CHRISTOPHER | Double Trouble
Sa'hora Santiago
"Mommy," Kenzo cried standing at the foot of her bed once again. She sighed opening her eyes and checked her phone to see it was 2:39 am.
"Kenzo," she mumbled sitting up rubbing her eyes. He was hysterical and trying to climb onto the bed.
"Mommy pwease!" he cried pulling at the white comforter. She sighed pulling him onto the bed and he immediately climbed to her and got into her lap.
"We can't keep doing this every night," she mumbled pulling the blanket over him as he laid his head on her chest. Tonight was yet another failed attempt of getting Kenzo to sleep in his room. He broke out of his crib and was back in here once again.
Although he had just turned two a little over a month ago, she was considering moving him to a toddler bed now. The crib was absolutely not cutting it and he had slept in there with her more times than he has ever been in his crib.
"Mommy I scared," he whined pushing his face into her chest getting his tears all over her.
"Why are you scared?" she asked softly and he just shook his head and snuggled closer to her.
She let out a yawn before turning the television on. George Lopez reruns were currently playing and she settled on watching that. She knew it would be a while before she fell back to sleep.
She relaxed back into the bed rubbing Kenzo's back. He reached his hand up grabbing her ear as he watched the television.
"Mommy has to pee Ken," she said to him but he ignored her watching the television.
She picked him up and placed him on the bed but he immediately began to whine and start crying. She ignored him and stood up walking towards the bathroom that was in her room. She relieved her bladder and heard little footsteps coming into the bathroom.
"No personal space huh?" she said to Kenzo as he walked over to her and stood in front of her. She quickly wiped and flushed before washing her hands. Kenzo was right behind her like a shadow as she walked back into the bedroom.
Her phone began to vibrate making her frown as she picked Kenzo up and placed him in the bed. She looked at the notification and frowned.
@ NoLimitJavi: Yo!
"Not this shit," she mumbled looking at the Instagram direct message. She went to delete the message until the person sent another message.
@NoLimitJavi: It's Javi, remember me ?
She turned her face up as she took a seat on the bed. She went to their Instagram page and immediately remembered he was the brother of the boy Zay who she saw last week. The weirder one.
She didn't respond but instead blocked him and sat her phone back on the dresser. Kenzo watched his mother with his bottom lip poked out. She climbed back into the bed and he got into her lap before laying down on her chest. She cuddled him close as the television played and she slowly began to dose off.
-
Sa'hora was awaken to the sound of Kenzo babbling to himself.
"Dada, Dada!" Kenzo yelled loudly laughing and clapping.
"Boy what the hell," she said sitting up making Kenzo turn his head towards her. She looked beside her to see Kenzo holding her phone and Christopher's face on her screen. Kenzo was on FaceTime with his daddy.
"Kenzo!" she snapped snatching the phone from him. He immediately began to cry as she looked at the phone to be greeted with Christopher. His eyes were squinted as if he had just woken up and she could see he was laying back in a bed shirtless.
"Don't snatch nothing from him," his deep voice spoke making chills run down her spine. His morning voice always did something to her.
Kenzo crawled over to her trying to reach for the phone but she moved it out of his reach. He continued to cry trying to get the phone.
"How did- why are you talking to my son?" she spoke loudly trying to talk over Kenzo's cries.
"I thought you had called me but when I answered I saw him. Why you take the phone like that? Give it back," he said with a mug. He didn't like that.
She sighed looking as Kenzo who pushed his way onto his mother to where he could see the screen. His cries subsided as he looked down at the phone seeing his father's face again.
She hadn't set a lock code on her new phone yet so it wasn't too far fetched however she didn't understand why of all people Kenzo just happened to call his dad. She did not want to talk to him right now.
"Did he wake you up? I'm sorry he must've dialed while I was sleep," she said looking down. She checked the time in the right corner to see it was only 5:34am.
"It's cool, he can call me whenever. You look like you were sleeping good tho," he teased. Sa'hora looked into the camera and immediately put it down so her face was out of it. Her hair was all over her head and she had crust in her eyes. She looked a mess.
"Look I'm sorry he called but we're going now," she rushed wanting to hang up but he stopped her.
