I'm sorry this took so long. Life is interesting...
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Kareem

"Another question. How many people have you killed?"

"None."

"You can't be serious. I won't believe it."

"I am, though. That's another reason why this life ain't for me. Even though my attitude is pretty fucked up, and I can get hella unruly, I've never had enough courage to kill anybody.

"Each time that I've come close, I always thought Is going to hell really worth street credibility? The thought of killing somebody makes me extremely uncomfortable.

"I guess it's my negotiation techniques and demeanor that has gotten me this far. "

Victoria sat in awe. This was something unusual that she'd never ever heard of in her life. It was rather intriguing, however.

"You ever thought about getting out?"

Since the night I killed James, my mind would constantly revert back to me and Victoria's conversation.

That entire day and the one before was a hot ass mess. I had to beat the hell out of one of my best friends because he disrespected my woman, and then I went all Tyler Perry on my cousin for the same reason. However, when the two of us were laying in the bed, cuddling and shit, I knew Victoria was the woman for me and that no woman would ever come close to connecting with me like she had.

At that moment I was already beginning to think up a plan to get my life right for her and Kai. I had dreams about sleeping peacefully at night, not having a price on my head, being able to relax because I wasn't traveling to meet with connects.

I used to think that the money, clothes, houses, and cars as the American Dream, but life proved me wrong. Yeah, it's comforting to know that you can have anything that you want at the snap of a finger.

But what's the price?

It's more than a few hundred dollars here and there and some lost sleep. Any day my life, or the life of one of my family members could've been take away because I wanted to live the fast life. I never even thought that I would be as big in the drug world as I became, but it happened.

Don't get me wrong, I've always been concerned about my daughter's safety and wellbeing. I continued my personal demise because I was already a product of the streets and also because I felt proud of the fact that I could keep Kai and my people looking nice without working a nine to five.

However Victoria changed my whole mindset. Growing up, I was not involved with the church. I only went a few times with my grandmother and another few when one of my homies was shot down.

She invited me to church with her and I immediately knew that she was a good, God fearing woman with good head on her shoulders. Victoria didn't judge me, either, so that just pulled me closer to her.

Then when I found out about what she went through in her past, I couldn't help but wanna be the man that took the time out to put every piece of her heart back where it belonged.