"Before you go, I want to see him again, soon," Christopher said. She sighed looking at Kenzo who kept trying to grab the phone.
"We'll see, it won't be today because we have stuff to do but I will reach out to you sometime this week,"
"Fair enough," he shrugged, too tired to press her about it. He yawned loudly before licking his lips. He looked so fine right now.
She said nothing else and ended the the phone call. Kenzo frowned and went to start crying again. She sat the phone down and picked him up as tears ran down his face.
"Come on, lets go back to sleep. You can talk to daddy another time," she said to him. It sounded so weird to say out loud to her.
Eventually Kenzo went back to sleep but she couldn't. She stayed up and watched the sun come up as her son slept peacefully on her chest.
-
Later that afternoon, Sa'hora sat in the park with Kenzo who was sitting in his stroller waving at people and pointing at the birds that flew by. They were currently waiting on Kasmira who she hadn't spoken to since the day she left the courthouse. She finally agreed to meet up with her.
Everyone had been calling her and even shown up to her house the past few weeks. But she was avoiding them. She needed a break to think for herself and to come to terms with how she was feeling. She still didn't know how to express what was going on inside her head but figured she couldn't hide forever.
Kasmira soon appeared walking towards them wearing a mustard yellow Juicy Couture two piece sweat suit and her jet black hair was bone straight as if it was just freshly pressed. The yellow complimented her glowing smooth darkskin perfectly catching a few people eyes as she walked by.
"You got some fucking explaining to do!" she started not giving Sa'hora a proper greeting.
She bent down and kissed Kenzo on the cheek before standing back up and taking a seat beside Sa'hora. She was so upset and disappointed with her.
"Sa'hora, you have had me and your family worried and stressed out once again. The only reason I know you're okay is because we all have your location but for you to not communicate with us and ignore us after everything that has happened is fucked up. It made all us second guess you and you had all of us looking stupid," Kas said looking at her with disgust on her face.
"I was tired of everyone and their unwarranted opinions. No one would let me make a decision for myself. It was too much and I needed a break from everything, from everyone," Sa'hora explained.
"So is what they said true? Was all of this a lie?"
"No Kas," Sa'hora said trying to hide the agitation in her voice.
"Then what the fuck is really going on because the shit is weird and I really don't want to believe you really was messing with that boy the whole time and everything was a lie. My bestfriend would never pull no shit like that or so I thought,"
"It's complicated," she said looked at Kenzo who was drinking from his sippy cup.
"What's complicated about it? He kidnapped you and assaulted you. It can't get more clearer than that. What the fuck is so complicated about it?"
"I don't know Kas, it's hard to explain,"
"You don't seem to know anything," Kas said with an eye roll. Sa'hora could feel her body heating up with anger.
"Wait a minute Kasmira, you can chill the fuck out. You coming at me super hostile instead of actually showing concern for my well being. You've been hostile and passive aggressive every since I've came back. I thought you were my best friend but you sitting here acting just like my aunt and mother and you wonder why I distanced myself from you as well," she said shaking her head.
"I thought you were my bestfriend but clearly you aren't. We have done nothing but try to be there for you and support you but you want to sit here and act like we're the problem,"
"Because y'all are!" Sa'hora shouted raising her voice.
"No Sa'hora, you are the problem. You have fucked up everyone's life and wasted everyone's time. You could've kept it real from the jump. If you really did run off with the nigga than just say so instead of crying kipnap and rape and having everyone look stupid. Yo' own daddy in jail over it. You really have became a weird ass bitch Sa'hora," Kasmira spat making Sa'hora stand up.
Anger quickly rushed over Sa'hora and before she knew it, her fist was connecting with Kasmira's face. Kasmira immediately swung back causing the two to start tussling in the middle of the park.
Sa'hora was getting the upper hand and swinging at Kasmira's face repeatedly. Kasmira eventually kicked Sa'hora making her fall back before she got on top and began delivering blows to her. Kenzo started screaming and crying as a few people rushed over to break them up.
"Fuck you Kasmira!" Sa'hora yelled as a couple of park officers rushed over and pulled them apart.
"Fuck you bitch! You're nothing but an entitled slut!" Kasmira yelled as another officer and a bystander pushed her away.
"Both of you contain yourselves before I arrest both of you. I am asking you to leave or else I will be taking you in," the officer said sternly but Sa'hora could give a fuck about what he was saying.
"Get off me," Sa'hora shouted pushing him off her. He let her go as she felt blood dripping from her nose.
"This some ghetto ass shit," a bystander said recording on her phone.
An officer escorted Kasmira away from the scene to her car. Sa'hora sat back down on the bench and grabbed wet wipes from Kenzo's diaper bag to wipe the blood off her face. She sighed and picked Kenzo up out of his scroller and held him close to try to comfort him.
"I'm so sorry baby," she said to him, rubbing his back. He continued to cry and she felt defeated.
Heaviness came over her heart and tears clouded her eyes as she held Kenzo. She was disappointed she had let Kasmira get her that angry but her words hurt. She didn't recognize the person she had called her bestfriend all of these years.
Just like that her best friend was gone. She couldn't believe everyone was turning on her and they didn't even know the truth, just assumptions. She tried to express herself but she wouldn't listen just like everyone else. Sa'hora ignored the officer asking if she was okay and put Kenzo back in his stroller. She ignored his cries as she wheeled his stroller back to the parking lot where her car was.
She didn't need Kasmira. She would be okay without her or anyone. She'll let them believe what they want but she was over letting others control her and talk down on her. She knew who she really was and that's all that mattered.
Xavier "Zay" Bennett
"Just got a drop on this flexin nigga, he from Tennessee," Javi rapped bopping his head as he smoked a blunt. The music blasted throughout him and his brother's apartment as he took a seat on the couch and put the blunt out in his ashtray.
"Boop, Boop," he gestured pretending he had an AK in hands. Zay entered the living room wearing all black from head to toe. He was holding a black duffle bag over his shoulder making Javi look his way.
"You got the drop?" Javi asked sitting up dapping his twin.
"Yeah, a couple hours away," Zay responded sitting the duffle bag on the table and taking a seat across from his twin.
Javi nodded before checking his phone and smacking his lips.
"What's yo' issue?" Zay asked him watching his brother shake his head.
"I found that broad from the park Instagram and slid last night but shawty left me on read and blocked me," he sighed sitting his phone down.
Zay thought about his interaction with her a few weeks ago and smirked.
"Sa'hora?"
"Whatever her name is," he mumbled putting his phone back in his pocket.
"What you pressed for? I ain't never known you to be pressed over a bitch,"
"She bad as fuck but she aint even pay me no mind," he frowned. Javi was the ladies man of the twins. He always had women flocking towards him; so for Sa'hora not to do the same really had his ego feeling some type of way.
"I saw her last week," Zay admitted making Javi sit up and look at him.
"Nigga what? Why you ain't tell me?" he said mugging him.
"Chill, it won't even like that. I saw her in the store but she wasn't fucking with me," he said simple, leaving out all the details.
"Nigga I called dibs on that," Javi continued to mug him and threw a pillow towards him.
"Bro fucking relax, I just told you it won't even like that," Zay said catching the pillow then throwing it back at him harder.
"Yeah whatever, I want her and ima make her mines. She just don't know it yet, just wait till I see her again,"
"How? You don't even know her and she blocked yo ass. Leave her alone," Zay mumbled becoming annoyed.
Javi waved him off and continued to scroll on his phone until he stopped and looked at Zay.
"Give me your phone,"
"For what?" he asked about to hand it to him until he stopped and frowned. "Bro, you being desperate,"
"Shut up," Javi said snatching the phone from his brother. He opened the Instagram app and typed in her name under his brother's account.
"Whatever, keep making a fool of yourself," he said shrugging.
Javi requested to follow her before handing the phone back to his brother.
"We got bigger shit to worry about than some pussy," Zay said standing up.
Javi stretched before standing up as well and turning the music off. He grabbed his black hoodie and threw it over his body before walking towards the door where his all black boots were.
Javi finished putting his attire on matching his brothers before grabbing the duffle bag that was on the table. The twins exited their home and made their way to the car they would be using for the evening. Zay hopped in the driver's seat while Javier got in the passenger seat.
It was a little after midnight when the twins pulled up down the street from a suburban neighborhood. The streets were empty and lights were off in most of the homes signaling most were sleep for the night. Zay casually drove through the neighborhood as Javi browsed the homes.
"I think that might be the one," Javi said motioning towards a yellow house with one car in the driveway. There was approximately half an acre between the neighboring houses making it perfect.
"Bet," Zay said as he eyed the home but did not slow down to avoid drawing attention to themselves.
Zay drove a little while longer before pulling up on the next street over next to a wooden area. The woods lead directly into the backyard of the home they were targeting tonight.
The twins quickly hopped out the car, placing gloves on their hands and ski masks over their face before making their way through the woods. Five mintues later they were out and jumped over the wooden fence that lead to the back of the yellow house.
-
"Shut up bitch!" Javi said as the woman cried and mumbled behind the tape on her mouth. Meanwhile Zay patrolled the home for any valuables. He quickly ran up the stairs to the master bedroom and grabbed all the jewelry that was on the woman's dresser. He then walked into the master bedroom closet and moved the clothes around looking for a safe.
A small safe was tucked inside of the closet. Zay quickly stood up and made his way back downstairs where the woman and man were tied to a chair with tape over their mouths in the living room.
"What's the code?" Zay said as he entered back into the living room.
The middle age white man was trying his best to stay strong from his family but fear was running through his body like fire. Javi ripped the tape off his mouth and kept the knife to the man's neck.
"What's the fucking code to the safe," Javi spat pushing the blade into his skin. If he pushed any more he would surely break his skin.
"I, I-" the man began to stuttered making Javi frustrated. He quickly moved slicing across the man's face making him scream and his wife cry profusely.
Blood began pouring from the man's face and dripping down his cheeks. Javi turned to the man's wife once he realized he wasn't going to speak making the man finally crack. He quickly recited the code to them.
Javi slapped the tape back over the man's mouth and looked towards Zay who headed back towards the stairs. Zay ran quickly back upstairs with the duffle bag on his arm. He went back to the closet and entered the code revealing more jewelry and stacks of cash. He quickly grabbed the items with his glove covered hands and stuffed them in the bag before he quickly ran back down the stairs.
"Aight, lets go," Zay said.
"We offing them?" Javi asked in a bored tone.
"No wittinesses," Zay instructed making the victims look at them with petrified eyes.
Javi shrugged before standing over the man and slitting his throat with the sharp blade. Blood began to squirt from the man's neck as he had hit his carotid artery. He cursed moving to the side to avoid getting the man's blood on him. He quickly did the same to the wife leaving them both decreased and tied up in the living room.
"Lets go," Javi said after he used the man's shirt to clean off the blade.
The twins quickly left out of the back of the home and ran through the couples backyard to the woods that would lead them back to the street they parked on.
Once they reached the car, they quickly hopped in shoving the duffle bag in the back seat before pulling off. Once they were back on the highway, the twins removed their masks.
Javi smirked looking at the valuables inside the duffle bag. "Another job well done brother," he said as he zipped the duffle bag up.
Zay just nodded and kept his eyes on the road as he made the two hour drive back to where they were residing.
Christopher Brown
"These are beyond amazing," the young woman complimented as she browsed over the canvas. Christopher bit his lip nervously as she examined over his art work.
"Do you think people will buy them?" he asked her as she picked up another one.
"Absolutely they would, how did you get so talented? Did you attend art school?" she asked looking at him and sitting the canvas down.
On the opposite side of the building where Dr. Gordon's practice was, there was a small art exhibit and clothing boutique owned by Dr. Gordon's long life friend Jerome. Christopher was currently in the shop speaking with the owner's daughter who was in her early twenties.
It was extremely hard for Christopher to find a job as they had no record of him finishing high school or getting his GED. He wished he would have used his time in jail to complete it but being that he was only in for a short period of time, he wasn't able to.
He was becoming desperate but was trying to refrain from doing anything illegal. He officially had been staying with Dr. Gordon for a month but he knew she would probably get tired of him soon. She encouraged him to bring some of his recent art work to the art shop to see if he could put his paintings up for sale.
"I learned everything myself," he said with a silly smirk making her laugh.
"Well you could've fooled me," Janae laughed looking up at him.
Janae Clay was a five foot three brownskin woman with a petite body. She was slim and very into nature. She mainly wore earthy tones such as greens and browns and always wore a flowered headband that corresponded with her outfit of the day. She was sweet and down the earth.
"I think these would definitely sell in no time here. Here is the breakdown, we get 30 percent of the sale and the rest goes to you. Does that sound like something you could work with?"
"Do I get to decide the price?" he asked raising a brow making her laugh. He was so funny to her and she was definitely enjoying his company.
"Something like that," she smiled making the dimple in her right cheek pop.
"I want to put these two out first," he motioned towards the two canvas he brought today. One was a painting of a little boy in an astronaut suit with space and stars all around him. It was very colorful and trippy. The other one was of the same concept except it was a father and son floating in space. Kenzo was his inspiration for both of them.
She nodded grabbing a notebook before standing back in front of him on the opposite side of the counter. As the two discussed pricing, two men walked into the store making them both glance up.
"Ain't shit in here," one mumbled but the other ignored him and began walking around the small shop.
Christopher eyed them out of the corner of his eye and sensed that the two were up to no good.
"Is there a problem yellow ass nigga?" the one with short hair spoke feeling Christopher eyes on him. Christopher turned his head towards him and began to chuckle at his attitude shaking his head.
"You don't want these problems bro so I suggest you stop talking to me," Christopher said turned his attention back to Janae who shifted uncomfortably behind the counter.
The short curly head one was about to speak but the dreadhead pushed him back instructing him to keep it cool.
"Yall don't look like no artsy ass niggas? the fuck yall doing in here?" Christopher said. Janae was clearly uncomfortable with them being in here and obviously wanted them out. Chris wasn't scared of shit though and they were about to interfere with his money which he didn't need.
"Same reason you in here," the one with the mouth commented.
"Javi shut the fuck up," the dread-head one said annoyed before walking to the counter where Christopher was.
"I'll be right back, let me go get some tags," Janae said leaving the three men alone in the front of the shop. There were cameras though so she wasn't worried.
Christopher nodded before looking at one of the men who was at the counter. He got a good look at the dread-head's face before his eyes widen.
"Zay? Nigga is that you," Christopher said looking at him.
"Chris? Aye crazy ass nigga what's up?" Zay smirked giving him a handshake. Javi watched the two and made his way over there.
"Oh you know this nigga?" he said with an attitude as the two let go of their handshake.
"Yeah, we had weight lifting together sophomore year then his ass just stopped coming. It's been a mintueee," he replied.
"This your boyfriend or something?" Christopher asked pettily at Javier. It was obvious the two were brothers but with the way Javier was acting he couldn't help but be petty. He was acting like a bitch.
"Chill, this my twin," Zay motioning to Javi who was glaring at Chris.
Christopher looked between the two and nodded his head seeing the resemblance.
"Ain't know you had a brother, let alone a twin," he said looking down at the notebook.
"Yeah man, don't mind him he pissy about some pussy," Zay joked glancing back at his brother who was looking around the shop with a bored expression.
Christopher laughed as Javi shot them a glare. He didn't know when his brother had friends but he didn't fuck with the yellow nigga and he was ready to go. They were supposed to be scoping out their next hit and he want to be friendly and shit.
"You made this shit? This shit go hard," Zay said looking down at the canvas.
"Thanks man, just tryna make some money,"
"How bad you need it?" Zay asked keeping his eyes on the paintings. Christopher looked up at him with a lifted eyebrow.
"Depends," he responded. Zay looked at him with a smirk before glancing at Javi who made his way towards the door. He was about to leave Zay's ass.
"Here, here's my number. Hit me later and I gotchu," Zay said lowly as Janae made her way back to the counter with a hand full of tags.
Zay dabbed Christopher up one more time before exiting out the shop with Javier.
Christopher turned his attention back towards Janae as she began to tell him more about the process. He slowly tuned her out and his mind wondered to what Zay was referring to about making money.
______________________________
Author's Note
A LOT happened this chapter.
Thoughts?
Was Kasmira wrong for what she said? Was Sa'hora wrong for hitting her? Who's right? who's wrong?
How do we feel about the twins?
Christopher?
Thank you for reading. I love you all 🫂❤️